Hakari Kenji had always believed that ordinary days were invincible.
That as long as he followed the same path home from school, listened to the same noise of traffic, and checked his phone at the same intersections, nothing strange would ever happen. The world felt stable like that—predictable, dull, safe.
That belief shattered the moment the sky turned red.
Kenji was halfway down the familiar street near his apartment complex, his school bag hanging loosely from one shoulder, when his phone vibrated in his hand. He glanced at the screen and relaxed slightly when he saw his mother's name.
"Mom," he answered, weaving past two students from a different school.
"Kenji," his mother said, her voice warm and slightly rushed. "You're on your way home, right?"
"Yeah. I just left school."
"Good. Stop by the convenience store and buy milk. And those strawberry candies your sister likes—the ones shaped like little hearts."
Kenji smiled faintly. "She finished them already?"
"She swears she didn't," his mother replied, amusement clear in her voice. "But I found the wrappers in her room."
In the background, he could hear his sister protesting loudly.
"I didn't eat them all! Oniichan, she's lying!"
Kenji laughed under his breath. "I'll get them. Anything else?"
There was a pause. Not an ominous one—just the natural silence of someone thinking.
"No, that's all. Come straight home after."
"I will."
He was about to add See you soon when the street lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then the world stopped.
The sound vanished first.
Traffic noise, footsteps, distant conversations—everything died as if someone had pressed mute on reality itself. Kenji slowed to a stop, confusion crawling up his spine.
"Mom?" he said into the phone.
No response.
The sky above him darkened unnaturally, clouds twisting into thick spirals as a deep crimson hue bled outward like spilled blood. The moon—no, something shaped like a moon—hung low in the sky, swollen and red, watching.
Kenji's breath caught.
"…What the hell?"
The ground beneath his feet dropped away.
There was no falling sensation. No wind. No scream. One moment he was standing on asphalt, and the next he was slammed onto rough, cracked stone, the impact knocking the air out of his lungs.
His phone clattered away and vanished into darkness.
Kenji coughed violently, rolling onto his side as panic exploded in his chest. The air was heavy—thick with the metallic stench of blood and something older, fouler, like rot baked into the land itself.
He pushed himself up, trembling.
The sky was red.
Not orange. Not sunset red. A deep, suffocating crimson that pressed down on his eyes and made his head throb. The moon loomed massive above him, cracked like a broken eye, oozing faint light.
There were no buildings.
No roads.
No people.
Just jagged black rocks stretching endlessly in all directions, stained dark as if soaked in centuries of violence.
Kenji's heart hammered.
"W-Where…?"
A sharp sound cut through the silence.
Not a voice—but something worse.
A presence.
A rectangular screen flickered into existence before his eyes, glowing a deep, hostile red before stabilizing into black.
[You have been summoned to the Trial.]
Kenji staggered back as if struck.
"A… trial?" His voice cracked. "W-what is going on here?!"
The screen did not react.
Then the text changed.
[Would you like to accept the Trial?]
"Like hell I would!" Kenji shouted, his fear spilling over into anger. "Send me back! I just want to go home!"
For the first time, the screen responded instantly.
[Disapproval detected.]
[Disapproval will result in death.]
The words were simple.
Final.
Kenji froze.
"…Death?"
His mouth went dry. His thoughts spiraled violently, crashing into each other.
This is a dream.
No—this feels too real.
I can smell it. I can feel the ground.
His hands shook as he clenched them into fists.
"I—I don't want to die," he whispered hoarsely.
Images flashed through his mind—his sister's face when she smiled, his mother standing in the kitchen, the half-finished homework on his desk. Ordinary things. Precious things.
He swallowed hard.
"…I accept," he said quietly.
The screen pulsed once.
[Trial accepted.]
Another line appeared immediately, merciless in its timing.
[Sub Quest Initiated.]
[Objective: Kill the monster thirty meters away.]
Kenji blinked.
"…Monster?"
A low, wet sound drifted through the air.
Hrrrk… shhhh…
Slow.
Heavy.
Breathing.
Kenji turned his head.
Thirty meters away, something moved.
At first, he thought it was a rock shifting. Then it straightened.
The creature stood over fifteen feet tall, its body hunched and uneven, skin stretched tight over malformed muscle. Its arms dragged along the ground, fingers ending in jagged, bone-like claws. Its head was elongated, jaw split too wide, strings of saliva dripping as it sniffed the air.
Each breath it took sounded like air being forced through torn lungs.
The ground trembled beneath its steps.
Kenji's vision tunneled.
"…I have to kill that?"
The monster tilted its head slightly, as if hearing him.
Kenji's legs moved on instinct.
He dove behind a large rock, pressing himself against the cold stone, heart pounding so hard it hurt. His breath came out in short, panicked gasps.
"I can't," he whispered, tears welling in his eyes. "I can't do this… I'm just—"
Just a student.
Just a brother.
Just someone who was supposed to buy candy on the way home.
The monster took another step forward.
Thud.
Another.
Thud.
The system screen hovered mercilessly in his vision, unchanged.
[Time Limit: Unspecified.]
Kenji covered his mouth with his hand, trying to silence his breathing as the truth settled in.
There was no escape.
No help.
Only the monster.
And him.
Under the red moon, Hakari Kenji realized that the world he knew was already gone—and if he wanted to see it again, he would have to become something he had never been.
Something that could survive hell