REM what if, a re:zero fanfic

A very heavy atmosphere was spreading inside the dragon carriage.

[???: ]

The atmosphere was not heavy because of nervousness or caution; it was just plain awkward. To feel like it was reality with her skin, the girl softly pulls up the blanket that was on her body.

The dog carriage was not being pulled by an earth dragon, but a large Liger, and it was not being shielded by divine protection. The passenger carriage had a rough structure, and so it shook noisily. They weren't really good circumstances, but since they weren't in a position to spend all they wanted, they just had to deal with this.

[???: ]

They already didn't even have too much travel expenses left anymore. Once their lives were at risk, they also had to use the money that they were hesitant to use at first because of guilt. Still, even if they temporarily pulled through their difficulties, the problem of money would always follow them around unless it was solved fundamentally.

Plus, money wasn't the only problem they had. There was an even more serious problem.

That was

[???: A wife…but you look like you just had a nightmare, certainly.]

A voice suddenly calls out to the girl at the corner inside the cramped carriage. When she looked back with just her eyes, she saw a smallno, a figure that was too small. It was maybe a child, or something smaller.

He had white hair and a lovely dog faceit was a beast man kobold.

[???: I can see why you'd be cautious, but I don't mean any harm, certainly. I was just curious, certainly.]

[Rem: ……Thank you very much for your concern. But…]

The girl stiffened up, but the tone of his voice made her relax. He probably just had good intentions. However, the girl's heart wasn't 'strong' enough to allow herself to be spoiled by his good intentions.

If she wasn't tense, she'd become more and more corrupted. That was terrifying.

[???: You're practically glass, certainly.]

[Rem: Like glass……?]

[???: Glass is hard, but fragile, certainly. That's what your guys' hearts seem like to me, too, certainly.]

His point truly made her heart crack like glass.

By 'You guys', it felt like he was saying that she wasn't all alone. A black haired boy was cuddling next to her in a blanket, sitting up and sleeping. She was leaned against him, and they were sharing warmth.

And so, this boy was the true reason why there was a heavy atmosphere in the carriage.

[Subaru: ……I'm sorry…I'm sorry. I'm…so weak…so…everything's my……]

[Rem: ]

Every now and then, feelings of shame leaked from the lips of the boy having a nightmare. The passengers felt something serious from his voice and tears that made it seem as if he carried the guilt of everyone in the whole world, and they couldn't move an inch.

[Rem: Don't talk about other people's situations so bluntly……]

[???: Seeing everyone as a threat now is something you probably couldn't avoid, certainly. It may have been unavoidable, but you can't just never do anything about it, certainly.]

When she looked down with their arms linked, the beast man just looked like white fur. The fur that spoke as if she knew them irritated her just a little bit. She just didn't want to make a big fuss about it.

Seeing her conflicted like that, the beast man gets a hat that he'd been hiding, and he took something out of it. And then, when he smoothly put his hand straight in there,

[???: Take this and go to Banan town. A friend of mine will help you out, certainly.]

[Rem: …….Why…are you doing this?]

His voice sounded like he had good intentions. There was a place and a person's name written on the paper he forced her to take. It seemed this beast man's name was also included in the few lines. She didn't know why he was doing this.

The beast man smiles with a "It's obvious, certainly", in response to the girl's question and says,

[???: People should help out each other in times of need. As an adult, even more so when it's a child. "The more bonds you make, the more good bonds you get." That's the Kararagian way I believe in.]

He tells her that kindly, and the girl grasped the scrap of paper tightly. After that, she brought her knees together, put her head on the shoulder of the boy next to her, and she let out a sobbing voice.

The beast man stares at the girl and the boy with kind eyes, and he patted their heads

Chapter 1: 2 months

Kararagi city state is a large western country that is one of the four large kingdoms.

It's a country comparable to the large countries the Holy Kingdom of Gusteko in the north, the Volcanica empire in the south, and the Lugnica kingdom in the east, but it became what it is now in a very peculiar way in comparison to other countries.

Kararagi city state's history is quite shallow in comparison to the other three countries. A few hundred years ago, a bunch of warlords of small countries fought in the westthe rivalry between countries was an undying danger zone.

The west combined and became Kararagi city state as a single country.

Each small country changed into towns, and the country managed those towns with the parliamentary governments of the town leaders. In this system, the "Great Heir", elected by the town leaders, is the one who holds the final decision.

Kararagi, which contains such circumstances, has completely different values in comparison to other countries. It not only developed distinct politics, but distinct national characteristics and culture too.

Wafuu culture and Wasou were some examples, but the most characteristic thing of all was

[Subaru: I'm sorry, Rem. It wen awful. I tried ma best, but it was just awful……]

The thick Kararagi accentit was a dialect that was particularly easy to understand in Kararagi city-state, and it was a part of the unique culture that spreaded. The one who demonstrated it was a person apologizing with his forehead on the floor.

It was a young man with black hair and sharp sanpkau eyes. He was in a Wasou dyed deep blue, sitting upright in a room of tatami mats made of knitted grass, making a pathetic look.

Natsuki Subaru was his name.

As you could tell from his terrible Kararagi accent, he didn't come from Kararagi. Although, Subaru didn't come from anywhere in this world anyway. He was suddenly summoned from a different world, went through various experiences, and as a result, he was now in Kararagi. That's all.

And so, Subaru was apologizing to the girl facing him sitting straight. As she smiled at Subaru's apology,

[Rem: Please stop speaking like that. It doesn't suit you at all, Subaru-kun.]

[Subaru: It don't?]

[Rem: It's horrible, to say the least.]

[Subaru: That's too harsh! Ah, well, I'm sorry. Okay, I'll stop now.]

She says that to Subaru with a smile, and he dejectedly stops with the poor accent. However, while showing the dissatisfaction he had inside by pouting, he rubbed two fingers together.

[Subaru: Well, I know I'm not good, but you know what they say, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do". I'm doing my best to fit in with everyone else as soon as possible.]

[Rem: It's great that you're doing your best, and I could learn a lot of things from you. However, how should I put this……Subaru-kun's accent sounds like something you'd hear from someone who isn't from Kararagi and is making fun of the accent, and it's kind of irritating.]

[Subaru: So that's why Kansai people get pissed off by Tokyoites' fake Kansai accents!?]

[Rem: Tokyo? Kansai accents?]

The ruthless comment sinks Subaru instantly. A question mark showed when Subaru lamented as the girl shook her blue hair and tilted her head.

Her hair that came to the shoulders and her pure eyes were both light blue. Looks that gave off a lovely and kind impression. It was a beautiful, pretty girl wearing a light blue kimono gracefully.

The girl's name was Remor officially, Natsuki Rem. Although she had the same last name as Subaru, she obviously wasn't his sister or his relative. They were family in a different way.

[Subaru: But like, umm, yeah. It's not like my speaking has anything to do with work going wrong, okay. Work went wrong just because I'm incompetent……]

[Rem: Work went wrong? Like how?]

[Subaru: Agh…….ghghgh you see, well…]

Subaru tried to beat around the bush, but Rem questioned him directly. Subaru thought hard about how he should respond to the fastball thrown at him, and he mumbled.

Seeing Subaru worry like that, Rem smiles softly as she said,

[Rem: Tell me all about what happened. Don't worry. No matter how awful Subaru-kun was, even if you messed up big time at a work that doesn't fit you, I won't get mad.]

[Subaru: I messed up big time at a job that didn't fit me and I was god awful!]

Subaru gets crushed by Rem's kind lead-in, and he spreaded his legs on the tatami mat. Like that, he falls over sideways and timidly starts to poke the tatami mat with his finger.

[Subaru: I was too naive. I was beyond naive. From what I thought the basics of manual labor and day labor were, I was under the impression that anyone could do work that was in high demand…….]

[Rem: So you were under that impression...and what else?]

[Subaru: Besides! I was reckless for trying manual labor with a crappy fish fry body like mine in Kararagi where Demi-humans are hired! Actually, I tried to cover up the quality of my work with the number of rounds. However, I had to carry three times as much with one round and I didn't have enough stamina!]

While Subaru's voice cracked, he did his best to give an explanation as he looked back on what happened this morning.

He has been living in a different world for no less than a year now, and he was aware of the fact that he was way stronger than before, but it was still difficult to close the gap in specs between him and genuine different world people.

Incidentally, today's job was carrying goods, but he got mixed with muscular Demi-humans, and it was simply hilarious how Subaru was working with a bright red face without even carrying a large amount.

[Rem: Oh, I see…...so, how'd you mess up? What did you do?]

[Subaru: I tried re-wrapping goods, and I threw out everything…...the damage canceled out today's pay.]

[Rem: …….The people there didn't ask you to compensate out of kindness, huh.]

Salt was inside the bag and some was put back inside, but most of it mixed with sand on the ground, making it impossible to get it back. As a result, they were forced to cut the schedule short, and so he went home.

Rem sighed at Subaru, who gave an awkward report with a gloomy look, and said,

[Rem: I hope that you come across a pretty nice job, Subaru-kun.]

[Subaru: It really pierces the hell out of me when you say that…...wait, what about Rem? Why are you at home at this time? What about work?]

[Rem: Temple Elementary School is on break today. I told you this morning that it seems like the cold is spreading between kids. …...Subaru-kun, you shouldn't try and change the subject, you know?]

[Subaru: Agh]

Subaru admitted defeat and groaned pathetically at Rem, who glared at him with scornful eyes.

As you could tell from the daily labor failure story, Subaru didn't have a job. To put it accurately, he had the will to work, but he didn't have a job.

And unlike Subaru, who was job hunting, Rem got a job promptly. It was a job where she taught at a kind of school children institution, which was called "Temple Elementary School".

Rem was very wanted for general education in this world, as someone who has mastered all sorts of skills like arithmetic and etiquette, and she never stopped working this year.

You might as well say that Rem was contributing 10 times more than him in regards to getting by, although they were in honest poverty. There truly was a wide difference between her and Subaru.

Subaru's self-awareness of that and his impatience were what made him blame himself more and reflect more.

[Subaru: Damnit…...I'm really sorry again, Rem.]

[Rem: Subaru-kun, you promised not to say that.]

[Subaru: I mean, I did make that promise, but it's truly pathetic how it is a promise.]

Subaru brings his body up from the floor, sits cross-legged, and bites his lip.

He was proud of Rem being needed by people around her and being useful. However, recognizing it and being spoiled by it was a different story. Not to mention, the one who wanted thisthe one who wanted to live supporting each other was Subaru, after all.

By no means was it to let Rem do all the supporting and get spoiled as much as he wanted.

[Rem: It's okay, don't worry. They'll all realize how amazing Subaru-kun is eventually. You just haven't found a job that goes well with your great talents yet. So, keep trying. Because I'll work for money!]

[Subaru: That's exactly how someone becomes a typical gigolo!]

[Rem: Ah, Subaru-kun!?]

Subaru bestirred himself and stood up before he melted in the huge, spoiling aura. Subaru leaves behind Rem, who was surprised by his energy, and he ran towards the room's entrance.

And then,

[Subaru: Just you wait, Rem! I swear I'll find a job! I'll support you!]

[Rem: Okay. Please come back before dinner.]

[Subaru: Damn it! I will support you, you hear me!!]

Rem waves Subaru goodbye, and he rushed out of the room out of the tenement house while being on the verge of tears.

He puts on his zoris and runs off to the streets of Kararagi.

Job huntingeven in a different world, it was extremely difficult for people who were unqualified and had a blank period.

Kararagi city-state's 2nd town, 'Banan'.

The next largest town after 'Kyo', the first town, located west of Kararagi that is where Subaru and Rem, the Natsukis, live.

The streets are made up of Wafuu architecture, which is culture characteristic of Kararagi, and it seems it is deemed the cradle of the Wafuu style, which spreaded all over Kararagi. But well, to Subaru, Wafuu architecture was something that didn't really make him feel like he was in a different world at all.

Because the streets didn't make him feel like it was a different world, but rather

[Subaru: It feels like the Edo Period, or going back a bit forward, the Meiji Era and Taisho Era.]

As Subaru coughed, he saw buildings constructed with wood lined up nicely. Wafuu architecture, which stood on the streets, was also characteristic of the stores with open doors.

People walking down the road were wearing zoris(草履) and kimonos(着物), which were wasou(和装), but they were all true different world people. Among those that had hair color and looks that differed from Subaru's common knowledge, there were a lot of Demi-humans representing beasts.

Japanese culture that forced itself into another worldSubaru had that impression of Kararagi customs, including the Kararagi dialect that sounded just like Kansai dialect.

[Subaru: It's like people in a fantasy cosplaying. Well, the material is nice so it looks good on everyone, and it all comes together perfectly, though.]

It is very common for manga and games to have countries with Japanese culture in fantasy worlds in the first place. The problem was that it still felt weird actually confronting the scene, and it felt like that for longer than he'd expected. It was a feeling Subaru finally took in after a about a year.

That being said, he still had doubts even if he gulped down the weird feelings.

He couldn't believe that Kararagi's culture uniquely developed from zero. This culture had to have started spreading with people who came from the same place as Subaru.

In other words, people who came from a different world like Subaru and that steel helmet guy, Al

[Subaru: Stop it, just stop. Deal with the more realistic problems in front of you. Even if you solve the world's mysteries, you still don't have a job. I'm saying this to myself, talk about depressing……]

How much was this world's history influenced by people who came from the same place as Subaru? He should worry about that when he had more room to think and live. He'd put it off for now.

Right now he had to focus on job hunting, and he had until dinner for that.

[Subaru: It's already afternoon, so I actually don't have much time……! Anyway, first I'll go to the public employment security office and……]

[???: What's wrong, Su-san? You're walking with a serious look...what a scary face!]

[Subaru: Don't be so rude about people's serious looks……]

Someone made a rude point about Subaru's face as he frowned and walked around town. Once Subaru turned around to see whose voice it was, he saw a tall man right beside him. He'd seen his face before.

[Subaru: With that dog face, you must be Hal-san. Don't startle me.]

[Halibel: "A dog face". Don't put it that way. I'm a wolf of dogs.]

The one who opened his big mouth and laughed at Subaru's words was a demi-human with a wolf face, not a dog face. He was a tall one with black hair and a black kimono, and he bit on a golden kiseru with his back teeth. A lot of ordinary dogs were petite, and he had the credibility to call himself a wolf as he was one head taller than Subaru. However, his eyes were always narrow slits, and so if we're talking about dogs, he looked more like a fox rather than a wolf.

The name of the wolf he called Hal-san was Halibel. He was Subaru and Rem's neighbor of the housing complex 'tenement house' they lived at, and you could say that he was the first acquaintance they made at Banan.

[Halibel: You look like you want to say, "If you're not a dog, then you're a fox". Su-san, you just don't know when to stop, do you?]

[Subaru: Don't make complaints based off people's looks. I really was thinking that, though.]

[Halibel: I am neither a Kobold nor a Fox. I'm a Wolf. We are a rare species on the verge of extinction, so don't make that mistake. It kinda feels like I'm carrying the pride of our kind, you know?]

[Subaru: If you're going to carry it, do it a little more seriously.]

You'd obviously want to choose someone that could at least carry the pride. As for Subaru, pride or at the very least, the wolves' title, who were on the verge of extinction, wasn't something he'd leave in the hands of Halibel. He may be taking care of them, but that didn't mean he'd immediately trust him.

[Subaru: I can't chat with you right now. I'm burning with the will to work. Don't get in my way.]

[Halibel: Come on, Su-san, that sure is a cold way to greet me. I'm really depressed, so stop it. Besides, even if you're burning with the will to work, you don't have a job. It's just cinders.]

[Subaru: I'm also really depressed, so can you not!?]

Subaru's neighbor's counterattack makes his voice crack. Halibel shook the kiseru in his mouth up and down. After that, as he exhaled smoke that entered his lungs, he said,

[Halibel: Go ahead and get more and more depressed. A man that troubles such a good wife is hopeless. How brave of her to not complain once even though her husband has no job and indulges himself in drinking…...I feel bad for Rem-chan.]

[Subaru: I don't indulge myself in drinking! But it hurts how that's the only thing I can deny! To tell you the truth, I've been troubling Rem. …...I really can't compete with her.]

Subaru dropped his shoulders dejectedly as his current worthlessness was pointed out objectively. Halibel went "Harharhar" at Subaru happily while he was like that.

[Subaru: Did you come here to make fun of me? Or did you come here to cheer me up?]

[Halibel: We're both jobless, and I thought we could have a pity party or something.]

[Subaru: No way! It would be too much to have a pity party with another unemployed person right after I almost became a gigolo!]

Subaru shakes off Halibel, who came closer to him, and he full on rejects being treated as his partner.

Besides, strictly speaking, Halibel wasn't jobless. This glib talking neighbor was a tenement house managerwhether he was actually doing manager like work or not, he had the title of a manager as a vocational worker.

Although he had only ever seen him napping, grooming, drinking, or using his Kiseru, he was employed.

[Subaru: Basically, Hal-san is a dazzling being out of my reach.]

[Halibel: Don't say something so sad, we can be friends. It's true that I can get money just by lying down all day and playing with the fray spots of my kimono, but putting that aside, I think it's precious how Su-san is working hard to earn money, you know? Isn't it just lovely?]

[Subaru: Shut up, you slacker! …...Actually, who did you go to to become a manager?]

[Halibel: Hmm, sorry to disappoint, but I just happened to be acquaintances with the owner of the tenement house. With that connection, I was able to be a couch potato…...Sorry, Su-san, I'm a winner.]

[Subaru: Damn you!!]

Subaru hisses without hiding his anger as he listened to his shaky story.

In the end, personal connections meant everything in an environment where even academic backgrounds were useless. And Subaru didn't have any personal connections, even if you were to disregard the fact that he was in a different world.

A man that traveled two worlds and failed to create relationshipsthat was Natsuki Subaru.

[Subaru: Struggling alone, and to top it off, jobless. …...Looks like I'll just have to wait for my death.]

[Halibel: You have Rem-chan. Struggling alone is an exaggeration!]

Halibel suddenly opens his large mouth widely, and he bursts into laughter as he looked up at the sky. Subaru, seeing that dog face in the corner of his eye, sighed deeply.

[Subaru: Look, you know my situation. I'll be going job hunting. My goal is a disposable income of 15,000, and the condition is that I pay for traveling expenses and put it into pension and insurance.]

[Halibel: I don't have actual work experience, but how'd you come up with that condition?]

[Subaru: I thought I'd go for a dream that was just barely realistic. Now I want to apply this condition to the common knowledge here and find out the minimal requirements for landing a job…….]

Freeing himself from being supported by Rem was his biggest goal at the moment. However, he wanted to avoid temporary measures, such as choosing jobs that won't last long and dead-end ones.

Subaru's goal was to get a job he could do for his whole life, one that he could be proud of as a family head.

[Subaru: And so, I came to the public employment security office.]

Out the Banan town areas, at a place away from the crowded, thriving street, there was a store.

It was the 'employment agency' which Subaru called a public employment security office. It was a place that acted as the bridge for interpersonal relationships with things like job arrangements and introduction letters for people.

There were several employment agencies in Banan, but Subaru always used the same one. Because of that, he was friends with the shop owner

[???: Ugh! It's dimwit!]

The moment he showed up at the reception desk, the man in the shop suddenly welcomed him harshly.

[Subaru: That's one rude way to greet a client, and you shouldn't use such a cruel nickname.]

[???: You're the one that's rude! You screwed up at the goods carrying scene, didn't you!? I was told to never refer such a good-for-nothing!]

[Subaru: Aaa, the foreman told me to take care on the way home, I didn't want to know about this side of him……!]

Subaru collapsed as he was called incompetent, and a lizard faced man is what appeared before himhe was a lizard man. Lizards weren't rare Demi-humans, but he was so fat that he had a strangely large width, and so he looked more like a frog, rather than a toad. It was characteristic of him to wear a cute apron.

Crane Donahue was his name, and he was the owner of this employment agency officially recognized by the town. Employment agencies officially recognized by the town were scarce, and it was known as conscientious work.

However, the man that was supposed to be conscientious looked down on Subaru in an annoyed way as he said,

[Crane: How do you mess up at carrying goods? You're going to become a job hopper at this rate.]

[Subaru: Er, well, you see, I was totally focused on trying to do as much work as others and……]

[Crane: Daily allowances have fixed rates. You could've made profit by sitting back and letting everyone else do the work.]

[Subaru: …...That would be unfair. I don't really want to do something unfair...]

[Crane: Why are you so insistent!? I don't care if you do a good job, good grief……]

Subaru grumbled to protest, and Crane folds his crest. Then, he suddenly noticed someone standing behind Subaru.

[Crane: Oh! It's Halibel! Sorry for not contacting you for quite a while!]

[Halibel: Oh, it's fine, don't worry. I just came to check on Su-san's future.]

[Subaru: Future...well, anyway……]

Subaru cleans off his knees, stands up, and compared Crane and Halibel. After that, he pointed at Halibel and tilted his head at Crane.

[Subaru: You know this playboy?]

[Halibel: Playboy! Playboy! Why does it have such a lovely ring to it? From now on, I'll be calling myself 'The Eternal Playboy'. Does it sound good? Does it sound bad?]

[Subaru: What's bad is that you actually like it.]

While Subaru joked at Halibel's name sense, he waited for Crane's reply. Seeing that exchange, Crane groans as he folded his big arms.

[Crane: Dimwit…...I mean Mr. Subaru, you made it big. I knew you could do it.]

[Subaru: You can't just blatantly change the way you treat someone!]

[Crane: Well, of course I'm going to use 'Mr.'. Who do you think Mr. Halibel i……]

With a look of shock and fear, Crane stopped when he was about to say something. Subaru raised an eyebrow at that unnatural reaction, but Crane went "Oh" while looking away as he said,

[Crane: Mr. Halibel is, you know…...aan eternal playboy.]

[Subaru: He got that name just a second ago.]

[Crane: Anyway! Moving on! So what's the matter? I can refer Mr. Subaru! But, don't ask for a relaxing gravy train, alright? The goods carrying one was your best shot.]

[Subaru: It doesn't have to be a relaxing gravy train. I just want you to refer me to a job with a future. The conditions are negotiable, but please give me one for a family head.]

[Crane: That's the first time I've been given the condition "One for a family head", but……]

Crane briefly scanned the shop as he puzzled over Subaru's request.

It was an employment agency approved by the town, but the store itself was neatly taken care of. The one floor wooden shop had minimal chairs and tables, and the bulletin board wall was filled with help wanted advertisements and wanted people forms. People searching for jobs would select a job from the posters, and the people who wanted a job done would ask Crane and he'd put up a form. That was the sort of system it had.

[Subaru: If I accept exterminating a dragon and fail, your reputation would be damaged as the one who got me the job.]

[Crane: I would never ask you to do that, and I'd leave the country once something like dragon extermination was announced.]

[Halibel: If it was in an empire, I'd exterminate a dragon with pleasure. If you have a good plan to kill it, you might even defeat the kingdom's God dragon. Then you could take the country and……]

[Subaru: Oh! Crane! That's it! Let me check out that 'Zarestia Bed Search'!]

Subaru's voice interrupts Halibel, who lit his Kisero and puffed it. Subaru approaches the wall dramatically, and once he tore off the poster, he read the contents aloud.

[Subaru: Let's see…"Recruiting investigators for the bed of the great spirit Zarestia! The habitat of the Great spirit that has been a mystery for many years the time has come to recruit members to explore it! Working conditions are negotiable, and the reward depends on results!" This! This…...this doesn't sound good at all……]

[Crane: Why are you talking so loudly to yourself?! Also, I'll be putting that back. Give it here.]

When Subaru's eyes turned lifeless from the absurdity of the recruitment details, Crane confiscated the poster. Then, when he looked at the details, he groaned an "Oh" as he said,

[Crane: I forgot to take this off. Applications closed quite a while ago. It's just a crappy recruitment form I left on there just because I was told to do so. Just forget about it.]

[Subaru: Did it actually happen?]

[Crane: There are a lot more idiots in this world than you think.]

Subaru felt depressed when he heard Clane reply as he shrugged.

Involving yourself with great spirits would be nothing but a suicidal act. Just normally coming in contact with them would be reckless in itself. I just hope that those daredevils died peacefully.

That was Crane's misinterpretation of Subaru's facial expression, and when he touched his own apron he said,

[Crane: I now know that you're so cornered that you'd jump at a job that's pretty much suicide. So…….I really don't know if I should give you this……!]

[Subaru: So you're saying you have a job that's better than pretty much suicide!?]

[Crane: It depends. But well, you have to work for your cute wife……!]

Crane took out an application as if to say to him, "This is all I can do for you now!". Subaru nervously accepts what he held out to him, and he looks at the application details.

[Subaru: …...A maid at Riften Magoji's place?]

[Crane: It's a short term job that lasts for one month. You'll be doing subordinate work, but Mr. Subaru has the skills, so…]

Saying that, Crane shows off his apron as he pinched it. The apron was way too cute for a giant like him, but the flower pattern on it was what emphasized that impression in particular.

[Subaru: An old fart with a lizard face may be wearing it, but it still looks great.]

[Crane: You put it on yourself! My wife really liked it, though!]

[Subaru: That's just because I was sewing buttons back on. How's that related to this?]

[Crane: Take a good look at the guidelines. It says that it's a workplace with a lot of women. Good thing you have a special skill to attract women.]

[Subaru: You're just jumping to conclusions! Besides, I'm more worried about the point "Only taking young men".]

Only taking young men at a workplace with lots of womenhe could not figure out what went on over there.

According to the description, he just knew that it was subordinate work sorts of chores. They weren't looking for special qualifications and inhumane manual labor. If only he didn't refuse being a manservant…

[Subaru: …...Thanks, but would I even stop being a day laborer with this?]

[Crane: As if you could find a lifetime job out there so conveniently. Listen up. First you gotta start from the bottom, get your face and name out there, and then you'll find your favorite after earning trust. Don't you know that?]

[Subaru: You referred Rem to a job at Temple Elementary School at the start.]

[Crane: Well, that's because Rem-chan is cute.]

It was an irrefutable argument. You could not argue against Rem's cuteness. Stuff like Subaru's poor excuses weren't effective in society.

[Crane: Kararagi isn't nice enough to recognize an unemployed man as a full-fledged man]

[Subaru: I came here to look for a job, didn't I!?]

He came to the public employment security office and was being treated coldly because he was unemployed. This was proof that, despite having the will to work, he was lacking the most important thing: trust from society.

That being said, Crane's judgement was fair. Subaru dropped his shoulders in defeat.

[Subaru: Please make me a letter of introduction. I will do my very best to be liked.]

[Crane: Yep, do your best. Mr. Riften is a brave dealer, but he's known to be a calm person.]

[Subaru: …...Brave warrior?]

[Crane: Brave dealer.]

Subaru tilted his head at the slight difference in nuance, but Clay wasn't concerned about that as he finished writing the letter of introduction fluently, carefully put it into an envelope, and gave it to Subaru.

[Crane: On the morning of the day after today, go to Mr. Riften and tell him that you came from me.]

[Subaru: Okay. Thanks as always.]

[Crane: And lastly, be careful! Sheesh, don't mess up this time!]

He puts the letter of introduction in his pocket and left as he waved goodbye to Crane, who went back inside the shop. Then, he went back to the main street with Halibel, who had been smoking his Kisero at the street.

[Subaru: But, damn. …...Hal-san sure has a lot of free time.]

[Halibel: Why say that all of a sudden?]

[Subaru: It looks like you're jobless, gazing absentmindedly at other people job hunting. That's too awful.]

[Halibel: When there's someone below you, you cheer them on, right? I'm the group that gives you courage.]

[Subaru: Courage isn't what I'm getting from this. It's more like something dark, I think.]

Subaru replies to Halibel cracking jokes, and he sighs. Although, Halibel still was actually the employed person here, and so Subaru was the one who had a low position in society.

[Halibel: Still, you're having quite some trouble with job hunting. What did you do before coming to this town?]

[Subaru: ]

Halibel's casual questioning makes Subaru hold his breath for a moment.

However, he quickly smiles to hide his hesitation and he shrugs as he went, "Well".

[Subaru: I moved from place to place in Kararagi with Rem. I'm glad we settled down this town. It's all thanks to you that we were able to rent a tenement house. You're a lifesaver.]

[Halibel: About that, you should thank Elder instead, the one who referred you. Connections are a way of life. If you're blessed with them, that shows you have something to offer.]

[Subaru: …...About that, I don't contribute much at all. It's all thanks to Rem.]

Subaru replies as he thought, "That's the only thing I'm 100% sure about", and he stretches lightly in the crowd.

As he was temporarily relieved of the burden he had thanks to getting a job.

[Halibel: Moving from place to place in Kararagi…….eh.]

[Subaru: Sorry, Rem. I did ma best, but……]

[Rem: Subaru-kun?]

[Subaru: Ah, yes, I'll stop. I apologize. And my next job will be short term.]

Subaru was sitting straight on the tatami mat. He showed the letter of introduction he got from the employment agency to Rem, who had been working in the room's kitchen for the evening. Rem, who stopped cooking dinner, points out Subaru's poor Kararagi accent, and when she took the letter of introduction, she looked over the details.

[Rem: It may be a short term job, but it's still a step forward. Subaru's breakthrough begins here. I can see it. Subaru-kun will be respected by a lot of people, and they'll build a bronze statue.]

[Subaru: I wonder if ophthalmology exists in this world……]

When he gave a bitter smile at the exaggerated statement, Rem went "Oh" as she got surprised while looking at the letter of introduction.

[Rem: This is a job at Riften-sama's residence.]

[Subaru: Yeah. Do you know Riften-san?]

[Rem: No, we aren't direct acquaintances. Among the kids I teach at Temple Elementary School, there are also ones from merchant houses, so I sort of know about Riften-sama, the brave merchant.]

[Subaru: There it is, 'Brave Merchant'! He's not like a fierce shogun or anything, right?]

[Rem: Haha, fierce shogun…...Ssubaru-kun, please don't make me laugh.]

Rem chuckled, like she got a kick out of what Subaru said, and she breaks into a smile because of Subaru's question. Then, Rem said, "Listen" to Subaru as she held up a finger.

[Subaru: Oh, just like a teacher.]

[Rem: Don't make fun of it. Brave merchant is a way to point out a merchant's rank in Kararagi. Excellent merchants are given the ranks 'Great Merchant', 'Wealthy Merchant', and 'Brave Merchant'. It's an honor.]

[Subaru: 'Great' and 'Wealthy' makes sense, but isn't 'Brave' kinda weird?]

[Rem: Because in Kararagi, where trade flourishes, achieving success in trade is practically like distinguishing yourself in a battlefield. Riften is also someone who's respected.]

Rem replies like that, and she looks at the letter of introduction a bit nervously. Seeing Rem somewhat uneasy, Subaru knits his brows, and he called her name.

[Subaru: You seem kinda uneasy. What's up?]

[Rem: Well, according to the rumors I've heard, there are a lot of women working at Riften-sama's mansion…...so a handsome, young man like Subaru-kun working in a workplace like that would be……]

[Subaru: You're being pretty subjective!]

While Rem expressed her considerably subjective opinion, she folded and unfolded the letter of introduction. Subaru somehow sensed what Rem was worrying about, judging from her unease.

[Subaru: Silly.]

[Rem: Oww. Ssubaru-kun?]

Rem holds onto her head after suddenly getting chopped by Subaru. Subaru says "Good grief" to Rem, who had a surprised look, and he sighed.

[Subaru: Don't worry about such odd things. Who do you think I am?]

[Rem: I'm sorry. But I'm worried now. Riften-sama, as someone who hires tons of women, will see cute ol' Subaru-kun and he might not feel turned on……]

[Subaru: Ughhhh! That's a little different from what I thought you were worrying about!]

Rem's one-sided worrying dumbfounds Subaru, and he changes the topic.

[Subaru: But cute? Just look at my eyes. How are they cute?]

[Rem: I just can't get enough of the manliness of Subaru-kun's eyes.]

[Subaru: What exactly do I look like to you!?]

There were a lot of things about Rem's assessment of Subaru that other people couldn't really understand. In any case, Subaru held onto Rem's shoulder, as if to tell her that she shouldn't worry and to calm her down.

[Subaru: You don't need to worry. Rem is the only one for me. That goes for when I'm at a place with a bunch of girls too, got it?]

[Rem: Fuwa…...yeyesh, got it. Subaru-kun……]

As he whispered while patting Rem's head, her face turned red, and she nods. Then, Subaru also felt affection for Rem, who became submissive to him for a bit.

When Rem lifted her head slowly, her wet eyes met his up close. They get closer and closer, close enough to feel each other's breaththen, a pot whistled.

[Subaru: Owaa!] [Rem: Kyaa!}

The sound of a pot lid falling breaks the silence. Rem rushes to the kitchen in a panic. She turns off the heat of the cooking stove that used a magic crystal, makes sure the pot settled down, and rubbed her chest in relief.

[Rem: Haha] [Subaru: Haha]

Then, they both smiled at each other at the same time.

And so, they laughed for a while, and when that settled down, Rem clapped as she went, "Alright".

[Rem: Let's eat. Subaru-kun, please set up the table.]

[Subaru: It's more like a low dining table, though.]

While still feeling slightly awkward, the two of them start to prepare the food. When he moved the low dining table against set against the wall to the middle of the room, Rem took off the lid of the pot vigorously.

A steamy pot and the smell of delicious, warm vegetables today's menu was 'Mizutaki'.

[Subaru: A pot. It's nice to have every now and then. It's the best when you have it with Ponzu.]

[Rem: I kind of wanted to eat something sour with assorted vegetables. Subaru-kun, are you fine with sour stuff?]

[Subaru: I like it. I'm surprised. You like sour stuff?]

[Rem: No, I really just kind of wanted to eat it, but……]

Rem curiously puts her finger on her jaw and tilts her head slightly. However, Subaru ignored her for now as her actions weren't unexpected to him. Besides, Rem choosing a menu giving priority to what she wanted to eat was a good sign.

Since it was proof that she was slowly getting out of the habit of always prioritizing Subaru in one way or another.

[Subaru: Delicious! You did awesome today again!]

[Rem: My…...for you to be happy that you have a cute wife who's a good cook...I'm embarrassed.]

[Subaru: Well, I really was serious. I'm a such a lucky guy.]

No matter where they moved, Rem was always good at cooking. It was tough at the start with different kitchen utensils and different ingredients, but after living in Kararagi for a year, they were adapting nicely.

It's just that there were a few parts they couldn't adapt to, unrelated to tastes.

[Subaru: Uuu...my stomach hurts. I can't move an inch……]

[Rem: I'm stuffed. Subaru-kun, my lap is free now.]

[Subaru: Yay! I'd like to make a reservation.]

[Rem: Reservation taken. A special seat, just for Subaru-kun. Hop on.]

Rem taps her closed lap, and Subaru falls onto it. When he left his head on her soft lap, he felt his whole body being wrapped in happiness.

Their stomachs clearly took in more than a two person meal, and their stomachs relaxed to whatever extent they wished for.

[Subaru: Haa…...Rem's amazing.]

[Rem: Yes. But Subaru-kun is lovely too.]

[Subaru: Those two things aren't related.]

[Rem: To me they are. Closely related, that is.]

Unlike Subaru's assessment, apparently to Rem, there was a tight knot connecting trust and Subaru.

He wasn't so sure if he was living up to that assessment. So, "Rem is amazing" was, without a doubt, Subaru's real thoughts, gratitude, and apology.

Rem probably knew that too. He felt pathetic for that, again.

[Rem: After resting our stomachs for a bit, let's go to the bath-house. You have to rest up in preparation for work.]

[Subaru: But my job starts the day after tomorrow?]

[Rem: I know. So, Subaru-kun has to take it easy tomorrow. But not tonight.]

With Subaru on her lap, Rem brings her lips near his ears, and she warmly tells him that. The warmth of her voice makes Subaru feel the chills, and his ears turned red.

[Subaru: …...Rrem, you're amazing.]

[Rem: Yes. Because I'm loved.]

Subaru lets out a whisper, and Rem replied to him while looking embarrassed.

Although, Subaru didn't notice that Rem's ears were also bright red.

Two days later, Subaru visited Riften Magoji's mansion with an introduction letter.

[Subaru: As expected of the rumored Magoji palace…...it's so huge.]

Subaru, who showed the letter of introduction at the residence's main gate and was let in by the gatekeeper, shows his admiration like that.

A residence in the north side of Banan nicknamed 'Magoji Palace'. Buildings of Wafuu architecture were usually one-story buildings, and Magoji Palace was no exception. The palace conspicuously built on vast land looked just like a Daimyo's mansion that shows up in historical plays.

[Subaru: "Walk to work takes almost an hour. Uniform is covered in your payment".]

Thanks to the letter of introduction, Subaru was hired without problems. He had an interview just in case, but the mistress arranging the servants looked at Subaru and just gave him an OKthe deciding factor was unknown.

In any case, Subaru was employed as a novice choreman, put on the uniform he was given as he felt nervous with the new job and his coworkers he met with for the first time, and he stepped forward towards his workplace.

Magoji Palace was the place, but just like the guidelines said, there were an overwhelming amount of women.

At the very least, Subaru didn't see any men at the place other than the gatekeeper. The gatekeeper wasn't even inside the court, so Subaru truly was the only man at the residence. He couldn't count the amount of female coworkers on his hands and toes, let alone on just his hands. It sure was an imbalanced workplace.

Still, it had nothing to do with what Rem was worrying about. Subaru wasn't trying to do anything to his female co-workers, and most of the women were married.

However, that was if he overlooked the fact that there were other problems constantly coming up.

[???: Natsuki-kuuun! Hey, can you do this for meeee?]

[???: Oh, Subaru-kun, come here! Come oooon, help meee.]

[???: Kyaaa! Subaru-chan, you handsome man! That's it that's it! You sexy guy!]

Then, shrill voiceshe was a bit hesitant to call them that, but cheers like those came from all around the palace. They were all cheers coming from Subaru's co-workers that were working at the palace with him.

Even Subaru liked getting attention from men and the opposite sex. He did, but……

[???: Hahaha, what a nice butt.]

[Subaru: Dohyaa!!]

He gets his butt pat as he passed byno, he gets his butt rubbed relatively hard, and he shrieked. He immediately turned around as he held onto his butt, but the offender had already disappeared into the direction of the corridor.

Subaru was disgraced while not knowing what to do, and he broke down and wailed his heart out at the wall of the corridor.

[Subaru: IImpressive sexual harassment…...that's an environment with Osaka grannies for you……!]

Yes, his face was covered with tears as he cursed his own bad luck of jumping into a place infested with demons.

Subaru's butt was rubbed just now by Osaka old ladiesin Kararagi, they actually had nothing to do with Osaka, but the women were close to that in terms of their nature. Still, he didn't know who the offender was.

All of the women at the Magoji palace were suspects, previous offenders, habitual offendersSubaru was thrown into a pack of hungry tigers, and sadly, he was nothing more than a shaking bunny.

Since, regardless of the humans and Demi-humans, this workplace was at the mercy of middle-aged women and no one else!

[Subaru: What is he?! A cougar lover!?]

[???: That's a pretty close-minded judgement.]

The wall listening to Subaru's complaints answered him...not. A rich, low voice came from behind, and it came from a man that appeared there. And, since it was a man's voice and as it was in the residence, the candidates in the were narrowed down at once. If it wasn't the gatekeeper, then it had to be an intruder

[Subaru: PPlease! Someone get help!!]

[???: Unfortunately, you are the only one that can answer. Right now, you are the only one who can save yourself.]

[Subaru: True! But what are the gatekeepers doing…….]

Subaru, without nodding at the just opinion, faces the owner of the voice from the front. It was a thinnish middle-aged man with a mustache and thick eyebrows. He was wearing kimono, which you could tell was made out of high class material at a glance, and an aura of influence emanated from his whole bodyhe immediately realized who he was.

[Subaru: Could you be...Riften Magoji…-sama?]

[Riften: Correct. I am your employer. Riften Magoji. Now, you don't have to be so respectful. I just came to see the newcomer after finally finishing my work outside.]

The manRiften calmly nods at Subaru's point as he felt on his moustache. Just earlier, even though he didn't know his identity, he still had acted impolite, and he didn't even mention it. So, he must be a tolerant person.

Thus, Subaru talked about the doubts in his mind, making use of his tolerance.

[Subaru: Master, if I may call you that...I'd like to ask, are you into cougars?]

[Riften: You're pretty direct. However, that's a misunderstanding.]

Subaru's suspicion that the work environment was too reflective of the employer's tastes makes Riften shrug his shoulders as he went, "Good grief". And then, when he took a deep breath,

[Riften: Women are delicate and beautiful. Just touching them makes me feel at ease. That sense of security is irreplaceable, and their open-mindedness gets more charming as they agedon't you think so?]

[Subaru: My butt's been touched close to 1000 times in the past few days!]

[Riften: That's because you have a nice butt.]

[Subaru: You are too biased with your workers!]

[Riften: "Hit it, and you'll hear it". I see, so that's why Mr. Crane gave me the letter of introduction. I understand.]

He was gaining understanding without showing any concern for Subaru. However, Subaru, the main person, was not understanding anything.

[Subaru: Well, regarding the work environment, I've come to the conclusion that Master is a cougar lover.]

[Riften: That's a sad misunderstanding. One day, I'll clear up your misunderstanding and you'll truly understand me…...actually, I'd like to see if you really will stay here until that time comes.]

[Subaru: That's really suggestive. Why do you feel that way?]

[Riften: You think you're the only man I've ever hired at my palace?]

Riften laughed lowly, as if the inside of his throat trembled. When Subaru looked at him, with his appearance he vaguely felt like he looked like an evil Edo-period prefectural governor. As he had that thought,

[Subaru: I just thought that all the men couldn't take the sexual harassment and disappeared……]

[Riften: Although this is the first time I've heard 'sexual harassment', I can roughly imagine what it means. And let's just say that I won't deny your guess.]

Basically, he was saying that Subaru was chosen as one of the periodic sacrificial scapegoats.

It was already bad enough that the workplace was full of girls, so it would surely be a rough environment for a man with no resistance to sexual harassment. The more one had pride as a man, the more devastating the mark would be.

[Riften: Still, in comparison with all the other men, you're kinda…….tough. I expect good things from you.]

[Subaru: Ththanks…….]

Once Riften tapped Subaru's shoulder, he started to leave the corridor, leaving him with doubts. Subaru watches him leave, and he curled his lips as he thought about his employer's eccentric nature.

Perhaps a human needed to sacrifice their human nature in order to become great. Or maybe, since he had senses that were different from others, his results were recognized as unique and he was able to move up in the world.

Subaru touches the shoulder Riften tapped as he said, "In any case", and sighed.

[Subaru: …...Even if he has expectations of me, he's only going to be disappointed.]

Subaru's listless whisper reaches no one, and it disappeared into the wooden floor.

[???: Subaru-chaaan! Come here for a seeeecond!]

[Subaru: . Okay! I'm coming now!]

When Subaru heard a yell from afar, he started to run as he changed his expression.

As if to say, "There's no time to stop moving", to his job at this busy mansion and to his coworkers.

3 Months

After that scene with his employer, Subaru spent a few days working at the palace.

You could say that it was going smoother than one would expect. It seemed that the many men hired at the palace quickly gave up under the environment, but Subaru didn't falter.

A big part of why he didn't is because, first of all, Subaru got hired because they were taking anyone as long as the person was a 'young man'.

Knowing why he was hired, he was able to do his job while taking it rather easy. He was also fortunate to not have his pride hurt by his coworkers' somewhat excessive physical contact.

The most fortunate thing of all was that women were attracted to Subaru, just like Clane had claimed.

[???: Subaru-chan is a hard worker. He's so great.]

[???: He's super skillful, and he's considerate. Unlike my kid.]

[???: I don't get tired of talking to him, and he's like a child since he smiles a lot.]

These were the opinions of the women who were gossiping during break. He smiled a lot, talked a lot, cracked a lot of jokes, asked a lot of questions, and moved around a lot. Subaru had a mostly favorable reputation.

They also liked how he didn't awkwardly show off or try to cover up his mistakes. Even the sexual harassment that became a problem died down dramatically after he got through the first few days.

[Subaru: I guess this means I've been recognized as a coworker.]

That's what Subaru understood since the butt rubbing damage became 1/10th of what it had been.

This was the type of treatment outsiders would get while they were one. However, once you were recognized as a colleague, you wouldn't get such treatment. All the men didn't have enough perseverance.

[Subaru: Well, I was confused about what the perseverance was for too…...ah, it's done.]

Subaru threads the last needle, and he bit off the remaining thread with his teeth. And so, what Subaru made with his own hands were clothes that had flower decorations sewed onit was a palace uniform.

Subaru sewed flowers on the clothes for the employees working at the palace and for the spares. It was to distinguish the guests and employees at the banquet that was being held tonight at the palace.

Since Kararagi dresses were typically Wasou, it was possible to mistake guests, who wore kimonos, for servants. A plan was needed so that the atmosphere wasn't spoiled.

[Subaru: Can't have servants wearing maid clothes here.]

Subaru took responsibility and added flower decorations with the hostess' permission, and it wasn't a part of his professional duties. Subaru's female coworkers did tell him, "You didn't have to do all that", though.

[Subaru: It's a banquet, right? The guests and I would be more happy with everyone wearing cute uniforms.]

Then, Subaru got everyone to leave as he made that response.

Instead, the women who wore uniforms with flower decorations at the banquet concentrated on their hair and makeup so much that you might think they were guests, and that caused a different commotion.

On top of that, someone other than Subaru's coworkers surprised him at the banquet

[Rem: Did I surprise you? Subaru-kun]

[Subaru: …...I'm stunned.]

[Rem: Then this was a huge success. Hehehe, Subaru-kun's uniform is lovely too.]

It was Rem who said that and surprised Subaru at the banquet hall wearing a hair-pin and a kimono that had flowers drawn like morning glories with dark blue cloth.

Rem, with her gorgeous dress, was so beautiful that all eyes in the hall were on her. However, she didn't react to her surroundings, and she just waited for Subaru to speak.

[Subaru: Ahh...my wife is soo cute.]

[Rem: My…...for you to say that you're a lucky guy for having the best wife ever...I'm embarrassed.]

[Subaru: You sure said it…….but why are you here?]

Subaru questions Rem, who wriggled her body and forth as she touched her blushed cheeks with her hand. Rem said, "Well you see", in response as she lifted the sleeves of her kimono and continued,

[Rem: I was actually invited by the parent of a child I teach at Temple Elementary School. I was going to decline at first, but it was at Riften-sama's residence. So I borrowed a kimono.]

[Subaru: So you came to see me work …...Um, is this parent that invited you a man?]

[Rem: Please relax, it was a woman. Subaru-kun's such a worrywart.]

She was invited to a banquet, which is a party, and she was even given a kimono. Of course Subaru would be cautious. Seeing Subaru like that, Rem smiled slightly as she said,

[Rem: I too would be an Oni if something ever happened. That's when I'd smash that person's abdomen into bits and pieces.]

[Subaru: Doesn't that kinda sound like you're saying that you're not usually an Oni!?]

He'd never heard a phrase that was as convincing as "I'm an Oni".

When Subaru got cold feet from imagining an abdomen being smashed, Rem fixed the position of her hairpin as she said,

[Rem: She was a dry-goods dealer and she said that she had plenty of kimonos, so I borrowed one gratefully. But the one thing I didn't get is what she meant when she said that it could be advertising if I wear it…….]

[Subaru: It's just what it implies. It'll get publicity if a beautiful woman wears it.]

The excitement of the surrounding looks not calming down despite knowing that they were married was proof of that. Seeing Rem in her kimono sure was a treat for Subaru, but his anxiety from male instincts was much stronger.

That being said, at least he was managing to not worry at all about Rem's feelings wavering. After all, he did now know that even if someone tried to carelessly do something to Rem, that person's abdomen would turn into bits and pieces.

[Subaru: Anyway, I really enjoyed the surprise. Rem, you go enjoy yourself, though I won't be able to look after you because I have work. The cooking will be as good as Rem's.]

[Rem: Mm, you can't beat me. Subaru-kun's stomach is mine.]

[Subaru: You make it sound like you're literally going to take it away……]

[Rem: Still, it feels kind of strange. I get to see Subaru-kun working his hardest. It's like……]

[Subaru: ]

That's when Rem paused. What was she going to say next? He could no longer tell since Rem just said, "No", as she shook her head and changed her mind.

[Rem: I'll be with the one who invited me. When I get the chance, I'll put food in Subaru-kun's mouth, so please look forward to it.]

[Subaru: That's a pretty original way to enjoy a party!]

He wasn't planning on relaxing, but he gained one more reason to avoid doing so as Rem left. Subaru watches his wife mix in with the guests at the banquet, and he shrugged his shoulders as he went, "Good grief".

Suddenly, Subaru felt someone standing next to him

[Halibel: Rem-chan is such a great wife.]

[Subaru: Wait wait wait wait, something's wrong here.]

Subaru turns around to the familiar voice, and he glared at the wolf man that appearedhe glared at Halibel. With casual clothes and casual behavior, he ate the food on the plate he was holding.

[Halibel: Mmm, this is excellent. Is there anything in this world that's more delicious than free liquor and free alcohol?]

[Subaru: There is. It's called food made by one's beloved wife.]

[Halibel: Agh! You're boasting about her! I have to drink some alcohol to get through this.]

[Subaru: Forget about that, why are you even here!?]

Subaru hit Halibel's hand as he reached for the alcohol, and he pressed him for an answer. Subaru's force makes Halibel open his slit eyes slightly, and when he made an evil smile he said,

[Halibel: Of course the gatekeeper would know me. It's the power of networking which Su-san doesn't have.]

[Subaru: You're a trespasser!]

Although he wanted to fault the gatekeeper for letting a suspicious person through, Halibel being well known was what you'd call a mystery. Thinking back, he did remember Clane respecting Halibel.

[Subaru: You aren't a feudal lord that came to check out the town or anything like that, right?]

[Halibel: 'Feudal lord'. You sure know some outdated words. That's what the king was called before Kararagi settled down.]

[Subaru: Really? Not that I know anything about it, though.]

Subaru wanted to just talk, but it seemed like this was going to be another point connecting his former world and the different world again, so he gave a nasty look as he didn't want to delve into it.

[Riften: My oh my, it's Mr. "Eternal Playboy". I'm happy to see you.]

[Halibel: Oh, Rif-san, long time no see. Sorry for coming today even without being invited.]

Halibel replied to Riften, who greeted him, as he raised his bottle of wine which he got his hands on god knows when. Riften calmly nodded at that behavior, however Subaru quickly bowed his head to his employer as he said,

[Subaru: I'm sorry, Master. I will kick out this suspicious man right away.]

[Halibel: Hey now, that's cruel, Su-san.]

[Riften: I like your hard work, but that would be unnecessary. It's rare for Mr. "Eternal Playboy" to show up at banquets like this. So rare that I'd like to apologize for not sending a written invitation.]

Riften acted gentlemanly while Halibel acted relaxed. Their relationship also was a mystery to Subaru.

But, if there was one thing he could point out confidently it would be

[Subaru: Did that 'Playboy' nonsense actually spread?]

[Halibel: Taking what you like is the Kararagian way, after all. I'm happy that I was able to get a simple title thanks to Su-san.]

[Subaru: II see…...hopefully you can become a sage someday.]

It might be difficult because of the 'Eternal' part at the front, but he couldn't give up his hope.

[Riften: By the way, these past few days I've been carefully observing how you work……]

[Subaru: Oh, sorry. I've been talking to guests so much that…...wait, a few days!? Observing!?]

[Riften: I told you, didn't I? I have high hopes for you. I've been receiving information from the hostess, and you sound different from the men I've hired. You're more…….feminine than all of them.]

[Subaru: Feminine!?]

[Riften: A truly intriguing word. I hear you're the one that made it spread.]

The unexpected evaluation and the expression that said he'd brought it upon himself make Subaru's eyes widen. He did remember saying 'Feminine' with his female coworkers several times, but he had underestimated Kararagi people's adaptability.

But, it still wasn't clear how that led to 'feminine' being the evaluation

[Subaru: So why did Master end up pointing out me being feminine?]

[Rifter: The hostess has mostly the same opinion as the other women, although your femininity isn't the only thing that's been recognized.]

[Subaru: The same opinion……]

[Rifter: Incidentally, I've heard from Mr. Clane that you've been looking for a place where you can have a long career.]

Subaru blinks with surprise as the conversation made an unexpected turn. Seeing Subaru's reaction, Riften raised his thick eyebrows, and he reached out for Subaru's chestand he touched the flower decorations.

[Riften: This is well done. And you did it quick. The girls like it. Keep this up for the rest of your work period. I'm hoping that I can tell you something good on your final day.]

[Halibel: ]

When he nodded deeply, Riften and Halibel exchange a few words, and he went back to the middle of the banquet. He had an obligation to entertain the guests as the host of the party.

Despite being busy, he spared time to tell Subaru something. As for what that meant

[Subaru: …...Hal-san, I should look forward to what he was talking about, right?]

[Halibel: If that was an indirect layoff notice, then I don't think I can believe anything in this world anymore.]

Halibel answered Subaru's question while opening a sake bottle. The previous exchange had so much impact on him that he forgot to warn the uninvited guest about his bad manners.

So, when Subaru took away the sake bottle from Halibel's hand, he said,

[Halibel: Oh]

[Subaru: Looks like you're out of drinks. I'll go get more.]

Subaru collects the empty bottle as he hurried out of there.

While stopping himself from breaking into a smile, he made up his mind to take the initiative and work harder than anyone else tonight at the banquet hall. He also had to deal with the uninvited guest now to do that.

As he felt excited inside since it seemed he'd be able to give some good news to Rem.

[Rem: Oh, Subaru-kun.]

It was after the banquet cleaning when he exited the main gate to go home.

Subaru gets his named called, and the slight surprise makes him raise his face. Then, it was Rem who was leaning against the palace gate, wearing her kimono which he'd seen at the banquet.

[Subaru: Rem? You didn't go home with the person you came here with?]

[Rem: I was going to, but I was selfish and said that I was going to stay here. I promised to return the kimono and hairpin I borrowed tomorrow.]

[Subaru: That doesn't worry me, but…...actually, it does. If something happened while you were out this late…]

[Rem: Thank you. But the gatekeeper was there with me, so I was fine.]

Rem holds Subaru's hand as he rushed up to her, and she smiled at him to calm him down,

When Subaru turned around as he heard her words, he saw the gatekeeper he knew giving him a thumbs up. Subaru bows his head to show his gratitude towards him, and he considers not snitching on him to the hostess for letting Halibel through.

[Subaru: On another note, why were you waiting here? Did you have some urgent business to take care of or something?]

[Rem: It's nothing like that. I'm wearing clothes that I wouldn't usually wear, so I just wanted to walk home together.]

[Subaru: ]

[Rem: I rarely wear kimonos like this…….should I have not tried it?]

[Subaru: Erm……]

Subaru scratches his head with his hand that wasn't being held, and he looked away from Rem. He saw the gatekeeper looking through the gap between his fingers. You know what, I'm going to snitch on him to the hostess tomorrow.

Subaru puts off that thought for later, and while feeling his ears turn red, he said,

[Subaru: I'm happy that you said that. Actually, I'm lame for making you say all of that. I want to show off my beautiful wife while walking home too. Thank you.]

[Rem: Yes. Please show the whole town that I'm yours.]

[Subaru: Now that's a lot of people you're talking about here!]

While being surprised by Rem's idea, Subaru waves at the gatekeeper, and the two of them walked back home.

It was deep at night in the town Banan. The moon and starlight were not the only things showing in the twilight; Banan was being illuminated by hanging paper lanterns. Magical stones weren't blazing in them; they were candle flames.

A beautiful girl in a kimono walking next to him, and a street illuminated by the night sky and paper lanternsSubaru was not in a different world. He felt like he was seeing an optical illusion, as if he got lost in the past of his former world.

[Rem: ? Subaru-kun, what's wrong?]

[Subaru: I just got lost in my thoughts for a little bit. I know I said that I wanted to show off as we walk, but I just remembered that I'm the type that wants to have everything to himself. I want to enjoy it at home.]

[Rem: IIt's a borrowed kimono, so we can't do naughty things, you know……?]

[Subaru: But what if it's just for a little?]

[Rem: Oh…...iif it's just a little……]

Subaru's naughty statement makes Rem look down with her face turned red. While loving her profile, Subaru said, "Still", as he began to speak.

[Subaru: I didn't expect Rem to be at the party…...or I guess banquet. You must be close with that person to have been invited to go with her.]

[Rem: I don't think think we should be friends since I'm a teacher and she's a guardian. But yes, we are.]

[Subaru: I see. I'm so glad. We've finally just barely managed to settle down in this town now.]

While responding to Rem, he remembered this year's journey where they moved from place to place.

Although he'd talked about it with Halibel when he went job hunting the other day, Subaru and Rem continued to move all around Kararagi until they settled down in Banan town. It was because they couldn't really find work and houses, however they finally were freed from their difficult problems at this town.

While wandering around, they visited Banan because of an introduction letter they got from a person they met, then they were introduced to Halibel, the tenement house manager, and they finally found a house. Rem got a job quickly, and even Subaru, who felt down because he was unqualified, was one step away from living the full-time employee life he'd dreamed of.

It was smooth sailingit seemed they were finally in a situation where they could say that.

[Rem: I had the time of my life tonight. Subaru-kun praised my kimono, and I got to see my husband work up close. My heart is full.]

[Subaru: I praised Rem in a kimono, not just the kimono alone, you know? Also, I'm full because of the treats you gave me during my break at work.]

[Rem: Everything was so delicious, so I thought you'd love it too……]

[Subaru: Yeah, that was very sweet, and I love you, but...]

Even before the banquet, for some reason women made Subaru taste a lot of food, so he was full and couldn't carry anymore weight. He was currently holding it all because of the naughty arrangement they made and his willpower.

[Rem: Plus, I was able to tell all your coworkers to take good care of you.]

[Subaru: I'm definitely going to be teased by everyone tomorrow……]

[Rem: ?]

He's already treated as a toy as is, so of course the women would be so delighted to be asked a favor from his cute new wife. He was now terrified of how everyone would act tomorrow after work.

[Subaru: ]

The trivial but happy conversation stops. However, the silence was not something uncomfortable. It was just something that went between them naturally.

Even though they weren't talking, it wasn't awkward. There certainly was a natural feeling of distance between them. If it was just the two of them, there wouldn't be anything to go with the silence.

Thus, the world that unnaturally fell silent was a matter unrelated to their silence.

[Rem: Subaru-kun.]

Rem called Subaru's name about at the same time when he noticed that something was up.

Rem, who stood still and held onto Subaru's hand tighter, stops him. That makes Subaru hold his breath for a bit, and hetried to look at her, but he hesitated.

Since he knew why Rem stopped him and why she called his name.

[Subaru: ]

A small person was standing at the front of the street at night.

The shadow was in front of the moon, and its whole body was vague as it was under cover of night. It was shorter than Subaru and a little taller than Rem, and he just knew that it was a woman since she was thin and looked delicate.

She had on this sort of black dress that you'd mistake for darkness, and her hakama was boldly shortened to only cover half of her thighs, and he could very clearly see her white, long legs stepping on the ground.

It was an unarmed, young woman with a lot of revealing spotsif she was just that, then she'd seem like a beggar or a prostitute. And although he was hesitant to say it, neither of those were rare in large towns. Poor people who lost their family and lived in the streets and prostitutes taking customers in back alleys were natural to encounter.

Hence, it was the glitter of the eyes of the woman standing still that made him think she was different.

Starlight was in the background and a shadow was casted on her face, but the woman's eyes were shining in a penetrative way. That sharp light frightfully and violently directed hostility towards Subaru and Rem and

[Subaru: Ah]

The moment Subaru understood that hostility, he felt his hands and legs getting colder rapidly.

[Subaru: ]

He couldn't move. Subaru completely lost control of his consciousness with hostility before him. His eyes widen, he forgets to breath, and his knees tremble pathetically. And then

[???: What...are you doing]

The presence deeply rumbling the atmosphere swept towards them as wind.

He was despairingly too late to realize if it was a voice or just someone calling out to them. That's how much he forgot about the world, and the being was standing firmly as a foreign body.

It was a woman, but it wasn't. She had the shape of a person, but she wasn't a person. It was a repulsive enemy.

[???: What...are you doing]

The repulsive enemy repeats the wind, her words.

It was a question, a threat, an attack, and mercy. It was even mercy.

Because she could've made someone like Subaru disappear long ago if she wanted to. It didn't happen solely because the enemy had mercy. Could there be anything else to it?

If there was something besides mercy and pity, it would be to let Subaru live.

[Rem: YYou……]

Subaru's voice was gone. Hence, that wasn't Subaru's voice. It was Rem's, who was standing next to him. She held onto Subaru's hand so tight that it hurt, and it woke him up. The pain made Subaru face reality. Rem also stayed aware

[Rem/Subaru: ]

They were both overwhelmed by the being before their very own eyes.

Rem was the only one who was desperately looking for a way to escape while feeling pressured. Subaru's senses were also telling him that he had to do so. But, his spirit wouldn't respond.

He didn't have the strong spirit to respond. He couldn't do it with the enemy in front of him.

Since Subaru couldn't choose to do something like fight an enemy as someone who ran from his enemies.

[???: Die.]

He was afraid.

The moment he came to that conclusion, the enemy expressed a very straightforward judgement.

Right after that, the increasing pressure becomes so severe that it practically burns his skin, and the hostility sublimates into murderous intent.

Wind blows. As if the seasonal night wind lukewarmly and gently brushed against his skin

[???: Come here!!]

When that fatally connected to him, Rem jumped away to the side while holding Subaru. The space they had been in splits roundly within an instant. The space splitted, as if it was bitten off by the jaw of a beast.

Anything left at that place wasn't a living thing. And so, no doubt about it, it was the murderous intent of the women before their eyes that was left there.

[Rem: Hya]

[???: Die]

Since the hostility was unavoidable, Rem summoned up mana to attack and defend. However, her opponent's murderous intent was fast and strong like a sudden gust. The wind's jaw attacks Rem continuously, and she had no choice but to concentrate on dodging it.

[Rem: Ku...u]

The kimono backfired. It reached down to her ankles and it was elegant, but in exchange, it restricted her actions. Even if she concentrated on dodging, she would eventually lose the ability to do so. It was getting worse and worse.

[???: Die die die die die.]

Her murderous intent gushes out again and again as the shortest chant using the smallest amount of words, leaving no way out. It was too tall to jump over for Rem, who was holding onto Subaru. And first of all, even if she were to jump high, they'd become easy targets. As for the option to escape to a place with lots of crowds, she wasn't so sure if the women had the mentality to hesitate in sacrificing people, so that would be the very last option.

[Rem: ]

Rem frantically racked her brain and struggled as much as she could to find one of the few chances of winning.

Subaru couldn't move since he was being held in her arms as he was swung around by the force of her jumping away. When the hostility turned into murderous intent and was acted upon, he even lost the willpower to act brave.

Despite knowing that he had to move and think.

[???: Die.]

Without budging an inch, the woman repeats a chant of death.

[???: Die.]

The wind's jaw eats the sky, the ground, and the town.

[???: Die.]

The enemy was so much stronger than him that it wouldn't even be an exaggeration to say that it was like a cat playing with a mouse.

A way to turn things around, a suggestion that'd turn the hopeless situation around, an attack to paint over the distress

[Subaru: ]

He had no time to find all that, and he couldn't buy any more of it.

I don't want to die.

Subaru's mind and body become chains, and that thought alone was what coiled around him, like a strong curse.

[Rem: If I could at least……]

Rem forces her voice out of her throat in response to the raging wind that was trying to kill them. Subaru knew what was going to come after her interrupted words. She was going to say this.

"If I could at leastjust save Subaru."

[Subaru: ]

There's no way he'd let that happen. To show that he was against it, Subaru put a little strength into his hands that were holding onto Rem's kimono. He put in all the strength he could muster up into his fingertips.

To say that even if he were ripped off easily by force, his heart is the one thing he'd never let someone rip out,

[Rem: But……]

Rem sensed that from Subaru's slight movements. However, Rem really knew just how bad the situation was, much more than Subaru did, who was restrained as someone was trying to kill them.

They were being cornered. Soon enough the jaw of the wind would take away her legs, slurp on her guts, and devour her life.

Before that happened, she just wished for the one she loved to live longer, even if it was just one second

[???: Die]

[???: That's not happening. That's enough.]

Right before the decision lead to action, there was the sound of the jaw of the wind biting on steel.

The bite attack changes the space that had been breaking up to this point. It didn't stop with one blow; a loud, sharp sound cut up the night in line with the consecutive bite attacks.

[Rem: ]

The change even makes the girl who continued to chant and chant death stop moving. Rem, who was holding Subaru, also stopped, and she blinked, wondering what just happened.

The one who came into their sights was a tall person with a black kimono that shook at its edgesit was Halibel, who smoked the kiseru in his mouth and stood between them.

[Rem: Hali...bel……?]

[Halibel: Yes yes, this is the Ha-san you all know. That was a close one, huh, Su-san. That would've been bad if I hadn't come. Rem-chan even looked like she'd made up her mind for good.]

[Subaru: Why...are you here……]

[Halibe: Ahh, I get why you're curious, but I'll have to postpone the explanation for now. Or else……]

Subaru could not comprehend the sudden appearance, and his trembling voice didn't make Halibel act any different from how he usually would. It didn't help relieve them, but rather it just increased the feeling that they were in an emergency.

Without caring about those thoughts Subaru had, Halibel slowly turned around to face the woman and said,

[Halibel: It'd be hard to fight that girl.]

Halibel says that, sounding like he wasn't even in the mood to fight, and he slowly stepped towards the enemy. Subaru tried to say, "That'd be reckless" from behind.

However

[Rem: Let's let Halibel-sama handle this.]

[Subaru: Rem? But she…...she's……]

A terrifying opponent. A being with unordinary strength. Halibel was going to fight someone like that.

Subaru was trying to say, "We should at least try our best to run away".

[Rem: Halibel "The Great".]

[Subaru: …...Huh?]

[Rem: The one deemed the strongest in Kararagi city-statethat's Halibel-sama.]

Rem's quiet statement makes Subaru stiffen up, unable to use his voice. After that, he looked at Halibel's back, as he closed the distance between him and the enemy, and it simply took his breath away.

The one who poured alcohol at the banquet. That guy was going towards the enemy, like it was just a walk.

[Subaru: This is……]

[Halibel: Unbelievable, is what Su-san might be thinking. How about you?]

Halibel, facing the woman, takes the words right out of Subaru's mouth, and he talked to her in an over-familiar voice.

He put aside Subaru and Rem, who were behind him, and stood in between them and the woman as if to say, "You have to get past me before you lay a hand on these two", but the enthusiasm didn't show on his face.

Halibel was being aloof, just like he would be whenever he took naps at the tenement house.

The woman also kept the same attitude. The woman standing still didn't show any interest in Halibel's appearance, and she kept directing the unlimited hostility towards Subaru and Rem.

Anything standing in her way would get smashedthus,

[???: Die.]

The invisible murderous intent becomes wind, and the attack cuts the space into the shape of a globethe bite attack went for Halibel. A threat at the end of death that went through defenses and relentlessly devoured its target.

There was only one way to protect himself against thatdon't let the bite attack reach him.

[Halibel: ]

Halibel puts his hand inside his kimono, and he threw something at lightning speed. An object that was thrown at such a speed that no ordinary person could've seen it that collides with the windthe bite attack didn't crunch on Halibel's guts; it stopped at a completely different place and crunched on the thrown object.

[Halibel: It doesn't matter if I can't see it. My nose is extremely effective.]

[???: ]

[Halibel: Oh, but don't get me wrong, okay? I'm a wolf of dogs, and that's one of our important aspects.]

Halibel would always say something to relieve tension whenever he first met someone. After that, she turned her head slowly, although it wasn't as if she'd understood him, obviously.

The woman looked at Halibel with her piercing eyes, and it was the first time she looked at someone other than Subaru and Rem.

[Halibel: Oh, so you finally look this way……]

[???: Die.]

[Halibel: There.]

Halibel misfires the bite attack yet again by throwing. However the woman changed the priority of her murderous attack, and fire power focused on Halibel at once.

[???: Die die die die die.]

Halibel waved his arms and demolished all the murderous winds wildly fired all at once. After brushing away the first gust of wind, Halibel went, "Alright" as he gained some momentum and said,

[Halibel: It seems you took interest in me, so how about I meet your expectations!]

[???: Di]

[Halibel: Hoho. Which me would you like to get killed by?]

[???: ]

Halibel steps on the street with his zoris, and he roughly shook his body left and right. An irregular feeling, and footwork that was captivating in a way. Right after that, a Halibel's body shook strangely

[Halibel: Now] [Halibel: Which me would you like?] [Halibel: I'm the devoted type.] [Halibel: And I'm like a bossy husband.]

[Subaru: Wha!?]

It was not the woman who raised a surprise voice upon seeing an unbelievable phenomenon, but Subaru, who was being protected in the back.

And it was just natural to do so since he saw Halibel say a bunch of words unanimously as four people.

[Halibel: By the way, my strength isn't divided into 4ths. I'm four people, and my strength is quadrupled.]

[Halibel: I begged and begged my parents for siblings, and then more came.]

[Halibel: Sorry, that was a lie.]

[Halibel: I saw myself in the mirror and pulled them out.]

[Halibel: Sorry, that was a lie too.]

The four Halibels crossed their arms, smoked their kiserus, and randomly talked as much as they wanted.

It was like coming into a bad dream. But, the four Halibels were not just illusions.

They were all there and felt real. The four Halibels, fighting power quadrupled.

[Halibel: ]

Halibel, who did not multiply, but cloned himself. Seeing that right before her made the woman stop acting for the first time.

It was doubtful whether the continuous bite attacks would work on Halibel, who could now act as 4. The possibility of having her invisible attacks defended against and getting hit with a severe counterattack increased immediately.

Whether or not the woman still had the sense to make such calculations was unknown, however

[???: Die.]

[Halibel: …...Is that all you can say? Seems like you have some pretty complicated family circumstances.]

The woman bent her knees and jumped. She easily jumps onto the roof of a building next to her, and she looked down on Halibel and the others while cracking the roof with her bare feet. The moon was in the background, not one bit of the light in her eyes weakened, and it looked so beautiful that it was beyond human understanding

Halibel, who stood as four on the ground, and the woman dressed in black with the moon behind her glared at each other.

It felt like time it was going to continue forever, but

[Subaru: Rem!?]

The two of them did not break the stalemate. It was Subaru, who could only be there as a spectator. Halibel looked back at Subaru, who held onto Rem as she became dead tired in his arms and his voice trembled.

Taking advantage of that chaos, the woman tries to blend in with the night sky]

[Halibel: Sh!]

Three of the Halibels wouldn't overlook that.

The throws attack the woman from three sides, and two of the shots were repelled by the wind. However, the third shot drawing an arc slips through the wind, and the thrown objectthe kunai pierces the woman's thin back.

[???: ]

The woman gets injured, lets out a slight groan, and she tries to flee.

[Halibel: ]

Halibel sharpens his hearing and looked out for the disappeared woman's movements for a bit. There was a possibility of her taking advantage of the darkness and continuing the fight. Still, it was apparent that the woman withdrew, knowing that she was at a disadvantage.

As a result, Halibel was satisfied and

[Halibel: Guess one should be fine for now. Anyway……]

[Subaru: Halibel! Hal-san! Rem is…!]

Halibel finally runs up to Subaru and Rem as he was called out to desperately. At the same time, his clones disappear, and he went back to his normal self like an illusion.

Still, there was no time to talk about that mysterious phenomenon. Subaru continues to desperately call out to Rem, who was dead tired in his arms.

[Halibel: Did that black girl's attack hit her?]

[Subaru: I checked! But there are no injuries on her body! But she still fainted and……]

It was chaos. However, he was sure that Rem had no wounds. She also fainted suddenly. The woman most likely did something after she escaped to the roof.

However, it misfired, and as a result, Rem collapsed instead. And that was

[Halibel: Maybe she casted some strange magic or something…….she does feel hot. It feels unreal, but it could be an illness.]

[Subaru: ]

[Halibel: That look sure makes me feel nervous. I'll carry her back to the tenement house……]

[Subaru: NNo, I'll…...I'll carry her! I'll bring her back to the tenement house……]

Subaru interrupts Halibel, who stretched his arms, and picked up Rem as he tried to control his shaking legs. Subaru stood up, and for a just a moment, his words made Halibel ponder something in his slit eyes.

However, he quickly said, "Okay" with a deep nod.

[Halibel: Then you carry her to the tenement house. I'll call a magic user, and we'll meet up with you guys in your room. Use a light street with a lot of crowd to go back.]

[Subaru: Yeah, I'll leave it to you!]

Subaru immediately began to run with Rem in his arms without any objection. He had a desperate look and his thoughts were covered with uneasiness, but he still had strength to walk. He wouldn't run out of strength before getting to the tenement house.

Halibel looks at them go off, and he takes one deep puff of his kiseru as he said,

[Halibel: Anyhow...anyhow……]

The wolf man gives out smoke, and he ran off to the street at night, searching for a magic user.

It's all my fault.

[Subaru: Haa...haa…….]

It's all my fault. It's all my fault. It's all my fault. It's all my fault. It's all my fault.

[Subaru: !]

It's all my fault!!

[Subaru: Haa……!]

Subaru rushed to the tenement house with rough breathing, wide open eyes, and a bright red face.

He couldn't feel Rem's weight in his arms. He was just one person holding another in his arms as he ran, and yet the burning heat of the blood flowing through his body wouldn't let Subaru stop, as if it had become magma.

[Subaru: ]

He sprinted as fast as he could. Even though he tried to not shake, it still wasn't perfect. There's no way it was comfortable. And yet, Rem, who was unconscious, had not reaction. That was way too terrifying.

Magic, illnessHalibel's worries bound Subaru's mind with the chains called anxiety.

The black clothed woman that appeared his fear of that enemy was completely disappearing from his head right now at this moment.

Being targeted with hostility, being exposed to murderous intent they were all trivial matters.

Compared to the reality where he didn't know what was happening to this precious girl right now at this moment

[Subaru: Damnit!]

Subaru did not choose a direct route while dealing with his impatience; he chose the streets with the most crowds. Once he came out of the space that was unnaturally empty by crossing two streets, he saw everyday life, as if nothing had happened, and he felt everyone walking the streets at night looking at him.

A man changed his expression and ran through the street while holding onto a girl. It was a miracle that no meddlers with a weird sense of justice stopped him.

Still, he wasn't hoping for a miracle like that. Right now, there was only one wish he'd like to be blessed with.

[Subaru: Please...Rem…….]

He just prays sincerely for Rem to be safe.

For her to open her eyes, call his name, and smile at him. That's all.

If Subaru, as someone who couldn't do anything back in that situation, had the right to shamelessly beg for a miracle, that would be the only thing he'd wish for. Nothing else.

[Subaru: ]

Subaru somehow made it back to the tenement house as he desperately prayed to the heavens. He forces the slide door open with his feet and puts down Rem in the dark room. He did not wipe his face dripping with sweat. When he turned on the light in the room, he spread a futon in a hurry, and he moved Rem onto it.

[Subaru: Rem...Rem…...answer me...Rem……]

Even though he called her name, there was no response from Rem, who kept breathing painfully. With a sorrowful look, Subaru gently loosened the sash of her kimono, and he took off her sleeves. The borrowed kimono was tangled everywhere, and it seems she had dropped the hairpin that she had on her hair.

It was as if the Rem he saw this night dressed up, smiling gorgeously, was just a dream.

[Subaru: Rem...please……]

He scoops up water into a bucket and wipes Rem's forehead and the back of her neck with a wet towel. He feels a fever from the forehead he touched. He couldn't tell if it was a slight fever or a high fever. Currently, Subaru himself was in a condition where his anxiety and agitation wouldn't die down, and he couldn't say that he was at a normal body temperature.

Right now, he had no choice but to wait for Halibel to bring a magic user as soon as possible.

Even here, there was not a single thing Subaru could do.

[Subaru: Rem……]

Subaru holds onto Rem's hand as she laid down on the futon, and he prays at the girl's thin fingers.

Nothing happen, please. Please, wake up, I beg of you. If you could just wake up safely, smile like nothing happened, and then call my name

[Subaru: ]

Who knows how long his praying went for. When Subaru heard a sound behind him, he was in a trance. It was the sound of a door opening. No doubt about it, Halibel had arrived with a magic user.

Hoping for that, Subaru turns around, and he was tried to say, "Take a look at Rem"

[???: Huh? What's up with that pathetic look. I can't bear to look at it.]

The woman leaning against the side door with her arms crossed says that in a contemptuous tone. That makes Subaru's thoughts freeze completely for a moment.

It was a woman dressed in a kimono. She was wearing a pure white dress that was completely clean. She was wearing the white kimono with the right side over the left, and it looked like burial clothes. However, her dress' hakama was shortened to the middle of her thighs, and he couldn't find any sign of "death's" shadow in her freely exposed long, thin legs and white skin.

The tips of her short, milky white hair were made into an uneven shaggy cut. Her sharp almond eyes were deep indigo blue. Although she had provocative facial features, they made an oddly beautiful face.

It was beauty created because it was unpolished and uneven. It was like an accidental beautiful face that was created as a result of a wild animals putting together whatever they thought was beautifulit was an uncanny work of art made up of truly beautiful things without even being particular about beauty.

An unordinarily beautiful face that would take anyone's breath away and make them lose their sense of reality. Subaru looked at that with his very own eyes, but the woman's beauty wasn't why he stiffened up.

He had a memory of the woman's face, although vague. And it was also a very recent memory

[???: Hello? I'm talking to you. Do you even hear me?]

[Subaru: YYou……]

[???: Oh. You can talk after all. Can you cut that out? It freaks me out when I get ignored. Cause, you know…]

After Subaru's trembling voice made the woman open her eyes wide, she put her hands together in front of her chest. And then, she had a slight smile on her facea ferocious smile a carnivore would have upon finding its prey, and she said,

[???: If you die before I kill you, that would dishonor the "Shinigami" name.]

[Subaru: ]

The womanthe second attack of the woman that had continued to chant death makes Subaru move on impulse

He grabs the water bucket near Rem's pillow and throws it as hard as he could at the woman. He wasn't expecting it to do damage. He just needed to keep her in check. In fact, the woman had dodged the thrown bucket and the water thrown out of it with a displeased look.

[Subaru: Ruaaa!]

That's when Subaru tackled the woman from a low position in order to grab onto her waist. He'd have a chance if he pushed her down and got on top of her. He'd smash her head with all his might. He was going to do it. He was prepared to do that easily with all the anger and energy he had right now

[???: Can you not hug me just because I'm cute?]

[Subaru: Ga!?]

The low charge at her stomach gets blocked. The woman backs away easily, and when she grabbed the back of Subaru's head with her right arm as he was bent forward, she immediately held him to the ground by brute force. Subaru's nose hits the wooden floor, and he sees sparks. His face gets crushed by such brute strength that you wouldn't believe that they were thin arms.

He grinds his teeth, and he bends the lower half of his body like a Shachihoko while having his face on the ground. He goes for the woman's head with his imperfect heel attack, and she brushed it away with her free hand in an annoyed manner. However, distracting her, even if it was just for a little bit, was good enough. He twists his body, forces the woman's hand off of his neck, and jumped up.

[???: Yuck, you're covered…...in sweat!]

[Subaru: Like I care!!]

He waves his right hand and jumps at the frowning woman yet again. He kept going for the lower half of her body. At least there wasn't a clear difference in ability for standing techniques. He'd force her out of the tenement house and keep Rem away from danger, even if it was just for a little bit. Even if it really was just for a little bit.

[Subaru: Dzu..raa!]

His spirit was superior, and he tackled the woman's waist before her arms could stop it. He holds onto her thin waist by force, throws her at the door vigorously, and she immediately rolls out of the tenement house. He instantly tried to get on her to get the upper hand, but…

[???: Don't get so cocky!]

Before the woman fell to the ground on her back, she hit Subaru's chest with her knee as he clinged to her, and the impact of her long, beautiful legs sharply pierced Subaru's body, as if gouging his intestines. He chokes, and all of his bones crack. Even if he tried to hold onto her with his arms, the structure of his human body wouldn't let him.

Subaru was the one who came off and fell to the ground. He immediately tries to get up to scratch off dirt. But the woman put her bare feet on his head and pushed it to the ground.

[Subaru: Go….o……]

[???: Don't get up, stay down. You'll dirty the air. Sweat will fly.]

He lifted his arms and grabbed onto the woman's thin ankles. He strengthens his grip. She didn't budge an inch. She snorts at his resistance, and once again, she swung down her foot that she lifted easily. She crushes his nose. Twice, thrice

[Subaru: Ka...a……]

[???: Don't touch me, pervert. I didn't come here to fool around with you. Listen. Go to sleep.]

She steps on Subaru one more time for good measure, and he was silent. Seeing Subaru dead tired with his blood spreading onto the ground, the woman turns around with satisfaction, and she started to go back to the tenement house.

She said that her goal wasn't to play around with Subaru. The woman's goal was not about Subaru

[Subaru: What are you trying to do?]

[???: ]

Subaru was clinging onto the woman's legs while having his nose crushed and dirtying the ground with his nose blood. Dirt and blood dirty her white skin. The woman's eyes were getting colder.

[???: Get off of me.]

The woman's sharp demand was frank. Her breathing sounded suspicious, and Subaru couldn't respond with words.

He just put his other arm around the woman's ankle, which he was already clinging onto with one arm, to express his intent.

[???: Look……]

The woman brushes up her hair and looks at Subaru, who stuck onto her, in dumbfoundment. And then she sighed and kneed the man who was glaring at her with his face dirty with nose blood.

[???: I said get the hell off of me.]

She knees his lower jaw, and the intense impact bounces the brain inside his cranium. The cerebral concussion even makes him feel like he was losing consciousness, and he saw blood from his nasal cavity get on her dress.

He falls down. Still, he didn't let go. He was grabbing onto her, and he wouldn't let her go.

[???: You're going to die.]

[Subaru: Hyaa……]

He shook his head disapprovingly. The pain...the pain was unusual; it was irritating his whole body, and his head was being affected the most.

His crushed face, kicked body, kneed lower jaw, his whole body hit by unbelievable strength was having a big chorus of pain and powerlessness.

The danger alert was going off as loud as possible, and the fear that made him feel like "death" was near makes his hands and legs go cold. His vision was blurred by either blood or tears, and his shaking was getting worse and worse.

Death was right before his eyes. The woman Subaru was grabbing onto right now was the embodiment of death. She was a Shinigami.

"Death" is scary. Terrifying. Subaru feared "death" more than anyone in this world.

Doing as the woman said and begging for forgiveness was the right move if he wanted to avoid "death" and get away.

But, but, but, he wasn't allowed to do it. She wouldn't let him do it. And he couldn't do it because

[???: You can't stop me. After all, you are a loser]

Subari's resistance was all for naught; the woman started walking. She enters the tenement house without even pulling him off as if to say that he was nothing to her. She goes up, steps on the tatami mat, and heads towards Rem.

[Subaru: Gi...ga]

He bites on the tatami mat and tries to stop her. The tatami mat tears off of the floor. He stretches his legs to a pillar and hanged onto her knee. He takes him off by force. He gets dragged along, and he resists as he scratched the tatami mat. He resists.

[???: You just don't know when to give up, do you. You poor sport. Aren't you ashamed of struggling so much?]

[Subaru: Oooo! Oooo!!]

[???: So unsightly! So unsightly so unsightly so unsightly! So low! So lame! Are you stupid!?]

She harms Subaru with abusive language, but he still shook his head stubbornly like a child. Subaru would try to stop the women, even if it meant bleeding, losing teeth, and having his limbs torn off.

His unreasonable stubbornness makes the woman click her tongue irritatedly

[???: This is retribution, but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth! I am just…….]

The woman grimaces with her beautiful face and she makes it to the futon with Subaru. Then, she looks down at Rem, who was sleeping there, and turned her palm towards her.

If that palm reached Rem, her sleep would end in an undesired way. Thus, Subaru called out to her woefullyright after, the woman stopped moving.

[???: Ah?]

The woman's mouth was wide open with her hand reached out towards Rem. She then knits her brows and takes a long look at Rem, who breathed painfully. From top to bottom, slowly.

Subaru swallows saliva with blood without knowing what that look meant.

[Subaru: What...are you……]

[???: Ahhh! Damnit! Are you serious!? This won't do! I can't do this!]

The next moment, the woman suddenly erupts, and she kicked at the tatami mat as she roughly clicked her tongue. And then, the woman shakes off Subaru, whose eyes opened wide because of her strange behavior, and he sends him flying towards the corner of the room.

[Subaru: Damni……]

Subaru's carelessness leads to her being released, and he completely regretted his mistake. He falls onto the tatami mat, immediately gets back up, and he tries to grab onto the woman. Then the woman attacked his face with her bare feet.

[Subaru: Ga……]

[???: Calm down. Good grief, what a noisy man.]

With a dumbfounded look, the woman looks down on Subaru, whose shout was stopped by her kick, and he collapsed onto the tatami mat. After that, the woman points at her own nicely shaped nose as she said,

[???: Your face looks pretty ugly now. Can it be fixed?]

[Subaru: ]

[???: Sure sucks to be a human. Since if you get scarred, it stays there.]

The woman says just that, and she alternates between looking at Subaru and Rem in an annoyed manner. He could tell that the emotion in her eyes wasn't peaceful. So, he had to get up and restrain her. However, his body wouldn't listen to him

[???: Time is up, huh. Guess I have to go.]

[Subaru: ]

Stricken with a sense of helplessness, Subaru gets left behind, and he hears the woman let those words out. Her eyes were not looking at Subaru and Rem, but at the open entrance. She then went towards the entrancetowards the tenement house, just like she said, without doing anything to Subaru and Rem.

[Subaur: Wai……]

[???: Just curse at your bad luck. Tremble and regret as much as possible.]

He was unable to put together the words to stop her, and he had no clue what the woman's sharp parting remark meant.

Subaru just stayed silent, stained the tatami mat with the blood coming from his nose, and he could only watch the woman leave.

Then for a while it was just Subaru and Rem, who was breathing painfully, left in the room

[Halibel: Su-san? Are you okay? What happened!?]

Halibel arrives late to the chaotic situation. When he was called out to by the dog face that rushed up to him, Subaru moved to breath heavily from his nose clogged with blood and his mouth as he said,

[Subaru: …….Take...care of...Rem.]

Subaru says that to the wolf man taking a look, and his consciousness disappeared.

[???: With this, the treatment is over for now. Now you just have to rest.]

The old healing magic user says that, and he wiped off the remaining traces of blood on Subaru's face. The old magic user actually quickly finished the treatment after he examined Subaru, who was half alive.

Because of that, he went from having wounds all over his body to having serious body bruises, and the dull pain in his nose settled down to a level where he could ignore it. Now he'd have no trouble doing the very least: standing and walking.

[Halibel: Su-san, how are you? Think you're good? Think you're gonna die?]

[Subaru: When I bite with my jaw, I feel pain that feels like my body is getting joint locked, but I'm not dying somehow. Thanks. …...Thanks, but…]

[Halibel: Hold it hold it. I know that you want to prioritize Rem-chan. However, you can't just forget about your condition.]

Halibel, who shrugged his shoulders, and he forced his opinion before Subaru could, who mumbled.

Halibel had returned to the tenement house, and the one he looked at was Subaru, who had stained the tatami middle in the middle of the room with blood and fainted as he said something like a will before doing so. Rem was sleeping on a futon, and if Subaru were to debate who was having more of an emergency, unfortunately he'd have no chance of winning.

But, in Subaru's heart, he still wanted to prioritize Rem

[Halibel: Rem-chan can't do whatever she wants, of course. However, that goes for you too. That's the decision I came to fairly with Sensei. You owe me, right? Forgive me in consideration of that.]

[Subaru: Owe you……]

For letting them live in the tenement house, and for saving his life just nowhe kept getting more and more indebted to Halibel. Plus, he wasn't so shameless that he'd consider worrying him as paying off his debt.

[Subaru: Okay. But apart from that, Sensei, please take care of Rem.]

[???: Leave it up to me. You guys are getting in my way. Leave to the front.]

The old magic user responded bluntly and waved at Subaru, who bowed his head. Following his instructions, Subaru and Halibel leave to the front of the tenement house. On the way, Halibel stretched his long arms and helped prevent Subaru from almost losing his balance because of body pain.

[Halibel: Woah. You have to be careful, Su-san. You just started recovering two minutes ago.]

[Subaru: You start to worry too quickly. …...But you really did save me.]

[Halibel: Su-san being honest...this is just wrong. But it pains me to be thanked. After all, I really failed at predicting an attack in the tenement house.]

The two of them were sitting next to each other on a bench placed in front of the tenement house. When Halibel lit his kiseru, the smoke he inhaled went out into the night sky, and he said that.

[Halibel: I didn't expect her to attack continuously. I thought that she wouldn't act for a few days.]

[Subaru: It wasn't even close to a few days. We met again within 10-20 minutes.]

[Halibel: I was really shocked when I saw you bloody in the room. I thought to myself, "I messed up by sending Su-san back home alooone. Let's not make the same mistake next timeee."]

[Subaru: That won't situation won't happen to me again.]

[Halibel: So, I was going to go attack the enemy, and then Su-san talked. I thought your heart had stopped beating. I thought you were dead.]

[Subaru: …….Aah, right.]

[Halibel: ]

Halibel goes from looking at the sky to looking at Subaru's profile. It was a brief exchange, but it was clear that Subaru's thoughts were elsewhere. Subaru was not focused on his conversation with Halibel; he was thinking all about Rem's well-being as she was being diagnosed in the room right behind them.

He trusted the old magic user's skill in relation to external wounds, enough with his own body. However, Rem didn't have external wounds. It was an illness, or perhaps

[Halibel: I don't think it's magic, though I only took a glance. Incidentally, you can consider it to be different from a kind of black magic. Rest assured.]

[Subaru: How can you be so sure?]

[Halibel: Because I'm a black magic specialist. You can believe in my stamp of approval.]

[Subaru: A black magic specialist……? I can't just let that comment slip by.]

[Halibel: There's a long story to my past. For now, just think of it as one less thing to worry about.]

Although it was a pretty impactful reveal, Subaru didn't object to Halibel's statement. It was concerning. However, he wasn't concerned about it right now.

Just like Halibel said, that was one less possibility of a threat to Rem's life. Even if it didn't make him feel relieved, it was enough to ease his mind.

And so, they waited for a while as the smoke Halibel gave out went into the night air

[???: Thanks for waiting.]

[Subaru: Sensei! Rem, how's Rem!?]

[???: It's night right now and there's a girl sleeping, so quiet down. I have something to tell you. Come inside.]

Showing only his face outside, the old magic user beckons Subaru to come in. Impatience and the somewhat alarming atmosphere makes Subaru catch his breath, and he slowly went back inside the room.

The room was still in its disorderly stated caused by him raging at a woman. Only the futon Rem was sleeping in was fixed nicely, and it made him feel that the old magic user was somewhat thoughtful.

[???: Hey idiot over there, put out your kiseru's fire. It'll harm her.]

[Halibel: But usually you wouldn't say anything unnecessary. …….Okay okay, fine I get it.]

Glared at sharply, Halibel obeyed the old magic user and put out his kiseru's fire. He sat down heavily at the entrance, and Subaru's mind makes him come towards Rem's bedside. The old magic user sitting at the side opposite of Subaru beings speaking with a hoarse voice as he said, "Alright".

[???: Let's start with the good news. This girl is not unconscious because she's injured or has an illness. And I'm guessing you've heard from that idiot that it has nothing to do with a curse.]

[Subaru: …….Yeah.]

[???: Basically, this means there is nothing wrong with her.]

[Subaru: Huh? No wait……]

The old magic user's statement makes Subaru's eyes widen, as he couldn't understand what he was saying.

He said nothing was wrong. Rem collapsed. Her breathing sounding painful. These were all true facts. Although, her breathing was calm now, perhaps because of the treatment.

[Subaru: Sensei, Rem collapsed. She was in pain. Examine her more thoroughly!]

[???: You're an idiot, just like the one over there. You jump to conclusions too quickly. I'm not done talking.]

[Halibel: You don't have to call people idiots……]

[???: Quiet, idiot. And I'm going to tell this idiot something. That was the good news…...now I'm going to tell you the better news.]

[Subaru: The better news?]

There wasn't anything wrong with Rem, so what kind of unbelievable news did he have in store for him next? Subaru decided to keep silent in hopes that his next words would provide clarity.

And then, after a pause, the old magic user continued speaking to Subaru, who waited for his words.

[???: Congratulations.]

[Subaru: Huh?]

Subaru was taken aback by the next word he said, and let out a sigh.

He didn't fully understanding the word "Congratulations". Was it a name of a person? A name of a place? Whichever one it was, it was a different world proper noun that Subaru wasn't familiar with. What did it mean?

[Subaru: Um, so you're saying…….Rem can be saved because of 'Congratulations'?]

[???: Hey, playboy. There might be someone who's dumber than you are.]

The old magic user scratched his head with a dumbfounded look as Subaru questioned him with a stiff expression. Halibel scratched his head similarly as he went, "Well" and tried to make him see the matter his way.

[Halibel: Shouldn't you have told him in a different way? I'm not surprised that this confused him.]

[Subaru: What do you mean 'confused me'!? Please just tell me! What's happening to Rem……]

[Halibel: You see, Su-san. By congratulations he means congratulations. And I congratulate you too.]

Congratulations, or rather, 'congratulations': the word that was repeated to Subaru, who was confused.

That word meant

[???: Your wife is pregnant. It's your child.]

[Subaru: Pregnant…...she's pregnant!?]

The old magic user's explanation shocks Subaru as his eyes opened wide.

Pregnant, congrats, congratulationsall that goes around inside his head, beating up his brain. Subaru continued to be confused as the magic user looked at Rem with a serious expression.

[???: Don't worry about her being unconscious. She just exhausted herself so much that she became light-headed. She'll get up soon if you let her rest. Collapsing is not something that should be praised, though.]

[Halibel: She does push herself way more than your average wife, after all. We can't learn anything from what happened tonight. That being said, this doesn't mean that we could be completely relaxed, either.]

Halibel was murmuring about how Rem ended up exhausting so much that she fainted.

It's true that they couldn't learn anything from what happened tonight. They weren't going to get attacked frequently like that. Still, it wasn't like they had fought off the enemy; she just retreated on her own for some reason. He couldn't possibly believe that everything was over now.

[Halibel: But she really didn't kill you when she could have, huh.]

Just like Halibel said, the woman had plenty of chances to kill Subaru and Rem before he arrived.

She was hostile enough to make him tremble, and yet nothing happened with it. It was also true that she settled down. That's how they escaped death by the skin of their teeth. Her true motive was still not clear at all, though.

[Halibel: Su-san, are you okay?]

[Subaru: …...Eh...ah]

Halibel taps Subaru's shoulder, as he wouldn't participate in the conversation, and he looks at his face. After doing all that, Subaru finally returns back to reality, and his eyes met the slit eyes in front of him.

His mind and heart were a mess with chaos and confusion.

It seemed Halibel could tell, and so when he made eye contact with the old magic user and they nodded at each other he said,

[Halibel: Su-san, we'll be leaving for the night. The girl from earlier shouldn't come now. I have something I want to tell you, but that can wait until tomorrow. …...Sensei.]

[???: Let your wife sleep. You should get some rest tonight, too.]

[Halibel: So that's that.]

Halibel and the old magic user take turns speaking to Subaru, and he nodded at them in silence like a doll. When he made that slow movement, Halibel grabbed onto Subaru's head, and then he forced him to turn around to Rem.

[Halibel: Su-san, you have to be the first one Rem-chan sees when she wakes up. Got it?]

[Subaru: . GGot it.]

He tells Subaru something else again, and his eyes finally vacantly settle on one place. Halibel makes sure Rem was in his black eyes, and he quietly gets up with the old magic user as they leave the room.

He was helped countless times in this night alone. Subaru really should've stood up and saw off the two of them, but he didn't have the energy to stand up, and they didn't want him to do that.

They put the fallen door back up, and the helpful guests leave the room behind. Left behind, Subaru silently reaches out for Rem's hot hand as she was lying down on the futon.

Chaos and confusion were still heavily disturbing Subaru's mind. They told him to rest, but even if Subaru was shameless enough to sleep in a situation like this, he wasn't going to be irresponsible.

First he was going to wait for Rem to wake up and make sure that she truly was safe. Subaru had to make sure of it before he could think about anything else.

[Subaru: Rem.]

Subaru shortly calls her name, and he continues to gaze at the girl's face as she slept.

Only the breathing of Subaru and Rem, the married couple, was left in the room.

A few hours had probably passed since then.

It was about to be the break of dawn when Rem nervously opened her eyes slightly.

[Rem: …...Subaru…-kun?]

The color of the sky changes into signs of morning, and the dim light faintly shines on the room through the window. A weak light was in Rem's bright, light blue eyes in this scene that was shaded a color between black and blue.

[Subaru: Mm. Good morning, Rem.]

Rem's voice, which made it sound like she was dreaming in a way, brings Subaru back to reality.

Subaru's thoughts were engulfed in a swirl of stagnation in these past few hours he spent staring at Rem's sleeping face.

The tumultuous day, the busy banquet at night, suddenly having his life threatened on the streets at night, getting severely hurt at his own home he arrived to, the opinion of the old magic user that came afterwards, his thoughts on all of that were put on hold.

It felt like he kept having recurring thoughts, and it also felt like he kept looking away from them. In any case, he used waiting for Rem's awakening as an excuse to avoid wanting an answer

The time he could've used to run away ended, and it was now the time to face the situation.

[Subaru: Rem...umm……]

Rem blinks with her tired eyes, and she slowly moves her head while being half-awake. In the middle of doing this, she notices Subaru holding onto her hand, and she happily broke into a smile as she went, "Hehe".

[Rem: What's wrong, Subaru-kun? You were holding my hand while I was sleeping……]

Rem's flower-like smile slowly stiffens, and she starts to open her eyes. Her consciousness gets freed from the cage of slumber, she puts her thoughts in order as the memory of last night came back to her vividly.

Rem holds onto Subaru's hand harder, and when she sat up in a panic she said,

[Rem: SSubaru-kun, are you injured!? I fainted, and then...aah, why……]

[Subaru: Calm down, Rem. I'm fine. And I don't…...have any injuries now.]

Subaru hid the second disaster that happened in the tenement house, although he did hesitate a bit.

If he made it clearer, the traces of Subaru getting physically abused in the room would become noticeable. However, she wouldn't be able to tell with the current dimness anyway. It was okay to cover it up, just for this moment.

Fortunately, Subaru's reply didn't make Rem suspect any chaos, and she was relieved.

[Rem: Thank goodness. If anything happened to Subaru-kun after that, I would be very……]

[Subaru: I hate to admit it, but it's all thanks to Hal-san…...to Halibel. He fought off that suspicious person.]

[Rem: Oh, I see. Halibel-sama did. I'll have to thank him later.]

It seemed that her memory was clear to a certain extent, and that she remembered Halibel coming in to help. In fact, it seemed like Rem clearly remembered things that happened up to the point where she was about to faint.

Once she closed her lips tightly, she continued with a, "So" as she said,

[Rem: What happened to me……]

[Subaru: You…]

[Rem: What I remember is that Halibel-sama showed up, and then I focused on my forehead to protect you as much as possible. However, that's when my consciousness faded away and……]

With her free hand, Rem touches her foreheadthe spot where her horn appears, and she knits her thin brows. Her poor condition and faintingRem had no idea what was the cause of those things.

[Rem: I've never fainted like that before…...umm, I'm sorry.]

[Subaru: YYou don't need to apologize. I should be the one doing that. You're always saving me…...I wasn't able to move promptly in a time like that…...that was really pathetic of me.]

[Rem: No, that's not true……]

Rem's apologetic attitude hurts him inside. Subaru shakes his head at her apology, and harshly condemned himself.

He could not be afraid anymore, and that also went for the powerlessness and cowardice he described to her. He was being spoiled by Rem's feeling of guilt and delaying important news for as long as possible.

After confirming Rem's safety, his thoughts would move one step forwardhe had to move forward.

[Subaru: Rem, listen. The truth is that you were examined by a magic user. After you suddenly collapsed.]

[Rem: Okay.]

Subaru had a determined look, and Rem nodded with seemingly stiff cheeks.

With a serious look, he told her that she was examined by a doctor. It was natural for her to be nervous. However, Subaru, with how he was right now, really did not have the composure to show concern for her nervousness.

He hesitated many times, and wet his dry lips. Seeing Subaru do that, Rem closed her eyes as she said,

[Rem: Subaru-kun, please let it out. Whatever the truth is, I'll accept it.]

[Subaru: …...Ah]

[Rem: Even if it's that I don't have much time left, I'd like to spend it with Subaru-kun and……]

[Subaru: Apparently, you're pregnant.]

He interrupts her with that.

[Rem: Huh?]

He's going to let me know that I have a serious illness. Rem was preparing herself for something like that, and so she was taken aback.

Rem opens her eyes, and she was looking at Subaru in dumbfoundment. Subaru nods at her, forgets about the dryness of his lips, pushes away his hesitation, and repeats himself.

[Subaru: Rem, you have a baby inside of you. A child, and it's ours.]

[Rem: ]

Hearing those repeated words, with her eyes wide open, Rem rubs her stomach with her hand that Subaru wasn't holding onto. She still couldn't tell with how it looked. It could be a misdiagnosis. That's how unreal it felt.

A new life was inside of Rem. And it was theirs.

[Subaru: Were there any signs? Something that seemed weird.]

[Rem: I had...a slight fever...for a bit…...I just thought that maybe I was tired. After finally settling in one town and being relieved, my body was tired…...that's what I thought.]

Rem answers Subaru's awkward question while choking.

He was bothered by the fact that Rem didn't tell him about the noticeable symptoms of her slight fever, but he understood how she felt. It was when their lives were finally starting to settle down. She didn't want to use her poor health as a reason to interrupt that. Subaru would've done the same thing if he was in her position.

[Rem: A child...inside of me...a child. Subaru-kun's...and mine……]

[Subaru: You fainted because you've been acting different. You're in this condition where you get tired more easily than usual, and you've been getting exposed to tanger, getting tense, exhausted…]

[Rem: II'm sorry.]

[Subaru: Like I said, you don't have to apologize. I've always been the one who should be apologizing.]

He made Rem overwork herself, which he shouldn't have done.

Even though he didn't know that she was pregnant, that was no excuse. He selfishly brought Rem with him, and he was a burden to her because of his own incompetence.

They did not finally have an everyday life; even a dangerous situation like that was just like how they were before.

[Subaru: ]

He couldn't forgive himself for that. The one who couldn't even move in his last moment. The weak one who couldn't even accomplish his goal of not letting that person get close to Rem and was saved just because she was fickle.

The one who was always hurting Rem, Natsuki Subaru.

[Rem: Subaru-kun…….umm]

[Subaru: What is it?]

The hesitation in Rem's words becomes clear. Subaru notices her agitation, and he spoke as kindly as possible with his voice to get her to relax.

As he did, he had only one thing in his mind, which was that he wanted keep her away from him after all the times he's hurt her.

Rem nervously beings to talk to Subaru as he felt that way.

[Rem: Subaru-kun...what do...you think?]

[Subaru: What do I...by that do you mean……]

[Rem: We...have…...a cchild...about that, do...]

"You regret it?". Her next words were probably going to be something like that.

Rem's weakness for not saying it and his own stupidity for making her say it make Subaru tremble, as if he was struck by thunder.

He was an idiot. A complete idiot. There should've been other things he had to say to her other than the fact that there was a baby inside of her at this moment and that they were blessed with a child. There were things, but he was such an idiot.

[Subaru: I…]

Subaru speaks reflexively, and that's when he had trouble putting it into words. Rem's watery eyes were sincerely staring straight at Subaru, waiting for his answer.

Doing something like saying a thoughtless statement on the spur of the moment would be unacceptable. Now was the time to make his frozen thoughts move again in front of Rem and ask his mind a question.

The new life inside Rem is Natsuki Subaru's.

The first emotions he felt when he imagined seriously facing their new life that was growing.

That was

[Subaru: Let's...see. I think I like it and I'm glad.]

[Rem]

[Subaru: We have a child…...a baby. And that...makes me……]

He faces the first, the very first deep emotions he had.

He felt surprised. He also felt anxious. But, more importantly, he felt passion. Natsuki Subaru defined that passion welling up in him as the first time he learned what it meant to be glad.

Subaru was happy to have a child with a girl so precious to him.

[Subaru: Rem!}

[Rem: Fua!?]

Subaru gives in to the urge hurting his chest, and he hugs Rem without thinking.

That sudden action surprises Rem, and the warmth she felt from Subaru, who was very close to her, makes her goggle in astonishment. Subaru brings his lips near her ears, and with everything he felt, he said,

[Subaru: Thank you, Rem. Thank you. Thank you, Rem.]

[Rem: Subaru…-ku……]

[Subaru: I'm so happy. We have a kid…...a family.]

[Rem: Ah]

Subaru cleared away his anxiety about the distant future, acted on the impulse he felt at this moment, and all of his words were his true feelings.

He had a baby with Rem. The two people who lived in Kararagi and called themselves a married couple, although it was just for form's sakethey were going to become a true family.

[Rem: Oo...foo…]

Being hugged, Rem nervously put her arms around Subaru's back. While hugging each other on the futon, Rem lets out a voice from her lips that sounded like crying.

It had to be the relief brought by the needle of his words breaking up the anxiety that had been growing endlessly.

[Subaru: Thank you, Rem.]

[Rem: NNo…...no, wait. I'm the one that should be……]

[Subaru: Thank you, Rem.]

Still hugging each other, Subaru expresses his gratitude again to Rem, who let out a sob. When Rem accepted it, her throat clogs up, and warm tears fell down from her eyes.

The intense impulse inside Subaru's chest naturally goes to his throat, and then into his eyes, spreading all through his body, and he begins to shake.

[Subaru: Ah...haha...hahaha……]

He tries to hide it before that impulse turned into tears and then into sobbing. His laughter was also shaky, and as a result, he couldn't hide anything anymore, though.

This was the moment where he just simply wanted to share the joy of being blessed with life as a married couple.

Because even if there were still things he had to think about, anxiety, and danger

[Rem: Subaru-kun, thank you. I love you.]

Subaru's gratitude and Rem's confession were, without a doubt, real.

Chapter 3: 3 Months

[Halibel: Still, that really surprised me. My heart almost stopped beating again.]

[Subaru: About that...]

[Rem: We're sorry for troubling you.]

Subaru and Rem were the ones who bowed their heads side by side in the room as it approached dawn. In front of them, it was Halibel who was making them apologize as he nodded calmly.

He puts his hand inside his kimono, moves his eyes while he scratched his chest, and stared at the wall of the room with human made dents and cracks. At the very least, these marks weren't there last night.

[Habliel: What's up with all that?]

[Subaru: They're the result of a ceremony to confirm a married couple being blessed with a new life…...maybe.]

[Rem: I'm sorry. I couldn't control myself very well, I guess because I was so confused.]

Subaru wiped his face with a towel, while Rem hung her head, showing regret.

In short, the dents in the wall were from Subaru crashing into it, and Rem was the one who made that happen. It happened right after she was told that she was pregnant and they shared the joy of being blessed with a child.

[Subaru: Yesterday was the continuance of shocking events. I wanted to make sure that having a child wasn't just a dream, so I asked Rem to hit me a little hard, and then that happened.]

[Rem: shrug]

[Halibel: …...Well, I'm just glad you didn't die because of it. I wouldn't really be able to rest in peace if you did.]

Halibel comments on the married couple's unusual sort of way they talked about their happiness with each other, and he looked away from the wall's dents. After that, he slightly opened one of his slit eyes as he said,

[Halibel: Anyway, let's talk about the cost of repairs for the wall later……]

[Subaru: Later?]

[Halibel: I have something I need to talk to you about, although it's nothing big.]

Halibel, sitting crossed legged on the tatami mat, started talking as he shook the kiseru in his mouth up and down.

The way he entered the topic sort of made the nervousness from last night return to Subaru. Rem's hit filled with love proved that the tumultuous series of events wasn't just a dream.

In short, all of it wasn't just a dream, including what Halibel did last night.

[Halibel: In short, saying that I'm a "Playboy" as a tenement house manager was just a disguise.]

Halibel confidently made a confession about himself, as if supporting Subaru's thoughts. The first major event that happened in the morning, continuing from last night. There seemed to be a serious light in Halibel's eyes

[Subaru: Wait, no there isn't. And he isn't even apologetic.]

[Halibel: Why would I need to be apologetic? I didn't do anything wrong, and I also protected you guys.]

After saying that there was more to it, Halibel responded to Subaru like he always would. It was very like him to be aloof and go at his own pace. He just accepted that, since he could even be confusing by suddenly starting to use an authoritative tone, like his personality had changed.

Anyhow, while Subaru fixed the position of Rem's futon blanket cover as she reflected upon herself, he said,

[Subaru: So about why you came out with that revealing, shocking truth……]

[Rem: Sorry, Halibel-sama. I, uh, kind of figured.]

[Halibel: Whaaat! How embarrassing! If you did, then that's really embarrassing! How embarrassing!]

Subaru's eyes were half-open, while Rem's eyes looked down awkwardly. Listening to their replies, Halibel looks up at the ceiling, and he sighed dramatically as he opened his big mouth and said, "God daaaamn it."

[Subaru: Hold on. You sigh stuff like, "God damn it", but aren't you said to be famous? Actually, I did sort of figure judging from the reactions of people around you, but you didn't even try to hide your name. So, being found out and being troubled are things you brought upon yourself.]

[Rem: I also heard a lot about Halibel-sama "The Great"...so I thought you were testing us at first when you said that you were a tenement house manager.]

[Halibel: Ah, so I've been found out since the beginning. Woe is me…]

[Subaru: Woe is not you.]

Subaru just now realizes that he had been left in the dark by the two of them as he made that joke.

How anxious did Rem feel for not telling even Subaru that they had suddenly met Kararagi's strongest on the first day they moved? He was pathetic for being unaware of how much Rem had struggled, despite having peaceful days in this town.

[Subaru: You should've told me. Rem, why did you carry the burden all by yourself?]

[Rem: Subaru-kun……]

Rem is always like this. She always sacrifices herself more than others. Even though they were living together now, she sacrifices herself for Subaru.

That's why she put the burden on herself until the situation came to light, yet again.

[Rem: I'm sorry. I didn't know Halibel-sama's true motive and……]

[Subaru: And?]

[Rem: And you're terrible at lying. I didn't want to provoke Halibel-sama since it'd show in your behavior if I carelessly told you about his identity……]

[Subaru: So you thought very realistically and didn't trust me!]

Subaru gets showered with Rem's sharp words again and again, and so he raises his voice. Seeing Subaru do that, Rem waved her hands in a panic as she said, "Oh, you've got it wrong."

[Rem: I do trust Subaru-kun. Really, words are not enough for me to describe how much I trust you. However, trusting you and making you do something you're incapable of doing are two different matters.]

[Halibel: The more you speak the more I feel bad for Su-san, so let's leave it at that, shall we?]

Rem tells her realistic opinion without hesitation as she put her unlimited love and trust into words.

In actuality, Rem was right to be concerned. Subaru wasn't so sure that he'd interacted with Halibel in the same way after she'd told him about his nickname.

Still, there was something he had to confirm in order for him to be convinced.

[Subaru: This may be a basic question, but is Hal-san really the strongest person in Kararagi? You sure it's not someone else in your family, or a good little twin brother?]

[Rem: About that…...sorry. I'm not completely sure.]

[Halibel: I'm in a bit of an awkward position now that you've apologized for that.]

Rem apologizes in response to Subaru's meaningless point, and it hurt Halibel.

[Halibel: I mean, do you have a problem with me being the strongest or something? Listen, I am the strongest. Or is the the kind of thing where you love the same old me too much, and not the real me?]

[Subaru: It's not something disgusting like that. It's something more idealistic. A strong person should have a strong person's personality, something like that.]

[Halibel: Now you're just insulting me!]

Halibel raised his voice unexpectedly because of Subaru's reasoning. Still, somehow he was Kararagi city-state's strongesthe was the strongest in one of the four large countries.

Of course, he'd like him to have a fitting character. Like how that "Sword Saint" Reinhard van Astra is an overwhelming warrior in the Lugnica kingdom.

[Subaru: …...Well, I guess that's just me being sentimental.]

[Halibel: It's not like I don't see your point, but this is what I've been doing for a long time. To be honest, I don't care that much about being known as the strongest…….and I don't understand being proud by being strong in a head-on fight and having confidence.]

He skillfully moves the kiseru in his mouth and draws a circle at the tip. Halibel's attitude makes Subaru knit his brows, and he tilted his head as he said, "Being strong in a head-on fight?"

[Halibel: I'm a shinobi warrior. My specialty is attacking around my opponent's weak points. Oh, but the details on how we fight are classified information. It'd endanger our existence. Sorry, we're all mostly dead now, besides me.]

[Subaru: I don't really get your joke on getting wiped out. Also, a 'shinobi'……]

[Haibel: Oh, people from outside the country might not understand it. As for 'shinobi', it's like 'that'. Like, how could I put this? They're 'that'. It's a job where it'd be bad if I explained 'that' part.]

[Rem: You haven't been specific about anything……]

Rem mercilessly casts aside Halibel's explanation that lacked the main point. Forgetting about the two of them, Subaru was correctly connecting shinobi with "shinobu" inside of his headin other words, he connected it with ninja.

He went from being astonished by the existence of wasou and wafuu culture, from katanas to chopsticks, and now finally even ninjas. Because of this, Subaru didn't have trouble understanding it. He didn't, but because of that, Halibel's confession now had a different meaning.

He was obscuring various parts of his confession by joking, but there was some truth in his main point.

That is, there was going to be some catch after finding out that he was a ninja.

[Subaru: ]

[Halibel: Su-san, you look pale, are you okay?]

[Subaru: What do you want from us?]

Subaru, cheeks stiffening with caution and nervousness, questioned Halibel, who sat cross-legged. Next to him, Rem also gets affected by the nervousness, and she gripped tight onto the futon blanket cover. Halibel could become a foe or an ally, depending on how he acts next.

And if he turned into their enemy, Subaru would have no chance of winning while holding Rem as she was pregnant.

[Halibel: If, say, in this situation, I said your liveswhat would you do?]

[Subaru: I would……]

[Halibel: ]

[Subaru: I would make excuses and say that we've been neighbors all this time, Rem and I are newlyweds, she's pregnant, and I'd shamelessly beg for our lives in desperation, appealing to your emotions…...probably.]

[Halibel: I see.]

Subaru's voice and facial expression were truly serious, and that was his reply to Halibel's question. After that, Halibel sighed, and his eyes open just slightly in surprise.

However, Rem, who listened to the same declaration Halibel heard, smiled at Subaru's reply. She reached out for her husband and held onto his free hand as proof of her trust.

Halibel sees the two of them unite like that, and he changed the way he held onto the kiseru with his hands.

And then

[Halibel: Wahahaha! SSu-san's so lame! So uncool! Making that face in front of your wife, "appeal to my emotions"...ahahah!]

[Subaru: You're laughing way too much!]

[Halibel: OOf course I'd...I'd laugh…...ahh, hah...hah...hah...I'm gonna die of laughter……! SSo this is what you were trying to do...an ingenious scheme!]

[Subaru: That's groundless, and I did reply seriously.]

[Halibel: I know I know.]

After laughing his ass off, Halibel wiped away the tears he had from laughing too hard. Then, being looked at by Subaru's displeased eyes, the wolf man raises his hands as he said,

[Halibel: Hahh, man that cracked me up. Sorry for laughing. But, you can relax. The hypothetical situation was absolutely hypothetical. After all, even if I really did have a job where I'd get in trouble for getting found out, it would be horrible to act without changing my name.]

[Subaru: TThat's true.]

[Halibel: Besides, it would be too counterproductive of me to get rid of someone I saved. If I was going to do that, I might as well not have bothered saving you yesterday.]

[Subaru: ]

He touches on the attack that happened last night, making Subaru tremble as he remembered the predicament.

In truth, if Halibel hadn't come, Subaru wouldn't be alive right now. The baby inside of Rem wouldn't be alive, either. On top of that, the baby would have been lost without them ever finding out about its existence

[Subaru: I'm really sorry for saying this so late. Hal-san…...Halibel-san, thanks a lot for yesterday. You are lifesaver. You saved me, Rem, and the baby inside of her.]

[Rem: Please let me thank you too. Thanks to you, we didn't end up losing our, erm, child. Thank you very much.]

[Halibel: Wooow, how sincere. I'll gratefully accept your thanks since it makes me happy, though.]

Seeing Subaru and Rem quickly bow their heads, Halibel cheerfully smiled. However, after that, while still having a smile on his face, he pointed the kiseru in his hand at Subaru as he said,

[Halibel: Okay, I accept your thanks. Still, you gotta quit it with that discomforting speech. It's really embarrassing for Su-san to call me Halibel-san at this point. Rem-chan you too. If you could stop with the 'Halibel-sama' stuff now and be more informal with me, that'd make me happy.]

[Subaru: …...Yeah, got it. Thanks, Hal-san.]

[Rem: I'll see what I can do, Halibel-sama.]

[Halibel: Your wife sure is stubborn!]

Halibel raises his hands to surrender to Rem, who stubbornly insisted on keeping the honorific. Then, Halibel lit the kiseru that he held with his raised hands, and he put it in his mouth. He then smokes it.

Once Subaru saw the rising smoke, he made a sour look.

[Subaru: Hal-san. Tobacco can harm a pregnant woman's body, so from now on, smoking is forbidden in this house.]

[Halibel: Ohh, don't worry about it. Mine has no tobacco, unlike a normal kiseru. Mine is like medicine. It's used by shinobis.]

[Rem: Medicine, you say?]

[Halibel: Yes. If I don't smoke this regularly, I'll die. Hahh, and then we'd all be wiped out.]

[Subaru: There you go again with jokes on getting wiped out……!]

His excuse sounded like a joke, but the wafting smell of the smoke made Subaru think otherwise. The smell of the smoke Halibel put out certainly was different from what you'd call tobacco, although Subaru wasn't very knowledgable about it. It did not have the smell of tobacco, but the smell of medicinebut it's not like that'd be good for a mother's body, either.

[Subaru: Anyway, refrain from doing it when Rem's here. If there's ever a time when you're torn between decisions, you could help our child out by bravely dying out.]

[Halibel: You just said that I'm a lifesaver though!]

[Subaru: Being a lifesaver and being a smoker are two different matters. Go do it by the window.]

Halibel gets sent from the middle of the tatami mat to the side, and he gives out smoke out the window while being sulky. And then, with his slit eyes, he looked at Subaru, who protected his wife and child, and said,

[Halibel: Putting the matter of the child aside as something to be handled by the husband and wife…...let's talk a little more about last night, shall we.]

[Subaru: Mm, alright.]

[Halibel: So, first I want you tell me about that person from last night. Do you have any idea who that girl is?]

[Subaru: ]

He starts talking about last night, and Subaru hesitates to answer his question about knowing who the culprit is.

He'd never seen that woman with a blade-like presence before. They truly weren't acquaintances. Still, it wasn't like he had no idea why she'd attack them.

The woman was clearly going after Subaru and Rem. This wasn't like something where they were unluckily dragged into an indiscriminate attack, since they were attacked not once, but twice, and she chased them all the way to the tenement house.

There could only be one reason as to why they were being chased someone with such bloodlustit had to be because Subaru and Rem were living alone together.

[Subaru: Wi……]

[Halibel: Wi?]

Subaru moves his stiff cheeks and his lips, and he tries to touch on who she might be. However, the fear Subaru should've forgotten about returns, and it continued to tear his mind apart as he tried to open the cover to his memory.

Actually, he didn't forget it. He had never forgotten about it.

The fear was still coiled around Natsuki Subaru as the chains of regret.

[Subaru: ]

Even the two letters of the words he tried to speak were unbearable for his tongue.

Seeing Subaru act like that, Halibel impatiently played with his whiskers with his fingers. And then,

[Rem: Subaru-kun, last night's culprit isn't who you think it is.]

[Subaru: Rem?]

[Rem: I know what you were feeling and what you were thinking just now. And I don't think you're right…...yes, that's what I'll say.]

There was an unexpected difference in their opinions. Subaru instead opened his eyes wide at Rem, who made that statement. She nods at Subaru, and Halibel gave him a serious look.

He takes that look head on, and Halibel slightly opened one of his eyes as he said,

[Halibel: You shouldn't lie to take care of Su-san. I know this doesn't sound convincing coming from someone who calls himself a playboy, but we aren't playing around here. This is a life-threatening matter.]

[Rem: I'm not lying. I…...I have the nose to sniff out that enemy. I couldn't sense it in the person from last night. So, the culprit is not related to what he thinks.]

[Halibel: . How reliable is your nose?]

[Rem: I'm able to be with Subaru-kun right now because of my nose.]

Those words did not justify anything. Still, they were declared so confidently that it didn't feel that way. As a result, Halibel's reacted a little late.

Meanwhile, Rem brought Subaru's arms towards her, and she hugged them firmly.

[Rem: Here's proof.]

[Halibel: Su-san and Rem-chan sure are quite the…...troubling neighbors.]

[Subaru: …...Says the guy who hid his identity.]

[Halibel: I wasn't able to hide it, though. But, you got a point. Then I guess we're neighbors in the same boat. We're friends at this tenement house, so let's get along and work together.]

Halibel suddenly smiles, and he faced the two people who were close to each other as he suggested to work together. His words surprise Subaru, and then Rem and him look at each other. They didn't understand his true motive.

Kararagi's strongest was going to help them in this situation where they had no allies and were being targeted by an enemy of unknown affiliation. It was a charming proposal, but he still wanted to know Halibel's intentions before jumping at it.

What did he have to gain from supporting Subaru and Rem in this situation?

[Subaru: I don't get why you'd help us out so much……]

[Halibel: Don't stress over complicated things. Elder asked me to take care of you guys, and plus you have no friends. Fussing over pros and cons is a part of Kararagi, however losing friends is an extraordinarily heavy loss. Isn't it just natural for me to act so that I don't lose any?]

Halibel says that, and he makes a gesture that looked like a wink as he normally would. He wasn't completely sure if it was a wink because both of his eyes were always squinted like slit eyes.

Everything about his behavior lacks seriousness, and so it didn't feel like there was an ulterior motive behind him doing it. Everything about Halibel's character is aloof, and that makes him who he is.

That's exactly why he believed him and why he didn't think he was just telling a lie he'd like to hear.

[Subaru: I understand. Thanks a lot for saying that. We're going to rely on you so much.]

[Halibel: Yep, depend on me as much as you want. Once you become parents, you won't be able to whine with the child there anyway. Now's the time to depend on me before that happens.]

Subaru felt temporarily relief, saved by his generous response. Once Halibel nodded at Subaru, who was finally relieved, he continued by saying, "Still."

[Halibel: We have no idea who the culprit is that's our biggest problem.]

[Subaru: About that, how about you make around 1000 clones and overpower her by sheer force of numbers?]

[Halibel: You truly are going to depend on me a lot, huh……Also, cloning is pretty much my trump card. I can't just use it recklessly. 1000 clones is impossible, and I'm bluffing pretty hard when I'm four.]

[Subaru: How about your sense of smell as a wolf? Maybe you can go after the culprit's smell or something with that.]

[Halibel: About thaaat, I did try it.]

Halibel snorted at Subaru, who had his clone tactic rejected and suggested an alternate plan. As he moved around his black nose and sniffed he said,

[Halibel: How strange. I can't smell that girl's scent anymore. If you want to escape my nose, you have to get rid of your scent pretty carefully…...I guess she's just that skilled.]

[Subaru: This mean she's taken countermeasures against Hal-san.]

In this situation, what's terrifying is that woman's meticulous planning.

In regards to the sequence of events of last night, Halibel becoming Subaru and Rem's ally was still unconfirmed information. However, the woman perfectly prepared for that uncertain factor, and she attacked.

A night attack after people were cleared from the street, and a surprise attack where she came after him at the tenement housein a way, both of these attacks weren't matching in meticulousness, especially in the latter event where they exchanged some words to a certain extent.

[Halibel: Basically, right now we'll just have to wait and see. No unnecessary sacrifices will be made this way, although I did talk about this with the town's policeman just in case. It'd be problematic if the town became covered in bodies after picking a fight carelessly.]

[Subaru: It makes sense to clear out people. You think they'll find her?]

[Rem: You shouldn't expect much, I think. I should just take the initiative and act.]

[Subaru: You absolutely mustn't do that.]

Subaru rejected Rem's frail opinion with powerful words.

Although there still weren't any changes showing in her appearance, Rem was pregnant. He wasn't going to allow her to overwork herself. He even wanted to make her take a break from her job at Temple Elementary School and rest at the house.

Then, Subaru suddenly had a realization.

[Subaru: …...Crap. What am I going to do about work?]

[Rem: I have to go to Temple Elementary School too.]

Subaru and Rem, who were focused on the conversation, notice that it's right around the time to leave for work, and their faces became pale.

This was a critical moment for Subaru if he wanted to keep his job, and of course, it also was for Rem, who was a fulltime worker. Absences from work without notice were inexcusable; ICD inform, contact, discuss is essential for a working adult.

[Halibel: Ahh, should you really be worry about that right now?]

[Subaru: Don't be stupid. Don't lump me with you when you have unearned income. Were going to eat, whether or not there is an enemy. Money is needed in order for us to eat. We aren't going to miss anything in our daily life.]

Subaru talked back to Halibel, who acted shocked, and he continued with a, "Besides."

[Subaru: This is frustrating. It's so outrageous how this keeps messing with the flow of our lives even though it's all her fault. I'm not just going to sit back and let this happen.]

[Halibel: ]

Their daily lives were still waiting after the reasonable attacks by the enemy and repelling danger. Subaru and the others had lives to live even after their eventful story.

Therefore, he absolutely couldn't stand breaking down what they'd built up.

[Subaru: Plus, we have a tight family budget.]

[Rem: And we're going to have one more member, so we need to save up.]

[Halibel: What kind of threat is this!? You two truly are a ridiculous married couple.]

They used their lives and their new life as an excuse, and Halibel went into deep thought with a troubled look. The two of them were firmly determined. Understanding that, Halibel let out a deep sigh with his big mouth.

[Halibel: The enemy probably won't attack today or tomorrow for now.]

[Subaru: What makes you say that?]

[Halibel: She took countermeasures while considering my nose, right? I came to this conclusion because I don't think that she'd rush it and make a mistake.]

[Rem: I think he has a point.]

Rem also agreed with Halibel, who raised a finger. Subaru was convinced too as he said, "I see."

They were thinking that the enemy wouldn't do anything without enough preparation, precisely because she is smart. You could say that they trusted her meticulous style, although it wasn't very fitting for someone who'd hurt him so much.

As long as they followed the twisted trust that came from the right track

[Halibel: I'll stay with Rem-chan for today. That way, Su-san can also relax, and the doctor from yesterday can come too once it becomes fire time.]

[Subaru: …...Got it. I'll go to the palace and talk with Riften-san and the landlady. I'll tell Temple Elementary School that Rem will be taking a day off, too.]

[Rem: …...Yes. It's unfortunate, but please do.]

Although Rem seemed bummed out, she nodded in agreement with Subaru's plan without opposing it.

As for Subaru's job, he had no choice but to reveal the situation and wait for Riften and the landlady's decision. It was depressing how the hinted path to being promoted to a full-time employee was undoubtedly far away, though.

However, once Rem moved forward in stages of pregnancy, she'd no longer be able to work at Temple Elementary School without being hindered by the enemy. That alone was a sure fact.

[Rem: Please let me continue for as long as possible, Subaru-kun.]

[Subaru: …...We'll have to have a good talk about that, too.]

[Rem: Okay]

It was now Subaru's turn to support Rem, as she was dealing with two problems her job, and pregnancy. So that no other agonizing things would torment Rem's heart, even if they were justifiable.

[Subaru: Alright, although it's extremely hard for me to do this…...I think...I'm gonna...go to work……!]

[Halibel: You should just quit if it's so hard for you.]

[Subaru: Don't just say that so casually, undeserving noble. I'm going to be 'that', you know. From now on, I'm going to be the provider of my family.]

He says that and somehow stands up after almost getting smashed by the weight of being a provider.

That...that's right. Rem has a baby. Subaru's going to be a father.

He's going to become the provider in order to protect this place called the Natsuki home.

These were the thoughts weighing very very heavily on Subaru.

[Rem: Take care, Subaru-kun. I'll be waiting for you to come back home.]

[Subaru: Yep, I'm off now.]

Rem, smiling slightly, gently relieves the pressure and reluctance Subaru had, and she sees him off. After that, Subaru took a deep breath, and then he goes towards the tenement house exit. He put his hand on the door, and he finally turned around.

[Subaru: Hal-san, please take care of Rem, seriously. If something happens, please sacrifice yourself.]

[Halibel: I never had a talent for dodging attacks, mind you.]

He waves, makes sure Halibel promised him, and he left.

The wind was cold, and the rising morning sun was slowly starting to brightly shine on the town of Banan.

[Subaru: So bright.]

He probably thought that the morning sun was brighter than usual because of his current state of mind.

While thinking that way, Subaru started walking towards his workplace to fulfill his duty.

The turmoil that continued from last night this series of events shocked Subaru significantly.

It was hinted that he'd be promoted to a full-time employee at his workplace, and then his life was threatened by an unfamiliar enemy on the streets at night. Once he got home, he was nearly killed by the enemy that followed him, and lastly, Rem's pregnancy was revealed.

Honestly, the good and bad major events were too much for a single day. He even wanted to complain.

Still, there were plenty of happy realizations that happened because of the major events continuing.

First and foremost, there was celebrating Rem being pregnant. That was a huge deal.

As usual with many men, the shock from unexpectedly finding out one's partner is pregnant is immeasurable. Subaru also was so shocked that he couldn't even tell that his surprise was surprise.

However, after the first wave of shock subsided, pure joy as well as gratitude towards Rem were left in Subaru's mind, so he was happy about it himself.

Children should be loved by their parents and born with joy and blessings.

Even though Subaru knew that this rule didn't apply to all children, he wanted to believe in the ideal. Or at least, Subaru was raised in such a way that made him believe in it.

That's why he wanted to love his child. He believed that being loved brings happiness.

That being said, always being worried about not being prepared enough is an entirely different matter.

And then there was the second realization; they realized they were blessed with the people around them.

First of all, they were able to settle down in Banan town thanks to the connection they made with the person they had met on their journey. News got around, they made connections with Halibel, and then that led to them escaping death by the skin of their teeth last night as well as his help this morning.

And then he even realized it in Temple Elementary School when he came to tell them that Rem would be absent from work.

[???: Pregnant! Really! Wow, that's great!]

Subaru was blessed so much by the Temple Elementary School staff that he was the one who behaved modestly.

Frankly, it was a personal affair of a newcomer. He prepared himself for insults like, "The new female teacher doesn't know how to responsibly separate her private life from her job!" but it wasn't anything to worry about.

Another teacher covered for her absence, and he was told that a higher-up would talk about what would happen from here on out. He did nothing but thank them. In an unexpected way, he found out about his wife's popularity at her workplace, and it made him proud as a husband.

That's how things didn't go as he expected in a good way, and then Subaru went to his own workplace.

He had to tell his employer Riften and the landlady superior about the situation and discuss what they'd do from here on out. Of course, this was a personal issue. Subaru was planning on discussing it when the opportunity came.

He was going to, but

[???: Subaru-chan, your wife is pregnant?]

All his enthusiasm went to waste, as it seemed they'd already heard about it from someone somewhere. For some reason, in the palace it was already well known that Rem was pregnant, seeing how he was plied with questions at once.

His memory on what happened after that wasn't very clear, but it did end with a warm conclusion of, "Ooh, Subaru-chan may have a childish look, but I guess he really does get some, too."

After that, he did have another opportunity to have a discussion with Riften.

[Riften: I heard about your situation. That's a pretty tough spot to be in.]

[Subaru: YYes…...sorry. I've troubled Master with my private life……]

[Riften: What? I don't think it's a bother or anything. A new life means the birth of a new client.]

[Subaru: You are so open-minded.]

He reveals the situation to Riften in the tearoom, and the way he accepted it dumbfounded him, rather than surprised him.

Seeing Subaru react like that, Riften continued speaking as he said, "Also."

[Riften: I heard about what happened last night from Mr. Halibel. If there's anything on your mind, feel free to talk about it. The ladies and I will listen to what you have to say.]

[Subaru: Well…...I, uh, appreciate it. However, why are you doing this?]

[Riften: Why am I being so nice? I told you, I have high hopes for you. I invested the asset hope in you. Of course I'd try everything so that I could recover my shares.]

Subaru's extremely understanding workplace and his employer's powerful words were starting to move him to tears. However, it was too pathetic of him to look like that. He was being spoiled too much.

[Riften: I'm sure that the ladies will respond nicely, too. That's the trust you cultivated.]

[Subaru: …...It's only been about two weeks.]

[Riften: Two valuable weeks, that is. That's all there is to it.]

He basically tells Subaru that it's no big deal, and now was the time when he had to look up.

Everyone at the Magoji palace became true lifesavers to Subaru in this moment.

He was fortunately blessed with lifesavers, neighbors, and with people at his workplace.

The tumultuous day let him know that he was blessed with many things, including a child.

All the more reason for the mysterious woman to cast a shadow on his happiness.

For Subaru and Rem, the enemy was too unpredictable. They had no clue as to why they were being targeted, 'according to Rem'. Still, that beautiful, cruel killer would definitely show up again.

Even with Halibel, the one renowned the strongest of Kararagi, they couldn't achieve relief easily.

And so, Subaru quickly left home and hurried on home, depending on the kindness of everyone at the palace. He'd return the favor, no matter what. So, he'd depend on them, just for now.

Connections helped him out with one urgent matter. Subaru didn't have any bright ideas for the remaining problemfor countermeasures against the woman, but with Halibel, someone who was familiar with the town, and Rem, who had extensive knowledge, perhaps they would come up with a solution.

While having hopes like that inside, Subaru ran through the street and

[???: You look like a fool walking around all alone. Are you even trying to protect your woman?]

Right in the middle of the street, he was convinced that Halibel was quite off with his foresight.

[???: What are you playing dumb for? Look, can you take your eyes off of me?]

The woman showed up in front of Subaru in an extremely unashamed way, like it was no big surprise.

He was in town in the middle of going back from the Magoji Palace to the tenement house. He managed to leave work early in the afternoon thanks to the people around him being considerate, and so it was currently in the afternoon with the sun high upthat was obvious. However, there were surging crowds walking past each other, and they were practically sticking out like sore thumbs.

In fact, the woman's brutish beautiful face charmed people, and it wasn't suitable for spying at all, for better or worse. If she had the same objective as last night, then perhaps the street being unclear was some sort of blunder by her.

Or maybe she was going to attack him despite all the attention.

[Subaru: ]

Subaru muffles his voice and looks at the street. Nobody could tell that this woman, who was standing in the middle of the street as if she owned it, was a dangerous person. If she attacked with as much force as she did last night, many people would get harmedespecially if the attack was as vicious as her first one was. He could not imagine the amount of damage it'd cause.

[Subaru: I messed up…...I thought you were cautious.]

Clear out people, prepare for the enemy, and find out where he ran. He was inclined to believe that she wanted to secretly accomplish her objective and was going to at least carry out those things cautiously.

This was the result. She had the whole town hostage, and he couldn't act.

[Subaru: How cruel it is for you to be such a sharp woman.]

[???: Huh? You sure can be rude out of nowhere. How could you greet someone like that?]

[Subaru: Everyone around are hostages, and if I run away, you will show no mercy. That's your plan, isn't it?]

The woman squints, her eyes were cold, and she had on the same white clothes from last night. The well-dressed woman's Wasou being pure white without a single stainalthough that wasn't a very rare sightand her beautiful face being eccentric created this ethereal sort of harmony.

That's what he'd think if Subaru never found out that this silent person standing, looking like a painting God drew, was actually a sadist who hurt him and made him suffer.

[???: Well, whatever. We can talk for a little while we walk.]

[Subaru: What?]

[???: It's too noisy here, and we're going to the same place anyway. You do know that you aren't in a position to refuse, don't you?]

Jerking her chin, the woman overbearingly tells him to walk with her. The people around were being held hostage. It was frustrating, but he had no choice but to do what she told him.

If only she hadn't said those unforgivable words.

[Subaru: You're going to the same place…...which means...no way, you bastard.]

[???: The home you and your woman live in. Some mutt is taking care of her right now, right? That's why you're here. If its owner is here, wouldn't you feel more at ease if he had a collar?]

[Subaru: Don't be ridiculous! Why would I let...as if I'd let you come with me! I won't let a dangerous woman like you see Rem……]

[???: Shut up.]

[Subaru: ]

The woman grumpily says those two words to Subaru, who firmly denied her request.

Hearing the sharpness of her tone, Subaru feels an illusionary knife stab his throat, silencing him.

His blood was freezing because of the woman's sharpened hostility. It was the pressure from last night that very well might make one fall to their knees, practically disgracing themselves.

However

[Subaru: …...Like hell anyone would let you see Rem.]

[???: Wow. I'm kind of impressed. I thought you were gonna be a coward and freeze up.]

The woman's slit eyes widen, and she said that to Subaru, who opposed her as he bit his lip. After that, she pointed a finger at Subaru, whose face turned red from anger and agitation, and said,

[???: Still, I won't listen to you. And besides, you've got it all wrong.]

[Subaru: I've got it all wrong?]

[???: I'm not trying to kill you guys. Not right now, that is.]

The woman shrugged her shoulders as she opened the hand she pointed at him, waving it. She had calm actions and calm behavior, however this was the same way she acted last night when she beat up Subaru.

This woman is capable of beating Subaru to death while smiling, after all.

[Subaru: …...How can I believe you?]

[???: I'm capable of killing anyone I want to kill. When I thought to kill you yesterday, I had plenty of time to do so. And yet, I didn't kill you. So, I have no intention of killing you.]

That was some poor logic for proof. And yet, it had undeniable weight.

It was the sort of truth that was pride and a fact, and you could only call it a self-evident truth.

The woman was an enemy. She had both hostility and bloodlust. However, she left without taking Subaru and Rem's lifes, showed up the next day, and told him that he was headed towards their home.

[Subaru: I have no idea what you're thinking.]

[???: You want me to tell you right away...What are you, a baby? Doesn't your female partner have a baby? If you're gonna to be a parent, how about you be a little more independent and use that noggin of yours?]

[Subaru: Seeing as you've changed after overnight, are you taking me to the tenement house to apologize or something?]

[???: Hah, that's rich. It's a good thing I'm not planning on killing you, huh.]

The woman scoffs at Subaru, and she starts to walk with her back turned on him. She didn't speak, but her shaking milky white hair was silently pressuring him to come with her.

Even if he resisted now, the woman would still head towards the tenement house. The town was also being held hostage.

[Subaru: How do you know Rem is pregnant?]

[???: Because I could tell by looking, obviously. Can you not assume that I'm similar to a slow male like you?]

[Subaru: Rem didn't notice, either.]

[???: Okay, then can you not assume that I'm similar to slow males and females like you guys?]

The woman dutifully corrects herself and walks through the town with Subaru while humming. It was unfamiliar, messy humming that didn't have a melody or anything really, but something about it sounded nostalgic.

That being said, Subaru didn't stop being cautious of the woman one bit, and he kept thinking about how he'd have no way to tell the two in the tenement house if she ever let her guard down.

Still, coming up with a dramatic idea in the mere 15 minutes it'd take to get there was highly unlikely

[Halibel: I did feel like your smell was coming back awfully quickly.]

Halibel, who was lighting his kiseru in front of the tenement house, let that statement out.

He came out to the front for a smoke break, and he happened to meet Subaru and the woman once they arrived. When Halibel stared at the two of them with imperceivable emotions in his slit eyes, he said,

[Halibel: The day after you discover your wife's pregnant, you bring back another beautiful woman. What's that say about you as a man?]

[???: I think it means he's the worst, what do you think?]

[Halibel: I'll have to agree that he is on the outside. But this isn't the time to be joking around.]

[???: Hmm…]

Halibel, who took smoke into his lungs and breathed it out from his nose, ponders something. Then, he slowly stands up, and he looked at the women as he cleaned off his butt.

[???: Can you not get cocky just because you're huge?]

[Halibel: Now that's a new false accusation. You're such a beautiful woman, so you could at least let me win in height.]

[???: One who enjoys being praised by a mutt is merely a mutt of a woman.]

There was no way to get along with this woman. The woman's stern reply didn't bring down Halibel, but as for Subaru, he was worried about this grim situation and Remwho would have to get involved eventually.

[Subaru: Halibel, where's Rem?]

[Halibel: I'm surprised you asked in this situation. …...She's inside. She wouldn't listen when I told her to at least let me do the housework. I gave in.]

[Subaru: Sounds like Rem.]

Although she was pregnant, you could actually say that she was still in the early stages of pregnancy. Since her stomach didn't look all that different, at this point housework shouldn't be that much of a burden on her, although this was just Subaru's guess he made based off the little knowledge he had in health and physical education.

The woman next to him was 100 times more likely to be a burden.

[Halibel: So, really, who is that girl? She does have quite the foul mouth, but is she a friend of yours?]

[Subaru: No, you must know who she is. …...She's the woman who attacked us yesterday.]

[Halibel: Huuuuh?]

Subaru was disappointed by Halibel's poor guessing ability as he thought about how slow he was to get it. He thought that he was having a pointless conversation to kill time, but apparently that was not the case.

However, Halibel had an odd look after Subaru made that point, and he said,

[Halibel: She's…the girl from yesterday? But wait……]

[???: What? Are you trying to say that it's a lie? Are you trying to say that I don't look like someone who'd do something like that? Can you not make me laugh? I threw this guy all over the room, beat him to a bloody pulp……wait! Come to think of it, yesterday you disgusted me with all that sweat you were covered in! What are you going to do to make up for that!?]

[Subaru: Nothing! My body is shaky as hell now, be satisfied with that.]

The woman interrupts Halibel, and in the middle of talking, she heats up with anger as last night came to her mind. Seeing that unreasonable behavior, which was like an outburst of anger, Subaru tries to appease her rage by reasoning that he could still feel the pain from the bruises on his body.

And then, once this ruckus suddenly began in front of the tenement house, it happened.

[Rem: I'd like to talk.]

The tenement house door opened, and the one who step foot into a dangerous situation was a blue-haired girlit was Rem. Rem finished up the housework, and when she loosened the tied sleeves of her kimono, she smiled at Subaru.

[Rem: Welcome home, Subaru-kun. You're quite early today. You really wanted to see me that badly?]

[Subaru: …...Yeah, I sure did. To be honest, it hurts when I'm not with you, even if it's only for one moment.]

[Rem: WWell…...yes, erm, I feel the same way. Oh no, now I'm blushing.]

[???: Can you not!?]

The married couple's innocent exchange make the woman's displeasure explode in a different way. The woman pulls her own short hair out as she said,

[???: Sheesh, this is just wrong……]

[Rem: I'm sorry about that. How about we go inside and cool down first? I'll make some tea, so please come on in.]

[???: ]

The woman was probably trying to say something you would never expect to hear from her.

The women looked stupefied. Subaru and Halibel also exchange looks. Seeing their three reactions, Rem tilts her head, and while softly making a happy look, she said,

[Rem: You shouldn't startle the baby. Let's have a good talk.]

So, she most definitely had mouthed, "The mother is strong."

[Tia: My name is…...ahh, it's Tia. Call me that for now.]

The womanTia, who was let into the room and sunk onto the tatami mat, named herself in an discomforting way.

In front of Tia, Subaru and Rem were sitting next to each other, and Halibel was standing and leaning against a wall near the entrance. It was almost like a stressful interview in a meeting hall, but you couldn't necessarily blame them once you considered the tension covering the room.

In fact, something like a stressful interview or a defense was about to beginit was a scene to get to the bottom of Tia's objective, as she went out of her way to come back to the tenement house.

[Subaru: I really hope this isn't the sort of thing where the culprit comes back to the scene of the crime just to double check things…]

It's possible that she named herself to further her relationship with them. Rem places the tea in front of Tia, perhaps in response to her compromise, and when she quickly bowed, she said,

[Rem: I'm Rem. Next to me is Subaru-kun, my husband. The one at the wall is Halibel-sama, who lives in the next room. Pleased to meet you, Tia-sama.]

[Tia: Subaru-kun and Halibel-sama?]

[Subaru: Just "Subaru" and "Halibel" is fine. Anyway, Rem, you don't need to say this girl's name with a "-sama" honorific. She's like…...like an enemy.]

Tia was practically treated like a guest, but she was still someone who should clearly be classified as an enemy. Subaru was the one who insisted on that, but Rem shook her head as she said,

[Rem: I have to. Since Tia-sama has been invited, she's a guest. And you're treating someone who just came to talk poorly. She came here because she had something to talk about. Isn't that right, Tia-sama?]

[Tia: Humph, I think I like you a little more than that male. Rem, was it? I'll keep that in mind. As for the male and the mutt, they're a no-go.]

Tia, being in a better mood because of Rem treating her politely, took a sip of her tea. She choked.

[Tia: Ouch! So hot! It's so hot.]

[Rem: Oh, I'm sorry. Are you okay?]

[Tia: II'm impressed. I let my guard down, and then this happens. You're a tough one.]

[Subaru: You just inflicted pain on yourself. Quit it, otherwise this conversation will go nowhere.]

With his hand, Subaru stopped Rem from apologizing to Tia, who wrongly resented her as she displayed her inability to take in hot things.

It seemed like he'd misread Tia's character, as she's been having listless interactions. However, Subaru would never let his guard down. He was staying alert for when she'd strike like she did last night.

[Tia: The male seems to have a sickness of becoming tense and pointlessly marking his territory. Whatever. I'll finish this business quickly, just like you want. I don't have much time, either. In fact, I'm very busy.]

[Subaru: Business…..]

[Tia: Like I SAID, I didn't come here to kill you. That does depend on you guys, though.]

At the end of Tia's statement, her voice turned cold, and once she put down her teacup, she looked at the front with her sharp eyes.

And then

[Tia: For mercy's sake, I'll assume you did it on the spur of the moment. So, don't worry about the whole retribution thing. Give back the light ball instead.]

She declared that as she stared at Subaruno, she stared at Rem.

That was the first thing that confused Subaru. Tia's eyes fell on Rem and she literally thought nothing of people like Subaru who were right next to her. The next thing that confused him was the "light ball" Tia talked about, as he had no idea what that was. It seemed Rem didn't either, as she said,

[Rem: light ball……?]

She tilts her head, and a question mark appeared. However, Tia wasn't happy with that answer.

[Tia: Respond carefully. "Yes" is the only answer I want to hear. A wrong answer will cost you parts of your body.]

Tia tells that to Rem as she stuck her hand out in front of her and pointed at her with a white finger.

Her quiet voice sounded calm, but it was fake. There was anger hidden within her tone, and it was just counting to the time when it'd blow up.

Tia directs her anger at Rem by saying that her answer would affect the outcome, and she meant it. In this coercive negotiation, it was as if she was saying that people like Halibel wouldn't be able to deter her

[Subaru: HHold on.]

[Tia: No. Choose your words wisely, and that goes for you too, not just Rem. Make one wrong move, and your female partner's fingers won't suffice.]

[Subaru: What are you, a devil? Whatever, doesn't matter, just listen. What is this light ball?]

[Tia: Playing innocent, huh. It's what you guys stole. I don't know what you call it, but it's my light ball. I came to get it back.]

[Subaru: What the hell is that……]

Subaru's answer makes Tia's mood worsen even more. But no matter how much anger she had inside, Subaru would not give her the answer she wanted.

This is because Subaru truly had no idea what the "light ball" was, and of course, neither did Rem.

Even though she said they stole it, it was a bolt from the blue. Even if she ranted about it, they couldn't imagine how what kind of object it was or how important it was to Tia.

But

[Tia: I warned you. Choose your words wisely. You failed to do that.]

]

A wind blows by, going between Subaru and Rem, and it created a sharp mark on the wall in the back.

Sharp cracks were vertically cut into the tenement house wall, as if it had been showered with slashes. The sharpness was so fierce that, had the target been a person instead of a wall, it could've easily torn them in half.

A kind of threat and warning. By using force, Tia demonstrated that they wouldn't get off next time.

[Halibel: ]

Halibel, watching in the back, couldn't move. Perhaps he had no chance to move because he didn't see the demonstration coming, which wasn't done to hit them. He wasn't sure.

In any case, for Subaru and Rem, this demonstrated that it was a force to be reckoned with. Afterwards, Tia posed the same question to Rem.

Which was

[Tia: Where is the light ball? Give it back.]

[Rem: …...I'm terribly sorry. My answer is the same as Subaru-kun's.]

[Tia: ]

[Rem: I can't return something I don't know about.]

[Tia: I see.]

Rem answered firmly as she stared straight at Tia. Hearing Rem's answer, Tia closes her eyes, and then she moved a finger on her right hand that she held out.

The wind blew. This time it intensely blew off the room's fusuma, splitting it into two.

[Tia: Are you still not going tell me?]

[Rem: It's not that I can't tell you about it. I have no clue what it is.]

[Tia: You sure are stubborn!]

Tia's anger towards Rem. who still stood her ground, finally explodes.

Tia stands up, and she stuck her hands out left and right. The next moment, the terrifying wind devastates the room, and the room is cut up by kamaitachi. Destruction demolishes the room.

The wall, the fusuma, the shelves, the tatami mat, the tea table everything gets destroyed, falling down in the room. Subaru was stiff and holding his breath, as the waves of the raging wind fell all over him.

However, Rem didn't avert her eyes, and she didn't run away in fear.

[Tia: Gr…...rrr……!]

Tia no longer had a main target for destruction in the room, and she finally roared. She looks at Rem, then Subaru, and then Halibel, and then she said,

[Tia: II'm going to kill that mutt. Are you still not going to give it back?]

[Rem: Nope, I can't.]

[Halibel: I mean, there's kinda no other choice with how the conversation's going, but aren't you treating me too poorly here?]

Rem's strong will stubbornly pushes aside Tia's desperate threat. Now that it's turned out like this, even if Tia were to cruelly kill Halibel, her wish wouldn't be granted.

[Tia: Well, I guess it'll help my mood just a little bit.]

[Halibel: Su-san, may I cry?]

[Subaru: I feel you. You say 'little' because, like, when things don't really work out, you get deeply disappointed.]

[Halibel: Not exactly the kind of support I was hoping for…]

Subaru, seeing Halibel sulk unhappily out of the corner of his eye, let out a brief sigh. Looking around the room, there were traces of destruction all over the placehowever, Subaru and the others were all uninjured.

Once one saw that, even Subaru could tell what was going on, no matter how slow on the uptake he was.

[Subaru: You really don't have any intention of killing us.]

Tia looked at Subaru, who came to that conclusion, with her eyes filled with anger and hatred. However, her sharp eyes couldn't kill people, no matter how much bloodlust they had.

The room was cut up by Tia's anger, but that anger was not bloodlust. This is because she "has no intention of killing them", just like she has been saying from the start.

The threat was simply a threat and nothing more. In fact, it was like she was making an abnormal amount of effort to avoid harming them.

[Subaru: And yet, yesterday you nearly killed me……]

[Tia: I didn't know Rem had a baby at the time……]

[Subaru: So that's why.]

[Tia: Oops.]

Tia let the cat out of the bag with a sulky look. It was too late for her to shut her mouth.

In other words, she

[Rem: You didn't kill us because Subaru-kun and I have a child…..?]

[Tia: You stole the light ball. A sin is a sin. However, that sin is yours. The baby has nothing to do with it. Taking its life would go against my beliefs as a "Shinigami".]

[Subaru: "Shinigami"...]

Hearing Tia express her thoughts, Subaru takes a brief look at Halibel. He felt like Tia had called herself a "Shinigami" last night, but he couldn't remember things very clearly from the time when he was nearly killed. Seeing Subaru give him that look, Halibel tilted his head slightly to indicate that he had no idea what she meant. It was a self-proclaimed name, and nothing moreeven with that granted, her power was little too much for the name.

[Subaru: In any case, you won't kill us. You're even avoiding hurting us. So……]

[Tia: So "give it up"? There's gotta be a limit to how impudent a thief can be. I'm going to get the light ball back. If the baby gets in my way, then I'll just have to wait for it to be born.]

[Subaru: That'd take too long, first of all……]

While being torn between her beliefs and anxiety, Tia shows that she won't give in one bit.

Seeing Tia's distress, Subaru looks at Rem, wondering what they should do. When Rem nodded at Subaru's look, she spoke while kneeling upright, not even breaking down within the wind.

[Rem: Tia-sama, like I've said many times, I have no idea what this light ball of yours is. I'll repeat myself again, I am not the one who stole it.]

[Subaru: Rem was always with me. Rem had no time to do something so outrageous, and she'd never do such a thing, either. Why are you accusing us anyway? Was there some sort of deciding factor?]

[Tia: Isn't it obvious? It's the nose.]

[Subaru: ]

Tia answers Subaru's question confidently, pointing at her own nose. Hearing that answer, Subaru grimaces, and he lost his breath as his chest was struck by an unexpected force.

She found them by relying on her sense of smell. Chills and understanding were what welled up once he heard thatthings that were expected.

Tia sniffed out Subaru with her sense of smell and came here

[Tia: Judging by that look, you must know something. Protect your female partner all you want, it's no use. Rem reeks of the smell of a thief!]

[Subaru: ]

Hearing Tia's triumphant words, Subaru loses his voice for a moment.

Then, he thoroughly thinks about the words she said and says,

[Subaru: …...Rem? Not me?]

[Tia: Huh? What's this, you trying to protect her with an awful tearjerker act? Sorry, but my nose can't be fooled. My nose tells me that Rem is the culprit!]

Tia sternly points at Rem, and she declared that once again with a triumphant look.

She was aggressive in anticipation of Subaru feeling guilty, based off his reaction. However, it was not the kind of guilt Tia was hoping for.

Thus, a very complicated atmosphere started to spread between Subaru and the others.

[Tia: WWhat...you people…….Are you trying to belittle me with those looks?]

[Subaru: We're not……]

[Rem: There has to be some sort of misunderstanding…]

[Tia: I am not wrong! My nose is absolute! Hey, mutt! You have a dog like face, so you must get it, right?]

[Halibel: Why would you think that I'd take your side? Are you my wife?]

[Tia: Like hell I am!!]

Tia's white face turns red, and she yelled as she stamped her feet. It no longer looked like she had the intimidating air that she had in the beginning; she was just a lone girl who dug herself into a hole.

After Tia breathed heavily and glared at Subaru and the others one by one,

[Tia: You aren't returning what you stole! You're looking down on me! Who do you people think you are!? You're gonna regret becoming parents if this is how you act!]

[Subaru: Let's stop all this emotional denial. Also, how about you give it up already? You made a mistake. None of us stole whatever that light ball is.]

[Tia: NO I DIDN'T! Rem had to have stolen it! There's no way I'm wrong……]

[Rem: Okay, well..]

Subaru couldn't figure how how to deal with Tia, who finally started throwing a tantrum. Rem was the one who interrupted Tia, who was acting stubborn like a child, which was improper for how she looked.

[Rem: Tia-sama, it seems you think that Subaru-kun and I have stolen something.]

Rem softly speaks to Tia, as if she was trying to reason with an unreasonable child. After that, Tia's face stiffened, and then she turned around to face Rem.

[Tia: For the record, you are the only one who did it. This male doesn't seem to know about it.]

[Rem: Subaru-kun and I do everything together and go everywhere together. Understand?]

[Tia II understand……]

Rem said, "Good" and raised her finger at Tia, who was quickly discouraged from acting the way she'd acted before as she nodded.

[Rem: I want to get back your stolen light ball. However, we don't know what it is. If you don't believe me…...would you wait until you are convinced?]

[Tia: Until I'm convinced……]

[Rem: If your nose is correct, then we are the ones who are lying. If you keep an eye on us, eventually we might expose ourselves. That's what I mean.]

Rem jiggles her finger as she says, "What do you think?", leaving the choice up to Tia.

The suggestion would take up quite a lot of time, but Subaru thought of it was a temporary measure to temper a child. However, after Tia pondered the suggestion for a while,

[Tia: Sounds interesting. All right, I'm in.]

[Subaru: RReally?]

[Tia: It's as Rem said. She'll get busted eventually for sure, so I'll wait.]

Tia sticks out her somewhat busty chest, and she answered Subaru's doubts confidently. But it was still hard for Subaru to believe her choice. She snorted as she saw his face.

[Tia: I'm not lying. I'm confident in my nose. Look, there's no way I can lose! If I'm wrong, I'll even give you the light ball to make it up to you!]

[Subaru: Attacking us to get it back creates an infinite loop!]

In any case, if Tia has accepted Rem's idea as a good one, then the problem was solved. Or at the very least, Rem and Subaru shouldn't have to worry about being hurt by Tia anymore.

[Subaru: That's if we could trust that she isn't lying, though.]

[Rem: It's fine. I believe that Tia-sama really is telling the truth. …...I can tell since I watch plenty of kids at temple elementary school.]

[Subaru: It's kinda worrying how that could be used as evidence to convince me.]

Still, she really did sound like a teacher with the tone of that persuasive argument. In other words, Rem successfully convinced him because she was gifted with the skills of a female teacher.

[Subaru: Impressive, Sensei. That was well done.]

[Rem: Of course. But when you're with me, I want to be called wife instead of Sensei.]

[Subaru: Good point. As expected of my wife. She's the cutest girl ever and she's so reliable.]

[Rem: There you go, well done.]

Rem praises Subaru, who corrected himself, as if she was playing around with him. Seeing her smile, Subaru scratches his head. He thought to himself, "I'm no match for her."

Tia, who quickly noticed them whispering to each other, glares at them angrily.

[Tia: Hey! What are you two whispering about…...is it about the light ball!?]

[Subaru: Even if we were the culprits, we wouldn't be so stupid enough to whisper about it in front of the owner. How long are you going to stay here anyways? If we've come to a conclusion, then……]

[Tia: What are you saying? I told you, I'm keeping an eye out until you slip up. I'm staying here.]

Subaru tilted his head as he listened to Tia's tone, which made it sound like she was saying, "Why are you asking something so obvious?"

[Subaru: Staying here…...for how long?]

[Tia: Until you slip up.]

[Subaru: ]

[Tia: It's still pretty crowded with three people in this room, though. I better not be staying with that mutt. Not only would it be cramped, but I'd get covered in fur.]

[Subaru: You're going to stay here!?]

She makes a threat from an unexpected perspective, and it causes Subaru to raise his voice as he practically screamed. Hearing that, Tia breaks into a smile in great delight.

[Tia: Ahh, that scream, oh yes…...I finally get to hear it, makes me kinda happy.]

[Subaru: I'm being serious here! As if we'd live with you! This is a house for a husband and a wife, use your head!]

[Tia: ? Isn't Rem already pregnant? What's wrong with me staying here?]

[Subaru: Well…...well?]

When she asked Subaru about his thoughts, something prevented him from replying, "Even so". It seemed Tia was not messing around, and she was saying that it was a genuine question.

If they were having sex just to have kids, then Tia's viewpoint would be correct.

[Subaru: But then at night we'd be missing something needed to keep family happiness……]

[Tia: Stare]

[Subaru: Stop! Don't look at me like that! Even if you do, you still can't live with us!]

Tia looked at Subaru doubtfully, but he still stood his ground while giving excuses. Besides, even if she disregarded the thoughts of the husband and wife, three people would be too much for the room, just like Tia said.

[Subaru: Hal-san, the manager and landlord, wouldn't even allow it anyways. Don't forget that you're the one who destroyed this room and beat me to a pulp!]

No landlord would be bold enough to negotiate deposit and key money after she destroyed the rent so much.

Subaru hoped for that in his statement, and Halibel nodded with his arms folded.

[Halibel: Yeah, Su-san's right. First we have to talk about compensating for the room.]

[Subaru: That's not the point!]

Halibel did not listen to Subaru telling him that this wasn't about the landlord.

[Tia: Me? Compensate for this room?]

[Rem: Tia-sama destroyed it, so that's a given…...that goes for our damaged household goods, too, if you could.]

Rem looks around the room devastated by wind that was now a mess, and she makes that request to Tia.

Things like shelves and furniture were destroyed by the wind slashes. Of course, the tatami mat and walls were, too. There were some cutlery that barely avoided being damaged, but the clothes in the wardrobe and the futon in the closet were probably different.

The daily necessities they obtained by managing with the little income they had were destroyedit was a bit tear inducing.

[Rem: I'll help clean up, so Tia-sama, you can use this room. Halibel-sama, let Subaru-kun and I use another available room and…..]

[Halibel: Yeah, that's fine. As you know, the tenement house is full of free rooms. Pick whichever you want and move over.]

[Rem: Thank you very much.]

The broken tableware pile up, and the damage to the memories depress Subaru. Rem and Halibel, the realists, put aside his sentiments, and once a room was assigned, they set a plan for the future.

Tia, who had seized the initiative in the beginning, was left behind by the quick progress, and she scratched her cheeks while being taken aback.

[Tia: How should I put this…...you guys are like...tough.]

[Subaru: I'll have to agree with you on that.]

This was the only time Subaru agreed with the beautiful, unreasonable killer.

[Halibel: Su-san, got a second?]

Halibel beckoned him and brought him out of the tenement house when Tia started to reluctantly obey Rem, who diligently worked on cleaning the room.

Rem seemed to be enjoying herself, sleeves tied as she completely focused on cleaning the room, and nobody could stop her now that she'd enter such an intense state. It actually seemed like Tia was weak to Rem's pushiness, and she was helping her obediently, although she didn't look like she was getting into it.

[Subaru: Looks like I can take our eyes off of them for a bit.]

Subaru sees that Rem has the situation handled, and he exits the tenement house as he stepped over the door that was out of place. It was already after sunset. The round moon was up in the completely dark night sky, bejeweled with the glimmer of the stars.

Halibel, looking up at the sky as he left a trail of tobacco smoke in it, first starts speaking by saying "Sorry", and

[Halibel: You were quite frightened during that conversation, right? Sorry for not doing anything.]

[Subaru: It's not anything you should apologize for…...is what I'd like to say, but I was really frightened. Especially when Tia started to destroy the room.]

Subaru shrugs and uses the conversation as a chance to talk about why they had to clean the room in the first place.

Halibel just watched things play out in the destructive wind without moving an inch. Rem didn't move to show that she'd stand her ground.

So, as for why Halibel didn't do anything, stayed silent, and watched the mayhem…

[Halibel: She had no bloodlust. No hostility, either. So I was able to tell that she wouldn't hurt anyone, even though she acted up like that. …...You might not understanding my reasoning, though.]

[Subaru: Of course I'd know once I could tell those things were missing. Although I was late to notice, I also came to that conclusion once I saw the end result. It's just that……]

[Halibel: Once you considered Rem's safety, you wanted me to stop her? Yeah, I had a feeling you'd think that, so that's why I thought I'd apologize.]

Halibel knocks the ash off his kiseru, apologizes once again, and bowed deeply.

As long as it was rational, Subaru had no complaints for him. Plus, Halibel was helping him out of kindness. It would be too arrogant of him to blame him just because of that decision considering how he hasn't paid him back yet or rewarded him.

[Subaru: Although, I'd appreciate it if I had a say next time. It's not guaranteed that I won't move carelessly and almost get hit by the wind, you know?]

[Halibel: If 1-2 of your limbs fly off from the sharpness, the doctor can put them back on just fine.]

[Subaru: Once I let my head fly off I'm dead!]

Getting hit somewhere meant death. Considering how he didn't get hit, he got lucky. He felt very relieved knowing that he lived by the skin of his teeth.

[Halibel: I'm glad that you forgive me. I kinda felt down for arriving too late last night, too, when you were beat up.]

[Subaru: Really?]

[Halibel: Forgetting about the title as Kararagi's strongest, I do regard myself as a shinobi. And so, being outsmarted sure isn't something to be pleased with.]

Halibel shows his pride, and Subaru tugs on his chin as if to say "So that's how it is".

When he heard of ninjas, things like information warfare, undercover agents, assassination, ninjutsu, and all sorts of roles came to mindbut perhaps those were like characteristics of spies from ancient times. Messing up with counterespionage sure would be a failure for a ninja.

[Subaru: In that case, why don't you let one of the people working for you handle it? Since you're the strongest ninja in Karagi, aren't you the leader of Shinobi groups or something?]

[Halibel: Shinobi groups! We have no dangerous gatherings like that. I've never even seen any other ninjas outside of myself. How'd you come up with that idea?]

[Subaru: Don't you have special educational institutes like shinobi villages or something?]

[Halibel: I've heard about some living in the middle of nowhere in hidden villages due to racial circumstances, but as for my wolf brethren, they couldn't run and hide so they're reaching extinction……]

[Subaru: An extinction joke!]

If ninjas were endangered, then so were wolves. Halibel's culture and race were on the verge of dying out. They were also starting to decline because they knew their place.

[Subaru: Basically, don't expect too much from your ninja side.]

[Halibel: Not sure what a ninja is, but yes, you certainly shouldn't expect too much. So, I have a proposal that isn't related to my apology from earlier.]

[Subaru: A proposal?]

[Halibel: About Tia, don't you think we should get rid of her while we can?]

He spoke those words with no hesitation in his usual tone. And so, Subaru completely froze. 5 seconds pass, then 10, slowly.

[Subaru: Hal-san?]

[Halibel: She has no bloodlust. Her hostility has settled down as of now, too. However, she is still dangerous. If we turn our backs on her defenselessly, she could get rid of us if we don't do anything.]

[Subaru: Well…...still, even so…]

The emotions in Halibel's slit eyes weren't clear. But his statement truly did have a certain level of persuasiveness. This was the chance to free themselves from anxiety about the future.

Even if it was now, right after Rem and Tia had explored the possibility of coexisting, although in a superficial way.

[Halibel: You see, my nose isn't picking up Tia-chan. Not just yesterday, but right now, too.]

[Subaru: Even now? Is it because she got rid of her scent?]

[Halibel: Meticulously, yes. I've never heard of this "Shinigami" nickname that she spoke of, and she's such a beautiful woman. Like it or not, she'd become the talk of the town should she show up. And yet, I don't know who she is. That means pretty much nobody knows her.]

A mysterious woman with an unknown identity that took countermeasures against Halibel's sense of smellnothing about Tia's position changed.

They were now able to have conversations and the time for them to part has been postponed. Those were the only things that have been accomplished. Not to mention, how effective would the arrangement be with this girl who had a tendency to be moody?

[Halibel: If we act now, we could make it seem like she was never there. Rem-chan will have to lie, but I'll deal with the girl.]

Signs of the cold smell of blood came from Halibel, who made a cruel proposal.

The man before Subaru finally didn't seem like just a lively playboy. It was the first time he could tell that he was a shinobi deemed the strongest in Kararagi.

But at the same time, he could also tell what Halibel was expecting as he gave off a cold, intimidating air.

[Subaru: …...Sorry, Hal-san. For making you play the bad guy, leaving you to hold the bag.]

[Halibel: ]

[Subaru: But you don't need to play the bad guy. It's not that I'm not worried…..but Rem already told Tia so much. So I'll believe in her too.]

[Halibel: Can you believe in that girl?]

[Subaru: I'm not talking about Tia. I'm going to believe in the eyes of my wife, the one who persuaded Tia.]

In the back, they were working on tidying things and cleaning the room. The voices he could hear were having a conversation, and they were Rem who was gung-ho, and Tia, who was sulkyit seemed things were going somewhat smoothly.

He wanted to see the light at the end of that tunnel. Given that the killer doesn't end up killing them, that is.

[Halibel: …...Su-san, you sure aren't one to let things go, huh.]

Hearing Subaru's reply, Halibel puts his kiseru back in his mouth once again, and he murmured.

Then, the cold air coming from his body vanished within an instant. Once that went away, all that's left was the same old sluggish wolf.

He had acted the way he did out of consideration for Subaruhe acted like a shinobi so that Subaru would feel less guilty if he ever wanted to eliminate danger.

[Subaru: You said that I don't let things go, but I feel like that should be said about you instead with how you were acting.]

[Halibel: No way. Besides, you're the one who forgave someone who nearly killed you, and you don't even know if she'll change. This isn't just a matter of being softhearted.]

[Subaru: Ahh, now that you mention it…]

Halibel tells Subaru that, and he remembered how Tia nearly killed him. Although he knew how strong she was, he had forgotten about how he was targeted by her violence nature.

This explains why Halibel was worried about Subaru and Rem.

[Halibel: Did you really forget? Even with all the pain you still feel all over your body?]

[Subaru: Don't remind me, now it's coming back to me……]

Subaru remembers his joint pain, and he moves around his limbs as he said "Oww" with a pathetic look on his face. Seeing him act like that, this is when Halibel let out a long sigh in a dumbfounded manner.

[Halibel: If Su-san and Rem-chan insist, then alright. I won't do anything.]

[Subaru: I owe you one...actually, not sure if I should say that here. Well, I already owe you plenty anyway.]

[Halibel: You keep on indebting yourself. Looking forward to the day you pay me back.]

Halibel said that while smiling, though it wasn't clear if he wanted to get paid back or not. Hearing his words, Subaru pouted, and he hung his head as if to say that he was absolutely correct.

Ever since he came to the town Banan, he's just been depending on people's kindness and being helped.

[Subaru: I gotta pay everyone back eventually.]

[Halibel: It'd be problematic if you died on us, so hang in there and stay alive until then.]

[Subaru: Damn, what a positive reason to avoid dying.]

Subaru smiles back at Halibel, hearing him say that, and he stretched his body. Just then, a voice coming from inside the room called out to the two people outside.

[Rem: Subaru-kun, please help me choose some clothes that would be fine.]

[Tia: You males are the only ones taking it easy...This is why you can't trust males. They should just spend all of their time outside hunting, honestly.]

Hearing Rem and Tia call on them, Subaru and Halibel look at each other, and they both move.

Halbiel knocks the ash off his kiseru, while Subaru stretched lightly.

And with that, the night of day zero of the noisy days at the tenement house advanced.

Chapter 4: 6 Months

This took much longer than expected. I kind of just took like a 6 day break so it ended up taking this long. I wanted to get this done before summer ends, but doesn't look like it's happening at this rate. A heads up, I may be taking a break for a few months this book. I want to focus more on school and I want more time to do other things. If I do take a break, it's just going to be a break though. I have pre-ordered an artbook that has all the store special stories, so there will be more short stories once that comes in around like october? I will be doing the Rem side stories in that package. I'll decide what to do once this book is finished. Also the site domain has finally changed to remonwater..

Subaru and Rem's moving finished quickly.

Because all they did was move the undamaged belongings to the next room.

The tenement house room assignment went smoothly. The room they had originally lived in was left to Tia, while Subaru, Rem, and Halibel lived to the left and right of it.

They did propose the idea of leaving a room in between each of them, but

[Tia: Suggesting to keep the rooms apart...So you're saying that you do feel guilty!]

Then, it had to be rejected because of Tia loudly suspecting them. After several nights, Tia would end up regretting the room assignments with a red face since voices could clearly be heard in adjoining rooms, probably because of the thickness of the walls.

In any case, the moving finished without any problems, and so began the life of the strange neighbors in the tenement house.

[Tia: I gotta make money.]

[Halibel: That's the first thing you're gonna say in the morning?]

Gathered at the breakfast table, Tia suddenly started the conversation like that, holding a chopstick in each hand.

The round tea table used as a dining table split into two last night, so they hurriedly forced the broken boards together for temporary use.

Two outsiders were sitting at the dining table for some reasonthey were Tia and Halibel. They were shamelessly enjoying meals together, even asking for seconds, taking advantage of Rem's kindness.

Not to mention, Tia's face was so bad at using chopsticks that her whole face was covered with grains of rice.

[Tia: Listen here. I may be allowed to live in that shabby room, but I don't want to if it's a mess like that. Screw that. Which is why I'm asking you to hurry up and fix it. And then…]

[Halibel: Maybe if Su-san and Rem-chan were paying for it, but there's no way I'll lend you money. Borrowing and lending money doesn't work without trust. Like, you've already ruined any trust you had, how shameless can you be?]

[Tia: Hey, come on! What do you think?]

[Subaru: Your face caught my attention so much that I couldn't join in on the conversation, riceling.]

Her rice makeup was too next level for Subaru to understand it.

His point makes Tia's face turn sour. While she carefully picked the rice off of it, Rem nodded at her as she said, "I see."

[Rem: So Tia-sama is looking for a job. Well, that's not our problem.]

[Tia: You know, lately I feel like your words have been hitting me where it hurts…….]

[Rem: Subaru-kun's just one step away from being a regular employee. He's already far ahead of you. There's no recovering from this. Subaru-kun won.]

[Tia: Forget about that male's victory, I just wanna know what exactly you're trying to say.]

Rem roots for Subaru, breathing heavily as she laughed "tee-hee", and Tia urged her to go on as she raised her hand. Seeing that, Rem clears her throat, and then,

[Rem: I think you should use an employment agency. I highly recommend finding a job you're a good at and earning money.]

[Subaru: So your best bet is to get referred at Clane's employment agency…….hm. By the way, are you even good at anything? And do you have any qualifications?]

[Tia: My specialty is killing. I don't feel like killing right now, though.]

[Subaru: There's no way you'd find a killing job with that unmotivated attitude!]

Tia folds her arms, and she threw out her busty chest, rice still stuck on her face. Still, if they take her words into account and recommend murder, they very well might end up quickly regretting last night's decision.

Subaru gives Halibel, who knew the town very well, a quick glance, seeking help.

[Halibel: Hmm, let's see. Requests for murder aren't posted on the employment agency bulletin board.]

[Tia: MMakes sense.]

[Halibel: Stuff like that are hidden in the back. If he knows you, that is.]

[Subaru: It's the dark side of the town I never knew about!]

Perhaps even employment agencies recognized by towns have shady jobs. Subaru felt down, as he felt like he just found out about the good-natured lizard faced man's complicated circumstances.

[Halibel: No no no, it's a joke. Just a joke. You shouldn't take it seriously.]

[Subaru: Huh? A joke? Oh, I see, thank goodness. You really had me worried there. I don't know how I'd face that cute apron wearing lizard from then on.]

[Halibel: Clane doesn't accept those kind of jobs. Unauthorized employment agencies handle that sort of stuff.]

[Subaru: From now on, I will never use anything other than authorized employment agencies.]

[Rem: Actually, if you get fully approved this time, Clane-sama will never have to help you again, so make that your goal.]

[Subaru: Ohh, that's right!]

It's pointed out that his goal was being lowered by trying to keep things as they are, making him have a realization. While feeling thankful for Rem having his back, Subaru felt more motivated to work at the palace.

Yesterday, the staff also cared about him. Starting today, he'd go full throttle.

[Subaru: My motivation has went up now that I think about it that way. All right, let's go to work!]

[Rem: Yeah!]

[Tia: No! What about me!?]

Tia erupted when Subaru and Rem got excited and stood up hand in hand. With her hands, she threw the food left on her plate into her mouth, chewed on it and swallowed, and then

[Tia: Introduce me to this guy I don't really know! And then I'll do a killing job!]

[Subaru: You idiot! Who in their right mind would let you do a night job like that!? Hal-san, tell her!]

[Halibel: I kinda do classic night work as a shinobi…...that said, I'm not too sure about letting you kill, so how about you try something else. Like suppression requests or bounty hunting.]

Halibel cracks his knuckles, and he gave those conditions, causing Tia to tilt her head. However, the adventurous ring to it made Subaru's eyes widen.

[Subaru: Bounty hunting! Suppression requests! That sounds awesome!]

[Rem: What kind of work are they exactly? Can Tia-sama do them……?]

Rem had a pretty realistic reaction in comparison to Subaru, who thought adventurously. Rem sees Tia's side of the dinner table, which she got extremely dirtyshe sees that she lacks things like the ability to do delicate tasks and etiquette and hoped that the job wouldn't require those sort of skills.

[Halibel: The main jobs are catching evildoers popping up on wanted posters, sometimes beating them up. And then there's also the evil mabeasts that show up every now and then.]

[Tia: Basically, hunting. My specialty!]

It was like Tia's eyes shined for a moment. And then, when she energetically stood up from the tea table, she grabbed Halibel's neck as he tried to have a quick smoke, having finished his meal.

[Halibel: Hmm?]

[Tia: Now, show me the way. I have no idea what to hunt, after all.]

[Halibel: Wait! Su-san! Rem-chan!]

[Subaru: See ya.]

[Halibel: Oh, come on!]

Tia drags away Halibel, and resistance was futile. Subaru had no reason to stop her, and he wasn't so sure that he could stop her anyway.

With the noisy neighbors leaving, only the married couple was left in the room.

[Rem: Ummm…...is it really okay for us to let Halibel-sama take care of Tia-sama?]

[Subaru: Hal-san shouldn't have any problems. If Tia were to try and do something harmful, only Hal-san would be able to stop her, so it makes sense to have him near enough to keep an eye on her.]

[Rem: I see, that does make sense. Plus, moss might grow on Halibel-sama's body if he doesn't work like everyone else every now and then.]

Rem encouraged Halibel, understanding and moderate sharpness showing in her words.

Letting Halibel handle Tia was actually already an established thingHalibel even gave his consent. That last interaction was just like something a play would regularly have, nothing more.

Fortunately, Halibel didn't have to stay with Subaru and Rem anymore to protect them since he now had a good grasp of the tendencies of Tia, the attacker. Hence why he didn't need to worry about working while being in constant fear of when she'd attack.

[Subaru: Now I just have to worry about if I'll become a full-time worker and Rem's stomach.]

[Rem: …...As of right now, I believe that I could work without any difficulties.]

[Subaru: It's going to be our first child. I don't want anything to catch us off-guard. Although. From the little knowledge I have, I remember that most childbirths take 9 months and 10 days.]

Going off of Subaru's knowledge, it would take roughly 10 ten months to go from pregnancy to childbirthhowever, there was no way to find how how long she has been pregnant. He guessed about three months since her stomach didn't look all that different. Besides, there was another problem.

Rem is an Onia Demi-human species, although they didn't look like it. Could a normal human's knowledge really be applied to having a feel for when she was pregnant and when she'd give birth? On top of that, there was also an irregular condition where it was a mix between a human and an Oni.

[Subaru: Is there anything else we can do on top of keeping in touch and seeing that healing doctor?]

[Rem: I'm sorry. I don't know much about this stuff. In a time like this……]

[Subaru: ]

[Rem: IIn a time like this, maybe we should find an experienced midwife.]

Rem hesitates, unable to find the right words, and then she says that. The reaction was unnatural, however Subaru did not say anything about it and just nodded as he said, "Yeah".

He knew what Rem was going to say. There was an unspoken agreement between Subaru and Rem to not never touch on that subject.

Subaru says "All right" to pull himself together and put that matter behind as he continued,

[Subaru: Let's just live like we always have until your stomach starts changing. However, if you aren't feeling well, tell me right away. Even if it's just a slight fever. I'll get mad this time if you don't tell me.]

[Rem: Understood. But if you do get mad, what would you do?]

[Subaru: You know. I'll lock you in the room, and I'll watch over you the whole time. Meanwhile, I'll borrow from Hal-san for our living expenses, making us go into deep debt. It'll be tough times once the child is born.]

[Rem: That's…...so...terrifying. I won't let your idea become reality.]

Rem giggles, bringing herself close to Subaru since the fear was too much for her to handle. He embraces Rem's slender body, and they hug each other in silence for a while.

As they did that, it naturally got closer to the time when they both have to leave for work.

[Subaru: All right, I'm gonna give it my all today too. I'll be praying for nothing to happen to Hal-san and Tia as well.]

[Rem: Praying, yeah.]

They smile at each other one last time, and then they left their new room at the tenement house.

In the evening, they would find out that their praying was off in a good way.

[Halibel: This is actually a really good catch. Even I rarely come across them.]

These were the thoughts of Halibel, who came with Tia on her first job. Tia came back with a bag filled with her reward, and she proudly put her feet on the table, but Rem scolded her for her actions, disheartening her.

Food was set on the dining table, knocking the closed reward bag onto the floor. Subaru had doubts about the report, seeing Rem lecturing Tia on the side.

[Halibel: No, I mean, I see why you'd be suspicious.]

[Subaru: After seeing that, yeah. Well, as long as it went well, it's a good thing. So, what is this good catch? Tell me about it in detail.]

[Halibel: Hmm, so, at first, as decided, we chose a job on a wanted poster to catch a petty thief. But then that suddenly fell to our feet…...obviously, I couldn't just look. That became the reward we were dealing with, and then in the end it became a brutal arrest.]

Tia, who was brought to Clane's employment agency, experimentally participated in bounty hunting with Halibel's referral. Basically, they chose a random wanted poster on the store bulletin board, correctly tracked down the wanted criminal, and cornered him.

[Halibel: It was a petty crook committing theft at stores. But when we tried to break into his room, there were magic stones in it all over, causing a commotion. He ended up using them to try and suicide.]

[Subaru: So he was a really dangerous terrorist!]

[Halibel: Tia-chan socked him and tied him up. And then he said that he knew even more dangerous smugglers and that some of them are in town. We somehow got him to tell us their location, and we rounded up all of the idiots hiding in town, foiling their plan to destroy the city.]

[Subaru: That's the feature film like incident that happened on your end today!?]

Subaru could only be amazed by the major event that happened behind the scenes and could've destroyed the town.

Subaru was completely unaware of the incident; he was even asking his female coworkers at his workplace what to do when the baby is born, and they laughed at him as they replied, "It's too early for that stuff".

[Subaru: Then, this heroine that saved the town got scolded because she put her feet on that dining table, and she's all quiet now.]

[Halibel: Indeed, she is.]

Subaru and Halibel nod deeply. In their eyes, they saw Rem hesitantly explaining the importance of manners to Tia, who was completely afraid. Rem did not scold people by yelling; the way she did it spoke to the heart, and so it was rather painful in an emotionally.

[Rem: And so, manners are important. That also goes for showing respect to the people you eat with and the food you are served. Do you understand?]

[Tia: Yes yes, I understand. I UN-DER-STAND.]

[Rem: Tia-sama?]

[Tia: II told you, I understand……]

Perhaps this was a result of knowing that she was going to be a mother. Rem had no mercy when it came to being commanding, even with someone who was rather stronger than her. Overwhelmed by her force, Tia obediently sits down in front of the dining table girl-style.

Faced with Tia having downcasted eyes, Rem lets out a sigh, and then she said,

[Rem: Tia-sama, take this.]

[Tia: What's this for……]

[Rem: I'm giving it since it seems you have trouble eating with chopsticks. Please use it with care.]

A wooden spoonthat's what gets handed to Tia at the dining table, and Rem's smile makes her eyes widen. Then, after she closed her eyes tight she said,

[Tia: TThat's kinda smart. All right. I'll use it.]

As she said that, she accepted the present spoon. She had a grin on her face.

[Tia: It's not feeding, but something like it……]

[Halibel: So, seeing her act like that, I guess Su-san wins the bet for now.]

[Subaru: If the bet is that Tia won't cause any problems, then Rem is the one who won. And she still is.]

[Halibel: Ahh, that's true.]

When Subaru sneered, Halibel replied by suddenly smiling. Seeing those two men act like that, Rem, who finished her lecture, clapped her hands.

[Rem: Now, let's eat. Tia-sama had her first job today, and even Halibel-sama worked too, so the food should be delicious.]

[Halibel: Great, but is there some for me?]

Everyone follows Rem's instruction and sits at the dining table. Subaru was curious as to why there was food for Tia and Halibel like it was the most natural thing, but the two of them had expectant looks on their faces, so he didn't say anything.

They express their thanks in unison(Tia did it reluctantly), and he stopped caring about his concern once they started eating. Tonight's menu was a fish focused Japanese style dish arranged by Rem. They dig in.

They were greatly pleased. Tia especially was digging in.

[Tia: I'm impressed, Rem. The light texture of the fish and the taste changes with the slightly burnt part. I can't stop eating……!]

[Rem: Thank you very much, Tia-sama. There's actually white vegetable sauce in it.]

[Tia: ! No way! TThe the flavor is this refreshing!?]

It seemed like Rem was happily feeding Tia, who kept overreacting. It looked like a rare animal enjoying food that didn't exist in its habitat.

It also seemed like the bloodlust disappeared and that she completely opened up to them, which made Subaru feel relieved.

[Halibel: Gotta bathe after eating. We made a lot with the reward, so you wouldn't get angry if I drank after taking a bath, would you?]

[Rem: As long as you don't make Subaru-kun and I drink, I have no complaints. Don't make Tia-sama do it, either.]

[Subaru: You probably shouldn't for safety's sake……]

The three of them face each other, and they take a glance at Tia. She was focusing on picking the leftover grains of rice in her rice bowl, paying no attention to their conversation.

They were afraid of having no idea what she would do if they got drunk. Unfortunately, Halibel would have to drink alone tonight.

Furthermore, Subaru prefers to not drink, as he didn't really like alcohol, and Rem has an extremely low alcohol tolerance for an Oni, thus they have never accepted Halibel's invitations.

[Halibel: Damn, I'm so sad.]

In the end, nobody joined in to drink with Halibel, and he shook his whiskers in disappointment. Although his murmuring wasn't supposed to be a cue or anything, Tia, having finished destroying her grains of rice, tilted her head as she said, "What?" as she continued,

[Tia: What is this about? I'm stuffed, and I want to go to bed right about now.]

[Rem: You can't. You worked the whole day, so you're probably covered in sweat. So you have to take a bath.]

[Tia: …...If it's like bathing in a river or a lake, then fine I'll do it.]

[Rem: No! Let's go to the bath-house!]

Rem leans forward, and she enthusiastically tried to convince Tia, who was uninterested. Her energy makes Tia's eyes widen, and she asks Subaru and Halibel for help. However, unfortunately

[Subaru: The bath-house is pretty nice.]

[Halibel: Sure is.]

Nobody was on Tia's side.

About the "bath-houses" of this world", they're pretty straightforward, and are quite literally public baths.

A bath tub lies in a wide space, and the water stored inside of it heats up with the use of a magic stone at the bottom of the tub. The structure of the bath-house was extremely simple, except for the fact that it used special tools.

At first, Subaru was surprised by bath-houses with how common they were.

[Subaru: Well, in manga I've read that in ancient times there were already baths during Roman period. The existence of bath-houses isn't all that strange in comparison to that.]

Plus, even ninjas finally showed up in Kararagi Wafuu culture. He definitely wouldn't be surprised by stuff like bathtubs and daikon radish.

[Subaru: I'm gonna act very surprised if I find a Japanese mascot.]

[Halibel: What have you been mumbling about?]

Then, a ninja soaking right next to him in the bathtub spoke. The ninja soaked in the bath all the way up to his head. His whole body was wet, including his fearless face, and his hair was sticking together.

Now he truly was a wet dog. With just his body and appearance, he could no longer find any similarities to when he was dry.

[Subaru: So I've been thinking about different world people, it's a pain living in a combined culture with all the differences races have. Once you get out of a bath, sometimes you'll have someone's fallen hair all over your body.]

[Halibel: You just have to pour hot water on yourself before you get out. Or do you have some sort of interesting idea?]

[Subaru: Let's see. …...Use the drain around the edge of the bathtub, control the flow of the hot water with a magic stone, and let the water run. Set a net for to catch the fallen hair that'll get inside, and the hot water that passes through will come back.]

[Halibel: Hmmm? Can you draw a picture for that? I don't really get it.]

It was kind of summer-ish. Halibel didn't really care too much about his pool based proposal as he looked up in the bathtub contentedly moaning, "Oh yeahhh." However, he didn't blame him.

Everyone reverts to a naked beast once they soak in warm bath. Which has nothing to do with the worries Subaru had about differences between races.

Right now, he just wanted to soak in the motherly warmth of this bathtub.

[Subaru: Which is why I'd like to ignore the voice I can hear over the wall…]

[Tia: Hey, hey! Isn't this cool!? Wow, oh my, I've never seen anything like it!]

[Halibel: Oh, Su-san, that's probably not possible. See, look over there.]

Subaru was covering his face with a towel, but he heard a familiar high-pitched screech and was tapped on the shoulder by Halibel from the side, he couldn't ignore it anymore. He takes off the towel, and once he looked in the direction Halibel pointed at, he saw a tall wallin bath-houses, the men's bath and the women's bath are separated. There was a wall separating them.

Often times, for some reason the baths are connected at the top of the wall, so

[Tia: Oh! There they are! Hey, you two! Isn't it amazing how the bath feels so nice?]

[Subaru: ]

Tia had crept up to the small hole at the top of ceiling and the wall, seeming to have climbed up the wall. She peeked through the hole, and their eyes met. She was nude, waving her hand innocently, but fortunately the wall was hiding the parts below her chest.

But still, her wet hair and the curves of her exposed nape and shoulders were quite charming, and to tell the truth, it was alluring. Also, the people at the men's bath were startled when they were suddenly peeked at by a heavenly beautiful woman.

[???: Kyaaa!!]

They weren't really shrill shrieks, but rough shrieks that resounded throughout the men's bath.

There were people who fell over, people who ran into the dressing room, and people who dove into the bath. Tia looks down at everyone running in confusion, and it makes her blink in surprise.

[Tia; Don't really get what's going on, but it does feel nice seeing males running away……]

[Subaru: Like anyone cares about your fetishes! Get the hell down from there!]

[Tia: Aww, but I have such a nice view from here. Oh yeaaah. Are there any differences between this bath and that bath? Can I check it out for a bit?]

[Subaru: You idi……!]

Without any hesitation, Tia climbs over the wall and tries to join the men's bath. He tried to stop her immediately, but unfortunately he could not reach the top of the wall from the bathtub.

Something happened immediately after Subaru gave up and decided to overlook Tia's reckless actions, when the people in the men's bath held their breath.

There was a high-pitched, tremendous scraping sound, and then Tia was no longer seen on the top of the wall. However, she didn't climb over. She had disappeared into the women's bath. And then immediately after that, there were successive sounds of large bodies falling onto the water, causing grand explosions in the bath-house.

[Rem: Everyone, my dearest apologies for all the trouble. Please continue to enjoy the bath.]

Once the sound of the water completely disappeared, those polite words were forwarded from the women's bath to the men's bath. It was obvious who said those words.

[Subaru: Rem?]

[Rem: Subaru-kun, I'm sorry. I was in the middle of washing my body at the washing place…...but it's fine now.]

[Subaru: Oh, good call. But anyways……]

It seems Rem had fixed the situation over at the women's bath. He felt like praising his wife for her clutch assistance, but there was something else on his mind.

That was

[Subaru: That sounded like the nostalgic sound of chains, huh……]

[Rem: It's for self protection.]

[Subaru: But this is a bathhouse, and Rem should be naked……]

[Rem: It's for self protection.]

Her stubborn replies denied Subaru from any further questioning. Plus, since Subaru wasn't at the scene over the wall, he had no way of confirming it. The case was closed. It was unsolved.

[Halibel: Rem-chan sure is impressive.]

Then, Halibel, who floated in the bathtub with his tray and sake and acted unconcerned the whole time, let out those carefree thoughts, and he was licking the sake with his red face covered by his hair

Once that he finished, after getting out of the bath, they went to the bath-house entrance to meet up with the two people who were at the women's bath.

The bath-house entrance had a space that was like a lounge, and apart from the dressing room, visitors could relax as much as they wanted there. Most of the time it'd become a place where old people meet, and they'd wait patiently for visitors who entered the bath to get out.

There was one dead tired woman slovenly lying down on a couch in that space

[Rem: Apparently it was her first time at a bath-house, so she went too nuts and felt dizzy after staying in too long.]

[Subaru: So that's why she using my special seat. I can tell that it's her first time, though.]

As he grumbled, Subaru saw Tia, who was lying down while moaning "Oooh" and "Ahhh", receiving a lap pillow from Rem. Her white skin glowed so much that at first glance you could tell she had a head rush. Had she been standing up with a serious face right now, she would've certainly looked charming.

Although, by lying down in a sad, exposed state, men lose interest in hitting on her.

[Subaru: Wow, you even borrowed a fan for this girl.]

[Rem: If she falls over on the way back, she'd get covered in mud after all that cleaning.]

[Subaru: Sounds better than trying to maintain her beauty…...all right, hand me the fan. I'll fan her. Whoosh...whoosh whoosh...whoosh whoosh whoosh!]

[Tia: Ooooooo...that feels so gooood.]

Subaru takes the fan from Rem, who had been gently fanning her, and then he creates a storm. Bathing in that storm, Tia seemed to be enjoying it, although she was still groggy.

However, soon enough, his arms couldn't take it anymore. His fanning slows down, and stops.

[Tia: Come ooon, can't you fan me more?]

[Subaru: Don't be so spoiled. Besides, Rem's lap is mine. And the fan is borrowed. Who do you think you are, a princess?]

[Tia: So annoying…….]

Tia grimaces at Subaru's point, and he takes the fan away from him. After that, while Tia started fanning herself, Subaru looked at the wrist of her right hand.

[Subaru: What's that? A friendship bracelet?]

[Tia: Don't know what a friendship bracelet is, but Hal gave it to me. He told me to put it on. Is it a charm?]

[Rem: A charm, huh. It's a bit surprising to see Halibel-sama give Tia-sama a gift.]

[Subaru: Well, it can't be Hal-san trying to put the moves on Tia……]

She pouted, and she looked beautiful fanning herself quickly, but she also looked childish. Halibel's true motive was unknown, and there may be no particular reason behind his actions, but all he had to investigate and cool down.

He was warmed up now, so he was going to finish his business and leave before he caught a cold.

[Subaru: All right, it's time for the last bath-house ritual. You're coming, too.]

[Tia: Ritual……?]

[Rem: Yes, a ritual. If you don't do it, it'd defeat the purpose of coming to the bath-house.]

Subaru and Rem, the married couple, confidently replied to Tia, who gave a dubious look. The firmness of their tones confused Tia, further increasing the surprise of the one who showed up afterwards.

The one who came was Halibelhowever, the hair on his dry head was fluffy, and he looked like a completely different person, despite them being familiar with how he looked.

[Tia: You're the mutt, right?]

[Halibel: Yeah, it's me. Also, here, take this. Gotta drink it before it warms up, or else it'd be a waste.]

[Tia: WWait a second…...what's this? A beast's milk?]

[Halibel: Watch how you put it!]

What Halibel brought over in his hands was a white liquid in a bottlewhat Tia said wasn't wrong, but put in a more tasteful way it would be:

[Subaru: It's milk for when you get out of the bath…...it's a universal ritual!]

One could call it "all worlds do it", and it wouldn't be an exaggeration. Or at least, if the stylistic beauty was common between the two worlds Subaru knew, you could call it a ceremony passed across worlds.

Strictly speaking, this wasn't cow milk, and it wasn't fruit milk either, which would have been ideal. However, there at least was a skill to keep bottled milk cold, and it would be best not to expect more than that.

[Subaru: Uncork the bottle! Put your hand on your hip! Then drink up!]

While Subaru enthusiastically explained the steps, he performed the ritual.

Cold milk goes through his throat, flowing into his warm stomach. That refreshing feelingthe strong counter for his body that warmed up inside from the bath, that is the best part of bath-houses.

[Rem: Mm!]

Shouting cutely, Rem also drinks milk like Subaru. Then so did Halibel, along with other people who got out of the bath.

[Tia: Ahaha! YYour face! A mustache! It's making a mustache!]

[Subaru: It's part of what makes this beautiful!]

[Tia: Lame! So lame! You look like an idiot!]

Developing a white mustache after getting milk around your mouth was like proof that the ritual was a success.

Incidentally, it was hard for Halibel to get milk around his mouth because of its structure. After Rem sneakily finished drinking, she looked back and gently wiped her mouth without letting anyone see.

Dubiously gazing at the three of them, Tia uncorks the bottle with a suspicious look. Then, after she took a light sniff of the smell, she put her hand on her hip, and she drank

[Tia: It's so good!]

Then, a white mustache developed around her mouth, and she said that as her eyes shined.

The four of them were walking back in their yukatas as the refreshing night wind blew.

[Tia: Bath-houses aren't as bad as I thought. Oh, just so you know, that's just because I was surprised.]

[Halibel: It's not like I'm listening anyway.]

It was Tia, who walked with light steps, and Halibel going home. Tia was humming happily, perhaps because she had enjoyed her experience at the bath-house a lot.

Although she was off key and it sounded like there was no melody, it was the same thing Subaru had heard just yesterday. Since she was singing the same thing, it didn't seem like she was singing randomly.

[Halibel: What song is that?]

[Tia: Hmm? A nameless song. If I had to name it……]

Tia puts her finger on her lip, and she went into deep thought for a moment.

And then

[Tia: It'd be the "Die Song"!]

[Subaru: Pick a better name!!]

The words were just too dangerous, so Subaru reflexively butted in from the back. That makes Tia irritatedly say "What's wrong with it?" as she clicked her tongue.

[Rem: Subaru-kun's right. It's such a lovely song, after all.]

[Tia: This again...it's not like you'd ever going to disagree with your male partner anyway, Rem.]

[Rem: Yes, that's right. I pretty much agree with everything Subaru-kun says. Sometimes I do disagree, though.]

[Tia: Hey! So I had this realization...I don't think I like Rem's bossiness!]

Overwhelmed by something that was neither stress nor praise, Tia runs away with her head between her hands. Rem was the one who took over the humming for Tia.

Having heard it once, Rem somehow starts humming the same song.

[Tia: …...Not quite. That's not it, haha….hahaha.]

[Rem: Hmm, well I didn't catch it very well. Tia-sama, please let me hear it again.]

[Tia: You wanna hear it that badly? Really? Well, I guess I have no choice.]

Pleased with Rem, who gave a low bow, Tia starts to hum the song once again. Had they not know that it was the "Die Song", it would just sound like an enchanting song with a nice voice.

Subaru and Rem naturally start to speak less. Halibel also walked the street without saying anything.

There was only Tia's humming in the quiet street at night.

Stars in the sky, and below it, the light of the paper lanterns dimly lighting the street red. Considering only that, it looked very mystical, like a moment in a dream.

[Rem: Subaru-kun?]

[Subaru: Yeah?]

Because he was immersed in the atmosphere, his response to Rem was a little late.

Rem smiles slightly, understanding how Subaru felt, and her face turned red as she said,

[Rem: I was just thinking…]

[Subaru: About what?]

[Rem: If only this moment could last longer for our child to see it…]

Rem says that with a gentle smile, and she rubbed her stomach softly. Her gesture and words make Subaru feel really embarrassed, and he couldn't put his feelings into words.

[Subaru: ]

He simply gently held onto Rem's free hand, combining their warmth, and they went home.

And that's how the night went.

The days went on slowly. Without any time to stop, like water flowing.

They were busy, noisy days.

Ever since the night Subaru met with the strange neighbors at the tenement house, the days were eventful in a good way, and hardly any of the things he was anxious about happened.

It somehow became a habit for Tia and Halibel to accompany Subaru and Rem at the dining table in the morning, and they'd spend time together until work while talking about their plans for the day.

[Tia: They need me, or else crooks will be on the loose. Even Clane said so.]

[Rem: Tia is as reliable as expected. I'm very thankful. Looks like you might get more food!]

[Tia: This is where you give me more! You don't mean "might get more", you will give me more!]

Tia decided on doing "bounty hunting" as her job after getting a taste of success with her first job. It seemed that it really was Tia's calling, and from what they'd been told, her arrest rate was quite something.

Jobs handled at Clane's employment agency are recognized by the townbecause of this, a lot of the jobs are highly beneficial to Banan town. Inevitably, Tia's efforts were making the town more safe.

[Halibel: Put yourself in my shoes as someone who has to go with her. I haven't been able to take a lovely nap with the sun out for so many days. My internal body clock is going to get messed up at this rate.]

[Rem: Isn't this a sign that you're getting closer to being a proper citizen?]

[Subaru: Rem's right. Suck it up and follow Tia around. I'm sure you'll even lose some of that stomach fat of yours that you've been worrying about.]

As a married couple, Subaru and Rem soothe Halibel, who took a barrage of criticism while frowning. Seeing that interaction out of the corner of her eye, Tia happily drinks her miso soup as she raised her bowl and said, "More please!"

Subaru frequently went to the Magoji palace at noon, even after the defined period of time.

He succeeded at obtaining the steady job that he'd dreamed of without any problems. This was all thanks to Riften and the landlady recognizing Subaru's abilities, and it was the reward for living up to their expectations.

However, if there was one thing that was different from what he'd expected

[Subaru: All right, today let's review the basics of making youfuku(Western-style clothes).]

[???: Yeeees, Subaru-chan.]

[Subaru: Good answer! However, I'm the Sensei now. Call me Sensei, okay?]

[???: You got it, Subaru-chan Sensei.]

Subaru was shrugging his shoulders as he smiled wryly at the playful women.

Subaru was officially hired at the Magoji palace, but her was no longer just a servant, he was also acted as a teacher in a little "class for lessons".

The classroom was one of Magoji palace's tatami rooms. In it, you'd mainly learn about sowing, Subaru's speciality, and a version of fashion related western-style clothingstuff you'd call embroidery. Even in Kararagi, where Wafuu culture was popular, it was hard for it to take root, even with fashion culture from other countries coming over. In this place, someone with the knowledge and the skills becomes a teacher, and people would get the help they have always wanted with the western-style clothes women usually wore.

Most of the students were female coworkers working at the palace and bourgeoisie wives around the same age. Once in a while there'd be young women who would study the basics and planned on doing a job related to it in the future, but these were the kind of people who came, more or less.

If there had to be name for Subaru's job, you'd call it a cultural lecturer, the parallel universe version.

[Riften: I thought I told you that I have high hopes for your femininity.]

[Subaru: Well, I don't have any complaints. I don't, but this is one of those things you're into, isn't it?]

[Riften: What a terrible misunderstanding. I just wanted to see my beloved girls in something other than wafuu clothing. I'm just trying to make that small wish come true, that's all.]

[Subaru: For some reason you keep denying you're into cougars……]

Incidentally, Subaru's lessons are mostly popular, and they were talking about increasing his lessons from three times a week to four times a week. If the knowledge from Subaru's world was helpful at all, he'd like to use this cultural school as an excuse to spread it to others.

At night, after Subaru's work ended at the palace, he said goodbye to the ladies and the gatekeeper, who he was familiar with, and he went to the tenement houseno, he went to Temple Elementary School to see Rem.

Ever since he found out that Rem was pregnant, he always made sure to walk home with Rem. Otherwise, he wouldn't know if something happened along the way, and it'd be too late after something did happen.

[Subaru: A stranger might suddenly attack for an unjust reason, after all.]

[Tia: What? I don't get it, why did you look at my face when you said that? You got a problem, Su?]

In front of Temple Elementary School, which bathed in the sun, Subaru and Tia came across each other at a street, and they exchanged those words as they both grimaced.

Subaru going to meet Rem was a natural thing to do as a husband. However, Tia frequently going to Temple Elementary School to meet Rem sort of ruined the married couple's time together.

That alone showed that she was attached to Rem, and sometimes it'd be too much.

[Subaru: Also, it doesn't feel right when you call me Su.]

[Tia: What a pain. Hal calls you that, so there shouldn't be a problem with me calling you it, too. Besides, I'm only here for Rem, you're not needed.]

Tia pouted and acted intimidating, and Subaru also pouted at her. This was better than her calling them by their sex by saying stuff like "males", but the arrogance of her responses wasn't any different how it was in the beginning.

[Subaru: Then I'm going to tell Rem and you'll get less food.]

[Tia: YYou coward. You're so heartless……!]

Still, their relationship was way more relaxed than before, just because they found a way to make her think twice.

[Rem: Subaru-kun, Tia-sama, thanks for waiting. …...You two didn't fight, did you?]

[Subaru: We did] [Tia: Of course we did.]

Plus, the thing they both felt the strongest about was Rem smiling.

Given that people have time, everyone eats dinner together at night after coming home, and that even includes Halibel, who always goes off somewhere.

It seemed Tia was uninterested in the reward for her bounty hunting, and ever since she earned enough money to pay off the tenement house reparations with her first job, and all of her rewards were handled by Rem.

[Rem: So, when all your work goes well, you can treat yourself. When it doesn't, spend wisely.]

[Tia: I can't just live large everyday with all the money I have?]

[Rem: If you do that, you'll forget to appreciate how special it is, and most importantly, you'd hurt Subaru-kun's pride as the breadwinner. This is my prudence as a great wife.]

[Subaru: But I'd be pleased if you don't tell anyone about this great wife's prudence !]

He forgave her since Rem looked cute apologizing with her tongue stuck out. It was also for the sake of his own pride, though.

Moving on, Tia worked hard to understand Rem's point as she nodded and went, "Uh-huh". Their relationship was a strange thing; Tia was the one who looked the most mature, but inside, she was like a childshe acted like a wolf girl. Rem interacted with Tia, who didn't act how she looked, affectionately, like how a mother or an older sister would.

Viewing her as a mother, this could be practice for the child. However, if Subaru viewed her as an older sister, that would be complicated and it'd make him feel like he was walking on thin ice.

[Halibel: Su-san, what's wrong?]

Seeing Subaru go into deep thought, Halibel, who was the only one drinking alcohol, tilts his head and asks him a question. In response, Subaru says, "No" as he tilted his head and continued,

[Subaru: It's nothing. I was just thinking about how nice it'd be if we got treated tomorrow.]

[Rem: Halibel-sama would really have to go out on a limb for that. After all, Halibel-sama is the reason why we can't be treated in the first place.]

[Tia: Really? Then I should spank him and make him work!]

[Halibel: Don't you think you're treating me too cruelly?]

And so, that's how the night went the exact opposite way the morning did with loud laugher at the dining table.

After they finished eating, they went to the bath-house, Rem watched over Tia, who acted a bit more responsibly than last time, Subaru and Halibel took their time enjoying the bath, and they went home after enjoying milk upon getting out of the bath.

Tia's humming resounded throughout the street at night. Lately, it has been like a duet with Rem. In a way, listening to that added elegance to the time they spent going home, and Subaru loved it.

Their precious, busy, noisy time went on slowly.

[Tia: Wooow, it takes a lot more time for a child to be born than I thought.]

Tia puts her arms behind the back of her head, and she said that in a carefree tone.

She was on the way home from Temple Elementary School walking with Subaru and Rem on the street during the evening, which became a daily thing. She was looking at Rem's stomach.

Rem was slightly smiling in a kimonoand her stomach was big enough to recognize it from afar.

[Subaru: Taking a glance, it's probably been about 6 months…...perhaps? So like in the middle stage of pregnancy.]

[Tia: Middle stage? Still only halfway there!? Wow, animals would never take this long.]

[Subaru: I'm not an animal! I'm a human! It takes quite a long time.]

Tia brings up a ridiculous example, Subaru lightly flicked her forehead, and she groaned while her forehead was being pushed. After that, she took a side glance at Rem and said,

[Tia: Isn't it rough having your stomach so big? It doesn't look like you could jump or hop.]

[Rem: I can't deny that it is rough. Often times it's difficult sticking out my chest, and there's no way I could jump or hop, so I'll let you do it, Tia-sama.]

[Tia: If you insist. I'm good at jumping and hopping anyways.]

While Tia got carried away, full of herself, Subaru broke into a smile with that interaction.

They've had a baby for about 6 months nowmeaning, they've been neighbors with Tia for 3 months. Although they were worried at first, it was a completely stable life now.

Rem wasn't in the stable period of pregnancy, but they were able to deal with Tia's temper pretty well now.

[Tia: I wonder if it's going to be a male or a female.]

[Rem: Whether it's a boy or a girl, it'll probably be naughty like Subaru-kun. But it's acting up a lot in my stomach, so I think it might be a girl.]

[Subaru: If it's acting up, wouldn't that mean it's a boy?]

[Rem: ? Would it?]

According to Rem's self-diagnosis, apparently the baby is a girl. The way she came to that judgement made Subaru look dubious, but Rem tilted her head, and even Tia had a question mark above her because of Subaru.

In this world, people might think that girls are naughty.

Now that he thought about it, it did seem like a lot of the girls he got involved with in this world were active. That's when his thought was interrupted.

[Subaru: Well, people are delighted when their first is a girl. Back at my home town, they say 'First Princess, then Taro', meaning it's best to first have a girl and then a boy.]

[Rem: First Princess, then Taro?]

[Subaru: Princess is the girl, while Taro is the boy. It means the first is a princess, and the second is the eldest son. If I remember correctly, it means girls don't cry as much or something like that.]

Kids being hard to take care of is common knowledge, and it's even been engraved in Subaru's limited knowledge. Obviously he's never had any real experience with it, but at any rate, it's a lot of work to take care of babies when they're highly prone to cryinghe was already being lectured a lot by his female coworkers at the palace.

[Subaru: By studying the fundamentals of childcare with our first being a girl, it will be easier to deal with the second one. It's like the wisdom of my ancestors, or more like advice they came up with from personal experience.]

[Rem: I see. …...So I have to give birth to a girl first no matter what.]

[Subaru: You don't have to put weird pressure on yourself because of what I said, even if it is a boy.]

With a wry smile, Subaru scratches his cheek. To Subaru's side, it was unclear how seriously Rem took him, and she said,

[Rem: For Subaru-kun, do your best to be a...be a girl.]

She was saying this to the child inside of her. However, he's heard that the gender of a baby is determined the moment fertilization happens, so Rem was all too late to speak to it.

[Subaru: If you're a boy, just come out healthy already. Cry all you want. If we learn the hard parts early, it might be easier later.]

[Rem: Oh, that's right. First it has to come out healthy…...yeah, that's what's most important.]

[Subaru: Yep, that's what's most important…...Oh, it moved.]

The baby responded to Subaru, who touched Rem's stomach and talked to it while stroking it. The new life inside of Rem was already focused on turning and pushing.

Subaru really felt like it was a boy, but

[Subaru: Maybe that's because I'm thinking too much about after it's born.]

Thinking rationally, he'd have the easiest time preparing if he knew whether it was a boy or a girl before it was born. The kind of choices he had for play equipment would be settled, and that'd go for clothes too, of course.

Before he had a kid, that's actually what Subaru thought, but strangely enough, now he thinks otherwise.

He felt like the things that were unknown until it's born were like blessings invoked by the baby.

[Tia: Still, about 6 months to go? Hmm, that sure is a long wait.]

[Rem: I'm sure that time will go by before we even know it. Would you prefer it be faster?]

[Tia: I don't mind…...It's just that, at this rate, I'll never get a clue for the light sphere.]

[Rem: ]

The words Tia spoke while she pouted and glared at the sunsethearing "light sphere" made Subaru's cheeks stiffen, and Rem also lost her breath for a moment.

light spherethat's what Tia was looking for, and it was the very thing that started this life.

Tia did not hesitate to say that Rem stole it for sure. However the baby got in the way of forcing information out of her, she was let off the hook until childbirth, and they became good neighbors.

However, Tia really hadn't talked about the light sphere since the first few days, and she wasn't acting suspicious of Rem. Hence why the matter was kept in the very back of her mind.

She couldn't hide her shock from Tia still remembering it and going after it.

[Subaru: …...In any case, suck it up until these 6 months are over. That was the deal.]

[Tia: Yes yes, I know that. 6 months...6 months, eh……]

Strictly speaking, a pregnancy period is about 10 monthsif this is the 6th month, then there has to be 4 months left. Subaru still not pointing out that she was off by 2 months showed how he hoped to postpone 'that' moment.

It was not the same as when they had a terrible meeting. Tia was now an irreplaceable friend.

[Tia: If Rem gets pregnant again right after you're born, I'm going to be very troubled.]

Tia talked to Remno, she talked to the baby while saying those things.

She wouldn't hurt Rem while she had a baby. Tia was so attached to these days that she laughed off her own rule that she had made. Subaru felt that it'd be nice if that was the case.

[Rem: Subaru-kun……]

[Subaru: Man, Rem, I'm not sure what to do when you make such a determined look…..]

Rem looked at Subaru with watery, serious eyes as she firmly clenched her fist, making him knit his brows. Were her cheeks red because of determination? Or were they red because of the sunset?

In any case, he shrunk back when Rem implicitly showed her determination to have a second child. Of course, Subaru was also in favor of having another so that the child would have a younger sibling, but family finances were a big problem.

They had their first one pretty haphazardly, so he wanted to be more careful with the second one.

[Subaru: But if Tia has a change of heart…...well, I don't think that'll happen anyways.]

[Rem: Maybe if we keep having kids non-stop until we die……]

[Subaru: That idea kind of sounds like a horror!]

In response to Rem seriously making scary plans, Subaru took her hand and guided her downstairs. Rem follows his natural guidance, and Tia was waiting at the bottom, as she went down the stairs a little quicker.

Going home in the evening, the usual affectionate time. 4 days leftthis might be the last of these times; it was a fleeting scene that made him feel regretful.

Somehow that evanescence made Subaru's heart-ache as he squinted at the bright setting sun.

[Halibel: Oh. You must be beat. You worked all day again.]

When they came back to the tenement house, they saw Halibel smoking his kiseru sitting on a bench.

Lately, Halibel has tended to skip out on going to work with Tia. It seemed he was taking advantage of Tia being used to her job now, and so the "Eternal Playboy" made his comeback.

In other words, he was headed towards becoming a bum. Naturally, the three of them treated him coldly now.

[Tia: How lucky you are, yet again. Even though you're a mutt, you can't be a watchdog when you're staggering all over the place.]

[Subaru: Does the food taste good when you don't work?]

[Halibel: Wooow, a storm of verbal abuse. That's not nice. Rem-chan, say something about this.]

[Rem: Let's see. …...I think food tastes the best when you're fulfilled with work.]

[Halibel: It's just the way you put it that's gentle. You're just as hurtful as Subaru!]

Halibel gets struck by Subaru, Tia, and then Rem with finishing blows, and he leaned back as he surrendered. After that, he slowly brought his bent body back into its original posture and said,

[Halibel: Yes, lately I haven't been working and have been lazing around, but today was a bit different.]

[Tia: A bit different, and yet it seems your laziness hasn't gotten any better.]

[Halibel: Let's not talk about that. Also, I've done all these things for you today, so I'd like you to take that into account.]

Hearing Halibel's statement, Tia pointed at herself with a blank look. Once Halibel calmly nodded, he pointed the tip of his kiseru towards the tenement housetowards the entrance to Tia's room.

[Halibel: Come on, Su-san, reveal it.]

[Subaru: You act as if I'm an accomplice for your schemes, but you haven't told me anything, either…...oh?]

After the calming instruction, Subaru opened the sliding door to Tia's room. Once he took a look inside, the scenery made his eyes open wide. Inside, there was

[Rem: Wow. Flowers, sweets…...and even kimonos. Are these gifts?]

Rem, who viewed the Room like Subaru did, put her hands together, and she was impressed as her eyes sparkled.

As implied by Rem's words, Tia's room had a total make-over. This room, which Subaru and Rem previously lived in, had the minimum amount of furniture and was quite bland, even after the marks from Tia's rage were repaired.

And now, flowers were placed here and in the room, as well as kimonos and candy boxes on top of the tatami mats; it was full of all kinds of gifts.

[Subaru: For someone like Halibel-san, these touches are quite nice.]

[Halibel: Hehehe, what do you think? See me in a new light now, right? That's what I'd like to say, but these gifts aren't really from me. These are gifts from the townspeople.]

Receiving praiseful words from Subaru, Halibel quickly gives away the truth. It was too thoughtful for someone like Halibel, so he was convinced when he was told that he didn't do all this, but to tell the truth, he was shocked.

The people of Banan town gifted the owner of roomthat is, they gifted Tia.

[Halibel: About Tia's work, I did say that her arrest-rate is impressive, right? But the employment agency job isn't the only job where Tia-chan is helping with all sorts of things.]

[Rem: She has a job on top of her employment agency one?]

[Halibel: It's more like a helper sort of thing. She frequently goes around doing favors…….they piled up, and this is how they've repaid her.]

Listening to Halibel give an explanation with his arms folded, Subaru and Rem looked at each other, showing that neither of them knew about all this.

Strangely enough, this is exactly what they had thought about. There were many times when people in town said hi to Tia in a very friendly way when they were on their way back from places like Temple Elementary School or the bath-house. Subaru thought that this was because of her achievements with her employment agency job, but that wasn't the case.

Tia had been deepening her exchanges with the townspeople without Subaru and Rem knowing about it.

Subaru and Rem were comprehending the situation, whereas Tia was silent in front of the presents she was given. Her cheeks were red, and she was just playing with her hair with her finger to show her confusion.

Without knowing what was this feeling welling up inside, as if it was too much to handle.

[Rem: Let's have a feast tonight. We have all this food, after all.]

[Tia: Rem……]

[Rem: These presents are for Tia-sama. We can't let it go to waste. I may not be able to finish it all myself, so will you help me?]

Tia's eyes shook as she heard Rem's proposal. Then, after pondering for a little bit, Tia nodded deeply at Rem without saying anything.

Seeing her nod, Rem rolls up her sleevesand so began the preparations for the feast.

Even though it was a feast, there was no clear thing they were celebrating.

But still, if they were having this feast for something, it would be

[Rem: To celebrate Tia-sama becoming a member of the town.]

Then, Rem tells Subaru that with a smile, and this was enough to convince him.

Celebrating becoming a member of the townfor Subaru and Rem, having the people around them kindly helping them out because they knew about their child was like proof that they were recognized by the town.

If something similar happened to Tia, that truly would be wonderful.

]

On top of the dining table, each and everyone one of the plates were empty.

Only four people were having a feast, but it was still a feast. Rem had put in her full effort, and she attacked with an amount of food worthy of her reputation. However, Tia faced all of it head-on, and with Subaru and Halibel's help, amazingly managed to finish it off.

And so, she gave in to the fullness of her big stomach, and she was now breathing in her sleep.

[Subaru: She becomes a cow as soon as she sleeps after eating. And now her beauty is ruined.]

[Halibel: Oh, Su-san, I'm surprised you're saying this when your wife is right next to you.]

[Subaru: I'm always praising Rem 100 times as much as that. Besides, I have no intentions of harming Tia. Tia is like...hm …...She's like a little sister.]

Judging off their appearances, it wasn't clear who was older. However, by comparing their behavior and common sense, a whole audience would agree that Subaru was older than Tia.

In fact, neither Rem nor Halibel disagreed, and they just made gentle looks upon hearing Subaru's statement.

[Halibel: But I don't think she fell asleep just because she got full. She secretly took some sips of that.]

[Subaru: Some sips…...oh.]

As Halibel chuckled, he pointed at somewhere behind Tia's butt while she lay downhidden in the hem of her dress was an awfully expensive bottle of alcohol.

This was probably one of her gifts as well. Although, Subaru and the others did come to the decision to not let Tia drink since it'd be risky.

[Halibel: Continuing to hide something just because you've already began doing it...children find it intriguing. Eventually, it turned out like this.]

[Subaru: …...But you were still wrong to let it happen while knowing about it.]

[Halibel: It's so cute how she sleeps right after having a taste of it. If she caused ruckus everywhere because of this, I would've had to take responsibility, but that didn't happen.]

Subaru frowned when Halibel judged that everything turned out alright in the end. However, when he looked at Tia's calm sleeping face, he started to feel that he was wrong to be mad.

Even if Tia got drunk off alcohol, would she would use violence on Subaru, like she did before, and get back her "light sphere" even if it meant taking Rem's life away? It was very hard for him to imagine her doing that.

[Halibel: Um, about the light sphere…]

[Subaru: ! Learned something?]

[Halibel: I frequently went around investigating. Did you think I was just lazing around?]

Halibel opens one of his slit eyes, and he gave a wink that meant the opposite of what it normally would mean. Seeing him do that, Subaru raises his eyebrows in surprise as he said,

[Subaru: Yeah, I thought you were just fooling around…...now I think better of you!]

[Rem: Yes, I see you in a much better light now! Impressive, Halibel-sama!]

[Halibel: Here I was thinking about how skilled you guys are at acting normal as married couple...]

Giving a wry smile, Halibel scratches his own black-haired head. After that, in a low tone he said,

[Halibel: Sorry to get your hopes up. I haven't heard anything about what exactly this light sphere is or where it's at. The situation is still the same. I'm sorry.]

[Subaru: Sigh……]

[Halibel: Can you hold in your sighs? Also, if I haven't heard anything about the light sphere, isn't that enough to give us some nice information? Such that even the existence of it is fishy.]

[Rem: So you're suspecting Tia-sama made everything up?]

Hearing Halibel's words, Rem's voice tenses up, and she says that in a bit of a criticizing manner. Subaru also felt disgusted by his assumption, although not as much as Rem.

Tia truly was determined to get her light sphere back. Hence why she was constantly checking for it on the way home todaythere's no way she was lying and making stuff up.

[Halibel: There's also the possibility that she just can't think that it could be anyone else. Tia-chan isn't normal. Su-san, Rem-chan, you must know that, right?]

]

However, Halibel makes that assertion to the two of them who denied his hypothesis with emotional arguments.

Perhaps he calmly saw the truth objectively because these were the views of shinobis. Or maybe Subaru and Rem were simply too soft on Tia and they were just looking away from reality.

[Halibel: Once Rem-chan gives birth……]

This was the first time Halibel put the time they had left into clear words. The inescapable reality was coming closer. It was the time when a decision would be made, as well as the time to make a choice.

Will it be up to Subaru, Rem, or Tia?

[Subaru: There's no need to give an answer right away.]

[Halibel: Maybe. But an answer will have to be given eventually.]

As Subaru replied, Halibel quietly said that with his head down. Subaru becomes silent and says nothing in response to is words, and when Rem slowly stood up,

[Rem: I can't let Tia-sama catch a cold.]

[Subaru: Oh, I'll do it.]

Subaru takes out a blanket instead of Rem, who was near the closet. In the last few days, nights have been remarkably chilly. Of course, Rem wanted Tia to be especially taken care of.

[Rem: Tia-sama, I will be moving the alcohol. Would you like the futon to be spread out?]

Rem steps up to Tia as she slept, and she talked to her affectionately. And then, she collects the bottle of alcohol Tia hid in her hem, and she started to loosen the sash of her dress so that she didn't have trouble sleeping.

Suddenly, Rem's hands were caught in white fingertips.

[Rem: Tia-sama?]

It was the same old way she called out her name. Rem, who was looking straight at Tia's sleeping face, was the only one who was able to tell that something was wrong.

Subaru, who was carrying the blanket, did not notice it and neither did Halibel, who smoked his kiseru at the window.

A trickle of tears was slowly rolling down Tia's cheeks.

[Tia: Give it...back……]

A frail, low murmur came from Tia's thin lips.

Rem says "What?" as she tried to hear that voice melting in the ephemera atmosphere, and then she brought her ears closer

[Tia: Give back...me.]

That moment, a wind blew.

[Subaru: Ah!?]

Subaru screams, and he immediately unfolded the blanket he was holding. Rem was blown away into him. Unable to withstand the impact, he gets blown away to the back. Subaru somehow forcefully wraps Rem in the blanket, and he crash into the kitchen with his back.

The cooking utensils make a loud noise as they fell onto the floor, and the food left in the pot gets thrown out.

[Subaru: Ka...ha……]

While the pain disturbed Subaru's breathing, he looked forward with his eyes wide open, wondering what just happened.

He saw the room that changed within just a few secondsthe dining table and the tatami mats flew off, and the magic gem lights hanging from the ceiling were violently turning on and off. There was an opening in the middle of the room, as if a beast had torn into it with its nails. Standing before it was Tia, whose wide dress waved in the wind as she shed tears.

Wind and a bite attackit was more than enough to remind him of the attack that had happened that one night.

[Subaru: Tia!]

Subaru cries that. However, it didn't reach Tia as she continued to shed tears endlessly while she held her head. Her eyes looked confused, and she was muttering something.

[Tia: My arms…...my legs…...my...body…...where is it? Where did it go……?]

Her steps were unsteady, her eyes made it seem like she was dreaming, but the danger was so clear

[Halibel: ]

So, a shinobi had to deal with such danger in a way a shinobi would.

Halibel evaded the first wind by clinging onto the ceiling. It wasn't clear how someone tall like him accomplished that. However, after Halibel escaped danger, he got off the ceiling, and he free fell down onto Tia's head, dealing a blow to her.

What hit her was a fist axe, where he put his big hands together. It was such a powerful hit that it could've smashed a large tree. The force he struck with had a chance to kill Tia if it hit her, as she was frail. Tia, shedding tears, dodged it, and she kicked up the broken dining table, repelling Halibel, who dropped down.

In this small room, Halibel, jumping around lightly as a tall man, and Tia, who was trying to get the upper hand, were clashing with magic.

It was the return of that night. Although the location was different, the situation was the same.

Tia's invisible bite attacks could not reach Halibel because of the kunai he threw. However, the aftermath had serious effects on its surroundings, and the tenement house got cut up again and again, destroying it.

[Halibel: This isn't good! Su-san and Rem-chan are going to get crushed!]

Perceiving the collapse of the tenement house as dangerous, Halibel screams and steps hard on the floor. Then, the tatami mats just barely left on the floor sprung up from below one by one. Tia, who was on top of one, gets sent flying by the unexpected impact, and she was being blown out of the tenement house.

Turning over tatami matsthat is what Halibel pulled off, although it wasn't clear how he did it.

[Subaru: !]

The moment Subaru realized that, he gave a jolt to his stiff lower half of his body, and he stood up. Inside his arms there was Rem, who was wrapped in a blanket. While holding onto her, he dashed out the back of the tenement house.

[Subaru: Rem, are you alright!? Rem!?]

When Subaru started to feel how cold the air felt, he realized that his whole body was wet with cold sweat. He ignored how nasty it was and called Rem's name as he held her in his arms.

[Rem: Subaru…-ku……]

[Subaru: Rem!]

Rem called Subaru's name as she wheezed. Subaru screeches because of it, and he slowly unfolded the blanket to check if she was injured.

From what he could see, there were no injuries. His blood ran cold when he was inside of Tia's wind up close. Had something gone wrong, Rem might have been cut into along with the space. It was a miracle that she just ended up getting blown away

[Rem: What about...Tia-sama……]

[Subaru: Take it easy! Tia…...Halibel-sama is doing something about Tia now! What's more important right now is you. How's your body……]

[Rem: I'm...fine…...ku!? Ah...ahh!]

[Subaru: Rem!?]

Rem tried to smile bravely, but her body bent with an agonized look on her face. That makes Subaru's eyes widen, and then Rem held onto her stomach before his eyes, suffering.

The situation indicated the worst case scenario.

[Subaru: !!]

Subaru hits his head, almost going into a panic, and he lifted Rem again with the blanket. There were still signs of Halibel and Tia clashing at the other side of the tenement house.

However, this wasn't the time for that. It wasn't, and yet…

[Subaru: Tia! Halibel! Stop! That's enough!!]

He ran to the front and yelled at the two clashing people to stop fighting. Hearing that, Tia slowly looked his way while Halibel stayed cautious.

Both of them had the same person in their eyes, and he didn't know why they felt so moved.

Regardless, the madness in Tia's eyes settled down, and Halibel really was no longer preparing for combat.

[Tia: Huh……?]

Tia let out a stunned and dumbfounded gasp, and when he looked at Subaru and the others, her surroundings made her think back. She thought back about the marks of destruction, Rem suffering, Subaru looking desperate, and Halibel fighting.

[Tia: Huh……?]

Tia just kept letting that out, looking like she didn't know what had happened. Halibel quickly ran up to Subaru and Rem without paying attention to Tia.

[Halibel: How's Rem-chan?]

[Subaru: She's holding onto her stomach and it looks like she's in pain! We have to get her to the doctor as soon as possible……]

[Halibel: I'll carry her. It'll be faster that way. Su-san, you hurry, too.]

Halibel immediately picked up Rem along with the blanket, as if snatching her, and he jumped across the street with an extremely light leap, going off to get the old family magic user.

Subaru sees Halibel jumping towards the moon, and he hurries after him.

[Tia: Wai...Wait……]

A shaky voice called out to him from behind. Subaru stops for a moment, and then he looked back.

He saw Tia standing alone, reaching her hand out for his back. She wasn't close enough to reach. She just had the will to try to stop him.

[Tia: I……]

[Subaru: ]

Subaru couldn't find the words to speak to Tia, who didn't finish her sentence.

He gave in to his impatience. Actually, he was probably feeling irritated as well. He had no time to stop moving. He had to run to Rem as soon as possible.

The frustration makes Subaru's feet move, and he starts running. Leaving Tia behind.

[Tia: ]

He felt like Tia's hoarse voice faintly reached his earlobes. However, Subaru didn't stop, and he didn't tell Tia to follow him, either.

Was he angry at her? Of course, that was one reason.

Was she afraid of her? Of course, that was another reason.

However, the biggest reason he ran away is because he was scared of speaking to Tia, as he didn't know what to say.

[???: Your wife is fine. She's calmed down. …...That was pretty dangerous for both the mother and the child.]

In the clinic he ran into, the old magic user said that after finishing the treatment, which took a few hours.

Hearing the calmness of Rem's breathing as she lay down on the bed, Subaru felt relief from the bottom of his heart, and words were not enough to express his gratitude towards Halibel and the old magic user.

And then, he went next to Rem as she slept, and he decided to wait as long as it'd take for her to wake up.

Even if Halibel returned to the tenement house and tells him that Tia isn't there, even if the old magic user tells him to a take rest, he was going to wait as long as it'd take for Rem to open her eyes.

[Rem: Subaru…-kun……?]

Rem woke up, he hears her voice, and he hugged her while shedding tears, confirming that she was okay.

Peace within his heart was restored at last, and after that, they faced reality.

Tia never returned to the tenement house again.

And so, the noisy, fun life of the strange neighbors at the tenement house met its end.

The three months after that went by within a blink of an eye.

The predicted date for Rem to give birth was coming closer and closer.

Chapter 5: 10 Months

[Rem: Thank you very much for your help again. I must be going now, Doctor.]

[???: Take care of yourself as best as you can. The baby might be born at any time, after all. If you get carried here like last time, I may or may not be available.]

[Rem: Yes, I'll take your words to heart.]

[???: Now go already.]

Rem bows, and the old magic user waved her goodbye while holding onto his blunt attitude.

At a glance, it did seem like a perfunctory response, but now that they knew the old magic user for a long time, the true intention of his blunt attitude was clear. Since there was sharpness in his words, you could tell that his skills and the care for his patients were genuine.

This relieved Subaru, and he didn't mind bringing Rem to the healing magic user.

[Subaru: Still, my heart was pounding like a drum. Like the doctor said, the baby really can be born at any moment……]

[Rem: Jeez, you can't be like that, Subaru-kun. If you're always so nervous, your body won't be able to take it when the time comes. Keep it in check, and prepare yourself calmly.]

[Subaru: RRight, keep things in moderation and act calm.]

With her hand on her mouth, Rem giggles at Subaru, who was so nervous that his legs and arms made it apparent it while he walked. Rem's stomach was now undoubtedly big, and she was approaching the last month of pregnancy.

There was a time when the mother and the child were in serious danger, but fortunately they were able to recover and the baby inside grew normally.

Without a doubt, that was all possible because of Rem's strong will and Subaru's constant support.

Ever since that night, Subaru has been even more devoted to Rem, and he did his best to support her by her side. His coworkers and friends said that he was great for it, but that wasn't true.

Doing something like this was just natural once you considered the fear and confusion he'd experienced that night, in that moment.

Just imagining the fear of possibly losing Rem and their child made his blood run cold.

[Rem: Thanks to you, I've been feeling so relaxed. I'm not sure if I I'll be able to live the way I did before after being cared for so much by my husband and giving birth to our child.]

[Subaru: Right now, you have an important job of raising the baby with your stomach as the cradle. Until that's finished, leave all the little tasks to me. If something bothers you, don't take care of it yourself, be hard on me and teach me, like you always have.]

[Rem: Okaaay.]

Listening to Subaru's dramatic orders, Rem nods, acting playfully again.

Just like Rem said, Subaru has been doing most of the jobs in the house instead of her. Subaru's responsibility was to do as much cooking, laundry, and cleaning as possible.

Of course, at first he did make a lot of mistakes and it was clear that he was unskilled and lacked knowledge, but he was able to pull through with Rem's guidance and help from his female coworkers when he was having trouble.

And so now Subaru has attained house-husband skills that were good enough to Rem.

[Subaru: It's all thanks to Rem being an excellent teacher.]

[Rem: No no. Subaru-kun's already a fast learner and you're good with your hands so it was fun to teach you. I'm sure that you're suited for tasks at home, too.]

[Subaru: I just never had many opportunities to try them. I actually think I am, too.]

He just never had any opportunities. He knew that he had a high aptitude for things like cooking, laundry, and cleaning. At this point, it's been proven that he has a high aptitude for being a husband on top of his sewing skills.

A group of Kararagi housewifes had even surrounded him unexpectedly and confirmed that he was doing fine.

[Subaru: I wonder what we should have tonight. Rem, what would you like to eat?]

[Rem: Let's see...I'd like to eat something sour.]

[Subaru: That's a really classic request for a pregnant woman. Are you sure that you want to eat something sour?]

[Rem: Well, I was craving for it when I got pregnant, but not so much anymore. It's why I snuck in a lot of sour food back then.]

[Subaru: The cats out of the bag with that shocking truth!]

There were many times when they'd have sour fruits or vinegared food. That being said, at the time even Rem wasn't aware that she was pregnant, so he was still a bit puzzled.

[Subaru: I've heard that morning sickness gets terrible and you start craving sour food. With that considered, you haven't had much morning sickness.]

[Rem: Now that you mention it, that might be true. Maybe it's the works of me really wanting to avoid showing myself being weak with you around.]

[Subaru: You've got strong nerves of steel. I'm just glad that we weren't too late……]

It was discovered that Rem was pregnant when she lost consciousness and was taken to the healing magic user. If she'd never lost consciousness and kept everything inside, they might've never noticed that she was pregnant until her stomach became unnaturally large.

[Rem: And I'm sure I would've done everything I could to not have you think that I got fat, hiding how big my stomach was.]

[Subaru: And I'm sure I would've kept being fooled so easily. That really just isn't okay……]

Come to think of it, it's a good thing they had figured it out while they could still recover from mistakes. And on the night that sparked the realization there was

[Subaru: ]

Naturally and unavoidably, his memory approaches that night.

That made Subaru's expression turn sour, but it was something unavoidable. In the memories of the time he spent in Banan town, she was there in those three months, no matter where he looked.

In the funnest, loudest days that were still vivid in his memory, there was Tia.

[Rem: Tia-sama……]

[Subaru: She's nowhere to be found. I put up a notice at Clane's, and Hal-san's searching for her too, but he's found nothing.]

Hearing Rem's melancholic murmuring, Subaru speaks quickly in response. This showed that he didn't want to talk about Tia anymore if possible. However, Rem shook her head at his request as she said,

[Rem: Subaru-kun, are you mad at Tia-sama?]

[Subaru: . Yes, of course I am. Do you know how much danger you were in? You and the baby were in serious danger, and she's the one at fault.]

[Rem: ]

[Subaru: And she even got the hell out before I could give her a piece of my mind, let alone hear her apologize. How could I not be mad after all that?]

Ever since the final night, Tia completely disappeared from the town.

Subaru's last memory of Tia was him running to the clinic, leaving her behind and watching her cower like a child.

When he came back to the tenement house, which was on the verge of collapsing, after confirming that Rem was fine, Tia had already disappeared from the area. Afterwards, even Halibel helped out and they looked all over the town, but in the end they never found out a trace of her as months three passed by.

Wondering where Tia ran off to, wondering where did that strange neighbor go

All while never being allowed to see her as something more than a neighbor.

[Rem: If you ran into her and she apologized, would you forgive her?]

[Subaru: …...Would you?]

[Rem: I definitely would. I love Tia-sama, after all.]

[Subaru: ]

Rem's soft words were understandable. She'd forgiven Tia from the bottom of her heart.

Rem said the reason was that she loved Tia.

Subaru had nothing to say once she told him that. Even Subaru probably felt the same way as Rem did. He cared about Tia. He considered her a friend.

And yet, the unpleasant feeling Subaru felt inside was still there, and he didn't forgive Tia.

Subaru felt the same way as Rem did and shared the same memories with her. Perhaps he didn't forgive because of their difference in tolerance. Or maybe there was a different reason

[Subaru ]

While talking, Subaru and Rem went back home.

Currently, they weren't living at the tenement house from before, but at a house near the town area through the courtesy of Riften. The tenement house had collapsed from the damage of that night. It never got rebuilt, and the spot was now a vacant lot of the tenement house.

Knowing that they'd lost their house, Riften was the one who put in a good word for them. He really did feel bad about depending on him all the time, but them having a baby made him forget about restraining himself.

The temporary residence was unexpectedly comfortable, and it was far more considerate of Rem's condition than the cramped tenement house. Perhaps this was also a result of Riften's thoughtfulness.

[Rem: But I feel it's still a bit too big for just the two of us.]

So said Rem as she slowly sat down in the living room. Unlike the tenement house, which was pretty much one room as it was just divided, this house had more than enough of everything.

But even if they had a living room, a bedroom, and private room for each of them

[Subaru: It's probably a room for the child for when it's born. This is Riften-san we're talking about. I can see him thinking that far ahead.]

[Rem: You have a lot faith in Riften-sama, huh.]

[Subaru: He's helped us out so much, after all. I'm not gonna lose trust in him just because he's got a thing for cougars. I've got tons of favors I have to repay.]

[Rem: Yeah, me too. I need to repay the people at Temple Elementary School and the magic user doctor. And there's also Halibel-sama……]

[Subaru: Hal-san, huh.]

Hearing Halibel's name, Subaru knitted his brows as he put luggage in the closet.

Ever since the tenement collapsed and they started living in completely different places, they had much fewer chances to meet with Halibel. The days when they'd see each other like a family were over, and it seemed Halibel wasn't a playboy anymore and was doing his best to fulfill his duty as a shinobi.

[Subaru: He must feel responsible for what happened to you.]

[Rem: Well…...it wasn't even Halibel-sama's fault though.]

[Subaru: I mean, still. Tia suddenly changing…...if there was something that triggered that, it had to have been the alcohol. He must feel down as the person that let it happen.]

Halibel especially was someone who'd jokingly say that he'd answer with his life if any problems ever came up. Even Subaru didn't know if he blamed himself so much for him to do such a thing.

Honestly, it's not like he blamed Halibel and wished that he'd stopped Tia before she poured herself alcohol. In reality, even Subaru wasn't so childish that he'd blame him by telling him that, but it wouldn't be strange if Halibel was frustrated with himself for it.

Thus, Halibel has been committed to finding where Tia ran off to.

[Subaru: …...Rem, I'm gonna go shopping. Do you want anything?]

No matter what they did, talking about that night always made them feel depressed. Rem feeling down isn't good for the baby. To avoid this, Subaru forced the topic to change.

His thoughtfulness should've been obvious to Rem, but she shook her head as she said,

[Rem: No, I'm fine. And you don't have to ask everyday. I'm not so selfish that I'd ask for this and that.]

[Subaru: But with how you are right now, I want you to be selfish more than anyone, y'know?]

[Rem: In that case, I want you to stay with me forever.]

[Subaru: I'm guessing this is what you came up with after perfecting the delivery.]

Subaru smiles wryly at Rem's cute pestering, and he stood up once he was ready to go shopping. He thought about having sour food for tonight's dinner, as Rem had requested.

Although it sounded like a joke, she probably had told him since she really did want to have it.

[Subaru: Okay, Rem, I'm leaving now. Behave and sit tight, alright?]

[Rem: Both the baby and I will behave.]

After that interaction, Subaru left the house to go shopping. He headed towards the town areahowever, he wasn't going straight to the grocery store. He was going to Clane's employment agency.

[Clane: Unfortunately, I have no idea where Tia-chan is. Sorry.]

Clane, giving a reply that was now routine, bowed his head to Subaru, who showed up here on a regular basis. Subaru shook his head, letting him know that he didn't have to act apologetic.

This also had become a completely normal exchange.

[Clane: Everyone's worried about that girl. This goes without saying, but she was loved.]

[Subaru: She was really skilled, right? Not that I still have any doubts or anything.]

[Clane: She was the best. A girl her age having bounty hunting as her calling isn't something that should be told to everyone, though. Anyway, I'll keep searching.]

[Subaru: I'm counting on you.]

The missing person poster posted on the wallthe personal description on the request form was even edited by Subaru, and it captured Tia's traits pretty well. But her beauty that defied common sense still wasn't written on it.

Needless to say, Tia was so beautiful that one would think that she wasn't from this world.

[Subaru: The pain from my nose being smashed begs to differ, though.]

[Clane: Nose being smashed?]

[Subaru: Nothing. Just talking to myself.]

Clane waves his hand at Subaru, and he leaves the employment agency. He was genuinely worried about Tia in his own way. He was feeling more and more on edge.

It was as if he was the only one in the world who cared about Tia.

[Subaru: Ugh. This is ridiculous. It's not the time to be saying stuff like this. …...I'll buy some green onions and forget about it.]

Brushing off his sadness, Subaru bought some green onions, or rather, green omions displayed on the greengrocer. He places them into the bag and starts constructing tonight's menu inside his head.

[Subaru: I first bought green onions, so it should be the main ingredient…...Actually, green onions are pretty flexible, so even if they aren't the focus of the meal, things will come together just fine.]

With Rem and the ladies' guidance, Subaru had mastered plenty of recipes. He picks the best out of the many good bargains displayed at the shopping district.

Lemom, tometo, cabage, cooking sake, fish, eggs, rice, soy sauce, Tia, wheat flour.

[Subaru: Tia?]

While carefully selecting ingredients, a shadow appeared in Subaru's vision for just a moment, and he gasped. If he had he looked away thinking that he took her for someone else, her milky white hair would've disappeared into the crowd.

Although he saw it for just a moment, he was still sure of it. That was Tia's hair.

[Subaru: Tia! Wait, hey, wait!]

That moment, Subaru yelled, and he started running frantically

Subaru slips through a gap in the crowd of people, and he ran after her desperately as she became distant. Tia moved smoothly, as if there was no one in her way, whereas Subaru bumped into other people.

But still, the distance between someone who walks and someone who runs closes eventually. Suddenly, Subaru loses sight of Tia's head in the surging crowd, and he looked everywhere while panickinghe saw the hem of her dress disappear into an alley.

[Subaru: Tia!]

While praying that his eyes weren't deceiving him, Subaru tumbled into the alley. Then, after he kicked the hard ground and ran, he saw someone standing in the dark passageway.

She had a slender, delicate back, and she was pretty tall for a girl. That short, shoulder-length milky white hair couldn't belong to anyone else.

[Subaru: Hah...hah…...Tia, I've been looking for you. Why'd you run away?]

[Tia: ]

Tia did not respond to Subaru's question. However, she had no intentions of running away anymore. Subaru understood that, so he dropped his luggage onto the ground while regaining his breath.

And then, he walks up to Tia as she stood in the darkness, and reached for her shoulder.

[Subaru: Come on, I know it's hard for us to see each other. But at least look my way.]

Holding onto her shoulder dressed in black, Subaru spoke to Tia in a somewhat blunt manner. The unpleasantness of the trouble from that night blackened out the happiness from seeing her.

If she at least had an expression that made it look like she was going through rough times, maybe he could be more honest.

While hoping for that, Subaru turned her around and

[Tia: Die.]

He was hit by a violent wind of bloodlust head on.

[Halibel: Su-san! Are you here!?]

[Rem: Halibel-sama!?]

The door to the house gets thrown open, and Rem gasps in surprise upon hearing a voice that came in. And then she saw that it was a black haired wolf man that entered the houseit was Halibel.

It was a face Rem hadn't seen for a whole month. However, although it was the first time in a while that they'd seen each other, there wasn't a welcoming atmosphere. Halibel looked around the house as he said,

[Halibel: Rem-chan, I know it's been a while, but this is an emergency. Where's Su-san?]

[Rem: Subaru-kun is out shopping for dinner. He should be coming back very soon……]

[Halibel: Agh, so we missed each other! This is terrible! Not good, this isn't good…]

Halibe scratches his head and he couldn't calm down, making him sound antsy. Rem senses that he was acting unusual, and she stood up while holding onto her baby belly as she said,

[Rem: Halibel-sama, what happened? If it's something that has to do with Subaru-kun, please tell me.]

[Halibel: Ah, Rem-chan, you really shouldn't push yourself too hard. I could've been more clear, but telling you straight up that Su-san's in danger would be…...or wait, maybe I could just tell you?]

[Rem: Halibel-sama?]

[Halibel: Rem-chan, I told you this before, right? Do you remember? Because of my nose, I know that there might be someone going after Su-san.]

Halibel's question makes Rem's eyes widen. Although it wasn't entirely correct, most of the parts were accurate perceptions.

Someone might be going after Subaruthat's what Rem told Halibel after guessing what Tia's goal was when she tried to harm her and Subaru.

She told him about the miasma surrounding Subaruthat is, the possibility of having the witch's scent.

[Rem: Yes, I did say. that However, that's irrelevant…...and Tia-sama's actually going for me, not Subaru, and that's also probably a misunderstanding……]

[Halibel: No, that's not quite right. It wasn't a misunderstanding, and it was relevant. Dang it, I'm not being clear again. Right, we were mistaken. We were "wrong".]

[Rem: Wrong? Wrong...about what……?]

[Halibel: About who the culprit really is, and about who Tia-chan really is.]

Rem gasps at the unexpected statement. When Halibel opened his eyes, which were usually closed like slit-eyes, there was heavy regret in his revealed black pupils as he said,

[Halibel: It's my mistake. I have no excuses. It's a total failure. I miscalculated everything. Because of that, we might have a dangerous situation on our hands.]

[Rem: II don't get it, Halibel-sama. Please explain everything from the top.]

[Halibel: It all started approximately one year ago. Thequest for Zarestia's bed was the beginning.]

Halibel listens to Rem's question, and the details he talked about were like a bolt from the blue yet again.

ZarestiaRem also remembered that name.

It was one of the four powerful great spirits, known as The Four Great Spirits; an entity that lived in "Zarestia's Bed" located in the west side of Kararagi.

But as for what that quest started

[Halibel: Zarestia's bed is a famous place wind blows, killing anyone near it. At first, the investigation team application was brushed off as a reckless challenge for daredevils, but……]

[Rem: But?]

[Halibel: Who knows if it was a miracle or something, but there's one person who managed to return alive. If it had just been a survivor, then the story would've ended as someone who barely escaped death, but…..]

Judging from the way Halibel recited the story, she guessed that it didn't end there.

And then she also guessed what Halibel was trying to confirm just earlier when he was feeling frantic. The moment Rem connected the dots in her mind, her eyes opened wide in terror.

[Halibel: The girl who survived was someone seeking revenge and she sought Zarestia's power out of hatred for the Witch Cult.]

A wind blew.

And it was probably sharp enough to easily shred Subaru's body into bits and pieces.

Or maybe being cut up by that wind and turning into bright red meat was Subaru's punishment as someone who turned his back on everything.

Or at least, that's what he thought in that moment.

[Tia: What are you spacing out for? Are you stupid!?]

[Subaru: Whoa!?]

He gets grabbed by the scruff of his neck, and he was flung back at once without being able to resist. Then, he bounced on the ground, and he rolled, rolled, and rolled without defending himself. And then, when Subaru looked in front of him while grimacing at the pain, he saw that the one who flung him was

[Subaru: TTia, is that you?]

[Tia: Not like there could be any other beauties here right now other than myself. …...Well, that's what I'd like to say, but I'm not so sure if I could.]

Bending forward lightly, Tia turns just her head backboth that rough tone and the way she treated Subaru rudely were just like her, no doubt about it.

And as for what Tia's statement meant, he'd find out immediately with the scene right before his eyes.

[Subaru: ]

Standing in front of Tia, who threw Subaru, was another Tia.

Two Tias with the same face and the same appearance were facing each other. Their looks were completely identical. The one difference between them was their dresses; they were clearly different in that one was black and one was white.

The Tia dressed in black tried to kill Subaru, while the one dressed in white protected him.

In other words

[Subaru: Black Tia is an enemy, and white Tia is an ally!]

[Tia: You aren't wrong, but I don't like the way you put it!]

Hearing Subaru shout with his face lying on the ground, white Tia stepped forward immediately as she muffled her voice. She shot her thin body like a bullet and came at the opponent who had the same face as her.

Using the power of her beast-like body, white Tia mercilessly strikes black Tia's face with her handthat instant, black Tia put a smile on her incomprehensible, demonic, beautiful face.

[Black Tia: Die.]

[White Tia: !]

White Tia avoids the bite attack by quickly jumping up. However, the invisible attacks went after white Tia, shot into the sky one after another. White Tia kicks the wall, jumps diagonally, like jumping in a triangular motion, and she dodged, dodged and dodged.

[White Tia: Why you……! You're persistent!]

Even if she jumped up walls, Kararagi buildings were short in general. White Tia quickly landed on top of the alley and angrily swung her arm at the ground. That moment, white Tia struck down with an attack similar to black Tia's bite attackhowever, it was clearly weak; white Tia's wasn't as good as hers.

Black Tia dodges it by quickly jumping away, as if it was inevitable.

[White Tia: Damn it! You're me, and yet you're stronger!]

[Black Tia: Die.]

Black Tia did nothing but speak bloodthirsty words to white Tia, who was furious with rage.

However, the difference in strength was showing in their few attacks. If they kept fighting like this one on one, eventually white Tia would be at a disadvantage.

Even Subaru knew that as someone who almost got into danger just by watching. Therefore,

[Subaru: Look at me, fake Tia!]

[Black Tia: ]

Subaru gets up, and he was close to the wallhe jumped at his hand bag that had been blown away onto the ground by the wind, and he was throwing things that were in it.

However, unfortunately the first thing that went flying parabolically was a green omion. The long, green vegetable spun, lost momentum, and fell to the ground before it reached black Tia.

That pointless resistance makes black Tia turn her attention towards Subaru. Above him, white Tia was also staring at Subaru, wondering what he was doing.

Still, this was fine. This was fine.

He wasn't hoping to damage her or anything. He had no weapons, after all. If he could at least create a situation where it was a superficial 2 on 1, if he could at least make up for white Tia's misses

[Subaru: ]

[Black Tia: Goo...oo……]

Just from being stared at, Subaru felt his mind freeze as it creaked.

Black Tia's eyes were empty. There was nothing you could classify as emotion, and nothing you could classify as will. In them was darknessnothing but jet-black bloodlust that embodied it.

Bloodlust, and that's it. As scary as it was, black Tia had nothing but bloodlust.

So, black Tia's actions were the very definition of simple. The best actions just to kill were simple. And at this very moment, she didn't want white Tia's blood, but Subaru's.

[Black Tia: Damn...you……]

Sensing death being wished upon him, Subaru swung his arm as he resisted the fear entangling his body. However, his resistance was all for naught in the end. The bottle he held onto couldn't do much. It didn't hit black Tia; it felt onto the ground before him and broke loudly. Everything spilled out.

That moment, black Tia's expression changed.

[Black Tia: !?]

[Subaru: What?]

Suddenly, black Tia opened her eyes and stared at the bottle that fell before her. There was a broken bottlea bottle of cooking sake just rolling and spilling out everything.

[Subaru: It's just alcohol, you know?]

[Black Tia: ]

Black Tia couldn't respond to Subaru's dumbfoundment. Her cheeks stiffen. She covered her face with her hands, stepped back, and she was letting out a groan full of pain.

Black Tia was so afraid of that abominationso afraid of the alcohol that it felt like her heart was being torn apart.

[White Tia: Now's my chance!!]

Swooping down from the building's roof, Tia strikes with a dynamic kick.

Black Tia, being defenseless, eats a direct hit from the kick, and she was blown away with a rough somersault. She rolls, crashes into the wall, and ended up sprawling on the ground in the alley.

[Subaru: Did that do it!?]

[White Tia: Hah! When she suddenly stopped focusing, though I don't know why she did, her fate was sealed! Now I will achieve retribution with my own hands…..ew!?]

Subaru cheered and white Tia spoke triumphantly at the same time. White Tia was going to go after black Tia, who collapsed, but she suddenly stopped and screamed.

White Tia opened her eyes wide at the alcohol right behind her that soaked her feet.

[Tia: ~~!? What!? What's this!? Ew...ewww!!]

[Subaru: Not you too! What's the big deal!? It's just alcohol……]

White Tia was showing the same reaction, or maybe an even stronger rejection, that black Tia had. Judging from that unusual situation, Subaru understood that their rejection towards alcohol was not just a matter of disliking it.

However, before Subaru could investigate the matter, something unbelievable happened.

[Black Tia: Goo...ooo……]

[Subaru: Huh? Her face is disfigured…...no, it's blurry……?]

Black Tia groaned and slowly got upher looks slowly fell apart, and they were coming off. Under it, there was a face that didn't look like Tia at all. The harshness of her eyes was similar, but her unhealthy eye bags were what stood out more.

She had a pale face, and her hair color went from milky white to dark brown. Even her body shrunk; it was as if a spell had been casted on her, transforming her.

[Subaru: Hey……!]

That alone was enough to shock him quite a bit, however something even more shocking made Subaru's eyes widen.

He saw two shining protruding objects sticking out on the kneeling girl's head.

[Subaru: Horns……? So you're...an Oni?]

[Black Tia: ]

That was the conclusion Subaru came to after seeing the two horns sticking out on her forehead. A former member/descendant of the Oni race, like Rem. Although the woman seemed anguished over the conclusion, she let out a sharp sigh in vexation.

[Black Tia: Die! Die! Die!]

Wrapped in a storm of overflowing bloodlust, Subaru immediately protected his face with his hands as he felt the pressure. However, she still focused on satisfying her bloodlust, and she spreaded her arms left and right, conjuring wind.

Buildings to the left and right of the alley were gouged by the wind she conjured making them collapse. Half of the buildings' supports were gone, and the buildings collapsed instantly. The alley was going to be buried soon.

[Subaru: Shit! Hey, Tia…...ahh, damn it!]

[Tia: …….What….what...what is this? It's on me…...eek…]

Right after the buildings collapsed, Subaru called Tia's name. However, Tia was still shocked from having breathed in the smell of alcohol. Subaru was forced to carry her slender body, and he ran back.

[Suabru: Gaaaah!]

Despite the collapsing noises nearing him and his back aching, Subaru ran straight through with all his energy. And right after he got out of the cramped alley, the destruction was over, and the alley was completely buried in scrap wood.

There were clouds of dust in the wind, and people in the main street rushed over to see what all the big commotion was all about. They immediately reached out for Subaru and Tia, who collapsed at the alley entrance.

[Subaru: She's……]

With help, Subaru stands up, and he looks back at the alley crushed by the destruction. Nobody other than Subaru and Tia rushed out to this alley. However, it was highly unlikely for the girl to have gotten stuck and crushed in the destruction in the first place.

She got away. The mysterious girl who could produce the same horn as Rem and had the same face as Tia.

[Subaru: Who...the heck...was that girl……?]

With his sleeve, Subaru wiped his face dirty with dust and sweat, and he muttered that while panting lightly. The girl who got away wasn't going to give him the answer to his question.

If there were someone else who'd give Subaru an answer

[Subaru: I can count on you, right? Tia.]

[Tia: …...Whatever.]

Tia, having finally recovered from the shock of the alcohol, replied unwillingly with a sour look.

Hearing a reply characteristic of her, Subaru let out a wry smile of inappropriate relief.

[Rem: Subaru-kun! Thank goodness you're alright!]

[Subaru: Woah, careful!]

Subaru arrives home, and he quickly caught Rem, who jumped at him at the entranceway. Even if she jumped at him with such force, hugging his wife was still a piece of cake.

That being said, he did want her to keep her expression of love in moderation since she was in the last month of pregnancy.

[Subaru: Rem, I'm glad you're happy to see me home, but if you keep this up, my lifespan will be shortened every time I get back. Think about the baby a bit more.]

[Rem: II'm sorry. It's just that I heard you were in danger and……]

[Subaru: You heard that I was in danger? From who?]

Although Subaru talked to Rem kindly, he grimaced at her reply. The news got around to her too quickly. It has been only about an hour since Subaru got in danger. She shouldn't be informed about the news.

In fact, Subaru had planned on telling her about it after calming down.

[Halibel: From me, Su-san.]

[Subaru: …...So you were here, Hal-san, No wonder she found out about it so quickly.]

His suspicions vanished after Halibel showed himself in the corridor. As a shinobi, Halibel could know what the whole town is doing through adequate means. Subaru suspected that he'd have his clones lurk all around the town whenever push came to shove.

[Subaru: But don't worry Rem by telling her so quick. This is a very important time.]

[Halibel: Sorry about that, but it was unexpected for me, too. I didn't expect Su-san to get attacked at this exact time. You should tell her that you're alright, since she found out that you got attacked. Don't you feel bad for Rem-chan?]

[Rem: Subaru-kun, please don't blame Halibel-sama. Halibel-sama stopped me when I panicked and tried to run over.]

[Halibel: Yep yep.]

Halibel made an expression that showed he was backing up Rem. Instead of detesting his behavior, for a while Subaru felt like he wasn't being himself, and he missed the timing to go off on him.

Besides, this wasn't the time to be angry. Rem has the best gift of all, after all.

[Subaru: Honestly, right now I have a bunch of things I wanna talk about, like about what happened……]

[Rem Yes. Please tell us. We were very worried.]

[Subaru: But not yet. First, I have someone I want you to see.]

Rem, who had gotten ready to listen, had a question mark above her upon hearing Subaru's statement. Subaru smiles at her, turns around to the sliding door behind him, and spoke.

[Subaru: How long are you going to hide? Come in.]

[???: ]

At first, there was no response at all to Subaru. However, after a few moments of silence, the person nervously showed their face, probably because they couldn't handle the tension. The one who slowly showed her head beside the sliding door was a girl who'd disappeared 3 months ago

[Rem: Tia…-sama?]

[Tia: Long...time...no see……]

[Rem: Tia-sama!]

Realizing that it's Tia, Rem jumps at her with a emotional look. Amazed by her energy, Tia panics and catches her, just like the catch from earlier.

Then, when Tia slowly let Rem down at the entranceway.

[Tia: BBe...Be more careful! Have you forgotten that you're pregnant!? If I'd stepped aside, it would've been terrible!]

[Rem: I had faith that you wouldn't do that.]

[Tia: MMmm…..mmmm……]

Tia let out a groan as she bit her lip in vexation over Rem's affectionate look. After that, she suddenly let out a sigh of defeat and looked down at Rem's stomach, which was right next to her.

And her stomach was far larger than what Tia remembered.

[Tia: …...It's about to be born, huh.]

[Rem: Yes. Our deadline with Tia-sama is coming.]

[Tia: ]

Rem joked around in anticipation that Tia had already completely forgotten about the deadline. And, in fact, her anticipation was correct.

There's no way Tia could kill Rem. Plus

[Tia: Rem, about that, I have something to tell you.]

[Rem: You...need to tell me something?]

[Tia: You, as well as Su and Hal.]

Tia said that not just to Rem, but to Subaru, who was next to her, and Halibel, who was in the corridor, as well. With a little anxiety showing on her serious face, she said,

[Tia: I…...I finally figured out what I have to do. I want to have a good talk about that with you guys.]

The four of them move to the living room of the temporary Natsuki house, and they each gathered at a desk, something that hasn't happened in a while.

And so, for the first time in three months, everyone gathered in one roomhowever, this wasn't going to be a fun, noisy dinner.

This was a necessary meeting to discuss more important matters.

[Tia: I……]

Tia, sitting straight with her hands on her lap, was the first one to speak. Although she wasn't sure how to continue, she said,

[Tia: I...for retribution…...no, to get my stolen light sphere back, I came to you guys. You remember that, right?]

[Subaru: Yep, I do. You gave us a real bad time in the beginning, after all.]

[Rem: Yes, that's when you attacked me and Subaru-kun in the streets at night.]

Subaru and Rem answer Tia, who sought a confirmation. However, half of their reply was right, while the other half was wrong; Subaru was right, while Rem made a mistake.

He thought it was far too obvious, and there was nothing he'd confirmed directly, but

[Subaru: Rem, Tia isn't the one who attacked us in the streets on that night. Tia only beat me up at the tenement house.]

[Rem: What? But that would mean……]

[Halibel: Yeah, that's the first misunderstanding…...I was also far too careless.]

It was Halibel who nodded instead of Rem, as she was confused. It seemed Halibel had quickly realized the truth of this misunderstanding, being the one who actually fought with the attacker that night.

He'd realized that on that night, it was black Tia who attacked Subaru and Rem on their way home, and that they never came across the offender again up until today.

[Subaru: Black Tia is called black Tia for convenience, and her face looks just like Tia's. And it's not just her face, that goes for her appearance tooeverything. That's why there was a misunderstanding. Tia didn't deny it, either.]

[Tia: I really did beat up Su, and even I had no idea there was someone out there with the same face as me.]

Hearing Subaru's statement, Tia gave something that sounded like an excuse as she looked away.

Of course, this wasn't all on Tia. If they'd talked to Tia more to confirm the truth, they would've immediately noticed the inconsistency.

That never happened because they ran away from seriously facing the issue of the girl from that night, using their fear of ruining their relationship with Tia as an excuse.

[Halibel: It's not Su-san's fault. I should've caught on faster with that "Shinigami" name.]

Seeing Subaru hang his head, Halibel said that with his unlit kiseru in his mouth. He wasn't acting himself today; his ears were bent, as if he was feeling down.

[Subaru: So…"Shinigami" was a hint?]

[Halibel: Not a hint, but the answer. Sure, there's no one here that goes by the nickname "Shinigami". However, there is the most famous "Shinigami". That was the missing piece to the puzzle.]

[Subaru: The most famous "Shinigami"...]

[Halibel: "The Most Beautiful Shinigami".]

Halibel said that as if he was mentioning someone revered.

The words he put together didn't make sense to Subaru. Still, Rem, looking at Tia with her eyes opened wide, moved her lips with a surprised look.

[Rem: "The Most Beautiful Shinigami", Zarestia……]

[Subaru: Zarestia? Zarestia...wait a second……]

He'd heard the name before. As Subaru began saying that, the scene of the memory came back to him vividly. He'd heard of it a few months ago at Clane's employment agency.

Before he was referred to his job at Magoji palace, Subaru happened to find an applicationthe details written on it were "A Search For Zarestia's Bed". It was an application for challenging a great spirit.

In other words, the name of the great spirit that lived in that bed was

[Subaru: Zarestia, the Great Spirit.]

[Halibel: That's Tia-chan's real name.]

Halibel's level voice went over Subaru's that sounded like it was forced out of his lips.

The conclusion was way too out of the blue. Even if this was the truth, even the false name was too simple to begin with. They should've laughed about it, and yet nobody in the living room was laughing.

Tia, the one pointed out to be a great spirit, wasn't laughing, either. She simply let out a sad sigh as she said,

[Tia: I will say this now. I, as you guys have pointed out, am Zarestia.]

[Rem: Tia-sama……]

[Tia: However, I'm not all of Zarestia. I'm half…...no, not even half. I'm merely a part.]

[Subaru: What do you mean by that?]

Tia, putting her hand to her chest, admitted that she was a great spirit. However, there were a lot of parts missing in her explanation that followed, so Subaru threw a question back at her in confusion.

Rem was the one who dealt with the mind boggling parts of Tia's explanation.

[Rem: It's related to the story about the investigation team Halibel-sama talked about, isn't it?]

[Subaru: Investigation team...the application one? But Clane said that it was a failure.]

[Tia: A failure? Was it really? Those guys that snuck into my bed and stole what's most important to me…...they stole the light sphere so easily!]

Tia, raising her voice, firmly and emotionally denied Subaru's statement.

Light spherethat's the name of the thing Tia kept insisting that it'd been stolen, and she went after Rem for it.

Rem had no idea what the light sphere was, and even the very existence of it had been suspicious to her. And now, that finally would be a true key.

[Subaru: So what is this light sphere really? What are you looking for?]

[Tia: It's my source of power. It's a contained stone that stores my power.]

[Subaru: Stone? A stone…...wait, but if you're a spirit, then…]

Hearing Tia's lacking explanation, the answer starts to form in Subaru's head. A stone that is necessary in order to remain in the world for spirits who form their bodies by using mana

[Subaru: So a Yorishiro! A Yorishiro is needed so that a spirit could remain in this world! That's what the light sphere is!]

Now sure of it, Subaru shouted as he snapped his fingers.

Mana is necessary in order for a spirit to materialize and act. If it's a great spirit, a vast amount of mana is needed. A Yorishiro, something that's needed to store it, is exactly what Tia's light sphere is.

[Subaru: That got stolen…...So that's why Tia came to get it back.]

[Rem: But how's that related to me? I...well...I have no idea what the light gem is. I didn't know we were close to the place Tia-sama had lived in, either……]

Despite being told about what the light sphere really is, Rem's doubt deepened even further. However, unlike Rem, who knitted her brows in confusion, the conditions to guess the answer were satisfied for Subaru.

He remembered when black Tia's looks came off and a changed person showed up in the attack from earlier.

Since Subaru now knew what the light gem and Tia were, the unclear meaning of that scene lead to a guess forming in his head.

If that girl who showed up in the end is the one who stole Tia's light gem, then

[Subaru: Black Tia had horns. They were Oni horns.]

[Rem: Oni...horns? Could that mean……]

[Subaru: It's why Tia said that she'd sniffed out Rem with her nose at first with a smug look on her face. Tia mistook Rem's blood…...she mistook her Oni blood for another Oni and found her.]

[Tia: That's how it is. …...I can't believe myself. That was pathetic.]

Rem finds out the truth, and her eyes opened wide.

The complicated circumstances surrounding Tia introduced that girl to Subaru and Rem. And then that misunderstanding dragging on caused all the encounters that had happened up to this day.

They couldn't jump to a conclusion and blame Tia for it, calling her a troublemaker. Not if they didn't know just how desperate Tia was, as she'd lost something that made up more than half of who she was.

[Subaru: So basically, the light sphere, Zarestia's Yorishiro…….that was stolen, and if we punish that Oni girl, the problem will be solved…...Oh, but wait…]

Right before reaching a conclusion, Subaru tilted his head thinking that something was off. Although his guess was pretty close to the truth, one important part was missing an explanation.

Tia going after Subaru and Rem was a mistake by her, but why did black Tia attack them first?

[Halibel: About that, I have one more piece of information I'd like to provide.]

[Subaru: I can only feel like it's something bad since you're telling us now.]

[Halibel: I hate to break it to you, but you're not going to like what you're about to hear.]

Seeing Subaru with an uncomfortable look on his face, Halibel scratched his head as he gave a wry smile.

[Halibel: So, about the girl who stole something important to Tia-chan, while I was sneaking around behind the scenes, I kinda learned about the detailed circumstances]

[Subaru: I take it you told Rem about this on top of investigation team thing in private, right?]

[Rem: II only heard about this just now. I'm not hiding anything from you. It's already far too clear who matters the most to me between Halibel-sama and Subaru-kun!]

[Halibel: That...makes me sad, but I'm moving on. It'll be quick.]

This was also going to be news to Rem, who'd been informed about this and that before she came home. After Subaru nodded at Halibel's statement, he said "Go ahead" as he urged him to continue.

[Halibel: It's about the light gem. The girl who stole it joined in on the great spirit bed quest to obtain that…..But she wasn't in it for the light gem as much as she was for the great spirit's power.]

[Subaru: She wanted the power of a great spirit? Dang, that's so reckless…...for what purpose?]

[Halibel: Revenge, probably. Revenge on the Witch Cult, the ones who burned her home.]

[Subaru: The Witch Cult……!]

The words Subaru had avoided up to this point came up, making him tremble.

Although the group wasn't directly involved, they were directly connected to Subaru's worst memories. Not only that, but he had extremely mixed feelings after hearing that the girl viewed the witch cult as enemies.

Desiring the power of a great spirit to get revenge on the witch cult, she easily got her hands on the light sphere. Using the light sphere in a certain way, she sought revenge on the witch cult

[Subaru: Ah]

Then, after thinking it over this much, he hit the answer to his previous question.

The offender's goal is to get revenge on The Witch Cult; she wanted the light sphere only for the power to do that. And then, having obtained the power, she looked for the Witch Cult and found the witch's scent in Banan town.

Her target for revenge, the one she was actually going after on that night was

[Subaru: So it was me.]

[Halibel: The avenger went for Su-san, whereas Tia-chan went for Rem-chan. We didn't know that, so all these complicated misunderstandings happened.]

Halibel's conclusion cleared the doubt Subaru had in his mind, just like that.

A mixup in targets, and thinking that the two culprits were one person. That is what complicated all these problems and created an incomprehensible situation.

[Subaru: I knew things were getting mixed up. But with this, it all makes sense.]

Subaru accepted the revealed truth, and he put words together as he cleared his mind.

He felt sympathy for the offending woman because of the Witch Cult, her target for revenge.

[Subaru: But it's a mistake for the offender to go after me. Her hatred for the Witch Cult…...I get it. But killing me won't help her get over her grudge. Stealing Tia's light gem also does nothing.]

[Halibel: There's just something about the way you put it, but you're right. While I do feel bad for her, we're gonna punish her and get the light sphere back. For anything else that happens, we'll just let the situation play itself out.]

[Subaru: I imagine that's what we'll have to do]

Subaru also nodded and agreed with Halibel's conclusion.

Even with all of his questions answered, he never gave up on arriving at a conclusion. Rem's safety and Tia's feelings were more important to him than the wish of an avenger whose name he didn't even know. In fact, now that the situation was clear, he wanted to come to a solution without any hard feelings.

[Subaru: If that happens, we can all…….]

After everything's taken care of, we can all eat dinner together, just like old times.

[Tia: That's not possible.]

His outlook was interrupted and denied by Tia, who stood up.

The cold obstinance of Tia's words brought everyone's attention towards her.

When she crossed her arms as she saw their eyes on her, she looked away from all of them as she said,

[Tia: I'm sorry. I can't do it. Once I get my light sphere back, I have to return to my nest. I can't live with you guys. Nothing can change that.]

[Rem: But...why? I…...Wait, if you're worried about what happened before, it's alright! I know about your circumstances now. So..]

[Tia: That's not it, Rem. I'm an entity that can't coexist with you all.]

Tia shook her head disapprovingly at Rem, who stopped sitting straight and pleaded with her. Neither Rem nor Subaru could tell what were the true intentions of her attitude, as she seemed distressed.

However

[Halibel: Suspecting that Tia-chan is Zarestia, there's one part that just doesn't make sense. It's the one thing that doesn't make sense. It's inconsistent.]

Halibel, crossing his thick arms, said that while squinting his slit-eyes even more than usual. Irritated by his suggestive way of speaking, Subaru got very angry.

[Subaru: What are you trying to say, Hallibel? Don't beat around the bush. Spit it out.]

[Halibel: …...Zariestia is a "Shinigami", a murderous great spirit. Anyone who enters her hideout gets killed indiscriminately. Even all the anecdotes out there are stories about murder. So, what's that have to say about Tia?]

[Rem: Well…...the stories told are just messed up, I mean, they have to be, right?]

Hearing Halibel's remarks, Rem shows a rare scene of her flaring up irritatedly. Even Subaru felt the same way as Rem. But

[Tia: They aren't messed up. Right now, I am the one who's messed up.]

[Rem: Tia-sama!]

[Tia: Hal's right, I'm a spirit that's only good for killing…….no, it's not that I'm only good for killing; I'm a spirit that only thinks about killing. That's how I became this trash that got most of her power stolen, left with nothing but the thought of killing.]

During those days, there were many times when Tia would say dangerous things. He never thought that they were her true feelings, but every now and then she did show that sort of great spirit part of her on her vicious face. But now, all she had left in her was envy.

[Tia: If I get the light sphere back, I will go back to being a spirit that can only think about killing. I'll have to kill Rem, Su, Hal, the townspeople, everyone. So, I can't live with you all. So, this is the end. This is it.]

[Rem: No…...Tia-sama, can't we…...Can't we...do something about it?]

[Tia: ]

Tia shook her head at Rem, who clung to her. Rem, becoming teary-eyed, looks back at Subaru and Halibel. However, Subaru had no words for her sorrow. Halibel had his eyes closed and was grinding on the kiseru in his mouth with his teeth, feeling sorry for his own powerlessness.

No one could do something for Tia. And even if Tia were to give up on the light gem, the avenger is already set on going after Subaru.

And so

[Tia: I will get the light sphere back. I won't give up, no matter what.]

[Rem: …...Ah]

With Tia's very determined declaration, Rem grew weak and sank down on the spot. Tia looks down in a bit of a sad way, and she closed her eyes tight.

After that, she gently put her hand to Rem's large stomach as she said,

[Tia: Sorry to have kept you waiting.]

She says those few words as she rubbed Rem's stomach. That was the only thing she did. An action that meant nothing at allright after he had that thought, Rem's expression changed.

Rem put her hand on her own stomach, and she quietly let out a "Huh" in a broken voice.

[Rem: WWhat…...What did you just do...Tia-sama……?]

[Tia: Time's up, Rem. That's it for our promise. …...Although, maybe there never was any promise, since this was my mistake.]

Tia murmurs self-deprecatingly, and Rem slowly crouched down in front of her. Seeing her hold onto her stomach that had been rubbed by Tia, Subaru jumps at Rem with a pale face.

[Subaru: Rem? Rem, are you alright!? Hey, Tia, what did you do to Rem!?]

[Tia: I just rubbed it. It's the truth. But, now that the shackles for Rem's mind are off, the child has realized that everything's ready.]

Although nobody had known about Tia's involvement, even Subaru understood what had just happened.

Composure fades from Rem's facial expression, and she starts to breath a bit heavily. Her face clearly enduring pain and her holding onto her own baby belly meant that

[Subaru: She's going into labor!]

[Tia: Until the child is born, I can't lay a hand on her. That was our promise.]

Subaru's eyes open wide, realizing that the time has finally come. In front of him, Tia tilted her head at Rem as she said,

[Tia: Becase we had that promise, I delayed this moment for as long as I could. …...Both the mother and the child were way too stubborn.]

[Rem: Tia…-sama……]

Rem tried to stop Tia, who started to step back with a smile. However, her stomach pain didn't let her, and Tia distanced herself without her fingers ever reaching her.

Tia, who jumped back lightly, opens the sliding door, and then she ran out to the garden.

[Subaru: Tia!]

[Tia: I'll deal with my unfinished business myself. If I fail, Hal-san, you know what to do.]

Tia looked back in the middle of the garden and said that with a smile on her face.

Hearing what sounded like one's last words, Halibel curled his laps, as he was trusted with the matters to follow when his name was called.

[Halibel: It makes no sense for you to take a battle when you know you have slim chances of winning. You didn't say anything about wanting help, either. Is this the pride of a great spirit or something?]

[Tia: It's nothing big like that. I'm strong, and I don't plan on losing.]

Tia responded to Halibel's comments like that with a refreshing smile.

After that, Tia finally looked at Subaru, and then at Rem.

[Subaru: How should I put this...This isn't very like you.]

[Rem: Tia-sama……]

[Tia: About that day...well...I'm sorry. That was my fault.]

Tia awkwardly apologized to Rem while scratching her cheek with her finger. She said nothing more than that, and yet she looked even more nervous than when she revealed the truth about herself.

And then, after saying that, Tia added one comment with a bright expression.

[Tia: A kid! Give birth to an energetic one. A very energetic one.]

Right after Tia said that, a wind surrounded her. It was not a raging wind; it gently wrapped Tia, who was in the middle of the garden, and it urged her towards the sky.

They had no time to stop her. Tia got on the wind, and she rose at once. And then, Rem reached her hand out for Tiafor her friend as she faded away, and she desperately strained his voice.

It wouldn't reach her. Neither her voice nor her hand reached Tila while she faded into the sky approaching night.

[Rem: Tia…-sama……]

[Subaru: Tia!!]

Subaru called Tia's name as she faded into the sky instead of Rem, whose voice died as it cracked.

Still, Tia didn't look back. She didn't stop, either.

Then, Tia steadily went up in the sky, going out of their sights.

]

The wind blowing against the garden, against the house, against Subaru and the others, died out. This meant that Tia went far away. So far away that she couldn't be interfered with at all.

[Subaru: Damn it……! That fool!]

[Rem: Subaru…-ku……]

[Subaru: I know! Rem, I know how you...feel...but……]

I want to chase Tia. He understood those feelings of hers so much that it hurt.

However, there was something more important to deal with right now. He had bring Rem to the clinic.

[Rem: Ah...ku…]

When that crossed his mind, serious pain went across Rem's face. Subaru, with both of his hands, lifted Rem, who panted because of the endless waves of the pain of birth.

[Subaru: Hal-san! Please take care of all that stuff!]

[Halibel: Got it, leave it to me.]

It was an unspecific instruction that was far too vague. However, Halibel accepted it without putting in any objection, and he disappeared as if melding into the shadows.

He needed to tell the old magic user about the situation before bringing Rem to the clinic. On top of that, there were mountains of things he wanted Halibel to do.

[Subaru: Rem, I'll take you to the clinic as soon as possible. Please trust me with...both of your lives.]

[Rem: ]

Rem nods deeply in Subaru's arms, and then he slowly stepped outside.

Under the variegated sky approaching night mixed with blue and orange, Subaru ran as fast as he could with his pregnant wife in his arms.

Now...just for now he thought only about Rem and ran and ran along the road to the clinic.

Without realizing that, in a sense, this was another form of running away.

Interlude: Death Anniversary

What erupted when she found that women were flames of unbearable rage.

Before the avenger became an avenger, she had lived in a village where "strays" gathered.

Onis are a race species. Rumors have it that their scarce kind created a hidden village somewhere, barely scraping by, but that was not the case for her. When she was born, it was a child and her parent, and after her mother died, she had nothing but her own life.

The place this girl arrived at was a village where "strays" gathered.

Demi-humans with baggage and people who committed crime and left human villages lived there; not many decent people lived there. Because of that, she didn't get rejected, as she was a high and proud Oni, and was accepted as a member of the village, allowed to live on.

As someone that had never lived with anyone other than her mother, life at the village was full of confusing things. Although the villagers were not good people, everyone had their own circumstances and anguish to deal with. Nobody intentionally acted cold to her.

Once time went by, even she was able to make friends before long. She was no longer confused with life at the village, had a set way she went about her days, and accepted these ordinary but peaceful times.

The girl went ahead and thought that this was like a sort of blessing. She had never seen what a blessing actually is. It might've been a misunderstanding. But still, she was glad.

It was when she had these sort of thoughts that they all disappeared in a scene of flames

The village she was familiar with was engulfed in flames, cruelly burning down.

The neighbor who would always greet her, the young man who taught her how to grow crops, the elderly who was kind to her now, someone of the same sex that she'd talked to for the first time just yesterday, the man she'd been talking with frequently as of lateeveryone burned.

She survived only because she got lucky.

But did she really get lucky? Could it be that she'd survived because she didn't have the best luck?

She brings out her horn, and it releases abominable power. Mana running through her body, she goes on a rampage to get rid of those who casted flames on the village. However, it wasn't enough.

She gets overpowered by sheer numbers, and her body burns in flames. They loudly laugh at her for screaming from the pain and despair, and she gets crushed by their feet.

[???: Not too baaaad I'd saaay. That's the kind of glare that I like.]

She heard a shrill voice nearby.

They stood next to her, and she poured something disgusting into her while she was down on the ground. It wasn't her body that rejected it; her soul rejected it. She let out a shriek. They wouldn't listen. Something slipped into her ears and was going into her body. Her insides get violated with moisture.

[???: Work's all done! Now, bastard, what do you like about me?]

The voice of a crazy, insane woman who wasn't okay in the head goes inside her ears, and it wouldn't go away.

It wouldn't go away. It just wouldn't. She gets tormented endlessly by the fear of going crazy at any moment. It was only when the villages, flames, and those people were gone that it finally disappeared.

But, her nose was still trying to find out where they went so that she could go after them. The thing that was poured into herthe shock that violently went through her sniffs out their location.

[???: I will...punish them.]

She swears that in the face of the scorched village and became an avenger.

Now that she was an avenger, she needed the power she lacked in order to do an avenger's job.

To obtain it, she did something rash that put her life in danger. She snuck into a great spirit's nest, a place people went to impelled by their own insanity, just like she was.

She wanted the power to kill them, the power to punish themthe power to slaughter them.

The blowing wind was turning her party into a pool of blood like a blade. Using a corpse as a shield, the avenger ventured inside. Whenever the shield became ineffective, she used a different corpse. She repeated that.

Before she knew it, the wind started sounding like a song to the avenger

The great spirit's nest lies deep within the cave. Somehow, the cave played the sound of mother nature along with the wind coming from its deepest part, and the song playing really wrung the heart.

The avenger was enchanted by the wind's song, and she moved further in while being in a trance.

She wanted power. She wanted to hear the rest of the song. This cave had everything the avenger wanted.

And then, when the avenger reached the deepest part of it, she heard a voice.

[???: I want to...kill everyone.]

She remembered replying "I do too" to that voice.

[???: I want to kill. I want to kill. I want to kill. I want to kill. I want to kill.]

The power the avenger took in was endlessly pouring that intention into her.

Originally, it should have been a thirst for death that would make you go crazy, a torrent of bloodthirst, an impulse to destroyhowever, it went well with the avenger's wish; it was even like a pleasant singing voice.

Thus, the avenger demonstrated her power for retribution with joy.

She absolutely destroyed those who got caught by her sense of smell. There was nothing left of them. They couldn't even be buried in a grave. It was the same as disappearing without a trace.

And so, the avenger achieved retribution again and again, until finally she'd reached a large town.

On the street at night, the avenger went after the "lingering scent" that her nose strongly reacted to, and she ran through an alley with an insane smile on her face. Her destination was closeright nearby.

This was her biggest target thus far. Maybe this was the target for the avengershe got excited over the possibility that this might be the one who had that scornful laugh.

A black wind blows. Whenever that spreaded, people would recede out of fear. The target didn't sense her with the wind. She waits at the end of the path the target walks on, looking forward to their face twitching in fear.

]

An enemy with an extremely unpleasant, strong miasma appeared in front of the avenger. She saw their face, but unfortunately, it wasn't familiar to her. Doesn't matter. She was still going to kill them.

With that sole thought on her mind, the avenger adds bloodlust to the wind, and starts to bite her target whole

[???: ]

A girl next to the enemy getting close to them caught her attention.

Somehow, at a glance, the avenger realized that this was a girl who had the same blood flowing through her as she did.

For a moment, she's taken aback by the girl standing to protect the enemy beside her. And then, once the avenger's stiffness was gone, thick, dark anger violently ate away her mind.

What is the she doing there? That man is an enemy who should be punished.

Why is someone of the same position, same blood, and same race with that man without punishing him?

[???: What...are you doing.]

In anger, her voice comes out.

It was not an intent to kill that came out, but a question.

Hearing that question, the girl did not choose to protect the avenger, but the frightened enemy, so her answer was clear.

The neighbor, the young one, the elderly, the person of the same sex… The man who had hoped to bond…

She was going to protect the enemy that burned her happiness? Someone of the same blood, loving a man so happily?

In that case

[???: Die.]

Killing this girl will increase her self-esteem.

And so, after experiencing failure twice, the avenger now had the right to face retribution for the third time.

[???: Damn...it……]

It was a white clothed woman who let out a cry of pain, hit the wall, and collapsed.

That forced voice sounded familiar. Of course it did. Inside the avenger's cranium, a voice was still endlessly telling her to kill. The voices were the same.

The voice...was the same. And yet, it was too fragile. It desired something else. They weren't in agreement. That's why it was repelled.

This wasn't the power the avenger wanted. It was something foreign, and it was too fragile.

Humbly saying that it wanted to become one would've been fine, but it was too fragile to do something like loudly tell her to obey.

[???: Die.]

Thus, she demonstrated her power. She completely beat up the entity and reached for its core.

[???: Ah...oo...aah……]

Lifted by the collar, the woman moaned with her body. She squirmed and tried to escape from her arms, but she wouldn't let go. Then, the woman's existence slowly, slowly turned into light dust, and it was taken in by the avenger.

Originally, the woman's existence had been a part of the power the avenger took in. She held down the entity that had parted from her once before, making it hers for good this time.

[???: e...m]

It sounded like the girl said someone's name the moment she disappeared. However, the avenger didn't hear it, and she gets scattered by the blowing wind, vanishing.

The nuisance was gone, and her power was complete. She wasn't missing anything anymore.

[???: Die.]

Now all that's left is to achieve retribution. An avenger carrying out her revenge. With that woman's death.

[???: ]

That woman is the one who's wrong. That woman is crazy for protecting the enemy that ought to be punished.

The enemy with the scent of the witch, and her abominable kind that got close to him.

Kill both of them. Both of them have to be killed. Kill. Kill, kill them.

Killing is the only thing that can comfort her for what she'd lost. This will be atonement.

This isn't hatred; it's a duty. Because of this sense of duty, that woman must die!

Chapter 6: The Last Month of Pregnancy

The old magic user looked at Rem, who was brought into the clinic, and made a very unpleasant look with his pale face.

[Doctor: Is it really possible for the breaks to be this short right off the bat? What's going on!?]

[Rem: ...Hau]

The old magic user put his hand on Rem's stomach as she breathed with difficulty, and he mentions how short the intervals of pain were. The old magic user clicked his tongue at Subaru, who was only confused by his point, and said,

[Doctor: Normally, the breaks between the pain during birth are long. It's a sign that the baby will be born, though the pace will pick up little by little. But, your wife's reactions are odd. Hey! Go call her over!]

The old magic user raises his voice in the middle of his explanation, and he shouts at the helper to call over the midwife. Meanwhile, the old magic user left the room in a hurry, and tension was starting to fill up the whole clinic.

[Rem: Subaru…-kun……]

[Subaru: Rem! Rem, are you alright…...of course you aren't. Damnit, ahhh, damnit, I'll be here for you.]

Subaru gets angry at himself for being unable to say anything useful, and he spoke to Rem as he held her hand. Rem held his hand back so tight that it made him feel pain, but it wasn't nearly as much as the amount of pain she was feeling.

Subaru seriously thought to himself, if crushing his hand would comfort Rem, then she can go ahead and do it.

[Rem: I won't...do that. It's my husband's precious hand, after all……]

Reading Subaru's inner thoughts, Rem slightly smiled. The way she was clearly pretending to be tough made Subaru choke up.

Subaru was the one who had to do everything he couldsay everything he couldto comfort Rem. So, why was Subaru being taken care of by Rem?

[Rem: Tia…-sama……]

[Subaru: ...Rem, don't think about Tia right now. Focus on yourself.]

[Rem: That's...not it. …...Tia-sama said this before, right? That the baby inside my belly is trying to come out now because...the shackles of my mind...have been removed……]

[Subaru: She did...say that……]

Hearing Rem saying that falteringly, Subaru looks back on what Tia had said just before she bid her farewell.

The deadline of the promised made between Rem and Tiauntil the child is born, Tia wouldn't do anything to Rem and would quietly watch for any slip-ups.

It was actually a pointless promise and a misunderstanding by Tia, though.

[Rem: Then, the promise became pointless, and so now…...the baby is finally coming out……]

[Subaru: …...You might not believe me on this, but that's just a coincidence. The events just happened to occur at the same time. It's nothing to stress out about.]

It may be possible for one's condition to be affected by the mind. However, it's quite unlikely for that to even affect the timing of birth. It is true that Rem giving birth happened later than the magic user had predicted.

However, giving birth isn't so simple that you could just repress it through sheer will.

[Rem: It…it does stress me out. Because...I……]

[Subaru: I? What is it? Tell me anything. Right now, I'll listen to anything you have to say.]

[Rem: ...I...was scared. I was scared of the child...being born.]

Rem held Subaru's hand tight, extremely tight, and said that while tearing up.

When Subaru's breath was taken away by her words, Rem closed her eyes tight again, and she continued to shed tears.

[Rem: I was so happy that you were glad that we have a baby. I really was. I was really happy. But, I was really scared. Because……]

[Subaru: ...]

[Rem: Because...I...I wasn't able to be a good child...when I was one myself. I let...my parents down...and the villagers…...thought I was a...hopeless child……]

Uncontrollable tears trickle down rapidly from Rem's eyes. And Subaru couldn't even wipe them away, as he was captivated by the beautiful, sparkling teardrops.

She was unable to be a good kid. That regret binded Rem's mind with anxiety.

[Rem: Despite all that, I have a child…...and I was so worried, I couldn't stop being worried. Being a good child...a good little sister! I couldn't be either of those...and I wondered...could I really be a...parent……?]

[Subaru: Rem……]

[Rem: I didn't...want to part with Tia-sama. I thought that, if there hadn't been a deadline, we would have spent our days at the tenement house like that forever...and ever…...But, I was wrong.]

Rem shakes her head disapprovingly and reveals the piled up inner thoughts she had kept hidden.

As if she was punishing herself for being far too sinful.

[Rem: I was... scared of becoming a parent. I was scared of...meeting face to face with the child. I was actually scared this whole time. I thought I couldn't be a good parent!]

[Subaru: ...]

[Rem: Because, I've always…...disappointed all the...precious people...around me……]

Rem breathes heavily, and her face is red from agitation and grief. Using the hand that wasn't holding onto Subaru's, Rem wipes her face that had tears trickling down on it, and then covered it with her arm.

Rem's heartbreaking outburst hits Subaru, and it was tearing his heart into shreds.

It was a very intense, a very natural, and a very sad outburst.

[Subaru: …...]

Subaru swallows his saliva, and choosing his next words throws his brain into chaos.

What should he say? He didn't know the answer. "Sorry for making you worry"? "Sorry for not picking up on your worries?" Criticize her by saying "Don't be so pathetic"? None of them seemed correct.

Because Rem revealed what she felt deep down. She made up her mind to reveal that she was hated and disappointed others.

That's right. Rem said that she has always disappointed those who were precious to her. She confessed after she decided to make Subaru reveal his own true feelings.

And so, after that confession, what did he think? Was he actually disappointed by Rem?

[Subaru: Rem]

[Rem: ……]

Rem, who had her name called for a moment, shakes with her face covered. Birth pains and probably disappointment with herself were tormenting her chest. Her mind was a mess, no doubt about it.

Subaru was also worrying about what to say in this situation, right here right now.

So, Subaru held Rem's hand, and with his other hand, patted her head as he said,

[Subaru: I understand how you feel. …...I really do.]

[Rem: Subaru…-kun……?]

Rem slowly raised her arms, as if she was surprised by the gentleness of Subaru's tone. Just how pathetic did Subaru look in her eyes?

Rem's worry truly was the same as Subaru's, as if they were mirroring each other.

[Subaru: You see, I… …...I'm the same way. No, I was even worse. I wasn't able to be a good kid. I couldn't...look my dad...or my mom in the face, either……]

[Rem: …...]

[Subaru: They were such great parents. My dad and my mom really were the greatest parents in the world. They loved each other, were nice to me…...told me that they loved me…]

Just like Rem did, Subaru started talking about himself as the tears trickled down.

He's lived with Rem for a year and a half, and was summoned to this world just under 2 years ago. In all that time, Subaru had never spoken about his past to anyonenot even once.

Because it was related to the memories Subaru never wanted to reveal. And they were in this precious place that was so wonderful and beautiful to Subaru that he was scared to even touch it.

Subaru looked up to his parents. ...From the bottom of his heart, he felt sorry that he had to be their child.

His parents were so kind, strict, gave him joy, sadness, anger, gifts, and yet their failure of a son couldn't give anything back. It was truly pathetic.

How could Natsuki Subaru, someone who was raised by such good parents and still couldn't be a good son, become a parent? That's what he was afraid of this whole time...

[Subaru: But, I can't..show you that I am. I…...I brought you with me. I'm the one who brought you with me. I wanted to give you everything I had to make you happy. I told myself that I had to do it……]

That's why he hid his anxiety and eagerly waited for this day to come. He worked hard at his job, devoted himself to supporting Rem, and tried his best to be a good husband.

Believing that if he tried to be good husband, in the future he could become a good father too.

[Subaru: But, it wasn't that simple. Of course it wasn't. I'm going to be a someone's parent, you know. I can't just get the right answers by thinking logically. So, I'm still……]

At the last minute, he threw everything out there, as if to repent his ignorance of Rem's anxiety.

Subaru and Rem both knew that neither of them were perfect. And they were afraid of whether they'd be able to fulfill their responsibilities as parents for the child that was on the way.

They were scared. So scared. And they were even scared of confessing that they were scared, but...

[Rem: Subaru…-kun…...do you regret it?]

After listening to his confession, Rem broke the silence by asking Subaru a question. Subaru impulsively lifted his head, and he looked straight at Rem's eyes that were right there.

Her light blue eyes were switching between despair and grief and were staring at Subaru. Inside her baby belly, there was their child. Labor pains have already started, and birth was just around the corner.

With all that happening, she had this confession. ...Did he want this child to be born?

[Subaru: ...]

Subaru knew that Rem's eyes were asking him that, and he rubbed his eyes hard.

He wasn't clear enough. Subaru made it this far regretting his lack of clarity, regretting his lack of action, running away from the problems before him and going to the more comfortable pathto the less painful path.

He made it this far by running away from his parents, running away from reality, running away from initiating into this world, running away from his promise that he made, running away from those who were precious to him, and running away from the fear of losing what he had.

Did he run and run and run and come this far, just to lose everything?

[Subaru: That's not...it. Rem, I don't regret it. I…...I've been saved.]

[Rem: Subaru-kun……]

[Subaru: I've always been running. I threw away everything and ran away with you…...But, when I heard that we had a child, I was happy, and that's when I was saved. Even after running and running with my back turned, there was something I could have. And that was...our child.]

He was worried. He couldn't lie. Subaru, as someone who couldn't look at his parents in the face, always had a fear of becoming a parent. He still does. It wasn't gone. It probably would never go away.

But, at the same time, Subaru knew something. He knew the love of the best role model parents in the whole world.

[Subaru: I was a...terrible son. I wasn't able to be a good kid. But, I had the best parents in the whole world. I know I had the best parents, and I know I was the worst child ever too. So, no matter what happens, I'll love our child.]

[Rem: ...]

[Subaru: My parents loved a hopeless failure like me. I know that. I do. ...That's why I'll be able to love my own childlove my family.]

In Subaru's mind, he saw their smilescopying his father and his mother, he smiled. He threw his chest out with confidence, bragged that he knew the best role-models, and was proud.

Natsuki Subaru was raised by the world's best parentsthe world's best role modelsfor 17 years.

[Rem: ...]

After Subaru declared that with a smile, Rem was speechless. Her teary eyes open wide, her red face becomes even more red, and her facial expression slowly changes.

The overflowing tears turned into just one teardrop, and with a slight smile Rem said,

[Rem: ...You're fanatical like an Oni.]

Then, with the same smile from that one moment, she said an awfully nostalgic line to Subaru.

Did Subaru nod back at that smile with the same smile he had on that day?

Then came...

[Doctor: ...The midwife's here. Birth preparations will begin. Get out. Go pray.]

The old magic user came back to the clinic room with a middle-aged woman. Subaru thought the timing was too perfect, but the old magic user had his usual sour look, so he couldn't tell what he was thinking.

Anyhow, it was time. Subaru looked back at Rem, and took her hand once again as he said,

[Subaru: Rem, all these feelings I've let out are the truth. Please believe me.]

[Rem: …...I'll...always...believe Subaru-kun.]

[Subaru: Ohh, that's right.]

The helper who came in quickly brings in the necessary tools into the room. The midwife gives instructions for what to do with them, and the old magic user jerked his chin at Subaru with a stern look. He was telling him to get out.

[Subaru: I can't stay for its birth?]

[Doctor: You really think men staying here would be helpful? Everyone I've called over are woman, including the midwife and the helper. I'm here just in case, but in this situation even I'm just a figurehead.]

The old magic user snorted to drop him a hint that he didn't need to do anything. He felt like his continuously blunt attitude was telling him that he trying to be more helpful than needed.

[Subaru: Doctor, please take care of Rem.]

[Doctor: Tell that to the midwife.]

He was waved at perfunctorily, and he gave a wry smile. After that, now was when he let go of Rem's hand as he said,

[Subaru: Rem, I'll be waiting. ...My wife and kid are in your hands.]

[Rem: Yes, your Rem's got this, Subaru-kun. …...About Tia-sama…]

[Subaru: I know.]

Hearing the words she added on with a smile, Subaru nodded to indicate that she didn't have to continue. Rem sees that, and after she closed her eyes approvingly, starts to breath heavily.

A fight only Rem could face was going to begin.

[???: Get out!]

The midwife speaks to him, and Subaru was forced to leave the clinic room. When he was about to leave the room, he heard Rem's cries of pain. Her long, long fight was beginning.

The truth is that Subaru wanted to watch over her fight outside the clinic room too, but...

[Halibel: ...Su-san]

Just as Subaru appeared at the aisle, Halibel spoke to him. He'd been planning this and that after he informed the clinic that Rem was going into labor.

He was also the one person who understood the situation besides Subaru and Rem.

[Halibel: How's Rem-chan?]

[Subaru: She's at the stage where birth really begins. They said that men will get in the way and kicked me out. …...I really am useless in situations like these.]

[Halibel: That includes me too. It's Rem's job and her job only. Also, we've got our own things we need to do. …...Su-san, you know that too, don't you?]

Subaru gave a wry smile, and then said "Yeah" to reassure Halibel, who lowered the tone of his voice.

With the expression Halibel had, and above all, with what had happened just before, he could imagine what he was talking about.

[Subaru: The person who stole Tia's power is coming to town to kill me. What about Tia……]

[Halibel: Look at this.]

To answer Subaru's question, Halibel took out something from his kimono's sleeve. At first, this thing knitted with black thread looked like something you'd wear around your arm. ...Then, he had an idea.

[Subaru: That good luck bracelet is something you gave to Tia.]

[Halibel: Good luck bracelets are magic items because of the black braiding. I'll be skipping the details on how it's made, but two of these make a whole magical item, and if something ever happens to the owner……]

As Halibel spoke, he shook the black braids. It snapped while he did it.

[Subaru: Which means that Tia…]

[Halibel: She lost a fight she picked herself. Even she knew that she had a low chance of winning. She realized it when she was about to leave it up to me to finish the job. What a ridiculous girl.]

Halibel put the snapped braids into his pocket and laughed loudly with his fangs showing. It probably seemed sad somehow because he was mourning Tia in his own way.

And so, he took out his kiseru instead of the black beads, put it to his mouth, and lit it.

[Halibel: I'm going to take care of Tia-chan's request. Su-san…..]

[Subaru: I know.]

Subaru interrupted Halibel and answered. Just like how he did when he to Rem.

Subaru's eyes lit up with determination and readiness, and then said this.

[Subaru: ...There's no running away anymore.]

[Halibel: About that girl…...let's call her 'the enemy'. About the enemy, she was outside of the town. I sort of tried getting a hit on her, but that wasn't a good idea. Doing it half-heartedly would just lead to more death.]

That was Halibel's opinion as he lit his kiseru. After that, Subaru racked his brains with a serious look, and he tilted his head as he said, "A hit"?

[Subaru: By "a hit", do you mean that you got in a fight? You fought?]

[Halibel: If I did, don't you think I would've gotten hurt? By I, I meant my team. Or in your words, I used a Shinobi squad.]

[Subaru: So Shinobi squads do exist! You really are a leader! You said they didn't exist!]

[Halibel: A Shinobi can't leak his secrets, you know? Nothing wrong with that, is there?]

Halibel tells Subaru, who wouldn't let the issue go, to calm down as he put his hand on his forehead.

In this situation, he didn't have the time to ask about hidden shinobi villages in Kararagi in detail. The information Halibel gathered and a plan were what were important...

[Halibel She looks just like Tia-chan, but her skin is clearly black. We can stop her by attacking with a bunch of stalling tactics, but that won't work for long. What should we do?]

[Subaru: What would you do? Do you have some sort of idea in mind?]

[Halibel: The simplest method would be to confine you outside town and then accomplish our goal.]

Halibel put up his finger and presented the most reliable and simple plan possible. However, before Subaru could say something, Halibel bent the finger he had held up as he said,

[Halibel: But, that's not an option. I wouldn't want to lose a friend, and I'd feel terrible if I let Rem-chan's husband die and left her child on the way without a parent. Plus, it goes against my promise with Tia-chan.]

[Subaru: You sure do have a strong sense of duty. For a playboy, that is.]

[Halibel: You can't play without rules. So, an "eternal playboy" also has to stick to the rules that go with playing.]

Halibel responded to Subaru's joke with a joke of his own, and he shrugged. That gesture makes Subaru break into a smile, and he slapped his cheeks out of relief that he didn't have to worry about being sacrificed for now.

[Subaru: Let's discuss a little more. ...What do you know about Zarestia?]

[Halibel: I told you most of it at the house. She's said to be one of the four great spirits, a murdering spirit, a "phantom slasher", "the most beautiful shinigami", and she always sleeping in her nest in the west side of Kararagi. Sometimes she cuts up those who come into her bed. …...Also, she might have an old song.]

[Subaru: An old...song?]

When he raised an eyebrow at the unexpected word, Halibel said "Yes" as he nodded deeply.

[Halibel: I don't know the details, but those who know it will recognize it. If I remember correctly, what was it again…...it's like a lullaby.]

[Subaru: The song of the wind? The lullaby of the wind?]

[Halibel, Oh, that's it. Su-san, I'm surprised you knew. Even though you're not even a Kararagian.]

[Subaru: Well, of course I do. What kind of people do you think I'm surrounded with everyday at work?]

Subaru responded to Halibel, who acted impressed, and inside he was gratefulgrateful for the nosiness of the ladies he worked with at the Magoji palace. Those ladies were the ones who taught Subaru, as he was going to become a dad soon, from general housework to babysitting. Among the things he learned, there was a song called the lullaby of the wind.

It was something that sung the story of when people defeated a certain large beast during ancient times.

[Subaru: ...Hal-san, you mentioned stalling tactics, right? How long can we stop her for?]

[Halibel: …...With sacrifices, half a day. Without sacrifices, 6 hours.]

Although Halibel hesitated for a moment, he looked into Subaru eyes and gave that answer. He did it because, right now, there was strong determination in Subaru's eyes.

He thought about the lullaby of the wind, all of his enemies, Tia, and then came up with one idea.

He was going to need time, money, and help.

And then there also was...

[Subaru: ...I'll have to go around with my head down, ready to live to return favors for the rest of my life!!]

She waves her hand, conjuring wind. A slaughterous wind that cut up everything and turned things into dust.

[???: ...Die.]

A brief order, then quick execution. In less than a second, the bite attack flew and devoured the sky.

A flash went through the sky, and steel was repelled by the wind that was following it. Throws delayed her, attacking her from all directions non-stop. It was depressing. The wind repelled the steel. No matter how many times she was attacked, it didn't matter.

[???: ...Die.]

She attacked her opponent who threw steel with wind. The effect was unclear. This was one of the flaws with the wind; the flurry of wind would turn into fangs and fade away after opening a space. She had to see the result for herself.

However, it was currently night time. The surrounding enemies were elusive and innately skilled at lurking in the darkness.

[???: ...Die.]

It was impossible to tell if any of the flurries of wind caught the black shadow. Even if they hit, they didn't even let out cries of pain and act shamelessly when they died. They were horrible enemies in every way.

[???: Kill kill kill kill kill kill kill.]

I hear a voice in my head. I know. I feel the same way. I want to kill everything.

But before that, I have to kill someone. There's an enemy who needs to be punished. I sense their presence with my nose. I know where they are, but the dark shadows are getting in the way.

[???: ...]

Suddenly, in her vision of hatred, she saw the black shadows move altogether. Her eyes opened wide, wondering what this was all about, and then all the presences surrounding her started to disappear, as if the wind had scattered them.

They withdrew. Suddenly. Without any changes in the situation. She thinks about what happened, about what they were doing. Her instincts were telling her to take this lucky chance to go towards the witch scent. However, if this is a trap or a plot, jumping into this would be the the height of stupidity. What are you thinking? You have the power to scatter them now.

The differing conclusions in her mind and her heart collide with each other. I want to kill them. I should kill them carefully. While they kept fighting each other, she came to the conclusion that she should settle down...

[???: ...]

The next moment, she was disgusted by a foul, strong stench.

Her eyes opened wide, and the stench that reached her via the wind makes her nose react. Without a doubt, this wafting stench, which slipped into her nose even if she didn't want it to, was an evil scent, the witch's scent, a miasma that needed to be punished...

The smell was quickly getting stronger, her senses and instincts cheer her on, and so she blasted the ground with the bottom of her foot.

[???: Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!]

[???: ...Die die die die die die!}

The cheer in her skull and her own cheer overlap. She jumped on the ground lightly and went after her target. She went into town, smashed roof tiles, jumped over buildings, and went deeper and deeper until finally

[Subaru: ...About your face…]

She landed with her limbs and looked up. In front of her, there was a man standing in a blue dress. A stench that pierced her sense of smell and disgusted her nose and mind.

The face with the witch's scent that she'd seen beforethe evil face that had cowered in fear and trembled as it was hunted was smiling in a very provocative manner.

And then...

[Subaru: ...It's cuter when you smile. Almost as cute as my wife and my child.]

[???: ...Die!!]

She was greeted with a spiteful smile, and her bloodlust makes her strike. The wind goes straight towards the man standing upright, and it scraped off his existence from the earth along with his stench...or at least, it should have.

[Halibel: Unfortunately, I won't let you do that.]

[???: ...]

With that flat voice, all of the flurries of wind came to nothing. The winds were shot down by steel thrown from the darkness. Wind arose where the enemy wasn't, and the man opened his arms, unharmed. It was like he was saying that he was the one who did this.

[???: ...Diee!]

Inexcusable. She conjured even more wind, let her increase in bloodlust control her, and struck with her power.

She produces a blast. The ground was gouged out roundly, as if to draw a circle in the middle of the explosion. However, the man wasn't inside of the damage. Neither was the demi-human who interfered with by throwing things.

She looked up. She stepped onto the roof tiles, and on top of the building, there was a man. He was being carried by a demi-human on his shoulder, and he was trying to run.

...I won't let you get away. I want to kill you. Like I'd let you get away. I want to kill you.

[???: ...Die!]

She chased after the stench and the demi-human running away while the night approached dawn, jumping and running through the streets. It becomes wind, she attacks with wind, swirls wind, rides wind, and

[???: ...!]

Inside the wind, a different smell was mixed with the stench. And her body was having a strong reaction to it. This was a person's smell, and a strong one at that. There were a lot of people. A premise...she sees a premise down there. The man and the demi-human fled into it. Peoples' presences...a stench that has another stench.

She was very hesitant about going in. But, the man was in there. Retribution was in there...

[Subaru: ...I can return by]

[???: ...!!]

After that inaudible utterance, her instincts went wild from the stench that became tremendously strong. Her cautiousness was blown away along with her reason. When she stepped in, she jumped towards the sky and looked for the demi-human running through the garden.

She aimed at him and the man he was carrying on his shoulders and attacked with absolutely unavoidable wind from all sides.

[Halibel: Sorry, Su-san!]

Sensing that the inescape wind coming close, the demi-human yelled right before it trapped them. He grabbed onto the body of the man on his shoulders and threw him as hard as he could. The man's body went through a gap in the wind and escaped its cutting range. ...However, that wasn't going to happen for the demi-human that was left behind.

[???: ...Die!]

The wind cruelly cuts up the demi-human who closed his fingers and was left inside. The demi-human died. She starts to feel joy from killing him, and at the same time, realizes that this wasn't over yet.

The man had been thrown into the sky. She jumped towards it and opened her arms.

Let's tear his body limb from limb, take his remains, and bring them to her. Let's teach this woman who gave birth and snuggled up to the sinful enemy a lesson.

This is revenge. This is retribution. This is atonement for their blood.

...This is revenge for having the happiness that I was never able to have!

[???: ...D]

[Subaru: Now...!!]

When her hatred and joy crossed each other and she tried to strike with "death", the source of the stench shouted.

[Subaru: Ready...gooo!!]

Right after that, she sensed that something was being thrown at her from all directionsat the edge of her vision, she saw something that looked like an unfolded cloth. It was thrown at her.

[???: ...]

Think. The stench is right before me. I can reach him and kill him. But, if I prioritize that, the thrown unfolded cloth will reach me. I can still get away from it. I can conjure wind, get on it, and foil the enemy's plan.

[???: ...]

That's right. No need to panic. Do what's safe. There's no need to go with the enemy's plan...

[???: Kill kill kill kill kill kill kill]

Control the thirst for death that keeps echoing in your head, and you'll get out of this situation.

Listen to me, just this once. If you do, you'll be able to quench your thirst

[???: ...I want to kill. But, I can't.]

[???: ...!?]

[???: ...Because I don't want Rem to hate me.]

Something inside her said that in the same voice that was telling her to kill.

Her hands and legs freeze. She couldn't move. She couldn't run or kill.

[???: ...Dieeeeeee!!]

[???: ...Ahh, I can't get enough of that scream.]

When she heard a very cruel voice, her body was also hit by something that she was unable to dodge. It was the wet cloth. It wrapped around her. It wasn't attacking her. It just wrapped around her over and over.

Water...I'm wet. It's not water. This has a sharp smell.

[???: …...! ! ...! ! …...!!]

Then, she screamed as if her skull was breaking, and the rejection threw her brain into chaos. The entity that should've been shut inside went wild; it couldn't take it anymore, and it tried to come out and escape.

[???: ...]

Her head was aching. Her skull was being torn apart violently from the inside. It was strange pain that went beyond her imagination. She had never experienced this sort of pain. She had never experienced this sort of suffering. She had never imagined this sort of pain. No, no, no, no...I don't want to die.

It comes off. It came off; the power that made up her body fell apart. She lost the figure that had been the basis for her bodythe figure that made her look formidable to demonstrate poweras if melting like ice.

Her body shrunk. Her hair color changed. She went from having inhumane beauty to being an ugly village girl. She went from having eccentric power to being a mere incomplete Oni.

And so, she even lost her power to get revenge, was abandoned by her bloodlust, and...

[???: I]

[Halibel: ...I'm sorry. I'm sorry.]

She hears the voice of a demi-human that should have been cut up earlier. She shook off the cloth that was on her. She could now see the black shadows jumping at her.

A small blade stabbed a part of her bodythe center of her chest.

...That was the end.

In the palace's garden, he was looking down on a girl that had collapsed.

She had a light brown pigtails and an ordinary but charming face. However, she was so pale that it looked like she could faint at any moment, ruining it, and she had awful bags under her eyes.

[Halibel: Her wounds are fatal, and she was hit with a curse that made her unable to get away. ...Now, she's done for.]

Next to Subaru, there was Halibel looking down on a girl, half-naked without his kimono on. Listening to his statement, Subaru knitted his brow and tilted his head as he asked, "A curse?"

[Halibel: I told you before, didn't I? I'm an expert on magic…...Killing with curses is my trump card. Stuff like my fur and nails are fused into the kunai I have, so if it gets stolen, it will cast a curse.]

[Subaru: What the hell, that's really dangerous. Is it even okay for you to tell me about this?]

[Halibel: It's totally fine. If you expose it to people, I'll just make you completely disappear.]

[Subaru: That sure is a crazy way to deal with it.]

Halibel acted relaxed, but Subaru couldn't hide the chills he had from his killing scheme.

Sorcery is said to be one of the arts in this world that are branches of magic. Since sorcery is an art that specializes in taking someone's life, there is a rule that the caster must touch his/her opponent, and even Subaru has had experience with this before. Sorcery is very hard to use because of this, but Halibel has solved it by mixing in parts of himself with his weapon.

[Halibel: On the first night we met, the kunai stabbed her. Her movement slowed down because it was effective. Even while harnessing a great spirit's power, you can't stop the curse from working.]

[Subaru: So she came to kill me before she would die?]

[Halibel: It might be why she rushed things. Honestly, I don't know myself.]

Shrugging his shoulders, Halibel took his kiseru out of his belly band, and put it in his mouth. It seemed that he had no intentions of being involved with what was going to happen now. He was being both kind and strict.

Subaru took a deep breath, and then looked into the face of the girl who was on the verge of death.

[???: …...]

Slowly, her eyes opened, as if she had felt his presence. They were light blue eyes. That common feature made Subaru feel some unnecessary guilt. However, he didn't stop.

[Subaru: It was…...It was a mistake for you to go after me. I have nothing to do with the Witch Cult. But, I can see why you still couldn't stop.]

[???: …...]

[Subaru: I won't ask you to forgive me. I'd like to, but there'd be no use in asking. I won't tell you to not hate me, so go ahead and hate me. But, I'd like you to hate just me.]

He didn't want her to hate his child that was being born, and of course, not Rem, either. That also went for Halibel and the other people who helped him out.

In this situation, it was Natsuki Subaru who thought about killing her, made a plan, and carried it out.

It was Natsuki Subaru who wished to kill her; it was him who filled her with hatred until the very end.

[Subaru: My name is Natsuki Subaru. That is the name of the man who killed you.]

[???: …...]

[Subaru: I'm sorry. I'm very sorry. Even though I told you that you didn't have to forgive me…...I'm sorry for apologizing.]

Ideally, he would listen to no complaints if possible, the dying girl would be left with no regrets, and he'd take her life. However, that didn't happen, and Subaru was being a helpless wimp faced with death.

"Death" is scary. "Death" is not salvation. Subaru knew that.

Subaru knew "Death" better than anyone in this world, so he felt very bad for the girl.

[Subaru: I have a child on the way. Rem is doing her best. I'm going to be a father. So, I couldn't die. I'm sorry. That's why I killed you.]

They were nothing but selfish excuses. And if their views became so conflicted that they decided to kill each other, there would be no time to understand one another.

Subaru's words weren't going to comfort her or enlighten her.

In response to Subaru's words, the girl stopped her distressed breathing for a moment and said,

[???: I……]

[Subaru: …...]

[???: I…...hate...that...girl.]

The girl said that in a voice full of hatred as if she was coughing up bloodas if she was looking into heaven from hell.

Subaru immediately realized that she was talking about Rem. He realized it, but that realization made things inconsistent. She she should have been going after the witch's scent. That's how they came up with the plan to use Subaru as a bait. All of her hatred should've been directed towards Subaru.

[???: That girl…...has...everything…...I want...everything……]

[Subaru: That's……]

[???: I was going to...with him…...and yet...I…]

Tears flow from the girl's eyes. Her eyes were no longer looking at Subaru, or at anywhere in this world.

They were looking somewhere elsethey were looking at a scene with happiness that she yearned for so much, enough to tear her heart out and drive her to get revenge.

Happiness that she was supposed to have too. She had that taken away from her, became an avenger, and now she was going to die.

What she held onto at the very end were her hatred and jealousy towards Rem, who had the same blood in her veins and reached a kind of life that was different from the one she had...No, it was probably envy.

[Subaru: What's your name?]

[???: …...]

[Subaru: What is...your name?]

He asked, crouching down and moving his face close. To his side, Halibel tried to stop him, but Subaru prevented him from doing so with his hand. The girl no longer had the energy to do something to Subaru as he got close.

He listened to the girl's last spark of life that was running out even in this moment.

[???: ...ese]

[Subaru: Reese]

Subaru picked up the name he was quickly told, and said that. He didn't have the time to confirm if he was correct.

[???:...]

Light fades away from the girl's eyes. The girl envied Rem, cursed her fate, and breathed her last.

He saw that with his own eyes. ...No, it was Natsuki Subaru who put an end to her.

He'd never forget her name. Subaru would never forget the fact the girl had once livedthat Reese had once lived. He sacrificed Reese to protect himself; to protect his family; to protect his life.

And he would never tell anyone what this girl Reese had truly wished for. Subaru, who was hated by her, was going to carry that to his grave.

So that neither Rem nor the child on the way would ever find out about it.

[Subaru: …...It's over.]

[Halibel: Yeah. It wasn't done in a very satisfying way, though.]

Upon hearing Subaru's statement mixed with a sigh, Halibel responded while giving out smoke. He helped out with everything for this plan. Because of that, Subaru bowed his head to Halibel.

[Subaru: Thanks for going with my selfish, uncertain plan. I really appreciate it.]

[Halibel: I was the one who made the final call, and we got her just like you planned, so I have no complaints. The Substitution that I hadn't done in a while worked. It all went fairly well.]

He had said that he wasn't very good at Substitution, but in the very end, it worked out.

After Halibel let Subaru get away from the girl's max firepower, he used Substitution and survived by pulling a classic: switching with a log.

[Subaru: That sure showed the finesse of a ninja. …...Also]

Halibel wasn't the only one who helped out with this plan. He had the help of many others.

Looking around, this was the Magoji palaceafter preparing a trap, he used the premise to guarantee the necessary space. And that was not the only thing he used; he used people and money too.

To prove it, there was Riften Magoji standing on the veranda of the palace. While touching his mustache, he bowed deeply to Subaru and said,

[Riften: I'm glad that things went according to plan without any problems.]

[Subaru: I sincerely apologize for the trouble I've caused you, Master……]

[Riften: "Culture School" has only just begun. You still have to guide all these women with your feminine abilities. It's an essential investment. I love investments, you see.]

He had asked Riften, who chuckled, to supply the alcohol that was absolutely necessary for the plan on top of providing a place for it. He had used Riften's name, as he was a brave warrior, to literally gather strong alcohol from the town and get them to bring it all into the palace.

[Subaru: The lullaby hint, and Tia being poor with alcohol. And then there was the overreaction to the cooking alcohol.]

Those things led to the inference that Zarestia isn't fond of alcohol. The old anecdotes of an entity with extremely strong power drinking excessively and being slain were endless.

The lullaby also had details related to that. If there really were existences running rampant in this world that are like the ones in the legends, then it wouldn't necessarily be wrong to act out those legends.

A blanket with a large amount of alcohol was actually thrown at the Zarestia that was captured in Reese, and she came out after her body was soaked in alcohol.

With Riften's wealth and reputation and the traditions of the ladies at the palace, he won. Afterwards, the people who helped him with the alcohol soaking plan...

[Subaru: ...Clane's employment agency.]

[Clane: After you said "Avenging Tia", I had to come too. Also, everyone loved that girl.]

Said Clane, in armornot an apronwith his large arms folded. He and a lot of other non-regular employees came rushing over when they heard about avenging Tia.

If the plan fails, there will be an all out war with a being that has a Great Spirit level of power. Even though they had declined at first like that, many people did this for Tia.

[Clane: And if push came to shove, Halibel would've done something.]

[Halibel: What the heck? You expect way too much from me.]

"Give me a break, man" Halibel said as he shook his head at Clane, who scratched the nose on his lizard face. That behavior makes soft smiles go all around.

He had seen a harsh ending. However, having no victims other than the girl was the best conclusion among all the ones he thought of. It was the best one where he didn't lose anything.

So, all that's left was...

[Halibel: ...The final payback, huh.]

Subaru looked up, and Halibel knocked the ash off his kiseru. Riften firmly sat down at the veranda and picked up the weapons that Clane and the others deployed.

A wind slowly comes down towards the palace's garden covered with tension, battle preparations, and caution.

Milky white hair, a pure white dress, and a face that had reached inhumane beauty via the hands of God. She had a rude side, which didn't go with the way she looked, and childish parts about her and was surprisingly friendly and sentimental.

It was the girl that had the title of a great spirit, which didn't suit her at all, who everyone here knew.

[???: …...]

Overwhelmed by the presence coming closer, Subaru stopped his feet from stepping back.

In his mind, he decided that he wouldn't run away. Believing that If he gets away from heraway from Tia…

...He'd also get away from those boisterous, noisy days of happiness.

Long, long ago before the worldbefore witches and dragons became this and that…

I was always free. I enjoyed my freedom without having anyone get in my way.

I conjured wind, spread fires, whirled up water, and dug up dirt, doing whatever I wanted.

Everyone approved of me. Everyone asked all these favors of me, who lived freely. I felt nice and they were well-mannered, so I did their favors.

I conjured wind, spread fires, whirled up water, and dug up dirt, doing what they had asked for.

After that, everyone was happy. Everyone praised me. Everyone smiled.

So, my mood got better and better, and I did everyone favors. Of course, sometimes I'd miss being free so much that I wouldn't do their favors, but in most cases, I still helped everyone out whenever I wasn't sleeping.

Eventually, everyone started bringing things whenever they asked me for favors.

They were things like vegetables, animal meat, sparkly gems, and burnished kimonos; they were all these sort of things that had "value".

I wasn't really hungry, nor did I have any interest in gems, and the cloth had some unnecessary fur on it so I wasn't happy with the things they brought.

But, I appreciated their thoughts, so I decided to work hard.

I conjured wind, spread fire, whirled up water, and dug up dirt. That's what I loved to do. By doing what I loved, everyone was happy. So, I did it over and over again.

However, eventually everyone's favors started to get weird.

Even though they were asking for favors, they kept bringing things with them. Before, I was happy doing what I wanted with fire, water, and dirt, but now I was being told what to do.

I loved being free. I loved doing what I wanted.

But, I liked being praised by everyone, and I also liked getting attention.

So, I reluctantly did everyone's favors. I conjured water, spread fire, whirled up water, and dug up dirt where they wanted me to.

Afterwards, everyone was happy again. My mood improved, and I forgave them.

Then, a lot of their favors were asking me to do what they told me.

Eventually...eventually it happened when I was getting used to doing what people told me to.

This favor was really weird.

They didn't need wind. They didn't need water. They didn't need dirt. What they wanted was fire.

I didn't like it. I wanted to start with wind. I didn't want to use just wind. I loved being free. For a very long time, I have always started with wind.

I didn't like how they weren't letting me do that. I said "No", refusing to do their favor.

When I did that, everyone left. I was left alone.

I was free. I thought to act freely like before, without caring about anyone. But, it was lonely being free. When everyone's gone, I feel lonely, I thought.

I went to see everyone. I said, "If fire's what they want, I'll give it to them."

Everyone was happy. I decided to bring fire, just like everyone asked for. However, fire isn't the only thing I conjured; I snuck in wind. I wanted wind with the spreading of fire, and wind was the one thing I had to have. Wind was my symbol of freedom.

There was no water. There was no dirt. There were only wind and fire. Everything became bright red.

I was glad that everyone was pleased.

After pleasing everyone, they called me over and treated me warmly.

I didn't really have any interest in food, dancing, or gifts. But, it felt nice having everyone treat me warmly. Also, the water that wasn't actually water was amazing.

Water that became hot when you drank it. Water that had a weird smell. The more you drank it, the more you wanted another.

I was having a blast, and drank water as recommended by everyone. I drank lots, got sleepy, and then fell asleep at a place that wasn't my nest for the first time.

...When I woke up, my limbs were gone, and my neck was about to get cut off.

I had always been free. I had always, always been free. I enjoyed my freedom.

Where did my hand that grew fire go? Where did my tail that whirled up water go? Where did my feet that dug up dirt go? Where did my freedom go?

When everyone heard my voice, they yelled with angry looks on their faces. They were yelling.

You tell me that fire burned the country, but I don't understand. You tell me that wind made it spread, but I don't care. You shout at me for not putting out the fire with water and dirt, but I don't get it.

Where did my freedom go? Why are people mad at me?

I said, "I want my limbs back." Nobody listened to me. Instead, I was showered with water that smelled weird. It was the water that put me to sleep.

The water was on fire. My body was burning. "Hot, hot, hot!" I screamed.

Everyone was happy about it. Everyone was happy that I was burning, like how they were happy when I did what I'd always do.

I didn't have the hands to spread fire. I didn't have the tail to grow water. I didn't have the feet to dig up dirt.

...But, I had the head to conjure wind. I had a mouth. I had a tongue. I had fangs.

Give me back my freedom. Give back me. ...Don't laugh at me. I'll kill you.

My mind was dyed pitch black. I killed everyone besides myself. I killed everyoneeveryone who was happy, everyone who was crying, and everyone who was mad.

I killed everyone...I killed them and slaughtered them, but I still wanted to kill people.

Even though pleasant things happened, I wanted to kill. Even though sad things happened, I wanted to kill. Even if there were things that angered me, I wanted to kill. Even if there were things that bothered me, I wanted to kill. When I became sleepy, I wanted to kill. After I woke up from a dream, I wanted to kill. After wind blew, I wanted to kill. After the sun set, I wanted to kill.

Kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill.

I want to kill everything. My bloodlust was everything to me.

I was free. So, I wanted to freely kill everything. I will kill.

I'm free. The last ones I killed called me a "Shinigami".

I'm free. Back when everyone was smiling, they told me I was "beautiful".

I'm free. Freer than anyone. I am the "Most Beautiful Shinigami".

...I am the "Most Beautiful Shinigami", Zarestia.

...I'm free. I want to kill everything. I want to kill.

"Death" is what Natsuki Subaru was feeling.

His instincts understood that what had manifested before him was an entity that brought along deep "death" with her.

[Subaru: ……]

Subaru was scared of death. He was scared of it more than anything. Many people feel the same way. But, for Subaru, "death" didn't have the same meaning as it did for others.

"Death" meant the end. However, for Subaru, "death" wasn't the end.

...It was the beginning of hell.

[Subaru: Since you're in a white dress, should I assume that you are the Tia we know?]

The girl dressed in white lands while conjuring wind in the middle of the palace garden. She definitely looked like the Tia Subaru knew. Her appearance was exactly the same. The same went for her clothes; the white dressfor some reason, it was black when she became one with Reese, so it was easy to recognize the difference.

[Subaru: I would appreciate it if you'd tell me which one you are right now. Depending on your answer……]

[Tia: Depending on my answer what? What'll you do, Su?]

[Subaru: ……]

He called his name. A nickname he got used to hearing. He couldn't believe that she'd call him that in an affectionate wayno, maybe she was calling him that with affection in her own way.

Subaru was called by that nickname, and he blinked.

[Tia: What's up with that dumbfounded look? Could you not get charmed just because I'm cute?]

[Subaru: …...I only care about wife. If my child is a girl, then I'll be only care about my wife and my daughter.]

[Tia: Hah! Well said! Also…...I see there's quite a lot of people here.]

Tia's lips curled as they had an exchange of banter, and she slowly looked at all the people that had gathered for this battle. They were all very familiar faces to her.

Surely Tia also knew that they were here to save her.

[Tia: Hal and the other males working hard late at night, huh. Apparently, grown men are idiots.]

[Halibel: You're gonna make me depressed by being that harsh. Adults gotta stay up late like idiots every now and then, you know?]

[Tia: Ohhh, so did anything come out of staying up late?]

[Halibel: Actually, that's what we want to ask you. Tia-chan, how'd it go?]

When Tia was asked that question, she held out her arms and gently opened and closed her palms. And then, when she went "Mm" as if purring like a cat, she said,

[Tia: …...I got my light sphere back. I got me back. It's like the great spirit Zarestia has been completely revived here.]

[Subaru: Completely revived...But you're……]

Once Tia returns back to normal, she won't be able to control her bloodlust anymore. She certainly did say that.

However, even after regaining the power that had been taken away from her, the Tia before them wasn't causing any havoc that they had been worrying about. Perhaps she was the same girl with a slight attitude from before.

In that case, maybe the things Tia said would happen weren't going to happen after all.

[Tia: Stop, Su. You shouldn't get your hopes up.]

But, Tia shook her head at Subaru's hopes with a stern look. When Subaru held his breath unintentionally, she sighed and said,

[Tia: Immediately thinking of things that sound nice is something that males do. But, it's not happening. I told you, didn't I? You guys are the reason why I got my light sphere back. I'm grateful for that.]

[Subaru: Then……]

[Tia: Yeah, I'm grateful. ...I'm grateful, so I want to kill.]

[Subaru: ……]

Bloodlust intense enough to give one the chills filled the whole palace, went outside the premise, and then swallowed half of the town. The smell of "death" was felt so much by his skin that, for a moment, he had the illusion that his vision might've been covered by a black mist.

After it sunk its claws into his soul, he understood that it came from Tia, who was standing still before him.

[Tia: This is who I am. This is who Zarestia isthe great spirit that only kills.]

[Subaru: TTia…...Even so……]

[Tia: You're still not letting it go? You're still saying this to me?]

Subaru was overwhelmed by bloodlust, had his throat caught by fear, and his heart went out of control. Even so, he wouldn't let go. As if irritated by it, Tia kicked dirt at him.

If Tia acts, there will be total war. But, would it even be total war? Wouldn't it just be a one-sided slaughter fest? That's how stronger the abnormal power felt to him.

[Tia: This...weird water…...alcohol, was it? I remember now. I...hated...this stuff.]

[Subaru: ……]

[Tia: A long time ago...I was forced to drink this...and my head was cut off when I was sleeping. My limbs were cut off too. This was thrown on my face, I was put on fire……After that, I always wanted to kill.]

Tia voiced her grudges to Subaru and the others, expressing just how cruelly she had been treated, revealing the reason why she hated the alcohol that became trump card for victory.

However, she still had a smile on her face. There wasn't any anger on it. There wasn't any resentment either.

There was only bloodlust with her smile that came from the heart.

[Tia: I want to kill everything. Whether I'm smiling, angry, crying, frustrated, in agony, or happy. Whether it be bitter or delicious. Whether it feel great or bad. Whether it be cold, hot, sweet, sour. Whether it be at night, in the morning, or in the afternoon. Whether it be a child, an adult, an old person, a baby, a man, a woman, a dog, a cat, or a wolf.]

Every feelings, every emotion, every situation, every time, every target, every beingeverything was connected to bloodlust for Tia.

[Tia: I want to kill. I want to kill everything. That's the kind of creature I am.]

[Subaru: Then…...What about...us?]

[Tia: ……]

Upon hearing Subaru's forced out question, Tia directed her silent murderous intent towards him. She just looked at him. An action that small had murderous intent. The embodiment of bloodlusta being that has every conclusion lead to bloodlust.

There were no lies on that billboard. Tia was trying to kill Subaru and the others. Even though she wasn't killing them, she was trying to. Even though she didn't want to kill them, she wanted to kill.

[Tia: I……]

Tia tried to say something. Words full of bloodlust come out.

Clane and his employees took defensive postures, Halibel put his hand in his pocket, and Subaru quietly clenched his fists.

And then…

[Tia: ...I]

...Inside the clinic, there were intense energy and the spasms of a life.

[Doctor: Push down…!]

[Rem: Oo...ooooo….!!]

She tightly clenched her teeth and grasped the rail of the bed propping her up with all her strength. The iron rail squeaked and clear fingerprints were left on it. Still, the pain didn't go away. She couldn't hide from it.

The feeling of her insides being pushed out and the pain from a life struggling bash her consciousness again and again. Rem had never experienced pain like this in her whole life.

[Rem: Goo...eeee…!]

...Actually, with the time length considered, this was more intense than any other pain she's ever experienced.

Even if she concentrated on her forehead, she could not feel her horn coming out. Right now, the Oni Rem was completely dead.

As if she had put all of her life force into the baby in her belly.

[Rem: ……]

Rem's horn has made her suffer a lot, and at the same time, has been beneficial.

Being an Oni has made Rem go through cruel, painful things. As she has confessed to Subaru, she wasn't able to be a good kid. To her parents, she was a failure of a daughter. ...To her sister, she was a bad little sister until the very end.

It has also caused her to never think that she was given blessings and not benefits.

Whenever was tormented by pain, suffering, or powerlessness, she would realize that she was an Oni, that she Oni bloodthat she had power. Once she could no longer feel that for the first time, she realized that she was blessed.

Blessed by being an Oni. By being born as her parents' child. By being her sister's little sister.

She met Subaru, got married, had a kid, and in this moment when it was being born, realized it for the first time.

Surely, her parents too, had felt...

[Rem: ...Oo...Ahhh! Ooooo!!]

Breaks from the the pain become shorter and shorter, and now the pain was swarming her non-stop. Every time it felt like she was going to lose consciousness, the dull pain shook her awake. It happened again and again.

And Rem couldn't hear the midwife desperately cheering her on. She couldn't hear anything.

[???: ...!? Hey, do you realize where you are!? Looking like that……]

[Rem: ……?]

Rem felt a strange, surprising presence, and she opened her eyes. In her field of vision blurred by tears, she did not see the midwife looking at Rem with an earnest expression.

The midwife was was sinking down next to the legs of the bed. Instead, the one right next to Rem looking into her face was…

[Rem: Tia…-sama……?]

[Tia: Sorry to do this at a time like this, Rem. Also, I said we wouldn't see each other anymore, but I was wrong. This...this will really be the last time.]

In her open eyes, she saw Tia smile lonesomely. It was Tia's smile that Rem has seen many times...and yet, dark thoughts seemed to be appearing and disappearing.

Bloodlust...It was bloodlust. There was bloodlust in Tia's smile. It wasn't a fake smile, but there was bloodlust.

[Tia: This is the real me. So, I can't be with you guys. I...When I see you struggling, I just want to kill.]

[Rem: ……]

Tia's words had apologeticness, sincerity, and bloodlust. It made total sense.

She understood what she was saying. Tia's true feelings and her nature were always in conflict. She couldn't live with her. That's the kind of existence she is.

[Rem: You got yourself back……]

[Tia: …...Yeah, I did. It's all thanks to Su and Hal's hard work. I want to kill.]

Tia played with her hair in an embarrassed manner, and she voiced her murderous intent while blushing.

Seeing her friend like that, Rem closed her eyes. A tear ran down her cheek.

[Rem: Tia-sama, I'm going to be a mom.]

[Tia: Yeah, I know.]

[Rem: Tia-sama, I...love Subaru-kun.]

[Tia: Yeah, I know that too.]

[Rem: Tia-sama…...I...love you too.]

[Tia: ……]

[Rem: So, I can't...live with you.]

Even though she loved her, she couldn't be with her. Her being unable to associate with others was an insurmountable mall. There was someone Rem loved and prioritized over Tia.

[Rem: ……]

It was after she told her feelings that Rem noticed how Tia looked for the first time. Tia, who had run over in a white dress, had someone in her arms. It was a senseless girl who wasn't breathing.

Someone's dead body...A girl's dead body. She somehow knew who it was and…

[Tia: I will bring her with me. I killed her. My other half...the fake me wanted to become one and loved me, so I killed her.]

[Rem: …...Tia-sama, did you...come to kill me?]

[Tia: I…]

Tia going back to normal meant that Subaru made things work out somehow. Subaru wasn't here. Only Tia, who wanted to slaughter everything, came back.

Logically thinking about it, this was a hopeless situation. It wouldn't be surprising if Rem was heartbroken and sobbed as she begged for her life.

However, Rem didn't do that, and she knew there was no need to.

...The days she spent together with Tia wouldn't let her.

[Tia: I…]

Tia says an incomplete sentence once again.

Tia's milky white hair shook, and, with Rem in her clear eyes, she broke into a smile as she said,

[Tia: ...I...love you guys...so I won't kill you.]

It was dawn when he arrived at the clinic after running from the palace without any breaks.

[Subaru: HHow is Rem!?]

[Doctor: Still in the middle of fighting. Why are you guys barging in with stupid looks on your faces? You're just going to get in the way. Don't enter the waiting room either. Go wait outside!]

The old magic user acted so cold towards Subaru who was out of breath and checked if his wife was alright.

Although, that was understandable; because of Subaru and Halibel's negligence, they had an unexpected intruder at the scene of the child birth. Taboo things must have happened one after another in terms of professionalism for the one responsible for the clinic and watching the child birth.

[Halibel: But man, more than half a day…...Giving birth to a child is no easy task.]

Said Halibel, sinking down onto the waiting room chair and giving a long sigh. Influenced by seeing him relaxing, Clane and the others who accompanied him also all sat down. The ones who intruded included almost all of the people who had been at the palace; there wasn't nearly enough room in the clinic.

In the end, more than half of them left the building, falling over on the way out, then they waited for morning and the baby's first cry.

Of course, Subaru was waiting inside the waiting room, but he really couldn't settle down. He was just impatiently and restlessly walking around.

[Halibel. Su-san, I understand how you feel, but shouldn't you calm down a little bit?]

[Subaru: …...I get what you're saying. But, sorry, Even though it's pathetic, I just can't stay still. If I don't move, it feels like I'm suffocating.]

[Halibel: Makes sense. Well, I just wanted to say that. I did say I understand how you feel, but this is isn't something I can't understand. Your worries are none of my business. It was just painful to watch, that's all.]

Although it sounded really irresponsible, he tried to get his mind off things even if it was just for a little while, and he appreciated the thought.

However, Subaru used up all the relief he got from Halibel in mere seconds, and once again started to wander around. Halibel gives a wry smile.

[Halibel: At times like these, men can only watch in silence…...No matter how many times I go through it, it's still rough.]

Halibel bit on his unlit kiseru, said just that, and went silent this time.

Deep inside, he agreed with his words. At times like these, men could only wait in silence. He looked up at the ceiling and continued to wish with his whole soul, like he was praying.

An awfully stale wish. A wish anyone would make too if they were put in this situation.

[Subaru: Please, God, Buddha, Christ, Jehovah, Mohammed, Angra Mainyu……]

It didn't matter if it was a good god or an if it was an evil god. Even call a devil's name if you feel inclined to do so.

Subaru called the names of every supernatural existence he knew of, and prayed.

[Subaru: ...Tia, please.]

And lastly, he prayed with a name that was neither a god's name nor a great spirit's name, but his friend's.

I pray…

[Subaru: ...That both the mother and the child are all right.]

It was right after he gave a prayer when there was a disruptive change in the atmosphere.

Inside the clinic, a voicethe first cry of a bawling rang out, going through the clinic room door.

Subaru impulsively lifted his face, and Halibel also rose from his chair. Everyone who had been sleeping jumped to their feet one by one, and they waited eagerly for the clinic room door to open.

[Halibel: Have you decided on a name?]

Halibel asked that to Subaru, who was standing still and raising and lowering his head.

After that, Subaru pulled himself together and said,

[Subaru: YYeah, I got one. I have one. If it's a girl, Spica.]

The "Subaru" in Natsuki Subaru is a name of a star. It's what his parents named him as they prayed. Imitating them, he'd name the child after a star while praying that he'd become a father who'd live up to his parents.

The door to the clinic room slowly opens. Beyond it, he saw Rem holding the baby…

[Subaru: If it's a boy…]

Epilogue: Anniversary

[Rem: ...Rigel]

When the child had its named called by a gentle voice, it slowly stood up.

It was a child with light blue hair, and eyes that had the same color as its hair. It was turning six years old and was still at the peak of its adorableness...but the sharpness of its eyes didn't make the future look too bright.

Natsuki Rigelthat was the name of this child, a fitting leading character for the ending of this story.

[Rem: Rigel, where are you? It's time to go to Temple Elementary]

[Rigel: Mom, I'm right here. I'm already ready.]

When he responded to the voice that came from inside the house, a woman with long blue hair appeared all of a sudden. The lovely, beautiful woman suddenly smiled as she stared at Rigel, who was standing in the garden.

[Rem: Oh, you got ready quickly today. Good boy.]

[Rigel: Unlike Dad, I don't want to trouble you.]

[Rem: Hmph, don't say that, Rigel. You shouldn't bad-mouth your dad. Besides, I'm into taking care of your dad, so I don't mind. Hahh, it makes me so happy; I think the second one is coming now……]

[Rigel: Could you not?! That's not funny!]

Listening to Rigel's voice crack, the womanRem, the mother, giggled. She had a baby belly, and inside of it there was Rigel's little brother/little sister in the making.

Although he was honestly anxious about having a sibling being born, Rigel had high hopes. Surely it'll be a cute little sister. No doubt about it. I vote for a little sister.

[Rem: So, even if it ends up being a little brother, don't bully him, and be his friend, okay?]

[Rigel: Well, that won't be a problem if you do your best to give birth to a little sister.]

[Rem: Oh, my. You really do seem to resemble someone……]

Dealing with Rigel's sass, Rem put her to her forehead as if to say that this was unfortunate.

It's true that in the neighborhood Rigel was known to have a smart mouth. He was so quick-witted that you wouldn't believe he was a 6 years old, and it was acknowledged by the kids in the neighborhood.

However, Rigel knew that some other people had a big influence on this situation; he knew things were like this mainly because of his father and his workplace.

[Rem: It's great that I got my maternity and parental leaves approved as suggested by your dad, but now that I don't have work, I'm very bored……]

[Rigel: What are you saying with that baby bell of yours? You should just do housework.]

Although Rem sighed with boredom, Rigel had nothing but respect for his mother's boldness.

This may not be her first childbirth, but how could a pregnant woman be this calm her second time? Rigel wanted to go around the whole town bragging about it, but his father was already doing that, so he held back.

[Rem: It was quite rough when I had you. This isn't so bad in comparison.]

[Rigel: Was it really that rough?]

[Rem: Yep, it sure was. It was a breech delivery, and I almost died.]

[Rigel: It was that rough!?]

[Rem: It was rough. Your dad and Uncle Halibel almost died too.]

[Rigel: They were going to die!?]

[Rem: They weren't the only ones. Had it taken a little longer, the whole town of Banan might've gotten annihilated……]

[Rigel: Just how difficult was my birth!?]

Rigel was told that his own birth put the town in danger, and it surprised him. I can't possibly imagine this happening, but is it going to be a difficult birth like that when my sister is born?

[Rigel: Will I stay alive and meet my sister……?]

In his mind he promises to use the Substitution Halibel taught him on his father to sacrifice him if push comes to shove.

In any case, while they were having that conversation, the bell tower rang.

[Rigel: Ah, dang it. I'm actually going to be late!]

[Rem: That's not good. Here, bring this bento. Also, Dad forgot to bring his bento, so give this to him please.]

[Rigel: Alright……]

Rigel takes the two packages and knits his brows at the difference between the two. One was kid sized. He could see that. That one's his. But, what was up with how grand the other one was?

[Rem: They're the same.]

[Rigel: Are they now!?]

[Rem: I packed the same amount of love in each. For you to worry about such a thing…...Rigel, you're still such a baby, huh. Your sister's going to be disappointed with you.]

[Rigel: Why am I always at fault!?]

Rigel pouted at what Rem said, and after that he put the two packages into his bag.

Then he waved at his mother, started to leave the house, and…

[Rem: ...Rigel.]

Upon hearing his mom's voice, he stopped and turned around. His mom gently waved while smiling and said,

[Rem: Take care.]

[Rigel: I'm off!]

After having that exchange, Natsuki Rigel started running to Temple Elementary.

[???: You sure are energetic again today, Rigel.] [???: Ri-chan, good morning.] [???: Good morning, Rigel.]

[Rigel: Good morning! Good morning! Good moooorning!]

Running towards downtown, Rigel was spoken to from every direction. To Rigel, this was the town he was born and raised in; the environment he was familiar with. But if he were to say that this was something totally natural, his classmates at temple elementary school would be surprised, so apparently he was just a little strange.

[Rigel: Mom and Dad seem to have done a lot of things……]

He'd overheard the adults conversate as if they were talking about an amusing story. His mom and dad may have been involved in a serious event that shook Banan town.

Rigel honestly thought that it was fake. Would his mother, someone who acts reserved other than with his dad, really get involved in a serious event like that? As for his dad, it would not be surprising if an uproar was centered around him.

While having such thoughts, Rigel…

[???: ...Oh, Rigel. Come here.]

He hears a voice that didn't sound like it was greeting him. Rigel stops upon hearing that familiar tone of voice, and turns around. Then, right behind him, there was not a black wall...but a person in a black kimono.

[Rigel: Uncle Halibel!]

[Halibel: Ohh ohh, long time no see eh, Rigel. Have you been well? Have you been skipping your training?]

[Rigel: No I haven't! In fact, I wanna go onto the next training already! How about you, Uncle? Why have you been gone from town for so long?]

Rigel had his hair tousled by him, and broke into a broad smile from the rough way he handled his hair.

Halibel was his parents' friend, and to Rigel he was like an uncle. Though he may not look like it, he works as a shinobi and jokes that he's always finding those who bring the seeds of trouble into Kararagi city-state, purging them behind the scenes, assassinating.

Still, he really was like a shinobi, and he was secretly giving training.

[Halibel: You're pretty good at this. So good that you should even follow my footsteps if Rem-chan lets you.]

[Rigel: Like, following your footsteps to being an "eternal playboy"? No way. I'm going to support Mom and my sister and get a job that I can be proud of as a family head.]

[Halibel: I feel like I've heard this before, and what about your dad?]

[Rigel: Dad's a man. He's old enough to wipe his own butt. He'll be fine.]

[Halibel: Dahahahaha! What the hell, Su-san has no respect going for him!]

After shrugging his shoulders, Halibel bursted into laughter while covering his face. Then, once Halibel's momentary laughter settled down, he said,

[Halibel: Hee...hee…….AAnyways, I'm gonna go see Rem-chan. I'm on break for a while, so I'd like to be there to see your little brother/little sister being born if possible.]

[Rigel: It's a little sister.]

[Halibel: Hm?]

[Rigel: It's going to be a little sister.]

[Halibel: YYeah, right……]

Overwhelmed by an alarming sense of intimidation, Halibel nodded dubiously in response to Rigel's comment. And then, he put his kiseru to his mouth, and lit it as he gave out smoke.

[Halibel: You're going to Temple Elementary now, right? Take care. When you get back, I'll train you.]

[Rigel: It's a promise! Lie, and I'll make you swallow 1000 needles!]

[Halibel: Ohh, how scary. A Su-san type of phrase. I'm so scared.]

[Rigel: You'll be swallowing them from the bottom!]

[Halibel: Does that kind of stuff even happen!?]

Halibel shrieked and laughed loudly upon hearing Rigel's reminder, and he left as he waved goodbye.

He was ecstatic to have met him again unexpectedly, but now he had very little time left. Was he going to have enough time to give his dad his bento? He wouldn't care if not giving it would just mean that his dad would suffer, but he didn't want to make his mom sad. It was a dilemma.

So, as a solution…

[Rigel: ...Be sneaky about it.]

Rigel concentrated on his forehead, jumped very high, and went over the streets.

Jumping high and bathing in the wind in the sky felt good.

Inside the horn grown on his forehead, mana gathered from the atmosphere, filling his body with strength. In this state, Rigel felt like he was wrapped in a sense of almightiness, and that he could do anything.

However, since his mom would make a lonely look whenever he grew his horn, he tried to avoid doing this as much as possible. Of course, using it in an emergency like this was different, though.

[Rem: I'm sorry...that you could only grow one horn……]

His mom had said that once when she was patting Rigel's head while he was pretending to be asleep. Rigel couldn't understand why she was apologizing for that. Judging from the way she had said it, it seemed having one horn wasn't enough, but wouldn't 5 or 6 of them look lame?

He thought there was a nice balance with having one horn in the middle of his forehead, and that it looked cool.

[Rigel: Well, it's not like I can look cool anyway with how much my face looks like dad's.]

Rigel steps on the roof tiles, being careful not to break them, and hops over the town.

His dad's workplace is called the "Banan Culture Promotion Group", which was in the east side of town, and it seems they plan all sorts of festival and events, and it is up to them to pump life into the town, or something like that. Apparently, it used to be a "Culture School" that his dad had worked at, but he didn't know any details about it.

Anyways, his dad's workplace was annoying all year round, and it was tiring to explain to his friends that it was "a job that spreaded the ritual where you hit Onis with beans" whenever they asked him about it.

That being said, it was true that he was supporting the household with his earnings. Thinking that this was the time as a son to thank his efforts for the family, he focused on bringing the bento and…

[???: ...Hey, you there.]

[Rigel: Ooe!?]

He was called out to while jumping in the air and it freaked him out. Rigel looks right beside him, sees that someone is there, and was taken aback.

It was a very beautiful person. Milky white hair, a pure white dress, eyes attractive enough to leave you unable to speak.

[???: Wow, I can already guess whose kid is this. Isn't that something?]

[Rigel: Wh…...ugya!]

Rigel, surprised by the beautiful faced getting near him and smiling broadly, lost his balance in the air. He lost control, and at this rate, was going to hit the ground.

[???: Careful. You should stop jumping around if you're incapable.]

[Rigel: Ah]

He was grabbed by the neck, and was forced to stop. Then the person swooped down at once while holding onto Rigelthey silently landed at an empty street.

[Rigel: UUmm…]

After landing, the woman and Rigel faced each other while she held him up. Rigel was stared at by a beautiful person he'd never seen before that smelled nice, and it made him nervous.

Seeing Rigel act like that, the woman sighed contentedly and said,

[???: I really enjoyed that. Yep, that's a face that says you want to kill.]

[Rigel: What's that supposed to mean!?]

[???: Ohh, just like Su. I guess that should be expected. Given that your face looks that similar to his.]

The woman laughed foolishly and let go of Rigel, freeing him. While timidly looking at the woman, Rigel had no idea how to respond and had a question mark above his head.

Since she talked about his face, she's most likely someone Dad knows. A lot of the people Dad knows are weirdos, but this woman in front of me is pretty fine woman. A beauty. No, but still…

[???: Hey, don't get mesmerized just because I'm cute.]

[Rigel: No matter how much of a beauty you are, I have my little sister, so……]

[???: Oh, okay then. So you've got a girl in mind…...wait, little sister!? Won't karma get you for that!?]

Karma...wonder what that means. I don't understand complicated things. I'm just a kid, after all.

[???: Karma is when you have to live your life in a way that can never be changed. You'll understand soon enough. Anyways…]

[Rigel: Anyways?]

[???: You're Rigel, aren't you? Su and Rem's kid. Right?]

[Rigel: Uh, if by Su you mean Natsuki Subaru, then yes.]

The woman mentioned Rigel's mom and dad's names, and he nodded while being careful of her. The woman seemed very friendly. He also had a hunch that there was something else about her that was off putting, but he ignored it for now.

It was probably one of those hunches that wouldn't be worth worrying about after Rigel interacted with her.

[???: ...I'm surprised. You're an interesting one.]

[Rigel: Isn't that your karma? I don't really get it, though]

[???: Aha, you got me. Well done. ...You're the hero that slayed a monster.]

The woman smiled and exaggerated that he had slayed a monster. If this girl was a monster, then the world must be a pretty peaceful place.

[???: And so, I offer this as a reward for the hero that has slain the monster.]

[Rigel: …? What's this?]

What the woman held out to him was something like a bracelet made with white thread. The woman made a devious look and went "hehehe" in response to Rigel's reaction of tilting his head.

[???: This is a small gift. I actually said I was going to give you my light sphere, but that's hard to do. So, I'm giving you a special white, not black, binding made by myself.]

[Rigel: What do you mean?]

[???: If something ever happens, I'll come rushing over to save you. That's what the tool is for. It's an amazing treasure. What do you think?]

"Come rushing over", she says, but what can this slender girl even do if she does come?

Those were Rigel's thoughts, forgetting about how he had been saved from jumping in Oni form. There was also the gift, but…

[Rigel: Mom said not to accept things from strangers, so……]

[???: Huh!? …...YYou're turning down my gift? II'll kill you, you know?]

[Rigel: That's a threat!]

The woman starts tearing up slightly, says something dangerous, and Rigel screeched at her.

This girl was wack. She looked way older than him, but was talking like one of his classmates. Or maybe something closer would be…a little sister. It was like he was talking to a little sister.

Plus, he knew that she had no ill intentions. Looking at her eyes, he could tell. She stared at Rigel so seriously that it felt uncomfortable, and she was putting words together.

[???: But...I...love you. I want to kill you, though.]

[Rigel: ...I have a little sister, so……]

[???: You already said that earlier! Besides, she shouldn't even be born yet!]

She says that to Rigel, and rejected her for almost mesmerizing him for a bit. The women stamped her feet and tore her hair out, maybe because she was irritated by that, and said,

[???: Fine. Fine. F-I-N-E! If you insist, then FINE! I was actually going to leave, but not anymore! I'm going to talk about this with Su!]

[Rigel: With dad? I don't mind, but Dad's quite a pain in the butt.]

[???: I know. So is your mom. Let's go, Rigel.]

The woman said just that, and then started to walk. However, she was going in the wrong direction to get to his dad's workplace.

[Rigel: It's this way.]

[???: II knew thaaat. Aren't you being kind of bratty? Just how involved do you think I was with your birth? The town almost got destroyed, you know?]

[Rigel: Seriously, what the heck happened on the day I was born!?]

When Rigel felt like this was a story that he had just heard about from his mother, he loudly threw a question. After hearing that, the woman put her finger to her lips and said,

[???: It'd take a looong time to tell you the story. Longer than the time it'll take to get to your dad.]

[Rigel: Then just come to our home. I'm sure Mom would welcome you.]

[???: ……]

When Rigel put his hands behind his head and told the woman that, her eyes widened. After that, she chuckled and said,

[???: OOf course she would. I bought that house with the goodbye presents that I earned, after all!]

[Rigel: What are you to my family…...You haven't even told me your name.]

[Tia: My name? Oh, I'm Tia. I'm…...hm…]

The girl that seemed to be deeply involved with a bunch of stuff in the Natsuki familyTia was messing with Rigel. However, he didn't mind it, and he was charmed by Tia's smile as she looked back.

Tia, with her broad smile, cheerfully said,

[Tia: …...I'm like...a part of your family.]

She finally said those words, and they both slowly moved towards his dad's workplace, standing side by side.

Before she knew it, the girl started humming in a good mood, and it sounded like something Rigel had heard before.

[Rigel: ……]

It was a lullaby his mom had put together long ago, before he was even born.

She had said that the name of the song was "Tia".

...So, well, I guess I'll accept the fact that she said she's family.

A light blue sky, a town that looked ordinary in every waythe scenery of a family's ordinary life.

That common, irreplaceable happiness definitely existed in one corner of the world.

There were things that were lost, things that were abandoned, places that were ran away from, memories that couldn't be forgotten even if they tried…

Despite having all these feelings, they would still live in this world that went on.

...And that was also an ending for one of the loves of a lost boy that wandered into another world.

[Rem: ...Would you like to go to the festival?]

Rem said this when the heat of the daytime started to cool down and there were faint signs of dusk approaching.

[Subaru: By festival, you mean that festival? The festival exists?]

[Rem: Yes. The event isn't that big, but it is on the day that's right in the middle of fire season. Apparently, it has little food stands too.]

[Subaru: So the hot days will continue, but it's the kind of festival where you'll need to be fired up to get through the latter half too. And there'll be food stands...That sure sounds nice.]

Subaru smiled and positively replied to Rem's invitation.

This goes without saying, but Subaru loves festivals.

Seeing the foods carts that are rather expensive and the tons of people gather at the event even though it's hot...kind of looks like something that requires toughness.

It's like, even if they don't have energy, they force themselves to. And when the fireworks go off in the end, it's awesome.

I probably shouldn't expect this world to even have fireworks regarding things that'd remind you of summer, though…

[Subaru: Guess I'll...go to the festival.]

[Rem: ...! Really?]

[Subaru: It's weird for you to be surprised when you're the one who invited me. I just happen to feel it today, and everyone's out too, so…….Oh, I guess Beako's here.]

When Subaru mentioned the girl that had said she was staying inside the forbidden archives to escape the summer heart,

[Rem: No, Beatrice-sama isn't here today. Even if she was, I'd insist her not to be.]

[Subaru: Huh, she's out too?]

[Rem: … …… …… Yes, she is.]

[Subaru: Oh. Okay.]

It looked like she was really conflicted, but Subaru didn't say anything to Rem, who looked like she had made a difficult decision.

For now, I'll think of a suiting present to bring back home to Beatrice and…

[Subaru: ...Alright, let's go. To the festival.]

[Rem: Okay! Let's do it!]

...And so, things ended up like this.

[Rem: HHow is it? Does it look weird?]

Subaru raised at an eyebrow at Rem in surprise, who said that and cast down her eyes in an embarrassed manner. They were going to go to the festival, but Rem had returned to her room, saying that she needed to get ready, and then they met at the mansion's entranceway.

And then, when Rem appeared at the entranceway…

[Subaru: ...Is that a yukata?]

[Rem: Erm, oh, yes, it's a yukata. It's not really popular in Lugnica, but I do recall you being well informed on them.]

[Subaru: Ahh, the dress in the dress code that is essential to the festivals back in my hometown…….I can't believe it.]

Standing in front of Subaru, who was shocked, was Rem in a white cloth yukata that had morning glory flower patterns designed on it. Upon seeing the large flower ornament on her head, the refreshing sandals on her feet, and the dress that was completely different from her usual maid outfit, Subaru nodded and said "Just as I thought" as if he had been convinced of something.

[Rem: Umm…"Just as I thought"...What do you mean by that?]

[Subaru: No, I just mean that I've known it for a long time. That it's an utter shame that you and Ram only wear and have maid outfits.]

Subaru continued by saying "Because" and,

[Subaru: You're this cute. It's a loss for the world to not have you dress up. Beautiful, just beautiful. It looks great on you.]

[Rem: My…...For you to say that I'm so cute that you want to have me all to yourself, I'm blushing……]

[Subaru: Having this amazing sight all to myself does seem like a sin.]

Hearing Subaru's reply as he smiled wryly, Rem blushed. After that, she pouted a little bit and said,

[Rem: …...Subaru-kun, you're a cruel person.]

[Subaru: Huh?]

[Rem: Don't worry, it's nothing. Thank you very much for complimenting me on the yukata.]

[Subaru: But I'm complimenting you in your yukata, not the yukata itself……]

Subaru, who grumbled that with his head tilted, pulled himself together as he said, "Oh well." After that, Subaru fully enjoyed seeing Rem in her yukata again.

[Subaru: But man, you wear a yukata perfectly. Just what you'd expect from a maid that can do everything.]

[Rem: Well, I'm actually used to wearing yukatas...wearing waso. At my and Nee-sama's old home, it was normal to spend time in kimono waso.]

[Subaru: At this point, I wonder if maybe both Japanese and European clothes are acceptable…...So many possibilities, huh, Rem?]

[Rem: I'm just honored to receive your praise.]

Rem started to do a curtsy like how she usually would, then shyly said "Ah" upon realizing that she wasn't wearing a skirt. Seeing that, Subaru shrugged his shoulders awkwardly, and after that, to shrug it off he said,

[Subaru: This means it wouldn't look right for me to be wearing casual clothing this time.]

[Rem: Actually, I've been trying to prepare a yukata like mine for you too, and I was this close to finishing, but I just couldn't decide on the most important part……]

[Subaru: Decide...on the colors?]

[Rem: No, the patterns. I couldn't decide between heart patterns and flower patterns. The gravest blunder of my whole life.]

[Subaru: Both of those would be so hard to wear! This is supposed to be my yukata, isn't it!?]

He wasn't proud of it, but Subaru didn't believe in himself enough to think that he could wear Paris Collection and yukatas with heart patterns and flower patterns. Subaru was frightened by how difficult it would be to wear all that, although Rem persisted in saying "Subaru-kun is wonderful in anything."

[Subaru: If it were Ros-chi, he wouldn't look weird in a yukata with heart patterns……]

[Rem: I'm sure you'd look cute in it too……]

[Subaru: About that, you see, I'm a passion kind of guy, not cuteness.]

[Rem: Passion, not cuteness……]

Rem tilted her head upon hearing Subaru's reply. But anyway, this meant that Subaru's yukata was a no go this time.

[Subaru: Well, let's save talking about that for next time.]

[Rem: Next time, you say?]

[Subaru: Don't know if it'll be happening next week or next year, but this won't be the only festival, right? This won't be the last one, so let's just go have fun today.]

Subaru gave a thumbs-up and nodded at Rem.

And so, he left talking with Rem about whether or not it'd be a yukata with heart patterns as something he'd take care of himself next year.

At Subaru's words, Rem blinked several times and murmured, "Next time, again….."

After that, with a full smile as great as the morning glories on her yukata, Rem said,

[Rem: Yeah, you're right! Let's go to the festival again next year!]

[Subaru: Well said! Alright then, time to enjoy the festival this year! Let's go, Rem!]

[Rem: Yes, let's go together!]

Subaru gave an energetic command to leave, and Rem went with him as she raised her hand.

They could hear the festival music from the path that they were walking on side by side.

Even though this was another world, nobody hesitates to enjoy festivals. So, let's do our best to go all out and enjoy this hot season as much as we can.

So that next year, we'll be able to talk about our memories of this day.

[Subaru: Anyway, our first goal is to conquer all of the food stands. Rem, what kind of place would you like to check out?]

[Rem: I don't know much about festivals, so is it okay if I leave that to you?]

[Subaru: Oh, fine by me. But, don't say I didn't offer. Also, I have to get Beako a present…...Well, she'll probably be happy if I buy her a mask or something. Yeah, that'll do.]

It was a pretty careless conclusion. Still, Rem didn't say anything to Subaru. Rem was just smiling as if to say that this time they were spending together and the atmosphere were enough for her.

When the festival music was finally near, they started to see the food stands' paper lanterns lighting up the evening scenery in the distance.

The people who noticed Subaru and Rem in the illuminating festival waved at them.

[Subaru: Hey look, everyone's full of enthusiasm. When it comes to enthusiasm, there's probably no one who could hold a candle to you in your yukata, though.]

[Rem: Oh Subaru-kun, you meanie.]

[Subaru: My bad. But, this is a much bigger success than I expected it to be.]

[Rem: Let's not get lost now. But even if I do get lost, I should be able to find you.]

[Subaru: Oh, looks like I can count on you then. Like with a signal or something?]

[Rem: Nope, you're just really stinky.]

[Subaru: There you go saying that again with an innocent look on your face!]

Even though it's not about a specific body odor, it does hurt when you're told about it over and over. So…

[Rem: ...Ah, my hand.]

[Subaru: It's a solution. Can't go off getting lost now, after all.]

He took Rem's free hand and held onto it so she'd never get lost. With this, all preparations were complete.

[Rem: …...You really are a cruel person, Subaru-kun.]

[Subaru: I thought it was a nice idea, though. So we shouldn't do it after all?]

[Rem: No, let's stay like this. Alright, the festival! Subaru-kun, we're going to conquer all the food stands, right?]

[Subaru: YYeah, exactly! Still don't really get it, but let's go Rem!]

[Rem: Yeah!]

...After this, Subaru and Rem, being all fired up, went on to conquer the festival food carts one by one. Although, they did end up becoming known as "food cart robbers".

….And that was a story for another night.