Chapter Text
Something had changed.
She could feel something had changed and she could feel it was going to be troublesome for her.
As she and her sister entered the main dining hall with the food trolleys, she noticed two things out of the ordinary:
First, Barusu had his eyes turned to his food, his eccentric and loud voice noticeably dulled down. He seemed to be avoiding looking at Emilia-sama – and at Rem when she walked past him. Simply by that she could guess what he was thinking at that very moment, yet that was not the only thing that was unusual.
The second unusual thing, while certainly not as concerning as the first was still something Ram couldn’t help but notice to the same degree; Rem, her little sister – who ever since arriving at the manor had been shy, timid and quiet – had been acting much more social the entire evening and even had a smile that wouldn’t leave her face. That is, until she spotted Barusu sitting close to Emilia-sama, which made her seem to waver for a fraction of a second, a disgusting feeling of envy flowed through their connection at the same moment, thus Ram also knew the exact reason why her sister seemed to be so happy.
She recalled the night before last and the conversation she had with Barusu. Back then she hadn’t expected his infatuation to lead anywhere with her younger sister; She thought she would simply let him down slowly and then have Emilia and Beatrice-sama nurture him to health. However, this morning when helping her sister with her training, she brought Barusu up once as small talk and the most unexpected thing happened – she felt and saw a blush run through her sister, and from then on the only thing Rem did was ask questions about Barusu. Even when Ryuzu-sama and Garfiel showed up, it only made her ask more questions which were eagerly answered by the cat and elf duo. Ram couldn’t suppress her face contorting with disgust once she processed the meaning behind what had just happened.
Ram shook that memory out of her head – she couldn’t afford to have her expression twisted in front of her master. While Barusu was of course not even close to the ideal man, she had to admit that… he… wasn’t the worst suitor. It made her head throb to even allow such a thought to be formed; she would never suggest or recommend him to anybody else, yet seeing her sister in such a joyful mood – one not even she had managed to create – was something she just could not ignore. He made her sister happy, and she knew from everything they had gone through that he would protect her no matter what – she trusted Rem to beat his self-sacrificial nature out of him – so, no matter how dreadful everything else about him was, as an older sister she had no choice but to support her decision.
However, the situation infront of her was so dreadful that it made her want to throw that resolve out of the window; it appeared Barusu had been forced to confront alone what she had planned on slowly making him face – of course, by the time he would realise it he would already be fully Rem’s – so now the chances of guiding him to make the right choice had decreased significantly . ‘Tsk, Barusu truly is a good-for-nothing…’
While these thoughts were weighing heavy in her mind, outside she appeared as stoic as ever; effortlessly placing plates and serving everyone at the table with the help of her sister, who filled Barusu’s cup with more water than the rest supposedly to stand by him longer – she was getting tired of this already. Finally, when they were done, they placed the food carts in a corner of the room and each went to stand by a side of the head of the table, Emilia-sama. Ram stood at her right-hand side, next to her master Roswaal-sama, which was convenient placement as it gave her sister an excuse to stand next to Barusu, who was at the head's left.
“Heh.” A quiet chuckle came from the seat she had been focused on. If Barusu had chosen now of all times to finally cave under pressure and go insane, she would have to beat him back to sanity.
“What is so fuuuuunny~ Subaru-kuuuun? It couldn't be that you have mistaken me for entertaaaainment~ again, haaaave~ you?” Her master, as observant as he was, seemed to notice Barusu’s quiet mood and instantly seized his first opportunity to get a grasp on the situation.
“Nah, it's not that, Ros-chi. It's just that…” He positioned both of his thumbs and index fingers to form a rectangle and placed it in front of his face. “Us all being here like this… it makes me feel kind of nostalgic… Damn it Otto, move out of the frame!”
“I'm getting attacked for just eating in peace now?!” While the merchant's eccentric reaction from her side and the kitten's guttural laughter from his might appear to lower the sentimental value of the moment, Ram could still understand the meaning behind Barusu’s words. As even without Clairvoyance she could tell that from his point of view the combination of people sat at the table would be reminiscent of his description of the old Roswaal manor.
So as the dining room filled with confused looks and laughter, Ram was once again forced to let out a sigh, she would need to add Barusu’s ability to pull at heartstrings to his good qualities, although his ability to put off problems until they became too much would balance it out.
And thus, before even this moment, before even knowing it, Ram had been on the list of people rooting for Rem to win the battle of love.
Petra Leyte was the cutest girl in Arlam village.
No, scratch that.
Petra was a maid attending to the royal candidate Emilia-sama.
That isn't fully right either.
Petra was the future wife of Natsuki Subaru, the greatest hero the world has ever seen!
Perfect.
This was of course not a poem, as a maid she found it inappropriate to even think up to write something like such about one she was serving. This was simply a representation of how Petra had thought to introduce herself throughout the years. Of course, the final one is not something she would choose to use in public settings, merely a way to remind herself of her biggest objective.
While she was only a young girl, she knew that her natural ability to sense people’s emotions through their face and actions had just as much potential as all her other skills and abilities. Thus she didn’t doubt her judgement when she noticed the pensive state of Subaru – who had walked into the kitchen carrying the dishes that had been recently dirtied – she immediately decided to act to figure out what was wrong.
Politely tapping the shoulders of two maids at a sink, she flashed them her most kind and genuine smile and asked them to make space for her and Subaru, of course they happily obliged. She then began waving him over.
“Subaru.” However, the voice that had called out his name had not been her own, though it had been one that made almost all heads turn to its direction for at least a second, even Subaru seemed almost surprised by it. “Will you… help me with the dishes? To make sure they’re cleaned properly.”
Oh no! How could she have been so foolish as to forget it! Subaru always talked about Rem with the eyes of someone in love, but it seemed that Petra had subconsciously never thought of her as an actual rival due to her state – for that, she was foolish. She would need to apologize to Rem-rin for underestimating her.
“Subaru-sama! Rem-neesama!” So, as they were both about to walk off she waved at them again, calling them over to where she was.
When they had walked over Subaru greeted Petra and thanked her for helping them locate a free sink. After that he began unloading dishes from the trolley, Rem-rin almost followed him but Petra tugged at the sleeve of her uniform.
“It's best we get a head start while Subaru-sama unloads the dishes, right Rem-neesama?” She showed her most innocent smile, perfectly hiding her less than pure intentions.
“Rem-neesama, you called Subaru-sama by his name today! You hadn't done that yet since you arrived, did something good happen?”
“D– Did something happen? I…” She seemed to hesitate a moment before looking at Petra. From her point of view, she probably seemed to be just an innocent apprentice curious about her elders, thus her shoulders relaxed a little. “Well… I'm just taking Nee-sama’s advice and rewarding him a little. It's not like anything changed, he's still the same man as before.”
“Rewarding him? What for, Rem-neesama?” Her interrogation was still hidden behind a mask of childish innocence, she needed to know how far along they were in order to come up with a strategy.
“For… just being a hard worker, you know.” A bit of blush appeared on her cheeks as Petra stared with wider and wider eyes, her face expectant. “He has… really been helping me a lot. Even though he pretends it's no big deal, it's been fun to talk to him…”
Petra's plan was working flawlessly, she felt sorry for using her looks to get what she wanted but she knew that in the presence of children, people would naturally become more talkative. So she put on her most childishly cute of looks, silently hoping Subaru wouldn't notice.
“You're right, Rem-neesama. Subaru is always acting that way. He doesn't understand a thing about women's feelings right? Overworking himself for us, making us worry…”
“F– Feelings?! Women’s feelings?! Petra, I think you’ve misunderstood something!” She desperately tried to defend herself from Petra's accusatory words, yet that flustered reaction had been enough to give Petra a definitive answer. Yet the fact that Rem-neesama seemed to deny her own feelings from herself made it so that the victory tasted bitter; she wouldn't be satisfied with beating an oblivious opponent.
“Really? But Rem-neesama is always blushing when she speaks to him. Hmm…” She put her fingers to her chin and put on a pensive face before letting out a quiet gasp. “Is it… because of Emilia-sama…?”
Her body recoiled for a second and her eyes turned downcast. Petra almost thought she had pushed too far until Rem continued, her voice quieter and tinged with what Petra could only describe as… melancholy:
“Petra…” She began with a sigh. “While I don’t have those types of feelings for him, even if I did and even if he likes being really loud about what he feels for me; He’s a knight and I’m a maid… it makes sense for him to prefer his lady, no?”
That statement alone made Petra, who was a very patient girl, start shaking with fury; To her, it sounded like Rem was just making excuses. What did it matter if they were of different professions? Or different classes? Or different ages?! All it mattered was that they loved each other! Your place in society doesn’t determine who you can or can’t fall in love with!
“Rem-neesama, how could you say that?! Love doesn’t have anything to do with social standings! If you love him you should go after him regardless! Even if you have rivals in love, giving up without even trying is the worst possible choice, it’s so cowardly!” She couldn’t stop herself from raising her voice, drawing the attention of the people inside the kitchen. Thankfully though, Subaru had gone to place the trolley back into storage. “Rem-neesama, follow your heart, you shouldn’t back down just because the competition is intimidating. I will try my best so try your best as well Rem-neeesama, so we can prove who is the one for Subaru-sama!”
Both of their faces were glowing bright crimson with embarrassment but before Rem could have the chance to react to Petra’s declaration, Subaru walked back into the room.
“Sorry to keep you guys waiting… huh? Is everything okay?” Petra could tell that the maids were turning their heads away out of respect, yet her and Rem-neesama’s faces were still glowing a flaming red while looking at him. “Did something happen? You’re both super red.”
“I uh…” Rem tried to answer him but her eyes couldn’t even meet his, so Petra decided to take the lead while her Nee-sama processed her declaration.
“Subaru-sama, I just remembered that Frederica-neesama asked me for something! I’m sorry I can’t help with the dishes!” She bowed down to him and ran off away from both of them. She would prefer putting them both alone in a room together, but this was as good as she could get right now.
Petra was in love with Subaru, he was a kind hardworking man and also her saviour. Yet, she hoped Rem-neesama finally figured out her feelings so that they both got a fair chance at capturing Subaru’s heart.
Walking to the master’s office, him and Frederica both listened to Ram give her report on everything that had happened since they had left. Thankfully, no major events seem to have taken place, except for an unfortunate event at the Pleiades Watchtower.
“Hmmmm~ So Suuuubaru~kun managed to use a forbidden speeeell~? Who knoooows~ when he managed to learn such a thing.” The master spoke in his usual accent, asking an important question. Yet Frederica felt as if he wasn’t focusing on the wrong thing. The knight of a late candidate for the throne had tried to attack Subaru-sama out of rage and grief for his master. Frederica was naturally a very empathetic person, thus the fact that this happened at all filled her heart with gloom.
“Roswaal-sama forgets that Beatrice-sama is the great spirit of knowledge. It is not unexpected that she would share some of her knowledge with her contractor, even if he is Barusu.” Ram spoke in her usual sharp tone, yet Frederica could tell that under it she was also coming to the defense of Subaru-sama by casting away one of the master’s many suspicions about him.
“Would Teacher truly have taught her something like this? Something to seal those with authorities…?” He mumbled in-between both the maids without his accent, though their proximity made it so they heard him loud and clear. He held the small sphere in between his fingers as the moonlight was consumed by the pure darkness it appeared to be made of. “『Ol Shamak』huh, Suuuubaru~kun?”
The master always spoke cryptically, as if every sentence he spoke hid a thousand more beneath it, yet whenever he spoke about Subaru-sama, it was as if the mysteries increased a hundredfold. She greatly respected him – his kindness, his bravery, his honesty – yet his past and the nature of the power Roswaal-sama constantly hints at him having have always been a mystery, secrets seemingly no one in the camp knew. Yet Frederica knew that it wasn’t that nobody cared, but that they all trusted he would speak of them whenever he was ready, that made her heart warm.
“Speaking oooof~ How iiiis~ Subaru-kun? He baaaarely~ spoke a word to Emiiilia~sama since we arriiiived~” He handed the sphere to Frederica, telling her to return it to Subaru-sama’s quarters later that night. It seemed that he trusted knew he would take good care of it due to having been friends with its prisoner.
Now that Frederica thought about it, when they arrived, Subaru-sama had looked a bit gloom, he didn’t even fight to be the first to greet Emilia-sama, though it seemed that the exhaustion had stopped her from noticing it or at least from reacting to it.
“Barusu?” Ram sighed when replying to the master, closing her eyes and turning her head down. “From what Ram can see, he’s feeling demotivated from being constantly rejected by Emilia-sama. A pervert like him can’t handle being ignored for long.”
WHAT?! Was Ram being serious?! No, Frederica could never imagine Subaru-sama’s loyalty towards Emilia-sama wavering… although she had seen his tireless efforts from the moment they had met and she had also seen how his plans never seemed to lead anywhere. She was a fan of slowburn but she wouldn’t be able to blame him if he began feeling impatient. Oh the tragedy of unrequited love! Frederica didn’t want his gentle heart to be broken.
“Oh noooo~ that is truly teeeerrible~ We can’t allow our heeeero~ to falter like this!” The master stopped in his tracks and squinted both of his eyes dangerously, his smile creepily widening. “If he’s feeling demooootivated~ then isn’t it our duuuuuty~ to help raise his morale?”
“Pfft! Ram cannot believe Roswaal-sama would believe such a thing. Barusu, the puppy, forgetting his master? It was simply a joke.” Ram shrugged her shoulders and began shaking her head, her eyes closed and mouth twisted in a grin. Roswaal-sama closed his blue eye and stared at her intently. “Barusu is simply exhausted from working and says he doesn’t know how to talk to Emilia-sama after so long.”
.
.
.
.
.
10 seconds. That’s the amount of time that passed as both of them stared at each other in the hallway, Frederica could only stand at the sides as two of the smartest people she had met tried to read one another, faces not twitching a muscle.
“Weeeell~ if that’s the case, I suppose we should give him a breeeeeak~ to spend with Emilia-sama right?” The master’s remaining eye now fully shut and he resumed walking, passing both of the still maids without any of the dangerous aura he had half a minute ago.
“Heh. Of course, Roswaal-sama.” Ram said with her eyes still closed, yet a second later her face immediately turned into a blank expression as she turned to Frederica, her voice continued like a whisper. “Frederica, this is why Roswaal-sama must never find out about Barusu and Rem. Ram trusts that you understand what she means.”
She then began walking away to keep up with the master’s pace.
W
H
A
T
?
!
AAAAAAHHHH!! W– WHAT?! DID SHE JUST HEAR HER CLEARLY?! S– SUBARU-SAMA AND REM?!
B– But Subaru-sama loves Emilia-sama! Wait, what Ram had said! COULD it be true? Could Subaru-sama’s… desires have gotten the better of him…?
Oh her OD! Frustrated due to an unrequited love, the knight sets his sights on the new, inexperienced maid while his lady and master are out for business! A story of forbidden love, the two lovers have to act secretly in order to keep their love hidden – It’s just like something she would read in romance books! She can’t believe Subaru-sama would do something so scandalous, so improper, so EXCITING! She would need to ask Rem and Ram for the whole story!
“Hey Ottobro.” Otto paused his walking and put down the water bucket he had been carrying with a loud sigh.
“Yeah… What’s up, Garf-san?” He was out of breath from walking back and forth with buckets to wash the carriages, he was currently regretting accompanying Garf on a walk after dinner. Although when he turned to face him, he was met with an uncharacteristically serious expression. “Hey, what’s wrong? Is it about the tower?”
“Nah, it ain’t that. It’s just that… Ain’t Cap’n look a lil’... down today?” He sat down on the grass and crossed his legs, scratching the back of his head. “I mean. Look, I know my amazin’ self ain’t supposed ta be thinkin’ but… I swear he ain’t actin’ normal.”
“No, Garf-san, it’s okay. You’re just the kind of softie to notice when your friends are feeling down.” Otto sat leaning his lower back on the bucket, shoulders showing as his skin glistened in the moonlight. Garf was just about to argue back before Otto put up his index finger in his direction. “Wait, listen, Garf-san. You being worried about your friends is just due to you naturally being kindhearted. And about Natsuki-san, you can worry about him– hell, you can even talk to him about it, just make sure to use your fists! He has enough girls around him going soft on him.”
“Gyahaha! Yeah, yer right, Ottobro! I wonder how Cap'n even does it sometimes!” He stood up from the floor and pumped his fists into the sky. “Nah, who am I kiddin’? Cap'n's the best in the world! Anyone would wanna go for him!”
“Yeah… just don’t tell him that or it’ll get to his head.” He crossed his fingers together and stretched his arms towards the sky. “Though… It is pretty concerning. I haven’t even been here for a day and I have already seen multiple maids admiring Natsuki-san behind his back. This could really turn into something troublesome if we don’t do anything about it.”
“Hehehe. Yeah, as his friends it’s our duty ta make sure he don’t get too popular.” A mischievous grin appeared on both of their faces. “How d'ya think we should do it, Ottobro?”
“I think we might need to tell them some embarrassing stories of Natsuki-san… maybe we start with the crossdressing incident…?” His hand was hiding the ugly giggle escaping from his lips, he ignored Patrache and Frufoo’s tired sighs as he imagined Natsuki-san’s look when he hears the maids know all of his most terrible stories.
“Nah, Rem already got ‘nough of that in the Empire, we should talk 'bout the times he embarrassed ‘imself in front o’ the princess!”
“Hmm? Rem-san? Why would we tell her? I bet Ram has already advised her to stay away from him, honestly” Otto couldn’t understand why Garf was looking at him with a knowing look, had he missed something while he was out? “What? What is it? Why do I get the feeling that I’ve just become the butt of the joke?!”
“Nah Ottobro, it makes sense ya wouldn’ know bout it. Ya only jus’ came back anyway.” He sighed and looked at Otto with a pitying look. ‘Wait. Did something truly happen between Rem-san and Natsuki-san while I was out?’ Why was it that Otto was never around when something important happened?! “Heh, Cap’n and Rem’ve been gettin’ super close since we got ‘ere. I ain’t know much bout romance but my amazin’ self can tell when sum’s boutta happen.”
“Garf, you forget that Natsuki-san loves Emilia-sama, don’t you? I don’t know what you’ve seen but I think you might be overreacting.” Although, he had always spoken a lot about Rem-san before she had woken up… Could it be that Natsuki-san truly thought about her like that? “Hmm… hold on Garf-san, hold on to that thought.”
While Natsuki-san was very loud and proud about his love for Emilia-sama, whenever he spoke about Rem-san, his eyes had a sort of special glow to them, maybe Garf wasn’t completely wrong about that. Although there also came some logistic problems with that thought: Because while Polygamy was not illegal by the laws of Lugunica, the fact that Emilia-sama was a royal candidate and Natsuki-san her knight made it impossible to even contemplate that thought. Although if Emilia-sama chose to marry both Natsuki AND Rem herself it might mitigate public outrage, but there was simply no way Emilia-sama would ever agree to that – she was much too honest for a scheme like that, especially one with such low stakes. So it appeared that Natsuki-san would be forced to choose between the two girls he was interested in – something Otto was sure he would really struggle with doing – so which girl would be the best for him to choose? The answer seemed obvious: it wasn’t personal but in terms of reputation, Emilia-sama was a royal candidate while Rem had none. Even though Subaru supposedly still has memories of who Rem used to be, not even she does of herself, thus Emilia-sama had her beat there. Natsuki-san had spoken plenty of times about how Rem had saved him during battle and the White Whale fight and she had some magic potential with water magic and Oni powers, Emilia-sama’s powerful gate and half elf– OW!
“Oi, Ottobro! Yer spacin’ out!” Garf had dumped water on his head and knocked him with his fist. “Ya okay?”
Otto had to blink a few moments and wipe water from his face to be able to speak, at which point the indignant remark he had been forming initially had disappeared after he looked at the situation logically: Why was he even thinking so hard about this? Natsuki-san’s relationships were none of his business unless they interfered with the camp’s internal affairs. He needs a drink to clear his head of everything.
“Hey Garf? Let’s just forget about this. Natsuki-san can deal with his women on his own…” A heavy sigh escaped him as he picked up his now empty bucket and walked back to get more water. The night was already exhausting enough as is, he didn’t need any more clutter.
So, as Garf picked up his own two buckets and followed Otto along, the boys abstained from getting into Natsuki-san’s relationship struggles.
Her legs were swinging on the edge of the bed as her Subaru tapped his pencil against his forehead. That’s when there was a knock at the door, he instantly got up to go answer it.
At the door stood the blue maid– Rem. However, instead of her maid outfit, she had a blue nightgown on, multiple books pressed onto her front and a pencil on her hand.
“R– Rem…!” She could tell her contractor was red in the ears, though she was more focused on the demon that had just walked in – this was a very interesting development, the maid had been so closed off merely days ago and yet here she was now, showing herself in such a vulnerable outfit to her contractor. She was truly moving at unimaginable speeds, Rem truly had her respect.
“Sh– Shut it! I’m only wearing this cause it’s more comfortable than the uniform…” Her head was turned down so she hadn’t noticed Betty yet, which allowed her to take in the bright crimson color of her face, it was clear that the girl was more nervous than usual – From what Betty could tell, it seemed that she was contemplating a lot inside her mind, most probably about her and Subaru. Very fast developments indeed. “So, will you let me in?”
“O– Oh! Yeah, come in…” Betty could clap at the performance, her head remained turned away and her voice soft, yet eyes turned to look at Subaru and words still aggressive – as Subaru would say, she was a true tsundere.
“Thank you, Subaru…”
What. Had Betty truly heard that right? She takes it back, there was no way this girl was truly a tsundere! Being able to call him by his name only 3 days after continuous refusal to do so?! This… this DEMON was a true prodigy! All of her tsundere-esque attitudes were a perfect farce! Betty must have let out an audible reaction to that as the demon girl turned to face her, she looked a bit shocked but didn’t seem too bothered by her, she must still see her as a regular little girl! The disrespect!
“Good evening, Beatrice-sama. If you wish to leave us again, I heard that Annerose-sama is having a tea party with Emilia-sama.” She bowed down politely and tried to bribe Betty to get rid of her all without hesitation. Demons were truly formidable, but Betty would prevail.
She would only have a bit of sweets and then return!
Although, as she was out in the hallway she thought that there was not really a reason to return so soon. The reason she was there was only to see how her theory had turned out, and it had indeed come to fruition – the progress that had been made was more than she had even expected! She knew that if left alone they would progress to where Betty wanted and even past it in less than no time. So… she could afford to be a bit of a glutton…
Rem didn’t know what to do now. She hadn’t expected to get so far so quickly.
From the moment Petra had put the suggestion of… love into her brain, she felt as if her head was all over the place. At first she tried to deny it, but the more she looked and thought about him, the more she had to think about the option of… actually considering it.
She had absolutely zero romantic experience, not from the mansion nor from the empire, so she didn’t know what her feelings truly were. Yet she could feel an ardour deep in her soul when it came to the black-haired boy, something that she always tried to ignore. After all, these feelings couldn’t be hers… she couldn’t possibly feel that way towards someone who she had caused so much pain towards. But… he believed in her. Not because they were related like her sister, nor because of her old self; but because she was herself. Thus, instead of panicking and unraveling at the thought of having these feelings, she would stand firm and work through them as the Rem he trusted her to be.
Though, even while resolved, she still felt nervous. She felt self-conscious about showing as much skin as the maid outfit does, but she didn’t have any other clothes so she had to settle with her nightgown for their study session. Although being in such a vulnerable looking outfit made her feel even more flustered than she thought she would.
“You look good, by the way…” He suddenly said after they had both sat down. It was something he had told her multiple times before, yet him saying it now of all moments made it hard for her not to light up the room red.
“...Th– Thanks…” She despised how weakly her voice had come out in that moment so she decided to take a deep breath and try again. “You… don't look too bad yourself…”
And in reality, that wasn't truly untruthful. When it came to comparing him to any other man she had met, she could say that she preferred his face over theirs: When compared to Abel, they both had mean looking eyes, yet his would always soften whenever they looked at her, like he looked at something beautiful. His stupid fake smile was of course worse than that of Flop, yet when it softened into something real, she felt it was more radiant than the stars. His hair… well, that could use some fixing.
“Huh? Is there something on my face?” He laughed a little and touched his cheek, looking at Rem quizzingly. That was when she realised she had let out a giggle at her own thoughts while staring at his face.
“N– Nothing! It's just that your hair is really distracting, you should cut it.” She felt so embarrassed for letting him notice her so she instinctively threw an insult his way and turned her head.
Instead of any other reply she had been expecting, instead she heard him let out a hearty laugh and when she turned to look at him, she saw it – that real smile she had been thinking about, those soft eyes she had seen many times, and his hand running through his hair which was, honestly, not too bad looking…
“Man, is it really that bad?” At that moment she could say with confidence that not only was he the most attractive man she had seen, he was the most attractive one she would EVER see. “If it bothers you so much, how about you cut it for me?”
“Huh? Are you crazy? I don't even have any experience with that.” She giggled at his ridiculous suggestion. He would end up looking terrible if she got a hold of him.
“You can just use me as practice then.” He used his hands to spike his hair up in the middle and flatten it on the sides. “I've always wanted to try a mohawk so I could help you learn that.”
She laughed at how ridiculous he had made himself look. His clownish appearance made it so she felt all of her nervousness disappear, which also made her not notice her own hand reaching up to touch his hair.
She groomed it back into its semi-original shape before Subaru grabbed her hand and snapped her out of her trance. She almost expected him to grab it once she tried to pull hers away, yet when she did, all that happened was that his fingers twitched and began stroking a strand of his own hair and his smile changed from the true one to one trying to imitate it.
‘Hey Rem.” Instead of the awkward silence she had expected due to her action, Subaru immediately called out to her with a steady voice. “Wanna go on a walk?”
Once again he was gazing at the stars.
None of the constellations he knew from his own world were there, of course. Yet he didn’t let himself become depressed at the unfamiliarity. So he decided he would name all of the patterns he saw and write stories about them to tell people, as it was kind of annoying how little the people in this world cared to look at the sky.
“Ah, there it is! I call that bright one surrounded by all the less radiant ones the July star, I would put it in the ‘Pain-In-The-Ass’ constellation, but I don't think that would be accepted by anyone in the kingdom.” He pointed at the star named after the biggest piece of shit he knew while lying on the ground next to Rem, he had nerded out about his homeland's stars for a solid minute prior so he really hoped he hadn’t bored her. “That’s the second brightest star in the sky, of course the brightest is called star Astrea. Though you haven’t met him, if you did you’d know Reinhard definitely deserves the brightest.”
It took a lot more work than he thought it would take for him to find and name stars and constellations so all he had for now was a few pages with drawings and made up lore based on some of the historical figures and people he knew from this world. If this had been what Abel meant when calling him a Stargazer, then he would’ve proudly taken up the name, yet the name had to mean something insane like seeing the future in the stars. That didn’t even make sense! Aren’t stars what make history?! You should only be able to tell the past from them!
“Ha! There!” He needed something to calm his mind so he looked towards the very first constellation he had named. “Those five stars that point upwards in a curved line like a horn, I call it the Demon constellation. The two stars at each point are the brightest, though there are nights when one lets the other outshine it…”
“...What are they called?” Subaru let out a chuckle at that silly question.
“Of course they’re called Rem and Ram.” He turned his head to look at her and she looked at him shocked. “The sister at the base shines the brightest of the two, yet she has basically no use except to find the most helpful one of the sisters. Rem always points towards north, so she’s logically the most useful one especially for circumnavigation. Yet, she’s also the one whose light wavers to allow her sister to be the brightest, I thought you would both fit perfectly. Sorry for not asking for permission, please don’t tell Nee-sama.”
Rem quickly turned her head away from him, though Subaru could swear he saw her face twist into a pout just before.
“I have to admit, you can come up with some creative stuff… and the stuff about those Guriku gods is pretty interesting. You should write about those as well as these stars, it could get you a lot of popularity.” She took a second to compose herself before sitting up and turning her head back to give him a genuine compliment. Subaru sat up too to be more eye level with her.
“Well, I don’t really do it for popularity, plus I don’t wanna get sued for plagiarism. Though I guess it would be irresponsible of me to not bring even a bit of my culture back here, but I don’t wanna be like that Hoshin bastard and make a whole country with Japanese culture. Or Flugel… I’d rather die a million deaths than become like that guy.” A deep rooted disgust shot through his stomach at the thought of becoming a massive historical figure due to stealing other people’s creations like Hoshin or using his knowledge to create deathtraps like Flugel did. “Oh yeah, speaking of those! Make sure to take everything you read about the Sage, the Dragon and the witches with a grain of salt, those history books are totally outdated.”
“I don’t get it, so often nothing you say makes any sense but somehow it always feels like you’re smarter than you let on. How do you do that?”
“Hmm… I guess I got it from my dad. He was the type of guy you could always count on for anything, yet I’d never find him in a truly negative mood. Not in the way that he was always hiding his feelings, but in the sort of way he never let anything get him down.” Reminiscing was still a bit difficult, even after Sanctuary, yet his mind didn’t constantly try to suppress it so he could admit that: “I looked up to both of them so much.”
He wasn’t going to cry right now. He felt that telling Rem about his feelings was enough to relieve him of a lot of pressure he had built u– Huh? Rem’s arms were wrapped around his body out of nowhere.
“Woah! Rem, what’s with the physical intima–”
“You miss them a lot don’t you?” Oh. Oh wow. Was his throat dry, why was it closing up? Ah, it must be too windy, his eyes were wet. Oh God, it was so cold, he needed to hug Rem for warmth. He felt a lump in his throat, he must… he…
“Yeah… I really do.” Oh God, he’s so pathetic. Why was it that he always cried on the girls he loved? “I wish I could talk to them again but… I’ll never see them again.”
“You’ve been through so much on your own… you’re so strong for enduring everything you did.” Man, why was Rem so good at comforting him…?
They both held each other in their arms for minutes. This was the first time Subaru was allowed to hold Rem ever since they got back so the thought of even loosening his grip on her didn’t even pass him. Even after he stopped crying, he kept his arms around her waist and she didn’t move hers from over his shoulders. Throughout the evening, his conversation with Sylphy kept repeating in his mind, yet right now all it focused on was the way Rem felt in his arms, her smell and heat permeated on his skin contrasting with the cold of night. He really didn’t want to let go. In fact, he wanted to hold her tighter, feel more of her, feel all of her: Her arms, her hands, her neck, her lips, her tongue, her body, her legs, her everything.
“Rem…” His breathing was heavy, hers was quick. His eyes were hard and sharp as he gazed into her soft face. His lips pursed as hers were parted, they were close enough that he could feel each individual exhale escaping from those sickeningly sweet looking plums… would she pull away if he tried to go for a taste? His hand was on her cheek, it was bright red. There was only one way to find–
“SUBARU-SAMA!” “Depraved pervert, in fact!”
The sound of the voices snapped them both out of the trance they had put themselves into, their heart rates quickening not with anticipation but with fear and anxiety. Not because of the two that had just interrupted them. Because while it was embarrassing, they were still people Subaru knew they could explain the situation to with little judgement or consequence. Yet there was one wild card neither of them had any idea how to handle – the demon that shone the brightest, the red maid, the Oni God without a horn…
“Get your filthy claws off of Rem,”
Ram.
“Barusu.”
Her voice, colder than the dark void of space yet filled with more heat than a supernova, blew it all away.