Chapter 7: Adrenaline

Subaru walked slowly behind the three girls that led him through the streets in the capital. They had gotten lunch not too long ago and it was getting close to sundown. Rem and Emilia were talking about things that caught their eye in shops and other little things. He noticed that Ram was sneaking glances back at him. The pink haired maid had her head turned slightly the entire time enough so that she could watch him.

Initially, Subaru thought that she was keeping an eye on him. Ram was very careful about things that could threaten her family. He knew that she would kill whenever she felt it was necessary.

As they walked, the glances kept coming. But this time, he caught her eye. That caused an immediate blush to form on her face.

Subaru stopped walking for a second. 'Wait, does she..?'

Ram also stopped. "Rem, could you and Lady Emilia go and grab us some water? It's getting hot out here." She fanned herself to try and push her point.

"Okay. Come on Emilia." Rem took her hand and pointed out a place to grab some water bottles.

Ram then took Subaru's hand and lead him to a small alleyway. Once there, she turned and threw him against the wall and moved close. "Barusu."

"R-R-Ram? W-What are you doing?" He stuttered as she leaned up against him.

"Taking something you owe me." She stood on her toes and tried to kiss him.

Subaru was quick to stop her. "Ram." He placed both hands on her shoulders. "What has gotten into you? I thought you hated me."

Ram stood in embarrassment for a moment, her actions catching up to her. "I have no idea what that was."

Before she could say anything else, they heard Emilia's voice calling for them in the street. The two exited the alley but not before Ram turned to him. "We need to talk later." The blush on her cheeks made it obvious that she was nervous about the idea of talking to him alone.

"Okay." Subaru took the lead and let Ram hide her flushed face behind his back so she could calm down. "Emilia, Rem, over here!" He called as he caught their attention.

"There you are. Where did you go? We went to get water and you were gone when we came back." Emilia asked as she handed Subaru a bottle and hugged his arm.

"The heat was starting to get to Ram so I helped her over to an alley to cool off. That kind of explains why her face is flushed too." Subaru tried to sound convincing and breathed a silent sigh of relief that they bought it.

Rem was quick to step over to her sister and give her a bottle. "Are you okay? Do you want to go back?"

"Ha. I'm fine. Barusu was just overexaggerating. I wasn't that hot." Ram stated as she turned her nose up. "But thank you Rem for the drink."

"You aren't going to thank me?" Subaru asked.

"No. Barusu is not worthy of my gratitude." She said flatly, and they continued their walk.

After another 25 or so minutes, the group found themselves in a place that Subaru hoped he would never have to come back to. And it just so happened that Rem wanted to go to the top. The ruins were standing tall in the yellow sun and provided a beautiful view of the sunset.

Subaru stopped a second and looked up. The image of Rem sitting and crying played like a movie in his head. He could see her tears, the hurt look on her face.

"Subaru?"

He could feel the strength as she pushed him off the side out of sadness and anger.

"Subaru?"

He felt the breeze as he fell from the top.

"Subaru!"

The shriek that came from the top as Rem screamed his name in desperation.

"SUBARU!"

Subaru finally was snapped out of his thoughts by a certain blue haired maid that stood in front of him worried.

"Are you okay?" She asked, having know idea of the events that transpired here. Before he could think, he had wrapped Rem in his arms. "This is nice and all Subaru, but I'm worried about you."

After a minute or so he pulled back. "I'm sorry Rem. I was remembering what happened up there." While Subaru remembered her pushing him off. Rem pictured the day she told Subaru she loved him.

"That was such a wonderful day." She twirled once before grabbing his hand and taking off up the steps to the top where Emilia and Ram were waiting.

Subaru winced as he looked over to the ledge where he once stood in front of Rem, and where she pushed him off on accident.

"Why don't we go sit over there and watch the sunset?" Emilia suggested. She grabbed his arm and pulled him to follow.

While he was hesitant to do so, Subaru walked over and sat on the wall that was close to the edge. What he didn't like was how close to the edge Rem got as she was telling the other two about how she told Subaru she loved him. Of course, she left some details out, like his idea to run off with her, but she told the gist of it. As she talked, she walked closer to the edge, not really paying any mind to her movement. His adrenaline was pumping at the thought that any moment, she could lose her balance and fall.

"Uh, Rem? Could you please step back this way a little bit? You're making me nervous." Subaru hoped he didn't make her sad about that, but she seemed to comply with a smile.

"Okay." Rem returned and sat down next to him. Emilia was already situated on the other side leaning on his shoulder.

Even though the sunset was perfect, he couldn't help but feel negative about this place. It was where he had seen one of the women he loved crying her eyes out because of something he did. Come to think of it, he almost did the same thing earlier.

"Rem. Can I speak to you alone please?" Subaru stood and offered her his hand.

"O-Okay." She blushed and took his hand. 'Oh, this is so romantic.' She thought as he led her away from the other two.

"Rem, I've been noticing something's off recently."

"What is it?"

"It's Ram. I think she likes me now." He hoped that she didn't get jealous. Whenever Emilia got all close to him, Rem would glare at the half elf. Lord only knows what would happen if her own sister…

"That seems unlikely. We both know how much she despised you at the start. How would that change?"

"I don't know. I just can't shake the feeling that her eyes have been on me all day."

Rem stood in thought for a moment. "Now that you mention it. I did notice a few times where she would stare at you and Lady Emilia when she was around your arm." She growled a bit at the last part.

Subaru caught the growl and knew that he needed to make it up to Rem for allowing Emilia to be so touchy all the time. "Yea, about that. I promise to make that up to you as soon as this thing with Ram is settled."

"You better. I have my feelings out in the open now. I will not lose." A hint of sadness in her voice.

He smiled and patted her head. "You're not losing Rem. I promise you that." Noticing that Rem's sad face stayed even though he was rubbing her head, he spoke again. "Hey, Rem."

Rem looked up from under his hand. "Hmm?"

"I love you. You told me that I was your hero. Well, I guess you're mine too." That got her to instantly rush forward and hug his chest. Realizing that she wasn't letting go anytime soon, he walked back over to the other two.

As they walked, Subaru was having a debate in his head. 'Emilia has done so much for me, stuff she doesn't know. On the other hand, Rem has been there with me through everything. She's saved my ass a lot, even in loops. Emilia is beautiful, so is Rem. Emilia is the one that saved me my first time here. Rem saved me almost every time after that.' His head was spinning. 'I don't wanna have to choose. Trying to choose between Rem and Emilia would be like trying to choose between…well… Dammit it's a tough choice!'