Wish Upon a Sin

Arc 1 - Chapter 2

Subaru groaned, and rubbed his eyes. He always seemed to be doing that when he looped. As respawn animations go, I suppose it could be worse. If I caused a flashy light-show every time I Returned by Death, I would probably attract too much attention.

Something felt wrong. His eyes weren't seeing clearly yet, and he couldn't feel his weight on his feet. In fact, he seemed to be lying down, on soft cloth.

"Aw man!" He bolted upright. "Did I faint again? I'm so sorry..."

He paused, when he realised no one else was in the room with him. It was a fancy place, the walls decorated with patterns, and large windows were set into one of the walls.

"Wow. Am I in a fantasy world mansion? That means I didn't die!"

He checked his stomach, and couldn't even find a trace of a scar. "Which means she must have saved me. Emilia saved me."

Then he noticed that he was decidedly not wearing his tracksuit. Which meant someone changed him out of it. A seed of horror grew in him. "It was Puck." He decided. Definitely Puck. He wouldn't even question his hosts.

"So who's mansion is this. It would either be Emilia or Reinhard. I'll put my hopes on the former."

He got out of bed, testing his limbs by swinging them and doing some light stretches. Everything feels fine. Healing magic is amazing!

"Now, I could stay put for the next few hours, and greet my hosts later in the morning." He said, looking out at the pre-dawn light. "Or..."

He threw open the door. "I could explore!"

Various expensive looking paintings and vases lined the hallway walls. Subaru didn't touch them. Knowing his luck, they'd crack and force him to take on massive debts, which would see him working as a debt slave to Emilia, doing whatever she asked of him...

He reconsidered touching, just a little bit.

"That painting looks familiar." It looked remarkably similar to the one outside his room. In fact, it looked identical.

"So either this mansion's owner is stingy on getting unique paintings to hang up, or this is one of those looping hallways. The way it usually goes, the exit is through the room you came from!"

He opened the door, and rather than his bedroom, saw a grand library on the other side.

"How aggravating, I suppose."

"First NPC found! The ghost of the mansion, who plays tricks on poor, defenceless humans! Well, how did I do?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, in fact."

"Don't be like that! Such a cold attitude will make people flee from... this place. Where are we anyway?"

"This is Betty's forbidden library, I suppose." She slapped her book closed, and got up from her stool.

"Forbidden huh. Wait, does that mean I'm trespassing?"

The girl approached him, and placed a hand on his stomach. "Too late to worry about that, I suppose."

Subaru looked down at the girl apprehensively. "This won't hurt, will it?"

His answer was a jolt of fire running through his veins, the feeling that something was wrong inside him. He collapsed onto the floor, his mind growing dimmer.

"If I die now to a library ghost, I'm going to be very upset." He ground out.

"You're talking nonsense, in fact. Betty was more gentle than she needed to be with such a rude boy, and can now say that you are no threat to the mansion, I suppose."