Chapter Text
His lungs burned as if the very air he took in with each ragged breath had been ignited like methane gas. His limbs burned as if the blood that pumped through them with each pulse of his unsteady heart had been replaced by kerosene. His eyes burned as if the beads of sweat dripping down in to them with each leap and bound had been laced with pepper spray.
Subaru's entire body burned from overexertion, and yet he continued running. Because the only alternative was something far worse.
Meanwhile, on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, his pursuer wasn't showing any sign of struggling to keep up its current pace. An unsurprising observation given its mechanical nature.
Yet it still hadn't made use of its beam attack again, which he kept finding more reasons to be thankful for. The most recent being the realization that the time it took to readjust itself after each body slam was probably the main reason he'd managed to stay ahead of it for so long.
Just keep running. Don't stop. If you stop running for even a second, you're dead.
He repeated that over and over inside head, urging his body forward through the sheer will to survive. An instinct he often chose to ignore, but in this situation he did no such thing.
Dying and returning would only be a hindrance to him with his current reset point. All it would do was force him to repeat his current actions all over again. And again, and again, and again. Because there truly was no other way out of such circumstances.
So he ran, focusing his gaze on the skyline of Kivotos and the safety which it represented in stark contrast to the inhospitable desert stretching for untold miles in every other direction.
The beast roared behind him and his muscles tensed in preparation for another strike, but instead of the thunderous shockwave he'd anticipated, it was a different cacophony which reached his ears. One that sounded as though it came from far above, compelling him to act against his better judgement and look back.
Stopped in its tracks, the monster's attention which until then was entirely on him had been drawn toward something else. A pest, circling around its head and demanding to be looked at.
It was a drone.
Ayane? No, wait...
A moment later, the cause of the noise he'd heard before was revealed as the drone opened fire and a series of small explosions occurred across the creature's head. No visible damage was done, but nonetheless it clearly wasn't pleased by the disturbance as it roared again in annoyance at the sudden assault.
Recognition sparked in Subaru's mind and he couldn't help but grin wildly when he realized who it was that had interfered to help him.
"Shiroko!" He excitedly exclaimed, flooded with feelings not just of relief but also a certain level of vindication as he saw his efforts to help her get in to the workshop and repair her drone paying off in real time.
That wasn't actually part of his initial reason for doing so, of course. He hadn't thought that far ahead. But it was still an uplifting sight for his very sore eyes.
Not wanting to waste the opportunity afforded to him, he turned away from the sight and continued running. There was still quite a way to go before he reached the city and he doubted the distraction created by the drone would be able to last the entire time, but at least it could give him a decent head start.
As he clambered over yet another mound of sand in his path, the sound of the conflict between the smaller and larger machines could still be heard behind him, becoming increasingly distant the longer he ran. Soon it faded entirely.
Yet that silence was not destined to last, just as he'd predicted.
"Sensei." Following the sound of something rushing through the air to his right, a voice called out from the same direction, with the distinct sound of being filtered through a speaker.
"Shiroko?!" He recognized the sound of her voice, and turned his head to find the drone hovering alongside him while he ran. "So it really was you after all! Ah man, that's great!"
"Nn. Sorry Sensei. The drone used up all its ammo already, so I decided to have it retreat." Despite his appreciative words, the response she gave was more apologetic than he'd been expecting. "I'll use it to keep an eye on you the rest of the way, though."
"The rest of the way? You mean until I get back to the city?" It was his first assumption, but he wanted to make sure.
"Hopefully a bit before that." Shiroko answered. "We're all headed toward you as well, Sensei. Now that we know where exactly you're at, we should be able to meet you out there. Just keep running and you'll see us up ahead soon enough."
While his pursuer's disappearance may have made it seem unnecessary, he understood why she specified that he should keep running and that it wasn't just to make their meeting happen sooner. In his body's current state, the instant he stopped running and the adrenaline left him the physical and mental fatigue caused by overexerting himself would hit him all at once and likely leave him unable to move for some time.
He couldn't put it off forever, but it would be better to collapse when he had somebody else around who could carry him to safety than while he was on his own.
There's also a chance that that thing could show up again.
Shiroko was clearly confident that the distance Subaru had managed to put between himself and the robotic abomination would be enough to prevent it from renewing its pursuit, but still he found it questionable whether or not that was truly the case.
Recalling the malice he'd sensed from the creature and combining that memory with those of the other times when he'd seen just how strong the allure of the Witch's scent could be made him feel that things weren't quite over yet.
And so he put every ounce of his gradually waning strength in to maintaining his pace, until eventually he spotted something. Several somethings, moving toward him at speed. Still a good distance away, but closer than the edge of the city.
His eyes widened as the knowledge of what they were struck him.
"That's us, Sensei. Those are our cars." From the drone still hovering at his side, Shiroko confirmed what he was seeing. "I think I can see you too through the windshield, just barely."
From what he could tell based on the clouds of dust that appeared to be forming around them, the vehicles must have been moving fast enough across the desert terrain that had there been a speed limit in those sandy wastes they definitely would've far surpassed it.
I can't say I'm ungrateful for that, though.
With renewed vigor, his legs carried him forward faster than before. He didn't have much energy left either way, so he was determined to get the most he could out of what little remained before his body's inevitable crash.
Right when he finally got close enough that he could see through the windows of the cars and just barely make out the faces of the students behind them, fate decided to play one last cruel trick on him, as the ground beneath his feet began to shake.
Fuck.
He didn't wait around to see the monster rise from the sand, instead breaking in to one last full sprint toward the cars, which skidded to a halt as the students inside lept from their seats with their weapons ready and began making a mad dash of their own.
Running ahead of the rest, he saw Hoshino's lips move as she shouted something to him. Perhaps a warning delivered too late, would have been his first assumption. Since he never actually heard the words because of what happened at the same time.
Quickly reacting to the tremors it created had allowed him to avoid the machine's attempt to snap him up with its jaw when it emerged from the sand behind him, but the result of its reemergence went beyond just the exact area where it came from and instead extended in to the surrounding ground, effectively creating a sinkhole within the sand.
So while he'd dodged the blow that would have ended his current life straight away, he was still caught in the resulting collapse of the terrain and suddenly found himself falling backwards in to a less literal maw.
The grey sky above almost appeared to be mourning his death in advance. With that in mind, the only thing he could think to do was to brace himself for the end.
"Sensei! Grab my hand!" Without warning, he was brought back from his descent in to the abyss of acceptance by the sound of Hoshino calling out to him and the sight of her leaning over the edge of the hole, reaching down in an attempt to grab him and stop his fall.
He attempted to grasp the hand being offered in his own, but he'd reacted just a few seconds too late and his heart sunk as the tips of their fingers missed each other by mere inches.
Only one option remained to lead him toward an outcome that didn't evolve dying again. It was a decision he was forced to make without time to mull it over, as each passing second brought him to closer to the end, one way or another.
Closing his eyes, for the third time that day he drew out the power of that dark and pulsating mass in the core of his being, gritting his teeth and clenching his fists hard enough to draw blood in an attempt to distract from the pain of his psyche being forced to wrestle with that terrible force.
After a period of time which felt infinitely longer than it truly was, his eyes opened once more and a gutteral shout escaped from his throat as the hand of Invisible Providence shot forward and extended well beyond the limits of his own arm to take Hoshino's hand.
Though the tears of agony welling up in the corners of his eyes made it difficult to see clearly, the glimpse of Hoshino's face that he caught showed an expression of immense shock. Nonetheless, he felt himself being pulled up from the pit via the hidden force connecting them, and a moment later his back hit the sand.
Multiple pairs of hands grabbed hold of him and helped him to his feet, but his consciousness was rapidly fading and he struggled to recognize the blurred faces and distorted voices of their owners.
One thing did stand out to him, however. The last thing he saw before he could no longer keep himself awake, clearer than anything else.
Hoshino. She stood with her back to him as he was dragged away, facing off against the serpent with her shield raised. Within its mouth, he saw the formation of the same light he'd seen before his second death in that desert and tried to shout a warning to her, but his mouth was no longer cooperative.
She was struck by the light, and his vision faded.
Why do I feel wet?
That was the first thought Subaru had as his senses returned to him, until the question answered itself once he opened his eyes and saw the clear blue sky overhead.
Instead of the desert wasteland he'd expected to find himself in due to the initial assumption that what caused his blackout was the activation of Return By Death, he - or his consciousness, at least - had been transported to the flooded classroom of the Shittim Chest. A rather Edenic locale, compared to the one he'd been in previously.
Suddenly, he became aware of a light pressure on his stomach. Faint enough that it escaped his notice until he'd fully shaken off the stupor that came with his awakening.
"Rona-chan?" The blue-haired AI was hugging his stomach, leaving not only the back of his shirt wet from the water he was laying in but also the front from her tears as she sobbed wordlessly in to it.
She offered no response to his vocalization of concern, but instead of forcing her off of him he placed his hand on her head and gently ran his fingers through her hair to sooth her as she took the time she needed to calm down from the worries and fear that had no doubt been plaguing her during the hours since his capture.
"S-Subaru Sensei...I'm so g-glad you're okay." Those were the first words she said as she slowly lifted her head with tears in her eyes.
He kept his hand on her head even after she moved, comforting her for however long she needed it. After her first words she didn't speak again for some time, and he continued petting her head until the last of her tears fell.
"Rona-chan...what happened after I passed out?" He asked tentatively. It was a concern he'd had since the very moment he found himself back in the Shittim Chest, but he'd chosen to put it off after seeing Arona's fragile state.
"Oh r-right, you're probably concerned about Hoshino, huh?" She paused briefly, sniffling and wiping her eyes with the back of her hand before continuing. "Don't worry, she's totally fine."
"Totally...fine...?" Disbelievingly, he repeated the words to himself as though testing how they felt on his tongue.
It had already been made clear to him by that point that the strength of halos varied heavily from student to student. For some a single shotgun blast at point blank range was enough to knock them clean out, while for others being shot by a tank and proceeding to fall dozens of feet on to pavement was enough to leave them extremely raddled but still conscious.
And he could already sense to some extent that Hoshino was an outlier among outliers, but even so the idea of her being able to withstand such a powerful attack like the one fired from that monster's mouth without even a scratch seemed absurd.
Obviously it wasn't like he hadn't seen such impressive feats of endurance elsewhere, but such power existing among these school-aged girls who for the most part seemed rather mundane compared to the kind of things he'd gotten used to dealing with over the past year was far beyond what he'd been expecting.
"You're sure? And what about everyone else?" Even assuming what Arona said about Hoshino was true, he hadn't been awake to see the aftermath of his own collapse, so there were still other things for him to worry over.
"Well, they're all fine physically, but from what I can hear it sounds like there's a bit of an argument happening..." Arona winced. "I think they're just anxious, but it's still pretty heated."
So she can still sense things happening around the Shittim Chest while I'm inside of it.
He made a mental note of the new snippet of information he'd just been given, filing it away so he could inquire about it later under less tense circumstances.
"Who specifically is 'they'? And what is it that they're arguing over?" Instead of that subject which could be addressed another time, he directed the focus of his questioning to a more pressing matter. "I'd like to hope it's not something stupid, but those are the only sort of topics I can think of right now."
"It's between Beatrice-sama and Serika, but Shiroko and Haruka are in the same car as them." Arona explained. "After Shiroko carried you in to the back of the car, Beatrice-sama forced her away and hasn't been letting anyone else touch you since then, so Serika called her 'clingy' and now she's..."
"Pissed." He finished the sentence for her. "And Haruka's just stuck there with them as a bystander?"
Arona nodded, confirming both assessments.
"Poor girl." Sighing sympathetically, he didn't envy the anxiety-prone student's position. "I really need to find a way to sort things about between those two at some point, but I'm not even sure where to start."
"Actually Sensei, doesn't it seem like things are already going better than they were before?" Contrary to his own observations, Arona's outlook was more optimistic. "I'm sure they'll be able to get along eventually, they just need time."
"Thanks, Rona-chan." With a smile and one last headpat in exchange for the AI's uplifting words, he sat upright out of the water and watched her scamper out of the way as he climbed to his feet. A process made somewhat laborious by the added weight of the water which had soaked the back of his clothes.
"Oh! Right, let me get rid of that for you." After making the same prayer-like gesture as when she healed his knuckles during his very first trip in to the Shittem Chest, Arona raised her head just in time to see the last drops of water evaporating from his clothes. "Does that feel better now, Subaru Sensei?"
It really does just vanish in to thin air.
The previously damp sleeve he'd been staring at held his attention for a few seconds longer before he turned his focus back to the girl responsible for its drying, a new train of thought in his mind.
"Man, I still can't get over how strange this whole thing is." His usage of the word 'strange' was a blatant understatement. "Me being here, I mean. Although I guess I'm not really here, am I? Just my mind. Or my soul, maybe? Damn, this is confusing."
It really does feel like being back at the tomb again.
"Yeah, I'm really sorry about that Sensei." Arona laughed awkwardly while rubbing the back of her head. "I'm supposed to be the Shittim Chest's administrator, but the more I think about it the more I realize that I barely know anything about how it actually works or even its origins. It's kinda frustrating, actually."
Reaffirming her annoyance at being left in the dark about something so personal to her, the shape of her halo shifted in to a dark orange ring of jagged edges.
A silence fell over them as Arona stared pensively down at her feet, brows knitted in a look of deep thought.
"Is there something else you wanted to talk to me about, Rona-chan?" After letting it drag on for some time based on the assumption that she merely needed time to think, Subaru eventually decided to break the quiet himself.
"H-huh? What?" Looking up from the floor quick enough to nearly give herself whiplash, Arona stuttered as she took a moment to process his words. "Oh! Right! That's right, there was something!"
She slapped both of her cheeks to pull herself out of the funk she was in, and he found himself struggling with the urge to comment on how cute it was.
"Okay! Subaru Sensei, what in the world did you do before you passed out?!" Her sudden pouty expression, though jarring, only enhanced her adorableness. And again, he was forced to resist.
Especially since he could already guess what the question she'd just asked was referring to.
Going over all of the previous topics briefly caused him to forget about another pressing matter. One which directly concerned his own health and had likely worsened the fears Arona had been harboring which led to the tears she shed during their reunion.
The consequences of his usage of Invisible Providence.
He already knew the risks that came with the ability and had been more than prepared to deal with them after using it multiple times in such a short period, even more so while he was already placing himself under stress by attempting to outrun the creature in the desert, but the others didn't share in his awareness nor his readiness.
Whenever he'd overused the Authority previously, the effects had been enough to render him comatose for several days. If something like that were to happen under the present circumstances, there was no telling what sort of impact it would have on the members of the Foreclosure Task Force and Problem Solver 68.
Suddenly feeling a bit anxious over what he hadn't been given enough time to properly consider earlier, he tried and failed to conceal his mounting anxieties from the girl standing before him.
Thankfully, the news she delivered was better than what he'd been expecting.
"There's no way you got hurt that badly just from running! If I hadn't been there to intervene, the damage would've been way worse!" Although the statement was clearly meant to inspire trepidation, in the end it had the opposite effect.
So I avoided the worst of it then.
Of course he knew that it would still be a risk he could rarely afford to take. Of course he understood that. Past experience had taught him well.
But the fact that Arona's presence could shield him and make the risk just a little less risky wasn't something he could truthfully claim to be blind towards. The seed of that knowledge had already been planted in the back of his mind.
It's good to know, in any case.
"Subaru Sensei, are you listening to me?!" An indignant voice interrupted his thoughts. "I don't know what it is that you did, but whatever it was you have to be more careful about it going forward! Can you at least promise me that?"
From the sound of it, Arona had already come to a conclusion of some sort on her own while he'd been otherwise engaged.
"Ah damn, sorry about that Rona-chan. If you just repeat that for me one more time, I'm sure I'll get it." Whether the apology worked would be entirely dependent on her own charitability.
With his head bowed, the answer he waited for soon came in the form of a slap on the back of his neck that caused him to jerk back upright.
"You don't have to go that far. Just tell me what happened, okay?" She sounded like a parent fed up with their child's antics. Which was odd, considering that she was supposed to be the more immature one out of the two of them.
"So this is Arona's mercy..." His words were laced with feigned reverence.
"I told you to stop that already!" Pouting, she slapped him harder than before and yet he still barely felt it. "Please stop messing with me like that, Sensei!"
"Aww, but Rona-chan is just so cute!" A final chuckle at her expense was delivered, and with it he expelled the last of his mischievous energy before giving in to her demands. "Okay, fine. I imagine I'll still need some time to recover before I can wake up anyway, so it wouldn't have much of an effect on that if I stayed here long enough to answer your questions."
"But don't blame me if you don't have the patience for it, okay?!"
When his eyes finally opened in the physical realm, the space around him was dimmer than expected, though fortunately not dim enough to be mistaken for where he'd woken up previously. He doubted he would ever be capable of making such a mistake again.
Twisting his head around gave him a brief glimpse of a window covered by curtains, but before he could further examine the room that window was a part of his vision was obstructed by someone tackling his head.
It was only after a moment of panic that he realized the facehugger in question had no weight and the severe neck pain he'd anticipated would never come to be.
"Bffefko!?!?!" One thing the spirit hugging him could cause was asphyxiation, however, as he struggled to breath with her clinging to him in such a frantic manner and his pained shout was muffled by her chest.
In all likelihood she didn't even realize what she was doing, if the sobbing he could hear was any indication. Which was also why he didn't instantly push her away, because the last thing he'd want was for her to misinterpret the action.
Luckily someone else came to his rescue and pulled her off of him before he could suffocate, though it didn't last long before she escaped their grasp and ran toward him again, impacting his chest instead of his face as he'd had just enough time to sit up and take a few quick breaths before she leapt in to action once more.
She attempted to speak, but it came out only as indecipherable sobbing and was only made worse by how tightly she clung to him.
"...and to think she was pissed at us just a second ago." A different voice spoke, and he looked up from the crying spirit to find that the room he was in was actually a lot busier than it seemed at first.
All of the members of the Foreclosure Task Force and Problem Solver sans Hoshino and Kayoko were present throughout the room, staring straight at him with faces showing various mixtures of shock and relief, though the feline student who'd just spoken did her best to hide any traces of either emotion.
"Your behavior hasn't been any better than hers, Serika." Ayane chastised her classmate.
Internally he recognized that she was the one standing closest to him after Beatrice, and was thus the most likely candidate for the identity of the person who'd saved him from Beako-induced hypoxia.
Noticing the attention she was being given, the elf eared student cleared her throat and stepped forward. "We're all really glad to see that you're okay, Sensei."
"Thanks." He coughed in to his fist, having moved his other hand to the top of Beatrice's head. "What's up with it being so dark in here, though? I kinda feel like I should ask about that before we get in to anything else."
While observing the room and taking note of the students surrounding him, he'd noticed that not only was the window covered but the overhead light had also been dimmed to the point where the room was cast in something like an indoor twilight, drawing out the shadows of the various objects within.
"Turning the light down was Hoshino's idea. She was worried it might be a bit harsh on your eyes when you first woke up." Ayane adjusted her glasses. "As for the lack of light from outside, well..." She hesitated, but only for an instant. "...you actually slept through most of the day, Sensei."
"Yeah, it's already approaching sundown and we're still here because we're such good students.~" Mutsuki's teasing voice was uniquely juxtaposed to the more serious speech of Ayane. "You definitely owe us for this, Sen-sei.~"
"Whatever you're expecting from me, it already sounds like I wouldn't be able to live with myself afterwards!" He protested, and the atmosphere of the room suddenly felt a little bit lighter for it.
"We were really worried, Sensei." Shooting a glare at the white haired scamp, Ayane continued where she'd left off. "After you collapsed, we rushed right back to the school and did everything we could to check that you were alright. With a few small hiccups along the way."
It wasn't hard at all to guess what those 'hiccups' were based on what he and Arona had discussed earlier, which the feeling of Beatrice's tiny fists tightening their grip on his shirt made even clearer.
"So? What was the verdict?" Putting that other matter aside for the time being, he instead honed in on the issue of his health.
"Well, there wasn't any external injury from what we could tell, and we did a pretty thorough check." The word 'thorough' was accompanied by blushed cheeks and an aversion of the eyes.
What the Hell did they do to me while I was out?
"But that wasn't the only thing we checked up on." She continued. "Sensei, try looking down. And a bit to your left."
He followed her instructions, turning his head in the indicates direction until his eyes landed on the object she'd intended for him to see: a metal bucket sitting on the floor near his feet, with something rather unpleasant visible inside.
"We don't have the necessary instruments to perform an actual x-ray here obviously, but I think it's safe to say you've experienced some form of internal injury." Her words struck him as he peered down at the container, half full of vomit, with flecks of red scattered among the multicolored refuse.
"And that's not all that there was." Shiroko added from her position near the door to the room. "We had to empty out the bucket several times before this one. You were throwing up a lot."
"Y-yeah, it was really a mess." From behind Aru, who nodded in agreement, Haruka nervously joined in.
"It's exactly like they said, Sensei. Now that you're awake it seems quite possible that whatever happened wasn't too severe, but with the amount of time you spent asleep and the fact that you kept vomiting without waking up, we were starting to assume the worst." Somberly bowing her head, Ayane backed up the words of her classmates.
"S-Subaru...Subaru...!" He looked down again, not at the bucket but at Beatrice. She'd finally said somrhhing he could comprehend.
There was no follow-up statement however, since her tears quickly returned and drowned out whatever she might've been planning to say next.
How many times is it now that I've left her alone?
While the most recent occurrence hadn't been of his own volition, the guilt of once again leaving behind his partner who had already expressed to him her worries about their situation wormed its way in to his heart without regard for such details.
With the hand he'd placed atop her head still running its fingers through her hair, he wrapped his other arm around her and hugged her tight to reassure her.
"It's okay, Beako. I'm okay. I promise I'm okay." He whispered soothingly to her.
"I'm assuming you didn't all gather in here just to watch me pass away in my sleep, so what's this about? Also, where are Hoshino and Kayoko?" He directed his questions to the room as a whole.
"Of course we didn't, dumbass." Serika answered snappily. "You were passed out for so long we figured you might need some actual medical attention."
"She could've said that more politely," Ayane shot an annoyed glance at her classmate, who simply huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, "but Serika is correct. Which also relates to your second question. We were considering calling an ambulance, but Abydos itself doesn't have any so we'd likely need to contact another school."
"Nn. I remembered hearing that Gehenna and Trinity both have really good medical care, and since these guys are here we were thinking that maybe the former would be the better option. But they disagreed." Motioning toward the members of Problem Solver, Shiroko contributed to the explanation.
Noticing the questioning look Subaru was giving them after hearing that, Aru spoke up on behalf of her club. "We aren't exactly on the best terms with the leadership of our school...as expected of outlaws, of course! But yes, we'd prefer to avoid bringing anyone else here. Especially anyone from the Prefect Team."
"Oh come on Aru, you know what people say about them, right? 90% of their firepower comes from the chairwoman, so a bunch of hardcore outlaws like us would be fine if any of the others showed up.~" Mutsuki punctuated her bold declaration by softly jabbing Aru with her elbow.
"So that's why Hoshino and Kayoko aren't here." Ayane's voice carried a tone of finality. "Hoshino wanted to think things over and get some input from them before making a decision, and Kayoko volunteered to speak with her privately on their behalf."
Aru nodded confidently. "As a proper leader, it of course makes sense that I would know which roles are best suited for each of my supporters!"
Right. I'm sure that's it.
"Yeah, right, I'm sure that's it." Subaru's sarcastic thought which he intended on keeping to himself was instead spoken aloud by Serika, with an accompanying eye roll for good measure.
"Anyway, that's the current state of things." Nonomi smiled wearily at him from one of the corners and Ayane nodded along with her words.
"Also, Sensei..." The four-eyed student suddenly seemed nervous, hesitating for an especially long couple of seconds before taking several more steps toward him and looking him in the eye with flushed cheeks. "About what I said before, about how we were all worried while you were out...well, when I...um...when I saw you like that, it..."
Realizing her attempt was going nowhere as a result of her stumbling over her words, Ayane fell silent and took several deep breaths before continuing.
"When I saw you like that, it...hurt. A lot. A-and I mean more tha-"
"Oh for crying out loud, just tell him you've got a crush already and stop wasting all of our time with this shit!" The outburst of frustration from Serika cut her off before she could finish what she'd meant to say, and ironically had the opposite effect of what was supposedly intended.
"E-excuse me." After a period of silence so tense it could be cut with a knife, Ayane covered her beet red face with her hands and spun on her heel, fleeing from the room.
Following the sound of the door slamming shut behind her, the uncomfortable quiet returned with a vengeance. Even Beatrice's sobbing had stopped, although she continued holding on to his shirt like she was afraid he might disappear if she let go of it.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid. It's all so stupid. If I had just..." Through gritted teeth, Serika began muttering under her breath, the last parts of whatever she was talking about trailing off in to nothingness as she stewed in her anger.
"You should apologize." Shiroko suggested in a tone that gave no hints of any particular emotion motivating her to speak. Yet despite her stoicism, even that was enough to provoke her underclassman whose rage was boiling over.
"Apologize?! What the Hell do I even have to apologize for?!?" Serika shouted back. "If there's anyone whose fault this is it's this pervert over here who put those ideas in her head to begin with!"
"MINYA!"
Without warning and moving so fast that even Subaru himself was caught by surprise, Beatrice extracted herself from his grasp and stood up in front of him and with a single tear-filled shout a dark purple crystal was sent hurtling toward Serika, missing her head by mere inches and imbedding itself in the wall behind her.
"DO NOT SPEAK ABOUT BETTY'S CONTRACTOR LIKE THAT EVER AGAIN!" If Serika's anger had elevated her voice to the volume of a roaring river, then Beatrice's was like the deafening sound of a tsunami crashing against the shoreline.
Not longer after, Serika fled from the room as well.
Several hours had passed since he first awoke, and he'd mostly been left to his own devices.
Shiroko and Nonomi had stopped by the room again a bit after their initial departure to apologize on behalf of their underclassmen and wish him well, and that had been last time he'd spoken to anyone, preferring the company of his own thoughts and Arona's electronic snoring.
Everyone else except for Hoshino and Beatrice had left the school already since they no longer had any reason to linger, with the members of Problem Solver promising that they would stay put at their rented office in the district so that the Abydos students could keep an eye on them and ensure nothing else went awry.
Beatrice had at first demanded to be permitted to stay by his side, but after swearing up and down that it wasn't because he was upset with her she reluctantly accepted his request for space, with the promise that he would give her extra attention later.
The events of the day had been chaotic, to put it lightly. From dying in the desert to inadvertently causing drama between friends, it was no wonder that he still hadn't fully recovered from such exhausting experiences, even without the addition of the harm he'd inflicted on himself via Invisible Providence.
Eventually his constant internal replaying of the day was brought to a close by a knock on the door.
This too shall pass.
"There's no need to knock, Hoshino. It's your school." There were only two people still in the building other than him, and Beatrice definitely wouldn't bother knocking, so figuring out the identity of his visitor couldn't have been easier.
"Oji-san just thought she'd be polite is all. You never know what kind of thing the kids will get up to when they're left alone these days." The sound of her voice confirmed he'd guessed correctly.
Pushing open the door with one arm, he realized as she came in to view that the other hand was being used to carry a tray laden with food.
"You were asleep for breakfast and lunch, so a bigger supper than usual is the least I can offer to make up for that." She took notice of his surprised expression. "Especially after you ran yourself ragged out in the desert."
"I assume you won't be taking no for an answer?" He sighed, appreciating the gesture but at the same time feeling guilty for continuing to drain their food supplies.
"How'd you guess?" The grin which came with the question would've revealed its insincerity even if he somehow hadn't already known.
"Just a hunch." Shrugging, he accepted the tray as it was passed to him.
Much like the meal they'd had with Problem Solver the day before, on an individual level its contents were rather haphazard, but the abundance of them and the consistency of their 'good enough' level of quality proved to be sufficient compensation.
"It looks like your hunches are pretty reliable, if yesterday is anything to go by." Hoshino's tone was light, but something about her wording felt much heavier. "Oji-san's been doing a lot of thinking about that, actually. But for now there are some other things that need discussed."
"Like robbing the bank, you mean?" For some reason, speaking with her felt like there was no need to pick his words.
"How'd you know about that?" Something glimmered in Hoshino's eyes, but her shock was quickly hidden and replaced with a stern serenity.
"Just another one of my hunches." The same excuse for the same truth. "Whatever's going on with Serika is still a mystery to me though. Her temper was running a lot higher than usual today."
"Yeah, I heard." Leaning back against the wall next to the door, he could tell that Hoshino's exhaustion was wholly genuine this time as she looked up at the ceiling and shut her eyes. "I'm sure there must be something she can do to get poor Ayane's forgiveness, but from the sound of things she doesn't want it right now."
She stood there quietly with her eyes still closed for a few moments longer before she lowered her head and opened them to stare him down.
"About those hunches of yours," she tapped her foot against the floor absentmindedly, "I guess it's high time I come clean about something I've been keeping secret myself."
"You saw it, didn't you?" He remembered how she'd looked earlier, when he'd reached out to her from the pit. That unmistakable hint of having seen something that she knew, instinctively, wasn't meant to be seen.
She nodded. "I did, but that's not the only thing. When you first arrived in Abydos, there was something else I saw. Something like a shadow...or I guess it was more like an abyss, if you'll allow this old soul to engage in a bit of romanticism."
"An abyss...?" His first assumption would've been that she'd somehow seen the Witch's scent hanging over him, but it didn't sound like any description he'd heard so far for the phenomenon.
"But whatever it was, it disappeared when you turned to face me. The moment I saw your eyes." She added. "It sounds like you don't know much more about that than I do though, so I'd be willing to settle for an explanation of that other thing from when you fell."
"My eyes? I guess that does sound a bit romantic, actually." He smiled wearily. "I'm glad you won't hold it against me, though."
"So I take it you're willing to answer my questions about that third arm of yours?" She asked again, and he quickly nodded. "Is it related to that 'magic' stuff you and Beatrice told us about? And that affinity of yours. Yin, right? It looked kinda similar to that."
"It's...complicated." An understatement if there has ever been one, but not a falsehood. "To be honest, I don't really understand it all that well either. But I guess it is something like a more unique kind of magic. They're called Authorities."
"Sounds imposing." Hoshino commented on the name.
"Oh man, you don't know the half of it." He chuckled darkly. "I've got a few. That one you saw earlier and one other both came straight from their previous owners."
"So you took them? From somebody else?" A hint of fear in her words, barely there but he still noticed it. "Sensei, forgive me for asking, but the way you said that...are these previous owners still...?"
He shook his head. "I know Kivotos is different from where Beako and I came from, but these people were killers too."
"So you didn't have a choice." Hoshino's voice was softer than before.
"No, I definitely did." Again he gave a negative response. "But the people I care about were in danger. I won't ever regret saving them, and I'd do it again if I had to. As many times as it takes."
"Sensei..." In an uncommon display of timidity, Hoshino seemed for a time like she was genuinely debating whether her next words should be said out loud. Ultimately, she must've decided it was worth doing.
"I won't pretend to know what kind of place you're originally from, and from the sound of it Kivotos really is quite different. But even so, there are times when things go a lot worse than usual." Her gaze was unwavering, matching the conviction in her speech. "And people die."
After allowing her words to hang for a time, he made a decision. "Hoshino, about that...there's something else I should tell you."
Magic. Contracts. Authorities. Death.
He'd already shared so much with her, pieces of information that would no doubt lead to many uncomfortable questions and perhaps far more than that if shared with the wrong people under the wrong circumstances. So perhaps there was another risk he could take.
"The reason I came to Abydos was because of a vis-" The rest of the words never left his throat.
A familiar chill ran up his spine. A familiar feeling, a familiar fear. Icy fingers, poking at his skin, as the world slowed to nothingness. Poking. Prodding. Piercing.
Shadows throughout the room deepened, coalescing in to a form as familiar as anything else. The form of a woman, her long hair blowing in a breeze that no longer existed, defying all rationality just as every other aspect of her existence did.
A black hand came forth from the Witch's bosom, stretching toward him with its cruel talons.
Pain overwhelmed every inch of his body as it plunged in to his chest, drawing no blood yet leaving its mark all the same, as the agony it inflicted upon his heart was ingrained within him once more.
Then, as quickly as the nightmare began, it was over. Darkness shifted back in to light and time was permitted to flow along its usual path, unrestricted.
"-nsei?! Sensei, what's wrong?!?" As the ringing in his ears began to fade, he became aware of the fact that he had fallen off of the mattress, with Hoshino holding on to him to prevent him from landing face first as his knees gave out.
"Why...?" A question posed to no one in particular, he just barely managed to croak out the word as his voice returned to him.
Despite their connection being weakened, it was still enough for the taboo to remain in place. That much was now certain, but it wasn't the only development that left him so rattled.
The rules of the taboo had been updated. He couldn't tell anyone about the visions.