"So. . ."
Subaru and Al had been wandering around Priestella for an uncomfortably long amount of time without speaking a word to each other. It was a somber reminder that, while they may share a kinship with one another through their experiences of being Isekai'd, that was where their similarities ended. Unfortunately, Subaru hadn't anticipated such a weird reaction from Al when they departed together. Subaru had expected a more amicable relationship between the two considering their previous conversation.
"What is it you wanted to talk to me about?"
Aldebaran continued walking without replying to Subaru's questions. He waited until they rounded a corner to a relatively crowded plaza before abruptly stopping in place.
"Sorry, can't say anything just yet. I need to make sure we aren't being followed."
Subaru's instincts immediately flared up. Whatever it was Al wanted to tell him, it wasn't something to be taken lightly.
"Wait, wait! Please don't say something that will put me in further danger! I've already been attacked once since arriving in Priestella!"
Al gestured for Subaru to calm down and put his single arm on his sword.
"You don't trust me? Not that I blame you. I have to say, Bro, your luck might be even worse than mine. . ."
Al pointed at Subaru's makeshift sling and let out a pained chuckle.
"Honestly, yeah. Can't say our last interaction was really pleasant for me either. . ."
Subaru averted his eyes away from Al's gaze and leaned up against a wall that wasn't visible from the main walkway.
"Why are you approaching me with this? Couldn't Reinhard or Priscilla could deal with whoever might be following you?"
Al's helmet obscured his reaction to Subaru's question, but he quickly shook his head at Subaru's well-intentioned query.
"No. I'm worried that people from your camp might listen in on what I have to tell you. It's important that what I tell you remains between the two of us."
'So. . . he thinks we are being followed by members of both our camps? I hate to admit it, but their recent behavior makes it hard to disagree with these concerns.'
Subaru nodded at Al's statement, seemingly grasping the implications of what he wanted to say.
"Schultz-kun, you can come out. I know Princess ordered you to spy on us."
A small boy hiding in the nearby crowd of people felt his eye twitch before casually attempting to blend back into the mob entering into the plaza.
Sadly, his hair was quite distinctive and Al had already cut off his escape route before Schultz could maneuver his way through the pack of people.
"A-Al-sama. . ! I-I'm sorry!"
Al didn't seem angry at Schultz's intrusion, in fact, he'd seemed like he'd been expecting the cute kid to turn up during their meeting.
"Princess should really stop giving you such difficult missions. . ."
Schultz tearfully nodded his head at Al's assessment of his unfair predicament and Al simply ruffled his hair and tried sending him on his way.
"I feel kind of bad for him. . . Is he normally given jobs like these?"
Subaru spoke up and stopped the pink-haired child in his tracks.
"Yeah, Princess often gives him burdensome orders and, because he wishes to appear brave and strong, he tearfully accepts them."
Subaru glanced over at Schultz dejected figure and felt pity welling up in his heart for the small boy.
'It sounds like he doesn't get praised enough! Why would such a cute kid pledge his loyalty to a conceited wench like Priscilla?'
"Hey, kid! Al and I were just heading out to pick up some expensive pastries from a nice café up the road. Do you want to come with us?"
Subaru didn't want to send the kid back to Priscilla empty-handed, so he offered to take Schultz with them and pay for his food. He hoped that a pastry was enough to assuage Priscilla's wrath.
"You forget what I just said?"
Al didn't seem happy with this proposition, but Subaru wasn't exactly looking forward to what Al was going to tell him. At the very least, this way he'd be able to pick up some treats for everyone back at the meeting.
"No, but we can just send him inside to place our order when we discuss business."
Al grunted in annoyance, but since he cared for Schultz, seeing the kid's face light up was enough for him to agree to Subaru's plan.
"Make sure to follow this order perfectly, Princess has high standards for anything we buy her."
"Yes sir!"
Al patted Schultz on the back and sent him into the café to place their order. He hoped that this would give them enough time to finish their discussion.
"Bro, I can tell that you are nervous for what I have to tell you. I wish I could say that you were overreacting. . ."
Subaru was on the edge of his seat. Al was purposely being vague with his words to keep Subaru from drawing attention to them, but it was obviously backfiring.
"I'm going to cut to the chase, you and your camp should leave this city. Today."
His eyes widened, but out of confusion. Subaru hadn't been expecting this. He thought that Al was going to tell him something relating to their situation as 'Isekai bros'. This news was, somehow, more unsettling.
"Woah, woah, woah! That sounded super ominous! What is about to happen?!"
Al shook his head at Subaru's loud exclamation. He'd already stuck his neck out once to give him this warning.
"I'm not certain what will happen, nor am I able to speak about it. Just trust me and convince them to leave."
Subaru wasn't certain what to make of this eerie prediction. It spoke volumes that Priscilla had even shown up here in the first place.
"Why are you only warning me!? Shouldn't you warn your camp?"
Al put his hand to his helmet and let out a long sigh. Subaru wasn't going to listen to his warnings.
"The Princess does what she desires. Once she's set her mind on something, there is no changing it. I suggest you listen to me and leave now."
Subaru wanted to trust Al's cryptic warning, but he also understood the situation his camp was in. Emilia had already arranged for a carriage to come and pick him up, which he planned to avoid. If something bad was going to happen in Priestella, the last thing he would do is let his friends face it alone.
'I can't allow another situation like Rem's ever again. I've been blessed with a second chance to apologize to her. I won't ever let that happen to Emilia-tan.'
"I appreciate the warning, but my camp has business here that we need to attend to. If you could tell me more abou-. . ."
Al turned his head in apparent frustration.
"No, you don't get it. I have no evidence; I simply know something bad is going to happen."
It didn't make sense what Al was proposing, nor was Subaru familiar enough with Al to discern if he was lying. However, this last sentence was enough to put Subaru somewhat at ease.
"You have no evidence. . ? You're telling me you brought me all the way out here just to relay a bad omen?"
Subaru didn't take Al as one who believed in premonitions. However, there was clearly more to what he was trying to say. Al was simply avoiding the truth whenever Subaru questioned him.
"Don't be an idiot."
"Then tell me what you know! I can't convince my entire camp to leave simply because you 'had a bad feeling' about this meeting!"
Al simply stared at Subaru through his helmet without giving a single indication of what he wanted Subaru to say.
"Al, with all five camps here, this city is arguably the safest place in Lugunica. I-If you are right about this, we'll handle it. . ."
"Fool. Don't be a hero. . ."
Al muttered under his breath. He knew that if Subaru put his life on the line here, things wouldn't be the same.
"A-Al-sama! They made a mistake on Priscilla-sama's order!"
Schultz abruptly rushed out of the café with a dejected look in his eyes, seemingly resigned to failing to appease his mistress. Luckily, Subaru now had the perfect excuse to continue their conversation.
"S-Schultz-san, correct? Here, go order another one. I'll take this off your hands!"
Schultz looked appreciative of Subaru's renewed efforts to lighten his spirits, but Al watched the scene in disgust.
"That self-sacrificing attitude of yours. . . even when there's no need for it. . ."
Subaru turned back around to face Al, seemingly confused at why his small gesture had angered Al.
"If he had simply taken it back and asked for them to fix it, you wouldn't have had to pay for another."
Subaru laughed at Al's small outburst.
"Why not? Schultz didn't want to cause any problems by lodging a complaint with the staff. What's wrong with helping the kid out?"
Al simply leaned back against the wall next to Subaru.
"Because when you needlessly sacrifice yourself on behalf of others, it soon becomes expectation."
Subaru wasn't expecting this answer from Al. It left him speechless at the implications of what he'd been doing up to this point.
'I-I suppose he's right. . . at least, in theory. I know that feeling pretty well.'
"Al, there's something I've always wanted to ask you."
Al shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, indicating his willingness to answer whatever questions Subaru had for him.
"I-I was wondering if you could tell me a little about how you arrived in this world. How you survived. . ."
Al tensed up for a moment, but seemingly came to a decision when he leaned off the wall and turned back towards the main walkway.
"Fine. I'll tell you, but it isn't pretty."
Subaru listened on with open ears. Hearing someone else's story, he hoped, might give him some catharsis relating to his journey.
"I don't remember much about my life before arriving here. I was teleported to an island named Ginunhive, off the coast of Vollachia."
Subaru's eyes widened with shock at this revelation.
"W-Wait! Vollachia!?"
'From what I've heard of that place, it sounds like the worst country in the entire world! Vollachia is a nation where the strong eat the weak. How the heck did this guy survive all this time?!'
"Yeah. And these particular islands are used for Gladiator combat."
Subaru was glad he wasn't sitting down, because if he was, he would've shot up out of his seat multiple times by this point.
"How strong were you before you got Isekai'd?!"
Subaru was baffled at the prospect of Al's journey to get to this point.
'Before I came to this world, I considered myself relatively strong. However, I was very quickly proven wrong! If it weren't for RBD, I would've died my first day here!'
"I wasn't particularly powerful. I would probably be dead if it weren't for my ability."
He could feel his eyebrows raise at this proposition.
"Wow. . . I guess that really is a rule of 'isekai', huh?"
"Yeah."
Subaru didn't realize the implications of what he'd just said. However, Al felt his heart in his throat from this simple exchange of words. He knew who would appear if he misspoke.
"So how does your power work?"
He asked this question moreso to see what powers he had missed out on. While RBD was powerful, it had the worst activation condition possible. Maybe he could've had an easier time if he'd gotten. . .
"Well, it lets me loop back in time when I die, under very specific circumstances."
And everything slowed.
". . . ."
Subaru could feel his legs shaking. The background noise of people walking on the main road had turned into a light hum in the back of his mind. Subaru's eyes darted across his surroundings, fully expecting punishment for what had just been said.
But nothing happened.
In fact, only now did Subaru's brain even register the combination of words that had just been spoken to him.
"Aah. . .s-so you've. . ."
Al nodded his head in silence.
"Crazy, isn't it? I was expecting more disbelief than acceptance."
Subaru put his hand against his forehead.
'H-He. . . he returns by death! He returns by death. . . A-And he. . .'
"Pull yourself together!"
Subaru's mind was racing. Everything Al had said became much more serious.
'H-His warning. . ! Has he already looped!? How many times has he looped? Conditions? A-And not to mention the fact that he told me-. . .'
"Bro! Stop attracting attention!"
Subaru was unsure which question he should ask first.
"What are the conditions for your power?"
Al shakes his head and laughs for a moment uninterrupted.
"Sorry Bro. Don't trust you that much!"
"Have you looped already?"
There was almost no delay between Al's answers and Subaru's follow-up questions.
"No, my warning has nothing to do w-. . ."
"How many times have you died?"
Subaru's eyes were still wide with shock. Al had been expecting this type of reaction from him, but he had hoped it would make Subaru trust him enough to heed his warnings.
"I'm not going to answer that."
Subaru could feel tears beginning to well up in his eyes at the ridiculousness of the situation.
'I-I can't believe it. . . There's someone else out there w-who. . .'
Subaru could feel his mouth open and the words that he'd always wanted to speak resting on his tongue.
'But I can't tell him!'
His mouth closed and Subaru fell to his knees. He was still alone.
But Al understood the scene in front of him.
"Bro. . ."
And he said exactly what Subaru needed to hear.
"Don't bother speaking. I know what you want to tell me."
Schultz came back to find a teary-eyed Subaru hugging Al with one arm. Al was clearly uncomfortable, but still returned the hug with some degree of vigor.
It was quite the wacky scene to onlookers.
Two men hugging each other with their only functional arms.
"U-Uh, Al-sama! I got the pastries for you and Priscilla-sama!"
Al nodded at Schultz and Subaru recomposed himself enough to walk back to the meeting without crying.
"N-Now I see why you came to me. . ."
Subaru spoke aloud with no real reservations behind his words. He was simply too happy to have found someone besides Echidna with who he could share his secrets.
"Bro, I'm glad you are listening to me, but please don't mention anything I've told you to anyone."
Subaru nodded and tried to think about something other than the bombshell that had just been dropped on him.
'H-He knows I Return By Death. Does he know about each of my loops?'
But he was woefully unable to do so.
"Schultz-kun, let's head back to the meeting."
Schultz had been keeping his eye on Subaru with an eyebrow raised. He'd missed something super important, hadn't he?
"A-Al-sama! Why is this man crying?"
Subaru brushed his hand across his face and aimed a beaming smile at Schultz.
"It's nothing! I just enjoyed the pastry you gave me."
Schultz felt a blush run over his face and he quickly pulled out one of the pastries to take a bite for himself.
"I. . . *chew*. . .suppose these. . . *chew*. . .are quite good. . ."
"Don't worry about it, just give the Princess her pastry."
Al gestured for Subaru and Schultz to follow him back to the main walkway and return back to the meeting.
'I can't believe everything that's changed since I arrived in Priestella. . .'
In just a single day, Emilia had kissed him, Rem had woken up, and he'd finally been able to share his secret with someone. His luck might finally be turning around!
"W-Wait, Al-sama! Are you sure we should go back just yet? Priscilla-sama said to wait unti-. ."
Nevermind.
"How about some silence while we're heading back?"
Al sneakily diverted attention away from Schultz's slip-up. It was too late, though.
Subaru heard this innane comment.
'Huh? Why would Priscilla want us out of the meeting?'
Subaru could feel the amount of information rushing through his head giving him a headache.
'Now that I think about it. . .It was odd for Emilia-tan to let me leave the meeting in the first place. She didn't let me out of her sight from the moment I woke up.'
"That's odd. . ."
Subaru muttered aloud.
"Don't dwell on coincidences. I've told you everything I needed to tell you."
Al knew everything that Subaru was thinking. It really unnerved him to think that Al could read him so easily. That, or. . .
He'd already had this conversation with him once before.
"So, I'd imagine everyone is discussing something in private, is that why I've been removed?"
Al stopped in his tracks again, frustrated with Subaru's perceptiveness.
"It's not a good habit to read into things like you do. It's the easiest way to get yourself into others' problems."
Subaru quickened his pace on his walk back to the Lodge and saw Schultz's expression change.
"I see."
Al and Schultz realized the mistake and Schultz quickly donned a neutral look in his eyes.
"I haven't interacted with you very much Al, so it makes sense I wouldn't notice."
He wasn't going to let this go. Subaru felt he was close to finally figuring out the mystery he'd been grappling with since arriving in Priestella.
"Since that flash in the carriage, everyone's been acting noticeably different. It hadn't occurred to me that it could've affected you too."
Al's body language gave away no signs of trepidation. His helmet his face and he'd been standing still for a solid 10 seconds at this point.
"How about a deal, Al?"
His hand unconsciously drifted to the sword on his belt.
"What deal?"
Subaru put his hand in his pocket and closed his eyes for a moment.
"If you confirm one thing for me, I won't ask you any more questions."
Al seemed hesitant to agree to this deal, as he had no way to predict what Subaru would ask.
"Relax, it's a simple question. Did you see a flash on your carriage ride to Priestella?"
Al pulled his hand away from his sword and rested it at his side once more.
"Yes."
Subaru had gotten his answer.
'I didn't expect something like this to be possible. . . but, it makes sense.'
There were a few possibilities that explained the series of events which had just transpired. Each more unlikely than the last.
'First, somehow, that flash provided everyone with a glimpse of the true future.'
Subaru knew something like this was possible. Roswaal's tome of wisdom had proven itself to be quite accurate when it came to predictions, so there was a chance that whatever Al was warning him about had been viewed by the rest of the camps.
'But in that case, wouldn't the camps just turn around? Not to mention the fact Al deliberately made sure other camp members weren't following us. There'd be no reason for him to isolate me from the other camp members if this was something that everyone had seen. The real mystery in this scenario is how Al defied the speaking taboo. . .'
Subaru's mind kicked into overdrive.
'Ah! That's right! The speaking taboo! That brings me to the second possibility. The flash granted everyone Return By Death! T-That might explain everything, as it would mean everyone simply experienced the future rather than witnessing it. But it doesn't explain Al! If he already had Return By Death when he arrived in this world, why was he included in the flash and not me?'
Subaru struggled with an answer to this question, while Al and Schultz began making casual small talk on their way back to the Lodge.
"Al-sama, are we almost back to Seasylph?"
Al shrugged his shoulders and pointed in front of them to a junction with many diverging paths.
'And why was I excluded from their meeting? Could it be that the taboo restricts certain people?'
"Schultz-kun, see all those divergent paths? Were you not paying attention to the path you took to get to this point?"
Schultz shook his head, embarrassed at his ineptitude being put on full display.
"You need to remember the path you took to get here, or else you'll get lost every time we visit a large city."
'Remember my path. . .'
Subaru was racking his brain to come up with a solution. He was so close. He knew it.
"Ah! There's the lodge!"
Schultz could see the unique Japanese roof on the top of the Seasylph Lodge and took the right path back towards the building.
'Al has to know the origins of this architecture. He's from my world, after all.'
"Hey, Al. Where did you live before you got Isekai'd?"
Al groaned in annoyance at Subaru's continued curiosity.
"I thought we agreed to no more questions."
Subaru scratched his forehead and breathed out a long sigh.
"I doubt that question is something you need to keep confidential. If you don't answer it, you'll simply make yourself look more suspicious!"
"I plead the fifth."
"Ah-ha! An American? Quite the interesting background for someone who's been isekai'd! I honestly still can't believe there's someone else from my world as unlucky as I am!"
The double-meaning to this quote wasn't lost on either of them.
'Ah. . . that's right. Al knows I Return By Death. . .'
"To tell you the truth, it's been so long I don't remember much from before I got isekai'd. I don't like reminiscing because it reminds me how much I've forgotten."
'Forgotten. . .'
They were closing in on the door next to the meeting hall.
It was eerily silent.
'They have been acting differently towards me. . .'
Subaru's mind was racing as he turned the corner into and walked back through the destroyed doorway of the meeting room.
'T-That's not possible! There's no way they know about that! N-No way!'
Everyone's eyes bolted and lingered on him for much longer than he'd expected.
"U-Uh. . .h-hello. . ."
He couldn't get his words to form sentences.
A new theory had formed in his mind and it had overshadowed everything he'd wanted to say to them when he got back.
'D-Do they. . . know I Return By Death?!'
Author's Note
What do you think? I feel like my Subaru is gradually getting more OOC, so please, tell me if I messed up Subaru this chapter or Al. It's been extra long since I published a chapter for this fic and I've literally been wanting to write a new chapter for weeks now! I got pretty sick and I've had finals for the last couple weeks. But now I'm free! Expect the next chapter much quicker than this one! I will eventually get around to continuing Another Chance, but right now I'm on an absolute KICK for this story. I wanna see it reach its peak! And there's so much more that I have to explore before the main fic gets underway!
Al successfully dodged all the taboos through crafty phrasing and using his ability to signal to Subaru what is going on. Was this satisfying? Al is sus as hell though. . . how did he know about the incoming attack on Priestella? And more importantly, why did he warn Subaru about it? He even went so far as to reveal his ability to gain his trust! That's an interesting plot thread, hmm?
Also, I've added a particular tick for whenever Al lies, which I hope people pick up on when they are reading the fic. Will Subaru heed Al's warning? How will the other people react to Subaru's wacky prediction?
Poll for this week: How much of a role should Liliana play in this fic? If I tone down her annoying rants, would you be interested in my utilizing her in the story? I think she can provide some good comic relief, but I'll leave her inclusion up to you guys.