Fair Warning -- this work is my first attempt, and it's probably bad.

In the year 6051, society has adapted to mysterious rifts known as paper cuts—portals to unpredictable realms of danger and beasts. At Stranfhash Academy, students are ranked by aptitude and trained to survive them.

Kuramiti Kurosawa is not a top student. Slightly below average in skill, slightly below average in confidence, and just self-aware enough to hate it. His magic rank? Okay. Gun handling? Worse. Ambition? Through the roof.

As his class begins its first sanctioned paper cut expeditions, Kurosawa finds himself caught between prodigies, pressure, and the sense he’s meant for more. But when a gate that shouldn’t exist appears—unstable in shape, defiant of all known rules—only in front of him, he faces the ultimate question:

What if this isn’t just another rift? What if it’s the one that makes him different? Should he go through it?