Re:Zero - Reincarnated on a Co-op Route

"Ara~...don't worry~. I promise you'll be... unforgettable."

With one last glance at Subaru and Emilia, Kaoru clenched her fists, mustering every ounce of courage she had left to face what seemed inevitable.

"Before you finish with me, could you tell me your name? I want to know who will be the last person I see."

There's no point fighting someone like that. She killed Subaru and Emilia in the blink of an eye, and I don't think she's going to let me live.

Elsa smiles, pleased by the unexpected request. Her voice, sweet and cruel at the same time, seems to enjoy the moment

"Aww~ what's wrong~? You don't want to run away or fight~? how boring of you. but I guess you're smart enough to know that nothing will make sense in the end~."

"I'm in a good mood, so I think I'll do as you ask, seeing as how this pretty boy's insides have made my night.~"

"My name Elsa Granhiert. But you can call me "The Bowel Hunter."

"I see. Elsa, could you make this quick and painless?"

She laughs softly, her laughter full of twisted pleasure. "How thoughtful. Is that what you want? A merciful death?"

Elsa prepares to deliver the final blow.

"I'll do my best~"

As Elsa approaches to deliver the final blow, Kaoru experiences something strange. A feeling of oppression, as if something deep inside him is activated, something that had always been dormant, waiting. But he doesn't understand it. He only feels a surge of emotions and an indefinable presence that seems to well up from within his own being.

While I was waiting for the end, I thought about my parents, about the few but nice memories I had of them. When my mother took me to the park for the first time, or when my father took me to ride a bike... it was very nice, really... I would like to see them one last time... I couldn't even see their faces before I ended up in this fantasy world... Mom, Dad, forgive me. 

I am sorry that I did not try hard in school. I am sorry that I hate you. I am sorry that I did not think about you once since I came here. I am sorry that I did not talk to you one last time. Despite everything, I love you.

The last thing I felt was my head splitting in two, a soothing and melancholy feeling filling my being in these few seconds of life.

...

"Oi Niichan are you okay? why do you look like you fell off a cliff?" The Appa Guy has a very worried look on his face for us 2.

"Uh... oh. it's nothing, sorry!"

What the hell are these memories that suddenly popped into my head? why are Subaru and that silver-haired girl dead? why were we in that scary place? that feeling of my head being cut in 2...

 Elsa Granhiert..... who the hell...

I turn to my side to see Subaru, he has a confused and horrified look on his face.

"Subaru? What's wrong? Why do you look like you've seen a ghost?"

"She... died. Emilia... I saw her die."

"Emilia? who is Emilia?"

Subaru's face twists in disbelief and anger. "Emilia! That crazy woman killed her! We have to go back there!"

I grabbed Subaru's arm and pulled him into an alley to talk.

"Hey, what are you doing!," Subaru replied.

"Let's not make a scene here. Let's go somewhere more private to talk. Okay?"

Subaru manages to calm down a bit because of my calm tone and we both go to an alley to talk. Some strange memories come to my mind, like an omen or something, I theorize. And it seems that Subaru is in the same situation as me. He mentions someone named Emilia and that she was killed. I think she's the silver-haired girl who died next to Subaru in my memories but I need to ask him first.

"Before you say anything. Subaru. I need to ask you something."

I give a long sigh before I continue

"Have you died recently?"

Subaru freezes for a few seconds at Kaoru's question.

"That woman.... opened my guts. and then cut Emilia's throat..." Subaru clenches his teeth... "And after closing his eyes I came back here somehow."

"But.... why is it daytime? it was nighttime when we went to that warehouse"

Kaoru looks at her new memories and sees that the place where they were was indeed quite dark, so it is very likely that what Subaru is saying has something to do with what happened in my memories.

"And about this girl... Emilia, you say... she has silver hair and pointed ears, right? and a white and purple dress?"

"So you remember her! Why do you say you don't remember her?!" says a slightly annoyed Subaru.

"I don't remember her...exactly. to simplify. i have some memories that seem to be about 30 seconds before my apparent death. And in those memories, or premonitions, I saw the girl and you dead and you holding her hand."

Subaru's eyes widen when he hears Kaoru's comment

"So you don't remember Puck? and Felt? Or how we went looking for Emilia's insignia?"

"I don't know who you mean. I'm sorry. All I seem to remember is the appearance of that elf and the death of the three of us."

Subaru lifts his shirt and sees that he has no wounds. After analyzing it for a few seconds, he realizes something.

"I think I can come back from the dead."

"And this is like a checkpoint, isn't it? Like a video game." Kaoru added.

"And apparently you can remember everything, but I can only remember the moments before my death, I guess 30 seconds or so. So I guess you're the one who can come back from the dead, and we have different abilities, and it seems like mine is way more nerfed than yours."

"I see, then I will call this ability "Return by Death", says a serious looking Subaru, while he makes a thoughtful gesture with his hand.

"I guess I'll call my ability "Broken Mirror" then."

"Why call it a broken mirror?" Kaoru's strange and bland name for his ability intrigues Subaru.

*Sigh* "Because it's an incomplete and useless skill, silly. What's the point of remembering 30 seconds before I die if I'm going to stay dead?" 

"Besides, my theory is that it only allows me to remember if I die. So it's only useful if you also die to go back to the checkpoint."

"But I think we're going to find out if I kill myself or you kill yourself, and neither one of us is going to do that crazy thing."

"Sure... it makes sense to call it that then, following your logic. I'm the one who remembers everything, while you remember your last moments." says Subaru.

"I should ask the Appas vendor. This would be our third meeting, after we helped his daughter find her mother and she told us the area where Felt frequents."

"Again, I don't remember that, but I guess it would be good to ask him just in case he remembers" I add.

The hustle and bustle of the square was eerily familiar. Subaru and Kaoru, their faces serious and tense, approached the stall of the Appas vendor, whose red apples still glistened in the sun as if nothing had changed. But they knew that everything had.

Subaru with a forced smile "Lord of the Appas! Long time no see!"

"You two again?" the Appa guy sighs in irritation.

"And my name is Kadomon, not the lord of the appas."

"Oh yes, my mistake, I wanted to ask you if this is the third time we meet." Subaru asks.

First you come here making faces like you've seen a corpse, and then you ask if this is the third time we've met. Kadomon becomes even more irritated. If you don't have money to buy Appas, GET OUT! YOU'RE BLOCKING UP MY STAND

While we were being kicked out, Subaru saw Kadomon's daughter whom we helped in the previous loop and Subaru smiles.

"I knew it. Emilia-Tan has a good heart!" Says Subaru with a smile.

"Emilia-Tan?" I've never heard the suffix -tan"

"Ah, that's an even more tender suffix than chan. that shows all the affection I have for Emilia hehe."

We went back to the alley to think about what to do next.

"I think we need to come up with a code word or something that will allow you to tell me that you're dead, but won't make us look crazy if other people hear you."

This gave him an idea. ""Hey, I think I came up with a good keyword! How about 'redo'? I can tell you that I've had to 'redo' a certain number of times, and no one would think we were crazy!"

I have to give him credit. it's a good idea.

"Yes, it sounds pretty good so we will use redo to refer to your deaths."

"By the way, could you tell me a little bit about what happened before we died? A quick summary of what we did that day." I scratched my neck and sighed. 

"Ah well. The first time, the two of us went through town and didn't accomplish anything, but then we got jumped by some ugly looking thugs. Then," Subaru paused, and his face calmed down, "Emilia and Puck saved us. By the way, Emilia is a very pretty girl, and Puck is a cat spirit."

While we were talking, Three figures emerged from the shadows. The three thugs from the first time, with their cocky postures and typical air of superiority, blocked his path.

Subaru shouts, "Those 3 idiots again!"

The short guy with the bowl hair gives Subaru a murderous look. "Who are you calling an idiot bastard?!"

"You'd better hand over everything you've got if you don't want a beating." Hisses the pierced, tongue-out thug.

"I guess we fought them 3 before? Balse?" I ask curiously.

"Yes, basically. But they have knives, so we have to beat them while they are confident and then escape." Whispers Subaru.

The thug with the tongue out and piercings grabs Subaru by the shirt and lifts him up. The big man with pigtails does the same to Kaoru.

Come to think of it. Felt should be showing up right now, right? but no one is coming. thinks Subaru.

"Subaru delivers a powerful uppercut to the pierced thug, his fist connecting with all his might. The force of the blow sends the thug airborne, his feet lifting off the ground as he rises several centimeters into the air. Gravity takes hold, and the thug crashes back down with a resounding thud, sprawled across the ground in a dazed heap."

"I seize the moment while Subaru punchs the pierced thug, driving my knee into the big man with pigtails groin with all the force I can muster. He grunts in pain, his grip on me faltering for a brief second. Wasting no time, I pivot sharply, delivering a swift roundhouse kick to his thigh, buckling his stance. As his posture crumbles, I end the sequence with a decisive left hook to his cheek, sending him sprawling onto the ground with a heavy thud."

"My bench press is 100 kg, so don't look down on me, you bastard." Kaoru says defiantly.

"As Kaoru launched his assault on the big man, the shorter thug with bowl-cut hair reached for his knife. But Subaru was faster. With a sharp boost of energy, he pivoted on his heel and leaped into the air, delivering a 360-degree turning kick. The strike connected cleanly with the side of the boy's neck, hurling him into the nearby wall with a resounding impact. The force made him spit out a spray of saliva before collapsing to the ground in a fainted heap."

"I feel powerful... even if it's against these three idiots," Subaru says, smiling a smile somewhere between mischievous and melancholy.

"I didn't know you had taekwondo skills," says Kaoru with some surprise.

"Hehe. I did some karate, taekwondo and boxing. And my grip is 70 kg, if you need to know."

Kaoru Arches an eyebrow "70 kg? That's pretty good. How did you get it?"

"Ah, you know, swinging a wooden sword in my room. And now here I am, using my skills to kick the asses of low-level thugs. Who's laughing now?"

Kaoru, still panting slightly from the adrenaline of the fight, crouched down near Chin, the thug with emo hair and a pierced tongue out, and reached out for the 2 long knives the boy was carrying concealed. "I'll take these...just in case," he muttered, more to himself than to Subaru. His voice held a hint of hesitation, but his movements were quick and precise.

I quickly put them inside my jacket and turn to Subaru.

"I need to see someone. Subaru."

Subaru hears this and gets angry because they're wasting their time instead of going to the slum warehouse and finding out what's going on before the disaster. 

"Why do you have to go see someone right now?! We have to go to that place to find out what happened before nightfall," Subaru says a bit annoyed.

I see what you mean, in that case, I will look for help here and tell them to go to that place while you investigate what happened there, okay?

"Tch, alright then," Subaru muttered, running his hand through his hair in frustration. . The location of Rom's loot house is east of the slums, past the wooden bridge. Find someone strong to help us, and make sure to hurry."

Without waiting for Kaoru to respond, Subaru dashed off toward the slums, gripping the grocery bag tightly as he ran, determined to make it in time.

Kaoru's Pov

The dry sound of the blade piercing his head still echoed in his mind, like an echo impossible to ignore. Kaoru couldn't forget the superhuman speed with which Elsa had acted, a skill he hadn't even been able to anticipate. It was as if everything he knew about the world, or what he thought he knew, fell apart.

The memory of the old man sitting quietly among his trinkets popped into his mind. At first glance, Raigor seemed like an ordinary man, someone whose life was far from the conflicts and wonders of the world. But there was something about him, something in his eyes and the way he spoke, that suggested he knew much more than he appeared to.

"Kaoru Shimizu, huh? Interesting name. Well, you know, Kaoru, if you ever need answers or want to talk, come back. I'll wait for you here."

If anyone can explain to me how a person can move like that, it's that old stranger. That strange vibe that the old man gave me, he must know something.

I actually wanted to go to him when I just had these strange memories of my apparent death.

I need to know about magic, or how people can move at supersonic speeds like that woman.

Kaoru hurried through the busy market of the capital, dodging carts loaded with fruit, merchants shouting their offers and passers-by who looked at him with curiosity or annoyance. His mind ran a mile a minute, processing everything he had experienced since coming into this world. His focus was clear: to find Raigor, the old man who had tried to sell him magical trinkets earlier, to try to get some answers that might help him understand this place full of magic and danger.

With each stride, her anxiety increased, but so did a vague hope: perhaps Raigor would hold the key to understanding not only Elsa, but also the limits of Kaoru's own body in this strange world.

When Kaoru finally reached the old man's stall, panting from the run, old Raigor looked up from a box he was rearranging. With a soft smile and his eyes narrowed with wrinkles, he greeted the young man with his usual tone of courtesy and humility.

"Oh, young man!" Raigor said with a warm voice. "What a surprise to see you again so soon. Not two hours have passed since our first meeting, and here he is again, running as if chased by a pack of hungry dogs."

Raigor leaned forward slightly, resting his hands on his knees as he assessed the boy with an air of unwavering patience.

"I need to ask you some questions. Things about magic, superhumans, and... someone who might be more dangerous than I imagined."

Raigor nodded, calmly taking a seat on his makeshift stool as he pointed to a space beside him.

"Then, my boy, sit down and let's talk. This old man may have some answers... or maybe just more questions for you."

"What is this place? I mean this world." I answer with curiosity.

This world, young man, is called Od Lagna. Though its name sounds exotic, it is essentially the heart of the world. Some describe it as an immense reservoir of mana that flows through all existence. If the world were a living being, Od Lagna would be its life force. It is something beyond common understanding, even for the most skilled magicians. Some say it grants blessings, such as the divine protection Reinhard receives at will, but it is not a conscious entity, nor is it interested in us as individuals. It is more like the sun: it gives life, but it does not choose whom it shines on.

Raigor pauses for Kaoru to process the information before adding

"The interesting thing is that all the magic, all the mana, ends up returning to the Od Lagna. It's like an endless cycle. But tell me, kid, why the sudden curiosity about something so abstract?"

Kaoru, after making up a convincing excuse about his origin, decides to ask about magic in this new world. Raigor, with his gentle tone and the patience of a wise old man, answers

"Ah, young Kaoru, the magic in Od Lagna is fascinating and wide-ranging. Here we use mana, a vital energy that flows through the body and the environment, channeled through a special connection known as a magic gate. Now, there are six main types of elemental magic: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Light and Dark.

But I think that before I talk to you about magic I should talk to you about something more important, which is the Od.

Raigor gives kaoru a notebook along with a pencil.

"Are you going to make me write?"

Raigor just smiles in response and Kaoru accepts the notebook and starts taking notes in japanese.