[ ─── ❖ ─── ─── ❖ ─── ─── ❖ ─── ─── ❖ ─── ]
[─── ❖ ─── Takehito Subaru ─── ❖ ───]
(Natsuki Subaru is the Real Subaru and I am using Takehito Subaru to differentiate between the Prophet Persona and The Real Guy)
[ ─── ❖ ─── ─── ❖ ─── ─── ❖ ─── ─── ❖ ─── ]
The problem wasn't that I didn't know what was going to happen.
The problem was that I did.
Just not enough.
I sat cross-legged in my room.
Eyes closed.
Breathing slow.
From the outside, it probably looked like meditation.
Spiritual reflection.
Prophetic contemplation.
Ancient wisdom.
The reality was significantly less dignified.
Okay.
Let's review the apocalypse.
The Witch Cult.
Petelgeuse Romanee-Conti.
The White Whale.
Mass murder.
World-ending ice cat.
Which won't happen since I won't let Emilia die.
And one absolutely catastrophic mistake on my part.
My eye twitched.
A memory surfaced.
Not from Japan.
Not from Arc 3.
From a few hours ago.
[ ─── ❖ ─── ─── ❖ ─── ─── ❖ ─── ─── ❖ ─── ]
Felt had been lounging upside down on a chair like gravity was merely a suggestion.
I had been trying—and failing—to understand how she managed to make every piece of furniture look uncomfortable.
Then she had casually dropped a bombshell.
"Hey, Big bro."
"Hm?"
"There's this weird guy."
I hadn't looked up.
"There are many weird guys."
"Nah, this one's different."
That got my attention.
Felt scratched her cheek.
"He wears all black."
My stomach had tightened slightly.
"Okay..."
"He started following me around before Reinhard dragged me into all this noble crap."
I blinked.
"What?"
Felt shrugged.
"Helped me escape the guards a couple times."
"...What?"
"He was pretty useful."
"...What?"
"Then Reinhard caught both of us."
I stared.
Felt stared back.
Then she added the final detail.
"Oh, and he says his name is Natsuki Subaru."
Silence.
Complete silence.
My brain stopped functioning.
Felt frowned.
"What?"
"What did you just say?"
"He says his name is Natsuki Subaru."
"No, before that."
"He wears black?"
My soul nearly left my body.
Because suddenly everything clicked.
The black clothes.
The timing.
The fact that he'd appeared before Reinhard found Felt.
The fact that he was helping her evade guards.
The fact that he was introducing himself as Natsuki Subaru.
Subaru.
The real Subaru.
In my body.
I slowly lowered my head into my hands.
"Oh no."
Felt blinked.
"...What?"
"Oh no."
[ ─── ❖ ─── ─── ❖ ─── ─── ❖ ─── ─── ❖ ─── ]
Back in the present, I buried my face in my hands.
God damn it.
God. Damn. It.
WRYYYYYYYYYY!
The original Subaru.
Of course.
Of course he existed.
Why wouldn't he?
The soul swap hadn't erased him.
It had displaced him.
And if he was wearing black—
My black—
Then that meant he wasn't running around in some random body.
He was running around in mine.
The realization hit me like a truck.
The soul swap had gone both ways.
I hadn't simply taken Subaru's place.
Subaru had taken mine.
Meaning there was another Japanese teenager running around Lugunica.
A teenager who apparently still introduced himself as Natsuki Subaru.
Unlike me.
The idiot.
The absolute moron.
The tactical genius who had somehow overlooked the most obvious problem imaginable.
I had introduced myself as Subaru.
Immediately.
Without hesitation.
Without thinking.
Without considering that the actual Subaru might still be alive somewhere.
I groaned.
If anyone compared notes, this situation would become impossible to explain.
Two Japanese boys.
Both claiming to be Subaru.
One in Subaru's body.
One in mine.
It sounded less like a prophecy and more like the setup to a drinking game.
I exhaled slowly.
Focus.
Identity crisis later.
Apocalypse first.
Damnthat Subaru.
Anyways.
I know the shape of the future.
I just don't know the schedule.
That was the terrifying part.
I remembered events.
Scenes.
Deaths.
Conversations.
Maybe.
But dates?
Specific dates?
Not a chance.
When I read the novel and watched the anime, I hadn't exactly been taking notes.
I knew the White Whale appeared.
I knew Petelgeuse attacked.
I knew people died.
What I didn't know was whether those things would happen in three days.
Five days.
Or tomorrow.
Maybe not since Subaru canonically spent a few days at the Karsten Mansion.
A strategist without a timeline was just a nervous man making educated guesses.
I exhaled slowly.
Start with confirmed facts.
Fact One.
Emilia hadn't abandoned me.
No duel.
No public humiliation.
No screaming match.
No catastrophic emotional self-destruction.
A sentence I never expected to say.
As a result, I wasn't recovering at Crusch's estate.
I was still inside Emilia's camp.
Useful.
Dangerous.
And completely off-script.
Fact Two.
Reinhard would be unavailable.
Eventually.
Just like canon.
Which meant my strongest military asset was leaving the board.
Wonderful.
The cheat code had expiration dates.
Which left me with a simple conclusion.
I needed military backing.
I needed an army.
Preferably before the cultists started murdering people.
How do I get an army?
The answer arrived immediately.
Wilhelm.
The Sword Demon.
The White Whale.
Fourteen years of grief.
I hated how effective this plan was.
Because it would work.
Wilhelm wanted only one thing.
The monster that killed Theresia.
The White Whale.
And I knew enough to point him toward it.
Flugel Tree.
Nighttime.
Fog.
The beast would come.
And Wilhelm would move heaven itself to reach it.
And Crusch.
Crusch needed the glory of defeating the White Whale to legitimize her claim to the throne
Which meant Crusch would listen.
And if Crusch listened...
The rest of the board moved.
I frowned.
Still not enough.
The real enemy wasn't the Whale.
It was time.
I needed warning signs.
Indicators.
Triggers.
Evidence.
Something better than blind guessing.
My thoughts drifted toward the Mathers Domain.
Toward the forest.
Toward black robes moving through the trees.
The Witch Cult has to travel.
Dozens of cultists couldn't simply appear.
Someone would see them.
Merchants.
Villagers.
Scouts.
Hunters.
There would be signs.
There were always signs.
Which meant the solution wasn't predicting the exact day.
The solution was building a network capable of spotting the threat.
The moment reports started appearing—
Move.
The moment unusual fog appeared—
Move.
The moment scouts reported suspicious figures—
Move.
Stop trying to predict the disaster.
Prepare to react instantly.
The realization settled over me.
Simple.
Elegant.
Terrifying.
Because it meant I had less time than I wanted.
Possibly much less.
I opened my eyes.
The room had darkened.
Sunlight stretched across the floorboards.
Two hours.
I'd spent two entire hours sitting here.
Thinking.
Planning.
Panicking professionally.
Which, admittedly, was still panicking.
I stood.
Grabbed my cane.
And headed for Emilia's room.
Some conversations couldn't wait.
[ ─── ❖ ─── ─── ❖ ─── ─── ❖ ─── ─── ❖ ─── ]
Emilia looked up from her desk as I entered.
"Oh. You're done?"
I blinked.
"Done?"
"Meditating."
I considered explaining.
Then decided against it.
"It was less meditation and more seeing possible futures. Aggresively."
"...Aggressively?"
"You'd be surprised how hard prophecizing is."
Emilia stared for a moment.
Then shook her head.
Somehow, she'd developed an immunity to my nonsense.
I wasn't sure when that happened.
"We need to talk."
The smile disappeared from her face.
Immediately.
Because she heard it.
The seriousness.
"What's wrong?"
I sat down opposite her.
Carefully.
Organizing my thoughts.
No prophecies.
No impossible revelations.
No mentioning dead Sword Saints.
Just facts.
"The future is becoming dangerous."
Emilia's expression tightened.
I continued.
"There are possibilities I've been examining."
"Possibilities?"
I nodded.
"The White Whale."
Her eyes widened slightly.
"The Witch Cult."
Wider.
"And I believe there is a strong chance both will become active soon."
"How soon?"
There it was.
The question that had been haunting me for hours.
I looked her directly in the eyes.
"I don't know."
Emilia blinked.
I continued before she could speak.
"That's the problem."