Re:Zero: Wrath Route Yandere Emilia Watches the Projection

Puck shifted nimbly on her shoulder, his face the very picture of mischief. ”Just what, exactly, Lia? Hmm? Why leave a sentence half-finished?”

He drew out the last syllable on purpose, as if sending some kind of pointed hint to Natsuki Subaru standing nearby.

”Puck!” Emilia cried, flustered and embarrassed in equal measure, reaching out to push him away — but Puck rose like a feather on the wind and settled right back where he had been.

Emilia drew a slow breath, trying to collect herself, but her mind refused to cooperate. It kept replaying every moment from the top of the tower just now — Subaru’s declaration that had rung out across the sky, the fierce, unwavering light in his eyes under the sun, and that word, ”love,” that had made her very soul tremble.

That burning sincerity — so real, so impossible to dismiss — had poured once again into the heart she had long since left open for Natsuki Subaru.

She pressed her lips together, her gaze drifting of its own accord toward Natsuki Subaru, who stood not far away.

The boy seemed to be watching her too. A faintly helpless smile sat on his face, and his eyes were warm — silently telling her not to mind Puck’s teasing.

This understanding, this acceptance — something she had desperately longed for in her past life but never once received from Natsuki Subaru — made her heart tremble beyond words.

To be embraced so completely, to be understood in the way she had once prayed for and never found — it settled into the depths of her heart like the most precious of jewels, sending ripple after ripple of something called happiness spreading outward.

Without thinking, she lowered her head, her eyes falling on her own fingers, which she had been twisting together from nerves — and yet, against her will, the corners of her mouth curved into the smallest of smiles.

”He… he’s only…” Emilia tried to speak again, her voice barely above a whisper, carrying a softness and a wavering she herself hadn’t noticed.

She wanted to say ”he’s only a friend” — but after that soul-shaking confession, she could not lie to herself.

She wanted to say ”he’s someone I love” — but she knew perfectly well that was nothing but a beautiful fantasy. After all, they had known each other for less than half a day.

And yet, if not ”someone I love,” what word could possibly describe the strange, blazing feeling that had quietly taken root inside her and was now growing wildly out of control?

Sunlight danced across her long silver lashes, casting tiny, shifting shadows that concealed the churning tangle of emotions in her eyes.

”I, Natsuki Subaru — am Emilia’s knight!”

Suddenly, Subaru planted one hand on his hip, pointed the other straight at the sky, and proclaimed his declaration in a pose that any local would find utterly bizarre — yet which radiated a peculiar, unshakeable confidence.

”Wh— huh?”

Caught completely off guard, Emilia raised a hand to her lips and stared at him, too stunned to form a response.

Subaru, utterly unbothered by how awkward he looked, gave a little twist of his hips, snapped his fingers, and turned a grin on Emilia — the kind of grin he was absolutely convinced was radiant and cool.

”So! If this question is putting you in a tough spot, Emilia, then I’ll take the initiative and define things myself!”

”Through thick and thin, in life and in death — that’s what Emilia’s one and only exclusive knight, Natsuki Subaru, is all about!”

The emotion called happiness swelled silently inside Emilia’s chest — at once a sweet, breathless tightness, and a tentative, trembling hope.

”An exclusive knight… do I really deserve that?”

”But… I’m so happy. The thought just won’t stop — this is wonderful. This is really, truly wonderful.”

”Well, it’s good to see young people with some drive.”

In the end, it was Puck who steered the moment past with a breezy remark — as if he had no wish to linger on the weight hiding behind that vow.

He flicked his tail and changed the subject.

”By the way, what are you two doing all the way up here? Enjoying the view? The weather really is lovely today.”

Puck drifted over to the railing and hovered there like a small fluffy ball, gazing out at the city bathed in sunlight below, his tone returning to its usual languid ease.

”Though, if this is a date, shouldn’t you be somewhere a bit more romantic? For example…”

”Puck!” Emilia cut him off before her contracted spirit could launch into what was sure to be an even more outrageous ”suggestion.”

”We’re just looking for someone! A golden-haired little girl who stole my badge!”

”Oh? Your badge was stolen?”

Puck turned toward Emilia, a thoughtful expression crossing his small cat face.

”That is serious.” His voice dropped just slightly, as though something was turning over in his mind. ”Lia’s badge…”

”Yes, which is why Subaru and I have been searching.”

Emilia nodded, a trace of worry settling over her features.

”We went to so many places and asked everyone we helped along the way, but we haven’t found a single lead.”

She glanced over at Natsuki Subaru. Subaru gave her a small nod — confirming everything she said.

”Hmm…” Puck propped his chin on his paw. ”A golden-haired little girl… let me think…” He seemed to be combing through his memory for anyone matching that description.

Then, almost imperceptibly, a note of gravity crept into his small, childlike voice.

”Lia — is it possible you’ve been searching in the wrong direction?”

”The wrong direction?” Emilia blinked her violet eyes, feigning puzzlement. ”What do you mean, Puck?”

”Well…” Puck rubbed his small paw against his chin.

”Is the person who took the badge really doing it for money? Or… could she have been put up to it by someone?”

His gaze swept meaningfully across the Royal Capital’s streets below — bustling on the surface, yet seething with unseen currents beneath.

”After all, your identity… and the significance of that badge…”

”Put up to it…”

Emilia echoed the words in a murmur, her delicate brows knitting together slightly.

”Puck, have you thought of something?”

”Maybe.” Puck gave his head a little shake, and his tone settled back into its familiar lightness.

”Since you can’t find her anywhere in the city, why not try the slums — and take your chances there?”

At those words, Natsuki Subaru lifted his head and squinted up at the sun’s position in the sky, quickly calculating the time in his head. It was roughly where he’d expected.

Once the sun set, Puck would disappear — and facing the Bowel Hunter without him would be a very different, very dangerous problem.

So Subaru picked up the thread without hesitation:

”Emilia, Puck’s right — let’s head to the slums now!”

...

The setting sun melted into gold. Its warm light spilled without favor across every road and rooftop, gilding them all the same.

Heeding Puck’s earlier advice, Natsuki Subaru and Emilia stepped into the slums.

The moment they crossed in, the air grew thick and heavy, laced with the faint but unmistakable stench of rotting refuse and stagnant water.

Low, crooked shacks crowded together, their alleyways narrow and winding like the passages of a maze.

Residents moved alone, hunched in the shadows of lean-tos or tucked into corners, their faces hollow and grey.

The whole area was saturated with something beyond ordinary poverty — a despair that ran bone-deep, spiritual in its weight.

”Watch your step, Emilia-tan.”

Subaru kept his voice low, his eyes sweeping alertly across every shadowed fork and corner on either side.

He walked a half-step ahead, ready to react to anything that might come.