Richest Man in the Lighthouse: "So, @Ordinary Group Leader, why did you go quiet all of a sudden?"
Richest Man in the Lighthouse: "Is the newcomer someone super special?"
Tony voiced the question on everyone's mind. Snapping back to reality, Su Yunqing hurriedly posted in the chat group:
Ordinary Group Leader: "Special... Well, not that special."
Ordinary Group Leader: "How should I put it... Rem, just like Railgun, is one of my all-time favorite characters. You get what I mean, right?"
If Mikoto Misaka was Su Yunqing's favorite character after watching A Certain Scientific Railgun and A Certain Magical Index, then after finishing Re:Zero, Rem stood shoulder-to-shoulder with her.
Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World was fundamentally different from many of the anime series Su Yunqing had watched before. Its protagonist, Subaru Natsuki, was neither a max-level account dropped into another world like Momonga, nor enjoying a lighthearted, comedic isekai existence like Kazuma Satou.
When he first transmigrated, he was an ordinary human. Although his physical constitution was somewhat stronger than an average person, he remained fundamentally ordinary.
He had periods of overconfidence and arrogance, succumbed easily to pride, acted self-righteous, and made countless mistakes because of his flaws.
Those were his shortcomings.
Yet he also demonstrated wonderful qualities like courage, kindness, and unwavering resolve.
Although he possessed a cheat like 'Return by Death', it was never a blessing—it was pure, unadulterated torment.
Returning upon death indeed allowed him to start over, but death in reality was no video game. It was excruciatingly painful, deeply traumatic, and overwhelmingly terrifying.
That psychological agony was far more harrowing than death itself!
If not for his love for Emilia, the obsession in his heart, and the understanding and support of people like Rem, Subaru Natsuki likely would have gone insane long ago.
To be honest, Su Yunqing hadn't held much goodwill toward Subaru at the beginning, because she couldn't find the feeling of a protagonist she wanted in him.
Just as ordinary people had no interest in watching the mundane lives of other ordinary people, as an ordinary person herself, Su Yunqing naturally didn't gravitate toward someone as ordinary as she was.
Yet as the story progressed, she couldn't help but be moved by Subaru's relentless struggle, coming to love the character.
Dying again and again, saving people again and again, failing again and again.
He never harbored resentment toward the world. Instead, he desperately fought to protect those he cared about, even going so far as to unhesitatingly save someone who had tried to kill him.
Originally, Subaru had no connection to Rem, Ram, or Emilia, nor did he have any obligation to save them, yet he did so anyway.
If Su Yunqing had been in his shoes, she certainly wouldn't have done it.
How could a single loop of Return by Death make someone certain of their ability?
What if there was a daily limit on Return by Death?
What if he had only one chance to use it?
What if Return by Death simply malfunctioned?
Forget a second time—even if forced to use it ten, twenty, or a hundred times, Su Yunqing would never be one hundred percent certain that she could return next time!
Every single loop, in Su Yunqing's eyes, was a direct gamble with one's life!
They weren't anyone significant to him at first, so why risk death to save complete strangers?
Moreover, Return by Death came with severe side effects.
The Witch's Miasma, overlapping memories, mental breakdown, and so forth.
There were far too many excuses one could give themselves.
Furthermore, because of Return by Death, in order to cope with upcoming perils, he often did things that seemed bizarre, incomprehensible, or even repellent in the eyes of bystanders.
Could he explain?
He couldn't.
What left the deepest impression on Su Yunqing was Subaru's conversation with Echidna, the Witch of Greed. The moment Subaru realized he could finally speak aloud the experiences he had buried in his heart for so long inside the Witch's realm, he broke down and wailed uncontrollably, all his tightly strung emotions collapsing in an instant.
It was hard to imagine the sheer despair weighing on his soul back then.
If he had arrived in another world at max level like Momonga, possessed a bugged ability like Rimuru, or had teammates who—even if unreliable—could at least keep his spirits light like Kazuma Satou, his ordeal wouldn't have been nearly so hopeless.
Subaru Natsuki and Reinhard van Astrea.
Although both shared names starting with 'Rei', the way the world treated them was night and day.
One was treated as if he had offended the world, while the other was practically the world's favored golden child!
"Phew..."
Su Yunqing took a deep breath.
She seemed to have dwelled a bit too much on Subaru, when the one who actually joined the chat group was Rem.
The fact that Subaru could persevere until now was inseparable from Rem.
Gentle, kind, considerate, completely devoted, willing to sacrifice herself for Subaru, supporting him at every single moment without fail.
She was a character that practically existed only in anime, someone impossible for anyone to dislike.
Emilia was wonderful—you could attribute every virtue to her.
Yet Su Yunqing simply loved Rem more.
What Rem did for Subaru was by no means less than Emilia.
Whether it was disobeying orders to help Subaru escape and cover for him even while knowing he was abandoning her to find Emilia; or standing steadfastly by his side when Subaru was publicly humiliated by Julius;
Whether it was sensing danger at the mansion in the first loop and leaving him at the inn to protect him, riding alone to the territory and dying in battle;
Or staying by Subaru's side without wavering when he was driven mad in the second loop, placing him at the center of everything, encountering the Witch Cult, having her entire body twisted and broken, yet clinging to life solely through her obsession with Subaru;
Dragging herself across the ground with her forehead toward him, using her dying breath to shatter his chains before perishing...
Whether it was...
[If true love has a color, it must be blue.]
Although that phrase was an extension of 'If a miracle has a color, it must be orange', applying it to Rem couldn't be more fitting.
"Live on. I love you the most, Subaru."
How many people had found those words impossible to forget?
She couldn't take it anymore; the more Su Yunqing thought about it, the more emotional she became.
Ordinary Group Leader: "Rem... Rem actually joined the chat group!"
Ordinary Group Leader: "This is seriously the best thing ever!"
Ordinary Group Leader: "Although her tone just now didn't sound quite like her usual self—she didn't drop a classic sharp retort like she does with Subaru—Rem is still Rem!"
The Most Ancient Godslayer: "..."
The Most Ancient Godslayer: "What on earth is she babbling about?"
Marquis Voban looked at Su Yunqing's bizarre outburst in the chat group and couldn't help but feel she wasn't quite right in the head.
Richest Man in the Lighthouse: "Beats me. First she dropped a line, went completely dead silent for a while, and then unleashed a wall of incomprehensible rambling."
Richest Man in the Lighthouse: "Even if she likes her as much as Railgun, is there really any need to be this exaggerated?"
And why was Rem joining the chat group 'the best thing ever'?
Don't tell me you're actually planning to do something weird to her?
———
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