1

By the year 36XX, the extraordinary had long since become ordinary. For generations, humans awakened on their 17th birthdays with powers as unique as their fingerprints. Some wielded flames, others bent time, and a rare few possessed abilities so strange they defied logic itself.

Among them were two boys: Kanzaki Hikaru, frozen at 17 by the curse of immortality, and Shirogane Ren, who reincarnated across countless lifetimes - always living, always dying, never beyond his 18th year.

Their story began simply.

Lifetime 1

Hikaru and Ren met at school, just two kids who clicked without effort. Their days were filled with the kind of carefree joy only childhood allowed- playing ball in empty fields, racing toy cars down winding sidewalks, dreaming of piloting planes and commanding trains.

But childhood never lasts forever.

Ren’s 18th birthday arrived like any other day. Until it wasn’t. Without warning, without reason, he was gone. Dead.

Hikaru, frozen forever at 17, was left behind, grief-stricken but haunted by a strange certainty:

He would see Ren again.

And he did.

Lifetime 2

Years passed before Hikaru found him- alive, 17, just like before. Their reunion was strange but joyful, as though fate had hit the reset button on their lives. Friendship sparked easily, reigniting into a bond stronger than ever. They were the duo who laughed at bad jokes, waged fierce arcade battles, and cooked up questionable meals just to prove who was better at it.

This time, Hikaru hoped they had all the time in the world.

But on Ren’s 18th birthday, death came for him once again, silent and unexplained.

Lifetimes 3–10

So the cycle began.

Lifetime after lifetime, Hikaru searched for Ren. He always found him, always a teenager, never younger, and never without that same inexplicable pull that drew them together like magnets.

“Why are you so bad at basketball?” Hikaru teased during one life, effortlessly stealing the ball with reflexes sharpened over centuries.

“Maybe because you’re cheating?” Ren shot back, grinning.

Their lives were filled with camaraderie, teasing, and absurd competitions to see who could eat the most ramen or pull the dumbest all-nighter. They were, in every sense, best friends.

And every time, on Ren’s 18th birthday, Hikaru had to watch him die.

It never got easier.

Lifetime 11

This time, Hikaru searched for over a century. The world had changed, reshaped by time and war, yet Ren was nowhere to be found. Had something broken the cycle? Had Ren been reborn in a place Hikaru could never reach?

Then one quiet afternoon, Hikaru found the answer, sitting in a small café, sipping iced coffee through a straw.

Ren looked up and met his eyes. And everything, once again, changed.

"Took you long enough."