Chapter 1: Light and Death

"W-What just happened...?"

Everyone at Class 1-A was stunned. Their teacher, Mr. Watanabe, was on the ground. He just sat there—bewildered like everybody else.

"That makes no sense... Both of them should've been hit!"

Watanabe checked every corner of his body. He didn't feel any signs of discomfort at all, especially on his buttocks, elbows, and back.

I... What is this?

He was supposed to tumble over his two students—one male and female—due to him tripping on a can of cooling spray earlier. Yet here he is, feeling fine in the weirdest way possible.

The trip did occur, but his body never made contact to those unsuspecting students. As a result, both of them came out fine.

That's why everyone got surprised, due to the fact that what just happened was simply bizarre.

"I-Is Mister Watanabe alright? Should we help him?"

"Was that even a question? Of course!"

Everyone stood up to check their teacher's condition. Their class president took the initiative and assisted Mr. Watanabe.

One of the students, who was supposed to feel the weight of their teacher's body, simply gazed at them. His stoic face observed the situation calmly—without even exuding a single speck of emotion.

He is Shin Soru.

Shin Soru wasn’t particularly impressive—just your average guy. The only thing that stood out was his eyes, an unusual ash gray color.

He only participates in class when called upon by teachers during recitations. He doesn’t excel in academics or sports—being average in both fields. He seldom leaves on his desk during breaks.

Due to his unusual social life, he was considered an eccentric individual. That's why interacting with him was close to impossible.

Soru looked around and noticed their complexion. However, he remained silent, his face still indifferent as his gaze wandered in each and every one of them.

Meanwhile, another student of Class 1-A saw the gist of what happened earlier. She's at the back row seat beside a window.

"That's weird. Not only did I not hear a loud thud after his fall, but all three of them seem fine..."

That curious girl was Mitsuha Reika.

Everyone in the room knew who Reika was. Not because she's popular like the famous figures in their school—she was known for her positive nature: being approachable and friendly to others. It was rumored that her beauty was often said to rival that of the stunning classroom president, though her front was lacking in comparison.

One of her striking features was her pair of beautiful purple eyes, which sparkled like gems. She also had short, dark, silky hair with a subtle purple tint that only revealed itself when caught in the light.

Now that everyone was fussed over the incident, they began to gather around to see what was going on. Only Reika remained in her seat.

"Should I check their condition?"

Right when she was about to stand, a loud chime echoed around the room.

What a coincidence…

After being assisted by their class president, Watanabe gathered his belongings and announced the dismissal.

"Goodbye, Mister Watanabe!" everyone exclaimed and left the room in groups.

Reika stared at her teacher as he walked outside the room. Including the girl and Soru, she checked if they acted like they suffered from any discomfort. However, the three of them seemed normal to her.

Well, they looked fine, I guess. Nothing unusual at all.

Reika gathered her belongings and walked outside the room.

As she walked down the hallway, she heard the faint murmur of her classmates talking. They were trying to come up with possible explanations for what had happened earlier. The boys, in particular, were full of wild theories—most of them were complete nonsense.

"Hear me out. What if Sir Watanabe used some kind of... time-skip power earlier, like King Crimson? I mean, we saw it, right? It really looked like a part of his accidental trip were skipped!"

"That's enough. Time-skip? Come on, that kind of thing only exists in fiction!"

"B-But what if...!"

"Maybe we're just hallucinating," he shrugged.

"Hallucinating? All of us, at the same time? That's also fictitious!"

On the other side, others complained about the blackout that happened hours ago, including the school's inability to fix their backup generator, especially during the time that they needed it the most.

Reika took a turn at the corridor and saw the stairs ahead. The noise began to fade in the background.

Forget it. Even if I rack my brains, I can't come up with any possible explanation. Heck, even others couldn't do it either!

Reika paused and looked at her phone. It was 5:20 in the afternoon.

Forty minutes until six, huh...

Reika was about to take a step when a loud call caught her attention. She recognized that voice—it was her classmate.

"Mitsuha-saaan~ Wait!".

Reika halted and turned around. She saw her classmate breathing erratically in front of her.

"Hah... Hah... Gosh, you sure are fast!"

The other two came along and paused as well. Reika remembered the group as one of the outgoing individuals in their class.

"Oh. What brings you here? Is it...?"

"You know, like the usual!" One of them told her. "We would like to cool off a bit in the crêpe shop because of the hot afternoon earlier. Mind if you join us?"

"That's right!" the other one interjected. "I want to forget the things that happened earlier. So you accompanying us would be a great addition to relieve my stress!"

"Hahaha! Your small mistake made Mr. Watanabe put in an embarrassing situation. If you could've been more careful on your cooling spray—"

The girl quickly held her friend's mouth and looked around.

"Shush! What if someone heard you?!"

"Mmmphh..."

Reika quietly observed their antics. At least she finally knew who the owner of the cooling spray.

So she's the one at fault back then... As expected.

"So... would you come along with us?"

Being known as an outgoing individual, Reika rarely declines invitations from others. But to their surprise, Reika refused.

"I'm sorry, but... I have to... accompany my grandma on buying groceries this early evening."

"Y-You see, there's a sale near our house, and it will end before seven. We need to catch it up before it closes..."

The other two paused and got serious. The slight sense of dismay was evident on their faces.

"Oh, is that so...?"

"Ahem! Well, maybe next time! Grocery sales are a thing we must never overlook, after all!"

The three of them exchanged their goodbyes and left. Just before their voices faded in the background, Reika overheard some of their conversation.

"Haah~ I really want her to come with us!"

"Well, what can we do? Aside from the fact that she's a busy bee, she shouldn't ignore the calling... basically, run some errands."

"Hmm, I wonder if I would have the same mindset as hers. That would be fantastic!"

"Not going to happen. You're lazy as hell!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Reika took a glance at them before she turned around.

They thought that was the reason why I refused them...

The group actually believed that Reika had some errands to do. In reality, it was something else.

The reason? Her social battery ran out.

"Kahhh~! The heat and the commotion earlier nearly drained me! I want to go home and lie on my bed!"

And with that conclusion, Reika moved on and walked towards the stairs.

After she arrived on the first floor, Reika continued to walk towards the building's main exit.

Just then, her ears caught something unusual, on which she paused immediately.

Reika heard a creaking sound at the far corners of the hallway. It sounds rusty—on which she recognized that it was a metal door that opened ahead.

Was that the door that leads to the rooftop?

Now, she might ignore it—but she didn't. In general, it was something kind of trivial others would dismiss at a moment's notice. Yet, it made her interested.

On that door, she saw a person exit through it.

Hm? Isn't that...?

She recognized that individual, and it was Shin Soru.

"What is he doing here at this hour?"

Without a bit of hesitation, she followed Soru. She ignored the exhaustion she felt earlier in order to satiate her curiosity.

With each careful step, she treaded the metal stairs beyond the door, all the way to the rooftop. A gentle breeze greeted her arrival, causing her hair to sway a little.

Up ahead, she saw Shin Soru, standing near the parapet. He's just there, gazing at the bustling city below.

He's here... Just to stare ahead?

Reika walked slowly and looked around. She noticed a small garden ahead. There were several pots lined up with plants she rarely sees around.

"I never knew there was a small garden here..."

She looked ahead and saw Soru there, unmoving despite the fact that Reika intentionally made her presence visible to him. To her surprise, Soru didn't even turn around, as if he knew that she'd been following him.

"Hey, Shin-kun."

Reika drew closer to him and saw his stoic expression. Reika had never seen him this close before. So for her to see his face made her surprised.

I thought that he was serious-looking. It's just... neutral?

Soru turned around and looked in her eyes.

"Mitsuha-san."

The two of them simply stared at each other. Reika didn't know what to say further.

...What now?

Reika noticed Soru turning his head at the city ahead. With his unchanging face, he locked his gaze onto them once more.

Eh? He had nothing else to say after that? Reika thought.

"It's already late afternoon; why are you still here?"

"Sightseeing," Soru responded.

Reika's eyes widened at his brief response.

"W-Well, do you feel any discomfort or pain right now... or back then?"

"No. I'm fine."

"What about that time..."

Each time Reika asked him a question about school, lessons, or anything else, he kept his answers concise. This left her quite perplexed.

What's up with him? He kept answering with two to three words every time he responded... Is he afraid that adding further words would cost him a fortune?

In the end, Reika gave up and sighed.

Engaging in further conversation won't get us anywhere. Maybe it would be best for me to... Hm?

Reika's thoughts were interrupted when a loud chirp rang through the air. Reika tilted and looked around. Up ahead, she noticed something at the small garden.

"What was that?"

On a certain pot, some of the shrub's leaves rustled, followed by a relentless chirp. Without a moment of hesitation, she decided to help that creature—although she had no idea what happened to it.

"I need to excuse myself for a moment," she told him and lowered her head.

Reika placed her bag at the parapet beside Soru's and went to the small garden. There, she saw a small bird flapping its wings. It tried to ward the ants away that swarmed around its body.

"How could they...!"

Reika quickly rescued the bird and blew the pesky ants away from it.

Reika saw that the bird's complexion began to ease. This made her feel a sense of relief. She walked back to Soru as her hand held the bird.

Soru did nothing but simply observe her actions. His eyes followed Reika—from the small garden back to his side.

Reika placed the bird at the parapet and checked the bird further. She saw

"You're all a persistent bunch, huh?"

Reika quickly plucked them and pinched them with her soft fingers. She then placed them beside her, thinking that it was dead and posed no threat to the bird anymore.

"There you go."

Reika caressed the bird, on which it responded with a soft chirp.

This bird might have been resting when those ants attacked it, thinking it was a vulnerable creature to be feasted upon. Fortunately, I rescued it on time before it exhausted itself...

"What happened to that bird?"

Reika turned around and glanced at Soru.

"...Several ants attacked it; that's why it was in pain and chirped relentlessly."

"That's why you rescued it?"

"Uh... Yes?"

Soru looked at the ants beside Reika. Most of them crawled slowly in all directions, while others curled to death.

"Does it hurt the ants?"

Reika was caught off-guard and reacted negatively. She avoided looking at him right away, fearing that her current expression might offend Soru in some way.

"P-Probably...? I heard most ants are capable of feeling pain, so most likely they pretty much felt it."

"If both of them experienced the same sensation, why would you rescue one while you condemn the latter?"

Reika turned in his direction. Fortunately, she managed to fix her face in time.

"That..."

Reika couldn't answer right away. She gathered her jumbled thoughts, then came up with an answer.

"I chose the bird because it couldn't help itself. Those ants had the advantage due to their numbers, you know?"

Soru looked directly at her eyes. His stoic face was still evident as he spoke to her.

"That means, you have the authority to choose who's going to live and die because you possess the capability to discern the losing side?"

Reika didn't answer right away. She was shocked that Soru, the person who kept his responses concise earlier, was now asking questions without restraint.

What's up with those... complex questions? I could barely keep up with what he was talking about...!

To normal people, hearing someone delve into bizarre topics would surprise them. At that moment, Reika realized that everyone's impression of Soru was spot-on.

He is truly an eccentric individual.

Reika was about to utter a response when suddenly, a sharp tingling sensation pierced through her thigh.

"Yeouch...!" Reika yelped.

"Yeouch?"

The bird flew away in response to Reika's sudden jolt. Reika quickly shoved her skirt to see what was going on underneath her thigh. However, another successive sensation emerged on the other side of her thigh.

"What was that?"

Reika recklessly wiggled at the parapet as she tried to catch a glimpse underneath her legs. However, she failed to realize that her actions would result in an unprecedented outcome—though expected based on the flow of events.

Reika quickly noticed that her body shifted to a certain extent and that her fall was imminent.

Her hand instinctively grabbed the nearest thing beside her, and only Soru was the viable option. But Soru's weight wasn't enough to maintain them both, and got dragged instead. Now, the two of them were descending to the ground.

"Woahh!"

This is not good! How did it...?!

Out of the blue, Reika felt a warm sensation covering her body. She had no idea what it was, nor why it happened in the first place. Just as her thoughts slowed down as it attempted to process the stimuli, the world around them seemed to halt as well.

"This...!"

Before she could finish her sentence, a massive pillar of light pierced from the heavens and descended to the ground. Reika and Soru were swallowed by the said pillar before it vanished to thin air.

Then, an eerie silence followed.

Everyone in the city witnessed the unusual spectacle and was left in utter confusion. Not just the entirety of Saitama Prefecture, but the neighboring prefectures saw it as well. Adjacent countries also detected the massive pillar—albeit faint; they were alarmed and began to gather intel in the shadows. Such a phenomenon resulted in an uproar on all media platforms and sparked heated debates and discussions all over the world.

The authorities quickly investigated the site hours later and attempted to unravel the cause of the incident. However, there is no viable evidence that the pillar of light did strike there, as if it never occurred in the first place. All they could find at the scene were two bags that might be linked to the strange light, placed at the parapet. They identified that those belongings were owned by the individuals named Mistuha Reika and Shin Soru.

The individuals allegedly involved in the incident were reported in the news the following day, in an attempt to quell public interest.