"-Whew!"
Subaru let out a breathy exclamation as he deftly moved his hands across the counter. He grabbed up the ingredients needed for the drink he was preparing in a flash, and added them in just as quickly.
–A generous amount of Granhiert red wine, the kind of cheap red wine that still tasted good enough, but mostly stuck to your throat.
–Some Rye Whiskey, to make the drink even sharper than the harsh red wine already would make it.
–Black walnut bitters, adding a little bit of a warm, slightly earthy flavor to it all…
"And finish off with the garnish! Elsa, the honors–!"
Without warning, Subaru tossed a small, delicious-looking black cherry and a toothpick towards his customer. Elsa just stared at the flying items with a smile on her face and pleasure in her eyes.
"Ah, already? While it's a shame that I can't watch you at work longer, I do so always enjoy this part~."
She easily picked them from the air with her smooth, slender fingers and, at a speed faster than the human eye, impaled the cherry on the wooden toothpick. The red cherry bled a slight dark red down the toothpick, but otherwise, it was a perfectly clean incision.
Elsa lowered the fully completed black cherry garnish with a smile on her face, and Subaru could only whistle with widened eyes.
"Jeez! You're as scarily good at the toothpick trick as ever, Elsa. I swear, I can never see your hands, no matter how hard I look! Hasn't it been at least 100 times by now?!"
"Well, considering that I am drinking for free every time I arrive, it's only fair that I present something worthy of a drink, no~? Although, I do have my doubts about how amazed you get at such a simple trick–"
"Simple?! Elsa just doesn't get how amazing her moves are, huh?"
Subaru shook his head, while he dropped just one ice-cube into the mixture, shaking it up a little more. He really thought it was amazing. The only tricks he had learned was ice cube shaping, which he didn't really get to show off too often.
"Well, I suppose I'll simply have to be gracious and accept the compliment, hmm~?"
Elsa smiled in a way that would easily grasp the heart-strings of any man. Her lips, painted a beautiful light shade of red, and her pitch-black eyes which seemed to stare right through any person she looked at–
But rather than feeling embarrassed, Subaru just felt happy to have her there. Smiling like that meant that he was doing a good job, and that was all he wanted when it came to Elsa. Or with any customer, for that matter.
"Still, I'm surprised that you were brave enough to simply add that ice cube without asking me. What if I don't like it?"
Subaru rolled his eyes at Elsa's overly-done innocent tone. He stopped shaking, setting the hand-made tumbler down on the counter with a showy thud. He pointed a thumb at himself while clearing his throat, "Ahem-!"
"Come on now…your humble bartender Subaru here is a professional! Besides, how long have you been coming to disrupt my closing times now? I'm an Elsa professional, too!"
He proudly proclaimed, something which Elsa merely giggled at. Her laughter itself gave away her amusement.
But despite his humorous attitude, Subaru was right on with his knowledge. Elsa didn't like too much ice - she preferred most of the flavor to come through in her drink uninterrupted, but she did like the chill of cold drinks. Subaru intimately knew her tastes. After all, she had been his first customer, and continued to be one of his most frequent.
"...Even if I don't appreciate the fact that it's always after closing."
Subaru poured out her drink into a particularly-looking expensive wine glass. The sort of glass that would have normally belonged in a fancy wine-tasting restaurant. The only thing she was missing was a plate of assorted cheeses.
"A professional at handling me, hmm? I do like the ring of it. Though I'm not sure I'd allow anyone other than you to hold the title, Bartender-san. That said–"
Elsa tilted her head, her smile becoming just a little more dangerous.
"Do you truly think that I'm that easy to handle~? It's a mistake to think of me as an easy woman."
It was a pointed question. A question that Elsa might usually only pose to the people she had already disemboweled and left bleeding on the ground. But for Subaru, she casually threw it out as playful small talk.
"No–But I sure as heck think your drink orders are easy to handle! So, like always - one Black Manhattan, Granhiert-style, chilled!"
Subaru answered without hesitation, though not entirely without fear. Even so, he managed to play off whatever anxiety he had easily. He slid Elsa's drink across the counter, which the assassin easily caught without batting an eye. She set her black cherry garnish into the glass and–
"Well–I do suppose that I never take you up on those suggestions to 'mix up' my usual order, do I?"
Elsa brought the glass to her lips and sipped, closing her eyes while she relished the very first trickles of flavor down her throat.
"Dang right you don't! I even said I'd make you something with lime, but you just ordered another Black Manhattan! It's easy for me to make—and I am already supposed to be closed anyway—but it kinda hurts my fragile pride as a bartender when you don't order anything else!"
Instantly, whatever momentary tension had existed was washed away by that single sip. Subaru got right back behind the counter, folding his arms while watching Elsa enjoy the drink.
"I really have no idea why you worry so much, Bartender-san. I don't order anything else because I simply don't need to. It's just as delightful as the very first time I enjoyed it."
Elsa's response came quickly, as she lowered the glass from her lips.
"Well…I am happy to hear that, at least."
Subaru let out an audible sigh of relief. Despite working behind the counter for almost a month or so now, he still hadn't gotten over the fear of having his customers take the first sip of their drinks.
Thinking about it, that fear was partly–no, definitely thanks to Elsa's first visit.
"By the way–where's Meili? Usually she'd be trailing in right behind you! I'm a little disappointed that she didn't come–considering that she's the only one that actually orders something different."
Subaru grinned while he imagined the troublesome blue-haired girl. He could already see her bouncing up into the chair, trying her best to act just like Elsa while being unable to suppress her inner childish curiosity.
Meili was much like Kadomon Risch, the Appa salesman, in the way that she couldn't help herself in wanting a new drink every time. Although for Meili, naturally, all of her drinks were non-alcoholic. So she and Kadomon worked on totally different ends of the spectrum.
So lost in his thoughts was he, that Subaru did not notice the nearly imperceptible twinge that ran through Elsa's body as he mentioned Meili's name. No–most people wouldn't notice. After all, Elsa had trained herself to hide away such weaknesses a long time ago.
Amusement, joy, satisfaction, and rarely–anger. Those were the few emotions that Elsa would allow herself to show on her face and in her voice to everyone. Everyone that was not Meili.
She only showed fear to the woman that called herself Mother.
But none of these words properly described the emotion that had run through Elsa's body. Perhaps it was best to compare it to something like–guilt.
"Yes…it's quite the shame that I couldn't bring her this time. Though I won't complain about being able to take most of Bartender-san's attention~."
Elsa smirked, and Subaru just huffed, turning his head to the side. His sharp black eyes couldn't bear to look at her anymore when she said things like that with such an unchanging expression.
"Yeah, yeah. Honestly, you should know by now that you have the sort of presence that's hard for anyone to ignore, let alone guys, Elsa…"
"Oh? Whatever do you mean by that, Bartender-san?"
Elsa asked, practically pushing her chest out towards him.
"You definitely know what I mean! Stop teasing me!"
"Ufufufu–"
Subaru was a red blushing mess, and Elsa just giggled in amusement at how easily she had made him turn redder than the redness of her cocktail.
"A-anyways…"
Subaru cleared his throat, doing his best to regain his composure in front of Elsa. He reached under the counter, and placed something on the top.
"Oh~?"
The item was, simply put - a doll. A doll of the extremely handsome knight that had just visited the bar a day or so ago, Julius Juukulius. It was well-made, including every detail down from the redness on the inside of his white coat, his amber eyes, and even that overly elegant smile he had that made Subaru instinctively want to punch him…
"I was kinda' hoping to give it to Meili, but she ended up not showing up…it's a shame, but whatever. You're here, so I know it'll find its' way to her hands!"
Subaru grinned. For one reason or another, Elsa found herself unable to look at that grin directly.
"Well~. I do know Meili will be quite happy to have another doll. I was actually making one for her myself, based on a rather lovely encounter I had recently. I suppose it'll be a double-gift for her, then~."
Elsa placed a hand on her cheek while she stared at the doll. Having sown quite frequently herself, she truly could appreciate the craftsmanship placed into the simple tiny doll.
"For some reason, I was actually feeling a little nostalgic…seeing you tonight just made me think of the first time you came in, for whatever reason."
Subaru admitted, finally managing to look back at Elsa. Elsa just stared back for a while, before tilting her head and humming.
"Well~. It certainly has been quite some time, hasn't it?"
"Yeah…although frankly, I could never forget it."
Hell.
Natsuki Subaru was going through hell.
He stood behind the counter of the bar, his entire body leaned over. His head rested on the incredibly smooth wood surface, head held in his hands. Nothing was physically wrong with him, but he felt like his skull was about to split apart.
"How could I be so stupid…? I should have known that nobody would ever be that kind to someone like me…especially not someone like her."
He muttered to himself in a weak, faltering voice. It was barely audible, more like a whisper.
Luckily, there was nobody around to hear that voice. Or to see this pathetic sight of such a weak, self-deprecating man behind the counter.
Subaru was grateful for that. Because if she were to see this sight, he'd certainly not get away with just a complaint from her. Cruelly, he wasn't even allowed to feel the emotions that he truly held, not while he was under her service.
But by now, although still cautious, he was beginning to lose his will to care.
He had come to a new world, full of excitement. Even though he'd gotten some good advice from Kadomon, Subaru still fell into the trap of accepting false kindness.
Stupidly, he trusted the first person that he saw after Kadomon. She had been a beautiful, kind-looking girl. Just around his age, the type that you'd see as a priestess in an RPG. Her smile was so incredibly reassuring, and she had an otherworldly aura around her, like her mere presence was one of the world's most unique things.
It was like she had been perfectly made for his fantasies. The moment they encountered each other, he had thought,
'Ah, so I really am in another world~!'
He thought that she would be his heroine, maybe even just the Saintess or Priestess of his party-to-be.
But then she…then–
"Hch–"
Subaru brought a hand over his mouth, holding back the bile that was rising in his throat. He threw that memory out of his head. Remembering the mistakes that had landed him here, trapped behind this bar's counter, possibly forever, was enough to make him sick. And it only made him feel like sinking into the ground and bar counter even further.
"... I wonder if killing myself would work."
Perhaps under different circumstances, Subaru would never consider such a drastic option. But he knew well that there was no escape from her. With what he had seen her do before, maybe…maybe even death would not be an escape. Just a gateway to a bigger punishment.
While locked in this endless cycle of psychological rot and depression–
Jingle!
The sound of the door chimes gently ringing out filled the bar. Subaru immediately, instinctively straightened up, hiding any of the previous emotions he had been feeling on his face. He had never been great at controlling his emotions–even now, he was still impulsive–but for the sake of his survival, he had learned to instantly put his mask on.
He prayed that it was not her. Not that he would ever be the wiser if she had truly been inside the shop or not. She could appear here as anyone or anything, anytime she wanted. It was ridiculous enough to the point that she could even be a literal fly on the wall. Nothing, nobody, and nowhere, was safe. Not with her.
Subaru felt himself subconsciously relaxing the moment he saw two customers enter the bar. But he couldn't fully relax yet–because while they were a far cry from her, these customers certainly weren't normal by any means.
One was a tall woman, who had an appearance similar to him. Subaru was surprised: it was the first time he had seen someone with black hair and black eyes like him. She wore an inscrutable smile on her face, and her outfit was…well, it barely covered much of anything. With colours of purple and midnight black streaming through the smooth fabric, he got the impression that she didn't care the slightest about how others saw her.
The other was…a little girl. She had blue hair and a braided ponytail, and wore a much more properly covering–thank goodness–all-black outfit. She had a smile on her face as well, but it was more like she was copying the woman's style than anything else.
For some reason, Subaru got a bad feeling from them. Not as bad as his 'boss', but close. He looked down to see his hands shuddering, now hidden underneath the counter. He took a deep breath, readying himself for what was to come–
"Wooo~oow–it sure is dark, and depressing in he~re! But big brother, you're the most depressing thing in the room~!"
The girl's teasing, slightly mocking voice was the first to cut through the tense silence. She had a carefree smile on her face, and easily jumped up onto one of the stools at the bar counter.
"But it's kiiiinda interesting~! So I don't mind the drag."
She looked over at the woman beside her, who quietly took a seat next to the little girl, her movements much more elegant and sickeningly smooth.
"I will admit, I've never seen a place quite like it. An interesting design. Did you perhaps customize it this way yourself, Bartender-san?"
"H-Huh?"
Subaru was caught off-guard by how easygoing the pair was. He had expected to hear threats coming out of their mouth the moment they sat down, but here they were, chatting amongst themselves and even trying to chat him up.
He hadn't even gotten to retort to the little girl calling him 'dark and depressing'.
He didn't feel completely at ease. After all, she had used a similar tactic, getting him to let down his guard first. But, at least, he could engage them.
"Well…sorta, yeah. It was really by order of my boss, though."
"Rea~lly? So your boss decided on the weird design, huh~?"
"Not really. More like she ordered me to make it as unique as I could. And, well…what can I say? My boss just can't be refused."
Subaru let out a deep sigh. The little girl was more amused by those words than anything, her cheeks puffed up like she was holding back laughter.
"Oh, really? I su~re bet they can't! Big brother, that must've been why you sadder than a sack of rotten appas when we came in!"
"Why the forced appa analogy?! Shouldn't it be 'sadder than a sack of potatoes?!"
"...what's a potaeto?"
"Are you serious?! Jeez…"
Subaru groaned, almost collapsing against the counter out of exasperation from dealing with this girl.
The woman beside her finally chimed in with a short, "Ah."
"It sounds similar to a 'tatoe', Meili. Perhaps Bartender-san's unique name for it?"
"Eh~? Really, Elsa~? We~ll, I guess it makes sense when you say it out loud…"
Subaru's groan transitioned to a very, very deep sigh.
'I get that it's another world, but why are so many of the fruits and vegetables named like that? What's next? Lattice instead of Lettuce?'
"Now I find myself a little curious about these things too, Bartender-san. Could you elaborate exactly where you got some of these ideas for your establishment from~?"
Subaru took account of the two customers' apparent names - the little girl named Meili, and the woman named Elsa.
"Well–to be honest, they all come from my hometown. The bar design, even what I usually serve behind the bar."
"Really? I've ne~ver seen any of these things anywhere before…"
"Well…my hometown is far, far away."
Subaru took great care not to mention anything about Japan, or coming from another world. That sort of talk had gotten him stuck here in the first place.
The little girl looked fascinated by the explanation, while the woman beside her just seemed content with watching and listening in silence, though her eyes were roaming the bar shelves behind him, packed with all the unique ingredients, drinks, and other things Subaru had both created, and requested from his boss.
He noticed her eyes lingering on a specific red wine called 'Granhiert'. It was one of the things completely original to this world.
"So, big brother, I want something to eat!"
"...hah?"
Meili's sudden request broke through Subaru's keen train of thought. Without even missing a beat, she repeated herself.
"I'm hun~gry! And I'm not gonna drink that bad-tasting stuff in the bottles. I want a snack!"
"Just what sorta kid walks into a lounge-style bar and demands that sorta thing?!"
"Hmm? Me, I guess. Wha~t, don't tell me you can't do it, big brother."
The smile that Meili gave him was almost challenging. She had easily lit a fire in the pit of Subaru's stomach.
'This kid must be really spoiled…but regardless, she's right! If I'm going to run a bar, I'll run it properly.'
Subaru ran a hand through his spiky black hair, his gaze turning to look at Elsa. Again, she had no particular change in her expression, except for her odd smile slightly deepening.
"Alright…alright, fine! I wasn't planning to do this so early on in the bar's life, but I can deal with making a snack or two! Natsuki Subaru is a capable bartender!"
Subaru huffed, pulling up the sleeves of his bartending outfit. He still wasn't used to how it felt compared to his tracksuit, but that sort of thing was beginning to fade from his mind at this point. If he wore his tracksuit now, that would probably feel like a foreign piece of clothing.
Staring at these two in front of him, he felt oddly motivated. Maybe it was the lively banter with the lively girl called Meili, or the mysterious aura of the lady called Elsa–or maybe just that he had customers at all–but he was ready to do his best for these two.
Elsa then chipped in again, with a tilt of her head. The action was more scary than adorable with her dangerous beauty.
"Then–I'll have a small bite as well, if Meili will be partaking."
"Eh~? Sandwiches? It's just gonna be sandwiches, mister? Boring."
Meili pouted while she watched Subaru put together the ingredients for what he was going to make for them. She was leaning on the counter, while Elsa watched far away from the extremely small kitchen's door.
"Just sandwiches? Sorry, little Meili-chan, I can't pretend like I didn't hear that in good conscience! Sandwiches, hotdogs, mozzarella sticks…they're the kings of dive bar food! Kings!"
Subaru exclaimed, mimicking like he was wearing a crown atop his head by using his hands to shape it out.
"Di~ve bar? What the heck is that?"
Meili tapped her lips, while Elsa's eyes just shimmered with a very slight interest. They were more interested in hearing about dive bars than sandwiches…resisting the urge to be depressed, Subaru decided to focus on answering their questions.
"It's yet another unfamiliar term, Bartender~."
"Right, right, you guys wouldn't know…well, this is a bar, right? But there are also places like taverns and pubs, that focus on more food than drinks…"
"I haven't hea~rd of a pub, but I have heard of a tavern!"
Subaru nodded to Meili's enthusiastic exclamation. He cleared his throat, "Ahem-!" Before continuing,
"Dive bars are a word for more low-key, local places. Small, authentic joints, y'know? They usually serve stuff like pretzels, mozzarella sticks, burgers, hot dogs, and…sandwiches, of course!"
Meili and Elsa stared at Subaru with blank faces. Subaru cleared his throat, his cheeks turning red.
He ended up going on a tangent about dive bars without even meaning to.
"Mister…dropping a bunch of random words isn't going to impress us, you know~? Elsa is a much more high-class woman than that."
"Oh, my~."
"Why am I being treated like I'm just dropping a bunch of weird pick up lines…? That was a real flashcard lesson on dive bars, you know? You'll regret not paying attention when the test comes up."
Subaru groaned, deciding to focus on making the food in front of him. He was much less practiced with cooking than he was with making drinks, but he had been forced to brush up on almost every kind of food service skill he could in the first few weeks that she was watching over him.
"Anyways, just watch and be amazed!"
Subaru focused on preparing the sandwiches for the two ladies.
Rye bread, grilled to crispy perfection with the best butter he could get his hands on.
Vibrant corned beef, freshly brought in from a nearby butcher. Thankfully, all he had to do to get his hands on it was call it by its' other name, salt-beef.
Fresh, soft, and flavorful swiss cheese, or at least something that looked and tasted similar to it. Just slightly melted, so it perfectly stuck between the bread.
And lastly, Subaru's own special addition…Mayo. The condiment of the gods, a savory sauce that would bring the entire dish together easily.
"Here we go! Two sandwiches served up hot and ready!"
Now back at the bar counter, Subaru served up two steaming hot, grilled-to-perfection, delicious looking Reuben sandwiches.
"Oh, wow~. This certainly is a dish unlike anything I've seen before. And so hot–just how I like my food. I can feel myself warming right up to it~."
"I'm a little worried about the emphasis you put on 'food' there, but whatever! Meili-chan?"
Subaru turned to Meili, who…was already almost done with her first mouthful.
She swallowed quickly, wincing at the hat in her mouth.
"Ah, ah! Forget warm, this is practically scaling hot, Elsa!"
She narrowed her eyes at Subaru, a feeling of false, childish rage on her face.
"Mister, you're not trying to burn my tongue off or something with this, right? I've never heard of such a hot sandwich!"
"Well, yeah…that's more of a melt than just a regular sandwich."
"Melt? So you were trying to melt off my taste buds! You're lucky it's delicious or I'd have one of my doggies chew you up, mi~ster!"
"Those are some seriously scary-sounding dogs! Alright, how about this, a nice drink on the house, kay?"
"The~n, Appa juice! Chilled!
Meili replied without hesitation, her face immediately brightening up. Subaru slammed a hand down on the desk.
"That was fast! You were planning this, huh?! Planning to rip off this poor bartender from the start!"
"It's not my fault that you're so~ gullible, mister."
Subaru and Meili went back and forth for a bit, before Subaru finally placed a glass of chilled Appa juice right in front of Meili, who began to eagerly drink without hesitation.
Subaru's gaze moved to Elsa, whose eyes were still subtly set on the bottle of Granhiert red wine up on the shelf.
Subaru, finding himself suddenly inspired, spoke after uttering a, "Hmm…"
"Elsa-san. How about I go ahead and make you a special kind of drink? Allergic to or particularly dislike anything?"
"Oh?" Elsa was pleasantly surprised, based on her expression. She didn't put much thought into Subaru's question, shaking her head. "No. You could say I'm not a particularly picky one~."
"Alright then! I'm gonna whip up something I'm sure you'll be interested in, Elsa-san!"
While Meili gluttonously enjoyed her Appa juice and sandwich, Subaru's hands went to work behind the bar.
Rye whiskey, Black Walnut bitters, and - that Granhiert red wine that Elsa had her eyes on. As far as Subaru knew, it was a cheap, not particularly luxurious red wine. But the way Elsa's eyes ever-so-slightly narrowed on the inexpensive bottle made it feel as if the wine itself had some sort of personal value to her.
Subaru's hands moved with an expert precision, even back then. Of course they did - even though he never planned on being a bartender, even before he had been transported to this world, researching and creating various mixed drinks had been a huge passion of his. Maybe as much as stargazing.
In a way, this was a therapy for Subaru, as much as it was a show for his two customers, it felt calming to him. These two were the first he had really served anything up for after finally being allowed to operate without that woman breathing down his neck.
"Hahaha…"
Subaru couldn't help but let out a little chuckle as he deftly poured out the drink into a nice-looking wine glass. There wasn't any ice, since he wasn't sure how she'd prefer her drink. The last touch was a sweet and juicy-looking black cherry garnish atop the dark red wine mixture.
Maybe, for the first time in a while…he was having fun.
"Served right up!"
He slid the drink across the wooden counter, to which Elsa's hand raised and caught the glass with ease. Her smooth fingers pressed into the quality glass, her black eyes looking lost in the red wine.
"-tell me, what do you call it, Bartender-san?"
Subaru smiled, folding his arms and leaning against the shelf behind him.
"A Black Manhattan! Granhiert-style."
Elsa's eyes imperceptibly widened. For a second, Subaru swore he saw Meili's expression change, too. She had a gleam in her eyes that wasn't there before, unbefitting of the cute, if not slightly spoiled child that had just been eating and drinking juice moments before.
"Mis~ter, feel like explaining where you heard that–"
"It's quite a wonderful name. A Black Manhattan, yes~?"
Elsa's voice interrupted Meili's words. She turned her gaze for a moment, her eyes silencing any further words, and holding the little girl in place. After a momentary look of surprise crossed her face, Meili just sighed and turned her gaze back to her food and drink, sticking her tongue out at Elsa.
"Right. Usually, a Black Manhattan is way more of a herbal drink, but I figured I'd substitute that with wine for you, Elsa-san. Sorry to be nosy, but I saw you eyeing the Granhiert wine, and…I just couldn't help myself. The inspiration just kinda…shot out! Y'know?"
Subaru rubbed the back of his neck, clearly self-conscious at the sudden decision.
"I was doing that?"
Elsa seemed shocked at her own obvious movements, her eyebrows raising. It was the first hint of any expression other than the extremely unsettling smile she seemed to have permanently stuck to her face.
"I see…yes, I suppose it was something that just couldn't be helped. This wine and I…have a rather long history, you see~."
And that was where Elsa's explanation ended. She didn't bother going into further detail, but instead focused on enjoying the flavor of the drink.
The flavors were complex…deep, and bittersweet. It was the sort of flavor that Elsa just couldn't stop herself from partaking in.
"To get Big Sis Elsa to talk that much–you're a really lucky guy, you know that, mister? Annoying…I'm gonna bite you like this sandwich!"
"Where did that come from?!"
Subaru shuddered at Meili's surprisingly sharp teeth. From where he was standing, she legitimately looked like some sort of feral girl. But she still had an undeniable charm to her that made it hard to feel as uneasy with her as he did with Elsa.
Watching Meili enjoy her food and drink, and Elsa mostly enjoying the drink, her food already finished, Subaru felt an odd sense of…accomplishment.
"Hahaha…"
"What's with that laughing, mister? You were doing it before, too. Don't tell me you're lo~sing your mind watching us ladies enjoy our meals and drinks?" Meili gave Subaru an over-exaggerated look of disgust. Despite that, the enjoyment was clear in how her eyes danced.
"Just what do you take me for?" Subaru groaned at Meili's truly relentless nature. "No, I'm just…well…I don't know, it's a little hard to explain, but. I'm just glad to actually be able to serve someone, I guess."
"Glad? Is tha~t why you looked all depressed earlier? Business go~ing down the drain?"
Meili looked earnestly curious now. Frankly, Subaru would have usually been the type of person to hide these sort of pathetic feelings. He had no desire to share his weaknesses, and the hellscape that was his own mind, especially not with people he'd just met today.
But, perhaps it was because they were the first people he'd seen in weeks besides her, or perhaps because he felt serving them had brought him closer to the two, that he began speaking without realizing.
"I guess I just wasn't happy with the situation. I…I mean–"
He sighed, folding his arms and resting them on the counter.
"I'm not even supposed to be working here. It's just my own stupidity that landed me in a situation where I had no choice but to run this bar."
"I di~d say you were the gullible type, mister. I didn't know you were already beating yourself up so much over it, tho~ugh."
"Yeah. It's embarrassing just how much of a pathetic adult I am, huh? I just…seeing you guys here, enjoying what I've served up? It's the first time in a long time that I've felt–useful. Like I'm actually doing something worthwhile. So, you know…thanks."
Meili looked unsure of what to say. She was a tad overwhelmed by the sudden admission, caught off guard. Meili herself didn't know what to say. She wasn't exactly an expert at comforting people–in fact, she didn't really care about the feelings of anyone other than Elsa, and Mother.
However, she had admittedly started to like the beaten-down bartender in front of her. Just a little. So, in a rare display of what might be called compassion, she turned her gaze towards Elsa.
Her unsaid plea was received perfectly, as expected of the sisters.
"Some things just can't be helped, isn't that right, Bartender-san~? Your situation being one of them, perhaps…"
"Yeah…"
"But," Elsa continued, bringing the last of the drink from her lips. "Regardless of what may have happened to bring you here…I do believe I'm speaking for the both of us when I say, you've treated us delightfully. And that drink–has allowed me to relive something important in a way only one other thing usually can."
Elsa's eyes hid behind them a depth Subaru possibly would not be able to understand so easily. He had no way of knowing the connection that wine had to her very identity - the past which she had been funneled into, which brought her to become the vicious thing that she now was.
That drink treated her to a certain feeling in her chest that she usually only felt when observing, basking, feeling the warmth and color of someone's intestines spilling from their bodies. The fact that anything could do that was an amazement in and of itself, to Elsa, who had permanently become twisted, forever stained in the blood of an endless amount of people, it was something more than worthy of praise.
So, rather than shallow words meant only to satisfy Meili, Elsa's words were serious when she next spoke.
"Be proud of what you can do, Bartender-san. As long as we can count on service of a similar quality…we will be coming again~.
She licked the last of the red wine from the very edges of her lips, savoring the final taste of the blood-red liquid.
Taking in those words, Subaru didn't know what to feel. There was something welling up in his chest – and something in his heart felt like it had finally come loose. All he knew was, in front of his first two customers–
He didn't want to be lame and burst out crying.
"...thanks, Elsa-sa-"
Subaru thought over it for a second, before adding, with a smile.
"Elsa."
Subaru saw the two off that same day. Where he had been at his lowest when they entered the bar, that short interaction was enough to nearly bring his spirits to the roof.
Subaru both loved and hated that he could be so easily consoled by well-meaning words. But that was just his nature. And maybe, just maybe, it was alright to be weak and cling onto those kinds of words, in this particular situation.
"Well, see you around, big brother~!" Meili had come to call him more familiarly. Maybe because she had seen Elsa so easily accept the casual way he had begun to refer to Elsa. "You better start doing some advertisements, or you're still gonna have the worst luck with your busi~ness!"
Based on that parting advice, Subaru started doing the best he could from the confines of his little bar. Whenever he got a customer, he'd do his best to make them something, and ask them to spread word about his small, but unique bar.
He saw Elsa and Meili all the time, although they mostly came at odd times during the night, just before or after he closed, he always made an exception for them.
Then he met Otto, who had funnily enough, been in similar circumstances to him when they first met.
And once again met and got closer with the Risch family, who he had last seen on his first day in this new, strange world.
It was that day that taught Subaru that, even though this situation was the worst, and even though he himself was still useless, weak, gullible, and stupid…he could, for the moment, rely on the fact that his drinks weren't.
Just like the stars in the sky would keep shining, he could always find something perfect to mix for each and every person that walked into the bar. His hands couldn't do anything but keep mixing drinks, so that was what he had to do.
Naturally, Subaru would never have known that he had, in fact, met his 'sisters', that day. And that, had he not shaped up during that little meeting, he would have been killed by the pair, right there and then. He would never know that the little tiny tremor, that stirring in Elsa's heart that Black Manhattan created was what would come to save his life, both then and now.
"It seriously was a weird first meeting…but y'know, I'm grateful for it."
Subaru let out a sigh, one filled with all the old memories that were now nothing but a short glance back into the past.
"If it wasn't for you and Meili on that day, I don't know if I would've made it, Elsa. Seriously."
He shook his head, wordlessly reaching out to refill Elsa's wine glass after noticing that she had finished her first.
"You know, I almost feel a little dumb for being so suspicious of you and Meili at first. I mean, you still have a feeling of danger, but it's like, yknow, more like dealing with a cute zoo animal instead of a live bear now."
Elsa tilted her head, licking her lips of the remnants of wine that clung to them. "Zoo? Bear? You certainly do continue to say some strange things, even now, Bartender-san. But I suppose that's part of your charm, now isn't it~?"
Subaru shrugged, his cheeks slightly red. "Yeah, yeah. There you go again talking like that, Elsa–I seriously can't understand how you can just dish out stuff like that so easily."
"It's not difficult for me, Bartender-san." Elsa lowered her gaze. Even then, an intense melancholy swirled around in her eyes, and showed on her face, instantly surprising Subaru. Indeed, he had seen more open sides of Elsa before, but he had never seen her actually look so–downtrodden.
He didn't say anything. Even he, as dense as he was, could sense the sincerity in her voice after she had spoken. Without waiting, Elsa continued.
"You see–in my life, I've had one 'love'. What many would consider a despicable love. A love reviled, and unaccepted by most~."
She spoke of her life as the bowel hunter, a life where she incessantly killed people on the orders of Mother. She carried out everything Mother asked without question. She was practically a slave.
But she was not some completely innocent victim.
Murder becomes a habit. And for Elsa Granhiert, it was a daily routine. Extracting the guts from her victims had gone from a grim necessity for survival, to a duty, to something she absolutely enjoyed doing. Perhaps somewhere along that way, she could have been saved–no, as long as Mother existed, such a hope was useless. She was destined to walk this path, ever since her hands first grabbed that bottle of Granhiert wine.
"But–even then–I still have the more acceptable kind of love within me, as well. Funnily enough, that love has always taken the form of sisterly love."
Elsa closed her eyes, thinking about Ornea, Meili, and the countless other cursed dolls like her that she had been forced to put an end to with her own hands.
"Bartender-san. No, Subaru-kun. You're–you're probably the first person who's genuinely attempted to make a genuine attempt to connect with a being like me. Not for work, or shared circumstances, or, oddly enough, any ulterior motive. To be honest, I was interested in you from the moment I saw your eyes. Those eyes that stared at me, so earnestly and attentively—"
Eyes both like and alike hers – filled with a darkness that couldn't be explained, and simultaneously with a kindness that he would never direct towards himself. From the first step she took into that shop, she had wanted him to mess up – to stumble over his service somehow – to give her a reason to spill his bowels onto the floor. She had seen her own bowels more than enough times, thanks to her unique constitution.
However, she had never really investigated the bowels of a kindred spirit.
"You're not utterly clueless, Subaru-kun~. I'm sure that you knew Meili and I weren't exactly normal people. Most are able to tell, just by a single glance. The stench of blood hangs heavily on both me and that child."
"...and?"
Subaru momentarily interrupted her monologue, sighing as he leaned back against the shelf. Subaru found himself absentmindedly running a hand through his hair, more out of stress than anything else.
"Listen–I don't know who you and Meili really are, besides the conversations we have in here. And, well…I'm not interested."
Subaru shook his head. He had never had to think over this, but for some reason, words full of resolve tumbled from his lips without thought.
"My job here–my role as your friend, and your bartender, is just to do one thing, Elsa-chan. Serve you tasty drinks, serve you some good food–if you ask for it–and make sure you leave satisfied, and with a smile on your face. A real smile!"
Subaru smiled, although what he had said sounded cheesy, he meant it with every bit of his heart that he could muster. Maybe it was negligent in some ways, but what could Subaru do? He had learned long ago that the only thing he was capable of doing in this new world, was being the best bartender that he possibly could.
He wanted to be the protagonist. He wanted to have a cute heroine by his side. But all of those childish desires had betrayed him, getting him trapped here in the first place. It had forced him to accept reality faster than he thought he ever could have on his own.
"That's the least that someone like me could do for you. You understand?"
Elsa blinked twice, and then–
"Pff…"
She laughed.
"Hahahaha~!"
Unlike Elsa's usually reserved, refined attitude, it was completely carefree. Loose, unrestrained, but still…beautiful. If he had to describe her voice at that moment–it was like a beautiful instrument, finally being given the chance to play after years of neglect.
"I suppose you're right, Subaru. Yes, you've always been that way, from the first moment we met. Even now, at the end, hm~?"
Elsa wiped a tear from her eye, and for the first time, Subaru felt like he was seeing a very small bit of her purity shining through. It quickly disappeared, hidden back behind the thick, nigh-impenetrable mask that Elsa had created for herself.
However–
"...end?"
Subaru heard something that pricked at his ears–something said offhandedly that couldn't just be ignored.
Subaru looked into Elsa's eyes. The lighthearted mirth on her face had disappeared almost instantly, sinking deep beneath the two voids. Her face morphed into a frown–not of anger or any pointed annoyance, but if Subaru had to take a read at it–disappointment.
"It's a shame. Yes, a shame."
Elsa slowly rose from her seat. Her black cloak draped around her body, making her appear like a single blob of shadow that was now easily hovering over him.
"No…not just a shame–it's a pure disappointment. That I have to carry out this sort of order at all. It's truly odd. It's the first time I've felt honestly reluctant to kill someone in a very, very long time~."
Elsa's words washed over Subaru, alongside a sickening wave of nausea. He could feel his stomach turning already. But a small part of him, the weakest part of him, the part that wanted to cling onto hope–refused what he heard.
"H-Hahahaha…I know you usually make a lot of weird jokes, Elsa, but this one is a little too serious."
"Subaru." Elsa closed her eyes, her ever-present smile nowhere to be found on her beautiful, serene face. "I'll be sure to go directly for your head."
Those cold words, detached from any reality that Subaru could accept - any reality that Subaru wanted to accept - cut through him like a knife. Like the extremely sharpened Kukri blades that Elsa slowly pulled out from her cloak.
For Elsa, those words were extremely meaningful. A mercy. To give up the guts and to go for any means of killing was something she usually only did when she was in a pinch against a strong opponent. It went against her desires and motive as the Bowel Hunter that she had become. However, she felt that, right now, she didn't want to see Subaru's bowels. She didn't want to hear his desperation, or screams of pain as he died.
She would still kill him–but she would make it quick.
"Mother did not specify any sort of method, after all."
"W-What are you talking about, all to yourself, Elsa? Y-You have to be joking–"
Subaru felt his back roughly press up against the shelves behind him. The force caused the bottles to loudly rattle, but he couldn't pay any attention to that right now.
He hadn't even processed what Elsa had said about Mother. However, just hearing that name doubled the sickening feeling in his stomach.
"I'm afraid that it's not a joke, Subaru–" Elsa shook her head. "No, Bartender-san~." She had to put distance between Subaru, as a person, and the target in front of her. Otherwise, she might find herself compromised in a way that she only had been once before.
However, she knew that, unlike in her past, trying to spare Subaru would do nothing but bring her death, and bring suffering to Meili. Elsa found herself harboring these unknown sentimentalities towards Subaru, but she was self-aware enough to know that they would only get in the way of her work.
She would deny herself whatever was necessary to make sure that Mother was not displeased. Even if it meant throwing away another chance at once again experiencing the same things as humanity. Even if it meant discarding the first bit of warmth she had truly felt since learning of the heat of bowels.
"You're…kidding me…"
Subaru felt his entire body shaking. He hadn't felt this sort of fear since experiencing and seeing what that woman could do first hand. However, that had just been a sort of sick punishment. Something meant to instill fear in him and coerce him to do the job he was now forced to do.
This was death. Death, in the form of someone he had seen as not only a good customer, but an extremely close friend. Someone, who, maybe, he had gotten the gall to start seeing as a little more than just a friend–
"..."
"-!"
Elsa didn't bother with any more words, and simply lunged at him. Without thinking, Subaru's hand gripped the bottle and threw it out towards her. She dodged, but it gave him just enough time to dodge and roll to the side.
Elsa effortlessly cut through the counter with a superhumanly strong swipe of her blades. Or was it just the unnatural sharpness of them? Regardless, staring at the destruction, with Elsa slowly rising to turn towards him again, Subaru instinctively understood–there'd be no survival if she hit him even once.
"W-why…?"
"You understand why just as well as I do, Bartender-san~."
And most importantly of all, the fact that she was not hesitating at all. She held her blades out at him, and in her eyes, he could see nothing reflected back at him but her cold resolve to kill him.
Subaru grunted, jumping over the counter as Elsa lunged at him again. This time, he barely avoided, earning himself a deep gash across his back.
"-Uuugh!"
But he didn't have time to register the pain. He didn't even have time to bargain. Elsa was upon him again, and she was relentless. He rolled under a table, then used his feet to kick up a chair towards her face before getting to his feet and running for the exit door. As if cutting through paper, both pieces of furniture were rendered nothing but pieces of wood.
She dashed towards him, nearly moving faster than his eye could see.
'No…No…I…I don't wanna die!'
Despite the thoughts he always had, the thoughts of leaving this world permanently by his own hand and finally being able to rest–he could not hold those same thoughts in the face of real death approaching.
Instinctively, Subaru grabbed a chair and swung his entire body with it, slamming the piece of furniture into Elsa. Using her own speed against her, plus his own strength, he barely managed to send her flying off somewhere to the side.
He panted, his arms aching. Despite putting his whole body behind it, slamming Elsa had felt like hitting pure metal. He could feel his bones creaking.
He also felt momentary hesitation – had Elsa really been trying her best to kill him? With her speed, and the fact that he had been trapped behind the counter, she could have easily decapitated him right then and there. But instead he managed to escape, and run around the bar.
Was she really trying her hardest to kill him? Why did she allow herself to get hit so easily, when he was undoubtedly much slower than her?
…
"Damn it!"
Subaru shook his head, and turned towards the exit. He gripped the door and twisted–only to realize that it was already locked. In the short time between Elsa entering behind him and coming to the counter, she had fully locked the door.
"No…no, no, no, no, no, not like this…! Damn it, WHAT KIND OF FATE IS THIS?!"
Rage coursed through him. He felt angry enough to rip the solid, ornate door right off of its' hinges. Unfortunately, there was no feat of strength he could pull that would allow him to do that, even with the immense amount of adrenaline coursing through his body. And he did not have the keys he needed to undo the deadbolt. Because, more than likely, Elsa had pickpocketed those same keys off of him to lock the door.
He felt his uselessness more clearly than ever. How had he so easily lost track of his keys? Why had he uselessly struggled so much, just to have his imminent death sink in even further?
Why had he ever believed that anyone would ever truly appreciate someone like him? If anything–for someone as expendable and worthless in society–both here and in his past world, he should have seen a fate like this coming.
"I'm not one to say this to others, especially not those that I'm hunting. However, please give up, Bartender-san. You'll make it harder for me to resist slicing anywhere other than your neck."
Elsa emerged from the dust. She had no damage to her body, neither bruises nor scratches. The only thing that was 'hurt' was her clothing, slightly frayed thanks to all the things Subaru had thrown to her.
She walked slowly, but it seemed like she had approached Subaru almost instantly, already looming over him with her Kukris glinting in the dim bar light.
Subaru felt the strength leave his body. He collapsed against the door, his back sliding against the smooth surface until he roughly sat on the ground, panting.
He could feel sharp, tearing pain all around his body. Likely, every time he 'dodged' or 'hit' Elsa, she'd left him with a glancing blow. The terrifying sharpness of her blades was enough to dig deep below his skin, even with nothing but those small attacks.
He looked up at Elsa, dimly, and saw her raising her blade above his head. He was terrified. He was abjectly horrified, seeing his death mere seconds away from being carried out.
However, in his last moments, he felt a strange calm coming over himself. No matter how he struggled, he would die here. He hadn't been worth much. He hadn't been able to do anything to save himself, or to find just if there was something of value within Natsuki Subaru.
But, he was greedy. Even in the midst of the fear and anxiety trying to nip at the back of his mind, he had one more thing that he wanted. He spoke.
"...Meili will be sad."
It was an attempt to re-ignite whatever spark remained between Elsa's deeply buried heart, and his.
She hadn't mentioned Meili once. When Subaru made a point of doing so earlier, she had a rush of guilt, something that Subaru couldn't possibly have noticed. Even then, it was clear to him why Elsa had not brought the little girl along for this trip.
Meili wasn't free of the darkness that swirled around Elsa. Perhaps she was a killer, just like Elsa appeared to be. But Meili had taken to Subaru even more than Elsa did. She cared for him, certainly not as much as she cared for Elsa, but enough for it to damage her in some irreparable way, were she to learn of this.
At that moment, thinking on the same track that Subaru was, Elsa hesitated. In that hesitation, Subaru could faintly see the remaining humanity behind Elsa's inhumane thoughts and actions.
But her ultimate resolve would not be so easily swayed. The years she had lived being groomed to be a perfect, monstrous killing machine would not be washed away just with that. Elsa did not feel that her world would end if she killed Natsuki Subaru.
All that would happen is that Elsa and Meili would go back to relying on each other, facing the world as the remorseless killers that they were.
Still,
"...thank you for being a short Red-sun. You were beautifully warm. Perhaps even warmer than my first love, if only for a moment."
"...Red-sun? I'll only get it if you say Summer, damn it."
Elsa brought her blades down, no more hesitation left in her swing. Subaru closed his eyes, feeling the tears leak at the edges of his vision.
In his impending final moments, he could no longer spare space to think about his worthless self. Instead, the images of others came to his mind.
He wouldn't get to serve up drinks to Otto while listening to the unlucky merchant's venting.
There would be no more chances to come up with fun Appa-flavored cocktails to serve up to Kadomon and Raksha.
He couldn't hear Meili's teasing, and he'd never have the chance to show her another doll of an interesting customer he had come across.
The very last images that came to mind were the sane parents he had never properly made up with.
'I'm sorry.'
There was too little time to come to a conclusion. All he could do was accept it.
"..."
However, what happened next wasn't death. He didn't experience maddening pain, or a sudden darkness. Instead, he heard a voice behind him, muffled by the door.
"That's quite enough."
The door behind him flew forward at great speed, launched towards Elsa.. Subaru got the instinct to duck, an instinct Elsa wasn't so lucky to receive, as she took the full brunt of the blow, slamming forcefully against the wall, this time sandwiched between the sturdy door.
"...apologies for the destruction, Natsuki Subaru-san."
Feet gracefully stepped over him, and a white cape gracefully fluttered, despite there being very little wind. Every little movement was done with the utmost carefulness and natural grace. Not a single move felt artificial or needlessly extraneous - just staring at the figure of the person from behind made Subaru feel like he was looking at the highest image of elegance.
"...Julius? How–why–?"
Subaru noticed the man's purple hair, and found himself speaking in disbelief. Just why was this mysterious Royal Knight that Subaru barely knew here, right now?
"Apologies, but I won't be able to answer any questions right now, Natsuki Subaru. This person requires my utmost attention."
Julius kept his eyes on the crushed door. There were no signs of movement, before creaking echoed through the building. The sturdy door was slowly but surely pried to the side, bent like misshapen metal as Elsa emerged, blood covering her body, albeit with no wounds to speak of.
"A knight…Bartender-san, you have some friends in high places, don't you~? I'm almost jealous that you kept such a fine knight from me."
Subaru found himself unable to answer such easygoing talk while Elsa was still clearly focused on wanting to end his life. That, and he was still far too overwhelmed by the shock of everything to say anything at all.
"That's enough." Julius grasped his sword tightly, six small balls of light circling around him while he faced off against Elsa. One of those lights, a light-blue looking one, hovered over to Subaru. Before he could react, a warm feeling circulated through his body, and the searing pain of his wounds felt much more like nagging annoyances.
"Healing…?" Subaru wasn't entirely bewildered. He already knew weird things existed in this world, he had just never seen real magic firsthand.
Julius, meanwhile, was already prepared to go in against Elsa in a fully dedicated battle. As a knight, he could keenly sense her terrifying prowess from that single exchange more than Subaru possibly could. She would be a tough opponent, even for him. It was hard to see a clear and direct path of victory.
"However, I've been ordered by my Lady to protect this man. And as a Knight of Lugunica, I could not possibly allow you to continue your criminal activity."
More than anything, he knew the true identity of the woman that now stood in front of them.
"Bowel Hunter, Elsa Granhiert. You won't be allowed to cause any further harm to this man, or to anyone else in the future. I, Julius Juukulius, the Finest of Knights, will be your opponent."
Elsa licked away some of the blood that had made its way to her face, the intensity in her eyes deepening. Whatever personal connection there had been between Elsa and Subaru, there was no further room for it in this confrontation.
"Very well…considering you went as far as to speak my title, yourself–I shall have you accompany me, Finest of Knights~."
The two powerhouses charged towards each other, each carrying a will–a determination–that they were not going to give up on.
One stranger determined to protect Subaru.
One 'friend' determined to end his life.
Author's Note
Thank you for waiting. I'm back to writing for ReZero.