Re: Life In The Original World From Zero [A Re:Zero Fiction]

Chapter 78: Modern Day Life Graduation Trip Part Twelve

A/N: Heeeeey we're at chapter 78!! We're breaking through 80 with this update!! Let's get going!! Please enjoy!!

The afternoon sunshine was blazingly bright, the ocean was vast and wide and cooling, and Subaru's spirit was the highest it had been so far on the trip. He hadn't died, hadn't been thrown back in time, hadn't had all the happy memories reset, he was still there, moving forward in his time. The parting words of Echidna and the other Subaru still echoed in his head, but somehow, he knew that he could overcome whatever awaited him, even though he had to died and make use of 'Returns by Death'. "Fun at the beach!! Round two starts here!!" Subaru shouted as he jumped into the ocean, splashing water on Aki and Haruka, who were relaxing themselves on the floaties. Both of them received a mouthful of bitter salty sea water and rolled off the inflatables with a shout of annoyance. "Looks like someone's getting a little too full of themselves here just because he survived some traumatic experiences. Natsuki, prepare yourself, that fall will be nothing compare to our wrath." Aki said ominously as his head broke free through the surface. Haruka's head bobbed out as well, her eyes glaring at Subaru.

"Yeah, I've decided I wanted to sunbathe a little, and you just had to ruin it. Freaking asshole." Haruka growled, and Subaru clicked his tongue, shaking his head. "In that case, thank me, Haruka. You're not supposed to sunbathe on the water, the UV will burn you alive. If you really wanna do that wait till it's four or something. And what's with you wanting to sunbathe anyway! We're on our graduation trip and all you want to do on the beach is sunbathe?? C'mon there're lots of things better than that." He said, and Haruka rolled her eyes. "What are you? An elementary schooler?" She said, sighing. Jus then, another figure rose from beneath the water. Emilia, brushing her silver hair out of her face, smiled at them. "You looked like you were having fun so I decided to come and join you. May I?" She asked. "Oh oh of course!! We're just saying Haruks's like some old lady who only wants to sunbathe at the beach." Subaru said, smirking. "Oh screw you." Haruka said annoyedly and karate chopped on Subaru's shoulder.

"He's got a point though." Aki added, snickering, and Haruka swung her arm at him but got blocked. Gritting her teeth, she flung her arms over her floaties and paddled away. "Don't tease her too much, you two. Let's get along." Emilia giggled, patting Subaru on the shoulder where it got hit. Aki watched Subaru whine about how his shoulder probably got dislocated and glanced over to their spot on the beach. Rem was serving Ram and Beatrice with watermelon slices, but Hinata was nowhere to be seen. "Hey, where's Natsuno?" Aki asked, turning back to Emilia and Subaru. "Eh? Hinata? I thought he was at our spot?" Subaru said and turned to Emilia as well. "Natsuno-san? Oh I don't know anything about where he's gone, nothing at all! That's right, nothing. Ah, maybe he went to use the washroom? Mn, that's probably it." Emilia said in a rather haste tone, something that they all knew by now was an indication of her hiding something. Apparently, Emilia seemed to have realized her giving away something as well and quickly pointed at a rock on the other side of the beach. "Oh look! There's a huge rock there! I say we have a race!" She said, and Subaru and Aki decided to play along. "Alright, we're ready, just give the signal." Subaru said, grinning. Aki tossed his floaties away at Haruka who were several meters away from them and readied himself. "Alright, three, two, one, go!" Emilia called, and the three swam off.

Subaru and Aki both thought that this was something Emilia did to distract them from her small giveaway earlier, but what they saw really made them completely distracted. As they started swimming, Emilia darted off with the speed of a torpedo but with the elegance of a mermaid, making Aki and Subaru let out a gasp in the form of huge bubbles. Haruka, who'd been observing them from afar, also let out a sound of surprise as she saw Emilia's excellent swimming abilities. Although taken aback, the two soon sped up in her wake, trying to not let the gap between them get too wide. A few minutes later, Emilia got out the water first. "Yatta, I win!" She said brightly, and quickly after that, Aki surfaced, and Subaru arrived a little later, panting. "That was impressive, Emilia-san!" Aki said, shaking water out his ears. He was genuinely impressed, same as he was when they were snowboarding. "Thank you, Kouyou-san." She said, beaming. "Emilia-tan you're simply amazing! How come you're such a good simmer when you grew up in the mountains?" Subaru, having finally eased his breathing a bit, asked. Emilia thought a little as she put a finger below her chin. "That's a good question, I'm not really sure either." She stuck out her tongue with a cute smile.