With the sudden disappearance of Rem, the group's morale had taken another dip.
How had Subaru just died? No one knew. He simply had not woken up. Nothing suspicious had been seen during the day, and there was no reason for anyone in the mansion to kill him.
"Gaaah! Attacking him in the middle of the night!" Garf slammed his fist against the armrest. "That's a coward's move!"
Beatrice crossed her arms, "Don't jump to a conclusion yet, I suppose. We may be missing something."
"What was there to miss? It was a completely average day," Garf answered back.
Garf's position was the logical one. After a day of doing nothing but the mansion's tasks and going to
"...the village."
"Beatrice, did you figure something out?" Emilia asked.
If the mansion was out of the question, only one place remained.
"If I recall correctly, the curse from back then came from something in the village," Ram added.
It was reasonable for Ram not to remember much from back then. After all, it had been a while. The fact that she did showed her remarkable memory.
"Then let's just think about everything that Subaru did in the village." Otto, who had been out of the conversation for the most part, joined in. "Let's see, he went with Rem and"
"It's the dog, I suppose."
"You already had it figured out, Beatrice!?" Otto said. He had thought he would finally be useful, only for his chance to be crushed by the great spirit.
The village dog who had bitten Subaru during his time with the kids. Having bitten Subaru was not the only reason why Beatrice was suspicious of it.
"The village was also surrounded by Mabeasts. It's only logical to arrive at that conclusion, I suppose."
In that loop, things did not go much different from the previous one. He rejoined the staff and went to the village again, where
"Natsuki-kun got bitten again," Otto said.
Subaru returned to the mansion. Similarly to the previous loop, nothing seemed off. He simply went to bed again. The screen went black as his eyes closed.
"Oh, Subaru is awake. He doesn't look very good," Petra said, foolishly believing Subaru would be fine that night. Her voice trembled.
Subaru wandered through the halls of the mansion, barely able to keep himself standing.
"Looks like he wants to ask for hel- WAAA!" The moment Emilia voiced her thought, something hit Subaru, sending him flying ahead. Subaru looked up. His leg had been separated from the rest of his body. He screamed for help. Nobody was there to answer.
Emilia looked at the screen, terrified. "How could this be? Subaru, the dog, who is trying to kill him now?"
Frederica covered Petra's eyes. This time, the little girl did not even try to look. She just hugged her and grabbed onto her maid uniform. Trembling and scared, Petra Leyte could not continue to watch the screen.
"Inside of the mansion," Roswaal said, reflecting on something. A murder had taken place inside his mansion. Wanting it or not, this affected him too. The only thing that came to mind was
"Ram, do you believe there is a chance that you or Rem"
"...killed Subaru?"
Was there any other option? Roswaal had considered all the possibilities, but there was no other way he could think of anyone killing Subaru inside of the mansion.
"Roswaal, don't say something like that," Emilia said. Still shaken, she turned down Roswaal's theory immediately. "Rem and Ram would never do something like that to Subaru."
Upon Emilia's firm rejection, Roswaal simply shrugged and kept watching the video. Nonetheless, Ram next to him did not accept Emilia's words just yet. It was not impossible at all. Seeing the circumstances of the loop, it felt like a very real possibility
Seeing her face, Emilia told her servant, "Ram, stop it."
A second strike smashed Subaru's body, killing him definitively. The murderer's face, however, was still out of the picture.
The screen went black, confirming Subaru's fifth recorded death-
---
"Subaru!" the girl called for him.
In the small theater room, only the two of them were present, yet
"...Subaru-kun?"
He seemed oblivious to the girl's words. His gaze stayed fixated on the screen. It was playing the start of his second loop, just after he was killed by the dog's curse.
"Subaru, can you hear me?"
The girl took a few steps ahead, reducing the distance between them to a few centimeters. She moved her hand and gently tried to caress the boy's hair. Sadly
Her hand went through him.
The girl's presence was equal to nothing. He could feel neither her voice nor her touch. It was as if she did not exist in his world.
Resigned, she sat down next to him and started watching the current loop as well.
All of the loop went similarly to the previous one. Natsuki Subaru went to bed, looking unharmed. Only one thing changed.
"Oh, I remember this. I don't know if I want to see it again," Subaru said.
"Subaru-kun!?"
Nothing. He could not hear her.
Annoyed, she asked herself, "What is this? Does this have something to do with my sin, the one that girl mentioned before?"
That was when Subaru woke up, looking sick. He stumbled through the mansion's hall.
"Subaru is asking for help. Why was I not helping him?"
In that very moment, something hit Subaru. A very ill looking Subaru was thrown to the ground. Not only that
"His leg!"
It was gone.
That was when Subaru said something, something that changed her face, something that only he knew in that moment.
"That really hurt a lot... Rem."
For an instant, a faint sound was heard. A chain.
"Chains. The killer of Subaru..."
The realization hit her.
"...me?"
She looked at Subaru. His face was composed. But on the other hand, hers
"I killed Subaru? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. There is no way. Why would I ever do something like that? He he is my hero."
She fell to her knees, one hand covering her mouth.
How could she ever face him anymore?
Why did Subaru forgive her?
Why, why, why?
Why did she kill her hero?
---
For the third time, Subaru was awakened next to the two maids, Rem and Ram, in his room.
Garf and Otto appeared to have lost all energy. They simply watched the screen without saying anything. Petra still did not let go of Frederica. Ram and Roswaal at the back tried to appear as if the situation did not affect them at all. The truth was, it did not affect Roswaal, but Ram was starting to look a bit distressed. Beatrice sat, pondering something.
Lastly, Emilia. To say with certainty what was going on inside her head was rather optimistic. Dark circles were starting to show under her amethyst eyes. Her hand kept trembling, and her breathing was accelerated. Trying to calm herself, she grabbed Puck's relic, but it was no use. Not even Puck could help in a situation like that.
"Everyone, I'm sad to announce that Ram has vanished," Roswaal said.
"What!?" Garf suddenly came to his senses again. "How can you be so relaxed about it!? Are you insane!?"
Everyone got up from their seats in order to
"Don't bother. It's clear that searching around in this room won't get us anywhere. Sit down. She will come back with her sister eventually."
"I can't deal with this guy!" Garf continued.
It was only thanks to the help of his friend Otto that his anger managed to slowly vanish.
"I can't understand the pattern, I suppose. Why did Rem disappear and then Ram? There has to be a meaning to all of this. I just can't wrap my head around it."
The number of people had already been reduced from ten to seven, with no signs of stopping or anyone coming back.
"Also, I believe that you should all know that I can't recall the events currently happening in that thing Subaru called a screen. You should all know what I mean by this point."
Of course, they all knew.
The cycle of death of Natsuki Subaru would not be coming to an end once again. For the third time, something would end his life before he could do anything about it.
Truly, it was admirable. He could endure death after death and keep going. All of the people present in that room thought that. For them, it was already hard to watch him die. They simply could not imagine what it felt like to die over and over. Would they have given up? That was not the most likely scenario. They would have undoubtedly gone insane after one death.
The negative aspect of RBD was not the pain of dying. It was the mental toll it had on your head.
During this loop, Subaru did not ask to be a servant anymore. He asked to be a guest. After all, Roswaal had allowed him that.
He also had the conversation with Ram about the blue and red demons. For reasons unknown to him, Ram advised him not to tell Rem that story.
On the day of his death, Subaru decided to leave the mansion this time.
"Huh? Did he give up?" Roswaal said. Even he was confused by Subaru's attitude in this loop.
"Subaru isn't like that. He wouldn't simply give up," Emilia said. "I'm sure he has some sort of plan in mind."
Subaru packed his things and headed off, leaving the mansion behind. Contrary to what Roswaal thought, he was not going to give up.
His new plan was simple. Keep watch from the outside. To be more exact, he went to the mountain that was next to the mansion.
From there, he had a clear view. If anything were to happen, he would go help. That way, he would not just get killed.
It looked like a good plan at first glance.
While Subaru sat down and relaxed, he felt a presence in the forest. Seconds after, a mace smashed the rock next to him.
In the last row, Roswaal sighed, fully aware of who the killer was now.