Wish Upon a Sin

Arc 2 - Chapter 5

Subaru awoke groggily, sitting up in his bed. From the brightness outside his window, he had slept in, even more than usual for a recovering shut-in. Would they even still be serving breakfast at this time? If not, he could always pay extra for it.

He wasn't lacking for coin in this loop. The merchant he had sold his cell phone to was a collector of unusual items, and had been willing to shell out quite the sum for it. Subaru had ended up with the equivalent of twenty two holy gold from the trade, a little higher than Old Man Rom had estimated back in Subaru's first loops.

More than enough to live comfortably for the next two months, though he'd need to find another source of income if he wanted to survive beyond that. Not that it's an issue now. If I don't dedicate myself to finding a solution, then no one will survive beyond two months.

Awake! Rested?

Luna interrupted his pondering, spiralling down from the ceiling to send her morning greetings.

"Good morning." Subaru said, stretching and getting out of bed. He still felt nauseous, but Luna's presence helped him remain calm. I'm not alone. I have friends who are counting on me.

A flicker of movement caught his eye, and he looked over to the window, where a red speck of light was hovering, taking in the sunlight.

"A fire spirit? Wait, you're Luna's friend!" He recognised the feeling it gave, after all, from his perspective, he had just met it yesterday.

The fire spirit turned its attention to him and after a short pause, it bobbed affirmatively.

"Why are you here? Did you come to say hello to Luna? Or did she drag you here?"

She hadn't brought a fire spirit to see him the first time they contracted, but then, she hadn't seen him at his lowest point like she had this time. Friend! Help! Luna swooped forward to answer him. The fire spirit huffed a bit, but didn't deny her.

Subaru paused, a little taken aback by the intensity of her feelings. "Help? You brought your friend to help me? Well, I'm happy you're thinking of me, but you don't have to—"

Danger. Luna stated calmly. Help.

Subaru didn't really have anything to say to that. It was true, the danger he currently faced was the worst he had ever come across since coming to this world. And I can't deny that having a fire spirit would be really useful. Fire and ice magic are really good for battle. But...

"Are you sure though?" He turned to the fire spirit. "Are you okay with forming a contract with me?"

The spirit continued watching him. The last time Luna had introduced it to him, it had refused outright, but now it felt like it was looking at him differently.

Eventually, it made up its mind.

Test.

It flew closer, and Subaru felt a warmth seep into him, as a temporary contract snapped into place.

"Wait, what? It's that simple?" Last time, didn't it take ages for Luna to convince it to make a contract with me? And what did it mean by test?

He tried to piece together the meaning of the impression the spirit had sent. It was harder, since he didn't share a permanent contract with it, and he hadn't spent much time getting used to it.

"You want to test me, to see if you want to make a more permanent contract?"

The fire spirit bobbed.

"Okay, cool. Erm, I don't suppose you could tell me what's on the test? I'm not really sure what I should be going for."

Reassurance. Easy. Luna projected, flying over to the fire spirit. They began circling each other, exchanging a flurry of images too fast for Subaru to make out.