(Attendances… plz…)
….
Gojo walked in front, his long legs setting a brisk pace that forced Emilia to hurry to keep up. She followed him out of the study and down the grand hallways, a trail of confusion in her wake. "So," she finally asked, her voice a little breathless, "where are we going, Gojo?"
"Anywhere that isn't you, alone, drowning in a pile of boring books," he replied without looking back.
"But I have to do it!" she protested. "It's the only way I'll have a chance in the selection! Me being a half-elf is already the biggest problem, and with my appearance being so simi, "
Gojo stopped so abruptly that Emilia almost ran into his back. He turned around, his bandaged face looking down at her. "Emilia, you have low self-esteem," he stated, his voice flat and direct.
"Just like I said, you're too innocent and timid for your own good. It's like… someone could easily use you, and you wouldn't even realize it because you'd just think that's how things are supposed to be." He tilted his head.
"In the inn, you acted like you were in control, but anyone who spends more than five minutes with you can see right through it. So, instead of acting like you're in charge, you should just be in charge."
He then started walking again, a little slower this time. "As for what we're going to do," he continued, his tone lightening, "you are going to teach me the basics of magic."
Emilia hurried to catch up, completely baffled. "Huh? Isn't that the opposite of how teaching is supposed to work? You said you were going to be my teacher, but now you're asking me to teach you."
"Who said a teacher can't learn from his students?" Gojo said with a laugh. "Things go both ways. And this way, you'll get a little confidence boost from being the expert. So… yeah, it works."
….
With Subaru…
While Gojo was busy with his impromptu life-coaching session, Subaru was keeping a suspicious eye on him from a distance, all while trying to navigate his first day of work with the twin maids.
His morning had been a blur. He was woken up painfully early, then taken to get a butler's uniform.
Of course, all the clothes were too big for him, so Rem had to take his measurements, her touch professional but her presence making his heart beat a little faster.
Then came the grand tour of the massive mansion.
Walking through the beautiful gardens with a cute maid by his side, he finally started to feel a little bit like the main character of his own fantasy story again.
The feeling had been badly shaken ever since Gojo appeared. In Subaru's mind, Gojo was a textbook isekai cheat character, a handsome guy with overpowered skills who was definitely here to steal all the girls and build a harem for himself.
His plan was simple: he had to stop Gojo's evil harem plot. He had to protect the pure, innocent Emilia from that wretched, cosplaying cheat who acted all cool and mysterious.
He was so deep in his heroic thoughts, mentally battling his new rival, that he didn't notice Ram staring at him.
"Barusu," she said, her voice a sharp, deadpan jab that pulled him back to reality. "Are you listening, or are your ears and brain as useless as your potato-peeling skills?"
Subaru blinked. Barusu? He didn't know where the nickname came from, but he didn't question it. Being given a special nickname by a cute girl had its own charm, even if it wasn't a very flattering one.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm listening!" he said defensively, gesturing to the mangled potato in his hand. "And it was my first time peeling potatoes! If I say so myself, I did a pretty good job for a first try!"
"Yeah, yeah," Ram mimicked, her face completely expressionless. "I don't know where Barusu gets such confident but useless self-comforting thoughts from."
I can't win against her, Subaru cried silently in his mind. She showed no emotion, yet her words hit like tiny, sharp icicles, delivered with the casual brutality of someone simply stating a fact.
Subaru, scrubbing a pot with far more vigor than necessary, had formulated the beginnings of a plan.
His mission: expose Satoru Gojo. In his mind, it was a heroic undertaking.
He had to show Emilia the "true colors" of the man who was clearly deceiving her, trying to add her to his future isekai harem.
The plan was simple. Actually, he didn't have a real plan yet, just a vague, half-formed idea. He knew he couldn't fight Gojo head-on.
The memory of how effortlessly Gojo had dealt with the Bowel Hunter, an enemy who had almost gutted him multiple times, was still terrifyingly fresh. Gojo's cheat skills were on a completely different level.
So, a physical confrontation was out. He'd have to use his wits. He'd have to rely on the cliches, the tropes, the scenarios he'd absorbed from his forbidden knowledge of manga and anime. He needed to create a situation where Gojo would look bad in front of Emilia.
His vision of Emilia was that of a kind, soft-hearted girl who couldn't stand to see anyone get hurt.
So, the core of his plan began to form: he would lure Gojo somewhere, taunt him, and provoke him into attacking.
Not a killing blow, just a punch or a shove. Then, Emilia would "happen" to see it, and Gojo's cool, heroic facade would shatter, revealing the violent bully underneath. It was a perfect, if slightly cowardly, plan.
"Barusu."
Ram's sharp, monotone voice sliced through his triumphant daydreaming. "Are you lost in your head again, your useless brain thinking about something inappropriate?"
Subaru looked at her, completely baffled. How could she say such things with a face that was a perfect, blank slate?
"Why would you even think I'd be thinking of something inappropriate?!" he protested, his voice cracking a little. "You don't even know me!"
"Barusu has the face of someone who would," Ram stated, as if it were an undeniable fact of nature. "And not to mention your creepy smile, like you've just cornered a child with malicious intent."
Subaru let out a long, defeated sigh and dropped his head. "I just can't win an argument with you, can I?"
"I don't know what Barusu is talking about," Ram replied, her expression unchanging. "Barusu should focus on his work to meet Master Roswaal's expectations."
….
A/N: Well mext chaoter would be about gojo meeting beatrice and then i will do a time skip to the leaving to the cillage scene.
&
you can join my discord server: https://discord.gg/5Y7uZ2kN2Y
Or in short just click in join via invite link in your discord and enter this code: 5Y7uZ2kN2Y