Rem POV

Rem had been walking around the mansion looking for Subaru-kun. She hadn't heard any news about his condition from Nee-sama so she was planning to talk to him and see for herself. She was also just excited to finally have some time to talk with him since she didn't get any earlier.

Her attention was quickly ripped away from fantasies of Subaru-kun by an intense smell coming from nearby. She easily identified it as the smell of blood. Immediately switching gears, she pulled out her morningstar and began to search for the source of the smell.

*Creak*

She took a fighting stance as she glared at the door opening in front of her. She couldn't see the person behind the door, but she was ready to deal with the intruder. She quickly realized who the "intruder" was though, as the door fully opened revealing Subaru-kun carefully peeking out.

Subaru POV

The first thing Subaru noticed was a familiar and terrifying sound. Chains. Whipping his head around, he saw something that practically knocked him off his feet. Rem was standing down the hall holding her signature morningstar. The same one that had caused him so much pain in the past.

'No no no no no nonononono! Please!'

The morningstar crashing into his chest.

Subaru fell backwards, his arms reaching behind him to steady himself. The wound on his arm had reopened and was slowly dripping blood, but that was the least of his concerns.

"Subaru-kun?"

Rem's voice only added to his fear. His heart was beating so hard that he could barely hear her, but her voice sounded cold and distant. He scrambled backwards and slipped on the pool of blood that was forming around his arm.

His head splitting open due to the powerful strike.

'Please… I don't want to die...'

Subaru closed his eyes. He knew he wouldn't be able to fight back if she was serious about killing him. But the strike he was bracing for never came. Instead he felt a different sensation entirely; a gentle finger running across his arm.

"Who did this to you?"

Her voice had taken on a restrained anger that sent shivers down his spine. His eyes shot open. Rem was crouching next to him; his sleeve had been pulled up to reveal the multitude of scars on his bloodied arm.

Many emotions welled up in Subaru's mind. He was scared, the anger in her voice bleeding into his memories of torture made his nerves fired on all cylinders. He was mortified, she had seen something he never intended to show anyone and it felt like she had peered into his soul without permission. He was confused, why hadn't the killing blow ever come?

Everything coalesced into an intense need to get away. Get away from the malice, from the shame and the violation, and from the incomprehensible situation.

He scrambled to his feet and began to run. Rem might have been calling out to him, but he couldn't, or wouldn't, hear her.

A small trail of blood marked his escape through the mansion.

Rem POV

Rem was left speechless, she had just watched Subaru-kun walk out of the room. Subaru-kun had fallen to the ground after seeing her, an awful look in his eyes.

'He looked so scared… Subaru-kun scared… of me?'

Rem could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. She didn't want him to look at her like that ever again. But then she smelled it again, the blood; it was coming from Subaru-kun. Clearing the tears from her eyes she saw a puddle of blood forming around his left arm.

'He's… He's bleeding!'

Rem began to approach him, every step caused Subaru-kun to shrink back. Every flinch, Rem could feel a part of herself despair. But that wasn't important right now, Subaru-kun was bleeding a lot!

She gently began to lift the sleeve on his left arm, it was covered in a layer of blood hiding all but the smallest windows of skin. She wiped some of the blood away to get a better look at the wound, and what she saw made her heart sink. Rem could feel the anger boiling up in her mind, but she didn't want to further frighten the already terrified Subaru-kun.

"Who did this to you?"

His arm was lined with many long scars, and a large open wound. She desperately wanted, needed, to know who had done this to him. How could she have let something like this happen right under her nose.

'How.. How! How could I have let this happen?!'

But much to her shock, Subaru-kun didn't say a word. Instead he looked at her with those same fear filled eyes, and ran.

Rem cried.

Ram POV

'Barusu has done it now!'

Ram was furious, she had come across her sister bawling in the hall. Ram knew Barusu had been responsible for this in some way; sister would occasionally call out his name in between gasps for air.

Ram had wanted to make Barusu pay right then and there, but the puddle of blood on the floor made it obvious to her that something more was going on. Deciding to be patient, Ram waited for sister to recover enough to explain what had happened.

The sobbing had died down, and sister explained what had happened between her and Barusu.

'He was.. scared of sister?'

Ram had noticed occasional sentiments of fear towards herself from Barusu, but she alway wrote it off as a byproduct of her scoldings. But the reaction towards sister sounded… intense.

"Sister, you said there were many scars on his arms, correct?"

Sister nodded silently.

"Barusu may be getting attacked by someone. If so, it would seem like it has been going on for a long time."

It would make sense. If Barusu was being blackmailed by someone who was hurting him, then his fearful reaction to sister finding out would be understandable.

Of course, Ram wasn't going to forgive him for making sister cry that easily. But a scolding could wait until he was out of reach of his mysterious attacker. But for that to happen they needed to know who was doing this to him.

"Sister, all we need to do is figure out who is doing this to Barusu. After that, I will help you punish him all you like for making you cry. We should check his room, there may be evidence there."

Ram could feel a tinge of anger swelling up. Although Barusu was pathetic, he was still a member of the staff at the mansion, and the person who made sister happy. In addition, although Ram was loathed to admit it, she occasionally enjoyed working alongside him. No matter how she felt about it, his energy was infectious… and annoying.

Subaru POV

Subaru was sitting curled up in an unused room in the mansion.

'I keep running into them! It's like… like they are keeping me under surveillance.

Coming out of the Forbidden library and now coming out of the bathroom. Both times he had run into Rem, as if she was waiting for him.

'Damn it! Should I…'

Settling his tongue between his teeth, he remembered the first week in the mansion; all the times he spent with them that were erased.

'No… She didn't kill me… so there has to be some way to get out of this without return by death!'

The relationships that he had built through hard work and luck were precious to him. Subaru still cared about the maid twins, even if he was terrified of their wrath. And beyond that, he wasn't sure if he could recreate the events that helped him escape from the loop.

'I don't… What should I do?'

Ram POV

Sister had seemed to regain a bit of motivation upon hearing Ram's theory. She still seemed devastated, but determination shined through.

Barusu's room was dark and cluttered. Ram made a mental note to scold Barusu for the messiness later, but for now there were more important matters.

"Nee-sama, I don't like invading Subaru-kun's privacy. Are you sure we can't just ask him about it?"

Ram could understand sister's feelings as she herself felt a little strange doing all of this.

"If Barusu hasn't spoken to us about it already I doubt simply asking that buffoon about it will achieve anything. And as our junior, Barusu has no right to privacy anyways, sister."

"Does Subaru-kun really trust us that little Nee-sama?"

Sister's voice was small and shaky.

"I will help you beat some trust for his seniors into him later, sister. I already have several effective methods in mind, training mutts is easy once you learn how."

With a small 'hah' Ram turned her attention back to the room. She began searching for anything that may contain personal information about Barusu. She quickly managed to find a small journal hidden away in his desk, with a strange splotched pattern on the front.

"Sister, I believe I have found Barusu's journal. There may be information in here about his assailant."

"But Nee-sama! That's private! What if there is something embarrassing for Subaru-kun in there?"

"Then I will kindly remind him of his past failures when I see him again, sister. So that he will make no such blunders again."

Sister seemed like she wanted to retort, but she stopped herself. Ram could tell that her sister's thoughts were lingering on Barusu.

'To make my adorable sister show such despair, you are truly irredeemable Barusu.'

It was too dark in the room for Ram to read the book properly, so she pocketed it before continuing her search.

Subaru POV

Subaru had calmed down a bit by now. His arm was no longer bleeding and his tears had begun to dry. However he was far from being okay as he had a been agonizing over a decision.

'I shouldn't keep hiding, that will only make them more suspicious of me… But if I see them, who knows what they will do…'

He hugged his knees closer to himself as he recalled memories from his past loops. He was conflicted, the fear he felt because of them was real, there was no doubt about it. But included in his memories are so many joyful moments with the twins, even more of them than the painful memories.

'I don't want them to hate me… And I don't want to hate them either…'

But even as he thought this, the forest loop was still lodged deep in his mind. A sharp pain shot through his leg causing him to jump. Frantically searching for the source of the pain, he found his leg to be perfectly fine.

'Phantom pains.'

Subaru had experienced them a lot since coming to this world.

'I think… I need to try. Even if this loop seems doomed I don't want to feel that pain anymore, and I don't want to be left behind anymore either!'

This was the culmination of his resolve that he had been building up. He had to try, no matter how desperate the situation, he wouldn't throw his life away!

Having made his declaration, Subaru stood up and left the room. He couldn't pretend like nothing happened, but he could ignore it until they asked. In the meantime, he was thinking up excuses and a plan of action.

But as they say, no plan survives first contact with the enemy.

Ram POV

Sister was in charge of cooking tonight, so Ram had some time off before she needed to report for dinner. She decided to take a look at the journal she found in the meantime.

'Barusu should be grateful that i'm spending my precious free time on a buffoon like him'

However, her self righteousness quickly waned when she took a look at the journal.

Having a proper look at it for the first time revealed some concerning traces. What she thought were originally just patterns on the front were actually red splotches of a liquid. Blood. Quickly flipping it open she found similar such traces on other pages throughout the journal.

'Why would there be blood here?'

As Ram was contemplating this, she kept looking through the journal. The writing was unintelligible and seemed to be rushed and scribbled out in some places. It reminded her of the script Barusu had tried teaching her in the past.

Everything that had happened so far had caused a thought t creep into her mind. One which she tried, and failed, to push back down.

'Barusu… you wouldn't have, right?'

The concerning state of the journal had been weaseling a thought into her head, one which she didn't want to have to consider. Why would there be blood on his journal... it's not like he would write in it while being attacked? So what could have left it here? Were his injuries… self inflicted?

Author's Notes

Thanks for reading the chapter! I was able to get this one out a little faster, but I don't think I'll be able to do one a week like I want to. Maybe one every 1.5 weeks is more likely.

I am only really planning for this fic to go for a couple more chapters, maybe 6 total? I am writing fanfiction both because I love this series with every fiber of my being, and as practice before I start writing my own original stuff! But don't worry, I have a conclusion planned for this fic, so I won't leave it half finished.

If someone wants to take this concept into a long term fic, I'd be really interested to see how such a small change would butterfly into the rest of the series!

Once again, please leave any critiques! My main goal here is to improve my writing, so it is much appreciated.