START OF ARC 2
The first obstacle had been cleared by Natsuki Subaru. Now, he would get to see the light of tomorrow. It had been hard; he had almost given up, but he decided not to. Natsuki Subaru continued to march ahead.
The screen slowly regained color, and two new voices made their appearance. Those were...
"Rem & Ram…" Emilia looked at Rem, but Rem…
"You're kidding…" she mumbled.
Rem looked terrified. Her face lost color, and her hands trembled. "…Not again…"
Behind her, the other oni sister seemed shaken as well. What could have possibly shaken her that much? That was when it hit Emilia.
"Rem… could it be that you don't recognize this…?" Not only Emilia, but Beatrice joined her too. Both of them stared deep into Rem's eyes, to which she answered.
"…I don't… I'm sorry."
The room fell into silence again. The fact that none of those present recognized what was happening on the screen could only mean one thing.
"Subaru is going to die again…" Emilia's voice trembled.
That was the only logical conclusion. Subaru would once again die and have to redo everything.
But how? What could have possibly killed Subaru during his first days at the mansion?
"The curse," said Beatrice. "Subaru kept asking me questions about curses."
"But… we beat it, didn't we?" whispered Rem.
"It appears it wasn't as easy as it seemed." concluded Roswaal.
In the timeline shown, Subaru asked for a job at the mansion and joined the twin maids, Rem and Ram.
Though his skills with kitchen utensils were laughable and he got quite a few cuts, he continued to do his best.
He went to the village to pick up some supplies for the mansion and met the villagers. While there, he also met a cute little puppy, which bit his hand.
After that, back at the mansion, he asked Emilia to go on a date with him.
The day ended with no signs of death any time soon. Subaru went to bed, and the screen went black.
"Nothing happened." said Rem.
"It's weird. I can't remember anything, but it seems like he didn't die." said Emilia. "That's good, right?"
No one answered.
He hadn't died, but if no one remembered that…
The light of day once again reached Natsuki Subaru, who awakened next to the two maids.
Next to the two maids.
"Nee-sama, our guest appears to be a bit confused," said the blue-haired maid.
Subaru was indeed confused, and a bit shy. What were they both doing in his bedroom?
More importantly, why were they calling him a guest?
"What are yo— hk!" Subaru looked down at his hands. His—
"The wounds… are gone."
Subaru's hands were smooth and unharmed, but that was impossible.
"He died during the night, I suppose."
The girl spirit affirmed with certainty. "Rem, could you think of anyth—" Beatrice halted her sentence midway.
"Rem!" Ram shouted.
"What in the…" said Beatrice.
"What's with all the ruckus now!" Garf, who was ironically the loudest one in the room, turned his head, annoyed.
"Rem… she disappeared too," his sister responded.
---
Dark.
Cold.
Lonely.
Shallow.
"What is this place…?"
Amidst the dark void, a lone voice spoke while moving carefully.
Every step took her closer to nothing. No matter where she looked, that place was empty.
"Hello! Everyone! Can anyone hear me!"
No response, only her echo could be heard.
Seconds passed, or minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades.
She could not tell.
Her desperation to get out of there bloomed into acceptance. Maybe this was how it all ended.
She had tried using Synesthesia to find her twin sister, but it was useless.
Had all of them ended up in the same situation as her? If that were the case, she had to hurry, or—
"It's no use…"
Her will would soon—
YOU HAVE SINNED
"Huh…?"
A lady's voice reached her ears.
YOU HAVE SINNED
Again.
"What? How have I sinned? What do you mean?"
YOU SHALL SEE YOUR SINS
Her world spun. She fell onto her back. Her body did not listen to her.
And thus, the darkness consumed her.
---
"Rem!! Where are you!?" Her sister screamed, unable to get a response from her beloved twin.
The same way they had done when Subaru vanished, they did with Rem.
The same result was obtained. None. No signs of any exit, and no one had seen her stand up from her seat. It was exactly the same situation, as if she had never been there to begin with.
"Now what do we do? Are you sure you can't see where she is, Ram-san?" asked Otto.
"I have already answered that. I wouldn't be so stressed if I knew!" Ram continued running from one place to another. The connection with her twin had been severed, and she could not sense her location. The only thing she knew—
"She's alive. I can feel that. But what if she's in danger? We need to—"
"Ram," Roswaal interrupted her. "If you can feel your sister is alive, you shan't worry that much. Rem is a strong girl. She wouldn't go down easily."
"I know, I know, but she can still be impulsive and—"
"Also, I believe whoever is behind this doesn't have an objective such as hurting us physically. If they wanted to, they probably would have already. I believe that both Natsuki Subaru and Rem are safe."
The objective of the one behind it all was what Roswaal alluded to in order to calm Ram. His words were optimistic, maybe overly so.
Ram bit her lip. She didn't know what to do. Stressing now would help nobody. She was aware of that. A drop of blood from her lip fell to the ground.
Without uttering another word, she walked to the third row again and sat where she had been the whole time.
---
The darkness had faded, but the coldness and loneliness remained.
She rubbed her eyes and looked around. It was a theater, identical to where she had been, except nobody was there.
Nobody except…
"Subaru!"