V13 - CHAPTER 2 : IGNORING THE ODDS

—The first sensation he became aware of was something rough rubbing against his cheek.

As he regained consciousness, his entire being was dominated by a sense of extreme languor. His body felt sluggish, as if it was sand coursing through his veins rather than blood.

When he opened his mouth in search of air, his parched lips refused to let go of each other and tore apart. The pain and the taste of blood on the tip of his tongue startled him. His slightly bleary eyes rolled around as he forced open his heavy eyelids.

His vision cleared, and the world gained color—and then, the sight of a pitch-black land dragon leaped into his eyes.

"…Oh, it's you?"

There by his side, heaving rasping breaths and watching him with two narrowed, amber eyes, was Subaru's beloved land dragon, Patlash. She extended her head, continuing to lick the sleepy Subaru in an apparent show of concern.

"So that rough tongue belongs to you, huh… Where…are we…?"

Subaru suspended the touchy-feely wakeup call, rendering Patlash silent. Lying at his favorite dragon's side, Subaru looked around the area, drawing his brows together when he saw he was outside the tomb.

—He remembered the encounter with the Witches that had occurred just prior in the world of dreams.

The condition for being invited to Echidna's tea party was to enter the tomb. According to previous experience, he should have woken up in the stonework room within the tomb.

Instead, Subaru was resting his body against the stone wall at the entrance to the tomb.

"Someone brought me out…? But who…"

"—W-wait! Please wait, dear! Patlash…! Wait a…huff, huff… If you run off and I lose track of you…I'll be in such trouble…!"

The question Subaru murmured aloud was interrupted by a pathetic voice echoing through the nighttime forest.

The speaker was out of breath, tripping as he earnestly ran up the stone stairs of the tomb. Then, when he spotted Patlash on the steps above, he was clearly exhausted as well as relieved.

"Ahh, I'm so glad! To think you were in a place like…er, ah? Mr. Natsuki?"

"…You sure are in high spirits on a night like this, Otto. What are you up to? Burglary?"

"I shall return that very same question to you. What are you up to? For that matter, you are hardly unrelated to why I am in these dire straits to begin with, Mr. Natsuki."

Otto's shoulders dropped as he addressed Subaru, who was sitting on the ground with his legs spread out. Seeing Otto, Subaru had reflexively joked around like usual, but he got down to business in short order.

"I'm not unrelated? Wait, what happened?"

"I mean our dear Patlash. In fact, Patlash went wild back at the stables. As these are unfamiliar surroundings, I untied her thinking I might take her for a refreshing stroll…and poof! Off she ran."

Otto made a gaze of protest toward her, but the land dragon in question had her face turned away from him, her expression one of lofty indifference.

"…She literally has no eyes for me… At any rate, she rushed out of the stables, and I was nervous that if she ran off entirely, my situation would become grave, bringing us to the present, you see."

"So she came right to me, then. Well, well, Patlash. You must be the sort to get lonely quick."

"It did not appear to be…mere longing for you, Mr. Natsuki. I mean…"

Crossing his arms, Otto narrowed his eyes, suggestively turning them toward Patlash. Subaru followed suit, squinting as he gazed at the land dragon's scales, which seemed to melt into the night. That was when he realized it.

Patlash's black scales had wounds that oozed with blood. Surely, the hard scales covering her body could not be easily harmed, and more than that, her injuries looked like they were inflicted internally rather than externally.

—Instantly, the stated rules for entering the tomb rose in the back of Subaru's mind.

"When someone not qualified enters the tomb, they get rejected…"

As a matter of fact, that rule was the cause of Roswaal's grave injuries from when he had entered the tomb. There was no mercy for any violators of that edict, and it was effective not only against people, but even against land dragons.

"Don't tell me you…got all hurt like this to pull me out of there?"

Murmuring, Subaru touched his own shoulder. There were traces of saliva left on his sports jacket. There was dirt on his back and hips from being dragged, too. It was Patlash who had brought Subaru outside.

In spite of her wounds from the penalty for entering the tomb, Subaru's beloved dragon had brought him out.

"Why'd you do something stupid like…when I woke up, I could've just come outside on my…you didn't need to drag me out and get all hurt like this…"

Unable to keep looking at her seeping wounds, Subaru hung his head. Patlash reached out once more, rubbing the tip of her nose against Subaru. Subaru couldn't tell what she meant by it.

Unable to exchange words with her, the flow of thoughts and feelings ran only in one direction between them. He was always the one being saved.

"Otto."

"What is it? If I am in the way, perhaps it would be best if I went somewhere for the…"

"Can you…ask Patlash why she saved me?"

—There was only one way to find out what Patlash truly thought.

Otto's blessing of language. This power allowed him to converse with birds and animals, both of which could not normally engage in human speech. Surely, with this, it was possible to find out how Patlash felt.

However, faced with Subaru's request, Otto twisted his lips and put on a disagreeable look.

"Er…to be honest, I cannot wrap my head around it. Mr. Natsuki, are you trying to be funny?"

"…Do I look like I'm trying to make a joke right now?"

"Even in such a sorry state, I feel like Mr. Natsuki of all people might make some sort of unfunny jest, and I must admit that I do hope you are joking. —You truly cannot tell?"

When Otto replied in a low voice, Subaru tried to respond only to be overwhelmed by Otto's gaze.

Otto was looking at Subaru with an incredulous look, as if he was watching something ridiculous. Subaru felt like he was overlooking something rather big, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

Seeing Subaru's confusion, Otto let out an exasperated sigh as he touched his hand to his cheek.

"My blessing is not as omnipotent as you believe it to be, Mr. Natsuki. Mere transmission of thoughts differs from translation, so asking me to bridge the gap in this exchange is asking for the impossible."

"_______"

"Your eyes say to try anyway. Very well…though I wonder if there is a point, really…"

Though his sullen dismay trickled out, Otto grudgingly accepted Subaru's request. Otto gently stroked Patlash's back as she snuggled up to Subaru.

—A high-pitched, raspy breath came out of that very Otto's throat.

Through the power of the blessing of language, he had converted human speech into land dragon speech. Patlash responded to his call, turned her head toward Otto, and emitted a similar, high-pitched call.

Otto responded to this with a high-pitched call, and so it went, back and forth.

"I am finished…but, mm-hmm, it is difficult. How do I translate this into human terms…"

"Don't keep me in suspense. Just tell me, I'm begging you."

"I am not attempting to keep you in…ahh, this really puts me in a bind! Then again, would conveying this message be considered an extremely strange form of kindness?!"

Scratching his head, Otto repeatedly searched his thoughts for words that he would find acceptable. Finally, after noticing Subaru nervously clenching his teeth, he sighed with what felt like an air of resignation.

"It is closest to Don't make me…say something like that, I believe."

"…Eh?"

Scratching his cheek with a blush on his face, Otto averted his gaze as Subaru widened his eyes at those words.

Though Subaru waited for him to continue, Otto offered nothing more. Or so it seemed, but Otto raised his eyebrows toward the speechless Subaru.

"I mean, she said Don't make me…say something like that. I thought she might say as much…"

"Not making her say…what's that supposed to mean…?"

"Exactly what it sounds like. If I was to add my own personal impression, it'd be with an air of Do I really need to say it for you to understand?"

Otto's statement only further perplexed Subaru.

Though he was being asked Don't you understand? he really didn't. What was it, exactly, that Subaru didn't understand, then?

"…Overcome with worry whether a certain person is in peril and unable to hold still, she comes rushing out to mount a rescue regardless of what wounds she may sustain, staying right at his side until he awakens, smiling at him in relief when he opens his eyes—in such a case, be it human or land dragon, I believe the feelings behind those actions are much the same."

"Ah—"

"And even if it wasn't Patlash, you would still get Don't make me say it. To not notice when her demeanor demonstrates so much is something beyond being merely dense… I suppose that ignorance is bliss?"

Otto looking exasperated from the very bottom of his heart made Subaru appreciate the depth of his own foolishness.

Next, when he looked at Patlash, who was right by his side, the land dragon stared at Subaru with a gentle gaze, drawing her nose close to rub against his neck once more.

By nature, he stroked the land dragon's head, gently petting her hard, rocklike scales.

"I see…you love me, don't you?"

"_______"

"So you're in love with me… I see."

Thump, he felt, as something that'd been caught inside his chest seemed to fall away.

Subaru's acknowledgment brought a neigh out of Patlash, and the strength of her rubbing increased as if she was trying to conceal a blush. The sensation scraped his skin, but when Subaru tried to open his mouth to protest—

"Uh, ah…?"

Abruptly, hot droplets coursed down Subaru's cheeks. —Tears. They were tears.

From somewhere in the very back of his consciousness, something urgently welled up and came pouring out. He rushed to touch his hands to his cheeks, but he was too late to hide it. Otto gaped right at him.

"M-Mr. Natsuki? Breaking into tears from realizing your land dragon is fond of you is a little…"

"You're wro…this isn't…it's just, the timing is too darn perfect…shit, right when I was having doubts, the answer came flying into my face…!"

—It wasn't fair. This came at the perfect time. That was Patlash for you. Too crafty, too cunning.

Internally papering things over with such foolish words, Subaru desperately fought to hold back tears.

He recalled how at the Witch's Tea Party, he had confessed his true desire of not wanting to die. He confessed, too, his greed: His desire to be with the people precious to him was just as strong as his desire to protect them.

And how he yearned to know if the people important to him thought he was something precious to them.

"Who'd have thought you'd be the first one to tell me? —Thanks, Patlash."

As if to reply to the faithful love trained toward him, Subaru poured his feelings into his palm as he stroked his beloved dragon.

Satisfied with his touch, Patlash lifted her head in a ladylike manner. Moreover, the swaying of her tail showed without a doubt that she was in a good mood.

"Now that you have reaffirmed your bonds with Patlash, are you all right?"

"Yeah, thanks to her. Sorry to cause you a lot of trouble, too… Whaddaya mean 'all right'?"

"Mentally, but also physically. I can tell just by looking that you entered the tomb. You collapsed when you went in to save Emilia, so what was it this time? It is more than enough to make one worry."

"So you were worried about me…by any chance, are you in love with me, too?"

"Could you please not say something creepy such as that?! Surely, you are not so unsatisfied with being loved by Patlash that you feel like asking this of all your acquaintances?"

"Some reason I can't? To be honest, right now, I'd love even one extra message of support and consolation, but…"

"Yes, yes, I am quite happy to see that you have returned to your usual form… I believe that for the sake of my future, I will be supporting you, Mr. Natsuki. Even to the bitter end."

Shuddering in the face of Subaru's eccentric advance warning, Otto thrust both hands forward in a visible attempt to stop him. It was so very mercantile of him to use the roundabout phrase for the sake of my future.

"But if that precondition should come into question, and I find myself in peril, I shall flee with all available haste. Please keep that in mind."

It certainly was a heartless statement, but drawing a line was a necessary ritual for tacit consent. Even though he'd said it like that, Otto's good nature was on full display.

"Yeah, I get it. You're—"

Subaru, about to give a nod to Otto's realistic point of view, stopped.

Something felt off. And immediately realizing just what it was, he let out a little "Hah."

"…What is it?"

"Mm, just remembered something. Yeah, that's right…"

With Otto giving him a suspicious look, Subaru nodded several times over, lifting his face toward the night sky.

Amid the loop that had begun in that very Sanctuary, Subaru had cooperated with Otto several times over. And during that time, Subaru had many opportunities to observe him. Hence—

"If you find yourself in peril, you'll flee with all haste…is it right?"

"Yes, but of course. I bear no duty to Mr. Natsuki and others to go quite that f…"

"You won't run."

"—Eh?"

Subaru murmured to Otto, who was trying to lightheartedly adopt the role of a realist. Then, when Otto widened his eyes, Subaru faced him directly as he continued.

"—You won't leave me and run, Otto."

This was the man who hadn't faltered in the face of Garfiel's threats, who had come to rescue Subaru from imprisonment.

This was the man who had shielded Subaru from a bestial Garfiel, resisting him together with the villagers.

However unfeeling he might act, Subaru knew the truth.

"Otto. —That's because you're my friend."