One minute, I was getting ready for school. The next, a choice blinked into existence before my eyes: YES or NO. I don't remember choosing, but it seems the choice was made for me. The world dissolved and reformed, and suddenly I wasn't in modern Japan anymore. I was in Heian-kyō, the sprawling, lantern-lit capital of ancient Japan.
Somehow, I'd been shoved into the body of another Kousaka Kyosuke, a low-ranking noble whose profession, according to the memories rattling around in my new skull, was an Onmyoji. A court mystic, responsible for everything from predicting auspicious days to fighting the malevolent spirits, or yokai, that plagued the capital. It was a world where gods and demons weren't just stories; they were a fact of life. Luckily, my dad had been a traditionalist nut, so I had a baseline knowledge of the esoteric arts. I figured I could handle it. At least, I hoped I could.
Since I had no clue how to get back, my only option was to play the part. My first day, I reported for duty at the Bureau of Onmyo, the Onmyoryo, determined to keep my head down, listen more than I spoke, and figure out the rules of this strange new game.
It didn't take long to get the lay of the land. Overhearing my new colleagues gossip was more effective than any history book. The current ruler was Emperor Ichijo. The capital was in the grips of a nasty plague, and the court blamed it on some evil god's nightly jaunts through the city. The most chilling piece of news? The Regent himself, Lord Fujiwara no Michitaka, had caught the disease and was on his deathbed.
A cold knot formed in my stomach. Any serious student of history knew who came next. Michitaka was the older brother of Fujiwara no Michinaga—the most powerful and cunning politician in this country's entire history. Once Michitaka died, his son would be no match for his uncle, that old fox. A massive political power struggle was about to erupt, and I had arrived just in time to have a front-row seat. My timing couldn't have been worse.
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My grand plans to meticulously analyze this world quickly devolved into a comfortable routine of absolute sloth. My official title was Imperial Calendar Doctor, which sounded far more impressive than it was. My main job was calculating auspicious and inauspicious dates using the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, something I'd learned as a kid. The work was laughably easy. Seeing my colleagues doze off at their desks, I figured, when in Heian-kyō...
So, I started slacking off.
My real work began when I snuck out during office hours. Thanks to the pervasive influence of Buddhism, a "meat ban" was in effect, at least in public. It meant the salary I was given, mostly rice and pickled vegetables, was bland enough to make a monk weep. I had no choice but to take matters into my own hands.
The nearby woods became my personal grocery store. One day it was a fat rabbit, braised to perfection that evening. The next, a pair of pheasants. Then five plump carp from the river. My crowning achievement was a wild boar that took me the better part of a day to butcher and preserve, but it left me with enough salted meat to last a year.
My diary entries from that time, had I bothered to write more than a single line, would have been brutally honest.
Day 7: Slacked off. Went hunting. Life is good.
Day 8: Slacked off. Went hunting. Life is boring.
On the ninth day, a brief moment of clarity struck me as I gnawed on a piece of jerky. "Kousaka Kyosuke, oh, Kousaka Kyosuke," I muttered to myself. "How could you be so depraved? Have you completely forgotten your goals?"
The answer, of course, was yes.
Day 10: Slacked off. Went hunting.
Day 11: Slacked off. Went hunting.
The monotony was broken on the twelfth day when I was summoned to a nobleman's estate to perform a divination. The work was simple—tell him his fortune was bright, flatter his ego, and collect my fee. It was on the way back, walking through the crowded city streets, that things got weird. I saw faces in the crowd that seemed… familiar. Pulled straight from the anime I used to watch. I shook my head, dismissing it as a trick of the light.
Then I started hearing things.
"I want to go back!" a man in peasant's clothes cried, clawing at his hair.
"Which film crew is this? Is this a prank?" another shouted, looking around frantically.
"Stop! Murder is illegal!" a girl screamed as a samurai cut down a commoner who had accidentally bumped into his master's entourage.
I pulled my cloak tighter. So many mentally ill people, I thought, parroting the official explanation I'd heard from my colleagues. The official line was that the recent plague had allowed evil spirits to possess the weak-minded, particularly the lower classes the nobles called "untouchables." The city guard couldn't care less, and the nobles were more than happy to execute anyone who broke decorum. It was a brutal system, and apparently, I wasn't the only one who'd been dropped into it.
The next day brought another fortune-telling gig. This nobleman was so pleased with my predictions of wealth and beautiful lovers that he gave me a generous bonus.
"I overheard you telling my attendant you manage your own household, Master Kyosuke," he said with a benevolent smile. "A man of your station shouldn't be without servants. I have a girl I can spare. A gift."
And that's how I ended up here, back in my sparse quarters, my writing brush hovering over a fresh page in my journal. I stopped writing and looked up. Standing silently by the door, shrouded in the evening shadows, was a girl in simple, coarse linen clothes. A gentle breeze rustled through the open doorway, stirring the long, straight black hair that fell over her shoulders. She kept her head bowed, but as she shifted, the moonlight caught her face. Her features were delicate, perfectly formed, like a porcelain doll.
"May I have your name?" I asked, my voice softer than I intended.
Her reply was a near-whisper. "…Snow."
I nodded slowly, an inexplicable jolt running through me. Snow. Yuki. My mind made the connection instantly.
Yukinoshita Yukino.
The name was intensely familiar. She was one of the most popular anime characters from my old world, the long-reigning "Bilibili Electric Girl" who dominated every fan poll for years. The Ice Queen of Sobu High.
I tried to keep my expression neutral, but my mind was racing. If she was here, who else was? Were there other characters from Oregairu? From other anime? This world, which had started to feel so mundane, suddenly seemed infinitely more complex and dangerous.
And thrilling.
I hope I don't die, I thought.
I dipped my brush in the inkstone one last time and wrote a final sentence in the journal before closing it.
Let the games begin.
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