On Earth, he was just Kaito Suzuki, seventeen years old and utterly, blasphemously devoted to a fictional woman from Re:Zero.
Not Emilia. Not Rem.
No.His heart, soul, browser history, and bedroom walls were dedicated to Capella Emerada Lugnica, the Witch of Lust.
Even the hard sock underneath his bed.
Posters of her hung above his desk like religious icons. One depicted her in her grotesque true form, crimson skin and wings spread wide. Another featured her smiling, that darkly elegant version with fangs and pink eyes, sitting cross-legged atop a tower of corpses. Even his smartphone lockscreen was her grinning face mid-transformation.
Kaito wasn't ashamed.
He ran a Capella fan club on Discord, complete with a "Church of Lust" roleplay channel. He had written thirty thousand words of Capella-centric fanfiction titled "The Crimson Bride". He memorized her quotes. He argued passionately in Reddit threads that she was misunderstood, loyal, brilliant—and incredibly hot in both forms.
His grades? Barely passable.
His family? A middle-class household in Chiba, Japan. Mom worked two jobs and was always tired. His dad left years ago. His little sister, Nao, shared a room with him and had begged him more than once to "please take the posters down when my friends come over."
He didn't.
Kaito was weird. Not dangerous, Just… deeply online.
He rarely left his room, except for school, where he hovered around the lower tiers of the social food chain. He wasn't bullied anymore—people just stopped noticing him. He didn't care. He had anime, fanfic,his Discord friends, and most of all Capella.
Over the months he had even been saving up hundreds of dollars from his weekly allowance to buy himself a gooner figurine.
'Soon, I should have saved up enough money to buy that one figurine of her off of Amazon. I already have a special spot in my room specially saved for it!
But it was a random night in April that changed everything.
Kaito had just rewatched Re:Zero Season 2, Episode 33, pausing several times during Capella's scene to screenshot new expressions. He was editing a meme about "getting infected by love" when he clicked a random tab he'd forgotten about.
A PDF file someone from his fan club had sent him.
Lord of the Mysteries - Chapter 1: Klein Moretti.
He had heard of the novel before but to him it sounded weird. Victorian? Chinese author? No Fan Service?
He vaguely remembered someone describing it as "Lovecraft meets anime, but serious." He read a few chapters halfheartedly deciding he had nothing better to do. A man, Klein, dies mysteriously and wakes up in another world. Tarot cards. Spirits. A Church of the Fool?
It was okay. Very Wordy.
He got halfway through the fifth chapter before his eyes started to droop.
"An illusory crimson moon hung above the gray fog."
Kaito blinked once.Then again.
And fell asleep.
There was no dream. Only pressure.
An unbearable weight pressed down on him like he'd been submerged beneath miles of deep ocean. His mind drifted, memories flitting in and out like bubbles in the dark. His name, his family, Capella's sneer, her eyes, her voice—"Ahh, the scent of depravity~"
He could've sworn he had felt the lower part of his body stiffen in the darkness.
But something else moved inside of the darkness too, and it was not him.
It was Something that scared the living shit out of him.
He felt an ancient, coiling tendrils of power wrapping around his consciousness. A presence vast, unknowable, and indifferent. He floated toward it, drawn by something deeper than desire.
And then it was as if the Sun itself had come and collided with him.
A scalding flush spread through him like his blood had turned to wine and fire. His nerves ignited with a sensation he had no words for. His soul shifted, its axis tilting, as if something had been yanked from another universe and jammed into the fabric of his being.
Finally, the burning sensation quickly ended and a windy feeling began to be the only thing
His soul was in the place of transitioning from what place to another.
He screamed—but only inside.
Because physically, he couldn't move. He couldn't even breathe. He had no lungs, no mouth, no fingers. He was drifting along in what felt like space.
Was he…
Reincarnating?
'Yes!'
He had always hoped that this would happen to him, but he didn't actually really believe that someday it would! It was incomprehensible!
Kaito had always dreamed of what would happen if it did, so he already came to terms with the fact he wasn't going to see his family members again.
It's not like they really loved each other anyways. Once his dad left - the whole family just grew distant and just stopped talking to each other. That's what made him even turn to anime in the first place!
So in a way, he should be thankful to his dad for leaving so that he could have discovered the wonderful existence that is Capella.
Soon, his soul got squeezed so tight it felt like he was going to pop. He began to compact and become pulled into a huge force like that of a black hole. Then it all went silent. Until it wasn't.
The first thing he heard was thunder.
A savage roar overhead, like mountains grinding against the sky. His skin prickled with cold, but the warmth of something sticky and thick coated him. His ears rang as an atrociously bright light began to pierce the darkness.
It was both Blinding and Burning at the same time. All of his senses were being overwhelmed by just his sight!
He suddenly felt himself being pushed into another direction.
'Oh no, am I dying. Well, at least I'm going to heaven. That's way better considering the other option!'
He thought himself about to become reborn into the angelic realm where everything you've ever wanted comes true.
He was ready to imagine himself a harem of Capella's and spend the rest of eternity with them in a beautiful mansion.
'Alright, I think its time to get my dream come true!'
He forced his limbs to twitch. Fingers to curl. To move— come on and move, damn it! He reached toward the light, the pressure in his chest mounting, until—
"WAHHHHHHHHH!!"
He screamed.
A newborn's cry that was both sharp and raw, echoing off stone.
'Huh? Was that me?'
Hands caught him—rough, calloused, armored? Shouts followed, in a language he didn't understand but instinctively feared. The world stank of blood and metal, rain and smoke.
'It turns out I really was reincarnated instead of dying! So the place that I was just in was...'
Deciding not to reflect on that, Kaito became overwhelmed with an incredible sense of excitement for what new world he was in. He could already guess that the benevolent God had sent him to the Re:Zero world to be with his waifu.
'Thank You God!' At this moment, he became a more devout believer than ever before in his entire life.
He was alive and had been born into Re:Zero! Life couldn't be any better.
Except for the fact that... he wasn't in Re:zero, or any anime close to it.
He had been reincarnated into Lord Of The Mysteries.
Into the City of Silver at the exact same time Zhoul Mingrui had transmigrated to Tingen as Klein Moretti.