Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I’m sure you’ve heard the beginning part of this story countless times already…

In that case, I’ll just get straight to the point. Mainly because I really do not want to write Subaru buying chips for the 8th time.

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As Subaru opened his eyes, he realized that he was no longer at the crosswalk. Instead, he found himself inside a large spacious room filled to the brim with books.

“Eh?”

Subaru immediately darted his gaze all around the room. His first thought was that he was drugged and kidnapped into a strange room, but that idea was immediately discarded. He wasn’t bound to anything and why would anyone want to kidnap a nobody introvert like himself?

Before he could get a clear idea of what was going on, someone immediately made their presence known.

”If you value your life, you better not move an inch.”

Subaru turned to the direction of the voice, and there stood a short girl with a very menacing look. She was about four and a half feet tall, wore a fancy frilly dress, blonde hair tied into spring shaped twintails, and had blue eyes with pink butterfly shaped pupils.

The girl’s attire made it seem like she was some kind of princess from a fantasy world. If it weren’t for the fact that she looked very cute, he probably would have taken her serious demeanor a little more seriously.

…

That was it! This was the start of some kind of fantasy adventure. That, or some really weird dream. Regardless, he’s seen enough manga and anime to know where this was going, so there was no way he’d let this moment go to waste.

“Ohhh! I get it now! You’re the cute goddess who’s about to brief me on my fantasy adventure, right?”

For a short moment, the girl dropped her very serious demeanor and just stared at Subaru blankly. After putting her guard back up, she raised her hand in the boy’s direction. “Don’t think you can throw Betty off with your nonsense, boy. Try anything foolish, and I’ll make you regret it, in fact!”

Even though the sight of a very pouty cute girl was adorable in its own right, he knew this could end very badly. If his manga and anime knowledge meant anything, she could very well be the OP loli archetype that could blow up castles and stuff with magic.

“Woah there, don’t be too hasty now,” Subaru quickly spoke. If she didn’t summon him, then maybe this was his future party member or even the first quest giver. “Let me at least introduce myself. I’m Natsuki Subaru, a shut-in neet with no particular special skills that I can think of!”

The girl glared at him, clearly not pleased with that introduction. “You must be full of yourself if you think you can fool Betty with your lies. If your words are what they say, then how would you explain suddenly appearing in the forbidden library from thin air, I suppose?”

“The forbidden library?” Subaru took another look around. Yeah, this place definitely looked like a library, but he didn’t think this place looked like something as fancy as a forbidden one. “Does that mean these books are something magical? You know, like necromancy or maybe permanent stat buffs?”

The girl’s eye twitched in annoyance. Not wanting to endure the suspicious individual’s antics anymore, she approached him while maintaining her guard. “Betty won’t humor your foolish questions any longer. If you value your life, it’d be wise to reveal your intentions for being here, and how you managed to get inside the forbidden library, I suppose.”

Oh yeah, in this girl’s eye, he must’ve just popped into existence right in front of her. No wonder she looked so on edge.

Subaru chuckled nervously, realizing that he indeed was the elephant in the room. “S-Sorry about that, I just got a little excited and forgot to consider that you might have no idea what’s going on. Anyways, I have no idea what’s going on, either. At one moment, I was walking home, and before I knew it, I suddenly found myself here. I just figured you were the cause of that.”

The girl halted her advance momentarily as if to consider Subaru’s words. “So you’re saying that you have no idea how you got here?”

He nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

The girl intensely stared at Subaru for a while as if trying to look right through him. Eventually, she reached her hand out in a much more refined manner. “If what you’re saying is true, take Betty’s hand so I can confirm you aren’t a treat, I suppose.”

Subaru immediately obliged and reached for her hand. He figured she was going to perform some kind of harmless personality check spell or something. “Like this, right? Is this supposed to be some kind of- AAAAAGHHHH!!!”

A strong surge of pain jolted throughout his body. The pain was so unbearable that he flopped on the ground in an instant. After he let go of the girl’s hand, he found himself too exhausted to get back up.

“W-What did you do to me…?”

“I merely drained the mana from your body. Luckily for you, Betty has deemed that you are not a threat.”

“Ugh… did you really have to do that…?”

That was the last thing Subaru managed to say before falling unconscious.

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Subaru eventually woke up and saw a very familiar ceiling. One he had definitely seen before mere moments ago. He found himself lying on the ground in the very same library, and upon further inspection, that girl was still here sitting on a stool reading a book. “It’s you!”

Right as Subaru uttered a sound, the girl sighed in annoyance and shut her book. “You’re incredibly noisy.”

Subaru got back to his feet and pointed at her accusingly. “What was that about?! You nearly killed me!”

“Betty isn’t irresponsible to create such an embarrassing mishap. Though, that might’ve been a blessing for you now that I think about it, I suppose.”

“Why you…!” Subaru grit his teeth but managed to keep his cool. Surely whatever she did proved he was good, right? “Betty, was it? Did I at least prove that I’m friendly?”

“We are not on friendly terms for you to address me as Betty. To you, I am Beatrice. As for your validity, I have only confirmed you aren’t a threat. However, even though you’re incredibly weak, that doesn’t prove you don’t have any ill intentions, I suppose.”

“Oh come on! What do I have to do for you to trust me?!”

“Don’t make assumptions. Betty is giving you the benefit of the doubt for now. I’m only stating that I’m unsure what your intentions are, in fact. ”

Subaru sighed. He just decided to roll with it for now. “Fine, would you at least tell me where I’m at? You know, are we still in Japan?”

Beatrice perked her brow. “Japan? Betty has never heard of such a place. You’re currently residing in the forbidden library which happens to be inside the manor of one of Roswaal’s descendants.”

“Sorry, but I have no idea who Roswaal is. So if you don’t know Japan, do you know what country we’re in? I just want to make sure I really did transport to another world.”

“Another world?” Beatrice looked over at the boy a bit more curiously but shook her head in disbelief. “The country you are in is Lugnica. Hopefully that will enlighten your weird train of thought.”

“Lugnica, huh?” Subaru grinned happily. That means he was in a different world and he really was going on a fantasy like adventure. “Yes! I really did get summoned into another world!”

Beatrice deadpanned at his response. “Really? If that’s your conclusion, then this Japan must be an isolated village full of idiots, I suppose.”

Subaru wanted to argue more with this but decided against it. This was probably just some kind of NPC fail safe to keep the setting realistic or something. “Oh well, just tell me what I should do now then. Will it be a fetch quest? Or maybe a lore dump on how there’s a prophecy that a hero is going to go slay an ancient evil.”

…

“Perhaps you’re right. Betty should’ve just drained all your mana instead.”

Subaru immediately took a step back and shuddered as the memories of how painful that felt surfaced back in his thoughts. “Sorry, sorry. This is my first time doing this. Could you please help me, Beatrice?”

Beatrice sighed and finally set her book down before leaning on top of it. “Since you asked more normally this time, I’ll indulge your request. The only thing Betty knows is that you just appeared from thin air right before my eyes. I don’t have the slightest clue on how or why it happened, but such matters are of no concern for me, I suppose.”

“Ugh…” Subaru groaned. “So just to make sure I get what you’re saying, you’re telling me that you don’t know anything about my situation and you’re not planning to do anything about it?”

“Such an ungrateful one, you are. As I said earlier, you’re in the forbidden library located in Roswaal’s Manor. That means if you leave those doors, you’ll have to deal with the inhabitants on the manor.”

“Oh right, you did say that. Now that you mention it, I would look like a trespasser to everyone here, wouldn’t I?”

Beatrice nodded. “At least there’s something in your head that works.”

Subaru’s brow twitched at the girl’s response but let it go for now. He was too eager to get things rolling after all. “Couldn’t you give them a heads up that I’m harmless, and maybe I can explain my situation to them?”

“Betty doubts that my words alone would convince them. The inhabitants here can be quite paranoid, and unlike me, they are quite ruthless when it comes to suspicious individuals.”

“What do you mean ‘unlike you’?! You nearly killed me just a moment ago!”

“Betty did no such thing! I already told you that your mana was only drained, in fact!”

“Yeah… Very reassuring…” He sighed before contemplating what course of action he should take next. After some thought, he realized what kind of setting this is. This must be a scenario where the starting NPC trains him in magic in order to fight off the next obstacle, like an introductory sequence. In this case, the bad guys are the inhabitants of the manor that Beatrice was talking about. “So, does that mean you’re going to train me to use magic so I can defend myself?”

Once more, Beatrice looked at the boy in disbelief. “Just how ignorant are you? Magic isn’t something that anyone can just pick up. Betty doubts that you’ll be capable of such a thing considering how poor your gate is, I suppose.”

Ah yes, a gate. A term he has never heard of before. “A gate? I’m sorry but I’m getting kind of lost here. Do you mean like a door?”

She couldn’t believe this. There was no way he was this stupid, right? “I have no idea what you’re playing at, but your silly tricks won’t fool me, in fact.”

Subaru could see this was going nowhere. If he didn’t do something quick, there could really be a chance where this girl will kill him. Luckily for him, he was an expert at the art of begging. “I’m not playing around! I’m clueless and I seriously have no idea what’s going on!” He then dropped to his knees and bowed to Beatrice rather pathetically. “Cmon, I’ll do anything!”

The girl sighed and rubbed her temples. She was still convinced that Subaru was trying something but seeing just how pathetic the boy was acting, she figured that there was nothing to lose in humoring him.

“A gate is a part of your very being,” she said. “With your gate, you can use magic assuming you have the affinity to do it. The issue is that your gate is so small that it could explode through the slightest amount of over usage. It’s as if your gate forgot to grow along with you for your entire life.”

“Aww… Really? Is there a way to increase my gate? Maybe something like a leveling up plan?”

“… Betty will choose to ignore your braindead terminologies. As for improving your gate, there is very little that can be done about it at this point. Unless you manage to find a way to be reborn, starting again as an infant, there isn’t any way to expand your gate’s capacity naturally, to my knowledge.”

“So what you’re saying is that a gate is like an organ in my body that’s supposed to develop as I grow?”

Beatrice rolled her eyes. “That’s one way of putting it, I suppose.”

Is it because he was just summoned here that his gate is so small? Maybe having a gate is something specific to this world. Regardless, it sounded too risky to try any kind of magic, so he’ll probably have to look into it later.

Right now, he just wanted to know his reason for being summoned here. Since this girl didn’t know anything, and apparently leaving this room is dangerous, he wondered if staying cooped up was really the best option.

Well, being the introvert he was, nothing would’ve really changed if that’s the case. Instead of a cramped up room he stays in, it’s just a roomy library.

In a defeated tone, Subaru finally decided. “Guess there isn’t anything I can really do right now, huh?”

“If you’re that desperate to do something, you can start by ceasing your barrage of stupid questions.”

Did his starting NPC really have to have this kind of personality? Oh well, since this is apparently a forbidden library, maybe he could learn something cool from these books. There had to be some kind of secret technique that’ll make him OP somewhere, right?

“Say, you wouldn’t mind if I read some of these books to pass the time, do you?”

Beatrice waved her hand dismissively before she herself got back to reading the book she already had with her. “If that will get you to stay quiet, then so be it, I suppose.”

Subaru grinned happily and gave the short girl a classic Japanese style bow. “Thank you, Beatrice. You’re the best!”

The girl let out an annoyed huff. “Didn’t you say you were going to read?”

“Yeah, I’ll leave you be now.”

Subaru looked over the books around the library. He wasn’t exactly sure where to start, not that there was a pop up tutorial or anything, so he picked the closest book to him. Upon exploring its contents, there was one thing he knew for sure.

This discovery was so important that he had to bring this up to Beatrice. “Hey, Beatrice? I can’t read any of this.”

…

A visible irk formed over the girl’s forehead. “Why would you ask Betty to read if you lack the necessary skill to do so?”

“Hey! It’s not my fault! I didn’t know this would be written in a different language.”

Beatrice shook her head in disappointment. “Then you better start learning how to read, I suppose.”

“How am I supposed to do tha-“ Subaru stopped himself halfway through his rebuttal. An idea formed in his mind, and then he smiled cheesily at Beatrice. “Actually, would you mind teaching me how to read this?”

“Yes, Betty would mind, in fact.”

It was hard for Subaru to keep up his pleading face after that blunt blow, but he managed not to falter. “Pretty please? I’ll owe you a huge favor if you do.”

Beatrice perked her left brow, seemingly catching her interest, albeit by a little. “And what is it that you could possibly offer to Betty?”

“Well, you know, it’s a favor. I’ll do any one thing you ask of me. Or, try my best at it.”

The girl stayed silent for a moment before putting her book down to give Subaru her full attention once more. “If it will get you to cease your constant pestering, then I guess there’s no helping it, I suppose.”

Subaru’s eyes gleamed. “Yes! Thanks, Beatrice. You’re the best.”

Beatrice, for the most part, ignored the boy’s enthusiasm so she could actually teach him.

…

Well, ‘try’ at least.

Over time, it was pretty obvious that Beatrice had zero teaching skills, at least when it came to reading. She just read a book out loud and expected him to look over her shoulder to follow along. Since he couldn’t read, it was pretty easy to get lost.

“Could you slow down? I lost track again.”

“Why should Betty slow down just because you’re too incompetent to keep up?”

“This has nothing to do with that! How do you expect me to keep track of where you’re at if you never point it out? I would like to remind you that I don’t know what any of these words say!”

“You’re lucky I’m even utilizing my time to hone your poor reading skills.” Before Subaru could complain any further, Beatrice pointed to the book. “If it will get you to stop complaining, then Betty will fulfill your pointless request, I suppose.”

Even though the way it was brought up was incredibly rude and warranted scolding, Subaru let it go considering since he did get what he wanted in the end.

There were hundreds of better ways to teach and this girl chose perhaps the slowest method. Overall, this will just have to do for right now. Something was better than nothing after all.

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Several hours had passed.

Subaru hardly made any progress, and whenever he asked questions, Beatrice prompted him to stay quiet.

At this point, he could save time if he just taught her how to teach instead. It was ironic, but Subaru thought that she could probably use a lesson herself.

Before he could put that thought to the test, he eventually ran into another problem: that being food. He’d be good for now since he had his groceries with him, but after today, he wouldn’t know what to do.

“Hey, Beatrice?”

The girl sighed. “Did you seriously lose track again? Have you gone blind?”

“No, no. It isn’t that. I was just wondering if you had anything to eat here.”

Beatrice stopped pointing at her book and gave Subaru’s question some genuine thought. “That’s right…” She mused to herself. “Since you’re human, you’ll need to eat food in order to survive, in fact.”

“You’re saying that like you forgot. Why did you even say it like that? Are you not a human too? Oh wait, are you like some kind of magical granny loli race?”

“What did you call me, boy?! Betty could just blow you out of this room instead if you prefer!”

Subaru couldn’t help but chuckle at Beatrice’s attitude and lifted his hands. “Sorry, sorry. But really, if you’re not a human, then what are you?”

Beatrice let out an annoyed huff and crossed her arms. “Betty is a great spirit, or is the very concept of spirits also foreign to you?”

“Ehehe… Would you be mad if I said yes?”

Beatrice was eerily quiet, contemplating if she really should just blow this boy out of the library. Eventually, she sighed, deciding against it. “Betty will tell you another time. It would be inconvenient if you wound up dying of starvation inside the library so I’ll prioritize getting food for you, I suppose.”

“You’re going out? Will you be alright?”

“You should worry more about your own safety. Betty isn’t the one trespassing where they don’t belong, in fact.”

“Oh right… Do you think it would be alright if I tagged along then?”

“Betty still hasn’t confirmed if you’re a threat or not. If you’re still intent on proving your sincerity, I would suggest you stay put for the time being.”

Subaru sighed. He really wanted to explore this new place but figured gaining Beatrice’s trust should take priority. After all, where else is he going to find a guide? “Alright. If that’ll get you to open up, I’ll do it.”

“Good, you better not make any messes or else I will make you regret it, I suppose.”

“Yeah, yeah. I didn’t plan to.”

Beatrice gave Subaru a doubtful look before finally leaving the room.

Now alone, Subaru went back to browsing the books. He knew all too well that he couldn’t understand a thing but maybe he’ll get lucky and find something that he could make out at least.

Several minutes had passed and his luck proved to be as useless as ever once he made zero discoveries. He even contemplated taking his chances with the other residents because he was that bored.

Before that thought could even cook, Subaru caught a glimpse of a peculiar book from the corner of his eye. It was behind the stool Beatrice was sitting on, and it was tucked away in such a position like it was trying to be hidden.

He had no idea why but a surge of curiosity plagued the boy’s mind. Was this something Beatrice was reading before he showed up or was she always trying to hide it? He reached towards the book and-

“What are you doing, I wonder?”

Subaru nearly jumped as the loli of impending pain returned. This time however, she was holding a silver tray which carried some sandwiches.

“Warn me next time! I didn’t even hear you come in.”

“Why does Betty have to contribute to such a meaningless routine? You’re the one intruding, so you should be the one to announce that you’re still in here, in fact.”

“There are so many things wrong with that statement!”

Beatrice rolled her eyes and placed the tray of sandwiches down on an end table. “It would probably be in your best interest to sustain yourself instead of panicking over trivial matters.”

Subaru looked over at the tray before sighing to himself. Admittedly, he was really hungry right now. “Fine, but this isn’t over yet!”

Beatrice simply brushed off the boy's comment before sitting back down on her stool and pulling out a new book to read.

Subaru sighed before taking a sandwich. Before he ate, he glanced over at the short girl. “Are you not gonna eat too?”

“Are you too daft to remember anything I've told you? Betty is a great spirit, as such, I don’t need food to sustain myself like you humans.”

“Yikes, I’m just trying to break the ice between us. Eating food together usually helps with that.”

“What makes you believe I would want to get along with an idiot like you?”

At this point, Subaru just gave up trying for the time being, and shrugged. “Fine, suit yourself. Feel free to join in if you change your mind.”

And with that, Subaru took a big mouthful of the sandwich. It was actually pretty good. He didn’t take Beatrice to be the culinary type, especially considering she doesn’t eat, apparently.

Beatrice on the other hand let out an annoyed huff, and buried her nose back into her book.

By the time Subaru finished his sandwiches, the two sat in the room in an astoundingly awkward and boring silence. At first, Subaru waited for Beatrice to say something, hoping she’d change her mind about being anti-social. However, she was a lot more stubborn than he thought.

Eventually, the boy realized that this was gonna go nowhere unless he was the one to initiate things. “So,” Subaru started, “Do you want to ask anything about me? I know you don’t trust me yet, so why not get that roadblock out of the way?”

Beatrice sighed, set her book down, and leaned over it. “There is one thing Betty is curious about. When are you going to learn how to read?”

Subaru stood up. “Seriously?! I might learn to read faster if you learn how teach me better!”

The great spirit crossed her arms. “There is nothing wrong with Betty’s teaching! You’re the one who’s a lousy learner, in fact!”

“You can’t be serious! Do you really expect me to learn by trying to keep up with your reading? You don’t even show me where I’m supposed to follow along with you!”

“I’ve already pointed that out plenty of times! You’re just an idiot!”

“You call that pointing it out? I feel like you’re trying to show off rather than teaching me, you damn loli!”

Beatrice squinted her eyes. “What did you call me, boy?!”

Being too caught up in the moment, Subaru didn’t stop venting out his frustrations. “A loli! Just a stubborn loli! You’re a loli who can’t even be a good tutorial NPC!”

“I have no idea what half of those terminologies mean, but you won’t get away with making fun of Betty, I suppose!” She lifted her hand towards Subaru, allowing him to visibly see the air spiraling around it.

It was at that moment Subaru realized that he might have gone too far. Knowing that this was not going to go in his favor, he raised his hands in surrender, his tone doing a complete 180. “W-Woah there, we don’t have to take it this far. We can just talk it out and- WAAAAHHHHH!”

Subaru was blown away by wind magic and was flung across the library before hitting against a bookshelf. He groaned as he fell to the ground as many books fell on top of him.

Beatrice stood tall and prideful with her arms crossed. “I could have easily blown you out of this room, so be grateful that Betty didn’t. It would be in your best interest to clean this mess up. When you’re done, Betty might consider not banishing you from the forbidden library, I suppose.”

Not wanting to incite the loli’s wrath again, Subaru bobbed his head obediently. “Y-Yes, ma’am…”

The girl let out a loud humph before returning to her stool, taking a seat. Subaru on the other hand recovered from his dizziness before starting to clean up the mess of books from Beatrice’s attack.

Subaru shivered as he wondered just what kind of hell staying here would be.

Chapter Text

A few days passed since Subaru settled in the forbidden library.

So far, their main activity together was learning to read, but Beatrice taught so horribly that it always ended up turning into a self study session. But one could only learn so much from reading a new language alone.

Regardless how fruitless his reading endeavors were, it didn’t change the fact that Subaru was bored. This was supposed to be a new world, right? As it stood now, everything just felt like his old introverted lifestyle but reflavored into a library setting.

Actually, wouldn’t this be worse? He didn’t even have video games or manga to occupy his time with anymore. He would’ve at least been satisfied with all the books, but not being able to read any of them meant that he had nothing to do.

At one point, Subaru looked at his phone, hoping that by some miracle he had cellular connection, but that went as well as making a call in the mountains. Eventually, the countless dead ends into boredom brought him to where he is now.

Beatrice glanced up from the book she was reading, finding Subaru trying to construct what looked to be a wooden tray with squares engraved into it. “What are you doing with that?”

“I’ll show you in a minute. It’s almost done,” he hurriedly explained.

His focus on that wooden square was so intense that it made the great spirit wonder why he didn’t put the same effort into reading.

“And done!” Subaru proudly announced, excitedly presenting his strange project to Beatrice.

Beatrice carefully examined the wooden tray. It wasn’t anything spectacular, but it had a bunch of evenly carved squares etched across its surface.

“Betty can only conclude that you have a very bizarre obsession with squares, I suppose.”

“What? No, it’s not like that!” he exclaimed, gesturing to it as he explained properly. “This is called a shogi board. With this, we can play a game called shogi.”

Beatrice lifted her brow inquisitively. “We? Betty has no recollection of ever agreeing to join this pointless game of yours.”

“C’mon, Beatrice. I worked so hard to make this! The least you could do is give it a try!”

The great spirit let out an annoyed sigh before shutting her book. “If it will get you to quiet down, then Betty will choose to humor your request, I suppose.”

Subaru smiled cheerfully. “Yeah, that’s the spirit! Trust me when I say that you’re going to love this! Once I set it up, I’ll teach you how to play.”

Not wanting this opportunity to go to waste, Subaru hurriedly set up the pieces for the game, all of which were made from blank sheets of paper. After setting up, the boy kept his word and went over the rules.

“First, I’ll go over all the pieces. Each player will have one king, one rook, one bishop, two gold generals, two silver generals, two knights, two lances, and nine pawns. There’s a specific way to set up each side but I already have that set up for you.”

Before Subaru could continue, Beatrice pointed at the board. “Why are those two pieces separated like that?”

“Ah, the right one is the rook and the left one is the bishop. As for why, I have no idea. It’s just how they made the game, I guess. If there was a hidden meaning behind it, then I never had the chance to find out.”

Beatrice stared at the board for a moment longer, perhaps trying to figure out a reason herself before giving up. “Hurry up, Betty doesn’t have all day, you know.”

“Hey! You were the one who stopped me to begin with!” Subaru quickly let it go in order to keep explaining the rules. “Anyways, each piece moves a certain way. If you move any of your pieces to the side where your opponent’s side is, you can promote your pieces.”

“Promote? What exactly does it mean to promote a piece?”

“Think of it as leveling up and getting brand new abilities.”

Beatrice squinted her eyes. “You’re spouting nonsense again. Can you explain it using real words, I suppose?”

“Ah, sorry about that. Hmm… So, when a piece is promoted, it can make more kinds of moves, and makes it easier to put the enemy king in check. You’re supposed to move your pieces over your opponent’s pieces in order to capture them.”

“Betty still doesn’t understand what the goal of this game is. Are you supposed to capture all your opponents' pieces to win?”

“Oh no, the game would NEVER end if that was the goal. All you have to do is capture the king to win.”

“Just the king? That sounds very simple, I suppose.”

“Oh trust me, it isn’t. At any point, you can place captured pieces on the board for sneak attacks.”

Beatrice groaned as Subaru went on to explain how sneak attacks worked. After he finished his explanation, Beatrice asked, “Are you done explaining this game yet?”

“Yeah, that’s the gist of it. Did you need me to go over how each piece moves again?”

Beatrice shook her head. “That won’t be necessary, Betty has already memorized the function for each piece, in fact.”

“Heheh, if you say so. But you better not cry when I beat you!”

“You really must be an idiot if you believe that Betty would cry over such a silly and pointless game.”

…

…

…

“If I’m not mistaken, this should be what you call a checkmate, I suppose.”

“H-How…?” Subaru whimpered. He was checkmated within seven turns. What was more embarrassing was the fact that this was Beatrice’s first time playing.

“I would’ve thought that you’d be at least a little proficient with this game, especially considering that you were the one to recommend it, I suppose.”

With his ego on the line, Subaru steeled himself. “I-I was just going easy on you! I’ll get you this time for sure!”

The spirit perked her brow. “If you’re that persistent to keep playing, Betty doesn’t mind trying another round.”

…

…

…

“That’s checkmate again, I suppose.”

Subaru was flabbergasted. He was completely demolished yet again. “You must’ve played Shogi before! There’s no way you can be this good on your first try!”

“You’re the one who suggested this. It’s obvious that you’re just awful at your own game, in fact.”

“Ugh… Well, at least I can say that I’m a way better teacher than you.”

The girl gritted her teeth and their face reddened. “There is nothing wrong with Betty’s teaching skills! Besides, you have no evidence that you’re better than me when it comes to teaching.”

“Oh really? Wasn’t I the one who taught you how to play this game in the first place?” Subaru smirked rather smugly before continuing. “Since you easily beat me, that means I taught you well. Now, if we compare that to how my reading’s going along, I can barely read five words. Therefore, that proves I’m a way better teacher than you!”

“You…!” Beatrice was at a loss for words. It was hard to tell if she couldn’t argue with Subaru’s solid facts or if she was too mad to speak at all. Regardless, she stood up and aimed her hand in Subaru’s direction.

The boy immediately knew where this was going and quickly spoke up. “You can silence me but you can’t silence the truth!”

With that, Beatrice blew Subaru across the room using wind magic. Just like every time, he crashed into a bookshelf which knocked several books to the floor. Subaru was left a bit winded but he was starting to get used to it.

“You really are a rude one!” Beatrice stammered out. “Have you already forgotten who's been providing you meals? You should show more respect to Betty.”

Subaru slowly got back up and started to clean up the mess the girl caused. “Don’t get me wrong, Beatrice. I am grateful for everything you’ve done for me. It’s just… erm… a-actually, never mind.”

Beatrice narrowed her eyes. “Something tells me that you were about to spout more nonsense.”

“Anyways!” Subaru shouted out loud and clapped his hands together, doing what he could to steer the conversation into a different direction. “You’re very good at Shogi. However, there are way more board games out there, and there’s gotta be one I’m better than you at!”

Beatrice sighed. Knowing how long it will take for Subaru to make a new board, she pulled out a new book to read before waving him off. “Do what you want, I suppose.”

---------------------------------------------------------

The Roswaal Estate, for its size, didn’t house all too many residents. In total, four people lived there. Six if they included the two great spirits.

As for the estate’s activities, there hasn’t been too much action as of late. One could only assume there were a lot of preparations occurring behind the scenes.

That didn’t mean there were no activities at all behind those doors. The maids did their job splendidly, and kept the mansion in tip top shape. At this moment, one of those very maids was providing the lord of the estate with their daily report.

“Thank you, Ram.” The lord thanked the maid before him. As the name of the estate would entail, the lord’s name was Roswaal L. Mathers. He was the twelfth in line of his generation. “If that is all, you may return to your duties.”

The maid who went by Ram bowed. “Thank you, Lord Roswaal.” As the maid was about to leave, she stopped in her tracks as she just remembered something. “Actually, would you mind if Ram asked you something, my lord?”

Roswaal perked his brow curiously. “Of coooourse~ you can ask me anything.”

Ram nodded her head. “It really isn’t anything all too important, but is Lady Beatrice capable of using the toilet?”

For a moment, the lord was left speechless. Out of any question that he anticipated, that one was so out of left field that Roswaal was left speechless for a moment. “I’m sorry, Ram. Do you mind repeating that for me?”

It was pretty evident that the maid was getting flustered, especially seeing how even her lord was taken aback by such a question. “N-Nevermind. It really isn’t that important, actually.”

Being a bit curious, Roswaal inquired, “If you’re comfortable with enlightening me, what brought about that question?”

Ram took a moment to recall an instance before sharing, “Well, this morning when Ram was doing her routine cleaning, I found myself unable to access the restroom. Anytime I tried entering, I would always find myself in a different part of the mansion. Since this looked to be similar to Lady Beatrice’s door crossing, I assumed that she was using that ability so she wouldn’t be disturbed.”

“That’s odd…” Roswaal assessed aloud. Both him and Ram knew that Beatrice was a spirit, thus she couldn’t use the restroom in any conventional way. Not wanting to think about this instance too weirdly, Roswaal quickly thought of something to rationalize this odd behavior. “Now that I think about it, I know that Puck tends to visit Beatrice quite often. Maybe Miss Emilia was with Puck this morning, and eventually she needed to use the toilet.”

Ram nodded. The maid got the idea already and she didn’t want to hear her lord describe any more of this in detail. After all, even he looked uncomfortable trying to reason this. “I see, thank you for your bountiful wisdom, Lord Roswaal.”

“If that is all, you may go now.”

With that, Ram left.

After the maid’s departure, Roswaal put a hand over his chin as he further tried to inquire about this odd situation. Now that he thought about it, she had been joining the residents during meal times. Even though that was odd in itself, the bizarre thing about it was that she’d take the meals, and leave with them.

He knew that spirits can eat if they wanted to, but the amount of mana it provided a spirit was hardly anything. Unless Beatrice was suddenly running that low on mana, there wouldn’t be a reason for her to take food back to her library.

…

Whatever this was, he’ll see if he can look into it later. It wasn’t that important in all honesty, but it was weird enough to make the Lord at least a little curious.

Chapter Text

“Boing…”

…

…

…

“Boing…”

…

…

…

“Boin-“

“If you do that one more time, you’ll find yourself blown across the room, in fact.”

Subaru sighed, finally putting a stop to bouncing Beatrice’s pigtails around. “There’s nothing to do! How on earth can you just sit around here all day without dying of boredom?”

Beatrice rolled her eyes. “If you’re that bored, why don’t you go play one of your board games?”

“Playing against you isn’t fun at all! I swear, it feels like I’m trying to play against a hacker every time I’m up against you.”

“That’s your fault for being bad at your own game! Don’t blame Betty for your own shortcomings.”

“Easy for you to say. You can read any book you want in this place, and I’m left with trying to read along. Actually, I can hardly do that!”

The spirit closed her book before staring daggers at Subaru. “You better watch your tongue, boy! Last I checked, it was you who kept insisting on having me teach you. None of this is Betty’s fault, I suppose!”

“You know what? Maybe you’re right!” Subaru snapped. Even Beatrice was caught off guard. “Maybe I was wrong to put my trust in you! Maybe I’m better off testing my luck with the other residents after all!”

Beatrice stammered for a moment before fury boiled in her eyes. Subaru’s rant was put to a stop once he realized that he put himself into some serious trouble.

The spirit stomped towards Subaru, and the boy instinctively backed up. “W-Woah there. Calm down.”

Once the girl finally reached him, she yelled. “If you have a problem, then just leave, I suppose!”

Not giving the boy a chance, Beatrice blew him away with wind magic. This time, Subaru was launched out the door of the library.

After getting back on his feet, Subaru realized that he was in the restroom. Subaru widened his eyes and quickly looked to Beatrice on the other side of the door, still fuming. “B-Beatrice, wait! We can talk about this-“

SLAM

Beatrice slammed the door closed. The boy quickly rushed to open the door, but it was too late. The door was locked.

Subaru wanted to cry as he realized that he was put in timeout inside the mansion’s restroom again.

At first, Beatrice sent him to this place whenever he needed to use the toilet. But lately, she started using this spot to banish Subaru whenever the boy annoyed her more than usual.

Knowing it was pointless now, Subaru sighed before sitting on top of the closed toilet seat. He knew Beatrice would let him back in the library eventually. All this really meant was that he’d be even more bored for thirty or so minutes.

---------------------------------------------------------

‘Maybe I was wrong to put my trust in you!’

Those words really bothered Beatrice. Sure, she knew those rude words were just a result of his frustrations stemming from his inability to learn, but it still really hurt.

It made the girl wonder if she really was that bad at teaching.

That was when Beatrice came up with an idea. Since Subaru was going to be kept in timeout for awhile, she might as well utilize this time. The spirit immediately snuck out of the library, using her door crossing to tail the two maids that worked in the mansion.

Pinpointing their location was no issue at all for the spirit. There were hardly any residents in the mansion to begin with, and their daily pathing was all too predictable. However, there was a problem.

Beatrice grimaced at the sight of the two being together. After all, her plan could only work if at least one of them were alone. The less people knew about her being out and about, the better. If only there was an easier way to-

“Hey, Betty, I haven’t seen you in awhile.”

Beatrice nearly jumped out of her skin. However, the girl’s demeanor quickly changed after realizing who it was.

“B-Bubby?!” Beatrice turned around, and before her was a small grey cat floating in the air. This cat was a great spirit like her, and his name was puck. “Forgive me, Bubby! Betty didn’t realize how long it’s been!”

Very quickly, Beatrice opened her arms while the poor girl looked like she was on the verge of tears.

Puck laughed before casually floating in the other’s embrace. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve had Lia to keep me company.”

The girl averted her gaze from the other spirit, and looked down dejectedly. “R-Right, Bubby has his contractor…”

Seeing the shift in mood, Puck placed his paw on Beatrice’s cheek. “I’m not doing anything right now, so how about we spend the rest of the day with each other?”

Beatrice’s sad dejected look instantly melted away as the girl was now smiling brightly. “Oh Bubby! Betty would love to be with you for the rest of the day!~”

With that, the girl happily snuggled the cat spirit.

However, the spirit immediately remembered why she was here to begin with, and looked incredibly nervous. “A-Actually, Betty just remembered that there were some errands that had to be done. I-Is it ok to move this to another day…?”

Puck lifted his brow curiously. “Errands?” The floating cat seemed to ponder those words for but a small moment before shrugging it off. “Yeah, that should be fine, Betty. I could always help you with those errands if they’re that important to you.

Beatrice’s face instantly reddened. “Betty never said they were important, in fact! N-No, I mean there are just some little unimportant things that would be troublesome if they were ignored for too long. Yes, that’s right, just troublesome!”

It was clear that something was off, and Puck could very easily see that. But luckily for the frilly spirit, Puck didn’t push on it. “In any case, if there’s anything I can do to help, I’d be happy to give you a paw, Betty.” And just to show his sincerity, he gently placed his paw on Beatrice’s cheek.

Beatrice had to hold back the urge to completely give up on her mission to snuggle Puck. However, his offer would be pretty helpful if she utilized it properly… “A-Actually, maybe you can assist Betty. I needed to have a word with one of those maids. N-Not that Betty needs your help over such a trivial matter, but it would save me a lot of time if you could get one of their attention for me.”

Puck blinked a few times before looking over his shoulder to see both the maids talking with one another and back to Beatrice. Then, a smile crept on the cat’s face, making his own conclusion on the matter. “That should be fine, Betty. Something like that shouldn’t be a big deal at all.”

Despite how much Beatrice had tried to not make her request seem like a big deal, the spirit ended up squealing in delight before hugging Puck tightly. “Oh thank you, Bubby! Betty knew you could be counted on!”

Puck chuckled at the girl’s enthusiasm. After she finished her hug, the cat spirit floated on over to the maids without a care in the world.

From the position Beatrice was hiding at, Puck simply floated on over to the maids, and wasted no time to insert himself in whatever they were talking about. Beatrice couldn’t make out what they were saying, but she could very easily see the shocked expressions on both of the maids’ faces.

The frilly spirit was admittedly embarrassed by this, but she was in too deep to back out now. Carrying on, the blue haired maid left, leaving only Puck and the pink haired maid. Once it was just the two of them, Puck guided the maid towards Beatrice.

“There you are, Betty.” Puck proudly announced, almost sounding like he only just encountered her for the first time today.

The pink haired maid bowed their head to Beatrice respectfully. “Did you require Ram’s assistance, Lady Beatrice?”

Trying to keep a tough front, Beatrice stood up straight, doing what she believed was a perfect job at hiding her embarrassment. “Y-Yes, in fact! B-Betty only wants a second opinion on a specific matter.”

The maid known as Ram blinked a few times. “A second opinion…?”

Beatrice nearly flinched at the confused response, but quickly clarified, “Betty could easily handle the matter alone, but another perspective would be good, too.”

Ram was left speechless. It was as if she just received an impossible order. In fact, this was the first request Beatrice made that wasn’t ’go away’. However, despite the oddity of this situation, Ram had to fulfill her duty as a maid. “Of course, Lady Beatrice. How may Ram be of service?”

…

Huh… Now Beatrice was the speechless one. To be perfectly honest, the great spirit didn’t think she’d get this far. In a way, she was half expecting all the answers she was looking for would either answer, or solve themselves.

However, she knew that standing there like an idiot would only draw unnecessary attention. Trying her best to come up with a reasonable excuse, her eyes darted around the room, hoping a convenient omen would hit her in the face. Luckily for her, that answer came to her once her eyes landed on Puck.

“B-Bubby! B-Betty needs you to take care of your contractor, in fact!”

Puck blinked a few times. However, he seemed to pick up the hint and proudly raised his paw in the air. “You’re right, Betty. I should make sure Lia’s studies aren’t overwhelming her.”

With that, the floating cat spirit gave Beatrice a wink before floating off. Truthfully, Puck had no idea what Beatrice was up to, but whatever it was, he was glad that she was trying to be more social.

Now that Puck was gone, Beatrice cleared her throat before turning her attention back to Ram. “Betty wanted to spend extra time with Bubby, and the method that I want to choose is teaching him some of Betty’s valuable knowledge.”

Ram only stared at the great spirit. “And you want Ram’s assistance with…?”

“Teaching! I-I mean… B-Betty means that getting a second opinion in the art of teaching would be appreciated. Nothing is wrong with my teaching! But, another perspective could prove useful, I suppose.”

Ram nodded. Yes, all this was still very confusing, and bizarre. However, despite how strange it was, the request wasn’t anywhere near undoable. “Of course, Lady Beatrice. Is there a specific topic you wish for Ram to expand on?”

Trying her best to look as nonchalant as possible, Beatrice tapped her fingers together nervously. “W-Well, any topic could work. But if you insist, then perhaps it would be worthwhile starting with something simple. M-Maybe, teaching one to read would be a good start, I suppose.”

---------------------------------------------------------

This was by far the longest time Subaru had been banished in the bathroom. How long has it been? The boy wondered. Honestly, it felt like he’d been locked here for several hours.

The boy managed to reach a new level of boredom as he was blowing into a toothbrush, pretending it was a harmonica.

“I’m stuck in the bathroom, and I don’t know why.

There’s nothing to do here, not a thing to try.”

After his little verse, Subaru blew into the toothbrush, imagining that it made real harmonica noises.

At that point, he stopped himself after he asked himself something very important. Who’s toothbrush was this anyway? His desire to kill time ended up overtaking him that he didn’t pay attention to what he was actually doing.

All he knew was that there were two toothbrushes that he found in a cup by the sink. One was pink, and the other was blue. Without thinking, he was blowing into the blue toothbrush like it was a musical instrument.

“Ugh…” Subaru groaned. “What am I even doing…?”

Subaru was more disappointed in himself if anything. He knew what he said to Beatrice was mean, and seeing how long he’s been locked in here, he could tell it must’ve really got to her. He just hoped that the spirit wouldn’t forget about him here. He’d hate to have to live off of toothpaste for the unforeseen future.

…

Actually, what kind of toothpaste did they use? This wasn’t Japan after all, so it would be weird if he ended up finding a familiar brand.

…

Now that curiosity got the best of him, and with literally nothing better to do, he started snooping in the cabinet. There were a bunch of stuff in there, more than he’d ever use compared to his arsenal of toiletries back in Japan.

Eventually, he found something. He pulled out a small glass jar that was holding some kind of translucent gel. Based on everything else in the cabinet, this looked like the closest thing there was to toothpaste.

It had a greenish hue to it, and Subaru remembered that during an older period, they’d use stuff like mints and herbs as toothpaste. He wondered if this world did the same thing as that.

After popping open the jar to further his investigation, he nearly gagged once a strong, foul aroma invaded his nostrils. He instantly put the lid back on before wheezing for air.

“What the hell?! Do people really put this crap in their-”

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

Subaru immediately shut himself up mid speech after someone knocked on the door. Based on what Beatrice told him, if anyone knocked on the door while he was in the bathroom, he was to not say a word no matter what, and that she’d get the door open back to the library. That made sense, and he didn’t question it. After all, it was pretty obvious that she was just making sure he didn’t alert the other residents of his presence.

Sure, he was curious about the other residents in the place. But he wanted to trust in Beatrice’s judgement.

“Is anyone in there?” An unfamiliar voice called out from the other side. “I’m pretty sure I heard someone.”

CLICK CLICK

Now, he saw the doorknob wobble around, indicating that the person on the other side was trying to open it. Subaru knew he had to hide fast, and just hoped that Beatrice would save him in time.

The door opened, and a small floating cat entered the bathroom while holding a key.

“It’s a good thing Ram hid this key in the vase.” The cat announced aloud. He then examined the bathroom for a moment. “Hmm, it seems no one’s in here… Oh well! It must’ve been my imagination!”

With that, the door shut.

Subaru revealed himself from behind the bathroom curtains from which he was hiding, and let out a sigh of relief. “That was close, for a second, I thought I was gonna get-“

Before Subaru could finish, he found a cat floating in the air with their arms crossed, staring directly at him. It became clear that the cat just closed the door, and pretended to leave.

“Caught…” Subaru finished.

…

…

…

For a long, uncomfortable moment, the two stared each other down intensely.

Eventually, the cat broke the silence by cheerfully raising his paw. “Hi! Nice to meet you, mister bathroom dweller.”

The tension washed away in an instant. Subaru didn’t even seem to care that he was talking to a floating talking cat. “Hey! It wasn’t my choice to be locked up in here, you damn cat!”

The cat in question merely shrugged. “Regardless of the reason, it’s pretty weird finding an intruder locking themselves inside the servant’s bathroom.”

Seeing that there wasn’t any real danger, Subaru was pretty confused. “Erm… So you’re not going to kill me on sight? You know, considering I’m trespassing and all?”

The cat shook their head. “Nah, I can tell you don’t have any bad intentions. I just noticed an unfamiliar presence on my way to Lia, and I wanted to make sure you weren’t dangerous.”

Subaru let out an annoyed sigh. “Dammit, now I feel like Beatrice lied to me…”

“Betty?” The cat looked a little surprised at the mention of Beatrice before suddenly coming to a realization. “Oh! I get it now! You’re Betty’s secret buddy, aren’t you?”

“W-What?! How do you know about that?!”

The cat responded with a sly wink, and a little nudge on their head. “Just a hunch, really. It would explain a lot about Betty’s strange behavior lately.”

“Eh?” Subaru blinked a few times. “To be honest, I haven’t known her all that long. What strange behavior are you talking about?”

The cat placed a paw over their chin before thinking. “Hmm… Well, she doesn’t really come out of the library that often. Lately, I’ve been seeing her wandering about a lot more.”

Subaru couldn’t help but let out a disappointed sigh. “Yeah, I had a feeling she had a hard time getting along with others…”

“Don’t think too badly of her. She’s pretty nice if you get to know her.”

“Oh wait…” Suddenly, Subaru just realized something. “Actually, since you’re willing to hear me out, what’s the rest of the residents like? Beatrice says that they’d kill me on sight, and refuses to elaborate further than that vague as hell explanation.”

“The others? Well, other than me and Betty, there’s the two maids, a clown, and finally, there’s my contractor, Lia.”

“That’s all? Huh… That’s a lot less than I was expecting…”

“I never really thought about it before, but yeah, I guess there really aren't that many people considering how big this place is. Anyways, it’s been nice talking with you, Betty’s buddy.”

“Oh yeah, I haven't introduced myself yet. I’m Natsuki Subaru, just your average neet who can’t seem to get out of the tutorial dungeon quite yet.”

“Interesting title you got there. You can call me Puck. I’m a spirit just like Betty. Speaking of which, I should get going to my contractor. See you around, Subaru!”

“W-Wait, Puck!” Subaru cried out before the cat could leave. “Actually, there’s a huge favor I have to ask you. I’ve been meaning to get around more, but like I mentioned earlier, Beatrice said that if I wandered out, the other residents would kill me on sight. Could you be a pal, and help introduce me to everyone without getting me killed?”

Puck turned to the boy and thought for a moment. He really seemed to be contemplating something before finally giving an answer. “Hate to bring you bad news, but Betty’s right. I’m not even sure how well I’d do if I tried to introduce you. Not many people get along with Lia, and the others would be too suspicious of you if you popped in out of nowhere.”

Subaru sighed. “Damn, I guess Beatrice was telling me the truth after all…”

“Not that you mention it, I’m surprised that Betty kept you around. I would’ve thought she’d toss you out, and left you to your fate by now. You’re pretty lucky.”

“If you couldn’t tell, I’m currently locked inside the bathroom because of that damn loli! What about any of this looks remotely lucky to you?!”

Puck chuckled. “I’m sure it’s all in good fun. I really need to get going now, so I’ll wish you some better luck.”

Subaru looked down dejectedly. “Thanks, I guess.”

“Oh yeah, before I go, could you keep this meeting between us a secret? I don’t want Betty to worry about your safety if she heard you’ve run into anyone while she wasn’t looking.”

“Oh, yeah, I can do that. She’s done a lot for me already, and I’d hate for her to worry about me.”

With that, the cat finally made his way out the bathroom, and closed the door behind him.

…

…

…

Wait, Subaru thought. The door wasn’t locked anymore. The boy couldn’t stomach the idea of waiting in the bathroom any longer, so he figured that he’d try to sneak his way back to the library.

Subaru reached his hand to the door and-

CLICK CLICK

…

The door was locked.

“YOU DAMN CAT!!!”

---------------------------------------------------------

Puck was happy for Beatrice.

He wasn’t exactly sure how well that boy meshed with her, but he must be special if Beatrice is making an effort in hiding him away from everyone else.

However, he didn’t mind giving her a hand in concealing his existence a little longer. He knew she was lonely, and he didn’t want to be responsible for taking away her new companion.

Whatever this relationship was, he wished the two of them the best.