William lay on his narrow bed, staring blankly at the cracked ceiling above him as old wounds reopened in his mind.
His father's voice—cold, venomous, unforgettable—echoed like a curse he could never escape.
"Your kid... he shouldn't live. We're already poor. He'll destroy everything. We can't afford him. I told you to abort him."
William had only been ten years old when those words were hurled into his soul like knives.
A child should forget such horrors with time.But some scars did not fade.
Some became part of you.
His fists clenched beneath the blanket.
He could still remember his mother—Julie. Once a world-famous supermodel whose beauty had graced magazines, billboards, and runways across the globe. She had abandoned fame, fortune, and luxury for love... only to marry a man who was never worthy of her.
A man who repaid her sacrifice with cruelty.
With fists.
With blood.
With pain.
William remembered the bruises. The screams. The coughing. The nights he hid, trembling and powerless.
His father had nearly destroyed her.
But Julie had survived.
She had enough money left in her private accounts to escape that nightmare, and so she fled—with William—to Tokyo, where they started over in a small apartment, far from the monster who had once called himself family.
But survival came with its own price.
Julie was now frail and chronically ill, her body weakened by years of abuse and stress.
"W-William... please come here..." Julie's weak, trembling voice called from the other room, interrupted by painful coughs.
William immediately rose.
"Wait, Mom—I'm coming."
He pushed aside his bitterness and entered her room, where she sat pale and exhausted.
"I need my medicine, sweetheart..."
William nodded gently.
"Of course."
Grabbing his jacket, he stepped outside their modest apartment, locking the door behind him.
The evening air was cool, but he barely noticed.
Because standing near the hallway entrance were two familiar faces.
"Heya, William! "What's good?" Chuya greeted with his usual energetic grin.
Chuya Nakahara—loud, loyal, and impossible to ignore.
Beside him stood Mio Tachibana, elegant even in casual clothes. Her wealthy upbringing and budding modeling career made her stand out effortlessly, yet her eyes always softened around William.
"Well, nothing much," William replied with a tired smile. "What about you?"
Before Chuya could answer, Mio practically bounced forward.
"Forget that! Guess what? I got four movie tickets!"
Chuya's eyes widened dramatically.
"Wait—FOUR?! No way! Then Kai absolutely has to stop being a study zombie and come with us. What movie is it?"
Mio grinned, about to answer—
But William interrupted quietly.
"Uh... you guys should go without me. I can't come."
Both of them paused.
"Why not?" Chuya asked.
William sighed.
"Come on, you already know. I need to take care of Mom. And even if I didn't... I still have my part-time job."
Mio frowned, clearly frustrated.
"How many times do I have to tell you? Quit that stupid job. I have more than enough money to help you."
William gave her an incredulous look.
"Why would I take your money?"
For a brief second, Mio's cheeks turned pink, but she quickly looked away.
"Never mind... You're hopeless."
Then she straightened.
"Anyway, we're coming with you to buy your mom's medicine."
William opened his mouth to protest—
But Chuya was already walking.
"No arguments."
For the first time that day, William smiled genuinely.
Maybe life wasn't entirely cruel.
Back in the apartment, Julie sat alone, clutching her chest as another wave of coughing overtook her frail body.
"I-I'm becoming a burden..." she whispered painfully. "A load on William..."
Tears formed in her eyes.
She hated how much her son sacrificed.
But William never saw her as a burden.
To him, Julie was everything.
The woman who had saved him.
And he would burn the world before abandoning her.
Meanwhile, across the apartment complex, Kai Takahashi sat by his bedroom window, textbooks scattered across his desk.
A brilliant student and science prodigy, Kai was deeply absorbed in physics homework—
Until something impossible happened.
A brilliant streak of silver tore across the darkening sky.
"A shooting star...?"
But then his eyes widened.
"No... that's wrong."
It didn't fall.
It landed.
Near the forest just beyond the apartment district.
Kai shot to his feet, heart pounding.
"That's... impossible."
Normally, meteors crash violently.
But this object descended almost deliberately.
As though it had chosen where to arrive.
Hands trembling with excitement, Kai grabbed his phone and texted immediately:
"Hey bro, come to my house ASAP. I need to show you something important."
William had just returned home with medicine and groceries.
He quickly prepared dinner, fed his mother, and made sure she was comfortable before checking his phone.
Kai's message.
"Something important?"
He texted back:
"Alright, bro, I'll be there in 30 minutes."
After ensuring Julie was asleep, William quietly left.
When William arrived, Kai was already outside waiting.
Before William could even ask, Kai grabbed his wrist.
"Come on!"
"Dude, what the hell?!"
"No time—just trust me!"
The two sprinted toward the forest.
Branches crunched beneath their feet as they approached a glowing crater hidden deep among the trees.
Smoke curled into the night air.
William's breathing grew heavier.
"Hey... what IS that?"
Kai's voice was filled with awe.
"A shooting star... but that's not the important part."
"Then what is?!"
Kai adjusted his glasses.
"According to physics, it shouldn't have landed like this. It should've fallen at catastrophic velocities. This... this was controlled."
William stared blankly.
"Bro... say that in normal human language."
Kai groaned.
"It means something strange is going on."
William's expression hardened.
"And somehow... nobody else noticed."
Kai nodded.
"Exactly."
For a moment, silence passed between them.
Then William stepped forward.
"Well then... let's stop talking and check it out."
The smoke slowly began to clear.
Both boys held their breath.
And when the final veil of smoke vanished...
What stood before them was not rock.
Not metal.
Not debris.
It was something beyond imagination.
Something that would change their lives forever.