The dawn of the catastrophe had given way to an eerie, devastated afternoon. The air, thick with pulverized concrete and smoke, hung heavy over the ruins. It was a physical manifestation of the disaster—a toxic soup that stung the lungs and burned the eyes. The reality, impossible and brutal, was that seventy percent of Tokyo had been annihilated by the celestial impact. The world had not ended, but it had irrevocably shattered.
Nitsuki Narumi, one of the few students to survive the collapse of the high school, was adrift in the wreckage. He was shaking violently, the residue of the shockwave mixed with the cold terror of his immediate situation. His left arm was fractured, a searing weight he struggled to ignore. Yet, overriding the pain and the generalized fear was the singular, desperate need to find his friends.
He moved through the debris field, his eyes frantic, calling Sami's and Takashi's names until his throat was raw. It was in this state of exhaustion and near-despair that he saw it: a pale, familiar sliver of skin protruding from beneath a colossal, broken pile of cement and twisted rebar. It was a human hand—Sami Yan's hand.
A sound of pure, raw panic tore from Nitsuki's throat. He scrambled toward the ruins, tears instantly mixing with the dust and sweat streaking his face. "Sami…! Sami…!" he cried out, his voice high and desperate. "Are you there? Please, don't panic! I am here, I will get you out!"
Driven by adrenaline, Nitsuki grabbed the largest piece of concrete he could reach and tried to move it. His muscles strained, his good right arm shook violently, and his feet slipped on the loose gravel. The massive, immovable weight mocked his futile efforts. He tried again and again, but the strength of an ordinary, academically mediocre seventeen-year-old was pitifully inadequate against the inertia of the collapsed building. Frustration, hopelessness, and the fear of leaving Sami to die beneath the rubble overwhelmed him. He collapsed beside the concrete, sobbing uncontrollably, knowing he was a failure even in this ultimate moment.
It was then that the first sound of the new apocalypse reached him. A deep, resonant vibration emanated from the direction of the forest—the epicenter of the impact. The sound was not natural; it was a hungry, aggressive sound that vibrated through the earth and the ruins.
Nitsuki instantly stopped crying, lifting his head and wiping the tears with the back of his hand. "Wh-What is this coming?" he whispered, his eyes fixed on the tree line.
The air itself seemed to darken as an impossibly large creature emerged, its shadow falling over the devastated schoolyard. It was a being of nightmare: massive, with two grotesque heads, four muscular arms, and a pair of vast, leathery wings. Its reptilian, dragon-like face was dominated by eyes that glowed with a sickening yellow intensity. This creature noticed the destroyed school and the scattered, wounded humans below. It descended slowly, its landing an act of deliberate, predatory arrogance, and then it unleashed a colossal roar.
The sound was not merely auditory; it was a shockwave of raw power. As the roar reverberated across the wreckage, a violent, invisible gust of wind ripped through the schoolyard. The same immense chunks of concrete that Nitsuki had failed to budge were effortlessly swept aside, scattering into the distance.
Nitsuki's focus snapped back to the spot where Sami lay. The rubble was gone. She was visible, lying still, but her breathing was shallow. He rushed to her side, his fear momentarily replaced by a focused urgency.
"Sami! Open your eyes!" he pleaded, gently shaking her shoulder. "Sami! Wake up!"
A ragged groan escaped her lips, and her eyelids fluttered open. Her eyes, usually so sharp, were glazed with confusion. "Ni-Nitsuki…" she managed to whisper.
"Let's go to the hospital, quickly!" Nitsuki said, his instinct still clinging to the routines of the previous world.
Sami slowly pushed herself up, finding her voice and her trademark clarity returning. "I'm alright, you dumb idiot. What is this... all of this? Where are we? Where is Takashi and... WHAT'S THAT MONSTER?" Her question ended in a terrified shout as she finally registered the colossal beast hovering over the ruins.
"I will explain later," Nitsuki said urgently, helping her to her feet. "First, we must find Takashi. Can you walk, Sami?"
Sami took a stumbling step, then found her balance, her natural resolve asserting itself. "Yeah, don't worry about me. I'm fine. Let's find Takashi."
Their search was immediately postponed. The monster opened one of its dragon-like mouths, and a flash of concentrated, searing yellow light coalesced. It fired a devastating laser beam directly at the two teenagers. They managed to dodge the blast by mere millimeters, the laser vaporizing the spot where they had stood a moment before. They turned and ran.
"F**k," Nitsuki hissed, the profanity escaping his lips out of sheer, absolute terror.
"What is this laser? It is attacking us! Run!" Sami yelled, sprinting alongside him.
The creature roared again, but this time, the ensuing wind blast was focused and exponentially stronger. It caught them in a devastating rush of air. They were lifted completely off their feet, sent spinning and tumbling through the air like discarded debris, covering a terrifying sixty meters before slamming down hard.
They had landed in the shallow, muddy water of a small river running along the outskirts of the devastated city. Nitsuki struggled to the surface, spitting out the cold, silty water. "Sami... where are you!?"
"I'm here, you idiot!" Sami's voice, surprisingly close, was followed by a weary but definite yawn—a small, absurd sign of her endurance.
They scrambled onto the muddy bank, collapsing in an exhausted heap. Sixty meters ahead of them lay the ruined school, now silent. Behind them stretched the dense, undisturbed treeline of the jungle. The creature, seemingly uninterested in the momentary escape of the small human targets, was no longer in sight.
As they caught their breath, Sami turned to Nitsuki, her voice quieter now, reflective. "Do you have any idea what's happening?"
Nitsuki shook his head, recounting the horrific timeline with detached precision. "No. We saw the thing fall from the sky, the huge blast hit, and I was knocked out. When I woke up, the school was completely destroyed, and the sky had turned that awful, dark navy blue color. I tried to pull you out from under the bricks but couldn't. Then the creature came, and its powerful scream and gust of wind freed you. You saw the rest yourself."
Sami looked toward the school, her face etched with profound worry. "I am so worried about Takashi. He was closer to the center of the collapse. I wish he managed to escape."
"Me too," Nitsuki agreed, the cold certainty of the monster's threat settling over him. "But we can't go back to the school to find him. We would be dead instantly."
"So what should we do now?" Sami asked, looking to Nitsuki for the plan.
The answer was immediate, overriding all other concerns. "My house. We need to go to my house first. I need to know if my family—Mom, Dad, my sister—are okay. I hope they are."
They began walking toward Nitsuki's home, approximately two kilometers away. The journey was a descent into escalating horror. The roads were ripped apart, cars were pancaked, and the paths were littered with the dead. As they looked up, they spotted two more of the dragon-like creatures, now high in the bruised sky, flying with terrifying grace. They moved quietly, slipping through the ruins to avoid detection.
When they reached Nitsuki's street, the sight of his home struck him speechless.
Sami gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. "It can't be! Nitsuki, your house is totally burned and destroyed!"
Nitsuki walked directly into the ruin of his home. The stench of smoke and burnt material was overwhelming. Stepping over the rubble that had once been his threshold, he saw the final, unforgivable horror. His mother and his little sister lay amidst the wreckage, killed in a brutal, incomprehensible way.
Sami followed him in, and a scream of sheer, primal terror tore from her lungs. "AHhhhh!!"
Nitsuki's eyes widened. He could not move, his entire being seized by a profound, agonizing shock. Tears flowed freely down his face, but his expression was utterly blank, his mind unable to process the absolute loss. He was frozen.
Sami rushed to him, holding his hand tightly. "Nitsuki... Nitsuki!" she cried, her own voice cracking with grief. "I know this is so painful. I can feel it. They also treated me so nicely."
The sound of her voice broke the catatonic shock. Nitsuki erupted in a storm of raw, agonizing grief. "Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?????? Whyyyyyyyy my parents!?" he screamed, his voice dissolving into wrenching sobs. "No! It can't be! I am the one who was supposed to die! I am the loser! But why them, God, why them? Aghhhhhhhhhhh!"
Sami held him tightly, pulling his head onto her shoulder, providing the only anchor in his shattered world. Nitsuki sobbed until he was completely drained.
When the storm of grief passed, he pulled back, his face raw, but his eyes hardened with a terrifying, absolute resolve. "I am okay now," he said, the words flat and certain. "Now, let's go to your house, and then we will find Takashi."
Sami nodded, recognizing the finality in his tone. "Let's go."
Together, Sami and Nitsuki left the ruins of Nitsuki's house and set out once more, carrying the combined weight of their families' destruction.