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BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Renji Nakamura's eyes snapped open. 6:47 AM. Three minutes late. Again.His hand shot out to silence the alarm, sending an empty ramen cup flying. Noodles scattered across his desk like the pieces of his shattered life.
"Another perfect start to another perfect day of being absolutely nothing," he muttered, staring at the ceiling of his cramped bedroom.
Seventeen years old. Bottom of his class. Zero friends. Zero talents. Zero reason for existing.But today would be different. Today, everything would change.He just didn't know it yet.
"RENJI! GET UP NOW OR YOU'LL BE LATE!" His mother's voice cracked like a whip from downstairs.He dragged himself out of bed, catching his reflection in the mirror. Round face. Greasy hair. Thick glasses. The face of a background character in everyone else's story.
Maybe I should just skip school. What's the point?But skipping meant dealing with his parents, and that was somehow worse than facing another day of humiliation at Sakura High.The train was packed with his classmates—the beautiful, the popular, the successful. They laughed and chatted like they owned the world. Renji pressed himself into a corner, invisible as always.
If I died right now, would anyone even notice?The thought should have scared him. Instead, it felt oddly comforting.
Third period. Mathematics. Mr. Tanaka's voice cut through the classroom like a blade.
"Nakamura. Question seven."
Renji's blood turned to ice. Every head in the room swiveled toward him like predators sensing weakness. His hands started shaking.
The equation on the board might as well have been written in ancient Egyptian:x² + 7x - 18 = 0"I..." His voice cracked. Someone snickered."We're waiting, Nakamura."The seconds stretched into eternity. Sweat dripped down his face. His heart hammered so hard he thought it might explode."I DON'T KNOW!" The words burst out of him like a dam breaking.
The classroom erupted in barely contained laughter. Mr. Tanaka's expression could have frozen hell itself."See me after class.
"This is it, Renji thought as his classmates filed out, shooting him pitying looks. This is rock bottom. It can't get any worse.
He was wrong.It was about to get infinitely better.
"Your grades are unacceptable, Nakamura." Mr. Tanaka didn't even look at him. "Mandatory tutoring starts Monday. Your parents have been notified.
"Translation: You're officially branded as the class idiot.Renji stumbled out of school in a daze, his feet carrying him through Tokyo's busy streets without conscious thought. The world blurred around him—businessmen, shoppers, students, all living their meaningful lives while he drifted through existence like a ghost.That's when he saw him.
An elderly man sat on the steps of a small shrine, struggling with a heavy grocery bag. His hands were shaking, his face tight with effort.
People flowed past him like water around a stone. Dozens of them. All too busy, too important, too absorbed in their own lives to notice one old man who needed help.Just like they ignore me. Without thinking, Renji stepped out of the crowd.
"Excuse me, sir. Need help with that?"
The old man looked up, and Renji felt his breath catch. The stranger's eyes were deep as oceans, ancient as mountains, and when he smiled, it was like the sun breaking through clouds.
"How kind of you, young man. Yes, this bag is much heavier than expected. "As Renji lifted the bag, their fingers brushed. A jolt of electricity shot up his arm—not painful, but strange. Powerful. Like touching a live wire made of warm light.They walked to the bus stop in comfortable silence. For the first time in years, Renji wasn't rushing to avoid human contact. He was... helping someone. Being useful. Being seen."You have a rare gift," the old man said suddenly.
"A gift?" Renji almost laughed. "Sir, I'm failing math. I have no friends. I'm basically invisible at school. What gift could I possibly have?"
"Compassion."
The word rang like a bell. "True compassion for others. In a world obsessed with itself, that's rarer than diamonds."
The bus arrived with a wheeze of brakes. As the old man climbed aboard, he turned back one last time."What's your name, young man?"
"Renji. Renji Nakamura." The stranger's eyes widened slightly, as if the name meant something important. "Renji," he repeated slowly. "Do you know what your name means?"
"No, sir."
" Benevolent second son... Your parents chose well." The bus doors started to close, but the old man's voice carried clearly through the gap.
"Remember this, Renji Nakamura: sometimes the smallest acts of kindness create the greatest changes in the universe. Your kindness today... will not go unrewarded."
The bus pulled away, leaving Renji standing alone with those words echoing in his head.Will not go unrewarded...
What did that mean?That night, after another silent dinner and another failed attempt at homework, exhaustion finally claimed him at his desk. When he woke up, he was in his bed—his mother must have moved him again—and his alarm clock read 3:17 AM.The house was dead silent.Then he heard it. Chime. A sound like wind through temple bells, beautiful and otherworldly. His eyes snapped open, instantly alert despite the hour.Above his bed, impossible and undeniable, floated a translucent blue panel covered in glowing text.
[ULTIMATE SYSTEM ACTIVATED]
Renji's heart stopped.
[Congratulations, Renji Nakamura]
This couldn't be real. This was impossible. This was—
[You have demonstrated the fundamental requirement:]
► COMPASSION FOR OTHERS
[The Ultimate System has chosen you as its host.]
His hands were shaking so hard he could barely see straight. Video game systems didn't exist in real life. Magic wasn't real. This had to be a dream, a hallucination, a complete mental breakdown—
[Your transformation begins now.]
But even as his logical mind screamed that this was impossible, another voice whispered: What if it's not?
[WARNING: This system will fundamentally alter your existence. There is no return to your previous limitations once you accept.]
Previous limitations. His mathematical stupidity. His social invisibility. His crushing, soul-destroying ordinariness.
[ACCEPT] [DECLINE]
His finger hovered over the buttons. This was insane. This was impossible.This was his only chance to become more than nothing.The old man's words echoed in his memory: Your kindness today will not go unrewarded.What if this is the reward? What if one act of compassion changed everything?What if I could finally matter?With a trembling finger, he reached for [ACCEPT].
The moment he made contact, reality exploded.Light poured into his brain like molten gold, rewriting every cell, every thought, every limitation that had ever defined him. He felt himself falling upward through infinite space, leaving behind the broken, worthless boy he'd always been.
When consciousness finally returned, he was no longer Renji Nakamura, the failure.He was something else entirely.
Something powerful. Something that would shake the very foundations of his world.
But first, he had to survive what came next...
[SYSTEM INTEGRATION: 0.1%... 0.2%... 0.3%...]
The transformation had only just begun.