The phenomenon of problematic disaster

[VukPauk]

The world was gray. Not in a metaphorical sense, but in the most literal one. A gray sky, heavy with unseen moisture, pressed down on the gray roofs of high-rises, whose walls, once painted different colors, had long since faded into indistinguishable shades of desolation. Gray asphalt, pockmarked with dark stains of old oil spills, glistened after the morning rain, reflecting the indifferent light of the cloud-veiled sun. Even the people, hurrying about their business, seemed part of this monochrome landscape—their clothes, their faces, their gait merging into a single stream of mundanity.

At the bus stop, under a shelter of yellowed plastic, stood a young man. His figure fit perfectly into the surrounding palette. Simple jeans, a dark hoodie, worn-out sneakers. Light hair, devoid of shine, fell onto his forehead, covering his eyes, but even without that, it was clear—his face was a mask. A mask of total, all-consuming apathy. In his violet eyes, there was no sadness, no joy, no anger. Only emptiness, reflecting the gray world around him. He wasn't waiting for the bus; he was simply existing at a point in space where the bus was scheduled to appear.

With a hiss of pneumatics, an old, rattling bus pulled up. Its sides were caked in a layer of grime, and its windows were covered in a murky film that distorted the already bleak reality. The doors struggled open. The youth, his expression unchanging, stepped inside, his movements mechanical, honed to automaticity by hundreds of identical boardings. He tapped his plastic card against the validator, waited for the short beep—the only bright sound in this gray symphony—and moved into the cabin.

The smell was familiar: a mix of dampness, cheap plastic, and something elusively human. He scanned the few passengers—an old woman hunched over a book, a tired worker in overalls dozing by the window, a young mother trying to quiet a fussy child. Nothing interesting. Just background. He took an empty seat by the window, in the middle of the bus. He took worn-out earbuds from his pocket, put them in. Music flowed—an indistinct, melancholic ambient, the perfect soundtrack for disconnecting from the outside world. He leaned his head against the cold, vibrating glass and closed his eyes. The bus moved off, carrying him away through the gray city, toward nowhere.

Time flowed. Or it stood still. Behind his closed eyelids, there was nothing but darkness, and in his ears, only the hum of a synthesizer. He had almost fallen asleep, sinking into his usual state of semi-oblivion, when a distant, muffled sound broke through the music. A scream. Piercing, full of terror. He didn't have time to process it, not even time to be afraid. Only instinctively, for a fraction of a second, did he half-open his eyes.

The world outside the window had become a blur. The last thing he saw was the huge, relentlessly approaching radiator grille of a truck. It filled the entire window, his entire world. And then there was only a blinding flash of pain and darkness.

He did not wake at once. The awakening was like a slow ascent from bottomless, viscous depths of water. There was no pain, no memory of the crash. There was nothing. Just the awareness of his own existence. He opened his eyes, but around him was only an endless, blinding whiteness.

He was sitting. A figure, lacking clear outlines, an almost transparent silhouette woven from nothing. Beneath him was sand. White, fine as salt, it stretched in all directions to the very horizon, merging with the equally white, empty sky. But the sky was not empty. High above, where the stratosphere should have been, a gigantic, living web spread across the white dome. Violet lightning, silent and cold, ran incessantly across it, weaving into a complex, constantly changing pattern, like the giant nervous system of the universe.

And there, far beyond the horizon, gaped a darkness. A huge, perfect black hole with a thin, blindingly white contour. It didn't just hang in space—it lived. It seemed to be drawing the very fabric of this world into itself: the white sand flowed slowly, almost imperceptibly, toward it, and the violet lightning in the sky bent, striving toward its insatiable maw.

The figure sat motionless. Inside it, it was as empty as the world around it. There was no fear, no surprise, no curiosity. Only an incredible, all-consuming lethargy. It didn't want to move. Didn't want to think. Didn't even want to exist. It wanted only to sit and watch as the black hole slowly consumed this world, and then itself.

Time passed. How much? A second? An eternity? It didn't matter here. The figure didn't move, submerged in an eternal half-slumber. The landscape didn't change, only the violet lightning continued its silent dance in the sky. But something had changed. The black hole on the horizon had gotten closer. Just a tiny bit, but its white contour had become sharper, and its pull more tangible. The figure noted this languidly, without any emotion. Just a fact.

Another lapse of time, perhaps millennia long. The hole had grown noticeably larger. It was no longer just a point on the horizon. It had become the dominant feature of the landscape, a massive black sun devouring the light. The figure, still sitting motionless on the white sand, began to notice the very space around it distorting, stretching toward the giant. In its thoughts, slow and viscous as tar, a shadow of realization flickered.

"So, this is it..."

A simple, emotionless acceptance. He didn't know what it was—death, transition, nonexistence. He just understood that sooner or later, he would be pulled into this wormhole, and he would disappear. And this seemed... right. A logical conclusion to his meaningless existence.

Another eternity passed. Now, even the landscape began to change under the gravity. The white sand around the figure rose in small vortices, streaming toward the horizon. The web of violet lightning overhead crackled and bent, like a string pulled to its breaking point. The hole was so close now that its white contour was blinding, and the blackness at its center seemed absolute. And at that moment, on the figure, on its ghostly, immaterial surface, a barely perceptible tremor appeared.

The soul thought it was ready. That it was tired. That it wanted to disappear. But something inside, a tiny, almost extinguished spark, an instinct embedded in the foundation of all living things—still resisted. This was not a conscious desire to live. It was a primal, animalistic fear of complete, final nonexistence. The tremor intensified. It was the agony of a choice the soul wasn't even aware it was making. Give in and be consumed? Or…

And at some point, obeying this last, desperate impulse, the figure slowly, with incredible effort, turned away from the wormhole. It looked in the opposite direction, into the endless white emptiness. And slowly, it began to move.

A long time later, the soul was still moving through space. Now its movements were more jerky, ragged. It was tired. Tired in a way it had never been in its past, physical life. This was not muscular fatigue. It was an exhaustion of the will itself. Every movement was accompanied by invisible spasms; every effort to take a step on the viscous white sand resonated as pain in its very essence. It wanted to stop. Wanted to give up. To lie down on this sand and let the pull of the black hole, still yawning behind it, do its work. But something, that same tiny spark, that same irrational fear, pushed it forward, not letting it stop.

It walked, stumbling, falling, rising. It walked until it felt it could go no further. That the next step would be its last. That it would simply... dissipate from exhaustion. And in that moment, just as it was ready to surrender, it noticed it.

Ahead, in the perfectly flat white sand, was something alien. A hatch. It led down. The hatch itself was made of a strange, pearlescendent wood, its surface shimmering with a soft, mother-of-pearl light, contrasting with the blinding whiteness around it. The sand seemed to flow around it, not daring to touch, as if the hatch existed in another reality, merely brushing against this one.

The soul stopped, staring at it. What was this? A trap? Salvation? Another illusion of this insane world? After brief deliberation, which boiled down to one simple thought—"it can't get any worse"—it approached and, gathering its last strength, opened the heavy lid. Darkness led downward. Not the threatening blackness of the hole, but simply... an absence of light. Taking a final step, the soul entered the hatch.

It found itself in another space. Completely white, but entirely different. It was an office. The walls, floor, and ceiling all seemed to be carved from a single piece of flawless white marble, smooth and cold. In the middle of the room stood a matching white marble desk, and behind it, in an elegant white armchair, sat a man.

He was stately, with perfectly coiffed snow-white hair and aristocratic features. He wore an impeccably tailored white suit. In his hand, he held a white porcelain cup, from which he was drinking dark, almost black coffee.

He raised his eyes to the soul that had entered. There was no surprise in his gaze, no interest. Only a universal, boundless fatigue and a faint boredom. He took a final sip, placed the cup on the desk, and, leaning back in his chair, let out a quiet, drawn-out, lazy sigh.

"Ahhh…"

 

[VukPauk]

Whiteness. Absolute, sterile, oppressive. The soul, still a formless clot of consciousness, stood silently in the middle of the marble office, staring at the man behind the desk. The man, in turn, stared back at it. His gaze was devoid of emotion, empty and weary, like that of a bureaucrat at the end of a limitless workday. Seconds dripped by in the viscous silence, not measured by the ticking of a clock, but felt as a mounting pressure.

At last, a shadow of irritation flickered across the man's flawless face. A thin line creased between his snow-white eyebrows, and the corner of his mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.

"Are you going to stand there long?"

The voice was smooth, almost melodic, but it held a note of chronic boredom, as if he had asked this question a million times before. The soul flinched, its nebulous form rippling in surprise, like the surface of water disturbed by a stone. It was the first sound to break the silence of this place. It hadn't known it could move of its own will. Slowly, with an effort that felt titanic, it took a step, then another, approaching the desk.

The man watched, perfectly aware of the waves of surprise and caution emanating from the indistinct figure. He waited until the soul had settled onto a matching white marble chair that had silently appeared before his desk, and only then continued. His movements were professional, honed to automaticity. He smoothly opened the top drawer of the desk—a normal, unremarkable drawer. But then, instead of pulling something out of it, he sharply pulled the open drawer upward.

The soul watched in astonishment at the impossible sight. The drawer did not end. It continued to extend up, transforming into a gigantic tower that receded into the infinite white height. It was a card catalog. A construct of pearlescent wood, consisting of millions, billions of cells, it grew and grew, piercing the white nothingness for what seemed like miles. At a certain point, the tower's growth stopped. The man, without even looking, reached for a specific, nondescript drawer somewhere in the dizzying heights, and it slid out smoothly. He retrieved a single document from it, a thin card, and slapped it down on the desk. Simultaneously with this gesture, the entire grandiose structure silently vanished back into the desk, as if it had never been.

He silently opened the card. His eyes quickly scanned the lines, which were invisible to the soul. After a few seconds, he closed it with a soft click and shifted his gaze to the figure, which was holding its breath.

"Well, well, well," he began his monologue, his voice just as colorless. "Here you are. I must admit, I'm surprised. According to all calculations, your trajectory should have ended in 'The Purifier' several eons ago. You almost made it, didn't you? Felt the pull, the warmth of nonexistence. Most in your position gladly dive right in, just to end this comedy sooner. But you… you turned around and crawled back." He paused, tilting his head slightly, as if listening to the soul's emotions. "Interesting. A very rare case. Almost unprecedented."

He glanced at the card again. "Let's see… Life… gray. No highs, no lows. School, home, internet. No friends, no enemies, no hobbies. Just existence. A passive observation of others living. You were a spectator in your own movie, one you didn't even bother to make. You voluntarily locked yourself in a box, and then complained it was cramped. A pathetic sight." He had expected to see a wave of regret, remorse, pain. But instead, he sensed only… embarrassment and tense attention. The soul wasn't mourning its past life. It was ashamed of it.

The man sighed again, this time more deeply, with a hint of almost human fatigue. "Alright. It seems you're not entirely hopeless, if you're capable of shame, at least. That changes things. A little."

He reached into the drawer again, this time without the theatrics, and took out another sheet, a simple form, and placed it in front of the soul. "Figure it out yourself," he tossed out dryly, noticing the question in its aura.

The soul shifted its gaze to the sheet. It was covered in myriad words in a completely unfamiliar, ornate language, composed of symbols that looked like a cross between runes and hieroglyphs. But the moment it focused, the meaning of the text began to appear directly in its thoughts, clear and precise, as if it were reading its native tongue.

It was a contract. "The Final Chance Contract."

It stated that the soul was receiving the opportunity to live one more life. This life would be the final test, the results of which would determine its ultimate fate. That wormhole outside, as it turned out, wasn't just a black hole, but the embodiment of the eternal cycle of rebirth. Everything that fell into it was completely cleansed of memory, personality, of its very essence, and the soul took on a completely different, new form. A complete reboot. The death of the ego.

The gist of the contract was simple: it was being given one more chance. But if, at the conclusion of this new life, the results remained the same—the same apathy, the same passivity, the same flight from the world—it would face final oblivion. Not rebirth, but a complete, absolute erasure from the fabric of existence.

As an additional support—so the soul couldn't later complain about an unfair world or unfortunate circumstances—it was offered the chance to choose a so-called "cheat." Any power, any ability that would help it in its new life. Below was a blank space where it was to describe its wish.

The soul stared at the empty field for a long time. Options swirled through its consciousness. Limitless magic? Unbelievable physical strength? The ability to control time? Money? Power? The possibilities were endless. It thrashed about, not knowing what to choose. What could guarantee it wouldn't repeat its mistakes?

And at some point, it stopped abruptly and thought. It wasn't skills it had lacked. It wasn't power. Its entire past life, it had done exactly what it had decided to do. And it was its choice—or rather, its refusal to choose—that had led it to all this. The problem wasn't the world. The problem was itself. And it made a decision.

Its ghostly hand reached for the form. It didn't know how it would write, but the desire was so strong that a dark pigment, like ink, began to concentrate at its fingertips. It began to describe its wish. At first, it was just words: "strength," "speed," "endurance." But then the description became more and more detailed. "The ability to analyze and destroy supernatural phenomena," "a body that knows no fatigue," "reflexes that outpace thought." And at some point, it became clear it wasn't describing an abstract ability. It was describing a character.

The very character it had admired so much during its past, gray life. The hero from an old novel, whose strength, audacity, and disdain for boredom had seemed to it the embodiment of true freedom.

Sakamaki Izayoi.

Finished, the soul passed the sheet back to the man. He took it lazily, his eyes scanning what was written. A crooked, cynical smirk slowly spread across his lips.

"Well then. Live your life worthily. However, remember,"—he raised his tired eyes to it, eyes holding not a single drop of sympathy—"that trash will always be trash."

He snapped his fingers.

The world around the soul exploded in a blinding flash and disappeared.

The man was left alone in the silence of his white office. He looked at the sheet in his hand, smirked one more time, and then opened the drawer again. The gigantic card catalog soared upward. He found the right cell, and the sheet the soul had just held was sent to its place. The name of the section where it now rested glowed for a moment, and the old, forgotten name of the protagonist was replaced by a new one.

Izayoi Jin.

 

[VukPauk]

Kuoh Town was waking to the gentle touch of the morning sun. The warm, almost summer-like air was filled with the aroma of fresh pastries from small bakeries, the bitter scent of coffee from open cafes, and the sweet fragrance of sakura, whose last petals lazily twirled in the morning breeze. It was a city of contrasts, where modern buildings of glass and concrete stood alongside traditional houses with tiled roofs, and bustling, lively shopping streets gave way to quiet, tranquil alleys leading to ancient Shinto shrines.

Life here flowed at a measured and predictable pace. In the morning—streams of schoolchildren in neat uniforms and office workers in sharp suits, hurrying to the station. In the afternoon—the carefree laughter of students strolling in the park by the lake, and melodic announcements from the speakers in the shopping arcade. In the evening—the warm light of lanterns reflecting in shop windows, and the cozy hum of restaurants and izakayas. Kuoh was an exemplary Japanese city—clean, safe, and mind-numbingly calm. The perfect place for a quiet, peaceful life. ...

Consciousness returned with a sharp, painful jolt, tearing him from oblivion. The first thing he felt was the hard floor against his cheek and the taste of dust in his mouth. He opened his eyes. A ceiling. Low, with age-yellowed stains. He slowly sat up, looking around with a dull, ringing bewilderment.

He was in a tiny, old apartment. A small living room seamlessly flowed into a kitchen nook, where a single-burner stove and a small refrigerator huddled on a modest counter. In the corner, a low kotatsu table. By the wall, an old wardrobe, from whose slightly open door a thick, heavy blanket was awkwardly spilling out. He realized he hadn't been lying on a bed, but directly on the floor, on woven mats. Tatami.

The word surfaced in his mind on its own, foreign, yet achingly familiar. And in that same instant, an unbearable pain pierced his skull. It was like a lightning strike. The world before his eyes exploded into a myriad of white sparks, and a flood poured into his head. No, not a flood—a tsunami. A gigantic, all-consuming wave of information, of alien knowledge, of alien memories.

The Japanese language, which he had never known, now sounded as natural in his thoughts as his native tongue—grammar, thousands of kanji, colloquialisms, polite forms. The history of Japan—from the Jomon period to the post-war economic miracle. The geography of Kuoh Town—every street, every shop, the bus schedules. The pain intensified, turning into an unbearable pulsation that felt as if it would tear his head apart from the inside. He gripped his temples, trying to contain this insane onslaught, but the information continued to pour in, filling every corner of his consciousness, displacing, overwriting his own "I." At a certain point, at the peak of the agony, his body couldn't take it. The world went dark, and he collapsed onto the floor, losing consciousness.

The day was ending. The orange rays of the setting sun painted the room in warm, melancholic tones. Jin's eyes snapped open. The pain was gone. But there was another, far more vile sensation. His stomach twisted in a brutal spasm, and nausea rose in his throat.

Without thinking, obeying a primal instinct, he scrambled to his feet. Stumbling over his own legs, he bolted for the small door in the corner. The toilet. Barely making it to the bowl, he collapsed to his knees as his body convulsed. He was vomiting violently. Bile and acid burned his throat, tears streamed from his eyes, his abdominal muscles seizing from the strain. This wasn't just vomiting. It was a purge, an exorcism. His body, his new vessel, was rejecting the remnants of the old world, the old life, spewing them out along with the acrid bile.

After what felt like an eternity, when the spasms subsided and only clear, bitter mucus came up from his stomach, he slumped back weakly, his back against the cold wall. Cold sweat ran down his entire body, his head was spinning. He crawled out of the toilet on all fours, made it to the kitchen, and, as if he had done it a thousand times, opened a cabinet, took out a glass, and filled it with water from the tap. His hands moved on their own, guided by an alien memory that had already been absorbed. He downed the glass in one gulp, feeling the cool water extinguish the fire in his throat. And then his strength failed him again, and he collapsed to the floor, sinking into a merciful oblivion.

The next time he woke, he was standing. In the middle of a small, cramped shower stall, covered in old tile. Streams of warm water ran down his body, washing away the sweat and the sticky terror of the last few hours. He lifted his head, and his gaze fell on the fogged-up mirror on the wall. He ran a hand over it, wiping away the damp film. And he saw himself. The new him.

A stranger looked back at him from the mirror. A youth with light, slightly water-tousled hair and piercing violet eyes. A strong, perfectly built body, where every muscle was sculpted with almost unnatural perfection, like a statue of an ancient god. This was not his appearance. This was not his body. This was the vessel he had chosen. The vessel of Sakamaki Izayoi.

And then, looking at this foreign, but now his own, reflection, he remembered everything. Not just the new information about Japan, but what came before it. The white office. The tired man in white. The contract. And his choice.

He had made it. Made it into another world. And the memories that had flooded his head left no doubt as to which one. Kuoh Academy, attended by beautiful girls, one of whom was the crimson-haired heiress of a demonic clan. The perverted guy who became a pawn and the wielder of the Red Dragon's power. Fallen angels, exorcists, Sacred Gears…

He had landed in an anime. In High School DxD.

According to his newly acquired memories, he was now Izayoi Jin, an orphan and a transfer student, recently enrolled in Kuoh Academy. A convenient legend. A blank slate that could be filled with anything.

"Yare yare…" a tired thought flickered through his mind. He turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, drying himself with a rough towel. "Of all the possible worlds... why here? Into this theater of the absurd, built on fanservice and power-ups?"

He walked back to the window of his tiny apartment. The night city glittered with a myriad of lights, appearing just as peaceful and calm as it had in the morning. But now, Jin saw it differently. He saw what was hidden behind that serene facade.

The warm light of the shopping street, where couples might be strolling right now, seemed to him just a stage set, behind which, in dark alleys, stray demons could be hunting for lost souls. The majestic building of Kuoh Academy on the hill wasn't just a prestigious school, but the headquarters of the Gremory clan, a nest of demons playing at being human. And that old church on the outskirts, which he remembered from the new city maps, wasn't just an abandoned building, but a potential base for fallen angels, hatching their insidious plans.

All these people bustling below were just unsuspecting extras in a great, hidden war. A war he was now-dragged into. And not just as an observer. But as an active participant with the power to flip the entire board.

Kuoh Town no longer seemed calm and cozy to him. It had become an arena. A vast, beautiful, but deadly arena. And the show was just about to begin.

 

[VukPauk]

Night—the time when the city removes its daytime mask of decency. Jin stood in the middle of his tiny apartment, a single lightbulb snatching the meager furnishings from the gloom: a stack of neatly piled school textbooks on the low table, a lonely futon in the corner, a small refrigerator humming so quietly it seemed afraid to disturb the peace. The air was stale, smelling of dust and old wood.

He had just finished examining the documents found in the desk drawer. Enrollment certificate for Kuoh Academy, health insurance, a resident card—flawless forgeries, creating a personality from nothing. Izayoi Jin. Orphan. Transfer student. A convenient, empty shell.

"And what now?" The thought was lazy, devoid of any panic. He sat on the floor, leaning his back against the wall. "Do I even have to?"

The memories poured into his consciousness along with the Japanese language and local geography were clear. The plot of High School DxD. He knew it. He knew about the fallen angels, about the battle for Asia, about Riser, about Kokabiel. He knew that, in the end, Hyoudou Issei, the local protagonist, would manage somehow. Struggling, losing, but winning. Such are the laws of the genre.

"So maybe... just do nothing?" a tempting thought flickered. "Go to school, get my pathetic allowance, watch the story unfold from the sidelines. Be a spectator, just like in my past life. Safe. Simple. Boring."

But immediately, another, more sober thought arose. He was an anomaly. His presence here had already disrupted the original scenario. And what if, because of his interference—or, conversely, his inaction—something went wrong? What if Issei didn't manage? What if one of these wars spilled outside the barriers and caught him, a random bystander? In this world, there were no safe places for those who knew the truth.

He wasn't a spectator. He was a participant, shoved onto the stage without his consent. And if he did nothing... he was finished anyway. Final oblivion, as per the contract with that guy in white.

Irritation rose in his throat, a tight, hot lump. He ran a hand through his hair, his fingers clenching into a fist.

"What a goddamn drag..."

The word that escaped his lips perfectly described his state. Not fear, not despair. But precisely a universal, cosmic drag. He was once again forced into a game he didn't want to play, but couldn't leave.

He stood up. Sitting within these four walls was unbearable. He needed to walk, clear his head, and see this new world with his own eyes, not through the prism of someone else's memories.

The night enveloped Kuoh in a cool, damp blanket. Jin ambled down the quiet streets of the neighborhood he now lived in. His memories helpfully supplied: this was an old, poor, but quiet residential district. Small, two-story houses, pressed tightly together, alternated with apartment buildings like his own, housing a few families. The air smelled of damp earth after a recent lawn watering and something elusively sweet—the scent of night-blooming flowers from someone's tiny garden.

The silence was broken only by the chirping of crickets and the distant hum of trains. The perfect place for a "normal" life. But Jin saw the underside. He knew that behind this sleepy idyll hid territory divided between two powerful demonic clans. That in any of these dark alleys, you could run into not a drunk worker, but a stray demon looking for easy prey. That behind the windows of these cute houses might live not only humans, but reincarnated servants leading double lives. This contrast between the seen and the unseen brought not fear, but only a wry, cynical smirk.

His leisurely path led him to an island of light in the night's gloom—a 24-hour convenience store, a kombini. Bright, almost vulgar neon signs promised cheap food, drinks, and salvation from loneliness for night owls. In front of the entrance, a group of high schoolers in the worn-out uniform of another school was squatting. They were smoking, laughing loudly, exchanging crude jokes. Typical punks, petty predators who considered this patch of asphalt their territory. Jin cast a lazy, indifferent glance at them and, without changing his pace, went inside. The automatic doors slid open with a soft chime.

Inside, it was bright and cool. He walked past the racks of magazines and manga, past the coolers of drinks, heading for the prepared food counter. But his gaze caught on his own wallet, which he pulled from his pocket. Almost empty. A couple of crumpled bills and a handful of change. Five hundred yen, no more. The financial resources of an orphan on allowance. He sighed heavily. He'd have to be frugal. From a nearby shelf, he grabbed a pack of the cheapest instant ramen and a can of soda. A luxurious dinner.

A surprise waited for him at the register. Behind the counter stood a girl. Incredibly, almost unnaturally, cute for a night-shift kombini clerk. No older than twenty, with chestnut hair tied in a high ponytail that bounced amusingly with her every move. A neat, delicate face with large, trusting eyes, average height, about half a head shorter than him. The striped store uniform fit her perfectly, emphasizing her slender figure.

"Damn ero-world," a tired thought flickered in Jin's mind. Even the cashier at a regular kombini looked like a character from a dating sim. He silently placed his modest basket on the counter.

The girl took the items and began to scan them. Obeying professional habit, she looked up at the customer to greet him, and... froze. Her fingers hovered over the scanner, and a light blush instantly appeared on her cheeks.

Jin, who had been lazily observing the street through the glass door, shifted his gaze to her. He saw her staring at him, frozen, her lips slightly parted in surprise. He tilted his head slightly, his violet eyes studying her indifferently, but attentively. This simple gesture snapped her out of her stupor. She flinched, blushed deeply, and abruptly looked down, hiding her gaze.

"P-p-pardon me!!!" her voice was thin and strained. "T-that'll be two hundred and thirty yen!"

Jin, paying no attention to her reaction, calmly counted out the exact amount, down to the last coin, and placed it on the counter. While he slowly packed the ramen and soda into a thin plastic bag, he could feel her gaze on him. She kept stealing furtive glances, her cheeks still burning. It seemed she desperately wanted to say something but didn't dare.

Jin huffed inwardly. He didn't understand what had happened to her. He was used to his new appearance attracting attention, but this reaction was... excessive. He took the bag and headed for the exit.

After leaving the store and walking past the punks, who followed him with disdainful looks, he had already gotten a decent distance away when he heard a desperate, almost shouted voice behind him:

"PLEASE COME AGAIN!!!"

He turned around. The same clerk had run out of the store and was standing in the doorway, hands clasped to her chest. She was breathing heavily, as if she'd run a marathon, and her face was a mixture of embarrassment and some kind of puppy-like delight. Jin froze for a moment, then the corners of his lips twitched in a wry smirk. He gave her a lazy wave and, turning, walked on.

The girl, seeing that he had noticed her and even responded, looked as happy as if she'd won the lottery. She let out a quiet, sweet sigh full of happiness and, beet-red, ran back into the store.

However, this scene did not go unnoticed by one of the punks. The guy, clearly the leader of the gang, sat with his face twisted in anger. He stared through the glass at the clerk, who was now joyfully, almost skipping, wiping down the counter, and then transferred his hate-filled gaze to Jin's retreating back.

"That bastard..." he growled through his teeth.

He threw a few short phrases to his buddies. They smirked in understanding, put out their cigarettes, and lazily got to their feet. After exchanging a few words, they moved after Jin, disappearing into the shadows of the night city.

 

[VukPauk]

The night air was cool, carrying the scents of asphalt, damp foliage, and distant exhaust fumes. Jin walked slowly down the quiet street, the plastic bag with his meager dinner rustling faintly in his hand. Inside his head, contrary to custom, there wasn't cold analysis, but a light, unfamiliar turmoil.

He recalled the face of the girl from the kombini. Her big, frightened, yet curious eyes, the blush that flooded her cheeks, her desperate, almost childlike cry of "Please come again!". It was so... anime-like. So cliché it was almost amusing. But somewhere beneath the layer of cynicism, something else stirred. Something warm.

"Maybe... she liked me?"

The thought was so alien, so out of place in his new reality, that he involuntarily stumbled. He felt blood rush to his cheeks. A faint, barely noticeable blush he hadn't felt in what seemed like an eternity. For a moment, his thoughts flowed in a completely different, long-forgotten direction. Romance? Ordinary human relationships? Maybe in this life…

In that same instant, as if doused by a bucket of icy water, another feeling washed over him. Sharp, predatory, familiar. The sensation of being watched from behind. Of an approach.

His head cleared instantly. All the sentimental nonsense evaporated, giving way to cold vigilance. He didn't slow his pace, didn't change his gait, but his entire being grew taut, like a predator that had sensed prey. He carefully, almost imperceptibly, cut his eyes, glancing at the reflection in the dark shop window he was passing. Five shadows. They kept their distance, but moved in sync with him, trying not to attract attention. The kids from the store.

Jin looked straight ahead, and a predatory, anticipatory smile touched his lips. The warmth of embarrassment was replaced by an icy thrill. He was tired of inaction. And these idiots, it seemed, had decided to voluntarily offer themselves up as sparring partners. Well, it would be a sin to refuse such a generous gift.

A few minutes later, he turned into a narrow, poorly lit alley between two old buildings. He walked to the very end, until he hit a solid brick wall. A dead end. He turned slowly, the bag of ramen still hanging carelessly from his hand. Blocking the exit, the five were moving toward him. They were trying to look intimidating: confident faces, relaxed, "cool" gaits, hands in their pockets. A classic group attack on a lone target, meant to instill terror in the victim.

Jin turned to face the guy who was walking in front and was, obviously, the leader of this gang.

"Well, nothing new."

...

"Well, nothing new."

Shido froze. He stared at the strange blond, who was looking right back at him with a strange, almost pleased expression and a lazy smirk. The words, spoken in a calm voice devoid of fear, threw him off. He had expected anything: fear, pleading, an attempt to run. But not this.

He glanced at the others. He saw the same uncertain confusion on their faces. The plan was failing. They continued to approach, but a little slower now, less confidently.

Getting closer, Shido tried to understand where this guy got such confidence. He was literally standing with one hand in his pocket, waiting for them with a self-satisfied smirk. He didn't look scared. He looked bored.

"Does he have a weapon?" a thought flickered in Shido's mind. "Doesn't look like it, pockets aren't bulging. Maybe he's not alone? No, no one's around, and he's in a dead end. So why is he so confident?! Dammit, is he crazy?"

Stopping a few meters away, he gathered his courage, put on his most threatening expression, and looked up, shouting:

"Who the hell are y—"

And he froze. He drowned.

The strange blond's eyes. He looked into them and the words stuck in his throat. Violet. But it wasn't just the color. It was emptiness. A bottomless, cold, sucking abyss that held no fear, no anger, no life. Only an absolute, all-consuming indifference that contrasted with the slight smirk on his lips. Shido felt a cold sweat run down his back. This wasn't the gaze of a human. It was the gaze of a monster.

He watched the man slowly approach him. Watched his hand descend onto his shoulder. The palm was warm, but the touch... It was unbearably heavy. Shido turned pale. It felt as if a whole mountain had settled on his shoulder, not a teenager's hand. He couldn't move. Not from the physical pressure, but from the primal terror that paralyzed every muscle. He froze, afraid to even lift his head, let alone look this monster in the eyes.

Jin patted his shoulder twice. Amiably. But the gesture almost made Shido pass out.

One of his friends, a hefty guy named Takeda, noticed his leader's strange behavior. "Shido! You okay?!" he yelled and, without thinking, swung a metal pipe he always carried. He struck with all his might, aiming for the blond's head.

After that, everyone froze.

The unknown man smoothly, almost lazily, raised one hand and caught the blow in his palm. There was no sound of broken bones, no cry of pain. Just a dull, dry thud of metal on flesh. The blond didn't even flinch. Meanwhile, Takeda's hands, holding the pipe, went numb from the monstrous feedback, as if he had struck a granite cliff. His fingers unclenched, and the pipe fell to the asphalt with a clang.

Everyone watched this in shock. And they all flinched in unison at an indifferent huff from this monster. Ignoring the high schoolers surrounding him, he was examining his own hand, the one that had taken the blow, with great interest. Not a scratch on the skin.

"Hm. Doesn't even itch," he muttered to himself.

And then the madness began.

He vanished. Simply dissolved into the air. One second he was standing there, the next he was gone. Everyone frantically whipped their heads around.

CRASH!

The wall at the far end of the alley shuddered. There, in a cloud of brick dust, he stood. He had crashed into the wall. By accident? Or intentionally? The asphalt under his feet was covered in a web of deep cracks from a simple landing. The high schoolers literally couldn't understand what was happening.

He disappeared again. And reappeared, this time at the opposite wall. The movement was smoother this time, but the asphalt cracked under his feet again. He moved, and with every movement, every relocation, his motions became better, faster, more precise. It seemed he wasn't fighting them. He was training. He was calibrating his body, using this alley as a training ground, and them as dummies.

Simultaneously, he began to move around them. His silhouette became invisible. They couldn't see him. Only feel him. Gusts of wind that whipped their faces told them he was moving nearby. At first, it was a light breeze, then a sharp gust that made them stagger. The gusts became fiercer, faster, striking from all different directions. Right, left, above, below. The wind tore at their clothes, whipped their hair, knocked them off their feet. It was a demonic dance in which they were merely helpless leaves in a hurricane.

By the end of this insane performance, everyone was already sitting on the asphalt, unable to stand. They were shaking from fear and disorientation. They didn't understand what that was. They just knew they had encountered something that shouldn't exist.

Only the leader, Shido, still stood in the same spot where he'd been left. Frozen like a statue, paralyzed by that initial terror.

Jin stopped unexpectedly. The wind died. He appeared directly in front of the high school leader, as if he had been there all along. He looked over Shido's pale, cold-sweat-covered face and smirked.

"Ha, good for you."

He patted his shoulder twice again. Shido flinched, and the stupor broke. His knees buckled, and he collapsed onto the asphalt next to his friends. Jin, picking up his bag of groceries from the ground, walked out of the alley and ambled away into the night's darkness.

 

[VukPauk]

A persistent, irritating trill from the alarm clock tore Jin from the arms of sleep. He had set it the night before, mechanically performing one of the rules hammered into his new memory: don't be late on the first day. Today was that day. The day he officially transferred to Kuoh Academy—the place where, according to his memories from a past life, many of this world's key events were supposed to unfold.

He sat up on the futon, running a hand through his hair. His body, rested and full of energy, showed no hint of yesterday's fatigue. The uniform, hanging neatly on a chair, fit his athletic figure perfectly, as if it had been tailor-made. A black blazer, white shirt, and slacks—a standard set that, on him, nevertheless looked like designer clothing.

In the kitchen, sipping cheap instant coffee, he counted the minutes until he had to leave. Tick-tock. Time was relentlessly bringing the moment closer, the moment when he would once again have to immerse himself in the very environment he had fled his entire past life. The school routine.

Unexpectedly, even to himself, he set the mug down, collapsed onto the small sofa, buried his face in his palms, and moaned like a child:

"I don't wanna go to school agai-i-in…"

His voice lacked its usual cold indifference. It held sincere, genuine anguish. He remembered just how suffocating the place was. Pointless lessons, hypocritical smiles, empty conversations, the need to conform, to be part of the system… The very thought of it made him shudder.

But the alarm on his phone chirped again, this time reminding him it was time to leave. Resigned to his fate, he sighed heavily, got up, and trudged to the door.

Slinging the almost empty bag over his back and covering a yawn, he ambled alongside the park toward the academy. The morning was clear and warm. Gradually, the street became livelier: morning clerks in identical suits hurried to work; joggers ran in the park. And the closer he got to the academy, the more kids he saw dressed in the same uniform as him.

Looking at this stream of students, Jin idly noted that the vast majority of them were girls. He remembered that, according to the plot, Kuoh Academy used to be an all-girls school and had only recently become co-ed. This fact also explained the heightened, almost unhealthy attention he was starting to feel directed at him.

The academy towered on a hill, majestic and imposing. It wasn't just a school building but an entire architectural ensemble, combining European austerity with Japanese elegance. Tall spires, arched windows, light stone walls, manicured lawns, and ancient trees—everything spoke of the prestige and status of this place.

The closer he got, the more stares he attracted. Girls, walking in groups or alone, slowed their pace, following him with curious, admiring eyes, and immediately began whispering to their friends. Thanks to his enhanced hearing, Jin heard every whisper, every sigh.

"Who is that?!? I've never seen him before…" "Is that the new transfer student in Class 2-B?" "So handsome! He's on par with Kiba-kun!" "Look, his eyes… they're violet! I'm going to die!" "He's so tall… and his figure…"

Jin heard all of it and tried to ignore it. His face remained impassive, but irritation was building inside. This world was simply obsessed with appearances. He quickened his pace and headed for the school gates.

There, at the entrance, as if waiting for him, stood two girls. As he approached, they stepped forward and greeted him with a polite bow.

"Izayoi Jin-san?" asked one of them. She was short, with close-cropped black hair and a stern, intelligent gaze behind her glasses. "Yes, that's me." "I am Sona Sitri, the student council president. And this is my vice-president, Tsubaki Shinra. We decided to meet you at the gate personally."

Sona glanced at her wristwatch. "Punctual. Excellent."

She introduced herself and her vice-president—a tall, beautiful girl with long black hair pulled back in a ponytail—and then took the folder with his transfer documents from Jin.

While Sona looked over the papers, Jin was once again convinced of just how beautiful people were in this world. Sona Sitri possessed a cold, intellectual beauty, her stern look only emphasizing her delicate features. Tsubaki, meanwhile, was the embodiment of classic Japanese beauty—tall, stately, with a flawless posture. 'The great wars fought in waifu battles were all for nothing,' a thought flickered in his mind.

"Everything is in order," Sona said, closing the folder. "We offered to escort you to the faculty room."

They walked through the academy grounds. At a junction inside the building, when they needed to go up to another floor, Sona stopped and pointed down the hall. "The faculty room is down there. They're already expecting you."

She was about to head to her own floor, where the student council office was, but suddenly stopped and shot Jin a stern look. "And one more thing, Izayoi-san. Our academy's rules do not encourage wearing unauthorized accessories that aren't part of the uniform."

She nodded at his neck, where a large pair of over-ear headphones rested. Jin just smiled and, instead of answering, gave them a lazy wave goodbye, then turned and walked in the direction he'd been pointed. Sona and Tsubaki exchanged a suspicious glance. His reaction was too casual, too confident. This new student wasn't so simple.

After meeting his new homeroom teacher—a young, slightly fussy woman—they proceeded to the classroom. Standing before the door, Jin paused for a moment. This was it. The point of no return. Beyond this door lay a new stage, a new game, new problems. There was no going back.

The teacher, seeing his momentary hesitation, was touched, thinking he was just nervous about meeting his classmates. She was about to say something encouraging, but Jin himself, with cold resolve, opened the door and strode inside. This slightly shocked the teacher, who once again misunderstood him. 'What a good boy,' she thought. 'He gathered his strength and pushed through it.'

He stood in the middle of the class. A sea of eyes—which is to say, everyone present—looked at him. A quick glance made it clear: the class was overwhelmingly female. There were only three guys, sitting at the back, who had the worst reputation in school. A member of this trio was the protagonist of this world, Hyoudou Issei.

The gazes were of two types. The girls, who reacted with extreme interest, immediately began whispering and comparing him to the local star, Kiba Yuuto. And the guys from the "Perverted Trio," who bared their teeth in envy, cursing their new competition.

"Please introduce yourself," the teacher requested.

Jin swept the class with his sharp, observant gaze.

"Izayoi Jin," his voice was confident, without a trace of nervousness. "As of today, I'm in your care. I hope we get along."

Short. Formal. And slightly arrogant. When the girls heard his greeting, a new image formed in their minds, making their hearts skip a beat. His voice was confident, his gaze sharp, and the aura around him made him seem unapproachable. If Kiba Yuuto was their "Prince Charming," then Jin was the "Haughty Prince" standing right beside him.

"Kyaaaa!" some of them mentally squealed, feeling shivers run down their spines.

Seeing how emotional the inhabitants of this world were, how easily they created archetypes and fell for first impressions, an unexpected thought flickered in Jin's mind.

"Huh, that's cool"

 

[VukPauk]

The teacher pointed to an empty seat by the window, in the second-to-last row. The spot was perfect for discreetly tuning out, contemplating the clouds or the crows sleeping on the branches. But there was one detail. It was right in front of one of the few boys in this class—Hyoudou Issei.

As Jin unhurriedly made his way to his desk, he shot a short, sharp glance toward the future wielder of the Red Dragon. This wasn't a glance of introduction or curiosity. It was the cold, appraising stare of a predator sizing up another animal in its territory. Issei, who had been gawking at the new "competition" with a dopey grin, caught that gaze and instinctively flinched. An icy chill ran down his spine. He didn't understand what that was, but something in those violet eyes made him pale and hastily look away, staring at his textbook with an intensity that suggested his life depended on it.

Jin took his seat, and the teacher, clapping her hands, continued the lesson.

The class sank into a monotonous drone. It was a lecture on modern Japanese literature, an analysis of some sickeningly sentimental story about lost love and blooming sakura. Material that Jin, thanks to the knowledge poured into him, knew almost by heart. He propped his head on his hand and stared out the window. Boredom. Thick, viscous, almost tangible.

He could feel the stares. Dozens of them. Almost the entire female population of the class, instead of heeding the teacher's words, was covertly studying him. Admiring, curious, dreamy gazes. He heard their quiet, broken whispers, which to his heightened hearing sounded as clear as a shout. "He's perfect even in profile...", "I wonder if he's seen Kiba-kun yet?", "We have to go talk to him after class...". Added to this were a couple of irritated, envious glares from the "Perverted Trio," who clearly sensed a threat to their dubious status.

Jin sighed heavily. His mind was blank. He closed his eyes, letting the teacher's monotone voice and the warm sunlight lull him. He started to nod off, sinking into a welcome drowsiness…

BRRRIIIIINNNG!

The sharp, deafening bell announcing the end of class made him jolt. He opened his eyes. And realized there would be no escape. With the bell, his desk was instantly surrounded by a tight ring of girls. They pushed and giggled, trying to get closer, their eyes burning with the enthusiasm of explorers who had stumbled upon a new, undiscovered species.

"Izayoi-kun, is it true your hair color is natural? It's so beautiful, almost platinum!" "Are you a foreigner? You have such unusual features... And your eyes! They're such a deep violet! I've never seen any like them!" "Where did you transfer from?" "What are your hobbies? What kind of music do you listen to? Your headphones look so professional!" "Tell us, tell us, do you have a girlfriend?!" "What's your type? Do you like girls with long hair or short? With big breasts or small?!"

The questions rained down from all sides, interrupting each other, creating a deafening din. Jin, though a bit overwhelmed by the onslaught, tried to remain calm. He answered some of the questions, attempting to project a friendliness he didn't feel.

"It's my natural hair. Not a foreigner, just turned out this way. My hobby is... reading."

At one point, one of them, the boldest girl with a short haircut, asked with interest, "Izayoi-kun, have you settled into the academy yet? Do you know where everything is? If you want, I can give you a tour! I'll show you all the best spots!"

Her words were the trigger. "Hey, Kaori, I wanted to offer first! Izayoi-kun, I know all the secret paths and places where you can sit in peace!" "No, me! I'll show him the gym and the pool! He must be good at sports!"

The girls began to argue noisily, offering their services. Jin was bewildered. This deafening squabble between young girls fighting for the right to be his guide was both comical and exhausting.

And then, amidst the din, three uncertain male voices spoke up. "U-uh... we could... maybe... too..."

All the girls instantly fell silent and, as if on command, turned their venom-filled gazes on the source of the sound. It was the "Perverted Trio." Issei, Matsuda, and Motohama were standing by their desk, trying to look confident, but their bravado quickly evaporated under the collective female glare.

"We... we were thinking..." Issei began, his voice trembling slightly, "that we'd give the new guy a tour... as... well... fellow male students. Us guys gotta stick together!"

The room temperature instantly plummeted. The smiles on the girls' faces vanished, replaced by icy masks. Their eyes darkened, and a dark aura seemed to gather around them. They stood with faces worthy of a Japanese horror story.

"Y-y-you...?" one of them hissed, her voice dripping with contempt. "You want to corrupt the new guy with your pestilent influence?!" "How dare you even interrupt our introduction to Jin-sama?!" "You trash aren't worthy of breathing the same air as him!"

The girls became more and more terrifying in the trio's eyes. Their aura was crushing, making the boys shrink. They seemed to become smaller and more pathetic under the onslaught.

Watching this scene—the demonic faces of the girls and the pathetic, terrified expressions of the "Perverted Trio"—Jin's tension broke. He couldn't hold it in. He burst out laughing. Loudly, genuinely, from the heart.

"Ahaha-ha-ha... haah... ehhh..."

The laughter instantly drew everyone's attention. The girls turned, their menacing looks immediately replaced by surprise. The trio stared at him with their mouths open.

Jin wiped away a tear of laughter and, turning to the girls, flashed them a bright, confident smile. "Thank you all for such a warm welcome," he said, his voice charming and firm. "I'm very pleased. But I'm afraid I'll have to politely decline your kind offers."

He shifted his gaze to the boys standing dejectedly to the side. "I'll go with these idiots."

When their eyes met, Jin's gaze changed. The warmth vanished, and his smile turned slightly mocking, predatory. A cold glint flashed in his violet eyes, making the trio flinch involuntarily. This guy was weird. And possibly very dangerous.

In the academy courtyard, under the shade of a sprawling tree, the official introductions took place. "I'm Matsuda!" the guy in glasses introduced himself, adjusting them with an intellectual air. "My goal is to gather data on all the beauties in this school! My 'All-Seeing Eye' ability allows me to determine a girl's measurements down to the millimeter just by looking!" "And I'm Motohama!" the second, stocky guy with a buzz cut chimed in. "My dream is to become a true kendo master... so I can peek in the girls' locker room! I've developed a 'Pervert's Ear' that lets me hear girlish whispers through three walls!"

Jin stood with a completely blank face, listening to their nonsense. 'Why haven't they been castrated yet?' he thought, detached.

Finally, it was the protagonist's turn. "I'm Hyoudou Issei! My dream is to become the Harem King! I'll gather the most beautiful girls around me and create my own kingdom of love and erotica!"

Jin listened intently. Hyoudou Issei. He thought about this guy's fate. About his future. He compared this loud, clumsy, obsessed idiot with the character who would one day become one of the strongest beings, challenge gods, and save the world. And he couldn't believe it was the same person. The gap between the present and the future was colossal. Jin stared at Issei for so long and so intently that he started to get nervous and fidget, interrupting Jin's thoughts.

Unexpectedly for everyone, Jin asked Issei a question in all seriousness. He pensively brought a finger to his chin and tilted his head slightly, his gaze completely serious.

"Why a Harem King, specifically?"





..............................................................

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[VukPauk]

The question hung in the warm schoolyard air, strange and out of place. A moronic question, one that no one in his past world would have even bothered to consider, writing it all off as youthful maximalism and hormones. But here, in this new reality, where absurd dreams had a habit of taking on flesh and blood, Jin was genuinely interested in Issei's answer.

He looked at the guy in front of him, and a whirlwind of thoughts tore through his mind. He saw the whole picture: a pathetic, obsessed schoolboy who, through pain, humiliation, and loss, would eventually scramble to the very top of the world. And all of this—for what? For a harem. This drive to live, to overcome himself, to challenge gods and demons—everything was filtered through a prism of vulgarity. His entire incredible motivation boiled down to this stupid, almost childish desire. What exactly drove this goal? What fuel fed this fire?

"Where does this drive come from?" Jin continued, his voice remaining even, almost academic, but holding a note of genuine interest. "Even with your reputation… Even I, the new guy, can immediately see that almost every girl in this school looks at you guys with disgust." He glanced at Matsuda and Motohama, who winced guiltily. "And, by my humble observation, you are currently as far as possible from your dream. So why?"

He fell silent and waited for an answer, watching Issei intently. He looked surprised at first, bewildered. Always, when he spoke of his dream, he was laughed at, despised, people would tap their temple. But no one had ever asked about it like this. With such seriousness, with such analytical curiosity, as if it weren't a stupid fantasy, but a complex philosophical doctrine.

Catching Jin's serious mood, Issei was faced for the first time with the need to not just declare his dream, but to explain it. He frowned, searching his mind for words, trying to clothe his chaotic, instinctive desires in something coherent.

"Yeah…" he began, his voice uncertain at first, but growing stronger with every word. "Yeah, they look with disgust! Yeah, they call us perverts! And yeah, I get beaten up almost every day just for trying to catch a glimpse of their beautiful forms! But…" he raised his head, and a fire of fanatical conviction lit in his eyes. "But my faith will not waver! Because they don't understand!"

"Don't understand what?" Jin clarified calmly.

"Everything!" Issei blurted out, gesticulating. "Every girl is beautiful! Every single one! You get it? One has a cute smile, another has beautiful hair, a third has slender legs! And every one… every one has breasts!" At this word, his eyes shone reverently. "Big, small, firm, soft—it doesn't matter! Breasts are a symbol! They are the source of life! They are the promise of warmth and tenderness! They are what makes life worth living!"

Matsuda and Motohama, listening to him, nodded reverently, as if taking in the greatest sermon.

"I don't just want to look!" Issei continued, his voice ringing with passion. "I want to know them all! To understand! To protect! I want to create a world where every single one of them is happy! Where they will smile, and laugh, and not be afraid of anything! My harem isn't just a bunch of girls! It's my kingdom! A kingdom where I will be king, and they will be my queens! And I'll do anything to achieve this dream! Even if I have to die!"

He finished his fiery speech and, breathing heavily, held out his fist to Jin. A gesture full of pride, defiance, and unshakable faith in his own righteousness.

Jin's thoughts were different. 'No matter how you look at it, he's an idiot,' it flashed through his mind. 'An impenetrable, clinical idiot.'

However, listening to his words, he understood something important. At the heart of all this nonsense wasn't just lust. It was greed. All-consuming, limitless greed. Issei strove to possess them all. Not just to sleep with, but specifically to possess—their beauty, their smiles, their happiness. And this was despite him being at the very bottom of the social hierarchy. Maybe that's why he became the wielder of a dragon's power? Draconic greed. The desire to obtain all the world's treasures, be it gold or women's hearts.

Irritating.

Jin was irritated by the thought that such a stupid, primitive desire would become the catalyst that would change this guy's life and the entire world. Irritated by the situation itself, which looked so stupid, so childish, as if it were written from the template of a cheap novel. Irritated that he was dragged into this farce. And most of all, irritated that they were similar. Issei was reincarnated as a demon. Jin—into this body. Both of them were beings who had received a second chance in a foreign world. And the realization of this kinship with such an idiot pissed him off to the point of grinding his teeth.

Jin snorted, then smirked. "Hah," his voice held a mix of contempt and a strange, almost perverse admiration. "Well, your resolve is worthy of respect, even if it is channeled into absolute stupidity. Good luck with that, future Harem King."

He lightly, almost carelessly, bumped his fist against Issei's. Meanwhile, Matsuda and Motohama, with shining eyes and tears of emotion, watched the scene as if they were witnessing a historic moment.

On the way back to class, in one of the sunlit corridors, they passed another guy. He was the complete opposite of the "Perverted Trio." Tall, slender, with soft golden hair and kind green eyes. His smile was warm and disarming. He was walking with books in his hands, and several girls passing by giggled shyly and cast admiring glances at him. Kiba Yuuto. The local "Prince Charming."

Issei and his crew, upon seeing him, grimaced in unison, looking at their main rival for female attention with irritation. Kiba, used to this reaction, turned with interest. Glancing at the familiar scene with those three, he noticed the new, fourth student. Jin.

Their gazes met. For a moment, tension hung in the corridor. They looked at each other appraisingly. Two alphas. Two centers of gravity, albeit of completely different kinds.

Yuuto was the first to break the silence. He smiled gently, approached, and offered his hand to Jin. "Hi. You must be Izayoi Jin? I'm Kiba Yuuto. Nice to meet you."

Jin received the same friendly smile and, shaking the offered hand, returned the sentiment. "Likewise."

They both stood, holding each other's hands, smiling pleasantly, creating a picture of a burgeoning friendship that took the breath away from the girls passing by. However, a silent struggle was taking place in their hands.

Initially, Jin had simply returned the handshake, but then, out of pure curiosity, he added a little strength. Just to test. Kiba, intrigued, reciprocated. He was a Knight of the Gremory clan; his physical strength, enhanced by demonic energy, was orders of magnitude higher than a human's. He was confident he could easily crush the arrogant newcomer, showing him his place.

However, at some point, his smile became a bit more strained. He was surprised by the strength of the handshake. Jin was squeezing his hand with strangely immense power for a "normal" person. Kiba increased the pressure, applying not playful, but quite serious demonic power. But Jin's hand was like a steel vise. It didn't yield.

At some point, Kiba began to feel real pressure, which he hadn't expected at all. His knuckles began to ache. Jin's previously friendly face began to change. Although the smile remained on his lips, his eyes were slightly narrowed, and in their violet depths, Kiba saw something else. Not friendliness, but the cold, appraising glint of a predator. The crushing force kept growing until Kiba felt his bones were about to crack.

And then they both, as if on command, chuckled softly, breaking the tension. A moment later, they released their hands.

"It was nice to meet you, Izayoi-san," Kiba said, his smile genuine again, though surprise was evident in his eyes. "See you, Kiba-kun."

After saying goodbye, Jin's group continued on their way to class, leaving Kiba standing alone in the corridor. When they had disappeared around the corner, the smile faded from the prince's face. He raised his hand and looked at it in amazement. It was trembling slightly, almost imperceptibly, from the strain.

 

[VukPauk]

The first day at Kuoh Academy came to an end. When the final bell rang, Jin, without waiting to be swarmed again by a hive of curious classmates, quickly gathered his things and was one of the first to leave the classroom. He exited the massive school building and paused for a moment at the gates, breathing in the warm evening air.

He was lost in thought, analyzing the impressions of the day. Aside from the excessive, almost suffocating attention to his person, the academy, he was forced to admit, was actually nice. Spacious, bright corridors with perfectly polished floors, modern classrooms equipped with the latest technology, a huge library that looked like a cathedral of knowledge. Even the school cafeteria was impressive—the food there was on par with a decent restaurant, not the tasteless slop they served at his former, ancient school.

That old school of his… the memory of it brought only a dull irritation. An old, shabby building that smelled of dust and hopelessness. Creaky floors, graffitied desks, dim lamps humming eternally overhead. Grayness had soaked not only into the walls there, but into the students themselves—their tired, indifferent faces, their extinguished gazes. Here, everything was different. Everyone seemed to exude a kind of positive vibe. Laughter, energy, life. Even the boring lessons, whose material he already knew, weren't as tedious here, perhaps because of the general atmosphere, or simply because the teacher was pretty.

This world, for all its absurdity and hidden danger, was… brighter. More alive. And that was disorienting.

"Hey, Jin! Wait up!"

A familiar voice, full of irrepressible energy, tore him from his musings. Issei was catching up to him at the gates, waving his arm. Behind him, like loyal squires, trudged Matsuda and Motohama.

"Ugh, barely caught you!" Issei panted, drawing level with him. "Why'd you run off so fast? The girls were almost crying that they didn't get to say goodbye!"

"That's exactly why," Jin threw out dryly.

Issei, however, paid no attention to his tone and walked alongside him with a carefree air, as if they were old friends.

"C'mon, don't be such a grouch!" He clapped Jin on the shoulder. "Is it so bad being popular? It's the first step to the dream! You gotta use it!"

Matsuda and Motohama nodded in agreement, looking at Jin with poorly concealed envy and admiration.

On the way, Issei chattered non-stop. He talked about his hobbies—a new video game he couldn't beat, a rare figurine he'd seen in a shop, the latest magazine issue with photos of gravure idols. Then he enthusiastically started to question Jin.

"So, what are you into?" his eyes burned with curiosity. "You like music, I get that, since you never take off those headphones. But what else? Movies? Manga? Maybe you have some... special fetishes? Y'know, like, girls with glasses, or ponytails, or maybe you like cat ears?"

"I like silence," Jin replied sarcastically, hoping the hint would be understood.

But Issei was impenetrable. "Silence? Pfft, that's boring! Life should be lived! Me, for example, I think there's nothing better than a girl's legs in stockings! It's true art! What about you? 'Fess up!"

"Issei, leave the guy alone," Matsuda interjected, adjusting his glasses. "Everyone has their own aesthetic preferences. Although, I must admit, the analysis of the perfect curvature of a thigh under a specific lighting angle is a topic for a whole dissertation."

Jin groaned inwardly. The conversation was becoming more and F-n unbearable. He was waiting for their paths to finally diverge so he could sink into his blessed solitude.

"Hey, I've got an idea!" Issei suddenly exclaimed, stopping and turning to Jin with his eyes blazing. "Jin, you're the cool and mysterious guy now! The girls are crazy about you! You could help us!"

"Help with what?" Jin asked wearily, already sensing this wouldn't end well.

"Get girlfriends!" Issei blurted out. "Here's the plan: you go up to a group of hotties, start chatting them up, and then, totally casually, you introduce us! You say, like, 'and these are my best buds, reliable and fun guys'! They'll see that a cool guy like you hangs with us, and they'll instantly know we're not so bad either! It'll work, I'm sure of it!"

Jin stared at him in silence for a few seconds. At his completely serious face, his naive faith in this idiotic plan. "Issei," he said slowly, "if I do that, they'll either think I'm your pimp or that I have a very specific sense of humor. Either way, they won't even look at you."

At some point, when Issei had finally run out of steam and fallen silent, tired of his fruitless attempts to drag Jin into his schemes, an awkward pause hung in the air. They were just approaching the bridge where their paths were supposed to split. And Jin decided to use this moment.

"Issei," he called. His tone had become serious, making the boy turn around in surprise. "I have a question for you. Purely hypothetical."

He stopped, staring somewhere into the distance, as if pondering a complex philosophical problem. "Imagine a scenario. There's a guy, ordinary, unremarkable. Lives his life, dreams about something of his own, stupid and unattainable. And then, one fine day, he's faced with a choice." Jin spoke slowly, choosing his words, trying to make them as detached as possible so Issei wouldn't catch the hint. "The choice is this: die. Right now. A simple, meaningless death, unnoticed by anyone. Put a period on it. Or... get a chance. A chance at a new life, one where he'll gain an incredible power, capable of fulfilling his most cherished dream. But there's a price. He'll have to pay for this power with his humanity. Become someone... or something... else." Jin turned to Issei. "So, here's the question. What would this guy choose? A guaranteed death as a human, or a phantom chance at his dream, but in the form of a monster?"

Issei blinked in surprise. The question was strange, unexpected. He wasn't used to Jin talking about such things. He frowned hard, squeezed his eyes shut, his face taking on a strained expression, signaling that he was genuinely thinking. He imagined himself in this hypothetical guy's shoes.

After a short while, he opened his eyes. His gaze was firm and clear.

"I'd choose the chance," he said without hesitation.

"Even if you had to become a monster?" Jin clarified.

"Yeah," Issei nodded. "Because between a chance and no chance, I'll always choose the first. To just die, having achieved nothing—that's the worst. But if there's even one possibility, just one in a million chance to make my dream come true... you have to grab it. Even if you have to become someone else. It's better to be a living monster with a dream than a dead human without one."

Jin closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting the air out through pressed lips. "I see..."

He had expected as much. The answer was predictable. But hearing it from Issei himself was... important. It relieved Jin of some of the responsibility. He wasn't forcing this fate on him. He was merely following Issei's own choice, even if it was one made in ignorance.

They reached the bridge where their paths diverged. "Well, 'kay, I'm this way," Issei waved his hand toward the bridge. "See ya tomorrow, Jin!" "Later," Jin threw out shortly and, without saying goodbye, turned onto the road leading to his new home.

After walking a little way, he obeyed some inner instinct and glanced back toward the bridge. He saw Issei stop before he was even halfway across. A girl had approached him. Pretty, with long black hair, in a cute dress. She asked him something, pointing off into the distance. Issei, upon seeing her, immediately turned red to his ears, started acting shy, gesticulating awkwardly, trying to explain something. The girl laughed demurely, covering her mouth with her hand. A typical 'meet-cute' scene.

But Jin knew it wasn't. He knew who it was.

Raynare.

The fallen angel. The one who would kill Issei on their first date. Which meant...

'The canon has finally started.'

He watched the scene. Watched Issei's happy, unsuspecting face, his stupid, lovestruck smile. Watched the girl's sweet, innocent face, which hid a ruthless killer. In his gaze, fixed first on Issei, then on her, a shadow of sadness appeared, and a kind of heavy weariness. He exhaled quietly, the vapor turning into a small cloud in the cool evening air.

Then he pulled his headphones over his head, turned around, and continued on his way home, without looking back.

 

[VukPauk]

The next day at the academy began with deceptive calm. The lessons drifted by one after another, lulling Jin into his usual state of half-slumber. He sat at his seat by the window, watching the lazy dance of the clouds, his brain automatically, almost without his participation, absorbing the information the teacher droned on about at the board. This world, for all its brightness, still couldn't offer him anything that truly captured his attention.

When the bell rang for the lunch break, he headed to the cafeteria without a second thought. Lunch at Kuoh Academy wasn't just edible—it was luxurious. And, most importantly, completely free for students. Jin, still remembering the taste of cheap instant ramen and the emptiness of his wallet, had no intention of missing an opportunity to save money on food.

He grabbed a tray with steaming curry and rice, took an empty four-person table in the corner, and began to eat. As expected, his figure instantly became the center of attention. Many of the girls, whispering shyly at their own tables, were clearly drawn to the three empty seats next to him, but his detached, almost icy demeanor and "Haughty Prince" reputation acted as an invisible barrier. They were hesitant to act, afraid of rejection.

Suddenly, with a loud clatter, a tray landed on the opposite side of the table, right in front of Jin, followed by its owner—Hyoudou Issei.

"Whew, made it! Grabbed the last katsudon!" he announced cheerfully, plopping into the chair.

Instantly, all the admiring and curious gazes that had been directed at Jin turned to ones of contempt and venom, focusing on Issei. It looked as if the girls were contemplating something wicked; if looks could incinerate, Issei would have been reduced to a pile of ash.

Issei himself, however, was completely oblivious to this threatening aura. He was literally glowing with happiness and had been since morning. Jin immediately suspected that this behavior was directly related to yesterday's meeting at the bridge. His loyal companions, Matsuda and Motohama, were nowhere to be seen. As Jin later found out, they had been caught smuggling porn magazines onto academy grounds, and someone from the Student Council had made an example of them. 'Let's pray for their souls,' Jin thought, detached, picking at his rice with a fork.

Issei didn't rush to explain what was going on. He was devouring his katsudon with gusto, trying his best to attract Jin's attention. He sighed, smiled dreamily, shot meaningful glances at Jin, and uttered phrases like:

"Ah, spring... a time for love and romance..." "I wonder if the stars at night are as beautiful as her eyes?" "It feels like fate itself brought us together..."

Jin stubbornly ignored him. But Issei was persistent. Tired of this one-man show, Jin slowly chewed a piece of chicken, swallowed, and, pretending to be even slightly interested, raised a blank gaze to him. "What's up?"

Even though it was a very lethargic reaction, it was enough. The joyous Issei didn't even notice his tone and immediately began dumping information on him as if from a dump truck.

"Jin! You won't believe it! It's incredible! Yesterday... yesterday I met her! The girl of my dreams!" his eyes shone like two searchlights. "Her name is Amano Yuuma! She's so cute, so beautiful, so shy! We got to talking, and..." he made a dramatic pause, "...we have a date this weekend! A real date!"

He talked about how he had won her over with his "irresistible charisma" and "manly charm." 'Yeah, right,' Jin snorted internally, lazily stirring the curry on his plate. 'More like with your obsessive persistence.'

"Looks like love came to me first, Jin!" the conceited Issei continued. "But don't you worry! I'm sure there's a cutie out there for you too! The important thing is to keep your chin up!"

Jin only honored him with a blank stare and said tiredly, "Right..."

Issei, having unleashed his first wave of euphoria, finally got to the main point. "Listen, Jin... I have a favor to ask. You're the popular guy, you look cool, girls are crazy about you. Help me plan the date! I've... well, you know... never been on a real date. I don't want to mess it up! What should I wear? Where should I take her? What should we talk about?"

A strange, puzzled-embarrassed expression appeared on Jin's face. The request caught him off guard. Matters of the heart. He, with his meager experience from his past life—which amounted to practically zero—and a complete lack of interest in it in his current one, knew about as much about dating as he did about quantum physics. That is, nothing.

But he saw Issei looking at him with the sincere, hopeful eyes of a puppy. And, not wanting to show his weakness and incompetence in such a seemingly elementary matter, he decided to improvise on the fly, dishing out scraps of knowledge gleaned from old movies and manga.

"Hm, a date, huh..." he tried to make his voice sound confident and wise, like an experienced guru. "Well, it's simple. The main thing is not to overdo it."

"Not overdo it?" Issei leaned forward, hanging on every word.

"First, clothes," Jin began, trying to look confident. "Wear something light. So you don't sweat like a pig if you have to walk a lot. Sweat is not charismatic. No bright, flashy colors. And, God forbid, no anime prints. Simplicity shows confidence. Got it?"

"Simplicity... confidence..." Issei repeated like a mantra, committing it to memory. "Got it!"

"Second, the place," Jin continued, his brain working furiously. "If the girl is shy or timid, don't drag her to the movies or an expensive restaurant right away. It creates pressure. Take a walk in the park, go on some rides, hit the arcade. You need a shared activity that creates common memories and gives you things to talk about. You don't need to try and impress her, you just need to have fun together."

"Have fun together..." Issei nodded so vigorously it looked like his head might fall off. "Genius! Jin, you're a dating god!"

Jin just sighed internally. So far, his improv was working. He was about to continue sharing his "wisdom" when a group of girls approached their table. There were four of them, and a couple of them, if Jin's memory served, were in their class. He thought their names were Katase and Murayama.

A tall girl with a stern face and short-cropped hair stepped forward.

"Izayoi Jin-san?" she asked, her voice firm and confident. "I'm Murayama, captain of the kendo club."

Issei immediately tried to butt into the conversation, adopting a protective stance. "Excuse us, but we're busy here! Discussing very important man-business!"

But he was completely ignored. The girls didn't even spare him a glance. Issei quietly sat back down, looking a bit dejected.

"I heard from Yuuto that you managed to impress him," Murayama continued, addressing Jin. "He said the new guy has an excellent grip. That's important in kendo, and we're interested."

The other girls nodded in agreement, looking at Jin with curiosity. "We'd like to invite you to our dojo," she said. "Just out of interest. To see how you move. Maybe you'll like it."

The invitation was unexpected. Jin thought for a moment. Kendo? It could be a good way to test his body control and reflexes in a more formalized setting. Besides, it was something new. And anything new was better than the old boredom.

"Alright," he nodded. "I'm in." "Excellent!" Murayama visibly brightened, a shadow of a smile even flickering on her stern face. "Then we'll see you after school!"

They made the arrangement, and the girls, whispering excitedly, moved away from the table and began to celebrate their small victory.

Watching the departing crowd, Jin sat back down. He saw the dejected Issei, who was still smarting from his total failure as a "conversationalist." Jin smiled warmly, almost friendly.

"Oh, all this attention," he said with a light, barely perceptible irony, subtly teasing Issei about his recent performance about "love having arrived." "It's such a heavy burden, isn't it?"

 

[VukPauk]

After classes ended, the air seemed to become lighter. The pressure of the school routine had lifted, replaced by a light hum of voices and the anticipation of freedom. As arranged, Jin, accompanied by Murayama and Katase, headed to the kendo club. He walked with a calm, measured pace, his almost weightless bag slung over his back. On either side of him, like an honor guard, the girls walked, guiding him to his destination. Their chatter was light and easy, a clear stream breaking the silence.

"Have you really never held a shinai before, Izayoi-san?" Katase asked curiously, adjusting her short hair. "Kiba-kun praised your grip so much, I thought you had experience."

"Never," Jin replied, his voice even but with notes of warm politeness he had learned to feign to maintain conversation. "Perhaps it's an innate talent for holding sticks."

The girls giggled. His dry humor, devoid of any vulgarity, was new to them and seemed refreshing.

"Then you should definitely try!" Murayama picked up, her stern features softening slightly. "Kendo isn't just swinging sticks. It's a path, a discipline of spirit and body. It helps you focus, to find your inner core."

"Sounds... meditative," Jin remarked, though he privately thought his own inner core was already hard enough to break others'.

They left the main academy building and followed a well-kept path that skirted the sports fields. The kendo club was located a little further off, in a separate, traditional Japanese building—a dojo. It was built of dark, time-polished wood, with a high, tiled roof whose curved eaves resembled the wings of a giant bird. In front of the building lay a small, perfectly flat field for outdoor training, surrounded by a low bamboo fence. Everything here breathed with peace, tradition, and strength.

When they entered, a very special atmosphere enveloped Jin. The air was saturated with the smell of wood, sweat, and something else—a subtle scent of will and discipline. The spacious hall with its high ceiling and perfectly smooth wooden floor was filled with a soft light filtering through large windows with paper shoji.

And the hall was alive. It was filled with sounds. The rhythmic thud of wooden shinai against training dummies. Sharp, abrupt shouts—kiai—accompanying every strike. The shuffle of bare feet on the floor. The muffled hum of voices as one of the senior students gave instructions to a junior.

Dozens of girls, dressed in snow-white keikogi and dark blue hakama, moved across the hall with honed grace. Some practiced swings alone, their shinai cutting through the air with a whistle, creating invisible patterns. Some sparred in pairs, their movements fast, precise, resembling a deadly dance. Some struck the dummies with all their might, pouring all their energy into every swing.

Jin couldn't help but admire the sight. There was nothing explicit about it, but the aesthetic of the female form, clad in a stern kimono and in motion, was captivating. The sweat glistening on their tense necks and temples. The strands of hair that had escaped their tight buns and stuck to their flushed cheeks. The focused, almost predatory expressions at the moment of attack. The way the thick fabric of the kimono clung to their figures, accentuating the curves of their backs and hips with every swing. It was the beauty of strength, discipline, and youth.

A few moments later, after Jin and his companions arrived, the training hum began to die down. First one girl, noticing them, froze with her shinai raised. Then another, then a third. Gradually, all eyes in the hall, as if drawn by a magnet, were pulled to his figure. Gazes that Jin had already begun to get used to over the last few days at the academy. Surprise, curiosity, admiration…

'This is starting to get tiring…' was the only thing Jin thought at that moment, feeling dozens of pairs of female eyes fixed on him again.

'Who is that?' flashed through the mind of Ayako, one of the club's senior students. She had just been practicing a men strike on a dummy when she noticed Captain Murayama had brought a guest. And what a guest! Tall, blond, with a figure that even his loose school blazer couldn't hide. And those eyes... you could drown in them. She had never seen eyes like that.

'The new guy everyone's whispering about?' thought her friend Rika, who was standing nearby. 'They say he's on par with Kiba-kun. Hm… Kiba-kun's beauty is soft, prince-like. But this one… there's something predatory, dangerous about him.'

The comparison to Kiba Yuuto was inevitable. Kiba was their idol, the unattainable Prince Charming who sometimes stopped by their dojo to maintain friendly relations between the clubs. His aura was bright, warm; he smiled at everyone, and his smile made you want to melt. He was like the sun.

This one, Izayoi Jin, was like the moon on a clear, cold night. His beauty was sharp, almost provocative. An aura of calm but absolute confidence emanated from him, bordering on arrogance. He wasn't trying to be liked, wasn't smiling ingratiatingly. He just was. And his presence alone was enough to make everyone fall silent and pay attention.

'Kiba-kun makes your heart flutter with tenderness,' decided a third girl, the most romantic one in the club. 'But this one… this one makes your blood run cold and, at the same time, boil with excitement. I don't know which of them is better…'

Murayama and Katase, noticing that practice had come to a complete halt, stepped into the center of the hall. "Attention!" Murayama's voice rang out, loud and commanding, bringing everyone back to reality. "My apologies for the interruption. I want to introduce our guest. This is Izayoi Jin-san, a transfer student from our class. He expressed an interest in kendo, and we invited him to watch our practice. Please, welcome him."

The girls bowed in unison, offering a greeting. Jin responded with a slight nod, his face impassive.

"We thought," Katase continued with a smile, "that the best way to get to know kendo is to try it yourself. Izayoi-san has agreed to a light spar."

An excited murmur rippled through the hall. Sparring with such a handsome guy? This would be interesting!

Jin stubbornly refused to put on the protective gear—the bogu. He waved off all of Murayama's pleas about it being dangerous and against the rules. "Don't worry, Captain. I'll be careful. I just want to feel the sword, not sit in that bulky armor like a turtle."

He took the shinai that was offered to him. A standard bamboo sword. He turned it over in his hands, assessing the weight, the balance. Then he made a few light, almost lazy swings, playing with it as if it were a reed. This show of disdain caused a new wave of whispers among the girls. He clearly wasn't taking them seriously.

Murayama, seeing this, frowned. Her professional pride was wounded. "Fine, Izayoi-san. But in that case, I will be your opponent. And I will not hold back."

They briefly explained the basics to him. One of them was the stance—kamae. One must hold the sword firmly, the stance must be stable, so that a blow to the sword would shake it as little as possible. It was the foundation, a demonstration of the strength of spirit and body.

Everyone watched as Jin agreed to try. He got into the required position. But his stance was... ridiculous. Instead of adopting the classic pose, he stood nonchalantly, one hand stuck in his pants pocket. With the other hand, he calmly held the shinai, extending it slightly forward. No tension, no concentration. Just a relaxed, almost bored posture.

"He's mocking us!" "He has no respect for the captain!" "She's going to show him now!"

The girls began whispering again, their admiration turning to slight irritation. This newcomer was taking things too far.

But then they heard his voice. And looking at him, they began to doubt. His gaze, which had been detached, became warm, almost tender. His voice sounded soft, but it held an absolute, unshakeable confidence that made you believe him.

"I'm ready. You may begin, Captain."

He said it as if he were inviting her to a dance, not a fight. This intimate, almost theatrical manner didn't look ridiculous coming from him. It was mesmerizing.

Murayama felt her cheeks flush. She was embarrassed. But at the same time, she felt slighted. This guy in front of her was not taking her seriously at all. It was frustrating and infuriating. She didn't object. She decided to teach him a lesson. To show him that the Kuoh Academy kendo club was no place for games.

Moving into position to strike, she tried not to look him in the eyes. His sincere, expectant gaze was incredibly flustering. She took a deep breath, concentrating. She gritted her teeth, pushing away all other thoughts. And, drawing back, she struck. A fast, precise, powerful men strike, aimed directly at his extended sword. A strike that should have knocked the shinai from any novice's hands and possibly even made him stagger.

CLACK!

The sound wasn't like usual. Not the dull thud of wood on wood. It was a sharp, dry sound, like a gunshot. The sound of an absolute collision.

And that was all.

The hall froze in shock.

Jin, with his ridiculous stance, his hand in his pocket, hadn't moved. Not even a millimeter. His shinai, which he held in a relaxed grip, was frozen in the air, having completely absorbed the force of the blow.

And Murayama's sword... it flew from her hands from the monstrous feedback. As if it had struck an indestructible cliff, it traced a high arc in the air and landed with a clatter in the far corner of the dojo.

The girl was frozen in place. Her hands, which a second ago had been gripping the shinai, were trembling slightly, but she didn't even notice. She was still in the stance she had used to strike, her hands empty. Her eyes were wide, filled with absolute, total bewilderment. She stared at the smiling Jin.

His smile was soft, almost apologetic. "Seems I overdid it a little," he said, as if it were an unfortunate accident. "You have a very strong strike, Captain."

But she didn't hear his words. She saw only his violet eyes, and in their depths, mocking, all-knowing sparks now danced. He hadn't overdone it. He had calculated it all. He was simply... playing with her. And he was strong. Unbelievably so.

 

[VukPauk]

The deafening, ringing silence that had fallen over the kendo dojo was suddenly broken by the measured sound of applause. All eyes, which had been riveted on the stunned Murayama and the unfazed Jin, darted to the entrance. There, leaning against the doorframe, stood Kiba Yuuto. His natural, disarming ikemen smile played on his face, and sparks of genuine interest danced in his green eyes.

"Yuuto-sempai!" several girls immediately cried out in delight. The tension in the hall instantly dissipated, replaced by a reverent awe at the appearance of the school prince.

He walked to the center of the hall with a calm, graceful stride, heading toward Jin and Murayama, who had only just emerged from her daze and was now, breathing heavily, looking shyly at the approaching youth. Her confidence as club captain had been severely undermined.

"Impressive," Kiba's voice was soft and warm, but Jin caught the steel notes within it. "I was watching from outside. Izayoi-san, your stance is... interesting, to say the least, but the result speaks for itself."

He then turned to Murayama, his smile becoming even warmer, full of sympathy and support. "Murayama-san, you shouldn't be upset. Your strike was superb. Speed, power, precision—it was all top-level. I'm serious. Few in this academy could have landed such a clean and powerful men."

The words of praise from Kiba Yuuto himself made the captain's cheeks flush. "B-but... he didn't even budge... and my shinai..." she stammered, still not believing what had happened.

"Sometimes," Kiba looked at Jin with a sly squint, "an opponent turns out to be a 'special' case. And clashing with such strength isn't a defeat, but a valuable experience. You shouldn't be disheartened by it. You did wonderfully."

Jin silently observed Yuuto's actions, as he so skillfully and casually played the role of the good guy, calming the humiliated girl while simultaneously sizing up his new rival. He just rolled his eyes internally. This prince was too... perfect. Too proper. It was irritating.

After Murayama, embarrassed but slightly calmed, stepped aside under the encouraging gazes of her friends, Yuuto turned to Jin. His smile remained pleasant, but now it held a clear challenge. "Izayoi-san, since Murayama-san is a bit tired, perhaps you'll allow me to be your next sparring partner?"

All the girls in the hall held their breath. Kiba Yuuto was challenging the mysterious newcomer to a duel! This was going to be legendary!

Like Jin, he didn't bother with protective gear and, picking up Murayama's shinai from the floor, took her place. "Only," he looked at Jin with a slightly sly smile, "maybe you'll actually get into a proper stance? Or are you going to keep fighting with your hand in your pocket? It's a bit... disrespectful."

Jin looked at him lazily. His friendly expression, which he had maintained while talking with the girls, was replaced by one that was openly arrogant. "Nah," he drawled.

Well then. Kiba got it. This guy wasn't just strong; he was a provocateur. "I won't be holding back, Izayoi-san," his smile hardened, and his gaze sharpened. "Sometimes, only by crashing into an unbreakable wall can one truly learn the limits of one's own capabilities."

The hall froze in anticipation. All eyes were fixed on the two figures. The strike from the strongest kendo practitioner in their academy was about to happen (how annoying that he wasn't even in the kendo club).

Kiba didn't hesitate. He lunged forward, his movement lightning-fast, almost invisible to the eyes of the regular students. The shinai cut through the air with a whistle, carrying a power and precision honed by years of training. The blow landed squarely in the center of Jin's shinai.

CLACK!

The sound was louder, sharper than the last time. But the result was the same. Jin's sword didn't even waver. Kiba, however, felt a powerful feedback jolt through his arms all the way to his shoulder. He stayed on his feet, but his fingers were numb from the vibration. He looked at Jin in amazement. He had used significant force, though he was far from going all out. But his opponent hadn't even flinched.

Jin snorted sarcastically. "Is that all?"

Kiba was taken aback for a moment by such audacity. Then, a slightly sheepish, almost boyish expression appeared on his face. "My apologies," he said, taking a step back and giving a slight bow. "It seems I really did underestimate you. May I ask for a second strike? I promise, I'll be more serious this time."

Jin didn't even bother to answer. He just gave a barely perceptible, lazy nod, continuing to hold the sword in his ridiculous, relaxed pose. The gesture, full of condescending indifference, spoke louder than any words: 'Go on. I'm waiting.'

Kiba chuckled quietly and, after thanking him, took his stance again. And in that moment, he changed. In Jin's eyes, he became different. The lightness was gone, the prince's smile vanished. His face became focused, almost predatory. And around his body, a strange, faint dark aura began to appear and swirl.

None of the girls in the hall saw it. For them, Kiba had simply gotten serious. But Jin saw it. He felt it.

'Magic!' it flashed through his mind, and a long-forgotten feeling stirred in his chest—faint excitement. 'Finally. Something interesting.'

He carefully observed this dark matter enveloping his opponent. It was dense, viscous, yet alive. It smelled of ozone, of night, and of something elusively bitter. It was the power of demons, concentrated, more... sharp, like the edge of a blade. Without showing a hint of his slight excitement, he tightened his grip on the shinai's hilt, preparing to receive a real blow.

Kiba lunged forward again. This time, his speed was otherworldly. This was no longer just a fast lunge. It was a demonic dash. His figure blurred, and the strike was so powerful it created a light breeze that rustled the hair of the watching girls.

SNAP!

Instead of the usual sound of wooden swords colliding, there was a sharp, deafening crack, like a gunshot. And in the next instant, the two wooden blades, unable to withstand the collision of two monstrous forces, broke in half and fell to the floor with a clatter.

The entire hall burst into applause. The girls from the kendo club were screaming and clapping, their eyes shining with delight. They were stunned by what they had just been allowed to witness. This was a completely new level, one that none of them had ever seen while sparring in the club or even in competitions. And some were captivated by something else—by the two handsome boys who looked so cool holding swords, by their demeanor, by their power.

Jin stood with a slightly surprised expression, looking at the fragment of the shinai in his hand. He had expected the sword to hold. It seemed that even wood reinforced with demonic magic had its limits.

Yuuto, meanwhile, was gravely serious. He wasn't looking at his broken sword. He was looking at Jin's still-unwavering hand, which was gripping the hilt as if nothing had happened. His hand. It hadn't trembled. Not even after such a blow.

 

[VukPauk]

Splinters of bamboo scattered across the mirror-polished wooden floor with a dry crack, shattering the dojo's perfect geometry. In the deafening silence that cut short the enthusiastic applause, Kiba Yuuto stood motionless, his hand still gripping the useless fragment of the shinai. His face, which just a moment ago had been focused and predatory, was now a mask of absolute, genuine astonishment. He wasn't looking at the broken sword; his piercing green gaze was riveted on Jin, who was examining his own half of the weapon with a slightly surprised expression.

"You..." Kiba began, his voice sounding hollow and strained, but he couldn't finish the sentence.

At that moment, the fragile stupor was shattered by a new wave of enthusiasm. The girls from the kendo club, recovering from their initial shock, formed a tight ring around the two sparring partners, their eyes burning with genuine admiration. Cries of "Incredible!", "I've never seen anything like that!", and "That was cooler than a movie!" merged into a single enthusiastic roar, finally washing away the remnants of combat tension and returning the atmosphere of a school club.

Kiba, hearing their voices, seemed to snap out of it. He blinked several times, his face quickly adopting its usual friendly expression, and his signature, disarming prince's smile appeared on his lips. He skillfully took control of the situation, unwilling to show his true confusion in front of his many admirers.

"Well, it seems today's practice was a bit too intense even for our equipment," his voice sounded light and casual, as if breaking two swords with a single blow was an everyday occurrence. He looked at the fragments with regret. "These shinai should have been retired long ago; they're completely worn out. My apologies, Izayoi-san, for such an unfortunate incident."

Jin just huffed, playing along. He could see that beneath this ease lay deep surprise and a multitude of questions, but he decided not to dwell on it.

"However," Kiba continued, and a competitive spark flashed in his eyes again, "I can't let our match end on such a note. That would be disrespectful to such an interesting opponent. How about a real spar? Outside, in the open air, where it won't be so cramped. I'm sure we can find a couple of swords that can withstand our pressure."

Jin accepted the idea with obvious pleasure. He tossed the shinai fragment to the floor and looked at Kiba with a predatory, anticipatory smile.

"I'm all for it."

A few minutes later, the scene moved to the spacious training ground in front of the dojo. The evening sun bathed it in a soft golden light, and a light breeze rustled in the nearby bamboo grove. The girls from the kendo club, as well as a few random students drawn by rumors of the duel, lined the edge of the field, forming a living circle of spectators.

Kiba Yuuto, having exchanged his broken shinai for a new, sturdy one, stood in the center, his figure the embodiment of grace and power. He assumed a perfect stance, his body taut like a string, his gaze focused on his opponent.

Jin, on the other hand, didn't display his showy disdain this time. He stood for a few seconds, as if recalling what they had shown him in the dojo, and then slowly, almost reluctantly, settled into the classic kamae stance. Under normal circumstances, for a normal person, this stance was a necessity—it allowed one to balance the body, distribute weight, compensate for weaknesses, and prepare for an attack or defense. But for him, whose body was a perfect instrument devoid of human limitations, this formalized pose was more of a hindrance. It restricted his movements, forced him to operate within the bounds of a specific technique, made him more predictable. But he accepted the challenge. Kiba was serious, and meeting his seriousness with equal seriousness, even within the confines of this imposed game, seemed right to Jin. He tightened his grip on the new shinai's hilt, and a quiet, barely audible creak of bamboo came from under his fingers.

It was decided to hold a three-round match according to kendo rules—first clean hit wins. Murayama, the club captain, proudly took on the role of referee. She stood between the two fighters, her face serious and focused. All the spectators held their breath. Murayama held her gaze on Jin for a few seconds, then on Kiba, and, confirming their readiness, gave the signal to begin with a sharp wave of her hand, stepping aside.

Contrary to the crowd's expectations, they didn't rush at each other immediately. A second passed, then another. They stood motionless, like two statues separated by a few meters of empty space, only their gazes meeting in a silent duel, studying, assessing, searching for the slightest gap in the opponent's defense.

Kiba moved first. It wasn't a sharp lunge, but a smooth, almost dancing glide forward. His feet barely touched the ground, and the shinai in his hand seemed an extension of his body. He closed the distance and struck—a fast, precise thrust aimed at Jin's wrist. A classic kote-uchi. Jin reacted instinctively; his body, accustomed to speeds surpassing human comprehension, easily moved off the line of attack. He took half a step back, and Kiba's sword sliced through empty air with a whoosh. However, Kiba hadn't expected to hit on the first try. This was reconnaissance, a test of reactions. Without giving Jin a moment to breathe, he immediately launched a new attack, his shinai whirling in a series of feints, deceptive movements, trying to confuse Jin, to make him open up.

Jin, however, didn't fall for the provocations. He moved minimally, his defense economical and effective. He didn't try to counter-attack; he simply observed, adapting to this unfamiliar fighting style, to Kiba's rhythm, to how the bamboo sword behaved in his hand. He felt clumsy, constrained by this "crutch" that prevented him from using his main weapons—the speed and strength of his own body. But a game was a game.

Seeing that the feints weren't working, Kiba decided to switch to direct pressure. He unleashed a hail of blows on Jin, aiming for his head, his torso, his hands. Every strike was precise, every swing accompanied by a powerful kiai. Jin was forced onto the deep defensive. He parried the blows, blocked the thrusts, but his technique was crude, intuitive. He was relying not on swordsmanship, but on his superhuman reflexes and strength, which allowed him to stop Kiba's attacks where anyone else would have been struck.

The spectators watched the duel, mesmerized. They saw Kiba's elegant, technical style clash with Jin's raw, primal power. It was like a fencer's dance with a wild beast.

And at some point, the beast made a mistake. Too focused on blocking another attack, Jin left his left side open for a fraction of a second. Kiba noticed it instantly. His body lunged forward, and the shinai, tracing a lightning-fast arc, landed a clean, sharp strike against Jin's torso.

"Do!" Murayama announced loudly, raising her flag.

The first round went to Kiba. He had won through technique, experience, and the ability to find and exploit his opponent's weaknesses.

After a short pause, the second round began. Jin looked more collected. He understood his mistake—he couldn't just passively defend. He had to impose his own rhythm, his own style.

When Murayama gave the signal, he moved first. His movement wasn't as graceful as Kiba's, but it was fast and unpredictable. He closed the distance and struck. The blow was strange, almost ridiculous by kendo standards—a strong, direct thrust, more like a spear jab than a sword cut. Kiba easily parried it, but he felt the monstrous power behind the clumsy movement.

Jin began to attack, using the shinai as an extension of his arm. He struck from the most awkward, unnatural positions, relying on the flexibility and strength of his body. He could strike from a near-crouch, or lunge while twisting in a way no normal human could. His style was chaotic, devoid of all technique, but incredibly effective. He forced Kiba to be constantly on edge, deflecting attacks flying from the most unexpected angles.

Kiba, however, didn't lose his composure. He was a master of his craft. He retreated, parried, counter-attacked, his movements flawless. He was waiting. Waiting for this wild beast to make another mistake, to get carried away by its own furious but unsystematic assault.

And the moment came. Jin, after landing another powerful overhead strike that Kiba barely deflected, lost his balance for an instant. That fraction of a second was enough. Kiba lunged, his shinai flying toward Jin's head. It should have been a clean men. The winning blow.

The spectators gasped, anticipating the conclusion. But it never came.

At the very last moment, when the tip of Kiba's sword was just a centimeter from Jin's forehead, something unimaginable happened. Jin, instead of trying to dodge or make a classic block, made a sharp, almost invisible movement with his wrist. His shinai jerked forward, and the sword's guard—the tsuba—met Kiba's flying blade.

Clink!

A short, sharp sound rang out. The blow was stopped. Not by the blade, but by the small, round piece of wood at the hilt. This wasn't just unorthodox. It was impossible. A block like that required inhuman reflexes and precision.

Kiba froze, his eyes wide with shock. He couldn't believe what had just happened. And while he stood, paralyzed by surprise, Jin took advantage of his confusion and landed a counter-strike. A short, sharp, almost lazy jab with the tip of his shinai, which precisely touched his wrist.

"Kote!" Murayama announced, her voice trembling with amazement.

The score was 1-1.

The final round. The tension reached its peak. Now they were both more active. They moved around the field, exchanging fast, furious blows. The clash of shinai filled the air. Jin felt the thrill of the fight surge through him. The speed of their exchange was child's play to him. He saw Kiba's every move, every feint, every shift in stance. He knew that if this were a real fight, he would have won long ago, simply by bypassing his guard and striking with his fist. But this "crutch" in the form of a sword made the game fun. It forced him to think, to find new, unconventional solutions.

Kiba, for his part, was completely focused. He understood he was facing an opponent on a whole different level. He used his entire arsenal: changing stances, striking from different angles, trying to catch Jin in a mistake. His swordsmanship was flawless, honed like a blade. Jin, meanwhile, continued to rely on his monstrous strength and reflexes; his strikes were strange, but every one carried a threat.

Their blades crossed again and again. The spectators, holding their breath, watched this incredible dance of power and technique.

In the end, experience won out. In the heat of another furious attack, Jin, getting carried away, again made a microscopic error, winding up for a strike just a little too wide. And Kiba didn't miss his chance. His body shot forward, and the shinai, like a snake's fang, landed a precise, measured blow against Jin's torso.

"Do!" Murayama shouted.

The third round went to Kiba.

They lowered their swords and, approaching the center of the field, bowed to each other.

"This time, the victory is mine," Kiba said, his usual, warm smile returning to his face.

Jin just snorted in response.

'Damn show-off,' flashed through his mind, but he couldn't deny that it had been... fun. For the first time in a long time.

 

[VukPauk]

Night had once again taken hold, enveloping Kuoh Town in a cool, damp blanket. For Jin, the days had blurred into a sequence of pointless lessons and tense, solitary training sessions, where he tried not so much to develop as to rein in the monstrous power seething in his new body. This routine, this deceptive calm, was oppressive, breeding a dull, almost physically tangible irritation. He needed an outlet, any little thing that could snap him out of this apathy. And that little thing came in the form of an empty refrigerator.

He ambled slowly through the quiet streets, heading toward that same island of light in the night's gloom—the 24-hour kombini. The air smelled of ozone after a distant storm and freshly cut grass from someone's lawn. His thoughts were lazy and detached, but in the depths of his consciousness, a light, almost subconscious curiosity stirred. Would she be there tonight? That same girl with the chestnut ponytail and the frightened, yet curious eyes. The thought was so alien, so out of place in his new reality, that he involuntarily huffed, shaking his head.

The automatic doors slid open with a soft chime, and he walked inside. Behind the counter, diligently wiping it down, stood her. Misaki. He'd learned her name by chance, overhearing a coworker call out to her. Upon seeing him, she flinched, her movements becoming stiff, and the familiar blush instantly appeared on her cheeks. Jin gave her a silent nod of greeting and headed for the drink coolers, feeling her intense, flustered gaze on him. He grabbed a bottle of cold tea and approached the counter.

"Good evening," her voice was thin and trembled slightly as she took the bottle. Her fingers brushed his for a moment, and she snatched her hand back as if burned. "Y-you're visiting us again..."

"Yeah," Jin replied curtly, counting out his coins. "I live nearby."

"O-oh, really?" she perked up a little, her curiosity overcoming her embarrassment. "I... I live nearby too... with my parents. You go to Kuoh Academy, don't you? I've seen you in the uniform."

He raised a surprised gaze to her. She was more observant than she looked.

"I do, as of recently," he confirmed.

"I... I used to go there too," she said, a note of sadness in her voice. "I graduated last year. It's a good school, isn't it? Though, it must be hard for you to settle in, being new and all?"

Her attempt to make conversation was so sincere and clumsy that Jin, contrary to his usual self, decided to humor her.

"It's tolerable," he shrugged. "Too noisy, though."

"Noisy?" she blinked in surprise. "Is that a bad thing? I think it's fun! The clubs, the festivals, friends..." she faltered, realizing she was talking too much. "Sorry, I'm probably holding you up."

"No," Jin said, surprising even himself. "It's fine."

An awkward pause hung in the store. Misaki fidgeted with the hem of her uniform, not knowing what else to say. Jin watched her silently, and his violet eyes lacked their usual icy detachment. There was something else. Interest?

"You know," she finally ventured, her cheeks flushing crimson again. "There's a festival in the town center soon. With fireworks, and lots of food... I... I was planning to go with my friends this weekend, but they can't make it..." she blurted it all out in one breath and squeezed her eyes shut, afraid to hear the answer. "Maybe... maybe you... you... would want to go?"

Jin froze. A direct invitation. From a girl he'd only seen a few times in his life. It was so... normal. So human. And it was precisely this normality, this simplicity, that won him over.

"Alright," he said, and his voice sounded unexpectedly soft. "Let's go."

Misaki's eyes flew open. They were filled with such genuine, puppy-like happiness that Jin couldn't help but smile. A real, warm smile that completely transformed his face, melting his coldness and revealing just a handsome guy. That smile made Misaki melt completely.

The following days passed in a strange, almost pleasant state of anticipation. Jin declined another "unexpected" invitation to the Occult Research Club. He had no desire to get involved in their problems.

He watched Issei from the sidelines. After his triumphant announcement about his date, the guy had been walking around school like a beaten dog. In the cafeteria at lunch, Jin witnessed his desperate attempt to share his experience with his only friends.

"...and then she just changed!" Issei proclaimed hotly, waving his chopsticks. Matsuda and Motohama listened with open boredom. "Do you get it, guys? She was so sweet all day, so gentle... We walked in the park, she laughed at my jokes, we even ate crepes together! I thought it was the best day of my life! I was already imagining how we'd... well, you know..."

Matsuda sighed and adjusted his glasses.

"Issei, have you been playing too many of your eroge again? Wings, spears of light... Do you even realize what nonsense you're spouting? You just had a nightmare after staying up all night."

"Totally!" Motohama chimed in, finishing his rice. "Or it was revenge for you trying to take pictures of Murayama-sempai's panties. She probably cursed you."

"No! It was real! Her name was Amano Yuuma!" Issei exclaimed desperately.

"Who?" Matsuda looked at him, confused. "We don't know any Amano Yuuma. Issei, are you really okay? Maybe you should see a doctor? Did you hit your head?"

Issei deflated. He realized no one believed him. The memories of her, of his first date, of his death—all of it had been erased from his friends' minds, leaving him alone with his terrible secret. He stared glumly into his plate.

Jin, sitting at the next table, had heard every word. He calmly finished his curry, his face betraying no emotion. But inwardly, he understood everything. The date had happened. Issei had been killed. And then resurrected by Rias Gremory. The canon had taken effect. And this idiot, without even knowing it, had stopped being human.

The weekend greeted Kuoh with warm, sunny weather. Jin met Misaki at the entrance to the park. She was wearing a simple summer dress that suited her well, and she looked a little shy, but happy. Their date was surprisingly easy and natural. They strolled down shady paths, ate cotton candy, and Jin, to his own surprise, won her a large plush toy at a shooting gallery, demonstrating inhuman marksmanship which he passed off as "luck."

They talked a lot. Or rather, Misaki did most of the talking, telling funny stories about her job, her family, her dreams. And Jin, to his surprise, listened. He asked questions, occasionally making short, sarcastic, but not unkind comments that made her laugh. He felt... almost normal. Almost like a regular guy on a date with a cute girl. It was a strange, but pleasant, feeling.

In the evening, as the sun began to set, painting the sky in shades of orange and pink, they were walking through the park again.

"Thank you for today, Jin-kun," Misaki said, her voice quiet and sincere. "I had a lot of fun. I haven't laughed like that in a long time."

"Me too," he replied, and it was almost the truth.

They approached the large fountain in the center of the park. And there, sitting hunched over on the fountain's rim, was Issei. He looked lost, bewildered, and was muttering something under his breath, as if searching for someone.

"Hm?" Misaki noticed. "What's wrong with him? He looks upset."

Issei heard her voice and turned. Seeing Jin, and then the girl beside him, he blinked in surprise.

"Jin? What are you..."

He didn't get to finish. In that moment, the world changed.

The air turned sharply cold and thick. The sky above the park, orange just a second ago, was veiled in an unnatural violet haze. Around them, like a soap bubble, a shimmering, iridescent barrier rose, cutting them off from the rest of the world. Misaki cried out in fear and clung to Jin's arm, understanding nothing.

A figure emerged from the shadow of the trees. A fallen angel, a tall man with an unpleasant smirk and feathers as black as a crow's wing on his back.

"So, you're finally caught, spawn," he hissed, and a spear of pure, blinding light materialized in his hand. "Raynare didn't finish her job. I'll have to."

With those words, he threw the spear. It cut through the air with a whoosh, heading straight for Issei's chest.

He froze, his face twisting with the horror of recognition and helplessness. He was reliving the nightmare of his first "date."

But the spear did not reach its target.

Time, for everyone, seemed to slow down. Jin, without a second's thought, burst from his spot. His movement was so fast he blurred. In a fraction of a second, he was between Issei and the flying spear.

A dull, dry thud rang out. The spear of light stopped, an inch from Issei's chest, its tip caught easily, almost carelessly, in Jin's palm. The radiance from the holy weapon washed over his hand, but it didn't cause the slightest harm.

A deathly silence fell over the park.

Issei, saved from certain death, stared at Jin's back with his jaw hanging open. Misaki, hands pressed to her mouth, couldn't utter a word, her mind refusing to believe what was happening. Dohnaseek, the one who threw the spear, froze in shock, his face a mask of absolute bewilderment.

Jin, for his part, slowly looked down at the spear clamped in his hand. He twirled it with mild curiosity, as if assessing its quality. And then his lips twisted into a wry smirk, one full of universal exhaustion.

"Shiiiiiiiiit," flashed through his mind. "He's died twice."

 

[VukPauk]

In the deafening silence that fell, broken only by Misaki's frightened breathing and Issei's muffled groan, Jin continued to impassively hold the spear of light. He clenched his fingers. A quiet sound, like cracking ice, rang out. Thin dark fractures ran along the shining blade, quickly spreading across its entire length. A moment later, the holy weapon shattered with a soft chime into a myriad of glowing shards, which, after swirling in the air, melted away without a trace, leaving behind only the faint smell of ozone.

The tension in the distorted space of the barrier became almost palpable. Jin slowly turned his head toward Issei, who was still sitting on the fountain's rim, staring at him with his jaw hanging open. A universal weariness was written in Jin's gaze.

"Well, what are you doing here?" he asked, and his voice held not a drop of surprise or panic, only a dull irritation.

'Great,' it flashed through his mind as he glanced sideways at the pale, uncomprehending Misaki. 'Now I'll have to explain to a normal girl why the sky is purple and all the rest. What a goddamn headache.'

He hadn't even finished the thought when, in another part of the park not far from them, a bright crimson light flared. From a magic circle that tore open in the air, bearing the crest of a griffin's head, stepped a group of teenagers. In the lead, with the air of a queen surveying her domain, walked a girl with incredible, fiery-crimson hair, her figure, clad in a school uniform, the very picture of aristocratic pride. Following her was a tall beauty with blue-black hair in a long ponytail; her sweet smile and curvaceous figure gave a deceptive impression of softness, but her movements held the dangerous grace of a predator. Beside her stood a petite girl with ash-blond hair and an almost doll-like, impassive face; she silently scanned the scene with large hazel eyes that held no emotion.

'Of course they'd show up,' Jin sighed wearily again, rolling his eyes internally. The theater of the absurd had just been joined by its main cast.

"Fallen Angel!" the crimson-haired girl's voice rang out, imperious and cold, echoing off the barrier's invisible walls. "I, Rias Gremory, heiress of the Gremory clan and mistress of this territory, demand an explanation! What are you doing here, and by what right do you attack a student of my academy?!"

Dohnaseek, having recovered from his initial shock, sneered contemptuously.

"Demons… And a Gremory, no less. I have no intention of answering to spawn like you! I am here to finish the job Raynare failed to complete!"

Unwilling to waste time talking, he roared, and a spear of light flared to life in each of his hands. With one sharp, powerful motion, he hurled them toward Rias's group. Akeno and Koneko reacted instantly: the priestess of thunder created a shield of lightning before her, which absorbed one spear with a crackle, while the petite Rook simply stepped aside, and the second spear harmlessly embedded itself in the ground where she had just stood. Dohnaseek himself, not waiting for the result, rushed toward his original target. He hoped that while the demons were distracted, he could finally finish Issei.

Creating a third spear in his hand, he drew back, but Jin once again stood in his path. This time, the fallen decided not to throw his weapon. He poured all his fury and power into one chopping blow, turning the spear into a semblance of a shining blade aimed at cutting Jin in half.

Jin looked seriously at the fallen charging him. He didn't dodge or retreat. Instead, he made a subtle movement, turning halfway toward the attack, as if giving the blade more room to strike. Time, for everyone, seemed to slow down again. The shining blade of the spear approached with a whoosh, its sharp edge, vibrating with holy energy, was already centimeters from his body. And at that very last moment, Jin raised his hand. He simply put it in the blade's path, palm open. A hissing sizzle rang out, like the sound of red-hot metal being plunged into water. The holy blade slammed into his palm and... stopped. Jin had caught it. Simply caught it, like catching a thrown ball. His fingers closed around the shining matter, and the energy raging in the spear began to die, as if being sucked into a bottomless abyss. No burn, no scratch. Only a wisp of smoke rising from his palm.

Misaki, still standing behind him, let out a choked sob, her eyes wide with terror and disbelief. Issei, Rias, and her peerage froze, stunned by what they had seen. Even Kiba, who already knew of Jin's incredible strength, couldn't hide his amazement. To catch a chopping blow from a spear of light with a bare hand... this was beyond anything they knew to be possible.

Dohnaseek froze half a meter from Jin, his hand still gripping the shaft of the useless weapon. A mask of absolute, animalistic terror was frozen on his face. He understood. Before him was a monster. Something that did not obey the laws of this world.

This realization broke his will. He let go of the spear, which immediately dissipated in Jin's hand, and, without a word, spun around sharply. With a flap of his black wings, he shot away at a desperate speed, crashing into the barrier wall. With a sound of cracking, the fallen angel broke through the magical barricade and disappeared into the night sky.

The barrier, having lost its source, flickered and disintegrated. The violet haze over the park dissipated, returning the ordinary nightscape. The silence, broken only by the splashing of the fountain, became normal again, not ominous. But for Misaki, the world would never be the same.

She stared at Jin, her body wracked with tremors. The purple sky, the winged man, the glowing spears, the boy catching them with his bare hands... Her mind refused to accept this reality. It was a dream, a nightmare. She recoiled from Jin, her face twisted in horror.

"You... who are you?... What... what was that?..." she whispered, her voice breaking.

"Misaki, calm down, I..." Jin began, taking a step toward her, but she cried out and stumbled back even further.

In his violet eyes, which held no magic, she now saw something monstrous. In his calmness, a threat. He wasn't human. He was one of them. One of those monsters.

Terrified by his gaze, by his outstretched hand, she turned and, sobbing, bolted away, fleeing from the park, from this nightmare, from him.

Jin froze with his hand outstretched, watching her go. He felt nothing. No regret, no anger. Only a dull, heavy emptiness.

"It's better this way."

Rias Gremory's confident, melodic voice sounded from behind him. She approached, her peerage following her.

"Ordinary humans shouldn't touch our world. It's too dangerous for their sanity. Don't worry, we'll find her later and erase her memories of this evening. For her, it will be nothing more than a bad dream."

She stopped in front of him, a polite but slightly predatory smile playing on her lips.

"And now, allow me to introduce myself properly. I am Rias Gremory. And it seems we have finally met, Izayoi Jin. I've heard a lot about you."

Jin slowly lowered his hand and sighed heavily again, staring down the dark path where Misaki had disappeared. New problems. And new, annoying acquaintances.