CHAPTER 74: WITCH'S PLOT AND PROPOSAL
Panting in asphyxiation, Subaru belatedly realises that his hands are on a meadow's green. The thick scent of grass skims up from the ground his limbs are touching and into his nose. Like a grassland bathed in sunlight after rain, the chokey and natural air wraps fleetingly around Subaru.
Turning his neck, Subaru sees Echidna before him. Like usual, she is arranging preparations for a tea party on the meadow's hillock with its table and chairs as she waits for her guest—for Subaru. Like usual. —Just like usual.
Echidna: “I'm sure you have things you want to say and questions you want to ask, but... first how do you feel about sitting down and having a cup of tea?”
Subaru: “...Do you think, having considered what you just did to me, that I'm going to cordially sit in that chair? Or comply with your tea party at all?”
Echidna: “You'll comply. You're someone capable of giving mercenary, faux-calm rational thought precedence over your instinct to fly into self-abandoning rage. Right now, a profitable conversation with me has more benefits to you than shirking a conversation with me... would be what you've concluded, right?”
Subaru: “—”
Subaru speaks low with suppressed anger. Echidna's carefree attitude stays healthy as ever. Her words come spoken from above, as if mocking Subaru and his attempts to engage in an obvious ploy. They strike a perfect bullseye, Subaru unable to choose either affirmation or denial. The thing she had trampled over was not so cheap that Subaru would so easily acquiesce.
Subaru: “Echidna... tell me you didn't mean it.”
Echidna: “Hm?”
Subaru: “That... thing with the Witch of Lust, tell me that you didn't mean for that. Please say it was your bad.”
Echidna: “...”
Subaru: “Say that it was unavoidable. That you didn't anticipate it, that it shouldn'tve gone like that. Please tell me this. If you do... I won't fault you.”
What Echidna's saying is correct. If he was to proceed ahead, then he needed her knowledge, her cooperation. But the unforgivable is the unforgivable. Echidna's utilization of the Witch of Lust to trespass into Subaru's inviolable and precious domain—his SANCTUARY—was reality. And so as far as Subaru was concerned, this was an essential requirement for forgiving Echidna, and complying to a profitable conversation with her.
Echidna: “...Just when I was wondering what you'd say.”
In this instant, Echidna must have come to comprehend Subaru's inner weakness and obstinacy. Echidna's mutter was an inadvertent one. Subaru bites his lip as he waits for her reply, Echidna looking at him as she leisurely fiddles with the ends of her white hair.
Echidna: “Exactly as your wish states, that was the Witch of Lust Camilla running amok. I tried to stop her, but she didn't listen me. She took advantage of the TRIAL with intent to beguile you, unveiled the places you least want touched, and attempted to submerse you.”
Subaru: “—”
Echidna: “You narrowly managed to escape just as she was about to trick you. Having failed her in beguilement, Camilla let down her guard, which is when I stole back predominance and summoned you to my castle. You could call it a godsend that we're able to face each other right now.”
Subaru: “—”
Echidna: “...supposing I told you all that, would you be satisfied?”
Lining up everything Subaru wants to hear, Echidna undermines all of it at the end. Subaru wordlessly looks upward, separating his gaze from Echidna.
Subaru: “...What were you trying to do, goading that witch on like that.”
Echidna: “Camilla didn't say? That with how the TRIAL had near entirely abraded your heart, she wanted to save you?”
Subaru: “That wasn't what the Witch of Lust was really thinking. If what she said's right then that was what I wanted Rem to tell me, the definition of self-issued weakness. The Witch of Lust's got no reason be fond with me. ...You instructed her.”
Echidna: “It's impressive you got this much off so little information. ...In that case, doubt excuses will work here.”
Echidna easily stops with the glossings over and gives a shrug. Ferrying her teacup to her mouth and taking a sip,
Echidna: “Just as you suspect, sending out Camilla, and her presentation as a girl in your heart, were both on my instruction. It being penetrated and failing to carry to the end is more of a problem on Camilla's end than mine, though.”
Subaru: “...Why did you pull that?”
Echidna: “Hearing it said straight-out is probably going to make you mad. —Because it was the most efficient method, and more importantly the method with the highest probability.”
Subaru's expression vanishes. Echidna continues without hesitation.
Echidna: “It was outside even my predictions that the second TRIAL would catch you at this timing. But most importantly, that its contents would stab into you so deeply was, speaking with entire honestly, something I hadn't envisioned at all until I actually witnessed it.”
Subaru: “—”
Echidna: “Oop, I'd appreciate you overlooking that I was peeping on the TRIAL. I'm pretty sure I told you about this back at the first TRIAL too, but you do get that these are TRIALS set up by a witch? The mean-spirited punchline comes included. ...and such and such fault-finding I don't really enjoy.”
Subaru: “...Get back to explaining.”
Echidna: “Anyway, while I was watching you brave the TRIAL, I had a thought. —If he's made to keep challenging the TRIAL alone like this, it won't be long before he's entirely eroded. ...There's the thought.”
Her stance on this is likely no exaggeration, but really what would've happened. Subaru had been paying enough attention to his situation that he could not refute her. The second TRIAL—the uncomeatable present—and the scenes, events, tragedies he was forced to witness. This thing was more than enough to utterly destroy Subaru's bravado, stubbornness, and misconstrusion.
Echidna: “And so I intervened. Your complete erosion is yet another possible result. I execute trial and error on everything there is, experiment everything possible. Because my curiosity is constantly wailing its desire for theoretical conclusions without ever getting bored of it. To sate my insatiable greed, I seek every single result out there. —The result of you challenging the TRIAL, and breaking, is no exception.”
Subaru: “Then why'd you intervene? If my breaking is one of these results you're looking for, you shouldn'tve minded just leaving me there. If you get the result that actually that was all I amounted to after all, that should've satisfied you, yeah?”
Echidna: “Of course I have a perspective of accepting things as yet another possible result. ...I do, but that doesn't mean I'll do nothing to get the results I desire.”
Subaru: “What?”
Echidna's tone drops as she speaks. Hearing it, Subaru for the first time here knits his brows in something other than anger. Scrutinizing the meaning of her words, and putting them together into definite shape, that means—
Subaru: “To reject the result of me eroding and disappearing to nothing... you set up that situation, is what you're saying?”
Echidna: “...And as a result, I trespassed on territory precious to you, and I have no excuse for that. If you're going to shower me with insults, I will resignedly accept it. Your anger is correct, and my selfishness is incorrect. That's all that's happened here.”
Setting her cup on the table, Echidna gazes straight-on at Subaru at the foot of the hill. The silliness and caprice she had shown until now is entirely gone, as the Witch of Greed faces Subaru with all of her sincerity. Her attitude, her stance, her words, overwhelm him. His heart had been entirely occupied with inexpressable fury and distrust toward Echidna, but now those emotions seemed horrifically egotistic and self-serving.
While a strong reluctance to call the previous situation as Echidna's help still remains, just what state would Subaru's mind be in if Echidna had not acted? On the tomb's cold floor, mind broken, pulverised, in an impenetrable darkness without even the faintest of light, disappeared entirely. Not a difficult scene to imagine. He can't convey her any words of gratitude. But, he could not think her someone who deserved a showering of anger and curses. —That was his emotional compromise.
Subaru: “—”
Wordlessly standing up, Subaru brushes the grass off him as he heads for the hilltop. Sitting in her chair, a pained look flashes through Echidna's expression as she watches Subaru approach. It seems that not even the centuries-old witch can determine just what words Subaru's about to pummel her with. Thirst for knowledge incarnate. WITCH OF GREED. The fact he could make twist the expression of even someone like this gives Subaru's mind a slight relief.
Echidna: “—au,”
Echidna cries out slightly in surprise as Subaru pulls out the chair opposite, and sits. He certainly isn't bringing his cup to his lips, but he is expressing intention to talk. Echidna looks at Subaru with unease as he puts his elbow to the table and his cheek in his hand, averting his gaze from Echidna.
Subaru: “No appetite for 'Chidna tea. ...But I will be getting a profitable conversation out of you.”
Swallowing down his unbearable emotions, Subaru displays tolerance enough to comply.
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
Subaru: “So what was the second TRIAL, actually?”
Still with cheek in hand, Subaru asks without looking at Echidna. Echidna shifts the position of her seat as she responds, slanting forward to get into Subaru's view.
Echidna: “What do you think it was?”
Subaru: “Dodging the subject... or actually you're not. This you saying I'm asking too much in suddenly trying to get an answer, really?”
Echidna: “I'm not considering anything so mean-spirited. It's since I wound up doing something which would make you angry. I'm just thinking to check that we can have friendly conversation, but also that I want to hear your voice some more.”
Those were incredibly embarrassing words for someone to hear. If Subaru had been braving this conversation in his baseline mental state, with no hustle at all, then he would likely have been discomposed and wound up getting stuck on his words. But Subaru's present mentality is one that surely wouldn't be giving Echidna the reactions she wants. He gives a small sigh as his reply.
Subaru: “The TRIAL's opener is WITNESS THE UNCOMEATABLE PRESENT. That's the preface, and that's the scenes it shows. ...Uncomeatable present probably means a PRESENT which, sometime during the period it took for me to wind up where I am now, went down a different path than what leads to the current situation.”
It's the same kind of idea as a visual novel. The player chooses down which path to proceed at important moments, opening different storylines and possibilities. Think about it somewhat extravagantly, and visual novels are magnificent games wherein whole lives themselves unfold.
Echidna: “They're universes you fundamentally shouldn't be able to witness. They may be infinitely happier than the real PRESENT, and you'll regret that things aren't like that universe. Or perhaps they may be infinitely sadder than the real PRESENT, and you'll feel grateful that you are where you are now. —The reality of the second TRIAL is to witness these differing PRESENTS, and see if you can affirm the PRESENT which correctly should be, is about what it is.”
Following off from Subaru, Echidna succinctly explains the second Trial. It's practically identical to what Subaru had envisioned. If you exclude the part where it wound up being a deeply, violently penetrating ordeal for Subaru and only for Subaru.
Subaru: “—Do the alternate PRESENTS I saw actually exist?”
Echidna: “...”
Subaru: “When I die, I RETURN BY DEATH right there. So I've never seen what happens after my death. ...and even before that, I've never considered that the world continues on after my death. ...No, I've been trying not to consider it.”
Well, of course. Subaru's RETURNING BY DEATH occurs when the world has fallen into an unsalvagable checkmate. By affirming RETURNS BY DEATH made for the sake of breaking through the deadlock, saving those dear to him, and reaching the optimum future, he had put up with the sensation of spending his life.
If worlds exist after his death, that pulls the fundamental portion of his premise out from under him. While also to keep himself mentally stable, believing that NO WORLDS THAT I HAVE LEFT BEHIND EXIST allowed Subaru to save the people of the maybe-present WORLDS LEFT BEHIND.
And so,
Subaru: “Even after I die, the world goes on... maybe? My choices make worlds diverge, and there in the world where I blundered and miscarried everything, everyone I didn't protect is there...?”
Echidna says nothing.
Subaru: “What is it, Echidna. ...Please tell me.”
Having lost the option to keep abstaining from looking at her, Subaru pleads as he directs his gaze to the forward-slanted Echidna. Wordless, and bathed in Subaru's attention, Echidna thoughtfully rubs her chin. She closes her eyes.
Echidna: “There's one thing I have to put out there about the TRIAL.”
Subaru: “...”
Echidna: “The presents in the second TRIAL are entirely a phenomena which show scenes from fabricated worlds. The challenger taking the TRIAL... that'd be you this time. Taking influence from all the way into the details in your memory, the MEMORIES OF THE WORLD withdraws the people who make up your surroundings, the world, the atmosphere, even the mana, and aligns the necessary past, present, and future information to create a PRESENT.”
Subaru: “...”
Echidna: “Meaning that is entirely a well-made UNREALITY. The degree of their reconstruction is on an entirely different dimension from your self-produced imaginings and delusions, and as a fake reality those things would potentially occur. But, they're start-to-finish ARTIFICIAL UNREALITIES. If questioning whether they really happened, the answer is not affirmative.”
Subaru: “Th-then...”
Echidna: “However.”
Hearing Echidna's explanation, Subaru raises his head in hope. But Echidna faces out her palm, interrupting him.
Echidna: “The details behind the principles of your RETURN BY DEATH are unclear. It's almost certain that the agent for your RETURN BY DEATH is the Witch of Envy, but as to how the WITCH OF ENVY is making you RETURN BY DEATH leaves questions unending. It may be a power which uses your death as a trigger to rewind the world. Potentially, it may be that it overwrites the you in a maybe-there-maybe-not alternate universe so called a parallel universe, with the present YOU.”
Subaru: “Au...”
Echidna: “Hypothetically assuming that the latter principle is truth, then worlds in parallel universes exist, and even after your death, the worlds without YOU would continue.”
Subaru: “W-ways to confirm that would be...”
Echidna: “—None.”
Echidna shakes her head. His eyes open wide, Subaru's jaw drops as he is struck dumb. Echidna gives Subaru a sympathizing kind of gaze, rapping her fingers on the edge of the table.
Echidna: “If we're to assume there is a way to confirm, it would be to get the answer out of the WITCH OF ENVY herself. But I'm sure you're already well aware that that would be difficult?”
Echidna must be talking about Subaru's memories from when he first truly met the WITCH OF ENVY. After leaving the tea party and exiting the tomb, there the WITCH OF ENVY welcomed him. Stole Emilia's body, tore Garfiel to bits, consumed SANCTUARY itself in shadow, a genuine monster. —Subaru suddenly remembers some doubts he had about the circumstances of the thing's appearance.
Subaru: “Ri, ght... Echidna. Before, after the tea party ended... outside, I saw the Witch in SANCTUARY. What was that? Just what was that?”
Echidna: “You already know this, but that was the WITCH OF ENVY. Although, that was a knock-off far removed from the real thing. The flesh-vessel it chose was immature, and most importantly the seal hasn't moved an inch. With its witch factor impaired, it's inconceivable it could act with the power it had in its heyday.”
Subaru: “That was far removed from its heyday...?”
Although having been a monster that made short work of transformed Garfiel and killed absolutely everything without sustaining even a scratch, that had been nothing comparable to the real WITCH OF ENVY. Just how much of a hell had it been 400 years ago, when the Witch was actually parading about the place?
Echidna: “Just as you have imagined, the trigger for its exiting outside was the tea party. Not even that thing can bind you by the taboo here. Thus it went crazed with jealousy, left to vent its resentment outside, had a tantrum and went ballistic.”
Subaru: “Did you know that'd fucking happen?”
Echidna: “I certainly did not. I'm speaking about the outset. Seeing how things had turned out, the outset probably came from that. ...is the hypothesis that I reached. That I can make no conclusions without truly witnessing the outcomes is a point where even I, the Witch of Greed, am no different from you all.”
Subaru: “—”
Subaru is lost for words at Echidna and her objective stance, which shows no signs of collapsing. He could reproach her, but nothing would come of it. Despite being aware of this fact, there is a vexation to be had. If she just felt like it, if she just felt like collaborating with Subaru, then potentially—
Echidna: “I doubt there's any great reason behind why your loved was chosen as the vessel. Her body's also a half-elf, so maybe there might've been some ease of adaptation there, but I'd say the biggest reason would be nothing other than ENVY.”
Subaru: “Envy...?”
Echidna: “When you're a witch trying to monopolize your affection, how is it strange to hate someone who's so enthusiastically getting your attention, and want to destroy them?”
Loving someone insanely meant desiring to be loved by them in equal turn. If that someone directed their love at another, then the hazard known as LOVE could prompt acts of insanity done to redirect the someone's focus onto oneself. So that was why the Witch of Envy keeps materializing, then?
Echidna: “Everything you're puzzling over is likely something only the WITCH OF ENVY would know.”
Subaru says nothing.
Echidna: “You can mull over it endlessly, but in honest opinion, it's unlikely you'll reach an answer. Not about that spectacle which cornered you in, and most importantly not about those MAYBE-THERE-MAYBE-NOT PRESENTS, will you get a true conclusion.”
Subaru: “Th, at is...”
There's really nothing to call it except Subaru's cruel reality. He wanted to be clearly refuted. “These post-death worlds you saw don't exist.” If that was no good then he wanted a definite affirmation. “Your conceit has sacrificed many.”
Whichever answer it was, Subaru would have surely kept the response as a precept, as a lynchpin, as something not to forget—then grit his teeth, spill tears of blood, and even with his soul wailing its misery, step onward. —Getting an answer saying that no answer existed was remarkably cruel.
Still without any affirmations or denials, with matters of the world still inconclusive, live! Without knowing whether he had trampled over what he had trampled over. Without being able to acknowledge that he has abandoned what he has abandoned. Was being unable to acknowledge his sins as sins his punishment? Had Natsuki Subaru committed a sin so accordingly great, that no one could forgive it?
Nobody was capable of casting judgement on Subaru. Couldn't denounce him either. He understood that. —But would nobody let even Subaru himself do it?
Echidna: “I think it's harsh. But, I also think all there's possibly to do is rationalize.”
Overwhelmed and without words is Subaru, when Echidna addresses him. He lifts his head sluggishly, looking at Echidna with his eyes empty. Echidna swallows her breath, and with a serious expression,
Echidna: “Speaking in extremes, the second TRIAL is to accept WHAT THERE ONLY IS NOW, and rationalizing that the PRESENTS other than the PRESENT are entirely unreachable alternate worlds.”
Subaru says nothing.
Echidna: “For you, who has reason more than other challengers to recognize that perhaps these alternate worlds may truly exist, I'm sure it's difficult. But still, it's time to switch.”
Subaru: “Switch?”
Echidna: “Your choices indeed may have left numerous sacrifices in their wake. I'm sure that among those you've left behind, there are many which are beyond reclamation. But spending your life entirely counting those you've left behind, those who are gone, is miserable. It's empty. It's painful, wouldn't you think?”
Subaru: “If we're just going to be talking off emotion logic, how about we don't. ...It's really something saying this but do you actually think run-of-the-mill counselling's enough to do something about this experience?”
Echidna's words are pleasant, comforting ones. Were they in response to a shallower wound, a less serious crime, to a lower-scale event, perhaps they may have had some effects. Potentially he would have felt saved, and been capable of that SWITCH. But,
Subaru: “That doesn't change that the payback for what I've done is unworkable. It doesn't change that I thought everything I left behind disappeared, didn't exist, and from that I've been piling sacrifices is possible.”
Echidna: “...You're correct.”
Subaru: “What do I have to do so I can approve of myself in this situation? Is there something I can do so that I can forgive me? I pushed aside the deliverance you offered me. I don't want to be saved by a counterfeit Rem. I'm bringing the real Rem back, eventually. —But.”
Taking a breath, Subaru's face twists into a mess.
Subaru: “—Is the Rem I eventually bring back, truly going to be the same Rem I want to save?”
Echidna: “—”
Subaru: “So long as that question goes unanswered, this mental deadlock's not changing. ...Are you seriously telling me I can do something about that, ordering me to rationalize it?”
Echidna: “—”
Subaru: “Rather than counting who I haven't saved, live while counting those I have... that, is seriously what you're telling me?”
What followed in the statements Echidna wished to tell Subaru was a kind of hope. Those words would even for Subaru, perhaps bestow hope. —However, the darkness into which Subaru had declined was not shallow enough for him to consider them as hope.
Subaru: “With this run-of-the-mill emotional logic, you're seriously... telling me to, fight...”
Echidna: “—I am.”
Subaru: “—”
Echidna: “I, am, telling you, that.”
Dispelling the words of comfort, Subaru cries out from the depths of despair. Echidna speaks—slowly, piece by piece, looking Subaru straight in the eye.
Echidna: “Rather than counting the many you may not have saved, you should count the many you have saved. The path you've travelled in getting here, I have been watching.”
Subaru: “You, what're... what could you, about me...”
Echidna: “I have been watching you live doing your utmost, your very best, and arriving to this moment. And so I can say it. Indeed I can.”
Subaru: “—”
Echidna: “On the path you have walked thus far, not a single thing you have done has been worthless. Nobody has the right to call your utmost INSUFFICIENT. You've gone throwing out everything you can do, and ventured here to this point. —That is something to be proud of.”
Echidna's sincere words strike Subaru's empty heart. Something inside his hollow chest resounds. —But, it isn't enough. Those words would not spur him to stand. She could say it was something to be proud of, but in reality Subaru had miscarried on many things. Things he should have been able to do something about. If it were someone other than Subaru working with the same conditions, they would've done it fine. But since the person in those places had been Subaru, many had gone without rescue. That was Subaru's crime. Subaru's wrongdoing. The sin for Subaru to accept, and indemnify.
Subaru: “There is no one who can forgive me.”
Echidna: “I will forgive you. Who knows of this, I will.”
Subaru: “There is no one who can judge me.” Echidna: “I will judge you. Me, who knows your sin, I will.” Subaru: “—There is no one who can validate me.” Echidna: “If you cannot validate yourself, then allow me to invalidate the you you cannot forgive.” Subaru: “—” Echidna: “If you will validate your sin, I will invalidate your sin.” Every one of Subaru's words, Echidna persistently attempts to dispel.
Why was the witch so insistently denying Subaru's sin? Why was the witch so repeatedly trying to cast this darkness from Subaru's heart? Subaru: “Why, are you... trying so hard to do something for me?”
Echidna: “...Making a girl say this kind of thing is just slightly overly mean.” Echidna, who had not faltered even once until now, for the first time gets vague with her statements. With her face still tinted slightly red, Echidna coughs.
Echidna: “—Will you form a contract with me, Natsuki Subaru?”
Quiet, but suggestive of strong volition. Subaru blinks, letting the words sink into his brain, taking all the time necessary to comprehend. Subaru: “Con, tract...?” Echidna: “Yes, a contract. A formal contract with the WITCH OF GREED. —Are you interested in tying one?” Subaru: “We form this... say we formed this, what happens?” Echidna: “It's simple. —From now on, whenever you run into an obstacle you can't surmount, I will ponder on the barricade together with you. Whenever you wish to hear someone's words, I will endeavour to give you the words you desire. Whenever your sins are close to crushing you, I will eliminate those crushing sins together with you.”
Spoken all at once, a bashful smile rises on Echidna's face. Echidna: “Do you want to form this contract?” Subaru: “...You're dead, and so, aren't you incapable of interfering with reality?” Echidna: “I've probably transcended the capabilities of the dead. Call it belated and yes it's belated, but I don't think such a wrong. ...If you'll forgive it, that is.”
Hand to her chest with her head hung, Echidna's words vibrate Subaru's eardrums. The vibration follows to his body, a heat steadily warming his blood as it transmits through his whole. To his numbed fingers, sensation returns. His arid tongue regains some moisture and mobility, his unblinking eyes filling with something hot to cast out the dryness.
This offered hand, proposition, proposal, assistance, has him lost on how to answer.
Echidna: “Not meaning to brag, but I'm confident about my information load. I can prepare counter-approaches for most all problems you'll encounter, and no matter how absurd a situation threatens to befall you, unlike your peers there is absolutely no necessity to toil in persuading me. And most of all, I can comprehend your RETURN BY DEATH.”
Subaru: “Are you hitting me with a surprise fast-lipped sales pitch?”
Echidna: “As the one seeking it, I do kinda think it natural to note out the benefits of tying a contract with me. If this has helped bring some ease into your heart at all, then perhaps you could call that another benefit.”
Taking advantage of Subaru's words, Echidna turns even them into part of her pitch. Seeing her acting in a way she never has before, Subaru's cheeks unwittingly loosen into a smile. Feeling the air in his lungs peacefully exit, Subaru sighs.
With the meadow wind bathing the back of his neck, Subaru leans against the chairback as he looks up at the sky. In the artificial sky, he sees the white clouds floating.
Whenever he's stuck, whenever he's lost for answers, whenever he encounters hardship. —If under this azure sky, he could once again trade words, seeking a solution...
Subaru: “Maybe, it wouldn't be so bad...”
Echidna: “—Which would mean?”
The chair squeaking as she stands up, her hands unwittingly balled into fists, Echidna looks down at Subaru. With Subaru gazing at her while still leaned against his chairback, Echidna's face changes colour in embarrassment at what she just did.
Echidna: “Ah, um... right, if you mean you're desperate for it, then I guess that contract's something we could...”
Subaru: “Way too late for patching this up. Or actually, I'm not the one looking for this, it's you... no, in this situation, saying that is incredibly crude.”
Echidna is the one proposing it, but the entire thing is to save Subaru's heart. Said plainly, it's a witch's kindness. That the whole affair won't take shape as Subaru simply clinging to that kindness is definitely because the witch is acting with consideration for Subaru.
No matter what he does, no matter who it is, is he always going to wind up getting saved?
With the rocking of the chair-back pitching him forward as he uprights himself, Subaru stands up. Echidna stands within range to touch, looking up at the now-elevated Subaru, her expression uneasy. This witch's minutest actions are cunning, he thinks. Being that he is she is delivering him, he is unmistakably in no position to say anything.
Subaru: “How do you tie a contract?”
Echidna: “—For tying a formal contract, you and I will be connected with a pass. I'll deal with attaching in the detailed itinerary... but for now, your palm.”
Echidna raises her right hand, facing her pale palm to Subaru. Like this, place your palm to mine, is probably what it means.
Seeing the witch standing opposite Subaru and her grin, unable to hide her happiness, Subaru feels a sort of dumbfoundment as he sighs.
Subaru: “Now, let's hope things're gonna start changing...”
Filled with more than a few expectations for the future, to Echidna's hand does Subaru place his—
BAM.
A shattering noise rips through the air as the white, cup-bearing table beside Subaru explodes. The impact which broke the table transmits on to the ground, the earth collapsing as it births a crater, the quakes and rumbling jolting Subaru violently as he squawks in surprise.
???: “—I'm putting a stop to this contract.”
Fist to the ground as she magnificently speaks is the blonde, blue-eyed girl. —The WITCH OF WRATH glares at the two, in rage.
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