Chapter 183: Hey, big brother, please teach Meili more things from now on…

However, in the end, Natsuki Subaru still hadn't managed to claim the head seat.

No wonder — the dining room table's arrangement had a problem. It was originally a rectangular table, and to emphasize the distinction between host and guest, the narrow end had been set facing the door.

But the trouble now was this: if Subaru sat right beside the head seat, there simply wouldn't be room for everyone else!

So Emilia and Petra both voiced fierce protests against this!

After all, in that case Rem and Ram — standing behind Subaru in their roles as maids — would end up closest to him, free to sneak in all sorts of closeness. That just wasn't fair!

So, to keep everyone satisfied, Subaru reluctantly had Rem help him turn the table sideways, so that everyone could sit crowded together side by side.

As for why the table absolutely had to be moved — it was also because just looking at that head seat made Subaru think of Roswaal's face, and that alone was enough to kill anyone's appetite!

During the Sanctuary arc, Roswaal had summoned the Great Rabbit and hired the Bowel Hunter to attack the manor — a Nightmare of an experience Subaru would happily go the rest of his life without ever recalling again!

Wearing an expression like he'd just swallowed a stone, Subaru sat down, taking the very middle seat of the long table.

But no sooner had he sat down than he started shifting in his seat, glancing left and right, sizing up his surroundings for a long moment.

"Hmm... this long table, everyone squeezed together like this..." After mulling it over, Subaru spread both hands wide and closed his eyes, striking a meditative pose.

"Subaru, what's wrong?"

Emilia, just about to sit down, noticed his odd behavior and asked, puzzled.

"One of you... is about to lose points." Subaru said it with a mournful expression and tone, his saintly bearing making it seem almost as though he were asking which of them had betrayed him.

Sitting dead center at the long table, with his uncannily convincing expression and gestures, plus the women already seated in a neat row around him, the whole tableau formed a scene worthy of that famous painting, The Last Supper!

Oh, wait — maybe right now it ought to be called "The Last Breakfast"?

Subaru opened his eyes, propping his chin with one hand as he pondered the question — then smacked his own forehead. What kind of nonsense was he even fussing over?

Still... Subaru, whose thoughts tended to wander, glanced around the table, dissatisfied that there were so many empty seats, making it all feel far too spacious.

Once there were more people around, he decided, he'd cosplay as Jesus and, with zero windup, drop the bombshell line: "One of you will betray me."

The varied reactions of friends like Reinhard, Julius, and Otto — all of whom had been to the viewing space — upon hearing that line were sure to be entertaining, downright delicious even!

But while Subaru sat there grinning foolishly to himself, Petra, who had already taken the seat beside him, asked in bewilderment.

"What does... 'losing points' mean?"

Just then, an eager, lively voice rang out from the dining room doorway.

The voice arrived before its owner did.

"I know, I know!"

"Big Brother mentioned it to me once, when we were talking — losing points means a teammate's dragging everyone down again!"

"Mm-hm, that's right, exactly that!"

Everyone turned toward the voice, their eyes landing on Meili as she bounced in through the dining room door, with Elsa following close behind her.

"That's not it at all!"

Subaru cried out in denial, waving a hand to show just how wildly off the mark Meili was.

"What idiot taught you that? Talk about leading a kid astray!"

Subaru spread his hands, shifting the blame without a moment's hesitation.

At his words, Meili froze in place. She bit her lower lip with her white teeth, her eyes reddening instantly with hurt.

Subaru's string of denials, layered with feigned confusion, sent Meili's mood — which moments ago had been soaring at the sight of him again — plunging straight into the depths.

She'd only wanted, only wanted, to catch Big Brother's attention, to get him to look at her a little more.

But now Big Brother wouldn't even own up to what he'd once said. Did that mean he hated Meili — that he even wanted to abandon her?

Meili rarely cried. Actually — she might never have cried at all, not once in her life.

As a child raised by Mabeasts from infancy, there was so much she simply didn't understand.

Leaving the forest, learning to speak — all of that she owed to Elsa.

But everything else, the whole tangled range of human emotions — even Elsa herself didn't understand them. How could she possibly teach Meili?

If there were ever a day Meili would cry, it would probably be the day Elsa died.

But today, she'd gotten an early taste of what crying felt like.

Her eyes stung and swelled a little; her chest felt tight and achy, a discomfort she couldn't quite put a name to.

So this... this was what sadness felt like!

Seeing Meili freeze up like that, on the verge of tears, Subaru panicked at once.

And for some reason, in that same moment, a hazy, unreal image flickered before his eyes.

In a clearing engulfed in raging flames, Meili stood with her back to him, arms spread wide, shielding him.

Then, in the next instant, the scene shifted — her chest nearly cleaved in two by a terrifyingly sharp blade of sword-force, and she collapsed into his arms coughing blood, her face too blurred to make out.

What was that...?

Just as Subaru tried to focus and look closer, the sudden vision vanished as fast as it had come, replaced by the sight of Meili before him, her eyes red-rimmed and brimming with unshed tears.

"Okay, okay, don't cry now — or you'll be the one losing points, Meili."

Subaru hurried to his feet, took her small hand, and led Meili — still wiping at her tears — back over beside his own seat.

Then, once he'd settled back into his chair, he took hold of her waist with both hands, lifted her high, and set her down steadily, seating her on one of his thighs the way one would soothe a child.

"Ah... Big Brother?"

By the time Meili, still wiping away tears and lost in her sorrow, came back to her senses, she found herself already wrapped in a warm embrace.

But the next moment, before she could even yelp in surprise, Subaru's warm, broad hand settled atop her head, stroking gently.

It was his way of offering silent comfort.

And Meili, of all people, was helpless against exactly that kind of gesture — just like Petra, Betty, and even Emilia, Rem, and Ram, none of them could resist this particular brand of comfort that belonged only to Subaru.

Meili relaxed at once, all the tension draining out of her. Never one for great physical stamina to begin with, she went completely limp, pressing herself into Subaru's embrace.

Boneless as a cat, she rested her head against his chest, a faint, girlish fragrance drifting straight up to his nose.

False alarm!

Meili had genuinely thought Big Brother Subaru hated her, given how mercilessly he'd shot her down.

But as it turned out, he still cared about her plenty — hehe!

At the thought, Meili relaxed and kicked her legs lightly where they dangled from sitting sideways on his thigh, her mood brightening at once.

She held no lingering hang-ups about what had just happened.

After all, in her eyes, maybe that had just been another one of Big Brother Subaru's ways of teaching her to live as her true self.

Big Brother was so clever, after all!

And the pain and sadness she'd just felt for the very first time in her life — that was the proof!

With that thought, Meili flashed a bewitching smile, grabbed hold of Subaru's collar, and strained to straighten her body, leaning in close to his ear.

She licked her lips first, a wet little sound escaping, then breathed moist air against his ear, murmuring seductively in a voice only the two of them could hear.

"Hey, Big Brother... please teach Meili even more things from now on..."

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🔥 New history: DanMachi: Inheriting the Legacy of Alternate Versions — posted on The_Mikudayo