Once a NEET always a NEET 9
I'm going to see the midnight premier later on today, that is to say Sep. 5th, for Beetlejuice 2, and ngl, it'll be a double serving of shame for me tonight.
The first week of trying to talk to and comfort Kazuma to make him feel worth went by, with no results from his former friends.
With it being the weekend now, the girls of the Satou household decided to allow him to continue have his space, and free range of the house as they either had to work or made plans to be out of the house all day.
"Kazuma, before we head out I just want to let you know we left you some breakfast on the table and some money on the counter in case you wanted to step out and grab lunch or order take out" said Darkness as she got nothing but silence in return.
"Let's just take that silence like he heard us" said Megumin as she had Chomosuke in hand as she plans on spending the day with Emilia, maybe Subaru, but that's about it.
"Well I gotta go" said Aqua as she was scheduled to do a mid morning shift and was running behind as she was the first to zoom out the front door.
Seeing as there was no reason to stick around, Darkness and Megumin left their house as well.
Roughly an hour after they left, Kazuma finally began to drag himself out of bed with a heavy heart as he was expecting to deal with the girls at some point throughout his day.
Fortunately for him though, he quickly began to realize he was alone with the girls either going to their part time job or something else.
Still Kazuma couldn't find himself entirely relaxed for some reason since his heart remained heavy and he felt like he was holding back in his tears.
Going over to the kitchen table he saw the note Darkness had left him, along with breakfast and money.
Surely by now breakfast was cold, but Kazuma didn't care as he began to sat down and turn on Alexia.
"Hey Alexia" called Kazuma quietly, "Yes Master Kazuma" said Alexia, "Play me some music" "Playing music, based off music Master Kazuma has been listening for the past week".
Kazuma didn't care that Alexia instantly played nothing but LINKIN PARK right away, considering that's all he listened to when he felt unmotivated, weak, or as he felt his soul drifted away leaving behind this pathetic sack of shit since that he generally felt when his heart sank, his body going numb, as he silently cried.
So right now it came no surprise to him as he sat there and began crying as he ate his cold breakfast, wishing he could've gain at least the nerve to be in the company of his team.
And it wasn't because his food was cold, it's because he yearned to hear his party members to genuinely show sincerity when they apologize this time around, so he could finally forgive them and have things go back to normal.
But he knew better than to quickly forgive them, as they'll never learn nor will they bother improving themselves, especially since he's experience this long before meeting them, and he couldn't live through another betrayal by his peers, the people he once called friends.
Once he finished eating, Kazuma began to drag himself back into bed before smothering his face in his pillow as he began to let out muffled screams of emotional pain before pulling away and continued to cry as he heard nothing but the music through this empty house as this gave him comfort and made him feel less alone, while also hiding him of this sad miserable state.
With Megumin
As she said, Megumin was spending the day with Emilia as they regularly had a cat date with their cats.
"I'm sorry to hear that Kazuma still refuses to talk to any of you" said Emilia as Megumin looked at the ground with a sad look as the cats circled around and chased each other, while Subaru leaned his back against the wall, listening in to their conversation.
In spite of their new friends readily to help Kazuma, they weren't getting anywhere close to getting him to forgive them, though frankly Subaru expected much.
He had hope to catch him at work where he had no choice but to talk to him, but the store manager, Ruffian, said he took the month off, which did give Subaru so comfort at mind that he didn't just entirely quit.
When Ruffian inquired about Kazuma for his sudden reason to take the entire month off, Subaru only answered that he's hurt and that he was determined to help his friend back.
But it's hard for him to call Kazuma friend, given how a true friend wouldn't hurt him, and thinking about that and what he told him and his group when they came to visit him earlier that week, was a justifiable reaction on Kazuma's end.
Speaking of his group, since Darkness broke Ram's nose, there was a serious discussion with her when they got home.
Bottom line, they were all fed up with her bad attitude and her treatment of her degrading their friends so blatantly and openly, which went on long enough and needed to stop.
Hard headed and self centered as always, Ram only clicked her tongue before Emilia put her foot down and said while she has every right to live with them, their friendship and her services as her maid was over, before Subaru, Beatrice, and even Rem stood by her side with the same sentiment.
Granted Rem and Ram were inseparable, and while the 2 sisters did talk, Rem no longer did her any favors or requests for her and expected her sister to finally do things on her own, which happens a little more often now.
Speaking of Rem, business was back to normal for her like usual, as she too began to ponder and figure out a means to reach out and help Kazuma and fix his relationship with Subaru.
Even when told she should figure out how to get Kazuma to forgive her first and foremost, as insisted by Subaru, she couldn't stand seeing the man she loved be in pain and riddled with guilt for hurting the one person he called his best friend.
And this wasn't the same level of friendship Rem had saw from Subaru that he called to everyone else, but a genuine brotherhood, a bond even with Kazuma, and seeing how he knowingly broke it was killing him every day as he would do give anything to redeem their friendship again.
So naturally Rem wanted to do anything she could in her power to reasonably help out both men, but mainly her man.
Meanwhile Beatrice, still sticking to her Himedere shtick, was actually working diligently and would occasionally request to talk to Subaru in private to understand what a NEET is and shut-ins are and culture.
These days when she's not helping maintain the school library, going to school, or work, Beatrice spent many hours of her day reading up on psychology books on human emotion and interaction and used the data she got from Subaru to find an appropriate means and effort to reach out and get their friend to forgive them.
Recently though, from Subaru's suggestion, to inquire additional outside source and help from their friends ranging from Ainz, Tanya, Sora, Shiro, Shinichi, Otonashi, and Naofumi, who had some interesting choice of words to say to these group of friends, but more on that later, to which she did.
But back at the present moment, Subaru was feeling just as down and guilty like everyone as Puck approached him.
"What's bothering you Subaru" asked Puck as Chomosuke approached the immortal and meowed.
"It's nothing Puck, I'm just thirsty that's all" lied Subaru as he leaned off the wall, "I'm off to get a soda, you girls want anything".
"Green tea for me" said Emilia, "That energy drink with the picture of an explosive cherry" said Megumin, "And I think me and Chomosuke would appreciate some water, no milk please" said Puck.
"Alright I'll be back" said Subaru as he began to walk around the corner.
"Sigh, I worry for Subaru" said Emilia, "I take it he's taking it all to heart" said Megumin as she didn't need to be entirely sane to see Subaru was in pain.
"Honestly I fear that Subaru might do something drastic like Kazuma, and I do hope it doesn't happen" said Emilia as Megumin could sympathize.
"Subaru is tough, and I think he knows well enough to not do anything he'll regret or to make Kazuma feel any worse, plus if he has one thing in common, he doesn't intentionally hurt those he cares about" said Megumin knowing well that last bit was a total lie since she can list every account when Kazuma was nothing by a bully and a sadist all of which was intentional.
"I suppose you're right" said Emilia, "I'm back" called Subaru as he had their drinks in hand and a smile on his face.
Putting her trust on not only the words of her friends, but her own gut, Emilia accepted that nothing further drastic will affect their friends as they continue to wait and earn Kazuma's forgiveness.
Elsewhere
Since Naofumi, Otonashi, Shinichi, and Sora and Shiro earned Kazuma's trust as his new friends, they made a point to visit him in person and check up on him.
That was after Naofumi had gone off and told off his ex friends for the way they treated and betrayed them and swore that they did anything to further harm him, he was going to kill them all himself.
And even after being put in their place, the girls living with Kazuma granted and gave them all a copy of their house keys whenever they feel like dropping by and visiting.
So right now Naofumi was making good use as he was outside the Satou household and let himself in.
"Kazuma are you here" asked Naofumi as the only thing noise related was Alexia playing LINKIN PARK's Catalyst, to which Naofumi knew the lyrics of and would've want nothing more to sing or at the very least hum the song, but he had other important matters at the moment.
Kazuma has yet to answered as he continued to search the house, before finding Kazuma curled up in bed still crying.
"Kazuma" spoke Naofumi as this snapped Kazuma back to reality as he stared with teary puffy eyes as he felt like Aqua over every little bad thing that happens to her.
Kazuma didn't say anything as Naofumi approached him, "Are you alright" asked Naofumi before he was caught off guard when Kazuma went and hugged him.
Instinctively Kazuma hugged his friend after being asked the very same question everyone else has asked him, though this time it sounded sincere to him as this was coming from someone he can trust and feel safe with as he continued to sob.
Naturally, Naofumi went and gently rubbed the back of Kazuma's head like he would do for his little brother many times before to help calm down his friend who was in dire emotional pain.
No worries Kazuma, I'm here for you, thought Naofumi as he didn't intend to leave until Kazuma was at peace of mind.
Sigh, honestly, to those who don't know, Naofumi is my husbando, and knowing how his OG English VA passed away, still hurts, and well seeing this POV Naofumi I made like this, during the time he unfortunately died, leaves a bittersweet feeling in my heart, so... yeah.