A Good Joke

Reality or Imagination?

An hour before arriving to the Miload Mansion-

Subaru was entertained while looking at the cliffs and the forests of the region from the carriage's windows with a funny thought on his mind. He had been excited recently about the jokes he's been telling his imaginations.

The delicious expressions they gave him were highly addicting. He always thought they were crying from how entertained they were on the inside, but they didn't want to show him their smiles or laughs yet.

But he's no quitter. He would take this as a challenge to improve until they'd laugh in joy.

So far he had mostly told jokes either about his old home or about his two best friends Juli and Ferris, which he admitted was the peak of fun. Especially their reactions!

Although he would of course give them breaks from time to time so they would look forward for his next jokes. Some days he would feel like not talking, as he was taking joy at his new surroundings. Seeing so many things all at once that he couldn't believe he was seeing again. It simply didn't feel real to him that he was out here. This had to be an elaborate hallucination or an imagination.

Although the food was definitely enjoyable. He was by no means a gourmet, but he enjoyed trying out new meals that weren't the disgusting sludge of his old home. The enjoyable sensation it brought to his taste buds every time made him think the food was the one thing that felt real to him.

Today however had been different.

Today he had been wanting to set the mood for entertainment before arriving at their destination as he saw how exhausted they looked. He had wanted to tell a joke about Emilia and Beatrice since they were always the top pick, but he didn't want to play favorites. He had already teased them several times.

Looking over at his imaginations and back at the window. The scenery reminded him of an evening that lasted a lifetime.. A very magical evening that he spent with Rem. Perhaps that would set the mood? He thought to himself since he hadn't really told jokes about Rem much throughout the trip.

She was by far his most realistic, most authentic imagination out of all of them. Since he knew the real Rem was pranking the entire world by pretending to be asleep.

He decided to try and make his Rem imagination smile like the real Rem, and what a pure smile it was. Maybe she'll even giggle happily.

"Hmmm~ I gotta say, seeing those forests and cliffs so close to the mansion reminds me of that special time I've had with you, Rem-rin." He spoke with a sultry tone.

Rem's attention instantly shifted towards him.

"Look out the window and tell me.. Doesn't it also REMind you? Hahaha! Whoever named you must've had a horn for telling jokes! Or puns in this case."

"Subaru-kun?" Rem asked in confusion. She disliked the way that he looked at her and talked to her was as if she was a hallucination of his mind, but she couldn't really blame him. She always cursed the knights in her mind.

He sighed before speaking. "As always, I'm the one who has to tell the joke. Shame really, I was just thinking back to the time where we had a very VEEEERY~ fun time together."

Some of the others who were inside the carriage instantly looked downcast. They thought this would be another hard to digest story like the ones he told them along the way. A story meant to make them suffer because of their failure.

"Subaru-kun, w-what did we do?" Rem asked afraid of the answer. She was afraid he'd tell a story that blamed her for not taking his hand. Or a story that blamed her for going back with Crusch Karsten and falling into a coma after facing Gluttony and Greed.