Chapter 9

Destruction. Damage. Carnage. Ferocity.

Nightmare. Chaos. Grotesque

Such words formed the symphony to fine tune the hellish flashes of images going through Subaru's mind. He could see a man…No that's not right. Not a man but a being with a burly body, and monstrous face in the disguise of a human with long shaggy beard. His stance, the way in he held his long heavy axe with golden handle and intricate designs denoting an ambiguous creature that you wouldn't ever want to face, these all portrayed the ruthlessness and monstrosity of his personality. Subaru tossed and turned in his sleep, with every second forming more sweat on his forehead and his body heat increasing at the same rate. The burly being stopped near him and said something "…kill…deserve" and he couldn't make a head or tail of the incoherency of his dialogue. And before he could try to decipher any of it, the axe was flung at something. It was a dream, he shouldn't be feeling anything. The worst thing that could have happened to him was sleep paralysis. But misfortune stalked Subaru like a yandere girl who's stalking her crush. The pain that he felt near his throat, the large amount of blood that he saw gushing out through it, and the pool of crimson color that formed beside him all ravaged his body in an unseeingly painful manner. Blood, so much blood. It felt like he was drowning in a pool of his own blood with no chance to escape. Blood, so much blood. He didn't knew that his body was inhabited by such a massive amount of that red liquid. And while he flinched with horror in his eyes and agony in his heart, the burly being stood near him with a disgusting smirk on his face. The axe rose high up in the air and was flung at him…

Subaru woke up and the sudden jolt pushed him out of his bed. Soon the comfit surface of the mattress was replaced by a hard and rough facet of the floor. And the first thing that he did out of reflex was touching his throat several times. Because death was strikingly devoid of loyalty in its devotion to him. No matter how many times had he fallen prey to death, the feeling of pure agony never left him. After feeling that his body was fine and assessing that he indeed hasn't died, he sat on his bed brooding over the dream. Exasperated by his assessment of those dreams, he opened his door to make his way outside. Walking in the lawn with the comfortable cool air was what he needed to keep his sanity intact. The air indeed soothed him a little bit as the little lingering pain went away with every sway of the breeze and the beauty of luscious blades of grass and tall trees swaying back and forth. But he couldn't get his mind out of the images that he remembered. What was happening to him? Somewhere inside his body something was being unlocked slowly, stealthily without his knowledge. He felt the vibrations of a force poking out of the seal in his heart, that musn't be unlocked. But it was happening. He knew it subconsciously. As he was strolling through the garden, with his left hand on supporting his chin, a sudden humming made him stop. "Hm.. ..Hmmm" the voice was sweet, and alluring as those pretty flowers that lure the bees. Subaru indeed was dense to other feelings except paronia, fear and his crush on Emila but listening to that humming sound, he felt that he could taste the sweetness of the voice. "No. Fucking. Way" his mouth was open in shock seeing no other than a particular pink haired beauty near the fountain. "Damn...I am already awestruck by Rem's crush for me, and my unrequited Love for Emilia and now this…" he thought "I feel like a protagonist of some cheap harem anime where the guy falls in love with the first girl he sees and couldn't keep his eyes of the other beauties and becomes a person that fans of the series hate because he cant choose a single girl". Now was not the right time, he was too flustered seeing Ram like this that he couldn't speak to her with his coherent joke-talking skills. He decided to pull back for now but couldn't see the single twig that lay behind his feet and it broke under the pressure of his legs. The breaking of it made a nimble sound but it was enough to disturb the melancholic peaceful aura of the atmosphere. Ram was startled and looked back with fear. And heaved a sigh of relief when she found Subaru standing there with a weird grin on his face not knowing, that he was embarrassed because of the situation.

"Subaru-Kun" she said "Come here" patting on the empty area near the edge of the fountain. Subaru walked towards her with slow steps thinking "Kun". He sat near her.

"I wish that Subaru-Kun forgives me if he doesn't like me calling him Subaru-Kun"

The way she said that with a blush on her cheeks made Subaru aware of the weird rhythmic thumping of his heart. "N-No I don't. Why would I care B-Baka?" he said "Beside such a cute girl calling me with so familiarity only fills my heart with joy"

Fuck, fuck, fuck. What the fuck did I say? Cute…Cute. No Ram can never be cute. I mean she is cute, beautiful even…What the fuc…

Ram's cheeks did turn rosier due to Subaru calling her cute.

"No I am not cute. You embarrass me. I mean like…Rem's so cute and is talented at so many things. I feel so inferior to her. I feel like I am being a burden and couldn't sleep because of that thought, and hence came here to calm down."

Subaru swayed his hands back and forth "Rem is special in her own way and you are special in your own. There's a reason why we want you to stay. Because Ram can do things that others can't do and is special in more ways than one. Beside talking about doing household chores, you always sucked at them. There's no way that you could do them even if you got your memories back. HAHAHAHA". The face that was blushing changed with a sour expression nearing the end of Subaru's dialogue. "hmph" Ram said and without any warning whatsoever began to walk towards the mansion. Subaru slapped his forehead with his left hand sensing the way in which he had decided to mince words to save himself from the embarrassment of trying to comfort Ram, the girl who wouldn't rather die than go to Subaru for any trivial advice. He rushed towards her "Sorry. Sorry Ram. That was a joke"

"Subaru-Kun makes bad jokes" and she continued walking at much faster pace with a Hmph!

Subaru caught up to her and decided to stop her with his hand. He grabbed her by her wrists but the area where he did this was a little wet and the ground was slippery. Due to either good luck or bad misfortune, they both slipped and the end result was…

Ram on the ground with Subaru on top of her. His mouth an inch away from her. A flick to his head could make them kiss on the spot. And the most weird fact was that neither of them were trying to push each other away. If this would have been the old Ram, then this would've been Subaru's next death and a death so painstakingly painful that he'd shudder at the thought of her. But the situation was different now.

"You aren't hurt, are you?" Subaru asked, his face still close to those velvety rosy lips that was trying to draw him near and near.

"No I am not. But…" Ram couldn't finish her sentence. Somewhere in her mind, a thought struck that it would be bad to let Subaru go. She didn't knew why? She didn't knew why him being close to her was so important? She didn't understood the symphony of her heart nor the rising tempo of her heartbeat.

"I must get up" Subaru said but something inside him was resonating the same thoughts and feelings as her but with a more confused state of mind. She could only say "Hmm" nodding an OK. He tried to get up and slipped again…

This time the time itself seemed to have stopped. The winds seemed to calm down their intensity. The peaceful aura seemed to let go of the purity of peace . The slip mashed Subaru's and Ram's face with each other. It was only for a split second but their lips touched, the longing was felt, the slowly forming carnal desires were known, and at the very last moment the accident was realized by both of them. Ram stood up in a haze covering her mouth.

"I am so sorry Ram. I am seriously…"

"No, it was just an accident. Such things happen. Ehehehe…" and without any further ado Ram ran way with spirals in her eyes and blush on her cheeks. Meanwhile Subaru was too crucified to get up, If this was really a harem anime this is the moment where weird things begins to fuck up the protagonist's life

No wonder he wasn't incorrect. For some unknown reason, Roswall knew that Ram had stepped out. And was keeping an eye on her from the window of his study. And he was angry, at the situation he saw unfold before his eyes. He shut the window with a scowl and some nasty schemes forming in his head.