“Mr. Natsuki, you have so many distractions, I am concerned that my accepting your precious thoughts might leave you in dire straits… I’m joking, but let me speak seriously. If you are trying to be considerate toward me, then…”
“I won’t say that’s completely inaccurate, but…you’re my insurance.”
When Subaru scratched his cheek and spoke those words, Otto tilted his head and asked, “Insurance?” Nodding back toward him, Subaru explained.
“At the very least, you’re the only other person here who knows our circumstances. If you figure something really did happen to me, I want you to avoid doing anything crazy and report back to the Sanctuary.”
“…I would rather not speak of such things, even if it’s only just in case, but…”
“Well, since you’re our crew’s Mr. Dependable Merchant, I’m countin’ on ya!”
“Yes, leave it to… Wait, since when have you arbitrarily lumped me in with your faction?!”
When Otto went shrill at being entrusted with a job he didn’t remember accepting, Subaru forced a smile and set out from the village. Straddling Patlash, he raced like the wind up the road from the village to the mansion.
“”
“What, are you worried about me? It’s all right. I’m not gonna cause you any trouble.”
When they arrived at the front gate, Subaru dropped off Patlash’s back and rubbed the tip of her nose. His favorite land dragon responded with a lively gesture, rubbing him with her head, and accompanied Subaru on his way to the mansion’s entrance hall.
The day had stretched into dusk. The orange sun shone on Roswaal Manor, nestled between the mountains; gradually, he sensed night approaching from the sky to the east.
“…First, door number one.”
Subaru spoke those words as he stood before the doors and put his hand on the knocker. Taking a deep breath, he strongly knocked with it, announcing the arrival of a guest to all within the building.
For a time, he waited for a response from inside, but—
“—Door number one, no good. Proceeding to door number two.”
When the supposedly present servants didn’t reply, Subaru suppressed a sigh as he gently pressed his hand to the doors. When he applied a little pressure, he found that they had been carelessly left unlocked. Without much difficulty, he slipped through the gap between the doors and trespassed on the mansion.
“”
The worried breath given off by the land dragon at the very end, a moment before the doors separated them, weighed heavily on Subaru’s heart.
Steeling himself, Subaru turned his eyes toward the interior of the mansion he hadn’t seen for three days. At the very least, the broad entry hall was quiet, with no sign that anyone was near him.
The words Ram had shared prior to his departure abruptly rose from the back of his mind—if Frederica did bear any ill will, she was no doubt already gone from the mansion.
If the worst case was that Frederica had gone off somewhere, he didn’t care. The problem was—
“Whether she left by herself…or took Petra and Rem with her.”
He wasn’t thrilled with either possibility, but he especially didn’t want to think about the latter. He had the handkerchief on his wrist and the crystal Garfiel had entrusted to him. Relying on the presence of those two things, he advanced, stepping farther into the mansion.
“—?”
His brows scrunched up at his sense of foreboding. Subaru was on the verge of calling out to the occupants in a loud voice.
Without the sight of the people who ought to have been there, the familiar mansion corridors felt like unknown territory. When Subaru walked into the hallway of the main wing and peered within, he was greeted by a strange sight.
As far as he could see, every single door in the corridor had been opened.
“…Doesn’t seem like someone did this to air the place out.”
From what Subaru could tell, only the doors had been thrown wide open; there was no sign anyone had touched the windows. All the rooms were impeccably tidy.
Though that served as proof of Frederica and Petra’s capabilities as servants, the empty tidiness clawed painfully at Subaru’s chest.
Something was wrong. Something felt off. Something was very…unnatural…
“”
A detestable feeling, a foul timidity crept around inside Subaru’s body. With a deep breath and a hand to his chest, he held it in check by force.
He’d already noticed that this was a bizarre emergency situation. After the many dangerous situations he’d found himself in, Subaru’s survival instincts were currently ringing loud and clear: there was some kind of issue there in the mansion.
If he’d followed his initial judgment call, Subaru would have immediately left the mansion and rendezvoused with Otto. The best plan was to tell his allies of the strange occurrence in the mansion so that they could devise a way to address it.
If the mansion hadn’t contained so many people he wanted to save within its walls, that’s exactly what he would’ve done.
“”
He understood it was reckless and irrational. Even so, he had to be sure.
Subaru didn’t know how long it would take to return here with allies. The more time passed, the greater the chance the girls inside the mansion would be spirited away. He couldn’t weigh them all on a scale. He just couldn’t.
“Who…to put first…?”
Gripping the handkerchief on his wrist, as if to make sure it was still there, Subaru’s brain tossed and turned enough to bring it to a boil.
The people in the mansion related to Subaru in some way numbered four, all girls. Among them, Frederica was the lowest priority. At the moment, it was unclear to Subaru where she stood. Besides, she probably possessed combat capabilities. If any of them could deal with problems as they arose, it was her.
As Subaru stepped forward with trembling, wavering knees, he realized if he had to go over them one by one and decide whom he had to check on first—then he could only think of Rem.
“”
He had any number of excuses he could cite.
Asleep and immobile, Rem was completely defenseless. With her existence forgotten, there was no way to be sure what value it held to a potential enemy, so he couldn’t simply leave her alone.
“In her own room…!”
She had to be asleep. There was no reason she would have moved. Rem ought to be sleeping in the same room that very moment.
With so many conditions piled together, wasn’t it natural he would check on her first?
Subaru repeated unnecessary excuses over and over inside his head as he headed to the east wing of the mansion—to where Rem’s bedroom was located.
His breathing in disarray as his lungs convulsed, he clutched his chest as his loudly beating heart protested in concern. He abused his knees with rapid, tottering steps as he carefully hurried to catch up with the anomaly.
“”
Along the way, every door in the main wing had been flung open. This continued into the east wing, remaining the same as he reached the floor that contained Rem’s bedroom.
Rem’s room was at the end of the corridor. The doors of every room before it remained open.
“Shit…Rem!!”
Clicking his own tongue as he climbed up the stairs, Subaru ran toward the back of the corridor.
The color of the evening sun thickly filled the corridor through the windows. Some kind of sweet aroma was mixed in with the serene air.
Breathing hard, Subaru’s own body was dyed orange as he quickened his ragged steps.
His heart beat louder and faster, sending painful throbs and a feeling he could not describe racing through his eyes. Horror poured in, intruding upon his brain and leaving him able to think of only one thing.
He had…to find out…if Rem…was safe—
“—Wh-whoa?!”
As Subaru’s thoughts raced, his feet suddenly tripped two rooms short of his d
estination. Subaru’s chest slammed into the corridor’s floor, leaving him gritting his teeth at his own folly.
Clenching the fist that had landed on the carpet, he tilted his head and came back to his senses. His feet had snagged on something—that’s what had tripped him. He’d been focused solely on the doors of the rooms he’d been passing when something slender at his feet had made him fall.
With everything dyed in the glossy light of the setting sun, it was difficult to tell what its original color had been. But the thing was slender and long, stretching out without interruption, and when Subaru’s eyes followed it to its end point he realized where it came from. It was no great mystery.
—It had simply tumbled out of the rent side of Subaru’s abdomen.
“—Huh?”
The right flank of his track suit had been cut clean. That was where the yellowy intestines had tumbled out.
A large amount of blood was pooling beneath him. He wasn’t sure if his right foot had stumbled over his small or large intestines, but at any rate, his innards had been expelled, seemingly clinging to their owner.
“…Oghu.”
The instant he confirmed this fact, his throat was blocked by a rising clump of blood, and the world was dyed crimson.
His trembling fingers tried to stuff back in the innards pouring out due to the pressure exerted by his belly, but he didn’t have the strength. Then his knees failed as well, and before he realized it, he had tumbled forward onto the carpet.
He didn’t know what had happened. Only that his belly had been fatally slashed—
“—I told you, didn’t I? I promised you, yes?”
Suddenly, there was a voice.
Straight ahead, from the direction that Subaru’s fallen head pointed, someone was talking to him.
He couldn’t lift up his face. His consciousness was draining away with his organs, mixing with the coursing blood and spreading thinly across the floor. Subaru desperately gurgled, as if trying to cling to a world that was growing more distant.
It’s over, his instincts proclaimed.
He understood that, but somewhere in his heart, Subaru rejected dying for nothing.
It wasn’t over, it couldn’t be over, not until he gained something, obtained something. If he didn’t return with something, anything, somethinganythingsomethinganythingsomethinganything—
“”
There was the high-pitched echo of shoes striking the floor. A shadowy figure stood in the corridor, dyed crimson from the spring of fresh blood.
She wore a black outfit on her slender physique. Her long, black hair was tied back in a triple braid. Adoringly, with a coquettish look, she gazed down at his dying moments.
When he sensed those things, along with the sensation of having his belly cut, Subaru understood.
—Why…are you here…in front of Rem’s room?
“—I told you to take care of your bowels until the next time we meet.”
It was a declaration of love that had gone astray, the pure affection of a murderer that no one else could understand.
As Subaru Natsuki’s consciousness grew hazy, that was the only thing that grazed the fingertips of his soul.
Hazy, hazy, hazy. Dark, dark, dark. And finally…
Everything vanished. It was the end. And then…they began anew.
The curtain of Subaru Natsuki’s fourth loop…had risen.
AFTERWORD
Yes, yes, yes, hiya, I am Tappei Nagatsuki! I am also the Mouse-Colored Cat! This time, I wanted to thank you very much for buying and reading Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-, Vol. 10!
Huh?! I’m getting déjà vu, like I’ve somehow written a greeting like this very recently?!
So, while I was stricken by a sense of familiarity, it is not déjà vu. It’s that Volume 9 and Volume 10 are being published back to back in November!
With the anime broadcast ending in September, it’s a treat to be able to read about the immediate aftermath in Volumes 9 and 10, but not so great for the author. Truly, the days were spent going from the frying pan into the fire.
From start to finish, this was the fault of the author for blithely saying “Hey, once the anime’s finished I’ll be able to pick up the publication pace!” No, that is not the case! If anyone would be at fault, it would be you readers for saying “That sounds really fun, please do it!” And I would never lay blame like that!
The delight of all the readers at back-to-back publication in November is the fruit of Nagatsuki’s soul as an author! Also, the fruit of the senior editor saying in a great burst of hot energy, “We can do it, we can do it! Mr. Nagatsuki can do it!” And you see? We did it!
Back-to-back publication in November was pretty hard to pull off, enough that I forgot about that silly conversation until just before going to print. Back-to-back publication added various burdens, which of course included Nagatsuki’s own workload.
Furthermore, this time, with Volume 10, Re:ZERO enters a brand-new arc! By a new arc, I obviously mean changes in the scenery and the characters appearing onstage. So that means Otsuka has designed plenty of new characters. Of course, I would call all the characters he’s designed gems, so it was quite an ordeal, even for a superhuman like Otsuka!
Yeah, who was that guy who mouthed off on his own to the tune of “Once the anime’s over I’ll raise the production pace”? Who, me?! It was me.
Mr. Otsuka, I’m so sorry. Maid Petra and School Uniform Echidna are soooooo cute. As this is the general consensus of everyone who has read Volume 10, best regards for Volume 11 and beyond!
Also, the story has changed from the web version, where it got fairly gnnnnh, so if readers also have fun with things besides the illustrations, that is a very good thing, yes.
Even if what precedes them is more of a jumble than usual, things tighten up once the words of praise and thanks begin, so let us begin.
Senior Editor I, thank you sooooo much for your work on Volumes 9 and 10 following the anime! You were a huge help in so many areas! For Volume 9, it related to how to portray the climax of Arc 3, and for Volume 10, how to set up Arc 4 going forward. I intend to race forward at high temperature that is in no way inferior to Arc 3, so let’s look forward to Arc 4!
To Mr. Otsuka the illustrator, I mentioned you in the middle of the afterword already, but thank you very much for the many character designs this time around. The Witch, the punk, the girl, the maid—you gave them all such adorable touches that I can’t help but gush. I’m counting on your fine service during their hardships and exploits hereafter!
To designer Kusano, this marks the fourteenth Re:ZERO-related book you’ve done, but where rankings are concerned, number 10 is right there at the top. Kusano, I’ve come this far because of your sense of how to attract people’s eyes. Thank you very much. Let’s strive to aim even higher in the future!
To Daichi Matsuse and Makoto Fuugetsu, who are in charge of the comic versions, thank you very much for sticking with me all the way to Re:ZERO’s anime finale event. I think it was a really good thing to get us all together right on the verge of it ending. Best of luck on the way to completing Arc 2 and Arc 3!
To others in the editorial department of MF Bunko J, the various bookstore and enterprise-side persons, and the anime staff and cast for whom my feelings of gratitude have yet to diminish in the slightest, and everyone else involved in Re:ZERO, thank you.
And last but not least, my greatest of thanks to all you readers who have followed this tale thus far.
The long third arc is over, and with this volume, the fourth arc begins. If the theme of Arc 3 is “self-awareness,” the theme of Arc 4 is “self-reliance.” New hardships block the characters’ paths, so by all means, watch as they aim to do whatever it takes to overcome these obstacles.
Thank you very much for your time, and I hope to see you again for Volume 11.
September 2016
Tappei Nagatsuki
(Written while challenging the s
udden cool spell with a Hawaiian shirt for as long as possible)
“Ha-ha-ha! So there you have it, this is Kenichi Natsuki, magnificent previewer!”
“I am Nahoko. Ah, I’m Ken’s wife… Also, did something happen to you?”
“Suddenly hearing what you called me before marriage threw me off, but you said what you needed to say so it’s all OK, my bride. So let’s get down with this preview stuff!”
“Errr, concerning the next volume of this story…Re:ZERO, was it? This is where you talk about new information, I think. Also, this is Subaru’s story? I wonder what kind of story it’ll be…”
“Ohhh, you really got it, which is a totally super-rare thing! You can do it when you really try, Nahoko!”
“Tee-hee, I can certainly do it when I try. Today was nonflammable garbage day, wasn’t it?”
“There it is, Mom’s beginner-level ‘the first part’s disconnected from the second part’ conversation piece! Let’s set aside talking about the garbage for now and try to keep the conversation focused.”
“Okaaaay. The next book after this one is Volume Eleven, expected to come out in December…the month before New Year’s? Others came out in September and October, too, so it seems to be a rather busy schedule.”
“Well, that just means they’re in that much demand.
“And at about the same time as Volume 10 comes out, disc Volume 5 of the Re:ZERO anime will be out with a novella, and on top of that, there’s talk of a book on the setting called the Re:ZEROpedia, too! Even with the anime finished, there’s lots and lots to do. Feels like Subaru’s won’t be gettin’ a chance to rest anytime soon.”
“Come to mention it, Subaru’s written it’s his dream to become an author, and that ‘I’ll become like Dad, and then marry Mom.’ So adorable.”
“There’s Mom’s intermediate-level conversation piece, ‘sudden resurrection of the past’! All of a sudden, that Subaru guy gets his dark past revealed when he isn’t even here!”
“I just thought, the more everyone knows about Subaru, the more they’ll like him, and the harder that child will try.”
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