Re:Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu (LN) - Volume 21 - Chapter Ep03

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“Hmmhmmhmmh-hmmm, hmmhmmhmmh-hmmm.”

“…You’re awful happy.”

Garfiel shrugged as Mimi hummed a cheerful tune while walking next to him.

Taking off from the rebuild work, Garfiel was going out with Mimi to eat lunch.

Honestly, he would have rather kept working to keep his worries at bay, but Mimi couldn’t be stopped, and she had effectively forced him to join her.

“Yep, real happy! Hetaro and TB kept bothering Mimi to behave. But the captain lost his arm and things are all busy, so Mimi has to keep things together as lieutenant.”

“I told ya not to go gettin’ so wound up.”

Mimi was swinging her arms happily now, but she had been on the verge of death just a few days ago.

“Gah!”

Garfiel grabbed her by the collar, not wanting to deal with her reopening her wounds yet again.

“Ah-ha-ha-ha!”

But as Garfiel held her light body up in the air, she broke into a grin when her eyes met his. When he saw her carefree face, he couldn’t help but feel like all his troubles were pointless.

“Even with everything that happened to you, you don’t ever look troubled, do you?”

“Nope! Mimi is a superstrong woman! Did you fall in love with Mimi now? Did ya?”

“Nope.”

“Okay.”

Mimi didn’t show any sign of being disappointed at his answer as she dexterously swung herself around and climbed up onto his shoulder. It was annoying, but if he set her down, she would start overdoing it again, so he decided to just let her have her way.

She was the bane of healers. Even though it was her own body that was at stake, she absolutely refused to rest and recuperate.

“Your brothers must always be worryin’ about you.”

“Ah, Hetaro and TB? You know, even though Mimi is feeling this good, they still seem a bit rough? No helpin’ it, though, since they took a lot of Mimi’s wounds.”

Mimi was sitting on Garfiel’s shoulder as she crossed her arms and nodded intensely to herself.

She was referring to the fact that her younger brothers had borne her wounds for her through their tripartite blessing. They were triplets, and seemingly, they were able to share their wounds and their exhaustion with each other.

Her brothers had shared the wound that had almost killed Mimi with the power of their blessing, and because of that, Hetaro and TB were still not completely healed up.

“Sounds like your brothers aren’t gettin’ much appreciation. You should be more grateful to them.”

“Grateful, huh? Mimi can understand what you want to say! But Mimi is the elder sister! Hetaro and TB need to be properly scolded.”

“Huh?”

“Mimi really appreciates the feeling, but if they died after getting caught up in Mimi’s problems, that would be sad! Everyone’s life is special! But their lives are really, really special! So it’s not okay, right?”

Garfiel’s eyes widened as Mimi leaned over and looked at his face.

He had half expected one of her usual incomprehensible twists of logic.

“That’s a surprisingly logical thought for you.”

“Of course! Gorgeous Mimi is smart! A prime catch! Did you fall in love with Mimi now? Did ya?”

“Nope.”

“Okay. Too bad.”

Garfiel responded indifferently again, but Mimi still smiled, utterly undaunted.

Averting his eyes from her unreserved smile, Garfiel sighed.

“But your brothers probably feel the same way.”

“Hmm?”

“If their older sister’s dying, they’re not gonna just not do anything, right? They’d do whatever it takes.”

“Mmmmm.”

He could understand Mimi’s logic, too, of course. It was nice knowing that people that you cared about were desperate to help. But it was also scary.

Garfiel couldn’t ask someone he loved to die with him. It wasn’t something he could ever imagine himself being able to say.

What about Ram?

If it was her, I feel like she could accept dying with someone she loved or someone she loved dying with her.

But if that ever happened, there was only one person Ram would be looking at, so it was also a really annoying thing for him to imagine.

“Mmmm! No, it’s still not okay! Mimi is still really mad! It’s settled!”

While Garfiel was lost in his own thoughts, Mimi finally reached her own answer, hitting her hand forcefully.

“I’ll thank them and then wham! They knew what Mimi would say when they did it. So if they did it anyway, then that’s just how it is. Mimi is just too beloved!”

“ ”

“But if they risk dying with me, then that means they want all of us to live, right? Then Mimi will just be the older sister, and Hetaro and TB can just be themselves!”

She really hits on answers like there’s nothing at all to worry about.

It might sound shallow to someone hearing her without knowing her relationship, but Garfiel was struck by how it was a manifestation of absolute faith and love.

“Then…why did you protect me?”

Garfiel struggled to get that question out.

His heart had been strung out badly by the fact that she had covered for him and taken such a life-threatening wound for his sake. Why had she done that? What let her do something like that?

Even though she was so upset at her brothers for risking their lives to protect her, why had she risked her life like that for Garfiel, who she had only known for a few days?

Even though he had not thanked her for what she had done or expressed any gratitude for her saving him.

“Because Mimi fell in love with you, so it couldn’t be helped. It’s embarrassing.”

“—Ngh! What are you talkin’ ’bout after only a few days?”

Garfiel clenched his teeth at Mimi’s embarrassing response.

It had just been a few days. It was far too short of a time for feelings like that to develop and become this strong.

It had been almost ten years that his feelings for Ram had grown—an attachment that lasted more than half his life.

He had spent all that time with only that one girl reflecting in his eyes.

And even after all that time, he had never once thought of giving up on her. That was how much he cared about her, doing and saying everything he could for her.

So he couldn’t understand how a girl who was loved by her brothers enough that they would risk their lives to protect her could think to use her life for his sake after just a few days.

“A long time ago, Roshi said it! The requirements for a couple!”

“…Wait, wha—?”

It was an unfamiliar word to Garfiel. The next instant, Mimi leaped gracefully down from his shoulder. Turning around right in front of him, she held all her fingers out toward Garfiel.

“A couple are always together, for years, decades, even centuries, right?”

“There aren’t any that last centuries…”

“If feelings are forever, then a century is nothing! And they’re always together, but they still get in arguments, or fight over food, or stuff like that, right?”

“ ”

“So Roshi said to pick someone you can enjoy all those arguments and fights with. Also, Roshi said you can tell someone who would be a really good partner because there’s an electric shock the moment you see them!”

“A shock the moment you see them…”

“When Mimi saw you, she got that feeling and could tell we would be good like that! So a few days or a few hundred years is just a rounding error! Just an advance on what’s to come! Like Mimi learned from the lady! The vig’s ten percent!”

Mimi puffed out her chest with a smile as Garfiel heaved a sigh.

He was dumbfounded and taken aback. He had no idea what she was talking about. Does she mean an advance on a couple centuries’ worth of bond with someone who is going to couple up with you?

“…But if you died, then it doesn’t mean anything…”

“Ummm? Is your head okay, Garf?”

Mimi tapped her head as she twisted it in confusion as Garfiel challenged her interpretation.

“If we might die together, then that means we want to live together, right? And Mimi and Garf are both alive, so why are you going on about that? Worrying will just make you go bald.”

“—Keh.”

“Oh? You smiled? Hey, did you smile, Garf?”

Garfiel looked away as Mimi’s cute, round eyes peered into his. He touched his mouth, feeling for himself that he had actually cracked a smile.

There was definitely a faint impulse to laugh.

“Mimi gets it. The Lady is always saying she can’t help but smile when Mimi is around. Mimi’s a goddess of good fortune!”

Saying that when you clearly don’t get it at all—no, she’s not the one who doesn’t get it, is she? She can’t put it into words, but she actually gets the most important thing.

She was clear on something that Garfiel couldn’t express in words, on something that he couldn’t be satisfied with.

So as much as it pained him, he couldn’t help but smile.

“Mm, it’s been a while since you smiled, Garf! Did you fall in love with the Mimi who made you smile? Did ya?”

“Nope.”

“Okay. But Mimi is in love with you! So don’t worry!”

“…Yeah, thanks.”

Mimi was standing beside him, seemingly ready to tackle him at any moment. Taking advantage of her perfect positioning, he gently rubbed her head as he looked forward together with her.

What she said wasn’t enough to clear up all of the issues bothering Garfiel. There was a chaotic mess still swirling in his heart like always.

He had not come to peace with all of the regrets he had from his time in Pristella.

But it was a light for him. A guide to follow in order to reach the answers he needed to find.

“Ahoy! We’ve reached food! Garf! Mimi is starving!”

“I told ya before, don’t go runnin’ around like that! You’ll reopen those wounds!”

Garfiel chased after Mimi, ducking under the curtain as she dashed into the restaurant.

They called it a restaurant, but it wasn’t running like normal. Pristella didn’t have enough people or supplies, so the interim council of ten led by Kiritaka was providing food rations.

The place they had come to was one of the distribution points, and it was filled with people involved with the reconstruction of the city. It was just around lunchtime, and it looked like it would be difficult to find a seat.

But just as they were looking around—

“Sir Garfiel, Miss Mimi, if you would like…”

“Oh…”

Someone raised a hand and called out to them from farther inside. Garfiel raised an eyebrow when he saw who it was.

A white-haired, blue-eyed old swordsman was offering to share his four-person table.

—Wilhelm van Astrea cut an imposing, dignified figure as he sat there.