The two of them could clearly see the look of confusion and disbelief in each other's eyes.
"What's wrong with you? Suddenly acting all jumpy," Felt said, glancing at Natsuki Subaru with a look of pure incomprehension.
Hearing Felt's voice, Subaru's jaw twitched. An inexplicable dread surged in his heart. Without a moment's hesitation, he yanked the carriage door open and bolted toward Gojo Satoru as if running for his life.
Gojo reacted with lightning speed. The instant he regained his bearings, he whipped off his sunglasses to observe their surroundings.
No flow of Cursed Energy. No flow of Mana. Everything around him was exactly as he had observed when he first crossed over—this was the real world, not an illusion or a dream.
But if it wasn't a hallucination, what on earth was going on?
Gojo thought calmly, his brain functioning at high velocity. Before he had fallen asleep, he hadn't sensed a single disturbance. One had to understand that even in a deep sleep, his Six Eyes would have detected the slightest fluctuation of Cursed Energy or Mana. An ambush was effectively impossible.
So how did the culprit do it? How did they subject both him and Subaru to such a bizarre temporal reversal?
The current situation was glaringly obvious. They were back in the Royal Capital, at the Mathers family townhouse, just as they were preparing to depart for the Margrave's estate with Emilia and Rem.
Thinking of Rem, Gojo's mind suddenly flashed to the desserts he had been eating every night.
Could it be the sweets?
Gojo's gaze flickered toward Rem on the driver's seat. He saw that she was also watching the two of them. However, in that brief look, Gojo's keen perception caught something unusual.
In his previous interactions with Rem, the maid had been occasionally sharp-tongued and consistently lukewarm, never showing much in the way of friendliness. Even so, her attitude had always been professional and polite—the standard decorum of a high-class servant.
But now, deep within Rem's pupils, Gojo saw it clearly: a flicker of profound loathing and hatred.
It was a sharp, unmistakable negative emotion—something he had never seen from her before, regardless of the timeline.
By now, Subaru had reached Gojo's side. He looked at their surroundings nervously and whispered, "Satoru... you... you're back too, right?"
Subaru's words confirmed it—he had experienced the exact same thing. In a world where everyone else seemed reset, these two "Transmigrators" were the only teammates who could absolutely trust one another.
"Yeah," Gojo nodded. He didn't say much else. Instead, he suddenly grabbed Subaru by the collar and tossed him to the side.
The sudden move caught everyone off guard—not just Subaru, but the onlookers as well. As Subaru yelped and went flying, Gojo scrutinized the expressions of everyone present.
Inside the carriage, Felt and Emilia both looked startled and bewildered, clearly having no idea what was happening. At the front, Rem also looked surprised, but the loathing in her eyes remained fixed on Subaru. The malice was being suppressed, but through the Six Eyes, it was as clear as day.
Is it really related to Rem?
No, in the 'last' timeline, she didn't harbor any malice when she first met Subaru.
And with her level of strength, she doesn't seem capable of something as grand as rewinding time.
What is happening? Why does Rem hate Subaru so much after the reset? Did something occur in the transition that I'm unaware of?
Gojo analyzed the situation rapidly. At the same time, he reached out with a beckoning gesture, using "Blue" to pull the flying Subaru back to his side.
Subaru, still reeling from being tossed like a ragdoll, looked shaken. Before he could speak, Gojo led him back toward the carriage.
"Wait, wait, Satoru! What are we doing now...?"
Subaru had enough self-awareness to know he was out of his depth. In a supernatural crisis like this, his best bet was to stick to Gojo and follow orders without causing trouble.
"Stay calm," Gojo whispered, his voice low but perfectly clear in Subaru's ear. "For now, we aren't in any immediate danger. I've scanned the area and found nothing out of place. There's no need to panic. We'll take it as it comes."
"Whatever entity is capable of rewinding time wouldn't find it this simple to deal with us if they meant us harm right now. Don't act suspicious. Just act like you did the first time."
Hearing Gojo's steady voice, Subaru calmed down significantly. It was true: when in the dark, the best strategy was to maintain the status quo and watch for discrepancies.
"I got it."
Gojo hauled Subaru back into the carriage and dropped him next to Emilia.
Felt looked at the two of them with a strange expression. "What are you two playing at? No one's going to give you tips for a performance this clumsy."
"Oh? Is that so? I thought it might at least get a laugh out of you," Gojo replied, his tone as breezy and leisurely as ever. He leaned back comfortably into the seat.
"Are you two idiots?" Felt rubbed her forehead, looking utterly exhausted by their antics.
To be fair, without knowing the context, their behavior just now had been rather... abstract.
"Guests, may we depart now?" Rem's voice came from outside.
"Of course. We're in your hands, Miss Rem," Gojo leaned his head out of the window and waved with a smile.
Rem nodded impassively, flicked the reins, and the ground dragon carriage began its slow roll forward.
As he felt the familiar bump of the carriage, Gojo confirmed one more thing. The hatred in Rem's eyes wasn't directed at both of them. It was surgical, pointed—it was aimed solely at Natsuki Subaru. In the brief moment their eyes had met, all he saw directed at himself was cautious vigilance.