*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 - The Bell of the Nameless — The Night That Offers Up Return by Death
It was the bottom of the night.
At the edge of the Alva Forest, atop a low hill, a stone bell tower floated pale blue in the moonlight. Fifteen meters tall, four stories. A cursed relic said to have been used in a Witch Cult ritual four hundred years ago. In its topmost tier, a bronze bell hung in silence.
Natsuki Subaru climbed the hill alone.
The moss-slicked path underfoot was wet with night dew and treacherous. Each step pressed cold water up through the soles of his shoes. The trees of the forest rustled, swaying in the wind.
Unconsciously, Subaru clenched his left hand, clad in a black glove. Beneath the glove was a device to mask the scent of the Witch. The price of Return by Death. A lonely power he could tell no one about.
During the day, Ram had cornered him. Garfiel had suspected him too. Rem had completely forgotten who Subaru was. Emilia, even so, had believed in him. But Subaru had given nothing back for that trust.
With trembling legs, Subaru reached the top of the hill.
The entrance to the bell tower gaped open, a dark mouth.
Inside was pitch black.
The smell of mold and ancient stone stung his nose. Subaru stepped inside. His footsteps echoed far too loudly in the darkness.
Up the spiral staircase, up and up.
With every step, every tread, his heart pounded like a warning bell.
The trembling in his hands would not stop.
He reached the topmost tier.
The bronze bell was there.
Witch Cult incantations carved into the walls. Though there was no wind, the surface of the bell seemed to tremble faintly.
"...I'm here. I've come all the way to you."
Subaru forced the words out.
There was no answer.
But the next moment—
Before the bell, the outline of a boy surfaced, semi-transparent.
A thin, wasted body. Ragged, wretched clothes. He looked barely ten years old. But only his eyes burned with an unnatural, glittering light.
"...You're the master of that bell, aren't you."
Subaru stepped forward.
The boy slowly turned his face toward Subaru.
"...I am"
His voice was hoarse.
"a nameless sacrifice."
Subaru bit his lip.
"Four hundred years ago, in a Witch Cult ritual, I was offered up before this bell. No one called my name. I remained in no one's memory. I simply died."
The boy's voice was flat, detached.
But deep in those eyes, Subaru saw it—a seething, pitch-black emotion, churning.
"So I kept ringing it. This bell. Wanting someone to notice. Wanting someone to remember. ...And then, everyone forgets. Not me—the people who matter to them. Strange, isn't it? I want to be forgotten, and yet I make everyone else forget."
Subaru clenched his fist.
"...Don't give me that. Don't drag Rem and Emilia into your hopeless loneliness."
Subaru's voice was shaking.
The boy stared fixedly at Subaru's face.
"...You're the same."
Subaru's heart leaped.
"Inside you, there's a loneliness you can tell no one. Again and again, you've borne the pain of death alone. ...Haven't you? Those memories of Return by Death."
Subaru was speechless.
The boy smiled faintly.
"Feed those memories to this bell. The pain of dying over and over, the despair you can never speak of—all of it. Do that, and I'll be satisfied. And I'll vanish. The memories of your companions that were devoured will return as well."
Subaru caught his breath.
"The price is your memories. The lessons you learned from dying, your promise with Rem, the memories of saving Emilia—you'll lose them all. Even so, your companions will be saved."
A heavy silence fell over the bell tower.
Subaru lowered his head.
Rem's smile surfaced in his mind. Emilia's earnest eyes surfaced.
Subaru raised his face.
"...Fine. Take my memories. So give everyone back."
Subaru's voice was quiet.
The boy stared fixedly at Subaru's face.
"...You're strong."
"I envy you. You have something to offer up. I have nothing. Not even a name."
For the first time, emotion bled into the boy's voice.
"...Now then. Stand before the bell."
Subaru took a step toward the bell.
That was when it happened.
"Subaru!!"
A breathless voice rang out.
Subaru turned.
At the entrance to the spiral staircase, silver hair swayed.
Emilia stood there.
Her large violet eyes were wet with tears.
"Subaru, no. Don't go offering up your memories on your own."
Emilia ran to Subaru.
And she gripped his hand tightly in both of hers.
"Even without memories, what you feel now is real. The fact that you protected me, the fact that Rem cares for you—those aren't memories. They're here, now."
Emilia's hands were warm.
Subaru gripped her hands back.
"...Emilia, but then, everyone—"
"So you're supposed to carry everything alone? I won't allow it. You are not alone."
Emilia's voice was trembling.
But her eyes looked straight at Subaru.
"I'll stay here too. If you're going to disappear alone, then I'll disappear with you."
Subaru stared at Emilia's face.
He gave a small smile.
"...You really are stubborn."
"You're the one who made me this way."
Emilia did not let go of Subaru's hand.
That was when it happened.
"...Subaru, sir."
A faint voice reached them.
Subaru and Emilia turned at the same moment.
From the darkness of the spiral staircase, a girl with a short blue bob appeared.
It was Rem.
The last survivor of the oni clan, a maid of Roswaal Manor. The girl who was supposed to have lost her memories completely.
Rem was crying.
"Rem... Rem doesn't remember you. But when I look into your eyes, my chest aches. Why is that? I don't want to lose this pain."
Rem took Subaru's other hand.
"Sister Ram tried to stop me. But I couldn't just sit still. ...Rem wants to be here."
Rem's hand was warm too.
Subaru felt the warmth of both of them in his hands.
Deep in his chest, something grew hot.
The boy watched the scene in silence.
"...You have what I could never obtain."
The boy's voice was trembling.
"No one ever called my name. No one ever held my hand. I remained in no one's memory. ...Why are you so blessed?"
Subaru looked straight at the boy.
"...I'll remember your name."
The boy's eyes went wide.
"I'll carve your existence here. So stop devouring memories."
Subaru's voice was powerful.
The boy shrank back a step.
"...I have no name. No one ever gave me one."
"Then I'll give you one. Your name, from today on, is Noah. I'll call you that. I'll remember you. So you're not alone anymore."
Subaru stared fixedly at the boy's semi-transparent form.
The boy was trembling.
"...Can I really believe that? You might forget me soon enough. Humans are all like that. They forget. They forget me."
The boy's voice was thin, on the verge of fading away.
Subaru could not answer at once.
Silence ruled the bell tower.
That instant—
Gooooooong...
From deep within the bell, a low, eerie sound resonated.
A heavy, muddied tone unlike anything he had ever heard.
Subaru tensed.
Emilia gripped his hand harder.
Rem clung to his arm.
The boy pressed a hand to his own semi-transparent chest.
"...What is this sound? Something other than me is sleeping inside this bell."
For the first time, clear fear surfaced on the boy's face.
"...Then show me."
The boy looked at Subaru.
"Whether you can truly offer up your loneliness. Before this bell, show me how serious your resolve really is."
Subaru stared back at the boy.
"...Yeah, I'll show you. I'm not running anymore. I will never give up—not on you, not on anyone."
Subaru's voice was trembling, but it was straight and true.
The hint of dawn began to seep faintly white into the eastern sky.
In the topmost tier of the bell tower, three shadows stood side by side.
Subaru in the center.
Emilia on his left.
Rem on his right.
Both of their hands held Subaru's firmly.
Another sound echoed from deep within the bell.
Its true nature was still unknown.
The boy—Noah, the nameless one Subaru had named—gazed steadily at Subaru and the others.
His semi-transparent body grew fainter, as if dissolving into the light of dawn.
But his eyes alone still burned with that glittering light.
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