Chapter 8:
A loud crashing sound resounded as the stone Subaru had scooped up and thrown smashed through the window. He swiftly lifted himself into the window, ignoring the remaining glass cutting into his hands. Heat surrounded him as he tumbled to the floor of the house. He made eye contact with a bewildered family within this room. He ignored them and scrambled to his legs, running through the house. He ran up to the front door, but took a sharp turn and ran up the nearby stairs instead.
He ran down the upstairs' hallway and into a room. He ran over to a window in it and threw it open. There wasn't a screen or anything. Subaru's eyes landed on the house opposite this window. Its roof was slanted and it was only one floor. He barely even thought it over, after all, if he missed the roof he would just restart. Subaru bit his lip as he leapt out of the window. Cold air surrounded him, his legs flailing as he fell. They hit the slanted roof with a thump, snow crumbled under him and slid down the roof. He moved as fast as he could on the roof, careful not to slip.
Subaru got to the opposite side of the roof by climbing over the roof's peak. He exhaled for a moment, before carefully jumping off of the roof and onto a small pile of snow on the ground in an alleyway.
Adrenaline kept his exhausted body moving. Hans was probably just behind him.
He ran through the alley, exiting into a residential area. Subaru ran across the street, breathing heavily. He ran up to a short fence and hopped it. Snow crunched under his feet as he ran through the backyard he had entered. He got to the other side of the yard and managed to throw his exhausted body over another fence. He ran as fast as he could, entering another alley. His eyes landed on a door, it was open just a little, heat seeped out from behind it. He glanced backward, toward the backyard he had just left. Subaru's heart dropped as his eyes landed on an all too familiar green-haired man quickly approaching.
He jumped over to the door and threw it open, and lunged through it. He ended up in a kitchen, seeming for a restaurant. Wood fires were lit in ovens, and other fires were lit for various other reasons. A number of chefs and employees were within this kitchen. A few noticed him and were about to call out to the man. They stopped when they noticed how desperate he was. A moment later the man ran for the door leading into the dining area but jumped to the side as a green-haired jumped through the still-open door and towards him.
Subaru landed after dodging Hans' slash. He had once again heard a whisper far too quiet to understand in the back of his mind, before realizing that Hans was there.
Hans landed and instantly shot towards Subaru again, a dagger held in one of his hands. Subaru jumped away again, barely avoiding the man. Pure adrenaline was all that kept Subaru going. Hans slashed at Subaru, who barely dodged again. His dagger broke a wooden support for a pot of boiling soup. The pot fell onto the fire under it, and tipped over, spilling the hot liquid all across the ground. Everyone in the room moved away from it.
Hans lept across it, swinging his dagger at Subaru. He jumped to the side again, though the dagger knicked him leaving a decent cut on his arm. Subaru landed and stepped away from Hans. His back touched the wall just as Hans lunged for him again. Subaru ducked down and heard a click as Hans' dagger hit the wall above him, the blade cracked out of the handle as it hit the wall. Subaru lunged forward, grabbing Hans by the waist and tackling him down. Hans' head hit one of the wood fire stoves nearby, a loud crack resounded. Hans yelled in pain and raised his arm. He brought it down, the force of his punch knocking Subaru off of him.
Subaru's vision went in and out of focus as he fell off of Hans, landing on his face. The murderer slowly sat up from the ground and quickly got on top of Subaru. His hands reached down for the dazed man's neck. He grabbed Subaru's neck and began squeezing. The man gasped and struggled under him, kicking and trying to get Hans off of him.
Eventually, as Subaru's vision was fading, he managed to connect a strong punch on Hans' cheek. The murderer let go for a moment, and Subaru, who was barely even conscious of what he was doing, managed to throw Hans off of him and crawl away. Subaru sucked in breath after breath. He knew he couldn't just recover forever, so he began to flip around. Before he could, Hans grabbed his hair, pulling his head up.
Subaru's eyes widened as Hans began trying to force Subaru's head into one of the ovens, a wood fire was lit within. Subaru's exhausted body tried to fight back, but he was unsuccessful. Hans forced Subaru's head into the flames. Subaru screamed as the flames easily lit his hair on fire, singing off any stubble he had. The fire scorched his skin and the inside of his mouth. He tried to fight back, but the pain was all he could focus on. His skin was beginning to melt within the flames.
Hans was pushed away by a terrified chef, yet as he fell he yelled, "Goa!" Pain erupted within him as his gate finally broke. An inferno flew out from his hand, surrounding the man whose face was already melting.
Suddenly, Subaru's entire body lit up in pain. He would have screamed if he had been able to.
Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?
Why me? Why do I have to go through this?!
His clothes burnt off as the fire ravaged his body. It spread across his skin, eating it away. Subaru writhed in pain. His eyes had already been consumed by flames, not like he had any use for them right now.
Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Make it stop. Why? Why? Why? Make it stop. Why? Why? Why? Why? Make it stop. Why? Make it stop. Make it stop. Make it stop. Make it stop. Make it stop. Make it stop. Make it stop. Make it stop. Make it stop. Make it stop. Make it stop. Make it stop. Please.
Subaru subconsciously prayed that he would restart soon.
Fire ate away at his remaining skin and consumed all that it could.
The pain was unbearable. It was too much. Too much. Why did he have to go through so much? He didn't want to be in this world. If all he was going to do was die again and again he would rather just stay dead.
Though deep down he still wanted to live.
And so-
Subaru collapsed, his legs giving out. He still could feel tingles all across his body from the unbelievable pain from his latest death.
Tears leaked out of his frozen wide eyes.
"I..."
Anxiety filled him. He didn't want to die. Not again until he could die peacefully on a bed surrounded by his children.
"I..."
He couldn't do this anymore.
"I... can't..."
He bit his lip hard enough to draw blood.
"I can't do this."
He wasn't strong enough to die again. To go through all that pain again. All this time he's just been pushing all the terrible feelings that Returning by Death left him with.
"I'm just... not strong enough."
After all, he was just a hikiNEET. He wasn't supposed to be here. The person who had summoned him abandoned him, never even showing themself to him. He didn't deserve this power. Someone else would be better off with it.
"I... don't need to come back... I... I can't change anything."
He slowly rose to his shaky legs.
"This... this is all that I can do."
Subaru ran out of the alleyway, fully intending to leave this city and get far away from Hans.
He didn't know what he was going to do, he just had to get away. Staying here was useless. Maybe he'd try to hitchhike or something.
"Hey."
As long as he wasn't here no one else would be hurt by Hans right now. Youra, the teenage boy, the archer, Selena. None of them would die protecting him if he just ran away.
"Hey, man."
Subaru slowed as he walked. He stared down at his hands. They were still shaking. He clenched them into fists. Yeah. This is all he can do—all he can do is run away from his problems. With that confirmation, he looked up and started walking.
"Hey."
Subaru began to think rationally about his escape. The best way to get away would probably be to hitchhike or try to trade his phone for a ride. If he went on foot, Hans might follow him. Hopefully, he could find someone willing to bring him out of town-
Someone grabbed his arm. A brief panic filled Subaru as he was snapped out of his thoughts. He spun around and found a man with brown hair wearing a blue cloak and a brown undershirt. "Hey. Uhm... don't just run away."
"Eh?"
"Sorry if this is intrusive, but I just got the feeling that you were running from a problem." The man had noticed Subaru's shaking hands, and his general nervous mannerisms.
"Ah… yeah... I... am running..."
"Have you tried to overcome whatever's troubling you?"
"I have… I've tried a lot of times… everything just leads to failure..."
"If you've tried so many times already, then what's it to try just one more time?"
"..." If he failed he would die. He didn't want to die again. Absolutely not.
"I... can't... it's hopeless."
"Now, now. There has to be some way out. I'm a nobody yet I've gotten out of tough situations before. Let's talk... Uhm... what's your name?"
"Ah, I'm… Natsuki Subaru."
"I'm Auria Clement. Do you mind trying one more time? I'll help you out, Natsuki-san. Nice to meet you."
"Ah... I... I'll try again… Nice to meet you too, Auria-san."
"You can just call me Clement."
Subaru nodded, "You can call me Subaru."
"Well then, let's talk about what's troubling you."
He knew he barely had any time left until Hans would attack. Yet, Subaru took a deep breath. One more try. If I die again, then I'll run.
Steeling his determination to live, Subaru nodded. "Yeah, let's."
Clement led Subaru up to a sight-seeing spot. He said that the street was no place to talk about a heavy topic. Subaru tried to object, seeing how little time he had left, yet Clement insisted, saying that it was "Just over there."
It took them a few minutes, and it definitely wasn't "Just over there," but they made it to their destination. They were on top of a tower on a hill with two benches side by side. Subaru looked out across the town where so much suffering had taken place these last few hours.
"So… Subaru, would you mind explaining what's going on?"
Subaru took a deep breath.
"Uhm… Have you heard of a person that goes by Hans?"
"The name sounds familiar…"
"He's this murderer… and currently he's after me."
Clement froze as he realized who they were talking about. He uttered, "Ah-"
"I have no clue how to survive..."
Subaru pulled out his phone and checked the time. They had about ten minutes left.
"And… he'll be attacking me in roughly ten minutes..."
Clement tilted his head, and asked, "Eh? Is that some measurement of time?"
"Huh? Ah… yeah. It isn't very long at all."
Clement sighed. "Alright… could you explain everything you know about this Hans guy?"
Clement looked off over the city. It was his nature to help people, though this was definitely the most dangerous thing he's done. He was determined to help this man — Natsuki Subaru.
Clement shook his head. Subaru had just finished telling him as much as he could without having that… Thing come for him again.
Clement took a deep breath. He closed his eyes for a moment, and then looked at Subaru. "Alright. What ideas do you have for getting out of this situation?"
Subaru thought back through all of these deaths and loops — the last few painful hours that had scarred his mind. Having Youra and the others fight Hans nearly worked, but it also had gotten Subaru killed two times. As long as he was in this city Hans would come after him. He hoped that Hans wouldn't follow him if he left the city, though. Hans was super strong, at least in terms of Subaru's world. Then there was Selena. She had gotten him killed a number of times, all because she wanted money to protect Subaru. "Ah."
Subaru quickly turned his head towards Clement, "Money. Do you have any money?"
"Eh? I… yes, I do have some. But why?"
"There's someone I know who we can pay to protect me from Hans."
Subaru glanced at his phone. He froze for a moment as he saw that he had less than a minute left. "I've gotta go now."
Subaru glanced around. "Give me the money, and get away from me, you'll be safer the farther you can get away."
"No."
"Huh? Why not?!"
Sweat dripped down Subaru's face as he felt death creeping upon him.
"I'm coming with you. I don't have anything to live for, so why not?" Clement smiled.
"Alright fine. We've gotta leave right now."
To be honest, Subaru wasn't sure how he felt dragging Clement into this. There was a really high chance of them both dying, and Clement couldn't protect himself unlike Youra or the others that he had dragged into this these past couple loops.
Subaru and Clement started towards the door out of the balcony of the tower they were on. Subaru reached out and opened the door, and once again heard the whisper of death in the back of his mind. He subconsciously jumped back, just barely managing to dodge a slash from Hans from behind the door.
Subaru gasped as he barely avoided death. His heart rate picked up. Sweat dripped off of his chin despite the cold around him. Hans stood before the two. He was blocking their only way off of this tower. Unless-
Subaru turned around, there wasn't any time to think about this. He grabbed Clement's arm while yelling, "Sorry about this!"
He ran over towards the edge of the balcony. Clement was still frozen in shock for a bit until he shook himself out and recognized what Subaru was doing. He ran across the balcony along with him. The two neared the edge. They put their hands on the railing blocking the edge and threw themselves off of the second story balcony.