“Piko, I think it’s you anyway… I have a request. Guide me to the settlement. I don’t have time for getting lost.”
“”
Having been asked to guide the way, the replica—Piko—neither nodded nor replied but simply turned her back to Subaru. Heedless of the snow covering the path, she proceeded to break into a nimble run, and Subaru chased after her with all haste.
The authority that he had unwittingly obtained was still valid, but using the rights the Witch had arbitrarily granted in accordance with her expectations put him in a vexing mood. Of course, he was enormously grateful, but—
“Just how much of this did you see coming, Echidna…?”
She’d planted a Witch countermeasure into Petra’s handkerchief, and Subaru had received from her the means to make Piko cooperate with him that very moment. He didn’t understand her true intent. He did not doubt that she was cooperating with him, but still…
There was too much he did not understand. If it was possible, he wanted an answer to that nonsensical circumstance that very moment. The mystery of the Sanctuary, Beatrice’s lament—surely, Echidna had the answers to those things and everything else—
“Shit. Right now… I’ll deal with her later. This is just…!”
The tremendous snowfall smothering the Sanctuary, that world of extreme cold that seemed ready to freeze his body solid, dyed life and everything else in white.
Subaru had seen that spectacle before. He had lost his life to it, as well.
If this was like back then, if anything and everything about it was the same, then—
“—What the heck happened to you, Emilia?”
—Having apparently made it snow like this, what was she really thinking?
2
It took Subaru’s legs over an hour before he arrived at the settlement.
With the white world already throwing his sense of distance terribly awry, Subaru’s having freshly lost one eye made the trek a terrible ordeal. Snow robbed him of body temperature, his thinking ability had decreased and become leaden, and his legs felt as slow as a turtle’s crawl.
“Even so…”
Pulling his shoes out of the snow burying him up to the ankles, Subaru murmured with numb, quivering lips.
Ahead of him, on the other side of blowing snow, he could vaguely make out a simplified stonework building. He had somehow managed to make it back to the settlement where the residents of the Sanctuary dwelled.
But what tugged at him was—there was no sign of people in the settlement whatsoever.
“There’s no lights on in the houses… Isn’t anyone inside…?”
So far as he could survey, there was no light from crystal lamps or candles to be seen. That said, amid this cold, not lighting a fire was nigh suicidal behavior. Surely, as signs of life went, the existence of fire was an absolute.
Instantly, the silence made Subaru’s intestines clench. What floated into his mind was that this was indeed the Sanctuary enveloped by snow—and from there, a terrible white monster would emerge.
Had the Sanctuary already been defiled by the attack of the Great Rabbit—
“—Hey, you’re back, ain’t ya? Dunno what stupid face ya brought back with ya, though.”
The voice leaping into his eardrums made Subaru reflexively turn around. At the end of his gaze was a figure rudely trampling through the snow—Garfiel walked casually, batting the tremendous snowfall aside. He came to a standstill at a distance of several yards right in front of Subaru, grimacing with apparent dismay.
“Ah? Seriously, the hell’s with that face? Ya dropped your left eye somewhere or somethin’?”
“A lot happened after I left… It isn’t like you to be so thoughtful, coming out of your way to welcome me back.”
“Ha! This ain’t sympathy. Besides, seems ya noticed the power that’s in the crystal, too.”
From the sight of Piko standing at his side, he’d apparently guessed that Subaru had gained command rights. The combativeness enshrouding Garfiel rose a notch higher, and the enmity stabbing into him made the pain of his left eye ooze all the greater.
But behind that strengthened pain, Subaru’s heart did not fear Garfiel’s combativeness.
It was not that the cold distracting him from the pain or some such thing—rather, the issue was the nature of Garfiel’s enmity.
“…Setting aside the being thoughtful part, it’s still true this isn’t like you. I don’t think the you that I know would just stand here casually talking with me at a time like this.”
“Now you’re creepin’ me out. I ain’t got time for your nonsense. If you’re seein’ this snow, shouldn’t need no explanation why I can’t have a chitchat with ya over tea, damn it.”
“Meaning, you have something to talk to me about that isn’t chat over tea.”
“”
With Garfiel pressed into silence, complex emotions arose in the back of his jade eyes.
He was angry. His anger was strong. But at the same time, he was afraid. When he thought about it that time around, his and Garfiel’s relationship had worsened in a way different from when he’d resorted to killing.
Garfiel’s bewilderment over Subaru’s actions, ones that calculated death into them, remained.
But that bewilderment had created just enough space for the two of them to hold a conversation then and there.
“The fact that you’re still rational and not attacking out of the blue…means that the other people are safe, I take it?”
“I dunno how far ya define other people, but our old men ’n’ women and the bunch from your village are all in the Cathedral. The noisy guy came up with the idea.”
“Otto did? He’s the one who proposed that?”
“In a situation like this, there ain’t no enemies or allies, he said. No reason to bite each other blindly. And to think he’s just some guy wrapped up in all this.”
As Garfiel clacked his fangs, Subaru nodded toward him. Amid this snowfall—no, this situation in the Sanctuary—he was internally grateful that Otto had come up with a typical good decision. Thanks to him managing to speak to Garfiel, the villagers’ safety had been assured. The remaining issue—was something he had to confirm for himself.
“—The snow. Did Emilia do this?”
—To Subaru, the question had a ring much like a bald-faced lie.
He knew the answer to the question. He did not ask it despite that because he optimistically expected to find a ray of hope. Probably he was just…frightened.
Frightened of his own conclusion: that Emilia had created this spectacle herself. Subaru’s question, posed with a voice that somehow seemed raspy, made Garfiel spit out a “ha!”
“Dunno that, either. —The Princess has been holed up in the tomb since last night, see?”
“—. Huh? Holed up in the tomb…?”
“Guess ya don’t realize that you’re the damn cause. Your disappearin’ like that hit the Princess’s heart pretty darn hard. It threw her way off, and then she went into the tomb…and she ain’t come out since.”
“That’s crazy! I mean, I left a proper letter and everyth…”
“Letter…?”
What letter? was the reply’s subtext, one that made Subaru draw in his breath.
He’d certainly slid a letter under the Ryuzu residence door. Subaru had properly written and left behind a letter saying he was leaving the Sanctuary. If Emilia had read it, she shouldn’t have been shocked to the point of making her fall into distress. Even without that letter, there was no reason for her to hide herself from others—
“…Seems like a scheme’s at work that ain’t from you or me.”
“Eh?”
“Leave that for later. Follow me. Izolte’s decision put history back on course an’ all. Annoys me to heck, but you’re the only one I can use. —We’re headin’ to the tomb.”
Motioning with his chin, Garfiel indicated for him to come along as he walked out. The great difference in power of their
legs meant his kicked the snow aside, never stopping for anything. Subaru somehow caught up to him with a small run.
“The tomb, meaning…you’re gonna let me meet Emilia?!”
“Ain’t you an optimistic bastard. I ain’t letting ya meet her. I’m getting ya to get your Princess to stop this snow from fallin’. You’re goin’ inside. That’s your damned job, not mine.”
“…! Yeah, that’s fine with me. If you’re not gonna butt into me talking with Emilia, then…”
It was a brusque request, but Subaru had no objection, accepting it with grace.
Neither Subaru nor Garfiel had lost their enmity for each other. But just like when they confronted the Witch, this momentary request put them on the same page—and so they walked together for the moment.
“—Garfiel, how much did you hear from Ryuzu?”
Abruptly, as he squinted at the snow, Subaru posed that question to the back walking in front of him. The words did not make Garfiel look back. “Ha?” he snarled sourly as he said, “…I see. Ya forced the old hag to talk about the crystal’s power against her will, did ya?”
“People would get the wrong idea hearing that, but most of that chat was voluntary… Well, since the person concerned said there was compulsory power, suppose there’s reason to doubt how much was really voluntary, but…”
“Ha, I wonder. Me, I didn’t hear nothin’ from the old hag. Just you came back with one of the ‘Eyes’ with ya. Hearin’ that was enough to send me comin’ out to see it.”
“Eyes… I see, so stuff’s conveyed from Piko to Ryuzu, then.”
The tongue click mixed with an explanation made Subaru nod in acknowledgment. Glancing backward and at an angle, he saw Piko following, saying nothing in particular. The sight irritated Garfiel.
“I dunno about this Piko business, but don’t you go stickin’ names on ’em. They’re dolls without minds of their own. Ain’t no point feelin’ sorry for ’em.”
“…Like hell I can, especially when they look just like Ryuzu.”
“That’s exactly why. We’ve got an old hag. We don’t need any more. Those are fakes.”
The wording and tone of voice behind the coarse conclusion ascribed great meaning to it. Though the statement seemed harsh, to Subaru, it sounded almost like Garfiel was insisting on that to himself.
“—We’re here. Fair bit o’ snow piled up even here at the entrance, too.”
As Garfiel came to a halt, Subaru peered past his shoulder at the silhouette of the large building obstructed by a blanket of billowing snow—confirming the presence of the tomb. His breath caught just a little.
“Emilia’s inside. Knowing that, you didn’t just rush in there yourself?”
“Me, I… The residents o’ the Sanctuary can’t go in. That’s the rule. And me, I’m a resident here.”
“I heard from Ryuzu that they can’t lift the barrier, but wasn’t going in and out separate? Given the circumstances, you could’ve… Guu?!”
“Hey, stop with the long, whinin’ preamble, you bastard.”
Subaru was saying that Garfiel could have trampled on that rule and gone inside himself.
Garfiel interrupted Subaru’s words by grabbing him by the collar, slightly lifting his body off the ground, and drawing his now-clawed hand close to Subaru’s face while showing off his fangs.
“Me, I protect this place. What’s your role? It’s to protect the Princess. Galganchua second-guesses a comeback not. Or should I gouge out your right eye, too?”
Showering Subaru in ferocious combativeness, Garfiel made his gripping hand relent. Subaru lightly coughed as he glared at Garfiel. But all Garfiel did was nod with his chin.
“Go.”
No ifs or buts about it. Having come this far, that was the only word Garfiel had to offer.
Turning his back, Subaru trod on snow without a single footprint upon it, heading for the entrance of the tomb buried in white.
The only two seeing him off, watching Subaru’s back, were Garfiel and Piko, standing side by side.
—One was emotionless. The other had an indecipherable emotion welling up in the deepest depths of his anger.
3
The cold, serene sensation of the air was unrelated to the extreme cold outside, almost as if time had stopped.
Amid the gloom, the sound of Subaru’s shoes echoed as he advanced down the corridor, asking his heart but one thing.
—That moment, was he sane or had some mental disturbance befallen him?
Already, several tragedies that could not be undone had befallen that world.
He had lost Rem, Petra, and Frederica, and he had seen Beatrice die. Returning to find the Sanctuary in this state, his striving to maintain calm could only strike him as absurd.
A man aware of that absurdity could not fail to be disturbed. There was no way he was sane.
Even so, he could not allow himself to stop thinking. He smacked away all thoughts of surrender. He had to crave a future ahead of him, above him. For that, he’d pay whatever it took, including paying with his life.
If not for that, then why was Subaru still—?
“—Subaru?”
The voice he heard from the gloom freed Subaru from what felt like a long time trapped in a cage of thought. Straight ahead, the corridor came to an end, and he could see the stonework room that gave off a faint blue glow. There stood a single figure.
Her silver hair glimmered in the faint light. Her purple eyes seemed to pull you in. Subaru did not think of those characteristics as a murmur trickled out of him.
“—Emilia.”
“Yes. That’s right, Subaru… It’s me. It’s me, Emilia.”
The four brief syllables became a name, and the fact that there was a reply crashed through Subaru like a bolt of lightning.
His knees wavered and crumpled. Perhaps others would think this grandiose. However, he could endure no more.
Fatigue, loss, despair, relief—countless sensations stuffed Subaru’s limbs with lead. Subaru had glossed over these things through willpower, but when his ears heard that voice like a silver bell, he reached his limit.
With those taut strings cut, he tumbled forward. As he tumbled, arms instantly reached out to support him.
He felt something soft and warm. The warmth of the touch from right before his eyes made Subaru’s body go rigid.
—That moment, he was being gently embraced by Emilia.
“Ah, er, sor… My body just let go…”
“”
“Emilia?”
Instead of responding to his apologetic excuse, Emilia pressed harder with her arms to make them embrace Subaru even stronger. It was by no means great strength. But somehow, he felt like she was almost clinging to him.
It immediately became clear that this was not a misunderstanding on Subaru’s part.
“—I was lonely.”
“…Eh?”
Subaru was struck numb. Her beautiful face was gazing intently at him from up close, close enough to share their breath. Adding further to Subaru’s surprise, Emilia hauntingly lowered the ends of her eyebrows as she said, “I was lonely, Subaru. —I mean, you left me and went off somewhere.”
“Th…at’s… Y-you’re wrong. I didn’t mean to just leave you like that…”
Subaru spoke awkwardly when the fact that he’d left the Sanctuary was pointed out to him. He tried to excuse it as something that should never have happened like that, if only the letter had reached her. Yes, the letter.
“The letter…that’s right. I wrote a letter. I wrote everything on it, that’s why. I really meant to tell you about everything, but…”
“Tee-hee.”
As he groped for where the precaution he’d left ought to have led, he gaped.
In the middle of their conversation in that tension-filled situation, Emilia made an adorable laugh. She laughed.
It was as if everything was normal, as if Subaru’s tongue had spun another joke during the days when nothing was happening a
t the mansion. —As if she had forgotten her sense of duty in regards to the Trial.
“Even without working that hard to make an excuse, I won’t get upset. Oh, Subaru, you don’t need to be so pale. You really are just careless.”
“E…milia…?”
“It’s fine. It’s all right, no excuses needed. I mean, you came back, Subaru. I always believed you would. I said, Subaru will come for me. If I work hard and properly fulfill my own duty, he’ll come and save me… That’s always, always how it’s been. Right?”
As she sweetly spoke the words, Emilia drew near to Subaru’s chest.
She had an adorable, bewitching smile, and her sweet murmurs were simply enchanting. Subaru gazed at the heat rising from her lustrous breaths and the moisture in her eyes; that witchiness was wrapping around his heart.
Then, bathed in so much passion that it made his throat feel parched, Subaru’s instincts cried out.
Wrong. Something was wrong. The ill feeling he’d had from the start of their reunion had never been revised.
Something was wrong. Something, somewhere, felt off, even though Emilia was that adorable.
Even though Emilia was that adorable as she responded to Subaru…
“C-come to think of it… I heard that you’ve been here since yesterday…”
With that ill feeling still lodged in his throat, Subaru changed the topic with the worst possible performance ability, even by his standards. At that rate, he’d drown in her sweet voice. Straw or no, he needed to grab onto something before he was fully submerged.
“You being here means you were in the Trial, right? But right now you’re…”
As he spoke the words, Subaru put his finger on one of the tips of that ill feeling.
This was the tomb, and the room for the Trial at that. The Trial definitely began as soon as Emilia arrived there. Invited to the Trial of her past, her mind would not escape until the very end.
And yet, Emilia was there awake, meaning that her Trial had ended in—
“…Emilia?”
In the middle of his question, Subaru stiffened from an unexpected sensation. It was the sensation of fingers being inserted into his black hair, gently stroking his head.
Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-, Vol. 12 Page 16