The Second Tea Party
The darkness ended, and Subaru suddenly opened his eyes.
He instinctively reached for his throat first, then began to assess his surroundings.
The dim vision and the pain coursing through his whole body made Subaru instantly understand where and when he was.
"...A friend, huh."
Subaru muttered quietly, clenching his fist unconsciously.
There was nothing there, yet he could somehow feel Otto's expectations and trust for him.
Subaru slowly stood up, then looked toward the stone chamber of the trial.
The path leading to the chamber bore bloody claw marks that radiated despair.
"If I had a choice, I'd rather not go anywhere near that."
He made a sarcastic remark, then clenched his fists tighter.
Recalling Otto, the fire of courage flared up once again in his heart.
Subaru took step after step forward.
Before reuniting with the friend who would soon arrive, Subaru decided to first clear up the many doubts in his mind—for his own sake, and for the hope of breaking through this deadlock.
,
,
,
On a grassy hill, a cool breeze brushed his cheek.
Subaru squinted against the bright sunlight and looked around.
At some point, he had ended up sitting on a white chair, and across the table sat Echidna. Her palm supported her cheek as she smiled at Subaru.
"It's quite rare for the same guest to be invited to my tea party twice in a row! You can be proud of that, you know?"
"...That's not what I want to talk about. You know that, Echidna."
"Yes, you're right. I was being a bit mean. I just couldn't help teasing you."
Subaru's voice carried a tone of reproach, knowing time was definitely not abundant.
Echidna raised both hands in mock surrender, then joined them together with a smile.
"Although it seems like you have a lot you want to say and ask, as a guest at a tea party, you should behave according to the etiquette, right? You understand that much?"
Her tone remained calm, but the weight of her voice was immense.
"First, finish this cup of tea, then I'll answer your questions one by one. How about that?"
"Sorry, but I'm not interested in your 'Tea'... I want to talk about something with real substance."
"So mean."
Echidna pulled back the tea she had offered Subaru and drank it herself, then looked at him as if giving tacit approval.
"What exactly is the second trial?"
There were so many things Subaru wanted to ask—needed to ask, should ask—but he couldn't control himself and ended up asking something that neither needed to be asked nor should have been.
"'Confront the Unseen Present'—that is the theme.
The scene shown... a present that does not exist.
You are shown a present different from the current one, and the trial examines whether the subject can correctly affirm the one and only real present."
Echidna gave a brief explanation of the second trial.
Seeing Subaru's growing impatience, she finally got to the main point.
"The 'present' shown in the second trial, like in the first trial, is at most a vision of an imaginary world. Even if it could have happened as a possibility, in the end, it's still a fabricated unreality."
"Th-then..."
"But—"
Echidna raised her hand to stop Subaru from speaking.
"I still don't fully understand the mechanism of your 'Return by Death.' In other words, I have no means of verifying whether parallel worlds actually exist."
"Ah…"
"Don't look so disappointed.
I still learned quite a bit.
No matter how broken your body and mind become, no matter how miserable your death is, until you defeat the fate that causes that 'death,' your soul is forced to return to an earlier time and relive things."
"This power that does not allow you the peace of 'death' is undoubtedly the ability of 'Envy.'
What that person desires is to prevent you from getting stuck in a dead-end of fate.
The Authority exists for that purpose.
As long as you break free from the dead end, time will continue to flow forward forever…"
Echidna was a being beyond human—one of the witches.
But for a moment, it felt like Subaru was seeing the real her for the first time.
No! Subaru suddenly recalled the smile she had shown at their last farewell—maybe that was the first time he'd caught a glimpse of her witch-like side.
Images of Echidna surged through Subaru's mind—the Witch of Lust, the Witch of Wrath, the residents of the Sanctuary, Beatrice, Roswaal—finally, Subaru caught hold of the idea that had kept slipping away in his thoughts.
"There's only one way to confirm it. That is to ask the Witch of Envy herself. But... you already know just how impossibly difficult that is, don't you?"
Echidna's merciless words brought Subaru back to his senses. Realizing the situation he was in, Subaru suppressed the anger rising in his heart.
"I agree—it's cruel. But I believe we need to face it with a decisive attitude."
Echidna spoke to Subaru, who had fallen silent from the blow of her words.
"On your journey here, you haven't done a single thing that was worthless.
No one has the right to say your desperate efforts were 'not enough.' You've staked everything you possibly could just to reach this very moment. —That's something to be proud of."
Echidna's tone was full of sincerity, but compared to the punch and affirmation from Otto, it felt contrived.
The perfectly timed gestures, words, emotions—if not for Otto's chaotic emotional outburst, Subaru might have felt comforted by her as if a spring breeze had passed.
"Echidna."
"What is it?"
"Your attitude is all just shallow pretense."
Hearing Subaru's words, Echidna visibly froze.
Then, all expression vanished from her face.
This was a side of her Subaru had never seen before—different from the Echidna he'd known until now.
Subaru's suspicion deepened.
Her past behavior took on a shadowy tone in his recollection.
"About the contract—I'd like to continue negotiations."
"...Do you really think I'd be eager to sign a contract under these circumstances?"
"You're going to reject me over something this trivial?
You should know the consequences of letting emotions override rational choices.
Take a good look at reality.
Are you seriously thinking of relying on Otto and the others to solve the Great Rabbit crisis? You should understand his limits.
Or is it about the conditions I gave during our last conversation? I said we could negotiate.
And if what you said is true, I personally feel you'd need more attempts than me to clear things. So if you think logically, I am the correct choice."
Echidna spoke in a flat, emotionless tone.
Subaru closed his eyes and recalled everything that had happened up to now.
"Echidna, are the answers at your tea party always truthful?"
"Yes. I give answers to those who enter the tea party in pursuit of knowledge, and I take a price. At least on that front, I'm sincere."
"Then..."
Subaru stood up, extended his right hand, and held out four fingers to Echidna.
"I have four questions. If you answer them, I'll make my decision right away."
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