Chapter Text
Subaru ran quickly, taking in everything around him and noting how much of a contrast it was from what to him felt like just moments ago.
‘Damn, did Reinhard really fix all of this himself? That guy’s really amazing…!’
Quietly wondering whether someone like him would be commonplace in the isekai world, Subaru trecked on to his destination.
Yet, when he was about to turn another corner he was stopped by three figures popping up in front of him.
“Hey, hey! Where you going in such a hurry, bro?”
It was the trio of thugs that had tried to rob him earlier.
“Woah! You guys are okay!?”
Subaru was happy to see that they had also made it out of that hell safely. It might seem strange since they had tried stealing from him, but that was something he knew he wouldn’t wish on his worst enemy, let alone a group of random NPCs like them.
“Huh? What’s with that excitement?”
“Of course I’m excited. I’m so glad to see you guys are doing well after what happened. Seriously, it’s nice to see some familiar faces!”
He tried putting his arm around one of them—who he had nicknamed ‘Chin’ for convenience sake, and the three of them together made up the TonChinKan trio.
Yet when he did so, Chin pulled out a knife from behind him and pointed it close to Subaru’s neck.
“I don’t know who you think you are, but give us all your money!”
Subaru sighed and backed up from the thugs, giving the trio his best disappointed look.
“Seriously guys? You’re already back to this? You know, I thought what happened would make you give up the criminal life for good.”
“Huh!? Seriously, who the hell are you?!”
“Why are you acting like you know us?!”
Kan and Ton interjected into his scolding with angry voices.
“Hm? Of course I know you guys. You’re Ton, Chin and Kan.”
“Hk, those nicknames are eerily similar to our actual names…”
“But that doesn’t change anything! Just give us all your damn money already!”
Ton and Kan said respectively, causing Subaru to sigh at Kan’s demand.
“You guys… you want me to call Reinhard on you again or something?”
Him saying that made all sound stop from the three of them. Yet, just as he was feeling satisfied about having scared them off, they all began bursting with laughter.
“BAHAHAHAHAHA!! R–Reinhard?!”
“THE Reinhard?!”
“The SWORD SAINT?! You seriously want us to believe you’re connected to the Sword Saint?!”
The three of them were bawling with laughter at his claim, as if they didn’t believe him, making him become a bit annoyed.
“Yeah I know him! What the hell?!”
“Bahaha! Then how bout you call him here?!”
“Nah, you know what!? We’ll call him for you!”
“OH REINHARD!!”
They kept hooting and hollering as they shouted Reinhard’s name out with their shaky voices, causing Subaru’s patience to wear thin.
“Grr… Damn you…!”
Just when he was beginning to think about beating them up himself, a sudden voice from behind him caused the thugs’ laughter to cease and a broad grin to grow on his face as he turned around.
“There appears to be quite the commotion here regarding my name.”
“Haha! What did I tell you guys?!”
Reinhard walked up to Subaru, who greeted him with a “Sup!” and a highfive that he only took a moment before returning. When his attention returned to the thug trio, their faces appeared completely dumbfounded.
“N–No way…!”
“Is that… Reinhard?”
“The real one?!”
“Of course it’s the real one! You guys recognise the flaming red hair and the giant sword don’t you?”
Subaru showcased the details like an auctionist selling him to the highest bidder, smiling as he watched their faces twist in horror.
“So now, how about you guys make like last time and scram already?”
They appeared a bit hesitant, not being sure about facing Reinhard but also not wanting to ,et go of their prey that easily.
“...I don’t know the exact context, but I think I have enough information to accurately guess what is going on. And while I do not condone violence; as a knight, if I am forced to, I will defend myself.”
This finally made them realise that it wasn’t worth it for them to stay there and decide to run away.
Subaru smugly waved them off as they ran out of the alley they were in before turning to Reinhard, who still had a smile on his face.
“Ah, Reinhard. Sorry for relying on you again. I seriously don't understand how those guys haven’t learnt their lesson already.”
Reinhard let out a chuckle while scratching his cheek.
“While I do not remember having been relied on before, I am still curious; Is this something that happens to you regularly?”
Subaru let out a sigh and looked at Reinhard the way a mother would look at a troublesome kid.
“There you are again with that humility, you really gotta give yourself props more. Though to answer your question; It’s not really a regular occurrence, more like you just catch me at bad times.”
“I see… thank you, then, I will take your advice to heart.”
“Yeah, you better! After all, if it weren’t for you, this whole place would still be covered in snow! What was that, anyways?”
Though instead of an answer, Subaru was greeted with a confused smile from Reinhard instead.
“I’m sorry but I once again do not understand what you mean… What is this ‘snow’ you speak of?”
“Huh? You’re not seriously telling me you forgot, are you? Or is it just that you guys don’t have the word ‘snow’ in Lugunica? You know, that fluffy white stuff?”
“No, I know what snow is. I just do not understand what you mean by me having gotten rid of snow here.”
“Are you serious? I mean that snowstorm or snow avalanche that happened earlier! The one that literally covered the entire city with snow! So many… so many people could have gotten hurt—did get hurt! But you managed to find the source and get rid of it, right? How could you forget something like that, Reinhard?!”
Subaru’s voice unwillingly began to shake as he recalled the moment he was buried in the snow and the moments right before he passed out—he still recalled how much that chill had hurt and how it felt to have part of his body break apart like nothing. It seemed that only when he had the chance to calmly talk about it had the full weight of the situation begun to set on him.
“Damn yeah, that was honestly kinda terrifying… but thankfully you managed to… huh?”
Yet when his attention was drawn back to Reinhard, he could see that the smile on his face had disappeared and was instead replaced with a serious expression that felt scary to get from a guy like him.
‘Damn, I feel like I get how Tonchinkan felt…’
“This snowstorm you say I have dealt with, where did it happen?”
“W–Well, I’m not sure exactly, but I’m pretty sure you went that wa–WOAH!”
Just as Subaru pointed in the direction he had remembered Reinhard heading—using the way the sun was setting as a reference—Reinhard suddenly grabbed onto him and began princess-carrying him.
“I’m sorry for the uncomfortable position, but I must ask that you come with me.”
“D–Don’t worry, I’m used to it after last time, but it kinda feels like we’re in the wrong genre for this situation, haha…”
Reinhard then, in a single leap, jumped to the rooftops and began heading the way Subaru had pointed whilst looking down onto the city.
This began what to Subaru looked like nothing more than a wild goose chase after the snowstorm that Reinhard didn’t remember having already dealt with. Reinhard would try to get more information about it out of Subaru occasionally—and at one point even asked him to tell him his name again—but all he had to tell him was the same thing he had been telling him from the start——
“I don’t know, you were there!”
——Until they reached a place Reinhard called “The Slums”, which Subaru could immediately tell was the more impoverished district of the capital. Where Reinhard finally put him down and said that this would be their final stop.
They both began walking around, looking for clues about what could’ve possibly caused the snowstorm—though Subaru wasn’t truly trying to find anything, he was simply confused about what was going on with Reinhard… no, with everyone; It seemed that everyone he ran into that day was going through some type of amnesiac episode.
A bit into their search Subaru started getting a creepy feeling in his gut, like they were being watched, but on the streets he could barely even see a single person—and those he did looked at him with open disgust.
“I know this place is called ‘the Slums’ but for the amount of houses, there sure aren’t that many people.”
Subaru said as he wrapped his blanket around him, feeling out of place with the butler uniform.
Reinhard’s attentive face seemed to grow a bit melancholic at Subaru’s comment as he answered.
“I’m afraid to say that I’m the reason why so many have retreated into their homes. You see, even with my reputation as the Sword Saint, knights don’t have a good name around these parts.”
“Huh, guess there’s hate for the police in every world…”
They searched for a bit more, but without the option to ask anyone about it, it was more like they had just gone sightseeing than doing anything important—that and Subaru’s already distracted mind caused them to come across nothing of interest in their search.
That was when Reinhard stopped in his tracks and turned to Subaru with a look of slight embarrassment.
“Well Subaru. It appears you were most likely mistaken about your premonition of a snowstorm.”
“Eh, ‘Premonition’? It’s nothing like that! Reinhard, you were there when that snowstorm came! You saved me from the snow! Seriously, how do you not remember!?”
Reinhard shyly scratched the back of his head, still giving Subaru a look like he doesn’t remember anything, which simply makes Subaru’s confusion grow further.
“I truly do apologize, Subaru. I wish I could see your memories of how the current day has progressed, so I could understand you. But even with my divine protection of perfect memory, I still cannot recall us having met once before now.”
Subaru looked at him, trying to find any hint that he may be joking, but whether it’s cause he’s telling the truth or due to how socially inept Subaru is, he can’t seem to find any.
“Urgh… I didn’t think real life isekai would be this confusing…”
Subaru looked at the sky and saw that it was already late afternoon which made another loud groan escape from him.
“Damn it, it’s already so late… Crusch-san’s gonna be so disappointed… and Will-san’s definitely gonna give me zero points… well, maybe they’ll accept the snowstorm as an excuse for being late?”
“Crusch-san…? Those names… Subaru, who exactly are you employed to?”
“Hm? None but the great Crusch Karsten, of course!”
Subaru gripped his blazer once more to try to seem cool, his blanket blowing in the wind making him seem like some sort of superhero. It almost seemed like it had worked this time as for a split second, Reinhard widened his eyes in surprise.
However, that look lasted just a moment, as in the next Reinhard’s eyes had dangerously narrowed and his head snapped to a random direction. Subaru looked at the same direction but couldn’t find anything specifically unique about i–
That was when Reinhard suddenly grabbed Subaru’s blazer by the lapel and in the next moment Subaru found himself ascendinding to the sky at a rapid speed.
“WooOOAAHHHH!!!!”
His mind was filled with even more confusion; Why? Why had Reinhard done this? Had Subaru actually annoyed him so much that he reached his limit? Yet all questions stopped when he witnessed Reinhard’s shrinking figure on the ground get swallowed by a giant wave of snow.
Matter of fact, the temperature was quickly dropping, the sky grew darker and everything around him was simultaneously getting covered in snow.
Subaru turned his head as the speed at which he ascended started to lower to the direction the massive wave had come from, and there, only a few blocks over, emerged a giant beast, one that brought about a feeling of instinctive fear within him. Subaru instantly knew that this was what had brought about the snow that threatened to cover the whole world. Not only this time, but las–
The beast turned its furry head towards him, its yellow eyes shining behind the dark haze of the snowstorm it created, and a chill ran down his spine.
That was when, like a bullet, Reinhard jumped from under the snow and swooped in to grab him, neither of their eyes leaving those of the Beast Of Frost.
Only when the beast had become obstructed had Reinhard allowed himself to take his eyes off of it and check on Subaru.
“Suba– GHK!”
Yet that level of proximity to the Beast proved to be too much for Subaru’s regular human body to handle, and with the softest of thuds as Reinhard landed on the ground, his head continued falling after his body stopped, and the ice statue of Natsuki Subaru had been decapitated, the cold wind still managing to howl in his ears.
“Unless you’re buying, get lost, kid.”
The wind howled in the air.
The snow fell quickly, creating a dark haze.
Behind it lay a pair of two glowing eyes, staring hungrily at their prey.
They belonged to—
Belong to—
“Huh? What’s up with that look on your face?”
“The Beast of…”
And with that, Subaru’s consciousness faded.