Chapter 2: A New Day in a New World
A chilly draft drifting across Subaru's face woke him. He awoke to an unfamiliar house. A few seconds of furious blinking later and memories of his arrival yesterday came back to him.
Weirder still he felt arms gently wrapped around him. Gently turning his head slightly to the side he noticed that at some point Emilia had started to use him as a teddy bear and proceeded to snuggle against him like a kitten.
Given how cold it had gotten and the fact that Emilia only had one set of bedding, it had been necessary to share a bed for the night. However, they had gone to bed facing away from each other on opposite ends of the bed.
His face bright red, Subaru tried to gently remove himself from Emilia's grasp. She proceeded to give Subaru a bear hug that would bring a grizzly bear to its knees. Just as Subaru thought he was about to cough up his stomach, her squeeze loosened.
Mostly asleep Emilia let out a groggy, "Don't go."
Though her grip had loosened, Subaru still found himself incapable of moving. The power of her grip was not unlike a roller coaster restraint.
Subaru resigned himself to the embarrassment of waiting for her to wake up wrapped around him. Besides it was rather chilly in the house right now, and having her wrapped around him was rather cozy. He just hoped she wouldn't be upset.
The sun had risen, so Subaru assumed she probably wouldn't be asleep for much longer. Although seeing her face so contented he half expected her to start purring, he had some doubts about that.
Looking around the house, it felt surprisingly empty. He couldn't imagine being all by himself in it, but that had been Emilia's reality for who knows how long. Emilia had Puck, but he had been around for a startlingly short time yesterday.
As eager as Emilia had been to talk with him about himself and his world, she hadn't offered much about herself. All he really knew was that this kind and shockingly strong girl lived by herself, seemingly ostracized from society. Judging by her eyes and ears she was probably an elf or perhaps a half-elf like that witch that she mentioned.
His musings raised the question if non-humans or people of mixed lineage faced discrimination in this world. If Subaru judged based on fantasy stories, such things were common enough.
Nevertheless, at his heart Subaru was a pretty simple guy. He knew she was kind just by how readily she had helped him and taken him in. He'd had fun chatting with her last night. She was a good person that he enjoyed being with; for Subaru that was all that really mattered.
Subaru resolved that if he ever found a way back home, he'd try and take her with him; she in no way deserved to be all alone. His dad would surely get it, repaying kindness with kindness would certainly be what "his son" would do, right? There wasn't a Natsuki family in this world, nor was there a Natsuki Kenichi in this world; so Subaru would have to settle for doing what Natsuki Subaru believed he should do. Even if all Natsuki Subaru could do right now was to try and ease a single girl's loneliness, that simple fact would not change. Besides this was a new world, so why not start a new chapter in the book of Natsuki Subaru; he was starting from zero in a new world afterall.
Despite spending what felt like an hour on such ponderings, Emilia still slumbered away peacefully, firmly attached to his side. The only sound coming from her being her soft breathing. Unfortunately Subaru had a new problem, he really had to pee.
A moment's hesitation later he had decided, he would have to try waking her up. He had no other means of escape. He managed to wiggle off his side so that he was laying flat and lifted his arm across his body to Emilia's shoulder.
With a gentle tap he called out to her, "Time to get up, I really gotta go."
Emilia's face scrunched lightly and she groggily muttered, "Five more minutes."
Still the arm on top of him came loose and she slowly began to roll flat on her back. Just as Subaru began to get ready to climb out of bed, she fitfully rolled over the rest of the way. As she did so the arm underneath him wrapped around him and swung him through the air along with it. Only the strength of her grip kept him from being flung through the wall. He landed on the other side of the bed with a thud and an involuntary yelp.
Shooting up with a start, at long last, Emilia was finally wide awake.
"I'm sorry. Are you ok? I didn't mean to.". Emilia apologized in rapid fire, having quickly realized what had happened.
"I'm okay, just a bit startled. Now I'm sorry but I really gotta go!" Subaru rapidly scrambled to the front door in a frantic dash. Emilia gazed after him in befuddled concern.
Shortly after Subaru came back inside with a relieved sigh, "Sorry, I really had to go to the bathroom."
"Subaru, you blockhead! I was reaaaally worried. I thought I'd hurt you or something." Emilia's face rapidly transitioned from relieved to a full blown pout.
However Subaru was taking notice of another detail entirely, "Blockhead? You don't hear that one very often."
"How would you even know? You're from a whole other world." Emilia fired back.
Unable to hold back anymore Subaru broke out in a deep belly laugh at the absurdity of the morning's events. Before long Emilia too was bent over from laughter.
Subaru's stomach growling brought them back from their laughter, "Do you have anything here to eat?"
"For breakfast, I have a bag of nuts to eat from," Emilia retrieved the bag as she spoke.
As Subaru ate a worrisome thought crossed his mind, "Are you going be okay sharing food with me?"
"It's fine, I've got plenty to last for a while. If we need to buy more we can gather some pyroxene to sell." Emilia casually brushed aside his concerns.
"Sorry, I just don't want to be a burden to you," Subaru apologized.
"Honestly, I'd much rather hear a 'thank you' than a 'sorry'. So stop worrying and eat." Emilia admonished wagging her finger at Subaru.
A sheepish, "thank you," from Subaru later and Emilia joined him ine eating a satisfied smile on her face.
"After we finish eating, we need to get in town while it's warm to get you some a coat and some warmer clothes." As Subaru tried to interject in shame for needing to waste more of her money she silenced him with a half teasing stare.
"Thank you... it's just you're doing so much for me, and I can't pay you back at all." Subaru muttered his face turned downwards as his feet shuffled.
"It's all for my benefit anyways, with this there'll be another person to watch over the forest." Her eyes closed, Emilia nodded in affirmation to her assertion.
Subaru didn't believe her for a second. Oddly enough the more she "selfishly" helped him the happier she seemed to be. Subaru would just have to let her do as she pleased. The fact that seeing her smile made his heart skip a beat was completely irrelevant of course.
"You know though Subaru, it's kind of rude to try and turn down a gift," there was a gentle chiding in Emilia's tone.
"Really!? In my homeland it's considered polite to refuse a time or two before accepting." A tinge of disbelief colored Subaru's surprised rebuttal.
"But isn't it really ungrateful, to not gratefully receive what is being offered?" Her eyes furrowed in confusion.
"In Japan they kinda looked at it the other way. I mean isn't it ungrateful to just greedily accept stuff without remorse or hesitation?" Subaru tried to explain, as Emilia tried to wrap her around the, to her, bizarre concept.
"I guess I should have expected some culture difference," Subaru muttered.
"Culture difference?" Emilia's face made an adorable twist at the unfamiliar phrase.
"Yeah it's common for different countries to have different customs, different thoughts on what is polite, and different myths and legends. Now that I'm actually thinking about it, I'm probably going to come across as weird or rude a lot." Subaru half explained, half mused aloud.
A gentle smile crossed Emilia's face, "I don't think being a little weird is all that bad. Afterall if you were normal you'd want nothing to do with me."
"Then again it's not like my family and I were all that normal even in my home country," Subaru seemed to take a slight bit of pride in that statement.
"Anyways we better get going, it looks like it's almost noon already. Take this blanket and use it as a robe over your clothes." Emilia led him to the door as he covered up the best he could.
"Oi, now that I think about your clothes don't look all that warm. Are you going to be okay? And shouldn't we get you something warm too?" Subaru was suddenly worried.
"Ah, it's not a big deal. Because of my magical alignment the cold doesn't really affect me all that much." Emilia quickly dismissed his concerns.
Subaru supposed it must be true. The reason he hadn't even thought to question the warmth of her attire before now was the simple fact that she had never seemed bothered in the slightest. Once again Subaru wondered if maybe he too could learn magic. Subaru cast his musings aside as he and Emilia stepped outside. The cold still bit at him, but being more covered and not drenched in snow made for a substantially more comfortable trek.
"When we get to the village they probably won't be all that nice to us. So promise me you'll do your best to stay calm and not make it worse." Emilia's warning was soft, and her face more stoic than Subaru had seen up to now.
"I'll do my best," Subaru promised the slightest bit of worry swirling in his gut.
"Also stay close to me, there have been a lot of mabeasts lately," Emilia warned.
Despite her warning though, the trip to the village went without incident. As they passed through the normal noise from the villagers out and about dropped to an eery quiet. The only sounds reaching Subaru's ears being the whispered mutterings about them.
"Here comes the witch again."
"Looks like she's got a cultist following her now."
A wave of abusive whispers blanketed over them like a foul wind. Subaru almost felt as if he were being crushed by some unseen weight. Subaru himself could barely make out half of what was being said, but as he cast a glance over towards Emilia's ears he couldn't help but wonder if she could hear all of it.
Looking at her face it was eerily blank. The face that had smiled gently, pouted adorably, and carelessly giggled all yesterday was frozen in feigned indifference.
Subaru grit his teeth in anger and clenched his fists. Emilia gently tapped his shoulder and made eye contact with him. He nodded in reply. The promise she'd asked for made sense now. He was wondering if a mob would lynch them any second now. She clearly needed to trade with this village at least occasionally, so keeping their ire to a minimum was necessary.
Looking at Emilia he could see her trembling ever so slightly. Without any hesitation he took her hand in his. He gave her hand a firm, but gentle squeeze. In response she fastened her grip so tightly he couldn't help but wince slightly. Emilia was no longer shaking, so he hoped that his message got through.
Before long they were in the shop Emilia frequented. A crotchety old man ran the store. Though he was gruff and indifferent to Emilia, compared to the people outside his behavior was practically kind. And that made it all the worse.
Numbly, Subaru went through the motions of trying on a coat, boots, and winter clothes. Subaru could barely hear their conversation, his heartbeat was pounding in his ear and his jaw was clenched so tight his ears were ringing.
As they walked out of town, Subaru's eyes were hardened in barely restrained rage. Despite the sharpness of his gaze, when Emilia's eyes met his expression softened ever so slightly. An expression that should have been frightening instead felt nostalgic. Such an expression would not have looked out of place on her aunt's face. Aunt Fortuna's sanpakugan had been her favorite part of her appearance, and color aside Subaru's had felt nostalgic since she gazed upon them.
His grip on her hand unyielding, he firmly guided her out of the village. Although Emilia was many times stronger, she felt powerless to slow him down.
Clear of town Emilia called out to Subaru attempting to calm him down, "Subaru, it's okay."
"No, it's not! The way they treat you is horrible." Subaru couldn't hold it in anymore.
"That's just how the world is," Emilia tried to placate.
"Then the world is wrong! If you're going to hate someone, you should at least hate them for something they did." Subaru's fuming slowed down.
Suddenly Subaru turned to Emilia, admiration evident in his gaze, "You're strong. I don't think I could have made it a day all by myself like that."
Suddenly taciturn, Emilia turned to him with a resigned expression, "Subaru, you can still run back and pretend to have escaped from me. You don't have to go through this with me, as long as you stay with me they're going to treat you like that."
"Emilia, I'm not always the best with promises, but I promised to be your friend and chat your ear off. That's a promise that I meant from the bottom of my heart, so until you learn to tune me out you better get some earplugs ready!" Subaru finished off with a thumbs up.
Subaru had been hoping for a smile or a laugh. Instead tears started flowing from both of her eyes, as they gleamed like amethysts.
"I'm sorry! What did I say wrong?" Subaru panicked.
"Nothing. I'm not crying because I'm sad. I'm just really happy that I met you." A heartfelt smile stretched across Emilia's face as tears continued to trail down her cheeks.
Out of ideas he pulled her into a hug, and she immediately buried her face in his chest. He rubbed her back gently like his mom had when he was little.
It took about 15 minutes for Emilia to pull herself back together. Her eyes were a red, blotchy mess, but a hint of a smile graced her face.
"Is there anything else we need to do today?" Subaru asked with a rather soft expression.
"Just my daily chores of cleaning everyone off, and mapping the forest," Emilia's voice was somewhat hoarse, having cried her heart out.
"How about just today we skip that, and play in the snow since it's such a nice day?" Subaru grinned at her as he made his offer, eager to get her mind off of their business in town.
"Play...in the snow?" Emilia voiced her confusion.
"Yeah you know: making snowmen, sledding, snowball fights." Subaru's enthusiasm grew as he thought about it; such opportunities to play in the snow like this had been rare for him.
"I've never done any of that. And what is sledding?" Emilia had a pensive, but not disinterested look.
"Sledding is when you slide on something down a snow covered hill. On a good hill you can get going really fast." Subaru explained with increasing eagerness.
"I think I know a place, and I can make something to ride," Emilia capitulated to Subaru's enthusiasm. If asked, Emilia would insist that it had nothing to do with her excitement to do something different.
A brief moment of focus later she made a board of ice, "Will this work?"
"That should work great, can you make some handles to hold on to?" Subaru's request was quickly fulfilled.
In short order they were at the top of a steep hill with a long plain to coast across at the bottom. There were a few patches of trees scattered about, but it was reasonably clear for being in the middle of a forest.
As they boarded at the top of the hill, Subaru looked down and took a nervous gulp. Emilia took a seat behind him, an eager gleam in her eyes.
"All right. Ready. Set. Go!" His countdown finished, he and Emilia kicked off.
Due to the incredibly low friction between ice and snow they took off much more rapidly than Subaru expected. Before long they were racing down the hill. Subaru was certain that they'd be keeping pace with a car on the highway at this point. Subaru couldn't resist an excited woop and Emilia's eyes were wide with joy and an almost manic smile stretched across her face. Emilia's hair was fluttering behind them like a silver flag as it threatened to come undone.
Unfortunately for them, "Emilia, tree up ahead!"
But just as Subaru was about to grab her and bail, "Don't worry, I've got it." Emilia formed a banked ice path leading away from the tree leading to another banked the opposite way to straighten them out.
The two of them gripped on tightly, embracing the adrenaline rush as they went in the upcoming turns. They quickly climbed the sides of the ice path. Just as the right tip of their sled began to slide off the end of the ramp their ascent stopped and they began to slide down into their next turn. At this point both of them were overrun by thrilled laughter.
The rest of the way down passed in a blur. What awaited them at the bottom wasn't the smooth coast along the plains that Subaru expected, but a thick snow bank. The sled caught the snow bank, and Subaru was thrown in face first. The sudden stop launched Emilia and she face planted a few feet past where Subaru landed.
The two of them popped up quickly, a dazed grin on their faces. As their eyes met they burst out in laughter. Emilia's face was ever so slightly red from the wind-whipping on the way down, her hair scattered about, but her face was glowing with joy.
And to Subaru's surprise it was Emilia that asked, "Again!?" Subaru grinned in response and they marched the sled back up the hill.
It was a couple hours later that Puck popped in to check in on Emilia. He was greeted by two smiling kids and a snowball to the face.
"Sorry Puck you popped in right in front of it," Emilia apologized.
Puck looked around to see the remnants of many snowballs, a dented tree, a few misshapen snowmen, and some body shaped indents in the snow at the bottom of the hill. Puck blinked in shock. When he reopened his eyes the same scene was still before him. His ever diligent Lia was happily playing, rather than mapping out the forest or some other chore. Puck just had one biting question.
"Why is there a dent in that tree?" Puck asked.
"Well I had Emilia practice how hard to throw a snowball before we started.. " Puck went silent at Subaru's explanation.
Puck hadn't considered it, but given that Emilia hadn't had a chance to play with kids before she probably wasn't good at controlling her own strength. Thankfully Subaru had somehow realized this and planned for it. It would have crushed Emilia had she seriously hurt Subaru. Still there was a more pressing matter at hand that Puck couldn't ignore.
"Now that I've been struck, however, it's war," Puck followed his declaration by magically levitating a few dozen snow balls. And though Emilia and Subaru fought back valiantly, Puck was the winner of that engagement.
"No fair, Puck. We didn't have a chance," Emilia protested using her best puppy dog eyes.
"This coming from Ms. What-Do-You-Mean-By-Hold-Back," Subaru couldn't resist taking a shot.
"You and Puck are such dullards," Emilia cried out, pouting as her cheeks reddened in frustration.
"Dullards? Don't hear that one too often?" Subaru's interjection made Emilia huff and stomp her foot.
"How would you know?" Emilia shot back.
"Well, Subaru's not wrong you know. It HAS been a long time since I've heard that one." Puck followed up Subaru's punch-line.
As Emilia made a show of stomping off, Puck gave Subaru a covert high-paw. He also uttered a barely audible, "thank you."
Despite Emilia's show of being angry, she was smiling beatifically. She resolved to pretend to be mad just a little longer. Two on one just wasn't fair after all. And when a tree branch dumped a few pounds of snow on the two, she obviously had nothing to do with it.
Shortly after they arrived home that night Puck once again had to go off to do something, she really wished he'd tell her what he was doing. Subaru had set up a makeshift bed on the floor. For some reason he and Puck had insisted that this was the "proper" thing to do. Why Subaru being cold and uncomfortable on the floor was "proper" she had no idea; perhaps boys were just stupid that way. Arch had been similar when he caught her swimming.
The last thought made her head buzz. Her temple throbbed as her stomach rebelled. After a few minutes passed the migraine faded. Arch...why had she forgotten him? Trying to remember anymore just brought her headache back.
"Mom. Dad." She heard a voice sob nearby.
She turned to look at Subaru. Although he was fast asleep, tears were streaming down his face. Now that she thought about it, of course she missed his parents just like she missed Aunt Fortuna and *****. Why couldn't she remember? In fact why HADN'T she missed Aunt Fortuna before now? What happened to her? Not a single one of the frozen statues looked like her.
Giving up on figuring things out for the time being she checked back on Subaru. His blankets were now tear soaked and he appeared to be shivering. He was somehow still asleep though. Honestly this is why she said sleeping in that flimsy bedding on the cold floor was stupid. Nevertheless, Subaru and Puck were HER idiots, and it was her job to take care of them.
She climbed out of bed and peeled back the blankets. She gently picked Subaru up in a bridal carry. She set him in the bed and pulled the covers over them after climbing back in.
