CHAPTER 2
A BRAVE CHOICE
1
“Guoowaah! Gaah!”
There was a moment’s weightlessness. Then came the pain of hitting a hard surface.
Even though he knew he was falling and prepared himself for the landing, it was still quite the impact.
The most unexpected thing, however, was that there was another thick branch trap lying in wait for him after he landed. His shoulder blade was hit especially hard, and his eyes watered from the pain.
“Every time… But I gotta say, it’s a good thing these traps have only been followed up with more environmental booby traps. All hail the knife…”
Subaru put the knife away again and caught his breath.
Turning around and looking up, he saw the trunk of the tree that he had been strung up from just moments ago. There was a long vine extending from one of its thicker branches down to the ground. He had cut it with his knife, but further down the vine was…
“A snare… I’ve seen them in manga before, but I didn’t realize this kind of trap would work in real life,” Subaru murmured to himself as he pulled off the snare made of vines that had snagged him by his right ankle.
The trap had been set on the ground, and the moment he’d stepped into it, he had been yanked up into the air. He still wasn’t sure exactly how it worked.
And he didn’t have the time to figure it out, either.
“So this is Rem’s knowledge and dexterity at work, even when she doesn’t have her memories… This whole chase just confirms that she’s definitely Big Sis’s little sister no matter what state she’s in.”
It was obvious, but this experience was really driving it home. Of course, this wasn’t how he’d wanted to come to this realization, so it was a bittersweet feeling.
More than an hour had passed since Subaru had followed Rem into the jungle.
Following the advice of the masked man he had met in the other clearing, he’d managed to discover the tracks that Rem had covered up and find the route she had taken with Louis. But he hadn’t caught up with them because of the traps Rem had set out of pure wariness, and the false leads she had left for her pursuer.
“The fact that Rem can make a pitfall big enough for an entire leg with a single punch is a real problem… The gap in our physical prowess is really showing.”
And mixed in among the smaller traps were some serious traps like that last one, which were designed to seriously stop him in his tracks.
How long would it have taken me to get out of that vine trap if I hadn’t stumbled upon this knife?
The thought alone was enough to make him shudder. And what made him feel most impatient was…
“Hiyah!”
He swung his whip, striking a suspicious bit of ground.
An instant later, there was a powerful crack as one, two, and then three branches whipped out. If they’d all hit him, it wouldn’t have been a surprise if he’d broken an arm or two.
The biggest traps were designed to completely rob him of any ability to act—there were not many of them, but the fact that they existed at all significantly slowed his progress.
The thick branch attack set right at the entrance to the jungle could also have been considered one of those bigger traps.
As he advanced deeper into the jungle, the big traps he discovered grew in both intensity and dangerousness. This was less because Rem was growing crueler, however, and more that she was simply improving.
“She’s studying and getting better at setting traps the longer I chase her… Damn it, you did always like stuyding. I’d prefer if you were a little less dedicated right now.”
He knew Rem was a hard worker and good at putting in effort, and he was happy that she had not lost that tendency even after losing her memories, but still, he wasn’t super happy about this particular instance of it.
Long story short, in the middle of their little battle, Rem was growing. Since Subaru’s growth had pretty much capped out, the already massive difference in their abilities was becoming even starker.
I need to get to her before the gap becomes insurmountable…
“There it is.”
In the gap between the trees that had been used for a trap, he spotted a tiny spot of peeled bark on a tree.
It was a very small mark, like the nicks on a cat’s scratching post. But those little spots of childish play were what had guided Subaru this far.
Basically, they were the signs of a hindrance.
Ironically, what was slowing Rem down and giving Subaru a trail to follow was the Archbishop she had brought along—Louis Arneb.
No matter how carefully Rem tried to cover her tracks, Louis was ruining her efforts.
“That piece of shit…”
Subaru’s heart did not feel any lighter despite that lucky break.
Of course it didn’t. Even if Louis’s presence was benefiting Subaru, he couldn’t be happy about anything related to that horrible Archbishop.
Even if Louis was not the one who’d actually stolen Rem’s name and memory from her, the three Gluttony siblings were equally steeped in sin. None of them was any less guilty than the others.
It didn’t matter that she didn’t have a physical body or that she had lived a messed-up life. That had been Subaru’s answer to Louis Arneb, who had been crying and begging in that white world.
So even if Louis was the reason he was able to stay on Rem’s tail so closely, even if this led to him eventually explaining things to Rem, he had no intention of changing the way he treated Louis. Not in the slightest.
Besides…
“Why do I have to chase after Rem like this in the first place…?!”
Subaru bit his lip in anger at how unreasonable the situation was.
He had considered the possibility that Rem wouldn’t possess her memories or recall her own name when she woke up. Obviously, it would have been best if she had come back exactly as she had been, but with the precedent that had been set by Crusch and Julius, he had not gotten his hopes up too much.
His hunch had been right on the money. Rem had forgotten both herself and him. Even so, Subaru thought he could hold on and still support her. With Emilia, Ram, Beatrice, and everyone in their camp helping, they would be able to support Rem. That was why he’d been able to hang on.
But now he was chasing after Rem in a jungle with no one to rely on, while she was doing everything in her power to get away from him.
“Why did it end up like this…? Why is it always…?”
Nothing ever fell neatly into place.
Rem could have woken up, remembered everything, been surprised by how much time had passed, and then they could have continued their story together. That would have been fine.
Or even if Rem had been in the same condition as she was now, he wouldn’t have had to suffer like this if his reliable comrades were here. That would have been perfectly fine, too.
Fate always set Subaru Natsuki along the most difficult road.
And this wasn’t just true for him. It constantly happened to everyone he cared about, too.
“That’s enough complaining, Subaru Natsuki.”
Gritting his teeth, Subaru slapped his cheeks with both hands.
The sharp pain startled him, and helped temporarily banish his feelings of self-pity.
It was true—fate always directed him down the most difficult path. That was why, despite feeling the lash of countless difficulties, Subaru Natsuki always stood back up and pressed forward, even as he coughed up blood.
“The man who turned the hardship he faced into a whip. That’s me.”
The Guiltylowe that he’d made into his whip had been less like a wall and more like the lowest hurdle in all the trials and tribulations that had blocked his path, but still.
He got himself fired up, letting his spirits swell and channeling all that heat to his brain so he could come up with a plan. That was how he had always done things.
“Think, think, think, think. Even if I keep up the chase, Rem will realize what Louis is doing at some point, and then there won’t be any more tracks. I have to finish this before that happens.”
Assessing their relative strengths, he tried to weigh his advantages against his opponent’s.
At present, Rem’s primary assets were her dexterity and attentiveness, both of which persisted despite her memory loss. There was also her prodigious growth as she continued to build traps on the fly, and her adorable face and voice. He would’ve loved to be able to watch her at work, but that would have to wait.
Meanwhile, the main thing Subaru had going for him was his ability to use a whip and knife. And, as aggravating as it was, the clues Louis was leaving for him. He also decided to count his mean mug as a point in his favor. Plus, there was the fact that he knew Rem better than she knew herself right now.
“…She must have realized I’m following her.”
The repeated traps made that much obvious, but he realized she must have also sensed him on her trail. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of setting this many traps. The first few might have been set just out of caution, and under other circumstances, she would have prioritized fleeing.
The fact that she hadn’t done that and had instead kept setting traps meant she was sure Subaru was pursuing her. And the reason she was sure of this had to be the Witch’s stench.
“How much do I stink right now…?”
In the past, Rem and Beatrice had told him it faded over the course of several days, but it increased sharply right after he died and returned, or whenever he was dying frequently.
And in the past half a day, he had lived through all of the doubled-up Subaru Natsuki’s experiences before being teleported into the jungle.
“I must stink more than I ever have before.”
While he contemplated that, Subaru dismantled two small traps and then a third medium-sized one, continuing to trace Rem’s footsteps using Louis’s clues.
It was like Hansel and Gretel following breadcrumbs. Except Subaru was alone, and the two girls were the ones running away.
“Oh, this time it’s in a pretty obvious place. Next is…”
Noticing a torn bit of bark, Subaru set his next course.
Louis wasn’t intentionally giving him directions, so the marks didn’t actually provide much in the way of guidance, and more often than not, they were very difficult to notice. Most likely, they’d been made when Louis was left alone while Rem was setting the traps.
Most of the previous signs were hard to find, so it was nice to find one that was more obvious.
“These are a huge help. If Rem had noticed and covered them up, I wouldn’t be…”
Just as he was about to finish that thought, Subaru froze.
Then he went back to the tree he had just passed and looked at where the bark had been scraped away. It was a big, healthy-looking tree, and the mark had been put in a fairly noticeable place.
Would Rem really have missed that?
“Knowing Rem…”
Given how attentive and perceptive she was, she would have covered any obvious marks.
If she’d left this one behind, then either she had been distracted, or…
“…There!”
Subaru threw a big clump of plants, mud, and roots at the path he had been about to walk down.
The clod arced through the air, fell into the high grass—
—and there was a loud crash as the grass sank, swallowed up by a massive hole in the ground.
“Whoa…!”
This pit made a mockery of all the other little traps he’d seen so far. As it opened up, nearby trees creaked and also fell in. This was a mega trap. If Subaru had been caught in it, he would have been buried alive and put completely out of commission.
Every previous trap had laid the foundation for one big, decisive move. The clues he’d been relying on had been used to lure him into a formidable trap that would have buried him alive.
It was a method that suited Rem, and he wanted to compliment her on it, but…
“If I know Rem, then this isn’t the end, either.”
Setting a trap that would disable her pursuer would have been the ideal outcome. But Rem was far too observant and too diligent and too adorable and earnest and heartwarming, and—
“When she gets impatient, she’ll come and deal with the problem herself. Isn’t that right, Rem?!”
Spinning around, Subaru looked up at the tree that had been marked.
Just then—
“Ngh!!!”
Rem flew at Subaru from one of its branches with her teeth set in a snarl.
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