Chapter 1: Kaiser.
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Pov Narrator.
A long, restrained sigh escaped from the lips of a young man of average height as he let himself fall onto a somewhat worn wooden bench. Between his fingers he held a sheet of white paper, slightly trembling from the breeze that ran that afternoon.
As he sat down, he lowered his gaze toward the letter. His black and messy hair stirred softly when a gust of wind crossed the place, lifting a couple of dry leaves from the ground. He gripped the paper tightly, wrinkling it slightly at one corner. A faint smile began to draw itself on his lips, growing little by little until it became impossible to hide.
—¡Hell yeah! I got accepted into the art school. —He leaned back with satisfaction, resting his back against the backrest of the bench and raising his face to the sky—. I knew they wouldn't reject my talent.
His confident smile widened, loaded with that almost arrogant security that only someone young can allow himself.
During the entrance exam he had written, in tiny letters and almost hidden at the end of the sheet, that if they rejected him he would take Poland in protest. He was quite sure that this small "joke" had revived a certain historical memory related to a man with a peculiar mustache.
But the important thing was that now Kaiser was more than satisfied. He held his acceptance letter as if it were a personal trophy. He had talent for drawing; no one could deny that. Although, being honest, most of his skill he dedicated to illustrating anime characters like Goku or warriors taken directly from Dragon Ball.
In fact, when he was twelve years old he had set up a small business at school selling his drawings of Goku. And it had gone surprisingly well for him. He always returned home with a few extra bills in his pocket, enough to buy diamonds in Free Fire without remorse.
—I think I should go back home and start writing a new chapter of my multiple stories. —Kaiser stood up with some heaviness, stretching his back a little after having remained seated for so long.
One of his favorite pastimes was writing fanfics purely for fun. It was nothing serious or professional; simply, when an idea crossed his mind, he put it on paper or on the keyboard without thinking too much about it. He had always had a restless imagination, almost impossible to keep silent.
—Ah, I think the day got away from me… I didn't even notice when it started to get dark. —He raised his gaze, watching how the sky began to dim slowly.
The orange and golden tones of the sunset were fading little by little, giving their place to a night that advanced calmly. Sometimes, Kaiser felt that some days were strangely long, while others seemed to slip through his fingers without warning.
—It must be climate change… Why climate change? I don't know, but many people blame it for everything, so there must be a reason… —He made a brief pause and sighed—. I'm talking to myself again.
He gave himself a light slap on the forehead when he noticed that, once again, he had started talking as if he had an invisible audience around him.
—I'm quite solitary… I guess that must be why.
With his hands in his pockets, Kaiser began to walk back home, advancing along the sidewalk of the street while, from time to time, he crossed paths with some passerby. In those days, that area used to be quiet, almost silent, as if the world decided to lower the volume when night fell.
Kaiser stopped in front of a traffic light and raised his eyes to check if the light was still red. Noticing that crossing was already allowed, he moved forward without too much hurry.
—¡There's a bill!. —He stopped abruptly when he saw twenty little pesos lying on the ground. He bent down to pick them up with a smile, since it had been quite a while since he found money purely by luck. —It seems the money bug is still present… They still haven't patched it from the planet. —He joked to himself.
Piiiiii
A deafening beep made him turn his head abruptly. His face was bathed by the intense white lights of a car that was approaching at full speed. He froze. The lights were getting bigger and bigger, shortening the distance much faster than his brain could process.
—(I should have looked both ways before crossing the street).
He thought it with unsettling clarity, as if his mind had accepted the outcome before his own body. He knew what was going to happen. And he knew it was going to hurt.
By pure reflex, he closed his eyes and tensed every muscle, clenching his fists tightly while his body trembled, waiting for the impact.
…
—Eh?
He slowly opened one eye. The beep had disappeared. The roar of the engine was no longer there. Instead, he felt something strange: the air was warmer.
—But what the hell…
He remained still. His arms hung limp at his sides. He blinked a couple of times, trying to understand what he was seeing. It was daytime. The sky was clear, illuminated by a bright and clear light.
Which was impossible. Because barely a second ago… it was night. Confused and with his heart beating a thousand per hour from the fright, he let himself fall backward, ending up sitting on the ground while he breathed in a shallow and disordered way.
He brought a hand to his face and touched it, feeling the familiar sensation of skin against skin. He was there. Solid. Real. Then he started to laugh. First it was a low laugh, almost nervous. Then it turned into an open laugh that made several people around him look at him with evident strangeness.
—¡Hahahahaha!. —Kaiser laughed more from the scare than from anything else. He preferred a thousand times to laugh than to burst into tears or panic. —Am I high? No… I don't think so. I've never consumed crap in my life. Then… what the hell is this place?
When he finally paid real attention to his surroundings, he noticed that he was no longer on the nighttime street where he had been about to die. Now he was in something similar to a plaza.
But it wasn't a normal plaza.
The people walking around there wore clothes of muted colors and unfamiliar designs, nothing modern like the sweatshirt and pants he was wearing. That made him stand out immediately. Among all those people, he was the only one who seemed out of place.
Kaiser slowly turned his head, observing his surroundings with growing bewilderment.
—Furries…?
The word escaped from his lips almost by inertia when he noticed people with animal ears and tails. Others even seemed more beast than human, with bodies covered in fur and clearly non-human features.
Where he came from, those types of people were usually called "furries".
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End of the chapter.
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Okay, I'm letting you know now that Arc 1 might progress a bit slowly since it will focus on how the protagonist obtains the system.
It's not a copy of Sung Jin-Woo's system; rather, it's more inspired by his son Sung Suho's system. However, some elements from Jin-Woo's system will be added, along with some completely new ones.
Just so you know, I'm not a huge Re:Zero fan enough to be an expert on the entire story, since I've only watched the anime and never read the light novel.
So, if you're a Re:Zero fan, please don't crucify me if I get something wrong.