On opposite sides of Earth, two teenage boys stepped forward.
Neither completed the step.
For Natsuki Subaru, fluorescent convenience-store lighting vanished between one blink and the next.
For Cassian Solano, the universe replaced solid pavement with open air.
Subaru landed on his feet.
Cassian was not nearly so fortunate.
Gravity introduced itself first.
Cassian dropped through a ceiling of green branches, struck one thick enough to spin him sideways, and crashed shoulder-first into damp earth.
For several seconds, the forest remained silent.
Then a muffled voice came from inside a bush.
"Motherfucker."
A bird fled from the branches overhead.
Cassian rolled onto his back and stared up through the leaves. Sunlight filtered between unfamiliar trees. The air smelled of wet soil, moss, and vegetation rather than asphalt, gasoline, and the questionable hot dogs sold inside the gas station he had entered roughly five seconds ago.
His right shoulder throbbed.
That was concerning.
Cassian sat up and checked himself. Burnt-orange hoodie, cream pants, red sneakers, phone, wallet, telescopic baton. No visible compound fractures. No branches sticking through organs generally considered important.
His plastic cup had not survived.
Red slush coated the nearby ferns like evidence from a particularly stupid murder.
"Moment of silence," Cassian said.
He gave the drink two respectful seconds.
Then he pulled out his phone.
No signal.
The time refused to update. The last notification remained a message from his younger sister asking whether he had remembered her chips.
Cassian stared at it.
"I crossed dimensions and she's still going to blame me for forgetting."
His voice sounded wrong in the forest. Too loud. Too modern. Too human.
He rose carefully, brushing dirt and leaves from his clothes. Copper streaks shone through the long dark hair hanging across his face. He pushed it behind one ear and examined his surroundings.
No road.
No electrical lines.
No aircraft overhead.
Not even a discarded beer bottle to prove that another human being had already arrived and ruined the area.
"Okay," he muttered. "Either I got drugged, kidnapped, and abandoned in the world's cleanest forest, or reality has finally decided subtlety is for cowards."
Something growled behind him.
Cassian froze.
Warm pressure usually appeared behind his eyes whenever someone nearby wanted to hurt him. Anger felt hot and sharp. Resentment lingered like a headache. Murderous intent arrived as a burning ring around his vision.
He felt nothing.
That frightened him more than the growl.
Cassian turned slowly.
YOU ARE READING
Re:Zero-The Boy Hatred Couldn't Kill
FanfictionCassian "Cash" Solano was closing his grandfather's repair shop in Phoenix when reality unceremoniously misplaced him.He awakes In the forest near Arlam Village only minutes after Natsuki Subaru, still wearing his burnt-orange hoodie, carrying a dea...
