Wish Upon a Sin

Arc 2 - Chapter 2

Subaru lay dying in his bed, the light fading from the world. His arms no longer responded to his will, and even if he could get up, his legs would not support him. The little amount of light peeking through the blinds was starting to dim, as blackness covered his vision.

The door opened. Out of the corner of his eye, Subaru saw a green cloak step into the room.

"Ah, Otto. I'm glad you're here, at the end."

"Subaru, what are you doing?" Contrary to the somber mood of the room, Otto's tone was more annoyed than anything else. At least he had finally stopped calling him 'Mister Natsuki'. Such an address didn't feel right between friends.

Subaru felt a smile touch his face. "I have some last wishes. I'll entrust the mayonnaise and tartar sauce recipes to you."

"The tartar sauce recipe? You gave that to me a few days ago, don't you remember? And why is this room so dark?" He crossed over to the window, and threw open the blinds.

"Agh! Otto, how could you be so cruel!? Can you not spare a dying man some discomfort?"

"'Dying man'?" Otto sighed. "I know you hate meetings, but do you have to throw such a tantrum?"

"They suck the life out of me!" He protested, but then sank back into this sheets. "But I'm dying for completely unrelated reasons."

"Well, the meeting has been canceled. Get up, we have something to discuss."

Subaru sat upright. "You should have led with that. I suddenly feel much better!"

"Sometimes I can't believe I agreed to work with you. Should you really be joking about things like dying?"

Should I indeed?

Subaru above all others knew the pain of death, and the terror of knowing your existence in the world would soon end, but...

"All that is behind me now! I'm long past such dangerous things, and if I can't joke about it, then I'll just be stuck moping about it forever!" Though to be fair, it had only been a little under two months since his last death. Perhaps he shouldn't feel as comfortable with it yet.

He shrugged. It was probably because everything was going so well now. His first few loops had given him a distorted view of what life in this world was really like. Satisfied, he threw an arm over Otto's shoulder, and led the way to the office.

"Behind you?" Otto asked, confusion furrowing his brow. "Hang on, what's behind you? I feel like you skipped a few parts of your explanation!"

————

Their 'office' was just another room in the building Subaru was staying in. Otto had moved in to a third, so between them and Gertha, they took up an entire hallway. It was handy for when Subaru wanted to bother his business partner, but less handy when Otto did the same to him.

As they entered, Luna faded into existence, hovering over Otto's desk.

Greeting! Playful!

Subaru smiled, and greeted her in turn. She had gotten a bit better at transmitting her thoughts to him, possibly as a result of the contract.

"So tell me," he asked, sitting at the desk, "why did you cancel that super important meeting, that I was supposed to attend?"

Otto crossed his arms and sat down in his seat opposite Subaru. "Those meetings are important. We were supposed to meet with the merchant's guild to register the tartar sauce recipe as our property. A second product that sold like mayonnaise would give us the funds to start expanding the Taurus company into other areas."