Chapter 19 (Academical)
Subaru spent the majority of yesterday evening taking care of Rem's illness, doing anything he could to help out. When Naoko returned home she brought with her some medicine from the pharmacy.
Because of the medicine provided, Rem was able to fall asleep pretty quickly that night along with Subaru. The next morning Subaru had awoken earlier than usual, and decided to wake and check up on Rem to see if she was feeling well enough to head to school with him that day.
"Rem, are you feeling alright?" Subaru asked as he shook Rem's shoulder gently.
Rem woke up and rubbed her eyes. She was feeling a lot better than yesterday. Her throat felt well enough to actually speak somewhat normally. Definitely an improvement from yesterday. Though she still had a clogged nose and still hasn't regained all of her strength.
"Yes," Rem said in a somewhat raspy tone.
"Are you sure, you don't sound too good? Do you need another day off?" Subaru said. He heard Rem clear her throat before she responded.
"I am positively sure that Rem feels better this morning and can rejoin you today," Rem said.
Subaru was uncertain if she was actually feeling better enough to rejoin him, but figured he could just give her some more medicine that his mom brought home yesterday and that would be enough to power her through the day.
Rolling over he reached his arm out to the nightstand and grabbed the bottle of medicine and a spoon he used to feed Rem dinner last night.
After cleaning the spoon off with his shirt, he gently poured the bottle of medicine onto the spoon, trying his best not to pour too much and spill it on the bed. Next he held the spoon out for Rem to consume.
She lifted her body up and moved her face towards the spoon held out for her. Rem hesitated and frowned slightly when she saw the contents. Last night when Rem took medicine for the first time she nearly spat it all out from how revolting and horrible it tasted.
"Come on now, we don't have all day. You can do it, just try not to dwell on the taste" Subaru said.
Rem closed her eyes and leaned her head forward to consume the medical liquid clean off the spoon. After she pulled her lips off the metal utensil, her face immediately scrunched up when the disgusting and revolting taste landed on her tongue. She pushed past the disgusting and sour flavor and swallowed.
Seeing and hearing her throat swallow the medicine, Subaru shot her a proud and grateful smile.
"Now Rem, this is how todays going to work. You are allowed to come with me to school, but if I notice you are still feeling very sick I will instantly send you home, and you have to agree and do as I say, alright." Subaru said.
"Ok, I promise Rem will listen to you," Rem said.
"Alright good, now let's get up and get ready," Subaru said.
Despite yesterday looking like she needed more than one day off. Rem seemed well enough to join Subaru today at school. Mostly due in part to the medicine that eased her symptoms tremendously. Though she obviously still hasn't fully recovered.
While walking to school Subaru noticed that Rem coughed quietly into her sleeve every once in a while. Didn't pay much mind to it since it was just a small cough, but his mind was telling him that he would eventually end up sending her home at some point during the day.
When they began to approach the school from the sidewalk Subaru looked over to Rem with a serious expression. Rem looked back at him confused at the serious face he was putting on.
"Is something wrong, Subaru?" Rem asked.
"Nothing is wrong Rem, I just want to know that if you feel sick, I give you permission to leave school and head back home without me. Just call or text me when you get there" Subaru said.
"I'm not going to go home Subaru, I told you Rem feels fine"
"Look I'm just saying remember the agreement you made with me earlier. If you feel sick, just go home, are we clear on that?" Subaru said.
Rem nodded her head in acknowledgement of Subaru's wishes. They both resumed their journey and when they arrived Rem began to split away to go to the public pool.
"Bye Subaru, see you next class" Rem said, before she walked off.
"Remember Rem. Feel sick, just go home" Subaru said.
"If you wish, but I once again Rem feels fine"
"Alright I hear you, I'm just saying. See you in the next class hopefully" Subaru said.
With that all said Rem took off to attend her beloved swimming class. Subaru went in the other direction to attend home room. The day officially began, and the day proceeded to play out as it normally would.
Rem was coughing a lot during class, but she hid it from Subaru by coughing quietly into her sleeve and leaning away. Then came her gym class, and unfortunately for her the effects of the medicine she got in the morning were starting to wear off a bit.
Eventually lunch time arrived, and Subaru waited in the cafeteria for Rem to acquaint him. Some time went by and she was still nowhere to be found. Usually she walked straight to the cafeteria to be by Subaru everyday. The only time she didn't was when she got into that fight.
Subaru pulled out his phone, flipped it open checking for a potential text from Rem informing him that she went home. He went to his text messages and had to scroll down the dozens of pictures Rem sent to him of a stray cat she encountered on the sidewalk while walking home one time after her detention session.
Reaching the bottom of their text conversation he was met with texts only from the previous day. Subaru then resorted to pressing the call button while hovering over Rem's name. The phone rang for a bit, but Rem didn't pick up the phone and the call ended.
Rem would never ignore a call from Subaru, so he knew something had to be going on. Sure he could just sit there and wait, but curiosity eventually got the better of him and he got up and left the cafeteria to begin his search.
He wandered around the densely populated hallways in search of Rem. He looked all over for her signature blue hair that made her stand out.
His journey eventually ended up walking near the weight room. While walking past it he noticed in his peripheral vision someone who had blue hair inside the weightroom.
Noticing this Subaru stopped in his tracks, and turned back round to peek inside the weightroom, and to his delight he finally found Rem who for some reason was still dressed in her gym clothes, and had her attention to running on a treadmill that was set to a ridiculously high speed.
"There you are, Rem. I finally found you" Subaru said. Instead of turning to face him, Rem kept running, seeming to have not yet noticed Subaru's presence.
The sound of her running her shoes onto the treadmill belt and adding that to the noise the treadmill made at a high speed, was all loud enough to disrupt the sound of Subaru calling Rem's name, so she never heard him.
"Rem! Are you listening!?" Subaru called out.
Again not getting any response. Subaru began walking towards the treadmill so Rem could see him. As Subaru got closer, Rem finally noticed him in her peripheral vision, and turned to look at him with a bright smile on her face.
"Hi Subaru! What are you doing here?" Rem asked as she breathed heavily from her exercise.
"Why are you in the weight room? You know it's lunch right?"
"Wait! It's lunch already!?" Rem asked in disbelief.
"Yes Rem, it's lunch," Subaru said.
"Alright then, let me just figure out how to turn this machine off," Rem said.
She looked down at the treadmill controls trying to figure out which button deactivated the treadmill. Rem was really occupied and focused with running and keeping her pace, so she was unable to figure out what button to press.
"Subaru! Rem can't turn it off!" Rem said, with a little panic in her voice.
"Hold on let me see"
Subaru leaned his head over to look at the controls. He saw a button with a downward facing arrow and went to go press it. Little did he know a downward facing arrow from his perspective was actually an upwards facing arrow from Rems perspective.
After pressing the button a couple of times. The speed of the treadmill belt started to pick up. The treadmill was put on max speed, the belt went so fast you could sharpen a pencil. Even an Oni like Rem couldn't keep her running pace, and tripped.
Falling onto the treadmill belt, she was flung onto the floor and slid across the weightroom. Being stopped by slamming into the wall.
"Rem, are you ok!?" Subaru asked. He looked back at the panel and decreased the speed to finally turn the treadmill off.
"Im fine Subaru" Rem said as she got up from the floor. Luckily for her nobody other than them was in the weight room, so no one other than Subaru saw her fly off the treadmill.
"Are you sure? That slide across the floor looked wild"
"Yes Subaru, I just fell and slid, it's nothing serious" Rem said. She then let out a quiet set of coughs in her hand. Luckily for her Subaru did not pay any attention to it.
"Alright then… What were you even doing in here anyway?" Subaru asked.
"My gym class went to the weightroom today, and Rem choose to run on the treadmill"
"Really? Then how come you stayed here after class ended? Did you not hear the bell go off"
"I was really focused on running and didn't notice"
"In any case, could you please quickly get changed and meet me back at the cafeteria?" Subaru said.
"Ok, Rem will be quick" Rem said
Rem then took off to go get changed, and Subaru walked back to the cafeteria to await Rem's arrival.
Eventually she finally arrived and sat right next to Subaru and opened her bag to bring out her lunch. Today was another ordinary quiet day, no one came up to bother them and they were able to eat and enjoy their lunch in peace all while enjoying each other's company.
"So, has your gym class gotten any better, is anybody bothering you still?" Subaru asked.
"It's gotten way better. None of my classmates bother me anymore" Rem said.
"Even the crazy girl that tackled you that one time?"
"Yes, even her. She won't even look at me, or get anywhere near me anymore. I think she feels bad and embarrassed for her actions" Rem said.
"Well at least she is leaving you alone now"
Rem nodded, and felt another cough build up in her throat. She moved her arm to cover her mouth and began her not so silent cough. She was loud enough for Subaru to notice.
Subaru already knew that Rem was coughing a lot all day, and had been doing everything she could to hide it from him so he wouldn't worry.
"Are you ok Rem?" Subaru asked.
"Yes, I am fine. Did you bring any more of that medicine with you?" Rem asked
"No, I sadly didn't bring any with me. Are you starting to feel more sick? Rem, do you need to go back home?"
"Subaru, I already told you many times that Rem is feeling fine," Rem said. She suddenly began to cough again uncontrollably, not even having time to cover her mouth with her sleeve.
"Just go home Rem" Subaru ordered.
"Subaru, I already told you that I am feeling fine"
"Didn't you agree with me this morning? If you were told to go home you would. Well I now order you to go back home. That was part of our agreement." Subaru said.
Rem let out a heavy and defeated sigh, and began to pack up her things into her bag.
"Rem please don't get mad at me. I just want you to get better. You will probably feel a hundred percent better tomorrow morning" Subaru said.
"I'm not mad at you, Rem is just agitated" Rem said.
"Why are you agitated, you are only missing less then one day of school"
"Im agitated because Rem is going to miss the class lectures making it even more difficult to understand these already complex units"
"Don't worry about that. I will take notes for the rest of the day, I promise" Subaru said.
Rem gave him a nod, grabbed her bag and got up from the table to exit the cafeteria.
"See you when I get back home!" Subaru called out, as Rem started to walk away.
Subaru really hoped Rem wouldn't be grouchy with him when he got back home. Rem always takes her studies very seriously, and she never likes to miss a single class even if they aren't doing any learning that day. Clearly something Subaru needed to take notes on. Despite how serious she takes school she seemed very willing to miss a whole week of school to go and attend her sister's wedding in Luginica.
Subaru knew the true and real reason as to why she was annoyed with him. The real reason was having to be separated from Subaru. Rem clung onto Subaru everyday, and she hated it when they were forced apart.
Subaru went to his history class after lunch and listened to the teachers' long and boring lecture on the current topic they were on. Like promised he was taking in a whole textbook worth of notes. So many notes, his hand started hurting from all the extensive writing he was doing.
During the lecture Subaru felt his phone go off in his pocket. Quickly and secretly pulling his phone out of his pocket he flipped it open and noticed it was a text from Rem asking him how light bulbs worked.
When Rem was sick in bed yesterday, she would always text Subaru questions about his world that would never leave her mind unless she found some sort of closure. She asked questions on how do airplanes fly, how a TV works, why the earth isn't flat, and if his world had made contact with aliens before.
Yesterday Rem watched a documentary on aliens while she was sick at home. When Subaru arrived back home she wouldn't stop asking endless questions about them while he took care of her.
Subaru just responded to her most recent text message with a "I don't know, please stop texting me in class" and put his phone back in his pocket and resumed his note taking.
The remainder of the day went by, and Subaru went back home to see how Rem was doing. He arrived and opened the apartment door to see an empty living room.
He walked over to his bedroom door and slowly opened it to see Rem sleeping in bed. Her clogged nose made it hard for her to breathe in her sleep. Subaru couldn't have imagined the difficulty she had trying to doze off.
He was also feeling slightly tired after his long day, so decided to have a quick nap next to Rem.
Subaru and Rem slept in bed for a while. Moving into the evening they both woke back up and ate dinner that Rem made for them.
Luckily for Subaru Rem wasn't annoyed or mad with him when he got back home. Instead she kept up her high enthusiasm and energetic personality, feeling much better from her illness after her short sleep.
"Subaru… Are you positive aliens don't exist?" Rem asked. Subaru threw his fork down on his plate and let out a sigh.
"I don't know if aliens exist Rem, stop asking me these questions" Subaru said.
"But Subaru, the footage they showed in that documentary on TV was very convincing. It showed a flying plate in the sky" Rem said.
"It was probably recorded on a vintage and outdated camera and the person most likely filming couldn't keep the camera still. I bet you could barely make out a UFO. It was probably a plane or a star in the sky"
"Subaru if I saw a... UFO... in the sky I would be shaking too"
"Why? With all the crazy stuff you see and witness in Lugnica like dragons and magic, Aliens of all things get you shaken up"
"They look very scary Subaru, remember the one we saw walking across the street a week ago"
"For the last time Rem it was just a guy in a costume! You weren't scared of him when you saw him at first, but now you suddenly are?"
"I didn't know about aliens then, and didn't know he was actually one of them"
"He was not an alien!"
After dinner ended. Rem and Subaru began doing their assignments going late into the evening.
Both of them worked away at their piles of papers. Rem finished her work a little faster than Subaru, but she still stayed right next to him to help on his assignment he was still struggling with.
"And I am finally finished," Subaru said as he proudly placed his pen down on the table.
"Good job, Subaru. You finished that assignment way quicker than the last one" Rem said. She leaned over and slid his paper towards her. She picked it up and read over his answers, and grew a slight frown when she noticed that Subaru had gotten almost all of the questions completely wrong.
"Subaru... You need to redo the paper" Rem said in a sad tone, knowing Subaru was going to get disappointed that all his effort was for nothing.
"Really, the whole thing?" Subaru asked in disbelief.
"Yes… There are too many mistakes" Rem said. Subaru let out a sigh.
"Alright fine… Slide it back over here"
Rem slid the paper across the table in Subaru's direction. He caught it and turned his focus to finding his mistakes on the paper. Reading over each question carefully and thoroughly trying to figure out where he went wrong.
Sadly he knew little about the unit they were on and was stuck, and needed to pull the "Ask Rem for help, because she knows the questions better than I do" card.
"Rem, what do I do?" Subaru asked.
Moving her chair to get closer to Subaru, Rem went over each and every question with Subaru one by one. She didn't want Subaru to become dependent on her to understand the unit, so she had him tell his explanation on solving the question they were on.
With his explanation Rem would kindly explain its faults and put him on the right track. This strategy seemed to have worked and Subaru started to slowly better understand the unit, and was able to redo the assignment in no time.
Rem couldn't have been more happy to see Subaru actually put in a lot of effort into his studies. It was a slow and long journey since they first started school, but they got there.
After refinishing the assignment, that left Rem and Subaru with some free time. Subaru decided to compete against Rem in a game of some sort. He wanted to prove to her he was the grand master when it came to technology, and show off his gaming skills.
"Hey Rem, you wanna play a video game with me?" Subaru asked.
"Sure Subaru, what game are we going to play?" Rem asked.
"I want to play one that has us compete against each other. I want to test your skills and knowledge" Subaru said grinning.
He walked over to the media shelf and chose a random fighting game that he and his dad used to play a while ago.
"What? We aren't working together?" Rem asked, confused.
"That's right Rem. We are going against each other. Don't worry I will try to take it easy on you" Subaru said in a confident tone as he held out a controller for Rem.
"Well, Rem doesn't see this as quite fair, but alright then if you want to" Rem said, as grabbed the controller and went to sit on the couch.
Rem and Subaru proceeded to have their somewhat competitive gaming match. After about fifteen minutes and a noise complaint from the front desk. The winner of the gaming match was decided.
"... Its a stupid game anyway" Subaru said bitterly, as he crossed in arms.
Suddenly the door to the apartment started to open and Naoko entered the apartment with a giant bag in her hand.
"I'm back! Guess what I brought home" Naoko called out, as she slipped her shoes off.
Subaru and Rem looked away from the TV over to Naoko from the couch, and noticed the giant smile of uncontrollable excitement on her face.
"What did you bring home mom?" Subaru asked curiously.
Naoko just walked over to the table and placed the bag down. She reached inside and pulled out a neat looking camera box.
"Mom, why did you go out and get a professional looking camera?" Subaru asked.
"I just wanted a better way of photographing all the weird and crazy stuff we are going to see in that magical world."
"Don't show those photos to anybody from here, got it" Subaru said in a serious voice.
"Like they would believe me. I wasn't planning to, calm your worries"
"Alright then," Subaru said.
"Also like I said, I wanted to take some adorable wedding photos of Ram and her fiance. I think they would like some wholesome looking photos of their wedding day put up in their home" Naoko said.
"And how exactly are you planning on giving them the photos? There aren't any printers or photography of any kind in Lugnica" Subaru said.
"Subaru, do you think im stupid? I heard all about the primitive ways of that magical world. I will simply get them developed here, and give them to you when you go back over, or when Ram visits us"
"Well don't get too excited, I doubt Ram will be smiling in any of them" Subaru said.
Naoko was very into photographing family moments and gatherings. She had never got the chance to photograph a family wedding before, and she couldn't be more happy and proud than take it upon herself to do Ram's.
"That's an amazing idea. How many photos are you able to develop? Rem would like to put one on my nightstand" Rem chimed in.
"I could do that for you Rem. She is your sister after all. Anyway, what have you two been up to this evening?"
"Well we just got done fixing my assignment not too long ago," Subaru said. Naoko grew a smug smile.
"Did you fix your assignment, or did Rem fix your assignment for you?" Naoko asked.
"Hey! I can do my work by myself, Rem could even vouch for me" Subaru said while he looked over to Rem.
"Yes, it is true you have seen significant improvement when it comes to your studies. Though Miss Naoko, do you think aliens exist in your world?" Rem asked.
"No! We are not starting this conversation again!" Subaru said.
In Lugnica
The morning of Ram's wedding dress appointment arrived. Ram went to the appointment alone since it was not far from home, she was preparing herself mentally for another extremely uncomfortable and awkward measuring session.
When she finally arrived she again met the early forty year old woman at the front. She was the one who took her measurements the previous time.
"Hello again Ram. I was wondering when you would show back up. Just head into the back room over there and I will be with you in just a moment" The woman said while pointing to a door across the hall.
Ram did as instructed and went into the room she was directed to and waited for the woman to come in and measure her.
She was still very uncomfortable and mentally unprepared for her appointment, even though she already did it once before.
What made it embarrassing and awkward was the fact Ram had to strip down in front of the woman measuring her, who always wore a weird smug smile and would check out Ram in her exposed state.
Ram always got the feeling this woman was a bit of a pervert, also telling her all sorts of weird sexual compliments and asking her odd sexual questions about her personal life all while measuring her in a way that made Ram feel violated.
After a couple minutes of waiting around the door creaked open and the woman walked in with a giant smile on her face. Clearly enthusiastic about tending to her client.
"Hello again Ram. Are you ready to get your measurements taken again?"
"I guess…"
"Good, now get yourself undressed and we can get this party started" The woman said in an enthusiastic tone.
Ram on the other hand didn't understand how this woman can just ask her so casually to undress, as if it wasn't something awkward and humiliating. Regardless she complied and slowly undressed down to her undergarments.
While undressing Ram felt her face heat up as she grew embarrassed and extremely uncomfortable. She didn't like how this woman was staring at her while she undressed, not even having the courtesy to look away.
When she finished undressing, she covered as much as she could with her arms. Ram couldn't help but give a really annoyed look to the woman when she again saw the smug and perverted look she had on her face.
The woman started laughing when she saw the nasty look she was getting from Ram. She thought it was funny seeing her get embarrassed and humiliated.
"Cheer up darling. You are soon getting yourself married, you should be happy"
"I'll have you know, I am actually really happy about my marriage. I just don't understand that weird perverted look of yours whenever I get undressed," Ram said in a cold tone.
"You don't sound happy... Oh, is this an arranged marriage?"
"What…?" Ram asked, confused.
"I get it darling, you don't want to marry your cousin, but you actually get used to it after the first week"
"No it's not an arranged marriage! I am geniunly uncomfortable with that dumb look of yours!" Ram said.
The woman just continued to laugh like an old witch. She grabbed her measuring tape off of the table and approached Ram getting needlessly close to her. Ram looked away from the woman not wanting to make eye contact.
"Now hold your arms up, just like last time"
Ram did as instructed and held her arms up. The woman dropped down and began to measure all around her body in every area.
Ram closed her eyes tightly and clenched her teeth trying to ease the awkward atmosphere. She really didn't like how this woman was measuring her, it was making her feel extremely violated.
As she moved her way up, Ram could start to smell the strong scent of alcohol coming from the woman's breath. Despite being told not too. The woman still kept her smug perverted look as she measured Ram all around.
"Well I'll tell you one thing. You Ram, have some extraordinary genetics. Your body must envy a lot of people"
Ram felt her face heat up like a furnace, she hated how this woman would sexually compliment her looks; it just made things far more awkward for her. Though it clearly provided some kind enjoyment to the woman, since she started to laugh seeing Ram's face go red.
"So, who are you getting married to? What's his name?" The woman asked. Ram was actually slightly relieved to finally hear a normal question for once.
"His name is Reinhard," Ram said.
'Wait is his full name Reinhard Van Astrea, the same guy who booked your appointment?' The woman asked
"Yes that's him"
"Really? Well he should have said so when he booked your appointment. I would have personally congratulated him. Anyway he is one lucky man to have you to come home to everynight"
"What are you even talking about?" Ram asked.
"You know what I mean" The woman said in a weird seductive tone as she measured Ram's upper chest area.
Ram wanted to rip the woman's measuring tape right off of her, she was beginning to get fed up with these perverted questions and odd compliments. She was already uncomfortable as it was, and didn't want this woman in her ear asking all about her personal life.
"You pervert! No! We don't do anything like that!" Ram said.
"Such an innocent girl you are. Have you ever kissed him before?" The woman said in a joking tone, laughing slightly.
"No!" Ram blurted out.
"Wait, what… You seriously never kissed your fiance before," The woman asked in a serious voice, dropping her teasing tone.
"Stop asking me questions like that! Why do you even want to know these things!? It's really embarrassing and uncomfortable to talk about it so openly" Ram asked.
"Come on, we are both women here. It ain't that embarrassing"
"It's still weird and perverted. You should feel ashamed at the fact you get some sort of enjoyment from this" Ram said in her stuck up tone.
"Alright, alright. Calm down, I hear you. Changing the subject now. Do you think you're gonna have children anytime soon or in the future?"
"I'm not answering that question, or anymore you have to ask"
"... I take that as a no. I feel bad for your husband personally, how would you respond if he were to think differently?"
"No stop! It's not like that at all! I just don't want to answer the question!" Ram said.
"Really, so that's a yes then. How many do you think you will have?"
Ram decided not to play into this woman's weird enjoyment and remained silent. Making sure to stare back off into the distance not even turning her eyes to look at the woman, showing her no attention.
The woman waited in anticipation for Ram's annoyed response, but to her disappointment she knew Ram was starting to ignore her.
"You're no fun" The woman said.
The woman lastly measured around Ram's waist, then walked away and set the measuring tape back on the table. She wrote down Ram's measurements on a sheet of paper, and looked back at her with a giant smile.
"Alright Miss Van Astrea, you're all done, you can unfortunately leave now. I hope we can meet again"
Ram let out a heavy sigh of relief. She changed back into her clothes, and walked out of the room. Not saying any more words to the women. When Ram closed the door the woman started to laugh hysterically. She truly loved her job tremendously.