Re:Zero - No More Secrets

Arc 2 - Chapter 5

Just as Subaru was putting his mental plans in order, a girl lightly opened her eyes and called his name.

Petra: "Suba...ru?"

She looked troubled, so Subaru took her hand.

Subaru: "You're awake, Petra? Okay, good girl, you're a strong girl. We'll be taking you back real soon and making the reason you're suffering go bye-bye, so right now you need to just rest..."

Petra: "There's one in... Still... The forest..."

She was pointing at the forest.

Subaru: "—Hey, what did you say?"

His words did not reach her as she fell unconscious once again. However, her words gave him a bad feeling. Subaru patted the sleeping Petra's forehead and urgently rushed to the other children, looking them over. Then...

Subaru: "Aw, crap... She's right. I don't see the youngest one here."

He recognized all the children here, but the shy, withdrawn girl, was missing.

Subaru: "Damn it all!"

He suddenly started tearing at his hair. Rem and Ram, who had seen the exchange with Petra, widened their eyes, apparently alarmed at Subaru's behavior.

He started to walk out into the forest.

Ram: "Barusu wait. I know you want to help, but if she's been taken away by the Mabeasts there's nothing-"

Subaru: "Then explain to me what I'm supposed to do Ram. You heard it too right? Petra asked me to go get the last one of them before anything else. I'm not going to give up now after we've come this far, I can't."

Someone had died every time he had gone through this series of events. He couldn't just sacrifice someone just because someone said it was "no good".

Subaru: "I want to do what Petra asked. So I'm gonna go."

Ram: "You're way too greedy Barusu. If you try to pick everything you might end up dropping it all on the floor."

Subaru: "You two are here to make sure that doesn't happen. I can't do anything here. I can't use healing magic, and there's no way I can bring the kids back by myself. If so, I should use myself as effectively as I can, right?"

He couldn't stand by and do nothing, if he did that, he couldn't forgive himself.

Subaru: "Ram can you come with me?"

Ram: "You want me to help you?"

Subaru: "Rem needs to conserve her strength to focus on healing and carrying the children. She can come and find us after she hands off the kids to the young men in the village. While doing that, we'll go deeper in and look for the last kid. If it's the worst case we'll come running right back."

While they were discussing their plans on how to save the last kid, Rem decided to speak up.

Rem: "Is it ok relying on me to take care of the kids?"

Subaru: "It's alright Rem, I believe in you. So I wanna act based on that trust. How about we promise here."

Rem: "..."

Subaru: "I keep my promises, and I expect others to keep theirs. So don't worry, be happy."

Rem: "Happy?"

Subaru: "Ya, so let's make a promise Rem. I promise to bring your sister back safe and sound, and afterward you'll cut my hair."

Rem: "Cut your hair?"

Subaru: "Ya, I noticed you were staring at me a lot, that's because my hair was really badly kept right?"

He knew that wasn't the reason she was staring, but she had offered to cut his hair before, so he wanted to keep that promise from a previous loop.