This voice immediately drew Tsukasa's dissatisfaction.
He raised an eyebrow and looked at Ram. "Hmm? Ram, what was the meaning of that sound just now? Do you have some dissatisfaction with me?"
Ram remained expressionless, responding in her usual flat yet sharp tone, "Ram just thinks that Tsukasa is a hopeless idiot. To have a beautiful girl take the initiative to hold your hand, yet still say such insensitive words—it's truly a waste of Subaru's unconscious dependence."
Seeing Tsukasa about to roll up his sleeves for a "theoretical discussion" with Ram, Subaru quickly patted her cheeks, trying to clear her chaotic thoughts.
However, a discovery even more shocking than the hand-holding appeared—Ram was actually talking to Tsukasa!?
She snapped her head up, her gaze scanning back and forth between Tsukasa and Ram, her face written with disbelief, her voice trembling slightly. "No... that's not right. Ra-Ram? You can see him?"
Hearing Subaru call her name with such alarm and suspicion, Ram tilted her head slightly, wearing a "what kind of nonsense are you saying" expression, and replied in her characteristic venomous style, "What? After a nap, not only has your memory become worse, but your eyes have problems too? Ram has been right here, of course I can see this eyesore Tsukasa."
Subaru turned to the white-haired man beside her. "Then... Tsukasa?"
"What is it, Subaru?" Tsukasa looked at her with his arms crossed, seemingly finding her flustered state quite amusing.
Subaru was dazed. She extended her finger, pointing first at Tsukasa, then at Ram, and finally at herself, asking the most crucial question in a tone that was almost checking if the world was still normal, "Wait! This is too much information! In other words, Ram, you can... see Tsukasa right now?! You can communicate with him normally?!"
Ram found Subaru's massive reaction somewhat baffling, but she still gave a clear and affirmative answer, "That is the case. Is there a problem?"
...
After a brief explanation from Tsukasa, Subaru finally managed to accept the fact that he could move around freely in a Spirit Form.
She looked at the white-haired man sitting nonchalantly in the chair with a relaxed posture, unable to help murmuring in her heart, 'Sigh, letting this guy out... I really don't know how many more people he'll 'victimize' in the future.'
Thinking of this, Subaru couldn't help but sigh, then sat down on a chair by the table along with Tsukasa and Ram. She casually picked up a cup of tea that had just been poured on the tea table and took small sips while flipping through the stack of letters Tsukasa had handed her earlier.
Thanks to Rem helping her learn the language, she had already mastered the Rune Script, so reading was not difficult. In less than ten minutes, she had finished browsing the contents of all the letters.
The letters were filled with the innocent and sincere words of children.
"Thank you, Subaru, for bringing Rem-nee and us back."
"Thank you."
"Subaru-nee was really cool when saving us."
"You must come back to see us again."
"I love Subaru-nee the most."
Looking at these pure expressions of gratitude and affection, a warm smile unconsciously appeared on Subaru's face as she softly remarked, "These children are truly lovely."
Putting down the letters, she turned to look at Ram, who was sitting quietly nearby, and asked with concern, "Ram, how is Rem's condition? Is she okay? Why didn't I see her come over?"
Before Ram could speak, Tsukasa, who was holding a dessert in one hand, a cup of tea in the other, and sitting with his legs crossed, spoke up first, "Rem is fine, she just needs rest. But looking at her state then, she should be back to her lively self very soon."
Seeing Tsukasa's "arrogant" posture, acting as if he were in his own home, Subaru sighed helplessly once more.
Then, as if suddenly realizing something, she snapped her head around and stared at Tsukasa with a sharp gaze, her tone carrying a hint of interrogation. "Wait! So you ran off to see Rem while I was asleep?!"
"Cough! Cough, cough..."
Startled by Subaru's sudden questioning, the pastry in Tsukasa's mouth instantly choked him. He coughed violently, his face turning red from the strain.
Fortunately, Ram promptly pushed the teapot in front of him. He gulped down several mouthfuls before finally catching his breath. Otherwise, he might have returned to the Consciousness Space because of such a blunder.
Having finally recovered, Tsukasa hurriedly explained, "I didn't want to disturb your 'Sleeping Beauty' rest, and besides, I came out immediately and confirmed you were safe and sound first before stopping by to see Rem... well, even though you didn't have any injuries to begin with."
Though his explanation carried a bit of a sophistical flavor, listening to Tsukasa's obviously fallacious rhetoric, Subaru sighed silently in her heart again, too lazy to argue with him further.
She turned her gaze back to Ram and asked a new question, "So, Ram, can you tell me what happened after I fainted?"
Ram, who had been silently sampling the exceptionally bitter tea she had brewed, gently set down her teacup upon hearing this.
She looked up and narrated in her characteristic calm tone, "After you fainted, Subaru, Roswaal-sama personally set out to purge the remaining Mabeasts around the village. However, according to what he said upon his return, there weren't many decent Mabeasts left by then."
"The most troublesome issue was actually the massive crater left on the spot after Tsukasa used that magic."
At this point, she turned her gaze toward Tsukasa, who had begun leisurely rocking his chair again, and continued, "Because the residual mana fluctuations around the crater were exceptionally strong, they even caused a certain amount of interference with spatial stability. Roswaal-sama spent nearly half an hour barely calming the mana disorder in that area and restoring the terrain."
Feeling Ram's gaze, Tsukasa stopped rocking his chair, smiled nonchalantly, and said, "But it's already been restored, hasn't it? The situation was urgent then. To solve so many Mabeasts in one go, I could only use a slightly excessive method. Wasn't the effect quite good?"
Having gained a general understanding of the whole process, the helpless expression on Subaru's face was almost overflowing.
She looked at Tsukasa, who had an "I did nothing wrong" expression, and eventually shook her head, concluding with a tone of relief, "Fine. Regardless of the process, in short, this matter has finally ended smoothly."
(End of Chapter)
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