4
Crumbling away.
Peeling away.
Fading.
Everything gleaming in the distance.
Everything gleamed so much in the distance.
Everything crumbled, peeled, faded, gleaming far, far in the distance.
Left behind, memories fading, but it was definitely shining.
Because those days were so precious, she was desperately gathering them up.
Sitting on the ground, holding her knees, Shaula cocked her head a bit.
“Do you remember, Master? You told me to wait and that you would come back for sure, and then you disappeared.”
It sounded like she was talking about old memories, but Subaru shook his head.
“I don’t remember. In fact, I’m telling you I don’t know what you’re talking about. Quit making me keep repeating myself.”
“That’s how it goes, I guess. Since I get my forgetfulness from you. We’re two peas in a pod.”
“Ugh! I mean, I’ll admit in a strict sense, it might be true enough, but still…”
He said that, but he really did feel a bit of affinity for her, since she used terms from his original world so fluently.
He wasn’t as charming, as cute, or as courageous as she was. He could never exert himself so hard for the sake of someone who had left him behind for four hundred years.
“I’m way too impatient. Hasty, too. I want results fast. Maybe I’d feel like trying to endure it if they were with me for it, but…”
“That’s no good, Master. Don’t you know the saying there’s no sacrifice too great for the sake of love?!”
“Isn’t that supposed to be go there’s no sacrifice too great for the sake of fashion?! What you said sounds like the slogan of a crazy, devoted woman. Like, unhealthily devoted!”
“It’s all for the sake of realizing the feelings swirling in my heart. I don’t mind if you laugh and call me stupid or pathetic. Even that laughter is wonderful…”
“I’m not laughing. Look, I’m even a little teary.” Subaru pointed to his face.
“Oh, where?”
Shaula leaped to her feet, leaning in to see, and as she got close enough that he could feel her breath on his skin, Subaru suddenly noticed the structure of her shapely face.
Big, almond eyes that held a purposeful drive, and a straight nose. Long eyelashes, perfectly smooth skin that belied how long she had spent in the desert, and though it was hard to notice with how expressive her face was, an overall build that was more gorgeous than adorable.
Given the name of a star, she was a home to return to, a being whose fate was waiting for her beloved.
“Huh? That’s not just teary. Are you actually crying, Master?”
“…Your master is a son of a bitch. I’d like to punch him myself.”
“Seeing that would give me some very conflicted feelings! If you KO’d yourself, what would happen?! …Argh…”
Subaru closed his eyes as his lips quivered.
Something hot welled up, pushing past his eyelid and trickling down his cheek.
Seeing that clear drop, Shaula murmured again, and…
“ ”
And unexpectedly, Subaru felt something damp rub against his cheek.
Opening his eyes, he saw Shaula slowly moving away from his face. Smiling mischievously, she put her finger to her lips and stuck out her red tongue.
“…Your body fluids are salty and sweet.”
“Phrasing…”
“It doesn’t matter how I say it. My feelings are exactly what it says on the box. I love you, Master, body and soul.”
She had said it so many times.
Knowing exactly how far she was willing to go, he could never say that she was anything less than heartfelt. The reason she talked about love at every opportunity is because she was overflowing with it. Because the feelings she had always wanted to express overflowed from inside her. Having spent four hundred years wanting to love, wanting to be loved…
“I love you, Master.”
“…I’m not gonna say ‘I love you, too.’”
“I know that. You’re mean and ultra-shy. But I like that about you, too. From the bottom of my heart. Only youuuu.”
“ ”
Left behind by time, bound by the role she had been given. And when that role pushed her to hurt the person she loved, she had wept and begged for death.
Even though Subaru had said he wasn’t going to leave her like that.
“I’m not…going to say I love you…”
“…That’s fine. I’ll just keep saying it enough for the both of us. And eventually, there will come a day when it boomerangs back at me.”
“Eventually…? Again, with that. You planning to wait four hundred years?”
“Yep. Four hundred years is just a drop in the ocean.”
She had wept, saying in such a pained voice how long she had waited. Wept at being left to the passage of time, held hostage by her love, and so, so lonely for all that time.
But there was no way the current her could know of that world where she had revealed her feelings. So despite how nonchalant she seemed now, there was no telling what emotions swirled in her heart beneath the surface.
Subaru had vowed not to make her cry. And he had no intention of going back on his word.
So—he wanted her to cry. To cry and say it wasn’t enough yet. If she cried and cried and cried until she collapsed in tears, Natsuki Subaru, even though he wasn’t her master, would do everything in his power to stop her tears.
And yet…
“Four hundred years is just like the day after tomorrow.”
There was no trace of her crimson scorpion form. Just a beautiful, smiling woman.
So beautiful, it almost swept him off his feet. So fragile, it seemed like she might crumble if he touched her. Shaula’s pale cheeks reddened slightly, and like a maiden in love, she continued.
“Since…”
Like a maiden in love, she said:
“…Since I loved you the whole time I was waiting, too.”
“ ”
“Hey, Master. Someday…”
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