Chapter 43 43: Everyone just needs to rely on each other and move forward!

Natsuki Subaru pulled Rem's trembling body close, offering her wordless but steadfast support.

"Rem was too selfish — standing by while Sister and Lady Emilia died."

"And because of that… Subaru spent the rest of his life in regret…"

As Rem slowly laid bare the past, piece by piece, Natsuki Subaru stitched together — from one unfamiliar fragment after another — the story of the "other possibility" she had lived through.

"That wasn't your fault, Rem."

Having come to understand the full picture, Natsuki Subaru let out a quiet sigh.

"Because it wasn't only your choice to make!"

"Look — wasn't I the one who asked you to run away with me first?"

"So — that future was something we lived through together, and something we gave up together!"

Then Natsuki Subaru threw his arms wide in an exaggerated gesture and declared, all fire and reckless energy:

"Or better yet — it wasn't giving up at all. We chose that future. We chose each other!"

"And it was precisely because we escaped that whirlpool of despair and sacrifice that we were able to find that hard-won, ordinary happiness afterward!"

Subaru had barely caught his breath when he saw Rem, tears still streaming down her face, speaking in a rapid, urgent rush.

"But even so — if the Subaru of right now were sent back to that day and asked to choose again…"

"What would you choose?"

"Obviously — of course you'd choose to go save Lady Emilia and the others, wouldn't you?"

"But the Subaru back then chose to run away instead — so surely the Subaru that came after must have felt boundless… absolutely boundless regret!"

"That's why I hate myself. Why didn't I hold on a little longer that day — why wasn't I a little braver — then none of this would have happened, and Subaru wouldn't have had to carry that regret for the rest of his life…!"

Natsuki Subaru didn't interrupt her. He listened in quiet silence.

After Rem finished, he thought for a moment — then lowered his head and spoke.

"Rem. Look at me."

His voice was gentle and soft, yet carried a thread of firm insistence underneath.

Rem's body gave a sharp little shudder. Her sobs gradually faded. Slowly, she lifted her head from Natsuki Subaru's chest.

Those beautiful, deep-blue eyes of hers were red and swollen from crying, brimming with tears. The tip of her nose and her cheeks were flushed bright red — a picture of tear-stained fragility.

"…Subaru?"

"Listen to me!"

Natsuki Subaru met Rem's tear-filled gaze head-on, and spoke each word with deliberate, solemn weight.

"Even though I don't have those memories of the life we shared — I can still tell you this, here and now."

"The me who made that choice absolutely, without any doubt, never once regretted leaving with you!"

"And never once regretted choosing to spend that quiet, precious life by your side!"

"That version of me must have been happy — there may have been regrets, yes, but in the end, he surely left this world with a smile on his face!"

"So, Rem!"

Natsuki Subaru flashed her a wide, carefree grin — the kind that made him look like he didn't have a single worry in the world.

"If anything, I should be thanking you — for spoiling me like that, for putting up with all my selfishness and my unreasonable requests."

"And as for right now — aren't we both standing here, just fine? There's still time to change everything!"

Rem pressed her hands together and clasped them tight against her chest, her heart in a storm of emotion — but she still hesitated.

"But…"

"No buts!"

Natsuki Subaru gave her a thumbs-up, smiling as he spoke.

"Back home, we have a saying: 'Talk of tomorrow, and even the devil laughs at your foolishness!'"

"So come on, Rem — smile! Stop looking so gloomy all the time."

"Let's face the future together, and face it laughing!"

"From now on, let's make up for all the regrets of the past — and all the choices we didn't have the courage to make back then!"

As Rem heard those words — words that felt so deeply, achingly familiar — the hesitation in her eyes began to shift, little by little.

In this moment, she found again, in Natsuki Subaru, that feeling she knew so well — the feeling that had made her heart move in the first place.

Subaru… hadn't changed at all, had he.

Still that same bright, optimistic soul — still wearing that smile as he faced whatever lay ahead. Thank goodness.

There was a warmth of remembrance in Rem's gaze now.

Her deep-blue eyes, still glistening with the last traces of tears, shone as they looked up at Natsuki Subaru.

"But… Rem is… very weak."

The words Rem spoke now began to blur and overlap with words she had once said — that morning long ago, after the demon beast incident in the village had been resolved, when she and Subaru had talked freely into the dawn. It was as though time itself had folded.

"So someone like Rem will definitely end up depending on others!"

Though the words she spoke were words of refusal — the dim, grey landscape of her heart was being painted over, stroke by vivid stroke, with living color.

"So what! That's fine!"

Natsuki Subaru began counting off his own flaws on his fingers.

"I'm weak too, and my head's not great either — I've got a scary face, and I can never read the room."

He scratched the back of his head with an embarrassed laugh.

"But I still look forward to the people around me helping make up for all of that. Like… getting to live by relying on Rem doesn't actually sound too bad!"

"Oh no!"

Natsuki Subaru slapped his forehead in theatrical alarm — then burst out laughing.

"I forgot — I already did exactly that. I even went and married Rem!"

"Coasted through a whole blissful lifetime without a care in the world — so I guess I've already had a taste of that life, haven't I?"

"But honestly? Doing it all over again doesn't sound half bad."

Rem let out a soft, involuntary laugh — and gave his chest a light punch with her fist.

"Subaru is terrible! Then I won't allow it!"

She looked him straight in his dark eyes, her voice turning earnest.

"Subaru is Rem's hero!"

"But Subaru shouldn't only be Rem's hero — because Subaru still has to go and save everyone!"

"And then, surrounded by the applause and flowers of all those he's saved, Subaru will become the great hero who rescues this world!"

As she spoke, Rem's excited voice grew quieter, softer.

"But even heroes get tired sometimes."

"If the Subaru who has become a hero could keep just a small corner of his heart set aside for Rem —"

"Just enough that when he's weary, he can find his way back to Rem's side — that's all Rem needs to be content."

At those words, the corner of Natsuki Subaru's mouth curved upward. He reached out and wrapped his hand around the fist she'd been pressing against his chest.

He drew it gently inward — holding it there, over his heart — letting Rem feel the way his heartbeat had quickened, all because of her words.

"Rem."

Natsuki Subaru's voice was quiet, steady, and warm.

"Whether I become a hero, or whether I remain just an ordinary person — you are the one I want to protect most, no matter what."

Rem went still.

From where she stood, she watched a fresh beam of sunlight creep in through the window — climbing slowly up Natsuki Subaru's shoulder.

Subaru didn't seem to notice. He held his smile, and kept going.

"Besides — saving the world is no small task. There's no way I can do that alone."

"I need Rem by my side — to encourage me, to support me, to face every hardship and challenge alongside me."

He drew a deep breath.

"— What I'm trying to say is: it's enough if we all just keep moving forward, leaning on each other!"

"What matters most is staying by each other's side — always."

Just then, a gust of wind swept in through the window.

The curtain that had been drawn aside billowed up behind Natsuki Subaru — as if dancing in accompaniment to everything he had just said.

The clouds in the sky had drifted away from the sun at some point, leaving nothing to stand in its way.

Unobstructed sunlight poured straight into the room.

That warm, golden radiance bathed both Natsuki Subaru and Rem — the two of them, gazing into each other's eyes — and lit them brilliantly from within.

Ahead of them: a future filled, in every direction, with hope.

____

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🔥 New history: Oshi No Ko: Co-starring with Kana Arima

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