The Witch's Child (Re:zero)

Returning to The Mansion

Mamoru: Hey...Are you alright, dad?

Subaru P.O.V

You know, I thought that now that Mamoru started to look more and more like a teenager, that he'd have a bit of a...Rebelious phase? Or atleast something like that.

Well, something did happen....

He started calling me dad recently instead of father....

I see this as an absolute win!

Anyway, I need to focus! Honestly, I don't want to do this, but damn you Otto and Garfiel for daring me to do this! I should have just picked truth instead of dare...

Alright then....Here goes...

Subaru: Mamoru.

Mamoru: Yea-

Subaru: I hate you.

Mamoru's gentle smiled disappeared and what remained was a neutral expression that showed not a single emotion. No joy, no saddness, no anything.

It was actually pretty scary looking at it.

But slowly after a few painful seconds I could see something welling up in Mamoru's eyes.

Subaru: I-I was kidding! It was a dare from Otto and Garfiel! We were playing truth or dare! Please don't cry!

I panicked and tried to solve the situation asap. Him crying is just painful, it's like watching a kicked puppy crying.

He wiped his eyes with his arm and smiled gently.

Mamoru: Oh, a joke! Haha! That was really funny!

I'm maybe not the best person to see whether someone is lying or not. But that happy expression and happy words are obviously fake.

Mamoru: By the way, Garfiel and Otto are in the dining room right now, right?

Subaru:......Yeah?

I quickly realized my mistake and tried to grab Mamoru, but he ran off like he was the flash or something!

Crap! I'm sure he won't kill them, but I have a feeling that there will be plenty of broken bones if I don't hurry!

It took me a little while, but I finally arrived at my destination, quickly opening the door to save Garfiel and Otto from their impending doo-

....Phew...That, actually isn't too bad. Atleast to what it could have been.

While yes, Garfiel was currently on the ground like he had just recieved the hardest haymaker of his life while Otto was on his knees looking down like he was looking for forgiveness.

The most impressive part was the fact that Mamoru managed to do this in the short span of time that it took me to get here.

Considering what he could have done, this end result isn't the wo-

Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck! Where did he get that knife from?!

Quickly rushing over I wrapped my arms around his torso and pulled him away just in case he still attempted to commit a murder.

Well, it's not like he would actually do it. Believe it or not, but these kinds of situations happen around here quite often.

I mean, yeah. Using murder as a joke threat would usually be considered "not on" but if we take into account that this is Mamoru we're talking about here it's the best we can get without an actual crime being commited.

Still, this time it felt a bit too easy. Normally it takes me a bit more effort to stop his "jokes" from occuring, so I have a nasty feeling in my stomach that something might happ-