A fire walks, not knowing where it goes. It doesn't burn to destroy—only because it doesn't know how to stop.

Aragiri Takeru has already lived a life of violence. Former gang member, his body is a map of scars and bullet holes hidden beneath layers of tattoos. At twenty, failed three times, with no family and no future, he accepts an opportunity that seems too good to be true: an elite educational program promising guaranteed university admission and a life of success.

But the Institute isn't a school. It's a military prison training desperate youth to fight monstrous creatures in a parallel dimension called the Hollow. Trapped by binding contracts and government threats, Takeru must survive in a system that measures human worth in stars—and those who fall below the threshold are "eliminated."

When you're already ashes, how much more can you burn?