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Originally Posted by Used Can
I'd like to know what's exactly the relationship between Bernkastel and Rika. Is Frederika Bernkastel some alter-ego created by Rika, or is the witch an actual independent existence?
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Reaaally late response, but... Bernkastel is the "witch" who wanders the kakera. She could be seen as the transcendental aspect of the original "Rika", whose consciousness and memories pass between the thousands of Furude Rikas in the various worlds.
In Rei, "Rika" comes to the realization that the body of the person she is currently inhibiting does not belong to "her". The Rika of that world has lived a life unique to her, and "Rika" has no part in it. And so she names herself Bernkastel (after her beloved wine), acknowledging herself as a different being.
Bernkastel could be seen as the various Rikas' memories of the different worlds. In Rei, "Rika" realizes that, though she is "part" of all the Rikas from the various worlds, she is not any Rika in and of herself. By acknowledging her memories of different worlds - memories beyond a mortal - she becomes a transcendental entity; a "witch". The choice between two different worlds is not something a human should have.
What, then, do we make of "Rika's" choice to "stop being" the witch Bernkastel? In short, by no longer acknowledging her memories of different worlds, she disconnects herself from the entity that is Bernkastel and becomes mortal, human. She truly becomes a Rika. In short, by the end of Rei, Rika and Bernkastel are different. And for the human Rika, all those other worlds are just a dream.
It's complex.