Chapter Text
“This sucks.”
“This is awful.”
“Why me.”
The pain behind the boy’s left eye pulsed as it felt like several needles were being pushed behind my eye. The pain was like a red hot ice pick being driven through the eye into the brain or alternatively an everlasting brain freeze that only got more painful the more time passed.
He had been suffering from a type of migraine called a Cluster Headache. The name was misleading as the pain was much worse than an average headache, with some dubbing the attacks informally as suicide headaches.
The boy's name was Brian Kakita. Besides the pain that overcame him, he can be described as painfully average. Living with his parents he was an 18 year old student now in his second year of community college. He was shorter than average, usually sporting a light jacket and jeans. Looking at him from a distance, he could be easily mistaken as any other Asian American.
However, at this point he was disheveled, being unable to sleep in the past week he wanted nothing more than to stop existing. Knowing how selfish his wish was he immediately felt guilty for allowing this thought to enter his mind, he settled for the next best thing, sleep.
Despite the immense amount of pain, he laid down in his bed. His room was quiet apart from a small desktop fan that hasn’t been turned off in years. With his left eye beginning to tear up, he closed both eyes as the room fell to silence.
In the next moment he felt nothing. Not the pain that rested behind his eye, not the bed in which he laid on, nor the clothes he was wearing. The only feelings present were the thoughts in his mind.
“If only this would last forever.”
Then as quickly as this feeling began, it disappeared, being replaced with a bright light filling the room as several footsteps echoed in the distance.
“Is it morning already?”
He was tempted to shut his eyes and ignore the bright light. But due to his condition, he had grown to value the days when he woke up without pain. Using his better judgment, he pushed off the blanket and mentally prepared himself to step out from his cover. Moving to the end of the bed, he put one foot to the ground, and his foot was met with the icy cold tiled floor.
“Eh!? — What was that? When did Dad decide to replace the carpet?”
He began to ask himself how he was surprised by the same house he had lived in his entire life.
But, as he looked around, he noticed that not only had the floor changed, but his entire room had. The walls around were composed of a deep mahogany wood accompanied with an appealing tan paint adorned with a detailed painting of a vase full of flowers. In front of him there was a large wooden desk with a sheathed knife and papers scattered next to a room full of colorful clothes.
The only idea Brian had was to look around and see if he could remember where he was. His first thought was; that he had been moved to a hospital due to a complication with his brain. But getting a better view of his room, it looked more like a mansion than any hospital in the suburbs. As he moved over to the desk, he took a peak at the large closet.
Inside there were several colorful dresses with a blue dress, black tights, and blue leggings set in the forefront of the walkway. Immediately Brian was put off by the lack of male clothing options.
Looking down at his chest he saw that he was wearing loosely fitting white pajamas. Picking the most fitting piece of clothing, a white dress shirt with a striped suit accompanying it.
Holding it in front of himself as he looked in the mirror to see if it fit or not.
In the mirror was a demihuman with flax colored hair and yellow eyes holding up the knights uniform. With large cat-like ears at the top of his head, along with a puffed up tail attached to his tailbone, the demihuman in front of Brian dropped the uniform.
With a shocked look on his face Brian began backing away from the mirror only managing to exclaim in a voice unfamiliar to him.
“Is this a joke?”
In the mirror stood unmistakably the knight of Crusch Karsten, Felix Argyle, from popular anime Re:Zero.
Several thoughts raced through his head.
“Am I dreaming?”
“How is this possible?”
“Why me?”
“Why am I Ferris?!”
However, this rush of emotions was interrupted by a knock on his bedroom door.
???: "Ferris, is everything okay? I thought I heard a shout."
Behind the door spoke a well mannered voice.
Brian barely composing himself, was only able to respond with a “— Mhm! Don’t worry about it!”
Still staring at the mirror he got closer as he began to touch his face and ears. Almost to try and confirm that he was not wearing a mask.
In the mirror, his lips and eyes trembling, and not just because of the cold tiled floor. It was also a clear sign that his soul was rejecting this bizarre situation through his eyes.
It was an indescribable feeling looking at the mirror and seeing someone else’s face on your body. The disconnect between one’s mind and their body usually goes unnoticed, but it was now very apparent.
He shook his head. First, he had to get his bearings. If his understanding was correct then he was in the Karsten manor, with the voice behind the door belonging to none other than the Sword Demon, Wilhelm van Astrea.
Taking a deep breath, Brian gathered his thoughts. His heart was still racing after his short encounter with Wilhelm.
“Okay, I can’t stay in my room all day since it would only raise suspicions. The only thing I can do is act like Felix for the time being.”
Thinking about his situation with a clearer head, Brian began wondering what happened to Ferris?
“Since I am now in Ferris’s body, then what happened to the real Ferris? Was he sent into my body? How can I even act like someone who I’ve never interacted with?”
The endless list of questions kept piling up in the back of Brian’s mind.
While it may be unsettling to think about the potential fate of the iconic catboy, Brian had to deal with the circumstance at hand.
At this moment another thought appeared in his mind.
“Wait… I am Crusch's Knight… A knight to a woman with a divine protection to sense lies!”
“How am I going to pass myself off as a person she’s known for years?”
Getting a better look at himself in the mirror, he pushed away some hair on the side of his head, revealing the absence of his once human ears.
“God this is cursed— I’ll just ignore that too. I guess Tappei was realistic in his writings…”
He’s getting off track. What else did he remember about this character? Well he is the closest person to Crusch Karsten, a candidate to become King of Lugunica. He also seems to be close with Willhelm. Maybe because he was technically Crusch’s Knight? Who knows.
Brian didn’t know many other important characters in Crusch’s Camp so it could be safe to assume they would be unable to determine any major changes in their brief conversations. Looking further out, being a part of the Royal Guard, he remembered that Ferris had been friends with Reinhard and Julius. Reinhard van Astrea can be easily described as one of, if not the most powerful person in all of Re:Zero. Overall, it would be in his best interest to keep a note of dangerous people like Reinhard.
“I guess I will have to really get in character if I want to avoid the worst outcome..”
While many fans dismissed Ferris as merely a cross-dressing character shoehorned into the story, Brain saw Felix Argyle as a deeply compelling figure. Having read the EX Novels, he understood Felix's backstory, which offered him a more in-depth insight than the average fan.
“If I had to describe Ferris, he would be an overall kind person. While treasuring his relationship with Crusch more than anything, he also shows concern for people like Subaru who sacrifice themselves for the sake of others. ”
Brian then remembered that Ferris is also a skilled user of Water Magic. Having earned the title of “Blue” displayed that Ferris was the deemed the best user of Water Magic in all of Lugunica.
While Water Magic was mainly focused on Healing, it should also be able to be applied offensively too…
Immediately Brian conjured up a scene from Avatar the Last AirBender in which a character used their control over water to control another person's body.
“Jeez, I don’t think I will be doing that anytime soon. But at the bare minimum, I should at least try to use Healing Magic right now…”
“Without his natural affinity towards Healing Magic, Ferris is as useless as I was on Earth.”
Saying this, he glanced at the knife resting on the table amidst scattered pieces of paper. Taking a small gulp, he reminded himself that Healing Magic could only be used on an injured area.
With this in mind, he stepped forward and gently picked up the sheathed knife. Its intricate design made it resemble an art piece more than a weapon.
The sheath was decorated with an intricate gold and black pattern with the knife including a golden pattern in the shape of a diamond. At the hilt was a red jewel with what appeared to be the Karsten house logo.
“If I remember correctly, I think they had mentioned that Ferris did use a weapon given to him by Crusch. But since he didn’t have any skill with it, the knife became more of an accessory to his uniform instead of a weapon”
While Brian also lacked the talent required to properly use this weapon, he was thankful that Ferris was able to avoid many close combat scenarios due to the nature of his abilities.
“That’s only the case if I can actually use some of Ferris’ abilities.”
After quickly inspecting the weapon, Brian took a deep breath. Readying his index finger he quickly pricked it on the point of the ornate knife. Shaking his hand from the pain, he looked down to see a small drop of blood forming.
With the simple act of tensing his arms, he was able to feel a tingling sensation flow from the core of his body outwards. Passing through his Gate and allowing his thoughts to become reality. With a bright glow of energy appearing at his fingertips he was able to easily control his Water Magic.
Thinking back this must be the work of Ferris’ Divine Protection of Water, giving him an edge when it comes to Water Magic and by proxy Healing Magic.
“Phew—at least I wasn’t sent to this world without any pity. This might actually work, considering I’ve been transported to a world I know by heart.”
Unlike the protagonist of Re:Zero, Natsuki Subaru, Ferris was gifted with incredibly valuable defensive and supportive abilities. Instead Natsuki Subaru held the ability to return to a previous point in time if he died.
However, this authority was flawed. For starters, he had no control over where his “Save Points” started and he was unable to inform others of his ability too. If he were to try and describe his ability a penalty could occur. Depending on one’s knowledge of this authority, the Witch of Envy could even emerge once again in an attempt to purge all knowledge of this Authority.
“—That could be a problem. But, as long as I don’t mention it directly, or gain the knowledge through reading a Book Of The Dead, then I should be able to stay safe.”
This idea held true for other characters like Roswaal, who knew the nature of Subaru’s authority but were able to avoid the penalty.
“Still it would be best to avoid Natsuki Subaru as much as possible. Any actions that I might make could dramatically alter the events in the timeline.”
But would that be for the best? Brian held information that could potentially save the lives of many. But at what cost? Sure he could prevent tragedies like the sanctuary, but as the If Stories are anything to go off, these moments of character development are crucial for the rest of the story to play out.
His actions could even lead to Subaru becoming an enemy to the world, something which is more terrifying than fighting against Reinhard. Knowing this, Brian had set himself a new rule to live by in this world. Taking the words of Aldebran to his heart, Brian had decided that: “One must never fight against Natsuki Subaru on his battlefield.”
Hopefully, he won't have to deal with Natsuki Subaru for a while. Since Ferris shouldn’t need to interact with him until Arc 3 at the bare minimum.
Nevertheless, Brian still had to survive a day here at Karstin Manor before even thinking about his future interactions with Natsuki Subaru.
With this in mind, Brian knew he would have to mimic Ferris in every way—speaking, acting, and even looking the part.
While he wasn’t confident in his ability to turn regular words into cat puns in a conversation, he did know how to look like Ferris. Turning toward the long closet, he knew what had to be done. Approaching a blue dress, he swallowed his pride and began to change into Ferris' ensemble.
This outfit included a blue collar with a ribbon, white arm covers, tight blue leggings, and a surprisingly comfortable blue dress.
While Brian did know that Ferris often wore a scarf tied to his arm, he forgot which side it would be on. In the end, he just decided to put it on the left side since it would probably get in the way.
With Ferris’ outfit donned, he was ready to face what the world of Re:Zero had in store for him.