*Peace is a fragile thing. Subaru Natsuki knows this better than anyone.*
The royal selection has settled. The estate is quiet. Emilia smiles, the tea is sweet, and for a moment, Subaru allows himself to believe that happiness might be something he's permitted to keep.
But peace has a price—and the bill is coming due.
When a forgotten bell tolls in the dead of night, the villagers of Arlam begin to lose pieces of themselves. Memories. Names. The things that make them who they are. And the dee
Re:Zero - The Bells of What Remains - Complete Oblivion — Rem, Who Lost Her Name, and the Blade of Doubt
Morning light wrapped itself around the mansion of the Roswaal frontier estate.
Beyond the windows, the garden trees swayed in the wind. The rustle of their leaves sounded strangely distant. Natsuki Subaru hauled his heavy body up from the bed. He'd barely slept again last night. Every time he closed his eyes, that bell's tolling echoed on and on at the back of his ears.
(...Rem.)
Deep in his chest, her name rang cold.
Yesterday, he had witnessed the mansion's servants losing their memories one after another. In the kitchen, young maids had collapsed in tears, unable to recall even each other's names. In the forbidden library, Beatrice had lost even the memory of the "someone" she'd waited for since four hundred years ago, trembling with the terror of her own existence growing faint at the edges.
And now the gaps in memory were creeping toward Subaru himself.
(If Rem forgets me completely—)
Just thinking about it turned the pit of his stomach to ice.
Unconsciously, Subaru clenched his left hand, the one in the black glove. Beneath the glove was a device to mask the witch's scent. The price of Return by Death. A lonely power he could never tell anyone about.
"...Guess I'll go."
Subaru muttered under his breath and left the room.
The air in the corridor was chilly.
His footsteps on the stone floor echoed far too loudly. Normally there should have been the bustle of servants busy with morning preparations. Yet now the entire mansion was silent as still water.
Subaru headed for the kitchen.
(Rem should be up by now.)
He walked on with that thought—but his heart was pounding like a hammer. He wanted to see her. And yet, seeing her terrified him.
He stood in the kitchen doorway.
A girl with a short blue bob stood with her back to him. Her white maid's apron was tied neatly, and her hands moved deftly, cutting vegetables. The bangs she parted to hide her right eye swayed slightly.
Rem.
The last survivor of the oni clan, a maid of this mansion. The girl who had once called him "Subaru-san" and smiled at him.
Subaru tried to speak, and his throat seized up.
(Until yesterday, she—)
No. That wasn't right. Yesterday's Rem had already not fully remembered him. Even so, a strange ache for Subaru had remained in her chest. That had been his last hope.
"Morning, Rem."
Subaru spoke with all the calm he could muster.
Rem's hands stopped dead.
Slowly, she turned around. Her narrow blue eyes looked straight at Subaru's face.
Something flickered in those eyes.
...No. Nothing flickered.
Rem looked at Subaru and tilted her head for just an instant. Then, as though addressing a guest she was meeting for the first time, she bowed politely—but with a clear, unmistakable distance.
"Good morning. Sir knight, whom I do not know."
Those words pierced Subaru's chest like a sharp blade.
Sir knight, whom I do not know.
Rem's voice was gentle and courteous. But there was not a shred of familiarity in it, not a trace of warmth.
"...Rem, it's me. Subaru."
Subaru forced the words out.
Rem stared at his face. Her blue eyes observed his, as if appraising him. But that gaze was clearly different from the confusion of "something stirring in my chest" she'd shown until yesterday.
"Are you Lord Subaru, then? Forgive my rudeness. I am Rem, a maid in service to this mansion. I hope we shall become acquainted."
With that, Rem bowed deeply once more.
Her manner was that of a flawless maid.
Too flawless—and that was exactly what tore Subaru's heart to shreds.
(I've vanished completely from inside Rem.)
Subaru felt the truth of it with his whole body.
The strength drained from his legs. Even standing felt like a burden.
Rem watched him with a puzzled look.
"Um... Lord Subaru, are you feeling unwell? You look rather pale."
"...No, I'm fine. Just a little short on sleep."
Subaru forced a smile.
Whether it looked convincing, even he couldn't tell.
Rem simply watched his smile in silence.
In her eyes, the faint wavering of yesterday was nowhere to be found.
"Breakfast is ready. Please make your way to the dining hall."
With that, Rem returned to her work.
The knife struck the cutting board in a steady rhythm.
Subaru stood rooted to the spot.
(To Rem, I've become just some knight she doesn't know.)
The thought turned something deep in his chest cold and dark.
Footsteps came from the kitchen doorway.
He turned. A petite maid stood there, pink hair hiding her left eye. Ram. Rem's twin sister, also a maid of the Roswaal mansion. The elder sister who called him "Barusu" and never missed a chance to skewer him with her sharp tongue.
Ram glanced over the kitchen.
She looked at Rem's back, then at Subaru's face.
Her eyes narrowed.
"...Barusu. Come around back. Now."
Ram spoke in a tone that brooked no argument.
Subaru followed her.
Behind the mansion.
The morning air was still cold. The garden trees murmured in the wind.
Ram faced him and crossed her arms.
"Rem has forgotten you completely. You saw how she was just now—you understand, don't you."
"...Yeah."
Subaru answered briefly.
Ram's eyes pierced him, cold and sharp.
"Barusu. You're hiding something, aren't you. Rem wouldn't end up like this unless you did something."
Ram's voice was sharp and merciless.
Subaru met her eyes straight on.
(I want to tell her. About Return by Death—all of it—and make her understand.)
The urge surged up from deep in his chest.
Subaru opened his mouth.
"Ram, listen. I—about that bell—"
And then it happened.
A searing pain ripped through his chest, as if it were being crushed in a fist.
"Guh—ahhh—!"
Subaru clutched his chest and dropped to his knees.
It felt as though someone's hand were squeezing his heart directly.
It hurt. It hurt so much.
He couldn't breathe.
"Barusu!? What the—what's wrong with you, all of a sudden!"
Ram stepped closer, startled.
But Subaru was in no state to care.
(I can't say it... I can't tell anyone about Return by Death...)
Subaru braced himself against the ground and endured the pain with everything he had.
Eventually, it slowly receded.
Subaru raised his head, breathing raggedly.
Ram looked down at him with cold eyes.
"...What were you trying to do just now. You were about to say something, weren't you."
"...I can't say it. Whenever I try to talk about it, this happens."
Subaru spoke as though gasping for air.
Ram's expression didn't change.
If anything, the suspicion in it deepened.
"I don't understand a word of it. Your chest hurts when you try to talk? Who would believe such a ridiculous excuse."
Ram's words were perfectly reasonable.
No one would believe it.
Subaru knew that better than anyone.
"...You don't have to believe me. But all I want is to save Rem."
Subaru wrung out his voice.
Ram stared at him hard.
"As long as you're near Rem, Rem gets confused. Starting today, you're forbidden from going near her."
Ram pronounced her verdict.
Subaru couldn't say a word.
He wanted to argue. But he couldn't.
He simply clenched his fist tight.
His nails bit into his palm.
The pain distracted him, just a little, from the pain in his heart.
Ram said nothing more and went back inside the mansion.
Subaru was left alone in the back garden.
The wind was cold.
Early afternoon.
Subaru wandered the mansion's corridors without aim.
Banned by Ram from approaching Rem, he had nothing to do—and no desire to shut himself in his room either.
From the far end of the corridor, a blond boy came walking.
Sharp fangs and a large scar on his forehead. Garfiel Tinsel, warden of the Sanctuary, with beastman blood in his veins. One of Subaru's comrades, who called him "Taisho" and looked up to him.
Garfiel spotted Subaru and stopped.
In his eyes there was none of his usual open, carefree grin.
"...Taisho."
Garfiel called him in a low voice.
"Garf. What's with the long face?"
Subaru tried to answer lightly.
But Garfiel kept his eyes fixed straight on Subaru.
"Taisho. You said no more secrets, didn't you."
At those words, Subaru's heart gave a heavy throb.
"...Yeah. I did say that."
"Rem's memories are gone, and it's affecting the rest of us too. The folks in the mansion are acting strange. If you know something, Taisho, tell me."
There was desperation in Garfiel's voice.
He wanted to believe. But he couldn't.
That conflict showed through plainly.
Subaru bit his lip.
"...I can't tell you. Even if I want to, I can't."
That was all Subaru said.
Disappointment and doubt flashed through Garfiel's eyes.
"...I see. Fine, then. But Taisho—I believed in you, you know."
With that, Garfiel walked past him.
Subaru couldn't bring himself to turn around.
(Believed in me, huh.)
The words sank deep into his chest.
Evening.
As Subaru walked through the mansion, he felt the servants' eyes on him.
Every time he passed one, they looked away.
Or they whispered to each other.
"...That man, Lady Rem's memories...""...Better not go near him...""...I hear he's hiding something..."
Whispers meant to be overheard.
Subaru pretended not to hear and kept walking.
(I've become completely isolated in this mansion.)
The thought brought a sensation of the ground crumbling away beneath his feet.
Back in his room, Subaru collapsed onto the bed.
He stared at the ceiling.
(Rem has forgotten me. Ram suspects me. Garfiel is disappointed in me. The servants avoid me.)
(Emilia... Emilia is the only one who still believes in me.)
The moment he thought it, Emilia's face rose in his mind.
Long silver hair. Large violet eyes. That pure, honest smile.
(But Emilia is starting to lose her memories too.)
The memory of her contract with Puck.
The memory of family—the thing Emilia herself treasures most.
The bell's tolling was eroding it, little by little.
"I'll get it all back. Every last bit."
Subaru struck the floor with his fist.
A dull thud echoed through the room.
But his cry reached no one.
Only emptiness spread through the room.
Night.
Subaru slipped out of the mansion without anyone noticing.
Moonlight bathed the garden in pale blue.
Killing his footsteps, he went out through the back door.
His destination: the Bell Tower of Oblivion.
An old stone tower at the edge of Arlam Village, on the border of the Alva Forest.
Unless that bell was stopped, nothing could begin.
Subaru started alone down the path into the forest.
The forest at night was dark and cold.
The branches blocked the moonlight, and he could barely see his feet.
Still, Subaru kept walking.
(If I don't go, who will?)
He told himself so, over and over.
How long had he walked?
At last, moonlight spilled through a gap in the trees.
Before him loomed a black shadow.
The Bell Tower of Oblivion.
An old stone tower roughly fifteen meters tall, four stories high.
It stood there quietly, eerily, as though melting into the darkness of the night.
Subaru stood at the tower's entrance.
An ancient wooden door.
He took a deep breath and pushed it open.
Gii... The rusty creak echoed through the silence of the night.
Inside was pitch black.
Damp, mold-smelling air.
The walls were densely carved with the incantations of the Witch Cult.
Subaru climbed the spiral staircase one step at a time.
His footsteps echoed off the stone walls.
The top floor.
When Subaru cleared the last step, he was there.
Moonlight streamed in through the window.
In that light stood a translucent boy.
Faded gray hair, unkempt and overgrown.
Vacant silver eyes. Unfocused, occasionally warping into the shape of a bell.
He was slightly shorter than Subaru.
His body was transparent—you could see right through it.
The Master of the Bell Tower of Oblivion.
What remained of a nameless boy who, four hundred years ago, was taken in by the Witch Cult and made a sacrifice in their ritual.
Subaru faced the boy.
"...So you've come too."
The boy's voice was thin, carrying an echo like a bell's toll.
"Yeah. I came to stop you."
Subaru looked the boy st
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