——
The speed of his pulse was so fast it created phantom aches, and the volume of his heartbeat wouldn't listen to reason. If he wasn't careful, he'd have sworn it was cutting through the noisy crowd, ringing louder than anything else around him.
The wide boulevard lined with open-air stalls was bustling just as fiercely as ever, the tide of people flowing through it no less vigorous than before. A dizzying array of races mingled together, and with all the unusual hair colors, the visual spectacle was positively dazzling.
Hair that would've been so ordinary back in his original world as to vanish into the crowd — the pitch-black hair that was apparently rare in this world was nowhere to be seen at a glance.
The most prominent hair colors were, naturally, gold, followed by white and blue, with green and peach appearing in sparse pockets here and there. —And among them all, there was no sign of that silver glow either.
In other words, Subaru currently stood out like a sore thumb even in the middle of a packed crowd.
The two of them, with their rare black and silver hair — and the fact that the two of them were…
"Hey,
Subaru offered the suggestion with an ingratiating smile and a cold sweat plastered across his face.
Keeping their firmly clasped hands in his peripheral vision — the very thing he'd indicated as "this."
Two people walking hand in hand through the crowd. From the outside, they looked like a loving couple — and under normal circumstances, Subaru would've puffed up his nostrils with glee at the privilege. But…
"Absolutely not! You'd do something stupid the second anyone took their eyes off you, I know it. While we're in the royal capital, I will not permit you to wander off alone. Understood?"
"I already said I was an idiot on the dragon carriage! I'm reflecting on it, mega-hard! More bitter than the sea, more dynamic than a mountain! But but, if this keeps up, my stress levels are gonna go supersonic!"
Shot down by eyes that granted him exactly zero trust, Subaru shook their clasped hands up and down in a desperate plea.
The simple fact that he was still holding hands with her like this was enough to push his heart to the brink of detonation. The tension had every joint in his body aching, and he couldn't stop worrying whether his palms were drenched in sweat.
——Right after the "Subaru Attempts to Bail from the Dragon Carriage" incident, Subaru had regained consciousness cradled in the gentle warmth of someone's lap.
The owner of those knees — Roswaal, whose kindness no one had asked for. After spitting a mental raspberry at that, Subaru pieced together what had happened.
And above all else — "Once you drop out of a blessing's target, staying outside it is a real pain, huh. An hour and a half at that speed, in all that jostling… I puked up everything I had."
Every last drop of the mayo-chucho he'd snuck into the kitchen to brew before departure came back up.
What followed was a ride so rough that most of Emilia's lecture went in one ear and out the other — but the weight of responsibility for his own actions drilled itself firmly into his skull all the same.
And so Subaru had been reduced to a near-knockout state. When the only response he could muster to anything was "Yes, I'm fallin' in love," the rest of the dragon carriage passengers had collectively imposed a set of rules — and that was precisely the predicament Subaru now found himself in.
"I know full well my own recklessness started this whole mess, so I can accept the chaperone thing… But at the very least, can we maybe drop the hand-holding?"
"Hoooh, so that's how it is. When you were begging to hold hands back in the village, you were all too eager to link up."
Emilia's teasing tone turned playful, as though she were savoring his reaction — perhaps his relentless groveling had finally gotten her in the mood to have fun. When she tossed that scene from a few days ago into the mix, Subaru let out a muffled "Nngh."
"It's not like that! Back then, my manly-man energy reserves were all jingling at full capacity! But right now my gauge is running on fumes — I'm weak, I'm spent, I'm done for!"
He covered his face with his free hand, Subaru cursing his own weakness for being unable to accept this situation at face value — a lecture served up on a platter. Still, the fact that he also recognized this as something he genuinely needed to reflect on was its own truth.
Result: Subaru's insides were a total wreck, completely beyond looking at.
"Anyway…"
Brushing past Subaru's internal turmoil without a second glance, Emilia scanned the crowd. As she did, she used her free hand to tug her hood down deeper, careful to keep herself beyond the reach of others' recognition.
A slightly neurotic gesture, perhaps — but it was hardly excessive caution. After all, she'd already had her badge targeted once before. When the location was the same, it was only natural for her wariness to rise.
"Do you think you can remember where the shop you told me about was?"
"Now that we're this far, I think I can manage. Pretty sure it was to the right."
He tore his awareness away from their still-linked hands and focused single-mindedly on the palm-sweat crisis. Then, nodding along to Emilia's words, he gazed at the crowd and dredged up his memories.
Honestly, on a street where similar-looking scenery stretched on endlessly, he couldn't say he was confident. But it was a route he'd walked four times over. Once he started recognizing certain spots along the way, his pace steadied and the hesitation vanished.
Following his memory, as the familiar shopfront drew closer, the hazy, groping quality of his recollection sharpened into clarity.
The shop's architecture was simple and weathered, lacking the flash to catch anyone's eye — at first glance, it looked like it could be swallowed by the bustle of the street. But a gaudy, freshly repainted signboard seemed to shout its presence, effectively setting the shop apart from the surrounding noise.
The letters painted on that garish signboard — which had looked like a child's scribble to the old Subaru but now that he could actually read, he could make out "Kadomon." A person's name, probably — the shop was likely named after him. Either way, "Safe and sound — here we are."
"Here?"
"Yep. Man, this is even more nostalgic than I expected."
Arriving in front of the shop, Subaru nodded to Emilia, who was murmuring beside him.
And it was then that the shopkeeper, busy working inside, noticed the pair standing face-to-face at his doorstep. He turned, directing his gaze their way — and when Emilia saw his face, Subaru felt her hand tighten around his, just slightly.
Subaru gave a wry smile at Emilia's transparent reaction. Granted, the man did have a somewhat imposing appearance for a first encounter. It was only natural she'd tense up.
After all, the middle-aged man before them had a scar running from his forehead all the way down to his chin on the left side of his face, and even with his powerfully built frame, he looked nothing like someone in a civilian profession.
"Still, I happen to know that despite all the grumbling, he's the type who can't help but look out for other people — a tsundere scarface, if you will."
A person he'd met a grand total of four times — each loop bringing him face to face with the man again. He'd been cold-shouldered plenty, but from firsthand experience, Subaru knew the truth: his character was kind, the complete opposite of his appearance.
Looking back, this man might well have been the starting point of Subaru's entire otherworldly journey. Thinking of the very first person he'd formed a connection with in this new world, who could blame the tremor that rose unbidden from the depths of his heart?
"Welcome!"
Whether he'd registered the pair as customers or not, the shopkeeper's voice and rough-hewn smile turned their way.
Their eyes met. Without warning, the sound of the world was cut off, and his skin slowly registered the passage of time. As though a pocket of space had been carved away, they were isolated from everything around them — Subaru even had the illusion that only he and the shopkeeper remained in the world.
And then — "Do you… remember me?"
The words left trembling lips, laden with a tangled mix of anxiety and hope.
The shopkeeper started in surprise, squinting as he peered into Subaru's face, searching his memory. Gazing into those deep dark-brown eyes — feeling as though he might be pulled right in — Subaru waited in silence for his response.
Beside the rigid Subaru, the tension passed through their linked hands to Emilia, who watched the exchange with bated breath.
And the shopkeeper slowly parted his lips, carrying his words on sound — "Nah, I don't know you. Who are you?"
Just like that, Subaru had been completely forgotten.
※※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ The reason Subaru was walking through the royal capital with Emilia in tow was simple: to keep a promise he'd made.
When he'd first arrived in the capital and announced his intention to go out, every one of his companions had tried to stop him — but they'd ultimately yielded to a Subaru who refused to budge an inch.
Having obtained permission through this back-and-forth, Subaru had set out in high spirits — only to have the promise made during the dragon carriage ride (which was completely absent from Subaru's memory thanks to the nausea) become the shackle that landed him in this predicament of being forbidden to act alone.
In the end, Emilia had come along — or rather, had dragged him along — and tormented by a shrinking sense of self-worth and heart-exploding tension, the Promise Fulfillment Event had been set in motion.
Despite all that emotional toll, faced with a sentimental reunion flag that had been spectacularly snapped in two, Subaru crossed his arms and sulked.
"I came all this way to fulfill a promise, loaded with all this brotherly obligation, and THIS is how I'm treated?! I demand a formal improvement in my treatment!"
"Even if you say that, buddy…"
The shopkeeper let out an exasperated sigh and a reluctant smile at Subaru's indignant cheek-puffing. He stared at Subaru with a look that said "what a pain."
"That was two weeks ago, and we only chatted for a second, right? I vaguely remember something like that, but…"
Tracing his scar with a finger, the shopkeeper closed his eyes as though rummaging through his memories. The effort he was putting into trying to remember spoke volumes about his good nature — but a sufficiently deflated Subaru couldn't appreciate that just now.
It was Emilia who stepped in for the self-absorbed Subaru, gently telling the shopkeeper, "Please don't push yourself."
Straightening her posture before the shopkeeper, who opened his eyes, Emilia knit her fine brows and lowered her voice.
"I'm sorry for our boy being so unreasonable. I never imagined it was such a one-sided verbal promise…"
"Hey, hey, Emilia-tan, that's just making excuses. When a man makes a promise to another man, that's sacred. No matter the circumstances under which it was made, a man's got to do everything he can to keep it — or he's no man at all… That's the Stalingrad of manly honor!"
Subaru pressed his advantage while the other man was being polite. But Emilia shot him a sharp glare that shut him right up, and then she pouted her lips in irritation.
"And Subaru, don't get any strange ideas. Do you have any idea how many people this shopkeeper deals with in a day? This is the royal capital, not the little village shop near the mansion."
"Come on, don't be full of yourself, pops. A place run by a shopkeeper with a scary face like yours couldn't possibly be doing any good — ow ow, sorry!"
His disrespectful remark finally triggered Emilia's punishment. As Subaru immediately threw in the towel, ears firmly twisted, the shopkeeper let out a sigh that bordered on admiration.
"How rude can a kid be… Ah, I remember now!"
He slapped his hands together as if a lightbulb had gone off, then pointed at Subaru.
"You're that penniless brat. Didn't buy a thing and just walked out on me, the ingrate."
"And then I promised I'd buy linga next time, right? Right? Right?"
Overjoyed that he'd been remembered, Subaru sprang to his feet. Taking hold of Emilia's ear-twisting hand with both of his, he broke into a dance right there on the spot. The shopkeeper grinned, showing his teeth — "That's right, that's right" — as Subaru, still guiding the flustered Emilia through unfamiliar steps, pressed forward.
"I see, so you're a man of your word. You came all the way here just to buy some. Alright, I like your spirit, so I'll throw in a bonus. Normally two copper coins per linga, but how about twenty linga for thirty-eight copper coins?"
"Oh, what a deal! So if I bought two hundred, that'd be three hundred and eighty copper coins? Now that's what I call a steal, Emilia-tan!"
"That only works out to twenty, you know. Also, stop making me dance in public — it's embarrassing."
Subaru played along with the shopkeeper's sales pitch, riding the high. Emilia shut it down with cool precision, untangling their hands to put a stop to the dance. Though the fact that she re-linked their fingers almost immediately after showed she was, after all, a fundamentally dutiful person.
"Well, putting all that aside, I'll be taking some linga off your hands. I've been looking forward to it… Though I already snuck a few bites in advance!"
After all, in every previous loop, he'd been forced to face linga at the breakfast table from day one. There was no avoiding it.
For the record, linga looked exactly like apples and tasted about the same. The only difference was the name.
Subaru's inner monologue aside, the shopkeeper brought out a wooden crate full of linga and spread open a bag — ready to go. He seemed to have shifted into pure merchant mode, setting sentimentality aside in favor of simply moving product. That was a little sad in its own way, but…
"So, how many you want in the end?"
"Let's go big — ten. Consider the extra a bonus payment on top of the promise."
"As always," the shopkeeper chuckled at Subaru's generosity, and began bagging the red fruit.
Subaru figured he should get his payment ready while he waited. Trying to put some distance between them — enduring the reluctance (he'd gotten surprisingly used to holding hands) — he turned to Emilia, and noticed she was rummaging through something inside her coat.
"What are you doing getting your wallet out, Emilia-tan?"
Emilia had pulled a leather pouch from inside her clothes and was checking its contents. At Subaru's question, she tilted her head in puzzlement.
"What do you mean 'what'…? If I don't take out money, we can't pay."
"No, I mean — why are you the one trying to pay? It's my purchase, so obviously I should be covering — Hey, Scarface, what's with that look?"
He'd been in the middle of protesting Emilia's attempt to pay on his behalf when he noticed the shopkeeper watching him with a flat, unimpressed stare.
"Well," the shopkeeper scratched his head, preface in hand, then slowly shook his head. "I do seem to recall telling you to come buy some when you had the money… But dragging a girl with money along and having her pay for you? That ain't exactly something I can respect, kid."
"Were you even watching our argument just now?! I'm the one insisting I pay! I am!"
"Yeah, but you haven't exactly made a move to get your wallet out. It's that whole 'I'll pretend to pay since there's a lady present' face-saving act, right?"
"I was just a little slow — there was no bad intent! I'm not one of those sweet-talking scumbags who thinks being treated is their birthright!"
Screaming his protests against yet another prejudiced interpretation, Subaru hurriedly produced his own wallet.
His wages — the actual payment wasn't due for a while yet, but during the journey to the royal capital, Roswaal had handed Subaru an advance in the form of pocket money. The amount was considerable, enough to make Subaru shudder with the realization that even servant wages at a noble's mansion were absurdly high.
Granted, the sum actually included compensation for Subaru's role in resolving the situation in the Forest of Magic Beasts, so for Roswaal it was merely a partial payment of his gratitude.
In an otherworld without a banking system, there was no way to confirm the number on a balance sheet, but the truth was that Subaru had quietly become a small-time millionaire.
Though, of course, he hadn't been informed of that fact.
"So if one linga costs two copper coins… ten would be about two silver coins?"
"Whoa, whoa — you don't even know the current exchange rate? One silver coin is worth nine copper coins right now."
"So that's two silver coins and two copper coins. Here you go."
Subaru whipped the coins from his leather pouch and handed them over. The shopkeeper fell into a sullen silence, and Subaru tilted his head, confused by the reaction.
"What's wrong?"
"I hate to be the one to say this, but… buddy, you really ought to be a little more suspicious of people. The exchange rates are posted right on the signboard at the market entrance. You walk in here without even checking that… and you're gonna get taken for a ride by a crooked merchant."
The shopkeeper's advice was less a warning and more a look of genuine concern for someone too trusting for his own good. Hearing it, Subaru gave an "ah" of understanding and nodded.
He really had been about to hand over the payment without a second thought. His original world, where trust was the foundation of commerce — he'd been basing his assumptions on that, hadn't he?
The village near the mansion had such a tight-knit, insular community that the very idea of deception wouldn't cross anyone's mind. But this was the royal capital — the largest city in the country. If people with ill intentions existed here, it would be the most natural thing in the world.
In other words, "Pops, you really are a great guy, you know that?"
Grinning ear to ear, Subaru showed his fondness for the scarfaced gentleman.
"Cut it out," the man waved his hand roughly. "It was just a coincidence. I'd have a pretty bad conscience if a customer who came all the way here to honor some half-remembered promise ended up broke and rolling in the gutter after shopping at my place. Got it?"
"The tsundere guy no one asked for strikes again. I see how it is."
"Now take your stuff and get out of here! Payment's exact — thanks for your business!"
The first half: pure hostility. The second half: the customer-is-always-right philosophy.
Chuckling at the entertaining whiplash between the two extremes, Subaru tucked the bag of linga under his arm, took Emilia's hand, and pulled away from the shop.
They'd probably overstayed their welcome. Any longer and they'd be obstructing business.
"Thanks, pops. If fate has it, let's meet again."
"You're welcome back anytime you've got coin. Just live a little more carefully, yeah?"
He waved a halfhearted hand in a shooing gesture.
As the distance grew, the river of people gradually blocked his view, and the kind-hearted shopkeeper vanished from sight.
Watching him disappear, Subaru re-adjusted his grip on the bag and then turned to the silent Emilia.
"Huh? What's wrong, Emilia-tan?"
"…"
"Are you mad because you didn't get to pay? No wait, you paying there wouldn't have been right. That'd make me nothing but a kept man… Hold on, though? But the idea of us each buying each other gifts with our own money is kind of romantic, isn't it? Damn! I should've let you buy the linga and then bought you something fancy instead!"
Rings and bouquets and all manner of dating-sim thoughts spilled out as he clutched his head. Then Emilia gently shook her head with a small "No."
"Subaru, you're pretty quick at math, aren't you?"
"Huh?"
"That scary-looking man's… Oh, sorry. When the shopkeeper was talking about the money, you did the math in your head right away. I understood it too, but you were really fast."
"The fact that your first instinct was 'that scary-looking man' tells me just how rattled you really are. But yeah… surprised I'm quick at mental math?"
It wasn't that she'd expected Subaru to be bad at this.
This was purely a matter of the difference in educational standards between modern Japan and this otherworld. He'd heard that Japan was known for fast mental arithmetic back in his original world too, and this was simply a product of that upbringing.
Understanding this, Subaru nodded several times in acceptance.
"Heh heh heh, Emilia-tan, you couldn't help but feel your heart flutter at my sheer intellect, could you? See, in any era, a man's gotta be sharp AND bold. Would you say this counts as my own personal otherworld cheat skill?!"
Even after understanding all this, the one thing Natsuki Subaru couldn't muster was the humility to not get a big head.
Boasting as though every accomplishment were his own, Subaru was about to embark on a glorious charge through his otherworld — "The mathematical otherworld fantasy, fought with the abacus as my weapon — BEGIN! …Wait, hearing that currency values fluctuate all the time sounds seriously exhausting! My spirit's broken!"
And the serialization ends immediately. He had no knowledge of how to build an abacus in a world without one. He lacked the communication skills to spread the concept, and besides, Subaru was more of a humanities person.
"I'm barely even at the start of the climb. This long, long abacus slope stretches on and on!"
"…Subaru, I really can't tell whether you're amazing or completely hopeless."
Emilia let out a weary sigh, pressing her hand to her forehead, at Subaru — the man who'd kicked off an epic tale only to immediately close the curtain on it.
She shook her head, collecting herself, then prefaced with "Well then."
"The promise you mentioned is fulfilled, so the next objective is…"
"Right — the loot warehouse."
The slums — recalling his first day after being summoned to this otherworld, Subaru cast his gaze in that direction while giving her warm palm a squeeze in return.
"Still, is it really okay for you to keep tagging along, Emilia-tan? Honestly, the place is rough enough for thugs to swagger around freely. As a Royal Selection candidate, you should be careful…"
"If you're going to say that, then there's nowhere I could walk that would put my mind at ease."
Emilia gave a wry smile at Subaru's belated question. Then, pinching the edge of the white hood covering her silver hair.
"This has a recognition-disruption effect, so most people won't be able to figure out who I am. It's handmade by the Chief Court Magician, you know. It's actually pretty impressive."
"Roswaal handmade, huh… Somehow, hearing that makes me appreciate it less."
"Hey, that's not very nice to say. …Though I can't say I disagree."
Unable to entirely hide her agreement, Emilia stuck out her tongue, looking a little sheepish.
The sudden burst of cuteness hit Subaru like a sucker punch, his heart detonating once before he squirmed in discomfort.
"Aah, jeez — E.M.
F!"
"Yes, yes, saying nonsensical things again. I get that you're upset it's me tagging along as a chaperone instead of the person you actually want to be with."
Emilia deflected his admiration with a resigned laugh.
Seeing that weak smile, Subaru shook his head with a "come on."
"There you go again, saying stuff like that. I've told you over and over — I want to go on a date with you, Emilia-tan. Why don't you get that?"
"I think things won't go well as long as you keep saying important things like they're jokes. When it comes to the right person, you need to match it with the right attitude and the right words. Promise?"
Having written off his intentions entirely as affectation, Emilia cut the conversation short.
And once that wall was firmly erected, there was no advancing further for Subaru. Because pushing past this point — that would mean there was no option left but to bare his feelings, completely and unreservedly.
"A move that high-level… there's no way I could pull that off on pure adrenaline with zero strategy or prep…"
As a rule, Natsuki Subaru never picked fights he couldn't win.
Making that excuse to himself, Subaru quietly slipped away from facing Emilia head-on. Before the wall, he chose neither flanking nor breaching — but retreat. And that, in itself, was the sum total of his attitude toward the wall that lay between him and Emilia.
"Alright then, let's head to the loot warehouse… Oh?"
Clearing his throat to collect himself, Subaru set his sights on the destination anew — and then his lips curled. At his reaction, Emilia looked at him with a questioning gaze, and Subaru…
"No, I was just counting the linga in the bag… there's eleven."
Fully plump, brilliantly red, and ripe — eleven fruit in total.
The shopkeeper had bagged them himself, so a miscount was out of the question for a man in his trade. Which meant — "That old guy really is too nice for his own good."
Picturing the rough-hewn scarface, Subaru adjusted the tilt of his bag and said it with a smile.
Just like that, the haze that had been forming in his chest seemed to lift.
——Keeping a promise really had been the right call, a good choice.