Re:Gusteko. Starting life in another world in Gusteko
Arc 1 "unceremonious arrival"
"That'll be 363 yen."
Subaru picked up a metal coin and stopped to look at it.
"Oh, a grooved-edge ten,"
Having paid for his items, Subaru exits the store.
He stops short of a road and watches a car speed past him.
He walked out of the building's parking lot with a white plastic bag in his hand.
Deciding that he's had enough from standing there, Subaru began walking across the wide street with his hand in his pocket...
And then…
A sharp-clawed hand, coated in a mist of darkness was shown cutting out of a white wall of space and reaching right towards Subaru.
A weird force of wind ran through the world around Subaru as if it was a scanner. Sensing this, Subaru looked around before shrugging. "I guess anyone's eyes would be tired after holing up in their room, gaming all day."
Subaru rubbed at his eyes for a bit. As he was rubbing them the scene began to change. He struggled to force his eyes open at the sudden brightness.
Once he opened them… He looked before him with a haunted expression. (1)
White… it was white as far as he was able to see, he suddenly found himself in a snowy place, totally different from the urban neighborhood he was mere moments ago.
"What the hell? Too much gaming all day seems to have me hallucinating…" Was all the boy could say before a chilling sensation began invading is body, it turns out that a T-shirt with a tracksuit doesn't make the greatest protection against the cold.
"So cold, what even happened? Is this real? This feels to real to be just my mind playing tricks on me… I was crossing the street, and then… suddenly i'm in a snowy field? That makes no sense!" The boy shouts while grabbing his head making exaggerated poses. Then he proceeds to take a look to his surroundings, it seems like a snow forest, the white, fresh snow reflected the light of the sun, making looking at the ground hard from all the brightness, there are some trees and bushes, all of them painted white from the snow, if he was in a better position, he surely will stop to admire the beauty of the sight.
"Maybe i can call for help?" He says while pulling out his phone while rubbing the back of his head with the other hand, only to notice two things: 1- The hour in his flip phone changed and now reads 5:47 PM, weird. 2- He has no reception, so no calls or internet.
"Crap, now what? Guess I'll just have to wander until i find someone kind enough to tell me how to get home, wish I had better clothes to endure this cold… my sneakers are kinda starting to get wet, better to start shmoving"
After wandering for some time without a direction the boy starts getting a bit frustrated about his luck regarding his task of finding someone. "How long have i been walking? All this snow doesn't let me sit down anywhere without getting my butt wet". Luckily for him it wasn't snowing at the moment, or he will have the risk of catching a cold with the low temperature and a wet body.
"… It can't be, rigth?, There is no way that i am in a rural or low population area, right? right?!..." He asks to no one, and no one responds. Subaru had a hand on his chin while he was thinking about what to do, only to be pull out of his thoughts from the feeling of something cold and small landing in his nose. He then looks up only to notice the gray clouds covering the sun and the little snowflakes starting to pour down on the land.
"This is great, excellent, what time it is? 7:07 pm? The night is coming, and I'm still lost and to make things better, it started to snow, maybe I should stop and look for a place to cover myself in case things go to worse" He stops is fruitless wandering and start his search for protection may the climate decide to add to the boy's misfortune. After not much time has passed "Lucky, a small cave, at least it seems like Lady Luck hasn't abandoned me totally" Subaru then enters the small cave, feeling a little bit better. "Maybe I should rest a bit before continuing, by the looks of the snow I don't have a good feeling about being in open air" He then puts his hand on the plastic bag that he has been carrying the whole time. "I don't see where I can boil water to eat this instant ramen, so chips will be, even though some warm ramen would be better…" While eating, Subaru starts to think about lots of things, the place he found himself on, what he is going to do, how he will do it, if he will die frozen before coming back to his house… "No, bad Subaru, I should keep those grim thoughts away, they'll only do harm" the boy says meanwhile he slaps softly both sides of his face,
"What time it is? I have been here for a while" He then looks again at the hour and then to the raging blizzard that's happening outside of the little cave, thankful for having found protection before being caught up in that mess. "8:10 pm, this damn blizzard has been going for about an hour, the cold wind that enters keeps chilling my bones even inside this place, and my phone can only get me light, if only I had downloaded one of those campfires apps" He lets a wry chuckle out of his mouth at his own joke, only to lower his face and look at the dark floor, nothing emitting light to see anything, in complete darkness.
Subaru stayed that way until a sound coming from the end of his refuge put him on alert, putting the plastic bag in the floor and slightly trembling he pulled out his phone, turned on the flashlight and started walking towards the sound… only to find some rocks and nothing more, releasing a breath he didn't know he was holding, turned back to the entrance, still with the flashlight functioning only to be met by a sight worthy of a horror movie, a petite black haired child in ragged "clothes" covered in blood holding some shard of something looking at him with purple eyes.
"who- GHUUU!" Was all that he was able to say, because the small child charged against him and using the shard cut open his abdomen, spilling out his guts and blood all over the place, not that he could see it, from the pain he let go of his phone, dropping to the floor and the light pointing to the contrary direction of the child, feeling weakness wash over his body, Subaru dropped to the ground, too shocked to scream at the child and too painful to try to grab his bowels, maybe it was because his senses were starting to get numb, but he could have swear that he heard the child make an amused sound.
With coldness setting all over his body, Natsuki Subaru had died.
"AHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhh-wha-…what?" Finding that he has strength again to scream, he screams from the pain, scaring some birds by doing so, only to enter shock from the white brightness that suddenly hits his eyes, Subaru takes some moments to finally process what he was seeing, a snowy field, very bright from all the snow and the sunny day.
"…" *tump* All strength that he had recovered quickly vanished, making him fall on his butt on top of the fresh snow, confusion being the only common factor in his now chaotic thoughts, 'what just happened' 'why it doesn't hurt anymore?' 'was that a vision of some sorts?' 'Is this a nightmare?' 'It has to be a nightmare' 'This is definitively a nightmare, yup, case solved'.
"Now, all I have to do is wake up!" He pinches his face… Nothing happens. "Ha, one more try!" Subaru does it again, same result. "Three times the charm!" Starting to get agitated the boy pinches one more time, now using more force than the 2 last tries. "AUCH!... is… is this not a dream?... it can't be, i-it is not possible! I… *gulp* I… No, don't say it Subaru, that didn't happen, yeah, that's right, Hahahahahahaaa…" As a final part of his argument to convince himself, he lets a wry and tired laugh, clearly not believing what he just told to himself.
Regaining some of his senses after his little breakdown Subaru takes notice that he is sitting and the snow and he is getting wet and cold, so the boy slowly starts to stand up 'I… I don't want to experience that again' with that thought he slowly starts to walk in the opposite direction to the first time, hoping to avoid another encounter with the bloody child doing that, while walking, Subaru starts trying to think and sort his thoughts, which are a mess at the moment. 'Okay, that was pathetic, such ugly display, may as well try to figure out what really just happened… I'm here at this place alone and lost, I walked in one direction for about an hour and a half only to find nothing. Then there was a blizzard, I hid in a cave and… ate some chips…' In the corner of his eye he sees inside the plastic bag something that shouldn't be there, a sealed plastic bag of chips, he takes it out of the bag and starts examining it, noting that is a perfectly normal sealed bag of potato chips.
"That can't be right" He slowly starts to realize all the inconsistencies, his belly is not wide open, is day again, he is back at the start even though he walked for quite some time. After pondering a little bit more, Subaru pulls out his phone to see the hour "6:13 pm… I'm back?" Surprised by this realization he rethinks his situation again 'Somehow, I went back in time, how? Or why?' Slowly putting his hands on his own head, Subaru takes a deep breath and "AHHHHHHHHHHHH! Everything is so confusing!" Shouts while moving all his body in a nonsensical way.
"Fuh, I should better start looking for some other place to hide myself from the blizzard" said that the walk is resumed. After 10 minutes of walking Subaru crosses a particularly dense zone with trees only to see something that looks like columns of smoke coming out of some chimneys. This vision is enough to put a wide smile in the face of the young boy along restoring some light into his eyes. "Finally… people I'll be able to ask where I am".
Almost jumping from happiness Subaru approaches with light pace only to be surprised by what he noticed lurking around the border of what appears to be a human town, a small child with black hair, wearing nothing more than a crude dress made from ragged cloth hiding in the branches of a tree well-hidden if saw from the town, it appeared to be observing with great care one of the houses.
"Is that the kid from the last time?" Starting to get a little angry seeing his jumpscare now in the light of the day, he decides to first confront the child for what they did, or rather, what would do.
Subaru gets close from a blind spot so he can also scare a little the brat, it may be petty, but he wants to get them back from his heart attack at the cave. "Hey you kid! Yeah you there, get down here!" The boy demands to the child, the child's eyes open wide only to turn their head and see whoever called them, meanwhile they carefully start them descend from the tree, seemingly hesitating a little after taking a glance at their caller, since he had "scary eyes".
While the kid takes their time to touch the floor, Subaru uses this time to take a good look at the little person, he notices many things, firstly, the bad shape they appear to be in, both malnourished and bruised, there are some ugly looking spots in their skin, and their arms look worryingly thin, like if they are bone and little more, is a bit surprising how they are able to climb and get down from the tree, their hair slightly below the shoulders looked really dirty and full of little branches and leaves (not surprising considering she was hiding in a tree between the leaves), like if they weren't able to wash it in who knows how long, going by the face and hair that they have it appears to be a little girl and lastly, the thing that made him flinch a little was her feet, they were starting to get purple from the cold, being out here and touching the snow constantly must have made her suffer frostbite, luckily is not so bad at the moment.
"So I… ummm, you see, the thing is... "He closes his eyes, puts his hand down his chin and contemplates the situation he is in 'Crap, now I feel bad screaming to a girl who is clearly having a rough time, maybe I can do something good for her? And then ask her questions? Doesn't appear that she is going to attack me right now by her reaction' "Hey, you want to eat something yummy? I got some potato chips I can give you" Subaru slowly opens his eyes to see how she responds, only to find out she has disappeared, or rather, she escaped while Subaru was thinking, leaving a short trail of steps that disappear once they get away from him, probably she erased them to not be followed.
"… Uh? Uh?! Where did she go now?" Disappointed in himself for letting the kid get away, Subaru thinks about his next move 'Maybe I can ask around, maybe the people of the town knows about the girl, the house she was looking at so focused may be a good starting point'.
While approaching the stalked house, he notices that there is no one in the streets, sure, a blizzard is coming but at the time is sunny, why wouldn't be anyone out here? "Better check the time, maybe I still can find the girl before the climate gets aggressive… 6:49 PM… not as much time I would like". Finally reaching the door of the house, meanwhile he notices what appears to be a signal beside the door, the signal has some symbols he can't understand Subaru knocks on the door 'I hope I'm in a place that speaks Japanese, otherwise I'm screwed'.
A slightly fatty man opens the door with a grumpy face and brown hair and eyes, said eyes locking with Subaru's ones immediately, the man wears clothes appropriated for the cold of the region, but they don't look that modern, neither do the houses they live in, maybe this is a more traditional region? "are ya a merchant from Kararagi? You have to be, the folk from here don't have such weird clothes, anyway, you are out of luck, just restocked my goods some days before, and I believe almost everyone in town did, so you'll have to go to anotha place, so do us both a favor a get going, ma home is getting cold, besides, there is a snowstorm coming". (2)
'Good, it seems I can understand what he is saying, and Kararagi? I don't remember anything with that name, but certainly has a Japanese ring to it, so I'm still in Japan? Where? I don't remember any region with this type of architecture, it doesn't even look Japanese at all!".
The man turns back to close the entrance of his home so Subaru his pulled out of his thoughts "WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT, I'm no merchant, please listen to me, there appears to be a lost child near this town, I was coming here and I saw her, black hair, purple eyes and ragged clothes, she was looking at this house, like, a lot, is she your daughter? Did you fight with her or something? That's okay but to throw her away with nothing is really cruel man" satisfied with his display of morality, he looks a little smug even.
"Ya said a black haired brat?... could it be the vermin that has been stealing the goods of ma shop? So is still around? I'm gonna catch it and teach them a lesson, maybe I could get some coins for them, heck maybe even a little fun" As the man says this a devilish grins find its place in his face, clearly amused by finding the thing that has been troubling him recently, the feeling that someone is breaking in his store and stealing, the only thing he was able to found were some strands of black hair.
"I'll have to thank ya mate, I'll finally get rid of the troublesome brat, and is thanks to you" The man in joyous state takes the hand of Subaru and starts shaking it with enthusiasm "uh, yeah, your welcome…" Meanwhile Subaru is at a lost, he doesn't trust this man, and the emotions he transmitted while speaking of the kid irk him, but he already has spoked to the man, and he can't change that.
"Hey, can I help you catch her? I have… ehhh, gotten a liking to the girl… yeah, right, since I gave you the info, I think is fair for me to have her" 'Better than to leave her with him, seriously, you seem very creepy man, and that fun part bothers me".
The man stares at Subaru and blinks a little, his face showing that he has achieved some kind of realization "… Now I understand, of course one of da greedy men of Kararagi wouldn't help someone without reason, you want to keep the brat, and you want ma help to catch her, so you are in the gig of slavery… Fine, fine, you get to keep the girl… after I beat her a little, unless you are willing to pay me some coins for all the stuff she stole" Finishes the man with a sheepishly smile, as if he was imagining the good future that is to come, be it the beating or the coins.
Subaru is a surprised by what the man said but uses the daydreaming of the man in front of him to conceal it 'That was what he means by "get some coins"? He was planning to sell the child to slavery? Also, isn't slavery illegal in Japan? Did I stumble into a region of Japan that has black markets in the countryside?... that's it, I have made up my mind, I'm taking that girl with me, I can't leave her here' He then makes his right hand into a fist and hits the palm of his left hand, as if to solidify his resolution.
"So, um, how do we catch the kid?".
"Uh, what are you saying mate? When she comes of course".
"How do you know when she will come?".
"She will do it today, during the blizzard, most folk sleep during when this climate arrives, she has been stealing from me for a week when I'm snoozing, I can't find how she enters, and last time I tried to stay up and catch her, but she threw spice to my face and got away, couldn't even get a good look at her, I lost that spice thanks to that little devil too, but now… since you are going to help me, I reckon we have a chance".
'Again with that creepy grin' Subaru resigns himself to the plan of the chubby man, hoping he can take the girl under his wing, or at least help her escape in case the man decides to continue his plan of beating her, Subaru doesn't know why, but he has a feeling the man wasn't joking when he said that.
The shopkeeper, noticing that was starting to snow, decides that they should start taking their positions, since they don't know where she will enter from, the best is to guard different spots and shout to the other in case the little thief comes as predicted, Subaru stays hidden in a blind spot of a corner near the food, since he saw how malnourished the kid was, suspecting she will come to get something to eat, meanwhile, the guy decided to guard the liqueur he had bought recently, since that was what was being stolen the last 2 times.
'Why would a little girl need alcohol? Man, the more I hear the more I feel her situation is fucked up, but there is still something that I don't understand, why was she bloody in the cave, and why did she attack me? I was just viving there, was that her cave? Did I step on her territory? Nah, can't be that, she is no animal… but she does seem a little bit feral, I wonder what happened to her to end in such state… And how I ended here too? Helping a suspicious man catch the little kiddo while protecting myself from the cold inside his house/shop, ha, I almost sound like the bad guy said like that, maybe I'm right even about being the bad guy… I'm starting to despair, really manly Subaru, better keep watch in case she really comes to steal". The head of Subaru was filled with thoughts during this idle time, distracting him from his task at hand, luckily for him, nothing happened in the meantime.
Until…
His stomach started to growl from hunger, taking him back to reality 'Ah, right, I forgot to even eat my chips… and all this food making smell around me is kinda making me hungry, even if the majority is food meant to stay conserved for a long time, like those grains and that powder of something… hey, maybe I can ask the man for hot water so I can make m- "His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden voice.
"GET HERE BOY! I GOT HER!" The voice of the man came with a hint of anger and excitement, something that worry Subaru, who as fast as he could get up trying to reach the other person in the house to try to take the girl. While he was going he could hear something like the struggle between the man and the kid, there was the distinct sound of glass shattering followed by the sound of something loudly hitting the floor followed by a grunt. Finally reaching the spot where the other man was, Subaru was speechless seeing the mess of the place, bottles of alcohol lay broken on the ground, the liquid splashed in several parts of the room but the most worrying thing was the little girl on the floor, with blood coming from her back, it appears that some fragments of the bottles pierced her skin and others got stuck there when the man threw her to the floor.
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?!" Subaru was both terrified and angry at the man who was looking at him and the girl with a smug face 'Look at how terrified she looks, and she appears to be in the verge of crying! damn of course she is, she just got slammed at broken glass!' Subaru gets down and tries to lift her back to see how bad the damage was, it wasn't pretty, but at least didn't appear to be something that puts her life to risk, there wasn't a shard big and sharp enough to pierce an organ or something.
"Bah, I was merely going along with our deal, you didn't give me the coins, so I give her what she deserved… Come on, is not that bad, I have seen slaves in worse shape than that, you can still sell her for a decent price… Cursed brat, now I don't have any alcohol left, I don't think you have alcohol since your gig is slavery, but anyway, do you have some?".
Subaru was really disgusted by the cruelty of the man who just beat a child and threw her to the ground with broken crystal, his disgust painted in his face, unable to keep up the façade he was using moments prior.
The boy was too much focused on the man as to notice what the girl in his arms was doing, after hearing the voice that sounded so alarmed for how she was being treated, she was hoping for a fool who would help her escape, this must be her unlucky day, since the person that was holding her was no other than a slaver by the words of the shopkeeper. She didn't want to return to being a slave, she had resisted so many years the cold and the hunger, so if she was able to fight and escape, she would do it, steeling her resolve she took a fragment of a bottle with her right hand and prepared herself to attack the big fatty man first, since he looked more of a threat than the boy who was holding her in a way that she can easily escape, using this to her advantage she faked getting sleep while hiding the shard from the man using the back of the boy as cover.
So, once the big guy was distracted talking with the boy, she delivered a blow to the boy's face and charged to the man pointing the shard to his stomach.
Subaru was really piss off with the man, arguing about that's not how you should treat the kid and such, he sometimes gives a glance to the black haired girl who looks like she has fallen sleep… He then starts to worry, since she has been losing enough blood to soak his clothes a little but he didn't think that she would lose THAT much as to faint.
"Don't shake her like that, if she really fainted, that wouldn't do any good, calm down… and get out of ma house, you got the brat, so our deal is over, dunno where you left your carriage, but if you want to spend a night here, ya could let me have more fun with her, I won't kill her, promise"
Before Subaru could respond he feels a sudden pain on his face, especially his nose, the little girl punches him in the face, making him stumble backwards a little, meanwhile the kid drops from his arms and runs to the man cutting open his belly, revealing his guts and splattering blood around, including the child. The man screams from the pain, and Subaru can only watch in horror and sympathy since he knows how much it hurts to die from a cut in the abdomen with your intestines out in the floor. He looks at the culprit, the little girl has is back turned to him, so he can't see her face, but she is trembling and making sounds similar to chirps, Subaru quite doesn't understand how to interpret that, unfortunately for him, he doesn't have the time to decipher it, since the black haired nightmare turns herself to see him, which scares him shitless, he is not able to say a word or even move, he is too focused on her face, she is smiling, a devilish grin finds its way to her face, only for that grin to turn into a hateful face, her eyes locked into his, and for the first time, Subaru hears the voice of the girl.
"I will not go back to slavery as long as I can"
And with that, Subaru experienced a repetition of the cave, he was attacked, his belly open and his bowels freed. Maybe the cut was not very good or maybe she planned this, but he died more slowly this time, letting Subaru have one last thought before everything faded to black
'I wanted to help you, how did we ended up like this' Then, despite the pain he is feeling, doesn't scream, he doesn't feel like he has the force to do so, and yet, he starts to remember her dirty hair, her frostbitten feet, her malnourished state, bleeding in the floor with shards of glass in her back, and her hateful glare directed at him 'Maybe, if I had done things differently, I could have avoided this… If I get another chance… I swear… I'm going to protect you' He has truly taken a liking to the girl who has killed him twice, maybe it was pity, perhaps empathy, it could be that he wants to be a hero or simply wants someone who depends on him… but the fact remains that Subaru wants to help the girl.
And with that, Natsuki Subaru has died again. (3)
There was a sudden white brightness that hurt his eyes, followed quickly by the phantom pain of bleeding to dead in the floor and having your guts outside your body, Subaru still doesn't scream, but his eyes reflect all the pain he is experiencing, not letting him do anything other than to stare at the void while his mind reconstructs itself after experiencing death a second time.
After sometime he is finally able to react again, so first things first, he slowly pulls up his tracksuit and t-shirt to inspect if the wound is not there, letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding when there wasn't any wound. He then pulls out is phone trying to confirm one thing "5:56 PM, so I'm truly back… I'm still not sure what's happening, but I think for the moment I will call this ability of mine… "Return by Death" … Better hurry, I gotta stop that child from stealing from that shop, or we will have a problem"
Subaru stars running in the direction of the town, wanting to arrive the earliest possible to stop the kid from initiating the chain of events were she is beaten by the man, maybe if he asks around town he can discover a way for him to not catch her or distract him when he is waiting to catch her.
'If I can convince her to take the food she could sneak more easily I believe… mmmmh, how I will know if I convinced her? If she goes for the bottle despite my warning she is still going to get caught, should I make a distraction then? Knocking the door seemed to work last time, maybe when the snowstorm is happening I can knock and distract the man while she sneaks away? Wait, why I'm suddenly an accomplice? Ah whatever, I'll give her a good scolding once I have the time to talk to her, right now, I care more to get her safely out of this problem'
Eventually, Subaru reached the border of the town, immediately starting to look for the troublesome girl that has already killed him twice, seriously, why he is still trying to help her? He asks himself, not sure what is the reason, he even trembles a little remembering the hate filled stare she had dedicated to him.
He spots her in a different tree this time, as she been changing trees after certain amounts of time? Subaru shakes his head; he has no time to lose in useless thoughts, so with a smile on his face he approached the girl hiding in the tree, with the bag of potato chips out in his right hand.
"Hey! You, girl up there, care to come down here and have a little chat with me? I can give you this bag of food if you do so" He then points at the bag of chips with his other hand. The girl seems confused by this gesture, thinks about it a little and decides to come down the tree.
"oh, so you did come down, I thought it would be more hard than that" The girl is keeping her distance, but she still is focused on him, so Subaru deems adequate to start with the little questions.
"alright, one easy to start, what's your name?"
"Elsa"
"… come on, go on…" Subaru was a little confused, okay, he asked for her name, but he was expecting her full name.
"Elsa… just Elsa" The girl appeared to understand what was confusing the boy and added to her response, even though to Subaru that was not very good signal that she lacked a surname 'It is because she was a slave? that's so sad, I would feel so bad without the Natsuki in my name'
While Subaru is entertaining his own thoughts, is the girl who asks the next question "Are you a nobleman? you don't speak like any other person I have met, and your clothes are so strange, never I have seen anything like that before, they seem a bit funny even, and not very good against the cold too".
'Wow talk about chatty, and honest too, but I like it, she seems much more amicable this way, Elsa… Elsa… Nobleman? I don't think she is speaking about my appearance; does she mean that in a literal way? Mmm she is looking at me so attentively, I should respond to her question, but should I tell her the truth?'.
"No Elsa, I'm not a nobleman, I'm not even sure why did you think that"
"No? Then, who are you?" Subaru prepares himself, he knows what's coming, and he is excited by that.
He points a finger to the sky and pushes his hip back, making his signature pose "I'm Natsuki Subaru, lost and broke beyond compare, nice to meet you, Elsa" He then smiles brightly at the girl, she is perplexed and kind of cringing a little on the inside.
"Y-Yeah, that's the extravagant personality of a nobleman there" She says, holding a chuckle at how bizarre the situation is, she tries to keep composure so she still has the upper hand but her efforts are not enough and the chuckle escapes her prison, something that the boy doesn't fail to notice.
Subaru smiles even more after seeing her chuckle, it seems like now he can start talking to her more naturally, and besides, he has always been good with kids, there is no way the girl in front of him could resist his charm.
"There is still something I want to talk with you, but I imagine that you would want to eat something first, you seem like you need it" He then throws the plastic bag of chips to Elsa "you gotta do this to open it" He does the motion hoping for Elsa to understand, she seems a little confused about this but tries it anyway, opening the bag successfully. She then sniffs a little and looks back at Subaru "You sure I can eat this? Is not poisoned right?". Hearing her question Subaru holds his tracksuit near the place where his heart should be "Poisoned? You hurt me, why would I poison you?".
After watching his response, with a wary expression Elsa decides to test her luck, putting one chip in her mouth, hoping that they taste as good as they smell "Yummy". The flavor was nothing like she had tasted before and the saltiness was not something she had the pleasure of enjoying often, since salt was valuable. 'Is this nobleman's traveling food? Ah, even their traveling food tastes so good while the rest of people suffers hunger, so unfair'. Now that she had tasted it and noticed nothing wrong, she started to eat her way.
Subaru who was delighting himself in the blissful expression of Elsa replaying in his memory suddenly returns to a horrifying reality, Elsa had absolutely destroyed the bag and was eating like a total beast. He was so shocked he couldn't berate her, much less stop her. So he was stuck like that until Elsa finished and looked at him.
"Thank you mister for the food, maybe you have more?" She is smiling sweetly now, as if she hadn't just massacred a poor bag of chips, the idea of getting more food, on top of that tasty, was making her act friendlier to the strange nobleman, even so, she was still cautious around him, since she doesn't know his intentions.
"Well, uh, that was… unexpected, anyway Elsa, I want you to hear me out, don't steal from the shop tonight, something bad will happen to you if you do" She looked surprised by his words, how does he know about her stealing from the shop? How does he know she was going to do it again tonight? Why is he warning her like this? Giving her food and talking with her. The only conclusion she reached that explained it all 'He is a fool'.
"Well anyway Elsa, I'll have to leave you now okay?, there is still something that I need to do, remember my words, don't do it" Just as he came, he went away, leaving the small girl behind confused and to sort her own thoughts.
'Well, that happened' Was the first thing to pop in her mind.
Subaru roamed the empty streets, he said he was going to ask around, but he is being distracted by his memories from the conversation with Elsa, there are a few things that make him think that he didn't do quite a good job convincing her as he first thought, at least he was able to feed her a little, even if potato chips aren't the most nutritious of foods.
Subaru stops walking near a house in bad shape to rest and so happens to eavesdrop in the conversation between a bunch of orphans that were refuging inside the abandoned house.
"hey, ya heard that Jack has been being stolen since last week?"
"For real? And ya think is one of us?"
"Nah, no one of us would be stupid enough to come close to that cretin, besides, you now the kind of rumors that are around him"
"Yeah but every one of us as some kind of shady rumors surrounding us"
"True but nobody has so many people confirming seeing him do something strange or sus"
"Ah, so ya believe that the creep really is into kids?"
"Yes, and even if I didn't believe it, I would get to the guy, he is known to jump to violence easily"
"Well yes I suppose, there is an unlucky bastard out there, once they are caught, they will suffer Jack's wrath, let's hope is a guy being an idiot and not a woman, the rumors don't have a happy ending"
Subaru was listening silently to the conversation, while Elsa killed him two times now, and he didn't understand why she did it the first time, he was starting to feel empathetic towards the black aired kid, much more know that he talked with her in a calm manner, meanwhile, the shopkeeper gave him bad vibes the moment he started talking about the thief, as if he was eager to punish whoever it was, and it seems he is not especially subtle in his disgusting behavior in town.
He was going to continue that train of thought until he feels something cold and soft touch his face, it was snow, the blizzard was starting, and he was nowhere near the shop to distract the man from catching Elsa.
He started to run with all his might, reaching the shop out of breath and with his face and hands shivering a little from the cold. He doesn't wait to recover breath and knocks the door, hoping to not be late…
…
The doors open, showing a man who he already is familiar with, looking exceptionally angry at the moment "And who the hell are ya? I'm doing something important know, get lost kid" The man slams the door on his face, not letting Subaru say a word. Subaru relaxes a little because it appears he hasn't caught Elsa yet, but maybe that little window of time wasn't enough, he needs to distract him more. So he tries again knocking the door… 1 minute passes and nothing, so he does it again, using more force this time.
After waiting a little and hearing furious stomps coming from inside the house the doors opens again, only that now does with such violence that the doors hit hard the other side, making a loud sound against the wall, at the same time the sound of glass shattering is heard coming from the area where the alcohol was stored. The man who was about to yell at Subaru now rapidly turns back and runs inside to check what that sound was.
Meanwhile, Subaru is dumbstruck, he was not expecting this development of the events and is only able to react once he hears Elsa running away from the house into the snowstorm, too strong said blizzard to see her, and probably her footsteps will disappear with the falling snow, but he is able to know where she is going, the direction of the cave, it seems he was able to prevent Elsa getting caught, now the only thing he needs to do is follow her, luckily for him he knows where she will go.
Before Subaru was able to initiate the chase, he feels the collar of his tracksuit being pulled and before he can react he is thrown into the floor facing down, sending a wave of pain through his body. Subaru can't see who threw him to the floor, but he can hear his voice, so he doesn't take long to know who did it.
"YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHET, SO YA WERE WORKING WITH THE BRAT?! I FUCKING SAW THEM RUNNING WITH MA GRANHIERT… Both of you are going to pay, starting with you" His voice became more calm and cold, with a murderous intent clear to even Subaru, who can be very dense sometimes.
'Shit shit shit shit, I have to get away, this bastard is crazy' Subaru tries to get up, but he receives a kick in his back making him fall again face first into the ground "Guh bastard, are you going to kill me?" trying to buy time to recover Subaru tries to start a conversation, but the man remains silent, only for him to deliver a kick in the stomach of the boy, making him roll a few meters in the snow while he screams and cries from the pain. Subaru throws some stomach juices from the hit, but he has no time to recover since he starts to being beaten again. He tries to struggle and defend himself, giving the man a kick in the leg once he approached to give him another blow, the man was hurt from the hit, but not as much how Subaru would have liked.
"now ya have done it" The man takes Subaru's arm and pulls to bring Subaru to himself, once the head of Subaru comes close from the pull, he delivers a punch to his face, almost leaving him unconscious, Subaru throws up some blood, painting red the snow where the blood landed, the metallic taste still strong enough for him to recognize it even if he was left dizzy from the punch. His nose was broken and breathing was becoming hard. Rather than wait idle, the man sit himself on top of Subaru, took his head and started bashing it against the ground below de snow. Subaru didn't have the strength to resist the assault of the man, his skull starts to shatter while his flesh becoming mush, wanting to scream, but being unable, since when the man sat upon him he was unable to breathe correctly and his lungs were empty of air. This continued without a signal of stop even when the man was showing signs of lack of breath.
And in such horrible way, Natsuki Subaru, had died.
There was a sudden white brightness that hurt his eyes, while his head was ringing and pulsing so much he had to take it between his hands to endure it, Subaru with closed eyes and gritted teeth slowly reached down to the snow, taking a fistful and putting it in his head in an attempt to alleviate the pain he was feeling.
Luckily for him, it seemed to work, and after a short while he wasn't feeling like his head was going to explode at any moment, but still hurt like hell, he probably was going to continue with a headache for some time.
"Shit crap hell god damn it, it hurt it hurts it hurts it hurts" Some tears escape his eyes from the intense pain. Although he would like to wait there until the pain passes, he needs to reach Elsa and stop her, for the sake of both of them, he doesn't want to repeat his last try… or should he call it loop? It seems more appropriated that, yeah, his last loop.
"if genteelly speaking with her didn't work, what can I do? ARGH why is so hard convincing a little girl to don't steal once?... How I'm gonna convince her to stop stealing after?" Subaru speaks to himself while he walks toward the town, not wanting to run to not make worse his headache.
Subaru lets his head cool off during the travel to the town, trying to empty his head off needless thoughts, the only thing he needs to do is stop Elsa, and that he will do.
Subaru finally reaches the same part of the grove outside the town where he had met Elsa two times already. This time was not different, except the tree where he found out the girl. But Subaru was still suffering from the headache so he wasn't able to smile brightly like in the last loop, he had to conform with not having an ugly grimace from the pain.
"Hey, girl, down here! If you come down I'll give you some food, you'll find it tasty, I promise" Subaru doesn't wait for Elsa to finish climbing down the tree and opens the bag of chips, knowing he can use it as bait. The girl sniffs the air, even if she is a little far she can still smell it, she must have a good sense of smell. He hands out the bag to the child and she warily takes it, putting one chip in her mouth slowly…
"Yummy"
"Told you" Subaru takes a step forward, Elsa makes a step backwards, Subaru does it again, Elsa repeats it too.
"Come on kiddo, you don't have to be so worried around me, I want to help you" The girls keep on eating from the bag, but she has her eyes focused on the boy, scanning all his movements in case he tries to do something, and moving away every time he wants to close the distance.
"why?"
"… Uh? Because I want to?" Subaru suddenly found himself at a lost, he wasn't even sure why he was so fixated in saving this girl who has killed him, he was having complicated emotions and it was showing in his face without him realizing but the girl did notice this. The internal conflict that Subaru was experiencing were making worse his headache, which make him frown and grit his teeth.
Noting that he was distracted by his thoughts, Elsa slowly starts to back away, he may have given her food, but she doesn't trust him, so is better to escape and hide now that he is distracted. Once she is a decent amount away from him, she turns backs and prepares to run into the forest and hide, she can't afford someone informing the shopkeeper about her presence.
But before she could start her escape she was pounced to the snow and held in a firm embrace "Nope, you are going nowhere little miss, I need you to stay away from that man, so you are not going out of my sight this time" She was confused by the words of the boy, speaking as if he already knew her from somewhere, but she was sure this was her first time seeing the boy and he mentioned keeping her away from a man, but who? She could only be cautious him until she has more details.
Subaru still trapping the girl between his arms sits down in the snow, she is struggling in his arms and he feels that he can fall if he is careless "you know, you should keep eating instead of trying to get away, now that I can touch you, you feel more skinny than I thought" Subaru had locked her arms so she couldn't give him a punch like last time, but since he had offered her to eat, he let more free her right hand so she could eat her snack. 'Man, she looks totally like a normal girl at this moment, she almost makes me shit myself the first time I saw her, I think the lack of blood in her helps a lot'. Subaru smiles dumbly at his thoughts.
'This feels kind of nice, even if I don't know what he wants to do with me, but the cold is not so strong between his arms, and this is really tasty, noblemen sure have luxury… and extravagance, is he working for someone?... maybe he is not a nobleman, but an impostor? That feels more right, he lacks the aura of power of the noblemen, I will stay here a little more until I find if he is a threat, but I'm sure if I tried a little harder I can get away from him' Her mind was full of useless thoughts, now more relaxed having something in her stomach and not feeling the cold piercing her feet.
"Seriously, you could have acted this calm from the start, you would have given me less trouble that way" Subaru lets out a tired sigh at how easily he was having it in this loop, seriously why he needed to suffer in the other loops if he could have just bribed Elsa with food? 'Oh wait, I tried that, but she got away… the first time, I shouldn't have left her alone the second time, damn it… uh, where I'm going to sleep tonight? There is a blizzard coming, I don't want her to leave her alone, but I need to find a place to pass the snowstorm, better if it's away from that man, if he makes the connection between Elsa and the thief then we are fucked…'
"Hey E-kid, were you planning to steal from that shop?" Subaru decides to try his luck, recently it has been bad, but maybe just now he is a little luckier. The eyes of Elsa open wide, she was not expecting to be catch in such a way, so this man was working with the shopkeeper, and she fell like a fool. Elsa started fighting in the arms of Subaru, having a cold sweat appearing in her head.
"Hey hey! calm down, calm down! I just want to help you, don't steal from that shop, you're gonna get caught" Subaru was desperate, he was so close to keep her safe, and now, she was trying to escape, and what was worse, she was succeeding, how is this kid so strong?
Their battle continued for a minute, until Elsa bit Subaru's arm drawing blood, making him release her and trying to calm the pain in his arm using the snow. Before Subaru was able to regain his hold of Elsa, she had picked a thick branch from the ground and used it to smack the head of Subaru, that was not enough to make Subaru faint, but good enough to make him lose his balance, something that the black haired girl was going to make full use, since she pushed Subaru, making him trip and hit his head against a tree, finally putting the boy to sleep.
Before completely losing consciousness, Subaru had one last thought.
"Defeated by a kid, I'm really pathetic…"
Subaru woke up almost with his legs almost buried in the snow, his upper half had snow but nowhere near his legs, the tree provided protection from his torso upwards. His hands were cold since they were directly making contact with the snow. With difficulty and helping himself using the tree he got back up on his feet, feeling his legs a little numb from the cold.
"Crap, how long did I black out? Pls be okay pls be okay" Subaru quickly pulls out his phone and checks the time "7:33 pm, the snow has been falling for about 20 minutes, maybe she hasn't made her move yet!" Subaru hurries to the house of the man and knock on the door, nothing, he does it more roughly, nothing, Subaru despairs, he is too late, Elsa already entered if the man is not awake or bothering to answer the door. Subaru puts his hand on his chin and starts to walk in circles while he puts his brain to work in maximum capacity.
'Shit what I do know? Maybe, maybe she got away? Think Subaru think, what have you learned in this loops? She was bloody in the cave…' The image of Elsa covered in blood charging at him flashes through his mind 'She has been stealing, she will defend herself when caught' The memories of her using a glass shard to kill both him and the man repeats in his head 'If able to escape, she will go in the direction of the cave… wait, why was she bloody in the cave? Was she caught and managed to escaped by killing that man as she did in the second loop? Then I think I understand why she attacked me in the first loop, she was scared and just escaped a disgusting man… If "Return by Death" returns me at the same point and the only thing that makes things change are my actions, then since I didn't interact with nothing in my first loop and now I didn't help Elsa escape she must have done the same as in the first loop! Then, with all that into account, she should be going to the cave right now!'
With that conclusion, the boy starts his desperate run to find the girl in the snowstorm.
A lonely girl walked in the roaring blizzard, her thin arms holding a bottle of alcohol, the cold crystal was hurting her hands, but she had to endure it. The white snow blew so hard that she could not see more than a few meters ahead of her. (4)
The wind roared noisily as the chilly snow grew stronger. Despite feeling as if her bare skin was about to peel off, she took step after step, leaving footprints in the snow behind her. 'They disappeared so fast that it is sometimes hard to even tell what direction I am going. Am I going forwards or backwards, forwards or backwards? It's getting hard to tell if I'm even dead or alive.'
"..." Her lips loosened in a chuckle at the silly thought as she continued to move over the snow, the freezing blizzard still crashing into her. 'Falling snow is such a strange thing. The powdery pellets are so soft when they fall from the sky, only to become a freezing weapon when they meet their companions on the ground.'
Her bare feet, devoid of shoes, were torn to shreds and the sensation of blood flowing from her soles reminded her of the pulse of life. As she moved through this frigid environment, a series of unhelpful thoughts popped into her head.
'If I had stayed with that strange man a little longer would have been able to get a decent meal? Even if what I ate was tasty, I don't feel like it was very filling… the flavor was very good, it's a shame I wouldn't be able to experience it again. I'm really skinny, that man commented that too… but I have resigned myself to forsake that pretty aspect in post of my freedom, I needed to get away from those vulgar slavers who wanted to touch that which belonged to me. I didn't want myself to permanently disappear. I still believe I made the right choice'
"..."
When it came to those unimportant thoughts, all of those things were divisible.
Everything, including herself, was unimportant in the face of the cold of this moment.
"Cold, cold, cold, cold, cold." she chanted it like a spell, but it still remained cold.
The cold takes away one's ability to think like a human. She had never been much of a rational thinker, but this tendency had become more pronounced. In a situation where the choice between life and death is narrowed down to two extreme options, humans can be considered no different than animals. In fact, beasts are more dedicated to life in the sense that they don't get lost in their attachment to other living beings.
If that's the case, would it be easier for she to live if she became a beast?
"Woof, woof, woof….." Her faintly red lips imitate a dog's cry in a scratchy voice.
There was no meaning to it. It was just another one of those useless thoughts…...no, maybe there was meaning.
"Ha! I finally found you, you little shit!"
"Ah!"
Over the sounds of the snowstorm, she heard the muffled voice of a man. Immediately after, she was punched in the shoulder, and the impact knocked her body sideways onto the snow. The cold snow embraced her body gently, as her cheeks clenched and her blood began to freeze.
She looked over and saw a large man standing right next to me.
His face was familiar. It was obvious who it was.
"Did ya think ya could get away with stealing ma goods thief?!"
The man who proceeded to grab her by her black hair before lifting her up was the owner of the store she had stolen from. She was amazed that he was able to chase a fleeing girl all this way in a blizzard. She wondered if it was admirable business spirit, insidious vindictiveness, or maybe even both.
She thought earlier that the cold takes away one ability to think like a human, but it also takes away something else. It's called marginality, compassion, or to put it in an easier way to understand, humanity.
The thief who had lost it and the man who had lost it fought against each other relentlessly.
An adult and a child. The biggest difference was size.
The man once again grabbed her by the hair and lifted me up, her feet unable to touch the snow. The man's fist slammed into the middle of her immobilized body.
He hit her again and again. There was no way she could escape the impact as her bones creaked. 'The color of blood would be mixed with my urine for a while.' With that thought in mind, she continued to try and turn her mind away from the pain.
"Haa, haa…"
Eventually, the man who had punched her so many times that he ran out of breath let go of the hair he had been holding. Her body slumped over and fell onto the snow, limply and clumsily.
Then the man slowly covered her motionless body.
"..."
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? YOU CREEP!" Came a thunderous voice, filled with anger. She recognized the voice, but it couldn't be, why would it be? Before she could question more in her head the man who was on top of her was kicked in the side with enough force for him to roll around in the snow and stop giving her protection against the blizzard, but it also allowed her to see who was challenging the man.
It was the boy she had met during the day, for whatever reason he too had come into the blizzard chasing her and appeared to be trying to protect her. Since he adopted a defensive pose in front of her, maybe she could take advantage of this situation. And so, she continued to lay down in the snow, waiting to see what happens next.
The man gets up holding his kicked side, breathing heavily and spoke "So ya weren't working alone, I'll send ya both to hell." Before letting out a wrath filled roar and charging at the boy, the boy tries to defend himself against the attack but he is tackled to the ground besides her, unable to stop the force and weight of the fat person.
Then they start a fight in the floor, both holding some body part of the other, to not let them stand up, the boy uses his right knee to hit the man stomach but his attacks lack the force to incapacitate the man, only making him angrier with each jab. The man tired of this uses his big and heavy body to press down the boy and starts choking it with his hands.
The boy doesn't have the force to free himself from the man, and his face starts changing color. Looking at the fight and the clear winner, the girl feels a little disappointed, she had expected the boy to give more of a fight, she would be in a better situation if the boy came on top because the boy didn't appear hostile to her, at least at the moment.
It was a coincidence that her hand touched something that would be decisive to the rest of her life. A fragment of the bottle of Grandhiert that had broken when the man hit her shoulder and threw her to the ground. She took a big fragment of shattered crystal in her hand and with all her strength she rolled next to the boy and the man, putting herself between the two men and using the shard to deal a fatal cut.
"Gugh-"
"...?"
Immediately, a strange sound mixed with the man's ragged breath as she tilted her head.
Right in front of the boy and girl, the man's eyes widen and he opens his mouth, showing his yellow stained teeth. And then-
Black blood poured out of his mouth, as he began to turn his head away from them.
She keeps looking at the man and wondered what had happened, as the scent of blood took over her nostrils.
"...oh."
"Guh- "The boy behind her makes a sound that suggest he is keeping his vomit inside his mouth.
Suddenly, heat began to soak all of her body and she finally looked at where she had hit.
-The man's belly was ripped open, and his blood and guts were scattered from his waist down.
In the extreme cold, it emitted a steamy heat that warmed her cold, frozen body.
She couldn't put into words the unexplainable emotions that she felt the moment she realized this fact.
While she was awakening something inside her, the boy who she was on top moves almost throwing her into the snow. He pauses his movements a little and murmurs to himself "Come on Subaru, men are about guts!" while he pulls out his jacket and uses it to wrap and cover her body. "That blood will become cold soon, we should take refuge from the snow" then picks her up and pulls her close to his chest, carrying her through the snow and soaking her with his own warmth.
Is during that time that she wonders about her emotions. 'Was it because I violated a taboo, or because I had piled up sin over sin? Was it because I had taken another's life with my own hands? Was this the joy of escaping a deadly situation alive? Was because some fool came to rescue me? Or was because I was shown kindness? It could be because of any of those things, and it could be because of none of those things.'
She just thought, in that shivering cold…..
…..this warmth was the feeling of being alive.
And in that blissful state, after the adrenaline of the moment and the excitement had died down, she let her beaten and tired body rest, falling in a sleep in the arms of the boy who appeared during the snowstorm.
She had woken up in a cave, she could recognize it was a cave from the first look, from her position she could see that near her was a fire, and close to the fire was a boy, the same boy who she had helped survive the other man, his neck still had some marks of the strangling and he doesn't have his jacket because she was sleeping on top of it. Noticing that she was awake, the boy came closer to her, with something similar to a cup in one hand and little sticks in the other.
"Don't say a word, stay there and eat this first, we can talk after you have eaten something" He softly smiled before using the little sticks to put something in her mouth after he blew a little, she obeyed since she hadn't other options, but after the first bite, she ate it with joy, it was better than the other food she had eaten near the town. They continued doing this until the cup was empty.
"Who are you?" There where so many strange things about the boy and so many questions she had, but knowing his name will be the first step she would take to have those questions answered.
The boy smiled widely, she had a gut feeling that he was going to do something stupid, the boy points a finger upwards and moves his hip back, making a ridiculous pose.
"I'm Natsuki Subaru, lost and broke beyond compare, nice to meet you"
'Was I saved by an idiot?'. (5)
Arc 1 "unceremonious arrival"
End.
Author's notes:
1) I stole this section from the Reactionist fanfic because I'm having a headache and if I can use that to end this part without killing myself then I'll do it. I declare myself guilty your honor.
2) I tried to make something akin to an accent, but since English is not my mother tongue, making an accent is hard, I give up half way and give him some rough words only, if I try to do this again I'll think it better and maybe ask for help, writing Garf will be difficult, I can see that already
3) Ahhh finally, other characters to write dialogue, seriously, having only Subaru was making me crazy, I was not sure if I could extend a little more or not, since I'm not sure when the constant monologue of Subaru was gonna get boring, so I kinda accelerated the first loop a little, besides all the first loop was written during a fever, so the quality isn't that great.
4) I used the prologue of the SS "Apocalypse Sisters" as a base for this part so if you feel this is different from everything I had written before, that's the reason, clearly I modified it to resemble what has been "my style" during the rest of this reading, but the hand of Tappei is evident if you compare it with my amateurish writing
5) Commencing lolimancing process
Ah, finally done, this, was an experience. From writing with fever to going into MAXIMUN OVERDRIVE! I can only say this was chaotic, as an amateur writer I have no style in my writing, and it shows, I used several resources to try to better put my ideas in this, with different levels of success, so I think I will rewrite this first chapter once I get more skill and practice, since I believe this can be improved upon.
Sorry to keep you waiting if you were one of the people who got interested in this, I had several obstacles I had to overcome first, starting for writing, it was more hard than I anticipated, specially loop one, for 2 reasons, fever and Subaru was alone, so if I stopped too much on the details I didn't know if I could still make it interesting. Other problem was the language barrier, I had to read proof this myself and that took time.
Then one of the most important things was that I was feeling dissatisfied with how some parts were going, so I redid several parts or added more detail until I got something that I feel was okay, but as I said, I feel there is still room to improve a lot. For example, I feel like I used a bit of plot convenience with Subaru and Elsa. And I feel I made the shopkeeper too cartoonish evil, but that's important for Subaru still being in character in next chapters, so that was a sacrifice I was willing to make.
Now, I will speak a little about my plans for this story:
-Subaru=Suffering
-Subaru and Elsa fluff (eventually Meili)
-I want to explore the idea of Elsa influenced by Subaru, but since her nature as the "bowel hunter" is such a major character trait, I decided that it should be present since the first chapter. In summary it boils in a classical "Nature vs Nurture".
-Subaru will not be OP, he will have tools, but I will screw with him, since what I enjoy the most is character development and character interactions.
-I'm not sure if i'll maintain the name, at the moment is only provisory, since it doesn't really represent what I want to do with this fic, but maybe if I took a love for it I will keep it
And as my final Note, I would like the help of people willing to be beta readers, since I will probably screw eventually down the line and I would like to improve, so having people advising me and correcting my flaws would be a great help. Ah, but don't worry, I'll keep writing this even without the help of anyone, even with all the problems, this was very fun and I enjoyed greatly. No promises about release dates now until I'm sure I'll be able to post it on time.
Well, that's all I wanted to say, have a good day!