Normal POV
"Ugggh…my head."
I rubbed my wet aching head with a groan.
The air around me was both cold and windy while the sky was a heavy gray color.
Shivering I glanced up at the sky to see heavy rain pouring down on me "f-fuck that's the last time I ever drink myself drunk again," I muttered before glancing down to see a puddle which reflected an image that did not belong to me.
I looked down to see the right part of my shirt had been torn open exposing my white chest and that's when it all slammed down my skull.
In the year 2025 James Parker had just been fired from his job and decided to go drown his sorrows away at home with a bottle of finely aged Tequila.
He was the constant disappointment of his family.
His family consisted of his Mother and Father along with six siblings each of whom were brighter and more talented then him.
Growing up, every dinner table conversation was always the same. His oldest brother landed a prestigious internship. His sister published another academic paper at seventeen. Another got scouted for sports. One was a prodigy with numbers. Another a social butterfly adored by everyone. And the last one the baby of the family was the most treasured and favored one of them all.
As for James? He tried God's he tried so hard.
Extra tutoring.
Late-night study sessions until his eyes burned.
Joining clubs he didn't care about.
Part-time jobs to "show responsibility."
Smiling through the disappointment in their eyes.
Yet no matter what he did, he was always painfully average, and in a family built on excellence, average was equivalent to failure.
Every time he brought home results, decent ones, ones he'd worked hard for his father's response was always the same.
"…That's it?"
His mother would sigh, look away, and mutter something about being a lost cause.
Eventually, they stopped asking how he was doing.
He was an outlier in his own home, a ghost drifting between the cracks of louder, brighter lives.
Still, he held on to something.
A hope.
A naïve belief that if he worked just a little harder, they'd see him.
But adulthood was cruel in the exact same familiar way. He got a job not a prestigious one, but one that was at least good enough.
He put in the effort, smiled through exhaustion, tried to please his bosses the way he tried to please his parents.
And just like his parents…they too discarded him the second he became inconvenient.
The day he was fired, it wasn't even for something dramatic like budget cuts.
"Not enough performance."
"Not meeting expectations."
Words he'd been hearing his entire life.
He had walked home that night, feeling numb and when he stepped inside his apartment quiet, empty, and suffocatingly so something in him just… broke.
He reached for the tequila because he couldn't bear the emptiness inside himself anymore.
He didn't remember how many glasses he shot down.
He didn't remember when the crying started and he certainly didn't remember when it stopped.
James only remembered the pain.
The loneliness.
The feeling that maybe no one would even notice if he disappeared.
Then…his heart had suddenly stopped and he died right there from a sudden stroke.
Rigel Jones on the other hand was just a 17 year old youth living in London. He had recently dropped out of high school after his parents died in a car accident and took up a part-time job at a nearby restaurant.
In order to pay the bills of their apartment and take care of his 5-year old little brother Nathan Jones.
He had just finished a late night shift when he saw what looked like an engagement ring box sitting at one of the tables.
Hoping to make a bit of quick cash Rigel pocketed it before leaving and inspecting it over in a random alleyway.
Except when he opened the damn thing there was no ring to be found, only a thick pulsating purple colored orb which slammed itself right into his chest before everything went dark.
Fuck! Which one was I the depressed failure of a son James Parker? Or the bright and hopeful teen Rigel Jones who wanted to bring his little brother and himself out of their poor situation?
…It took a bit of time but I eventually decided to settle the fact that I was now Rigel Jones while James must have been my previous self.
Really I should have felt a little ecstatic that I had essentially just experienced a isekai-reincarnation scenario but all I felt was melancholy.
Yet the Rigel side of me screamed that this could be a second chance after all using his future knowledge the current version of myself could bring himself and Eddie out of their poverty.
"Fuck it doing this much thinking is not good for me right now…I'll use this second chance to my advantage and live a better life. Screw my shitty parents and siblings, they can go eat a bag of cocks for all I care now," I openly declared with a hope that I had never felt before when I was James.
I turned to leave the alley when two guys in hobo looking clothes stepped into the alleyway "oi, kid," the taller one rasped, stepping closer, his breath reeking of cheap alcohol "you been holdin' out somethin' shiny in that box?"
Shit.
They must've seen me with the damn box.
"N-No, it's nothing sir. Just trash," I said voice trembling way more than I wanted.
The shorter thug snorted "funny. People don't hide trash hand it over."
I swallowed hard and took a step back "look, I don't want any trouble. I just wanna go home-"
"Oh, there's already trouble," the tall one grinned revealing yellow crooked teeth "just depends if it's small trouble… or big trouble."
My heart hammered while my hands shook out of sheer anxiety and fear.
"God damn it if only I had a cheat power right now. Magic, an Op Weapon, fuck even a anime power like a Domain Expansion," I yapped.
Unbeknownst to me a sound like a heartbeat froze in my ears a deep, concussive thud that echoed inside my skull.
STAB!
"What the-" I barely got out before something tore through my chest.
No.
Before a knife tore through my chest.
I looked down.
Blood, warm, and pouring down without stops.
The tall thug had stabbed me.
My breath failed while my knees buckled. I collapsed onto the cold, wet pavement as the rain mixed with the spreading red under me.
"Shame," the shorter one muttered, "coulda just given us the box."
I tried to speak.
I tried to breathe.
Yet all I felt was pain…oh god so much pain that I couldn't even begin to describe it.
Then I…died.
[Reset x1]
I gasped in shock as I was now standing again in the same alley with the same two thugs stepping in front of me.
"Oi, kid," the tall one rasped.
I froze.
No.
No, no, NO! I heard this already.
These were the exact same words.
The exact same tone.
My heart wasn't beating fast anymore.
"What the fuck is going on?!" I whispered, while clutching at my heart where I had been stabbed.
The tall thug frowned "huh you deaf or something brat?"
I stumbled back "this… this already happened. I died. You-you fucking stabbed me asshole!"
Both thugs stared at me like I was crazy.
"Right the kid's fucking nuts," the short one muttered "let's just take the box."
"No! Stay back!" I screamed while backing away from them.
My whole body trembled.
My breaths came short and fast.
I didn't understand.
I didn't KNOW.
The short thug lunged.
I flinched…then something hot surged through my nerves and- thud!
A second hot stabbing pain exploded through my stomach this time.
The bastard's knife got me.
"D-damn it…I-I don't wanna die. It hurts so much," I wheezed out in utter pain.
Then my body hit the ground.
The world faded from my sight again.
[Reset x2]
Same alley.
Same rain.
Same thugs.
"Oi, kid-"
"No. No no no NO NO-!" I screamed in terror, backing against the wall "WAIT, WAIT!, WAIT!! PLEASE STOP SAYING THAT!"
The thugs hadn't even finished stepping forward "what the hell is wrong with you?"
I didn't answer, I really couldn't.
My throat was closing.
Tears spilled down my face.
My legs shook uncontrollably.
I was looping.
I had died twice so far and I didn't even know WHY.
My mind broke open like glass under a hammer as the realization hit.
I triggered something.
I triggered something when I said 'Domain Expansion' and I couldn't stop it.
"Oh god- please- someone- help me!" my voice cracked.
The shorter thug moved first.
Stab.
Pain.
Darkness.
[Reset x3]
"Oi, kid-"
"PLEEEEEASE!" I sobbed, collapsing to my knees "I DON'T WANT TO DIE AGAIN!"
The tall thug froze "what the hell is this kid on?"
"I-I just want to go home…" I whispered, shaking violently.
The thugs stepped forward and just like before I died.
[Reset x4]
"Oi, kid-"
"STOP IT!!!"
My scream tore out of my throat raw, shaking the alley walls. I crumpled to the ground, hugging my knees as the downpour soaked through my clothes. I didn't want this nor did I ask for it.
Why the fuck did I have to say Domain Expansion?
"Oh God," I whimpered "please let it stop…I am sorry I was such a failure for you to punish me like this I beg you."
The short thug reached to grab me by the collar.
I slapped his hand away on instinct.
He snarled and swung the knife.
It slid across my throat.
Warmth spilled.
The world ended again.
[Reset x5]
"Oi, kid—"
My eyes snapped open.
Something inside me changed.
Not relief.
Not acceptance.
Not courage.
Just…pure exhaustion.
The kind that pushes a person past fear into something cold and thin and sharp. I wiped my face hand trembling, but it wasn't the trembling of a cornered animal anymore. It was the trembling of a cornered animal that had been cornered too many damn fucking times.
I slowly stood up, legs weak and breath unsteady but I stood "…you two," I said voice barely above a whisper.
They froze.
There was something in my tone that left them unnerved "I don't want to die anymore."
The tall thug scoffed "then hand over the damn-"
"No," My heartbeat slammed like thunder.
My blood felt like fire.
My fear crystallized into something jagged and vengeful.
The shorter thug lunged at me, knife raised, and this time I moved already knowing where he would try to hit me.
Just desperately I grabbed his wrist mid-swing. The blade sliced across my palm but I didn't let go. He gasped as I twisted, shoving his arm sideways with all the adrenaline and terror burning in my muscles.
The knife clattered to the ground and for one heartbeat I stared at it. The next I grabbed it as the tall thug shouted "HEY!" but I was already turning, already thrusting the blade toward the shorter thug's chest.
It wasn't deep nor clean but it was enough to kill him. He screamed and staggered back, hands flying to his chest.
My own chest heaved while my vision blurred. My mind screamed that I was going to die again but for the first time in this endless nightmare I wasn't the one bleeding out or even dying yet.
The tall thug rushed at me next, fury twisting his face and I didn't run.
Not this time.
I ripped the knife out from the short thug's chest, blood spurting on my hands.
"I'm done being your victim," I whispered in a determined voice.
He threw a punch.
I barely managed to duck in time.
My hand shot forward.
This time the knife sank deep into his neck.
The thug choked as he fell backwards bleeding out to die.
My hands trembled as I process what the fuck I just did "holy shit I actually managed to kill the sons of bitches," I murmered.
Wildly I looked around before dropping down to quickly wash my hands off of any blood along with the blade which I pocketed.
Swallowing nervously I reached over to the now dead hobo's and started searching them for anything useful.
The shorter thug had nothing except a few crumpled coins and a half-empty bottle of cheap liquor which I quickly tossed away.
The tall one fared slightly better with some loose cash, and a thin leather wallet. I took the wallet and flipped it open to see his ID, some old club membership cards, and… a few notes. Nothing extraordinary but money was money.
I shoved everything into my jacket and stepped back, breathing hard.
I didn't feel bad at all for killing the bastards who had so far killed me five times. Still it was the first time in both lives that I had ever killed someone.
The image of my little brother suddenly popped into my head "shit I need to get going now!" I looked back over the body's and decided to run the fuck away.
There were no cameras in the area so hopefully I wouldn't end up getting hunted down by the cops.
"That domain expansion could still be active…so what if I end up looping again?" I murmured in fear before closing my eyes.
Maybe there was a way to just willfully break it "Domain Expansion: Break," I muttered mustering every ounce of will, intent, and focus until I felt something like glass shattering played in my ear.
"I-I think it worked now," I nervously muttered before running out from the alley.
-end of prologue-
So I know it's been awhile since I've updated any of my stories on webnovel but I've been watching some Re: Zero and felt motivation come back after re-reading Bleap's, Fate/World fic again along with Fate/Disturbance.
However true to the eroge genre of the nasuverse…you might see lemons.
No harems though only solo romance.
For those who don't know the MC basically has Aldebaran's Authority from Re:Zero