Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The classroom buzzed with energy as Roswaal stood at the front, his mismatched eyes gleaming with that perpetual knowing smile that never quite reached genuineness. The afternoon sun cast long shadows across the desks where Class 1-B sat assembled, the air thick with anticipation as they discussed their strategy for the upcoming sports festival.

"Noooow then," Roswaal drawled, his voice lilting in that theatrical way of his. "It seems we are all in agreement that winning the sports festival is our primary objective. After all, the prize is quite generous—a return to our respective worlds."

Ainz Ooal Gown nodded slowly, his skeletal fingers clasped together on his desk. "Indeed. As much as this school has been... an interesting experience, we all have responsibilities waiting for us. The Great Tomb of Nazarick requires its master."

"Lord Ainz speaks wisely, as always," Demiurge added, adjusting his glasses with a knowing smile. "Surely this is all part of your grand plan. We mere guardians could never comprehend the depths of your strategic genius in bringing us here, only to orchestrate our triumphant return."

Albedo's eyes sparkled with adoration as she gazed at Ainz. "To think that Lord Ainz has been planning this all along! Truly, there is no one more magnificent!"

Cocytus nodded, frost emanating from his massive form. "We. Must. Win. For. The. Glory. Of. Nazarick."

Tanya von Degurechaff leaned back in her chair, her childlike form belying the calculating mind within. "For once, I find myself in agreement with the skeleton. I have a war to win and a Being X to spite. Every moment spent in this absurd school is a moment wasted."

Viktoriya raised her hand tentatively. "Major, don't you think this place is at least a little peaceful compared to—"

"Peace is an illusion, Serebryakov," Tanya interrupted sharply. "There is no peace until victory is absolute. We return, we continue our campaigns, and we achieve our goals through superior firepower and tactical excellence."

Matheus Weiss nodded firmly. "The Major is correct. Our duty awaits."

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Vooren Grantz added, though there was a hint of exhaustion in his voice that suggested he wouldn't mind a bit more peace.

Wilibald Koenig and Rhiner Neumann exchanged glances but said nothing, their loyalty to their commanding officer overriding any personal doubts.

Aqua stood up dramatically, her blue hair swishing as she pointed toward the ceiling. "Of course we need to go back! I'm a goddess! I have divine duties! Worshippers! Important... goddess things to do!"

"You just want to go back to drinking and partying in heaven," Megumin said flatly, her crimson eyes rolling.

"That's not—okay, that's partially true, but that's beside the point!" Aqua huffed, crossing her arms.

Darkness clenched her fists, a complicated expression crossing her face. "I must return. There are monsters to face. Dangers to throw myself in front of. The exquisite pain of battle awaits me."

"You're making it weird again," Megumin muttered.

Emilia clasped her hands together, her silver hair catching the light. "I think it's important we all work together. There are people counting on me back home. The royal selection... everyone in the village... I can't abandon them."

Ram nodded curtly. "Naturally, Emilia-sama's goals take priority. We must return to support her candidacy for the throne."

Puck materialized on Emilia's shoulder, his tiny form radiating warmth. "Wherever my daughter goes, I go. And if Lia wants to return home, then we return home. Simple as that."

Rem smiled softly, though her eyes drifted momentarily toward Subaru. "Rem also wishes to return. There is much work to be done, and... people Rem cares about."

Beatrice sat with her arms crossed, her drill-like curls bouncing as she huffed. "I suppose returning wouldn't be the worst thing, I suppose. This place is rather tedious, in fact."

Roswaal's smile widened ever so slightly. "Woooonderful. Then it seems we have a consensus. All in favor of dedicating ourselves fully to winning the sports festival and returning home?"

Hands began to rise across the classroom. Ainz's bony fingers lifted. Tanya's small hand shot up with military precision. Emilia raised hers with a hopeful smile. The guardians of Nazarick followed their master's lead without hesitation. The soldiers of the Empire followed their Major. Team Konosuba—

"I vote no."

The words cut through the classroom like a blade, and every head swiveled toward Kazuma Satou. He sat slouched in his chair, one arm draped lazily over the back, his expression one of complete and utter apathy.

Silence descended.

Aqua's jaw dropped. "K-Kazuma?! What did you just say?!"

Kazuma shrugged, not bothering to sit up properly. "You heard me. I vote no. I don't want to go back."

"Have you lost your mind?!" Megumin slammed her hands on her desk, her eyes wide with disbelief. "We have a demon king to defeat! Quests to complete! My explosion magic needs to be unleashed upon worthy foes!"

"Yeah, and that's exactly why I don't want to go back," Kazuma replied, picking at his ear with his pinky in a display of complete disinterest. "Do you have any idea how many times I've almost died? How many ridiculous situations you three have dragged me into? Here, I get to go to school. Normal school. No giant frogs trying to eat me. No explosions destroying our finances. No debt collectors. No goddess crying on my couch every night."

"I don't cry every night!" Aqua protested, tears already forming in her eyes.

"You're literally crying right now."

"These are tears of righteous goddess fury!"

Darkness stepped forward, her expression conflicted. "Kazuma, I understand the appeal of safety, but... don't you feel the call of adventure? The thrill of danger? The sweet embrace of potential suffering?"

"No. No, I don't. That's the whole point." Kazuma finally sat up, looking at his party members with exhaustion etched into every line of his face. "I'm actually happier here than I ever was in our world. No life-threatening quests. No idiots—" he gestured vaguely at Aqua, "—getting us into trouble. Just... normal life. Or as normal as this place gets."

Aqua lunged across the desks, grabbing Kazuma by his collar. "You ungrateful hikkiNEET! After everything I did for you?! I brought you back to life! I gave you a chance at a new world!"

"You mean you dragged me into a death trap because I made fun of you," Kazuma deadpanned.

"THAT'S NOT—" Aqua sputtered, "—okay, maybe that was part of it, but still!"

In the background, so quiet that it was almost imperceptible, there was a giggle. It was soft, barely a breath of sound, but it carried an edge that didn't quite fit the tension between Team Konosuba. No one noticed. They were too focused on the argument unfolding.

"This is so typical of you, Kazuma," Megumin said, her voice dripping with disappointment. "Of course you would say something like this. You've always been lazy. Always looking for the easy way out. But we—WE—want to go home. Don't we have a say?"

"You do have a say. You're saying you want to go. I'm saying I don't. That's how voting works." Kazuma extracted himself from Aqua's grip with practiced ease. "Look, you guys can do whatever you want. Knock yourselves out trying to win. But I'm not going to put in any effort to get back to a world where I'll probably die within a week of returning."

The chuckling was getting louder now.

Shalltear tilted her head, her parasol resting against her shoulder. "Ara ara, how interesting. The human boy doesn't want to return to his suffering. How... deliciously pathetic."

Aura's ears twitched. "Hey, Mare, did you hear something?"

Mare clutched his staff nervously. "I-I think so? Someone's... laughing?"

Demiurge's eyes narrowed behind his glasses, his attention shifting from the Konosuba argument to scan the room. "Indeed. There is someone else who seems to find this situation amusing."

"Yeah Kazuma, have you forgotten that we need to go back home to defeat the demon king?" Aqua was practically screeching now, her divine composure utterly shattered. "The world is counting on us! On ME! The great goddess Aqua!"

The laugh broke free.

It wasn't loud, but it was unmistakable now—a low, dark chuckle that seemed to come from somewhere deep within. It was the sound of someone who had heard a joke that nobody else could understand, a joke that wasn't funny at all.

Heads turned.

Subaru Natsuki sat at his desk, his shoulders shaking with barely contained laughter. His head was bowed, his brown hair casting shadows over his face, but the sound coming from him was anything but happy. It was hollow. Brittle. The kind of laugh that came from someone standing at the edge of a very long drop.

"No."

The single word silenced the room.

Subaru raised his head, and the expression on his face made several people instinctively lean back. His eyes, usually so full of determination and warmth, were flat. Empty. Like someone had reached inside him and scooped out everything that made him him, leaving behind only a shell that remembered how to speak.

Ram's eyes narrowed dangerously. "What did you just say, Barusu?"

Subaru's lips curved into something that might have been a smile if it had any warmth in it. "I said no. I'm done. I'm not going back."

The temperature in the room seemed to drop. Puck's fur bristled slightly on Emilia's shoulder, his small eyes focusing on Subaru with sudden intensity. Rem's hands tightened on her desk, her expression flickering between confusion and concern.

Emilia leaned forward, her violet eyes wide with confusion. "Subaru, I don't think you understand. We're doing this to go back to our old worlds. To our homes. To the people who need us."

"I understand perfectly," Subaru replied, his voice eerily calm. "I understand exactly what you're all trying to do. That's precisely why I'm saying no."

Ainz shifted in his seat, the aura around him flickering with something that might have been unease. "This is... unexpected. Natsuki Subaru, you have always seemed the most devoted to your companions. Why would you refuse something that benefits everyone?"

"Benefits everyone?" Subaru repeated, and that broken laugh escaped him again. "Does it? Does it really benefit everyone, Ainz-san?"

"I. Do. Not. Understand," Cocytus rumbled, his massive form shifting. "You. Would. Abandon. Your. Companions. Your. Duty?"

"My duty?" Subaru's eyes snapped to the Floor Guardian, and there was something wild in them now, something that had been held back for too long and was finally breaking free. "What duty? The duty to throw myself into danger over and over again? The duty to watch the people I care about suffer? The duty to—" He stopped himself, his jaw clenching so hard his teeth ground together.

Tanya's eyes had narrowed to dangerous slits, calculating, analyzing. She recognized the look on Subaru's face. She'd seen it in the eyes of soldiers who had been pushed too far, who had seen too much. It was the look of someone whose mind had finally snapped under pressure.

"Subaru, stop acting like a nincompoop." Emilia's voice wavered between nervous and reproachful. She chuckled awkwardly, as if hoping this was all an elaborate joke. "You're being silly. Come on, this isn't like you at all."

"Isn't it?" Subaru tilted his head, looking at Emilia with an expression that made her flinch. "You don't know anything about me, Emilia-tan. None of you do."

"That's—that's not true! We've been through so much together!" Emilia stood up from her seat, her hands clasped in front of her chest. "The mansion, the village, the White Whale, the Witch Cult—"

"Yes. We have been through all of that." Subaru's voice was ice. "Have you ever wondered how? Have you ever asked yourself why things always seem to work out? Why, no matter how hopeless the situation seems, there's always a way forward?"

Roswaal's perpetual smile seemed to freeze on his face, his mismatched eyes sharpening with sudden interest.

"Subaru, I expected better of you." Tanya stood, her small form somehow commanding attention through sheer force of will. "Whatever personal grievances you have, they are irrelevant. What about us who want to go back? Do our desires mean nothing to you?"

"That's your problem," Subaru said flatly. "Not mine."

Viktoriya gasped quietly. Grantz shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Weiss, Koenig, and Neumann exchanged alarmed glances.

"Subaru. You. Are. In. Front. Of. Lord. Ainz." Cocytus rose from his seat, frost crackling around him as he drew himself to his full, imposing height. "Do. Not.—"

"Yeah, I understand," Subaru interrupted, meeting the Floor Guardian's gaze without a trace of fear. "And I don't care anymore."

The guardians of Nazarick recoiled as one. No one spoke to Lord Ainz—or in front of Lord Ainz—with such blatant disrespect. Albedo's face twisted with rage, her fingers twitching toward the phantom weapon she couldn't summon in this world. Demiurge's tail lashed behind him, his calculating mind struggling to process such brazen defiance.

"I can do whatever I want now," Subaru continued, his voice rising. "I'm not stuck in that world anymore. I should have made this clear days ago. Weeks ago. The moment we arrived at this school."

He stood, and the motion was sharp, violent, like a puppet whose strings had been cut and then hastily reattached.

"Subaru-kun..." Rem's voice was small, concerned. She started to rise from her seat.

"You know what?" Subaru's eyes swept across the room, and where they landed, people flinched. Even Ainz, the Supreme Being, ruler of Nazarick, felt a flicker of something uncomfortable under that gaze. "I know for a fact that me and Kazuma hate our old worlds. I don't know his reasons—I'm not going to pretend I do. His story is his to tell."

Kazuma, who had been watching the unfolding disaster with the same expression a man might wear while watching a building collapse, simply nodded. "Respect, I guess."

"But me?" Subaru laughed again, and this time there was no pretense of sanity in it. "Where do I even start?"

"Barusu, that's enough." Ram's voice cracked like a whip. "You're embarrassing yourself and Emilia-sama. Sit down and stop this childish tantrum."

"Childish?" Subaru whirled on her, and for a moment—just a moment—there was such raw hatred in his eyes that Ram actually took a step back. "You want to talk about childish, Ram? Let's talk about childish. Let's talk about how you've spent every single moment since I arrived at the Mathers mansion mocking me. Belittling me. Making me feel like I was worthless."

"I—"

"Let me finish." Subaru's voice dropped to something low and dangerous. "Do you remember what you said to me in the village? When things were... bad? When I was at my lowest? When I could barely function because of everything that was happening?"

Ram's face went pale.

"You told me to kill myself."

The words landed like a physical blow. Emilia's hand flew to her mouth. Rem let out a strangled sound. Even Beatrice, who had been feigning disinterest, jerked upright with wide eyes.

"That's... that's not..." Ram's voice faltered for the first time anyone could remember.

"Don't you dare try to deny it." Subaru's hands were trembling now, but whether it was from rage or something else, no one could tell. "You looked me in the eyes and told me that if I couldn't be useful, I should just die. Those were your exact words. Your. Exact. Words."

"Subaru-kun, I'm sure Ram didn't mean—" Emilia started.

"DON'T." Subaru's voice exploded outward, making her shrink back. "Don't you dare make excuses for her. Don't you dare."

Puck's form expanded slightly, his eyes beginning to glow with an ominous light. "Subaru. I'm going to need you to calm down right now."

"Or what?" Subaru turned to face the spirit, and there was no fear in his expression. Only contempt. "You'll kill me? Add me to the list of people you've frozen to death in your little tantrums?"

"Subaru!" Emilia cried.

"I'm tired of it." Subaru's voice cracked, but he pushed through. "I'm tired of dealing with Emilia allowing a monster like Puck to be her father figure. Do you have any idea what he is? What he's capable of? What he would do—what he HAS done—if something happened to you?"

"Puck would never—"

"Puck would destroy the world." Subaru's statement was flat. Final. Absolute. "If you died, Emilia, he would destroy everything. Everyone. He's admitted as much. That's not love. That's obsession. That's a monster wearing the skin of something cute and cuddly."

Puck's glow intensified dangerously. "You're walking a very thin line, Subaru."

"Am I? Are you going to prove my point for me, Puck? Right here? In front of everyone?" Subaru spread his arms wide. "Go ahead. Show them what you really are."

The tension in the room was suffocating. Ainz watched with the kind of attention he usually reserved for potential threats to Nazarick. Tanya's hand had drifted toward where her weapon would normally be holstered. The soldiers of the 203rd were frozen, unsure whether to intervene or retreat.

"Enough." Emilia's voice trembled as she placed a hand on Puck's head, stopping him from escalating further. "Puck, please. Subaru, please. Just... stop. I don't understand why you're doing this. We're friends, aren't we?"

"Friends?" The word came out like it tasted of ash. "Is that what we are, Emilia? Friends? Because I don't know what kind of friends treat each other the way your 'camp' has treated me."

"I've always been kind to you! I've always tried to include you!"

"You've never SEEN me!" Subaru roared, and the force of it made Emilia stumble backward. "You look at me and you see what you want to see! The helpful errand boy! The devoted servant who asks for nothing in return! You've never once—not ONCE—asked yourself what I might want! What I might need! What I might be going through!"

Tears were forming in Emilia's eyes now. "That's not fair..."

"FAIR?" Subaru's laugh was hysterical, broken. "You want to talk about fair? HAVEN'T I MADE EVERYTHING GO RIGHT, EMILIA-TAN?"

The honorific came out twisted, mocking, a perversion of the affection it once held.

"Everything. Everything that we've been through, everything that we both faced—it all worked out thanks to me, didn't it?" He stepped closer to her, and Emilia backed away until her legs hit her desk. "When you lost your insignia to that thief, who went after it? Who faced down a killer in that loot house? Who BLED for you when they had no reason to?"

"S-Subaru..."

"ME." He slammed his hand against the desk beside her, making everyone in the room jump. "I risked my life for you. All because you were important to me. Because I thought—I THOUGHT—that what we had was real."

"It is real! I do care about you!"

"DO YOU?" Subaru's face was inches from hers now, and the emptiness in his eyes was somehow worse than rage would have been. "Then why can't you ever show it? Why is it always me giving and you taking? Why am I always the one who has to sacrifice everything while you just... exist?"

Rem stood up, her face pale. "Subaru-kun, please, this isn't—"

"At the mansion too," Subaru continued, ignoring her. His voice had dropped to something quiet, something haunted. "I saved Ram and Rem and the village. When the demon beasts attacked, when everything was falling apart, I was there. I put myself between them and death."

He turned slightly, and his eyes found the Overlord guardians.

"I helped plan the strategy to kill the White Whale. A monster that had terrorized people for generations. And I did it. I was part of bringing it down." His gaze swept across the room. "I killed a bishop of the Witch Cult. One of the most dangerous entities in our world. I faced him and I WON."

"Subaru-kun, we know you've done incredible things—" Rem tried again.

"It worked out because of what I did." Subaru's voice was rising again, cracking under the strain of emotions too long suppressed. "Without me there, things would have been a whole lot worse. All of it. ALL OF IT."

He grabbed his own head, fingers digging into his scalp as if trying to claw something out.

"DON'T YOU SEE? YOU SHOULD HAVE A GREATER DEBT TO ME THAN YOU COULD EVER REPAY!"

The words echoed in the silent classroom.

Ainz's fingers twitched. He recognized this. The desperation. The need for acknowledgment. The crushing weight of deeds unrecognized and sacrifices unthanked. He had seen it in himself, in quieter moments when the isolation of his existence pressed down upon him.

Demiurge's tail had gone still, his expression unreadable. Albedo's rage had faded into something approaching surprise. Even Shalltear had dropped her perpetual smirk.

"Subaru..." Beatrice's voice was small, uncertain. She looked at the young man she had reluctantly come to tolerate, and for the first time, she saw how broken he truly was.

"I should have run away with Rem."

The words fell into the silence like stones into still water.

Rem's breath caught. Her eyes widened, filling with a complex mixture of hope and anguish that was painful to witness.

"When she asked me to run away with her, to abandon everything and just... live... I should have said yes." Subaru's hands fell to his sides, limp. Empty. "Maybe then I could be at peace. Maybe then I wouldn't have this... this weight crushing me every single day."

"Then why didn't you?" Rem's voice was barely above a whisper.

Subaru looked at her, and for a moment—just a moment—something soft flickered in those dead eyes. "Because I was an idiot who thought that if I just tried hard enough, if I just sacrificed enough, people would finally care. That Emilia would finally care."

He turned back to the half-elf, who stood trembling against her desk, tears streaming down her face.

"And don't—" his voice cracked, "—don't you DARE give me that 'I don't understand love' excuse again. I'm so tired of that. So tired of you hiding behind your ignorance like it's a shield. You understand enough to show kindness to strangers. You understand enough to care for children. But when it comes to me? When it comes to seeing what's right in front of you? Suddenly you're helpless?"

"I never meant to hurt you..." Emilia sobbed.

"Intention doesn't matter when the result is the same." Subaru's voice had gone flat again, the rage burning out and leaving behind only ash. "I'm done, Emilia-tan. I'm done breaking myself for people who can't even be bothered to notice."

He turned and began walking toward the classroom door.

"Where the hell do you think you're going, Barusu?" Ram's voice had regained some of its edge, but there was something shaken beneath it.

Subaru stopped but didn't turn around. "None of your fucking business, Ram."

Several people gasped at the profanity. Subaru never cursed. Not like that. Not with such cold, deliberate venom.

"If you guys want to go back to Lugnica, that's your choice. But I will be the first one to refuse. I'll sabotage every event if I have to. I'll make sure we lose so badly that the idea of returning becomes impossible."

"You can't do that!" Aqua shrieked. "What about the rest of us?!"

"Then convince your goddess friend to perform a miracle," Subaru said without turning. "I'm sure she's good for SOMETHING."

Aqua sputtered incoherently.

"Natsuki Subaru." Tanya's voice cut through the chaos, cold and sharp as a bayonet. "What you're describing is desertion. Betrayal. In my world, such actions would be punishable by execution."

"Good thing we're not in your world, then." Subaru finally turned, meeting her eyes with something that made even the Devil of the Rhine pause. "And I've already faced things worse than death. More times than you could possibly imagine."

Something in the way he said it made several people shiver.

"You. Are. Making. A. Grave. Mistake." Cocytus's voice rumbled through the room. "To. Abandon. One's. Companions. Is. The. Ultimate. Dishonor."

"Then I'll be dishonorable," Subaru said simply. "I've been called worse."

"Subaru-kun." Rem stood, her face wet with tears. "Please. Please don't do this. I... I can't bear to see you like this."

For the first time, Subaru's expression softened—truly softened—as he looked at her. "Rem... you and Beatrice are the only ones I don't hate from our world. The only ones who ever treated me like a person and not a tool. And I'm sorry. I'm so sorry that you're caught in the middle of this."

"Then stay with us! We can work through this together! I'll—I'll talk to Ram-nee, I'll help Emilia-sama understand—"

"It's too late for that." Subaru shook his head slowly. "It was too late the moment I realized that no matter what I do, it will never be enough. They'll never see me. They'll never appreciate me. And I..." His voice broke. "I can't keep giving pieces of myself to people who throw them away."

"Subaru!" Emilia reached out toward him.

"Don't touch me."

The three words stopped her cold.

"I mean it, Emilia. Don't touch me. Don't follow me. Don't talk to me. I'm done being your safety net. Find someone else to save you the next time everything goes wrong."

"I never asked you to save me!"

"No. You just expected it." Subaru's smile was the saddest thing anyone in that room had ever seen. "And that's almost worse."

He reached for the door handle.

"Subaru, wait." Beatrice's voice was quiet, uncertain. "I suppose... I suppose this isn't the proper way to handle things, in fact. Perhaps we could discuss—"

"Betty." Subaru's voice was gentle as he looked at the ancient spirit in the form of a child. "I don't blame you for any of this. You've been lonely for longer than I could comprehend, and you were kind to me in your own way. But I can't stay. Not when staying means returning to that world. Not when returning means continuing to break myself for people who see me as nothing more than a convenient solution to their problems."

Beatrice's lower lip trembled. "But... but you're the one who..."

"I know." Subaru's hand tightened on the door handle. "And I'm sorry. For what it's worth, you were one of the good things about that place. You and Rem. But it's not enough anymore. Nothing is."

He pulled open the door.

"Subaru-sama." Demiurge's voice cut through the room, making everyone freeze. The Archdevil rarely addressed humans with such a formal tone. "Before you leave, I find myself... curious. You speak of sacrifices and struggles. Of facing dangers repeatedly. Yet from what I've observed, you are merely human. Fragile. Weak. How does someone like you survive such ordeals?"

Subaru's back was to the room, but his shoulders tensed visibly.

"I have my ways."

"That is not an answer."

"It's the only one you're going to get."

Demiurge's eyes narrowed behind his glasses. There was something here. Something that didn't add up. The human boy's psychological profile suggested deep trauma, repeated exposure to life-threatening situations, and a pattern of behavior consistent with someone who had faced death far more often than his apparent history would allow.

"Interesting," Demiurge murmured, making a mental note to investigate further.

Albedo stood suddenly, her white dress swirling around her. "Lord Ainz, should we simply allow this human to sabotage our efforts? He has openly declared his intention to prevent our return to Nazarick!"

Ainz raised a skeletal hand, silencing her. "Albedo. Let him go."

"But Lord Ainz—!"

"I said let him go."

The Supreme Being's voice carried a weight that brooked no argument. Albedo subsided immediately, though her face twisted with barely suppressed frustration.

Ainz turned his empty eye sockets toward Subaru's back. "Natsuki Subaru. I do not pretend to understand what you have endured. But I recognize the look in your eyes. I have seen it in my own reflection, in moments when the burden of leadership seems too great to bear."

Subaru paused but didn't turn.

"Go. Collect yourself. But understand this: if you actively work against the interests of everyone in this room, I will consider you an enemy. And I do not treat my enemies kindly."

"Then I guess we'll see what happens," Subaru said quietly.

He stepped through the door.

And then he was gone.

The silence that followed was deafening.

Emilia collapsed into her chair, sobbing uncontrollably. Ram stood frozen, her face a mask that couldn't quite hide the conflict beneath. Rem was halfway between her seat and the door, trapped between her loyalty to her sister and Emilia, and her feelings for the broken young man who had just walked away.

Beatrice stared at the door, her ancient eyes filled with a sadness that seemed far too deep for her childlike appearance.

Roswaal stood at the front of the room, his smile finally—finally—gone. In its place was something thoughtful. Calculating. The clown had dropped his mask for just a moment, and what lay beneath was far more frightening than any laughter could be.

"Weeeell," he said softly, "that was quite unexpected."

"You knew." Rem's voice was barely a whisper, but it carried across the room like a shout. "Roswaal-sama, you knew he was suffering. You knew, and you did nothing."

Roswaal's mismatched eyes found hers. "I know many things, Rem. Knowledge and action are not always the same thing."

"How could you—"

"Because Subaru-kun's suffering serves the graaaand design." The smile was back, but it was hollow. Mechanical. "Or at least, it did. It seems our dear guest has finally reached his limit. How... fascinating."

"Fascinating?" Tanya's voice was sharp. "One of our classmates just threatened to sabotage our only chance of returning home, and you find it fascinating?"

"I find many things fascinating, Major Degurechaff. Human nature most of all." Roswaal clasped his hands together. "But I believe class is dismissed for today. We all have much to think about, yes?"

Nobody moved.

"That was messed up," Kazuma said into the silence. He hadn't moved from his slouched position, but his expression had changed. There was something almost like respect in his eyes. "I mean, I'm not going back either, but damn. That guy's got issues."

"Shut up, Kazuma!" Aqua snapped through her own tears. "This isn't funny!"

"I'm not laughing." Kazuma's voice was quiet. "I know what it's like. To give everything you have and get nothing in return. To be surrounded by people who take and take and take until there's nothing left of you." His eyes found the members of his party, and for once, there was no sarcasm in his gaze. Just exhaustion. "Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about."

Megumin opened her mouth, then closed it. Even she had no response to that.

Darkness shifted uncomfortably. "Kazuma... we never meant..."

"Nobody ever means to break someone." Kazuma stood, stretching lazily despite the weight of his words. "That's the problem. It just happens, one little piece at a time, until suddenly there's nothing left to break."

He headed toward the door.

"Where are you going?" Aqua demanded.

"To find Subaru." Kazuma paused at the threshold. "Someone should make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. And since all of you are apparently terrible at noticing when someone's falling apart..." He shrugged. "Might as well be the other guy who doesn't want to go back."

He left, and the door clicked shut behind him.

The room remained frozen in the aftermath of what had just occurred.

Ainz sat in contemplative silence, his mind processing the implications of what he had witnessed. A human so broken, so desperate, that he would threaten to sabotage the efforts of beings far more powerful than himself simply to avoid returning to his original world. There was either profound courage in that, or profound despair. Perhaps both.

"Lord Ainz." Demiurge approached, his voice pitched low. "What are your orders?"

"For now? Nothing." Ainz waved a skeletal hand. "Let events unfold. This situation has become... complicated. I would like to understand more before taking action."

"As expected of Lord Ainz," Demiurge nodded, though his eyes remained calculating. "Your wisdom truly knows no bounds."

Tanya sat back in her chair, her mind racing. Subaru Natsuki had just revealed himself as an enemy of her goal. A wild card. A saboteur. In any military operation, such elements were dealt with swiftly and permanently. But this wasn't the battlefield. This was a school in some kind of interdimensional bubble, and the rules here were different.

"Major?" Viktoriya's voice was hesitant. "What should we do?"

"Nothing, for now," Tanya replied, echoing Ainz's assessment. "We observe. We adapt. And if Natsuki Subaru becomes a genuine threat to our objectives, we remove him from the equation." Her eyes were cold. "By whatever means necessary."

The soldiers of the 203rd nodded grimly. They had done worse things for lesser reasons.

In her seat, Emilia continued to sob, her silver hair spilling over her face like a curtain. Puck had expanded to his larger form, wrapping around her protectively, but for once, his presence brought no comfort. Subaru's words echoed in her mind, each one a wound that wouldn't stop bleeding.

You've never SEEN me.

I'm done being your safety net.

I can't keep giving pieces of myself to people who throw them away.

Had she really been so blind? Had she truly taken Subaru's devotion for granted, consuming his efforts without offering anything in return? The questions twisted inside her like thorns, and she had no answers. Only tears.

Ram stood at her desk, her hands gripping the edge so tightly her knuckles had gone white. Subaru's accusation rang in her ears, undeniable in its truth.

You told me to kill myself.

She had. In a moment of frustration, of concern for her sister and her mistress, she had said those words. She had meant them to be harsh, to shake him out of his useless spiral, to make him function. She hadn't considered that they might become a weight he carried long after they were spoken. That they might be one more crack in an already fractured soul.

Rem looked at her sister, and for the first time, she didn't know what to say. Her love for Ram was absolute, unquestionable. But so was her love for Subaru. And right now, those two loves stood on opposite sides of a chasm she didn't know how to bridge.

"Nee-sama..." she began.

"Don't." Ram's voice was hollow. "Not now."

Rem fell silent, her heart breaking in ways she couldn't name.

At the front of the room, Roswaal's smile had returned, but it was different now. Sharper. More calculating. The pieces on his board had moved in ways he hadn't anticipated, and while that was troublesome, it was also... interesting.

Very interesting indeed.

The afternoon sun continued to shine through the windows, indifferent to the emotional devastation that had occurred within those walls. Somewhere outside, Subaru Natsuki was walking away from everything he had known, everything he had fought for, everything he had sacrificed.

And somewhere behind him, in a classroom full of beings from different worlds, the people who had taken his devotion for granted were finally beginning to understand just how much they had lost.

The sports festival was coming.

But the battle had already begun.

Chapter Text

The rooftop was empty except for the sound of wind and the distant echoes of students going about their lives below. Subaru sat against the chain-link fence that bordered the edge, his knees drawn up to his chest, his eyes staring at nothing. The afternoon sun beat down on him, but he didn't feel its warmth. He didn't feel much of anything anymore.

The door to the rooftop creaked open.

Subaru didn't turn around. He already knew who it was. There was only one person who would bother following him, and it wasn't anyone from his so-called camp.

Footsteps approached, casual and unhurried, until Kazuma Satou dropped down beside him with a heavy sigh. The other boy stretched his legs out in front of him, leaning back on his hands as if this were just another ordinary afternoon.

"The fuck do you want?" Subaru's voice was flat, devoid of the emotional turmoil that had erupted in the classroom. He had emptied himself down there. There was nothing left to give.

"Nothing," Kazuma replied with a shrug. "Just wanted to sit down. Seemed like a good spot."

Silence stretched between them. The wind picked up, rustling through their hair and clothes.

"Fuck off."

Kazuma blinked, turning to look at Subaru with genuine surprise. "What?"

"I said fuck off." Subaru still wasn't looking at him, but his voice had gained an edge. Something sharp and cutting that hadn't been there before. "You're a coward."

Kazuma's eyebrows shot up. "Been called worse, honestly. Usually by Aqua. Sometimes by random townspeople. Once by a—"

"NO."

The word cracked through the air like a whip, and Subaru finally turned to face him. His eyes were red-rimmed but dry, and there was something burning in them that made Kazuma's casual demeanor falter.

"I just vented everything down there. Everything. Every piece of hatred and resentment and pain that I've been carrying around for god knows how long. I tore myself open in front of everyone and let them see exactly how broken I am."

Subaru's voice was rising now, that empty calm shattering into something raw and jagged.

"Yet you—YOU—clearly hide your own guilt. Your own anger. Your own hatred for those idiots you call a party. And you come up here, sit down next to me, thinking—what? That you understand? That we're the same?"

"I never said—"

"WE'RE NOT THE SAME." Subaru was on his feet now, looming over Kazuma with an intensity that was almost frightening. "Not until you do what I did. Not until you stop hiding behind your sarcasm and your 'I don't care' attitude and actually TELL THEM what you really think!"

Kazuma's expression shifted. The casual facade cracked, and something darker emerged from beneath. His jaw tightened. His eyes hardened.

"...Fuck you."

"NO. FUCK YOU." Subaru jabbed a finger at Kazuma's chest. "Either go back down there and do what I did—tell them everything, every single thing you've been holding back—or fuck off. Until you do that, you're just like them. A fucking goddamn coward who takes and takes and never has the balls to say what he really means."

Kazuma was on his feet now too, and the two young men stood face to face, anger crackling between them like electricity.

"You don't know anything about me," Kazuma growled.

"Then TELL me. Tell THEM. Or are you too scared? Too comfortable hiding behind jokes and complaints that everyone just laughs off?" Subaru's smile was cruel. "At least I had the guts to burn my bridges. What's your excuse?"

The silence that followed was suffocating.

Kazuma's hands were shaking. Not with fear—with rage. Pure, undiluted rage that had been building for months. Years, maybe. Since the moment he died in that embarrassing way back on Earth. Since the moment Aqua laughed at him. Since every single time his party had dragged him into disaster after disaster and blamed him for the consequences.

"...Fine."

The word came out low and dangerous.

"What?" Subaru's eyes narrowed.

"I said FINE." Kazuma's voice rose to match Subaru's earlier intensity. "You want me to do what you did? You want me to tear myself apart in front of everyone? THEN YOU'RE GOING TO LISTEN, YOU STUPID MOTHERFUCKER."

"FINE." Subaru crossed his arms. "I'll be behind the classroom door. You go in there and say everything you've been too chickenshit to say. And I'll listen to every word. Make sure you actually go through with it."

"You think I won't?"

"I think you've had plenty of chances and you've never taken them. Prove me wrong."

Their eyes locked. Two broken young men, forced into worlds they never asked for, surrounded by people who never truly saw them. In that moment, something passed between them—not friendship, exactly, but understanding. Recognition.

Kazuma turned toward the door.

"Kazuma."

He paused but didn't look back.

"Don't hold back. Not a single word. They deserve to hear all of it."

"...Yeah." Kazuma's voice was rough. "Yeah, they do."

He walked through the door and disappeared into the stairwell.

Subaru followed.

The classroom had descended into a kind of stunned paralysis after Subaru and Kazuma's departure. Conversations had started and stopped in fits and bursts, no one quite sure what to say or do. Emilia had finally stopped crying, but her eyes were still red and swollen, her hands clasped tightly in her lap. Ram stood by the window, her back to the room, her reflection revealing nothing of what she was feeling. Rem sat between them, torn, her gaze constantly flickering to the door.

The Nazarick contingent had gathered in their corner, speaking in hushed tones. Ainz sat in contemplative silence while Demiurge and Albedo debated the implications of what they had witnessed. The other guardians waited for their master's command.

Tanya had pulled out a notebook and was writing furiously, analyzing the situation from every tactical angle. Her soldiers sat nearby, uncomfortable but disciplined, waiting for orders.

Team Konosuba sat in various states of shock and denial.

Aqua was sniffling into a handkerchief, muttering about ungrateful party members and how she was the victim here, actually. Megumin sat with her arms crossed, her expression troubled, replaying Kazuma's words in her head over and over. Darkness stared at her desk, her face unreadable.

The door slammed open.

Every head in the room snapped toward the sound.

Kazuma stood in the doorway, and he looked nothing like the laid-back, sarcastic young man they had come to know. His face was twisted with an emotion that none of them had ever seen from him before. This wasn't annoyance. This wasn't frustration. This wasn't even the exasperated anger he showed when things went wrong.

This was hatred.

Pure, burning, barely contained hatred.

Behind him, visible through the doorway, Subaru slid down against the wall until he was sitting on the floor, his back against the frame. He tilted his head back, eyes closing, and waited.

"Well?" Subaru's voice drifted in from the hallway. "DO IT."

Kazuma's hands clenched into fists at his sides.

"...I just talked to Subaru."

His voice was low. Controlled. The kind of controlled that came right before an explosion.

"He called me a coward."

Aqua perked up slightly, ready to agree—anything to shift the blame onto someone else.

"Not for wanting to stay here," Kazuma continued, and his voice began to rise. "But for hiding what I really think. Of you. All of you."

The room went very, very still.

"Kazuma?" Megumin's voice was uncertain. "What does that—"

"For YEARS," Kazuma cut her off, and the word came out like a curse, "I have dealt with this. With ALL of this. And I've smiled through it. Complained through it. Made jokes about it. Because that's what I do, right? That's who Kazuma is. The straight man. The guy who puts up with everyone's bullshit and keeps the party together."

He started walking forward, each step deliberate and heavy.

"But you know what? I'm done. I'm SO fucking done."

"Kazuma, what does that—" Aqua started.

"SHUT UP."

The words cracked through the air like thunder, and Aqua flinched back so hard she nearly fell out of her chair. In all their time together, through all the arguments and insults and disasters, Kazuma had never spoken to her like that. Never with that much venom. That much genuine hatred.

"For ONCE in your miserable existence, Aqua, you are going to SHUT YOUR MOUTH and LISTEN."

Aqua's eyes went wide, tears already forming. "K-Kazuma—"

"I SAID SHUT UP!"

The goddess fell silent, her face pale with shock.

Kazuma turned to face the room, his eyes sweeping across everyone present—Nazarick, the Empire's soldiers, Emilia's camp, his own party members. All of them.

"I have to deal with three people," he began, his voice trembling with barely suppressed rage, "who have NEVER—not ONCE—respected me. Who have NEVER listened to me. Who treat me like I'm nothing more than a convenient wallet and occasional meat shield."

"That's not—" Darkness started.

"DON'T." Kazuma whirled on her, and she recoiled. "Don't you DARE try to defend yourself right now. You'll get your turn."

He turned back to Aqua, and his face contorted with something that looked almost like disgust.

"Let's start with you. Aqua. The great goddess Aqua." He spat the words like they were poison. "Do you want to know what I think of you? What I REALLY think of you, after all this time?"

Aqua shook her head frantically, tears streaming down her face. "No, I don't want—"

"TOO BAD."

Kazuma stepped closer, and Aqua pressed herself back against her chair like she was trying to disappear into it.

"You are the most USELESS, STUPID, SELFISH piece of garbage I have ever had the misfortune of meeting. And I've met literal demons. I've met undead. I've met monsters that wanted to eat me alive. And NONE of them were as insufferable as you."

"Kazuma, please—"

"You're a DRUNK." The word came out like a slap. "A pathetic, crying, whining drunk who spends every coin we earn on booze and then has the AUDACITY to complain when we can't afford food. Do you have ANY idea how many times we've almost starved because of you? How many times we've been thrown out of inns because you couldn't keep yourself together?"

Aqua was sobbing now, her divine composure utterly shattered.

"And that's not even the worst part." Kazuma's voice dropped to something cold. Something deadly. "You get us into trouble. CONSTANTLY. Every single disaster we've faced—EVERY SINGLE ONE—can be traced back to something YOU did. Some stupid decision YOU made. Some enemy YOU attracted because you couldn't keep your mouth shut or your powers under control."

"I didn't mean—"

"YOU NEVER MEAN TO. THAT'S THE WHOLE FUCKING PROBLEM." Kazuma's voice exploded outward, making everyone in the room jump. "You stumble through life causing chaos and destruction everywhere you go, and then you cry and play the victim when people call you out on it. 'Poor Aqua! Nobody appreciates me! I'm just a goddess trying my best!'"

He mimicked her voice with cruel accuracy, and Aqua's sobs intensified.

"The ONLY reason I tolerate you—the ONLY reason I haven't abandoned you somewhere and never looked back—is because of your powers. Your resurrection. Your purification. That's IT. That's the ONLY value you have to me. Otherwise?" He laughed, and it was an ugly sound. "I would have left you on the first day. The FIRST. DAY."

Darkness stood up from her seat. "Kazuma, that's enough—"

"SIT DOWN, LALATINA."

The use of her real name made Darkness freeze. Her face went bright red—not from embarrassment this time, but from shock.

"Yeah, I know your real name. I know a lot of things about all of you that I've never brought up. Because I was NICE. Because I thought maybe—MAYBE—if I just put up with your bullshit long enough, things would get better." Kazuma's laugh was bitter. "Stupid, right? Even I can be an idiot sometimes."

He turned back to Aqua, who had curled in on herself, her face buried in her hands.

"Do you want to know something really funny, Aqua? Do you want to know WHY you're here? In this world? With me?"

She shook her head desperately.

"When I died—" Kazuma's voice cracked slightly, "—when I died back on Earth, you were there. In that white room. You and your little presentation about the afterlife. And do you remember what you did?"

Silence.

"YOU LAUGHED AT ME."

The words echoed through the room.

"You LAUGHED at the way I died. Called it pathetic. Showed me statistics about how stupid and pointless my death was. Made me watch a video of my own family's reaction—which, by the way, was TRAUMATIZING, thanks for that—and then you LAUGHED. Because it was FUNNY to you. My death. My fear. My confusion. All of it was just a big joke to the great goddess Aqua."

Aqua's sobs had gone silent. She was staring at him now, her face streaked with tears, her expression one of dawning horror.

"You offered me one wish. One item or power to bring to the new world. And you know what I chose?" Kazuma's smile was vicious. "I chose YOU. I dragged you down here with me. Because if I had to suffer, then so did you."

"Kazuma..." Aqua's voice was broken. "I didn't... I didn't know you felt..."

"OF COURSE YOU DIDN'T KNOW. YOU NEVER KNOW. YOU NEVER PAY ATTENTION TO ANYTHING THAT ISN'T DIRECTLY ABOUT YOU." Kazuma threw his hands up in frustration. "You know what? Sometimes I regret it. Choosing you. I could have had a legendary sword. A cheat ability. Something that would have actually made my life EASIER instead of an anchor around my neck dragging me into one disaster after another."

He turned away from her, his chest heaving.

"But I made my choice. And now I'm stuck with you. And I FUCKING HATE IT. I FUCKING HATE YOU."

The words hung in the air, brutal and final.

Kazuma turned to Darkness next, and her face went pale.

"Your turn, Lalatina."

"Kazuma, I—"

"Am I a pervert?" He cut her off, advancing on her. "Sure. Yeah. I'll admit it. I've done some questionable things. I've had some questionable thoughts. But you know what I DON'T do? I don't do it in PUBLIC. I don't BRAG about it. I don't make everyone around me uncomfortable with my fetishes."

Darkness's mouth opened and closed, no sound coming out.

"You?" Kazuma jabbed a finger at her. "You're a MASOCHIST. And not just a regular one—no, that would be too simple. You're the kind of masochist who gets off on public humiliation. On being degraded. On being hurt. And you don't have the DECENCY to keep it private."

"I can't help how I—"

"BULLSHIT." Kazuma's voice cracked with rage. "You CHOOSE to indulge it. Every single time. Every battle, every encounter, every social situation—you find a way to make it weird. To make it about YOUR needs. YOUR desires. And the rest of us have to stand there and pretend it's normal while you moan about how much you want monsters to do terrible things to you."

Darkness's face had gone from pale to crimson, but not in the way it usually did. There was no arousal there. Only shame.

"Do you have ANY idea how embarrassing it is to be associated with you?" Kazuma continued, his voice rising. "How many times people have looked at our party and assumed we're ALL as fucked up as you are? How many times I've had to explain that no, we're not THAT kind of adventurers, we don't do THAT kind of quests?"

"Kazuma, please—"

"No WONDER your family is embarrassed by you."

Darkness flinched like she'd been slapped.

"That's right. I said it. The great Dustiness family—one of the most prestigious noble houses in the kingdom—and their daughter is the laughingstock of adventurer guilds across the continent. They can barely stand to be in the same room as you. And honestly? I get it now. I completely fucking get it."

Tears were forming in Darkness's eyes now too—something almost no one had ever seen from the crusader.

"You're not brave, Lalatina. You're not courageous. You're just BROKEN. And instead of getting help, instead of working on yourself, you've made your trauma everyone else's problem. Congratulations."

Kazuma turned to Megumin.

The young arch-wizard sat frozen in her seat, her crimson eyes wide, her face pale beneath her hat. She had watched him tear into Aqua and Darkness with growing dread, knowing her turn was coming.

"Megumin."

She swallowed hard. "K-Kazuma—"

"You know, out of all three of you?" Kazuma's voice dropped slightly—not softer, exactly, but less explosive. "You're probably the least terrible. And that's a fucking LOW bar."

Megumin didn't know whether to feel relieved or terrified.

"You actually listen to me sometimes. You occasionally show something resembling common sense. And yeah, your explosion magic is actually useful—when the situation calls for it."

For a brief moment, hope flickered in Megumin's eyes.

"But you know what ruins it? Your OBSESSION."

The hope died.

"You only use explosions. ONLY. Explosions." Kazuma's voice began rising again. "We could be fighting a single goblin—ONE goblin—and you'd want to cast explosion on it. We could be sneaking into an enemy base, trying to be QUIET, and you'd be whining about how you hasn't gotten to explode anything today."

"Explosion magic is the most powerful—"

"I DON'T CARE!" Kazuma roared. "I don't CARE if it's the most powerful! You cast ONE spell and then you're USELESS for the rest of the day! You just lie there on the ground while the rest of us have to carry you—LITERALLY carry you—back home! Do you have ANY idea how many times we've almost died because you wasted your magic on something stupid?!"

Megumin shrank back in her chair.

"You're not a mage. You're a one-trick pony with an explosion fetish." Kazuma's voice dripped with contempt. "A loli with a chuunibyou complex who cares more about looking cool than actually being HELPFUL. 'Oh, look at me, I'm Megumin, the Crimson Demon! Fear my ultimate magic!' And then you fall over and I have to fireman-carry your unconscious body through a forest full of monsters while Aqua cries and Darkness tries to get eaten."

"That's not—"

"If I HAD to keep one of you—if someone put a sword to my throat and said 'choose one party member to keep'—I'd probably pick you. But don't let that go to your head." Kazuma's eyes were cold. "It's not because I LIKE you. It's because you're the least ANNOYING. That's it. That's the whole qualification. Congratulations on barely clearing the lowest possible bar."

Megumin's lower lip trembled, but she forced herself not to cry. She was a Crimson Demon. She wouldn't show weakness. Even if it felt like her heart was being crushed.

Kazuma turned to face the room at large.

"And don't think the rest of you are off the hook."

The members of Nazarick shifted uncomfortably. The Empire's soldiers tensed. Emilia's group looked up with wary eyes.

"None of you know ANYTHING about me. You see 'Kazuma, the guy from the funny party.' 'Kazuma, the straight man.' 'Kazuma, the pervert.' That's it. That's all I am to any of you."

He started pacing, his movements erratic and sharp.

"Do any of you know what my life was like before I died? Do any of you know what I went through? What I sacrificed? What I LOST?"

Silence.

"Of course you don't. Because you never ASKED. Because I'm just a joke to all of you. The comedic relief. The guy who complains but ultimately goes along with whatever idiotic plan everyone else comes up with."

He stopped pacing and faced them all, his chest heaving.

"I have been KILLED. Multiple times. Do you understand what that's like? To DIE? To feel your life slipping away and know that this is it, this is the end, everything you ever were or could have been is about to be NOTHING?"

His voice cracked.

"And then to come back. To be brought back by HER—" he jabbed a finger at Aqua without looking at her, "—and have to keep going. Keep fighting. Keep dealing with idiots and monsters and impossible situations while everyone around me treats my SUFFERING like a punchline."

Ainz shifted slightly. He knew something of death. Of what it meant to lose one's humanity. To be trapped in an existence that wasn't quite life anymore.

"They call me 'Scumzuma' back home. 'Hiki-NEET.' Like I'm garbage. Like I'm nothing. And the worst part?" Kazuma laughed, and it was hollow. "They're not entirely wrong. I WAS a shut-in back in Japan. I WAS a loser who spent all his time playing games and avoiding real life. But you know what? At least I wasn't HURTING anyone. At least I was just minding my own business."

He turned back to his party.

"Then I died saving someone—or at least I THOUGHT I was saving someone—and instead of getting peace, instead of getting rest, I got DRAGGED into another world full of DEATH and MONSTERS and these three FUCKING MORONS who have done nothing but make my life HELL since the moment I arrived."

"Kazuma..." Aqua's voice was barely a whisper.

"I'm staying here." His voice went flat. Final. "I'm not going back. Not to that world. Not to a life where I get my heart broken because every girl I meet is either insane, obsessed with something other than me, or just using me for money. Not to a life where I get killed because you three FUCKING INBREDS can't go five minutes without causing a disaster. Not to a world where I'm called 'Scumzuma' and 'Hiki-NEET' and treated like garbage by people who don't know ANYTHING about what I've been through."

He walked toward the door, then stopped.

"Fuck. That."

Kazuma turned one final time, his eyes sweeping across every person in that room.

"None of you know the first thing about me. I hate Aqua. I hate Megumin. I hate Darkness. I hate EVERYBODY in this room. Put THAT in your fucking plans."

He pointed at Ainz. "You and your skeleton army? You don't understand humans at all." He pointed at Tanya. "You think you're so smart? You're just a child soldier with a god complex." He pointed at Emilia's group. "And you? You just got done seeing what happens when you ignore the one person who actually gives a shit about you. Learn from it or don't—I don't care anymore."

He stormed toward the door.

Subaru was still sitting against the wall outside, his eyes closed, a ghost of something that might have been satisfaction on his face.

"Happy now?" Kazuma growled as he passed.

"Not really," Subaru replied without opening his eyes. "But at least now we're both honest."

Kazuma stopped for a moment, then kept walking, his footsteps echoing down the hallway until they faded into silence.

The classroom remained frozen in the aftermath of the second explosion.

Aqua sat slumped in her chair, her face buried in her hands, her shoulders shaking with silent sobs. The goddess who always demanded attention and praise had been stripped bare, exposed for every flaw and failing, and she had nothing left to hide behind.

Megumin stared at her desk, her crimson eyes glassy and unfocused. She had always thought Kazuma's complaints were just part of their dynamic—the straight man and the eccentric party. She had never considered that beneath the jokes, there might be real resentment. Real hatred.

Darkness sat rigid in her seat, her hands gripping her thighs so tightly her knuckles had gone white. The crusader who could take any physical blow had been utterly demolished by words. Her deepest shame—her family's disappointment, her inability to control her urges, her status as a source of embarrassment—had been laid out for everyone to see.

"Lord Ainz." Albedo's voice was barely controlled, her rage simmering just beneath the surface. "That human DARED to insult you. To insult NAZARICK. Surely we cannot let this stand."

Ainz raised a skeletal hand. "Enough, Albedo."

"But Lord Ainz—!"

"I said enough." His voice carried a weight that silenced her immediately. "What I witnessed today was not an insult. It was a collapse. Two humans pushed beyond their limits, breaking apart under pressures we did not see. To respond with anger would be to miss the point entirely."

Demiurge adjusted his glasses, his expression thoughtful. "As expected of Lord Ainz. You see past the surface to the deeper truth. These outbursts were not attacks—they were cries for help from beings who have suffered far more than their appearances suggested."

I didn't really mean anything that profound, Ainz thought privately, but sure, let's go with that.

"The question is," Ainz continued aloud, "what do we do now? Two of our classmates have openly stated their intention to prevent us from returning to our worlds."

Tanya stood, her notebook clutched in her hands. "From a tactical perspective, they represent a significant threat to our objectives. Sabotage from within is often more dangerous than opposition from without. However..." She paused, her childlike face showing an expression of genuine uncertainty. "However, I find myself... conflicted."

"Major?" Viktoriya looked at her commanding officer with surprise.

"I have pushed soldiers to their breaking points before. I have seen what happens when human beings are asked to give more than they have. And I have seen the consequences when those breaks are ignored." Tanya's voice was quiet. "What we witnessed today was not defiance. It was the sound of two people shattering under weight no one bothered to notice."

The soldiers of the 203rd exchanged uncomfortable glances. They had all seen comrades reach that point. Some had reached it themselves.

"Are you suggesting we do nothing?" Weiss asked.

"I am suggesting we reassess our approach." Tanya sat back down. "If we try to force their cooperation, we may push them into active opposition. If we can address their grievances—or at least appear to—we may be able to neutralize the threat without conflict."

"Address their grievances?" Cocytus's voice rumbled through the room. "They. Have. Grievances. Against. Their. Own. Allies. How. Can. We. Address. That?"

"We can't," Ainz said slowly. "That is not our battle to fight. But we can ensure they are not our enemies. Or at least, not our immediate enemies."

In the corner, Emilia finally looked up. Her face was tear-stained, her eyes red and swollen, but there was something in them now—not anger, not understanding, but something worse. Guilt.

"Subaru was right."

Every head turned toward her.

"About what, Emilia-sama?" Ram's voice was carefully neutral, but there was tension beneath it.

"About everything." Emilia's voice broke. "I never saw him. I never really looked at him as a person. I saw him as... as a helper. As someone who would always be there when I needed him. And I never once asked what HE needed. What HE was going through."

"Emilia-sama—"

"Don't." Emilia held up a hand, and Ram fell silent. "Don't try to comfort me. I don't deserve it. Not after... not after everything Subaru said."

Puck materialized on her shoulder, his small form radiating warmth and concern. "Lia, you can't blame yourself for—"

"Yes, I can." Emilia's voice was firm despite the tears. "And so can you, Puck."

The spirit went still.

"Subaru called you a monster." Emilia's voice trembled. "He said you would destroy the world if something happened to me. Is... is that true?"

Puck was silent for a long moment.

"Puck?"

"...Yes."

The single word fell into the room like a stone into water.

"If anything happened to you, Lia—if you were truly gone—I would end everything. Every living thing. Every trace of the world that failed to protect you." Puck's voice was soft, almost gentle, but there was something terrifying in its gentleness. "That is the contract. That is my nature."

Emilia's face went pale. "But... but that's not love. That's..."

"Obsession?" Puck finished for her. "Perhaps. By human standards, certainly. But I am not human, Lia. I am a spirit. My love for you is absolute. Total. Without limit or reservation. And yes—without moral constraint."

The room had gone deathly silent.

"So Subaru was right about that too," Emilia whispered.

"He often is," Puck admitted. "More often than I would like. The boy sees things others miss. And he carries burdens others cannot imagine."

Rem stood suddenly, her chair scraping loudly against the floor. "I need to find Subaru-kun."

"Rem—" Ram started.

"No, nee-sama." Rem's voice was gentle but firm. "I heard what he said. About me. About us. He said I was one of the only people he tolerated. One of the only people who actually cares about him." Her eyes were bright with unshed tears. "If that's true—if I'm really one of the few people he has left—then I need to be there for him. I NEED to."

She started toward the door.

"And what about Emilia-sama?" Ram's voice was sharp. "Your duty is to her, not to that—"

"Don't finish that sentence, nee-sama." Rem's voice went cold in a way it almost never did when addressing her sister. "Don't you dare. Not after what Subaru-kun said. Not after what WE did to him."

Ram recoiled as if struck.

"I love you, nee-sama. I always will. But Subaru-kun was right about something else too." Rem's eyes met her sister's. "You told him to kill himself. You said those words to someone who was suffering. And you never apologized. Never acknowledged it. Never even seemed to realize how much it hurt him."

"I was trying to—"

"I don't care what you were trying to do." Rem's voice broke. "I care about what you DID. And right now, what I'm going to DO is find Subaru-kun and make sure he knows that at least ONE person from our world actually gives a damn about him."

She walked to the door, unaware it was too late.