Felt If (Re:Zero)

Chapter 10: Right Before Change

It has been around a month since Subaru first arrived at Reinhard's mansion. He was still jobless and had relied on Reinhard to provide him with some kind of allowance. Sure, Subaru could easily say it was payment for being Felt's designated study buddy but he couldn't really see that as a job. True, it is very difficult to spark any kind of motivation in that girl to actually participate but he thought just being there for her all those times was pretty fun so he had a hard time considering that as a real job.

Speaking of Felt, Subaru couldn't help but feel proud of the progress she's made. Not with the lessons though, she was still very passionate in avoiding them as much as humanly possible. He was more proud of their progress within their relationship. At first, Felt always seemed to be annoyed with Subaru and hit him an uncomfortable amount of times but now, that hasn't happened. Not as much anyways.

Regardless of that, today was a day like any other. Felt had once again found a way to convince Reinhard to postpone their lessons and she was currently in her room. She was standing in front of a table with a drawn map of the entire manor in front of her.

"Then after that, you're gonna distract anyone that comes down here. Assuming you do your job right, that'll give me enough time to slip away so we can regroup in your room."

After Felt had finished explaining her plan, Subaru, who was standing across from her, spoke up. "Wait, what if Rein comes by? I don't think I can hide anything from him."

Felt shrugged. "That sounds like a you problem. I'll be busting my ass here sneaking and breaking in so the least you can do is not screw up."

"Ugh... Did you even ask Grimm if you can have your knife back? I'm pretty sure we don't have to do any of this if you just asked nicely."

"I already know that'll be a waste of time! Besides, it'd ruin the element of surprise and Gramps will be on guard afterwards."

Subaru gave Felt a deadpanned look. "Are you still scared of him? We've been living under the same roof for over a month now. If you are, I could always ask for you."

"Grr! I'm not scared of him, dumbass! Didn't I already tell ya?! I'm not gonna blow my cover and that's final! So are ya with me or against me, big bro?"

Subaru let out a sigh. Felt had stopped trying to escape for a good while and he didn't want to give her a reason to get back into that habit. "Fine, I'll help. But next time, go ask first before you try breaking and entering."

"The plan is to take MY knife and get out. He had no right to take my stuff to begin with!"

Not wanting to waste any more time bickering, Subaru just agreed. "Fine, I get it. I'll distract Grimm."

"Good! I'll get in position. Gimme the signal when the coast is clear."

After giving the girl a thumbs up, she darted out of the room and practically vanished from sight through the hallway. As for Subaru, he went the opposite direction, heading straight towards the room of Grimm and Carol.

There were a few phases to this mission and the first part was to see if the room and the area around it was clear. He noticed Carol was in the kitchen either preparing something or just organizing it so that checked off her whereabouts. As for Grimm, he didn't spot him on the way to the room. Even after arriving at the front door of the room, he looked around the area just to be sure.

After confirming it was clear, Subaru knocked on the door. "Hey!" He called out. "Anyone there? I need your help with something."

...

No response.

He didn't hear any kind of movement either. The boy took a deep breath and braced himself before opening the door. Much to Subaru's relief, no one was inside.