Re: Life In The Original World From Zero [A Re:Zero Fiction]

Chapter 77: Modern Day Life Graduation Trip Part Eleven

A/N: How was the last chapter? I tried to let Subaru suffer lol Anyways here chapter 77! Please enjoy!!!

Subaru lay there, trying to let all sort of will to live leave his body, hoping that he could just disappear into nothingness and escape that horrible feeling of despair eating him from the inside. He didn't know how long he stayed there, but after what seemed to be an eternity, or perhaps just a blink of an eye, he found his eyes focusing on something for the first time after this field of endless green materialized around him. It was a face of the woman he just saw, a small smile spreading across her face with perfectly proportioned features.

Subaru stared into the pair of eyes looking back at him, and he sat back up, turning toward her. "Am I finally dead?" He blurted out. "An interesting question, it is." She answered, reaching out a hand to him. Her voice was soft and pleasant, but it gave Subaru an odd feeling in the gut. "Have I seen this lady before...? And why for some reasons does it feels like I'd get sucked right into hell if I look her in the eye for too long...?" He thought, hesitation to take the outreached hand shown on his face. "Not to worry, you will not be harmed in any way here." She said, beaming. Subaru's eyes moved momentarily to the black butterfly hair accessory on her hair. Somehow, seeing that made him think, however odd the situation might be, it might be alright to take the woman's word for now, perhaps it was because of the fact that he was reminded of Beatrice by the butterfly accessory.

Finally, Subaru took her hand and stood up. "Okay, I've already gone through hell several times, how bad could it be if this really is a trap?" He said, his tone defiant, though not exactly toward the lady who was chuckling now. She gestured him to follow her, and the two paced toward the small but delicate table under the parasol. She motioned him to sit down as she did herself, and Subaru obeyed without protest. As he sat down, the table that was empty when he first saw it was now ladened with a tea pot, two tea cups, and two sets of plates full of cookies and muffins. "Have a taste, please." She said kindly, and once again, without hesitation and obediently, Subaru drank the tea in one gulp, threw two pieces of cookies in his mouth, and stuffed his half full mouth with a muffin, and with his cheeks puffing out like a chipmunk, he folded his arms and looked toward the lady. As she observe the whole process soundlessly, the expression on her face became more and more amused.

"Alright, what's in the food and drink? Some sort of poison? Or drug? LSD? Veritaserum maybe?" He said with a small frown, and a small laughter escaped the lips of the woman sitting in front of him. She giggled as Subaru watched. She was a really beautiful woman, but once again, the scene made his stomach squirm in a weird way, an ominous feeling. After a while, the giggle ceased, and she looked back at him with the same enchanting smile. "My apologies, Natsuki Subaru-kun. It is just that no matter what universes you are from, you seem to always react the same way to my offer." She said, wiping the tears away from her eyes. That caught Subaru off guard.

"Ha...?" He responded after a while. "Universes? What are you talking about? What is this place? Am I in hell? Who are you?" All of these questioned blurted out as his mind started to go into a state of confusion again, and the woman spoke. "Boku no namae wa Echidna." She said, putting the tips of her fingers together and looking straight into Subaru's eyes almost as if she was looking into his soul, or perhaps, what she was looking at now really was Subaru's soul itself?

Hearing that, Subaru felt yet another strange feeling, but this was different from the odd feelings about the woman he felt earlier. This was something that was happening within his mind. His eyes widening slightly, he felt as if a fishing hook was thrown into the vast ocean that was his mind, and as the hook was reeled back, something foggy surfaced from the deepest part of the ocean. And then the foggy substance shone brightly and expanded itself, and memories that felt like they were not his flooded into his mind. Subaru's mouth and eyes opened wider and wider with every piece of the memories flowing out from the foggy substance and working as puzzle pieces and fitting themselves into empty parts of his memory bank, and finally, when the last piece placed itself into the last vacant spot, everything clicked.