Chapter Text
“Subaru? Wh-what… what are you doing here?” Emilia asked, bewildred, quickly stepping back.
Subaru slowly walked in, entered the house, and closed the door behind him. He was trembling slightly, yet the determination in his eyes made him stand firm in front of Emilia.
“We need to talk, Emilia,” he said, approaching her. With every step he took, she stepped back.
“Talk? What do we have to talk about? If it’s about what happened this morning, I’m sorry for running away so suddenly, Subaru. And if it’s about Rem, I can let it go, only if-”
That annoying behavior again.
So fake.
So evasive.
So… acted?
“Shut up…”
“W-what…?” she asked, not having heard him properly. “Subar-”
“SHUT THE FUCK UP!”
He never thought he could shout like that, express himself in such an aggressive way, nor punch the wall with such contained rage, making Emilia recoil in fear.
“Let’s be clear for once. Since when?” he demanded, clenching his fists. There was no turning back now; tonight he would put an end to everything. "Since when… have you been pretending to be someone you’re not?”
Emilia almost jumped in panic. Her whole body began to tremble as she denied the reality unfolding before her.
No, no, no, no, no, no, NO! This can’t be happening… this can’t…
Subaru laughed bitterly, his smile widening more and more, though inside he was a prisoner of anguish.
“Hahaha… haha… seriously… did you really think I wouldn’t notice? All those inconsistencies, the way you got nervous during exams, your exaggerated naivety, your jealousy, that stupid way of loving, believing that babies come from kisses… it all makes sense now. You weren’t having personal problems or anything like that. They were nothing but lies, weren’t they? Tell me if I’m wrong, tell me!”
“I…"
She tried to speak, but her voice wouldn’t obey her.
“You were always late. You forgot the promise we made, and you don’t know how much it hurt me to struggle to arrive early to class and feel like you didn’t even care. But what I can forgive the least is that you spilled Rem’s food, the one she worked so hard to make for you and me. Tell me something…”
Subaru’s eyes sharpened, almost with hatred.
“…Were you the one who attacked her?”
“I… I didn’t…”
The cold.
The magic.
The frozen wardrobe, and Puck’s strange behavior.
Everything was too precise to be a coincidence. He tried to search for a logical answer, but he never reached anything. He couldn’t suspect something that wasn’t coherent, and that’s why at first he avoided the reality. Knowing it would be an impossible fact.
However, the answer was always that. He didn’t have to think rationally, didn’t have to act sensibly, nor keep dodging a truth that lacked coherence.
He simply had to… what? Think as if he were inside a horror and suspense movie? As if his life were a video game or anime?
Emilia didn’t answer him. That was answer enough.
The thing in front of him wasn’t a person. It wasn’t Emilia. It was… just a mistake that believed it could love without having the right to do so.
At least not with him.
“Where is Emilia?”
“She… I…”
“That’s enough evading me! WHERE IS MY EMILIA?!” he demanded, his voice more threatening than ever. “Does your wardrobe have something to do with it? I saw Puck trying to get in, and you insisted on keeping me away from it!”
She stood there trembling, not knowing what to answer. In her head, she still couldn’t process the fact that Subaru knew the truth. And him yelling at her like that as if she were the villain, as if she weren’t Emilia too, it shattered her.
“Fine. If you’re not going to say anything, I’ll go myself.”
Her eyes widened in desperation.
The door… I left it open.
Subaru moved forward, trying to go upstairs, but was immediately stopped by a grip on his arm.
“Please, don’t go!” Emilia cried, begging to preserve what little remained of her facade.
“So it’s true…” Subaru muttered, reading her perfectly. He shook off her grip roughly and glared at her with anger. Standing firmer than ever, he said:
“Move.”
“I… I can’t let you.”
“Then what? Are you going to kill me?”
Subaru opened his arms, waiting for her to attack him, just as she had done with Rem.
“No, Subaru, I could never hurt you!” Emilia exclaimed, clasping her hands together. “But if you go upstairs… there will be… there will be no way to go back…”
The boy stepped forward until he was beside her and whispered briefly but piercingly:
“You decided that the day you chose to replace an innocent person, using the face of the woman I love most in this world. Are you even the Emilia you claim to be?”
He began climbing the stairs.
“Don’t make me laugh.”
And he left her there. Paralyzed, Emilia could only collapse to the floor as tears streamed down her cheeks.
She would lose him again… or perhaps she already had. There was no turning back. It was all over.
Suddenly, the air began to drop in temperature. Soft murmurs escaped her lips, refusing to discard that second chance.
“Subaru… Subaru… he’s mine…”
Subaru climbed the stairs as fast as if he were being chased by a horde of killer rabbits. He ran through the long corridors of the estate—Emilia’s house was quite large—and for the first time, he cursed it for that.
He stopped abruptly when he reached the door to Emilia’s bedroom and pushed it open forcefully.
“Emilia?”
The wardrobe door was open. Before, it had seemed impossible to open, and the cold he had felt that time was even stronger now.
“Emilia-tan?”
He called again, this time using his characteristic nickname as he slowly stepped toward his destination.
He wanted to run, but intrusive thoughts of entering and finding her… hurt, broken, but above all, dead, forced him to advance slowly.
“...Subaru?”
The boy’s world came to a complete halt. Could this be real?
He hurried forward until he reached the wardrobe and finally peeked inside.
Emilia was on the floor inside a kind of ice cage with the front part broken. She looked at him with hope, as if he were the hero of a fairy tale who had finally found the princess in her captivity.
She gasped, unable to believe it, rekindling the flame of hope.
He began to tremble as he approached, thick tears running down his face. Happy to see her again, but shattered at the deplorable state she was in.
“Emilia-tan… is it really you?”
he asked with a broken voice, as if a million wires were tied around his throat.
“Subaru… it’s me! Emilia, your Emilia!”
He knelt down and hugged her as if his life depended on it. Emilia returned the embrace and began to cry joyfully against his neck.
“Emilia-tan… it’s really… really you!”
His arms tightened around her, and suddenly the world around them faded away. Only she mattered now.
“I… forgive me!” he claimed in pain. “This happened to you because of me! If I hadn’t been your boyfriend, none of this would have happened!”
He remembered all the evidence from the beginning—how he always believed he knew Emilia better than anyone—, and yet he couldn’t notice that someone had replaced her identity despite all the obvious signs her impostor had left behind of not being who everyone thought she was.
“…I couldn’t recognize you. I couldn’t notice something was wrong until it was too late. If only I had been better, if only I weren’t so pathetic, I…”
Emilia’s hand silenced him. Ignoring all the pain she felt, she smiled at him with love.
“It’s okay, Subaru. I’m very happy you came for me. Please don’t blame yourself, you’re not at fault for anything.”
He didn’t deserve her. He definitely didn’t deserve her.
“I… I’m going to get you out of here. I promise, I’ll fix all of this.”
He tried to help her stand, but Emilia immediately collapsed with a groan of pain.
“Emilia-tan?!”
“Subaru… I… I can’t feel my legs… I’m sorry…” she apologized, her eyes filled with guilt.
He looked at her legs. They were rigid and tinted a bluish-purple color.
“She… what did she do to you?” he asked, worried.
“Subaru… she isn’t just anyone. She is me.”
The boy was confused by his girlfriend's words. What she was saying made no sense.
“What? How can you say that after what she did to you? That woman can’t be you!”
Emilia swallowed and answered as briefly as possible.
“I know it sounds very complicated, but she comes from another world. She hasn’t taken my form or anything like that, she really is me, from another world.”
Subaru’s face twisted in shock at the revelation. Is the multiverse real?
He wanted to argue back, but after everything that had happened over the past week, nothing seemed impossible anymore. His attention returned to Emilia when she placed her hand on his cheek.
“She’s suffering, Subaru. She lost the you from her world and is trying to replace him with you. Please, help her. Only you can do it.”
“How can you say that? Don’t you know what she’s done while pretending to be you? She attacked Rem!”
Emilia was startled by that revelation.
“And even so, you still want to…”
Finally, even though he still couldn’t quite believe it, he smiled, with a faint mix of sadness and hope.
“… you still want to help her. You really are the true Emilia.”
Because Emilia truly was an angel.
He picked her up in his arms, as gently as possible.
“But my priority is getting you out of here and keeping you safe. Everything else can wait.”
He still struggled to believe that the other Emilia really was who she claimed to be. He thought she might be a parasite, a shapeshifting alien, anything other than a variant of Emilia! Even so, and even if she hadn’t technically lied, she wasn’t his Emilia. There was only one Emilia, and she was the one in his arms.
Replace another Subaru after what she did to my girlfriend and Rem? No way!
She would pay for it, one way or another.
“Tell me if something hurts.”
Subaru began walking carefully, making sure not to cause pain to the fragile Emilia in his arms. He left that prison disguised as a wardrobe and headed down the corridors toward the exit.
But before leaving, Subaru grabbed something from the desk and slipped it into his pocket without Emilia noticing.
“What’s wrong? Am I too heavy?”
“No, no, don’t worry, it was nothing. Are you okay? Does anything hurt?”
“Relax, Subaru. You couldn’t be doing better,” she told him, snuggled against his chest.
I have to get out of here fast and take Emilia to the hospital before the other one tries anything. Damn it, couldn’t my life just be a normal romantic comedy?
His path was intercepted by an intense cold coming from the end of the hallway. Slowly, the walls began to freeze halfway down the corridor.
From the stairs, the figure of the other Emilia slowly emerged, still dressed in her school uniform. Her icy gaze made it clear how determined she was to keep the boy with her. But now he noticed something he hadn’t seen so clearly before, those elf ears protruding from her hair.
“…damn it.”
An ice knife formed in her hand as she stood before the pair. She pointed it at her counterpart.
“Subaru~,” she called in a strangely cheerful tone. “You can put my double down on the floor. I promise I’ll take care of her quickly, and we can go back to our normal life.”
This is bad, really bad. What am I supposed to do against a probably super-powerful elf girl? I’m a weak!
“Come on, Subaru~. If you obey me, I promise I’ll officially name you my knight. Wasn’t that what you wanted?”
What the hell is she talking about? She doesn’t seem aware of reality. She can’t even tell the difference between me and the other Subaru.
The boy thought to himself that he had to do something before she ended up truly believing she was the Emilia of this world.
But… can I really do anything? Could I actually deal with something this complicated? I’m just a normal guy against a supernatural being. I couldn’t… do something that incredible.
“Come on, Subaru!” she cried louder, beginning to grow desperate. “Just let me save you from that impostor. I’ll be the one to save you now, just like you saved me when you defeated the White Whale, like when you defeated the Witch Cult and saved me and the village kids from that explosion!”
“Subaru…” the original Emilia looked at him worriedly.
How can I be such an idiot…
Subaru pulled Emilia against his chest and hugged her tighter, which only made the impostor harden her expression further.
How can I be doubting like this right now? When my girlfriend’s life depends on me? I know I’m just a normal guy with no powers, low self-esteem, and a girlfriend, parents, a sister, and friends I don’t deserve, but… I can’t give up at a moment like this!
“It really is hard to believe,” the boy began, looking at the half-elf. “Defeating some Witch Cult, saving kids from an explosion, fighting a whale? Wait a second... what kind final boss is that? Sorry, I think I got off track. What I’m trying to say is, I don’t remember doing any of that, fuck I don’t even know if I’d be capable of something like that. That Subaru really sounds like an amazing guy!”
“No, Subaru! Why are you saying that?! You did those things! You saved me!” the impostor claimed, trembling.
“Stop lying to yourself. Do you think the girl in my arms is fake? You’re lying! She’s the real Emilia. She’s my girlfriend. You’re the invader in a world that doesn’t belong to you!”
“I… I’m not…”
“And you need to understand this clearly: I’m not your Subaru. I don’t know what happened to him, I don’t know what kind of relationship you had or how you got here, but I can’t allow you to threaten my girlfriend’s life over a whim. You might have her same face, her same eyes, her same hair, even an absurdly identical body… but you’re not her. To me, you and her are two completely different people!”
The half-elf’s eyes began to fill with tears. Each word pierced her chest like multiple stab wounds.
“And the same goes for me and the other Subaru. I could never love someone like you, because I already have her,” he finished, cradling the silver-haired girl in his arms.
For that very reason, she shouldn’t love him either. Because she loved another Subaru, a Subaru who wasn’t him. They only shared the same face, not the same experiences. He just hoped she would realize it in time. Otherwise, he would do whatever it took to protect his own Emilia.
“No, no, no… how can you say that to me?! You said you loved me! How can you say you’re not Subaru?!”
An icy blizzard began sweeping through the entire hallway. Some nearby windows shattered, and the ice that had covered half the corridor started extending toward the pair.
“S-Subaru, what are we going to do?” Emilia asked fearfully from his arms.
“Relax. I’ll handle it,” he replied immediately. Then he looked at her analytically, thinking quickly of a solution. “She said she would never hurt me, right…?”
He had an idea. He just hoped it would work without him having to give his life in exchange.
“Let go of that faker right now!” the half-elf cried, pointing her ice knife at them, numerous icicles forming around her.
Subaru slowly knelt down and gently set his girlfriend on the floor. She looked at him in alarm.
“Stay here. I promise everything will be fine. And after this, we can go on another date, okay?” Subaru murmured, acting brave, but completely sincere.
“Please, come back unharmed.”
“Unharmed? Who even says that in this day and age?”
He laughed. She did too.
He stood up and began walking toward the half-elf.
“Alright, Emilia-tan,” he said with excessive dramatism. “I’ll stay with you, but leave her alone. Okay?”
“What? Why, do you actually care about her?!”
“I-It’s not that. But you shouldn’t stain your hands with blood. Should a heroine, a beautiful elf from a fantasy world, really commit an act like that?”
He walked slowly toward her, cautiously.
“I don’t care about staining my hands in blood, if it’s for you," she muttered, somewhat unsure, but willing.
He took another step. He was already quite close to her.
“Then let’s go together. Let’s run away, far from here.”
“R-Run away?”
Another step.
“That’s right. Just you and me. You don’t have to worry about the other you.”
He was almost right in front of her now, just one more step…
“But… if she’s alive, she can always replace me. That’s why I have to kill her!”
Another blizzard burst from her body, nearly knocking him to the ground, but he immediately steadied himself. He took the final step, and now they stood face to face.
“You’re not going to change your mind, are you?”
The half-elf shook her head. She wouldn’t back down.
Subaru closed his eyes for a moment, letting out a resigned sigh.
“I didn’t want it to come to this, but I don’t have a choice anymore.”
Suddenly, the impostor felt a slight sting. She looked down and saw a pair of scissors embedded in her abdomen.
“Sorry…”
“Subaru!”
The original Emilia stared in disbelief at what the boy had done. She immediately realized that those scissors were the ones he had taken from her desk before leaving her room.
The wound wasn’t serious. At least not for someone as strong as her, but…
Subaru had hurt her. Subaru had hurt her. Subaru had hurt her. Subaru had hurt her. Subaru had hurt her. Subaru had hurt her. Subaru had hurt her. Subaru had hurt her. Subaru had hurt her. Subaru had hurt her. Subaru had hurt her. Subaru had hurt her. Subaru had hurt her. Subaru had hurt her. Subaru had hurt her. Subaru had hurt her. Subaru had hurt her. Subaru had hurt her. Subaru had hurt her. Subaru had hurt her.
Subaru…? Why…? You would never hurt me! I know it, I know you, my Subaru would never dare do something against me. Unless… YOU!
Her gaze slowly shifted toward her other self.
“This is all your fault…”
She extended her hand and sent one of her icicles flying to kill her once and for all.
“NO!”
Someone stepped into its path and tried to deflect the attack. A catastrophe was avoided, but the damage was already done.
Subaru fell to the ground, wounded, clutching his abdomen as blood poured out from the attack of Emilia herself, the half-elf.
I… would never hurt Subaru!
She remembered her own words. She had promised she would never hurt him. She had broken her own promise. Was she… a bad girl?
Tears streamed endlessly from her eyes as she saw Subaru bleeding on the floor because of her own magic. She had to help him. She needed to help him!
“Suba-”
“Subaru!”
Before she could do anything, another shout drowned hers out.
Her double—the impostor, or what she had believed was one—crawled across the floor to his side. She was crying too, hugging Subaru despite her own injuries.
Was this… true love?
Why was her double the one at his side right now?
Why had she been the one to cause that wound?
Why was the world always so unfair to her?
“But… why do you always save me?”
“Because I love you, Emilia. I just want to be your strength.”
“But I’m a half-elf, with silver hair and amethyst eyes.”
“I know. In my opinion, everyone else is blind.”
“I don’t have experience with people. I don’t have friends. I’m naive and very foolish! And my reason for wanting to rule is very selfish!”
“It doesn’t matter what others say about you, or what you say about yourself. I love you so much, I’d even dare to say I love you madly. If you tell me a thousand things you hate about yourself, then I’ll tell you two thousand more that I love. That’s the special treatment I so badly want to give you.”
“Subaru…”
She looked again at the two of them. Her double was crying on the floor while Subaru smiled at her, trying to stay calm, though the fear in his eyes revealed the panic he felt at that moment; the fear of dying.
You might have her same face, her same eyes, her same hair, even an absurdly identical body… but you’re not her. To me, you and her are two completely different people!
What had she done?
Her mind had become clear again for once, like before the Sanctuary, before the trials, before Subaru had died.
She tried to approach, but the other Emilia shouted at her.
“Stay back!” she cried from the floor, protectively hugging the boy. “You said you couldn’t hurt him. You... you broke your promise! If you really are me… then you should hate it when people break their promises!”
The half-elf lowered her gaze sadly.
“I know… I’m so sorry…”
She knelt beside them and looked into her double... no, the real Emilia’s eyes.
“Please, let me heal him.”
Her tone had changed. Her gaze was different too. The real Emilia looked at her in surprise, then exchanged glances between her and her boyfriend’s wound.
She moved aside so she could do whatever she intended, but she never stopped watching Subaru.
The impostor placed her hand over Subaru’s abdominal wound and began to heal it. Her healing abilities were nowhere near Beatrice’s, much less the Crusch’s Knight. Even so, she had to try and help however she could.
She wouldn’t allow Subaru to die again, much less because of her.
She didn’t want another world to lose its Subaru.
She didn’t want another Emilia to suffer what she had suffered.
She had done many bad things. If she could do one good deed, she would. That’s what her Subaru would have done. That’s what the old Emilia would have done. That was the kind Emilia the boy with the frightening eyes had fallen in love with in the beginning.
The wound began to close, and little by little Subaru stopped feeling pain.
“Subaru!” the real Emilia exclaimed with joy.
“Emilia… calm down…”
"Even now you worry more about me than yourself, Subaru. You really are an… dunderhead!"
“…who even say 'dunderhead' in this day and age?
They both laughed as they intertwined their hands.
The Emilia from Lugunica watched them with a sad smile.
If I hadn’t lost my mind back then… could I have saved my Subaru from his wounds? Would we have been this affectionate too? I… regret not being clear about my feelings sooner. Without a doubt, you deserve Subaru more than I do. I hurt so many people… I don’t deserve to live in a peaceful world like this.
She pulled her hands away and looked at the couple with a melancholic smile.
“Your wound is under control now. Luckily, no vital organs were damaged. You shouldn’t be in danger anymore.”
Subaru looked at her steadily and simply nodded. It was still hard for him to deal with her after everything that had happened.
“Thank you.”
But Emilia was different, and despite everything, she thanked her.
The half-elf silently accepted the gratitude and stood up, walking away from them.
“Where are you going?” the real Emilia asked.
The half-elf moved farther away and then let herself fall to the floor, her legs bent to either side. She looked at them both, with tearful eyes and a broken voice.
“I’m truly very sorry. Sorry for hurting you, Subaru. Sorry for hurting Rem. Sorry for all the damage I caused you… Emilia. I don’t deserve to be forgiven. I don’t deserve to live in such a peaceful world with such unstable power. I just… want to see my Subaru again.”
She looked at the wound in her abdomen. Little by little she was bleeding out from the scissors, though she had no intention of healing it. She didn’t deserve to.
“Please, be happy.”
“W-Wait!”
This time it was Subaru who say that.
Emilia smiled as the ice in the hallway and throughout the house began to disappear. Instead, a new block of ice began to encase the half-elf’s body.
When it completely covered her, the voices of the two students became inaudible. However, she could see the worried expressions on both their faces.
Please, don’t look at me like that. I don’t deserve that concern. The last thing a witch like me needs is compassion…
Suddenly, she realized Subaru was standing in front of her, looking at her with love.
Huh? But the other Subaru is still on the floor with my other self… then you are…
Was it an illusion? She wasn’t sure, but she saw another Subaru staring at her. She didn’t know if it was real or some kind of spirit that had come to find her at the end of her life. The only thing she was certain of was that it was her Subaru.
I just hope I can see you again. Even if I don’t deserve it, I want to see you again, Subaru… wherever you are, I hope I can go there too… I love you.
The ice shattered into thousands of pieces, and the ice block—as well as the half-elf’s body—disappeared from that world, as if they had never existed.
Some time later
The café door opened, and a rather peculiar couple made their entrance. Subaru pushed the wheelchair over to a secluded table and then took a seat across from his partner.
“What would you like to order?” a waitress asked as she approached their table.
“A hot chocolate,” Emilia said with a smile.
“I’ll just have a regular espresso. Don’t you have anything with mayonnaise on the menu?”
“Uh, I don’t think so…”
“Damn. Alright, just that then.”
The waitress left and returned shortly with their drinks. They both sipped quietly in a comfortable silence until Subaru decided to speak first.
“How are your legs?” he asked, still feeling somewhat guilty about the condition his girlfriend was dealing with.
“Well, the doctor said I was lucky. There wasn’t… um… what was the word? Necrosis in my legs, so I should regain mobility in a couple of weeks.”
Subaru sighed in relief.
“It still bothers me that when the police questioned us, they thought I did that to you. Is it normal to suspect everyone?”
“Well, it’s their job,” Emilia replied, placing a finger on her cheek. “But don’t worry, Subaru, I’d never let them put you in jail!”
“Put me in jail, huh?”
“Moo~, are you going to laugh at me again?”
A week had passed since that incident. When the police questioned Subaru about Emilia’s condition, he froze and only said that he found her like that. Honestly, he couldn’t think of anything better. He was already suspicious enough in their eyes—lying and getting caught would have made things worse.
Luckily, Emilia defended him and simply said she woke up in the middle of the street without remembering anything. After that, she called Subaru, and he took her to the hospital.
Many people didn’t believe them. Others didn’t want to dig deeper. But without Emilia filing a complaint, no one could take action against the boy.
Emilia’s adoptive parents supported both of them, and Subaru’s family would never think something like that about him. So it was easy to convince them, or at least to stop them from asking more questions.
But it didn’t matter anymore. None of it mattered. They were together again, and no one could separate them now.
“I still wonder… why she did it,” the girl murmured sadly.
Subaru shook his head.
“I don’t know either. I can think of a thousand theories, but none of them are the absolute truth. Still…”
Emilia looked at him curiously.
“I think that despite everything, even after all she did, she didn’t want me to die. Even if she wasn’t my Emilia, she was still you, from another world. You were right. She wasn’t entirely an impostor. She was just a lost, broken girl… I wish things had ended differently. I wish I could have saved her too. I… I could have done better.”
Emilia’s hand rested over his.
He looked up and saw her smiling at him.
“Don’t blame yourself again, Subaru. You saved my life. And whether you believe it or not, you saved hers too. Even if she couldn’t keep living, you saved her because, thanks to you, she was able to become who she used to be before the end. Don’t ever think you’re not enough, or that you could have done better. From my point of view, there’s no one who does things better than you. I’m sure all the Subarus, whether from this world or another, are just like you.”
He laughed, feeling as though a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
“Really? Well, that other Subaru sounded like an amazing guy: a true hero. What could have happened for things to end like that…?”
“Don’t think about it anymore. What matters is that my other self, even before dying, was able to act like a good person, regretting what she had done.”
Silence settled between them once again. Tired of it, Subaru pulled Emilia’s wheelchair closer to him.
“Subaru!”
“That’s enough being sad. Right now, I just want my daily dose of EMT.”
“Dose? What you mean-?”
He cut her off by pressing his lips against hers. They didn’t care that people around them were watching. After that stormy week apart, moments like these were among the few things they truly enjoyed.
He wanted to be with Emilia for the rest of his life.
He wanted to marry her, have childrens, and grow old together.
And now that he knew the multiverse existed, he would stay with his Emilia in honor of all the Subarus who never got the chance.
“I love you, Emilia-tan.”
“I love you too, Subaru.”