Fanfic / Alternate Reincarnation

Your friend will visit you. Soon.

Alternate Reincarnation is an Date A Live Fan Fiction written by Cryocene.

It's January 9th, the first day of the second semester. Things have been calm since his rescue of Nia - the 9th Spirit he encounters - two weeks ago. However, today Shido wakes up from a dream where someone asks him to "not forget about me"; a dream he’s been having occasionally for years. Unable to brush it as a mere dream and yet unwilling to give much thought about it, Shido continues his day.

Later on in the day, Phantom suddenly meets with Kurumi who tells her that "her friend would be coming for a visit soon." Initially skeptical, soon after hearing a familiar melody Kurumi rushes to the source and finds a pink haired, lyre-wielding Spirit clad in purple, her friend Rinne Sonogami. At the same time, Shido is the only other person who can hear this melody, beginning the story of when the forgotten ones begin to return.

An Alternate Universe fanfic set after Volume 14's prologue, it goes Off the Rails from there on with several Continuity Nods to Rinne Utopia Visual Novel and Mayuri Judgment Movie. It is advised for the readers to have read the light novels up to Volume 13 and has knowledge of the plot for both the VN and the Movie for maximum pleasure, but they are not strictly required.

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Alternate Reincarnation provides examples of:

• Adaptational Badass: Taken up to eleven with Rio, who is born from the Spirit mana of eight Spirits, as she is far more powerful than her original counterpart. To the point that, a single aspect of her power is an entire Spirit's worth of strength.
• Adaptational Villainy: A minor but noticeable one. Phantom purposefully impersonates Rinne to piss Kurumi off in Chapter 1, evidently because she finds it amusing. In Chapter 9, Phantom also tries to manipulate Rinne into stopping her date with Shido by showing off the Ruler's own Inverse form, something that Rinne fears and hates so much.
• Adaptational Wimp: Inevitable with Rinne. She gets Cassiel (an original Angel made for this fic) instead of Eden because of its story-breaking properties, and also because there is no way In-Universe that such a powerful Angel could be born without Shido as its source. That being said, Rinne is still one of the most powerful Spirits shown thus far, downplaying this trope.
• A Day in the Limelight: Miku seems to receive more focus than the other Spirits (apart from Rinne, Kurumi, and Kotori), being the Unwitting Instigator of Doom that leads the story to its Wham Episodes.
• Alternate Timeline: Discussed by Kurumi in Chapter 4, stating that Rinne might have known Shido from another timeline. Rinne is skeptical about this theory, as only Kurumi could travel through time and send memories throughout timelines; while the Spirit of Time didn't recall doing any of that. The possibility remains open, however.
• Alternate Universe: Sort of, while it can be thought of as an AU, the author states the story is more like the DAL games in that it can be both canon and AU, so the story is made so it could be fit into canon.
• Anti-Villain: The story is unclear about which type of anti-villain Kurumi belongs to (just like canon) but Rinne is largely Type IV, as in 'Villain in Name Only.' She does not have a single bad bone in her, actually serves as her friend's conscience at times, and even wishes to see Kurumi being redeemed if possible. Even her goal is simply to find out what connection does she and Shido have.
• Ascended Extra: Apart from Rinne, the author has suggested that Mayuri will appear in the story as well.
  • Rio appears as an Unexpected Character in Chapter 6 onward, where she is formed of Shido's Spirit mana and shaped by his feelings for Rinne. In essence, she takes the place of the original Rinne and Mayuri.
  • The Kurumi clone whom Shido manages to persuade into a Heel–Face Turn in Volume 3, the same clone who becomes the main focus of Star Festival side-story (first OVA episode of the anime), returns in Chapter 10, and gets introduced in the next chapter. She has a much larger role, as she actively helps Rinne and the original Kurumi with their plans.
  • Marina Ars from the Ars Install visual novel returns here, as part of the "security system" of one of Deus Ex Machina's headquarters, "Cage of Judgment" which housed a Spirit codenamed Material B.
  • Material B herself is later revealed to be Mayuri.
• Back from the Dead: One of Kurumi's clones is revealed to have been revived by accident when Kurumi needed to replenish her numbers and strength in a hurry after helping Miku back then during the Tenou Festival in Volume 7/2nd season of the anime. It was the same clone that performed Heel–Face Turn courtesy of Shido at the end of Volume 3.
• Becoming the Mask: Rio’s "Aspect of the Sephiroth" ability works like this to a degree, as Shido turns into one of the Spirits he’s sealed to the point it’s as if he literally turned into them. When first used to turn into Tohka in Chapter 14, he’s influenced by how Tohka would act in a situation rather than how he would, and he doesn’t even feel anything is wrong with it. He is still self-aware enough to take note of it though.
• Berserk Button: Shido feels angry whenever he wakes up to the dream he has in Chapter 1. He doesn't understand how or why and hates the feeling.
  • Rinne and Kurumi are about as close as sisters to each other, messing with one in the other's presence will be rewarded with wrath. Kurumi displays enraged bloodlust upon learning about Phantom's attempt to manipulate Rinne in Chapter 10. Later in the same chapter, Rinne loses her patience and seriously considers fighting Kotori when she badmouths Kurumi.
• Big Brother Is Watching: Or rather, Big Sister. Cassiel's "Web of Causality" allows Rinne to perceive "Strings of Fate" of people, which allows her to observe whatever they are currently thinking and doing. She uses this throughout the entire year she spends outside of Tenguu City to keep herself up-to-date with the plot. The only limitations are: 1) it cannot read the Fate of someone Rinne hasn't physically seen yet and 2) it cannot read the past thoughts and actions of people.
• Central Theme: Happiness and Closure. Just like the original Rinne Utopia, this fic explores how far people are willing to go in order to protect their happiness and achieve closure, as well as how one's view of happiness can clash against another. This fic also explores additional themes such as what if attaining happiness and reaching closure are mutually exclusive, and the conflict that can stem from it.
• The Chessmaster: Kurumi is canoncially very intelligent, but she doesn't get much chance to show it off. Here, Chapter 12 shows just how smart she actually is, both the original and her clone.
• Continuity Nod: Many of the minor and major plot points of this fic serve as this to the Rinne Utopia visual novel, such as the strangely intimate connection between Shido and Rinne; the irrational fear of Rinne's Spirit form that plagues certain characters; Rinne's code name being "Ruler"; etc.
  • On the opposite direction, Rinne says that the reason Kotori was able to get her consciousness back in the last second when she was about to kill Shido and Kurumi in Volume 4 was because of Cassiel's intervention with possibilities.
• Cool Airship: The Fraxinus, of course. But as it is still damaged at this point of the story, it is currently under repairs. Chapter 13 introduces the Hraesvelgr, a helicopter-based and Realizer-powered stealth aircraft unit that is personally piloted by Kannazuki.
• Deuteragonist: Rinne is one to Shido's protagonist.
• The Dreaded: Rinne, or rather her Spirit form, strikes fear deep into Shido, Tohka, Yoshino, Origami and Kotori. None of them can listen to her voice and don't get unnerved, and Kotori in particular can't even stand seeing her photo. Shido receives a Trigger and falls into trauma-induced coma when he sees the face of Rinne in her Spirit form for the first time. Doubles as Continuity Nod to the original visual novel, since Ruler has killed them all at least once inside of Eden.
• Enemy Mine: One of Kurumi's clones who had performed Heel–Face Turn proposes this to the Ratatoskr in Chapter 12, forming alliance in order to invade one of DEM's headquarters and free the Spirit that is locked there.
• Forgotten First Meeting: Shido, Rinne and Kurumi believe that the first two must have met somewhere before, as it will explain their connection to each other. The problem is that they haven't, Kurumi even checked Rinne's past with her Pensieve Flashback ability to confirm it. Rinne's objective for coming into the city is to find out what connected Shido with herself.
• Freak Out: Shido, as well as all of the Spirits (except for Kurumi) who took part in Rinne Utopia have this reaction upon seeing Rinne’s Spirit form in Chapter 5. Up to eleven in Shido's case, as he recalls traumatic memories and slips into a coma after seeing her.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Kotori mistakes Shido's confusion and mixed feelings for Rinne as love in Chapter 4, which drives her mad and jealous, to the point where Kotori wants to personally meet Rinne. She resolves the misunderstanding and apologizes to Shido in Chapter 8.
• The Heavy: Phantom appears more frequently, but its role is still as indirect and ambiguous as in canon: informing Kurumi of Rinne's arrival and warning Rinne against seeking the truth between herself and Shido. Although she resorts to manipulation for the latter, Phantom doesn't commit any outright villainous actions.
• Heroic BSoD: Rinne almost breaks down in Chapter 8 upon the realization that her plan is more or less ruined by the possibility of Inversion. Kurumi snaps her out of it and comes up with a way around it.
  • Each of the sealed Spirits (except for Kotori and Nia) also suffers through one during Shido's coma, as Origami revealed in Chapter 9.
• Hidden Depths: Many of the chapters are devoted to describe how certain characters are feeling about the events they went through in canon or in the story. Most notably Shido and Rinne (being the protagonists), but also Kurumi, Kotori, and Miku.
• Insistent Terminology: Shido is a human who can use Spirit powers, not a Spirit. Rinne points out that, unlike the Spirits, when Shido loses control over his powers he either experiences Out-of-Character Moment (in Volume 12) or produces alternate identities with his Spirit mana (in Rinne Utopia and Mayuri Judgment). This is also how he gives birth to Rio at the end of Chapter 6.
• I Owe You My Life: A downplayed variant. Miku is aware of Kurumi's role in her sealing back during Volume 7, and feels indebted to the Nightmare Spirit because of it. She wishes to help Shido seal Kurumi in return and jumps at the chance to do so in Chapter 5. Deconstructed, as her hasty attempt ends up doing nothing but put Shido through an unexpected coma. Miku is understandably upset and blames herself for it afterwards.
  • Chapter 8 also shows that Rinne is indebted to Kurumi for saving her when she Inversed in the past.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: Downplayed. Half of Chapter 1 serves as a Recap Episode, and the reader is always reminded of any plot points mentioned before Volume 14 whenever they come up. Knowledge of Rinne Utopia's plot helps to make the Continuity Nods make sense, but not strictly necessary. That being said, the author prefers for the readers to have at least finished Volume 13 and the visual novel for maximum pleasure, as noted in Chapter 1.
• Magic Music: Rinne's Angel, Cassiel is a lyre that can produce this, with Reality Warper effects.
• Meaningful Name: Just like canon Angels, the original Angels have an additional name that describes their nature. In Rinne's case, Cassiel is also referred as “Fate Shaman.” Fittingly, many of Cassiel’s abilities seem to be related to observing and even manipulating one’s string of fate.
• Morality Chain: Rinne is one for Kurumi. The latter has promised that she wouldn't kill anybody whenever they are together, and would feed on the former's Spirit mana instead, Kurumi even admits that at times, Rinne is her conscience.
• Mysterious Past: Every character has this in canon, and true to the tradition Rinne also has one, although parts of it have been revealed over time.
  • To be specific, Rinne plays with this trope. She is fully aware of her own background and has memories of her life as a human, but her vague connection with Shido clearly shows that all is not what it seems, prompting Rinne to seek the truth of her origin.
• Not a Morning Person: Chapter 13 shows that aside from Origami and Mana (likely due to their former Wizard training), most of the characters don't wake up around the time of 7 AM. When the former two come to pick her up, Miku notices the others are still in their pajamas and either half awake or sleeping. It's possibly justified though, since the Spirits didn't seem to get any rest the night before because they were worried about Shido, who fell into a coma in a previous chapter.
• Not as You Know Them: Rinne is a regular human-turned Spirit in this fic. It is stated that this trope will be justified much later.
  • Rio is a downplayed example as she still originates from Shido, but thanks to different circumstances she becomes a fundametally different character than the Rio from Rio Reincarnation.
• "Not So Different" Remark:
  • Kurumi remarks that Rinne is similar to a certain someone in Chapter 2, implied to be Shido.
  • Later in Chapter 12, Rinne realizes that both Kurumi and herself are so singleminded in pursuing their respective objectives to the point both of them are equally absurd, even if their morality is opposite of each other.
• Odd Friendship: The ruthless, psychotic and anti-villainous Kurumi is close friends with the gentle, moral and unambiguously good Rinne. Kotori can't help but think how did they become friends.
• Old Shame: In-Universe example with Kurumi and her... supposedly past love of anime and manga is given more focus during comedic scenes. When Rinne teases Kurumi too much about it, the latter threatens the former with a gun.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Very prominent across the story. Rinne tends to induce this to nearly every character.
• Past-Life Memories: Implied to be the reason behind Shido's dreams as well as the mysterious connection between Rinne and everyone else, as it is suggested that the events of Rinne Utopia occurred in a different timeline.
• Pensieve Flashback: The abilities of Kurumi's Tenth Bullet Yod - the ability to see the past of objects it hits - is mentioned and used very often.
• The Plan: There are actually a lot of planning tropes thrown around.
  • Power of Trust: Rinne's plan is simple: she wants to get closer to Shido until he allows her to read his memories using Cassiel's Fate Connection (she can't ask Kurumi to use Zafkiel since it will drain a lot of lifespan). However, Shido's mental trauma that he suffered in Chapter 5 prevented her from doing this out of risk of possible Inversion.
  • Memory Gambit: To perfect Rinne's plan above, Kurumi decides to take advantage of the Realizer's ability to erase memories during Chapter 12. Aware that seeing into Shido's mind will be risky for Rinne, Kurumi plans to use the Realizer to shut down her memory in case the latter went Inverse from whatever mental trauma that caused Shido to produce Rio. She plans to get one of those Realizers by invading a DEM headquarter.
  • Batman Gambit: Not satisfied with the above, one of Kurumi's clone (the one who went Heel–Face Turn and was killed for it) decides to add this to the mix: taking advantage of the Ratatoskr's need to save Spirits, Rinne and Kurumi proposes a temporary alliance to help them invade a DEM Headquarter with a locked Spirit inside. Both parties will get what they want while also giving a chance to observe one another, relieving tension between them somewhat.
• Recap Episode: In Chapter 1, Shido reminisces about how much life changed in the last few months, and gives us his thoughts about the Spirits, his responsibility, as well as the conflicts and mysteries he had experienced up until now.
• Shout-Out:
  • There is one to Code Geass during the stalking mission of chapter 5, where Shido and the others disguise themselves as One (not!Zero) to stalk Rinne and Kurumi.
  • Rio made a blatant one to Deemo at the end of Chapter 7.
  • Chapter 9 has Rinne singing the translated lyrics of "ONE"; a song sung by Altima near the end of chapter. The lyrics double as a foreshadowing for future chapters.
• Spirit Advisor: Rio becomes one after her debut in chapter 6, often reminding Shido of what he needs to do whenever he is distracted. Ironic, considering Rio is technically his daughter.
• Stalker without a Crush: Miku to Kurumi (and by-extension, Rinne) when she accidentally finds them walking together in a mall during Chapter 4. In the next chapter, Shido and the others join in as a mission because Miku wants Shido to save Kurumi.
• Touch Telepathy: Cassiel's "Fate Connection," Rinne can share her thoughts, memories, and even her perception of Web of Causality when it is active. Rinne plans to use this on Shido, albeit with his permission.
• Too Dumb to Live: Kotori accuses Shido as being this in Chapter 4 for walking right into Rinne's invitation in the previous chapter, which had a real possibility of being a trap.
• Villainous Rescue: One of Kurumi's clones interrupts a discussion gone-wrong between Kotori and Rinne in Chapter 10. It counts as this because Rinne is ticked off and is about to attack Kotori, and thus the clone's intervention actually prevents a battle from ensuing.
• Wham Episode
  • In 5, Shido slips into a coma after a serious Trigger Freak Out due to a hallucination of Rinne killing him.
  • In 6, Shido unintentionally creates Rio.
  • In 7, Rinne is implied to have undergone Inversion in the past, and Rio is revealed to be made of Shido's Spirit mana, not unlike the original Rinne and Mayuri.
  • In 8, it expands on Kurumi's and Rinne's motivation and dynamic, gives more hints about Rinne's past Inversion, and drops a lot of Foreshadowing for future events.
  • Chapter 11 keeps the tradition with the return of 'Kurumi,' specifically the clone who chose to be saved by Shido but was abruptly killed by the original Kurumi back in Volume 3. She explains that she returned largely by accident (again) and that she will help Rinne and her original with their current mission.
  • Chapter 12 as well, what with Rinne and Kurumi's offer of temporary alliance to Ratatoskr through Kurumi's clone, which states that they will offer a Spirit for Ratatoskr. It also reveals the full extent of Kurumi's plan that was mentioned back in Chapter 8, and expands further on Rinne and Kurumi's feelings for each other, ending it with Rinne declaring to Kurumi that she (and Shido) will not give up on saving her.
  • Chapter 14 is a huge one, with the namedrop of Material B (the codename for a Spirit DEM imprisoned, whom the protagonists are trying to free) as well as the revelation about Rio's ability to transform Shido into one of the Spirits he sealed.
  • Chapter 15 is yet another one, seeing as it reveals more information about Material B, as well as significant similarities between Material B and Rinne.
  • Chapter 16 has the debut of a Spirit-like entity who claims to be Material B's prison guard. She possesses the same name, abilities, and characterization as Marina Ars, from Ars Install.
  • Chapter 17 reveals the exact amount of Sephira Crystals that are supposed to exist in the world, 10. Kurumi also reveals that Rinne's Sephira Crystal is not among those, and wonders if the First Spirit - Takamiya Mio - is responsible for the extra Sephira Crysyal. Kurumi also theorizes that all the "Spirits" the DEM secured, including Marina, are just fake ones with the sole exception of Material B, whom she suspected to be similar to Rinne.
  • Chapter 18 is another big one, as it reveals the truth about Marina, Material B's current condition, and Material B's true identity as Mayuri in rapid succession.
• Winds of Destiny, Change!: Cassiel's "Dance with Destiny." This ability is mentioned multiple times but not yet used on-screen, it seems to manipulate possibilities of events. Rinne uses this to arrange the many coincidences that occur in the story.

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