Arc 6 – 50, 'To You, The Absolutely Worthless Excuse”

Arc 6 – Chapter 50, “To You, The Absolutely Worthless Excuse”

At the sound of her cold voice, Subaru literally felt his heart freeze.

Subaru:「――――」

Looking back at the front of the room, Ram stands still at the entrance, her light pink irises ablaze, boring into the shell-shocked Subaru. Though Subaru had only came in contact with her a few times before, he had rarely ever seen her reveal such emotion on her face― in that Ram, there was a fervour that easily betrayed that impression.

Subaru:「Nhh, uh...」

Ram:「What are you getting so flustered for? Ram asked you a question. Now it is your turn to answer Barusu....No, it’s your duty to do so.」

Subaru:「I- I am... just...」

Ram:「Just?」

Promptly, Subaru’s head begins to spin as he tries to explain himself. Somehow he manages to move his tongue, cursing the slow, stammered response given by his sluggish mind; he needs to meet this situation with a silver tongue. However, in addition to having been thrown into this unexpected turmoil, in the first place, before this had occurred, Subaru hadn’t― he hadn’t even processed how Meili’s corpse had disappeared. He hadn’t even prepared the words to talk his way out of things, he wasn’t even able to prepare to come to grips to what was happening right before his eyes.

All that Subaru can do is open and shut his mouth awkwardly as he tries his best to not to say anything improper. Subaru’s manner now supported his suspicious behaviour louder than any words could.

Subaru:「――――」

Ram narrows her eyes at Subaru’s silence. The coldness in her gaze, which he had already thought to be at the level of absolute zero, falls even further. It almost feels as if he had been assailed by a sharp, bone-chilling blizzard. While desperately trying to keep his knees from trembling, Subaru slowly starts to understand, too little too late.

―Had he been set up?

When Meili’s body hadn’t been found, the meeting at the dinner table had been a bluff. When they had reported that Meili’s body hadn’t been found, Subaru had been relieved that he had escaped from a chance of being blamed.

Desperately searching in vain, they hadn’t found the little girl’s body that hasn’t even been hidden that well. His bad luck had prevailed even in these unnatural circumstances, Subaru had accepted the convenient truth, putting off any niggling doubts that had concerned him then. And that resulted in him being caught up in this act.

Hadn’t Subaru also repeatedly seen this in various TV shows? In the final scene,the murderer who had meticulously put together his perfect plan returns back to the crime scene and gives himself away as the police and the detectives are closely watching the crime scene. And due to that, they give away that they committed the crime by showing themselves as being the smoking gun. A time where such a thing had been comedy...

Somewhere in his heart, Subaru had thought that. Any connoisseur of mysteries will take note of the sheer foolishness of the dumb criminal slipped up at the very end. He had acted completely the same way ―rather , worse, for his shock of being caught up in this act had made him quite a miserable sight to behold.

Ram:「―Fake.」

Ram’s quiet mutter barrels into him as he is stricken by his own absurd actions. With just that single word, Subaru’s brittle heart crumbles and sinks in his chest, as if he had been shell-shocked by a mortar attack. As soon as he had heard it, his face had turned as white as a sheet, his lips trembling. Ram let out a sigh.

Ram:「So, you have nothing to say to defend yourself. Even I wonder if you are truly aware of how obvious your poor acting is. You didn’t prepare well enough when disguising yourself as him. There’s a limit when it comes to not being diligent, don’t you agree?」

Without hiding her contempt in her voice, Ram starts to tell Subaru why she had suspected him. Fakeness, poor acting, and showing insufficient understanding towards『Natsuki Subaru』were all pointed out by her. Not only was Subaru lost for words, but his heart felt as if it was going to crack, and the flow of his blood ached with each heartbeat. In fact, Subaru bit his lower lip, and blood started to stream out, accompanied by a sharp stinging pain.

A fake fake fake fake fake fake fake fake fake fake fake― A poor imitation of 『Natsuki Subaru』, A fake―.

That thought settles into the pit of his stomach as if it were thick, black sludge. A disgusting sludge covering him from head to toe; a weight that caused his knees to stop trembling. Instead, where the depths of his eyes had burned; a blaze glowed, dancing atop the fuse of his dark emotions. One could call it hostility, malice, malintention― or perhaps an intent to kill.

Ram:「There’s no way such unnatural behaviour would go unnoticed, well, except for those that are clueless. That could be said of Julius, Anastasia-sama... well, Echidna.」

Subaru:「... you’re sure letting it all out. Here I am listening to you patiently without even saying a word.」

Ram:「――――」

Subaru:「A fake!? I think you’re crossing the line here into false accusations. What on earth are you saying!?」

Ram:「False accusations, huh?」

As Ram’s sharp tone started to abate, Subaru, though sensing her sorrow, tries to defend himself. Of course, the point she made had been completely correct. Even if he didn’t agree with having been sternly described by her as that『Worthless Excuse』, that unfilled void between Subaru and『Natsuki Subaru』existed. However, she couldn’t have noticed this. If she comes to notice it, then it would become impossible for him to worm himself out of this situation. He can’t stop here, halfway through―

Subaru:「False accusations upon false accusations. My ears are deaf to them, y’know, I can’t hear any of ‘em.」

Shoulders shrugging and cheeks distorting into a scowl, Subaru speaks while glaring at Ram. He acts out his response, as if, right in that moment, that barefaced lie was the truth of this world. Even he could have fallen for that lie.

Subaru:「As to why I was wandering about in the middle of the night... it’s because I just wanted to stretch my legs and think a bit whilst there was no one around. I just wanted to go somewhere to not disturb your little sister... Rem’s sleeping, as well as Patrasche...」

Ram:「―No one... Did you really think that nobody had seen anything?」

Ram had quietly asked Subaru this as he was rapidly blurting his excuses out. Her words were brief, but sharp, designed to puncture deep into his heart.

Subaru:「――――」

Holding his breath at hearing her inquiry, he racks his brain, trying to figure out what she really meant by saying those words. See, seen, nobody had seen, she can’t have seen him.

―He was caught on Ram’s wording, Seen. What does she mean by this?

Meili’s corpse? Or perhaps the Meili from before she had became a corpse? Or had she seen him working on hiding Meili’s corpse? Or maybe―

Ram:「Nothing... even if it was your plan that nobody would see anything, the Earth Dragon was diligently watching your strange behaviour. And because of that, Ram was also able to watch you in the same way.」

Putting her fingers to her lips, Right in front of him, Ram deliberately makes a scene out of showing this particularly uncouth gesture towards Subaru.

Subaru:「...What the heck are you saying!?」

Without understanding the meaning of her behaviour behind her gesture, Subaru let out these words in bewilderment. However, he did have quite a recent memory of this particular gesture. It was none other than the gesture Subaru had shown to Patrasche before leaving the Spirit Room. Right now, he couldn’t for the life of him understand the meaning behind how it had cropped up again in this place with Ram―

Ram:「You need to study him more, you『Worthless Excuse』―」

The utter disappointment those two words carry is what drives home that this is Subaru’s final warning.

Subaru:「――――」

Up until now, though extremely cold and unfeeling, Ram had kept up her stance of wanting to talk, even if her intention of exchanging words with Subaru was disappearing by the second. The instant Subaru had seen the look in her eyes, he realized that his excuses were meaningless.

Ram will turn a deaf ear to whatever excuses Subaru comes up with. Since it had come to this, Subaru has no other choice but to break through this situation using brute-strength.

―In that moment, Subaru starts to consider how to kill Ram inside of his head.

Subaru:「――――」

Think about how to kill her. There is no longer any point in feeling reluctant about it. He had already killed one person. One or two, it makes little difference. A while ago, 『I』had a lot of experience in snatching away the lives of a great number of people. From here on out, there’d be no hindrance in the execution of his『Book of the Dead』plan.

Meili:『―Bu~t, that Onee-san...』

Countless choices within Subaru crumbled away noisily. On the verge of being left with only his dangerous thoughts, the shade of the little girl that had been keeping silent up until now had chimed in.

Though invisible, the presence of the shade beside him was so strong he could practically feel her breathing. It hugs Subaru’s body from behind him, softly whispering into his ear and tempting him. And the contents of that sweet, sweet, saccharine temptation is―

Meili:『―Surely she’s in a poor position, ri~ght? Her centre of gravity is shifted onto her left side, her balance is po~or.』

Those sweet whispers had whispered to him the weaknesses of that awe-inspiring, yet terrifying girl― when it comes down to it, she had given him instructions on how to kill her.

She is smaller than him, she is weaker than him, she has less experience when it comes to killing. With the knowledge『She』had accumulated by spending so much time with the assassin in black, it should be easy to kill this woman.

Meili:『Knock her over towards her left-hand side, and bash her head against the wall. That’ll do the tri~ck.』

As he was taking into account the difference in strength between himself and Ram, relevant advice comes from『Her.』By just following that, the girl’s skull will crack, and flowers of deep crimson will bloom upon the wall.

Crimson flowers that would marvelously complement this lovely young girl’s pink hair―

Subaru:「―tch」

Without any cues, and without any obvious openings, Subaru faces his opponent, preparing to step forward and attack her. Receiving a round of applause from the shade, Subaru steps forwards without hesitation towards Ram’s body which was slightly tensed. Towards her right hand side. He will throw her body against the wall and then―,

Ram:「Since you’re lost for words, you’re now resorting to violence. What a barbaric, boring conclusion.」

In that moment of offence and defence, before Subaru’s arm could reach her, Ram had opened her lips and uttered these words. Meeting each other’s gazes, Subaru’s breath was knocked out of him seeing the Ram’s cold eyes.

Ram:「―Did you really think that the oh so frail and feeble Ram would challenge such a barbaric man alone?」

Rather than mocking him, Ram’s words feel similar to pity. As she speaks, Subaru hears a crackling sound in the air mingling in with her voice. In fact, he was not hearing things. The moisture in the atmosphere freezes rapidly, the air around him was being forcibly changed from gas to solid.

Subaru:「Wh...a?」

That crackling sound he had heard, had been caused from Subaru’s own foot stepping against the pile of ice rising at his feet; it had stopped him in his tracks, causing him pain.

Subaru:「I-ice...!? 」

Ricocheting from the hard, cold impact, Subaru could hardly believe his eyes. But, the transformation didn’t just stop here. Bars of ice weren’t just materializing where his foot had been, rather, they rose from all around him― enclosing him, materializing into an ice cage.

Subaru:「You’re kidding me... what the... magic!?」

In the blink of an eye, the ice cage finishes materializing, Subaru was completely trapped within. Seizing the bars of ice with his hands, Subaru tries to violently shake them in an attempt to break that prison; however, his efforts only result in him being astounded at the strength of the ice. The bars did not yield even an inch. Even if he kicks and punches with all his strength, he doesn’t at all believe that he’ll be able to break through. And thus, Subaru had been imprisoned within that ice cage―

???:「―Everything would have been so much better if Ram had been wrong about this...」

Ram’s cheek slightly stiffens at Emilia’s appeal. For a second, a trace of doubt flits through Ram’s light-pink irises, various thoughts seeming to spin through Ram’s intelligent head. She starts to open her stiffly closed lips, and,

Emilia:「Ram, let’s listen to Subaru and...」

Ram:「―What about Rem?」

Emilia:「―ah」

In an instant, Ram’s teary-eyed, petite form spins around and leaps at Emilia. Deciding in that moment to fall back, Emilia had prepared herself to hold down Ram. But, the approaching Ram’s movements prove to be faster, and Emilia’s left hand was caught by Ram’s right.

Ram:「Don’t get in my way now!」

Emilia:「Kyaa!」

As she spoke, demonstrating her excellent footwork and defensive movements, and minimally moving her wrist and shoulder, Ram flings Emilia’s body aside, in a manner that had demonstrated maximum effectiveness. As Emilia flies away, her figure slowly somersaulted to the side. Through her surprise at her world’s sudden revolutions, she quickly grasps her situation and attempts to swing her long legs onto the floor below.

Emilia:「―hk」

In the spot where Emilia landed, lay one of Ram’s shoes which she had flung off. Tripping, Emilia loses her balance and lands on all fours.

In that close combat, Emilia had been overwhelmed by Ram’s technique, and Ram slips into the gap created. Thrusting her wand between the bars of the ice cage, towards the tip of the frightened Subaru’s nose,

Ram:「I dare you to say that again.」

Subaru:「It’s―....Not like that......」

Ram:「With that face. And that voice. Say that you forgot Rem. One more time...」

Tightening her jaw and grinding at her molars, Ram was collecting something on the tip of her trembling wand, and he knew what it was. It was invisible to the eye, a power which you would probably call mana was accumulating in front of his eyes, but even then, Subaru couldn’t follow with any words.

He couldn’t think of what to say to Ram. To that girl in front of him hanging on the verge of tears. If he wasn’t Natsuki Subaru, but『Natsuki Subaru』Would he have been able to do it?

Emilia:「You cant, Ram! Stop!!」

Emilia, having just clambered back to her feet, screams in an attempt to stop Ram. However, she doesn’t make it in time.

Emilia:「――――」

A white light blinks through the ice cage’s bars, and the shock engulfs Subaru. That shock flings his body all the way to the back onto the ice bars, the back of his head banged against them.

Subaru:「―hgh」

His head shook violently, and his consciousness became hazy. Without even having time to explain himself, Natsuki Subaru’s consciousness slipped away.

※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※

Subaru:「―huh?」

Letting out a faint, weak groan, his consciousness starts to resurface. Gradually, gradually, his consciousness rises to the surface from the sludge of darkness. Feeling as if he were somewhere vast, steady, steadily accelerating, stretching into reality, and finally―

Subaru:「―Ghuua!? Owww!?」

In the instant in which he had flitted back into consciousness, he had been yanked up by a force that felt like it had seized him by the scruff of his neck; sharp, hot pain burned within Subaru’s mind. Groaning and writhing in pain, Subaru wakes up on the cold, hard floor.

Subaru:「Ow, ow, owwww, what, what is this...?」

His body roused by throbbing pain Subaru reaches out his hand to his left shoulder. The moment he touches it, scorching pain once again burns across his mind. He couldn’t move his left arm at all.

Subaru:「Did it get yanked out of my socket...? Is it dislocated? Ugh, never felt this one before ...」

Dangling about, his arm cannot move to his will. However, when he had tried to move and touch it, he had felt a sharp pain. Thus, Subaru stood up with great care. Looking around at his surroundings, he sees that... there was nobody around. And this room was―

Subaru「The room where I hid Meili...」

In other words, he was in the same room where he had been conscious up until just before. As evidence for that, behind Subaru, the ice cage Emilia had magically crafted was still there. It was strange that Subaru had been lying down outside of the cage. Looking at the cage, it didn’t appear opened, and it didn’t look like he should have been able to get out of it by any normal means―

Subaru:「―So does that mean my shoulder was...?」

Thinking to that extent, Subaru notices the relationship between his dislocated shoulder and his escape from the ice cage. The gaps between the bars of the ice cage were so small that it would be impossible to get through them unless he was the size of a child. By force, it should be possible to get through with his shoulder dislocated. The question is how did Natsuki Subaru manage that whilst unconscious? Also―

Subaru:「―Where have Emilia... and Ram gone?」

Their figures could not be seen anywhere.They had been arguing in this room up until not long ago. Perhaps, their argument had blown up to the point that they had killed each other. That situation was far too unnatural. ―No, it was more like a terrible situation than an unnatural one.

Subaru had been knocked out of consciousness, and thus knew nothing about his shoulder’s dislocation, or Emilia and Ram whereabout, or anyone else who should have been here. Subaru looks around the room, wondering what had happened during his unconsciousness, looking to see whether anything strange had occurred― and there he saw it.

『Natsuki Subaru was Here』

Subaru:「――――」

On the walls, everywhere he could see, those words were engraved. Cut into the stone wall, crudely shaped words were carved as if scribbled into a notepad.

Had it been the fragment of stone that was near the wall that had done that? It seems like it was part of the stone that had been in the back of the room, which had been originally used to hide Meili’s dead body. Using that stone fragment, the phrase『Natsuki Subaru was Here』was engraved onto the wall. ―If it was just that, then the impact had not been as great as when the same words had been carved into his arm.

Under the influence of the surprise and astonishment that the redux had brought along to him, he should have laughed it off as no big deal. But, however―

『Natsuki Subaru was Here』

『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』

『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』

『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』

『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』

『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』

『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』

『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』

『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』

『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』

『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』

『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』

『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』

『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』

『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』

『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』

『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』

『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』

『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』

『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』

『Natsuki Subaru was Here』『Natsuki Subaru was Here』―.

Subaru:「―U...ah」

Tightly packed together, abnormally so, the words were engraved so that they completely covered the walls inside the room. They had even looked so natural that he hadn’t truly noticed the uncomfortable feeling from the start. The words were so abnormally and stubbornly engraved to the extent that it had looked somewhat like an optical illusion, due to the excess of that pattern on the walls.

Inside this room, for what purpose? Engraving these characters―

???:「―Hmm? OY, th’fuck is all this? Th’fuck is this evil feeling in the room? You, th’fuck is this crap decorating the walls?」

Subaru:「――――」

Shuddering, standing stock still, the voice coming from behind Subaru inspired fear, and it wasn’t down to the fact that he hadn’t detected its presence. After all, Subaru’s attention right now had been firmly fixed at the writing on the walls. He wouldn’t have noticed anyone approaching.

Thus, he was not surprised because of that. Subaru’s surprise had come from how familiar that crude voice sounded. The terrible memories of it that he wanted to forget―

???:「You, th’hell ya doing looking so blank, small fry. What’s a small fry doing so far away from his flock? Aren’t ya just asking to be a bigger fish’s prey?」

As he spoke from behind Subaru, who dares not to look back, the red-haired man’s laugh rang out like a shark’s. Oh how he laughed indeed, that man who should by all means not be here.