“Hey, man, don’t just stare off into space like that. You want an abble?”
As soon as Subaru’s consciousness had returned to him, there was a ripe red fruit in front of his face.
It looked just like an apple, and as he stared at it, the phrase “fruit of knowledge” crossed the back of his mind.
It was that forbidden fruit that, when eaten, resulted in expulsion from paradise.
If Subaru ate that fruit now, would it save him from the inexplicable situation he found himself in?
“Hey, kiddo,” said a middle-aged man as he furrowed his brow and called out to Subaru, who was being completely unresponsive.
Subaru slowly drifted from the vague edge of his consciousness back toward reality, and when he was back, he suddenly raised his head. He looked this way and that, his heart beating ferociously and his breathing ragged.
He was in front of the fruit store on the main street, just past noon. There were various colorful vegetables and fruits laid out, and the person standing in front of those goods was a stern-looking man, the shop owner with the white scar across his face.
This was the crowded street that Subaru had already seen several times before. He scratched his head.
“I just don’t get it…” he muttered, and then overcome with dizziness and nausea, he collapsed on the spot.
As he felt a cold rush of water on his face, Subaru was somehow able to bring his muddied consciousness back to reality.
“…”
Subaru looked at the empty water jug the fruit shop owner had brought Subaru. After Subaru had collapsed in front of his shop, the owner had helped him get himself together.
Subaru was glad that the owner had the heart to worry about him, but the fact that he was so kind as not to ask where Satella had gone struck a deep wound in his heart.
As Subaru sat on the earthen floor, he wiped away the water from his bangs and clenched his teeth. The glint of that blade still haunted the back of his mind, along with that terrible smile as it danced through the stench of blood.
“Hhgh…”
The back of Subaru’s throat twitched and as he sat hugging his knees, he couldn’t keep his entire body from shaking.
He’d lived a completely normal life up until this point. He had never experienced so much fear, so much despair.
He didn’t want to think anymore. He didn’t want to remember anymore. He wanted to draw back inside his shell and forget everything.
The glimmer of the blade, the arm flying off, the scream, sinking in a sea of blood, that silver hair…
“…”
The less Subaru wanted to think about it, the more clearly his memories came back to him. Overcome by anguish, Subaru raised his face up to scream, but just as he was about to let everything out…
“Huh…?”
The voice that had risen up inside Subaru dribbled out full of doubt, and he just stared, dumbfounded.
In Subaru’s range of vision, with his eyes open wide, he could see a tall figure with skin like a reptile…a beast-like humanoid that was only as tall as his waist…a young dancer with pink hair…a swordsman with six swords at his waist…
…and a young girl in a white robe with silver hair that swayed as she walked.
Those violet eyes of hers took one glance at Subaru as she walked by, but she looked away as though uninterested and walked on.
Those amethyst eyes, full of determination, just looked straight forward as she stared down the road.
In that gallant stance, that delicate beauty, in that girl that Subaru had been searching for, there was no change.
Unable to call out immediately, with rasping breath Subaru struggled to his feet and chased after her. “Wai—! W-wait! Wait up! Please, wait…”
For an instant, the girl reacted to his voice and looked back at Subaru with a cold gaze, as if she was looking at a stranger.
Subaru felt his heart gouged by the chill in her sharp gaze. He had not done what she had asked of him. He had hurt her. He hadn’t apologized yet. There was no way that he could be forgiven, but even so Subaru chased after her.
He didn’t know how she felt. At the very least he had to know what she was thinking.
If he was going to let what he imagined her to be thinking hurt him, he would rather be hurt by the real her, here in this reality where he could feel pain.
“Wait, please! Satella!”
He wasn’t sure of what he wanted to say to her if he could catch her, but when the answer to that question became clear in his mind, Subaru called out Satella’s name as if he had just remembered it.
Finally it seemed as if his voice had reached her, because just as she was starting to get away from him the girl stopped immediately in her tracks.
Subaru weaved through the crowd to catch up to her, and put his hand on her thin shoulder.
“Don’t…ignore me. It’s my fault that I went away and it’s my fault for not listening to you, but I’ve been desperate. After what happened I went to the loot cellar, but I wasn’t able to meet you there and…”
As Subaru grabbed her shoulder, Satella looked at him in surprise.
As she turned around and Subaru opened his mouth, what came out was a sort of self-defense that sounded full of excuses.
What made him realize that was Satella’s clear eyes.
Her stare was emotionless, and as Subaru faced it, he still felt a sense of ease. As far as he could tell, Satella didn’t appear to be wounded. Subaru experienced this as salvation.
“I’m sorry for going on about myself… I’m so glad to see you’re okay.”
The fact that they were able to meet again made Subaru feel simple happiness.
There were so many things they had to talk about, but before all of that Subaru felt as if nothing he had done was in vain. He was finally and profoundly relieved…
“…What do you think you’re doing?”
But as Subaru found this sense of ease, Satella was incredibly angry. Her white cheeks had reddened, as she twisted her body to get Subaru’s hand off her shoulder. After taking a step back and putting some space between her and Subaru, Satella’s eyes were filled with hostility.
After this unexpectedly stern reaction, Subaru unconsciously gulped.
Still, this reaction made sense. From Satella’s perspective, she should be shocked that Subaru would even show his face in front of her. There was no insult too great for her to lob at Subaru and—
“I don’t know who you are, but what the hell are you thinking, calling someone the same name as that Witch of Jealousy?!”
After hearing that reaction, which was beyond anything that he could have imagined, everything that Subaru had built up to brace himself was smashed to pieces.
Faced with those unexpected words, Subaru felt as if time had stopped.
The sound of the crowd disappeared. All that Subaru could hear was the violent beating of his heart, and the rough breathing of the silver-haired girl in front of him, tense and defensive. He felt as if all of the other sounds had disappeared…but that was no illusion.
“…What?”
As Subaru looked around he realized that everyone, everyone all around this crowded shopping district, all the pedestrians on the road were staring at them. Everyone looked shaken, and no one would move a single muscle, stock-still and quiet.
It was as if the conversation between Satella and Subaru had taken control of the entire area.
With her severe stare, Satella was waiting for Subaru’s answer. However, unsure of what he was guilty of, Subaru couldn’t think of how to answer. The reason why Subaru thought Satella would be upset and the real reason she was upset were different.
“I’ll ask you one more time. Why are you calling me by the Witch of Jealousy’s name?”
“What do you mean? That’s what I was told to call you…”
“…I don’t know who told you that, but whoever it was, that’s in incredibly poor taste. Even if you’re not the one who thought of it, it’s bad enough that you agreed. This is the Witch of Jealousy we’re talking about, the embodiment of all things taboo. Most people would hesitate to even utter such a name, and you’re using it to name me?”
With her anger displayed for all to see, Satella…the silver-haired girl threw Subaru into a storm of confusion. Everyone else around seemed to be nodding, agreeing with her, and that, more than anything else, proved that she was right. Subaru had absolutely no idea what was going on. He couldn’t understand what she was saying. Subaru had only just called her by her name.
But Satella had rebuked him, and everyone around agreed that she was in the right.
“If that’s all you wanted to say, then I’ll be on my way. I don’t have time to deal with you.”