Felt-sama had invited Reinhard to the study this afternoon. Out of character for her, especially since it was given in letter form, but given the choice of room, Reinhard chose to be optimistic. If Felt-sama had finally taken an interest in her studies, Reinhard would be as supportive as he could be.
However, when he opened the door and he came face to face with some unexpected guests, he quickly realized that wasn't the case. Felt-sama, Subaru, Julius and Felix were all sitting in chairs, left to right in that order, facing the door. How wonderful! Reinhard was always happy to see his friends! He had to wonder though, what was going on? How had he missed them coming in?
Smiling, Reinhard bowed in greeting, "Good Afternoon everyone, I apolo-"
"Reinhard, this is an intervention." Rubaru interrupted him before Reinhard could finish his apology for not greeting his guests when they arrived.
Intervention? Reinhard couldn't help but feel just a little bit startled. He was well aware of the word's meaning, but he was concerned as to why he needed one. He had no addictions that he was aware of… Had he been doing something to cause offence?
"Reinhard, nyou know that why care about nyou," Felix said with a smile.
There was a few seconds of silence before Subaru elbowed Julius.
"The script!" Subaru hissed under his breath.
"And… It's because we care about you… that we've decided we have to speak up?" Julius said, voice filled with uncertainty and giving Subaru a questioning glance.
Reinhard didn't know what was going on, so he fell back on a response he was pretty sure wouldn't cause offence, "I apologize for any offence or hardship I have caused. Please tell me my misdeeds so that I can correct myself in future."
"That there is the problem Reinhard!" Felt-sama snapped.
"I… Forgive me, I don't understand."
"Reinhard, you apologize too much," Subaru explained.
How could someone apologize too much?
"I only apologized when I believe an apology is owed," Reinhard tried to explain.
Felt-sama scoffed, "Last week, a dragon carriage crashed into ya, and not only did you apologize to the driver, ya paid for their repairs!"
"Yes, however, I was unharmed while the dragon carriage was severely damaged," Reinhard explained. He didn't see what was wrong with that.
"How is that your fault?!" Subaru exclaimed in frustration. Reinhard still wasn't following. Did he need to explain his Divine protections to Subaru? Subaru sighed, "Last month, you weren't even in the capital and you apologized for not saving me when someone tried to mug me in an alleyway."
"You were my guest at the time, so your safety was my responsibility. The fact that I couldn't keep you safe during your stay is a failure on my part."
"It's Subaru!" Feliz said, "He always gets mugged in alleyways."
"It's true," Subaru nodded, "not once since I came to Lugnica have I been in an alleyway and not have someone try to mug me."
Reinhard's eyebrows narrowed, "Maybe we need to increase patrols in the capital…"
"Or maybe Subaru should stop walking into shady alleyways," Julius countered.
"That's not the point!" Subaru got up from his chair and pointed his finger at Julius, "The point is that it wasn't Reinhard's fault!"
At one point in time, Julius would have snapped back at Subaru, but Julius was now used to Subaru's antics, so he remained unaffected by their friend's outburst, "You're right, I concede."
Subaru puffed his cheeks and let out a frustrated groan, but sat back down.
Felt-sama looked away from Subaru and stared at Reinhard.
"Reinhard, from now on ya not allowed to apologize. And that's an order."
"But-!" Reinhard tried to protest.
Felt-sama raised an eyebrow, stopping his sentence short, "Ya really gonna disobey me? I thought ya were my knight?"
Panic clenched at Reinhard's heart, "I- ah, no." He had to bite back an apology.
Felt-sama smirked and tilted her head up, "Good."
Reinhard bowed his head, "I am merely concerned, I interact with nobility and the council often, I fear they might find offence."
Felt-sama's smirk dropped into a scowl, "Who cares what that lot thinks?!"
Reinhard grimaced.
"Reinhard, I understand your concern," Julius said, "and while I do think Felt-sama's order was the incorrect way of doing things, your chivalry and etiquette are impeccable. Throughout the years I've known you, you have never once apologized for something that was genuinely your fault."
"Reinhard," Subaru said, looking him in the eye. Reinhard had heard quite a few people call Subaru's eyes scary, and he could understand why they could be found intimidating. Sometimes it felt like Subaru was staring into his very soul, even if Reinhard knew with certainty that he didn't have any soul-seeing abilities. He had checked. "we're your friends. I'm honestly worried about you, man. If you were just apologizing to ve polite, that would be one thing, but sometimes I get the feeling you genuinely believe it's your fault whenever something bad happened. It's not. Sometimes, a dragon carriage driver should have watched where he was going. Sometimes, I'm just that unlucky."
"I…"
Subaru continued with a frown, looking down and breaking eye contact for the first time, "To be honest, I don't even think apologizing is the problem. Not exactly. It's more… the way you treat yourself, I guess. I know I'm probably the last person who should say this, but you really should prioritize yourself more!" Subaru met Reinhard's eyes again, "You're our friend, and if you don't treat our friend with respect, of course, we're gonna be upset."
Subaru smiled at Reinhard, and Reinhard felt like he might cry. Subaru had a way of cutting through people's defences. Even Reinhard's it seemed. He was just so blunt that you knew he was speaking from the heart. He wasn't just saying these things to appease the monster. He was genuinely worried about him. Had anyone worried about Reinhard before? This was certainly the first time Reinhard could remember hearing those words honestly being spoken.
Treat his friends' friend with respect… He hadn't thought about it that way.
He could concede to Subaru's point though. While he didn't think he was particularly harsh on himself, the words he said about himself were not the kind he would say to other people. Especially not people that were important to those he cared about.
He found himself nodding.
Subaru sagged in relief, "Good, good." He then turned to glance at Felt-sama, "Now I'm gonna have to ask you to take back that order."
"WHAT?" Felt-sama stood up from his chair to face Subaru, "I thought you'd be on my side on this? You're really siding with Julius?"
"I'm not siding with Julius!" Subaru's face went red as he scowled, "I just don't think ordering him to stop apologizing is gonna fix anything. He's just going to find a work-around."
"What workaround?" Felt-sama asked.
Subaru gestured for Felt-sama to lean in closer before he whispered in her ear. Unfortunately, although he knew eavesdropping was far from nice, Reinhard had excellent hearing.
"What if he just starts apologizing for apologizing."
Felt-sama kicked him in the shin.
"That's stupid! He wouldn't…" Felt-sama glanced at Reinhard and stopped. She slowly turned back to face Subaru, "Dear dragon he would."
Reinhard felt his cheeks go red.
"Besides," Subaru contained, "The apologies are the symptom, not the illness. Dumping someone with a fever into cold water wont make them feel better."
"I…" Felix said, "He might have a point there…"
"See! Besides, Reinhard gets the point, don't you Reinhard?"
Reinhard just thought it was best to nod at this point.
Felt-sama groaned, "Fiiiiiine."
Reinhard bowed his head, "Thank you, Felt-sama."
Subaru jumped up from his seat and stretched. "So, are we done here? I think we're done here. Great! Why don't we do something together? It's been a while since we were all in the capital together? Oooh! I know-"
Reinhard chuckled at his friend's strange behaviour. Friend. For a long time, he was afraid he'd never get the chance to call someone that, but now he had four friends in front of him. He was truly blessed.
Felix got up from his chair and joined Felt-sama in pulling Julius out the door. Julius shook his head but smiled. Julius Juukulius, the knight among knights, was having simple, lighthearted fun. Reinhard was glad.
Subaru, the last of the four to leave the room, stopped by Reinhard and pat his shoulder. The Divine Protection of Empathy activated, and Reinhard felt warm, genuine affection from his friend.
"Come on then," Subaru said, "we're aren't going anywhere without you."
Today certainly wasn't going the way Reinhard expected it to, but he couldn't say he was too upset by that.
