"Glad you took my request seriously."

Emilia blinks, turning to the person Subaru was talking to.

The little girl, Meili.

She had a small smile, a smaller pup in her arms... and an army of Mabeasts, following her with obedience.

"You've got a big mouth on you, Onii-chan."

Subaru blinks, before letting out a small fume of air out his nose,

"Mmyeah, ain't the first time I've been told that." He shrugs his arms, "Definitely won't be the last."

The pup below Meili growls out, not happy with the boy in front of them. Meili looks down, her smile falling.

"Why did you come back, Onii-chan?" Subaru's arms fall, as Meili talks, quietly, "After what you did to my friends... I don't want to capture you anymore, you know?"

"..." Subaru's face falls into a grimace, recalling how he lost control, fighting off the Mabeasts with the extra Unseen Hands.

Rem held a similar look of discomfort, passing a glance at Subaru.

Subaru could tell in her tone of voice: She was scared of him now.

"So what..." Meili looks back at the boy, with questioning eyes, "...Do you want from me... Onii-chan...?"

Subaru stays quiet. His group behind him shares concerned looks with each other.

He then makes a deep breath, and opens up:

"I want to save you, Meili."

The girl's eyes widen considerably, expecting a lot of answers... but not that one.

"Wh... Save me?" she whispers, confused.

"That's right," Subaru nods, balling up his fists, "Someone as young as you shouldn't be out here, alone, living with thesec monsters!"

"You should be back at the village, with everyone else! Playing with Petra, Lucas, Mild, Cain, and Dine!" Subaru lists off the other kids names, as he knew them fairly well, "Living a normal, happy life! Don't you want that, Meili!?"

The young girl, who was thrusted into a life of loneliness, felt a pang in her heart as Subaru made his earnest attempt to reach out to her. A small, small part of her wanted to just... take the opportunity!

"...Mmmruff!" –A bark from the puppy below her snapped her into her senses, and she remembers the consequences if she took the bait.

The sister that would hunt for her guts. The Mother that would seek out her head.

A life like that simply wasn't on the table for her.

"Sorry," A simple response made Subaru jump, as Meili gives a curt smile.

"...But... I'm happy with the way things are now..." Meili kneels down, and lets the pup stand on their feet. The Mabeast never breaks sight off of Subaru.

"That's a lie, and you know it!" Subaru exclaims, gritting his teeth!

"...Maybe..." Meili whispers, admitting her feelings to Subaru. However, her smile never disappears, "But I don't understand the appeal of living the life you talk about, either."

She stands back up, looking around,

"The forest is my home. These," She gestures to the Mabeasts by her side, "...Are my friends!"

Her cheerful attitude sends a pit of doubt down Subaru's stomach, as her eerily-happy voice rubs him the wrong way,

"And you..." Meili's eyebrows fall, as she glares at Subaru, "Are my enemy."

Subaru stiffens up from the declaration—not noticing the surge of mana from below his feet, glowing violently bright!—

"Subaru!" Emilia dashes towards him, pushing both of them away from the blotch of mana, as it reaches its maximum charge—

*FWA—PMMMMM!*

The mana results in a seismic explosion from the ground-upward, as fragmentation of rock and stone shoot in all directions!

"Tch!" Beatrice summons a shield of mana, deflecting the rocks away from her, Ram and Rem.

However, for Subaru and Emilia...

"Khh... Huh?" Subaru expected pain to hit him, but only found the comfort of Emilia's soft embrace, as she rested on top of him...

And found Puck above her, covering them both with a sudden glacier of ice, "Puck!"

"Stop acting so reckless, both of you!" Puck calls out, frustrated with the turn of events,

Puck glares at the boy, "From here on out, Meili is our enemy, Subaru!"

Subaru's teeth tighten, but he doesn't refute the spirit, "...Okay, got it."

Puck nods, before turning to Meili and her army of Mabeasts, "You lot have some nerve...!"

An array of icicles, of all shapes and sizes, start to form above Puck en masse, as his aura grows intense!

"Attacking my daughter! !" –With a loud cry, Puck shoots the storm of ice towards the Mabeasts, mowing them down quickly!

"Ghh!" Meili stiffens up, but the pup below her falls into a stance—

"ROARRR! ! !" –And lets out a mighty roar, unbefitting for the small dog. A wave of mana redirects the icicles away from Meili—but not saving any Mabeasts near the two of them...

The storm of ice cuts a hole in Meili's forces, enough to shock the little girl into her senses.

Meanwhile, Puck looks towards the pup, recognizing who the real opponent was, "...I had a hunch you were more than just a mutt."

"Yeah," Subaru stands up, supporting Emilia onto her feet, "That small dog's the boss here. Don't let your guard down around him."

"Subaru, you knew?" Emilia asks, knowing that the pup was in Meili's arms, when it was just her and Subaru.

Subaru nods, but keeps his focus on Meili, "...You wouldn't believe me if I told you how."

Subaru's low tone makes Emilia blink, confused... but she sets it aside for another time, watching the spirit and twin maids approach them.

"Subaru," Rem calls out, and the boy looks over.

Rem's face was dead serious, "Do we attack?"

"..." Subaru's eyes turn back to Meili, who was starting to get intimidated.

"Ruff!" –Meili turns to the pup, who was low on the ground, but had a close eye to the girl.

Meili understood the request they made, but even without her power, she could've interpreted what they said:

"Run!"

With that, adrenaline shot through Meili as she ran away from the scene, not letting Subaru make the call!

"Hey, wait!" –Subaru doesn't honor Rem a response, opting to chase after the little girl. He doesn't notice the pup's aura turn increasingly dense, as he begins to transform into his larger form.

"ROARRR! ! !"—Once again, the beast yells out a massive roar of energy, this time outward, towards Subaru!

"Nghhh!" Subaru feels the force of hot, turbulent winds blow past him, threatening to cause serious damage.

However, Subaru is already familiar with the beast, and his intimidation holds no effect. Subaru, after the winds pass, holds an arm up high!

"Shut your mouth!" –And throws a fist downwards, his Unseen Hand following suit and smashing the large, Cerberus-like beast on one of his heads.

The beast is stunned by the attack, but not nearly out of the fight. Subaru takes the extra few moments to turn back to his group,

"I'm chasing after Meili!" Subaru pumps a fist to his chest, his face dead-serious, "Everyone, please fight without me! Stay alive until I come back!"

Not wasting another second, Subaru runs off towards the direction Meili left, leaving behind a group with mixed feelings.

Ram makes a small huff, "Some leader he turned out to be... That idiot, Barusu...!"

Rem holds her Morningstar, tight, "Subaru-kun was put on the spot, Nee-sama! After all, it was his mission to rescue the girl!"

"...Not even asking me to follow... The audacity...!" Beatrice holds her own frustrations to herself, but summons Minya regardless, "...Is he making my job harder on purpose!?"

"Subaru..." Emilia looks to where Subaru disappeared, remembering something similar happening when it was just the two of them. She tightens her fists, before summoning Huma,

"Come back safe!" –making one last request, she turns to focus on the fight!

"Haa! Haa! Haa!" Gasps were made from Meili, as she ran from the scene, hoping her Mabeast Pup would have everything handled.

"Meili!" –A bite of shock shoots in her, as she hears the boy she's terrified about, hot on her trail, "Please stop running! We need to talk!"

"There's... Hah... No way!" Meili, in disbelief, looks over her shoulder as she ran—

"Khhh!?" –And fails to see a tree's roots up ahead, hooking onto her left leg as she stumbles over!

Meili falls flat onto the gravel and dirt, scraping her right knee deeply and bruising up quite a bit. For a moment, the blitz of pain makes the girl completely forget the things she was running from, tearing up ever so slightly...

"Mei—" The boy's voice was no-doubt behind her, as she heard him gasp, "Wh—Hey!? Are you alright!?"

Despite the concern his voice had for her, she remembered that he wasn't her friend. She was the person that brutally killed her friends—The one who took away her sister.

Was she next? Was this it for her? The thoughts alone were enough to make the girl tremble, fearful for her life.

"...Stay away...!" Meili yells, with a slither of hostility, like an attempt to appear dangerous that failed horribly.

Meili heard footsteps come closer to her, and began to pick herself up off the ground, gritting her teeth as the shock from slamming onto the ground hadn't quite worn off yet—

Meili felt herself get picked up, gently, until she was sitting properly on the dirt floor. Her eyes fell onto Subaru, who had a concerned look that matched his voice earlier.

Subaru makes a gasp through his teeth, looking at Meili's knee. Scraped up and starting to bleed, it was clear Meili wasn't going to walk on that leg without trouble.

Looking back at Meili, their eyes meet only but a second. Quickly, the girl breaks line of sight, looking away to quell her anxiety.

And Subaru, being the mature one here, put aside his goal to question Meili for a later time: She hurt herself pretty bad.

Taking action, he digs into the supplies he readily prepared before this mission, having just the thing to remedy the issue.

Meili takes it as a threat, and makes a movement to get up—

"Ghh..." Only to make a struggled groan, as her leg wasn't willing to work any time soon.

"Woah, hey!" Subaru holds out a hand, stopping his motion, "Calm down, alright? I'm not going to hurt you."

Subaru tries to reason with Meili, but the girl was still hostile, not believing him even for a second. It was only until Subaru pulls out bandages that she started to think otherwise.

...Subaru also pulled out a plastic bottle with some... liquid she didn't recognize.

"We can't have that wound get infected." Subaru, foregoing the fact that Meili was supposedly their enemy, wanted to believe in the Meili he was familiar with: The one that needed rescuing in his previous, successful life.

Striking up a conversation, being the one to initiate it, hoping that it was enough to get Meili to open up... If he can just do that, then...

"...What's that bottle...?" Meili opens up to Subaru a little, and he rewards it with a small smile.

"It's medicine." Subaru answers, not giving the liquid's full name of Hydrogen Peroxide, (Or, rather, this world's equivalent—something he got quickly familiar with as a servant of the Mather's household, in his last life.)

"Now listen, It's going to burn for a sec," Subaru watches Meili tense up, and quickly makes his point,

"But it'll quickly go away, and it's much better than letting that," –Subaru gestures at the gash on Meili's knee— "Go untreated... Alright?"

A moment of silence, as Meili weighs her options with pursed lips, the nagging pain on her knee not going away any time soon...

Finding no hidden motive in Subaru's intentions, Meili's head falls just a bit.

"Okay..." A whisper, but Subaru heard it clearly. Subaru gives a grateful nod.

"Thank you." Subaru holds the bottle above the wound, already having the container uncapped, "I promise this'll be quick."

With that, Subaru pours the clear liquid, and Meili hisses through her teeth as she was given treatment...

It doesn't take long for Subaru's party (sans Subaru) to realize just what kind of monster they were dealing with.

If there was one thing this Mabeast Cerberus had going for it, it was its endurance.

While Ram and Beatrice were fending off the smaller dogs, Rem, Emilia and Puck were tasked with the big one—

"ROARRR! ! !" The beast lets out a cry, as his legs break free from any icy grip Puck and Emilia's magic creates, unfazed by their stream of ice as he did so.

"Lia!" Puck cuts his magic flow off, and gives his daughter a sharp warning, "Jump back!"

Emilia, following suit, listens to her contracted spirit, narrowly dodging a violent plume of energy coming from below her feet. She ducks away from the loose shrapnel—

"Haaaaaaaaah!" –To see Rem going on the offensive, her Morningstar swung wide toward the Mabeast.

A good, chunky hit was placed on its bicep, but the beast makes only but a second to focus after the blow.

Rem grits her teeth, as she watches the beast use one of its heads to bite... onto the weapon's chain.

With a mighty tug, the beast throws Rem like an accessory, as she is launched far away from her group with her weapon soaring as well.

Slamming onto the trunk of the tree, she was lucky to still be standing on her legs. However, she has only mere moments to snap out of it, as the beast's attention was on her.

"Rem!" Emilia makes a cry, and Puck shoots towards the maid to assist her.

A familiar plume of energy rises under Rem, and she was unable to avoid the attack, given the shellshock she was experiencing...!

"Make yourself useful, maid!" –Beatrice's voice came with resounding reverb, stopping her current fight with the mobs as she holds out a hand, "And jump! Murak!"

Rem, able to process the simple request, makes a shaky hop off the ground. Thanks to the effects of Murak, however, the smallest jump pulls the maid upward in the air, as if gravity wasn't a factor.

Puck, arriving by Rem's side, uses his tiny paws to grab onto Rem's finger—

"Get going!" –and swing her towards the group!

"GRRRRAAAA—GHH!" Seeing the obvious move, the Mabeast makes an attempt to chomp on Rem, recoiling only when Puck lands an accurate shot onto the beast's eye.

"What's wrong? Did that hurt?" Puck taunts, purposefully leading the attention onto him as he summons more Huma icicles, "Well too bad! It's only going to get worse from here!"

While Puck was keeping the attention on himself, Rem finds herself 'steering' her body mid-flight towards Ram, and the sister noticed right away.

"Rem!" Ram almost jumps to catch her dear sister, and set her back onto the floor.

"You have my thanks, Nee-sama." Rem bows quickly, before swiping her weapon at the Mabeasts her sister was facing.

Ram takes another second to look at her sister, her vigor unwavering.

She curses under her breath, as she feels her Mana start to fizzle out, once more.

Beatrice releases a long sigh, as she reads the mood around her.

"...We won't hold for too much longer, I suppose." Beatrice mutters, summoning El Minya as Mabeasts surround her again.

Her own source of mana, a resovoir she's collected in the library for years now, was cut by a quarter at this point... she'd rather not use any more than she has, now.

But, unfortunately, she wasn't in any condition to make compromises.

"There!" Subaru knots the bandage around Meili's leg, tight and snug, "Feeling a bit better now, I hope?"

Subaru makes an earnest question, and Meili takes the moment to move her leg around. There was still some pain lingering... and the bandage was a bit uncomfortable... but she was better now, than she was a few moments ago.

Meili stays silent, staring at the bandage that was carefully wrapped on her appendage... and starts to shake once again.

"...Why?" Meili asks quietly, and Subaru blinks.

"Pardon?"

"Why did you help me...?" Meili looks at him with watery eyes, her voice close to a whisper, "Aren't we... supposed to fight?"

Subaru looks at Meili, and simply huffs, "I have no clue what you're talking 'bout." Subaru shakes his head, "All I see in front of me is a little girl who needs help!"

Meili's eyebrows furrow, "I don't understand... Meili's... a bad girl." Her voice was hinting that she was close to tears.

"Who's calling you that?" Subaru sounds offended, "If anyone's giving you a hard time, I can teach 'em a lesson!" Subaru pumps a fist onto his chest...

But quickly looks sheepish, "I mean, I might get my butt kicked in the process, but that's par for the course in 'The Life of Subaru Natsuki.'"

Subaru finishes by giving a cheeky grin, which earns him a giggle in response.

"...Ehehe..." For a moment, Meili doesn't look sad or scared. Just happy, like a normal girl should be.

Subaru takes the initiative, and holds out a hand, catching her attention,

"Hey," Subaru starts, and Meili looks up at him, "Won't you please come with me? I promise I will keep you safe until we make it home."

His voice was gentle, yet serious. Confidence... something that Meili could not muster up.

And yet—

"Home?" Meili asks, wondering. It was a word she yearned to understand.

"Yeah: Back at Roswaal's Mansion, I promise to keep you safe!" Subaru nods, but a word makes her stiffen up.

As soon as he said 'Roswaal', the luster in her eyes dimmed.

"..." She starts to look away, giving Subaru the idea something was up,

"What's wrong?" He asks.

"I can't." –Subaru was given the answer he wasn't hoping for.

"...Why not?" He asks, a bit dejected. Meili turns a little more, hiding her eyes.

"It's... I can't say it..." She shakes her head, "It's complicated."

Subaru feels empathy, recalling all the times he couldn't explain anything to his friends, using those same words as his excuse.

"...Meili..." Subaru walks forward, closer to the girl, and crouches low, "Just tell me; Why can't I help you?"

Meili freezes up, as her lips purse in a frown. Subaru's honest attempts to encourage the girl was cracking her shell little, by little, by little.

And, for a