Hello Guys, this is my first re:zero fanfic. I hope you all enjoy the first chapter, and now without further adieu, let's get into this story. By the way, I own nothing
Chapter 1: System Start
A young boy, around 17-18 years old, was about to exit his house. As he was doing this, he said "I'll be back soon, dad." His father said "Don't be out too long, Subaru." And the boy now identified as Subaru went out on his way.
Subaru, better known as Subaru Natsuki, was the son of Kenichi Natsuki, a man who was renowned for many things. He was an incredible man, and Subaru at times felt like he would live in the shadow of his dad and was told he was getting some of his accomplishments "as expected of Kenichi's kid." However, he and his dad had a very strong bond, and he was told he didn't have to be like him, all he had to be was Subaru. He could go on his own path, and he would still be proud of him. This definitely took quite a bit of pressure off of him, however, the bond he and his father had forged was created from tragedy.
Naoko Natsuki, Husband of Natsuki Kenichi and Mother of Natsuki Subaru, had been in a coma for nearly a decade. It had all started when Subaru was 8-9 years old, when his mother had mysteriously collapsed. Subaru and Kenichi had been devastated, as Naoko was a kind woman, a great wife, and an even better mother. It hurt Subaru immensely, as he wanted to do something for her, but couldn't. This had resulted in the growth of the bond between the father and son duo. It also changed Subaru for the better. He wanted to find his own path after having multiple talks with Kenichi, and he wanted to be the best he could be. If he could do that, it would not only be great for him, but somewhere in the subconscious of his mind, he felt it could bring his mother back. She wasn't dead, she had only been asleep for nearly a decade. Maybe if he kept working hard and doing the best he could, his mom would wake up.
Kenichi had known Subaru had this thought in the back of his head, and had told his son multiple times that he shouldn't put pressure on himself like that. However, Subaru really wanted to do something, and he felt that if he worked hard enough, if he achieved enough, his mom would be back and they could all be a family again. It hurt Subaru a lot whenever he didn't do well in a sporting event at school or academically. Kenichi would tell him it wasn't a big deal and that he would get better next time, and Subaru was comforted by the words of his father, but deep down, he felt like he failed his mother. However, he would not let his work go to waste. He had to keep trying. He just had to.
On this night, Subaru was walking to a convenience store. He just wanted to grab a couple things, and then go back home. Grab some chips, some other goods, and maybe find some manga that he might be interested in. As Subaru walked around, he heard something whisper in his ear
"I love you."
Subaru looked around, but saw no one, so he assumed it was part of his imagination. He picked up a manga, again hearing the same words. Then when he was leaving to check out, he heard it again. Subaru thought "Man, my imagination must be running wild on me today."
He exited the convenience store. He then heard that voice one more time. As he walked, he saw a car fly by. If one looked closely, you could see a shadowy black hand appear. Subaru then noticed the world start to distort. He thought to himself "What is wrong with me today?", as he rubbed his eyes. He would open his eyes, and notice he was no longer where he was. He was in a marketplace. Subaru was incredibly shocked. He looked around. He saw not only humans, but knights, what appeared to be demi humans, stands, and what appeared to be a medieval style environment.
'This stuff doesn't seem to be fake.' Subaru thought to himself. 'So that must mean…' "I've been summoned to a Parallel World!" Subaru said out loud to no one. People around him who heard that thought he was crazy. Subaru then thought to himself 'This is great. I can learn magic, be a hero, maybe get a girlfriend.' Subaru then blushed at that last thought. He was a little bit popular with the ladies at his high school, but he never really entered a relationship with any of them, as some he wasn't really that attracted to, while others were… a bit nuts.
"This is great. I should call dad and…" Subaru stopped himself as he realized that it is very possible he not only cannot contact his dad, but he might not ever see him again. Subaru then checked, and just as he feared, there was no cell service. Subaru also realized he would never see some of the friends he made at high school again, nor would he ever see his mom again. This hurt Subaru a lot, because he may never get to see his mother wake up. And even if she somehow wakes up, he realizes he may never see his mom again. This almost caused Subaru to cry, but then he thought of something
"If this is a parallel world fantasy, I may be able to grow strong enough to come back by using some type of transportation magic or something. I don't know many Isekai that involve the protagonists wanting to return home, but I want to. I could build a great life here, and I want to do that like all the other protagonists, but I at least want to see my dad, mom, and my friends again at least once. Or if it's a one time thing, at least say goodbye." With determination in his eyes, Subaru says "That's my goal! Become strong, build a great life here, and at the very least see my dad again to say goodbye." Subaru then starts walking around.
He would then see a boy in the middle of the street, crying, about to be run over by a man and his lizard mount and his caravan. Subaru then said to himself "This must be where I produce my first… wait, Isekai protagonists are usually taught it first." Subaru then sees the mount still coming, and without hesitation, moves in and saves the boy. The crowd cheers him on, and Subaru actually feels happy to be praised. The mother of the boy comes, and says "Thank you so much for saving my son! Is there any way I can repay you?" Subaru then says ""There is one thing: I want to know where I am." The lady looks at Subaru confused and he has to think of a lie quickly, because who's gonna believe he came from a parallel world?. So he says "You see, I'm kind of a wandering traveler, and I stumbled across this place. I genuinely don't know what this place is though." The lady then says "Well…" She would then go on to explain that this is the kingdom of Lugunica, and he is in the capital. She then asks him "Is that all you want? I really wanna give you something more." Subaru then said "Don't worry about it. Thank you, you've been a great help. He then looked at the boy "You stay safe kid." The boy and his mother said goodbye to Subaru, and they went their separate ways.
Subaru kept walking around, and encountered a stand that sold apples. "So apples exist in this world huh?" Subaru thought to himself. He couldn't read any of the prices though. Subaru would then hear the man who owned the stand say "Hey Kid, you gonna buy anything? We got the finest appas in the kingdom." Subaru then says "Uh sure." 'I can definitely understand people here as I had no problems talking with that woman. The question is how?' He then takes out his wallet and takes out his money. The stand owner then says "Huh? What country's money is that?" He then waved Subaru off and said "You can't use that stuff in Lugunica. Actually, that means you're flat broke, so scram!" Subaru then left.
'I guess I can try finding more information about this place, but I can't read anything, and I might get into more trouble that way. It's a good thing I can somehow communicate with the people here, otherwise I'd have no way to survive here. My starting gear also sucks. I don't even have Excalibur. Based on what usually happens in Isekai stories, there would be a cute girl showing me my way around the world, and then I'd become an overpowered hero. Though, honestly, if I have to work my way to that point, I don't mind, since I've been doing that my whole life. But I wish there was someone who could show me the way. ' Subaru then noticed that he had accidentally walked right into an alley. "I was so trapped in my thoughts I walked into an alleyway. I should turn back." He then heard someone say "Too Late!"
He looked back and saw three thugs. The taller thug came up to him, grabbed him by the collar and said "If you don't wanna get hurt, cough up whatever you got!" Subaru thought to himself 'Crap, this is one of those compulsory events. Watching it is entertaining. Experiencing it, not so much'
"Move it! Move it! I'm in a hurry you guys, out of my way! " A voice shouted, as a young girl sped towards them. She had blond hair and crimson red eyes. If Subaru had to guess, she was probably 14 or 15 years old. Subaru then said "This must be the cute girl that…" Subaru then stopped himself and said 'Wait a minute, even if that is the case, it's probably not a good idea to say some of these things out loud, otherwise people will think I'm crazy. Plus, she doesn't look like she recognizes me at all, so it's probably not her.' The girl then blushes a bit at being called cute, and says "While I appreciate being called cute, I'm really busy! Live strong!" And then she leaves, rushing past Subaru, and jumping from wall to wall, and then landed on the rooftops, before disappearing.
"Did that make you less hostile by any chance?" Subaru asked hopefully. The fat thug said "Actually, it rained on our parade and made things worse." "Damn, of course it did," Subaru said, sighing. 'Good thing I asked my father for some self defense lessons, otherwise I'd be a sitting duck.' Subaru thought to himself. Subaru then gave the thugs a challenging look and said "You know, I'd normally try to run, but I'm not letting you guys scare me. You wanna go, then come at me." 'If I can't even handle thugs, I'll never be able to carve out the life I want. And I'll never be able to see dad and mom again.' Subaru wills his resolve, and strikes at the thugs. He is able to throw a right hook at the fat thug, and then delivers a powerful kick to the smaller thug. The tall thug however pulls out a knife, and Subaru knows one small misstep could mean disaster.
"Hey, didn't your mother tell you not to play with knives?" Subaru asked. The taller thug just charged at him, and Subaru grabbed his arm and punched his arm, getting the knife out the thug's hand. He then delivered a kick to the thug's stomach, and the thug was sent back to where his buddies were. The smaller thug then said "Damn you, you think you can mess with us? Let's see how you deal with all three of us at the same time." Subaru did not like hearing that at all, and just as the thugs were chagrin at him, Subaru was about to grab the knife that he saw on the ground…
"That's Enough." A voice said, ringing through the alleyway. The voice's origin was a girl with purple, amethyst like eyes, and white hair. If you looked closely, she had pointed ears, indicating she was at least part elf. Subaru was enraptured by the girl, as she was extremely beautiful in his eyes. "Who the hell are you?" one of the thugs asked. "Stop now and I'll forgive you. So do the right thing and give back what you stole." The girl said. One of the thugs said "What we stole?" "Now please. It is very precious to me. You can have anything else, but not that. I won't do anything to you, so please give it back." The thugs were confused and one said "Wait, you didn't come to save this guy?" Subaru grinned and said "Last I checked, it's more like you were the ones needing saving." "Shut your mouth!" The Fat Thug yelled.
"What strange clothes. If you asked me if I had any connection to him, I'd say no." The girl said. "Then you've got no business with us! If anyone stole from you, it's that blond girl, and she went that way." The small thug chimed in, and said "Yeah, that way." The girl was then about to leave, giving the thugs a bit of relief, until she said, "That said, I cannot overlook what is happening here. Mister, I would like to help you, as 3 on 1 isn't really fair." Subaru blushes and says "Uh, sure. I was able to get the tall thug's knife, so it shouldn't be that much of a problem." The girl nodded, and then the small thug said "It's still 3 on 2, so the odds are still on our side." "Then 3 on 3 should make it fair." Emerging onto Emilia's palm was a small gray cat. The fat thug got a bit terrified, realizing this girl was a spirit arts user. This caused the thugs to run, and then the girl turned to Subaru. "Next time, don't put yourself into alleyways like that mister." Subaru then blushed for a second, before smiling and said "Thanks for saving me."
"Stay there." The girl said, moving closer, looking at him in the eyes, causing Subaru to look away and blush. "See, you averted your eyes, that means you are hiding something due to a guilty conscience. My judgment was spot on." Subaru then thinks to himself "huh?" and Puck says "I think that's just an instinctive male reaction. I don't sense any malice at all" "Subaru then thinks to himself "He can sense malice?" The girl said "Be quiet, Puck. You know who stole my Insignia, right?" Subaru, confused, said "I'm sorry for letting you all down like this, but I have no idea what you're talking about." The girl then said "Wait, this can't be. Did I really just come around the long way?" "Subaru laughed a bit and said "You should probably hurry after her miss. If you want, I can help you."
The girl said "But you just said you don't know anything." The boy said "I do remember her face. She passed by me and the thugs before we fought. Plus, I do owe you for saving my life." The girl hesitated and said "But you exchanged information with me that you don't know anything about my insignia, so you don't owe me anything." Subaru then got very confused and said "I guess, but…" The girl then said "Plus, I can't do anything to thank you." Subaru then said "It doesn't matter. I want to help you. I'm doing this for my own benefit, to achieve my goal of… one good deed per day!" The girl was absolutely flabbergasted (who still uses that?) at this boy, and was unsure of whether or not to bring him along or not. However, Puck would then tell her "I don't sense any malice, so I think you can accept it. Plus, the more meat shields, the better." "Meat shield? That's what you're gonna be using me for?" Subaru asked, a bit outraged.
"I mean it, I can't do anything to thank you." the girl said. "Don't worry about it. Just leave it to me, I'll help you get your insignia back." Subaru said, giving the girl a smile. The girl was taken aback, and then relented, and the girl, Puck, and Subaru, left the alley. Subaru then asked "By the way, what does this insignia look like?" The girl said "It's this big, and it has a jewel in the center." Subaru said "Okay, it should be easy enough to see if someone has seen it." Their search however would not yield any results, as Subaru had no idea where he was going and the girl didn't seem to know where she was going either. Even asking people where the girl was or if they had seen an insignia just turned up nothing. Subaru realized that this would definitely be harder than he thought.
On a balcony, after finding nothing so far, Subaru was sad that he couldn't find anything, as he was very much attracted to this girl who was beautiful and had saved him with no second thought. "I guess it's pretty hard to find information in this place." Subaru said. The girl said "It's the capital of Lugunica, did you not know that, um…?" The girl then realized she hadn't gotten the boy's name. "That's right, we haven't gotten his name yet. Shall we introduce ourselves properly?" Puck said. Subaru then smiled, realizing he could get the girl's name. "Yes. I'll go first. My name is Natsuki Subaru. I just came to this land today, and I'm extremely broke." Puck then said "So you just arrived here today? Well, it's nice to meet you Subaru. My name is Puck." He extended a paw to Subaru, and both shook hands/paws.
"You just arrived here today? Where did you come from?" Subaru, having to think of a lie, decided to modify the one he had for the mother of the boy he saved. He said "I come from an island country in the East. I'm kind of a wandering traveler, and I was traveling to one place but all of a sudden, in my travels I ended up here." It's not really a lie. He did travel to a convenience store and tried to travel back to his house. The girl said "Luginica is the easternmost nation on our continent. There's nothing East of here." Subaru, a bit shocked, said "Really, there's nothing east of here?" The girl took a bit of pity upon him, as he seemed to be in a worse position than she was. Though Puck noted he was definitely well built. There were a lot of things that were unique about this boy. When it came time for the girl to give her name…
"My name?" the girl asked, and Suabru nodded, as he really wanted to know this girl's name. She was so much different compared to some of the girls back in his old world. Specifically she was not crazy, as Subaru shuddered at the memory of some of the crazy girls from his old world. "My name… is Satella. Just Satella." Subaru blushed, and smiled at her, saying "Satella. What a nice name." He got the name of the girl. Though if one looked closely, you would see Puck dawn a look of disappointment at "Satella."
Later on, the group would help a child back to their parents. It turned out the father of the child was the owner of the apple stand who kicked Subaru out for being broke. After thanking them for bringing his daughter back, the appa stand owner gave them information regarding Felt, and that she is probably in the slums. Subaru along the way had learned that Satella was a half elf, which caused him to say "No wonder I thought you were cute. Elves are always so beautiful." (He's not wrong). This had caused the girl to blush and call Subaru a dunderhead. Though Subaru could not help but wonder why she seemed to expect a different reaction from him.
Satella, Puck, and Subaru would then head to the slums, but by that point, the sun was setting. This would be where Subaru would learn about the time limits for spirits, as Puck would go to sleep, leaving only him and Satella. This would cause them to eventually be sent to the direction of a loot house by a man in the slums, and then Subaru would be enchanted by Satella again, as she communicated with minor spirits, glowing as a result of the minor spirit gravitating towards her. Subaru and Satella then made it to the loot house, and Subaru decided to go in first. This would change his life forever.
"Anyone in here?" Subaru said, looking around with a lamp in his hand. Subaru then felt something wet. His lamp would reveal it to be blood, and the source of the blood came from a disfigured giant man, who had his stomach sliced open, his jaw sliced off, and his blood leaking from every single part of his body. "What the fuck? Who did this? No, better question, why?" Subaru asked himself, shivering, trembling, almost wanting to throw up from the site. He had seen some isekai that showed brutal deaths, but 1. None were like this. And 2. This was very real, not something created from the mind of an author. He then heard a voice "My, my, you found that? I guess I have no choice. Yes, no choice at all." Subaru then was hit from behind, his lantern knocked out of his hand, and rolled onto the floor.
"Ah, it hurts. What's going…" Subaru then realized something horrible. His stomach was cut open, just like the Giant, and he was bleeding. "Damn it… this is really bad." "Subaru? Where are you? Is everything okay?" Satella asked as she entered the loot house. "No…stay away…please run, '' Subaru said, but his words were too late, as Satella's body dropped next to him. "Damn it." Subaru said. 'I'm sorry dad, I'm sorry mom. I failed. I'll never see you again.' Subaru thought to himself, tears running down his face. I'm sorry Satella. I couldn't…' Subaru then looked at the hand of Satella, glowing in the moonlight from the windows of the loot house. Subaru then reached out to touch the hand. "No, I don't want to die. I don't want to die without having saved her. I don't want to die without seeing my parents again. I don't want to die, not like this. There has to be something I can…" Suddenly a pop up message appeared in front of him. It read:
Congratulations, you have completed the secret quest "Courage of the Weak."
'Secret quest? Huh?' Subaru thought to himself.
You now qualify to become a player, do you accept?
'What the hell does a player mean? I'm really confused right now, but I feel like I shouldn't pass up on this.' Subaru thought to himself
You don't have much time. If you do not accept, your heart will stop in 0.02 seconds. Once you accept, you will die and respawn to your last save point.
'Looks like I don't have a choice. If I don't accept, then I'll just die, but if I accept, I at least have the chance to come back to life wherever this so-called save point is. And if it means I have a chance to live and save Satella, I'll do it.' "I Accept" Subaru croaked out. He then put his hand on top of Satella's hand and said "Wait there… I'm gonna… save you."
Congratulations, you have now become a player. You will now die and respawn at your last save point.
A bright light then enveloped Subaru's body. Little did Subaru know, at that moment, his destiny was forever changed. It would be the start of his journey, leveling up in another world, as the future King of Shadows.
Hello, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of this fanfic. I had to look through episode transcripts, my own Re:Zero light novels, and other places to kinda figure out the best dialogue for these characters, as while I can remember certain quotes, I ain't a computer. I really did not want to write dialogue that felt out of character. Anyways, in case you guys have certain questions, let me provide some answers
Q: Is this the same type of system from Solo Leveling? A: In some ways yes, and in other ways no. A major difference is the party system, which brings me to the next question
Q: Will Subaru be soloing everyone like Jin Woo? A: No, as I don't want the entire cast to feel unimportant, since a bunch of them will get their asses kicked by not only re zero villains, but villains from another verse. Which is where the party system comes in, and as a hint of what I plan to do, what's a natural evolution for an oni? Or an elf? If you get where I'm going with this, congrats, if not, stay tuned.
Q: Pairing? A: Rem and Emilia with Subaru (Obviously), but I'm thinking of adding a couple other women, for example, Ram (Because fuck Roswaal. That clown does not deserve shit). Any other options will be considered, though I do have a couple others in mind. If you don't want to read due to this, that's fine.
Q: How far into Re:Zero will you go? A: Probably until the end of Season 2. If you want me to go into Arc 5 and beyond, I'll consider it. And if Season 3 ever airs, I'll continue until I finish with that season.
Q: Will Subaru still suffer? A: At certain points yes, but I generally want to give my 3rd favorite protagonist of all time a break, and this is the best way to do it. But he is not gonna feel great when he learns some sad information down the line of how his mom was put into a coma. (Read Solo Leveling if you don't know where I'm getting at.)
Q: Is this Subaru different from canon Subaru? A: In certain ways, he is the same, but in other ways, he's not. He has those quirks that make him Subaru, and he is still in love with Emilia, but he is gonna be less of a "simp" (even though the reasons for his behavior were understandable considering the hell he went through before.) and is a lot more rational compared to canon, because he is more in tune with reality, compared to his canon counterpart where he thought he was gonna get certain abilities just because he was summoned.
That is all. Any other questions, leave those in the review section. See you all when chapter 2 is uploaded.