| Synopsis |
Chapter Summaries[]
Chapter 1: Natsuki Subaru's Restart[]
Returning from his suicide, Subaru awoke from his fourth death, and, seeing the twin maids, grasped their hands to check if they were the ones who had held his hands in his sleep, earning him insults from both of them. Going through the same events as his earlier lives, this time he asked to be employed, making sure to act normally while trying to figure out the identity of the curse arts user. Despite Subaru's attempts to hide his mental state, Puck noticed his internal turmoil when they played around the following morning, and informed Emilia that he would get worn out in the near future at the rate he was going at.
Fearing for his mental state, Emilia tracked Subaru down within the mansion, then led him into a room to give him a lap pillow. He didn't understand what was happening at first, nonetheless after a bit of coaxing he began spilling his heart out to her about everything that has happened in a vague enough avoided touching upon the fact he had been time looping until Subaru eventually calmed and fell asleep with his head on her lap.
Chapter 2: I've Cried, Bawled, and Stopped Crying[]
When he woke up a while later, he excitedly informed an unimpressed Beatrice, then asked for her help, which she reluctantly agreed to give after he promised to have Puck listen to one of her requests. As part of their agreement, she answered his question about curses, revealing that they needed physical contact to work. At that moment, Subaru remembered that Rem had said something about a witch, to which Beatrice told him about the Witch of Envy Satella, revealing that she was said to be a silver haired Half Elf.
The next morning, Subaru asked Puck about Satella, wondering when people would use her name, and Puck answered that they would use it when they wanted the other person to think that they were insane. Subaru realized that Emilia had tried to keep him away in order to not trouble him with theRoyal Selection in his first life. The topic shifted to magic, with Puck determining like Roswaal that Subaru was compatible with Yin, and demonstrated Shamak to him. Somewhat affected by the magic, Subaru requested to try some Yin Magic, however his attempt with Puck's helped failed as his gate wasn't used enough.
Later that morning, Subaru requested to go to the village, which Ram eventually agreed to, adding that he would work as hard as he could until then. Once Rem left the room, Ram warned him to be careful with his magic, as she had to stop Rem from rushing to the scene, and he realized that the magic could've been seen as an attack. He then wondered who was going to go with him to the village, prompting her to reveal that both sisters were going, causing him to hope that he wouldn't be caught up in any trouble.
Chapter 3: The Meaning of Courage[]
During the afternoon, the three of them headed to the village, with Subaru making sure to touch everyone to check who the curse arts user was, all the while teaching them radio exercises. After he finished, Meili Portroute led him to a separate part of the village and called a small dog like animal, letting him play around with it, though unfortunately he irritated it by trying to touch its bald spot, causing it to bite his hand. Leaving the village, the three returned home to see that Roswaal was about to leave, needing to attend to an urgent matter. That night, once Subaru learned from Beatrice that the source of the curse was from the thing that touched his hand, he immediately tried to leave for the village, and, after some negotiations, was allowed to leave as long as Rem went with him.
Upon arriving, Subaru and Rem noticed that the village was in an uproar, learning that Petra and the other children had disappeared. He had a fairly decent idea of where they were and led Rem to the forest, where she noticed that the barrier had been broken, causing her to explain that witchbeasts lived in the forest. Seeing him go deeper into the forest, she questioned him motives, prompting him to tell her about each of the childrens' dreams, leading to her cooperation. Deeper in the forest, the two of them found all of the children except for Meili, who Petra mentioned was farther along. Subaru made Rem promise to watch over the children until the villagers arrived, promising to answer any of her questions if she did so.
Soon after, Subaru found Meili collapsed in the forest, however, before he could get her to safety, he was attacked by a whole group of witchbeasts, though fortunately Rem came to his assistance, allowing him to escape with the girl. Despite her intervention, she began to be overwhelmed due to the number difference, causing her to go into her Oni Form, and began killing witchbeasts. The difference in numbers still proved to be a problem, forcing him to knock her out of her Oni Form to get her to think clearly, ending up with him getting attacked by a group of Danger Beasts in her place. Fortunately, she noticed him getting attacked and killed the Danger Beasts attacking him, pleading for him to not die.
Chapter 4: Oni Like Way[]
Subaru woke up the next morning, realizing that he hadn't died, instead surviving the encounter the night before. As he wondered what had happened, Puck appeared from a sleeping Emilia's hair to explain the whole situation to him, including the fact that all seven children were safe. After he received some steamed potatoes from Ram, he left the house he was temporarily staying in to check up on the children, and while he was doing so he met Beatrice, who revealed to him that he had only half a day to live. Surprised by a lack of a reaction, she confirmed his assumption that he had been given another curse, further adding that the multiple curses had meshed together, making it too complicated to try and remove it, using thread as an example to give him a good idea of what was happening. Seeing that Subaru had resolved to stay alive, Beatrice revealed that there was a way to stop an already activated curse, and that was to kill the user, which was how the children survived the attack.
About to give up due to the difficulty, Subaru remembered Rem's words, realizing that he hadn't seen her even once in the village, then asked Beatrice of her whereabouts, causing Ram to join their conversation. Gaining her support, Subaru and Ram headed into the forest to save Rem, though she informed him that she wasn't as strong as Rem in her Oni Form since she was a Hornless. Making their way through the forest while killing Wolgarms from time to time, Ram tried to find Rem using her Senrigan, but was unsuccessful. After she finished, Subaru tried to find her using his Returns by Death to attract the Wolgarms to him, as the smell of the witch would deepen when the black hands appeared, and Rem would follow the witchbeasts if they moved.
Unfortunately, Ram tired after killing seventeen Wolgarms with her magic, forcing Subaru to carry her in his arms as they escaped from them. One of the Wolgarms managed to bite Subaru's shoulder, knocking him off balance and off a cliff. He tried to stop his fall with the sword he had borrowed, however that broke from the pressure, forcing Ram to use her wind magic to cushion their fall, resulting in her becoming severely weakened. To add to their problem, both the Wolgarms and Rem arrived, and while the witchbeasts fled the maid came down to where they were to attack them. Noticing Ram in Subaru's arms, Rem ordered him to let go of her, attacking him with her weapon as she did so. After a short while, the Wolgarms tried to attack her again, making her turn her attention way from him in order to fight them.
Temporarily relieved, he watched the two forces fight each other, and seeing that Rem was starting to take more and more damage, he decided to bring their attention back to him by attempting to mention his Returns by Death again. He succeeded, turning the fight into a three way battle. Subaru carefully maneuvered his way around the battle, making sure to avoid any damage, though unfortunately one of the Wolgarms activated the curse it had placed on him in order to gather mana to fight Rem. To his surprise, Rem killed thewitchbeast that activated the curse, causing Subaru to realize that even in her Oni Form she still remembered why she was fighting the Wolgarms. At that point Ram woke up, informing him that a powerful strike to her horn would bring Rem back to normal. Taking her advice, Subaru attempted a strike at her horn by throwing Ram to distract her, but he missed her by a few millimeters. Taking advantage of the situation, the small Wolgarm attacked them with magic, sending him flying into the sky, nonetheless he took this to his advantage by attempting another attack on her horn. His second attack succeeded in striking the horn, bringing Rem back to normal.
Interlude; Rem[]
Rem recalls Ram and hers past, from their birth as Oni who only had one horn whom were considered worthless under Oni society in their village, the discovery of Ram actually being prodigy, the adoration her older sister gained while she was forced to grapple with and resign to the fact she could never measured up her no matter the effort and was doomed sit in her shadow. Then finally the day the Witch Cult suddenly struck destroyed the village killing all the inhabitants including her parents save for her and Ram. The later fought to bitter end to protect the former who was paralyzed by fear, until she got her horn cut off from an cultist. Luckily their were saved by Roswaal who had arrived then, but Rem could not get over her horror at her initial impulsive feelings of joy at seeing her lose the one thing made her sister superior to her. Personally tormented by that fact, she resolved to live the life her sister should have in her place to make up for her victimless crime.
Chapter 5: All In[]
As soon as he returned Rem to normal, Subaru grabbed both sisters and ran as fast as he could, leaving their defense to Ram. Rem didn't understand why they were helping her, claiming that she needed to do it herself, to which he told her to depend on them. He then left Rem with Ram while he ran off to be a decoy, which Rem protested, nonetheless he refuted her protests and left. Making his way back to the small Wolgarm, he was shocked when it grew several times its size into a large Wolgarm, and as he was about to fight it he heard Rem call his name, bringing a smile to his face. He then used Yin Magic to cover the area in darkness. Gathering all of his energy, he made his way outside of his own magic, then swung his sword, stabbing his sword deep within the Wolgarm, whose head was still within the magic. Subaru was immediately overcome with a sense of disgust at the thought of killing a living being, though he got over it and ran off, his mana holding up because of a Bocco Fruit the children had given him.
To his surprise the Wolgarm attacked him and picked him up from behind, ready to devour him, however Subaru blocked its attempt by drawing his sword from its body, then plunged it into its mouth, wounding it from the inside. The witchbeast fought back, but before either side could continue, Roswaal attacked it with fire magic, killing it in one hit. Subaru complained about Roswaal's late appearance, then asked him how he found his location, to which Roswaal answered by telling him that Emilia was certain he would use magic if he was cornered and made sure Roswaal knew about it before he left for the forest. Soon after, both Ram and Rem joined them, with Rem hugging Subaru with all of her might, causing him to lose consciousness. As he lost consciousness, he heard Roswaal tell him to sleep, and that he would reward him later, adding that he would take care of rest.
Epilogue: Story of the Future[]
While unconscious, Subaru found himself in a shadowy place with a shadow that formed into a female humanoid shape. Before the shadow could claim his consciousness, white fingers surrounded his consciousness from behind, causing the shadow to begin to dissipate. However, before it completely disappeared, the shadow stretched out a finger and said something, though he was unable to hear it clearly.
Subaru awoke in a room within the mansion, then noticed that Rem was sitting in a chair next to his bed, her hand entwined with his right hand. He asked her why she was holding his hand, prompting her to tell him that he seemed to be suffering in his sleep, and Rem, not knowing what to do, decided to hold his hand as that was what she enjoyed being given. She began explaining the situation after he asked, informing him that all of the Wolgarms had been killed, and that Roswaal had invited the children from the village to write get well messages on his servant's shoes.
At this point Rem began blaming herself for all the trouble she had caused him, asking him why she still had her horn and Ram didn't, then told him to forget about what she just said. However, Subaru told her that she had three "stupids", the first being that she was still dragging something that had ended, the second was that she tried to resolve everything herself, and the third was that she thought of herself as inferior to Ram. He added that Rem was probably the only one who cared whether or not she had a horn or not, praised her good traits, then thanked her for saving him.
Later on, Emilia visited his room and began to lecture him about his decision, though she added that she was grateful for what he did. As a reward, Emilia agreed to go on a date with him, commenting that they should take a bouquet on the day of their date.
Intermission: Secret Conversation Under the Moon[]
The next night, Roswaal and Ram were alone together in his room, where he had her report to him on Subaru's situation. She reported that his wounds had healed thanks to Beatrice, however his gate was overused, and even she didn't know when he would be able to use it again, then added that while the Wolgarm were destroyed, the remains of the curses were still inside of his body. Roswaal shifted the topic to the witchbeasts, asking her if she was able to confirm his suspicions, which she confirmed by telling him that the witchbeasts they fought were all hornless, adding more evidence to the probability of the whole incident being related to the Royal Selection. Their leader, who was thought to be Meili, had escaped, leaving no clues to her whereabouts.
Shifting the topic to Ram, Roswaal had her sit on his lap, then told her that both Ram and Rem were important to him, as they were irreplaceable pawns, a fact that Ram accepted without question. He then began the process of passing his mana into her body through her horn, a process the two did every night in order to keep her body in shape, as she couldn't absorb mana as much as other Oni without a horn, and without mana her body would begin to deteriorate. Suddenly remembering it, Ram reported that Rem had become attached to Subaru, which Roswaal wasn't that surprised about, prompting him to point out that Rem would stay with them as long as Ram served him. Moving to the windowsill, he had her sit next to him, and as they sat there, he reflected on his goal which was to win the Royal Selection so that he could kill the Dragon.