*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 Night of Giving Names — The Final Toll of the Bell of Oblivion
The air before dawn filled the topmost chamber of the bell tower, cool and still.
In the east, the sky was beginning to bleed a faint white. But the light was still too weak to reach the bronze bell. The Witch Cult incantations carved into the walls glowed faintly pale blue in the darkness.
Natsuki Subaru stood facing the translucent boy.
Four hundred years ago, a nameless sacrifice in a Witch Cult ritual. A being whose name no one had ever called, who remained in no one's memory—who had simply died. What remained of him now stood before Subaru.
The boy's emaciated body seemed to blur at the edges in the dim light of dawn. His coarse clothes were worn thin, his bare feet pale and see-through. But his eyes alone burned with a strange, glaring light.
"...You said it earlier. That you'd remember my name."
The boy's voice was hoarse.
"Yeah, I said it. I'll remember your name. I'll carve your existence right here."
Subaru's voice was trembling, but it did not waver.
The boy stared at Subaru's face.
"Then show me."
The boy's lips twisted faintly.
"Show me whether you can truly offer up your loneliness. The sincerity of that resolve. Prove it here, before this bell."
Subaru bit his lip.
And then it happened.
Gooooooong...
From deep within the bell, a low, murky sound resonated.
A heavy, eerie tone he had never heard before. The bronze bell trembled faintly, though there was no wind. The incantations on the walls blazed brighter, more intense.
Goosebumps rose across Subaru's entire body.
Something cold crawled slowly up from the nape of his neck to the small of his back.
(What is this sound...)
His heart pounded like a hammer.
The boy pressed a hand to his own translucent 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.
"When I was offered to this bell four hundred years ago, there was no sound like this. ...Something is in there. At the bottom of this bell."
Subaru looked at the bell.
Countless incantations carved into the bronze surface. From the gaps between them, something like a black mist seemed to seep out faintly.
(This bell hasn't only been devouring the master's loneliness...?)
Roswaal's words resurfaced in Subaru's mind.
"If you cast something aside, I'll kill everyone and make you start over."
That man knows something. About this bell. About Subaru's Return by Death.
(...Don't think about it now. Focus on what's in front of me.)
Subaru clenched his fist tight.
Beneath the black glove, his left hand trembled faintly.
"...If you want to see my resolve, then—"
Subaru took a step toward the bell.
"I'll show you. All of me."
Subaru reached out his right hand toward the bell.
His fingertips touched the bronze surface.
Cold.
Cold as ice.
But beneath that cold, something stirred. Another sound flowed from the depths of the bell, through his fingertips, into his body.
(This is what it feels like to have your memories devoured...)
Images surfaced in Subaru's mind.
Rem's smile. Emilia's straight, honest eyes. Ram's sharp tongue. Garfiel's laughter. Beatrice's sulky face.
Precious memories.
(Am I going to lose these?)
Something screamed deep in Subaru's chest.
But he did not let go.
"Take my Return by Death memories."
Subaru's voice came out low, wrung from somewhere deep.
"The memories of all the times I died. The pain, the loneliness, the despair—feed it all to this bell. ...So give everyone's memories back."
The boy stared intently at Subaru's face.
Something wavered in those eyes.
"...Are you saying that for real?"
"For real. I'm not running anymore."
Subaru pressed his hand against the bell.
Mana flowed out from his fingertips. His Return by Death memories were being sucked into the bell.
The back of his skull ached.
The sensation of something peeling away.
(Ah. So this is what losing your memories feels like.)
Subaru's vision began to blur.
And then—
"Subaru!!"
A breathless voice echoed from the entrance of the bell tower.
Subaru started and turned.
From the darkness of the spiral staircase, long silver hair swayed like moonlight.
Emilia stood there.
Her large violet eyes were wet with tears. Her long, pointed elf ears trembled faintly. She wore only a thin jacket over her nightgown. Her breathing was ragged. She must have run all the way here.
"Subaru, don't. Don't give away your memories without asking."
Emilia ran to Subaru.
And she gripped his hand tightly with both of hers.
"Even without memories, what you feel now is real."
Emilia's voice was shaking.
But her eyes looked straight at Subaru.
"The fact that you protected me, the fact that Rem cares about you—those aren't memories. They're here, right now. You don't have to carry everything alone."
Emilia's hands were warm.
The exact opposite of the ice-cold bell his other hand still touched. Warmth.
Subaru squeezed her hand back.
"...Emilia, but then, everyone will—"
"So you're just going to disappear by yourself? I won't allow it. You are not alone."
Emilia's voice rang through the bell tower.
It was trembling, but strong.
"I'll stay here too. If you're going to disappear alone, then I'll disappear with you."
Subaru stared at Emilia's face.
A pure, honest, stubborn silver-haired girl.
Subaru smiled faintly.
"...You really are stubborn."
"You made me this way."
Emilia did not let go of Subaru's hand.
And then—
"...Subaru-san."
A faint voice reached them.
Subaru and Emilia turned at the same time.
From the deeper shadows of the spiral staircase, a girl with a short blue bob appeared.
It was Rem.
The sole survivor of the oni clan, a maid of the Roswaal mansion. The girl who was supposed to have lost her memories completely.
Tears spilled from Rem's narrow blue eyes. Beneath her bangs, the tips of small oni horns were barely visible.
"Rem... Rem doesn't remember you."
Rem took Subaru's other hand.
"But when I look into your eyes, my chest hurts. I don't know why. I don't want to lose this pain."
Rem's hand was warm too.
Subaru felt the warmth of both of them in his hands.
"Ram-sama tried to stop me. But I couldn't just sit still. ...Rem wants to be here."
Rem gripped Subaru's hand tight.
Her grip was frail, but it held unmistakable will.
Something hot welled up deep in Subaru's chest.
(I'm not alone.)
(Emilia is here. Rem is here.)
(So I can still fight.)
Subaru lifted his head.
He looked straight at the boy.
The boy watched the scene in silence.
His translucent body grew fainter, as if dissolving into the light of dawn.
"...You have what I could never obtain."
The boy's voice trembled.
"No one ever called my name. No one ever held my hand. I remained in no one's memory. ...Why are you so blessed?"
For the first time, clear emotion seeped into the boy's voice.
Not anger. Not envy.
Just sorrow.
A deep, deep sorrow.
Subaru looked 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 strong.
The boy took a step back.
"...I have no name. No one ever gave me one."
"Then I'll give you one."
Subaru gazed steadily at the boy's translucent form.
"Your name, starting today, is Noah. I'll call you that. I'll remember you. So you're not alone anymore."
And in that moment—
The boy's body began to shine.
Countless particles of light spilled from his feet, from his fingertips.
"...What is this?"
The boy looked at his own hands.
His translucent hands were turning into particles of light.
"...Noah."
The boy spoke the name.
"Noah. ...That's my name."
A smile surfaced on the boy's face.
The first smile of a boy who was supposed to have died four hundred years ago.
"...Thank you. You'll remember me. You'll call my name. ...That alone is enough for me."
The boy's body turned further into particles of light.
"I will remember your loneliness, always."
The boy's voice grew distant.
"So remember someone too. ...You are not alone. There are those who remember you."
The boy's body became entirely particles of light.
Countless lights swirled up through the topmost chamber of the bell tower.
Like a swarm of fireflies.
The particles of light slowly drew into the bronze bell.
And then the incantations carved into the bell's surface vanished all at once.
The bronze bell returned to being just an old bell.
Silence wrapped around the bell tower.
Subaru stared at the scene, dazed.
"...Noah."
Subaru spoke the name once more.
(I won't forget you. I won't forget your name.)
Subaru swore it in his heart.
And then—
Emilia gripped Subaru's hand hard.
"Subaru, look. ...The memories are coming back."
Emilia's voice was shaking.
Subaru looked around.
The incantations carved into the bell tower's walls were gone. The bell's surface had returned to plain bronze.
And images were reviving in Subaru's mind.
The promise he'd made with Rem. The day he first met Emilia. Ram's sharp tongue. Garfiel's laughter.
(They're coming back...)
Subaru's chest grew hot.
"...Rem, do you remember me now?"
Subaru looked at Rem's face.
Rem shook her head.
"...No. Rem still doesn't remember you."
Rem's voice was quiet.
"But this pain in Rem's chest hasn't gone away. If anything, it's stronger than before. ...When I think of you, my chest tightens and it hurts."
Rem squeezed Subaru's hand.
"Even without the memories, it seems my feelings for you remain."
Rem said it and smiled.
That smile was fleeting, and yet unmistakably warm.
Something clenched tight deep in Subaru's chest.
(So the memories don't come back completely.)
Subaru accepted that fact.
But it wasn't only sadness.
(Even so, what Rem feels is real.)
Subaru squeezed Rem's hand back.
"...Thank you, Rem."
That was all he said.
Emilia took Subaru's other hand.
"I only remember a little of the day I met you, too. But I know that you're precious to me."
Emilia's violet eyes looked straight at Subaru.
"Even without memories, what I feel now is real. ...Subaru, you are someone precious to me."
Subaru looked at Emilia's face.
Her silver hair shone in the light of dawn.
Subaru smiled.
Not forced this time. Naturally.
"...Yeah. You're all precious to me too."
Subaru's voice was trembling, but it did not waver.
The three of them cast their shadows side by side in the topmost chamber of the bell tower.
Subaru in the center.
Emilia on his left.
Rem on his right.
Both of their hands held his firmly.
The eastern sky was beginning to pale.
The night was about to break.
Subaru strained his ears toward the depths of the bell.
...Gooooooong.
Faintly, a low sound reached him.
Even after Noah had vanished, another sound still echoed from the bottom of the bell, refusing to fade.
(What is this sound?)
Something cold ran through Subaru's chest.
(Noah is gone. And yet this sound is still ringing.)
Subaru stared at the bell.
The bronze bell hung there quietly.
But from its depths, a sound was unmistakably resonating.
(Something other than Noah is sleeping inside this bell.)
Roswaal's words resurfaced in Subaru's mind once more.
"If you cast something aside, I'll kill everyone and make you start over."
(Does Roswaal know about this bell?)
(Or is it something else entirely...)
Subaru bit his lip.
A premonition of a new threat.
But for now, there was no way to confirm what it was.
"Subaru, let's go home."
Emilia tugged at Subaru's hand.
"Everyone's worried. ...Ram and Garfiel too."
"...Yeah, you're right."
Subaru nodded.
The three of them left the bell tower behind.
Down the spiral staircase, down and down.
When they stepped outside, the morning air felt cool and pleasant against his skin.
The trees of the forest were wet with morning dew.
In the distance, he could hear birds singing.
Subaru looked up at the sky.
The eastern sky was beginning to stain orange.
The long night was coming to a
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