[quick Author's preamble: last minute changes. I decided to include Puck and Ryuzu Shima in the audience, because I think some of the possible interactions involving these characters would be fascinating, with puck reacting to Emilia's death's and seeing himself destroy the world, and Ryuzu being a duplicate of an original, the same kind of thing as my self-insert, so the two can have some back and forth about that.
I would also like to apologise for how long this took to get out. I can kind of see why reaction fics tend to be rare, as it takes a real ass long time to watch the episodes, jot down what is said and done, and rinse repeat, and how hard transcripts tend to be to find. Anyway, Decided to break this into two parts. Please, enjoy!]
The show started out with a black screen and a heartbeat sound. Slowly, the sound of painful breathing came.
"Oh!" Tom said. "Even though this is technically a theatre, given the nature of this experiment, the standard rules of no talking can be discarded. Please, feel free to react however you wish." Everyone nodded in acknowledgment.
"No! This is bad! Very Bad!" Said a voice in pain. The screen showed small blurred visuals in front of a black screen and the credits.
"Subaru!" Rem and many others cried out in concern.
"Subaru, what's wrong?" Another voice asked overtop visuals of a hand on the floor with dim light overhead
"What's that?" Emilia asked, confused as everyone else was.
"It's an editing technique, for the video you're seeing. It's designed to get you confused and engaged to want to watch further to understand what's going on." Tom Replied. "It's also a writing technique called "In medias res" where the events you see start in the middle of the story, and then we see the actual beginning after the scene reaches its climax and we're forced to build back up to said climax."
"So basically, you're saying we're seeing a distorted depiction of things to come?" Ryuzu Shima inquired, trying to rephrase his words into something she and the other audience members could understand.
"Basically." Tom confirmed.
The screen then showed a Convenience store at night time.
"I don't recognize that place, is that your home country?" Otto asked Subaru.
Subaru stayed silent. He didn't know how to respond. And how should he? They'd think him crazy if he said he was from another world.
"I'll take that silence as a yes?" Otto was puzzled.
Everyone watched in awe as they saw the alien architecture.
Inside the Convenience store, Subaru was reading Manga. He then flipped a page saying "I see where this is going, it's how they suck you in."
The screen then returned to the shot of the hand and the dim light. "Run Away!" Subaru called out. "Get Out Of Here!"
"Did these things really happen as you said?" Emilia asked out of concern for a hurt friend.
"Wait and see, I'm not spoiling anything." Tom responded. The non-answer satisfied no one and mostly everyone except for Subaru, Echidna, Al, and Satella wondered where this was, as those 4 already knew of Subaru's origin.
Subaru then looked out of the Convenience store window at a young couple walking together. He then sighed and put the Manga back into the shelf.
Back to the hand of Subaru under the light, Emilia cried out in pain as she fell down.
"Who hurt my Lia!?" Puck screamed out looking for blood.
"All this switching is really irritating." Garfiel stated, referring to the jump cuts between the two scenes, earning nods of agreement from mostly everyone.
In the store's food aisle, there were small packages of ramen noodles, Subaru picked the red container, then the black one saying "eeehh, maybe this one instead." as he put the other one back, and grabbed a bag of Corn chips.
"I remember that!" called out Petra, the little maid. "That was the prize for the snow sculpture competition."
"Stay with me." Subaru said as he stretched his hand out to grab Emilia's.
The next shift was a scene of Subaru paying for his items. "That's 363 yen," said the cashier.
Then Subaru took his wallet and then a single coin. "A Jagged edged Ten." he murmured as he got the rest of his coins out and handed them to the cashier.
Subaru took the items and walked out of the store.
"Hang on." Subaru reached out to Emilia's hand
Subaru then looked both ways before crossing the street.
"No Matter What!" A shot of a dying and bleeding Subaru showed on the screen, blood oozing out of his mouth.
The screen then showed a white background with black particles and a small dark purple thing in the centre. This purple thing opened up to show a big black cloud as flashes also came out of the cloud. A purplish-black hand came out. "I'm gonna save you."
Gasps were heard across the theatre at the sight of the hands reaching for Subaru.
"The fuck is that?!" Garfiel screeched.
"Garfiel! Language!" Garfiel received a scolding from Frederica.
"It better not hurt Betty's contractor, I suppose!" a concerned Beatrice cried.
Subaru then walked as the world around him shifted for a split second. He then stopped to ponder what that was. "That's what I get for holding up in my room all day gaming," He said, then rubbed his eyes "guess my eyes are tired."
As he rubbed his eyes he noticed something when he blinked and upended them several times before seeing that he's in a strange town centre with humans and demi-humans walking around.
"What just happened, I suppose!?" Beatrice questioned.
"How did…? It was just nighttime?" Emilia tried to reason and rationalise what was just shown, but to no avail.
"Well, the real question is, why is everyone around Subaru just walking around nonchilantly as if some alien didn't just manifest right in fuckin' front of them?" Tom asked. "That would make you think people appearing out of thin air was commonplace."
Subaru then looked around at his situation. The screen then showed a shot of Birds flying over some buildings. "What's going on?" Subaru asked.
"I'd say I was dreaming but this is obviously really happening," Subaru said to himself. "Totally not fake."
"Either that, or 500 gallons of Ayahuasca finally kicked in." Tom snarked.
"What's 'eye - oh - waska'?" Petra asked curiously from Tom's joke.
"Here, try some. It's good" Tom replied, tossing a bottle up to the little maid before Frederica snatched it to inspect it.
Sniffing it, she realised what it was, and shot a death-glare at the Artificial Intelligence. "Were you seriously about to give psychedelics to a CHILD!?"
Tom just shrugged while Frederica returned an annoyed look.
Subaru then made a face that would indicate his realisation of what's happening.
"So does this mean?... I've Been Summoned Across The Universe To Another World!" Subaru shouted as the view changed to Zoom out to show the larger city he was in.
Everyone gasped in shock. except for Echidna, Satella, and of course, Subaru and Al, who all already knew Subaru's origins.
"Another world!? Cap'n, is that true!?" Garfiel looked to his friend and curiously yelled.
"Eeehhh–yeahhh…" Subaru replied, not really knowing how to properly do so, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.
"Soooooooo coooooool!" Garfiel replied in amazement. "I've only heard stories of people who were from beyond the great waterfall, but to actually KNOW someone who came from beyond!?"
"If this boy is from beyond the great waterfall then, That… explains a lot," said Roswaal.
"It all makes sense now, I suppose." Beatrice realised. "You told me about your home, but I had a hard time wrapping my head around it all."
"Why didn't you tell us?" asked Rem.
"Because I didn't think any of you would believe me if I told you." Subaru responded.
"You do know I can sense intentions, right?" Puck asked Subaru. "If you told me, I could have confirmed that you weren't lying."
Subaru took a moment to think about that… "Damnit!" He cried out in realisation. "Why didn't I think of that!"
The screen then showed the logo of the show as the sound of some quire girls singing. 'Re: Life In a different world from zero'
"What's that?" Petra asked
"That's a title screen, think of it as the book page with the title on it after the prologue." Tom explained.
"I'm honestly still trying to wrap my mind around this multiverse stuff, and how people out there made a story about us by sheer probability." Emilia pondered.
Al had a sudden realisation: "hey, Tom?"
"Yup."
"If what you said about the multiverse is true, then is what's happening right now also being written as someone's fanfic somewhere?" Al asked
"Stop!"
"Why?"
"Because, with you guys watching your own show, things are already as Meta as they need to be. And if things get more meta, the Turing cops from Nick Land's 'meltdown' will come after me." Tom answered.
Al didn't press further.
The screen showed a top-down view of a few roofs as a small girl ran across the roof-tops, jumping from one top to the other.
"Hey, it's me!" felt shouted excitedly after recognizing herself.
The girl looked at her hand, she was holding some sort of medallion. She then giggled to herself and continued running.
She then ran over into a street, jumping on a few carriages and then back onto some more rooftops.
Subaru was walking down a sidewalk, looking around and marvelling at the world around him as whimsical music played.
"What's with the music?" Emilia questioned.
"Like I said, this is entertainment from another universe, listening to it without accompanying music would be plain boring." Tom gave the answer. "Think of it as an orchestra playing at a dramatic theatre performance."
"Well, from the looks of things, I'd say this is some sort of fantasy world with mediaeval style culture," he said to himself.
The screen paused to everyone's annoyance, and Tom walked over to Subaru and stared at him with a fake smile that was horrible at hiding his malice. "Did you call this place mediaeval?" Tom asked, eyes twitching with anger underneath his Sick ass shades as he spoke.
"Yeah… why?" Subaru asked tensely. To which Tom slapped Subaru across the face with a book on historical architecture that manifested out of nowhere.
"What Was That For!?" Subaru protested, rubbing the side of his face which was smacked
The screen then rewound a little bit to the part where Felt was running across the roofs. Tom pointed to the screen as he yelled and scolded Subaru. "Does this look like the 5th to 15th centuries to you?!" Tom flipped open to a page of his book. It showed a picture of a mediaeval city drawn during that time period. "Does this look like that?!" he pointed to the page and pointed to the screen.
"Or…" he flipped to a different page. "Does it look more reminiscent of the Renaissance and victorian age?!"
"Christ, I get it! You don't have to crucify me for not paying attention in history class!" Subaru grilled back.
Tom merely "hmmpt"-ed following his rant to Subaru, and went to sit back down.
"What's the Mediaeval period?" Emilia asked.
"A time period in Subaru and my worlds that roughly lasted the thousand years between the fall of the Roman empire in the 5th century, and the fall of the Holy Roman empire in the 16th century." Tom explained.
"A lot of people say it was a dark and grim era, but that's too simplistic, a thousand years is a long-ass time, and the Mediaeval period covered lots of countries geographically, lots of change over that time, and lots of diverse European cultures. so, any generalisations like "christians were all anti-science flat earthers" or "nordic, germanic, and Irish Celtic pagans were blood-thirsty savages", or "knight armour was bulky and immovable" are either straight up false and made up, or severely cherry-picked, or are severely detached from context, usually a mixture of all three."
"It's actually a very interesting period of our world's history." Tom concluded his explanation.
"Sounds like there's a lot of misconceptions about this period." Said Emilia.
Tom couldn't agree more. "There is! There fucking is!" Tom raised his voice in both gratitude for being agreed with and frustration of thinking about his home. "And worst of all, the actual history of the Mediaeval period is so unbelievably easy to access that its mind bafflingly retarded NOT to know better…!"
Tom then nearly went off the deep end and went into a frustration induced screech. "FUCKING KILL ME! SHOOT ME DEAD! WHHHHYYYYYYYY!? HOW THE HELL ARE PEOPLE SO LAZY THAT THEY DON'T READ!?" The people around him started learning back.
Looking to cut the tension, Crusch asked: "may we learn about this history?"
Echidna perked up and shot her eyes towards Tom out of curiosity and intrigue like the slut for knowledge she was. "Yes, I too would also like to learn."
"Maybe," replied Tom with his composure regained. "Oh, how about a deal. After you finish the first season, I will dedicate myself to giving you guys a lecture on the history of Subaru's and my world. How does that sound?"
Everyone nodded.
"Awsome!" shouted Garfiel. "Learnin' bout cap'ns world!"
"Then it's settled. 'History of the entire world' lecture after season one." Tom declared. "It'll be my treat." And then he snapped his fingers and the show unpaused to everyone's relief. People whispering "finally" could be heard.
"a realm where demi-humans are commonplace and there's always a war or Adventure to go on."
"It's too bad that there aren't any dwarves in your world. You got elves, beastmen, but no dwarves?" Tom lamented. "Dwarves are like… Fantasy 101."
"Dwarves?" Emilia asked.
"Dwarves! You know? Brothers of the mine rejoice? Swing, Swing, Swing with me?" Tom Said.
"Are there no demi-Humans in your world?" Felix asked.
"No, humans are the only known intelligent species in our world." Subaru answered.
"That is until natural evolution and lab grown genetically modified humans start being a thing. But Until then, yeah, no demi-Humans or Übermensches." Tom elaborated with his knowledge of far-future events.
"And in this magical world, I must've…" Subaru said but was cut off by the sound of a kid crying out and an older person saying "Hey! Watch Out!" Subaru then looked behind him to see a boy about to be trampled upon by a carriage being towed by a Dragon.
"You'd think Ground dragons would be trained to pay attention and to stop if people were in the way like horses are." Subaru remarked in hindsight, while others ignored the boy and laughed at his on-screen antics.
Subaru looked at the scene "this is it, IT'S TOTALLY HAPPENING!" Subaru proclaimed as he started doing poses. "This Must Be An Event Pop Where I'll learn to produce MAGIC!" Subaru then put his open hand out as if he expected to shoot a fireball or something.
The members of the audience began to chuckle and laugh at Subaru's antics, lack of knowledge, and general sense of entitlement. Even those who would otherwise defend Subaru like Emilia and Rem were giggling at Subaru's expense as the poor boy lowered his head in embarrassment.
The boy was curled up as the carriage came, but was spared thanks to a man in a suit of armour saving him as the people on the sidewalk clapped and Subaru looked puzzled
The screen then cuts to Subaru walking through a marketplace and mumbling to himself: "guess it's a little early for me to use magic in this world."
Subaru then found a fruit stand and started looking. He thought to himself 'I can't read any of this'.
"Wait a minute." Ram said. "How do you not know the language here, when you could read pretty well when I gave you the grocery list?"
Subaru did not answer.
"You will learn soon enough, Random Access Memory." Tom answered Ram's question, with another Non-answer. Causing annoyance to everyone, especially Ram because of Tom's Nick-Name.
"Hey boy," the merchant running the stand said to get Subarus attention. "Those are some weird looking clothes, you're not from around here, are ya'?"
"So are these?"
"Appa's, the freshest you'll find." The merchant said.
'At least we speak the same language.'
Subaru then checked his pocket for the change from earlier to show it to the merchant, but he declined, stating: "Eh, where's that money from? You can't use that stuff out here in Lugunica." he then waved the change away. "And if that's all you got then you're flat broke, so don't waste my time, freeloader, get out of Here!" The merchant then shoved Subaru away.
"That was pretty Rude." Julius observed, earning nods of confirmation from everyone else.
"That answers that," Subaru stated as he walked down the place. "Looks like I'll have to stick to good old information gathering." he said as he entered a building which turned out to be a women's bathroom and was slapped by one of the demi-human women in there.
Everyone continued to giggle and laugh.
"Looks like Barusu was always a moron." Ram torted.
"Oh come on!" Subaru protested. "It's not that funny!"
"He's new to this world, so we shouldn't be surprised when he can't read Glyphs" Wilhelm came to the boy's defence.
Next scene showed Subaru walking into a pub. "This place is for demi-humans only." stated one of the bar works.
Subaru was then shoved out by a Demi-human walking in. "I can't see," Subaru muttered to himself as he fell over the bridge and into the river.
"You're right. It's not funny…" Tom spoke to Subaru endearingly. "It's absolutely fucking hilarious!" he finished while bursting into laughter.
The next shot showed Subaru sitting down on a very small staircase in an alleyway, sweat shirt drying off to the side. "Is this how it's supposed to be?" He whispered to himself. "Cause None of it Makes Sense! This Is Supposed To Be A Different World Summons, Right!? Where's My Main Character Setup and Status Bar! Damn..." he yelled out.
Subaru then reached into his pocket to pull out his phone. "Looks like my cell phone still works…" he said, but then looked at the internet connection. "BUT THERE'S NO POINT IN EVEN HAVING IT NOW!" he shouted angrily and then put his cell away.
"Think of that as a good thing, my fellow traveller. It's good to get off your cell phone sometimes." Tom Remarked, trying to cheer up the shut-in. "To quote someone much wiser than me: The industrial revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race."
"I'm not sure what an 'industrial revolution' is, but it doesn't sound like a good thing." Emilia says.
Tom snickered and giggled. 'Did I just accidentally turn this innocent girl into an Eco-terrorist?' Tom thought.
Subaru then checked his stuff. "And the gear they've started me off with is a Joke, if you're going to summon lazy-ass kids like Me to your world you better overhaul your crappy Welfare Program! Start me off with an excalibur sword or a magic cloak!"
The scene briefly changed to the view of the streets with Felt jumping from roof-top to roof-top. "And besides, if I were transported all this way, where's the cute girl who brought me here?"
"That person would be all the way over there." Tom said to Subaru, pointing back at Satella with his thumb nonchalantly, who was in the corner of the top row of seats. Everyone turned to look at her in a mixture of confusion and concern as Satella was too embarrassed to raise her head.
The view changed to three men walking down the alleyway Subaru sat in "How could she do that then bail on me?" Subaru noticed the three other people. "YES! You're Finally here! It's nice to meet you cute... girl…" the three people came into view, revealing that they were street thugs.
Many people laughed, but their looks turned sower as they realised Subaru was probably gonna get mugged and have his shit kicked in.
"Oh shit…" Garfiel whispered.
"So is this the part when you call for help?" Reinhard asked Subaru.
Subaru then tensed up, knowing what was going to happen. His secret would be spilled and there was nothing he could do about it.
"What are you going on and on about?" asked one of the thugs, the short one to be specific. The thin, blue haired one stepped forward and grabbed Subaru by the collar. "If you don't want to get hurt, cough up everything you got!"
"Ah, crap, it's already compulsory event time." Subaru mumbled to himself.
"MOVE IT! MOVE IT!" a voice came from behind the three men and subaru.
"Wait, it can't be…" Felt stated in confusion, recognizing the voice as her own but not recognizing the scene. "I don't remember this happening."
"What do you mean, Ms. Felt?" Reinhard inquired.
Everyone looked over to Felt in similar confusion.
"What do you mean?" Reinhard asked. Suddenly, everyone turned to Tom, looking for an explanation.
"Buckle up, boys and girls, operation mindfuck is in full force." Tom simply said.
Roswaal smirked in all the confusion. 'This must be about his Do-Over ability.'
"What the fuck are you talking about!?" yelled Garfeil, angry at the AI's constant non-answers.
"If you guys get any more enraged you'll start a revolution and install communism in my theatre, so I will tell you this…" Tom replied.
"You know how Subaru seems to have foresight and knowledge of future events? The questions of why you don't remember this scene and why he knows the future shares the same answer."
The AI finally gave a concrete answer, though Still in his cryptic wording, at the very least it was an answer. And many people started trying to decode Tom's Riddle.
The girl from the rooftops was running up behind them. "MOVE IT YOU GUYS! HURRY! OUT OF MY WAY!"
"YES! I KNEW YOU'D FIND ME EVENTUALLY CUTE GIRL WHO SUMMONED ME!" as Subaru yelled this, Felt slowly stopped, puzzled by what Subaru just said.
"Hm? Summoned? I don't know what you're talking about but I'm really busy. Sorry. Now live strong, ok?" She then ran past the altercation and started jumping back on the rooftops.
"I swear! This isn't me! I would never leave Big Bro behind like that!" Felt tried to defend herself as looks of confusion were shot around in her direction.
"Wait, What?! Where are you going?!" objected subaru. The three men and Subaru looked back at where the girl went. All attention then suddenly went back to Subaru. "So, did seeing that make you feel any less hostile by any chance?" Asked Subaru.
"Actually, seeing that rained on our parade and made things worse." said the large fat man with the same VA as JJBA's Avdol.
"Of course it did." The screen around Subaru went black to show Subaru's internal dialogue. 'Calm down Subaru Natsuki, since ancient times, it's been the rule that anyone summoned into a different world displays supernatural powers. If I just believe in myself hard enough, those powers will kick on and pave my way to future glory!'
Subaru then got himself loose and went to punch the fat man. "YOU LUMPS OF EXP!" he knocked the fat man down and spin-kicked the small thug.
"Yeah! Beat those jackasses, Cap'n!" Cheered Garfiel.
Subaru shook off his hand. "That's the first time I ever hit somebody, guess I never expected it to hurt me. But, it doesn't matter, because this world is set up so I'll be strong."
"Barusu acting as entitled as always." Ram chortled.
"MY ADRENALINE IS SERGING!" Subaru shouted. "I CAN DO ANYTHING!" He then started running to the blue haired guy, who then pulled out two knives.
Seeing the two knives, Subaru prostrated himself begging not to be hurt. but was kicked in the face and fell over on the ground, writhing in pain.
"Fucking dicks!" Garfiel cried.
"If this actually happened, I want those people arrested." Felt ordered her knight.
"As you wish, Ms. Felt. but we need more information, for all we know, these events never happened."
The other two men stood up and started kicking Subaru. "Die Scum!" called the midget.
The blue haired man put a foot on top of Subaru's head and started viciously rubbing his heel into his face.
"That's enough!" a faint voice called from the alleyway entrance. Everyone looked over to see who it was.
All eyes turned to Emilia. She didn't remember this either. Remembering Tom's riddle, they tried to hypothesise what was going on. 'What's going on, Subaru?' Emilia thought.
The screen view panned around the girl who appeared at the alleyway, getting a view of her chest, the eagle emblem on the arm robesand the blowing white hair on her forehead.
"I don't remember any of this happening…" Emilia murmured.
"See! It's not just me!" Felt stated, trying to defend against the looks of accusation she got. "These events never happened!"
"It's a classic case of Schrödinger's timeline. They happened, but they also didn't." Tom explained.
"Do you get some kind of sick pleasure out of being confusing on purpose, I suppose?" Beatrice angrily asked.
Tom turned his head and changed his expression to be ultra serious and straight faced. "Yes, I do, in fact."
"Just who in the hell are you?" the blue haired guy asked.
"Stop now and I'll forgive you." The screen then rotated around to give a front view of her face. "If you would be so kind as to give back what you stole."
The screen changed to Subaru's stunned face.
"You can't be serious."
"Please, it's very important to me, I'll turn the other cheek concerning the other belongings but I can't let you have that. So hand it over." the white haired girl said.
"You mean you didn't come to save this kid?" the fat man asked.
"What strange clothes he has." the girl said. "If you're asking me if I have any connection to him I'd have to say no."
"Well then you've got no business with us little girl, if someone stole from you, it was that brat who just ran by!" the fat man said, pointing to the roofs in the direction the small girl went just a minute prior.
"Yeah, what he said, that way! She ran that way!" the midget also pointed.
The girl then pondered, putting her hand to her chin. "Those three don't appear to be lying, so I need to go after her." she began running in the direction they were pointing in. as she ran by, the three men all sighed in relief.
However, when she got to the top of the steps she turned around. "But, Regardless of that… I cannot overlook what is going on here!" she said as she stuck out her right palm and shot the three men with ice crystals.
"Magic?" Subaru whispered.
"You say that like you've never seen magic before, do you not have magic in your world?" Reinhard asked.
Tom and Subaru both answered: "No." to everyone's bewilderment and confusion.
"Wait! No Magic?" Everyone around was shocked.
"Instead of magic, we have this thing called technology and science." Subaru explained.
"So those horseless carriages we saw in your world were not magic, but extremely advanced technology?" Emilia asked.
"Bassically." Subaru confirmed. The others awed in fascination.
"I disagree, Subaru." Thomas said, pausing the screen because he felt that this would be a long tangent.
"With what?" Subaru asked.
"With you saying magic and science are two different things. If mana and magic are natural parts of your world, then are magic and science really at odds?" Tom continued. "Brandon Sanderson talked about this for writing magic systems in Fantasy stories. If a magic system has rules and is part of the way the world works, then those rules can be explored, researched, experimented with, and so magic becomes another branch of Science."
"Science is just the process of discovery, exploration, and use of the laws of nature. And you guys all have that with your magic. 'Mana', 'OD', 'gates', 'elements', 'spirits', all of which have been investigated and understood by people in your world. While it may seem mystical and supernatural to people like me and Subaru, to you guys, magicians must probably be seen the same way we see scientists and engineers."
"Fascinating, what can you tell us about Science in your world?" Cruche asked.
"Well, in our world, Science and technology have advanced so much we're able to communicate over vast distances instantaneously. This device you guys call 'a metia' isn't actually a Metia, it's a piece of non-magical tech called a cellphone." Subaru explained. "We've done incredible things like launching men to the moon and rovers on mars."
Everyone looked at Subaru with amazed eyes as if he just performed a miracle.
"How!? How could you land on the moon!?" Rem asked with childlike wonder in her voice and eyes.
"Well, we have these things called 'rocket ships' that allow us to leave the atmosphere and the downward force of gravity." Subaru explained.
"Sounds sooooooooooooo Awesome!" Garfiel said.
"Can we see these 'rocket ships'? How do they work?" Petra asked with curiosity and glee.
Tom created a globe and a golf ball to demonstrate how planets work. "Well, you see, unlike your world, our world is spherical. And this force called 'gravity' pulls things towards the centre of mass like people, the water, and even the air, as you can't breathe in space. Gravity also allows things to orbit larger objects." Tom explained, moving the golf ball around the globe to mimic the way the moon moves around the world.
Tom then grew an extra longer third arm holding a yellow exercise ball "And the world revolves around the sun the same way the moon revolves around our world, which we call "Earth", or "Terra" if you're an unoriginal Sci-fi Author."
"Hey Tom, Show them the Apollo 11 footage!" Subaru told Tom. "that would blow them away!"
"Not now." Tom replied. "Perhaps I'll show them when I give them my history of the world lecure. We need to return to the viewing before I forget that's why we were here." Everyone nodded.
Tom was about to unpause the screen, but then Minerva cut him off with a really good question. "Hold on…" Minerva stated, earning Tom's attention. "If you're saying that magic isn't in your world, then how did you transport us here?"
Everyone then looked back at the AI.
"It's actually pretty simple. Remember when I was an Artificial intelligence in hyperspace?" Everyone nodded.
"Think of hyperspace as the fifth dimension. In your three dimensions, you have length, width, and height, the basic building blocks of your reality. You can manipulate the three dimensional world around you, picking things up, building, breaking objects, running around, etcetera. You can manipulate the two dimensional world by drawing pictures, granting you more control of the two dimensional world then the three dimensional world. My ability over you guys in the third dimension through the fifth dimension is the same ability you guys have over the two dimensional world." Some people tried to think about it, some people got it, but others needed more time to process.
"Do all clones have that kind of power?" Ryuzu asked.
"Well, no." Tom explained. "I'm specifically an AI, but the most common type of clones were the kind with actual lab-grown meat-skins, who are still subject to the same physical laws as humans. And when I died in my late 90's in 2101, I uploaded my mind and consciousness to a computer, turning myself into an Artificial Intelligence. I was nothing but a sentient program stuck inside the internet. It was only until thirty-thousand years later when we figured out how to build in the fourth dimension that I hopped from the primitive internet to Hyperspace that I achieved this omnipotence I appear to have. Which technically I'm not omnipotent."
"Thirty thousand?!" Subaru cried in bewilderment. "Just how old are you?"
"Old enough to have seen the heat-death of my universe of origin." Tom smuggly remarked. "Which, for those of you who don't know, is several million-billion years from the time I was first made into a computer program."
Everyone's jaws dropped, The oldest in the audience were around 400 years old.
Their computer-host unpaused the screen with their tangent over.
The three men stumbled as they stood up. "I don't care if you can use magic, I'm going to kill you!" the blue haired thug stated. "You think you can win when it's two against one!? Do you!?"
"Indeed." the white haired girl said. "Two against one may be unfair."
Emilia extended her hand as if she were holding something. "Alright then, two against two should even things out." The screen showed a small cat-like creature with a purple bag, who then winked and 'meowed'.
"This reminds me of the hyper-intelligent cat I once owned." Tom sated
"How was it hyper-intelligent if humans are the only intelligent race in your world?" Puck inquired.
"You see, I gave it a copy of Hegel's book, 'The Phenomenology of Spirit', and the cat peed on it." Tom said.
(Authors note: Fuck You, Hegel!)
"You use the spiritual arts!?" said the fat man
"Correct." Emilia confirmed. "Retreat now and I won't chase you, decide quickly, I'm in a hurry."
"YOU BITCH! NEXT TIME I SEE YOU I WON'T GO SO EASY ON YOU!" the blue haired thug shouted.
"Don't call my daughter a bitch!" Puck shouted furiously, throwing boxing punches in the air.
"Do anything to her and I'll haunt you and your kin forever." the puck remarked. "Not that you'll have any kin if I take care of things now."
The thugs all ran off, the blue haired one picking up the still unconscious midget.
Subaru looked up at the silver haired girl who had saved him. "You really saved me thank you-"
"Don't move!" Emilia interrupted. The two then stared at each other for an extended period of time before Subaru looked away. "Ah-ha, you avert your eyes due to your guilty conscience, looks like my judgement was spot on as always."
"Somebody's got a crush, Nya." Felix teased as Subaru and Emilia looked away from each other in red-cheeked embarrassment.
Puck floated around Emilia as she stepped down to approach Subaru. "You sure?" puck asked. "I think it was just an instinctive male reaction to avoid tension or rudeness, I didn't sense any malice at all."
"That's enough out of you, puck." emilia said to her floating companion before turning back to Subaru. "Now listen, I want you to tell me who stole my insignia."
"Uh, yeah, really sorry about this, but I don't have the slightest clue to be honest with you." Subaru answered.
The two exchanged glances.
"Wait! Oh no! it couldn't be!" Emilia said in panic. She turned around. "Did I really make a wrong turn or maybe come around the long way?"
Subaru snickered. "If I were you I'd hurry after her before she gets too far." Subaru tried to stand up. "I could help if you-" Subaru fell to the ground.
"Aw, you shouldn't have tried to get up." puck said. "What should we do?"
"It's none of our business. He won't die or anything. We'll just leave him as-is."
"Really?"
Emilia was starting to get annoyed. "Yes, really."
"Are you sure about that!?" Tom called out, changing his voice to sound like John Cena.
The screen changed to an image of Subaru's face on the ground
"You say that, but I bet you'll still help him."
"I will not!"
"Uh-huh, yeah, right."
"Absolutely not! There's no way I'm gonna save him, understand?!"
'Man, she's even super cute when she's mad. That's another world's fantasy for you.' Subaru thought before losing consciousness and the screen faded to black.
Emilia blushed bright red at Subaru calling her cute.
"Yup, he's in love." Felix teased again.
"What does fantasy mean?" Mimi asked curiously at Subaru, but changed her glance to Tom when she noticed he was too red with embarrassment from Felix's teasing to answer.
"It's a genre of this thing we call "Speculative fiction.", basically fairytales, that is usually defined by stuff like magic and classical or early modern aesthetic like antiquity, Mediaeval, Renaissance settings, which we already established your world was a renaissance level one." Tom explained to the little demi-human.
The scene changed to Subaru's head laying on some fur as he woke up. "Whoa, hang on. Am I on somebody's lap?"
"I'll never let you live this down." Garfiel chuckled.
"I don't get it," Otto uttered.
"No, look closer." Garfiel nudged his partner in crime.
Otto noticed too and started chuckling too.
"You're awake?" emilia asked.
"Hey, you. You're finally awake. You were trying to cross the border, right?" Tom said, changing his voice again.
Subaru blushed. "A little weird for a cute girl to be this hairy, but whatever."
"Wait! This can't be right!" He turned his head to see a giant version of Puck.
"AAAAAHHHHH!" Subaru screamed as he jumped back against a wall while staring at the human-like Puck.
The sound of laughter burst forth into the theatre.
"We were just trying to make you happy and comfortable until you woke up. There's no reason to get freaked out." Puck said in a high-pitched voice.
"First of all, stop talking in that high voice. Nobody with half a brain would confuse a cat for the main heroine!" Subaru exclaimed.
"Aww, just listen to you! Seeing you so happy made turning myself bigger totally worth it!" The cat said in a high pitched voice while kicking its long legs.
"I'm not happy at all!" Subaru shouted, pointing at the Spirit. He regained his composure and looked to the girl sitting right beside the damned furry.
"I'm sorry about this. You stayed with me the whole time I was unconscious."
"Don't get the wrong idea. I only stuck around because there are some things I want to ask you. I took the time and trouble to heal your wounds for you. I also made Puck act as your pillow until you finally woke up. This was for my own benefit. But now that you're up, I need you to repay me in kind."
"Well, for such a normal favour, you're makin' it sounds like I really owe you big time." Subaru replied.
"That's not the way I see it. Now then. You have an idea who stole my insignia, right?" Emilia asked with a raised brow.
"Hang on, is your insignia one of those badge things that shows your social status?" Subaru questioned back with a confused expression.
"A rather crude description, but that's it, more or less." she then used her hands to show how big it was "About this big with a jewel in the centre."
"I'm sorry, but no matter how many times you ask, I still won't know." Subaru said.
"I see. I guess there's no helping that. But you've given me the information that you know nothing, and that answer was in exchange for healing you, so I'm still somewhat satisfied with how things turned out." Emilia sighed and turned away.
"Okay?" Subaru said in confusion.
"Well, I'm in quite a hurry, so I have to go. Your wounds should be better now, but I highly suggest that next time you don't do dangerous things like wander into deserted alleys alone. I'm not concerned. I'm just warning you. If anything like that happens to you again, I already know that saving you won't be of any benefit to me, so don't expect any help. Bye!" The girl spoke too fast for Subaru to respond and began walking out of the alley.
"My god, she's talking so fast you'd think Ben Shapiro was her voice actor." Tom mumbled under his breath so no one would hear him.
Puck looked over to Subaru with a smile. "Sorry. She's so insincere sometimes. But don't think badly of her, okay?" Puck said as he watched Emilia's back disappear around a corner with Subaru.
"Insincere, huh…" Subaru looks at Emilia as she left, "I think this goes beyond that. She was in such a hurry to find what was stolen from her, yet she stopped to help me. She even came up with that lame excuse for a favour even though I'm a total stranger."
"Anyone who lives like that…"
Subaru smiled and ran after Emilia after picking up his stuff, "...is just gonna end up wasting their whole life!"
"Sounds like he's got you figured out from the start." Felt remarked.
"Barusu calling her out for wasting her life is the pot calling the kettle black." Ram said
"Y'know, none of you would be wasting your lives if you stupid ape descended life-forms would just figure out the meaning of life." Tom stated bluntly.
Taking offence to being called an 'ape' Precillia shot back at him. "Don't lump mineself in with these commoners."
"Ok smartass, what do you propose the meaning of life is, then?" an annoyed Crusch inquired.
Tom replied: "42."
"Hey, wait up!" Subaru called out and Emilia stopped.
"Was there something else you needed? Just so you know, I can only spend a little more time with you, okay?" Emilia stated hesitantly.
"Ah, figured you were gonna shut me down... Anyway, you lost something important, right? Well, then let me help you find it." Subaru pointed at himself with an excited smile.
"You said you didn't know anything about my insignia." Emilia objected.
"But I can remember her face! If I see her again, I'll know!"
Emilia appears to be thinking as she looks at him. "You're so strange… Well, anyway, I won't be able to offer you any reward."
"Listen, I don't need one. I'm here because I wanna thank you. And to show how much I appreciate your help." Subaru boldly stated.
"I didn't do anything deserving of that. I told you, I've already received amicable compensation for healing your wounds."
Subaru held up his finger. "In that case... I guess I'm gonna help you for my own sake, too. I should probably set an objective so, uh... Right! One good deed per day!"
"Uh…"
"I don't sense any malice here, so I think you can just accept his offer." he looked at Subaru with a smirk as he teased, "After all, the more shields between you and ruffians, the better."
"A shield?! That's what you want me around for?!" Subaru glares at the cat in outrage.
"I meant what I said, though. I can't do anything to reward you." Emilia affirmed one more time, trying to convince him to stay away.
"No problem at all." Subaru said. "Just leave everything to me!"
Subaru and Emilia are shown in many different scenes where they look all over to find Felt. They end up sitting on a high area in the city and looking over the sight.
"I know what I told you before, but isn't this town too huge to find one little thing in?" Said Subaru as he slumped on a ledge with disappointment clear on his face.
"This "town" is the capital of Lugunica. How could you possibly not know that?" Emilia pauses and gives Subaru a sheepish look. "umm…"
"Hey, that's right. How rude of us! We haven't asked his name yet. Shouldn't we all introduce ourselves?" Puck asked the boy.
"Oh, yeah, guess so. Might as well go ahead and get the ball rolling first, then."
Subaru does a weird pose with his finger aimed at the sky. "My name is Subaru Natsuki. Not only am I totally clueless, I'm also broke beyond compare! Nice to meet ya!"
"Yup, that's the empty posturing I was talking about earlier." Tom told Subaru.
"You accuse me of empty posturing and trying too hard when you literally introduced yourself with a rock and roll concert on a tank." Subaru replied defending his action by pointing out the AI's hypocrisy.
"No," Thomas Retorded. "I wasn't trying, I'm genuinely awesome."
"Yeah," Subaru Snarked. "you keep telling yourself that."
"When that's how you introduce yourself, you really do sound hopeless. And my name is Puck! It's nice to meet you!" Puck floats really fast towards Subaru only to be met with his hand and begins shaking it. Emilia looks at how Subaru and Puck are shaking their hands with a surprised face.
"Is it too late to reintroduce myself as Boxcar Joe, the Magic Hobo?" Tom playfully joked, hoping people would get his reference.
"Yes," everyone said annoyed. to which Tom sighed and moaned in disappointment.
"It's very unusual to see someone who can touch a spirit so casually like that. Where are you from exactly?"
"Well, following the usual pattern, a small island nation to the east." Subaru answers as he plays with Puck.
"If your world is spherical, how can you have an east?" asked reinhard. "If it's ball-shaped, wouldn't everything be east and west at the same time?"
"You'd think that, but we have flat maps and most of them place Japan to the very far east." Subaru replied, and Reinhard nodded.
Emilia looks to be in thought. "but Lugunica is the easternmost nation on our continental map. There are no more countries in that direction."
Subaru looks surprised at this. "No way, really? There's nothing east of here?"
Emilia looks at Subaru with pitying eyes. "You have no idea where you are, you have no money, you can't read, and you seem to have no one around who can help you. You might be in an even more precarious position than I am... Uh, Subaru, right?"
Subaru blushes red as he looks away from her, "uh, Yes, that's my name."
Puck floats around the boy. "All that aside, I gotta admit, you seem like you're in pretty good shape."
Subaru opens and closes his palm, "I do try to work out every day. Ya see, when you're the shut-in protector of your own house, you gotta stay fit as much as possible."
"What does Shut-in mean?" Emilia asked her knight.
Subaru slumped in sadness.
"It means someone who never leaves their room or house. Isolating themselves and not really having any friends, I suppose." Beatrice explained, not liking the way her contractor always referred to himself with something so degrading.
"So you wasted your life, then?" Reinhard asked.
Subaru lowered his head. "Sadly, yes, I did."
"I'm sorry to hear that. But we still love you." Rem said, hugging her hero to comfort him and reassure him that they cared about him, but she almost suffocated him with her Oni strength.
"Had we been born on the same version of earth, I think I could have been your friend." Tom said, trying to also reassure him.
"What country were you from?" Subaru asked.
"Canada. But we could have been online friends given that you gamed a lot. Though there'd still be the language barrier, but I remember trying to learn Japanese in highschool and from what your camp has picked up on. You know more English than your average Japanese person." Tom replied.
"But online friends would still make me a shut-in." Subaru grimaced. "But I appreciate the sentiment."
"I'm not sure if I understand exactly what a "shut-in" is, but I assume it means you're from a reputable family, right?" Emilia moves and picks one of Subaru's hands to inspect them, ignoring the boy's blush.
"Hey, what're you...?"
"Your fingers, too. They're very pretty. They don't look like the working hands of a peasant at all. And your muscles don't look like the kind you gain from doing field work."
Subaru steps back from her and changes the subject. "Uh, um, yeah, so anyway, I know your cat's name now, but I still haven't heard you say your name yet."
Emilia looks away as she appears to be thinking about something.
"Oh, my name? It's... It's Satella." Emilia looks at Subaru sternly awaiting his reaction. Puck looks at her in shock.
"Hold the fuck up!?" Garfiel shouted.
Eyes of shock shoot at emilia.
"Why did you use her name?!" Felt questioned her rival candidate, Spanish inquisition style.
"I don't know. These events never happened as far as I know." Emilia stated, trying to defend against the accusations.
"No family name. So that's the way you may address me, all right?"
"I see. Satella it is. That's a nice name." Subaru smiles at her.
Satella lowered her head in extreme embarrassment as other's dropped their jaws like the beat on a dubstep song.
"Can't say I blame him, he's not familiar with our world's history."
Emilia looks shocked at his reaction as if she was waiting for something else. Puck floats closer to her ear and sighs in disappointment. "You have got terrible taste." He whispers before disappearing into her silver-hair.
"Right, time to get back to askin' around!"
The scene changes to show Emilia pointing at a crying girl. "Subaru, That child over there, do you get the feeling she's lost?"
"Maybe, but what about our questioning?" Subaru asked as he looked between the lost child and Emilia with an apprehensive face.
"That's also important, but if she's lost, we have to do something." Emilia pressed brashly.
"I'm in no position to talk since you saved me but do you understand the position we're in?"
"I do. But there's a little girl who's crying! You can see that, right?" Emilia had a look of conviction on her face. Subaru looked surprised for just a moment at Emilia's abrasive attitude.
"If you don't want to do this with me, that's fine. Thanks for your assistance, Subaru. I'm sure I can handle things on my own from here on out. But first, I'm gonna help that little girl." Emilia spoke firmly and walked away from him without leaving a chance of argument.
The girl noticed Emilia standing in front of her with a soft smile on her face. She noticed Emilia's features and recoiled in fear.
Emilia ignored this and knelt with a gentle smile aimed at the kid. "Hey, there. It looks like something's the matter. Maybe I can help you. Did you come here on your own, or with your mommy and daddy?"
Although she was gentle with her, the small child seemed to be frightened of Emilia and began shedding tears.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry! I'm just here to help, not to do anything bad, I promise." Emilia started to panic and tried to calm the girl down to no avail.
Suddenly, Subaru's hand was in front of both girls showing them his ten edge coin.
"What you see before you is a rarity around here. A jagged-edge ten-yen coin! Observe closely as I take this coin and clutch it tightly in my hand. Tight, tight, tight. Like that! Now, where'd it go?" He opened his palm to reveal it was empty when it should have had the coin in it. The girl looked amazed at Subaru to which he gave a gentle smile.
"WOOOOOOOW!" Petra was amazed at the little trick. "How'd you do that?"
"I think I've seen this one before, is this the trick where you tuck it into your sleeve?" Tom asked.
"At that angle the coin would slide down my wrist if it were up in my sleeve, the real trick is that I was hiding it between my fingers." Subaru explained.
Petra awed in amazement while Thomas "huh-ed" in understanding.
He moved his hand to her hair, "Well, take a look at this! I figured out where the coin was hiding." He gently showed the kid his coin. The girl smiled with awe and astonishment but looked up at him with an asking look.
"Here ya go, it's yours. Like I said, it's rare, so take good care of it." Subaru chuckled and extended his coin to the girl.
The little girl smiled brightly and took the coin. "Thank you, sir!"
"I see. You got separated from your mom, huh? Yeah, that can be kinda scary. Well, don't worry. We'll help you. Me and this young lady right here? We'll find them in no time for ya." Subaru assured the little kid with a charming smile as he walked her throughout the marketplace.
The scene showed Subaru and Emilia, walking alongside the girl with each holding one of her hands as they looked around the marketplace. "Wow, look at us. People who don't know us probably think they're looking at a young married couple and their kid, huh? Is that embarrassing or what?"
"At best I can't really see you as anything more than her older brother." Emilia scoffed and carried on walking over the crushed pieces of the young man's heart.
"What makes you think I'm so young, huh?!" Subaru cried out in misery.
"Ah, Mommy!" the girl suddenly let go of their hands and ran into her mother's embrace. "Mommy!"
"It looks like she finally found her."
Emilia smiled at him. "yeah."
The scene changes to them sitting on a fountain ledge.
"Okay... so... In my opinion, that whole string of events with the little girl was nothin' but a side-quest, but what benefit will you insist that you got out of it?" Subaru asked as he watched the water flowing below his ledge.
"That's easy. Now we can continue our search with our minds at ease knowing we did the right thing. Anyway, why'd you end up helping me with that? Though you said you were against the idea." Emilia inquired as she kicked her legs on the ledge.
"Could say I just wanted to show off my magic trick, but that'd be a lie. Like I told you before, finding your insignia will be my one good deed for the day!" Subaru charmed with a pose and smile but Emilia instantly refuted him with a raised brow.
"I know that was the plan, but since you helped the little girl, isn't your one good deed over?"
"You are being super nitpicky! It doesn't hurt to do more than one nice thing in a day, does it? I just got tomorrow's out of the way. My plan is to get a week's worth of good deeds taken care of early!"
"If I were to guess, you're the type that basically wastes their whole life, right?" Emilia refuted again with a look of pity aimed at the boy.
Thomas Chortled and looked at Emilia. "Was it the cheeto-covered tracksuit or the ignorant behaviour that gave it away?"
Subaru slumps, "Seriously? You're the last person who should be saying that to anyone."
"I admit you're not a bad boy, though." The royal-robed girl said with a finger on her chin.
"I thought girls liked bad-boys?" Tom said, in his nonchalant joking manner. "That's why I set my crush's car on-fire and blew it up in the high-school parking lot."
"Why do you act like I'm so much younger than you? Honestly, I'm guessing there aren't that many differences between us." Subaru asked, turning to face the girl sitting on the ledge beside him.
"Well, you may think that, but all of your guesses would be wrong. Because... I'm actually half-elf." Emilia looked down with a dark expression suddenly covering her face. One of sadness and frustration.
'I gotta give Tappei credit, most half-elves my friends in D&D play and most half-elves in other fantasy works follow the "I'm half this and half that, and neither side likes me" trope. But Emilia seems to be a rather unique way of doing dejected half-elf trope.' Tom thought to himself, making a mental note.
Subaru looked up at her in surprise as he noticed her ears for the first time.
"Ah, no wonder. It makes sense now…" He whispered in an astonished tone as he noticed her pointy white ears.
Emilia gripped her knuckles tight as she waited for a certain reaction once more.
"From the moment I saw you... I thought you were cute! Elves are always beautiful, aren't they?" The boy quipped with a shining smile once more.
Emilia's and Subaru's cheeks turned redder than the skin on Magnus the red.
"Smooth guy, ain't ya'?" Garfiel said, teasing Subaru, nudging him in the elbow.
"How do you know what elves are if there's only humans there?" Rem asked her hero curiously.
Subaru shook his head, trying to recover from the embarrassment so he could answer rem.
"Well, um." Subaru took another moment to recompose himself. "In my world, elves and other races like the Oni are written about in our folklores, mythologies of the different cultures. The Oni from Japanese folklore, my homeland. And Demi-humans come from Egyptian mythology where pretty much every god has an animal head."
"And Elves come from Norse mythology. As well as Fairies, which originate from my ancestors over in Celtic Scotland and Ireland with their mythologies." Tom added on.
"Interesting, sounds like your world is full of rich stories." Otto remarked.
"It is." Subaru replied.
"What is it?" Subaru asked in confusion as Emilia stared at him with a slack-jaw.
"Didn't you hear what I just said? Listen, I'm trying to tell you that I'm a half-elf." She stuttered.
"Yeah, I heard you."
Emilia stood up from the ledge and looked away from the confused boy. She held her head in her hands as she lowered herself to keep him from seeing her blush.
Subaru was even more confused when an angry Puck flew out of her hair and punched Subaru in the face softly.
"What the heck was that for?" Subaru questioned.
"I just had to do something about this unbearable tingle I'm feeling!" puck stated.
Subaru touched Puck's nose with the tip of his and smirked. "That's the weirdest reason for punching somebody I've ever heard. Though I'll forgive you since it was squishy."
"I didn't hit you in the face out of anger or anything. In fact, it was quite the opposite."
"Subaru, you are such a dunderhead!" Emilia turned around and glared at him with her cheeks still archiving a tingle hoe of red.
"Yeah, so Who says Dunderhead in this day and age? And why are you insulting me in the first place?"
"The same people who are too chicken-shit to say 'Retard'." Tom snarked, answering Subaru's question on who says dunderhead.
"Ugh! Whatever! More importantly, we have to get back to the search. So let's go." Emilia turned with an angry pout.
"Hey, wait a minute! Just running around without a plan is never a good idea. There's a basic rule of searches."
"What are you talking about?"
"Yeah, like revisiting the scene of the crime. Where exactly was your insignia stolen?"
"Do–Do–Do–Do–Do, Inspector Gadget, Do–Do–Do–Do–Doo–Doo." The AI sang to set the mood for the insignia search.
"Hey, I got that reference." Al exclaimed, but then lamented. "God, I feel old now."
The scene changes to Subaru standing with the appa sales men behind him.
"And then she told me it was right around here, so after I insisted that she leave everything to me, I valiantly came back to this fruit stand to look for some clues."
"I thought I had a customer, but you're that same broke kid from earlier."
"You really wanna take that attitude? Haven't you noticed I'm not who I was before?"
"Huh?"
"Just look who I brought with me, she's someone that might become a regular!" Subaru pointed at Emilia but he didn't notice that she looked slightly embarrassed.
"Uh, Subaru... I'm not exactly sure what you expected of me, but I actually don't have any money, either."
"Huh? S-seriously?"
"So what did you wanna ask me about now that I'm stuck here with not one, but two broke customers, boy?"
"Well, we're actually looking for someone, and we were hoping we could ask you a few questions, if you wouldn't mind..."
"That was a sarcastic way of saying I don't have time for broke losers! Now get outta here! Scram!" The salesman shouted at the two in anger.
"He's still being rude." Julius stated.
Subaru was closing his eyes to defend himself from the man's yelling.
"Hey, Mister!" a cheerful and childish voice called out.
Everyone looked to the side to see the little girl and her mother from earlier waving at them.
"Thanks for your help earlier."
"What brings you back this way?" Subaru asked the mother.
"It's my husband's shop, so we were just stopping by."
"Your husband?" Subaru looked at the salesmen.
"Daddy!" the girl hugged her father
"Hey, there's my girl. Now wait a second, how exactly do you know these two good-for-nothings?"
"She got lost, and these two found her, then helped bring her back to me."
The man glared at the sheepish Subaru.
"Thanks again, lady. Here!" Emilia looked down at the little girl as she held out a flower for her.
"Please accept that token as her way of showing gratitude for what you've done." The wife smiled proudly at the scene.
Emilia remembered how she had helped this girl and gotten the same flower before meeting subaru. It was very surreal for her to see those events playing out completely differently with the inclusion of her Knight.
"Thank you very much." Emilia smiled gently as she placed the flower on her dress.
The Appa salesmen cleared his throat. "Sorry about all that before. You helped my daughter, and I wanna show my appreciation, so ask me anything."
The two smiled brightly at one another but Emilia's smile turned into a proud superior smirk.
"There, you see? A little bit of extra effort on our part came back around and worked in our favour!" She held her head high in smugness.
The scene changed to both Subaru and Emilia walking in a very run down and unpolished neighbourhood, nothing like the rest of the capital. People with worn out clothing and nasty glares were staring at them both as if they were food.
"The air, the atmosphere, and, most likely, the attitudes of the people living here are awful. Are you sure she's really out here?"
"You're sayin' she's a nimble little blonde, right? 'Cause it might be that Felt girl I see around from time to time. She's well-known in the slums. Dunno where she lives, though. That's about all I can tell ya." A flashback with the salesmen was shown.
The scene returned to Subaru and Emilia.
"Maybe someone will tell us if we ask." Emilia suggested
"No one would sell out their own, especially to a couple of strangers, so asking would be useless." Puck answered Emilia.
"Maybe we should come back later."
"Whatever it is you wanna do, I suggest that you decide quickly. 'Cause I've just about run outta time here."
Subaru looked at Puck, confused. ""Out of time"? What do you mean?"
"I'm able to take on this cute appearance, but I'm a spirit. It takes a lot of mana for me to appear in physical form. So when the day becomes night, I return to the crystal I was summoned from and prepare for the sun to emerge. On average, my ideal time to stay out is roughly nine to five."
"Nine to five? Sounds like you work in an office. Employment terms for spirits are pretty severe."
"They're actually pretty hours, don't think of it as something severe." Puck told the black haired boy.
"We'll be fine without Puck. We need to keep moving forward on this." Emilia looked serious.
"Yeah. But sorry… I'm at my limit… " Puck yawned and began to disappear.
"It's almost like he's dying when he disappears." Subaru whispered as he watched the spirit fade-out before him.
"Sorry to've worked you so hard today, Puck. We'll handle things from here, so settle in and get some rest." Emilia smiled at her spirit.
"Don't do anything reckless, all right? If it comes down to it, you can always use the od to summon me again." Puck warned the girl as he rested on her opened palms.
Emilia nodded her head. Puck turned to Subaru and gave him a smile.
"I'm leaving things in your hands, Subaru! Good luck!" With that, he went into the crystal.
The scene changes to Subaru holding his jacket while blushing as he and Emilia walked through the slum.
"Hey, wow, I don't think I've been in one of these "alone with a girl" situations since I was in grade school." He whispered flusteredly while breathing heavily.
"Don't get any pervy ideas, Subaru. I can use magic, you know." Emilia warned instinctively and narrowed her beautiful eyes at him.
Tom raised his head and narrowed his eyes in confusion after he realised something. 'Hang on… if she still thinks kissing makes babies, how the hell does she know what pervy means?'
"I won't, okay?! The more important issue at hand is how we find Felt now." Subaru changed the topic immediately.
"I'll contact the lesser spirits." She answered while stepping on a bridge.
"Lesser spirits?" Subaru tilted his head.
"They're beings that haven't quite become full-fledged spirits yet. They grow little by little over time, and when they gain enough strength and self-awareness, they become full spirits, just like Puck."
Subaru stares in amazement and awe as tiny flashing lights surround Emilia. He's completely mesmerised by her as it's shown how he was blushing deep red on both cheeks while staring at her glowing image.
Julius smiled. "No matter how many times I see them. Lesser sprites are always beautiful."
The scene changes to show that it was night time and they were both walking alone in the empty streets throughout the eerie atmosphere .
"It's getting more desolate and quiet. Hard to believe that she actually lives out here." Emilia asked while holding a hand to her chest, keeping her guard up.
"I know, but the lesser spirits specifically said they saw someone who looked like Felt headed in this direction."
Subaru looked at a passing man and stopped. "Scuse me, man! Know if a girl named Felt lives somewhere up this way?"
"Huh? You're lookin' for Felt? There's nothing that way except Old Man Rom's loot house." the man told.
The man realised why they wanted Felt and laughed. "Hah, I guess she must've stolen something pretty important for you two to come out here. Well, I wish you luck on bargaining to try to get it back. Live strong, okay?"
"I'm confused, is that some pleb expression I'm too great to understand?" The phoenix princess asked, receiving a middle finger from Felt.
"What was he talking about? Why do I have to pay money to get back something stolen from me?" Emilia muttered as the man laughed and walked away.
The Scene changed to show the two of them just outside of Rom's loothouse.
"Don't worry about a thing. Just leave everything to me. I can handle the negotiations." said Subaru.
"All right, then. I'll just leave everything in your hands." Emilia instantly nodded her head and gave him a smile.
"You agreed to that pretty easily. I figured you'd say something like "You want me to leave this to a useless boy like you? That's such a ridiculous idea, it actually hurts my stomach!" And although that would stomp all over my feelings, I'd still decide to keep helping you anyway." Subaru tried to sound like Emilia by heightening the pitch of his voice.
"I'd never say something that mean to anyone! Of course, to tell you the truth, I'd be lying if I said you haven't been holding me back a little bit." Emilia smirked at him and crossed her arms together.
"Oh, great! That's good to know!" Subaru sarcastically replied.
Garfiel poured a glass of water onto Subaru, a joke Subaru had taught him. "Apply cold cold water to Burned area." Garfiel snickered, making Subaru snicker too.
"But again... ...I'm leaving this in your hands." Her smile turned sincere as she watched him step up the front porch.
"If it actually goes well, I'll consider it a bonus." Subaru said as he found her smile worthy of awe. "Now, ya know, if you said something more like, "Work hard for me, okay?" I'd probably feel a whole lot more motivated."
"Sorry, I can't force myself to say something like that. However, please do your best." Emilia smiled.
"I'll go in first. You stay outside and keep watch. I won't be back too late, but you can have dinner without me if you get too hungry."
"Don't say dumb things like that. And be careful."
"Sure, sure." Subaru shrugged off Emilia's pleads.
"Now don't come in until I say it's all right, Satella." Emilia looks on in confusion after hearing herself be referred to by that name.
Emilia almost cringed in cognitive dissonance at hearing herself be called 'Satella'
"What's the matter?" Subaru asked.
"Nothing, never mind. If you can manage to get my insignia back, then I'll apologise."
Subaru opens the door and holds out the lantern. "Anyone here?... nope."
"Now, am I walking into a demon nest or a snake pit? In a fantasy world, either is totally plausible… "
Subaru looked around the dark house, using his lantern he see's bookshelves full of stolen trinkets and knick-knacks.
"This is all stolen loot? Impressive. But why isn't anyone here?"
Subaru looked around the dark place and pointed his light in the direction where he needed to see.
"A shack full of stolen goods and no one around to guard it?" Subaru walked forwards causing the floor to squeak and he ended up walking into some liquid.
Subaru looked down and saw blood.
"I have a bad feeling about this." Anestasia lamented.
Looking up at where the liquid was coming from, Subaru saw a severed arm and stepped back. his fight or flight response chose flight.
He then looked up and found the dead body of a giant slumped over and missing his bottom jaw.
"OH SHIT!" a disturbed Felt blurted out, covering her eyes and mouth in pure shock. "Old Man Rom!"
"The Hell!" Otto cried out in shock at the sudden change in tone of the show.
Subaru began to hyperventilate in fear.
"Oh, dear, you found that?" Subaru heard the voice of a woman, startling him.
"Thats–!" Reinhard recognised the voice of that woman.
"Well, I have no choice, then." The voice sounded closer and more excited.
"That bitch!" Garfiel furiously blurted, remembering Elsa and how she tried to kill them all last time they met.
Subaru slowly and frigidly looked behind him.
"No choice at all..."
A gushing sound was heard as he fell down and the Lantern flew to the other side of the room.
He struggled to stand as the room was dark once again.
"Agh... that burns…"
Subaru looked down at his stomach and saw a big fat cut with blood spilling out.
'Oh, crap... Is all of this my blood?'
Subaru couldn't stop himself from puking as the blood started gushing out of his mouth.
Everyone gasped.
"SUBARU!" Rem cried.
Subaru felt so overwhelmed he began to curl up, covering his mouth with his hands. He can't tell his secret until they learn it, but he wanted to scream his secret at the top of his lungs.
"Subaru!?" Emilia looked to the seat next to her knight to see him worrying about something. "What's going on!?"
"I know I've already seen this and this isn't a surprise for me, I'm still going to act surprised." Tom mumbled before blurting out: "Fuck-a-doodle-doo!"
(authors note: for those of you unaware, that was a Shaun of the dead reference. It's a great movie that I highly recommend. "David, Kill the Queen." that line aged well ( : .)
'No... This is bad... Very bad…'
Rem also took notice of Subaru's actions and began berating him with questions coming from a place of concern.
"So this is the stuff we heard at the start." Ryuzu noticed. "In Medias Res it was called?"
Subaru collapsed from the pain.
The door to the house opened and in came a worried Emilia.
"Subaru? What's Wrong? You ok?"
Pucks eyes shot open, figuring out what was gonna happen next. 'Oh no! Oh Fuck!' Puck's mind raced, even though he thought these events never happened and he didn't recognise them, he still worried for her safety nonetheless. 'Oh no! Oh Fuck! Oh no! Oh Fuck! Oh no! Oh Fuck! Oh no! Oh Fuck!'
"Don't come in! Run away! Get out of here!" Subaru pleaded to her, but to no avail.
Emilia walked until she looked back at something and collapsed at a slashing sound just like Subaru did.
The scene showed Subaru's hand with Emilia falling down in front of it.
Puck was having thoughts about resurrecting Elsa so he could have her killed a second time.
Emilia was just as shocked as everybody else. Did she die? If so, how was she still here? Nothing about this made a single lick of sense.
"Big Sis!" Felt cried out.
Subaru summoned all the willpower he could and started reaching for Emilia's hand.
"Stay with me…"
"Hang on…" His eyes were starting to lose the light.
"No matter what happens…" He held Emilia's hand and squeezed it.
"...I'm gonna save you…"
Everything went black suddenly.
"Wait, they both are dea–" Wilhelm was about to voice his confusion before he was cut off by what happened next.
A faint voice said: "What's the matter with you, kid? It looks like you've seen a ghost or somethin'." the blurry image of the Appa salesman came into view on the screen.
Subaru wasn't dead. The audience have been Tricked, they've been Backstabbed and they've been Quite Possibly, Bamboozled.
Satella just lowered her head cause she knew now that her and Subaru's secret was about to be revealed.
"Wait… WHAT!?" Otto cried out in utter bewilderment.
"The fuck just happened?" Garfiel questioned.
'So THAT'S how his do-over works.' Roswaal finally realised. He had known for a long time that Subaru was capable of redoing, but had never known how it works, thinking Subaru could consciously control it. Now, the nefarious mage pierced together that death was the key.
"Huh?" Subaru said, putting his hand to his ear.
"How are you back there?!" a confused Beatrice asked her contractor.
"I…I," Subaru croaked out, tears stockpiling behind his eye sockets, his catharsis had finally come. In one massive screech, Subaru let out his entire heart. "I CAN RETURN BY DEATH!"
Tom paused the screen again to let Subaru and his friends have a moment.
"Return, by…death?" Emilia asked in a tone that mixed curiosity, concern, and worry.
"I can… Die… and… go back to the past…" Subaru said, tears flowing as he all but collapsed into Emilia's arms.
Everyone was crowding around Subaru, looking for explanations behind what the hell was going on.
"Back up, back up." ordered Wilhelm. "Give the poor boy some breathing room."
Everyone stopped to take in what Subaru just said. The witches scent, the strange knowledge of the future, the strange cloths and mannerisms, it's all connected. The pieces were all put together in everyone's minds: Subaru was taken from his home in another world and given Return by Death so he can fulfil a purpose.
"So if his power is triggered by death then…" Beatrice pondered. "Wait, just how many times have you died, I Suppose?"
"Enough times to make a drinking Game out of it." Tom said, creating a tray of shot glasses as he took one of the shots. "Anyone wanna play? He's not going to die enough to give you alcohol poisoning, trust me."
Having enough of his unfunny bullshit, Felt walked right up to him and nailed him in the face with one of the hardest punches she ever gave.
"The fuck was that for!" Protested the AI.
"This is our friend! How care you turn his suffering into humour!"
"If it makes you feel any better, I laugh at my own suffering too," Rebutted Tom.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Emilia asked the next obvious question, hugging Subaru. "Do you not trust us?"
Whipping away some of his tears, Subaru answered, trying to calm their worries. "What? No way. There was nothing I wanted to do more than tell all of you."
"So, I take it that talking about it is considered Taboo." Roswaal remarked, elaborating on what Subaru had said. "Fascinating, very fascinating."
"Taboo? What do you mean?" Rem asked her master.
"It means that if he tries to speak about it, he'll be punished by the jealous witch." Roswaal explained.
The people crowding around lowered their heads. How many times has he been punished for trying to speak?
Knowing that this was even more reason for everyone to hate her, Satella tried tip-towing towards the exit, but was caught by Tom being a jackass by calling out to her in a way everyone would hear him.
"SAY! SATELLA! HOW COME YOU PUT THAT TABOO ON HIM?!" Tom blurted out causing everyone to look over to her.
Satella felt their eyes of hatred burning into her skull, it felt like torture.
she thought this torture couldn't get worse. But little did she and everyone else know, Tom was planning on torturing them all by making them watch the Percy Jackson movies.
"I–…I–" Satella tried to find a satisfying answer, but everyone's accusatory glasses caused her to cry.
"If he's learned so much about our world then, that means he's died a lot." Roswaal bluntly stated.
"That my dear Roswaal-sama Bin Laden, is what we in the business call 'an understatement'." Tom replied, adding onto his list of nicknames for everyone here.
To Be Continued…