He got home a little past three in the morning.
Lying to the patrol officers hadn't been easy — especially when he looked like a high schooler.
The apartment wasn't big — seventy, maybe eighty square meters — but for two people, it
worked.
When he opened the door, the sound of electronic chaos burst out to greet him. A girl in an
oversized T-shirt sat cross-legged on the floor, furiously mashing buttons on a controller. The TV
flashed with bursts of color and sound from a game.
Kiryu Touta sighed and swapped his shoes at the entryway.
"Kaion, enough for tonight. Go to bed."
She turned her head, her eyes bright and clear.
"You're late, brother. Something happen?"
Touta hesitated, then lied with practiced ease.
"Ran into someone soaked in malicious energy."
Kiryu Kaion — his so-called little sister.
The two of them had nobody else in this world.
A year ago, Touta had been on the verge of a hundred straight wins in Sugar Bean Man when
everything went wrong.
When he opened his eyes again, he wasn't in his room — he was standing inside a nightmare.
A writhing mass of flesh filled the house. It had killed the real Kiryu Touta, and every other
member of the family… except Kaion.
Then it came for her.
But before the creature could reach her, the dead "brother" stirred.
Something from another world had seized the broken shell and made it move.
He rose to his feet, his body swelling, the air ringing with eerie, childlike laughter.
His figure rounded, grotesque — transforming into a pink, rotund monster.
A Sugar Bean Man.
That pink creature seized the spirit's head in both hands, and with eyes colder than steel, began
to strike.
One punch. Two punches. Three.
He didn't stop until dawn, until the creature dissolved into a mist and vanished from the world.
When it was over, Touta didn't bother hiding the truth.
He told Kaion everything — that he came from another world, and that the real Kiryu Touta was
gone.
Kaion, who had lost her parents and now her brother, simply wiped her tears, smiled, and took
his hand.
From that day on, they leaned on each other to survive.
To outsiders, they looked like an ordinary, dutiful pair of siblings.
But behind closed doors, they were two broken souls filling the void left by the dead.
Over time, Touta pieced together what had happened to him.
He'd been dragged into a real Sugar Bean Game.
And he'd been given a cheat — a system called the Crown Game.
It gave him missions: defeat sixty targets and earn his freedom.
If he didn't hunt them, they'd come to hunt him.
Those sixty targets weren't all human. Some were spirits. Others were far worse.
In a whole year, he'd only taken down one — the thing that killed the Kiryus.
To defeat a target, he had to transform into the Sugar Bean Man, pull his enemy into a
challenge space, and win — just like clearing a game stage.
It felt like someone up there was toying with his life, curious to see how far this ridiculous pink
bean could go.
But Touta was a near-pro player, one win short of a hundred straight victories.
There was no way he'd give up.
When he became the Sugar Bean Man, he gained two powers:
First, the strength of that rotund, muscle-bound avatar;
Second, the ability to construct a game-like arena and drag his enemies into it — where victory
or defeat decided their fate.
Using those powers, he started uploading videos of the Sugar Bean Man exorcising spirits.
The name spread through Tokyo, morphing into an urban legend — part superhero, part horror
story.
A challenge.
A warning.
I'm coming for you. I'll take your crown — and erase you so I can live.
That was Kiryu Touta's survival law.
Though his transformed form was laughable, his eyes held a killing intent colder than any
human's.
After washing up, Touta returned to find Kaion spreading futons in the living room.
They survived on the last of their parents' death benefits, and Touta worked part-time to help.
Even so, money was tight — no beds, just thin futons on the floor.
Kaion slipped under the blanket, watching him undress in the dark.
Lean, wiry muscle traced his silhouette beneath the dim starlight.
He caught her staring. "What?" he asked casually.
Kaion propped her chin on her hands, smiling faintly.
"Brother, aren't you going to shower?"
"I'm not your brother," he corrected for what felt like the thousandth time. "Your brother's dead."
"It's late. I'll skip it," he added after a beat.
"You've been taking care of me for a whole year," she said softly. "You're using my brother's
body… so you are my brother."
Something stirred in the dark.
His body rounded again, a pink glow blooming under the moonlight.
The Sugar Bean Man emerged.
His voice shifted — part deep, part childlike.
"This form isn't your brother."
Kaion didn't argue. She lifted the blanket beside her, wordlessly inviting him in.
The Sugar Bean Man squeezed under the futon, the tiny blanket barely covering his belly.
She reached out, poking his soft, springy arm.
It felt like warm, living candy.
Despite how unnatural he was, he radiated safety — a warmth that filled the whole room.
"You should learn to live without me," Touta murmured from the dark. "I could die anytime."
Kaion's hand trembled as she tightened her grip on his.
"No," she whispered. "I won't let you die."
"If you have to die," she said hoarsely, "then kill me first. Make that your victory."
Touta slowly reverted to his human form and held her hand.
Her skin was cold, but her resolve was steady.
Kiryu Kaion possessed a strange aura that drew the supernatural to her.
She was one of his targets.
And yet—
he couldn't help but protect her.
Because to her, this monster was all she had left that could still be called family.
That night, as Kaion drifted into uneasy sleep beside him, Touta's eyes stayed open.
In the darkness, the faint glimmer of a crown icon flickered across his vision — the next target
had appeared.
Somewhere beyond the veil, the gates of the Sugar Bean Paradise were opening again.
And this time… something was waiting inside.