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Monday - 5-6 PM PST (3k-10k+ Words)

Side Stories! - Anyday - Every 2-4 weeks. (5~10k words).

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"You know, this would have been a really good dinner without all the peas" The scary-eyed boy looked at the mountain of peas that have still yet to be eaten. His clothes were old, and his hair was messy. The not-so-proud son of Kenchi and Naoko, his name? Natsuki Subaru.

"There are times you have to step up as a man, Subaru, and this time is one of them" Kenchi nervously lectured Subaru. Of course, he didn't want to eat the peas! If only he would take the bai-

"Then why isn't the actual man of the house eating them?" Subaru quipped back. Hell, even if it's the last thing he does, he will not be finishing those peas all by himself. Nope, no way, not happening.

"I'm allowing you to prove your worth as a ma-" Kenchi tried to pathetically excuse himself but was cut off by a son that was taking none of it.

"You said it yourself yesterday, I should enjoy my youth, so I'll take my sweet time becoming a man," Subaru spoke calmly. Subaru then proceeded to push the dish full of peas to Kenchi. He tried his best to hold off a smug smile and put on his poker face. "Families like us are rare nowadays, you know, so I'd like to take advantage of that and grow slowly. Refinement over speed after all" Subaru said in his final remarks to his father.

"My, my, now isn't time to be arguing, today was a long day of sitting down, so I'm aching to get some sleep" Naoko off handily mentioned. Today was the first day of June, and Naoko always somewhat shuts down on the first day to have energy for the upcoming month.

"I don't think sitting down all day is something you should mention when you say you're tired," Both of them said in unison in a father-like son moment. They turned to look at each other and then giggled. A giggle eventually turned into a laugh.

"Are you guys making fun of me? You know it's not good to make fun of family, what if I disappear one day?" Naoko lightheartedly suggested. She liked making others laugh, but she was always a little petty when someone made fun of her.

"Come on Mom, we didn't mean to laugh, it was just good timing!" Subaru responded, conveniently ignoring the part about her disappearing. He would rather not think about it right now. Subaru has been struggling with loving himself for a while now, and would rarely even look at himself in the mirror, so his emotions are already at max with just himself. If his mom went missing he might start breaking down.

"I wouldn't let anyone try to take you away, even if you tried to take yourself away," Kenchi replied confidently. Pulling off one of his signature smiles.

"I can't tell if you are trying to flirt with me, or want to kidnap me, but I'll take the latter," Naoko said. Putting one of her hands to her cheeks with a blush.

Subaru decided it would be best to excuse himself from dinner after his parents started flirting with each other. Subaru knows best that his parents can last forever when it comes to flirting.

Subaru stepped into his bathroom to try and wash his hands. "This sink is always so annoying, it feels like I have to twist it more every single time I want to wash my hands." Subaru thought to himself. The sink has been slowly deteriorating over time due to how hard Kenichi turns it each time he wants to use it.

"You know… it's been a while since I've looked at myself in the mirror. I should check if I need a haircut… yeah a haircut." Subaru eerily said to himself. Subaru hasn't been going to school recently and was getting more depressed as each day went on. He has been avoiding looking at the mirror so far because he didn't want to remind himself that he was in this body, but he still believed that he owed his parents at least the pleasure to see him look half decent.

As Subaru's eyes slowly started lifting up from the sink and closer to the mirror his heart rate started increasing. "I knew I didn't want to look at myself but this feeling... It's scary, really scary." His breathing started to increase in pace, and his body started to clench.

"Why am I still going? It's just a mirror I could stop trying to look at myself at any moment, but this feeling... It wants me to push back."

It felt like an invisible force pushing Subaru away from the mirror. The harder it pushed the harder Subaru wanted to see himself. The surroundings started to turn black, and his eyes dilated.

"Damn it!" Subaru said he bashed his head on the bathroom mirror. Some of his blood-stained the mirror. The pressure went away, and he could now see himself in the broken mirror, and that's when Subaru noticed.

"This isn't like me at all!? Why am I doing this, and what the hell is happening around me?" Subaru said in confusion and anger. After he said that, he finally realized the darkness he was in. His reflection in the broken mirror started to morph into a face. The face of a white-haired girl, with something covering her face.

Subaru's reaction was to run. He was just with his family a minute ago, and now he was in a world of nothing with a haunted mirror. Doesn't help that he was bleeding from the forehead.

"Sorry, pretty lady, but I'm not into ghosts!" Subaru said before trying to run away. His very short run was stopped by shadow hands that grabbed Subaru's arms, legs, and mouth. The arms moved him very close to the mirror.

"Getz mes ous ofm heref" Subaru tried to muffle out with a shadow hand to his mouth but was stopped when the girl in the mirror started to speak.

"I am thou, thou art I." She said without any form of emotion. She then frowned and seemingly started looking Subaru in the eyes. He couldn't tell because of the piece of clothing that covered her eyes.

"Avoid the one that copies I. White and purple are the clues. Run into her, and you lose."

That was the last thing Subaru heard before the shadow hands forced themselves into his mouth and pulled out his tongue. Subaru then promptly got knocked out.

Cold

Alone

Afraid

He was human, but only in soul. He had no body, no memories, no hopes, no dreams. He was in a place where his soul floats. Looking for something, anything to give it meaning. After aimlessly drifting for what felt like an eternity, the soul heard something.

"I may not know you, but sir, you must live, we can't let the youth die in vain" A seemingly old voice was heard. The soul followed the voice. The soul doesn't know how it can hear, but he kept swimming through nothing, having the voice as a guide. Eventually, a light was found, and the soul swam right into it. After a flash of light...

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" Subaru was summoned into a new world with a scream. The first thing he did was move his tongue to confirm that he still had it. It felt weird though, so he turned around from the old man, and stuck his tongue out. That's when he realized that it had an X on it.

"What the hell is this? How do I take it off?" Subaru thought to himself. He knew he didn't have much time to think before being confronted by the man again, so he decided to see what was around him.

The setting was completely new to Subaru and he had no idea where he was. From a glance at everything around him, he was in the middle of a road, and the road went into a city. There were no trees as the eyes could see, and the city was surrounded by a large beige wall. The road wasn't even paved, just made from dirt.

The old man was a bit startled by the outcry, but quickly composed himself. "I would like to know more about what I just witnessed, but it'd do no good to hold up the road, allow me to invite you into the capital with me."

"Capital? The capital of Japan is Tokyo, not whatever that is…" Subaru then noticed the finer details of the mysterious man he was talking to. The man had a suit similar to one of a butler. With a bow around his neck, and high-class business shoes, you couldn't mistake this guy as someone simple, he is definitely of higher class, but that was the simple stuff. The more interesting part is was…

"Also, are you the type that is into getting those fancy swords? I wouldn't mind having one, but they are such a pain when you could get many other things to protect you. I also don't think it's very nor-" Subaru was cut off

"Sir, I have a feeling you don't know the true meaning of what you are about to say, I suggest thinking carefully before you speak. I'm known as the sword demon after all. Now, let's head into the capital so that you could explain what I just saw." The sword demon then walked to a wagon that was being moved by a ground dragon. He got onto the front seat and pointed to the back.

Subaru was completely freaked out. When the old man was talking, Subaru could visibly see a red aura coming from him. That alone made him want to cry to his mom, but then Subaru saw something that he would never think to see in real life. A dragon.

"Sword Demon? Dragon moving wagons? Capital? Did the ghost girl in the mirror, isekei me?" Subaru thought to himself while he slowly walked to the back of the wagon. He didn't stop looking at the dragon until it was impossible to see it anymore. He then hopped right next to some crates of what appeared to be items of war.

"Is this it? A chance to restart in a new world from zero. Will the ghost in the mirror find me and become the heroine that I must protect!" Subaru's thoughts were racing on all the things he could be doing in a new world. He no longer needs to carry the baggage of his past, and hell, maybe he can even become op after learning to do some magic or finding a never before seen sword.

"Though my beginning act isn't like the shows at all. There should have been a girl by now. I'm just stuck in a wagon with an old dude, swords, and a bunch of armor pieces. Who is he anyway, and why does he have all this stuff?" Subaru whispered under his breath

"If you have something to say to me, I suggest saying it." The old man said without changing his focus from the road

"His aura came back while he was talking. At first, I thought it was one of those anime tropes of strong people showing off their aura... But maybe there is something else to it! Is it one of my isekai gifts coming to life already!" Subaru thought to himself for a moment, but then realized he was in a bad situation, gift or not, he knows that the old man is not thrilled with him so far. Right now Subaru has to diffuse him.

"Uh ah, W-well sorry for the bother, I was just wondering what your name was." Subaru tried to change his image from when they first meant. If Subaru was isekaied, he might have already insulted him by mentioning the swords.

"This boy came from thin air and was thrown by a shadowy hand to the middle of the road, and then immediately insulted my swords, and said this wasn't the capital of Lugnica. Then he mutters under his breath about me and still has the guts to ask for my name. He must be naive, or stupidly brave. Those eyes aren't the eyes of someone who knows pain." The old man thought

"May I ask for yours first since you're my guest?" The old man responded

"Subaru, Subaru Natsuki"

"Wilhelm, Wilhelm Van Astrea"

Thanks for reading my first Re: Zero Story. Well, actually this is technically my 7th try at one. I always fail 1k words in or so. I finally figured out why though! I kept trying to do reaction fic spinoffs, or re: forgotten because I always doubted my writing abilities, but at this point, writing be damned I just want to give you guys an original story! I actually had a lot of fun making this.

Note, Subaru won't be OP in this fic. I gave him the power to read emotions, and maybe some more skills down the line, but they will be reasonable.

Anyways, see ya guys maybe tomorrow, and PLEASE leave a review. This is once again my first serious Re:Zero fic, and any help would be loved. Is Subaru in character at least somewhat in character?

-TonkaDev