5
“Looks like you took care of everything. Not bad. I’ll even compliment the effort.”
Ram was standing there with her hands on her hips when Subaru and the others came back to the room they used for meals and meetings—which was referred to as the common room, for the time being.
That was probably high praise, coming from Ram. Subaru had talked a big game about helping Meili, so it was a relief to have something to show for it.
“This probably goes without saying, but she was waiting there for you to come back the whole time.”
“That should in fact have gone without saying. Control yourself, Echidna.” Ram’s eyebrows arched sharply as she said that.
“Acting like that the moment you find out it’s me controlling this body? That’s nice.” Echidna smiled and then looked past Subaru. “So, why is she sulking?”
Meili groaned behind Shaula’s back before looking away in a huff. She was definitely pouting.
“That isn’t because she’s mad her plan failed, right?”
“No, no. You’ve got it wrong. She’s just embarrassed that everyone figured out what she was feeling. It’s childish and adorable.”
“Considering what she was trying to do, I don’t think that’s the right way to put it…but I guess memories or no memories, your essence is the same, eh? You really are something, Natsuki.”
“I’m honored if you enjoyed the show.” Subaru winked at Echidna.
“Hah.” Ram snorted derisively.
Subaru looked around the common room and then cocked his head.
“Huh? Julius isn’t here. Where’d he go? Toilet or something?”
“I am hurt that you think I would do something so trivial while you were going through something so important.” The voice had come from behind Subaru.
“I didn’t say it had to be little. Could’ve been the big one, too,” Subaru said with a nasty smirk as he turned around.
Julius had returned from outside the common room.
“Did you have stomach issues, Julius?” Emilia asked with real concern.
“I would suggest not taking his words too seriously, Lady Emilia. He is indeed your knight and someone you should be able to trust more than anyone, but at times, his remarks can also be rather intolerable…”
“Hey, quit saying stuff like that to Emilia-chan. Besides, you’re the one who wasn’t here. You can’t complain.”
“…Ha.”
He stared at Subaru with his yellow eyes for a moment, before his expression relaxed. Rather than a real laugh, Julius basically just breathed a little harder than usual. It was pompous and suited him perfectly, but it also strangely didn’t feel quite right to Subaru.
“If you will allow me an excuse, then I would say I simply stepped out on watch. If Miss Meili’s ability is to be considered, the greatest threat would be the demon beasts outside the tower. However…”
Julius glanced at the young girl. Meili pouted uncomfortably, and seeing that, Julius smiled wryly.
“It’s safe to assume she will not be a problem, yes?”
“Yeah, it’s fine. She’s not going to try killing me again at the drop of a hat. The question of whether she’ll never do it again will come down to how well we give her a good example to follow. So no pathetic performances.”
“I see. So it’s a matter of putting on a show? In that case, please leave it to me.”
Quickly guessing the result of the talk with Meili, Julius quietly nodded.
The way Julius put it didn’t exactly sound great, but when it came to setting an example for others, Julius was probably the best person for the job.
The current Subaru couldn’t claim to know Julius well, but judging from his refined manners, it was clear that wasn’t just the man’s natural temperament. Rather, his bearing was something he’d had ingrained through hard work and diligence.
“I’ve got high expectations, Mr. Knight. You and I are the only ones who can be father figures to her right now.”
“…Humph. In that case, I shall do my best.”
As they shared a bit of banter, Subaru carefully gauged the reactions, testing whether he had found the right level of intimacy.
—This was their fifth meeting since he had lost his memory.
Subaru had not enjoyed many peaceful moments during that time, but originally, the time Subaru Natsuki spent with all of them had seemingly been tranquil and happy.
In a deliberate attempt to not depart too much from that and to keep everyone from feeling too down, Subaru was trying to follow the original Subaru Natsuki’s trail as closely as possible.
—He wanted to return Subaru Natsuki back to them.
“—Subaru? Are you okay? Can you talk more now?” Emilia peered into his eyes, looking worried.
“Whoa?!”
Subaru stumbled back in surprise at the sudden proximity.
“Ah…” Emilia gasped softly. “…It feels like, since you woke up…no, since you said you lost your memories, haven’t you been getting surprised by me a lot? Am I that strange? Is there something on my face?”
“No, um, not at all. Just cute eyes and a cute nose and cute lips and cute ears.”
“Cute…ha-ha, thank you. But then…why?”
“I think it’s because your cuteness isn’t just the sum of the parts. It’s exponential. And your voice, too. And your hair. Yeah, this isn’t helpful. You’re like an angel. It’s too dazzling, I can’t look too closely.” Subaru covered his face and peeked out at her from between his fingers.
Beatrice immediately reacted to that.
“—Argh! Could you say that in a more Subaru sort of way?!”
“Huh?! Um, what?!”
“What you said before about Emilia being an angel. Say that in a more Subaru way.”
“What kind of punishment is this?! No! It’s embarrassing! You’re adorable like an angel, too, Beatrice! Don’t pout!”
“It’s true that Betty is an adorable angel, but that’s not it…”
Beatrice’s shoulders slumped in disappointment. Patting her head, Subaru and everyone else gathered to start their meeting.
He had been through this discussion in the common room several times now, but it was a problem that none of them had been productive. He really wanted to make some progress for once.
“I’m happy to announce that Meili’s on our roster again. Now that she’s a full team member and because it’d be good for her social studies, I’d like to get out of this sandy tower fast. Thoughts?”
“It strains credulity to believe you’ve lost your memories when you say things like that… But in this grave situation, Barusu’s memory loss is a lesser problem. Though still a problem.” Ram started the discussion.
“Mm-hmm. Memories aren’t something that normally disappear without warning, so we need to do something to get them back,” Emilia said.
“About that… Can we put that aside for now?” When Subaru put the brakes on that idea, everyone around the circle looked surprised. “I feel bad for forgetting wherever I set my memories down, and I’m seriously happy that you all want to help me. But no one really thinks my memory loss is entirely unrelated to this tower’s traps, right?”
“You can’t be so sure of that, Master. You lost your memory hitting your head on a toilet before, after all.”
“No comments from the peanut gallery! I can’t ignore that comment, but save it for later!” Subaru got annoyed at the wildly unexpected interruption. “Anyway! What I want to say is, there’s gotta be a connection between me losing my memories and the tower. In other words…”
“In other words,” Echidna said, continuing his line of thought, “if we fulfill the conditions to clear the tower, we will naturally find out why you lost your memory, or maybe even find out how to fix it. Is that what you mean?”
“Yeah, exactly. That’s it!” Subaru nodded.
Julius put his hand to his chin.
“I see. If it was a trap of the tower that robbed you of your memory, then advancing through the tower will bring us closer to the answer. Or we will discover the reason you lost your memory might have been from coming too close to the answer.”
“It’s certainly possible. There’s the solution to Taygeta, too. Maybe Natsuki getting too far ahead of us because of knowledge only he had is what caused him to lose his memory.”
“Wait, wait, wait. You’re definitely overestimating me there. I’m just a shut-in. My special skills are being able to neatly make my bed and maybe a bit of sewing?”
“Ah, look Subaru. You made this. Do you remember? Cute, isn’t it? It’s Puck,” Emilia chimed in.
“Hmm, that’s definitely a cute cat. But I don’t really recognize it.”
The conversation rapidly took several hard turns, but after hearing Subaru’s response, Emilia disappointedly caressed the embroidered pattern on her outfit.
Is that her cat?
It didn’t seem to have been brought on this trip, so Subaru wanted to hurry up and settle things here so Emilia could see her cat again.
There was also the possibility…
“Barusu might have discovered something he shouldn’t have, and as a result of his rashness, his memory was stolen…that is certainly a believable story.”
“It feels like there’s a barb in the way you phrased that, but Betty is broadly in agreement. Also, regarding Subaru’s idea of prioritizing the clearing of this tower…It’s not ideal, but there is a logic to it, I suppose.”
“Beatrice…”
Beatrice was unhappy that recovering Subaru’s memory wasn’t a top priority. He appreciated that, but he had a major reason why he couldn’t just put himself first.
They wouldn’t make it in time to prevent the tragedy that would happen if they took too long trying to cure his amnesia. I—no, all of us need to prepare for that disaster.
“Of course, it’s not like I want to stay like this forever. But I think, effectively speaking, the sooner we clear this tower, the sooner everything else is likely to be resolved, too. I want to do what needs to be done.”
He was doing his best to keep the downsides of not having the old Subaru Natsuki here from showing. In exchange, he asked all of them for their help.
Everyone was silent for a moment, but then…
“—You really are stupid.”
…Ram shook her head with a sigh and then looked around at everyone with her pink eyes.
“Even without his memory, that unfortunate head of his remains. So even if he got his memory back, the value of his contribution would only be marginally different from what it is now…in which case, it would be a waste to prioritize his memory. We should advance through the tower and hope that it returns along the way.”
“There’s gotta be a better way to put that.” Subaru moaned.
“There isn’t. You lost your memories while trying to clear the tower, didn’t you? Then pick them up again along the way, too. Don’t make it my problem.”
Subaru had promised her. He’d remember, and he’d get everything back.
It was probably an understatement to say she must have had mixed feelings when he suggested not prioritizing his memory. But it was because of his promise that Ram had been able to say that so confidently…even though Subaru apparently broke his word all the time.
“It’s not like we have any positive means of getting his memory back. I agree with Natsuki and Ram. And it’s a bit optimistic, but there is the chance that his memories come back with time, too.”
“I suppose I am in agreement by process of elimination. It is not the highest priority. Clearing the tower should be our current mission. However, if we find a way to recover your memories, I will prioritize it then. Lady Emilia and Lady Beatrice should not have to be saddened so.”
Subaru nodded deeply at Echidna’s and Julius’s answers. When he looked over at Emilia and Beatrice, they hesitated a moment, but—
“It hurts, but I’ll be patient. But…”
“But?”
“Let me worry most about you sometimes.”
“Ugh…sorry…”
Realizing he had effectively asked them to stop worrying about him until later, he lowered his head apologetically to Emilia.
Beatrice sighed, watching them.
“Emilia said what Betty wanted to say. That should have been most effective, so make sure you reflect on it.”
“Yeah, understood.”
With permission from everyone, they firmed up the plan to focus on the tower’s puzzles again.
And with that, Subaru raised the first proposal.
“—Can we try looking for Reid’s book in Taygeta?”
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