Chapter 20 (Völva)
Rem could not hold back her excitement and enthusiasm, when their science teacher announced that astronomy would be the next unit they would go over in class. She definitely showed more enthusiasm than many other students, who just let out some sighs.
Most of her enthusiasm stemmed from finally getting an answer to her big concern that had been on her mind for the past week. Raising her hand high in the air, Rem wanted to ask the teacher if the unit would cover the existence of aliens.
The teacher noticed Rems hand raised high in the air and pointed to her, giving her the speaking role of the class.
All Rem had to do now was ask her important question to the teacher. She had butterflies in her stomach when permission was finally granted to her.
Everyone seemed to be listening and waiting for Rem's question, and this made her feel quite nervous and overwhelmed.
She still wasn't used to talking to locals from Subarus world. She felt like they judged her in a negative way, because she would always ask obvious questions that were common sense to everyone.
"…. Rem just wanted to know… if during this unit… Um…"
Rem hesitated on continuing to ask her question. She was beginning to sweat and shake slightly. Being afraid the teacher and the rest of the class wasn't going to take her question seriously.
"What is it, Rem? You can tell me, don't be shy" The teacher said
A couple of immature students in the back corner started to chuckle seeing Rem get scared to ask a seemingly simple question. They could see her troubled expression and noticed her body shaking in anxiety.
"Do we go over the topic of aliens?" Rem asked in a mumble.
"Huh? Can you please speak up I didn't hear you"
"Do we go over the existence of aliens!?" Rem asked again in a more loud voice, particularly yelling out her question.
The teacher let out a frustrated sigh. "Not appropriate Mrs Rosswal" He then resumed his focus to reading out what the unit of astronomy would actually cover. Making sure to underline that aliens would not be mentioned, and gave Rem a disappointed look.
Subaru only facepalmed, and let out a sigh. "Rem, I told you not to ask those types of questions. Nobody's going to take you seriously" Subaru said.
Rem looked around the classroom and saw a couple students stare at her while laughing quietly. Clearly finding her seemingly ridiculous question quite amusing.
Rem felt like her heart was crushed emotionally, as she continued to shake uncontrollably. She was starting to have a small panic attack from the social embarrassment.
She didn't understand why people didn't take seriously and laughed in her face. All she ever wanted was a simple answer to her questions, but instead she got made fun of.
Feeling tears well up at the corner of her eyelids she laid her hand across her eyes trying to shield herself from further humiliation of crying in front of everyone. As time went on it became increasingly more difficult to hold back letting out.
Subaru was listening to the teacher's lectures, when his attention immediately turned to Rem. When he heard her let out a depressed sniffle.
Looking over, he saw her crying, having small tears flow down her cheeks from her hand that hid her eyes, and fall onto the desk. She let out another sniffle, that was much louder than the last one.
Knowing her sobs were growing louder. It wouldn't be long until she was heard by other people in the classroom.
In an attempt to calm her down, Subaru threw his arm around her shoulder and pulled her head onto his lap. Letting Rem lay her head there and hide her tears from the rest of the class and cry in his chest her sobs being muffled by his shirt. They sat in the far back so no other student would notice Rem's odd way of coping.
What Subaru failed to take into account, was how wrong the position looked from the teacher's perspective who stood at the front of the classroom, and could still see Rem and Subaru.
Pausing his lecture the teacher stared at the position they were in trying to figure out if they were doing anything sexual during class.
"I'm not even going to ask" The teacher thought to himself as he went back to his teachings.
Subaru was focused on keeping Rem calm for the remainder of class. He stroked her hair as a means of telling her everything would be alright. He knew she felt embarrassed about her question.
He was also annoyed with some of the other students who thought Rem to be nothing more than a big punching bag of idiocy. Subaru just wished that they would all just grow up and leave her alone.
Fortunately for Rem and himself there were far more understanding and mature students than there were immature students.
If he were to enroll Rem in a lower grade then him. Not only would she be separated, but the rate of which she would be laughed at would have a significant increase.
Class went on, and the teacher seemed to just keep talking non stop. Subaru wasn't listening at all and was just looking at the digital clock held above the classroom.
As every minute passed, Subaru felt like the next minute was significantly longer than the last. He knew Rem was still crying because he could hear her sniffle quietly under the desk.
After many minutes of waiting, the class was finally let out. Majority of the class all got up and made their exit to the next class. Subaru waited until everyone had left to make his exit with Rem.
He didn't want anyone else to see Rem while she was all emotional, knowing it would only make her feel further embarrassed and humiliated.
Once most of every student made their exit. Subaru laid his hand on Rem's shoulder and shook it slightly.
"Alright, Rem get up please, let's go outside" Subaru said.
Rem got up from Subarus lap, and put her hand back over her face to hide her tears from Subaru and anybody else that was still in the class, that included the teacher. Who was giving them both a funny look, for the position they were in during his lecture.
Subaru grabbed onto Rem's other hand and guided her out of the classroom and quickly and outside of the school for her to get some fresh air and take a small breather before going to their next and final class of the day.
"Now that we are finally outside and in private, do you wanna talk about what happened?" Subaru asked in a supportive voice.
"Subaru… Why do people make fun of me!?" Rem asked as she bursted into tears.
"Don't listen to them. They simply just don't understand your situation" Subaru said.
"But Subaru, they keep laughing at me and give me weird looks when all I want to know is a simple answer to my question!"
"That's only a couple of them, Rem. Everybody else minds their own business and pays no mind to it. Don't let that of all things get to your head." Subaru said.
With Subarus' support Rem had her small breather and regained her composure. Before heading off to the final class of the day.
Subaru asked if she instead wanted to go home and end the day early, but Rem seemed to be more calm and was fine with continuing.
Arriving at the classroom, Rem and Subaru got a strong verbal warning from the teacher for being late for class, and went to sit down in their usual spot that was by the window in the back of the classroom.
Subaru and Rem sat in the back for every one of their classes so they could be in a more private area. Subaru didn't want people to pick up on their conversations, which sometimes involved Lugnica and magic. All stuff that would make Rem and Subaru look like crazy people if overheard by another student.
When Rem sat down she noticed this strong and weird stench coming from another student sitting in the only desk behind them. Though she never commented on it, since she thought it would be rude to do so.
Luckily Subaru and Rem returned to class in time to hear the big announcement about their special upcoming project.
What made this project special was that everyone had to present it in front of the class, much to the dismay of many students who couldn't help but let out some troubled groans.
Students had to make a presentation to the entire class of somebody important in their life that had left a significant positive impact on them.
Subaru let out a sluggish sigh not having any idea of who he was going to choose for his project. Rem on the other hand instantly knew who she was going to choose for her project.
For the remainder of time in class the teacher ordered that everyone start jotting down ideas for their project on a sheet of paper. As for the teacher, he went to his desk to binge watch pirated movies he got off the internet.
Rem put her full focus onto jotting down some brilliant ideas for her project. She took into consideration what to include in her project, making sure to get really into detail. This project meant alot to her because it was about one of the most important people of her life, and wanted to make her project as project as she could.
Subaru was still lost on who to choose since he really had only a small selection of people to choose from.
He knew doing Rem was the easiest option being his girlfriend and all, but thought that would be too embarrassing and awkward to go up to the front of the class and tell everyone how important she was to him.
Add that to the fact Rem would probably get so flattered and end up crying from his presentation. Everyone would end up noticing, making the already embarrassing love project even more embarrassing. He might as well just propose to her at that point.
Subaru stared at his blank sheet of paper and saw Rem in the corner of his eye filling up her paper with ideas for her project.
He looked over intending on reading off her paper to see some of her ideas, but the second he turned his head Rem took the page and flipped it over, hiding it from him.
"Hey, why can't I see your paper?" Subaru asked.
"Because it's a surprise Subaru. I don't want you to see my ideas" Rem said.
"Who are you even doing for your project?" Subaru asked.
Rem's smile just grew bigger, as she giggled behind her hand. "I am doing my project on Nee-Sama," Rem said.
"Well that isn't surprising in the slightest. I wish I had a sibling I could do this dumb project on" Subaru said.
"You have parents, you could do your project on them"
"That's true, but I think the teacher is looking for somebody more than just a parental guardian if you know what I mean."
"Well you could also do Nee-Sama if you would like," Rem said.
"That doesn't make sense though. Why would I do my project on your sister?" Subaru said.
"Because, My sister is amazing in many different ways, she could have easily left a positive impact on you"
Subarus' expression froze, as he tried to think of a time when he and Ram had any good interactions with each other.
"... I'm actually having a hard time thinking of one time she actually said anything remotely positive to me" Subaru said,
"Well, she looked very happy when you said you were going to marry me one day" Rem said, with her eyes closed and a pleasant smile across her face.
"When did I ever say that in front of her?" Subaru asked.
He knew doing Ram would just be weird, and decided against it. He still wasn't surprised to hear Rem doing her since she was her beloved twin sister. What Subaru really didn't know was that Rem was actually lying to him about her project.
Instead she was going to do her project on him, and just wanted to keep it all a big surprise. Subaru would eventually figure out what to do for his project, and started to make some progress.
Both of them were working hard, but Rem was so far ahead she started to write her ruff draft down. Making sure to keep her paper hidden from Subaru since she wanted to keep it all a surprise.
At some point nearing the end of class Subaru got up to use the washroom, leaving Rem alone for a little bit. With Subaru gone she continued to write away on her paper, she suddenly felt someone grab her shoulder to get her attention from the desk behind her.
Looking back Rem saw another student leaned over his desk to try and get Rem's attention. He looked a little funny, having messy hair and wide open eyes. She also again picked up on the stench coming from him.
The smell reminded Rem of some of the herbs she would find in the wild when she was younger, but none of them smelt this strong and harsh before.
"Hello there fellow wandering soul… Can I interest you in a good time?" The student asked as he leaned back into his chair.
"... What do you mean good time?" Rem asked.
"Give me one moment please" The student said.
He began looking around the class making sure nobody else was looking. When the cost was verified to be clear, he reached into his bag and pulled out a small plastic bag of weird looking homemade brownies.
"Are those… Brownies?" Rem asked
"Yes they are, do you want one? I will offer one to you for free. Usually I charge a high price for my homemade pastries, but today I am feeling generous" The student said.
"Sure, I will have one," Rem said.
The student opened the bag and handed Rem her free homemade brownie, and hastily put the rest back into his bag.
Rem looked down at the brownie on her desk and was able to pick up the same weird and strong stench that was on the student.
"Why does this smell so strong and weird?" Rem asked.
"It's part of the flavor. I'm telling you now that the after taste is going to be amazing. You will love it, trust me." The student said.
"... Alright then, but are you sure this is safe for me to eat?" Rem asked.
"I am a hundred percent sure that it's safe to eat. In fact I will eat one in front of you right now." The student said
He went into his bag and quickly pulled out another weird looking brownie and ate it whole in one bite without any hesitation present. Once he swallowed he looked at Rem with a giant smile on his face.
"See, harmless, I eat these everyday and i'm fine" The student said.
"Well ok then…" Rem said, as she began eating the pastry taking in its harsh and odd but overall satisfactory taste.
She knew this didn't taste like an ordinary brownie, there was something about it that made it weird, but she didn't know what it was. Rem ate it in little bites, trying to get a sense of what flavor she was tasting.
Rem wanted to comment on the bizarre taste, but again did not want to come off as rude and disrespectful.
"Do you like it?"
"It's fine… I guess" Rem said.
"Trust me now when I say this. It gets way better," The student said.
"If you say so. Though Rem is unsure if this is still safe to even eat. It tastes kind of weird"
"You will be fine. There is absolutely nothing to worry about… Though… I would be concerned about the monsters"
"Monsters?"
"I'm sure it's nothing serious, but I wouldn't let them get you. I heard the questions you always ask your dear friend next to you, so…. Is it true you wanna know about the existence of aliens?"
"You know about aliens!?" Rem asked, shouting slightly.
She really wanted to find closure on their existence. Subaru had been flat out refusing to answer anymore of her concerns regarding the existence of aliens, but now she seemed to have found someone who could finally provide her the answer she so desperately wanted to know.
"Keep it down! Don't get us any unwanted attention. This is some serious and secret information I possess, so we need to be quite" The student said in a tuned down serious voice.
He again looked around the classroom making sure no one was listening in on their conversation.
"Sorry" Rem whispered.
"Now face forward. We don't know each other. We are just two strangers chatting," The student said, as he pointed to the front of the class.
"...Well ok then" Rem said. She turned her head forward and listened in anticipation to finally hear about aliens.
"Alright, now getting into business. Yes Rem it's true I know all about aliens. They're all very real." The student said.
"They are? But Subaru told me there was no significant evidence that could prove their existence" Rem said.
The student just shook his head in disapproval. "Trust me. Aliens exist Rem. I have a story, the story is true. I believe it, and I hope you will too."
"Rem's listening," Rem said, as she turned to look back at him.
"Keep your face forward!" The student ordered, and Rem immediately reverted to looking back at the front.
"For so long I have been searching for someone to finally understand my situation, but you seem worthy to hear my tale, listen closely, Rem. I was abducted by aliens one night. They looked so horrifying and lizard-like"
Rem was at the edge of her seat as she took in every word of the students' story. The way he described aliens to her, made Rem feel uneasy and scared.
She was even beginning to fear going outside late at night, the last thing she wanted was to become another victim of the aliens' many experiments described by the student in horrifying detail.
Once his tale had been concluded, Rem proceeded to ask a seemingly endless amount of questions regarding aliens. Unlike Subaru, the student answered each one with a confident tone.
During their questioning session, Rem saw Subaru walk back into the classroom.
"Subarus back!" Rem said.
"Quiet you voice! I told you to not draw any attention. Don't tell him anything about the stories I told you. His small mind is unproven, he isn't ready to come to terms with the actual existence of aliens" The student said.
"What? Why can't I tell him?"
"He just can't know alright! Once again he is unproven, we need to wait until he is ready to come to terms with their existence" The student said.
"Alright then…" Rem said.
Subaru eventually walked up and sat back in his chair and looked around his desk trying to find where his pencil went. He looked over to Rem and noticed a half eaten brownie on her desk.
"Where did you get that brownie Rem?" Subaru asked.
"The kind student behind us gave it to me," Rem said.
She picked it up off her desk and took her final bites. Subaru looked behind him and saw the student that was infamous for being into some rather troubling recreational activities. Subaru knew the brownie he gave to Rem was definitely laced with something odd.
"Rem, don't eat that!" Subaru said, but it was already too late and Rem swallowed, completely consuming the rest of her brownie.
She looked back over to him and grew a confused face seeing Subaru seemingly stress out about the brownie she ate.
"What's wrong, Subaru?" Rem asked.
"Oh no, this is bad," Subaru said.
"Why are you acting so weird, Subaru?"
"Rem you don't understand. What you just ate… Is going to make you start feeling very weird" Subaru said in a panicked tone.
Rem's face dropped as her body began to shake in fear hearing Subaru inform her that she was in risk of death.
"Is it dangerous! Am I going to die!?" Rem asked as she lunged herself onto Subaru and looked him in the eyes.
"Probably not, but whatever you just ate could make you start to feel a little funny"
"I feel fine right now Subaru. I don't think you need to worry. The student behind us told me that it was safe to eat. He even ate one in front of me to prove it" Rem said.
Subaru turned to look at the student who had a smug smile on his face, with his feet kicked up on his desk.
"What did you put in that brownie?" Subaru asked in a demanding tone.
"Relax my friend, she isn't in any danger. I eat these everyday. You want one?"
"No! I don't want one. Why did you give her that brownie!?"
The bell suddenly rang signaling the end of school for the day. The student only laughed as he got up from his chair, and threw his bag over his shoulder.
"Be good my friend" The student said as he hastily walked off into the crowded hallway.
"Subaru dont get so scared Rem feels completely fine" Rem said.
"For now, but later you are going to be feeling really weird. We need to bring you home before the symptoms kick in"
Subaru hurried back home with Rem. He didn't want to have the drug symptoms kick in while they were out in public, drug use was illegal and he didn't want to have Rem get arrested.
Though Rem still seemed to be completely oblivious to what was about to happen to her. Luckily they made it home without trouble, and Subaru awaited to see Rem's reaction to whatever drugs that were in her brownie.
He didn't want to bring her to a hospital because that involved medical tests. That could reveal the whole magic gig they had up, and it would just make a bad situation even worse. Best course of action for Subaru to take was to have her stay home, and wait it out.
While sitting on the couch Rem was beginning to feel the effects Subaru was talking to her about earlier. Her body felt more laxed, and her vision became a little blurry. Never in her life has she felt this sort of feeling before.
"Subaru…. I can't feel anything. I can't feel my arms or my legs!" Rem said.
Subaru turned to look at her and noticed that Rems' eyes had gone red, it was clear that she was starting to feel the effects of whatever was laced in her brownie.
"Your fine Rem, just relax please"
"Rem is relaxed, never felt more relaxed ever in my life. I feel good. Everything's A okay. Or B okay. I'm not an A or a B. Or maybe Rem is a B"
"Huh? What are you on about, Rem?"
"I always wanted to be an A and I'm just a pathetic B. Subaru, I hate Bs!" Rem said.
Subaru couldn't hold back his impending laughter, and let it all out. Rem being high was kind of funny to Subaru. Even though he rather not have her be on drugs, he did have to admit it was quite funny to hear her chat nonsense.
Subaru eventually turned on the TV to find something to watch. He wanted to have Rem provide some nonsensical commentary to a random show.
Though it seems Subaru didn't have to even change the channel to find a show for Rem to watch. Since the show it was already tuned to was a comedy show that peaked Rem's interest.
Rem overheard a stale joke about ordering a pizza and found it to be the funniest joke she ever heard in her entire life.
It got to the point she collapsed onto the floor and rolled all over the carpet laughing hysterically, like a crazy person at a mental hospital. Tears would start flowing from her eyes from all the excessive laughter.
Subaru didn't understand how Rem could of found this boring and dumb joke so funny. Just before she would only chuckle at most stale jokes found on TV, but now she was on the floor dying from amusement.
"Ok Rem, was it really that funny?" Subaru asked.
Rem didn't respond and continued to laugh on the carpet. Despite not finding the stale joke funny, Subaru also felt himself laugh a bit only because Rem was laughing. Her mad laughter was as contagious as a disease and could spread to anyone who heard it.
After a couple of hours watching TV, dinner was approaching. Neither of Subarus parents were home, and Rem was still under the influence of whatever she took at school. Leaving Subaru one option, and that was to go out and get something to bring back to the apartment
Though he really didn't want to leave Rem home alone, since she was under the heavy influence of whatever she had in her system. Though he convinced himself by thinking he was only going to be gone for a couple minutes.
Subaru looked over to Rem on the couch and saw her zoned out of time and space. He put his hand on her shoulder to get her attention.
"Rem, I am going to go get us something to eat for tonight. Please stay put and don't go anywhere while i'm gone" Subaru said
Rem gave him a small nod, not even turning to look at him still zoned out into wherever world she was in. A couple minutes after Subaru left, she began thinking back on the students' stories about his encounters with aliens.
Majority of people would just brush this guy's story off as not real and made up, but Rem truly believed him.
Even though the evidence he was providing was vague and insignificant to draw a possible conclusion to his story. Rem thought it was enough to prove to her that aliens indeed existed.
Rem was really scared of aliens, she didn't like how they kidnapped people in the middle of night and experimented on them in horrible ways. She didn't want Subaru to be out alone and get abducted.
While walking home with dinner in hand, Subaru felt his phone go off in his pocket. His phone vibrates constantly indicating he was getting a call. Reaching into his pocket with his free hand he pulled his phone out and noticed that Rem was the one calling him.
"Subaru, you need to hurry home" Rem said on the other end in a panicky voice, slurring her words.
"Why do I need to hurry? Is something wrong?" Subaru asked.
His tone carried a little worry and panic. Thinking that something happened in the apartment, or that Rem is having a negative or allergic reaction to what's in her system.
"I don't want you out there for so long, you might get abducted by aliens" Rem said.
Subaru let out the heaviest sigh of his life, and hung up the call and placed his phone back in his pocket.
Rem's fear and obsession over aliens was really starting to get annoying to Subaru. It started out cute and adorable with her little innocent questions, but it eventually evolved into a full on phobia. Rem seems to be scared of aliens, and Ram seems to be scared of Subaru saw Ram's fear to be quite amusing.
While continuing to walk home Subaru felt his phone begin to vibrate constantly with text notifications. He knew they were all sent from Rem who was still having her irrational alien abductions freakout.
When Subaru arrived home he opened the apartment door to see Rem crying on the couch. She shot her head up at the doorway and let out a small sigh of relief when she saw Subaru at the door.
"Subaru, where were you?" Rem asked.
"Rem are you crying?" Subaru asked/
"I don't know if I was crying. I don't know what crying even is. Rem was scared you got abducted by aliens, why didn't you answer my texts?"
"This unhealthy obsession with aliens needs to stop Rem, '' Subaru said.
"But Subaru, there everywhere waiting to kidnap you at any second. The documentary and the stories the student told me, made me believe so"
"Rem, just know you are now forbidden from watching any of those documentaries without supervision from now on" Subaru said.
"Why Subaru?"
"Because of this right here" Subaru said as he pointed to Rem's face that still had tears trickling down her face.
"I was just worried about you Subaru," Rem said.
"I am aware of that, but you need to look at things more logically. Those documentaries are not viable proof that aliens exist. Literally nobody has had any encounters with aliens" Subaru said
"No Subaru you're wrong, there was someone in our class saying he had been captured by aliens one night"
"Who!?"
"The student who was sitting behind us," Rem said.
"That guy is always as high as a kite. He had probably gone crazy or something. Do not listen to anything he says, and also don't eat anything he gives to you" Subaru said.
Subaru then realized how ironic this sounded coming from him that literally has a girlfriend from another world.
Rem and Subaru proceeded to eat dinner. Rem had a bigger appetite than normal and ate all food, as well as all of Subarus leftovers.
After dinner was done with Subaru told Rem to join him in bed so she could sleep off her drug trip.
The only downside was, Rem wasn't feeling tired enough to fall asleep and laid there with Subaru feeling bored and confused.
"Subaru, I am really bored," Rem said.
"Just try and go to sleep Rem, you aren't looking so great"
"What! You think Rem's ugly" Rem said in a sad tone as tears welled up in her eyes.
"No, not like that. I am saying you don't feel so great" Subaru said.
Rem just nuzzled her head back into his chest and continued to stare off out the window taking in the view of the skyscraper next door. She could see the glass melt off of the frame.
"Subaru, why do I feel funny? What's happening to me"
"You'll be fine. Just try and sleep it off" Subaru said.
"I can't sleep, there are monsters outside" Rem said in an oddly calm voice.
"What are you talking about, Rem? There are no monsters, you are just seeing things"
"There are no monsters?"
"Yes Rem, there are no monsters" Subaru said.