Hello dear readers, I would first like to express my deepest apologies for not updating in quite a while, I've had some quite personal family matters that I had to deal with over the last couple weeks, and since the UK has gone into lockdown because of the coronavirus again, things over here have got an even more complicated, but one positive that does come from the lock down is that I have a lot of free time to devote to the story, as you've probably noticed this isn't the full first episode of the anime, I decided to break this first episode into multiple parts, primarily so I can get something out to you guys in a much quicker time, because even at my current rate of writing, this chapter is going to take a long time to write, considering that I'm looking at at least 20000 words for just one chapter, I'm still undecided if I'm going to do this for all future episodes, I will come to the decision on that a later date, as for my question about including more original characters in the story, the overall response seems to be quite next between yes and no, so I've decided to hold off on it for now, one particular individual that has brought up some very good questions is SHONENJUMPBOY, who has raised some very good questions, the biggest one being how the relationship between Subaru and his friends will change because of what they will see, since I would basically be giving away the entire story all I'm going to say is that you'll have to wait and see, but without any further ado I present to you be first part of Chapter 2: The Beginnings of a new world.
(P.S Small update to the Chapter, how to fix a continuity error that, a reader pointed out to me, update - 27/01/21 22:39)
*Deep ragged breaths, followed by sickly wet coughs* "This is bad... Very bad" spoke a voice at all four of them recognise all too well
"Was that Subaru…?" Emilia nervously asked, with a growing sense of dread.
"Subaru? What's wrong?" called out a heavily distorted but still all too familiar voice.
"Wait, that sounded like you lady Emilia!" Rem said with a growing look of concern on her face.
"Lia I don't like where this is go..." the spirit tried to say before the scene suddenly changed to the interior of what they could assume or some kind of store, with everything in it being unfamiliar except for a certain track suited team
"saw that twist coming from a mile away, it's how they suck you in" he said with a bored almost lifeless expression, the scene then shifted again to what they could guess was a first-person perspective showing an all too familiar hand illuminated in the moonlight.
each one of them felt their hearts drop when, they saw what they all recognised as blood spreading out into a large pool under the person's body
the next instant they heard the voice call out seeming to be barely audible "No... Run! Get out of here!"
The next instant the scene changed back to the interior of the convenience store, with the track suited teen looking up from his manga to watch a couple walk past arm-in-arm, he continues to watch them as they move past the shop, his almost dead looking eyes never leaving them until they left his peripheral vision.
He sighed, putting the manga back on the shelf, before moving to a different part of the shop.
Ram despite feeling a growing sense of foreboding like the rest of them, couldn't help but get annoyed at the constant changing of the scene "I wish it would stop changing scenes so much it's starting to give me a headache"
The scene then changed again back to the first-person perspective, as the owner of the female voice fell limply to the floor. her hand illuminated by the small ray of moonlight.
all of them went as white as a sheet, even in the dim light they could easily tell who that hand belong to, even the architect who was not fazed by such a brutal scene still was somewhat surprised at the revelation.
The next scene was the interior of the shop again this time showing Subaru picking up a box of instant noodles, before he decided to put it back.
"Nan, I had natto last night" he said picking up the "Tonkotusu" flavour instead.
As Subaru made his way down the aisle, he also picked up a bag of "Cornpotage" placing it in a small semi-transparent bag with the rest of his items.
"Hey, wait a minute, wasn't that one of the items he had when you first brought him to the mansion, Lai?"
Emilia simply nodded wordlessly, still obviously in a state of shock from the previous scene.
Rem and Ram despite not looking it, were both just as disturbed at what they had seen.
Again, the scene changed, showing a hand reaching out for the girl's hand.
"Wait there..."
The scene changed yet again, this time showing Subaru at the checkout with the cashier.
"That'll be 363 yen please" said the cashier as Subaru pull his wallet from his left pocket, while the cashier placed the items into the plastic bag.
"Yen... I'm guessing that's some kind of currency from Subaru's homeland …?" the small spirit asked, to trying and failing to distract everyone from what they had just seen.
the architect responded with, "yes indeed, I believe it is"
As Subaru rummaged around his wallet, looking for the right amount of money, he pulled out a very old looking brown coin.
Oh, a grooved-edge ten Subaru thought to himself, placing the old coin back in his wallet and fetching another.
that surprised everyone even the architect, since because instead of just watching events from Subaru's perspective, they would also experience his thoughts as well.
The next scene then showed Subaru leaving the store, looking to his left, he watched with the same lifeless expression as a car drove past, he then looked left and right before starting to cross the street beginning his journey home.
"I'm…"
The scene then changed, finally revealing the owner of the strained voice, with blood leaking from his mouth.
"Subaru!" Emilia yelled, desperately wanting to refuse, what she was seeing was actually happening.
Rem had a reaction much the same but for almost completely different reason, the fear and horror was there for sure, but there was something else, and that was white hot anger, at the thought of someone laying a hand on her beloved Subaru.
Ram, despite not being on the best terms with Subaru most of the time still couldn't believe what she could just seen, despite driving her up the wall sometimes, she would never wish that from anyone, especially him.
Puck simply couldn't understand what he was seeing, for the simple fact that this never happened, at least that's what he was trying to make himself believe.
"Going to…"
the scene then changed back to Subaru crossing the street.
suddenly, a dark mist seemingly growing before exploding into a white void, with a hand made from pure Darkness reaching out from it.
"save you..."
Emilia, despite never seeing the shadow hand before, suddenly felt her chest ache, as if someone had plunged their hand right through her heart.
"You ok Lai? Puck asked telepathically, sensing her inner turmoil and pain.
Emilia with tears welling up in her eyes, shook her head vigorously, while clutching her chest in pain.
Puck even without using the mutual connection between him and Emilia, could tell that her breaths were becoming more laboured and ragged, as well as clutching her chest even harder, with his worry at a breaking point he was just about move, when suddenly he noticed the architect had moved from his standard position, placing a hand on her shoulder in the process, after a second she seemed to calm, her breathing becoming much more normal, despite not fully trusting this architect, he sent him a look of relief and thanks, the architect simply nodded in response, returning his attention to the screen, as did Puck.
The scene then changed back to Subaru making his way across the street, then suddenly the world around him seem to distort, just a second before returning to normal, he stopped in his tracks, looking around of a slightly confused expression at what just happened, however after a couple moments nothing happened, almost as if it was just a hallucination or something similar.
"I guess anyone's eyes would act funny after holding up in their room, gaming all day", he said, rubbing his eye in the process.
As he opened his eyes they were suddenly assaulted by blinding light, after a couple seconds, his eyes finally adjusted to the light, by then the unfamiliar sounds of a busy street with people walking to and fro, became apparent.
Subaru blinked again obviously in shock, where once was a typical Japanese suburb, was now a mediaeval European looking busy town centre, he could see people of all different races most of which didn't look fully human, walking around going about their day, he simply stood there with a look of shock and disbelief on his face.
Everyone simply stared at the screen, with one single thought going through their heads Subaru isn't from our world!
Even the architect, who had long ago found out Subaru wasn't native to their world, was still surprised by this revelation, for the simple fact that Subaru was simply there for seemingly no reason, and this stirred an emotion deep within the architect, that he had not felt for eons, and that emotion was anger and rage, at the idea of someone messing with causality in such a fragrant way, without regard to the consequences, but instead of letting his emotions get the better of him, he calmed himself and returned his attention to the screen, to hopefully gain some kind of meaningful answer to all of this.
The sounds of flapping wings could be heard, as Subaru continued to look at his surroundings in disbelief, the once lifeless expression on his face now replaced with one of growing awe and wonder.
what's going on? Subaru thought to himself, still observing his surroundings with disbelief.
The scene then changed to a wide shot of Subaru, standing in front of a very familiar fountain, as a dragon carriage moved in front of the view, kicking up dust as it went by.
"That's not possible, there's no way he could have just appear out of nowhere like that!" Puck practically screamed, completely shattering the silence over the rest of the audience.
"He tried to tell me, how could I've been so stupid not to realise" Rem said with a look of frustration and sadness on her face, she was internally beating herself up but being such an oblivious idiot and not putting two and two together sooner.
Ram for her part didn't say a thing out loud, however her internal dialogue was in overdrive, she had suspected from the very beginning that Subaru, was not being honest with the subject of where he came from, and with the revelation that he quite literally wasn't from the same world as her, suddenly it made most things about him make perfect sense, from his mannerisms, to his clothes as well as the way he talked and acted.
Emilia simply didn't know what to say at this point, so much about Subaru have been revealed, but at the same time with each thing revealed about Subaru, it was simply leave her more confused, with less answers than she had started out with.
"This stuff obviously isn't fake" Subaru said to himself, looking around his surroundings with an ever-growing look of genuine surprise and maybe even happiness.
"So, does this mean..." he said, taking another look at his surroundings, with the joy in his eyes becoming more apparent by the second, he then turned his head skyward as the sound of flapping birds could be heard "I've been summoned to a parallel world?!"
The scene then suddenly changed, to a large group of people staring at Subaru, like he was some kind of crazy person, the scene then changed again, this time to a close-up shot of Subaru's face which by now was a very deep shade of red, the crowd of people slowly dissipated, with many of them going back to previously doing before watching this strange boy scream at the top of his lungs, Subaru for his part seems to break himself out of his embarrassment, and quickly heading off in a random direction, obviously fully intention on exploring this new fantasy world.
Everyone simply stare at the screen in stunned silence, with everyone but the architect still finding it quite hard to process the fact that Subaru was quite literally not from their world.
"This doesn't make any sense, the amount of magical energy needed to pull off something like is insane, I'm not even sure I could do something like that" Puck matted as he rubbed his chin with a paw
"I can see now, why Subaru wasn't entirely truthful with the subject of where he came from now, I probably wouldn't have believed him without seeing it with my own eyes" Ram said causing everyone to look at her in surprise, because of the fact she hadn't used her slightly derogatory nickname for Subaru this time.
The scene then abruptly changes, to someone running across the rooftops of the town, the view zooms in, to show that it is a young girl of approximate teenager, with blonde hair tied up with a small black bow, as she's making her way across the rooftops, she then pulls out something from one of the pouches on her belt, the scene then cuts to show her hand with a very familiar object to all present.
"Wait that's felt! this must be the day she stole my Insignia, and the same day where I first met Subaru" Emilia shouted with surprise, it was a day that was practically ingrained into a memory by this point, for the fact that it was a day that her life seems to take a change for the better.
"Yeah, that felt girl managed to snag your Insignia right from under your nose that day" Puck said with a small giggle, causing Emilia to do her trademark pout, Subaru has a good point she's absolutely adorable when she does that, he thought as he gave her his own trademark to toothy grin in response.
The camera then zoomed out to a wide shot of the girl, continuing to make her way across the rooftops at an almost unnatural speed, the camera then changed to that of the main street with the girl making a daring leap from one dragon carriage to another before jumping back to the rooftops.
The scene then abruptly cut to Subaru making his way down the main street, seemingly in awe at everything that surrounded him.
"I guess I can assume that this is a fantasy world" he said, in an almost matter-of-fact fashion, as if it was the most trivial thing in the world.
"with what appears to be a typical mediaeval too early renaissance style culture" he continued as he watched intently, a dragon demi-human passed him by on the street.
"I don't understand, he seems to be so nonchalant about all this, as if it's the most normal thing in the world to him" Ram said with a slightly irritated tone in her voice, while the rest of the Roswaal crew, generally tended to disagree, with Ram's with opinions on Subaru and his character, this was one of the few times where they can all agree with her, the fact that he wasn't freaking out and seemingly was calm at the whole situation, was quite perplexing to say the least.
"A realm where demi-humans are commonplace" Subaru said with what they could only describe as a look of confirmation on his face.
"And probably stuff like wars and adventures, as well", he continued as a look of excitement began to spread across his face.
"And here, I'm..." his monologue, was seemingly cut short by cry, the view then cuts to a small boy with similar tripped into the middle of road, with a dragon carriage barreling towards him full speed, with the driver doing everything in his power to try and steal the mighty beast out of the child's path
"This is it, it's my turn!" he said practically overflowing with excitement
"This must be the event where I produce my first magic spell" he went on, as he began to make strange poses, seemingly getting ready for some kind of spell.
Subaru then let out what could only be described as a poor attempt at a war cry, only for nothing to happen with the child still laying in the road cowering in fear, but at the last possible second a brave knight scooped the child up in his arms, rolling out of the way just in time for the dragon carriage to thunder past.
After a tense moment the knight raised his hand into the sky, confirming that him and the child was ok, the gathered crowd began to cheer for the knight, while Subaru just continued to look on with confusion on his face. before letting out a dejected sigh.
"I mean what did he expect to happen, magic isn't as simple as making some strange poses and then expecting something to happen" Puck said with a sigh, while Puck thought Subaru was a was generally a nice guy with a good heart, he couldn't deny that he was a colossal doofus at the best of times, and a bit of an idiot at the worst of times.
"Well to be fair to Subaru, you can't really expect him to think any differently, considering the media he absorbed himself in, before he came to your world which dealt with similar circumstances to the one he is currently in" the architect said causing everyone to raise an eyebrow at what he meant exactly.
"Wait Subarus world seemingly doesn't understand magic and yet it can predict something like going to another world?" Emilia asked with a confused look on her face.
"Yes young Emilia, I will give an explanation in due time, to what I mean exactly but first…" the architect said motioning to the screen
the scene then changed to Subaru making his way down a bustling side street, with his enthusiasm cracked slightly.
"I guess I'm not quite ready to use magic..." he said with a slight waiver in his voice, but then his attention was captured by something else, with that thing being a fruit stand and a very familiar fruit vendor that Emilia, puck and Rem all immediately recognised.
The scene changed again to what they could assume was a first-person perspective, looking intently at the fruit and particularly the signs that the fruit had next to them, it took them a second of realise but it finally clicked, Subaru seemingly couldn't read the language.
I can't read this he said mentally have a look of frustration and confusion, confirming their realisation from a moment ago.
"Looking back on it, that makes quite a bit of sense actually, of course he wouldn't be able to read the language, if he was from a completely different world" Rem said, earning a nod from each of her friends, the more she watched the more Subaru began to make sense in her mind, but at the same time each answer she gained, it only seemed to lead to 10 more questions.
"Yes, many things make a lot more sense with this info, but I still don't understand how he is able to speak the language fluently, and yet still not be able to read it" Ram interjected, she much like her sister was trying to piece together the bazaar puzzle that was Subaru, while still missing a majority of the pieces.
"maybe, it's something to do with what brought him to our world originally, maybe it's some kind of passive translation spell, actually even then the magical energy demand to keep that kind of spell going constantly would be very high" the little spirit said, answering his own question, with seemingly another bigger question.
"Hey, boy. those are some weird clothes. are you travelling?" said the graph voice of the fruit vendor, pulling Subaru from his from his musings
"What are these?" Subaru asked pointing at some apples, at the front of the fruit stand.
"Those are appas" the muscular fruit vendor said, pointing out the fruit Subaru had mentioned
they understand me, though. the question is... Subaru thought as he began rummaging around in his pocket, quickly finding what he was looking for.
"Huh? What kind of money is that?" the fruit vendor with a slightly displaced look, as Subaru presented him with his money.
"You can't use that stuff in Lugunica" the musclebound lender said, as he waved his hand dismissively at Subaru.
"I'm surprised he thought that would work, honestly how stupid do you have to be, to think that would work" Ram said with a giggle, and a small condescending smile spreading its way across her face.
"Well to be completely fair, many vendors and merchants in the big cities do accept foreign currency, considering that gold and silver still has value, no matter where you go" Puck said with a slight bit of annoyance creeping into his voice, while shooting a look at Ram, making her belt up almost immediately, while Puck could agree that Subaru was a bit of a doofus sometimes, Ram's constant belittling of his character simply just got tedious and annoying at a certain point.
"The small spirit has a point, from the little information I have catalogue about your world, most merchants in Lugunica, will accept foreign currency and then later exchange it or melt it down, for its valuable metal", the architect said not taking his eyes off the screen.
"That means you're flat broke, Huh?" the muscular vendor said, will reaching out, grabbing onto Subaru's shoulder forcefully.
"Get outta here! don't interfere with my business!" the vendor shouted pushing Subaru back forcefully, causing him to stumble.
The scene then cut to Subaru making his way down another side street, with his look of excitement and optimism seemingly more cracked and damaged then it was before
"There's no other way..." Subaru said dejectedly.
"I'll just have to go around gathering information first" he said, making his way into a small building.
The view then cut to the interior of the building, revealing that it was a female demi-human restroom, with several shocked and bewildered female demi-humans staring in what they could assume was Subaru's direction, the occupants of the restroom all let out a collective shriek, with one of them to running at the view, throwing her arm into a wide arc, the view then cut to Subaru's face receiving a hard smack, leaving a visible paw print on his left cheek, the scene then changed again, this time to a wide shot ,of Subaru entering a large purple brick building with swinging doors, the view then change to show the inside of the building, which in fact was a lizardman only bar.
"This place is for lizardmen only" said a large muscular lizardman, while carrying a large barrel on his shoulders.
Subaru looked on in genuine surprise for a moment, before suddenly a large dark red lizardman, made his way through the entrance grabbing onto Subaru's shoulder, and throwing him out behind him in one swift motion, causing Subaru to stumble uncontrollably.
Ow! I can't... see... He said as he continued to stumble, unknowingly making his way towards the edge of a bridge, the Roswaal crew suddenly felt a sinking feeling in their stomachs, as Subaru continued to teeter and totter, unknowingly towards the edge of the bridge.
Subaru stumbled one last time while making contact with the stone railing of the bridge, sending him toppling over it, the view then cut to show that the bridge was over a body of water with Subaru screaming something illegible, as he unceremoniously fell into the water like a stone, everyone let out a sigh of relief at knowing he hadn't fallen to his death.
"Man, for a minute there I thought something really bad was going to happen" Puck said, with a slightly nervous laugh, just relieved that Subaru hadn't plummeted to his death.
The rest of the Roswaal crew could certainly agree with the little spirit on that one, in fact now knowing there was no danger for Subaru, in that particular instance, and it made them all think they were being slightly irrational, considering that this was Subaru's past memories, and therefore he couldn't have died at that point or been seriously injured either.
"Puck is certainly quite right, you were all being very irrational, Subaru obviously wouldn't have died there are if these are his real memories" the pink haired oni said matter-of-factly, while trying to hide the fact that she was also very concerned for Subaru safety at that moment.
"The mortal's concept of love and affection, and the way they express it, still perplexes me even after all of these eons" the architect said seemingly either not caring or not realising he had said that out loud
this caused Ram to suddenly become stiff as a stone slab, with a deep red blush spreading its way across her face, the Architects comment and her reaction, certainly did earned a giggle from both Rem and Emilia, and a small sneaker from Puck.
the scene then suddenly changed, to that of Subaru, still completely soaked, sitting on a step at the end of a dark alleyway, with the upper half of his tracksuit resting on a nearby box drying out in the sun.
"Is this how it's supposed to be?" he said with a saddened expression, that quickly morphed into one of frustration and anger.
"Wasn't I summoned into a parallel world?!" he shouted, as he began flailing his arms around in a frustrated manner.
"Where'd my protagonist status go?!" He continued shouting, for a moment before seemingly calm himself down slightly.
Damn it" Subaru said, with a saddened look on his face, after a slightly longer moment of silence, he rummage around in his pocket, pulling out his phone and flipping it open, he started flicking through it, with the only contacts that were listed being City Hall, Mum, Dad and pizza.
"My cell phone still works" he said with a slight tone of relief in his voice.
However, he stopped inspected his phone, for a second seemingly noticing something wrong.
"But what's the point of having it, if there's no signal?!" he shouted, all while flailing his phone around in the air.
He let out a huff, as he turned his attention, to the bag containing his convenience store purchases.
"And my starting gear is way too wimpy!" he said, as he continue to stare baggies at the small plastic bag, almost as if the bag had wronged him somehow.
"You need a more substantial welfare program, to satisfy pressure-free generation kids like me!" He screamed, returning to his mini temper tantrum.
"I don't even have an Excalibur or anything!" Subaru shouted, raising his clenched fist into the air as he did so, after a moment he let out another huff, with his rage fit seemingly at an and, with the only thing left being despair and mild frustration.
the upbeat and chipper atmosphere seem to drain away from the room, the Roswaal crew not quite believing what they were seeing, all of them knew full well that Subaru could have his moments of arrogance much like any other man, but for him to display this level of arrogance, just expecting the world to give him everything he wanted, right there and then really put a bad taste in the mouth, especially for the two oni twins who both generally had quite a dislike for arrogant people.
"I must say, I know Subaru can have his moments, but honestly, I didn't think he could be this arrogant and obnoxious" Puck said matter-of-factly, summing up pretty much everyone's thoughts about situation in one sentence.
Even Emilia, who tended to brush over Subaru's more negative personality traits quite often, couldn't deny her little spirit friends' words, however one thing she kept reminding herself, was that this was the past she was seeing, and that the Subaru of the present, was a much kinder and more genuine person than this.
Rems train of thought was pretty much on an identical course to that of the half elf, despite finding it quite off-putting that her beloved Subaru did behave in such a way, it certainly didn't make her think lesser of his present self, in fact it made her quite happy, to see that her beloved had changed so much in such a short amount of time.
"And besides, if I was summoned, where's the cute girl who summoned me?" Subaru said dejectedly.
"Did she summon me only to leave me here alone?" he continued, as the sound of footsteps could be heard approaching him
"Hey, is she finally here?! the cute girl who summoned... me..." he shouted excitedly, expecting to see a cute magical girl, but instead only to be greeted with the site of three very rough looking characters.
"What are you blabbering about?" said the short one with a bowl cut.
"If you don't wanna get hurt cough up whatever you've got!" Said the tallest one of the group, as he roughly picked up Subaru by the collar of his shirt.
Crap, it's a compulsory event... Subaru said, still somehow thinking that this world operated under game rules.
"Move it, move it! shouted and unknown feminine voice from the end of the alleyway.
"You guys, out of the way!" the unknown feminine voice shouted again, the camera then quickly cut to show that the unknown girl, was actually felt, running towards the group of boys at great speed.
"Here we go, is that the cute girl who summoned me" Subaru shouted with excitement, causing the thugs to look at him for a moment, like he was a madman.
Felt for her part suddenly came to a complete stop, and simply looked at Subaru with a dumbfounded expression, the silence lasted for what felt like an eternity before she spoke again.
"Summoned? I dunno what you're talking' about, but I'm very busy" she said with a haste in her voice, for very obvious reasons, wanting to quickly continue on her journey.
"Sorry! live strong!" felt said as she quickly move past the group, the camera then cut to Subaru's perspective with time seemingly slowing down as she passed.
"Wait, what? What?!" Subaru sheltered as felt jumped back onto the rooftops, quickly disappearing from site.
"It appears, young Subaru has gotten himself into quite a predicament" the architect said, everyone else pretty much agree with him, despite knowing that Subaru obviously wasn't in any mortal danger, the Roswaal crew couldn't help but feel, a growing sense of unease, almost as if this incident with a bunch of simple street thugs, was only the beginning of something worse.
"Hey, that didn't make you decide to be less hostile towards me, by any chance, did it" Subaru said with a nervous smile on his face, now hoping that thugs would not see him as worth the effort.
"actually, it rained on our parade and made things worse" said the largest of the group, cracking his Knuckles ominously in the process.
"Yeah, of course" Subaru replied, his nervous smile becoming more forced then before.
Just calm down, Natsuki Subaru. Since ancient times, it's the rule that anyone summoned into a parallel world will display supernatural powers! Subaru thought, analysing the situation around him, with the only logical conclusion that he would have to fight his way out of this.
I'll move these guys down and make them fuel for my shiny future! he shouted mentally, as he clenched his fists, a look of determination making its way onto his face.
you lumps of exp! he mentally shouted, as he charged and the biggest one of the group surprising the large man and the audience as a whole, he then delivered a powerful right hook sending the large man to the ground and one hit, before the other two thugs could react, Subaru them delivered a powerful roundhouse kick to the shortest one of the group, sending him flying down the alleyway with audible loud thud.
"That's the first time I've ever hit someone!" Subaru said, waving his hand back and forth trying to rid it of the pain.
"I didn't expect it to hurt me that much..." he said, as the pain he was feeling made it's presence known on his face, with him wincing as he clenched his fists.
"but this world is set up so that I'll be strong!" He's continued with a pain smile on his face, while looking at the largest of the group still laying on the ground.
"I must say, considering his lack of physical prowess, he did quite well in that situation" the architect said, with a tiny bit of surprise evident in his tone of voice.
"that's Subaru for you, he certainly has a knack for surprising people" Puck said with a sigh, getting a round of agreement from the rest of the Roswaal crew.
"Well, I can say that Barusu certainly is full of surprises, when it comes to life and death situations, although that doesn't change the fact that he is terrible at at menial chores" Ram said, adding that last bit quietly, but still getting a look of can't you say a good thing about him without turning it into an insult from everyone else.
"Actually, that reminds me, this should be the same day that me and Subaru encountered that assassin... what was her name again?" Emilia said out of the blue, while trying to remember the name of the assassin, that nearly killed them that day.
"I think her name was Elsa, or at least I think that's what she said her name was, before Reinhardt nearly pummeled her into oblivion" Puck said, despite not actually being there at the time due to it being at night, he had been filled in a later date by both Subaru and Emilia, getting a reasonably good picture of what happened that night.
"My adrenaline is surging! I've got this in the bag!" Subaru shouts excitedly, seemingly ready himself for another attack, the camera than cuts to the white-haired thug, as he slowly reaches into the back of his shirt, Subaru then charges forward with a shout, ready to deliver another blow, but the white-haired thug, quickly pulls out too short swords from behind his back twirling them as he did.
"I'm sorry! it was all my fault! forgive me! spare me!" Subaru shouts quickly, raising his arms above his head, in a non-threatening manner, the last remaining thug, then delivers a powerful kick to Subaru's shin sending him toppling to the ground in pain, Subaru screams in pain and tries to to get back up to ran, only for the thug to kick him squarely in the face, sending him onto his back screaming in agony, the two previously knocked out thugs, it's then when they all start repeatedly kicking him, screaming that he shouldn't have picked a fight with them, and that he should die like the scum he is, all Subaru can do is curl into an even tighter ball, as the barrage of violent kicks continues, the leader of the group then goes in for the final blow, only for him to be stopped by a voice.
"That's enough..", says an all too familiar voice, camera slowly pans, to the end of the alleyway, highlight it against the light is a very familiar silhouette, the camera then settles on to bright amethyst eyes.
"Who the hell are you" Screens and leader of the group, Subaru seemingly forgotten, as they seemingly size up this new individual.
"Stop now and I'll let this slide" she says back to the group, her voice sounding confident and strong, with the group of thugs, seemingly get ready for another confrontation.
the camera then quickly cuts to the face of this new young woman, to reveal it's none other than Emilia herself, dressed in her usual almost royal looking attire.
Rem and Ram found watching the on-screen version Emilia speak, quite an odd experience to say the least, but for a certain spirit and half elf their reaction was quite different, for the fact that they don't actually remember this happening at all.
"That's not right! that's not how I remember meeting Subaru at all" Emilia stammered, obviously struggling to process what she had just seen, causing the twin oni maids, to look at her with surprised and slight concern.
"Yeah, that's not how it happened at all, we met Subaru, when we broke into the hideout, after we found it, not fighting some thugs in a alleyway" Puck says, trying and failing to understand what he was looking at, being spirit his memory was impeccable, even for second-hand events, so to have his memory called into question like this was certainly for him for a loop.
"Wait a minute, the architect said that these are Subaru's memories, which means that this is how he remembers meeting puck and Emilia " Rem says with a very confused expression, seemingly trying to put the pieces together in her head but failing to do so.
"I guess the only logical explanation is that Subaru's memories are at fault, I always did suspect that there was something wrong with his head" Ram says with a hump, causing everyone to glare at her for the umpteenth time, meanwhile the architect remains quiet and still, but his mind is a race with this revelation, that seemingly confirmed a theory that he dreaded wasn't the case, the thing he feared most, that being somebody directly messing with time and causality, which was precisely the reason why the half elf and spirit can't remember this, because to them it never happened, and therefore they have no memory of it in the slightest.
"So graciously return what you stole from me, and I won't report this to the authorities" she says with confidence and authority, the camera then quickly to what can be presumed is Subaru's point of view, the camera focusing on Emilia's face for a good couple seconds, obviously implying that Subaru was mesmerized by her when he first saw her.
"What we stole?" the biggest of the group says, seemingly the most confused out of bunch,
"Give it back, now please, it's very important to me" she says, with just the tiniest bit of annoyance beginning to creep into her voice.
"I'll give up on the other stuff, but you can't have that" she continues seemingly trying to barter with the thugs.
"Now be good and hand it over, please" she finishes, holding her hand in an expecting manner, like she was expecting them to hand it over to her right there and then, the group of thugs simply look at her like she's crazy, before looking at each other and talking amongst themselves for a second.
"So you didn't come here to save the kid?" the biggest of the group asks, pointing at the still curled up Subaru on the ground.
"I've never seen him before in my life, so if you're asking if I have a connection to him, the answer is no" Emilia said firmly.
"Well then you've got no business with us", the leader of the group said, all three of them still in a ready to fight stance.
"If someone stole from you, it must have been that blonde haired brat, who ran past here a minute ago", largest of the group said, pointing towards the rooftops where felt had disappeared to moments ago
"Hmm... They don't seem to be lying, I need to go after her", Emilia says, as she quickly runs past the group, the three thugs letting out a collective sigh of relief.
"But regardless of that, I can't overlook what's going on here!, Emilia shouted, as she quickly turned on her heels casting a quick barrage of ice magic at the thugs, knocking them all to the ground in seconds, Subaru for his part simply looked on in astonishment at the display of actual magic.
"ohhhh I'm surprised you managed to hit them, on your first try like that, normally you can't hit the broad side of a barn" Puck said with fake astonishment and wonder, trying and somewhat succeeding to liven everyone up again after, the previous non-existent memory situation, Amelia for her part, feels her face go bright red as she put on her trademark pout, and waving our arms back and forth.
"I am good shot!, I've got a lot better, I'll have you know" she said as she desperately tried to grab Puck, who harmlessly floated just out of her reach while still snickering, the architect who had been pulled from his musings by the commotion, couldn't help but let a smile spread across his face, at the admittedly wholesome display, the oni twins also couldn't help but smile at the display as well, Rem, letting out a small giggle of amusement, while her sister, simply folded her arms over her chest while letting out a sigh with a smile.
the leader manages to get to his feet, along with the largest of the group who is bent over a wall trying to catch his breath, with the leader screaming about how he's going to cut Emilia like a fish for doing that to him and his companions.
"you think you can win when it's two against one?! Huh?!" the leader screams, as he readies his twin short swords for combat, with the largest of the group barely on his feet, desperately still trying to catch his breath
"You're right, two against one might be unfair" Emilia's says with an air of confidence.
"Two against two should make it fair, then" says a disembodied voice, as the crystal around Emilia's neck glows brightly, revealing the silhouette of another all too familiar individual, the silhouette materialises completely revealing the familiar form of a certain spirit.
"you're a user of the spiritual arts?", the largest of the group says, seemingly recognising the magical feat that Emilia just pulled off.
"Correct, back off now and I won't come off to you, decide quick, I'm in a hurry" Emilia says confidently, as the little cat spirit lazily floats beside her.
"You bitch! Next time I see you, I won't go easy on you!" the leader angrily shouts pointing one of his short swords directly at her.
"Do anything to her, and I'll haunt you and your kin forever, not that you'll have any Kim if I do that" the little spirit says as he calmly lands in Emilia's outstretched hand.
At that threat the two standing thugs quickly turn on their heels and run, with the leader picking up the still unconscious form of the smallest member of the group. before disappearing from site, leaving Subaru, Emilia and Puck alone in the alleyway, Subaru who is now in a sitting position, turns to look at Emilia in mesmerised wonder.
"You saved me, thanks" he says almost breathlessly, Emilia however it doesn't respond right away, instead she simply stares at him, as if she's trying to bore a hole through his skull with her eyesight alone, Subaru finding the silence awkward tries to make a move to stand up.
"Don't move" she says as the two lock eyes with each other, Subaru looking away after a moment with a brush somewhat visible on his bruised face.
"See? You averted your eyes because you have a guilty conscience!" Emilia says as she points an accusatory finger at Subaru.
"Looks like my judgement was spot-on" she continues, earning a couple of giggles and scoffs from the audience, Subaru for his part looks completely dumbfounded, and unsure exactly how to deal with this situation.
"Are you sure about that" Pucks says, floating out of her hand, to float lazily beside her head.
"I think it was just an instructive male reaction, all I don't sense any malice behind it at all" the small spirit said, as he seems to give Subaru a complete visual dress down.
"You be quiet, Puck" Emilia says, still seemingly trying to bore a hole into Subarus head with her gaze alone.
"You know who stole my Insignia from me, don't you" she said leaning forward as she did so, Subaru for his part looks completely dumbfounded, obviously unsure how to approach this situation.
"I'm surprised, I would never have guessed, Emilia to act in such a way, even towards Subaru" Ram says, earning a nod of approval from her sister and Puck, who was still lazily dodging Amelia's attempts to grab him, Amelia stop trying to grab the small spirit, and truly began to think about what she had seen, the very idea of acting in such a way to anyone, especially Subaru left and incredibly bad taste in her mouth.
"However if I was in your situation about time, I would have simply beaten the information out of him" the pink head oni girl says, causing everyone to send a glare her way, with the glare from her own sister, seeming to have the biggest effect.
"I must say, out of all of the mortals I've interacted with, your personality is definitely the most grating" architect says annoyance very noticeable in his voice, Ram for her part, tries to keep up a strong exterior against the Barrage of stares, and despite everyone's best efforts she manages to just barely hold up to everyone to visual assault, with everyone returning their attention to the screen Instead.
"Uh, sorry, but I don't have the slightest idea" Subaru says slowly, with a slight slur in his voice, the on-screen Emilia, continues to intensely stare at Subaru for a good couple seconds.
"Huh? Wait, it can't be!" Emilia says quickly as if struck by some kind of realisation, while breaking eye contact with Subaru.
"Did I really just come around the long way!" she says whirling around on her heels in the process.
"you should probably hurry after her, miss" he says, making a move to stand.
"I could... help..." Subaru says as the strength seemingly leaves his body, with him collapsing, and falling to the ground like a sack of potatoes.
"Aww, you shouldn't have tried to get up yet" Pucks says nonchalantly, as he watches Subaru lay on the ground.
"What should we do?" he says turning to Emilia.
"It's none of our business, he won't die, we'll just leave him" Amelia says matter-of-factly, making a move to leave.
"Really?" Puck says, obviously unsure with leaving Subaru in such an injured state.
"Yes, really" says Emilia, putting her hands on her hips, as if to show that she was serious.
"You say that, but I bet you'd still help him", the little spirit sense with a smile creeping it's way onto his face.
"I will not!" Emilia shouts, stomping her foot on the ground in the process.
"Yeah, right" Puck says seemingly not convinced in the slightest.
"Absolutely not! I'm not going to save him!" she shouts right in two Puck face, with the little spirit not even bat an eye, the view then cuts to Subaru's point of view, watching the two argue as the sound and seems to slowly disappear, she's even cuter when she's mad, I guess that's a parallel fantasy world for you... Subaru thinks to himself, as his eyes closed sending him into unconsciousness.