A week had passed since the incident with the shaman.
Subaru doesn't know much of the aftermath from the situation except that he's still supposed to keep that information confidential. That probably means the knights still couldn't find any accomplices.
Despite that, Subaru had been living a lot more peacefully now that the random drama subsided. He used this opportunity to finally make more permanent and concrete bonds with the manor's inhabitants since the worry of it all being taken away from him was no longer present.
Right now, Subaru was practicing his writing. At first, it was taught by Carol for the first few days but for some reason Grassis had been persistent in teaching him instead.
He remembered in the last loops that it was supposed to be a one time thing but he didn't expect that the twelve year old would wind up being his new teacher instead. It was pretty embarrassing that someone younger than him was the one teaching this. The biggest change about this exchange was that his reading and writing lessons were moved after breakfast and before the Felt lessons.
"Ok, that should be it for today, Subaru-sama." Grassis said, concluding today's lesson.
Subaru got up to his feet and stretched out his arms. "Alright! So, what do you think, Grassis? I bet you're impressed with my pro skills."
The young maid nodded as she looked over Subaru's work carefully. "You're doing really well for a beginner. I think you'll be finished in no time."
"Alright!" Subaru cheered.
Grassis's cheeks turned a little pink as she began to fiddle her fingers together. "Now that we're done for today, I was wondering if you had any plans."
"Hm? Well, the turn-Felt-into-a-princess lessons haven't started yet but I'm sure I'll be good until then."
Seeing her chance, Grassis looked up to Subaru confidently. "Then will you help me make lunch for everyone?"
Subaru chuckled and placed his hand atop the little girl's head. "Of course. I did say I'll help whenever I can after all."
Grassis locked her eyes on the smiling Subaru as her cheeks reddened further. However, this perfect moment was put to an end as a loud yelling was heard from outside the room followed by a crash.
Worried that they were under attack, Subaru rushed out of the room to see what was happening. The boy wasn't prepared for what he found.
Within the hall, he saw Felt running as if her life depended on it and a distance behind her was Reinhard chasing the girl in question. That wasn't all, Reinhard was carrying a bright yellow dress with an excited smile on his face. Subaru could only assume that the only reason Felt wasn't caught by Reinhard yet was so he could preserve the dress that was being carried.
"Get the hell away from me!" Felt cried out.
Felt's plea fell on deaf ears as the knight continued to chase the poor girl with that excited look on his face. The way Reinhard chased her so enthusiastically and without saying a word looked pretty creepy.
Subaru ran after the two in hope of getting to the bottom of whatever was going on. Before he ran off, he waved to Grassis. "Sorry, Grassis. I'll have to give you a rain check on that!"
Grassis puffed her cheeks out and looked adorably upset as her golden opportunity was robbed from her. She wanted to join Subaru but she already volunteered to cook for everyone. The little maid ended up getting her sister to help.
--
Subaru somehow managed to catch up to Felt and Reinhard in the entry hall. The scene he walked in on was certainly one to behold. Felt was currently clinging onto a curtain above a tall window like a cat would while Reinhard was calling up to her saying that was too dangerous.
Whatever was going on, Subaru knew he had to put a stop to it. "Hey!" He called out. "Can someone tell me what's going on here?"
Felt instantly darted her attention to Subaru. "Big Bro! Perfect timing!"
Felt kicked at the wall and swung herself off the curtain, making a leap of faith directly towards a certain unsuspecting boy. The girl then rammed into Subaru like a cannonball which caused him to instantly fall back. After using the poor boy as a landing cushion, she immediately darted down one of the hallways.
Subaru was left on the ground in both shock and excruciating pain. Luckily for him, Reinhard had enough common sense to postpone his chase and check on his friend.
"Are you alright, friend?"
"Ughhhh… I think she cracked a bone this time…" Subaru complained.
Reinhard wore a panicked look. "I'll get a healer right away!"
"W-Wait! It's fine!" Despite his pain, Subaru managed to jump back to his feet. He didn't want to inconvenience anyone over something like this. "Could you just tell me what that was all about?"
"Of course. I had a dress tailored for Miss Felt and I needed her to try it on so I can be sure the measurements were taken correctly."
"Wait… How did you get her measurements to begin with?" Subaru only gave Reinhard a quick glance before he changed his mind and shook his head. "Actually, I don't wanna know. So why is Felt running away from you?"
"Once I asked Miss Felt to try on the dress, she refused. I implored her of the importance of doing so and then she started running away."
Subaru blinked a few times. "Um… alright… What were you planning to do when you caught up with her?"
"I would ask Miss Felt to wear the dress. If she continued to be uncooperative, then I would slip her into the dress."
"…" Subaru was at a loss. Surely he wasn't actually serious about that, right? "Rein, remember when I told you to treat girls better? Forcing girls to change their clothes is just… creepy…"
"I understand your point, friend. However, I still haven't been informed when we'll be gathered for the royal selection. It's imperative to have everything prepared beforehand posthaste. That would also include looking presentable."
Subaru let out a sigh. "I get that protocol is important to you and all but that shouldn't give you the right to strip away people's basic human rights."
"Normally, I'd tend to agree with you but these circumstances are serious. I only want to ensure Miss Felt stays in a safe environment. I could never forgive myself if something happens to her, especially if it could've been prevented beforehand."
"That does sound noble and all but aren't you overreacting? You're making it sound like Lugnica is run by the mafia or something."
"Mafia? My apologies but I'm afraid I don't know what a mafia is."
"It's just another word for a group of people who run organized crime but that's besides the point. I don't think it's right to be manhandling girls regardless of the circumstances. What kind of dress were you trying to make Felt wear anyways?"
"That's right, I never showed you. This is the dress I had tailored for her." Reinhard proceeded to show the yellow dress he was carrying.
Upon taking a closer look, the dress looked very fancy, definitely fitting for royalty. Subaru even thought the color scheme would really go well with Felt's hair. Actually, the more he inspected the dress, the more curious he became of what Felt would look like in such a cute dress.
"Tell you what, Rein. How about you leave this to me? I'll try to convince Felt to try on the dress."
"I have full faith in your abilities. While you're at it, have Miss Felt wear this with the dress." Reinhard carefully handed over the dress and then he gave Subaru a cloth necklace with a shiny red jewel.
Subaru carefully collected the dress and accessory. "I'll see what I can do."
Now that Subaru had full control on this operation, he left to start with his first course of action: putting the dress away. He'd probably have his ass handed to him if he marched to Felt with the dress in hand so he needed to start this on equal grounds.
As he made his way to his room to drop off the dress, he plotted ideas on how to go about this. He could take a good guess as to why she wouldn't want to wear the dress. It was very fancy and she'd probably say something like 'I don't want to look like a noble' or something like that. Maybe he could relate this to his 'start a shop' idea. She always seemed very excited when they talked about that.
"Oh yeah, I have to find her first." Subaru said to himself. After all, she did run off last he saw her and who knows where that feisty personality is hiding. Subaru sighed and shook his head. "She can really be a handful, huh?"
At this point, he had reached his closet and opened it up to put the dress in. Before he put it in, he had to make room for it. All he had to do was move Felt out of the way and he should be good.
…
…
…
"Hey! Why are you in my closet?!"
"What do you think?! I'm hiding from Reinhard!"
"I get that but why does it have to be in my closet? Aren't there plenty of other places to hide?"
"If ya couldn't tell, I was in a desperate situation! That psycho was trying to make me wear stuff like some kind of pervert! This just happened to be the closest room that I'm familiar with."
Subaru sighed and shook his head. In the end, he let it go since he was going to try and find Felt afterwards. "Oh well, this works out since I was going to find you after I dropped this off."
"Hm? What're you talking about?" It was then Felt finally locked her crimson eyes on the all too familiar yellow dress in Subaru's care. She looked back at Subaru with a dead serious look in her eyes. "So you're on his side…"
Subaru took a step back. "W-Wait! It's not what you think! I swear you're reading this the wrong- UGHHHHGGG!!!"
It was too late. Felt shot herself from out of the closet and rammed her head directly into Subaru's stomach like a rocket. This was more than enough to knock the poor punching bag of a boy over and once more, Felt was on the run, already dashing her way to the door.
Despite being toppled over, Subaru managed to save the dress from getting ruined. That was perhaps the only lucky thing he managed to get from all this other than not dying. Before Felt could disappear, Subaru desperately called out to her. "I-I'm not going to force you to wear it!"
Fortunately for him, Felt instantly stopped and turned to him. "You're not?"
Subaru let out a heavy sigh of relief at seeing her listen to him. He struggled to get back up to his feet before continuing, "I just want to talk about it. If you're still not interested in wearing the dress, then I won't force you."
Felt was still having doubts, her suspicious look made that quite obvious. "Fine. But I'll kick your ass if ya try anything funny, got it?"
The on edge boy very cautiously put the dress in the closet like he was originally planning. "See? I'm just putting it away."
Despite his desperate attempt to reassure the feisty girl before him, she didn't look any less at ease. He could just feel it in the atmosphere that an inevitable kick will come for him at any moment.
"Speak up already! What're you waiting for?!" Felt ushered.
"I am! Just give me a second!" Subaru pleaded before he turned his attention to the little ticking time bomb. "Let me hear your side first. Why don't you want to wear the dress?"
"Don't play dumb! You know what it looks like! It's over the top and it spells noble crap all over it! I agreed to do those dumb lessons but I never signed up to play dress up, ya hear?!"
"Yeah, those clothes are pretty fancy. I could see how it would be embarrassing for you. But we are going to a huge political event so wouldn't it make sense to wear fancy clothes? I mean, even where I'm from it's a custom to look nice for important events."
"I already told you guys that I don't give a damn what people think of me! I'm going back to the slums after this and I sure as hell don't want to drag around some stupid frilly dress all over the place."
"You could always sell it afterwards. It's not like you're obligated to keep it or anything."
Felt stopped and took a moment to consider Subaru's words. If anything, she was upset that she didn't think of that first. "Huh, maybe you're onto something there. Sure, I'll keep the dumb dress."
Subaru let out a sigh of relief. This was a lot easier than he thought. "Alright, I could get one of the twins to help you put it on if you want."
"Hey! I said I'd keep the dress! I never said anything about wearing it!"
Subaru let out another sigh but this time of exhaustion. This was about the level of difficulty he was expecting. "Cmon, lil' sis. I'm sure whoever made that dress worked very hard on it. The least you could do is try it on."
Felt stomped her foot. "That's their own damn fault! I never asked for a dress to begin with and I sure as hell don't want one! I'm only agreeing to do half the stuff Reinhard's asking because you're doing it with me. So unless you wear a stupid dress too, I'm not doing it!"
…
…
…
--
…
…
…
"And that's why I need to wear a dress."
Reinhard looked a little puzzled at Subaru's request. "Are you sure about this, friend? You don't have to go this far if you don't want to."
"I said that I'd convince Felt to wear the dress and if all it takes is to dress up like a girl, then that's a small price to pay in my book."
The knight nodded. "If you're alright with it, then I'll support your decision."
"Master Reinhard," Carol, who just happened to be around, spoke up. "I do have some old clothes that might fit the young man if he's interested."
"Yeah!" Subaru happily cheered. This process should go by a lot faster now, he thought. "Thanks for the assist, Carol!"
Reinhard shared an approving smile. "If Subaru's alright with it, then I have no objections."
Carol nodded her head and gestured for the spiky haired boy to follow. "Let's have a look. I don't mind making adjustments if they're needed."
--
This was around the time the lessons normally started. Felt was currently taking refuge inside Subaru's room as she had a gut feeling that Reinhard was going to force her in a dress anyways. Though considering that she had been here for a few hours without any interruptions could easily mean that Subaru managed to make him back off. However, she knew very well how dense that knight was. It would be stupid to drop her guard over such a baseless assumption.
After some time, someone knocked on the door.
"Lady Felt, lunch is ready."
That voice belonged to Carol. Felt had been hiding here for awhile so it made sense that lunch would eventually come. However, she was on edge as to how Carol knew she was here. "Who told ya I was here?!"
"You weren't in your room so I guessed you'd be here. Good to see my intuition still works."
Felt gritted her teeth. She probably shouldn't have said anything since now there's a good chance that Carol will let Reinhard know about her hiding out here. "Whatever. I was getting hungry anyways."
After that response, Felt got herself out of Subaru's room and let Carol lead the way. The old lady in question had a peculiar poker face about them. "Right this way."
Felt stared at Carol suspiciously. "What's with the look, Granny?"
"Look? Ah, I'm just forcing myself not to laugh."
"Not laugh?! What's so funny about me hanging out here?! I'll stay in any damn room as I please! Except for Reinhard's. I don't even wanna know what he hides in there."
"Don't worry, you didn't cause it. You can thank that friend of yours for that."
Felt rolled her eyes as she knew exactly who Carol was referring to. "Tch, figures. What did that idiot do this time?"
"I think it would be best for you to see it yourself."
"Really? Is it that bad?"
In all honesty, Felt felt a little bad. He probably did something insane to make Reinhard let go of the whole dress thing. She had to admit that he was pretty reliable when it came to this sorta thing but she wished that he didn't have to make himself look like a complete and utter dumbass in order to do so. In the end, she did appreciate that idiot going so far for her.
However, that thought would change once she saw exactly what Carol was talking about.
Felt finally arrived at the dining hall to find Reinhard seated along with the little twins. There was also someone else there that she didn't immediately recognize. There was a girl with long black hair and wore a simple but cute black dress.
Felt let out an annoyed sigh. "Seriously Reinhard? How many girls are ya planning to abduct?"
The black haired girl finally turned to Felt and gave her a smile. "I don't believe we've met. I'm Natsumi Schwartz. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." After her introduction, she bowed courteously.
Felt silently stared at the girl for a good solid moment. After that moment had passed, Felt collapsed on the ground and began laughingly like crazy.
The girl who called herself Natsumi blinked a few times and looked at the laughing girl nervously. "U-Um, are you ok there?"
"Pfft, I should be asking you that." Felt wiped a tear away before getting back up, still visibly trying to recover from laughing. "So what's up with this? Did you wanna wear that dress instead or something, big bro?"
Natsumi flinched as a panicked look stretched across her whole face. "I-I don't know who you're talking about. I'm a young gentle maiden who just so happened to-"
Felt kicked Natsumi.
This time she landed her kick in 'Natsumi's' most vulnerable spot. The one weakness of all men that should never be mentioned aloud.
The black haired 'girl' dropped to her knees and placed her hands over their crotch. With tears in her eyes, she looked up at Felt with the most pained look one could make and spoke in a very squeaky voice. "W-Why would you do that…?"
Grassis and Flam had rushed over to ensure they were alright. Reinhard looked worried over the whole situation. Carol and Grimm looked the least bit affected as they just waited to see how this whole thing would roll out.
"You know…" Felt continued. "I think you'd be a lot more convincing if ya didn't overreact like that over a little nudge."
Still with tears in their eyes, 'Natsumi' went on in that very squeaky voice. "Th-That wasn't a nudge…"
It took some time to recover from the traumatic assault but to no one's surprise, it was revealed that the girl named Natsumi Schwartz was actually Natsuki Subaru in disguise. Admittedly, he did a great job at dressing like a girl. Felt probably would've been fooled herself but Subaru's face was too recognizable, especially his scary looking eyes.
Everyone was gathered at the table eating normally. Felt was giving Subaru weird looks as the boy in question was sitting across from her and in between the twin maids. Grassis was scooted close to him constantly making sure he was ok while Flam sat on the other side and was seemingly giving him a cold stare.
Getting annoyed with Subaru's whiny attitude, Felt finally spoke up. "Oh suck it up, I didn't even kick ya that hard."
Subaru was still dressed up as 'Natsumi' and he nearly erupted at the girl. "That's bull crap and you know it! Do you just kick every random stranger you see?!"
"Nah, just dumbasses."
"Why you-!"
"That reminds me." Felt interrupted. "Why the hell are ya dressed like that anyways? Did you make some kind of deal with Reinhard to be the royal candidate instead of me?"
"I'm pretty sure he wouldn't let me. I was just trying to convince you to wear the dress Reinhard got you."
The crimson eyed girl narrowed her eyes, giving the crossdressed boy a suspicious look. "How exactly does wearing girl clothes help ya there?"
"Cmon, you said it yourself! You said you'd wear the dress if I dressed up with you!"
"You're seriously doing this because of that? Are ya desperate to watch me change or something, you perv?"
"What?! I didn't say anything like that! I just wanted to encourage you to participate in all this."
Felt continued to stare at Subaru suspiciously for a while longer before shrugging. "Fine, I'll wear it."
Subaru blinked a few times. "Wait, really?"
"Yeah, if you're gonna go this far over some dumb dress then I might as well. I don't even wanna imagine what stupid crap you'd try to pull next if I refused." Before anything else could be said, Felt raised her fork and pointed it directly at Subaru menacingly. "I swear though, I'll rip you a new one if ya try anything funny."
"For the last time, my intentions in all this are pure!"
Felt lowered her fork at this point and laughed at Subaru's silly and desperate display. Before any more arguing and bantering could occur, Reinhard spoke up. "I'm delighted to know you'll be trying on your dress. If it's alright with you, I believe it's time to expand upon your lessons when it comes to your posture."
Felt darted her gaze to the knight, looking at him just as suspiciously as she had with Subaru. "What the hell are you talkin' about?"
--
After eating, Reinhard guided Subaru into a large spacious room. It looked as if a ball could be hosted here. Felt arrived soon after being accompanied by Grassis and Flam.
Right now, Felt was wearing the yellow dress that Reinhard had gotten for her. The dress really suited the short girl and the red gemmed necklace she wore with it really complimented her crimson eyes. In short, she really looked like a princess now.
Despite Felt wearing such gorgeous clothes, it couldn't get rid of her disgusted look that was directly aimed at Reinhard after he had explained the lesson plan.
"There's no way I'm doing that." Felt answered bluntly.
"Not to worry, Miss Felt. I will be more than happy to be your partner in this. I'm confident in my ability to-"
"No!" She interrupted. "I'm not dancing! You can make me walk weirdly, you can make me eat like a clown, you can even convince me to dress up but this is crossing the line!"
"I understand that you may find this activity trivial but I assure you this will benefit you in more ways than one."
"I'm not gonna let you bullshit your way into having me do your creepy fetishes! I don't care how important you think this is, I'm not dancing with you!"
"I'm unsure what makes you think that, Miss Felt. But I swear on my name that learning the art of dancing will improve anyone's elegance and posture, including your own."
"I don't care if it will or not. You've pushed this way too far now. I am not going to be this country's ruler and there's no way in hell that I'm gonna live out as a noble slob once all of this is over. I'll agree to do your lessons that I think will help me out in MY future but dancing sure aint one of 'em."
Seeing Felt's fiery determination caught Reinhard by surprise. After all, he was sure that she'd be encouraged once she wore the dress. "Please, Miss Felt, I implore you reconsider your stance over this matter."
"Erm, Rein?" Subaru finally interjected. "I don't mind doing it instead."
The bickering between Reinhard and Felt ceased as they looked towards Subaru with shocked expressions. "Eh?"
"I appreciate your willingness to participate but I don't believe this activity is appropriate for you."
Subaru smirked. "Actually, I think it is. I'm dressed for the part, am I?"
Both Reinhard and Felt gave the all too eager crossdresser concerned looks. Eventually, Reinhard spoke out in hopes to clear any misunderstandings he had. "I have no objections if you really want to join but are you sure about this? I'm worried that others may get the wrong idea about yoy."
At this point, Subaru approached the concerned knight. "I'm very sure. Trust me on this." Once he was right next to him, Subaru started whispering something to the knight.
Felt was staring at the two suspiciously as it was clear that he was purposely keeping her out of the loop in this. After the whispering stopped, Reinhard widened his eyes as if he was just bestowed life changing wisdom.
"Ah, of course. I understand now." The knight bowed courteously toward Subaru and graciously offered his hand. "Ahem, the lesson will now begin. I will start by inviting you to take my hand, Lady Natsumi."
Subaru smiled as graciously as he could and took the knight's hand. "I kindly accept your invitation, Rein." Subaru spoke out in his girly voice, almost as if he had a lot of practice doing this.
Felt was left in the background watching as Reinhard started to teach Subaru to dance like a maiden. The short girl knew very well that those two were planning something but couldn't exactly pinpoint what. This was Subaru after all so she knew it was something incredibly stupid. "I don't know what you're both up to but I'm still not gonna dance, got it?"
For that moment, Reinhard glanced towards Felt. "You do not have to worry, Miss Felt. We have decided that you do not need to participate in this lesson for today."
"Wait, seriously? Did big bro really tell you off?"
"I wouldn't put it in those words but we have agreed to a compromise."
"Compromise?" Felt stared confusingly at the dancing pair as she tried to piece this bit of information together. She had a very bad feeling about this. However, she ended up letting it go. If Subaru was willing to take the bullet for her, then who was she to complain about it? "Fine, but I got my eye on you."
Both Reinhard and Subaru carried on after that. Subaru was fast to pick up on the dancing taught by the knight and within an hour, he was keeping up with Reinhard. Felt had her arms crossed as she watched from the side. At first, she was giggling to herself at how stupid this looked but as time went on, something about this irked her.
In the beginning, Subaru fumbled around in Reinhard's arms and tripped over himself countless times. But eventually, they were starting to dance more steadily and professionally. This started to make the crimson eyed girl feel sick as they were starting to look like two love birds. The thought that Subaru and Reinhard were in love with each other was hilarious on paper but seeing it in action like this just felt wrong for some reason.
"Grr… Are you two done yet? I've got better things to do than watch you two flirt with each other."
The two turned to Felt and they both seemed surprisingly calm about her little comment. It was as if they were fully aware what this looked like and didn't care about it.
"My apologies, Miss Felt. The lesson will be for another two hours. You will be relieved afterwards."
"What?! Do you really expect me to sit here and do nothing?! Cmon, big bro, say something!"
Subaru smirked and wagged his finger. "I'm sorry but I'm not your big bro right now. I'm taking on the form of Natsumi Schwartz."
Felt's eye twitched after being told that. At this point, she felt sick from looking at this. She couldn't put her finger on it but watching Reinhard and Subaru dance like this really pissed her off. In a way, watching Subaru dance so maidenly felt like she was being insulted.
"Fine!" She shouted, not being able to take this eyesore anymore. "I'll join your damn dance lesson, alright?! Just stop it already, you two!"
"That's great to hear, Miss Felt. We can start immediately." Reinhard said almost immediately. It was like he was waiting to jump on this opportunity.
Subaru smiled as he took a few steps away, hoping to fade in the background. "Don't worry, I bet you're going to like it, lil' sis."
Before he could get far, Felt quickly snatched his wrist, preventing Subaru from making his escape. "Oh no you don't. You're gonna be the one dancing with me, got it?"
"Eh?" Subaru blinked a few times. After processing Felt's demand, he frantically shook his head. "I-I couldn't do that! I've never danced before and besides, Reinhard's the teacher here."
"Tch, so what? If you guys want me to dance so badly then I'm doing it under my terms."
"Isn't the whole point of this to get instructions on how to do better? You haven't tried it yet and I think you'd learn more if it was with Reinhard."
"Did it look like I ever cared about doing this in the first place? Besides, I was watching the two of you go at it this past hour so I know what to do."
"But… But…" Not knowing what to do, Subaru turned to Reinhard. "Cmon, Rein! Help me out here!"
Reinhard in response smiled. "I appreciate Miss Felt's willingness to participate and I believe having you two practice together will help the both of you immensely."
"N-No! That's not what I meant!"
Felt on the other hand smirked rather mischievously. "You heard the knight, it'll be great practice."
"W-Wait! If I'm going to do this, I should change out of this dress."
"Nope! If I have to wear this dress all day then you're gonna do the same." Felt raised her fist and aimed it towards Subaru. "You're not thinking of backing out on your word, are ya?"
He gulped and shook his head desperately. "N-No! Of course not! I-I just thought it would make dancing easier!"
"Since there isn't a problem, then stop stalling and let's get this over with already."
Subaru slumped his shoulders in defeat. "Fine…" He reached out to the feisty girl for her hand and was met with a punch in his gut anyways. "OOOMPH! Hey! What gives!"
Felt's cheeks were slightly reddened as she pointed at the boy accusingly. "You can't just grab me like that without warning! Aren't you supposed to ask first like what Reinhard did?"
"She's right." Reinhard immediately added. "Since you're the one initiating the dance, it's your responsibility to ask politely."
"Oh yeah… My bad…" After recovering from the punch, he composed himself and offered his hand towards Felt. "Would you like to dance with me, lil' sis?"
"Hell no!"
…
…
…
"Are you kidding me?"
Felt crossed her arms and humphed loudly. "There's no way I'm gonna do this in front of everyone. I'll start when Reinhard and the maids leave."
"Oh?" Subaru was smiling devilishly. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about. It'll just be you and- OOOMPH!" All smugness had instantly vanished with a single punch.
"I'm sorry, I didn't quite hear ya. Mind repeating that?"
Not wanting to see this escalate, Reinhard spoke up. "I trust the two of you can be productive by yourself. I'll return in an hour to touch up on your progress."
Subaru was kneeling over as he held an arm over his stomach, trying to shield it from any more sneak attacks as he used his other hand to give the knight a very shaky thumbs up. "S-Sounds good…"
With that, Subaru spent this time recomposing himself as Reinhard, Grassis, and Flam left the vicinity. Felt was standing across from him with her arms crossed.
"Quit overreacting, you're embarrassing yourself."
Subaru shot up and glared at the snarky girl. "Who's fault do you think that is?!"
"Yours, obviously."
He slumped back down and sighed. He didn't have the energy to argue with this girl any longer and just dropped it. "If you're still mad about this then you don't have to dance if you really don't want to."
"It's just a dance. I'm not gonna throw a fit over something stupid like that."
Subaru's eyes twitched at those words. "Isn't that all you've been doing today?"
The girl stomped her foot down and balled her fists. "Well I'm sorry for not liking the idea of getting stripped down and dressed like a doll under my own free will!"
Seeing her get mad instinctively made Subaru step back. "You're right. Just please calm down."
She let out an annoyed humph and reached out her hand. "Whatever, are we doing this or not?"
"Yeah, I guess we should…" He took a deep breath as he vividly remembered what happened moments ago. Subaru didn't want to get kicked again so he asked, "Would you like to dance with me now?"
"Do you really need to ask that? Just take my hand already, dumbass."
"Ugh… Why do I even bother?"
Subaru cautiously took Felt's hand like he was taught and did the same when placing his hand over her hip. The crossdresser had done this with Reinhard mere moments ago without an issue but doing this with Felt had a different feeling to it. Perhaps this was the feeling lion tamers have. He was convinced that he had to keep himself looking confident or else he'd get eaten alive. Probably.
Felt on the other hand was proceeding fairly normally. She mimicked what she had watched earlier and held the boy's hand in hers while taking his shoulder using the other hand. She showed no signs of hesitation and after getting in position, she looked up to Subaru expectantly.
"What are you waiting for? Don't just stand there."
"Would it kill you to act just a little nicer? Isn't the whole point of dancing to enjoy the moment?"
"Gimme a break, I've never danced before. You're the one teaching so isn't it also your job to set the mood or something?"
"Yes, but this is a partnership thing. It can't go well if you don't help contribute."
The golden haired girl sighed. "Fine, what do you want me to do then?"
"Huh?" Subaru was taken aback by that response. He was already mentally and physically preparing himself to get assaulted so to see her agree and ask for advice was really strange. "O-Oh! Just try to follow my steps, ok?"
"I will when you start making them."
"Oh yeah, sorry about that." Without any more delays, Subaru took the first step. Felt looked down at her feet as she tried to follow his track, looking hyper focused while doing so.
Subaru repeated these steps, moving in random directions while alternating which foot was used. He waited for Felt to catch up with every move he made. Seeing her taking this seriously had a very unique charm. The way she was dressed combined with the way she was holding on made her dance partner watch in awe.
He couldn't put his finger on it but this special display felt very similar to the time he was given permission to pat her head. She just looked so adorable by the way she was moving and how focused she was in doing so. Most of all was her willingness to go through with it.
Eventually, the girl caught her dance partner staring at her weirdly and it made her give them a cold look. "You're looking very creepy right now. You better not be thinking of anything gross, you perv."
"H-Hey! What kind of man do you take me for?!"
"Tch, dressed like that, you sure as hell don't look like one."
Subaru sighed as he really couldn't argue on that one. Sure, dressing up like this did make his plan work but maybe he should've done something else. "I just think you look cute in that dress. There is nothing perverted about thinking you're cute!"
The girl's cheeks instantly flushed red as she nearly jumped back in shock. "D-Don't start spouting embarrassing stuff like that out of the blue!"
Seeing how red she'd gotten made Subaru smirk. "Oh? When would you like me to compliment you then?"
"W-What're you going on about?! Why are you acting super weird all of a sudden?!"
"Hahah, sorry. I just think you're doing a great job right now."
Felt growled and kicked Subaru's shin. Normally something like that would've made him drop but the kick itself wasn't that hard this time. In fact, it wasn't even hard enough to warrant a yelp.
"Jeez, you could've just said that to begin with, idiot."
Subaru was giving her a weird and suspicious look. He wasn't sure what she was playing at but he knew better than to let his guard down. Despite that, he did enjoy seeing this side of Felt and couldn't resist prodding further.
"Lil sis, do you not like being called cute?"
Once more, Felt looked startled and her face lit up. "What the hell?! Did you already forget what I said about being creepy?!"
Subaru shook his head. "I just want to leave you a compliment without making you mad all the time. I'm not trying to make this creepy."
…
Felt finally calmed down and sighed. "I know, I know. It's just embarrassing when you say stuff like that all of a sudden, alright?"
Subaru nodded understandingly. This truly did remind him of the head pat situation so he figured he'd try the same technique. "If it makes you uncomfortable, I could stop complimenting you."
Almost as if being whacked by the all mighty dejavu hammer, Felt widened her eyes and began stumbling over her words. "I-I never said I hated it or anything! Look, I'm ready now so you can start complimenting away if you're that eager to do it."
"Heheh, in that case, I've been dying to say that you look super adorable in your new dress! You honestly look like a real princess now."
"Yeah, yeah, I get it…" Felt muttered as she looked away now. She had been holding onto Subaru this whole time and now she was a blushing mess in the boy's grasp.
"And your necklace…" Subaru continued. "They really compliment your eyes. I could even mistake them for priceless rubies."
This time, the crimson eyed girl chuckled at the mention of eyes. "You think so? Well, you don't look half bad yourself. If it weren't for your creepy eyes being so memorable, you definitely would've had me fooled there."
Subaru irked at this. Despite that, he proceeded to answer her in a calm tone. "Nothing is wrong with my eyes. You just don't know what truly great eyes are."
"Nah, I'm pretty sure you've just never looked at yourself in a mirror before."
Subaru stopped dead in his tracks at this girl's audacity. He recalled the moment when he took Felt's picture and she straight up denied it being her at first. He definitely would tell her this.
However…
Suddenly stopping the way he did caused Felt to lose her balance and tumbled into him. That resulted in him also losing his balance and crashing into the girl in return. Being the larger one between the two, Subaru fell on top of Felt like a domino. Luckily for them both, he managed to stop his fall by planting his hands to the ground between the short girl before he accidentally squished her.
After catching his breath, Subaru looked down at Felt who was below him. "Are you alright?"
"Ugh… I'm fine. Watch what you're doing next time, dumbass."
Seeing her not immediately resort to violence made Subaru happy inside. Perhaps dancing has taught her to be more softer somehow. "Yeah, I will, I'm glad you're alright then."
"Yeah, now what-" Felt slowed her words down as she finally began to assess her current situation. "Are you doing…?" She finished. Her whole face began to match the color of her eyes after recognizing how close Subaru was to her.
Subaru blinked a few times as he too had finally got a better understanding of the situation. He soon widened his eyes as she stared at the flustered girl in shock. "I-It's not what it looks like so please don't get mad. I just tripped and we just happen to be in a very weird and probably suggestive situation-"
Subaru was silenced as he retrieved a healthy dose of Felt fist which was applied generously on his face.
"If you know, then get the hell off of me!!!"
--
1 hour later…
--
At this moment, Grassis had a very focused and determined look about her. The little maid was currently dancing with a cross dressed Subaru and she couldn't be any happier. The boy in question was having a little bit of a hard time considering just how small she was but he managed. He occasionally rubbed at his eye since he had an ugly black eye and it was incredibly sore at this point.
The golden haired hothead who made that black eye was in the same room dancing with Flam. After causing a ruckus which resulted for Reinhard to rush back in, the knight suggested changing partners. Since she absolutely refused to dance with Reinhard, she ended up dancing with Flam. Grassis seemed a little bit too eager to dance with Subaru for some reason but hey, she didn't really care. The twins looked exactly the same anyways.
Felt couldn't help but feel something off as she danced with Flam. Quite often, the little maid's calm and collective demeanor dropped for moments at a time when she glanced towards Subaru and her sister with a very ominous and sour look. It was a little annoying since she actually wanted to get better at dancing now. After all, seeing Subaru one up her the way he was is just too insulting for some reason.
"What's up with you?" She finally asked.
Flam immediately turned her attention back to Felt and apologetically bowed her head slightly. "I'm sorry, Lady Felt. I will be sure to give you my full attention now."
"You sure? That's the third time already. Did you wanna dance with your sister instead? Or are you eager to dance with that idiot like your sister was?"
The little maid shook her head. "I didn't mean to make you think that. Master Reinhard entrusted me to be your partner and I intend to do my best."
Felt rolled her eyes to that, clearly not convinced. But she didn't exactly care to pry. "If ya say so. Just quit getting distracted all the time."
The maid nodded as she put all her focus back to her. Across the room from those two, Subaru stopped for a moment to rub his eye once again. Grassis looked concerned by this. "Are you sure you don't want to see a healer, Subaru-sama?"
"H-Heh… It's fine. I'd hate to bring down a rare teaching opportunity for everyone over a little bruise."
"I'll trust you but please don't push yourself."
Subaru chuckled and patted the young girl's head. "I will, thanks for looking out for me all the time."
Grassis's cheeks heated up and nodded confidently. "Of course, Subaru-sama! It is my duty to ensure everyone's well being and comfort."
Subaru enjoyed the moment a little longer. It was nice doing all this without having to keep his guard up all the time.
"Hey! You're doing it again!" Felt cried out.
Subaru looked over to find Felt chewing out Grassis's poor sister as she was apologizing to Felt profusely. Subaru felt a little bad now. Maybe Flam was mad that she couldn't dance with her sister. Now that he thought about it, he wasn't sure if he checked up on Flam often.
Lately the two girls have been easier to recognize and he noticed that between the two, Grassis had spent more time with him. Maybe she was feeling left out. Despite that thought, Subaru put his attention back to dancing with Grassis.
He was going to fix that later. After all, the main focus today is to dance.
Once more, the boy smiled. This was great. Everything was so calm and peaceful now. Assuming another shaman attack doesn't happen out of the blue, he believed that his future would be looking bright.