No—bizarre didn't even begin to cover it. It was a thoroughly malicious turn of events that had led them all here.
The
Louis Arneb, the Archbishop of Gluttony—he had once hated her with every ounce of his being, cursing her as the one responsible for it all.
Faced with a curse that had been laid out for him, railing against the rails that had been set in place, clashing again and again, Subaru had died and died and survived these days.
The Vollachia Empire had also been home to people he had touched and who had helped him.
Rem, who lacked 'memories'—whose kindness and depth of empathy made him want to cry, they were so alike.
Louis Arneb, the Archbishop of Gluttony—who had risked her life for him again and again with unwavering devotion.
Chewing on the curse that had been laid out for him, refusing to follow the rails that had been set in place, hurting each other gently as they went, Subaru had died and died and survived these days.
To curse, to grieve, to hate? Or to not curse, to not grieve, to forgive?
The time had come to settle the score on that perpetually ambiguous relationship.
"————"
The moment Subaru made his declaration upon entering the guest room, a palpable tension engulfed the space.
In the room were Rem and Louis, along with
Natsuki Subaru's answer—no matter what form it took.
"…Did you finish your important conversation with Abel?"
Before Subaru could even figure out how to open the topic, Rem spoke first.
She was sitting beside Louis, holding the girl's hand. Whether she was conscious of it or not, the gesture felt like it could be read as a form of posturing.
At her question, Subaru shook his head.
"We put that on hold for now. Can't move forward with that until I sort things out on this end. …That conversation with Abel involves Louis too."
"Uaau?"
"Why does little Louis have anything to do with it?"
"Because that 'Star Reader' guy's prophecy said that Louis's existence is important for winning this war. That's what it came down to."
"——!"
Hearing Subaru lay out the premise with nothing held back, Rem's expression contorted with pain. Still holding Louis's hand, she looked at Subaru with her pale blue eyes and said: "You mean to make little Louis fight? She's so small, she doesn't even understand anything yet—how could you do something so cruel…?"
"Whether she needs to fight or not is beside the point for now. But let me get one thing straight first. —The idea that Louis doesn't understand anything, that's wrong."
"What do you…"
"Even if verbal communication is difficult, Louis understands her situation perfectly well. She can choose who she wants to be an ally to and who she doesn't. And despite all of that, she's still here."
"That's…"
Subaru's quiet words made Rem lower her head, her voice catching.
Rem knew that Subaru's rebuttal was a fact. Otherwise, Louis wouldn't be here in the first place.
When they had been thrown into the Vollachia Empire, thrust into an incomprehensible situation, Louis had latched onto Subaru and Rem upon their first meeting as though imprinting on them. —But their history together couldn't be explained away by something that simple. They had overcome far too many hellish ordeals together.
If that attachment wasn't affection but rather the survival instinct of a creature seeking a protector to ensure her own survival, then being with Subaru and Rem would obviously be detrimental to that goal.
If all Louis wanted was to survive, staying with Subaru and Rem would have been the harder path.
"On that point, Ram agrees with Barusu. I've only heard bits and pieces of the circumstances from Rem, but staying apart from both Rem and Barusu and still choosing to be here—that was her own decision."
"Sister…"
"Don't get the wrong idea, Rem. Ram is Rem's unconditional ally, and I've already made up my mind to tear Barusu apart limb from limb later, but I won't twist the facts to make my case."
"There was a declaration in there that I found rather unsettling, but thanks anyway."
Stepping in, Subaru offered Ram a response that hovered somewhere between gratitude and exasperation.
He felt that was also a form of posturing from Ram's side. At the same time, it was her way of signaling that she intended to engage with this matter impartially and would not blindly take Rem's side out of emotion.
It was exactly the kind of behavior Rem herself had described when speaking of her sister.
"Sister is… too kind… perhaps?"
Whether or not Ram heard that mutter, she merely let out a soft snort and crossed her slender legs, lifting her teacup to her lips without another word.
Nearby, Tanza—who had been looking somewhat ill at ease—turned her dark eyes toward Subaru and said: "Much like Lady Ram, I will not be taking Lord Schwartz's side either. I do not fully grasp the circumstances, so if you assumed I was here as an ally, I would ask you not to misunderstand."
"I know. Tanza, you're tough on me. I'm not asking you to be on my side."
"————"
"Huh? Did you just get a little upset? Why?"
Having made her declaration as a fair witness in Ram's stead, Tanza's expression had soured just slightly.
Tanza was not one for many facial expressions, but the one she wore now—a kind of petulant frown—was distinctly hers. It typically surfaced whenever Cecilus did something reckless, or when Hain spoke a word too many.
Also, it was directed at Subaru with surprising frequency.
In any case, thanks to Ram and Tanza's statements of position, the preliminary groundwork was done.
Now, Subaru turned to face the real focus—Rem and Louis.
And then— "Louis, I'm about to have an important talk with you. About you—about what's in my heart, with nothing held back. Will you stay and listen without running away?"
"…Uaau!"
"I see. Good girl. Thanks."
After a brief hesitation, Louis answered with a bright, eager nod.
That response, too, was proof that she understood Subaru's and everyone else's words around her. Rem watched Louis's profile from the side, her gaze flickering anxiously.
Rem had been hoping to find the emotion she wanted in that expression. If Louis had shown even the slightest reluctance, she would have used it as a reason to halt the conversation.
But she couldn't find any reason in Louis's face to do so.
"I think you both understand this—from the very start, I've been on guard against Louis, I've been cold toward her… I've hated her. All this time."
"————"
"That was the biggest reason Rem was so suspicious of me at first, wasn't it? Trying to separate the two of you however I could—I even ended up breaking a finger, didn't I?"
"About that time… I went too far too."
"It's fine. Looking back now, that's actually one of my fond memories with Rem."
"…Huh?"
As Subaru answered while bending his left fingers, Rem looked at him as if she questioned his sanity. It wasn't just Rem—Ram and Tanza wore the same expression. But before his heart could be broken over a conversation about a broken finger, Subaru moved on with "Anyway—"
"I was dead set on being wary of Louis. And you, Rem, were dead set on suspecting me. I don't know what Louis was feeling, but she picked up on the tense atmosphere, right?"
"Mm…?"
"Even after we got separated once and rejoined with the people from Schwertsel, and when we escaped back from
And so, the seemingly unbridgeable chasm between Subaru and Rem only grew wider.
That Louis's presence had contributed to the deterioration of his relationship with Rem was undoubtedly a major factor in Subaru's negative feelings toward her.
But those feelings toward Louis changed when he and Rem were separated and he traveled to the magical city of
Spending time with Louis without Rem as an intermediary, seeing how she desperately tried to protect him—gradually, gradually, Subaru was forced to acknowledge what was in front of him.
And so, after they separated in the magical city, when he reunited with Beatrice in the imperial capital and found that Louis was there too, he could genuinely welcome it. The hostility he'd felt at the beginning was nowhere to be found.
"If we could've just stayed like that, casual and easy, without digging any deeper, it probably would've been simpler. But that's not possible. It's the same as a wound. Some wounds heal on their own if you leave them alone, but others just keep getting worse. This is a wound that can't be left alone."
To heal a wound, treatment was necessary.
And treatment didn't just mean relying on magic or medicine. Sometimes it required bold methods.
This was the kind of wound that demanded such measures.
And so— "There's one thing I've never said. Not once. Why I hated you, Louis."
"Uau…"
Staring intently into those blue eyes, Subaru laid bare his feelings.
In response to Subaru's earnest gaze and voice, Louis didn't look away. Whatever was said, she had braced herself to accept it.
But in exchange— "…Please, don't."
It was Rem who spoke through gritted teeth, her voice trembling.
Her voice trembled as if in pleading, all while still holding Louis's hand. —No. That wasn't right. It wasn't Louis who was holding someone's hand.
It was Rem. Rem was the one whose hand was being held by Louis—you could tell.
"I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear the reason you hated little Louis—it doesn't matter. Can't you just be the heartless one and leave it at that?"
Shaking her head weakly and with reluctance, Rem rejected Subaru's words.
Trying to keep from squeezing Louis's hand too hard, she instead clenched her other hand so tightly that her bones creaked, attempting to refuse what would come next.
He wanted to respect Rem's feelings. He wanted to grant every wish she had.
"I'm sorry. I can't let you plug your ears for this one either."
But it wasn't enough.
He couldn't grant Rem's wish. He couldn't even respect it.
The only option left for Rem was to leave this room—to choose not to listen. If she was truly determined to do that, Subaru had no right to stop her.
But Rem understood as well.
That covering her ears here, refusing to hear Subaru's words, meant turning her back on the 'memories' she had lost— "————"
And betraying the feelings of Ram, who was watching in silent support.
"I still… don't want to… I don't want to hear it…!"
Clenching her eyes shut and biting down hard, Rem chose not to flee.
Yet Subaru's words pressed on with an even stronger insistence on the rejection she felt.
As those words struck his chest, Subaru kept his eyes on Louis without looking away.
"Uau."
Louis's lips moved, producing that sound—wordless, yet still a voice.
He knew perfectly well that the sound was calling his name—'Subaru.' He knew. Which was exactly why— "Louis, the reason I hated you… the reason I despised you…"
"Stop…!"
"—Is because you are the very person who stole Rem's 'memories.' The Archbishop of Gluttony, Louis Arneb."
—he knew, which meant he had to answer in kind.
△▼△▼△▼△ He said it. The words he'd held back—he finally said them.
The instant he spoke, there was no catharsis of having confessed a secret, no satisfying sensation of condemning someone he despised.
What he felt was the heavy, bitter anguish of having unburdened himself—and yet growing heavier still.
And the aftermath would only intensify from here.
"Aaaah—!!"
Rem let out a high-pitched scream, her face crumpling, her hand shooting toward him.
Her hand grabbed Subaru by the collar, and with tremendous force, she shoved him down. Unable to offer any resistance, he was pinned beneath her.
Even if he hadn't been small, it probably wouldn't have made a difference—but being small now made it even more hopeless.
If Rem had truly put all her strength into both arms, Subaru's mouth would have been shut easily.
But Rem didn't do that—not until the decisive words had been spoken.
And even now, in this instant, straddling Subaru— "Why… why… why…!"
She wrung out the words, her face twisted with emotion, glaring at Subaru from close enough to feel each other's breath—yet she refused to use her strength.
Her emotions were running at full pitch, and yet, at the final line, Rem remained rational.
Feeling the heat of Rem's breath against his face, Subaru raised a hand to hold back the onlookers.
The moment Subaru was tackled, Tanza had instinctively moved to protect him. He'd seen from the corner of his eye that Ram had stopped her by the arm.
From Subaru's side too, he silently conveyed that this was fine. He gazed at Rem before him.
From those pale blue eyes, tears dripped onto Subaru's cheeks.
They were not tears of anger or grief, but of the deep, agonizing frustration that lived in those eyes—and the reason Rem was still clinging to that last shred of reason.
They were— "You didn't even have to tell me… I already knew…! That little Louis had something to do with my 'memories' I can't remember… I knew that…!"
"Rem…"
"Because there's no other explanation! The way you kept treating little Louis so horribly, trying to push her away from me again and again—the only reason for that is because you thought I'd be in danger staying near her! There's nothing else… it could be…!"
Her breath, her voice, her eyes—all trembling weakly, Rem poured out her heart.
Hearing that, Subaru closed his eyes. Of course.
Rem herself was the victim—the one who had suffered the loss of her 'memories.' There was no way Rem could care less about her own 'memories' than Subaru or anyone else. That was absurd.
Of all people, she would have been the most desperate, the most tormented by the question of where her lost 'memories' had gone.
"I noticed…! Did you think I was stupid? Maybe I am. I'm a stupid woman who doesn't know anything. I don't know anything about you either! I don't want to know! And yet you just barrel right in… I hate you! I hate someone like you!"
"————"
"You're nothing compared to little Louis. Louis has been with me this whole time, caring about me… She—Louis—she's my…"
The tears that spilled without cease struck not just Subaru's cheeks but ran down Rem's own cheeks and chin, adorning her body and heart with their drops, obscuring them from view.
Knowing this, yet wishing to remain unknowing— "It was all… all some kind of mistake… all of it was your lie…"
"—Rem."
"…Ah."
Rem's voice, faint and crumbling, wavered through her tears. When a large teardrop fell, surely her blurred vision cleared for just an instant—and she saw Subaru's face.
The pinned Subaru had cupped her face gently between both hands, fixing her gaze on him.
Black eyes met blue eyes, and Subaru spoke to that beloved, tear-soaked face.
"It's not a lie. Everything you believed is true, and Louis was our enemy."
"…An enemy—what does that mean? She did something to my… my 'memories'? Then… then!"
Shaking her head violently, Rem pulled free from Subaru's hands and sat up. Turning toward Louis, who was still standing in her original position— "Then I… I'll forgive little Louis! I'll forgive her, so isn't that enough? See—that settles everything, doesn't it…?"
"No, it doesn't. Nothing is settled."
"Why not!!"
"—Because I will never forgive the one who made you suffer, Rem."
His voice cracking, Subaru declared this to Rem—the girl who had just said she would forgive Louis.
Rem's eyes widened and a breath escaped her lips. Strength drained from her body, and Subaru slowly sat up.
Rem, still half atop him, and Subaru—now face-to-face at close range.
"It's not just me. Ram too, everyone else too—everyone who cares about Rem will never forgive Louis. No matter how many times you say you forgive her."
"Th-that…"
"Besides, Rem… what Louis did didn't only affect you. There are far, far more people—countless people—who have suffered because of what she did, because of the sin of 'Gluttony.'"
Even if Rem truly forgave Louis—even if she forgave her not out of impulse but from the depths of a genuine compassion—there were far too many 'Rems' in this world who could never forgive Louis.
Until those people were saved, Rem's desperate plea would never bear fruit.
"…There are… more? A lot more?"
"Yeah. An unimaginable number of people are suffering."
"Then… then it's hopeless, isn't it?"
"————"
"It was hopeless from the very start, wasn't it? A problem that can't be solved. And you're just telling me that it can't be solved… is that what you call settling things?"
Rem's lips trembled, and once again large tears traced down her cheeks.
Perhaps more than the pain of her own lost 'memories,' Rem wept for Louis.
Wanting to save Louis—wanting Louis to be saved, regardless of her own 'memories'—that was how emotional she had become, and her lips trembled. She wept.
Through those tears and that trembling voice, Subaru felt a pain that cleaved through him.
"Sorry. I'm being an idiot, aren't I?"
"…Don't… apologize."
"But I'm sorry. Because for you, Rem, all I've been able to say is painful, terrible things."
"That's why I said don't apologize…! I don't want to hear this…!"
"I'm sorry, but please listen."
"Because…!"
"I don't want to give up. —I don't want to go on forever without forgiving Louis."
"…Eh."
A small breath escaped Rem's throat, her eyes widening.
Right in front of her, Subaru took a deep breath and licked his lips. Every word, every syllable—he wanted to make sure his thoughts reached these two without error.
"I'm the same as you, Rem. I want to forgive Louis. I don't want to go on without forgiving her. But I can't. Because you, Rem, are precious to me."
"…!"
"And the one who did something so terrible to that Rem—who stole your 'memories' and continues to make you suffer like this—I can't forgive her."
Gently, Subaru reached out and wiped the tears from Rem's cheek with his finger.
One drop was all it took, but countless more had already drenched her cheek. Even so, Rem didn't swat his hand away.
She hadn't rejected him. So Subaru continued.
"Everyone told me I was an idiot. 'Don't say stupid things, don't think stupid things'—I got chewed out something fierce. I'm pretty sure Otto still thinks it'd be simpler if Louis were dead."
But that was probably the natural way to think.
He wouldn't call it a self-correcting mechanism, but everyone understood in their hearts that this was how things should be. Subaru understood it too, logically—which was exactly why he'd been so strongly opposed.
But— "Julius told me. That guy's incredible. Or maybe he's the real idiot. He's every bit the victim that Rem is, and yet he said something like that—most people couldn't. He's an idiot."
"————"
"Wise people said things, foolish people said things… and the cool ones, the kind ones, the amazing ones—lots of them told me their thoughts. I thought about it. I thought about it a lot, and I reached my conclusion. My answer."
"Your… answer…"
"I want to believe in Louis. I want to forgive her. …But I can't do it right now."
As he spoke those words aloud and watched the eyes of the girl before him waver, a certain man's words echoed through Subaru's mind.
*'How could you possibly get along with someone who casually decides life and death based on personal preference?'* The words of a man he couldn't see eye to eye with clawed at Natsuki Subaru's soul with raw, jagged pain.
He had been told that an attitude of deciding forgiveness or unforgiveness on a whim was unworthy of trust.
Those words were almost certainly right. The most unreliable thing of all was Subaru's own heart.
Even so—he would find a way to reconcile with this heart that he could not surrender to anyone.
He would come to terms with a soul that was easily swayed, quick to flip-flop, fragile and pathetic.
"…Ah."
Subaru pulled Rem into a tight embrace, catching her off guard.
He freed himself from her body—the one that had been draped over him as a cushion—and drew the sitting Rem's head against his stomach, holding her close.
He wanted her to know, with every fiber of his being, that he truly, genuinely cherished her.
And then— "…Uaau."
Hearing that voice, Subaru turned to look at Louis.
Having been released from Rem's grip, Louis stood rooted in place. She had known her turn would come, and now she called out to Subaru.
"Uu…"
Standing there looking lost and uncertain, Louis made Rem gasp with an "Ah." Breaking free from Subaru's embrace, Rem hurried to her feet.
And then Rem embraced Louis head-on.
"I— I'm sorry, little Louis… We just… took it upon ourselves…"
"Au, uaau, auaau."
"I'm… sorry…!"
Apologizing weakly, Rem wiped her own face with her sleeve and stood beside Louis.
She held Louis's hand tightly once more, but this time not with the posture of someone leaning on her. Subaru felt a faint pang of jealousy toward Louis once more—the one who had moved Rem's heart like that.
And yet— "…Louis. Do you still want to become me?"
"…Uu?"
"…What are you asking?"
Neither of them seemed to understand the meaning of Subaru's question, and both tilted their heads in unison.
Yes—both of them. Not just Rem, but Louis as well. —'Louis' too.
"Like I told Rem just now. Even if Rem forgives you, I won't. All those other people—the countless victims of 'Gluttony'—they won't forgive you either. But—"
"…But?"
"But, Louis—I want to forgive you. If I can, that's what I want. So, let me hear your answer."
Deliberately keeping his voice from shaking, Subaru looked straight at Louis.
Rem was gripping Louis's hand tightly, and Louis was gripping hers in return. Subaru watched that, hoping it was the answer to their relationship.
"Are you an Archbishop? Or are you a possibility?"
"————"
"People have told me. I think so too. This world will not forgive an Archbishop—and it shouldn't. The Archbishop of Gluttony, Louis Arneb, is someone who must not be forgiven."
"————"
"But you saved me. You protected me, again and again. You didn't even know that you wanted to become me. The Louis Arneb I know is nothing like the Archbishop I encountered. And yet, you can use the Authority of Gluttony. You possess the
That was the entirety of Subaru's impression of 'Louis' up to now.
The same appearance as the Archbishop of Gluttony he had encountered in the 'Corridor of Memories,' the same Authority—yet an attitude so different that she couldn't possibly be the same person.
It was like the 'Natsuki Subaru' of that one time. Like the 'Rem' of now.
The same, yet different.
Something that could be the same or different, by one's own choice.
That was the 'Louis' he wanted to ask.
"Are you the Archbishop that no one in this world will forgive? Or are you a possibility—one who might be able to take back what the Archbishop did?"
"A, uuu…"
"Can you… can you start living anew?"
If—hypothetically—the situation 'Louis' found herself in was the same as 'Natsuki Subaru' or 'Rem,' then the question Subaru was posing was monstrously cruel, wildly unfair.
He knew well the suffering of having someone else's debt—something you had no memory of, no connection to—crushed upon your shoulders. Rem understood it too.
And he was trying to place that same weight onto Louis's shoulders.
But— "If you can do it. If that's what you want. Then take my hand."
As he spoke, Subaru slowly extended his hand toward Louis.
Louis's eyes darted between Subaru's face and his outstretched hand. Rem, standing beside her, held her breath, her gaze traveling between Subaru's eyes and his hand.
"Louis, countless people are cursing you, just as I once did. I can't speak for all of their feelings. But there's one thing—"
"————"
"I don't know how you can earn everyone's forgiveness. But… I can tell you what you need to earn mine."
Before coming here, before asking for this moment to be allowed, Emilia had told him something.
Emilia had said that Subaru taught her, but that was ridiculous. Subaru was always the one being taught by everyone.
He hadn't even been able to figure out how to resolve his own feelings without being taught.
Why Subaru wanted to forgive Louis.
How Subaru could come to forgive her—all of it.
The method to reach that conclusion— "Louis, save a great number of people."
"————"
"Right now, you're being treated unjustly. You might be about to bear an absurd, unforgivable cross for something you have no memory of doing. Even so—"
Taking a deep breath and fixing Louis with unwavering eyes, Subaru spoke.
"Save a great number of people."
"————"
"Save them, save them, keep on saving them—keep saving more people than you took from them… and at the very least, I—just me—I'll be on your side."
—What you did can never be undone. Ever.
That was what Anastasia had told him before, and again just recently—words that had frozen Subaru to his core.
It was a lesson that had taught him there were things even his 'Return by Death' could never overturn, a warning that Subaru now considered equal to trauma.
But when Anastasia had made that declaration, she had also said this: "If you want me to believe you're right, you need to show me something. The only way to overturn someone's evaluation is to surpass it with a different one."
That was the most critical part of the warning that had become Subaru's trauma.
The reason Subaru was now extending his hand to Louis was because her actions had overturned the hostility he'd carried.
To take that change of heart—and make it happen for every single person who had suffered from 'Gluttony.' That— "That is the 'starting from zero' I can offer you."
Not zero—on a global scale, it was starting from the negative.
A problem so absurd, so monumental, so wildly far-fetched that no one would believe it possible—grandiose delusion masquerading as reasoning.
But that was the absolute best Subaru could offer.
And it was precisely because the problem was so absurd, so monumental, so wildly far-fetched that no one would believe it possible—because it was grandiose delusion masquerading as reasoning—that Subaru could help with it.
Just as Natsuki Subaru himself had once been helped.
"————"
With his hand still extended, Subaru waited silently for an answer.
He didn't rush her. He wouldn't wait forever either. He would wait—just as long as necessary—for the answer to come.
"I… don't know."
In that silence, Rem spoke beside the quiet Subaru and Louis.
For an instant, it sounded as though she were rejecting Subaru's proposal. But her eyes told a different story.
She continued.
"An Archbishop—and the name Louis Arneb—I know nothing about any of it."
"————"
"But if this Archbishop, this person called Louis Arneb, is not allowed to exist in this world… then what does this child become?"
Her voice trembled. But there were no tears in her pale blue eyes.
Her gaze was clear and direct, as if to say: with a blurred, tear-flooded view, you can't see the answer you want, or the answer being offered.
If she chose to be neither an Archbishop nor Louis Arneb—what would she become?
A girl called 'Louis,' burdened with countless injustices, walking a path toward a forgiveness that might not even exist on the other side—what would such a girl become?
The only words Subaru could offer in response— "—
"Eh…?"
"A new way of living, and a new self, living life over again—I give this name to that girl."
Rem's eyes went wide, and Louis's too opened wide.
If she was choosing a different way of life and aiming for a completely different future, Subaru intended to do everything he could for her.
In a world where no one forgave an Archbishop—where no one forgave Louis Arneb—if he nonetheless truly wanted to forgive the girl before him.
If he wished for her to become someone he could forgive— "Spica…"
Uttering the name in stunned bewilderment, Rem's gaze shifted to the side.
The girl was staring intently at Subaru. Subaru, in turn, stared back without looking away.
He had a wish—that things would turn out this way.
But if he said it aloud, the girl would surely do it. Not for her own wish, but out of respect for his. That was why he didn't say it.
He wanted her to choose—for herself, not for someone else.
He wanted her to walk and walk and keep walking, and when she looked back from wherever that path led, to think: this was the road I chose.
"…Uaau."
"————"
The girl's thin lips moved. Subaru's name was softly called.
Subaru waited in silence. He didn't want to rush her. He wouldn't wait forever either. He wanted to hear the answer she had arrived at after taking the time she needed.
Watching Subaru desperately restrain himself, the girl's expression changed.
"Auuaau."
Soft, gentle words, and a smile that surfaced.
And from those blue eyes, from their very corners, tears rolled down. The girl's hand gently took hold of Subaru's outstretched hand.
Receiving that slender, soft touch, Subaru squeezed his eyes shut.
A new way of living—not as an Archbishop, not as Louis Arneb.
An irrevocable past as an Archbishop, as Louis Arneb.
A girl who would carry both and walk a path through thorns—'Spica'—Subaru gripped her hand tightly, firmly, determined never to let go.
"Someday, I want to forgive you. —So let's do this together."
"…Au!"
Spica flashed a toothy grin through her tears, smiling through the wet.
Rem, who had been watching Spica's smile from the side, felt that emotion swell within her—and burst.
"——!"
With more heat and more tears than before, Rem pulled Spica into an embrace.
Holding her, clutching her, crying out in sobs, Rem wept. And Spica—drawn in, surprised by the embrace—felt her own expression cloud over and crumble— "—Auaaau!"
Spica too began to cry, loudly, her face scrunching up, bearing a fate no child her age should bear, crying like the child she was.
Like any newly born being in this world.
Wailing like a newborn's first cry, the girls continued to cry. They wept and wept.
—Subaru shed a few tears too.