Re:Zero IF

''This page is about the Re:Zero What if Web Novel Chapters. If you're searching for the "What IF" novel, featuring the Natsuki Rem story, see Re: IF. ''

Re:Zero IF are Web Novel chapters posted on Ncode Syosetsu each Aprils Fools at 1'o clock Japanese time. To celebrate Natsuki Subaru's birthday, the author writes a story which deviates from the original web novel. They are around four times longer than normal web novel chapters and in these chapters, it is shown what would have happened if Natsuki Subaru did something contrary from what he actually did. Each of the What IF stories resemble one of the seven deadly sins.

Re: Repeating a Life in Another World From Zero
Published on April fools of 2016, Tappei Nagatsuki wrote a chapter, commonly known as Kasaneru or Greed IF, where Natsuki Subaru accepted the contract which Echidna offered. The actual chapter starts after the fourth arc.

Summary
After Subaru made the contract with Echidna, he decided to use his Return by Death to solve all of his problems, in his goal to save everyone and eventually make Emilia king. With Echidna advising him, Subaru was able to take care of the problems which he faced in Sanctuary and saved everyone.

After returning by death over 100 million times and losing count, Subaru woke up as usual at the Mather's Mansion on the 14th of Kissdam. He got out of bed, and after washing his face, he practised his smile in the mirror. After doing so, he visited Echidna's dream world using the pendant at his neck as per his usual routine.

After a rather blustery conversation with Echidna, Subaru returned back to the real world where he was greeted by Petra Leyte coming to wake him up. Following her wake up call, Petra expressed her concerns to Subaru about whether the weather would get worse later in the afternoon as she planned to go shopping.

After Petra's departure, Subaru's daily routine started. He first visited the mansion's courtyard to find Garfiel Tinsel and Reinhard van Astrea sparring. This was a daily occurrence for them as Garfiel aimed to grow stronger. Garfiel had been greatly affected by the events that had transpired back at the Sanctuary, and had struggled to keep the time of its liberation at bay as Subaru had tried to isolate him from the other villagers. In the end he could not avert Sanctuary's fate and he would have perished to the Great Rabbit, if Subaru and Roswaal L Mathers hadn't saved him. This resulted in Garfiel being extremely belligerent towards Subaru, joining the Emilia camp only at his sister Frederica Baumann's request.

This time as well, Garfiel was defeated by Reinhard, and the former retired back to the mansion. Reinhard had been recruited over to the Emilia camp by Subaru after he used his Return by Death to eventually convince Felt to abandon him, leaving Reinhard emotionally broken. After Reinhard retired back to the mansion as well, Echidna speaking to Subaru as thought-waves through his pendant tried to reassure him he had made the right choice.

Continuing with his daily routine, Subaru went to visit Beatrice who had holed herself up in a room rather reminiscent of her old forbidden library which had burned down in Roswaal's old mansion. Beatrice had sunk into a deep depression as Subaru had torn her out of the library against her will during the events of Sanctuary. During his visit, Subaru tried to comfort her, but he was met by her scratching his face and neck. After leaving the imitation library, Subaru reflected on whether he had made the right choice back then, and wondered if he should have lied to her and said he was "That Person". Once again, Echidna tried to reassure him that he had made the right choice and said that with time she'd open up to him so that her emotional wounds could be healed.

As he continued to the next area of his daily routine, Subaru happened to come across Roswaal who was in high spirits. The two had a brief discussion in which Roswaal affirmed that the two of them would mutually cooperate with each other to achieve their most cherished desires. Subaru, who wasn't all too happy with being used like this, begrudgingly continued on with this day.

Subaru made his way to the room which Rem was in. She was still comatose due to Gluttony's effect. Ram was in the room on Roswaal's orders. She had been ordered to be extremely polite to Subaru, and had no real interest in her comatose sister. Subaru asked her to leave the room, which she did. Left alone with the comatose Rem, Subaru called for Echidna's help. He asked her to remind him what the ways to wake up Rem were. Echidna listed three reasons, but advised him to go for the last one which was to get the blood of the dragon by making Emilia king. Subaru pledged that no matter how many times he would die, he would wake Rem up.

Finally, Subaru arrived at the end of his daily routine, where he visited Emilia's room. Emilia was in a fragile mental state due to the fact that she couldn't surmount the trials back at the Sanctuary. She noticed Subaru's scratch marks and immediately realised they were from Beatrice. She lost control of herself and started to freeze the mansion. Subaru was able to luckily clam her down due to having practised his smile in the mirror earlier. After her outburst, Subaru told her to study for today and that he'd dine with her later. As he talked to Emilia, Echidna butted in and started to slander Emilia, continuing to do so even after Subaru left Emilia's room.

After dining with Emilia, Subaru had a flashback to when Otto Suwen left the Emilia camp one year ago. The flashback caused Subaru great distress, agonising about whether he had taken the optimum choices when he was Returning by Death. As he agonised over it, he found himself back at his room, where Elsa Granhiert was awaiting him. Elsa had joined the Emilia camp after the events of Sanctuary and was currently entrusted with the mission of finding where Gluttony was at.

After some talk with Elsa, in which Subaru learnt that the latest location she had investigated turned out to also not have the Gluttony Archbishops, Subaru asked her what the weather was like beyond the forest. Confused by his question, Elsa replied that it looked fine. Subaru nodded and commanded her to kill him. Elsa was a bit confused by the question, but obliged, and lopped off Subaru's head.

Subaru returned by death not knowing which day he had returned to, realising his save point had changed. In a panic, he rushed to Echidna's dream world to find out what day it was. He eventually learnt from her that it was the 14th of Kissdam. Echidna realised that Subaru had used his ability to reset, and both of them steeled themselves knowing that trouble was brewing in the future that Subaru would have to confront. In addition to this, Echidna asked him why he had used his Return by Death, but Subaru declined to answer.

After leaving the dream world, Subaru was once again greeted by Petra. This time when she voiced her concerns about whether the weather would be fine for when she went shopping, Subaru reassured her and said it was. Petra found that reassuring, but asked him how he knew. Finally, Subaru answered the question by saying that it was because he had returned just for this, risking life and death.

Meanwhile, back at the dream world, Echidna was enjoying her tea reflecting on the events that had happened. She found herself fascinated by Subaru and his persistence, and declared that she'd give it her all to help Subaru protect the ones he cared about. Despite her spiel which was presented as her love of scorching flame, she voiced out a contradiction at the last. "Ah, even so-- Why does love always fade?"

Re: Erring a Life in Another World From Zero
Published on April fools of 2017, Tappei Nagatsuki wrote a chapter, commonly known as Ayamatsu or Pride IF, where Reinhard didn't help Natsuki Subaru during the first arc with rescuing Emilia from Elsa, what after 88 deaths made him fall into the dark side.

Re: Drowning a Life in Another World From Zero
Published on April fools of 2018, Tappei Nagatsuki wrote a chapter, commonly known as Oboreru or Wrath IF, where Natsuki Subaru accepted Beatrice's assistance against Ram during the second arc.

Summary
The story takes place during the loop where Rem dies of the curse, or what would've been the 7th death loop. Ram goes after Subaru but he ends up surviving with Beatrice's help and runs. Ram eventually catches up to Subaru and attempts to strangle him, but collapses due to exhaustion and exposure. Subaru takes a rock and smashes her head in, beginning a long chain of violence perpetrated by him.

Two years pass. Due to the deaths of both his servants, coupled with the fact that Emilia ended up refusing to participate in the royal election, Roswaal degenerates. The spirit of Roswaal and his mansion is long gone. The few people in the mansion are Frederica Baumann, who works as the lone maid, Beatrice, Emilia, and of course Roswaal.

Subaru plots with Puck to get Emilia out of the mansion. He also has the help of Cecilus Segmunt and Halibel as his subordinates and well as various others. Cecilus cuts down Roswaal while Subaru personally kills Beatrice with a dagger after convincing her that he is her “liberator”. Frederica attempts to fights Puck and fails. However, the crew ends up sparing her and they take her back to have her work as a maid.

“Purge King” Subaru becomes an underworld boss of the brutal crime organization, Pleiades, with a base at the edge of the Kararagi border known as Pandemonium. Any who decide to oppose them are simply killed off with little regard for consequences. Subaru even takes it upon himself to decide who lives and who dies based on the flip of a coin, very literally holding the fate of his fellow men in his hands, much like a...purging king. Or a district attorney with horrific burns on half his face. Meanwhile, Emilia lives in a heavily guarded room with Puck.

Eventually, the sage council in Lugnica discovers that Subaru is responsible for the death of Roswaal, so they send the Sword Saint Reinhard van Astrea joined with a group of what are presumably Kingdom Knights to take out the “Purge King”. They plan to use the merchant Otto Suwen to disguise their attack as a business deal.

Reinhard attacks their base but is unable to reach Subaru. As Subaru already knows what danger Reinhard poses to him, Subaru keeps his best defenses (the core of which is Cecilus and Halibel themselves) close to himself and the throne. Halibel escapes with Subaru and Cecilus fights Reinhard. Cecilus personally seeks to achieve the "heavenly sword", believing that defeating Reinhard is the way to it, and doesn't listen when the latter reminds him that he's lost once before. Reinhard unsheathes his Dragon Sword Reid, finding Cecilus to be a worthy opponent. They acknowledge each other, and then they trade blows.

Halibel and Subaru attempt to flee as their world actually collapses around them due to the battle between Reinhard and Cecilus destroying Pandemonium. As they’re all running, Frederica attempts to assassinate Subaru, though she fails. Subaru decides to spare her regardless (she's also implied to be the one who sold them out, but he doesn't care as someone else would've done it if she hadn't). He quickly shows her Ram's finger marks still left on his neck, and then he orders Halibel to take her and run. After that, Subaru is stabbed by Otto.

Elsewhere, Emilia decides to leaves her room with Puck and encounters Reinhard, who has won the battle but is heavily wounded. Despite hearing that Subaru is responsible for ordering the deaths of over one hundred thousand people (126,702 to be exact), she decides to side with Subaru and attacks Reinhard with the help of Puck. It's not clear what ends up happening to Puck, but Emilia finds Subaru and tries to convince him to run with her. When he decides against it, she tells him that she'd be willing to die with him. However, this backfires immensely and causes Subaru to distrust her and abandon her.

Subaru runs back to his office where there is a secret room behind a bookcase where he has Ram chained up, who is revealed to still be alive. Once inside, he finally allows her to kill him, essentially committing suicide. He lays down to let her strangle him, much as she tried to do before it all began.

Re: Cobbling Together a Life in Another World From Zero
Published on April fools of 2019, Tappei Nagatsuki wrote a chapter, commonly known as Tsugihagu or Gluttony IF, where Murder became a habit for Natsuki Subaru, and started to read the victim's Book of the dead during the sixth arc.

Summary
Diverging from midway through Arc 6, after Natsuki Subaru decided to enact his plan to find out who his old self, "Natsuki Subaru" was by reading everyone's books of the dead, Subaru found himself in a remote region in Northern Lugnica after slaughtering a multitude of people who knew him on his journey to cobble the pieces of himself back together. In this remote region, Natsuki Subaru kept repeating a question to Amue Sears (アミュー・シアーズ). He kept repeating "Hey, do you know my name?" to her. After some deliberation, the frightened young girl who was 14 years of age answered she didn't. Subaru, who was implied to have killed everyone else in her village, let her live.

Far prior to this event, Subaru stopped at the side of the main road to have lunch with Emilia, Beatrice, Ram, Julius Juukulius and Meili Portroute whom he had murdered back at the tower, and now appear as vivid hallucinations that speak to him quite friendly. After some lighthearted discussion with them about the perks of mayonnaise, all those individuals freeze in time, and fade from sight. In fact, Subaru only has one companion with him along the road, and that is Shaula.

As the two of them continue their journey down the main road, they meet Regin Suwen. After having realised that Regin knew the old "Natsuki Subaru", Subaru stopped to talk to him. Regin quickly realised that something was quite off with Subaru and suggested they go back to his veterinary to check if he was feeling okay. Subaru replied that he was feeling okay, though he asked if the people in the village knew him, After receiving that confirmation, Subaru commanded Shaula to kill him. She used her Hell's Snipe ability to burn off Regin's head, killing him instantly. After they hid his corpse, Subaru returned back to the Pleiades Watchtower to read his book of the dead.

Meanwhile, a short time after this, Echidna (Artificial Spirit), who had been allowed to escape from the tower by Subaru, made it back to Priestella. She revealed to the members present there that she was not Anastasia Hoshin anymore, and what had transpired back at the tower. Some of the members hearing this report don't believe her, but most of them do. After this, Echidna went to talk to Ricardo Welkin, who now had a metal claw-like appendage in place of his lost arm, about her future, and how she would stop impersonating Anastasia. As they talked, the city of Priestella was flooded by Subaru and both of them perished.

After the watergates were opened in Priestella, Otto Suwen and Garfiel Tinsel both survived the initial flooding. Suddenly, beams of light poured down upon them. With great difficulty, Garfiel managed to deflect them with his shields. Subaru finally arrived at the scene, and confronted the two, and had Shaula kill Garfiel, despite the latter still not believing that his former master had gone insane.

Otto is quick to understand what had happened, and tried to distract Subaru by telling him he should have sprung a surprise attack on Reinhard van Astrea first. Subaru shook his head at that notion and said that the reason he had flooded Priestella was to kill Otto himself. Everyone else was just a bonus. Subaru understood that it would take immaculate planning to even stand a chance at defeating Reinhard. As if affirming that, the hallucinations of some of the people he had killed affirmed Subaru's plan to himself, naming Otto as the most troublesome one. After that, Otto is killed by Shaula.

Shortly after Otto's death, Reinhard confronted Subaru and gloomily asked why he was doing this. Shaula immediately commented that Reinhard gave a very Reid Astrea-like impression, grasping his immense strength immediately. Subaru had come planned for this confrontation however, and he got Shaula to cast one of her Hell's Snipe towards the shelter which Felt was staying at. This allowed Shaula to pick Subaru up and escape with him from Priestella.

Later on, after having once again visited the Pleiades Tower to read everyone he had killed's books of the dead, Subaru continued with his journey to cobble himself together to get back the old "Natsuki Subaru".

Returning back to the events after Subaru had left Amyu alive, Reinhard found the girl alive and well, though shaken. Amyu had been left behind by Subaru to delay Reinhard, who was following his trail.

Meanwhile, Subaru was talking elsewhere with Shaula. He mentioned that eventually he will have to kill Reinhard or it would be impossible to cobble himself back together. And finally, after Reinhard would be killed, Shaula would have to be the last one to die. Shaula was extremely happy to hear her master say she'd be the last one to die, taking it almost like an "I love you". Subaru was surprised at her loyalty, and asked her why she kept on doing his bidding despite knowing she'd die, and she simply replied that it was because she loved her master. Subaru's plan was that after he gathered together all the pieces, he would die and fix things with everyone after he Returned by Death and got back his old self.

The scene ended on a reflection that the pieces that would need to be cobbled together were too many, and that even if he pieced them all back together his new form would not really understand his original one.

Re: Natsuki Rem Life in Another World From Zero
Contrary to all other What IF stories, the Natsuki Rem/Sloth IF was adapted into an entire novel. Occasionally, on Ram and Rem's birthday, the author releases a continuation for the What IF story.

The story is about what would have happened if Natsuki Subaru and Rem ran away from the Kingdom of Lugnica and abandoned everything behind in the third arc.

Summary
For more information, see Re: IF.

Trivia

 * On April fools of 2015, the author wrote Butterfly's Dream / The Lust What IF chapter.
 * The Butterfly's Dream is the first What IF chapter that was removed and deleted from the web novel site.