Chapter Text
A happy and unexpected couple dancing in the ballroom. A silver-haired half-elf, cursed to look like the witch who nearly destroyed the world, and a young man with jet-black hair and eyes that radiated malice—both cursed in their own way—smiling as they stared at each other and danced the night long.
>>End. Arc 4: Completed<<
The theater erupted in applause. Many stood up to cheer for the boy’s "happy ending."
Garfiel: “That’s our Captain! Enduring all that horror and still reaching his goal in the end. Not even the Great Rabbit could stop him, and his deeds will spread across the entire land.”
He jumped from his seat, wearing the widest grin he could muster. Seeing the man he respected most overcome every obstacle and save everyone proved, once again, why he was the Captain.
Otto: “You’re right, Garfiel. Natsuki-san has done so much for each of us. He truly is a noble man, though even so, I wish he’d stop making fun of me.”
The merchant rose slightly from his chair, lowered his arms, and let out an exaggerated pout.
And yet, he is a true friend. I will repay my debt to him, even if it takes my entire life. Not just because I’m a merchant who honors his debts—but because we are friends.
He leaned back in his chair and flashed a simple smile, thinking about how grateful he was to have a friend like Subaru.
Meanwhile, Roswaal — who was only still alive because the ‘Director’ did not allow physical violence in the theater — calmly closed his eyes, reflecting on the unnecessary suffering his little play, which had spiraled out of his control, had endured.
Already standing, the pink-haired oni girl made a sound of disapproval at what she had just seen and crossed her arms.
Ram: “Hmph! Barusu, you pervert. Taking the opportunity to seduce Miss Emilia is unbecoming of someone who calls himself her knight. I think when we return, I’ll have to teach you a lesson on how to be a true gentleman.”
Ram, forever the tsundere, could never bring herself to simply praise the black-haired boy. But even behind the insults, everyone knew what she really meant. Between her and Subaru, there was a bond that transcended words—it only had to be felt.
She then looked back at the screen and whispered:
Ram: "But that said... thank you. Thank you for saving me, my sister, and my master."
The words barely left her lips—yet everyone who heard them wore the same silent smile.
The screening had ended, but the theater still breathed with emotion. Some wept. Others smiled in admiration. There were those who remained absorbed in their own thoughts, weighing everything they had seen.
In the midst of it all, the Sun Princess, Priscilla Barielle, observed the scene from above with narrowed, thoughtful eyes—a rare expression for that ever-haughty face. Her knight, Aldebaran, who had remained particularly quiet throughout the viewing, noticed his lady’s unusual silence and decided to break it.
Al: "What’s up, Princess? Didn’t like Bro’s story?"
Priscilla: "Haah! It seems you’re the one who didn’t like it, Al."
Upon hearing this, Al simply shrugged, as if he didn't know what she was talking about.
Ignoring her jester’s act, she continued.
Priscilla: "My silence is nothing of note, you fool. It is merely... interesting. Seeing these commoners celebrate overcoming the challenges of this other jester—when they themselves contributed to creating every one of those challenges."
Though the answer was directed at her knight, Priscilla didn't bother lowering her voice. Naturally, it didn't take long to provoke a reaction.
The first to stand up was the shield of the half-elf's camp.
Garfiel: “What was that, you bitch in red?! I’ve had enough of your bullshit. You looking for a fight?!”
Priscilla responded without even deigning to look at him.
Priscilla: “What’s the matter, scaredy-cat? Are you going to kill me like you did the residents of that village?”
The words were simple. Precise. And they pierced through the tiger boy's defenses like a blade between the ribs. Garfiel remembered—the failed loop, the moment he lost control and began killing the villagers indiscriminately. All the energy that had been in him simply... vanished.
Similarly, Ram, the eldest of the oni sisters, lowered her head in silence. She remembered well. Of all the things she could have done to restrain the boy who harbored romantic feelings for her, the only thing she could think of was to provoke him. She had only one task, yet she let her pride get in the way.
Priscilla: “As expected. Leaving this commoner in the care of these people will only ruin him for good. I shall take him and make him someone worthy of serving me.”
The Baroness declared this while looking at the half-elf's camp with her usual disdain—like someone announcing the obvious.
Aldebaran: “You intend to take him to our camp, Princess?! First time I've heard of this! Am I, as your jester, not enough?!”
The one-armed knight said this without any embarrassment in calling himself a jester.
Priscilla: “Silence, Aldebaran. I don't recall needing to tell you every decision I make. Instead of asking questions, go fetch me another bottle of wine.”
The Princess said, hitting the knight's helmet, who left grumbling something about not being called by that name—which, as usual, went in one ear and out the other.
The Princess of the Slums, Felt, observed the scene and didn't miss the opportunity.
Felt: “Haah! You bitch, you can't even talk to your knight without hitting him. Keep dreaming if you think Big Bro would ever want to go with you! Right, Big Sis?”
The last part was fired toward the half-elf candidate, who had no intention of letting anyone take her knight.
Emilia: “That’s right! Don't even think about stealing Subaru from me. Now that I’ve learned everything he went through alone and discovered my feelings for him—I won't allow him to keep getting hurt by himself.”
Rem: “Exactly, Emilia-sama! We won't hand Subaru-kun over to anyone!”
Beatrice: “Finally, this silly girl said something that makes sense, I suppose. No one separates me from Betty’s Subaru.”
Crusch: “I agree. Priscilla-san, openly declaring that you will take another candidate’s knight is a bit much, don't you think?”
The merchant princess, Anastasia, hearing Crusch’s comment, couldn't help but think that some would call it a ‘rescue’ rather than a ‘theft’—but decided to stay out of the fray.
Priscilla: “Theft? I don't need to do anything so classless. The commoner will come to me of his own free will—for that is what I have decided, and the world shall comply with my will.”
She paused, her eyes sliding slowly to the great Yin spirit, Beatrice, who was clinging to her contractor as if he might disappear at any moment.
Priscilla: “...And when he comes, it matters not if the package comes complete.”
Beatrice, who only cared about not being separated from her contractor, lost interest in the conversation as soon as she realized her position was secure.
Beatrice: “Then I guess I don't need to get involved in this conversation, I suppose.”
Otto: “Beatrice-sama, please don't just abandon the camp without even blinking!”
Beatrice: “Staying by her contractor's side is Betty’s priority. Get lost, merchant!”
...And so, the discussion continued for a while longer.
Aldebaran walked down the corridor, fulfilling his princess's order, while his mind inevitably wandered back to everything that had happened in that theater.
They were on their way to Pristella when, suddenly, they were dragged to that mysterious place—a theater governed by an entity of absurd power, something not even the Sword Saint could challenge. An existence that was likely beyond even his teacher's knowledge. She said she had brought them there to show the suffering Natsuki Subaru was going through and to give them all a chance to help him.
Aldebaran, specifically, did not want to be there.
He didn't want to watch things that might stir any sympathy toward Natsuki Subaru. For starters, he didn't even understand what he was doing there with the others. Emilia’s camp, fine—they were all his friends and allies. Even Felt’s camp made some sense. But him? Why was he there?
He couldn't be considered Subaru's friend. Right?
After all, he had given up on being a Following Star—but that didn't mean he wanted to play house with Natsuki Subaru. Interacting when necessary was enough. When their ladies were in a meeting and they were waiting outside, or when they needed to work together as knights in the field—that would suffice. He didn't consider himself Subaru's enemy, but he didn't feel comfortable being called an ally either. Because of this, he didn't understand what that Director was trying to do by bringing him there.
But it wasn't like he could do anything about it.
So he kept to himself, trying to stay on the sidelines of the others' reactions. Which, of course, didn't stop him from undergoing several interrogation sessions with certain knights—and with that terrible lie detector, Crusch-sama—from which, somehow, he came out alive.
Anyway.
He had to watch it all. All of Natsuki Subaru’s suffering—or rather, all of his victories. Because Natsuki Subaru hadn't failed a single time. In the capital, at the mansion, in the capital again, and then at the Sanctuary. Not a single failure, in Aldebaran’s opinion. He had even changed the fate of that maid, Rem—someone who, by right, shouldn't exist anymore.
Was she devoured by Gluttony? Forgotten? Could that even be considered a failure, given everything he had achieved? She wasn't dead. She wasn't suffering. She was just... sleeping. A sleep that could be undone. You could even call it beauty sleep. And yet, Natsuki Subaru wasn't satisfied—he had to be dramatic.
Well. Aldebaran wouldn't say he didn't have the right to suffer. But it was still irritating to watch when you analyzed the whole picture.
...Teacher would probably call that a magnificent greed.
Aldebaran, as someone who hadn't managed to protect or achieve anything...
couldn’t help but think that way.
Aldebaran couldn't help but wonder what the difference was between them.
Was it because his Authority was an inferior version of his? Was it because the difficulty of their challenges had been different? Or maybe it was something more fundamental—something rooted in the very nature of their existences?
He couldn't help but compare Subaru's victory with his own defeat.
And the more he thought about it, the deeper he sank into a spiral of negativity.
Finally, Aldebaran lowered his gaze to the bottle of wine he had fetched for his princess. Under the helmet, a wry smile formed on his lips.
I’m not a good drinker. I’ve never had much interest in alcohol. But if it helps me escape my own thoughts... maybe it’s time to learn.
With that thought, the knight resumed his steps back to where the others were waiting.
When Aldebaran returned, the discussion seemed to have ended, or at least been postponed. Noticing Aldebaran approaching, Priscilla raised her glass to be served without even glancing at him, and he simply served her in silence. Upon finishing, he sat quietly beside her and looked around.
Julius: “My apologies, Emilia-sama. I would like to know if there were any more dangers near Subaru after the events at the Sanctuary, and if we will need to watch anything else, or if it has finally ended.”
Emilia: “What?! No! There shouldn't have been any more major danger at the mansion, right, Beako?”
The half-elf asked for confirmation from the child-like Great Spirit beside her.
Beatrice: “There shouldn't be, I suppose. I haven't noticed any increase in his witch’s scent over these past months. Nor any moments where he became agitated for no apparent reason, as if he had looped. By the way, I already told you only Betty’s contractor can call her that!”
The spirit with the drill-curls said, knitting her brows as she reflected on the months following the Sanctuary.
…He didn't die after the contract with Betty, right?
She prayed she hadn't failed her contractor yet again.
Felt: “Then why hasn't Big Bro woken up yet?! Shitty Director, let Big Bro wake up already!”
Garfiel: “Right, hurry it up! I need to talk to the Captain as soon as possible!”
Rem: “Rem needs to ask her hero for forgiveness as soon as possible!”
Director: “Haah. It seems some of you still enjoy courting death. The so-called knight has been able to be woken up normally since the end of Arc 4, just so you know.”
Garfiel: “What?! Let’s wake the Captain up!”
No one disagreed with the tiger boy. Beatrice, who was already on top of her Subaru, immediately began trying to wake her sleepy contractor. The half-elf's camp, except for Roswaal and Ram, soon approached the boy, waiting for him to wake.
Felt, Reinhard, Julius, Felix, and Wilhelm also approached but kept some space so that the members of Emilia’s camp would be the first to contact the boy. They also wanted to exchange a few words with him.
Beatrice: “SUBARU! SUBARU! SUBARU! Wake up! Betty needs to apologize, I suppose!”
Rem: “Your Rem needs to as well!”
Subaru: “Hmm…”
Emilia/Beatrice/Petra/Otto/Garfiel: “Subaru! Subaru! Subaru! Natsuki-san! Captain!”
The boy reacted to the attempts to wake him but refused to open his eyes.
Beatrice: “Betty’s lazy contractor, rise and shine!”
Subaru: “Hm… wait, Beako… don't shake me… let me sleep for just one more year.”
Otto: “That’s hibernating, Natsuki-san.”
Aldebaran: “Sounds like an elf’s joke.”
Aldebaran, hearing from afar, murmured.
Ram: “Haah! As expected of Barusu, if you let him, he’d sleep for ten years.”
Emilia: “That’s a long time, Subaru!”
Said the elf who slept for 100 years while frozen.
Beatrice: “Betty’s Subaru is talking nonsense.”
Rem: “What did you do to Subaru-kun, Director?! He’s not waking up! Why wasn't he awake from the start to begin with?!”
The blue oni, who always seems ready to jump to conclusions, spoke up.
Felix: “He hasn't even shown his face since the beginning, nyan. How much can we really trust him, I wonder~”
Director: “Haaah. Good at jumping to conclusions, as always. So, I will answer your questions step by step.”
The Director's voice reappeared in the theater after the unnecessary suspicion.
Director: [The reason he wasn't awake from the start?
— It would be a nuisance having you ask him questions every minute.
— I wanted you to reflect on the viewings without the boy trying to make excuses for every aggression coming from his allies.
— I wanted to give him a chance to sleep without nightmares in this place. Without dreaming of being killed, abandoned, or betrayed by you know what—or who.]
Cast: “...”
That part was practically a slap in the face. Especially for the members of the half-elf's camp.
The Director continued.
Director: [Now, why isn't he waking up? Well… do I need to repeat the part about ‘sleeping without nightmares’? I don't think it’s strange that he wants to sleep a bit longer, right?]
Cast: “...”
Director: [Finally. Why haven't I shown myself to you? Simple. Though the time may vary from person to person, if humans stare at me for too long, they will go insane. We already have enough crazy people in this room, don't we?]
Then, for the first time, the Director showed himself before the cast.
He simply... appeared. Without announcement, without transition—as if he had always been there and the world had just taken a while to notice. He wore an elegant suit, almost too mundane for what was above the neck. Because the head—or where a head should be—was only an oval shape of pure darkness, not the darkness of a room without light, but something deeper, like a hole in space itself. And in that darkness, three circles floated in silence.
It wasn't the silence of someone impressed—but the silence of someone looking at something and feeling the part of the brain responsible for comprehending simply refuse to work.
Director: “By the way, my name is ■■■■, but I suppose you wouldn't understand.”
Reinhard was the first to react, his hand instinctively moving toward his sword before stopping halfway. Julius closed his eyes for a brief moment, as if needing a second to reorganize what he was seeing. Felt took a step back without realizing it. Even Priscilla, who rarely deigned to show any reaction other than boredom or disdain, slightly narrowed her eyes—and then looked away, as if she had decided that it wasn't worth her attention. Or as if she had realized, before the others, that continuing to look was a bad idea…
Garfiel: “... What?”
No one answered. There was no answer to give.
Otto: “This…”
Petra: “Haah.”
Anyone looking at it couldn't help but try to form a face in their own mind—
Petra: “Hah... hah.”
So strange.
One couldn't tell what expression “he” was making or if it was truly a “human expression.”
Petra: “Hah... hah.”
So strange…
And perhaps that was exactly part of what made humans go mad—
Anastasia: “...Mimi? Why are you holding your face?”
Petra: “Hah.”
I’m scared. I’m scared. I’m scared. There’s nowhere to run…
Petra: “Haah.”
I wonder if I’m making the same—
And, if this continued, a person might start wondering if—
Petra: “Frederica-neesama…”
Frederica: “Petra...?”
The beast-human maid looked at her dear apprentice upon hearing her weak call and saw her face shrouded in terror.
Petra: “...Am I making the same expression as him?”
Frederica: “What…? No, Petra, there’s nothing wrong with your face!”
The senior maid hurriedly hugged her kohai, who was doubting her own expression, to calm her down.
Director: [That was even faster than expected. Perhaps the young are affected more quickly.]
After saying that, the Director simply disappeared as fast as he had appeared, but the message had been delivered and the damage done.
The cast, seeing the damage caused in so little time, could only remain in silence, not knowing whether to blame the Director or those who still insisted on provoking him.
After some time, Natsuki Subaru rolled over slightly where he lay asleep, frowning like someone trying to ignore an insistent alarm clock.
Beatrice: “Betty’s contractor, wake up now, I suppose!”
Subaru: “...Hm. Beako...?”
His eyes opened slowly—first a crack, then wider. The theater ceiling stared back at him. Strange. His ceiling wasn't like this.
Before he could process anything, something blue collided with him.
Rem: “Subaru-kun...!”
It wasn't a calculated hug. It was the kind of hug that happens when someone spends too much time afraid they’ll never be able to give one again. Subaru remained still for a second—confused, still semiconscious—and then his arms went around her almost by reflex.
Subaru: “...Rem?”
He blinked. Blinked again.
Subaru: “Rem. Rem. Wait—”
He pulled back slightly to look at her face. The blue eyes. The blue hair. The red nose of someone who had been crying even before he opened his eyes.
Subaru: "You’re— you’re awake."
It wasn't a question. It was someone trying to convince himself that what he was seeing was real.
Rem: "Yes. Rem is here, Subaru-kun."
Subaru: "How...? When...?"
Rem: "The Director. He— he woke Rem so she could watch along with everyone."
Subaru stared at her for a long moment. Then, without saying anything else, he pulled her back into the hug—this time without confusion, without hesitation. He could figure out who this Director was later, right?
She was here. She was awake. She was okay.
For now, that was enough.
Emilia: "Subaru..."
The half-elf watched the scene from a distance, with a small, somewhat sad smile on her lips. She didn't approach. It wasn't the time.
Garfiel: “Captain’s okay! Great! Now we can—”
Otto: "Garfiel."
The merchant said the name with a firmness that stopped the tiger boy in the middle of his sentence. Garfiel huffed but backed off.
After a while—how long exactly, no one could say—Subaru finally separated from Rem and looked around.
The theater. The rows of chairs. The entire cast gathered, looking at him.
Subaru: "...What’s going on? Where are we? This isn't— this isn't my room."
Otto: "Natsuki-san. Do you remember we were on our way to Pristella?"
Subaru: "Yes...?"
Otto: "Well. Midway through, we were all... brought here. Without warning. Without a choice."
Subaru: "Brought by whom?"
Otto: "By an entity that introduced itself as the ‘Director.’ Something whose power is beyond anything we’ve ever seen—something not even the Sword Saint could challenge."
Reinhard, hearing this, did not deny it. This silence alone was enough for Subaru to understand the scale of what Otto was saying.
Subaru: "And... why?"
Otto opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it again.
Otto: "To show us your story, Natsuki-san. From the beginning. Everything."
The silence that followed was different from the previous ones. It was the kind of silence that has weight.
Subaru: "...Everything?"
Beatrice: "Everything, I suppose. The capital. The mansion. The Sanctuary. Every loop. Every death. Every time Betty’s Subaru was left alone carrying something he shouldn't have carried alone."
Beatrice's voice came out softer than usual. She wasn't looking at him—she was looking away, her drill-curls falling slightly over her face.
Subaru remained in silence, as if still processing the information.
Seeing the reaction, Aldebaran couldn't help but sigh.
Aldebaran: “Your life was exposed in 4K, bro.”
Subaru’s face went white.
Subaru: "Every... every loop."
Every death.
They saw it.
They know.
The realization hit him all at once—and with it, panic.
Subaru: "Wait. Wait, wait, wait—"
He stood up abruptly from his chair.
Subaru: "If you know about Return by Death then the Witch of Envy will— she’ll feel it, she’ll know they found out, she’ll—"
Emilia: "Subaru!"
Subaru: "I can't tell anyone, that’s the rule, if anyone knows, she appears and—"
Rem: "Subaru-kun, breathe—"
Subaru: "You don't understand, she kills, she’s done it before, and if she comes now when everyone here—"
Director: "Natsuki Subaru."
The voice cut through the air like a knife.
The theater went quiet.
Director: [Listen carefully. The Witch of Envy has no power here. She has no access to this place. She does not know this place exists. The bond she placed on you does not work within these walls—and no one who is here is in danger because of what has been revealed.]
Subaru stood still, breathing with difficulty.
Director: [You can breathe.]
It was said with an almost disconcerting simplicity.
Subaru breathed.
Then breathed again.
And then sank back into his chair like someone who had just realized their legs were no longer supporting the weight they thought they needed to carry.
Beatrice: "...Subaru."
She approached and stood beside him—without hugging, without saying anything more. Just there.
For a long moment, no one spoke.
Then Subaru let out a low laugh. The kind of laugh that has no humor in it.
Subaru: “So you saw everything. Every time I died. Every time I came back. Every stupid decision I made.”
Otto: “Natsuki-san—”
Subaru: “No need to sugarcoat it. I know what it looks like. A guy who only managed to get this far because he kept reloading the game every time he died. Without Return by Death, I’m nothing. I’m just an idiot from another world who doesn't know how to fight, can't use magic, has no titles and—”
Garfiel: “Captain.”
Garfiel’s voice came out deep. Without its usual enthusiasm.
Garfiel: "I saw everything too. I saw the Captain at the Sanctuary. I saw what the Captain did when I was trying to kill him. I saw the Captain carrying everyone's weight on his back without complaining to anyone."
He paused.
Garfiel: "Does the Captain think just anyone could do what he did just because they had a second chance? I would’ve given up by the third death. By the second, probably."
Felt: "I agree with the furball for once in my life. Big Bro, you died. Several times. And you came back. That’s not cheating—that’s being stubborn in a way that borders on the absurd."
Emilia: "Subaru. I saw everything you did for me. For all of us. And the only thing I thought during it all was..."
She hesitated, fingers interlaced in front of her chest.
Emilia: "...that I wanted to have been by your side. From the start. So that you wouldn't have to carry all of this alone."
Subaru opened his mouth. Closed it.
These people.
Subaru: "...You guys are impossible."
Beatrice: "Betty’s Subaru is the one who is impossible, I suppose. Impossible to convince him that he isn't a complete idiot."
Otto: "Was that a compliment, Beatrice-sama?"
Beatrice: "It was a fact. Completely different, I suppose."
The thanks came afterward—some formal, others not. Wilhelm bowed his head with the solemnity of a veteran knight and said only that it had been an honor to witness. Felix wept openly and felt not the slightest bit of shame. Julius chose his words with the care of someone who knows that some things, said incorrectly, lose their meaning.
Crusch was direct, as always: "You have my gratitude, Natsuki Subaru. And my respect."
Even Priscilla, who had remained seated with her glass in hand throughout it all, let out an "Hmph" which, coming from her, was likely equivalent to an entire speech.
When the agitation finally began to dissipate, it was Julius who broke the silence with the question everyone was thinking.
Julius: "Director. What happens now? Will we return?"
A pause.
Director: [...Perhaps.]
Felt: "What a useless answer."
Director: [I could show you the future. But I do not know if that would be beneficial or harmful to you. Some things, seen before their time, change the path in ways that even I cannot completely predict.]
The theater fell silent as they digested this.
Director: [...So no. I will not show the future.]
Director: [But there is something I can show. A bit of the past. From a story that most of you do not know.]
Anastasia: "Are there more problems Natsuki Subaru got himself into to show?"
It was natural to think it was still about Natsuki Subaru, but Subaru wasn't the only star in that theater.
The Director didn't answer. The screen simply... lit up.
And like the first time, no one had a choice but to settle in and watch.
In his chair, slightly apart from the rest of the half-elf's camp, the figure in the helmet sat motionless.
No one noticed.
The End.