Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ch. 1, Green Door: What secrets are you keeping?

— — —

"Subaru Natsuki" woke up rather early this morning. 

A teen carrying a young blonde girl in red pajamas and a girl in blue pajamas while making coffee was an unusual sight. The body heat of both girls was a powerful deterrent to breaking up his odd sleeping sheduele, but the phantom effects of mayo withdrawal still demanded a substitute, and coffee was as good as anything.

‘I don't know what I did to deserve having you two in my life."

When the man kissed the spirit's forehead, he was met with a smug grin.

" Damn it, why are you so cute?  He agreed that Betty deserved to be pampered.

The spirit was beaming with smugness as she caught her contractor in a compromised position.The

He finished making his coffee. Having extra hands was a godsend now that he was a father figure to these girls. The events in Vollachia made his sloth less agreeable, but it still felt uncomfortable to be able to hold both girls the way he was warranted the pain.

"Betty needs some coffee."

‘Nope. My adorable Beako needs to have her beauty sleep, and coffee would get in the way of that." The man spoke smugly as he opened the door, using the “Dad” thigh to hold both girls.

"We are running low on chocolate mix. Ram and Otto are probably," the man paused as he looked at the two girls … "Tired (read hungover) from last night's celebration, and I do need the exercise. I should probably get stuff for Garfield while I am at it.” 

Subaru thought that now that he had his real hands back, there were a lot of gadgets and toys that needed to be built, especially after all the hard work they put in.

“I hope Meili doesn't mind, but it looks like we’re going on a small shopping trip.”

The man said this as the little assassin was fast asleep on his back, grabbing some milk for the spirit.

“As much as I love being around Petra, I am not sure if I trust Rosswall and Clind to be responsible employers in this loop, so hopefully Federica returns from vacation soon.”

The man said mentally, letting Beako drink her milk and follow him with one hand, and kept letting the little assassin sleep further in his back. There were 3 days before Halloween, and Frederica did not intend to be in the mansion with that many children filled with sugar to add into his weariness his actions in vollachia lead a wolf looking guy to join the camp party for Ros money party because he wanted to be part of the madness., he didn't caught his name just yet however there was a strange familiarity between the both of them despite never meeting.

Cor Leonis confirm that the wolf man was technically on their side.

 It was still rather early in the morning, so he didn't expect many shops to be open, but the walk with them was very refreshing for his mental health, plus Meili was still not used to this rare thing called affection in this loop.

It was a lovely morning with two of his favorite people in the world. He brought them treats and cute dresses while the Emilia Camp recovered from the celebration of the return from Vollachia.

Things were going better than he would have expected.

The man greeted by a strange door exclaimed, "Huh!" It stood about two stories tall, was green and ornate in golden tones, and had multiple handles to accommodate different heights. as well as handrails and a wheelchair ramp on one side

A letter with a hypercube made of circles as its insignia was attached to it.

Subaru exhaled, questioning whether this was a bad idea. He did not have the energy for it, especially on this beautiful morning, but leaving the door open would raise a lot more questions. 

I'm sorry I couldn't do more.

The key is in your soul's nightstand

It's not much, but it's the best I could come up with.

I'm a friend, sincerely

Several things immediately stood out as red flags.

For starters, the letter was obviously written in Japanese; however, the way it was worded suggested that the author was not a native speaker and instead either used a translator or, more likely, wrote the note in a hurry.

Secondly, whoever this person was, they took the time to make the door wheelchair accessible, which was an odd detail that an enemy would not have bothered with.

Third, they placed the key on Beatrice’s nightstand without anyone noticing. It was not particularly strange, given that this appeared to be a surprise gift, but it was still a little unsettling.

Still, it appeared that his plans had been canceled.

“Well, that is not at all creepy.”

The knight said in a whistle, accidentally waking up the girl sleeping in his back

“No, Rem, I don't want to study; I want to sleep in.” The groggy kid said, pretending she had not gotten a wink of sleep the night before while celebrating her adopted father's return and successful revolutionary actions in Vollachia. She did not miss hugging him at all, and despite her protests, she did not cry when she saw him again. Frederica’s vacation had made her eyes dusty. Yes, she was not pleased to be sleeping on his back.

The knight, on the other hand, did his best to not have a heart attack in the moment. As if he weren't taking her measurements for the upcoming Halloween celebrations. 

“Hmnp!” the spirit proclaimed. She was absolutely not jealous of the assassin's current monopoly on her contractor’s back

“This door is odd; I suppose I don't think Betty’s contractor was responsible for this odd occurrence. Betty assumes that her contractor can read the letter.”

"I can, but... It is strange because the person who wrote it obviously used a translator because they are not native speakers... Maybe divine protection? ...  but no…”

The knight shut down that intrusive thought immediately. Al, Hoshin, and Fugel were definitely from earth, but the thought of someone else being from earth and being able to sneak into the Mathers domain annoyed him. But then again, this thing was supposed to be an olive branch of sorts. 

Was this from Al? No, that didn't feel right… Priscilla had connections with Vincent, so maybe? But this didn't feel like his modus operandi; the logo in the letter felt familiar, but it wasn't one he associated with Al.

He touched the door, the black blood in his epidermis retreating in contact but returning as soon as he stopped touching it as he felt mana escaping his body, leaving him with a stupid expression on his face as he just stared at the palm of his hand.

“Hey Beako, can objects take mana from you?”

The man asked like an idiot, as if she didn't see it happen. The office stare from the blonde didn't help.

“Why do you think the door did that then? Do you believe it is similar to your door-crossing ability, but in an automatic version?” 

“Maybe it's a trap.” The girl on his back said she was placing her chin on his face

“Probably, I would not be surprised if it were... any suggestions?”

“Open it and deal with it like the brave camp we are."

The assassin shrugged, knowing that half of the camp was insane, including herself in that section. In her defense, Halloween was 3 days away, or, as she knew it, “Subaru gives me candy in exchange for dressing me up for the day.” 

"Well, Halloween is coming up soon; we can open it up then. because it could be spooooky!” 

The teen father said, He was waving his hands like an idiot for comedic effect.

Being killed by Sirius was not as agonizing as the silence.

*cough* "Are we going to open it?" On second thought, perhaps we should make it a sort of event and call in reinforcements?"

In an attempt to save face, the man said this, letting both girls off his back and hands as a form of discipline. A lesser man would not have been able to withstand the girls' token squeaks and grunts after he had freed himself from their influence. This level of determination was earned through countless torture sessions at the hands of various enemies during his three-ish years in this new world. Subaru Natsuki remains firm, breathing to protect his CPTSD-ridden heart.

“It’s still too early to wake everyone up, I'm just here because I need to readjust my sleeping schedule. Maybe we can go buy some clothing in the meantime for Halloween.”

The girls, with a dark expression, nodded along, shaking, half exaggerating the weight of their punishment. They quietly followed their abusive father to the nearby village.

Meanwhile, On a certain nightstand, a key resembling a fountain pen suddenly always exists in the nightstand, simply manifesting into reality.

Elsewhere, a large green door with golden ornaments appeared in a Japanese public park as if it were always there, but the people around it merely noticed it recently.

—---- 

"HOLY SHIT! HOLY SHIT! We just won the fuckin Nobel!" 

In Winchester, Virginia, a doctor working in a small lab said he was shaking the shit out of his monitor as a coworker, bewildered as hell, stared at him and dropped her sandwich.

"What the hell are you on about?" 

"I triple-checked and discovered a fucking Higgs field that did not exist two days ago; we just won the fucking Nobel! Its like an extra fundamental particle...holy fucking shit, we are going to make so much fucking money!”

“No way. You probably misread it. It's a high-field uncertainty; it’s kind of its thing.”

The woman expressed her annoyance towards the doctor. In academia, most of the hype surrounding quantum mechanics was usually discounted. As of 2015, the discovery of the Higgs boson around 2012 was the closest thing to finishing the standard model.

"Celene, I am telling you, this seems like a winner. You are probably right, but we probably need to run some more tests before calling DARPA."

"I'm telling you, you probably messed with the sensors... fields do not just start showing up out of.”

With a glance at the computer screen, the second researcher stated as much.

"Nowhere… Call DARPA now!”

—------------

Reinhard is not immune to strange dreams, even though he has numerous divine protections at his disposal. Normally, he sleeps soundly. This time, the knight was dreaming peacefully in a field of reeds. The man was first startled out of his slumber as he started to walk around this endlessly serene chamber of reeds by the glimpse of red hair that startled him deeply. Since he was a small child, that woman and her smile have been a common nightmare.

“Grandmother?” 

The woman smiled and asked the worried Knight to follow her; sadly, in spite of his best attempts, he was unable to do so.

“Gramdmother, wait!”

He began to run faster and faster but she was still ahead of him.

His legs, despite his stamina, were useless against his grandmother.

His lungs began to burn as several more minutes of abusing his oxygen intake began to exhaust him in a way that they hadn't in years.

And yet his grandmother kept running as if she were floating.

No, that was not right. She was actually floating, and the man stopped. His grandmother smiled at him with a radiant smile.

“The conquest of nature is to be achieved through number and measure."

The previous knight whispered lovingly at him. As she began to float above him,

“What does that mean, grandmother?"

“It means that your friends need you to wake up right now, Reinhard.”

“What?”

The previous visage of his grandmother was replaced by a horrifying creature.

Her face and body began to elongate and grow as she began to grow two heads, a lion and a bull. She had the wings of a dove, and each of those feathers was covered with eyes. All of them were staring at him. Only him.

“WAKE UP!”

—

The man awoke, covering himself in his own vomit and sweat as a nearby piece of yarn sitting on a stand called his attention.

He felt his Divine Protection of Calculations being strengthened and modified by Od Laguna. He now had the Divine Protection of Computer Hacking.

His dream made him check on his friends.

Felix and Subaru were not that hard to find, but a gut instinct told him to check on the Anastasia camp and Al.

—--------------------------

—---------------- 

Chapter Text

Halloween day

The manor in the Miload domain was lively today, mainly in the spirit of the Earth-originated holiday. The idea of getting free candy made the holiday spread like wildfire among children, and a day off work for adults seemed very popular, so some parts of Lugunica and Kararagi began to accept it.

Naturally, one of the first things Subaru did upon returning from the Vollachia calamity was begin to sew dresses.

For those of you who keep track:

Emilia- Puck onesies

Beatrice - no outfit; she just wore the jersey and began to pose everywhere. To make things fair in exchange for not getting a onesie Subaru gave her a weird looking neck pendant that she seemed to strangely attached to but attempted to hide with JoJo poses.

Ram & Rem—devil onesies.

Meili: Rabbit onesies.

Petra-cougar onesies.

Louis-Whale onesies

Garfield, "Julius" outfit (don't ask) 

Roswall: Ronnie James Dio (Or, as Subaru put him, Immortalized earth historical figure.) 

Annerose: Frog onesies. 

Clind did not partake. 

Frederica was on vacation, but an orca onesie was prepared for her.

Subaru's own outfit consisted of several cardboard boxes with a black snake painted over them, as he obviously ran out of time, he was also wearing a twin of Beatrice neck pendant under his scarf and under the cardboard boxes.

Otto had some bushes taped to his clothes. He did not have a say in this.

Halibel was wearing a Hoshin-inspired coat on his own. He was not even asked to do it by Subaru. He just did it, cane and everything.

It was strange; it was like they had a stronger kinship than they should have had given that they had just met. Cor Leonis said that he was feeling the same.

They seemed to have been best friends in a previous life, and some outside force had allowed them to relive some of the magic.

In any case, the costumes served as a welcome diversion from the enormous door that appeared in the garden.

Everyone just assumed it was an elaborate prank by Roswaal.

Roswall assumed it was a 200-IQ move from Subaru.

Subaru just assumed it was a maybe 200-IQ move from Al.

And the children cared not about the mystery of the door or the examination taking away precious trick-or-treating time.

"Okay, I know I promised candy, but come on, the door has been there for 3 days. I know it’s likely a trap, but I can't be the only one who’s curious about this door that just showed up, and I happen to have the key."

Subaru said, while his "adopted” children glared at his attempt to stop their sugar comas.

“YOU KNOW I’M RIGHT!”

The single father said, his plea greeted by cold stares.

“Can someone here help me out?  I’m not being paranoid, right?”

“RRRAHoaah”

 Spica said, indignant about the stalling. Biting the shoulder of Ninja Hoshin while she did so.

“I never said that we weren't getting candy; I just said that this is important, and nobody has let me open the door yet. Also, Hoshin-San is not a chew toy.”

The single father said, taking the hungry terrorist and placing her on his own back, 

“Subaru Natsuki” looked at the black snake for a moment. He pointed to the heavens and grabbed Emilia’s hand as a small act of revenge against his contractor.

“BETRAYAL!” 

The single father said as the blonde took Emilia, the black snake being powerless, to stop “Subaru Natsuki.”

“Nonsense, Betty’s Subaru is merely attending Emilia-TAAAN”

The spirit mimicked the idiot that managed to contract her.

“Now this is getting confusing,” ‘ Hoshin’ said, giggling at the shenanigans.

“But he is right; the door is suspicious; even with the letter, it would be stranger if the door were not a trap.”  "Hoshin," said as he rubbed his shoulder.

The sentient shrub, formerly known as Otto, nodded along at the bodyguard’s explanation.

“It would be unknightly of us if we did not attend to this highly important matter at hand,”

Garfield said in a surprisingly good Julius impression that made some people turn their heads towards him. Except for Ram, she was staring at the forest. She caught something with her clairvoyance. 

“Ram is every…"

The pink maid raised her index finger. She heard loud, girlish screaming coming from the forest as she started to move a few steps towards it. The pink maid responded to this by magically leaping into the air and catching a sobbing, yelling catboy. 

He was not wearing an outfit, for he was a bitch who enjoyed no holiday cheer.

The Healer began to cry on the pink one’s dress, slobbering, happy that he wasn't a smudge of red paint in the forest.

—---

Earlier that same day.

The cat boy awoke to find himself in an unfamiliar place. The air was heavy with the smell of new books. As soon as he opened his eyes, Felix found himself staring at a row of books written in a language he did not understand. He started to realize that they were in a library of sorts, but it was not one he was familiar with.

To call it a library would be inaccurate; it was more akin to a city whose walls were lined with foreign books, walls that, from the perspective of the medieval knight, looked more like mountains than structures. 

He was unable to identify any stars beyond the city's glass-enclosed roof.

“Hello?” 

Speaking in a normal voice, the healer became aware of his current isolation due to the echo bouncing off the wooden walls of the chamber. 

Artificial light illuminates his journey, leaving him to wonder who or what constructed the building. Either way, something told him it would be foolish to open a book, and none of the ones he found could be read, not from the covers anyway. 

His journey continued for what felt like several more hours. Exhausted and hungry, the knight sat down and held his head in his hands. 

“Damn it… I wanted to meet Vincent or Beatrice."

-“Thank the dragon, I thought I was...”

The “creature” in front of Felix was not something he recognized.

A bird-like flurry of feathers made of light was decorated by a series of chains with eyes staring at him with blue pin drops that resembled pupils.

Strangest of all, the center of the creature was a void devoid of light. That acted as a form of mirror that floated, ignorant of gravity. 

The knight let out a scream of terror.

“Hahaha… They are going to eat you alive; I wouldn't scream here if I were you; the other angels are not as lenient.”

The strange creature began to float around Felix several times.

"Well, you are not completely hopeless, but given that he has already touched the door, you are in a bit of a bind. Reinhard is going to kidnap you any moment now, so you really ought to wake up. And you are really not equipped for what's about to come.”

The creature began to maliciously laugh at the knight’s misfortune.

“I think I'm screwing you over more than the rest, so I'm going to do you a solid and let you keep your sh*t even when you leave for that place. And make you less... squishy. Make you less likely to get shot. You should wake up now, Pride."

"What?” the cat boy asked, more confused than scared.

Authority gained: Pride, immortality of the genius coyote.

“Waaaaakeeee uuuuup Feeelix” 

—

“Wake up, Felix!"

Crusch asked the crying healer who awoke, bawling his eyes out seemingly, writing some strange chicken scratch in the mud.

The Sword Demon and the duchess looked at him with concern. Both were wearing fencing training equipment.

However, before any words could be spoken, the sight of a flying carriage rushing towards them stopped their words before they could escape their throats.

—

"So that's what happened… still, considering that this is Reinhard we’re talking about, I’m assuming that this is important enough for him to act like this,"

Subaru said, mentally picturing the Sword Saint with mirror shades and a leather jacket while some cheesy rock song played in the background.

Giving a lightheaded chuckle only to be met by several glares given the nature healer's misfortune.

"Hoshin" turned away, clearly closing his muzzle to avoid laughing his ass off.

Ram and Felix glaring at the existence of a secondary idiot being added to the camp.

"Puck" grabbing the ears of the knight and the ninja.

The sight of a carriage landing  with a loud *thump* interrupted the scene.

"REINHARD WHY!" A blonde girl dressed as Priscilla said, touching  and kissing the ground, happy that she was alive.

Felt was definitely dressed as the most horrifying thing that she could think of, the things kids do for free candy.

The next person to escape was Julius, unfortunately without a disguise at the moment. Barely able to keep his lunch inside. 

The next person to escape the carriage made the half elf knight laugh his ass off for reasons unknown to everyone.

He was carrying more armor than usual, a leather top adorned with a belt strap filled with knives, his ax comfortable in his belt.

But today he was sporting a particularly peculiar weapon, a sword. No, it was too large to be described as a sword, it was more akin to a slab of iron. It was almost as if he wanted to kill a dragon.

"Al, why Guts….!" 

The knight said, hitting the floor. 

"I even dyed my hair!"

The man said proudly, despite his helmet.

"Managed to get the princess and Schultz to dress up, he makes a surprisingly good Casca… I'm still mad I couldn't get the hand on time."

"Wait if you’re Guts, and Schultz is Casca – who’s Priscilla?" 

Answering his questions, Priscilla walked with a demeanor that could only be described as regal; she carried an uncharacteristic level of elegance. The silver armor on her person was masterfully crafted, sunlight reflecting on her giving her hair the illusion of being one with the moonlight.

"Bro! YOU DID NOT HAVE TO DO SCHULZ THAT DIRTY!"

The black snake said, convulsing on the floor out of laughter.

"Oh but I did.. and I would do it again."

The amnesiac gladiator said, chuckling to himself, people in the garden and the carriage looking at both of them not understanding what was so funny about a gorgeous piece of armor.

Crush and Wilhelm were the next to escape the carriage, both of them still wearing white fencing outfits.

And finally Anastasia is wearing a secondary Hoshin outfit. Unlike the rest of the passengers, she was not fortunate enough to keep her lunch.

The act made those in the garden stare at the ashamed Sword Saint wearing his usual white coat – the sight of which made Halibel go towards the manor in haste, chuckling to himself for unknown reasons.

"Reinhard, you know that I love you man, but kidnapping people is the type of thing that requires an explanation."

The black snake said getting up from the ground.

He didn't respond however, his sight firmly in the door standing ominously, waiting for someone to be dumb enough to open it.

For a few moments, everyone’s train of thought went in the same direction, and the atmosphere became far more serious: if Reinhard could sense it from across the Capital, then opening it would be a very foolish mistake.

Naturally, Halibel used the opportunity to replace the Saint's jacket with one of his spare kimonos and an emergency eye patch.

The sight of a dogman ruffling the hair of a stranger and putting on an eye patch on him just to make him resemble his long lost ancestor finally made some people come back to reality, and in response, Ram and Felt immediately kicked his shins.

The distraction was fulfilling its purpose.

As a heavy polluted air began to fill the garden. A girl with a rabbit onesie and a scorpion with orange ribbons on her hair opened the door, her tongue mocking their cowardice.

Al and Subaru stood frozen at the lights emanating from beyond the door.

Strange sounds and smells polluting, contaminating, corrupting Od Laguna.

The snake and the black swordsman seemed stupefied by it.

Tears flowing from the boy with scary eyes sealing the deal.

"CLOSE IT, CLOSE IT NOW!"

Otto screamed in a panic, trusting the survival instincts of Subaru Natsuki more than his own. A fraction of a second later a loud BANG resonated loudly. As the door was forced to close with the supernatural strength of a half elf, the poor girl was sweating nervously, memories of the Sanctuary's trials still haunting her.

Everyone stared at Meili.

As the snake pretending to not be her adopted father cleaned himself up and picked her up.

"Hey guys, did I ever tell you where my hometown is?"

—- 

3 days before first contact.

In a modest home in the Japanese suburbs, a man was placing a small offering of incense on the altar of a young man. This was the third Halloween since his disappearance.

In another room, a woman was creating a dinner for three.

Both accepted he was gone. Today was always a special day, though. Before his disappearance, they’d be working together to put the finishing touches on their Halloween costumes. 

It didn't matter that he was gone, the tradition needed to be kept alive. It's what he would have wanted.

They liked to imagine that wherever he was, he was taking care of himself.

The matriarch's phone emitted the chime of a silver bell when a new text message came in.

"I'm going to be a little late"

The phone sounded again.

"Got a bit lost, but don't worry, a cute girl is helping me out." 

The matriarch noticed the phone and ignored it for the moment. She was still cooking.

"I'm very scared, but I promise that I am going to be okay."

The moment lasted a little while longer because for about three minutes, both of their phones rang—likely from a spammer. Therefore, they both turned off their cellphones out of instinct.

A few hours later, they would find they had received three years of texts, some containing photos taken from weird angles. Unfortunately, they couldn't reach out despite their best efforts.

The final message was of their son in a European-style city with several young girls sleeping next to him.

He was slightly older, his hands coated in a strange pigmentation, his eyes more tired, and yet his smile told them that everything was going to be okay.

A few months have passed since the photo was taken.

"I wish you were here."

—---------

Chapter Text

“Wait, Subaru, you are from beyond the great waterfall.” 

The sword saint asked, genuinely surprised.

“I mean, yeah… it's not like I tried to hide it… I swear I told Priscilla and Anastasia… hell, Al and I are from the same word, just different countries.” 

Dozens of eyes fell on the one-armed man.

“Nobody asked.”

The black swordsman deadpanned. Anastasia was having a minor mental breakdown.

Back then, she thought he was fucking with her… but this explained several things.

His strange mannerisms and clothing, his way of thinking, why he was so idiotic when they first met, to make things worse, neither of the otherworlders was in her camp.

Her panic attack was stopped by the sight of Emilia's camp immediately hounding the second sage with a billion questions and the great spirit hitting the contractor for the crime of exposing their little secret. Meili and Lois both decided to beat her adopted father as well. 

Though their reason was less personal and more on account than they both had hands.

“What is your world like?” 

Reinhard asked Al given that Subaru was still getting his ass kicked by his kids and Emilia for omitting such important information, even if by accident.

Al gave a sigh and looked upwards, trying to remember anything from his past life.

His authority erased most of his memories due to dissociative amnesia.

“I am from a country called The United States of America, whereas Bro is from a place called the Empire of Japan.” 

The contents of his words are enough for everyone to quiet down and listen in.

Albeit Meili still took the opportunity of the silence to sucker punch his father in the nuts.

“It's a fairly big country… my memory is pretty much from back home, so bro is better at answering questions than me…. Well, Imagine a network of concrete where steel carriages move without ground dragons… My hometown is a desert on the coast. A city, famous for the entertainment industry that originated there. Where both inventors and celebrities walk among the poor.

It's a place where everyone is equally worthless… with the exception of medicine, our technology is around 1500 years more advanced than that of Od laguna but….” The armless man said as he saw everyone staring at him prolongedly, especially Anastasia.

"Like I said, my memory is pretty much ruined, so bro is better at questioning me." 

The dozens of eyes moved towards the knight.

“Bro, are you from LA?” 

“Aye…” 

“I never have been, but my parents are obsessed with Hollywood. They had their honeymoon there and everything.” 

“It's kinda overrated… I'm from Compton… so my view is a little biased… you are from Tokyo, right?” 

“Aye, bro.”

“My weeby ass wanted to visit, so it's nice that the door showed up... I am not traveling, though. I know that the Feds are going to be on my ass.” 

The group just dumbly stared at the duo, wondering what the hell they were on about.

Roswaal and Beatrice were the only ones who could keep up on account of understanding context clues.

"Honestly, I don't blame you... though I am kind of scared to go home, I am not even sure how to begin to explain how things ended up.

“Same here, bro; there's no way I can go back... You still can, though. I don't want to work on that sh*t.”

Felt was brave enough to be the first to interrupt the duo.

What are you two going on about?”

“Talking about home, it's hard to get it if you weren't raised there. It feels weird being on the other side of that culture shock for once. It makes me a bit nostalgic.” 

The duo nodded, surrounded by confused stares, so Subaru gave his kids a shit-eating grin.

“I am from Japan… not to brag, but our food is pretty good… if the door leads there on Halloween, that means free candy…don't you want that. To be the first children from Lugunica to stuff your faces on brand new foods and brag about it to Mimi and Twivy?... The great Hoshin was likely from Japan.. imagine the most luxurious Kararagi foods straight from the source!”

The single father was brutal as the children organised in a single file towards the door.

Louis and Meili are drooling. Annoyed glares from Anastasia, notwithstanding, she stood behind the kids.

The single father was nodding at his negotiating skills improving dramatically in the last two years.

“I hate to say it, bro… but not everyone can go. what if the door closes and you are stranded there… besides I don't want the FBI on my ass.”

“What's the FBI?” Reinhard asked, wondering about the nations that his friends came from, his natural historian side coming to the surface.

“It's short for Federal Bureau of Investigations….it's basically the Shinobi from my country, but I think less Spy craft and more Paperwork investigation…. I had a lot of unpaid college fees.”

“What's your major.” Subaru talked as he looked at Anastasia freaking from the line.

“I honestly don't remember…. Probably something stupid––wait, now that I think about it, didn't You land here before you finished high school.”

The sage-covered his mouth so as to not let his adopted children hear the unknightly obscenities coming from his mouth.

As he did, Cecil walked out of the Miloid manor, Bottle on hand, Dressed as one of the best sword masters he knew. An elaborate white dress and a long red Wig decorated his visage, which cost him a month’s wages against Otto’s suggestion.

The Vollachian swordmaster was cosplaying as Theresia Van Astra.

A single glare from Wilhelm was enough for the month’s wages to be wasted.

Returning a few minutes later, the wig cut. With a red towel wrapped awkwardly around his chest as now Reinhard and Cecil were unwillingly dressed as the First sword saint.

The awkwardness of the situation killed his plan for a duel rematch.

"Cecil, I see that your desecration of our home is still ongoing."

Ram said this as he watched Halibel and Cecil destroy her towels.

"Cecil, I notice that your etiquette is worse than that of children."

Rem added the kids still in line Louis and Petra drooling for the candy. At the same time, Shaula was doing backflips in the head of Meili.

And just like that The Vollachian swordmaster was robbed of his opportunity to get earth swords and was unwittingly placed in door protection duty.

Wilhelm was too responsive to just leave the door unguarded and had some choice words for Cecil

Roswaal didn't want to go to a place where Subaru had an overwhelming advantage, especially one where he couldn't bullshit with law enforcement unaware of diplomatic immunity. But he ordered Clind to get Frederica and, as a show of solidarity in memory of Ronnie James Dio, allowed Al and the spirit girls to get to their locations.

Al didn't want to deal with either the feds or his trauma but did make arrangements to inform Vincent.

The glory of the man-emperor of mankind would even reach the Vollachian skies and there was still hope for Schutlz.

Julius did leave but politely and discreetly asked the spirit girls to retrieve Ricardo, his brother, and the cat siblings.

Reinhard was going to stay, but Subaru immediately countered that as the sword saint, learning about Earth was crucial to national security.

And the kids were too engrossed in the idea of alien candy to stay.

—---------------

Tokyo, Japan Halloween, first contact: Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden.

—----------------------

With one step, Meili became the first Od laguna Native to set foot on Japanese soil. An accomplishment that would be tragically lost to history but one she would boast about for the rest of her life, punching the air in victory.

The rest of the party would follow her, some stunned and unable to react. 

-“Welcome to earth. I don't know exactly where we are, but this is definitely it.” 

Subaru said, unknowingly being the first human from Od Laguna. His identity is lost in the history books.

The door was in the midst of an evening park. Making the garage-sized object stand out as if it were a strange art piece, the way it was placed gave the impression that it was a screen, given the appearance of the Miloid Garden. Most guests of the park were too preoccupied with the Halloween celebrations to care about them. This was the key phrase.

Some tourist girls were too drunk to care but they waved at Halibel. Halibel, in turn, waved back. 

“Well, Su-San. I believe that I might get a bit distracted today.” 

“As long as you don't end up in Vegas or Detroit, it should be fine. I doubt that, however.” 

Subaru quipped, unaware that a week from then Halibel would wake up in a Vegas penthouse surrounded by Strippers Spiritus-filled party cups and several dead Elvis impersonators after a strange run-in with the De Santa cartel.

“I don't have my money on me... Al likely doesn't have any either,” the knight said, realising that once again he was broke. he could call his parents but ruining the exploration vibe with his baggage was not something he wanted to bring out. Obviously, he should have planned for that but he didn't, and of course he didn't. He was a missing person, and his first idea upon being able to see his parents was to beg for fucking money. he should have stayed missing. He should have asked Satella to keep him in the shadow garden; she should have let Elsa kill him and get it over with him. he was a fucking teenage highschool school student who had multiple children under his care while he didn't have sex.

“but the coins we have should have some value.” 

Anastasia was ready to rise to the challenge. Unknowingly shaking the second sage from a CPTSD episode, gold was a Valuable mineral but he doubted that he could find a pawn shop this early without knowing where he was.

 Betty shrugged at her contractors economic woes 

There was life, when there was life there was possibly and where there was possibility there was a future and her future involved candy. A single glare from meili was enough to know that she wasn't the only one in that mentality. Annerose,Petra and Louis were already scouting for candy, unfortunately for them they were surrounded by the waves of drunk adults.

This

scene was not going to happen.

The great Candy raid was just around the corner.