The stage was devoured by darkness and silence dominated everything.
!
And at that moment when nothing could be seen, a spotlight turned on at the left side. The light revealed a young blonde woman, dressed in white, still beneath the beam.
With her eyes closed and lips barely parted, she began to sing, sliding out like a whisper that blended with the faint pulse of the drum and the distant hum of the electric guitar.
"Cos,"
"I was afraid,"
"Was alone,"
"In a cave,"
"Like a stone…"
Her voice was soft, but it had a rough edge that gave it character, as if every word carried an old wound that still hurt.
Every syllable fell exactly on rhythm. As she prolonged the last note, the drums stopped sounding slow and picked up speed, while the electric guitar, before barely hinted at, became a restrained roar that threatened to unleash all its strength and make the stage tremble.
"This!"
A piercing male voice broke in.
Immediately, the lights exploded over the stage. The multicolored spotlights tore through the darkness and revealed the audience, which burst into a deafening ovation, a collective roar that shook the place.
"Dance is so dangerous!"
The male voice kept vibrating with the same force as the initial burst. At the center of the stage, beneath the spotlight, stood a solitary microphone, and behind it appeared the silhouette of a man with messy white hair.
In his hands, the electric guitar launched sharp notes. His body moved violently to the rhythm of the music, while his locks shook wildly under the light.
And that chaos didn't diminish his appeal, on the contrary, it emphasized the sharpness marked on his face.
"So cryptic it changes us,"
"But the secrets that we learn,"
"Can give power to all of us."
His voice, joined with the guitar, unleashed a scorching wave that spread out. This was not just music, it was a brutal discharge that ran through every body, lifting the crowd as if they had been waiting their whole lives for that instant.
The screams of the audience erupted at once. Many girls couldn't hold back their tears, but even with their faces drenched they kept screaming with all their strength, a collective roar that seemed capable of tearing off the roof.
"NERO–KUN!"
"AHHH!"
"NERO–KUN, LOOK HERE!"
The drums exploded, making the ground shake, and immediately merged with the rough sound of the electric guitar, unleashing a wild current that swept across the stage and shook the crowd.
The man lifted his head with his neck tense, and sweat ran down his jaw until it fell onto the strings of the guitar. The contact made them shine under the lights, launching silver sparks that scattered into the air like fleeting embers.
!
When he tilted his head and struck a fierce blow on the strings, the sound made the crowd respond like a raging wave, screaming with such force it seemed they wanted to swallow the stage and the man who ruled it, drowning everything in frenzy.
His white hair swayed to the rhythm of his movements, and the sweat running down his forehead plastered the strands against his skin. The hand holding the guitar lingered suspended for an instant over the strings, only to suddenly slide in a scorching riff that made the amplifiers roar. Then he opened his mouth and let out a powerful voice:
"Destination I!"
"Gotta invitation I!"
"Of reality!"
"Gonna change reality!"
Each chord resounded like an electric shock that coursed through the bodies, striking directly into the audience's chests. The glowing sticks waved nonstop, shaken by the frantic rhythm, until they fused into a torrent of light.
"NERO–KUN!"
The girls never stopped calling his name. Even with throats torn and voices on the verge of breaking, they gathered the last of their strength to release one more scream.
His voice carried a wild rebelliousness. Every phrase was a blow that pushed the tempo forward, as if he were about to break through any barrier.
The crowd responded in crescendo, roaring in waves that rose higher and higher.
And just as the melody reached its highest point, all the instruments cut off at once. The stage sank into absolute silence.
The sudden silence fell like a stone into a boiling lake, for in that very instant, the screams of the audience shot up to a deafening volume.
Thousands of glowing sticks shook frantically in the air, while every gaze locked on the figure dominating the center of the stage, expectant of his next move.
Nero leaned forward, breathing heavily. Sweat streamed down his angular face and gathered at his chin before falling onto the stage floor.
The girls in the front row saw him and screamed even louder, as if their lives depended on it.
"NERO–KUN, LOOK HERE!"
"I'M HERE, NERO–KUN!"
They waved their arms desperately, trying to rip a glance out of him, with eyes full of pure obsession.
When the cheers dragged on for a few seconds, Nero straightened completely and, with his free hand, took the standing microphone.
He ran the back of his hand across his face, wiping away the sweat with a careless gesture. Then he let an arrogant, slightly roguish smile curve across his lips.
"HELLO EVERYONE! WELCOME TO THE DEVIL MAY CRY CONCERT!"
"Aaaaah!"
"Nero!"
"Nero!"
"Nero!"
The screams rose like a tsunami, sweeping through the entire venue.
Nero smiled with insolence while waving his hand, and under the spotlight that smile shone even brighter.
Then he tilted his head and nodded toward the band members waiting behind him.
The synthesizer opened with an electronic prelude, soon reinforced by the dense strike of the drums. The sound expanded quickly, dragging the atmosphere of the place to a new point of climax.
Nero brought his lips back to the microphone:
"Next! aLIEz!"
The song burst out with all its strength and spread through every corner of the theater.
'Sigh… That guy drenched in sweat on the stage is me. My name is Damian, although for the audience I'm Nero… you know, my stage name.'
'Handsome? Yeah, I know, no need to say it.'
'Just by listening to the two songs I sang, you should have already noticed: I'm not exactly someone ordinary. Let's say I'm… a traveler between worlds. Or a reborn one? I don't know, I still haven't found the right label.'
'Although, to be honest, it's not that simple either.'
'In my memories, since I was a child I lived here, in this country. Life was going fine until my parents died in a car accident. That was the moment when everything changed: the memories of my past life suddenly awakened, as if they had always been sealed.'
'That was when I understood how I had ended up in this world. And no, it wasn't thanks to some all-powerful ROB that transported me here. Although, to be honest, I'm not entirely sure either… because I don't remember anything. The only thing I know is that a small meteorite fell straight into my room.'
'Sigh… just my luck…'
'Luckily, in my previous life I was alone. So, at least, that space rock didn't "ruin" anyone else's life. If there's something I can be grateful for, it's that.'
'Maybe it was because of that stone, but from the moment my memories awakened, two weapons appeared in my body: the Yamato sword and Ryūjin Jakka.'
'Sound familiar? One is the weapon of a white-haired maniac who never stops screaming 'I NEED POWER!'… yes, Vergil. A weapon that, they say, can cut through space itself.'
'And the other… well, nothing less than the burning blade of Captain Yamamoto in Bleach.'
'After obtaining them, my body started to change little by little. This white hair you see isn't the whim of a stylist, it's the direct result of Yamato's influence.'
'Other than that, I had nothing else. No systems, no floating menus in the air, nothing. Just these two swords, as if they were a constant reminder that the world I fell into is not exactly friendly.'
'Because, let's be honest, why the hell would they give me these weapons if not to survive in a dangerous place?'
'At first I thought I was doomed to live surrounded by dangerous things, but when I went over my memories carefully… I ended up giving up.'
'Why give up?'
'Because, tell me, do you know who the blonde was who was singing on stage a while ago?'
'Marin Kitagawa.'
'Yes, the very same protagonist of Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru. A DAMN ROMANCE MANGA!'
'And if that wasn't enough, in my current class there's a certain Megumi Katō. In the class next door there's Yukino Yukinoshita. And to top it off, there's also a Kaguya Shinomiya.'
'Tell me, with these girls here… isn't it logical to think that the characters who are always stuck to them will appear too?'
'Oh, and before I forget, let me brag a little: cough, cough… Marin is my girlfriend. Don't worry, not the fifteen-year-old student, but the adult version, the eighteen-year-old one.'
'After discovering all this, how could I not give up?'
'Why do I sing? Easy: to make a living. My appearance was already modified by the two weapons, so even if I might not reach the absurd level of the readers, I'm still at the top.'
'With this face and with my past life's otaku memories, how could I not take advantage of those blood-boiling songs to make money?'
'Huh? Why not manga or novels? Well, I have no idea how to draw manga. Writing… yes, but mine were those otaku novels full of fights that pump you with adrenaline like being plugged into a high-voltage cable.'
'Investments? I made a couple, but since I didn't have a penny, I only earned just enough to buy myself a couple packs of instant noodles.'
'So I ended up with this: the life of a street artist.'
'Why do I know how to compose and sing? No idea. I only know the melodies are already in my head. Let's just suppose it's one of those 'tricks' I brought from my past life.'
'With these conditions, the plan is simple: first earn a lot of money, then invest… and in the end, the whole world will be under my feet! Hahahahahaha!'
"Daaamian-kun~, why do you have that crazy smile?"
A mocking female voice snapped him out of it. Damian, sitting in the dressing room still with the adrenaline of the concert running high, turned his head in surprise.
In front of him, Marin's face was so close there was barely space between them, her eyes shining with mischief and her lips curled in such a brazen smile that it would have made anyone lose composure, which made Damian laugh. "Hahaha… nothing, nothing. What is it, Marin?"
She didn't answer right away, instead, she leaned in a little more and left a soft kiss on his cheek.
Right after, she wrapped her arms around his neck and sat on his lap, straddling him as if the seat belonged to her. Then, in a playful tone, she whispered:
"Hey~, next week is Halloween, right? Do you want to go~ on a~ date~?"
When she said the word date, she leaned even closer to his ear, and the air that escaped her lips, infused with a sweet perfume, sent a shiver down Damian's spine.
"A date? Of course! Where?"
With a mischievous smile that slowly turned into a blush, Marin didn't look away from him; on the contrary, she held his gaze with shameless expectation before speaking softly.
"Shibuya."