Emilia
For a brief few moments, all of her fatigue was gone. There was no pain at all, and she could feel calmness. Voices in her head stopped screaming for bloodlust, telling her to kill the Sin Archbishop. She did her best to resist the voices, as killing her would kill everyone as well. With this newfound peace in her mind she was able to think of a plan, but as she focused on the battle again, she saw the child standing right in front of the Sin Archbishop.
That child ran away from everyone as soon as he saw them, even to the point of passing out. She even explicitly told him to get away from him… then why was he here? He was sending himself straight to death. Emilia tried to reach for him, only to see both the archbishop and the child collapsing.
Suddenly all the fatigue came crashing down right on her again, but the voices didn't come back. She felt tired, but at least she wasn't feeling bloodthirsty. She immediately rushed over the child, who was completely unresponsive.
He showed signs of movement at all. His chest wasn't even going up and down. Emilia's breathing quickened, placing her hand on his chest, she felt… nothing. Nothing at all.
"Wake up." Emilia shook the boy's body, but it was no use. Emilia's hands started to feel colder, she didn't know why… Perhaps it was because her magic was going haywire again? She had no clue. She continued to shake the boy harder, hoping to get a response.
"MOVE!" Ram shrieked as she pushed Emilia aside. Emilia's eyes widened. She had never seen Ram more distressed than this current situation. She had seen her like this back in Pleiades Tower, where she battled the Sin Archbishops of Gluttony… But that was for her sister, then why was Ram looking so anguished as if somebody precious to her was about to die? That child was a stranger even to her… wasn't he?
She watched as Ram swiftly looked around the body as if the world was ending. Then in the matter of a second she started pushing her hands down on his chest. Emilia could feel the force put into each of those compressions. She did it about 20 times, then she moved towards the boy's face and kissed him.
Emilia's jaws widened as the maid continued this cycle for a minute. Sweat and blood trickled down Ram's face, her entire gesture was tense. Even though she was suffering many injuries on her own, she didn't care as she tried her best to save the boy.
And that effort was proved to be working, as the boy coughed violently, until his breathing was smooth. He was alive. He was on death's door because he stepped in to save them.
She definitely had to thank him in some way. She definitely had to ask him what he wanted when he woke up, just like how- how what? Something's wrong and she could feel it. But she couldn't grasp what that feeling was.
"Emilia-sama, I'll be carrying Shiori back to his room." Ram spoke as she picked up the boy and walked away.
"Emilia, stop spacing out I suppose." Beatrice said. Emilia felt her pain going away, and her eyelids getting heavy, but she stayed awake to watch as Ram disappeared from her sight.
Subaru
I recognize this ceiling. Subaru thought as his surroundings came into his view. He sat up and found himself staring at Ram, who stared daggers back at him, making him avert his eyes away from her.
"How pathetic of you, to make me worry about you for over a day." Her words were piercing cold, it made Subaru's body shudder in fear. But instead, He felt a hand soothing his hair, which calmed his thoughts. He let his eyes close as he enjoyed the moment.
"Thank Od Laguna, you are alive. Thank you for saving all of us." Ram spoke. Subaru started recalling the events that happened. He was successfully able to take on everyone's burdens, while also preventing the Authority of Wrath from affecting them. It was insanely risky, as he could possibly die from all of the pain passing onto him, but surprisingly he didn't. He was able to deal with the pain long enough for him to walk up to Sirius and stop her heart. It was also a massive gamble as he was stopping his own heart, and there was a chance that the others would just assume he was dead as his heart wasn't beating. Worse case scenario would be he had to do it all over again, but Return by Death was something he didn't want to rely on, it would just ruin his mental health further if he started thinking that death was the answer.
He also felt relief, from knowing that there were other people who cared about him. Somehow his body felt a little bit lighter as well, a bit less fatigue was following him everywhere. "What happened… to the Sin Archbishop?"
"She is dead. We will probably turn her over to the royal knights afterwards, we've already sent a letter to them in order for them to pick up the corpse for cremation."
"Knights…" Subaru spoke under his breath. He had grown a distaste towards them… and also fear. He feared the knights. Ironic for the knights who pledged their lives to protect justice, to torture and execute an innocent man.
"Well anyways Shiori, Emilia-sama would like to personally meet you. Do you mind that?"
Hearing this news immediately sent Subaru's brain to haywire. Tsunamis of emotions came crashing down on a single island where Subaru's mental state stood. It was like smashing an egg against the universe itself.
Subaru was speechless for over a minute, his hands gripped his pillow tightly as he stared into space with wide eyes. He rocked his body while his mind went numb. But it seemed like the world wouldn't even give him the time to compose himself as he heard a knocking on the door.
"Is he awake yet?" the silver bell voice spoke as a half-elf opened the door and walked in. With her silver hair and amethyst eyes, there was no doubt that she was Emilia, unless Satella somehow escaped out of her seal which was probably impossible.
Probably.
"Yes Emilia-sama, I was just informing him about you wanting to meet him." Ram said as she walked out of the door and closed it. Subaru started shaking ever so slightly, without emotional support he panicked further. He was restraining himself from either hiding himself under the bed sheet or running out the door, but that wouldn't really make Emilia trust him, so he had to manage a conversation somehow.
"H…hek…hel..lo…mm..my…na..name…is…Shi…Shiori…" Subaru stuttered every, single, word. And he was completely out of breath, he was panting which made Emilia extremely confused.
"Nice to meet you Shiori-chan, my name is Emilia, just Emilia." Emilia spoke softly, she cleared her throat then continued, "Thank you for saving us Shiori-chan, I reeeaally want to show my gratitude soooo… is there anything you'd like?"
His mind had been blank since the start of the conversation and now Emilia was asking about his wish? What was he supposed to answer? He couldn't just delay it, it would be bad manners. Right… he needed to gain their trust or whatever… What was he trying to do again? He needed to gain their trust… and then what was next?
"Em…Emi..lia…chan…I… w…wou…would…like…yo…you…to…b..be…my…friend." Subaru words were shaky, as if he was doing a presentation in front of the entire school. He was having the feeling of choking to death, it was as if the ceiling had fallen onto him and he had to lift it all on his own.
"Of course Shiori-chan! I'm sure everyone here would love to be your friend!" Emilia smiled, her smile was sweet as honey, yet there was something about it that made Subaru shudder.
It was that same smile that made him fall in love with Emilia, the person who had completely broken him.
Subaru a month before the execution
"Emilia-sama, the only thing he has ever talked about is you, and only you. It's getting to the point where it's creepy. I hope you can talk some sense into this useless scum." an elegant voice spoke, through his voice Subaru could tell Julius was suppressing his fury. Perhaps it was because of his inability to get any information?
"I understand Julius." a female voice spoke. Subaru lost his vision and Felix was too slothful to heal it back, so Subaru could see neither of them. But from the dialogue and the voice he could tell Emilia was here. Why was she here? Why?
Why? It had been about a year since "the Sin Archbishop of Pride" was captured, so why now? What was she planning to do? Emilia was the sole reason he still had a will to live. Almost every single one of his former camp members had been to his cell and beat him senseless. The only ones who didn't were Meili, Petra and Roswaal.
"Ummmmm, are you alive?" Emilia asked. Subaru couldn't feel that Emilia was caring for him. The tone was icy cold, filled with arrows raining down to pierce him. It was as if… she was annoyed. Annoyed by his existence. She sounded impatient.
"Em-ECKKKKK!" Subaru felt liquid ejected out of his mouth. Perhaps it was blood, or it was vomit. Subaru coughed a few more times, until he was able to speak. "Emm…Emi…Emilia…?" Just barely.
"Why are you doing this?" Emilia questioned. The words sent a chill running down Subaru's spine. He felt cold, his hands felt like they were in pain.
"F…For… you…" Subaru was barely able to manage a word or two. His throat was dry, speaking every word was like trying to swallow lava.
"You know… Subaru was it? If you are doing this for me, why don't you tell me how to return Rem's memories? And how to turn the people of Priestella back to normal? Why don't you tell me how to save Crusch-san's life?And why don't you…" Emilia sent a barrage of questions at Subaru, who could only say three words that he had always been saying for the past year.
"I…do..don't…kn…know." Subaru choked out the words. But he could only feel the atmosphere growing colder and colder.
"What do you know then?" Emilia whispered into his ears, it was the exact same feeling as sliding a long, sharp sword along somebody's neck. Subaru lost all sense of pain, he could only feel one thing.
Fear.
"I…am…y..your…knight… I… hkk." Subaru wasn't able to speak anymore, he wanted to tell Emilia more, but his throat stopped working. It was as if sand clogged his throat. He wasn't even able to make a noise at all anymore.
"That's all you know? You are my knight?" Emilia spoke in a hushed tone, "Weeeeellll… you have to understaaaand… I would never let a person I despise so much to become my knight. Natsuki Subaru, you are dismissed from that position. Just die. For all the pain you have caused my friends, die. I hate you."
All of the pain Subaru had suffered, all of the he had taken, all of the betrayal he had endured, didn't even come close to those three simple words.
That was her answer, it took 3 years, but he got his answer from when he declared his love for him back at the Sanctuary. That was it, the final string keeping him hanging was gone.
It was gone.
Emilia
Emilia didn't expect Shiori to ask her to be his friend. Out of everything he could have asked for as a reward, he wanted to be her friend? It was a strange request, but it also made Emilia delighted.
That strange feeling of happiness, it was something she hadn't experienced in a long time. But when was the last time she had experienced it? She couldn't remember, but she knew for a fact that she was forgetting something. Something… important. Even though her brain kept telling her she wasn't forgetting anything, her heart ached everytime she was thinking that she forgot something.
Perhaps it was because she forgot Rem? Even after she had woken in Vollachia, Emilia still had no memories of the blue-haired girl. Nobody had memories of her.
Wait… if nobody remembered Rem, why did they know that she was Ram's little sister? Who told them that? …She was missing something for sure.
She tried asking Shiori a few questions in order to learn more about the mysterious white-haired boy, but instead she got absolutely no response. It was as if his soul left for whatever reason.
"Aaaaallriiiight then Shiori-chan, I will be going back to my studies now, just so you know we will always be there when you feel comfortable!" Emilia promised as she walked out of the room.
The feeling in that room was ever so slightly suffocating, it was so gloomy and everything felt dark even though the sun shone brightly through the windows. She wondered why she had such feelings. The boy looked…just like when she hid herself in the trials back in the Sanctuary because… Because of what? She hid herself there like a complete child, and then she walked out for some reason… What was the reason? She couldn't remember anything at all, it was almost like the feeling she had back when she was contracted to Puck, but that was due to her memories being sealed by their contract.
But perhaps she was hallucinating.
Subaru
.
And that was a single character concluding Subaru's state of mind.
How did it come to this? He snapped out of his hallucination of the past and found out that Emilia had already left. He wasn't sure how long time had passed but he knew for a fact that he said something stupid.
Really stupid.
Why did he ask her to be his friend? That was something he did not want to do in the first place and he would do anything to take that line back. Okay maybe not to the point he would Return by Death but he definitely would've asked for something else.
Perhaps he could simply be a butler here… No that would mean work, and his body as far as he was aware of was extraordinarily weak. It would collapse at any given moment if he wasn't careful. Perhaps it was a drawback for his body being made of mana. How would it even work? Could he use magic again? He was feeling a bit sick, that was for sure. He was starting to get the feeling of exploding inside out, but he was probably overthinking everything.
All things considered, at least he seemed to have gained Emilia's trust, he also seemed to have gained Ram's trust as well. She was treating him with… kindness. That side of Ram was something he rarely saw, due to her sharp tongue plus her triggering words were her way of showing kindness.
And Petra… he had to apologize to her. It was extremely mean of him to knock her out of cold when she was trying to stop him from getting himself killed.
But…he was still having major problems with conversing. The small talk with Emilia proved that… he still wasn't alright. His mind was calm right now, he could imagine himself having a normal conversation with everyone.
Then why couldn't he do it?
Wait… he knew the exact reason why. He was living in a mansion filled with people who had killed him one way or another. He was being delusional as always, thinking it wasn't their fault for him to die in merciless ways. Something probably snapped inside him, the truth was that they did kill him brutally in different timeliness, and at some point they were close to taking that action.
They weren't even aware of what they'd done, it seemed like… his name hadn't been restored, at least not now. Perhaps it might just be lost forever just like Rem's. The name Natsuki Subaru would forever remain as a curse.
But what if his name was restored? Subaru wouldn't even know how to react if they all rushed to him to tell that they were sorry.
They have lost their chance a long time ago, it doesn't matter anymore. I just need to eliminate the witch cult and save Satella and I am free. Subaru thought to himself. He could probably get away with doing his own thing as the witch cult always seemed to lead an attack against them at every opportunity given. All he had to do was wait while trying to find a way to save Satella.
The second part was easier said than done, with the Forbidden Library now gone forever, Subaru had basically no way of getting the information he needed. His only other choice was to find Echidna, which would be his last option as he didn't want to ever see that witch ever again.
Perhaps he could find the information he needed from Pleiades Tower, but there was no way he could convince the camp to go to the tower again, especially after what happened last time. That place was simply cursed all the way with every single thing that could possibly kill you jam packed in a single area.
He COULD ask Beatrice for the information, but the asking part was a problem itself and there was a chance that Beatrice didn't even have the information he needed.
Whatever, first things first he had to be a part of the camp again.
Beatrice
The smell, she couldn't stand the smell at all whatsoever. What did the boy do to get himself surrounded by such a thick miasma? It was unbearable when she got close to the boy to heal him up, and she could still smell the witch's scent just by being in the mansion's proximity.
His smell far surpasses Sin Archbishops, she would have immediately killed him then and there if he had a gospel with him, which he didn't seem to have.
Although it was extremely suspicious of him to know that Sirius was going to intrude into the mansion, she definitely had to interrogate him about it.
In fact, she was walking towards his room. When she reached her destination she saw Emilia walking out of the door, her face seemed to indicate happiness.
"My contractor is so reckless in fact, that boy is dangerous, I can smell the thick miasma radiating from him." Beatrice spoke, worrying that her precious contractor would get hurt.
"Beaakooo, it's alright, he is still a child, and he asked me to be his friend!" Emilia said. Beatrice truly wondered how Emilia was still so naive despite her age. She had to be more rational and less naive if she wanted to become the queen.
"My contractor is impossible I suppose. I will be asking him a few questions myself to confirm that my suspicions are in fact delusions."
As Emilia walked away, Beatrice could only think about how something was feeling extremely… wrong. It felt as if Emilia and her didn't have a contractor and spirit relationship at all, there was just… a little bit of a rift. Beatrice remembered the existence of a bridge which connected both of them, but the bridge was nowhere to be seen. What caused this rift?
Perhaps she was being delusional again, so she decided to stop thinking about it and instead learn more about the child.
"Beatrice-sama, Shiori is currently resting inside, but he is afraid of people as everyone is aware." Ram noted, which Beatrice answered with a simple nod then walked into the room.
In the room, she found the boy staring blankly at a wall. As if he didn't even notice her presence.
He seemed to be recovering, the injuries she had to heal was far less severe than the scars littered around his body. The mark didn't seem like accidents, instead it was as if he was tortured. From whip marks to nail marks, what in the world would possibly torture a boy? All of the scars were concrete evidence that he suffered inhumane treatment.
The only possible explanation was that… he was a part of the witch cult. It would explain almost everything, from the miasma surrounding him to the unknown ability he used to defeat.
"How did you defeat Wrath, I suppose?" Beatrice asked. The boy's attention immediately shifted to her, he was staring at her. Yet through his dull eyes Beatrice could only spot one single emotion.
Fear.
The eyes told her that tears were threatening to spill out, his chest even stopped moving, he wasn't breathing at all. That's how much he feared the person in front of him.
He wasn't answering at all, it took him about 30 seconds before he started coughing violently, like he didn't even know that he stopped breathing. But he averted his gaze from Beatrice after he calmed down a bit, and he remained silent and his breathing remained heavy.
"Answer me, how did you defeat Wrath I suppose?" Beatrice questioned.
"D…D…Di…Di…vine…P…P…Pro…Protect…ion…" Shiori stuttered. That was an unbeatable answer, Beatrice had no way to confirm whether it was the truth or not. But for now, she had to believe in his words.
"How did you know that she was coming?" Beatrice questioned further.
"T..th…the…c…cul…cultists…ca…cap…tured…m…me…I…ov..over…he…heard…th…their… plans…" Shiori was panting, long sentences seemed to burden him. After the sentence, he started to clutch his head, as if he was having a head splitting headache.
"Ggggghkkkkkk…." He moaned in pain as his nails started digging into head. Upon seeing this Beatrice immediately checked him to see what was going on.
With inspection, she wasn't able to find anything wrong with him physically. So she checked his gate.
Broken, it was broken. The gate was defective, meaning that mana had been clogging up in his gate. It explained his current state. What had transpired when he was captured by the witch cultists, or so he had claimed? Well, it didn't really matter, Beatrice was able to absorb some of the mana to stop his mana poisoning.
However, a strange feeling struck Beatrice, she was feeling a bit of a shock going through her artificial body, she felt a bit of a connection to the boy. It was challenging for her to pinpoint what the exact feeling was. Well, it wouldn't matter anyways, would it?
"Sorry to intrude Beatrice-sama, is he alright?" Ram spoke, Beatrice rarely saw this side of the maid. She always had a sharp tongue. It was so rare for her to show attentiveness.
"His gate is broken I suppose, so he was starting to get mana poison, you are lucky I'm here to absorb his mana in fact," Beatrice spoke. The boy seemed to be conscious, but he was once again staring blankly at the wall, as if nothing would faze him.
What a weird child, I suppose. Beatrice thought to herself as she walked out of the room.
Petra
How irritating. She was scolded because she couldn't keep an eye on Shiori due to being hit out of cold for some reason. She didn't know how Shiori did it, but she certainly had to teach Shiori to not charge into dangerous situations. While yes he did in fact defeat Sirius with either sheer amount of luck or he was secretly extremely powerful, he still nearly got himself killed.
"Shiori-chan, it's about time you eat your lunch, it's 2 solar time already." Petra reminded. It had been a few days after the incident, and Shiori was able to recover thanks to Beatrice's help, while he still looked extremely gloomy, his physical condition had been improving and he was once again in good health, just as a child was supposed to be for their growth. He was just a tad bit shorter than herself, she treated him basically as her little brother.
Shiori after recovering, cooped up in his room while reading through some of the most ancient books available in the mansion. Most of the time he would lose track of time and forget to eat his meal, so Petra had to remind him almost every time. But it wasn't all bad at all, Shiori seemed to have opened up to her quite a little bit through a few days worth of interaction.
"Gimme a sec, I'm reading through some really important stuff….." Shiori mumbled, but then his concentration was broken as the book was taken away from him.
"H…Hey! Gimme back!" Shiori yelled as Petra snatched the dusty book away from his hand, causing him to immediately panic. Petra watched as he looked up and found himself staring at an irritated girl with her arms crossed.
"Eat. Now. Or else you won't be growing any taller." Petra ordered. She watched as Shiori pouted before he started eating his lunch. He was an extremely fast eater, as he seemed to love Fredrica's cookings. Petra then wondered how did he forget his meals almost every time if he loved it so much?
Shiori simply didn't have the concept of time in her perspective, he was eating through all of the knowledge available in the books within the mansion, he was currently on one of the last books, and it seemed as if he still hadn't found the solution to his problem.
"Actually Petra, is Roswaal L Mathers currently out for meetings?" Shiori asked. Petra was surprised that he knew about Roswaal, but she assumed it was because Roswaal was the Head Court Mage, which meant he was well known.
"No, he is currently residing in this mansion, why did you ask? He is a man of deception, nothing good comes out of him." Petra spoke as she insulted Roswaal, while glancing over the door in case Ram was eavesdropping on them. The last thing she needed was Ram to scold her for being disrespectful to Roswaal yet again.
"Well… I just haven't seen him at all. Can I go see him?" Shiori asked, which Petra wanted to refuse, but seeing Shiori actively trying to interact with somebody was something she was happy with. How could she refuse such a request from him? Plus it wouldn't matter anyways.
"...Fine, I will bring you to him, better not cause any commotion, or else I will be scolded by Ram nee-sama yet again." Petra warned. After Shiori's lunch, she guided him to Roswaal's room.
As she walked towards Roswaal's room, she started feeling a bit… weird. It was the feeling of a piece finally found at last, fitting into the puzzle and completing it. That emptiness she felt after going to Vollachia was… gone. It was gone. She had no clue, but she no longer felt as if something was missing. The once dull mansion that she repetitively had taken care of for over two years was now suddenly filled with color, and life.
What had caused such a change for her?
Subaru
Imagine a person who always wore clown makeup as their usual attire. Now imagine that person's personality. You wouldn't imagine that person to look as if they didn't want to live, or care about the world anymore, would you?
And Subaru couldn't believe what he was witnessing. Roswaal looked like a complete shut-in. He was conscious, but his eyes looked dead, lacking life in them. He looked terrible, as if he didn't even bother taking care of himself at all whatsoever. Drool dripped out of his mouth as he sat on the wheelchair staring blankly at his desk. He had his usual cape behind him, with a somewhat clean set of clothes, although there were drools on it. But his usual clown makeup was nowhere to be seen, his hair seemed a lot longer as well. The curtains in the room were all closed, making the atmosphere feel extra gloomy and creepy.
"What…happened to him?" Subaru asked Petra, who seemed completely unfazed.
"Ever since we came back from Vollachia, he suddenly just became like this, he wouldn't answer at all. Otto-san had to deal with his affairs instead. Honestly, what kind of a Court Mage is this, lazing around doing nothing at all?" Petra complained.
Looking at Roswaal, Subaru connected the dots and figured out why he was in such a sorry state. It was no good, he probably needed Roswaal's talents in magic at some point, so he had to snap him out of it.
Roswaal was never directly involved in betraying him, at least from what he knew. But Roswaal never went to save him either. If Subaru was so important to him, why didn't he defend Subaru at any point in time? There was no point dwelling on the past, he just needed to get Roswaal to be functional again, and move on to continue researching.
He got close to Roswaal, and then whispered to his ears, "I'm sure your sensei wouldn't want to see you like this." Those words meant absolutely nothing, yet Roswaal lifted his head up and stared at Subaru, his mouth opened, but no words came out of it. His body started shaking ever so slightly, as he tried to raise his hand up to make contact with Subaru, but it seemed like his strength failed him. Roswaal was able to let out a sigh, before he turned and looked at Petra, who was extremely confused as to what had happened.
"Roswaal is moving again?" Petra was shocked as she immediately went to find Ram, who she was able to find within minutes and brought her to Roswaal's room. Ram was overjoyed, to find that Roswaal was finally responding again, all thanks to Subaru.
Otto
For Otto, this camp had always been weird. There was nothing ordinary in the mansion. Even then he had to fulfill his job as the Head Internal Affairs Official of Emilia Camp, while managing most if not all of Roswaal's usual work. It was extremely taxing, he started wondering, what got him into the camp in the first place? Perhaps it was due to his poor memory, but he just couldn't remember the details.
Sometimes he would get himself drunk in order to escape all the responsibilities he had to take for the camp. In his drunken state he seemed to always be talking to someone, the figure was there, his clothes consisted of a black orange and white color scheme, and that was all he could see. He couldn't figure out who that figure was as everytime his vision got blurry. But the figure was always there to listen to his ramblings, while teasing him and supporting him.
But when Otto asked everyone else in the mansion about this mysterious figure, they said they had no clue and it was probably due to Otto being delusional. Eventually Otto just accepted the figure being there to listen to his ramblings, it was something he looked forward to every day.
With a clear mind, everything in the mansion seemed so… dull. It was like looking at the abyss of an empty void, while occasionally the maids would pass by while cleaning, they only contributed more to the fact that the mansion felt… empty.
And that was until a new challenger had approached, well not really a challenger and more of like a dying child. His name… was Shiori according to Ram. When he approached Shiori from behind it seemed to have freaked him out, as he immediately ran away as Otto tried to apologize, but he quickly realized the boy wasn't only scared of him, but literally everyone in the mansion that he bumped into. Shiori was a strange child indeed, but then he also saved the entire camp from being ambushed by the Sin Archbishop of Wrath, and almost got himself killed in the process.
But for whatever reason, Shiori's arrival seemed to have… lightened up the entire mansion. The once lifeless shell was suddenly filled with voices again. Before Shiori arrived, every one of their meals together had always been an awkward silence, but the past few days there were conversations, the topic was always on the boy, but it was soothing, for the camp to feel connected again.
"Otto-san, Roswaal is responsive again," Petra informed him.
"…how?" Otto asked, the news was massive to him, he could finally have a bit less work, his shoulders instantly felt lighter, as if he could take on the entire witch cult.
"Shiori-chan whispered something to his ear, and he snapped out of his state," Petra recalled. A whisper to wake somebody up from that state was suspicious indeed, Otto definitely had to ask the boy what he told Roswaal. But it seemed like the boy meant no harm, he solved two major problems in the camp within a few days of arrival. Just who was he? Was he the reincarnation of an angel?
Otto needed to meet him personally, but according to Ram he was extremely anxious around people, although he had opened up to Petra.
Talking with the animals in the forest, Otto was able to find out that Shiori just seemed to… appear out of nowhere. There were no trails, no history, and no evidence of anything at all. Who were his parents? Who even was he? Those were things Otto had to investigate, especially if they decided to keep Shiori as a camp member.
Roswaal
"I'm sure your sensei wouldn't want to see you like this." The sentence echoed in Roswaal's mind. The blood chilling silence in his head which lasted forever was broken, broken by a boy with white hair. He lifted his head and inspected him. How did he know about sensei? Was the question in his mind. What did he know about himself? He wanted to ask him, but no words came out of his own mouth. So he tried to reach for him instead, only for his arm to fail. He realized that it had been over a year since he stopped responding to things. He himself didn't know the cause, but his heart felt as if a variable in his equation had been removed, causing everything to collapse.
And now he was staring at the lost piece, he knew for a fact that the boy was the entire structure to his plans.
The presence of the boy, although surrounded by darkness, seemed to have lit up the entire room for Roswaal.
I have to recover my strength, as soon as possible, perhaps things are back on track, and I have a chance to revive sensei. Roswaal thought, as he watched Ram rushing over to his side and doing a quick inspection of him. He felt no strength in his body, as Ram tried to get him to speak, he tried to respond but failed. He would need to slowly get his body to function again, and hopefully it wouldn't take too long.
The white-haired boy… his existence was a mystery itself, he definitely needed to look into his background.
Subaru
"Nice to meet you, my name is Shiori." Subaru said. The receiver said… nothing at all. Perhaps it was because he was talking to a mirror, while practicing how he would introduce himself. He spoke fluently, as expected, but when he tried to converse with Otto the other day, he choked on his words and he couldn't breathe at all, Petra immediately took him back to rest.
"Honestly Shiori, why can't you talk to people?" Petra asked, she had been watching him for a long time. To her these practices seemed meaningless, and it was in fact, meaningless. The problem lies within the mental health of Subaru, not his social skills. At least he was able to talk to Ram and Petra with no difficulty at all. He needed to be able to talk casually, as he needed to ask Beatrice for information. He had burnt through all the books in the mansion, without much luck in finding useful information.
"I… don't want to talk about it." Subaru said. Talking about his experiences were just too painful, every time somebody asked a question related to the incident his head started hurting.
"How about you try talking to people your own age?" Petra suggested. "Y'know besides Beatrice-sama, we also have Meili-chan and Louis-chan."
"Where are they?" Subaru asked, to which Petra responded saying they were locked in the basement. Subaru asked for the reason, to which Petra responded saying it was due to Meili being an assassin and for her own safety, and Louis being the Sin Archbishop of Gluttony who recently grew distant.
Subaru then asked for Petra to take him there, which she gladly agreed.
Meili
Alone, means that you are on your own, with no other people in sight. Meili had a new friend, Louis. Yet, she felt lonelier than ever. Everyday she would spend her time playing dolls with Louis, yet she could only feel… emptiness. Perhaps it was because Louis couldn't speak words, but at least Louis could understand her words.
That feeling of being alone, was suddenly washed away when the door in her room opened, specifically when she saw a white-haired boy a year or two younger than herself.
"Nice to meet you, my name is Shiori." the boy spoke, there was a slight hint of nervousness in his voice, and he spoke the line as if he had recited it over a hundred times. And all of this made Meili chuckle.
But before Meili could reply, Louis instead lunged right towards Shiori, causing him to lose balance and fall onto the ground, while Petra reflexively flinched at the sudden action.
"Owww! Get off of me you…!" Shiori panicked as he tried to shake off Louis, who only hugged him even tighter. Looking at this situation, Meili could only let out a laugh as Petra tried to separate the both of them. It was after a few minutes did Louis finally let go of Shiori.
"Shiori…chan…it…seems like… Louis…chan really…likes you…" Petra was panting, out of breath from trying to separate both of them.
Shiori stared blankly at Louis, Meili could see that the boy was ever so slightly shaking. He just simply stood there for a minute, making the entire room awkward.
"Shiori-chan?" Petra asked with concern.
"Gah! What…?" Shiori looked as if he was jumpscared. His expression seemed to be a little bit conflicted, with a hint of sadness and relief in it.
"Petra-chan was asking about how Louis-chan reeaaally likes you," Meili stated. How did he lose focus so quickly to the point he couldn't hear what Petra was saying?
"Hahaha…I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing…" Shiori gave a wry smile as Louis continued to latch onto Shiori. Her expression was filled with excitement, an expression Meili hardly ever saw. Ever since Louis was introduced to the mansion, she always seemed a little… gloomy. Even when Louis was having fun playing dolls with her, there was always a subtle hint that she wasn't happy at all. Meili had spent the past year trying to figure out the girl, but she didn't speak words. Meili tried teaching her how to speak, and progress was extremely slow, Louis was only able to say her own name, and Meili's name.
"Uaahhhuu…!" Louis said. Those words only served to confuse all three of them as they had no clue what she was trying to express.
"Petra-chan, is he another child you guys are going to put into my Confinement Room?" Meili asked. Petra immediately denied, to which Meili sighed, it seemed like she wouldn't be getting a new playing companion anytime soon.
"I brought Shiori-chan here to…make new friends! I'm sure both of you will be friends with Shiori-chan!" Petra explained. Shiori gave a slight nod to confirm those words were true, which Meili thought was pretty cute.
"Honestly, the camp keeps shoving problematic children at me. Fineeee, we will be your friend, so play with me as well Petra-chan!" Meili grinned.
Subaru a year ago
Subaru woke up with the smell of ashes and flames, looking around he saw the carriage he rode just a few moments ago was in pieces. Everyone was nowhere to be seen, but then he spotted an unconscious Louis lying on the floor. There weren't any physical injuries on her to the naked eye, but regardless of that Subaru rushed forward in order to wake her up, only to be stopped in his tracks by another figure.
"Finaallly! I've found our beloved Louis tsu!" the figure spoke with anticipation in his voice. He walked towards Louis, but instead was stopped by none other than Subaru himself.
"ROY ALPHARD!" Subaru howled as he lunged forward in hopes of punching him with his fists, but Roy was able to easily avoid such an obvious attack and kicked Subaru in the back instead.
"It's you again! Tsu… is it not enough that you brutally murdered our older brother, Lye? Does it not satisfy your own greed to take away an important part of ourselves?" Roy clicked his tongue with irritation. His claws were seen on his hands, ready to shred through anyone preventing him from reuniting with his sister. Subaru gulped, there was no way he could simply defeat a Sin Archbishop on his own. His only offensive ability was Invisible Providence, but it lacked range, speed and power. So his best bet was to wake up Louis for her to help him.
But…what if she suddenly decided to regain her memories by seeing her brother? It would make the situation even worse than now. He activated his Cor Leonis, his camp members were within shouting range.
"EMILIA! BEAKO! REM! RAM! GARFIEL! ROY IS HERE!" Subaru hollered, hoping one of them would be able to get his message and come over to help him, but as he spoke the sentence Roy leapt right towards him, slashing him right at the chest and launching him right at the ruined carriage.
Subaru narrowly avoided a sharp piece of wood that could've impaled him, he grabbed his whip and manipulated Roy's movements. Roy dodged the whips and went right up to Subaru's face.
"INVISIBLE PROVIDENCE!" Subaru yelled, the dark hand manifested in front of his chest and clutched Roy right at the neck. The archbishop immediately tried to slash Subaru, but he was out of reach. Roy couldn't breathe at all, he struggled against the invisible grip, while Subaru coughed up blood for using the authority. Subaru tried his best to maintain his consciousness and focused purely on choking Roy to death, making him completely ignorant to a dagger right at him.
The dagger plunged into his thigh, the hand disappeared and Roy immediately gasped for air, while Subaru stumbled on the ground.
"You…YOU piece of GARBAGE!" Roy howled, lunging forward with his claws to end Subaru's miserable life. Subaru raised his hands to block the attack, but it never came.
"Wha… Louis?" Both claws were stopped dead at their tracks, by none other than Louis who held the claws firmly.
"Uaaahhh!" Louis kicked Roy in the chest, sending him flying back as he plunged his claws on the ground to stop himself.
"NATSUKI SUBARU!" Roy bellowed, the ground trembled to his words, expressing his rage towards one particular individual. The raven-haired boy. Louis stood her ground, getting in between Roy and Subaru. But did Roy care? Obviously not, he was going to first knock her sister out, then deal with Subaru. He lunged forward right at Louis, who took a defensive stance. With his fists ready to strike her down.
Subaru had no idea what he was thinking, but with the last of his strength he got between Louis and Roy and took the blow, and his vision turned pitch black.
"That…was…delicious…tsu." Was the last thing Subaru heard.
Rem
A maid's life… to describe it with the word tiring was just scratching the surface. Although with her sister's help she was learning quickly, taking care of a large mansion with merely four maids was too much to handle.
But the one thing that kept her awake at night… was the fact that Louis had become hostile towards her, towards everyone in the mansion. It all started when they captured the Sin Archbishop of Pride, who had an unbearable smell emanating off of him. Louis tried to break the ice he was encased in, but was stopped by Rem herself. Louis since then had grown distant from her, which gave her quite a bit of a heartbreak, yet left her feeling… confused.
Without Louis, she felt lonelier than ever, with Ram claiming that she was her sister, and the other camp members claiming they were her friends, it left Rem feeling… empty. They were all total strangers to them, and she was suddenly shoved into the camp, with no choices whatsoever. Did she really want to spend her days being a maid of a mansion? She wasn't so sure, the only person who could give her a sense of familiarity was now shunning her. She couldn't figure out why things had become this way, but she had no choice. She had nowhere else to go.
She was stuck here, with Ram making efforts to connect with her. She could feel the Synesthesia with her sister, and yet the emotions she felt from Ram was… hollowness. She couldn't feel any sort of warmth from her even though Ram was caring towards her, although with a bit of a sharp tongue. It pained her, when Ram showed more care towards a completely unknown child than her own sister. Rem felt… jealous. Was she jealous of the boy for getting more attention from her sister, or was she jealous of Ram getting her own child companion? She didn't get it, all of these emotions were something new to her. What was the reason as to why she remained in the mansion? Who told her in Vollachia, that there were people who cared for her waiting for her to return? Those memories were foggy, as if there was an impenetrable wall preventing her from accessing her memories. Was it the same reason as to why she had no recollection of her sister?
The only thing she could do was to continue trying to reconnect with Louis, by visiting her on a daily basis whenever she was free. Listening to the voices coming out of the room, it seemed like Louis was having a fun time. Perhaps she was playing with Meili? She could hear Petra as well. She opened the door to the confinement room, and she saw Louis, Meili, Petra and the boy all playing together.
The boy.
She couldn't bring herself to get close to him. The scent coming off of him was… intolerable, to say the least. So seeing him having fun with Louis was not a pleasant sight for her at all. The boy was the first to spot her, he quickened his breath and he started sweating profusely, before taking a large breath.
"Ni…nice…t…to…me…meet…yo…you…m…my…na…nam…name…is…Shi…Shiori…" the boy stumbled on his words. Rem could tell he was extremely nervous, but for what reason? Did she look hostile or something? Louis was the next to notice her, but she immediately gave Rem a terrible glare as she hid behind Shiori.
"My name is Rem." Rem spoke, trying to mimic a gentle voice, but instead it came out a bit worse than she imagined. It sounded like she was giving an introduction to her opponent she was about to beat up senselessly. "Also Petra-chan, aren't you supposed to be working? Nee-sama is going to be furious when she finds out you are slacking off playing with dolls."
"Ah!" Petra let out a small squeak, "I lost the track of time! I blame Meili-chan for dragging me into playing with her!" Petra sighed as she stood up, getting ready to leave. Meili pouted, obviously showing displeasure at Rem ruining whatever fun she had just now. The room went from being cheerful to gloomy, with a bit of an awkward silence floating in the atmosphere with the only sound being Petra walking back up the stairs.
"Come one, Louis-chan it's time for you to get some dinner. Would you like to go to the dining hall to dine with everyone else?" Rem asked, she had been asking this question for the past year, but she was rejected every, single, time. Any sort of attempt at closing the rift between them was shot down quickly, and this time it was no difference. Louis shook her head firmly. Everytime she did it Rem felt like she was about to cry, her eyes were getting watery.
"Louis-chan, Meili-chan, let's go eat at the dining hall with Rem-san!" Shiori suddenly told Louis, who was conflicted at the invitation. Meili immediately accepted the invite as she was bored out of her mind. But in the end she decided to follow Shiori and went with Rem to eat their meal.
Fredrica
Fredrica always tried her best to maintain the mansion, whether it was cleaning the mansion, making the dishes, teaching Rem on being a maid, bringing a towel to his brother every day he was done training…she did all of them. Then why was it no matter how hard she tried the camp felt more disconnected than ever? Rem and Ram always had this awkward silence between the two of them at all times, and she wasn't sure how their relationship got to that point. Otto was completely overwhelmed by work to the point he couldn't take care of himself properly. Petra and her had to lift him to bed every time as he passed out on his desk consistently. Her master stopped responding to everything, Emilia locked herself in her room for her studies, Beatrice was nowhere to be seen, Meili and Louis refused to leave their room… and her brother.
She was concerned for Garfiel, he was training harshly on a daily basis with barely any breaks in between. But it could barely be said as training, it would be more suitable to describe it as Garfiel's rampage of emotions. The training was a way for him to let off the emotions building up in his mind. Garfiel told her he felt that something was missing, and he felt weak. He told her he was confused as to why such emotions were surfacing, so his only way to distract himself was to train. From what Fredrica could see, her brother was truly improving a lot more than when he first left the Sanctuary, but she couldn't help but feel…distressed about him.
Something was wrong with him, perhaps something was wrong with the entire mansion. She watched over every part of the mansion and everytime the entire camp got together, there was just this awkward silence as if they were waiting for someone to start the conversation. Everyone did give an attempt at starting one, but they all seemed to dry out very quickly and in the end everyone gave up. The unpleasant atmosphere had engulfed the mansion ever since.
But that changed.
"Fredrica-san, Louis-chan, Meili-chan and Shiori-chan are eating with us in the dining hall." Rem informed, bringing a complete shock to Fredrica. How did Shiori or Rem convince Louis and Meili to leave their confinement room? The camp never really enforced them to stay there, but they seemed to trap themselves in it instead. But that fact was changing.
"Thank you Rem," Fredrica said gently. A few moments later everyone was at the table, it was such a rare sight Fredrica hadn't seen in over a year. Ram, Rem, Petra and her quickly served everyone's meal.
"Wow, it's a reeaaally rare sight for Louis-chan and Meili-chan to eat with us," Emilia pointed as everyone started their meal.
"Well you see onee-san, Shiori-chan was able to convince Louis-chan to get out, so you have to thank him," Meili said.
"Speaking of Shiori-chan, where are your parents? I'm sure they will be reaaally perturbed about you disappearing." Emilia asked.
"My parents are in a place that I can't possibly reach, so… can I stay in your camp?" Shiori asked, "By the way, Emilia-san, nobody says "perturbed" nowadays."
Fredrica watched as Emilia pouted all the whilst trying to hide her flustered face, and everyone couldn't help but laugh as Emilia tried to defend herself.
"Ow!" Shiori squeaked as he received a head chop from Ram.
"Honestly, that's bad banners for you to tease Emilia-sama," Ram scolded, as Shiori held the top of his head with both hands while apologizing, making everyone in the room chuckle at the scene. It was a change, for the dinner to feel warm and homey, everyone could enjoy their meal, while the unknowingly wore a noticeable grin on their face… besides Rem and Beatrice.
Fredrica was worried if they didn't like the food, and both of them said that they couldn't stand the disgusting smell of the witch right up their nose.
"What's the witch's scent?" Shiori asked.
"The witch's scent is the scent that belongs to the Witch, all people surrounded by it are connected to the witch cult, I suppose. And your scent is simply unbearable in fact." Beatrice stated coldly.
"Ehhhh? Do I really smell that awful? Are there any ways for me to remove it?" Shiori asked with a panic.
"There isn't as far as I'm aware of, I suppose."
"Weelll…can you tell me the details about the Witch? You seem like you know a lot, Beatrice-chan." Shiori pleaded, he tried to make puppy eyes, but with his sharp glare it didn't really help at all, instead he just kinda looked creepy.
"No in fact!"
"Beakoooo, how can you possibly turn down a request from Shiori-chan?" Emilia pleaded as well.
"Honestly! My contractor is impossible I suppose. Fine! I will teach you what I know!" Beatrice crossed her arms with irritation.
Fredrica couldn't help but laugh boisterously, making everyone stare at her.
"My apologies, it's just that… these kinds of banters had been missing for a long time and seeing these shenanigans." Fredrica apologized.
"Shiori-chan really does know how to entertain others! He's now my bestest friend!" Meili declared.
"Anyways Otto-san, there won't be any problems with Shiori-chan joining our camp right?" Emilia asked.
"I'll just have to mark it down somewhere… which means more paperwork…." Otto sighed as he was tasked with even more work. Fredrica couldn't help but feel pity for the gray-haired man.
"Ha! Stop your pathetic alcoholic obsession, it only serves to make you look more pathetic and foolish." Ram snorted.
"Ottototo-san should stop succumbing to alcohol honestly," Petra remarked.
"I'm sure Otto-san has his own reason to rely on alcohol," Shiori said.
"And you Shiori-chan should not think that alcohol is fine, it will affect your growth! You need to abstain from consuming alcohol!" Emilia exhorted.
"Emilia-san, nobody uses the phrase 'abstain from' nowadays…" Shiori teased Emilia, who went on another rant trying to defend herself.
Fredrica watched as the rest of the dinner time went on, with the entire room filled with laughter and warmth, for the first time in a long time… she felt home. No words could express how delighted she was, with everyone simply having a good time, while enjoying their meal. Nobody was left out as everyone joined the conversations.
It seemed to Fredrica, that the boy Shiori was the missing piece in the puzzle. She couldn't figure out why. Was it his presence alone, or was it the way he drove the conversations?
Subaru
"Ghhhharrk…" Subaru hid himself in the toilet, emptying the contents in his stomach by vomiting. It was a terrible feeling. He left the table early as he couldn't take it anymore, maintaining a cheerful attitude was way too taxing, causing him to have the urge to vomit.
After hurling whatever he had for dinner into the toilet, Subaru collapsed right on the floor with his back against the wall. He was panting, and completely drained. At the dinner table, he was able to walk with everyone without stuttering, but instead it had the side effect of making him really, really sick.
So why did he even force himself to sit with everyone else? That pressure was way too much for his small body to handle… Right. He remembered now. He noticed that Louis was actively avoiding Rem by hiding behind him. So he decided to go to the dining hall knowing Louis would follow him. He didn't know what happened between them but he wanted to get both of them back on good terms. But he wasn't able to focus on that as everyone was present, so he pushed out a few conversations which everyone seemed to enjoy. The biggest thing he achieved was that he got Beatrice to tell him whatever she knew about the witch.
One thing for sure was that he wasn't ready to be with everyone, yet. He could barely make eye contact without immediately collapsing. Well, it didn't matter anyways. He gained their trust and that was the most important. From what he could see, everyone was having a good time… maybe except for Garfiel and Rem, who remained quite quiet throughout the meal. Subaru definitely had to confront them another time.
To be fair… was it even his problem to care about them? God he felt awful right now. It was getting late already, perhaps he should go rest, seeing his current state. And he still had to recover, although most of his wounds healed some parts of his body still ached, he needed to get into shape again.
But suddenly a thought went through his mind and he decided to head to some place before going to sleep.
Garfiel
Stronger… He must. Get. Stronger.
His amazin' self was the shield of Emilia's camp, his duty was to protect everyone. And how would he protect everyone without being strong? He wanted to improve, he needed to improve, he must improve, or else when the witch cult attacks again his amazin' self would be once again helpless.
He had finished the parkour course over a million times, each time getting faster and faster to the point he could finish it with a blindfold and his hands tied behind his back. But he couldn't feel that he was getting stronger at all. Instead his heart told him that he was straying further away from his goal day by day. His amazin' self wasn't sure how to deal with such feelings, so he continued to drown himself with training… Yet he knew he was lying to himself when he told himself that he was doing something productive.
His amazin' self lifted his finger and flicked his finger against a log on the floor, and it immediately snapped in half. He wasn't sure if he had improved or not, so he sighed. Something was missing. He was sure. But he wasn't sure what was missing.
It was getting really late, so he went towards the stables. He was assigned to take care of the Earth Dragons. It was due to Patrasche going rogue about a year ago, attacking anyone that got close to her, so Garfiel had to be the one to deal with her. Otto tried to communicate with her, but instead got a kick right in the face. It was a pain in the ass, but he didn't refuse it because he thought it would make himself feel better.
But it never did, somehow it made him feel even emptier than before.
"Woah girl! That tickles!" Noises radiated from the stables, to Grafiel's surprise. Who stayed up this late to be in the stables? Adding onto the fact that Patrasche was currently residing there, some accidents were bound to happen. Garfiel immediately rushed into the stables and found the new kid, with Patrasche towering over him.
"Hey kid! Yer shouldn't go near that dragon! She's a bad dragon." Garfiel warned, but when he walked closer, he could see that Patrasche was licking the boy, who was showing no signs of resistance. The boy was chuckling, but when he saw Garfiel he immediately tensed up and broke away from Patrasche.
"What yer doin' so late?" Garfiel questioned, the boy immediately tried to avert his gaze, avoiding any sort of eye contact. It raised a few flags for Garfiel, as experience taught him that even the most fragile looking beings could slice you in half.
"I-I…w-was….che-checking…on…Patrasche…" the boy stuttered, as if trying to cover up a lie. The boy's body was shaking and sweat appeared on his forehead.
"Well what'ver, why don't cha help ma amazin' self clean that dragon, she seems to like cha," Garfiel said. He was suspecting how the boy knew the dragon's name, but he would just have to assume either Ram or Petra told him.
The boy quickly nodded as he started cleaning, Garfiel went to clean the other earth dragons while carefully inspecting the boy. The boy seemed to move awkwardly, but after a while he started to loosen up as he talked to Patrasche. His amazin' self was quite sure they didn't understand each other, but they were somehow communicating like they were old friends.
"Tch…." Garfiel clicked his tongue, his eyes narrowed as he continued to stare at the boy. The boy had just joined the camp about a week ago, and yet he had accomplished more than his amazin' self had ever done in a year within that week. He defeated the Sin Archbishop of Wrath, he got Roswaal back to his senses again. It irritated his amazin' self. He was letting a boy beat him in making contributions to the camp. His amazin' self even got his sister concerned for him… this couldn't continue. This mustn't continue. He needed to prove himself that he was useful again.
No matter the cost.
Subaru
"What are you doing, Shiori-chan?" Petra asked with curiosity, watching Subaru trying to get his body back to shape. It was early in the morning and Subaru woke up before breakfast, so he decided to do some exercising.
"In my homeland, we call it 'radio calisthenics', do you want to try them with me?" Subaru invited. Petra gladly agreed. She joined his little exercise and was keeping up with ease, while Subaru collapsed immediately about halfway through the full routine.
"Shiori-chan?" Petra panicked as she immediately rushed to his side to aid him. Subaru coughed as he stood up leaning onto Petra, and found himself staring at a certain pink-haired maid with her arms crossed and her lips pressed together
"Honestly Petra, Ram remembers that she explicitly told you that Shiori is reckless and you should keep tabs on him at all times. Not playing along with him. Shiori, Ram recalls that she warned you not to try any taxing exercises. You both are lucky Ram is feeling merciful today so she will let you go by simply apologizing." Ram scolded.
"Sooorrryyy Ram nee-samaa…" they both said at once. They were heading back into the mansion when suddenly a carriage entered the main entrance, judging by the swift speed it was traveling Subaru could tell they were in a hurry.
The carriage stopped in front of the mansion and the trio. A knight emerged out of the carriage, with an envelope in his hands.
"Welcome, I am Petra Leyte, a maid of the mansion. May I know your reason for visiting us?" Petra asked with politeness and formality in her voice, impressing Subaru.
"I am here to deliver a message, it's from Crusch-sama." the knight spoke while he bowed his head, handing out the envelope to Petra. "And please deliver it to Emilia-sama, it's urgent matters."
"And may I know the reason for that?" Ram questioned.
The knight took a deep breath, before telling them a message that could be compared to being crushed by a big snowball rolling from the top of the hill.
"Crusch-sama… can't hold on for any longer."
Author's Notes:
Burnout... school project... mental state... busy... alright I think I've listed all the excuses I can think of about why I haven't updated the story for a while. But does it matter? Obviously not. Anyways I hope you enjoyed this chapter. As always please leave comments/reviews on what I can improve(I'm trying to get the characters down, so this chapter might feel like a filler) and I thank you all for your support, it means a lot to me 3
Anyways I will continue working on the next chapter(tho I can assure you it will come out about a mont later at minimum cuz of exam seasons), so I hope you will stick around! -w-
(Also how does one delete 4k+ bot reviews I need help)