6 ( Part 1)

The theater's audience was looking at the dark screen with varied reactions.

The air inside of the room was dirty in a sense. The entire atmosphere held an aura of muck that disgusted half of the audience in the theater. This wasn't due to an actual flaw in the faculty of the great room, no. It was more to do with the sheer emotions of regret and disgust that were emitted from many of the occupants.

"So he killed himself?"

One such occupant whispered, brokenly, while staring at the empty void of the dark window.

"Because I brought him with me? Because I just wanted to have a friend in that lonely mansion… Subaru was hurt that much?" Emilia, the silver-haired half-elf that possessed tear stains on her cheeks and an expression of pure disbelief and horror, faltered to keep her voice from breaking. She sobbed into her palm, her other hand kept a grip not so tight on another. The boy's sleeping form beside her was inactive to this gesture of comfort. Emilia was effectively holding the hand of a corpse if not for the warmth she felt when squeezing it.

"He killed himself… And he can't even tell me about it… Oh, Subaru."

Emilia's eyes remained closed once she realized that the darkness of the screen uncomfortably resembled the shadow world she witnessed her knight be tortured in. Words can not describe Emilia's horror at this shocking fact, nor her heartbreak that her knight lived with that fact hanging over him this whole time.

"I was none the wiser to his pain..."

"No one would have foreseen this, I suppose."

While the half-elf was shocked to the core by her guilt, a certain spirit girl was more content to just hug her contractor's arm tightly. Rubbing a certain spot that was the subject of many arguments she had with him for many nights.

"Forgive Betty I suppose," Beatrice muttered as she hugged Subaru's arm, rubbing the spots she would see him scra-

Beatrice understood why he does what he does at night. "He's desperate for relief, in fact," she whispered as she let the warmth overtake her.

"Beatrice… " Emilia finally broke out of her reservation. The silver-haired girl finally seemed to take in the shape of the little spirit sitting opposite her side.

Emilia frowned deeply at the spirit's no longer elegant or composed state. Beatrice's cheeks held dried lines that were visible even in the dimly lit darkness of the room. Her drill twin tails were unfolding with each second. The ornate dress she elegantly wore was wrinkled and had bend marks that ruined its charm.

But Emilia's heart didn't break just because of a few visible signs of the little girl's sadness.

She can see the guilt in the little one's eyes. Beatrice was holding Subaru's hand and staring at it with the most miserable look one could find on an adorable girl's face.

It broke the half-elf's heart in two.

"This isn't fair..."

Emilia's thoughts stopped abruptly as an idea hit her.

All of a sudden, the half-elf seemed to have hope in her eyes as her spirit was brought back. She quickly stood up and worked through her stiff muscles, her steps on the carpet made her light-headed because of how much time she spent immobile.

Foregoing the little bit of nausea that hit her, Emilia was more than happy to stop her very short walk and kneel so she could take the blonde loli in her arms.

"What's the meaning of this, I wonder?" The spirit asked in a hoarse weakened voice, unable to move away from the endearingly tight hug from the princess.

"Can I just..." Emilia stuttered from above the little girl, her silver bell voice cracked once she continued, "... You looked really sad… I am too. I-I think we both need this."

Beatrice's eyes narrowed with Emilia's statement, "Betty's feeling nothing but what she should, in fact. He's my contractor-"

"He's my knight, Beatrice. He's the one person to tell me they loved me and mean it." Emilia had cut the spirit off along with removing herself from the hug. The silver-haired princess was on her knees in front of Beatrice's seat, oddly still able to tower an inch over the blonde.

Beatrice seemed to grow angrier at Emilia's serious look, "Then tell me, Emilia. Why did you forgive those murderers?"

The candidate seemed to flinch at the coldness in tone. "Wha…"

Emilia's eyes widened as she caught on to what Beatrice eluded to.

"No," Emilia almost scathingly whispered as her expression contorted to a disgusted glare, "No, no! Don't make this look like I'm forgiving Rem and Ram for what they had done. I'll never forgive it even if Subaru lost all memory of those lives they had taken from him."

Inspecting Emilia narrowly, Beatrice seemed to grow angrier by her glare intensifying. Emilia's vehement denial and almost naive betrayed expression painted a contradictory picture of what the half-elf just did.

"Then what would you call what you did?" Beatrice growled at the kneeling girl, "Why would you let them go unpunished when we had them under scrutiny, I wonder?"

The spirit's question was almost immediately refuted by the surprising confidence in Emilia's tone.

"I didn't forgive them… But… I don't think they are deserving of a penalty."

"..."

Emilia's eyes softened, now aimed to the ground.

"No matter how angry they make me, I reeeeally don't think Subaru would like it if anything drastic happened while he's… absent," her tone grew weak as she gazed up at the sleeping form of her knight with a frown.

"Emilia."

The half-elf turned her gaze on the girl before her. Beatrice had an unreadable glare on her face that didn't tell if she was angry or just frustrated with Emilia.

"Please, go and take back your seat, I suppose."

"Beatrice…"

Seeing that nothing could be done to change the situation into a better position, Emilia accepted the clear fracture between her and the spirit with grace.

She nodded her head and stood up to take her seat.

Emilia's frown turned pursed as she kept a few tears from flowing down. The heavy feeling of disappointment and guilt became a serious problem in Emilia's chest. She had forgotten how to breathe for a few moments.

All the half-elf could do was keep playing the memory of the blue maid's crying face in her mind. Seeing the pure despair on Rem's face, feeling bad for a murderer.

"She looked innocent…" Emilia thought internally with a conflicted frown.

"Why wouldn't I punish her?… After what she did to him; to Subaru."

Going from the silver princess and her internal problems with guilt and despair, one blue-haired Oni seemed to have a more outward attitude about her own guilt and horror.

Rem… dear, poor Rem. The Oni maid was broken. She was hugging her legs as if she was a ball, trying to hide from the world. She tried to hide her overwhelming shame by crying into her stocking-clad knees.

Seeing her own death, her sister's deranged breakdown over her body. Her sister should never cry over someone so worthless like her! She was supposed to be a selfish monster that deserved to be forgotten.

She killed an innocent boy and made her sister cry.

She was supposed to be punished. Yet,

Rem still had her horn.

She still had her sister's love.

She was still saved by Subaru.

He even went as far as to take his own life in such a brutal manner only to preserve her life.

"I'm so sorry, Subaru-kun. You're amazing."

The maid pathetically whispered her apology and adoration, desperately wishing she could be allowed to sit by him and hug his back to feel the warmth of his body and the heartbeat in his chest.

[Let's give you all a moment to process the previous viewing.]

The general consensus around the room was that of agreement with the screen's mysterious voice. The last scene had shocked all the viewers to the core.

Except for a certain number of individuals sitting in the room.

One of them…

"What a disappointing waste of time that was! Hmph!"

A certain fiery-haired princess with blood-red eyes looked away from the screen with a scowl on her face.

"Candidate Barielle, are you saying that the scene represented to us was unimportant?"

Priscilla looked down at the only person that's been refuting her this entire viewing.

"You've grown more annoying than usual, commoner."

Although the scarlet eyes narrowed hatefully at her, Crusch was standing firm while glaring through her own amber irises at Priscilla.

"I won't ask why you don't feel anything towards the boy's mental condition, most of us know how futile talking feelings with a nasty one like yourself is. But I do want to know why you still insist on calling this a waste."

"Commoners and mongrels are the ones that concern themselves with feelings." Priscilla glared as she met Crusch's gaze with her own. The people around them backed away and watched the two candidates with weary glances.

"Feelings are all you filthy rats care about and that greatly annoys me."

"Ah, so you see our emotions as inconvenient?" Crusch asked with a frown of sympathy aimed at the red-clad matriarch.

"Hmph! More like sometimes amusing to play with and sometimes boring to watch," the orange-haired maiden fanned herself while staring down at Crusch.

"So, why are ya annoyed at what ya saw in the window now?" Anastasia Hoshin entered the staredown with an emotionless look, the effect of the previous viewing still making her unable to pick up the pleasantries to smile.

Priscilla slowly pointed her fan towards the sleeping Subaru.

"That one, over there," she whispered.

Crusch and Anastasia looked at the boy with confusion and then stared at the red-dressed princess.

"For some reason… He greatly amuses me." Priscilla whispered and glared at him.

"Yes, I think he's caught everyone's attention by now, what's yer point?" Anastasia asked in an annoyed tone.

"Hmph! Common opportunistic rats such as you should be able to tell exactly what this one's disgusting power is capable of."

Anastasia glared at the princess with hatred but remained silent.

"What do you mean Barielle?" Crusch, annoyed and angry at the nasty person before her, asked.

"What Barielle-sama is saaaaaying, is that Subaru-kun haaaas the power to achieve whaaaatever he wishes."

Once the ominous and untrustworthy Roswaal weighed his opinion in a semi conspiring tone, almost all three maidens glared hatefully at him, especially Priscilla.

Ram immediately looked at him in surprise, trying to understand why he would enter the discussion in such a way.

The magic lord had a small tremble in his hands that only she could notice. Even his weird, fake grin that was aimed at the candidates before him couldn't hide how nervous he had become.

"Roswaal-sama… Are you worried for Barusu too?" The question was not answered for it was only in Ram's head. But she couldn't ask this of him, not when she already knew the answer to it.

But what she didn't understand is why would he try and act now, in front of the candidates and their knights?

"I don't remember a clown being included in our conversation," Anastasia mused while glaring at the shady clown.

Roswaal wasn't affected by the three candidates glaring hatefully at him. He smiled wide and leaned back in his seat.

"I do believe thaaaat I have the right to give my own opinion on the matter. Natsuki Subaru is a Registered Mathers knight afteraaaaaall." For just a moment, Roswaal looked smug.

"What did you mean by that statement?" Crusch ignored her feelings of disgust and urged the magi to continue.

"It's simple. What candidate Barielle-sama is disgusted by is Suuuuuubaru-kun's kingmaker ability."

Anastasia and Crusch looked at the clown with wide-opened eyes as they understood the implications.

Ram narrowed her eyes at him. "What is he doing?" she thought. He must know the danger he was putting Subaru in if he exposed the uses of this power to the other candidates. Why would he do this?

As the maid fell into deeper confusion, her employer continued facing off against the royal ladies tested for the crown.

The smirk on Roswaal's face widened. "Don't you see? Subaru-kun maaaaanaged to make a three-way alliance between competing camps to achieve the impooooossible feat of defeating the White Whaaaaale. How do you think he knew about all the needed informaaaation?" Roswaal smugly looked down at the two shocked candidates.

"He… Returned by Death," Crusch uttered with widened eyes. She didn't have time to think about it with everything going on. But she remembered how Subaru was able to perfectly call out her plan and made the flaws and wrinkles disappear by implementing his own.

"Thaaaat's correct! Now imagine what Subaru-kun will do if, say, someone other than Emilia-sama was chosen to be the next ruler of the Kingdom?" By now, Roswaal's face was so contorted as the smirk on his face twisted wide, some of his skin that wasn't covered in clown makeup was showing.

It was ugly. Ram knew and understood when a smile was fake and when a smirk was specifically made to show the ugliest side of who you are to an opponent.

"And Roswaal-sama only uses this to mislead people… What is trying to do by exposing Barusu to these girls like this? What does he want to accomplish by leading them here?"

Everyone in the room heard what he said and they all understood the meaning.

A certain Half-elf looked down with her hands trembling.

"He… can change whatever outcome that he doesn't like." Anastasia glared at the ground in frustration as the full implication of this power finally set into her merchant mind.

It was terrifying for her. To have such power over fate itself.

With a frown of contemplation, the merchant candidate began to mutter dryly, "I thought this power was not important enough since he wouldn't be able t' use it… But this last viewing showed him doing just tha-"

"But Natsuki Subaru won't be doing such a thing." Anastasia looked at the green-haired maiden with surprise. As did most of the room's occupants.

"Ya think the boy won't use his ability to gain the upper hand in this election?"

Anastasia questioned the firm-looking Crusch. The Karsten heir nodded her head and met Roswaal's eyes with her own filled with belief.

"Now that I think about it, Pal has already taken most of the credit for both the Whale and Sloth takedowns. Those two were very helpful to Emilia's reputation… that is very suspicious," Al pondered from his place beside Priscilla.

Those who had the same line of thinking began agreeing with him.

"Yeah, maybe Subaru did use his cheating ability to win some good points with the public," Tivey nodded his head as his tactic-driven mind went into overdrive.

Some among the watchers nodded along with the boy's statement.

"We have seen that he has no regard for his life anymore. He jumped off a cliff with a smile," Julius muttered as he glared down and processed the words and the thoughts that came with such words.

He was conflicted. His heart was screaming that Subaru was a hero that deserved respect and praise for his efforts in making this world a better place. He wanted to be a friend to the boy because he genuinely likes the guy.

But his pride as a knight and a warrior was making him fear the boy bit by bit. What if Subaru used that power to take over the kingdom? Who could stop him? What if he was taken over by the Witch?

It was a scary thought. It was terrifying for Julius, more than it was heartbreaking for the implications on their friendship.

"Natsuki Subaru could be using all of us from the beginning to achieve whatever he wants." Some looked at the purple-haired young man with disbelief… and some were beginning to agree with him.

Reinhard glanced at his friend in frustration. "Are you saying that Subaru was lying to all of us? Just to get some connections through this race?" His heart clenched as Julius looked away from him.

"But you said that Subaru was one of the good guys?" Ricardo lost his smile and glared at his friend in the camp. The dogman was angry that Subaru's faith was doubted.

"No one jumps off a damn cliff to save someone that killed him," Al mused from the back making Ricardo look at him with an angry glare.

It's a shame… These two were great friends when this started.

The one-armed helmet-wearing knight shrugged him off. It seemed as if the knight was uncaring to this discussion. Ram was glaring at him in suspicion.

"He could've just wanted to stay in the mansion. If he saved the blue-haired maid, he could be a permanent guest and get treated like royalty," Tivey lamented from the back.

"I have to agree that Subaru-kyun is someone not to be trusted," Felix growled in anger.

"Felix! What's with you?! Why are you so hateful?" Crusch looked at her knight with betrayal clear in her eyes.

The cat boy surprised all as he stood up and glared at his master with tears in his eyes. "If he was so inclined to use that dirty WITCH power to gain the upper hand, then how can you trust in him so much?!"

Crusch's eyes widened at her loyal friend's anger. For the first time since she met him, Felix was directly challenging her.

"What do you mean?" Reinhard asked one of his few friends as his guilt mounted more and more. Why couldn't he have just taken Subaru with him? Why did he let the boy throw his life away like this?

"Cap'n's been using this power to help all o' you! Why are ya so mad at him?" Garfiel angrily stared the cat boy down, ready to punch the living shit out of him for glossing over his Captain's awesomeness. He watched Subaru dive off a cliff to save someone that murdered him! "Cap'n's the greatest hero I've ever known. He promised to save everyone even if he dies."

Garfiel was shocked to his core at Subaru's suicide. He thought that such a power might make his captain a monster with no heart or care for anyone since he was able to control time itself.

But that suicide scene showed Garfiel a broken beaten kid that wanted to do anything to save someone he cares about. That kid… was his captain. The same person that had saved him from the Sanctuary.

Garfiel will be damned if they think less of his brother.

As the guilt-ridden Reinhard and the outraged Garfiel faced him and demanded an answer to his hatred for their friend, Felix only stared at his master and answered coldly.

"If Natsuki Subaru was using the return by death ability to win the election for Emilia… wouldn't that explain why you still had your memories taken?"

Crusch's eyes narrowed at Felix… She was disappointed.

"What are ya say'n?!" Garfiel growled, already done with the cat.

Felix's hatred came forth once more as he glared at the blonde boy.

"If Subaru truly cared for his friends he would've killed himself back then to stop Crusch-sama and the maid from being attacked by Gluttony."

Eyes widened and breaths hitched as the healer faced the shield with a look of pure fury.

"Subaru understood that saving Rem would also save Crusch-san, that's why he didn't kill himself and let the maid stay in her sleeping beauty state of coma! Had he killed himself and stopped Crusch and the injured that she took with her, the most popular candidate wouldn't have lost her memories and Emilia would still have an honest rival in this race!"

"Felix!"

The cat boy's entire form went frigid. His body trembled. His face morphed in horror.

He looked back.

A cold and angry glare. A disappointed stern expression.

A glint of hurt in both eyes.

In her beautiful shining honey-colored eyes.

"Sit down."

Felix looked down and obeyed his master. His disappointed master.

Crusch turned to Garfiel and bowed her head.

"I apologize for my knight's words." She humbly said to the boy.

Garfiel shook his head and sat down, keeping his eyes on the cat boy and the knight beside him.

"But what your knight has said still has merit. Why didn't Natsuki Subaru use his ability to help save you?" Anastasia looked conflicted at the sleeping Subaru.

"Boss… The archbishops attacked when me and bro were taking on the Sloth." Ricardo had a grim look on his face.

"He could've still warned Crusch-sama before she left," Julius told silently as his face, expressionless and emotionless, looked at the ground. He wanted his friend to be innocent of such foul tricks… but… he just couldn't.

"He would need to die though…" Tivey sounded as he backed Anastasia.

Mimi quickly slammed her brother on the head.

"Ow!"

"Enough already! Big bro gave his all in that fight! Against both Whale and the creepy man! You have no right to speak about him as if he was a villain!" Mimi shouted at her brother as her feelings of awe and amazement at Subaru's bravery that night came back full force.

Garfiel smiled at the little girl. He could get along with her! She knew how awesome his captain was!

"It is suspicious though… Why wouldn't he warn the others of Gluttony's attack? Why would he take all the credit for both fights? It's clear now that he can kill himself without a problem since that was what he did in the last viewing," Al mused his thoughts to the conflicted crowd without remorse for what his words are doing to the people below him.

It boiled Ram's blood with rage, "Stop fanning the flames!" She spat at the horrid knight who shrugged and held his hand up.

"Hey, can't blame me if something is needed, miss maid. Your friends are being morons at the moment, not my fault."

The pink-haired girl was taken aback by this answer, letting surprise overcome her expression before she glared at him again, "What do you mean?"

Al turned away from her and nodded towards the people in the rows below them. Ram looked to where he was directing and watched in confusion.

Reinhard looked at Julius and then at Subaru.

"We saw how he ended up in this world. How he met me and Emilia-sama. I don't think he's using us to obtain a further advantage for a race he didn't even know about until he came to this world." Reinhard tried to reason. He wanted to believe that Subaru was a friend. He wanted to have him as a friend.

Julius looked unconvinced. He was afraid of Subaru. He was afraid that his friend was an enemy.

"Why does the Witch support him then?" Julius coldly asked Reinhard.

"That.. is fair to ask." Reinhard slowly looked down and clenched his fists. He wanted to be Subaru's friend… but the evidence couldn't be ignored and he had a code that set his doubts above his feelings.

But Subaru didn't have Reinhard as his only friend…

There was another friend that was shaking in place as he heard this nonsense.

Luckily…

This one didn't have a code to follow.

"Juukulius-san."

Julius looked up slowly to see who it was that called him.

* THUMP!*

"Damn!"

"Whoa! Whoa!"

"Hey!"

Everyone looked on with shock and surprise as Julius was suddenly punched in the face.

"I know that you weren't hurt by that, Julius-san. So please, look me in the eye as I speak to you."

"This act can lead to your execution, you know? You just assaulted a royal knight." Julius slowly and coldly turned his head and faced the merchant standing before him.

Otto simply glared sternly down at Julius.

"You seemed like you needed it."

Julius's eyebrow raised at this. "How so?"

Otto's eyes narrowed. "Because you were forgetting who your friend was."

Julius's breathing hitched.

"You were afraid of Natsuki-san just now. Weren't you?" Otto questioned coldly.

Julius's eyes widened.

"You were trying to grasp onto anything just to justify the fear that was spreading through you, and you were forgetting about Natsuki-san being your friend and who he was," the merchant's glare narrowed and pierced through the elegant knight easily.

"H-How...ghk!" Julius looked away as he clenched his fists.

Otto had him pegged from the start.

"Think of all the times you've spent with Natsuki-san. The one you know," the merchant harshly pointed at the knight's chest with a glare of disappointment and anger on his face.

Julius couldn't refute Otto…

His composure was gone and his elegance crumbled at the intervention from what he thought was a meek merchant tagging along with Emilia's camp.

…

Otto turned around and walked to his seat, leaving the bruised knight as he thought about how he truly saw the boy named Subaru Natsuki.

A monster that could ruin his kingdom?

A fraud that used him and his friends?

Or the amazing brash son of a bitch that had a heart of gold?

His friend.

Reinhard looked down and thought about Otto's words as well. He started lamenting about all the interactions he's had with the nasty-eyed boy.

"I wish I spent more time with him," he muttered as he found his memories with his friend sparse.

"That's what you get for not being greedy." A voice long forgotten sounded out.

"Felt-sama?"

The blonde girl that had been silent all this time finally spoke up in a mocking yet sincere tone as she smirked at her knight.

"Ya need to be greedy. Ya need to ask your friend to spend some time with ya more."

Reinhard looked taken aback by this.

How could a boy that had torn his family, ruined lives because of his selfish and slothful self, be more greedy?

"That's an order. You need to be a true friend to Big bro."

Felt smirked at him.

Reinhard… could only smile.

It was his lady's orders. He would be greedy.

The little girl smiled and leaned back in her seat as she looked at her big bro. She wasn't a dumbass. She understood what the gray-haired idiot was doing when he punched Julius. She was shocked by how hard Subaru's life was. But she was never going to think badly of him.

She missed her chance before, she was knocked out when Subaru's fate was decided.

She won't lose him this time. If pain and death were all he got because no one wanted to help him, then she and Reinhard would save him.

Felt had her mindset. She wanted to be greedy too.

Crusch nodded her head at what the green-clad boy had said. She had been dumbfounded when she learned about Subaru's power. She was terrified of the implications. But in her heart, she knew one thing that keeps her faith firm in the black-haired bo- knight. He was a knight and she needed to respect that.

Powered by Otto's action, Crusch faced Priscilla and Anastasia with her own firm stance, Felix's take on this did not hinder her way of seeing things at all.

"That boy would never use that power for his own advantage."

"What makes you say that? He took the credit for the fight that yer army and my mercenaries have battled," Anastasia asked Crusch in a tone that was non accusatory but still greatly shrewd.

Sure, her mercenary force was sent for support only and she had accepted a percentage of mining rights as well as safe trade routes as her only payment… She was a little miffed at how the people only spoke about Emilia's knight as if he was the one that did all the work.

To the merchant's and everyone else's surprise, the Duchess let out a hefty chuckle, "Let me correct a certain misconception about Natsuki-sama, all of you seem to have."

Anastasia looked at the standing Crusch as did most of the occupants in the room.

"After the White Whale had been subjugated, Natsuki Subaru refused any kind of praise from me. He was shocked when I told him that he will be given credit for what he had done. He even tried to make me take all of the glory for myself." Crusch smiled warmly for a second at the sleeping boy. Yes, a boy that had no power or talent.

"That big of an effort made by such a boy needed to be praised and announced to the world. It was I, who praised him and told the people of his achievements," Crusch confidently announced to the theater's audience.

"What?" Emilia squeaked out, her eyes wide in disbelief. "Subaru did that?" she asked weakly, her frown deepened. She felt left out of the conversation and didn't like it.

Anastasia's eyes widened as she never thought about Subaru denying such praise.

Or she should have…

"Of course this unambitious idiot would do something like that," Anastasia facepalmed as she thought about the boy's personality so far. A little smile found its way on her lips.

"So he didn't take advantage of you? My bad." Al said in a bored tone and leaned back in his seat. Ram looked at him in shock.

"No."

"Yes. Your buddies just need a little push to get to the right conclusion about my pal. That's all." Al shrugged underneath Ram's shocked gaze.

"You were trying to get everyone to stop thinking badly of Barusu… by making him look bad?" Ram questioned with an expression expressing how ludicrous the thought was.

The helmeted knight didn't glance back at her, "Hey, I knew pal had some great friends that would protect his image. I just needed to set the stage."

"... Why would you do that? What do you have to gain?" Ram questioned the man in bewilderment.

Al shrugged again, "Nothing. I just want to get out of here and you guys are wasting time discussing stuff. I needed to speed things up. Plus, I dislike the clown guy's approach to helping my pal's image."

At this, Ram's mind pieced together what he meant immediately. Everyone was divided on whether Subaru can be trusted or not. She couldn't see it before but after that suicidal death, something changed in everyone's heads. Return By Death was dangerous if the user decided their life was an easy cost.

"Roswaal-sama…"

Ram glanced back towards her employer who was standing away from her over the rows, beside Priscilla's seat.

Had he set this all up so everyone could talk? So that Subaru's friends would squash the worry of the others?

Was Roswaal manipulating the people below them to help Subaru or for something else?

The pink-haired maid seemed reserved on the choice as she eyed her master.

"Soooo much chaos! I wonder if this is what you waaaaanted?" Roswaal smiled at the princess clad in red sitting in the same row as him.

Priscilla was expressionless as she fanned herself and looked down at the crowd beneath her.

The princess sighed and dropped her fan on Al's lap.

"Princess?"

Al looked up as his mistress stood from her seat and…

* SMACK!*

"Roswaal-sama!" Ram quickly ran to help her master's side as he lay on the floor.

The clown waved slowly and rubbed the spot on his face that was met with the sole of Priscilla's boot.

"It's alright Ram. I suppooose Barielle-sama has a good reason to kick my handsome faaaace?"

The orange-haired princess had a disgusted scowl on her face as she lowered her leg and wiped her shoe on the carpeted floor.

"Aldebaran, you will lick my shoe later. I'm afraid it came into contact with sewer sludge."

Roswaal narrowed his eyes at the princess, seemingly annoyed as he stood with the help of his maid.

"Princess, please don't start a war with the most powerful magic user and another candidate's sponsor." The exasperated helmeted knight sighed as he tried to calm the maiden down.

"Hmph! This dog needed some discipline and I took it upon mineself to correct him." Priscilla looked at the crowd with a look of pure superiority.

"My reason for disgust wasn't for this dog's implication. I had another reason that made me both disgusted and amused by that boy."

Crusch grinned as she had to admit, that kick was satisfying to watch, the purple-haired merchant beside her was smirking behind her coat as well.

"What is that reason?" Anastasia asked cheerfully.

Priscilla looked annoyed that she had to speak with these commoners."I suppose a goddess such as mine-self should be the one to explain it to the filthy mongrels."

The princess pointed at the sleeping Subaru while looking interested.

"The boy amuses me and disgusts me… because I don't understand him."

"What do you mean?" Felt was the one to finally enter the discussion as she wanted to know what this nasty girl thought about her big bro.

"Hmph! A rat such as yourself wouldn't get it. What I want to know is why this boy didn't use his power to remove his shame?"

"What are you talking about?" Petra was the one that finally spoke up as she tiredly looked at the princess. The little girl's heart was shattered that her hero killed himself and was killed by someone she held as her sama. And now there was another incident that added to his 'shame'? Petra wasn't gonna make it through.

"I think I know what Candidate-sama is talking about."

All eyes turned to the old butler sitting beside the rigid Felix.

"Wilhelm-dono?" Crusch looked at her knight in surprise. She forgot about him to be honest.

"I apologize for my intrusion but I may have grasped the meaning behind Barielle-sama's conflicted feelings."

Priscilla looked at the old man and scoffed. "As if a demented old fool could understand the mind of a goddess. But it is a little amusing to watch you try."

Crusch sighed at the princess's ego and turned towards her bowing butler, nodding to give him permission.

Wilhelm spoke towards the scarlet-eyed maiden while keeping his voice just loud enough to make the others hear him.

"Subaru-dono didn't use his power to erase that shameful behavior he displayed in the royal castle that day."

"...Hgk!" Julius and Felix looked at the old man with wide-open eyes.

"That's true!" Reinhard wanted to laugh out loud for the first time in forever, but since this was his grandfather speaking, he decided to not cut him off.

He did feel more hurt that his own grandfather was standing up for Subaru more than he was.

The old man smiled warmly with his blue eyes shining with respect and conviction.

"You're confused and disgusted because you can't understand that someone could have such a selfless goodhearted soul. You thought this power would make for an opportunistic heartless monster."

Priscilla's eyes widened as the old man described her thoughts exactly.

Crusch smirked proudly.

"Yet all we've seen is a boy using what he could to save his friends, and that is something you can't comprehend."

Priscilla wanted to slam her heel into this swan's face. "How dare.."

"Ghk!…" She wanted to shout at him and kill him where he stood.

How dare he read her mind like this!?

She, a god among commoner scum, can't understand the good heart of one weak pathetic boy? What foolish deception!?

The black-haired boy was…

* SLAMM!*

"OW! Princess?!"

Some grimaced at the kick Priscilla delivered to her knight's stomach. He was sent into a wall.

Priscilla sat down with a huff as she glared at the boy sleeping far away, being hugged by a little blonde and had another obsessive silver-haired half-wit clinging to him. Emilia caught Priscilla's eye and held on to Subaru's arm tightly.

The half-elf didn't like how everyone seemed to go on their interest in Subaru as if he was an object.

Wilhelm sat down and returned to take his posture of watching in silence.

Crusch and Anastasia sat down beside their conflicted knights.

Everyone was as conflicted as Priscilla. Some couldn't help but be overridden by their guilt for not helping defend the boy when they could, like Frederica and Petra. Others simply waited for more to be revealed.

Roswaal was escorted to sit down between his dutiful maids again, his expression was one of pure relief. One that only Ram had noticed.

"You were helping Barusu again?"

"I'm not always helping Subaru-kun as you've seen, Ram. I need to do my part in some way. I'm glad Al-kun and his esteemed liege allowed me to use them so I can push everyone to a better path in seeing our hero," the lord spoke in a softened tone that no one could hear except for her. He had a sad smile on his face even when he was only looking at his pants as he wiped dust off of them.

"..."

Ram's silence was a testament to her shock. Her face didn't show it but her heart was filled with an incredible amount of guilt and shame.

"So you did this because you feel like it's your fault Barusu died so many times?"

She didn't understand how it never passed her mind before. Of course, Roswaal felt like it was all his fault. No matter what anybody says, he was the one that commanded the mansion and had the authority to protect everyone in it. Subaru's death was no more Rem's fault than his own to anyone that would think about it.

Even if he removed himself from suspicion, he still held a lot of guilt in his heart.

This made the Oni incredibly shameful for doubting her master. Her shame was far more engrossing once she realized just how much of all of this was her fault. Had she been a better older sister and helped Rem with her insecurity… Subaru wouldn't have had to suffer such brutal endings nor would her master need to manipulate the others and place more attention on himself to protect their image.

In a way, Ram knew that he blamed himself for how her sister turned out.

The pink-haired demon crushed the end of her skirt in her shaking fists.

The gloved hand that covered her wrathful clenched one calmed her down to an extent but didn't stop the flames of shame from burning her heart.

Roswaal simply patted her hands and kept his gaze towards the screen. His lips were thin.

[Let's continue watching for more information. It might put you all at ease.]

As the voice of their Warden spoke across the speculative atmosphere, everyone's attention was pushed to look at the darkened window that started coming to life.

[Season 1 Episode 5 Director's Cut

Begin.

A dark black hand reaches from the void towards Subaru.

A blurry image… A faint voice…

"I'm back here again… " Subaru grunted once he opened his eyes and found the same ceiling of the reset room above him.

He had Returned by Death.

"Sister, sister. It appears our guest is still half-asleep."

"Rem, Rem. For one so young, it's quite sad how out of it he is."

Subaru slowly looked up to see…

The two voices…

The twin maids…]

"This is infuriating, in fact," Beatrice groused, glaring at the two maids on screen.

From the same row as her, another blonde girl agreed with the spirit. "I get ya. This is very gross to watch after what we've seen," Felt looked away from the screen, her frown alerting her knight that something was wrong, but she just looked away from him as well and kept a straight face.

"Come on now… We just have t' ask Cap'n what t' do when he wakes," Garfiel was the odd one out of every girl sitting in his row, "No need t' make yerselves angry-"

"We have a reason to be angry."

The blonde tiger flinched slightly under Emilia's cold gaze, the glares from Felt and Beatrice did not help.

"Emilia-sama," Otto took the half-elf by surprise as he stopped watching the screen and gave her a dour look, "I think it would be best to listen to Garf-san's advice and refrain from making sweeping remarks."

The silver-haired princess wilted for a moment before gaining her composure.

[Subaru slowly sat up and stared at Rem and Ram as they stood in front of him.

He closed his eyes in recollection at the previous loop and how broken these two were.

Noticing the pained expression on his face, the two ran to his side with worried expressions.

"What is the matter, sir?"

"Do you feel unwell? Do you have a chronic illness flaring up?"]

"I'm wondering how he's about t' deal with these two 'ere," said the dogman sitting beside Anastasia.

The merchant boss herself seemed decently intrigued as well.

[Subaru looked up at the worried maids and quickly took their hands in each one of his.

"Let me see your hands."]

Both Rem's and Ram's eyes widened in shock and surprise.

"This is it? The one?" Rem asked in a tone that could be described as happy and filled with hope. Her heart also fluttered at the way the black-haired youth was staring at her and Ram. He had no fear or malice in his eyes.

Something that greatly shocked her pink-haired twin that sat beside her.

[Subaru slowly closed his eyes and remembered the time he was having a nightmare.

Those two hands… were the same ones that helped him then.

"So it's true… I wasn't mistaken."

Subaru smiled in relief and sincerity as he held both of their hands.

The maids looked annoyed. "No, sir. I think you are mistaken about everything."

The maids quickly removed their hands out of his grasp and stepped away from him while glaring.

"No, sir. I think your very birth was a mistake."]

"From their perspective, it does seem very creepy." Al mused while some nodded in agreement.

Ram seemed to regain her composure and bit her tongue back from insulting the notion that had been displayed on the screen. She could still feel her disgust back then, only now she was more horrified at the fact that she had directly played a role in the need for the boy's weird interactions with her and her sister. It seemed like he was a mild perv back then… Now she knew better.

"I wouldn't put it past any girl to slap him for that behavior," Felix murmured quietly with a frown.

"I don't find his antics that concerning," Crusch riposted in place of Subaru, her expression was one of displeasure aimed for the demihuman healer. Felix bit his lip and looked away from both her and the old man in the butler suit beside him.

["When I think about what's to come, I can't laugh off that comment… But right now even though that's a good feeling." Subaru looked at the wall in uncertainty.

The twins looked at him in pity,

"Sister, sister. Could our guest be a troubled man who takes pleasure from torture?"

"Rem, Rem. Our guest appears to be a pervert who's turned on by insults."]

"Haha what a misunderstanding." Ricardo tried to salvage some of the fun mood the room once had before everything turned serious after the last death. Though sadly, only the demi twins and Al showed signs of amusement at his joke.

[Subaru smiled sheepishly. "Sorry to do that out of the blue, but I trust you both."

Subaru slowly left his bed and stood in front of the two in his robes.

He was smiling while holding his hand out. "Let's be friends, okay?"]

"How foolish is he?" Priscilla seethed, staring at the scene with a baffled glare.

"I'm sure he's mentally broken from all of his deaths, yeah? Must be the pain making him so easily forgivin' ,'' Anastasia seemed to be on the same wavelength as the sun princess sitting above.

"Come on, bro," Al shook his helmeted head, "You can't just forgive like that!"

[The twins looked at each other in bewilderment at this man's gayness.

And a new voice came into the room.

"It was awfully noisy, so I came to check… Subaru, I'm glad you seem well." A beautiful silver-haired maiden entered the room with a sincere smile on her face as she looked at the boy.]

Emilia's frozen and haunted face suddenly changed into one of pure relief and happiness as her smile reached her ears for the first time in a while.

"This is it! That's how I remember it!"

"So he won't die again?" Felt asked with a surprised grin.

["There was a lot on my mind a second ago, but seeing you blew it all away, Emilia-tan! I guess you were the wonder drug that my heart needed." Subaru smiled brightly at Emilia.

The lady just looked confused. "Sorry, I have no idea what you're saying."]

Anastasia had to give the scene a chuckle. "Yer naivety is kinda refreshin'."

Emilia didn't know what to say to this so she kept her eyes focused on the heartwarming scene in front of her.

It made the heavy and painful depression around the room almost disappear completely.

[Emilia smiled, "But good morning. I'm glad you're well."

"Yeah, good morning." Subaru took a second to appreciate Emilia's smile.]

"Look at how happy he is to see Emilia-sama!" Frederica teased Petra and giggled as the little maid stuck her tongue at the screen.

She wanted Petra to forget about the dark moments of this adventure in the mansion. For just a moment.

[He smiled and closed his eyes, muttering. "Let's get this started."]

"It was getting tiring to repeat this," Tivey said in boredom.

His sister replaced the air above his head with her wooden staff as she dropped it on his skull.

"Awe!"

"Shush!" Mimi glared at her twin infuriated.

Garfiel laughed loudly, approving of the little girl's action.

[Scene changes to Subaru and the manor's residents eating once again.

Subaru slams his hands on the table and smiles at the lord of the said manor.

"Hire me to work in this mansion!" Subaru demanded.]

"Why are you looking at me?" Anastasia innocently asked as she noticed the many stares aimed towards her.

"Nothing, we just thought that you'd be angry at Natsuki-san for this choice," Otto chuckled nervously.

Anastasia just shrugged and ignored the smirking Crusch and the giggling Felt.

Both candidates could see how hard she was gripping her coat.

'This boy deserves another beating!'

Anastasia just fumed in place.

[The screen began showing Subaru working his chores with the twins from the previous loops as his thoughts were voiced over the montage.

There are two broad conditions I need to clear in order to survive a week in Roswaal's mansion.

First is to earn the trust of the staff here.

Rem is shown watching Subaru with a suspicious glare on her face while he peeled some POTATOES (Fuck you Tatoes!).

If I don't earn those girls' favor, they're likely to kill me to keep me silent.

Flashbacks to Subaru's previous loops where he was killed in both the hallway and the forest played.

That goes not only for Rem and Ram but for their master, Roswaal, as well.

The memory of the fully powered Roswaal hovering over Subaru and Beatrice with a glare on his face played.]

"hmmm! He was prepaaaared for my intrusion as weeeell?" The eccentric lord questioned, looking quite taken aback.

"Why are you surprised I suppose? Betty's Subaru was always prepared for your stupid book's instructions." Beatrice kept her eyes on the screen as she scathingly reminded the clown of how he lost to Subaru.

"Thaaat's true..." Seeing a few curious stares aimed towards him and the spirit in the front row, Roswaal couldn't help but hide his completely enraged look with a pacified conclusion.

"So he needs to earn the trust of the staff first?" Reinhard looked at Rem with a forlorn look. He wanted to believe that she won't be doing anything regrettable this time around.

The blue-haired maid blanked at the knight, unable to provide an answer as she was obstructed by her mind offering multiple reasons and memories relating to such reasons. Ones that forced the maid to get back into her knees and hide her tears from everyone.

"..." Ram simply rubbed her sister's back with a soft frown.

Reinhard felt a bit guilty for doing that but he felt more curious and even more worried as to what the reactions entailed. So the knight looked to the third maid for the estate and he was surprised to find that both Frederica and Petra were glaring daggers at the two-colored Oni maids above.

"U-Um, excuse me?"

"Frederica and Petra-chan were not present with us in the mansion, as you've seen, Reinhard." Swiftly, Emilia's angelic bell of a voice answered the knight, and even with all of its obscurity, he could sense the disheartened emotion in that tone of the half-elf.

"..." Reinhard decided to let his question die as he realized the effects these viewings are having on the Emilia camp as a whole. He couldn't help but feel amazed by how much Subaru was interconnected with these people in such a short time ever since his transportation. This was a real contrast to how little his own camp members seemed to connect when it came to Reinhard himself.

The knight couldn't help but bury those feelings for now.

[The Second is to defeat the shaman that attacks Roswaal's mansion.

Subaru is shown swinging a broom as if it was a sword with a smile of determination on his face.]

"That's correct… " Julius finally spoke up. His voice was quieter but much colder.

"He still has that to figure out as well," Crusch mused as she looked on with interest.

"How will he do it?" Mimi asked as she watched with excitement.

"Barusu never told us how he knew about the shaman but I have a rough idea after watching this window's events," Ram felt inclined to reply to the excited murmur, though she winced when she received a few glares aimed her way from her maid colleagues and two blonde girls in the front row.

'Guess I should really keep my head down.'

"Let's watch for now," Wilhelm advised as he kept watching at the edge of his seat. The old man wanted to see how Subaru managed to get out of this situation and he also noticed the hostility brewing up against the maids the more the anxiety took over the crowd.

"You either really want to help those two maids or you have found a new liking to the young man, Wilhelm-dono," the Duchess wore a knowing grin as she side-eyed the old knight.

"My lady, he never gives up… Should it have been me, I wouldn't have given the mansion's people a second thought and left to form my own way," Wilhelm mused grimly, "Yet, he found something to look away from these people's betrayal of his rights and found something incredible… Mercy."

Crusch listened in with a small frown at the old man's tone. It sounded too morbid for someone as steeled as him.

"Love is such a fickle thing, lady Crusch," Wilhelm's tone held no small amount of respect as it did sternness for the green-haired lady that commanded his respect, "It could either bend you until you break completely and so mercilessly, or it will become the reason you stay strong against the harshest odds that fall on you."

"And what of those feelings that are stronger than love?" The young leader to her house's name found herself glaring sternly at her feet. Unable to find the right way to go about understanding the old man's words. Unable to comprehend this emotion that brought memories of something terrible for her heart.

"If there was something such as that, Lady Crusch," Wilhelm smiled whimsically at his liege, almost self-deprecating his smile was, "I have yet to come upon them," he answered wholeheartedly.

Crusch felt that it would be best to stay silent and move her eyes over to where the window was, oddly, she ended up staring at the back of Subaru's head for a few moments.

"What's his love leading him to? Pain and misery are the things that have plagued him since he came to our world… This man… Is an utter fool."

The Duchess kept a thin-lipped expression as she narrowed her eyes at the man in question. Her frustration over his uncaringness for his own self and his constant twisting of love to deprecate his achievements felt completely underhanded and insulting to the memory of this emotion.

She felt disappointed with how much love Subaru wasted to ignore his own problems.

"Seems even you can make mistakes, huh, Return by Death's wielder?"

[Scene change…

Subaru dropped on some grass looking tired. "I'm exhausted!"

Above him was a floating Puck, hovering upside down.

"You're quite the hard worker." Puck mused.

"I'm not done yet. I still need to prepare dinner and clean the rooms. I'll get back to work after a little break."

Puck lowered down with an excited smile on his face. "It's only your first day, and you're so spirited."

Subaru smiled up at the cat… "Well…"

The boy looked to the side with a wide smile. "Some important things are at stake here."

He whispered softly as he stared at Emilia while she talked with the small light balls hovering all around her.]

Rem looked down a bit. The feeling of guilt and jealousy mixed as she wished for her to be in Emilia's place.

Even though she was content with second place, she still wanted Subaru to look at her like that.

But she would just hope for his forgiveness for now.

Emilia felt her heartstrings tug a little as she watched how Subaru looked at her. She wished to give this boy the same feelings with the same look coming from her one day.

["By the way, what kind of magic does Emilia-tan use?" Subaru asked the floating cat.

"Technically, Lia isn't really a magic-user. That goes for her contract with me, too. She's a spirits art user." Puck flew around the boy's body with a smile on his face.

"So magic-users and spirit arts users are different… "

"Magic-users cast magic with their own mana, but spirit arts users draw from mana in the atmosphere."

Subaru raised his hand in the air. "And how are those two different, Sensei?"

"Basically, it depends on whether or not you use a gate."

"A gate?"

"Mana passes through a gate within your body. You both draw mana in and expel it out through the gate."

"I see… so it's like a faucet for an MP."

"You should have one too, Subaru."]

"Hey come to think of it, why does Natsuki-san have a gate as well?"

Garfiel looked at Otto with a confused look. "Whaddya mean?"

"I mean, if he was from another world, and as Beatrice-sama confirmed along with his reaction just now, his world had no magic users or any instance of mana usage, then how can he possess a gate?"

"I… don't know, I suppose," Beatrice mused as she began thinking about the inquiry.

"Maybe humans in his world do have gates but they're unable to make use of them since his world had no mana?" Emilia gave her opinion while watching Puck on-screen with a sad look on her face.

Some nodded at the explanation.

"Or it could've been given by the Witch," Felt sounded out, making a few individuals gasp and turn frigidly towards her.

"What?" The little blonde asked as she noticed some stare at her.

"P-Please don't speak of HER so lightly, Felt-sama," Reinhard stuttered in shock that his lady was so brave to casually speak of such a monster. He was almost proud but he couldn't let her go around speaking like that in public less he wants a call for her execution.

"Pussy!" Felt huffed and looked away from her pussy knight.

Reinhard looked worried when the children plus Ricardo and Al laughed at him.

He hoped that name wouldn't stick.

[Subaru smiled wide in excitement. "Really?! Does that mean I can use magic, too?"

"Want me to figure out what your attribute is?" Puck slowly moved his tail and touched Subaru's forehead with the tip.

"Magic-users are divided into fire, water, wind, and earth attributes."

Subaru's forehead began glowing as the sound of meowing filled his head.

"Whoa, that's totally a magic sound effect!"

Subaru looked up with excitement.]

"No, it's not!" Mimi and Tivey as well as Beatrice were giggling at Puck's sound effects and at Subaru's reaction

[Puck stopped and removed his tail from Subaru's forehead. "I know what your attribute is."

Subaru jumped in place while holding his hands together with an excited smile. "Yes! I've been waiting for this! Is it the burning fire of passion? Or a relaxed cool guy water type? Or maybe a gentle wind blowing across the plain? Or is it solid, reliable earth?"

Subaru thought about all the different attributes as beautiful soothing and exciting places of mystical sights.

Only for all of them to get swallowed up in a black void of nothingness as Puck announced.

"Shadow."

"All rejected?!" Subaru wallowed.]

Emilia and Rem chuckled a bit as the cast behind them laughed out loud at his luck.

"I remember the time my attribute was announced! It was much cooler than this." Mimi jumped on her brother as she remembered that moment with her teacher.

["Wow, Shadow? That's very rare," Emilia entered the conversation as she stood beside the two.

"What is a shadow anyway? Weren't there only four attributes?" Subaru asked in misery.

"In addition to the four basic attributes, there's also shadow and light," Puck explained.

Subaru grinned smugly. "Is it actually some amazing ability? Like a talent that only comes along once in 5,000 years?"]

"Why does he want to be a hero so bad?" Julius felt wrong to ask this but he had to learn more about his friend. If he is to be his friend.

"He still thinks that he deserves some kind of power for him coming into another world." Otto sighed.

But then froze in place as a certain thought came to him.

Most of the watchers also turned silent and mused at the idea.

"Holy shit!"

"He did get a superpower!"

Al and Ricardo as most of the cast couldn't believe it.

"Such a stupid rule was true?" Anastasia asked as she lamented over Return by Death being Subaru's given power.

"It is what's being told to us," Crusch shrugged as she couldn't deny that this power made Subaru achieve some amazing things. "But this power didn't really help him find peace or standing in the world… Just peace of mind."

"You said something, Crusch-sama?" Felix spoke for the first time once he felt his lady's whispering became darkened with disappointment for some reason.

"Nothing, Ferris. It's nothing," the Duchess shook her head and ignored her knight. Felix frowned.

["With shadow magic, you can obstruct an opponent's vision, block sound, slow their movements, and things like that," Emilia explained to the proud boy.

All the excitement that was on his face disappeared, replaced with a deadpan expression as his dream to become this Zelda's Link died with the explanation of his ability helping him understand what he can do.

"Only debuffs!"]

"Da fuck is that?" Garfiel looked at Beatrice for an explanation.

The smug loli couldn't turn an opportunity to share her Subaru knowledge and she raveled in the small jealous glares coming from a certain number of girls. Especially a pouting half-elf and a glaring Oni.

"Debuffs are what you would call attributes or effects that weaken the power of a foe or an ally."

"Isn't that a good power to have though?" Reinhard asked, not understanding why Subaru didn't like such a power.

"Betty's Subaru is still enthralled in his fantasy to be the most amazing hero, in fact. He wanted a magical power that could make him beat all of his enemies in one shot like you, the Sword Saint, have done to that bowel hunter girl, I suppose."

"But why would he want that after all of this?"

"Think about it, he was summoned to another world with a power to turn time to his will, he has a gate that can control a type of magic so rare to us, he totally thinks he will become some legend to-be." Otto shook his head at his brother's frigid state of mind.

"That's… understandable," Anastasia mused as she thought back to when she saw him as nothing more than an impotent kid with a loudmouth.

"Man, I'm starting to understand what really happened in that castle," Al spoke to himself but his words reached the rest of the room.

A certain purple-haired young man looked down once more as he lamented the words in his head.

["An easy one would be something like Shamac," Puck mused as he flew around them.

"That's a blinding spell, right?" Emilia asked.

Puck nodded and floated in front of Subaru. "Want me to show you?"

"For real?! Let's see, let's see!" Subaru smirked in excitement as he readied himself.

"W-Wait…" Emilia reached her arm out to stop anything reckless from happening…

but it was too late.

"Shamac!" Puck said and forced a spell on the boy.

Darkness…

Subaru was sitting in an endless void of darkness.

He tried to scream and yell something but his own voice was taken from him. He was a part of this darkness.]

Emilia's eyes widened.

Rem's did as well.

[Just like that moment where his heart was crushed.

He was unable to do anything in this darkness.

He was a slave to it.

To the dark hand that will inventively come and take his heart in its crushing grip once again.

Screaming and yelling silent sounds into the void, he tried to run.

He didn't want that hand to come for him.]

"Man, that magic is scary!" Tivey hugged his sister tight while Petra watched with her eyes wide.

"Why is he…" Petra tried to ask.

"He's remembering that time with the Witch," Frederica hugged her little maid tightly.

"Barusu still fears the darkness of the jealous witch," Ram snorted and looked at the boy with a pity-filled glare.

"Course he does! She nabbed his heart! And crushed it!" Garfiel exclaimed.

Seeing the opportunity to be a good bro, Otto turned with a smirk on his fac-

*Smack *

"Owe! Why did you hit me?!" Otto asked as he rubbed the back of his head while glaring at the beast boy.

Garfiel had an unimpressed look. "Ya were about to ask a stupid question, and the answer is no, I'm not scared of 'er."

["Okay, that's it."

Subaru opened his eyes and found himself in a different part of the garden as Puck stopped the spell.

"What'd you think? That was Shamac."

"Are you all right?" Emilia asked from behind him.

Subaru gulped nervously as he realized that nothing was coming to crush his heart.

He was safe.

Slowly, turning around and smiling at Emilia and Puck. "I-I'm fine!" Subaru assured nervously.]

"Subaru… You've been dealing with so much since the beginning." Emilia whispered as the rest in her camp shared her thoughts.

"He needs to grasp his worthlessness already!" Above everyone, Priscilla seemed most agitated by this entire scene for some reason. As if the display of Subaru's interaction with magic was the most disgusting thing in this room to her.

"She's really pissed," Ricardo winced at the heat coming from where the princess sat, it didn't help that he was directly under her row.

["It's not too flashy, but it seems pretty effective! That means I can use this Shamac, too, right?"

"Well, that depends on your training. Want to try the beginner's course?"

Subaru and Puck shook hands and paws in solidarity.

"Please, Master!"

Scene change…

Subaru and Puck were standing in the middle of the big garden in front of the estate.

"I'll act as a support and use the mana inside you, so the magic will come from your own gate. Lia, on the off chance that Subaru's magic goes out of control and explodes, you should step away so your clothes don't get messy."

Emilia stepped a couple of… hundred meters away from Subaru.

The boy began to panic.

"That only happens if I screw it up really badly, right?!"]

"What worthless teaching, I suppose. It must've been your influence on Bubby that made him teach my contractor in such an incompetent way, in fact!" Beatrice raged from her seat, holding Subaru's arm while glaring at a certain half-elf.

The princess only moved her gaze to the floor with a nervous shuffle of her legs as indication of movement.

Emilia's pursed lips were the only thing needed for Anastasia, Felt, and Crusch to burst into chuckles at her guilt.

"Bro has the worst luck with friends, it's too funny."

"H-Hey!" Emilia felt deeply stung by that comment, but Felt was too satisfied to see what her words did. The blonde has been airing to relieve her frustration with how badly her knight screwed up letting Subaru go out of her grasp and into someone as… 'Unreliable' as Emilia.

[Puck pulled his hair and made him face another direction. "If you're relaxed enough for lighthearted comments like that, you'll be fine."

Puck began his lesson.

"Now, visualize the flow of mana through your body, then expel a part of it out of your body through your gate."

"Visualizing, I can do. Fantasizing is what I do best."]

Julius snorted softly.

[Subaru smirked and closed his eyes. Putting his fingers on his forehead to focus. He began meowing like a cat to replicate the magic sounds he heard from Puck.

The screen showed a white ball and a mass of dark tentacles swarming into it.

Puck slowly looked up with a dismayed look on his face.

"Huh? That's not good. That gate just-"

"UGH!" Subaru shouted as his body exploded into a giant black cloud that spanned the entire estate. Mansion and gardens.]

"Ewwwwww." Petra and Felt sounded in disgust.

"Is that why his gate was damaged?" Crusch asked.

Emilia nodded her head.

[Scene change…

"Long story short, you don't have very good control over your gate, so you shouldn't try too hard."

Puck is shown flying over Subaru while the boy was laying on his back after he farted.

"You're the one who said I'd be fine."

"Tee-hee!" Puck giggled.

"That's not cute at all," Subaru said in a deadpanned tone.

"Well, for better or for worse, your gate isn't very well-used. That's why the mana inside ignored the user's will and burst its way out."

Subaru looked up with a distressed look. "What am I, a soy sauce bottle with a loose cap?"

The boy tried to get up from the bench he was laying on but his body refused to move.

"You shouldn't move. You used up all the mana in your body. You might not be able to work anymore today… " Emilia looked up thoughtfully but she looked down startled as Subaru suddenly yelled out and began to force himself to stand.

"No! I have to!"

Emilia quickly ran to his side. "Don't try to overdo it!"

Subaru ignored her and slowly got out. "This is exactly when I need to overdo it!"

Subaru gritted his teeth in frustration as he forced his muscles to move. "I can't waste a single day!"]

"He needs t' force himself through the fatigue," Anastasia noted with a sympathetic frown.

Rem and Emilia flinched as they watched how he forced himself up.

"I should've noticed his pain." Emilia softly frowned and lowered her head.

"You did though. You helped him." Rem pointed out to Emilia in a soft and broken tone.

The half-elf sank further into her seat at the maid's words. Unable to control her rage at the audacity of the blue-haired girl.

[Emilia just looked down at him with a confused expression.

"You really are hopeless… " Emilia sighed and stepped closer to him.

"What-"

Subaru blushed as Emilia put something into his mouth and kept her palm on his lips to shut his mouth close.

"Chew." Emilia smiled and stepped back from him. "Chew and swallow it. Three, and… go!"

Subaru slowly swallowed whatever his mistress put in his mouth.

The burst of energy that filled him forced Subaru upon his once wobbly legs.

"W-What was that?" Subaru uttered, spooked and amazed.

Emilia giggled and picked up a small purple grape-like fruit. "A fruit called 'bocco fruit.' When you eat it, the mana in your body activates, and your gate regains a little of its strength." Emilia smiled happily at him.

Subaru looked at Emilia with a guilty expression. "Sorry… I guess I've caused you some trouble."

Emilia's face drops at this and she pouts at the ground. "You don't understand, Subaru."

Subaru looks up at her in surprise.

Emilia glares at him. "It's more satisfying to hear a single thank you than a lot of sorrys." Emilia's glare changes to a soft smile. "I did it because I wanted to help you, not because I wanted an apology." She shot him her cutest smile, beaming at her friend. "Okay?" she softly asked.

Subaru stared at her, his face bewildered.]

"Awwee you two are so sweet together!" Mimi called from the back.

Emilia felt a sad smile overcoming her heavy lips. She was happy that she lived through moments like those.

[Change scene…

The screen shows the L. Mathers estate at night.

We got to Roswaal as he sat in his office chair, looking out the window.

"So, Ram, given what you've seen so far, what do you think of him?" The clown-wearing lord asked the pink-haired girl sitting on his lap.

"In terms of abilities, he's completely incompetent, but he can be excessively quick-witted when it counts. I believe it may be necessary to keep an eye on him for a time."

"This is a problem we must handle with utmost care. Be sure to give the proper warnings. So that your sister doesn't act rashly."]

"See! I caaaare about my Subaru-kun!" Roswaal excitedly called out.

Everyone grunted and turned away from the clown… except for two people.

"He's telling the truth," Crusch softly whispered to herself as she never noticed the wind of untruth coming anywhere near the clown.

Reinhard kept his eyes on the magi. Something wasn't right with this man. Why did his own camp not trust him? They downright hate him.

"What's going on?" Felt asked as she noticed how serious his face looked.

Reinhard smiled at his mistress. "Nothing, Felt-sama. It'll be revealed anyway."

The blonde girl shrugged and turned to the screen.

[The scene changes to show Rem watching from a door's crack.

Watching Subaru as he cleaned the bathroom.]

"He was already familiar with the mansion and the utilities, so I had to keep an eye on him. I never wanted to kill him," Rem explained in franc panic as Emilia coldly turned to face her.

The half-elf's violet eyes lingered on Rem's blue tearful ones.

She turned around and ruffled Subaru's hair to vent her frustration.

"You treat him as if he was a dog, in fact." Beatrice glared at the silver-haired lady.

"Oh, hush Beako," Emilia grunted softly at the little girl, appearing frustrated and angered enough to ruffle the boy's hair even rougher.

[Scene change….

"I guess that's about all I can expect on the first day."

Subaru is laying on his bed wearing his tracksuit.

"I earned quite a bit of trust from Ram and Rem… I think. But the problem is the shaman's attack… How do I fight that?" Subaru looked at his door.

The scene changes to Beatrice glaring at Subaru in her library.

"You want to know more about shamans?"

"Yeah. How do you avoid curses?"

Beatrice turned away from him and looked at her book.

"There is no way."

"Huh?"

"There is no way to undo a curse once it's been activated, I suppose. Once it's activated, that's it. That's what curses are."

"It's actually possible to nullify instant death resistances?" Subaru uttered, disturbed.

"However, before they're activated, curses are just simple spells, so I can easily undo them-"

Beatrice stopped talking and looked up in confusion. She scrunched her nose and sniffed the air a bit.

"The witch's scent… " She whispered in surprise.

"You know, Rem mentioned that, too. Who is this witch? Are witches related to shamans?" Subaru asked Beatrice in fake confusion.

Beatrice slowly looked away from him as she began explaining.

"In this world, the word Witch refers to only one person."

"The Witch of Envy?"

"Exactly. The Witch of Envy, Satella. Long ago, she devoured the six witches who bore the names of the deadly sins and drained half the world dry. She's the worst of the worst, I suppose."

Beatrice closed her eyes in disgust at the story.

"It's said that she was starved for love. It's said that she doesn't understand human language. It's said that her body never withers, weakens, or dies. It's said that, though she was sealed by the powers of a dragon, a hero, and a sage, they were unable to destroy her flesh."

Slowly, Beatrice hatefully spoke the next words.

"It's said that her body is that of a half-elf with silver hair."]

Emilia looked down and clenched her hands. Her eyes filled with sadness.

"Hmph! What a disgusting appearance."

"I would rather have you refrain from insulting our camp's leader for her appearance," Otto kept his eyes on the screen as he told Priscilla off, surprising even his own brother by the backbone that required.

"In the words of big bro, nice assist!" Felt brought her thumbs up, using a phrase she remembered Subaru using with Reinhard.

[Subaru stared at her with an understanding expression.

His mind flashed back to the moments during his very first loop in this world.

When Emilia was sitting on the ledge of that bridge.

"I'm… Satella."

Why did Emilia use that name?

"What would it take to make someone steal the Witch of Envy's name? Oh, I guess stealing makes the person sound bad… maybe I should say to make someone borrow the Witch of Envy's name."

"In either case, they must have no fear of death, I suppose. One who would steal her name can be called nothing but insane."

As Beatrice looked at her book in disinterest, Subaru's face fell as the memories of his first time meeting Emilia flashed before him.

"I see… so that's why… " Subaru smiled in understanding.

"Huh?" Beatrice looked up at him.

"If people just saw her as a crazy freak, she wouldn't have to be involved in this royal selection mess."]

"Does he think that Emilia wants nothing with the election?" Anastasia asked.

All she got was shrugs.

"She is insane to try that, however," Roswaal reprimanded from above, sending a clear disappointment in his tone only for the half-elf in question.

Emilia kept watching with a sad expression. Silent as ever.

["What are you talking about, I suppose?"

Beatrice stared at him.

"Nothing." Subaru smiled.

Scene change…

Subaru is yelling loudly outside of the mansion.

"Morning! It's another sunny day, perfect for drying laundry! Let's make this a day filled with happiness! Now… Victory!" Subaru finished his warm-ups with a huge smile.

Emilia and Puck are watching him from the sideline.

"You're so energetic again this morning." Emilia smiled softly.

"Yep! Even as I'm ordered around and disciplined by the maid sisters, I'll enjoy servant life to the fullest again!" Subaru suddenly sits down beside Emilia and smiles at her. "But when that lifestyle wears me out, I'll come to rest my head in your lap, so save it for me, okay?"]

"I thought it was weird as well, but it's really nice and silly," Emilia told the skeptical-looking Crusch and the weirded-out Anastasia as she bit her cheek.

Julius and Felix only narrowed their eyes in disgust.

The silver-haired princess simply shook her head at the people who disparage something so pure because they couldn't understand it. How foolish of all of them.

[Before Emilia could respond, Subaru was already beside Puck, yelling at him frantically.

"You really do look like a cat when you wash your face like that! So do spirits get sleepy and stuff, too? Do they oversleep?"

Puck slowly flew towards Emilia and landed on her head.

"Don't you people get sleepy when you're fatigued, too? Spirits go through something similar when their mana, the source of energy, is depleted." Puck yawned cutely on top of Emilia's head, making her yawn with him as well.

Subaru shook his head and smiled at the two.

"Did you two stay up all night or what? I bet you were up late talking about who you like right? Let me in on the fun!"

Subaru frantically wiggled in place while holding his red cheeks. "Who do I like? It's embarrassing to say, but… "

"The one I like is Puck, and the one Puck likes is me." Emilia slowly closed her eyes and her palms together. "There. That conversation's over."]

"Cold!"

"Cap'n's been shot again!"

Although they felt for him, Otto and Garfiel had to follow their duty as implied by the code. That's why they were laughing at Subaru.

Through thick and thin, bros to the end.

"This guy's life sucks," Al whispered while holding his stomach, keeping the laughter in.

"Shit," Ricardo couldn't breathe on the ground as he wheezed.

"He's deplorable," Felix blanched in disgust or second-hand embarrassment.

["Your love is mutual?! Then where do I fit in?!" Subaru looked horrified.

"Nowhere." Puck looked down at Subaru with a smug smirk. "Lia's head-over-heels for my charms. You're not a bad guy, but compared to me, you've got nothing."

Subaru growled in anger.

"You should give up on Lia and-"

Suddenly, a half-elf girl stood between the two and held both of them by the ears.

"Don't get carried away, you two. I'm going to get mad if you keep this up!" Emilia sternly admonished while Subaru and Puck moaned in pain.

"Ow! Ow! You are mad! You are mad!" Both boys screamed.]

"You're all buffoons, I suppose. Except for Bubby. Hmph!"

"Don't be jealous, Beatrice-sama. Subaru has told you all sorts of UUUUUSEFUUULLL stories and information." Otto was more than happy to tease the girl and vent a few of his frustrations that she knew more about his brother.

Sure, she was his spirit, but he was Subaru's bro. He deserved to learn about video games or whatever they were called!

Beatrice glared at the boy and looked ready to explode.

Leaving that library was a mistake!

[Subaru suddenly looked at his… naked wrist and gasped in surprise.

"I should get going, or the maid sisters will be angry! Bye!"

Subaru hurried away as Emilia waved.

"What's wrong? You don't look happy."

Puck looked at Emilia in worry. The half-elf just closed her eyes and sighed.

"I just feel… sort of uneasy. I can't really explain it… " Emilia looked at the place where Subaru last stood.

"Well, I can't blame you for being confused. This has gotten to be a bit of a problem." Puck spoke as he looked at the same spot.

Scene change too- CRACK!

Rem looked at Subaru in startled surprise as he stood in the middle of the hallway with a broken vase at his feet.

"Don't worry! Don't worry! Forget about it! It's fine!"

Subaru rubbed his head frantically in sheepish embarrassment.]

"What a pathetic worker. Barusu really ought to have been punished for that." Ram said as she looked at Rem.

"It was his first day, He confused me and sis by knowing the storage room's exact location without a guide." Rem watched with understanding eyes.

She understood why he was so hard working that week.

It was because of her.

[The scene changed back to the worried Emilia as she spoke with Puck.

"A problem?" she asked.

The scene shows Subaru frantically and manically wiping the broken vase with a broom while speaking to Rem.

"I'll clean this up so fast, no one will get hurt!"

The scene goes back to Puck as he explained.

"Subaru's mind is really mixed up. The inside and outside are all confused."

Emilia's face dropped at her spirit's words.]

"What a fool. All he needed was to leave the mansion and be free."

Anastasia nodded with Priscilla's opinion. "I do agree that he could've had L. Mathers' infinite funds build him his own house and he could've lived there instead."

"But he's in love with Emilia and he wants to save Rem so he puts himself in a position that requires him to work harder than he ever has to gain their trust." Crusch sighed in sympathy and a little bit of fondness.

"If he fails, he gets killed," Felt muttered as she understood the full extent of the situation's consequences on her big bro.

"I wonder how he gets through all of this." Ricardo sounded as he sat at the edge of his seat in anticipation.

"I never asked for any of that though… I didn't ask him to do this to himself for m-me," Emilia bit her lip in rage and disgust, wanting for the boy she couldn't even look at to wake up already so she could slap him and cry in his lap.

[The scene changes to Rem as she spoke to Subaru while he cleaned the mess.

"I think that is an admirable attitude, but you were the one who knocked it over. I'll bring a replacement-"

Subaru ran in front of Rem's path and stopped her.

"No, that's okay! I'll take care of the vase and flowers! You just do your own work, Senpai!"]

'It was because of me he was so hard on himself.'

"He's actin' suspicious again!" Tivey sounded alarmed as he noticed Rem's eyes narrow.

"Uh-huh, no kiddin' this is intense!" Felt gripped the sides of her chair in anxiousness.

The blue Oni remained buried behind her stocking-clad knees.

["If he keeps this up, he'll wear himself out before long." Puck said

The screen shows Subaru bringing a new vase from a dark room and putting flowers in it after placing it where he broke the old one.

Wiping his brow, Subaru sighed and spoke to Rem as she stood behind him.

"It feels great to finish a job, huh, Rem-rin?"

"It was work you created and took care of on your own, though. When did you learn where the vases are kept?"

Subaru flinched as Rem's suspicious gaze fell on him.]

'It was because of me that he was so scared and weary.'

"Oh no!" Petra yelled in fear of something wrong happening. She didn't know that this was the right loop. She still thought that Subaru was dead and her little heart broke for the boy.

"Cap'n..." The blonde tiger beside Otto couldn't help but stay glued to the expression on Subaru's face. It was an expression of pure desperation that only Garfiel understood the meaning of.

He couldn't feel anything but begrudging disappointment in himself for being so angry at his captain before.

["Did my sister-"

"Yeah, that's right! Your sister told me! Since she knows me, she said, "You're bound to break a vase eventually. I'll tell you where the extra vases are, so you'll be prepared."" Subaru began laughing loudly and frantically as Rem's stare hardened.]

'So scared, so alone, so afraid, so tortured. Because of me, me me me me me me me.'

She had no right to touch him. No right to look at him after what she caused him.

Rem didn't deserve his love. So she sat far away from him.

No one noticed her as everyone was watching at the edge of their seats.

Except for a certain clown that held his eyes on anything but the screen before him. Even the carpeted floor seemed more merciful to look at than what the screen was showing to him.

'I… I didn't know you'd be this hurt… Subaru… The book… I-"

["Subaru-kun-"

Subaru immediately looked at his… still naked wrist and faked a surprised look.

"Whoops! I forgot about some work Ram-chi asked me to do! Would you excuse me for a bit? I'll take care of it quickly. Later! I'll come to find you soon!"

Rem stared silently as the boy Naruto ran away from her.]

"What a weird way to run," Otto commented.

"Don't matter how ya ran away, but he was facing someone that killed 'em. So he escaped perfectly in my books," Garfiel spoke in a stern teacher-like tone.

But Otto knew better.

Garfiel Tanzeil loved the Naruto run, his legs were jumping in place over and over again.

[The scene shows Subaru's face looking exhausted yet forcing a tired wide smile.

I feel sick…

The scene shows Ram turning around carrying a surprised expression as the boy perfectly cut his vegetables in the kitchen.

"Don't you think my knife technique has come a long way in just one day? I think my talent has awakened!" Subaru frantically swiped the knife while holding the same exhausted forced smiling face.

I feel sick. I feel sick. I feel sick!

Scene Change to Subaru sewing a Puck emblem on some cloth, holding it out to show Rem as he spoke manically.

"Rem-rin, check out my aptitude that makes such detailed crafting possible! There must be a miracle residing in my fingertips right now! Illusion!" Subaru cheerfully yelled while moving the cloth around, not noticing… or rather ignoring Rem's hardened stare.

I feel sick… I feel sick… I feel sick… I feel sick… I feel sick… I feel sick… I feel sick…

Subaru is wearing the same fake expression as he swiped and cleaned the entire hallway with his broom.]

"He… " Beatrice tried to utter, a chill ran down her back. The spirit was staring with a horrified face.

"Subaru's really good at hiding himself," Emilia whispered chillingly from the spirit's side. Her eyes were dark.

"You can see it clearly now," Frederica bit her lip, feeling her skin crawling because of the scene.

"That's not his fault!" Petra couldn't but outburst her frustration. The little one was more than agitated by this entire scene and couldn't help but feel anger when Subaru is being doubted. It wasn't his fault that he acts like that.

"It's not," Emilia surprised her with a broken whisper. The half-elf looked down at her lap, expression unseen for the little maid.

"It's not his fault," Emilia whispers again, not being heard by Petra or any of the people around her.

[He stopped what he was doing and began talking in quick succession when he noticed Emilia watching him.

"Honestly, Emilia-tan! Every time we meet, you stir up my heart! You're such a sinful girl! You're guilty!"

Emilia just stared at him with a scared expression.

I should be able to laugh better.

Subaru is looking at a mirror, terrified.

I should be able to make them laugh better.

I can't fail this time. I can't waste a single second.

I have to throw all my strength into my work and produce results, or…

Subaru quickly changed his face into the same fake one and turned around to find Ram standing behind him.

"Oh, Ram-chi! I wasn't slacking! I'll finish all my work! You can just kick back in your room and take a siesta while I-"

Frantic, manic, quick, fast, fake, sick, mad, disturbing, horror-filled.

That was the scene in Subaru's mind as he began throwing up in a sink. The tired butler boy breathed heavily as he looked into the mirror.]

Rem and Ram looked down and tried to bury the feelings of guilt that were overwhelming them.

They were the cause of this trauma.

"He's not going to last," Frederica whispered as she watched the creepy mined set Subaru was in.

"Subaru…"

Petra was scared, honestly scared of this entire scene.

"He's not even gonna know if he's doing the right thing. He has nothing to go off of to know if Rem trusts him or not." Al noted in pity.

"It's so creepy!" Mimi voiced out while hiding behind her brother.

"This is all wrong!" Felt hated that scene; she hated how alone and tired Subaru looked.

"This is so disturbing."

"I hear ya."

Garfiel and Otto genuinely shivered at the whole scene. Subaru was so haunted and creepy like this, it wasn't even funny.

"He's trying to do this by himself like there's no one else to help him," Otto clenched his fist in pure anger. He wanted to help his brother.

"But it's the residents of this mansion that're killing him, and Emilia is practically useless since she's busy all the time so there's no help there," Anastasia pointed out.

Emilia kept looking at the screen with…. An angry scowl on her face.

"I should have snapped him out of it sooner." She whispered and reprimanded herself.

Julius watched the screen with a look of pure shock as this was the same thing he was doing when he first wanted to become a knight. Train. Work. Harder. Harder. Impress. Defeat. Work. Work. Work. Work. Work.

But he never had to deal with death as a consequence if he failed.

"Natsuki…" Julius uttered with guilt as he once again saw himself in the rash unmannerly boy. 'Knight'. Julius corrected himself.

"Unfortunately, he can do nothin' else but handle this alone," Anastasia pursed her lips into a thin line, hiding her malice aimed for a certain clown sitting in the back.

"He ain't very good at hiding it, is he?" Al seemed to mutter in sadness behind his helmet.

The sun princess beside him only glared more heatedly at the screen, "Pathetic."