Chapter 18 (Sweet Harmony)
oday was Rem's last day of detention, she was now free from her punishment and could rejoin Subaru walking home. Some time during the day Rem felt her throat grow slightly sore. It wasn't too noticeable, but it was irritating enough for Rem to notice throughout the entire day.
After her last detention session Rem walked home, her throat had yet to return to normal. In fact it was growing slightly worse with every hour or two.
She returned to the apartment and pulled out her key to open the door. She entered the living room and Subaru looked up at her from the couch.
"Welcome home Rem, have you learned your lesson about fighting people in school?" Subaru asked with a slight smirk.
"Not funny Subaru" Rem said in a cold tone, holding a blank look.
"I'm just joking with you," Subaru said.
Rem was very exhausted and wanted to have a quick nap, hopefully it would heal the growing pain in her throat. She placed her heavy bag down on the floor, and walked over to sit on the couch next to Subaru. She gently leaned her head on his arm and closed her eyes.
Subaru brushed her hair with his hand, letting her have a quick nap. He continued to watch TV as Rem drifted off. Somehow Rem being tired made him feel tired. It was as if she was slowly draining all his energy by simply leaning on his arm.
As time went on Subarus' eyelids began getting heavy, he tried everything he could not to succumb to his growing tiredness. Suddenly he felt Rem push her entire body weight on his arm as she became limp from drifting off to sleep.
About an hour passed and Subaru just had to get something to eat, he was starving. His parents weren't home and Rem was fast asleep, leaving no one to cook dinner. Though Subaru could still make himself something from what they had in the kitchen.
Carefully laying Rem down on the couch, he got up and made his way to the kitchen to make himself a quick sandwich. It was by no means a glamorous feast, but it would do.
After making himself his dinner for the night he sat back down on the couch next to Rem and sat around, watching the time go by. He began to multitask watching TV, and reading stuff out of his math textbook.
Rem and Subaru had a big test coming up and Subaru made a promise to Rem he would put full effort into getting a really high mark. He sat there reading for a while, until the time came for him and Rem to check into bed for the night.
He shook Rem's shoulder to try and wake her, so she could bring herself to bed, but she didn't wake up. Subaru instead just picked her up, and brought her there himself.
Walking into the bedroom, he carefully placed her down on her side of the bed. Next he walked back out of his room to turn the apartment's lights off, on his way out he closed the bedroom door. The sound of the door closing actually made Rem wake up.
Rem's eyes slowly opened, she immediately felt her sore throat that grew much worse in her sleep. Her throat was so sore, she felt like talking would unleash the worst amount of pain imaginable.
She knew she still needed to change out her school uniform and into proper sleeping attire. Rem mustard up what energy she had left and got out of bed and walked towards the dresser.
Subaru suddenly walked back in and noticed that Rem woke up and stood up to go through the dresser. She looked very tired, but he already knew she had a long day, and needed some proper sleep.
"You still tired Rem?" Subaru asked as he laid in bed. He reached back for his science textbook he would read over every night trying to get familiar with the difficult and sometimes only in Subarus case needlessly complex units they were on.
"Yes" Rem responded in a slightly raspy voice. She let out a few coughs, radiating a sharp pain throughout her throat. She winced and rubbed her throat to try and ease the symptoms, but it didn't seem to help.
She eventually found her nightgown in the dresser, and began to walk out and get cleaned up and ready for bed in the bathroom.
When she returned she laid down on her side of the bed, and let out a few more painful coughs that caught Subarus' attention. He looked away from the textbook to look at Rem who had her body rolled over to face him.
"Rem, are you feeling sick?" Subaru asked. Rem nodded her head in response, trying to spare herself from the pain talking brought her.
"I will be better tomorrow," Rem said, trying to ease Subaru's concerns over her.
"Alright Rem, just rest well. Lets just hope you feel better tomorrow" Subaru said. He reached over and turned off the lamp. Subaru drifted off to sleep quite quickly, but Rem had yet to do so. Her condition was worsening with each passing second.
She tossed and turned trying to fall asleep. Her nose became clogged making it hard to breathe. Minutes turned into an hour and the night grew later. Rem eventually managed to doze off to sleep. It took her a bit, but she did it.
When it was very late in the night Rem suddenly awoke feeling even more ill than she did before. She lost most of her strength, and a giant stomach bug had formed. Her throat grew to be ten times more sore. The pain was so unbearable, Rem felt like the best and only treatment was to have it amputated.
She couldn't help but let out the most painful set of coughs of her life. She tried covering her mouth to not wake Subaru, but unfortunately she was still loud enough to wake him. He opened his eyes to look at Rem who now looked very ill.
"Are you ok?" Subaru asked in a drowsy voice from just waking up. Rem let out a short and quiet groan.
"I don't feel too good," Rem said. She rubbed her throat after talking, immediately feeling the daggers that pierced it after only saying a few words.
"Do you want a glass of water?" Subaru asked, not knowing what else to provide her.
Rem nodded her head, unable to speak another word. Subaru got up and exited the bedroom to get Rem her glass of water. Rems throat sounded so sore and raspy. Subaru thought he had to go to Antarctica to get water cool enough to ease her symptoms.
He put ice cubes in hoping that would help. He came back and carefully placed it on her nightstand, and laid back down.
The second he laid his body down he heard Rem reach for the cup of ice water on her nightstand. The ice cubes all moved around the cup as she quickly put the cup to her lips and downed the water to cool the blazing furnace that was her throat.
Subaru was starting to think that he shouldn't be sleeping next to Rem while she was this sick, but he didn't feel like getting up and going to the couch.
With the cup of water Subaru gave her, Rem's symptoms eased a tiny bit, so much so, she could finally drift off to sleep for the night.
The next morning eventually came and Naoko walked in to wake Subaru and Rem. Opening the door.
"Wake up you two!" Naoko called out. Immediately after Rem woke up and started to move her body, she let out some very rough coughs.
"Are you alright Rem? You don't sound too good" Naoko said. Subaru sat up and looked at his mom at the door way, laying a hand on Rem forehead. Feeling her high temperature.
"Mom, Rem is really sick, and I think she is going to need the day off," Subaru said.
Just then Rem rolled on to her back, and tried to sit up, but Subaru gently stopped her to make her lay back down.
"Lay down Rem, you aren't feeling well" Subaru said. Rem didn't try and get back up and continued to lay there with her illness swarming throughout her entire body.
"Subaru, be out for breakfast in a couple minutes. Let Rem rest" Naoko said, as she walked off back into the kitchen. Subaru turned his attention to Rem and pet her hair trying to comfort her as she coughed a few more times.
"Alright Rem, since your sick you aren't coming to school with me today, just rest for today alright"
Rem wanted to protest and try to convince Subaru she's fine, but she knew on the inside that she was too sick to even get up for breakfast.
"Ok Subaru..." Rem said in a rough voice.
Subaru got up and out of bed to grab everything from the bedroom that he needed. He grabbed his bag, clothes, and his phone on the nightstand.
"I will be back in here to check on you before I leave," Subaru said. Rem nodded her head in acknowledgment.
Subaru walked out of his bedroom and was immediately tackled onto the floor by Kenichi. The things he brought from his bedroom fell out of his hands and onto the floor.
"Dad! Stop!"
"Good morning Barusu! I couldn't help but notice you didn't have your guard up! Rookie move!" Kenichi said. Before Subaru and Kenichi could begin really getting into their wrestling match, Naoko actually intervened.
"You guys, keep it down. Rem isn't feeling good," Naoko said, trying to quiet the room down.
Kenichi reluctantly got up from Subaru and walked to the table.
"Oh really? Rem, aint feeling so great?" Kenichi said as he sat down at the table.
"Yeah... She's sick" Subaru said, while he collected his things from the floor. After gathering everything he walked to the table and sat down.
"Will one of you please take care of her for me when I am out?" Subaru asked.
"I will be out all day today, and will be coming home late tonight. Though your mother will be home earlier than I am," Kenichi said.
"Subaru, I'm sure Rem can take care of herself until you or I get back. If I get back earlier I will gladly take care of her for you," Naoko said
"Alright then, but on a different note. I got some serious news for both of you," Subaru said.
"What is it?" Naoko asked.
"Did you get Rem pregnant? Well that explains why she's so sick" Kenichi said in an understanding tone. Subaru covered his face with his hands.
"Dad! No! It's not that!" Subaru cried out. Kenichi started to laugh at his son's humiliation.
"Keep it down Subaru. Seriously now, what do you have to tell us?" Naoko asked.
"Rem's sister is getting married in two weeks, and we have been invited to attend her wedding," Subaru said. Kenichi and Naoko were surprised they didn't expect to hear this.
"Rams getting married!?" Naoko said with a surprised look.
"Now that there is some is her sister getting married to?" Kenichi asked.
"To a royal knight," Subaru said casually. A giant smile spread across Kenichi's face.
"Royal knight you say. He better prepare himself, because when I get over there I am telling you, he's going to learn how to fight a real man" Kenichi said, as he cracked his knuckles.
"Dad I am hundred percent certain you are going to lose to him. He is very, very, very strong,"
"Yeah, we'll see about that," Kenichi said. He couldn't hold back his enthusiasm and just had to get up from the table to do some push ups on the floor. Subaru let out a heavy sigh.
"Dad, please don't embarrass me by wrestling him the first time you see him," Subaru asked in a serious tone.
"Are we able to attend her wedding, Subaru?" Naoko chimed in curiously.
"Yeah actually. Do you want to attend? We will have to be gone for at least a week" Subaru said.
"Oh, you already know I want to. I just gotta get some closure on the whole other world stuff. Even though I have seen evidence... I just need to... See it for myself. I also want to take on that little girl!" Kenichi said.
"Yeah Subaru, our schedules became pretty lax, so we could attend. I could even take some adorable wedding photos of the two while we are there" Naoko said, with a smile on her face.
"Mom, her fiance doesn't even know what a camera is. In fact he knows none of this other world stuff. Unless Ram told him, which is already unlikely,"
"So? We can still take photos" Naoko said.
Subaru paused for a minute. He knew Reinhard was going to find out about where he's really from eventually. Since he's married to Ram. He just hoped he could keep it a secret, and won't address this discovery to the grand Lugnican council.
He was also going to have to debrief his parents about sticking to a story, and not casually going up to people and telling them that they were from a different world.
"Well... Alright then, sounds good. Just promise me that you guys won't tell anyone and I mean anyone about being from a different world" Subaru said
"We will Subaru," Naoko said.
"Alright, but dad seriously no wrestling her fiance, or any other knights that will be at the wedding" Subaru asked.
"No promises"
"Dad really, I mean it. Don't challenge them to duel any of them either. You will lose... I had to learn that the hard way" Subaru said in a semi sad tone, as he remembered how angry he made Emilia.
"You lost simply because you are a useless weak loser. The problems you. Hey I might even chain you and Ram backup. That was by far the funniest thing I ever witnessed. You let her drag you around like a piece of wood. How does it feel to get beaten by a girl?" Kenichi said with a giant smile.
"Why! How was that funny!? Just know I will get you back for that," Subaru said, with a frown on his face.
"Oh, I am just so scared of you," Kenichi said sarcastically.
"Alright, that's enough you two, let's eat,'' Naoko said.
Breakfast went on as normal. Both Kenich and Naoko were very excited and enthusiastic to be attending Ram's wedding. They were also excited and kind of nervous to be going to a completely different world. Subaru on the other hand just prayed that his dad didn't try and duel any of the knights, but knowing his father the chances of it happening was high.
When breakfast eventually ended Subaru got ready to head to school. This was actually going to be the first time since Rem joined him that he would be heading alone.
Before he walked out the door, he went back into his room to tell Rem he was leaving. He entered the room and approached Rem who was still laying down, now rolled over to look out the window.
"Rem, I will be back to take care of you once school ends. My parents won't be home so you will have to get up and get something you need yourself. Will you be alright?" Subaru asked as he pet Rem's head.
Rem nodded in assurance. Subaru brought her a small trash can near her side of the bed just in case. He also brought her a box of tissues to help remedy her clogged nose.
With Rem taken care of, Subaru walked out the door and began making his way to school. He arrived earlier than normal and sat down at the steps of the school and waited for class to begin.
While sitting around, a certain someone sat down next to him. Subaru followed protocol and did not turn to glance an eye or look at the person beside him.
"Hello again, where's the wife at?" The person beside him greeted. Subaru immediately knew who this was. His rough grasp of Japanese and his redneck accent stuck in Subaru's ears.
"What do you want from me?" Subaru asked, as he continued to look in the opposite direction. Knowing what would happen if he even glanced an eye at the person beside him.
"I don't want anything. I simply came here to tell you something" Marshal said. Subaru didn't respond and listened to what Marshal had to tell him.
"You know my family will be moving back to America in a couple weeks..."
A giant celebration launched in Subaru's head. Finally Marshal was going to be gone and out of his life. He would no longer have to get punches in the arm for accidentally looking at him. He will no longer have to sit there and watch him attempt to flirt with Rem. Obviously none of his attempts came with any success.
"That means I will have to say goodbye to my friends..." Marshal said in a semi sad tone, that sounded fake.
"What? Am I your friend!?" Subaru asked. Subaru couldn't see but a small smile grew on Marshal's face.
"In a way... You know I liked Japan and all, but nothing will beat the southern states of America"
Subaru got confused; he didn't understand what he was getting at, but he was too happy to know of his departure to question it.
"Look at me..."
Subaru was reluctant at first thinking it was a trap, but he thought Marshal was going to finally be sincere and apologize for how he treated Subaru.
Slowly looking over to face him. Subaru immediately got a giant punch to the face the second he laid eyes on him. Marshal walked off as Subaru groaned in pain and rubbed the place he punched him.
He punched him so hard, Subaru thought he knocked a tooth out. The bell rang signaling the beginning of the school day. Subaru went off to his first class, his face was still aching in pain from the punch he received.
The rest of the day was standard and ordinary. With the only exception being getting punched in the face. Subaru went about his classes casually, not talking to anyone.
Some people even took notice that Rem was not with him. Subaru was known to have Rem cling onto him and not leave him for a single second, and to see her not with him kind of concerned some students. Some even started to think Subaru and Rem went through a breakup.
When the day ended Subaru took off to go back home. His bag was heavier than normal since he grabbed assignments and took down notes for Rem that she missed from their classes.
He arrived home and opened the apartment door. He hoped Rem felt better after taking the day off, but her illness looked very bad and not something that could be cured in one day off. Knowing Rem she was going to protest tomorrow morning about taking another day off.
Walking over to his bedroom door, he slowly opened the door trying to not make too much noise just in case Rem was sleeping. He peaked in and saw Rem toss and turn in bed trying to fall asleep.
"I am home Rem, are you feeling better?" Subaru asked.
Rem let out a few coughs as she lifted her body to sit up and look at Subaru. Her voice hurt too much and she couldn't talk. She just shook her head to answer Subaru's question.
Subaru looked at Rem and noticed how horrible she looked. She had been in bed all day and needed to clean herself up.
"Rem you need to clean yourself up, you look horrible. Maybe a bath or something could help you feel better"
"I'm too sick Subaru, I cant get up" Rem said, as she laid back down and coughed a few more times.
"I will help you up. Please just wash yourself. I also need to clean the bed. I think we need to go outside with that biohazard" Subaru said, as he examined Rem's side of the bed.
He left the bedroom to go prepare a bath for Rem. She really needed one, being sick in bed all day was not helping with her illness one bit. After it was ready, he returned to retrieve Rem. Who was continuing to cough and sniffle from the bedroom.
"Alright Rem try and get up, let's get you cleaned up" Subaru said as he walked over to Rem's side of the bed, and held his hand out.
Rem grabbed onto his hand and hoisted herself up. Her illness made her far weaker, but she was still able to stand up. Subaru helped guide her into the bathroom.
"I am just ready to fall asleep Subaru" Rem said.
"Well you can't sleep while in the bath"
"Why not?"
"Because that's not bathing. Thats drowning"
In Lugnica
Ram now being engaged meant she had to start making the consideration of sharing a bed with her soon to be husband. Even though it was going to be extremely awkward and embarrassing. She needed to accomplish it sometime soon, since that would become the new normal way of sleeping.
During dinner one day, Ram and Reinhard had that conversation of making the transition to sharing a room. Both of them were in agreement of doing so, and after dinner ended Ram went back to her room to move her things over to Reinhards.
Only took her about two trips until she retrieved all that she needed from her previous bedroom. Next on her priority sheet was to organize the wardrobe neatly to have one side have his clothes and the other have hers.
After sorting the closet, everything was all finished. Ram and Reinhard now shared a room with each other. Ram couldn't help but step back and marvel at her accomplishment, she got a little excited knowing that she was now sharing a room with her finance.
She walked out of the bedroom to go to her office space and finish up some paperwork before calling it a night.
As Ram worked away she couldn't help but think what lies next before her, she couldn't wait to see Rem, and even though she hated to admit it she was a bit excited to see Subaru too. He was the one to thank for all this, without him none of this would have occurred.
The night proceeded to grow darker, and Ram started feeling the effects of exhaustion. Feeling her eyelids grow heavy, she placed her pen down on the desk and got up from her chair.
She walked down to her new bedroom and started feeling her heart start to beat faster. Again she was extremely nervous about sleeping next to Reinhard, but she knew she would grow used to it. For now though her main objective was to not get flustered and embarrass herself further.
Reaching the door Ram slowly opened it and to her small relief it was empty. Seemed like Reinhard was still busy with other things, though this didn't concern Ram much.
After getting ready for bed, she laid down on her side and tried to drift off to sleep. Even though Reinhard had yet to join her, she couldn't quite shake the butterflies that flew around in her stomach.
Ram kept the room illuminated, just so when Reinhard came to join her, he didn't have to navigate in the dark. As time went by Ram eventually heard the door quietly creek open.
"Dear are you still awake?" Reinhard asked. Ram opened her eyes and sat up to look at Reinhard by the doorway.
"... Yes, I have yet to fall asleep as you can tell"
"Sorry to bother you, but it's approaching time for your next mana infusion." Reinhard said, as he sat right next to Ram in bed.
Ram was so preoccupied with her recent engagement she completely forgot about her mana infusions, but luckily Reinhard already had her schedule down.
"Dear please bring your head here"
Ram leaned her body over and placed her head on his lap as requested. During her infusion Ram couldn't help but close her eyes from getting flustered, she didn't know why but she hasn't yet gotten used to being all close to Reinhard.
Reinhard on the other hand thought it was funny seeing Ram get so flustered over a mana infusion. They have been doing mana infusions regularly for months now, but Ram seemed to be getting flustered over it just because they were engaged.
"So.. About that heir" Reinhard said in a joking tone with a smirk on his face.
"No! Please, let's not talk about that!" Ram pleaded, she knew she was being messed with, but she wasn't finding it funny.
"Don't get so embarrassed dear" Reinhard said, chuckling slightly. Ram opened her eyes to look at him and saw the giant smirk he had on.
"You are enjoying this aren't you?" Ram said.
"I mean.. It's quite adorable," Reinhard said.
"Well I hope you found me really adorable when you walked in on me while I was changing," Ram said. Reinhard covered his face with his other hand.
"Please don't bring that back up..."
Ram let out a triumphant laugh and let Reinhard finish her mana infusion. At some point during her infusion Reinhard started to hear Ram snore slightly. It would seem she grew so relaxed she fell asleep.
When her infusion was over with. Reinhard gently picked up Ram and moved her back to her side of the bed. Unfortunately he wasn't quite gentle enough and woke Ram up when he set her down. She breathed in and rubbed her face, she felt a lot more energized from her mana infusion. Ultimately putting her in a better mood.
"I talked to Beatrice recently and told her to tell my sister about our... marriage... I am hoping she could make it in time for the wedding"
"Oh right, your sister. Isn't she living with Subaru?"
"Ummm Yes..."
"If you don't mind me asking where is Subaru currently living? I heard your sister talk about living far away in a country called Japan, but to my knowledge no such kingdom exists" Reinhard asked.
Ram paused for a minute. She knew that Reinhard was going to have to find out the truth behind Japan eventually.
"I will let Subaru inform you about it when he arrives. He can explain it better than I ever can," Ram said.
"Sounds good," Reinhard responded. Ram let out a slight sigh of relief that Reinhard decided to not press the subject further. She knew she couldn't explain this different world situation on her own.
"Anyways dear you should get some sleep. Remember you have that dress meeting early tomorrow"
"Is that the one where I have to strip down in front of them and they take my measurements down to the curve?" Ram asked.
Despite only going to a dress appointment once before. She hated it with a passion, but she still never complained. Reinhard knew she hated them, mostly because of how uncomfortable she would get. She would come back to him after the appointment was over, with her face glowing bright red from embarrassment.
"... Yes, but not to worry, it's only a twenty minute appointment. It will be over with quickly" Reinhard said in a reassuring tone.
"Well alright then, goodnight" Ram said as she rolled over.
"Goodnight dear" Reinhard said as he extinguished the light, darkening the room.
A couple minutes passed and Reinhard could hear Ram breathe and start to move around for a better sleeping position, bringing him a weird feeling. He couldn't quite come to terms with the fact she was going to be his wife going forward.
Of course after they got married there was going to be the question whether or not they wanted to have children or not. He was fine with either response or result, it was up to Ram really, but he knew that discussion wasn't going to be coming up anytime soon. From him anyways.