[ When the screen lit up again, an unfamiliar male voice sounded out—
"Good—Morning, son!"
"Code of Hammurabi?"
Subaru was speaking words that others couldn't understand again, but that wasn't the point. The point was the half-naked man presented on the screen.
"Hey, hey, hey, what's wrong, what's wrong, what's wrong? Waking up in the morning to a flying press full of love! Why don't you ever learn? This is what we call 'beware of carelessness, watch out for the fire'!"
"Cough, cough… how high are your expectations… for someone who's asleep… Besides, what you just said…"
Subaru's eyes welled with tears as he opened them to look at the man in front of him.
The man shifted his hips to the right, pointed his right hand toward the sky, struck a pose that Natsuki Subaru often did, and said:
"What's wrong now? Looking at your expression, it's like you saw your stark-naked old man first thing in the morning!" ]
.....
〜Inside, the Theater〜
"…Son?"
Ram tilted her head to the left.
"…Old man?"
Rem tilted her head to the right.
"In other words…"
Beatrice lowered her head slightly.
"In other words…"
Emilia raised her head slightly.
The half-naked man on the screen wore glasses, his hair was the same rare black as Subaru's, and his hairstyle was also curled just like Subaru's. Even the corners of his mouth and other features were very similar to Subaru's.
Plus, what he said, and those familiar movements, there was no doubt…
"It's Subaru's… father."
Emilia stated the obvious answer.
"BOSS'S OLD MAN!"
Garfiel shouted.
"It's Rem's…"
Rem started to say something, but suddenly blushed, covered her cheeks with her hands, and didn't continue.
It was Rem's father-in-law.
"Seriously, this weird pose was passed down by his father,"
Ram remarked.
—
[ "Hey, don't ignore me! If you keep ignoring me, do you believe I'll cry for you? It's your grown-up dear old dad who's going to cry, you know! Can you stand this situation? If it were me, I definitely couldn't, I'd die of embarrassment!"
"I'm the same! Besides, that flying press just now already crushed me to death; I'm going to enter a long slumber now."
Looking around, this was a medium-sized room, and the items inside were quite peculiar. Some could be guessed, while others were bizarre.
For example, on the shelf in front, various books were stacked, with colorful little figures drawn on the covers.
Or, for instance, there were toy figures in various poses placed around the room.
The most eye-catching one was a square black metal box.
It looked like a wooden crate, but much larger.
One of the four sides of this box seemed to be made of glass.
And below it was an even larger, square base with all sorts of strange buttons.
And the place for sleeping… it seemed to be lying directly on the floor?
After all, no bed was found.
Then some small items were completely incomprehensible, looking strange and exotic. ]
.....
〜Inside, the Theater〜
"This is…? Ah, it's gone."
Anastasia saw a business opportunity and was about to take a closer look, but the screen had already gone dark.
After Subaru finished speaking, he covered himself with a blanket, apparently pretending to be dead based on the conversation.
"Good guy, the Lil'bro is someone interested in the 2D world… so many figures, is he an otaku?"
Al said.
Then, Al looked at everything on the screen and said with a hint of melancholy:
"Sigh, it's really nostalgic…"
"By the way, what was that big black box?"
Felt asked.
"The base had various buttons… could it be some kind of anti-theft measure?"
Yuriusu touched his chin, guessing.
"Subaru's father is so energetic,"
Emilia said from the other side.
"Being energetic is a good thing, but going any further is just messing around. It seems Barusu inherited it from his father?"
Ram said.
"Oh? Subaru's body is actually quite sturdy, I didn't expect Subaru's old man to have an even sturdier body,"
Felt said from the other side.
With Subaru's father shirtless, one could clearly see the muscles on his body, especially that prominent set of abs.
—
[ Although the screen had gone black, the sound still came through.
"What—are—you—doing? Is it the rebellious phase? Damn it, I knew this day would come sooner or later, but I never expected it to be this morning. If I had known, I wouldn't have prepared such a lousy breakfast; I should have prepared properly to talk to my son… Alright, I've decided to have a good talk with you today! Starting with body language! Try to break free from my four-figure hold full of love! Woo-oh, woo-oh-oh-oh-oh!"
"Even though you say that with your mouth, why are your hands grabbing my leg… Hey, wait, it hurts! It hurts, hurts, hurts!"
The screen suddenly lit up, and Subaru's father was seen grabbing Subaru's leg, locking it into a figure-four leglock.
"Hahahaha! What's wrong, what's wrong? For someone who exercises every day, only your size has grown. To be in a tough fight against a middle-aged man, aren't you ashamed… Ah, wait a second, it hurts! It hurts, hurts, hurts!"
"Stupid! To choose such a weak figure-four leglock as a counter-move. You really are old, Dad! You just need to roll over to return the damage! Using a figure-four leglock on me was your mistake… Ah, wait! No fair rolling back! It hurts! It hurts, hurts, hurts, hurts!"
Just as Subaru rolled over to counter, he was rolled back by his father. ]
.....
〜Inside, the Theater〜
"Come to think of it, this should be something that happened in the past, right?"
Emilia asked.
After all, she was like this herself… no, it was different.
She was watching her past self, but Subaru… had returned to the past?
"There is another possibility… these are all fake. They are constructed based on Subaru's memories of his previous life. I suppose"
Beatrice said.
Hearing this, Emilia fell silent.
Fake… huh.
Emilia suddenly thought that in the eyes of Subaru's real parents, Subaru had suddenly disappeared and might never be found again.
And they might never have any chance to say goodbye.
Subaru's parents… are truly pitiful.
"Wait, don't you think it's a bit strange? Natsuki-san should have entered the tomb to undergo the trial out of concern for Emilia-Sama. All of this should be very sudden in Natsuki-san's eyes. But this reaction of his…"
It's as if he had forgotten everything.
"If that's the case~, it seems the key to breaking through the trial~ this time is to reco~ver the memo~ries that were inten~tionally sea~led."
Roswaal said.
—
[ "Hey, you two. Mom is hungry, it's time to eat breakfast." Accompanied by a female voice, the door was slowly opened.
A woman with a side ponytail resting on her left shoulder, her eyes looking just as fierce as Subaru's, said lazily.
"Oh no! Sorry, sorry. I got lost in physical contact with Subaru without paying attention. You can just eat first."
Natsuki Subaru's father hurriedly let go and jumped up.
"We could just eat as a family, so why do I have to eat first? It's obviously better when everyone eats together."
This woman tilted her head, puzzled.
And Subaru's father nodded repeatedly, saying:
"Exactly, you're absolutely right. That's my wife for you—so sensible! Breakfast is always better when the whole family sits down together."
She called herself "Mom," her gaze looked just as fierce as Subaru's, and Subaru's father called her "Wife."
It was clearly Natsuki Subaru's mother.]
.....