Chapter 67: Flower Garden Date

"No matter how many times I see it, this view never gets old."

Natsuki Subaru stood at a high vantage point and gazed down at the rolling green meadows below, with the distant wisps of cooking smoke curling up from a quiet village beyond.

A vast garden of blooming flowers stretched out before a windmill tower, flowing seamlessly into the surrounding grassland to form a scene that looked almost too beautiful to be real.

Beatty stood beside Subaru, her small hand tucked in his.

Ram stood quietly at his other side.

"Is this… the place Master— Barusu chose for his date with Lady Emilia?"

Ram glanced left, then right, and raised a hand lightly to her lips, her voice soft with quiet admiration.

Subaru had explained everything to the two of them on the road that morning, which had cost them a little time —

but looking at the beautiful scene before her now, she felt it had been entirely worth it.

"It's lovely. Barusu has decent taste every once in a while, doesn't he~"

"Right?"

Subaru scratched the back of his head with an embarrassed little laugh.

But when he turned his head and caught Ram's expression — that look of curious, barely-concealed wistfulness as she gazed out over the flower garden — something in his chest gave a quiet jolt.

This silly girl. She'd always had that sharp tongue, never once handing out compliments. Hearing one from her now… she really must love this place.

Subaru let out a small, inward sigh.

Ram knew perfectly well that part of his reason for coming out here was to scout the location ahead of time — to pick the right spot for his afternoon date with Emilia. And yet she hadn't complained once. Not a hint of jealousy, either.

Ram had given him everything. And he had nothing to offer her in return that was worth a damn.

The thought settled over him — and then he let it go, swapping it out for a smile instead. He freed his other hand and reached out to take Ram's.

"…Barusu?"

Ram blinked, looking down at where Subaru had taken the initiative to lace his fingers through hers, not quite sure what he was up to.

But the warmth spreading from his palm into hers was already colouring her cheeks.

"What are we waiting for, Ram?"

Subaru said it with a full, bright smile, buzzing with energy.

"You said it yourself — the flower garden down there is beautiful, didn't you? Then let's make today the first date we've ever had!"

"A d— a date? With Barusu…"

Ram's words stumbled to a halt. Her already-pink cheeks went so red that steam might as well have been rising from them.

Subaru laughed at the sight of her, and gave both Ram's hand and Betty's a firm, warm squeeze.

Then he set off, pulling the two of them with him — down the path from the high ground, riding the wind, racing toward the flower garden below.

"Woohoo! Here we go, here we go — charge!"

Betty's outfit made running properly a challenge, so Subaru scooped an arm around her waist and carried her along instead.

She was completely airborne, laughing as the tailwind swept them forward — or rather, practically flew them forward.

As for Ram, Betty didn't spare her much thought.

She could feel it, after all — Subaru genuinely accepted that rude little maid in his heart. So that was fine.

Since renewing her contract with him and learning that Subaru carried memories of a future, something inside Betty had quietly shifted.

Before, her worry had always been about his lifespan — the fear that the time they had together was too fleeting, too short.

But this latest rebirth had taught her something else: you never knew which would come first, tomorrow or disaster.

Humans were fragile things. Even setting aside lifespan, they could be taken away by any number of accidents.

So she had decided — she didn't want to waste any more time on those who didn't matter.

All she needed was to keep her eyes on Subaru. Just him.

For that, Betty would do anything to make him smile — to fill every memory between the two of them with laughter and warmth.

Meanwhile, Ram — also being dragged along at a run — let out a helpless little laugh.

Watching Subaru laugh freely as he pulled her forward, her gaze softened with a tenderness she couldn't quite hide, even as she gave him a look of fond exasperation.

"You scoundrel. Isn't a date only a real date when it's just the two of us?" she murmured under her breath, barely loud enough to hear — and then broke into a smile.

But Betty didn't count, right?

So that meant this was Barusu's very first date — and she had claimed it.

Even if Barusu and Emilia came to this same spot later, that could only ever be second.

The three of them stepped into the flower garden under a bright, clear sky.

All around them bloomed flowers whose names none of them knew — and yet they were breathtakingly lovely.

Subaru led the two girls eagerly onward, deeper into the heart of the sea of blossoms.

The further they went, the more the great walls of flowers swallowed the horizon, until the world was nothing but colour on every side.

But neither Ram nor Betty paid any mind to that. Their eyes were fixed entirely on the figure forging a path ahead of them through the blooms — Natsuki Subaru.

"All right — about here, I think!"

Subaru came to a stop, bounced up on his heels a couple of times to get a better view of the surroundings from above, then nodded with unmistakable satisfaction.

"Is there something special about this spot?"

Ram tilted her head, watching Subaru hop around with a slightly puzzled look.

"Hmph~ As if someone of your limited understanding could grasp the depths of Subaru's wisdom! Whatever he's doing, he has his reasons, I'm sure of it!"

Betty crossed her arms and turned her nose up with an expression of absolute, fervent conviction.

In her eyes, Subaru was a man who could do anything — who read the enemy's moves before they were made, who stood tall enough to hold up the sky.

"Okay, okay, good girl~ And Ram, settle down too."

Amused, Subaru reached over and ruffled Betty's hair, then gave Ram's head a gentle pat with his other hand.

"Don't treat me like a child, Barusu…"

Ram's hand shot up on reflex to cover her head — but the touch was so warm, so unexpectedly comforting, that her arm stalled halfway and hung suspended in the air.

"Shh. Just listen to the wind…"

Subaru gestured for silence. He closed his eyes for a moment, tilting his head back slightly, as though reading something in the air around him.

And then —

"Here it comes!"

His eyes snapped open, shining with delight.

Ram and Betty followed his gaze.

And then they saw it.

The wind — sweeping in from the horizon all at once, carrying with it a rush of sweet, floral fragrance — like the vast, invisible hand of some unseen god, passing tenderly over the whole of the garden.

In a single breath, Ram watched as every flower that had been crowding the view bent as one in the direction of the wind.

They dipped at just the right angle — and all at once, the three people standing at the very heart of the garden had their view thrown wide open.

Then the wave swept in from afar and rolled toward them —

A million stems swaying and bowing in the same direction, all at once.

Deep crimson and soft pink blooms bleeding into one another. Gold and indigo flowers calling back and forth like two voices in a song.

Coloured waves of countless flowers surged and rolled in layered crests, as though they might overflow and become a river.

Betty instinctively clutched Subaru's sleeve, her cheeks flushed rosy from the wind — and yet she couldn't bring herself to look away from the overwhelming sight.

Ram's gathered bundle of hair, draped over her chest, was lifted by the gust and then settled back down, strands brushing soft against her ear.

She reached up to tuck the loose hairs behind her ear and stood there, moved and overwhelmed, drinking it all in.

When the wind of the world and a garden's natural blossoms joined together like this — they formed something this magnificent.

Ram turned to look at Subaru, and found him absorbed in the beauty before him, utterly rapt.

A flush rose to her cheeks. Quietly, she reached out.

Like a pair of young lovers discovering each other for the first time, she slowly, carefully, laced her fingers into Subaru's broad, warm palm.

Not that the comparison was wrong, exactly. In every meaningful sense, they really were newly in love.

Even if they had, admittedly, skipped straight to the end.

Subaru felt the change in his hand and tilted his head slightly toward Ram, offering her a quiet smile — then closed his fingers around hers completely.

In that moment, it felt as though their hearts were joined through the warmth of their palms — passing something wordless back and forth between them.

____

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