Ichigo's Body, Silas's Soul

"My name is Silas Wren. I'm thirty years old and used to live in Boston, Massachusetts. That is, until I woke up in this godforsaken world."

Silas arose from his bed with nothing but his tank top and a pair of shorts. He slouched to the bathroom outside his room and looked in the mirror. Disgusted at his appearance, he returned to his room to get dressed. A man from downstairs yelled, "Ichigo, wake up or you're going to be late!"

Hearing that name caused Silas to snicker while buttoning up his dress shirt. He then put on his gray pants, tied the belt around the straps, and walked down the stairs of the two-story home. The man who had called him "Ichigo" earlier was none other than Isshin Kurosaki, Ichigo's father.

A couple days ago, Silas had woken up in the body of this world's main character. He was so taken aback that he stormed out of the house with his undergarments, terrified of where he was. Isshin had chased after him, placing him in a wrestling hold. He asked what the problem was as many neighbours gazed in their direction.

Silas was so scared that he screamed at Isshin to get off him. But when Isshin told him to calm down, using Ichigo's name, he stopped. Silas, still pinned to the ground, looked at his palms and saw that his skin was a much lighter shade. The shock was enough to cause his eyes to widen.

"Ya finally calmed down?" Isshin asked after getting up.

Silas remained on the ground and pulled a lock of his hair down. When he saw that it was reddish-orange, he looked at Isshin in shock. Isshin was about to ask him what was wrong until Silas unexpectedly threw up and fainted.

• • •

An alarm went off, prompting Silas to wake up and get ready for work. He turned around, unwilling. After a few seconds, his wife reached over to his side and pressed the snooze button. He smiled, saying, "Thanks, hun." She then arose on the opposite side of the bed to prepare breakfast. Today was her turn, so it gave Silas an extra five minutes to mentally prepare for the day ahead.

It wasn't long until he finished brushing his teeth, taking a shower, and trimming down his bushy beard. He looked in the mirror, joyous. For today was going to be the grand opening of a new department in the motorcycle dealership he worked for. A new department meant new workers were needed. If he could secure a manager's position in that department, his salary would increase. He had to look extra sharp since the interview for the position was today.

Walking out of the bathroom with a towel on, two little children ran past his legs. "No correr en la casa!" he screamed in Spanish. "Do I have to remind you of this every morning?"

"Sorry, daddy!" a little girl said, running into the kitchen.

Silas could already smell scrambled eggs being fired on the pan. This was the daily drudgery of a married husband raising a boy and girl. His darling wife was a stay-at-home mother, making him the breadwinner. As long as he could work hard to provide for his family, he felt as though he was doing a good job as a father.

As he walked into the kitchen to see his family already on the table with breakfast ready, he pulled out his phone and sat down. His wife noticed he was scrolling through news articles, so she asked, "Did you remember to pray last night?"

"Pray?" Silas repeated, still looking at his phone. He picked up his fork and took a bite of the eggs in his place. "I forgot."

"Honey, it's important to pray. You know that. Today's the interview, after all."

The two went back and forth on the importance of being faithful. Silas, not the praying type, brushed aside his wife's plea and thanked her for the eggs. He then kissed her goodbye and did the same to his two children before grabbing his keys.

"Wait, daddy!" his oldest son yelled.

Silas looked over to see what he needed. In an excited tone, his son asked, "Are you still going to take me to the anime convention tomorrow? I wanna dress up as Kaname."

"Kaname Tōsen from Bleach?" he questioned. When his son nodded, Silas laughed, saying, "You need to stop watching that crap. It'll rot your brain, muchacho."

"But daddy, you're the one that got me into—"

"We'll talk about it later. I'm gonna be late for work."

Silas rubbed his son's head and walked out the door. Starting the car, he couldn't help but wonder why he had introduced his son to Japanese anime. He thought it would help build his character, not make him dress up like them. Brushing those thoughts aside, he drove off.

There was hardly any traffic on his way to work. Things were normal, like they always were. He clocked in, greeted his co-workers, and waited for the time his interview would start. When the hour came, he took a deep breath and walked into his boss's office. By the time the two finished making small talk, his boss handed him a resignation letter.

"But why, sir?"

"Silas, with the recent changes we've made, we've got to let go of some of our staff. It's not just you; your entire department's being let go of."

Silas could not believe what he was hearing. No one was notified about this mass layoff. It hadn't taken long until him and the rest of his co-workers were all packing their belongings and walking out the door. His boss was nice enough to have him resign as opposed to firing him. But the act of losing a position he'd held for more than five years was enough to make a man fall into despair.

As Silas slowly got into his car, he sat his head on the steering wheel. All he could think about was the horrible news he'd have to tell his family.

A few minutes passed without him saying a word. Just then he heard a bell ring, so he slowly lifted up his head to see where it was coming from. Outside, he saw a church with a giant cross on it. It made him think about what his wife said earlier this morning. So he lowered his head and said, "God, why did this happen to me? Why is this world so cruel?!"

As Silas sat there, angered that he had just lost his job, he started his car in frustration. He wasn't one to get easily upset over things. Years of perseverance taught him better. When he was growing up, he was often the leader in everything he did. Nothing was out of his reach. But the moment he heard that he was being let go of, something snapped inside him.

He drove as fast as he could to the nearest law firm, reaching speeds of over one hundred twenty miles per hour on the highway. The thought of him losing at something fueled his resentment for his company. Or rather, it fueled his resentment for the whole world. If he couldn't have the position, no one could, is what he thought. His idea was to sue the company for wrongful termination. Just as he was swerving from lane to lane, a semi-truck's trunk opened. An object then flew out, prompting Silas to quickly turn his wheel. The sudden motion caused his car to flip horrendously over the ledge.

He could feel his car falling as he screamed, wishing things to stop. By the time he heard a loud bang, he miraculously arose in Ichigo's room.