Subaru tilted his tea cup, having touched upon the crux of the information he wanted to hear.

He gulped down the hot tea, swallowing a few questions along with it, and seriously pondered what he should say next. Then,

“To what extent are you willing to answer my questions?”

“…It seems you’ve somewhat figured it out, but don’t get your hopes up too much. Due to the nature of our contract, there’s little information I can give you, as I’ve been strictly ordered to avoid interference with the ‘Trial’ from outside the graveyard.”

“It’s clear from your tone that you’re already dropping hints for me… but strict orders, huh?”

“――――”

Ryuzu chose silence in response to the repeated question.

Given her demeanor and statements so far, the candidates capable of influencing her are limited. I’d wager the majority of that influence is the handiwork of Roswaal.

“So that makes it even harder to understand what his true intentions are. Does he want me… or us to clear the ‘Trial’? Does he want to help or hinder? It’s all so unclear.”

“It would be best for you to figure that answer out for yourself. Roswaal has always been a peculiar and indirect brat. Though he’s grown taller, his essence hasn’t changed.”

Perhaps because of their long relationship, Ryuzu spoke familiarly about the young Roswaal.

When I’m told he hasn’t changed, considering I only know his perverted side, I can’t help but shudder at the thought of him being like that before he fully developed.

“Well, at least he’d probably have been a bit more adorable back then, yeah, maybe.”

“Regarding Roswaal’s childhood… hmm, that’s a secret concerning the Meisters family, so I can’t elaborate further.”

“Guh! I’m so curious… wait, am I curious? I don’t mind not knowing that deeply about his personality.”

Crossing his arms and tilting his head, Subaru pondered the origin of his own confusion.

“Fine, let’s drop that. What I need is to understand his intentions, not to gather knowledge about him.”

“You sure are taking that rather lightly.”

“There’s no purpose in worrying over things that don’t matter. Humans, at their core, are not capable of fully understanding each other, from zero to one hundred. Yet, the desire to understand is what we call love. I can love Emilia-tan, but I don’t necessarily have to love Roswaal!”

Ryuzu nodded, seemingly impressed by Subaru’s refreshing dismissal. Then, she rested her chin on her hand and said, “In that case, I feel like I’m running out of topics I can discuss with you…”

“Ah, but my questioning time isn’t over just yet. While I’ll put Roswaal’s personality aside for now, there are other personalities I want to know about from you, the all-knowing granny of the ‘Sanctuary.'”

“Hmm. Well, as long as it’s just questions, I’ll answer you, but remember that if it breaches our contract, I won’t be the only one in trouble. You must never forget that.”

Leaning forward and glaring up at him, the little girl intimidated Subaru without any genuine fierceness due to her adorableness. Still, he trembled and put on a teary-eyed “I’m scared” reaction.

“Alright then, establishing a dynamic of scary perpetrators and weak victims sets the stage for my questioning phase.”

“I disagree with you making me out to be the bad guy just now.”

“They say that’s life! So about my question—Frederica and Garfiel are siblings, but Frederica was in the ‘Sanctuary,’ right?”

Subaru cheerfully dove into the main point while disarming Ryuzu’s disbelief with a smile. As Ryuzu’s expression shifted, Subaru waved a finger.

“Frederica, who was supposed to be in the ‘Sanctuary’, is now at Roswaal’s mansion wearing a maid outfit and serving him. But piecing together what I know makes that situation quite suspicious.”

“Hmm? What’s suspicious about it?”

“If Frederica is Garfiel’s sister, then she’s half-blood too. And if she’s half-blood, given that the barrier of this ‘Sanctuary’ hasn’t been lifted, she shouldn’t be able to go outside.”

The barrier reacts to half-blood, absorbing them without allowing escape. Its existence now looms before Subaru as one of the major walls he needs to overcome, having already left Emilia unconscious and trapped Garfiel and Ryuzu endlessly inside.

He’s been racking his brain to deal with that barrier, yet an exception has slipped out beyond it.

“This means there has to be some hidden route in the barrier. Or perhaps it’s all one big lie.”

“A lie… that is rather harsh. It’s true, I have never laid eyes on the outside world since birth. All of this is due to that barrier’s existence.”

“You might be bound by a contract to feign that… how mean of you! If the risk of confirming its existence is immense, it’s also quite possible that you wouldn’t even consider checking in the first place. But—”

The possibility that all the inhabitants of the ‘Sanctuary’ are collectively fabricating the existence of the barrier is something that cannot be entirely dismissed since the existence of the trials in the graveyard has been thoroughly confirmed.

The possibility of using the ‘Trial’ to keep the refugees of Araham Village stuck here to increase Emilia’s reputation is also undeniable.

“Considering the backlash at the moment the truth is revealed, it’d be too costly, rendering it implausible. Thus, the latter possibility gets automatically excluded… leaving only the former.”

“Then there’s a hidden path, huh? But what would you do with that information?”

“If that hidden path applies to everyone, then eventually we could take every resident of the ‘Sanctuary’ outside, and then they’d no longer need to face the ‘Trial’!”

Subaru, cheerfully declaring the idea, left Ryuzu looking utterly flabbergasted. To her, he insisted, “You get it?”

“Surely, there are things to gain by taking the ‘Trial’. Honestly, I can’t deny the little bit of benefits I’ve received. But when it comes to the ‘Trial’—to sum it up, I can call it the ‘Past’. Even facing that ‘Past’ should have appropriate timing and the right person, right?”

“Is that Emilia-sama? But suffering doesn’t wait for the right moment to arrive. In light of the coming calamity, to run away now and…”

“I’m not saying to escape. I’m saying we pull back to prepare for a proper counterattack. It’s a strategic retreat, if you will. Sure, there are times you have to face unfavorable ground, but preparing to fight on the most advantageous ground is also one’s true character.”

Subaru threw down his words while Ryuzu tried to speak, continuously justifying his retreat. He wouldn’t declare turning away as a shameful act.

“Emilia will eventually confront her ‘Past’ even if we don’t deal with it now. It’s ironic, but the ‘Trial’ has reminded her of it. Thus, whether she forgets it or swallows it down, it’s a choice she must make. So it’s my role to create a situation where she can choose that without much suffering.”

“…You intend to distance her from struggles, but you won’t let her escape from the absolutely hardest part, huh?”

“If escaping from that is a choice, then that’s valid too. I believe that girl… Emilia won’t take that route.”

“How can you believe so firmly? At the very least, I can’t. After seeing how distressed she was when we got out of the graveyard, I can’t harbor such expectations.”

“Because I’m head over heels for Emilia-tan.”

Subaru casually stated it, rendering Ryuzu’s previously shocked face into the most dumbfounded look yet.

He then smiled bashfully at her stunned expression, scratching his cheek.

“I like Emilia. I think she’s super cute. And I believe that adorable girl can overcome any hardship she faces in the end. I keep hoping and believing she’ll answer that.”

“Th-that’s not really an answer, is it? No matter how much you like the other person, there are things in hearts that can’t be helped. You must know that, Subaru…”

“Of course I do. Emilia is a girl. She has her strong sides, but she also holds weak, minuscule, and ugly aspects.”

“Are you admitting to it or not…?”

“Believing that even those weak points can shine through her strong ones is what we call devotion, right?”

For Subaru, devotion was the highest expression of affection engraved in his heart. He felt happiness at being able to dedicate everything wholeheartedly to someone. So,

“I’ll devote myself to Emilia. I believe she’ll rise up, overcoming her weak sides, facing forward again. I’m working hard to bring about the scenario where I can smile and say it was the right call to trust her.”

“…Even so, facing her own heart in anguish is something only she can do.”

“That goes without saying! I can’t be by Emilia’s side when she faces her ‘Past.’ If I were there, I’d take her hand and help her stand up and cheer her on, but I’m not. I can’t intervene in the incidents of ‘Past.’ Even if I reach out, I’d just miss it. Just like a viewer can’t interfere with their television show.”

That much is reality. The ‘Past’ is the ‘Past’, and I can’t reach out to it.

What Subaru has faced and claimed to have overcome is just fiction, not something he has communicated with his real parents; it’s merely self-satisfaction derived from within himself.

However,

“Having at least one redeemable experience is surely better than none. In facing the ‘Past,’ I cannot lend my present self a helping hand, but it doesn’t contradict the rules for my current self to lend a hand to my past self, right?”

“――――”

“I can’t help but think I can’t lend a hand, but my words, actions, love… or well, it’d be nice if I came first in her mind, but besides that, Emilia possesses many things received from various people now. She has more belongings than the Emilia of the ‘Past.’ If she has more usable weapons, it might just reach the inadequacies of the ’Past.’ This ‘Trial’ is likely set up on the condition that one can overcome it that way, right?”

Having experienced it firsthand, Subaru repeated those same words many times over.

“I will assist Emilia. I’ll do everything I can to make sure she can overcome her ‘Past’ with her current self. For that, whether it’s finding hidden passages or cheat mode leveling, I’ll do whatever it takes. That’s how I’ll devote myself.”

“That’s an absurdly selfish way of showing love.”

“Call me an omnivorous boy, neither herbivore nor carnivore—”

He snapped his fingers and flashed a bright smile with a wink as a finishing pose.

As Subaru wrapped up his speech in such a manner, Ryuzu let out a long sigh of resignation.

“You’ve put forth quite a bit of beautiful rhetoric as an excuse for cheating.”

“Heck…”

“Fool… I’m afraid I can’t share details about that hidden path. Nevertheless, if you’re relying on that, I must firmly deny it. Frederica’s escaping from the ‘Sanctuary’ was an exception. It’s impossible to take everyone outside.”

Ryuzu’s head shook, aiming to dismiss Subaru’s hopes. In response to her words, Subaru felt dejected, slumping his shoulders, only to—

“Well, it can’t be helped. If it works out, it’d just be a bonus, so let’s call it good. Now then, onto the next question…”

“I know it’s odd for me to say, but don’t give up, Subaru.”

“If I broke so easily, I wouldn’t know how many times I’d landed in a whale’s stomach by now! Honestly, I’m proud to say all I’ve got is a stubborn refusal to give up and a profound love!”

Subaru proudly faced Ryuzu, who cast a look of utter exasperation. Clapping his hands, he gathered himself up.

“Now that I think about it, it’d be the most heroic tale if Emilia could fully showcase her strength and just tackle the ‘Trial’ herself, yeah? Ryuzu, as a veteran challenger of the ‘Trial’, do you have any thoughts on that score?”

“I can’t say I feel good about being dubbed that. Besides, I can only answer in the negative when asked for my opinions. After all, I’ve never faced the ‘Trial,’ so how could I possibly know the answer?”

“Huh?”

With a tilt of his head, Subaru replied with a puzzled tone to Ryuzu’s response. However, that had undoubtedly been an essential statement to catch.

“Did you just say you’ve never taken the ‘Trial’?”

“What’s with the sudden honorifics? Of course, it’s obvious! I’m not permitted to take the ‘Trial,’ which is typically given to outsiders. None have, as far as I know. At least not in seventy years. You’d be the first.”

“No, no, no, that’s not right, that’s not right! Hold on, wait! This is off… the information is all scrambled! Let me double-check in my mental memo book!”

“Only five minutes.”

Gratefully accepting Ryuzu’s surprisingly patient response, Subaru pressed his fingers to his temple while desperately retracing memories.

He went back to the day before the last loop and just after passing the previous ‘Trial,’ searching through the details and contradictions within his recollection until—

“Wait, what?”

At that moment, he belatedly realized an unthinkable “contradiction” had arisen in the memories.

His face hardened at the thought that dawned on him, and he barely managed to suppress the murmured question, “What does this mean?”

But the seeds of doubt he had planted sprouted, stretching their stems and blossoming into undeniable queries.

In Subaru’s memories, Ryuzu spoke just before the night of the ‘Trial’.

—“No one has yet received the ‘Trial’. Since I was born, no challenger has existed.”

In Subaru’s memories, Ryuzu spoke just before and just after the ‘Trial.’

—”I did take the ‘Trial,’ and although I didn’t conquer it, I’m safe. That proves there’s no harm in trying.”

Within just a single day, her statements flip-flopped into opposites.

If this were merely an emotional debate, it would be a different story, but when it comes to actual experiences or facts, this unfolding makes it even more contrary. Such a massive shift must surely imply either alteration of one side’s information or the existence of intentional deceit.

He directed a glance toward Ryuzu while in thought. Her pink hair fiddled as she simply waited for him. With feet that couldn’t quite reach the floor swinging in boredom, she looked like an innocent child despite how much of a granny she was deep down.

Given all their interactions thus far, he didn’t want to believe she held any sinister intent against him.

“If one of those statements is true, which should I believe?”

In cases where differing information arises, Subaru’s stance has always been to trust the one he wants to believe. However, he couldn’t afford to make such a hasty decision when Emilia’s life depended on it. After all, it’s a matter concerning life or death. He had to be cautious.

This marked the third time he’d broached the subject of the ‘Trial’ with Ryuzu.

Once she confirmed she had taken the ‘Trial’, and twice she adamantly denied any knowledge of it. It’s not about the number, but it appears he should trust her insistence of not knowing the ‘Trial’.

And when he thought back, how when she claimed to have been through it, she might have just been trying to appease his worried state was a possibility he could see positively. However, even so, it would have been fair for her to clarify that it wasn’t the case sooner—

“Maybe there was a reason she couldn’t tell me… or perhaps she’s just begun to lose her mind…”

“Just now, you seemed to reach a rather rude conclusion about me, didn’t you?”

“I’m not implying anything! I just hope you’ll recognize my effort to interpret it generously to offset that!”

With Subaru’s playful retort, Ryuzu sighed and shook her head tiredly.

“Really now…”

“So did you reach any conclusions after pondering over your heart just now?”

“I might not have a definite answer, but I think I’ve come to a sort of realization. Is it possible that Ryuzu-san has been very considerate of me? Especially before the gravestone.”

“Considerate?”

Ryuzu repeated Subaru’s question. To that, Subaru nodded, intertwining his fingers in a girl-like manner as he continued.

“During our talk, you mentioned not having taken the ‘Trial,’ but just before the gravestone, you said something along the lines of having taken it before and it wasn’t a big deal? Did you possibly say that out of concern for me, who was maybe a bit jittery about it?”

“――Ah, so that’s how it was.”

As Subaru struggled to navigate this awkward conversation, Ryuzu seemed to make a realization. With a raised eyebrow, Subaru regarded her suspiciously as she smiled softly.

“Subaru, let me impart a little piece of wisdom. Especially just for you.”

“A good thing?”

“Due to the nature of our contract, I’m unable to tell a ‘lie.’ Hence, when confronted with an inconvenient question, I have no choice but to choose silence to avoid misdirection. This is a rule that applies without exceptions, regardless of whom it’s for. It simply means ‘lies’ are forbidden, not just for me, but for anyone residing within the ‘Sanctuary.'”

“You can’t tell a lie…?”

Subaru was left bewildered by the sudden confession.

If that were the case, then the foundation of his thoughts would completely flip. No, more than that, if what she said were true, then the doubts he’d had about her would itself carry inherent contradictions.

—How could she create a scenario that necessitates telling lies if she cannot lie?

“That…”

“This right now is the extent of what I can share. It’s impossible to ask me anything beyond this point. Breaking this contract will lead to misfortune for us both. If you wish to know more, you’ll have to question one who has pressed forward instead of sticking with me.”

Having willingly pressed the topic, Subaru found himself unable to reopen his mouth.

If he were told so directly, he now had no recourse but to cling hopelessly to her goodwill. Yet, he genuinely sensed from her demeanor that she wasn’t faking her desire to escape this place.

“Understood. I won’t pry any further. Let’s change the topic. Anything else to discuss?”

“You’re quite the odd one. Knowing you can’t get to the core of things, and yet you still indulge me in this old lady’s tea talk?”

“Well, I didn’t have breakfast, and I’ve essentially got time until Emilia-tan wakes up. Getting annoyed at Roswaal, being bared fangs at by Garfiel, or exhausting Otto with remarks isn’t worth it, so I might as well deepen my appreciation for you, the rare loli granny.”

Standing up, Subaru gathered the two now-cold teacups before heading towards the kitchen under Ryuzu’s gaze.

“Don’t worry too much; I mean, I’ve lived as a servant in Roswaal’s mansion for a brief time, so I’ve at least learned how to brew tea.”

“Hmm. Then I shall expect great things from you.”

“Whoa, no pressure!”

While saying that, he brewed tea again, handed it to Ryuzu, then returned to his seat. They faced each other again and took a refreshing sip.

“Not too shabby, huh?”

“Even when making it myself, it’s still just leaf water. By the way, changing the subject—”

“If it’s to continue our prior discussion, I can’t delve there. But well, other topics I will earnestly tackle.”

“Then I’ll take you up on that,” Subaru grinned, a hint of guilt flickering across Ryuzu’s face as he took the opportunity.

“Does Garfiel have any weaknesses, dislikes, or things that might make him faint instantly?”

“Subaru, don’t you think your way of expressing devotion is a bit distorted?”

In this past hour, Ryuzu’s expression turned most bizarre; that observed, Subaru now secured a truly rare reaction from Ryuzu.

※※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※

After finishing their tea conversation, Subaru cleaned up the teacups, leaving the lonely loli granny behind as he exited the building.

It was longer than just a short hour; the sun had risen high and warmed the air enough that it felt pleasant.

It felt like it was just after ten in the morning.

“Feels like a perfect sunny day to dry out some futons; such a waste… I really feel like a homebody. This mindset is completely out the window.”

Basking in the sunlight and thinking of laundry as the first thing to do isn’t a healthy representation of himself. Regardless, setting that sentiment aside,

“Given the time, Emilia should be waking up soon. Having lost yesterday, she must be feeling anxious, so I’ll go and engrain my presence into her mind while she’s vulnerable.”

While thinking up a rather cunning plan, Subaru felt his legs itch with anticipation to see Emilia, genuinely concerned for her well-being.

He longed to be with her for as long as possible to put her at ease.

After all—

“Tomorrow, I’ll have to leave her side for a bit.”

This afternoon, Roswaal would formally propose the release of the Araham Village evacuees. Once that was discussed, preparations would take place immediately, leading to a departure from the ‘Sanctuary’ tomorrow.

Subaru must accompany them again and return to the mansion.

“If you want to learn more about the depths of this place, you should be asking someone who has moved ahead, not one who’s stalled. Such poetic nonsense to feel trapped within.”

To get what he wanted, he had to disguise his intentions cleverly.

He sighed, feeling pity for the trouble she had to go through as he quickened his pace.

“I’m looking forward to hearing about your troublesome little brother and your home, Frederica!”