*This story contains spoilers for Arc 6 of re:zero.*
A black shadow emerged through the floor of the Green Room, as if trying to cut Subaru off from the entrance—indeed, it was the black shadow. The last of the five obstacles—the black shadow of the Witch who had an obsession with Subaru—had come to the tower at a time like this.
Subaru cursed in his mind. He knew that the witch was coming for him and only him. There was absolutely no way of escaping. He thought about what would happen if he returned by death here- how he would be at the mercy of Rui Arneb. In that moment, he made up his mind. If this is where his journey would end, he wasn't going to spend his last moments watching Rem die. With what strength he could muster, Subaru hurled Rem and Rui in front of him, wincing as they hit the floor. He turned to face the shadow. If it had come for him then it would end with him- at least, that's what he hoped would happen. There was no guarantee that this would stop the Witch of Envy in all actuality. Subaru had no time to change his mind, though, as he was engulfed by that thick, black mass of shadow and a heavy presence washed over Subaru.
Satella: "I love you."
Subaru: "If you really meant that, would this be happening right now?"
Subaru replied with his honest thoughts, in folly of course. There was no way that the shadow was really listening to him, but he might as well complain at her anyway since it wasn't like there was anyone else around he could vent to.
Satella: "I love you. I love you. I love you."
Subaru: " Why did you do this? You took me from my life in Japan without even asking, and didn't give me the option to say goodbye to my parents."
When he thought about it, though, that was how it worked in most Isekais. Then again, that was probably because whoever it was had actually died, which wasn't actually the case for him.
Satella: "I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you."
Subaru: "Aren't you meant to be all-powerful or something? If that was really true, and you really did "love me", then why would you make me go through so much pain? Why couldn't you have given me some other power?!"
He had tears in his eyes now. He wasn't sure if what he was saying really made sense. Even though he missed his parents, and he wished he could say goodbye to them, he wouldn't have met Rem, or Emilia, or any of his friends from this other world without the Witch having brought him here.
Subaru: "You're damn lucky-"
Wait a second. Had she... heard him? The expression on the shadow had changed, and the constant chanting had subsided. This was a remarkable change in what Subaru's experience with her was, and he wasn't entirely sure this was a good thing.
Subaru: "Um... Can you... hear me? You're kind of freaking me out... look, I didn't mean-"
Suddenly, everything shook, or at least did whatever the closest thing to shaking a directionless void could do was. The shadows lifted, and a blinding light replaced them.
Subaru: "Ugh.. Am I... alive?"
As his senses returned to him, he saw the asphalt roads and paved footpaths of his hometown, as he realised: He had returned to Japan.
Subaru: "What the hell? There's no way... this has to be some kind of joke.. is this because of what I said? Am I an idiot? No- I am an idiot."
As Subaru was floundering at the revelation that he had been transported back to his original world, he noticed that passersby were giving him strange looks. Subaru turned around and looked at himself in the window of the konbini. His outfit was completely out of the ordinary, tailored for desert travel. As well as that, it was covered in sand, and Subaru himself looked as though he had just returned from the front line of a war, despite the green room spirit's best efforts. The single most noticeable thing about Subaru, though, was his right arm, which was covered in a jungle of black veins, painting his entire arm a sickly colour in tens of throbbing streaks.
The first thing Subaru immediately thought of was his parents. How long had he been gone for them? If he met them, would they treat him as though they had seen him yesterday, or as if he had been missing for over a year? Either way, in his current state Subaru was not ready to meet them yet.
Subaru: "They're probably not ready to meet me yet, if I look like this" He mused to himself, imagining the worst case scenario, in which he returns after a year of being missing, seeming to be on the brink of death. His parents were strong, some of the best he could have ever asked for, but that sort of stress might even kill them, if not kill them two times over.
Even so, Subaru resolved to reunite with his parents. He knew he'd have to clean himself up as best he could before he could bring himself to return to his old home, and he prayed that whatever he could manage would be enough to mitigate anything more his current state would burden his parents with.