DISCLAIMER

The following is a fan-based

FICTION

Re:Zero and other products related to the this series are all owned by Tappei Nagatsuki.

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Chapter 1: Our Alpha, Our Omega

If someone had told Subaru that Isekai situations weren't as idyllic as he once saw them and he had actually read Berserk was about, the young man wouldn't feel as dissatisfied with how bad his luck had gone now by setting him up for quite the unpleasant situation.

The Japanese NEET was no stranger to the idea of getting mugged, with his father having told him countless times of the days where he would happily beat the crap out of any thief trying to hurt his wife. The idea was the concept that had urged Natsuki Kenichi to train his son a fair bit, but not intensely enough to genuinely get the young man to develop an interest in physical exercise by himself.

This decision that Subaru took those days of lazing around instead of training was now showing its ugly mug by presenting him with that very situation which... didn't end well. The beating had hurt a lot, but he managed to not get anything broken as he was saved by what he initially thought being an angel. Nothing wrong in being a young man with hopes of finding a beautiful woman in the near future, but he was no deviant when it came to making angelic remarks to highlight a woman's beauty.

The moment he opened his eyes after fainting on his savior's approach, Subaru's gaze faced... a young face. A gorgeous face owned by a young woman with pretty violet eyes and pretty white hair that just heightened her purity to the highest point humanly possible.

Was that truly an angel? That's what he thought at that time.

"You are awake?" She asked softly, almost surprised and... Subaru remembered that he was outright gawking at the poor girl. He just had to remember what his mother had taught him in how to deal with ladies to realize how stupid he had to look right now. While his father's approach with the friendly and outgoing personality was neat when it came to talking with boys in general, that didn't extend to girls as his mother quickly reasoned with her 'caring' manners.

"Baru-kun, trust your Mama on this. If a girl is cute, you have to be the most polite about it, or else she will end up disliking you. How else is your Mama getting some grandkids then?"

Of course, a six years old Subaru wasn't certain of what he just heard at the time, but he understood one thing. While boys were keen to accept him being incredibly friendly with them... girls were to be treated with a degree of restraint. Too much of him 'being dad' and any chance of being close to possible female friends would evaporate. In fact, this is why Subaru, despite his mediocre grades and standing during his High School years, was considered an approachable and nice guy by fellow dudes and chicks alike. Not much of a bold man, that he wasn't ashamed to admit when it came to going forward to possible relationships, but nonetheless a good 'kid'.

So, instead of being too blunt about the thoughts he was having about the very girl that had saved his bacon from some thugs, he merely nodded at her and decided to go for a more polite approach.

"Y-Yes. Thank you."

Simple, curt, and showing no weirdness that would gross her out. Still, the young woman frowned at his words, as if surprised by what he had just said. It felt odd considering that he had been quite 'humble' about it, he was sure of it, and yet the next words consolidated her shock.

"Thank... you?"

"Well, we did save him from that bunch of criminals," Another voice pointed out and his attention was briefly stolen by quite the unusual sight. A small cat with gray fur, it was flying just above the girl's head and now peeking at it. "Name's Puck. This is Emilia."

The girl tensed up, glancing up at the floating pet in a moment of annoyance and confusion. "W-Why did you tell him-"

"He looks trustworthy. He sounds trustworthy too."

That was... sudden.

The NEET couldn't tell what was going on, but somehow the floating creature - a familiar perhaps - had decided to trust him on the spot? Was it because he didn't look much, or maybe he hadn't done anything to draw suspicion on himself? Despite his questions, the girl still gave him a serious look, as if personally studying him before delivering judgment about the matter.

"What's your name?" The young woman finally asked and... he gulped nervously.

"S-Subaru. Natsuki Subaru."

A blink, her frown strengthened. "Natsu...ki? Is that your name?"

"My first name is Subaru."

A slow nod, then she looks away to further think about this. Subaru tried to plan out a way to not make things any more awkward. He was still receiving a lap pillow, and he knew how girls could get annoyed of giving those so frequently to mere strangers for so long. The reason he got one was mostly tied to the fact he was still injured and that just now the soreness from that beating had started to retreat and leave him mostly tired.

"What do you... think about elves?"

Subaru blinked. "Elves? Are you-"

"Answer me," The girl tensely pressed and only now he could see her sharp ears.

...

"I guess they are... nice?"

Emilia paused, and then frowned even more. A pretty blush adorned her pale cheeks, turning them a pleasant shade of pink.

"W-What do you mean with nice?"

"I've read books that say that elves are nice," Subaru elaborated, thinking back to the time when his mother read him the Lord of the Rings when he was a kid. It was a good book and his mother was always the book-smart woman that wanted her soon-to-be young man to become an intelligent member of society.

That proved to be a smart move as... the girl seemed to accept his words as true and it was enough to push in for a proper discussion. The two conversed for a while, with the girl eventually bringing up how she was looking around the capital to find an item that was stolen from her, a 'royal insignia' or something like that. Without hesitation, the NEET offered his assistance and mentioned that he wanted to return the favor for her helping him. The two were standing when he advanced that proposal, but the girl mentioned it was best for his well being that he didn't help her in anything.

"They wouldn't care if you're a good person. They would just judge you because... you're being nice with me."

Emilia wandered off without adding more to that, seemingly caught off-guard by that genuine approach, but incredibly unnerved by it as she proceeded to engage in a little run from Subaru. The young man was quite sure that he hadn't done anything to deserve that, and he was worried about what the girl had just said. The boy wasn't even trying to be rude or creepy, but there was indeed something wrong about the girl when it came to kindness for some reason. He was quite sure he hadn't said or done anything to truly offend anyone, and yet the young woman wasn't willing to call off the pursuit for a while.

Eventually it stopped, with Subaru barely holding control over his breath and ending up slowly walking up to the now stopped girl. Just as the young man managed to approach the girl close enough, he realized why the half-elf had stopped. A child, a little girl, was bawling without restraint while calling for her mother. Not unusual considering there were times where he heard of children losing sight of their parents due to massive crowds unconsciously splitting two or more groups apart. After a while, Emilia managed to convince the child she was going to help her and, much to her quiet chagrin, Subaru joined that effort too.

The little girl cried a little bit, but seemed to calm just enough to accept being escorted around until she managed to find where her mother had gone. Subaru wasn't... exactly sure he was doing a fine job. He never dealt with a child before now, so it felt incredibly awkward to try to keep things stable without messing things up. Still, he remembered that his father tended to use a lesser version of his classic 'overbearing' personality to amuse kids that wanted to test his muscles. He was a man-child to heart so, without hesitation, Subaru adopted a similar method, without of course bringing up muscles since he lacked in that department.

After a while, the two eventually brought the child back to... the 'Appa guy', someone that was selling fruits by the central square of the main market. With the little girl safely brought back to her home, Subaru and Emilia finally took a moment to talk about it once more. If before Emilia's reluctance to allow him to help her wasn't willing to give him any room of protest, now that he proved he wanted to genuinely help her gave him the argument to make her change her mind. The two agreed to help each other out of... friendship.

"After all, you have been kind to me and I think you're incredibly nice."

"Really?"

"Yes!" He happily exclaimed, failing to catch on the tiny blush on the half-elf's face at that truthful proclamation.

The two looked around, investigated a few people and... then realized what was going on. The thief that had stolen Emilia's precious item was one that was known to have her hideout near the outskirts of the city. The two wandered through the right path that led them away from the many buildings and crowds, and towards where a few poor citizens had made their home at. They stopped just once, with Emilia greeting a few spirits, small glowing entities that 'danced' at her hums and praises, leaving Subaru breathless before the fact that there was so much beauty in this world.

He was awed... but he didn't notice how the girl tensed up at his soft 'oh' as he looked at the fluttering group of magical orbs, thinking that for a moment, just for a moment, he had been staring right at her with that awe. Her blush was back again, and it made her question what was going on.

They arrived at their destination, opening the door to find out that the bar was... empty? Subaru entered inside, ignoring the sense of fear that irrationally grasped his mind as soon as he looked around the dark surroundings. Shadows left and right... but one in particular moved swiftly around, seizing the moment to strike against him.

Subaru tensed up, dread filled his heart as he felt it, the fright of coming close to die. It was night, it was close and it came to him. He turned around to run, but it was too late. A blade struck him swiftly, opening a massive wound over his stomach and almost killing him on the spit. He wasn't going to live beyond that day, and that made him feel particularly... miserable.

A squelching noise followed. Emilia had followed inside to check on him and met a terrible fate too. He felt guilty for leading her to this place, to her death. She fell near to him, her left arm stretched weakly as the girl shivered, close to death too. Maybe it was instinct, maybe it was determination, but in a moment that saw Subaru strays from the wimpy nature of his before the most frightening descent possible. His death.

"I-I'm going to save you!"

The promise of a stubborn NEET towards his new cute friend-

Yet, as his eyes forcefully closed with his life flickering away from his body, Subaru felt the hold he had over the girl's hand tightened. Emilia's soft smile, stained by a little line of blood trailing by the left side of her lips, was the last thing he saw.

A whimper came from her bloodied lips.

"T-Thank you... for caring."

-And the hopeless dream of a naive girl deprived of true happiness.

AN

When the Barusu is potentially Dense (but not completely) and poor Emilia is socially incapable of grasping romantic love as an emotion to convey to someone she just met. Subaru got a bit more from his mother than his father, leading him to be a little more reserved, cautious but still have these moments of bravado and loudness when the situation gets exciting. Awfully enough, this hits Emilia in all the 'right' spots.