Chapter Text
What if...? What if Subaru had a happy school life with his friends?
—————
As Subaru walked toward school, he yawned from morning fatigue.
[Beatrice: You're still acting like a lazybones even now, I suppose?]
[Subaru: Eh? There's no set time for being lazy. You can be lazy in the morning, lazy in the afternoon, and lazy at night. And I’m someone who can be lazy during all three times of the day!]
[Beatrice: Subaru is truly a hopeless person, I suppose. —— N-Not that I'd dislike him because of that or anything, I-I suppose.]
[Subaru: I heard that!]
With a playful smile, he beamed at the words of the girl with blonde hair styled like drills on either side of her face. Two figures walking side by side down the street toward school — a routine path for this pair of students. Both wore nearly identical uniforms, differing only in gender-specific design and fit, though the colors matched.
The two walked together like they did every day.
Despite the apparent age gap, it might surprise some that Beatrice attended the same school as him. While he was in his final school year, she had just entered her first. A lovable kouhai he'd been looking after for quite some time!
Ever since she was a little girl going to school — thanks to Subaru knowing her mother, Echidna, who used to be a private tutor when Subaru was a child — he’d taken on a bit of responsibility for her. Especially since Echidna played a role in his own early education.
Something he... didn’t particularly like, due to particularly embarrassing memories.
But the important thing is that meeting Echidna and the people around her allowed Subaru to meet others like Beatrice. A little girl who had been hard to befriend at first because of her complex and tsundere personality. He also knew other children who were like Beatrice’s “cousins,” such as Typhon and Daphne.
They all got along well now! Beatrice was like the little sister he always wanted but never had!
Even though he once thought of asking his parents for one, he never wanted to pressure them into such a thing. Especially not if that sibling ended up suffering the same way he had — with the burden of being expected to live up to their father. He wouldn’t wish that on anyone. Instead, he would’ve wanted to spoil her so she never had to feel that pressure... and since he didn’t have a blood-related little sister, he chose to do exactly that with Beatrice! A girl who was incredibly cute and mature despite her young age when compared to others.
Even being so young, Beatrice was truly a genius — an adorably brilliant genius!
She stood out even among many others, skipping several school years and catching up to Subaru and the rest in record time. So much so that Subaru even felt jealous of her skills. But he couldn’t expect anything less — she learned so fast it made him suspect she might have a photographic memory, remembering everything she saw with ease.
He was shocked the day he saw her at his school when she joined in 8th grade. From that day forward, he began escorting her to school every day. As a favor to her, to her mother, and to himself. He didn’t mind it one bit. After all, she didn’t know many people besides him and their mutual group of friends — or acquaintances, as Beatrice preferred to call them. That made Subaru sad, seeing her so isolated like he once was. That’s why he loved keeping her company!
[Subaru: Even if she pretended not to want me around…]
[Beatrice: Hm?]
[Subaru: Nothing, I was just remembering the worst time of my life — when my adorable little sister Beako didn’t want me nearby. And someday soon, she won’t even want me to walk her to school anymore… I’m so heartbroken.]
[Beatrice: Eh? Eeehhh?! D-Don’t s-say something like that, I suppose! B-B-Betty... w-w-wants t-to w-walk w-with S-Subaru f-forever, I suppose…]
With red cheeks, she pouted in a soft, adorable way.
Subaru gave a mischievous, playful smile at the sight of the little blonde girl’s reaction.
He gently squeezed her hand to get her attention.
[Subaru: And I want that too, Beako! I couldn’t survive each day without my adorable Beako to tease!]
[Beatrice: Subaru is cruel!]
She kicked his leg, and he just laughed — amused by her angry outburst.
He loved teasing the little girl.
As they continued walking, they approached their school: Lugunica High School — a prestigious and beautiful institution located in a wealthier district of the city. To get in, one needed either a lot of money, the right connections, special talents spotted by scouts, or grades above 80%.
In other words: you had to be talented, special, and above average — which was hard for Subaru, since he still saw himself as trash.
To get into this school, Subaru studied intensely — even returning to those dreaded private lessons with that one person he disliked — and had to ask for recommendations. All of it was to stay with his friends and a certain special person who also attended this school. That’s why he pushed himself so hard to get into a place like this, even if it seemed impossible — the grade threshold was so ridiculous you’d have to be a genius or truly blessed to make it.
Speaking of the people he followed there, upon entering the school gate, Subaru spotted some familiar figures not far off.
[Subaru: Good morning! Emilia-tan, Rem-rin, Nee-sama~~!]
[Emilia/Rem: Subaru/Subaru-kun!]
[Ram: Barusu.]
Three of them greeted him cheerfully, while the last figure greeted him coldly.
Even though they had known each other for years, that was always Ram’s attitude toward Subaru — something he’d grown used to for fun.
Beatrice narrowed her eyes slightly in frustration at that.
[Ram: As usual, showing up after everyone. You’re truly a hopeless loser. Ram thinks her dear little sister and the others shouldn’t get involved with someone so lazy.]
[Subaru: A cheerful greeting from Emilia-tan and Rem-rin is always enough to balance out Nee-sama’s icy words. So if you want to humiliate or crush my mood, Nee-sama, you’ll need even colder words. Otherwise, there’s no way to extinguish the flames in my heart ignited by their cheerful smiles every morning!]
[Emilia: Hm? Why do you want Ram to say worse things?]
[Ram: Because Barusu is a hopeless masochist, descending deeper each day into the endless depravity of his lustful mind.]
[Subaru: HEY! DON’T SAY STUFF LIKE THAT TO EMILIA-TAN, NEE-SAMA!]
Letting out a desperate cry, his face flushed with embarrassment from the words of the pink-haired girl, who wore a smug expression as she enjoyed his distress.
That got a soft laugh from Rem and even Emilia at Subaru’s reaction to Ram’s teasing.
[Rem: I’m always happy to see Subaru-kun getting along with Nee-sama and playing together in the morning.]
[Subaru: Rem-rin is too pure to notice that Nee-sama only likes to brutally humiliate me to crush my weak self-esteem. And I have no defense at all against her monstrous words.]
[Ram: Monstrous words? Ram is simply behaving like the cute and lovely Ram always does, putting the creature back in the gutter where it belongs. Preventing it from defiling my innocent little sister or others with kind hearts.]
[Subaru: First I was a masochist, and now I’m a creature? Nee-Sama, you’re an extremely cruel and merciless person to this poor wretch who wants nothing more than your friendship. Damn it! Fortunately, the beauty of Emilia-tan, the adorableness of Rem-rin, and the immeasurable cuteness of Beako always cancel that out.]
Striking a victorious pose, he said this with an animated smile that made Ram click her tongue and look away, while the other two girls laughed again—this time at Ram’s reaction to the black-haired boy’s words, not out of anger.
It was part of their daily routine to start the day with high spirits.
Not that they were actually fighting or arguing seriously; it was more like teasing and trading jabs between two long-time friends.
Once that ended, they began heading inside. Beatrice followed them down the clean hallways as they went to drop off their shoes in the entrance lockers, switching them for indoor shoes and leaving any unnecessary items inside, keeping only the essential school materials. Subaru’s locker was conveniently placed between Beatrice’s and Rem’s, something he considered a blessing.
Looking across to the other side, toward the other lockers, he could spot a few familiar faces. As they walked toward their first classes, the older group split off from Beatrice.
[Subaru: Don’t forget to come eat lunch with us when the time comes. Don’t go wasting time in the library again.]
[Beatrice: Betty doesn’t waste time in the library like Subaru, she actually studies—unlike her lazy friend, I suppose!]
[Subaru: Erk! Such short legs, but the seriousness of a soul that’s lived a long life... How sad! Don’t worry... I’ll save you from the fate of being chained to books...]
[Beatrice: Why are you looking at me like I’m the sad one here...?]
She muttered with dissatisfaction at Subaru’s gaze.
After they parted ways, the group continued to their classroom. As they walked through the school, Subaru clearly recognized some familiar faces—people he’d known even before enrolling here. Just like the three girls and Beatrice, he had formed friendships with some of these individuals, or at least shared a surprisingly friendly rapport.
He saw Reinhard and Julius, stars of the school’s sports scene, and two of the most popular students in the school—the former being a close friend of Subaru’s, while the latter was someone he couldn’t stand. They even looked like knights in shining armor to some people. Especially Julius, who often walked beside one of the most popular girls, Anastasia, like her personal bodyguard. They were both part of the fencing club.
He also spotted Felix and Crusch—Crusch being an important member of the Student Council. Subaru got along well with Crusch, though his relationship with Felix was a bit more tense. Still, it wasn’t like they were about to start a war over it.
Looking out a window toward a more isolated area, he saw another prominent figure in the school: Prisca Benedict—or Priscilla, as she preferred—with her loyal follower Al, receiving yet another love confession from some unfortunate soul. Subaru had lost count of how many times he’d seen people confess to that girl, both in the mornings and afternoons! The rejections were so intense that Al always carried a box of tissues for the poor guys whose hearts got crushed—something he did out of kindness.
Al was one of Subaru’s close friends. They got along really well and often played games together. The black-haired teen just found it strange how Al always wore something over his head: a paper bag, a mask, a metal helmet... Once, when someone stole his helmet, he used the towel that was supposed to cover his lower half in the bathroom and chased people around the school completely naked—that moment was legendary!
He also enjoyed the times when he, Reinhard, and Al played card games together. Yu-Gi-Oh, to be exact. And if you kept score: Reinhard had 100 wins and 0 losses against Subaru, and 99 wins and 0 losses against Al. Can you believe that?!
The guy just seemed destined to be good at everything.
There was even a time when Subaru managed to summon a monster with literally infinite attack power, and Reinhard still played the right cards to make his monster have infinite + 1 attack...
HOW?! HOW DO YOU EVEN GET INFINITE + 1?!
It was such a devastating blow that Subaru and Al had added a new rule: if Reinhard was playing, cheating was allowed... and even then, they still couldn’t beat him. And the guy was so humble about it that they couldn’t even stay mad or hold a grudge. So they kept being good friends, even though Subaru sometimes wished Reinhard would just give him one excuse to punch that perfect smiling face of his.
Putting that aside, he also spotted... one of those people everyone else tried to avoid.
[???: Good morning.]
[Subaru: Morning.]
A silver-haired girl with blue eyes and an ethereal sweet expression—Pandora. Someone Subaru knew from school, as did those around him. She passed by, exchanging only a quick look and a few words with Subaru, ignoring the rest as she went on her way.
[Emilia: Subaru, why do you keep talking to her?]
She was one of the few people in the world that Emilia truly disliked, for reasons Subaru didn’t know.
Subaru sighed and gave Emilia a small smile.
[Subaru: Emilia-tan, are you jealous~?]
[Emilia: Subaru, you airhead, hmpf!]
[Subaru: Who even says “airhead” these days, huh? And don’t make that pouty face—how am I supposed to handle this much cuteness all at once?]
Speaking with a goofy expression, he couldn’t help but find her irritated look adorable.
[Subaru: I’m just helping her with her studies and doing her a few favors. I can’t really back out. Especially since I’m in crushing debt to her.]
[Emilia: I’m just worried she might do something bad to you.]
[Rem: Me too! I don’t want that woman doing anything wrong to Subaru-kun!]
[Ram: Even though Ram believes Barusu is already a depraved, hopeless creature, she still doesn’t want him getting involved with someone like that. So Barusu should be more responsible when dealing with that woman.]
[Subaru: Urgh! Sorry for worrying you all, but I promise I’m being as careful as possible!]
Bowing with his hands pressed together, he made a comical little gesture of submission to the three girls, wearing a mischievous smile.
It brought a smile to Rem’s face, softened Emilia’s expression a bit, and made Ram sigh—though she appreciated seeing her words taken seriously.
Not wasting any more time, they started walking again toward the classroom.
But Subaru glanced back, in the direction the platinum-haired girl had gone. He saw her one last time before she turned the corner. She gave him a gentle, enigmatic smile, and he simply frowned in frustration.
The boy turned his attention back to his own path.
—[X]—
Subaru was smoking a cigarette.
He’d picked up the habit some time ago, when he began dealing with too many headaches at once. Even though his parents had scolded him in the past never to do something like this, he ended up developing the habit anyway—and now, here he was.
His cigarette was burning down when he pulled it from his mouth and exhaled the smoke.
A faint, grayish plume drifted up into the sky.
After that, he put it out against the windowsill, making sure it wasn’t lit, before tossing it away. As he stared out at part of the landscape through that window, he turned back into the room to finish getting dressed. Buckling his pants as he picked up his shirt from the floor.
His sharp, slightly irritated eyes shifted toward a figure.
[Subaru: Did you do your part?]
[Pandora: Of course~ Don’t worry. I upheld our deal and passed on the information to you—and erased it from my end.]
The girl was lying on a bed. Some sheets covered her from the waist down, but her bare back was still visible as she laid on her stomach, facing Subaru with a small smile.
In her hands was her phone, where she showed him the screen clearly displaying that she had fulfilled the terms of their agreement.
That brought him some relief, though he still held onto a bit of apprehension. Putting that aside, he continued getting dressed, no longer giving much importance to anything else now that he’d gotten what he wanted. Still, looking around at the mess, he couldn’t help but feel a little guilty that the girl would have to clean that room—especially getting rid of the condom wrappers and the used, filled condoms strewn around.
This wasn’t Subaru’s room.
Not even his house.
Subaru wouldn’t bring a girl to his own home to do what they had done, especially not with the risk of his parents being there and hearing anything.
That’s why he always went to the blue-eyed girl’s house.
Her parents were never home, constantly traveling due to their jobs, leaving her to take care of herself. And her family had money. So it was no surprise that her room was full of luxuries—which also hinted at how high-profile their work must’ve been to maintain that wealth and status.
Not that she cared much about that, but she made use of the money and power she had just by virtue of being born into such a family.
As Subaru was lost in thought, the girl sat up on the bed, not even bothering to cover herself from his eyes. He had already seen—and done—far more intimate things, to the point where he was almost immune to her beauty.
[Pandora: You really don’t need to be so worried. Our mutual “friends” no longer have access to that valuable info. I made sure of that. It was a high price, but worth it. —— You should tell your little friend to be more careful. If it weren’t for you being such a good friend, I think her future would be screwed.]
[Subaru: —— Don’t go giving me advice or veiled threats like that…]
[Pandora: I’m not threatening you, nor trying to make you mad. I’m just being honest. If she slips up again, neither of us might be able to clean up the mess, and that’d be a problem, wouldn’t it? Not for me personally, but it would bother you—and if it bothers you, then it bothers me.]
[Subaru: I appreciate the empathy… but don’t worry, I’ve dealt with this kind of thing even before you. —— And thanks again for your help.]
[Pandora: My help was for you, not for her. It also allowed me to get closer to you. Let’s just say my “selfless act” was made up of many selfish reasons. So really, no need to thank me.]
Replying with her usual enigmatic smile, Subaru didn’t even bother trying to interpret her words further.
Following the routine, he left the room, went downstairs, opened the front door, and stepped out. Looking up, he saw her at the window, waving goodbye. He returned the gesture politely, then kept walking down the street. Subaru still needed to get to a train station to head back to his house in the cold night.
While walking, he pulled out his phone. It was a slightly older model, but it served his needs.
There was a notification in his email.
Opening it, he found the file he had been promised—and had waited a whole month to receive. A video. Tapping it, the video filled his screen.
There he saw Rem with someone. A boy. This boy was from a rival school to Lugunica’s, and if Subaru recalled, he had been trying to confess his feelings to her nearly every other week. This time, they were alone in a forest. The boy seemed happy, excited, maybe thinking she’d finally accept his feelings.
And when he turned his back—he didn’t see what was coming.
A direct blow to the back of the head.
A strike that sent him face-first into the ground, motionless and stunned.
And the one who did it? Rem—with a metal pipe. But she didn’t stop there. She hit, hit, hit, and kept hitting—until the pipe turned red and the tip was coated with fragments of skull and brain matter, smashed by the metal she used to bludgeon his head.
Now, that boy no longer had a head. It had been completely pulverized by the blue-haired girl—dyed that way—who now wore a crazed expression as she dropped the pipe, panting, looking nothing like the usual sweet and innocent image she portrayed. —— The screen froze before cutting to a new scene. Subaru was in the forest, and he remembered: he had tracked Rem’s phone to retrieve it when he stumbled upon the body. —— Another cut, showing Subaru, calm and prepared, dismembering the corpse and stuffing it into trash bags.
The video kept playing, but he paused it, no longer caring what came next.
[Subaru: Damn you, Roy…]
He muttered, cursing his classmate.
Roy was known as one of the most nosy people at their school, always digging into everyone’s business. And he worked for Pandora—motivated by the money she could pay him. Basically her personal informant.
Setting that aside, Subaru’s mind returned to Rem.
Rem was a good girl. A kind friend. An amazing person. But she had one small flaw—an incurable mental illness officially diagnosed as: Intermittent Aggressive Dissociative Syndrome (IADS). It was a sort of hybrid of other disorders, causing her to suffer memory blackouts (like DID) while also acting with extreme aggression (like IED).
She had to take medication on a strict schedule to stay in control and avoid attacks like that one. Something she usually managed.
But… sometimes, she couldn’t.
During those times, she would brutally assault others. People Subaru had to convince not to press charges—using his personal influence. And on rare occasions, she would do something like this: kill someone. Not that she was a serial killer—she had “only” killed three people—and she didn’t even remember doing it.
Since she never remembered, she always unknowingly dropped her phone, which he used to locate the bodies. Then he would take care of them. A task he had sadly gotten used to over time. After all, this wasn’t the first time he had to do such things to protect the future of those he loved.
Rem wanted to be a singer, like her sister—and they were incredible! So she couldn’t have her future destroyed because of this.
That’s why Subaru would take care of any corpses that might get her accused. He’d make sure her sister never learned what her little sister had done. He’d be the silent support to ensure their safety—everything for their future.
Sighing, Subaru realized…
It was going to be another year of intense school life.
—————
I'm still on hiatus, but I couldn’t resist posting this chapter. I’m sorry, but yes, I’m still on break! I’m working on some IF stories, and after writing this chapter I just couldn’t hold back. What did you think? The mental disorder I created to explain Rem’s “Oni Mode” is an original concept for this story.
I wanted to create a cute high school life story—what do you think?
In this IF:
-Subaru's parents don't like Subaru's friends, but they don't say anything because they don't know what's happening to their son, even though they keep an eye on them and investigate.
-Subaru has known all his friends since he was a child, and has experienced some incidents with them, for example:
- Ram tried to focus him because he thought he had attacked Rem.
- Otto once pushed him to be attacked by a dog while they were running away together.
- Garfiel once beat him up.
But he forgave them, since, because of Rem's blow, he forgot.
-Rem hit him with a piece of metal in the back of the head and left him half-dead in the middle of a rainstorm in a forest in the midst of one of her worst fits of rage. She and the others left him thinking he was dead, believing the water would carry him away. And if it weren't for Guese, Subaru would have died then.
-It was during this incident that he met Emilia, as well as Satella and Pandora, who were both visiting her. The three of them later developed a dislike for each other (the latter two out of jealousy over the attention he gave Emilia).
-Subaru lost his memories of that specific incident. The others noticed and left it that way, to the point that now, over time, they've forgotten about it.
-Rem ended up falling in love with Subaru as they spent time together. And he began to pay attention to what happened during her attacks, so much so that she ended up losing her memories of those events. He even kept some of the things from Ram, for fear of how she would react upon learning that her sister had killed some people.
-Subaru knows about the Witches in this world thanks to having had Echidna as his private tutor in the past. They have a... strange... relationship because of some of the things Echidna did to Subaru in the past.
-Subaru has had to cover up some crimes for his friends. Like the murders Rem caused, and also when Otto, while drinking, ended up throwing a bottle at the window of a moving car that ended up in an accident.
-In town: A rumor is circulating about a serial killer who preys on students and children. In reality, the victims are people injured or killed by Subaru's acquaintances, who end up disposing of the bodies or murder weapons when they can't cover them up.
-Subaru has a countermeasure in case the bodies he buried are found: He put his fingerprints and DNA on them so that he would be the one accused and arrested, leaving the others free if something like that happened.