My name is Kanzaki Rei.
Seventeen years old. Student.
No notable achievements. No particular regrets.
Just someone who learned, a little earlier than most, that relying on other people comes with a cost.
Rain fell steadily, not heavy enough to matter, but persistent enough to never be ignored. It clung to everything—the pavement, the air, the people moving past each other without looking up.
I didn't bother opening my umbrella.
There wasn't a reason to.
The streets were still lit, still functional, still moving the way they were supposed to. People followed patterns—walking, stopping, turning—without ever really acknowledging one another.
It worked.
That was enough.
Trust leads to loss.
It wasn't a belief. Just a conclusion.
Not everyone betrayed you. Not every situation went wrong. But it happened often enough that ignoring the possibility stopped making sense.
So I didn't.
I stopped at the crosswalk and waited. The signal was red, even though no cars were coming.
There was no urgency.
Rules still had value. They reduced unpredictability, even if only slightly.
"…You'll get yourself killed doing that."
The voice came from my left.
I didn't turn immediately. There wasn't anything to gain from reacting too quickly, but after a moment, I glanced over anyway.
A man, probably in his late twenties, stood there with a loose, uncertain smile. His posture didn't quite match it—too tense, too deliberate.
Something felt off.
Not enough to act on.
Not yet.
"Perhaps," I said.
He laughed, a little too quickly.
"I mean, seriously—no cars. You've gotta look out for yourself, right?"
That much was true.
"That's exactly what I'm doing."
The light changed, and I crossed without waiting for him.
He followed.
We moved in the same direction for a while, not together, just close enough that it didn't feel like coincidence anymore.
"You from around here?" he asked.
I didn't answer. Silence usually ended these things.
It didn't.
"Right… sorry. Just thought it's rare to see someone this calm."
I stopped walking.
When I turned this time, I paid closer attention. The details were clearer now—the slight tension in his shoulders, the way his eyes shifted, not uncertain anymore but focused.
There it was.
I had noticed something earlier. I just hadn't followed through.
"Why are you talking to me?" I asked.
The question landed harder than I intended, but that didn't matter.
He hesitated.
Just for a second.
His hand moved.
Fast.
I stepped back, but not far enough.
The impact was sharp and immediate. For a moment, I didn't react—I just looked down at the knife, trying to make sense of something that already made sense.
So that's what it was.
He stumbled back, panic overtaking whatever decision he had made before.
"I—I'm sorry—I just—!"
His voice shook, but I didn't respond. There wasn't anything useful in continuing the conversation.
I leaned back until the railing caught me. My balance felt unstable, like my body was already starting to disconnect from itself.
The rain continued, unchanged.
I went over it again.
Not the result. That was obvious.
The mistake.
I had seen the signs. I had just chosen not to act on them.
Too slow.
People passed by without stopping. A few glanced in my direction before quickly looking away, as if acknowledging the situation would make it theirs.
It didn't bother me.
It made sense.
My vision blurred slightly at the edges. The pain was still there, but distant now, fading faster than I expected.
Strange.
"…So this is how it ends."
The thought came quietly, without resistance. There wasn't much else to add.
If there were a next time
"Notice. Anomalous soul detected."
"Evaluating compatibility…"
I frowned faintly.
That wasn't a sound. Not exactly.
"Error."
"Reassignment in progress."
Error?
The world went dark.
——————————————-
Deep within a cavern far removed from the surface, something shifted.
It was subtle—too subtle for most to notice—but it didn't belong. The flow of magicules in the area bent slightly, as if something had forced itself into a place it wasn't meant to be.
If Rimuru Tempest had been there, he might have questioned it.
But he wasn't.
Not yet.
And so, the disturbance remained unanswered.
— Rei POV (First Person) —
Cold.
Not the kind that seeps in from the outside. Something deeper, more absolute.
For a moment, I stayed still, letting my senses settle before forcing movement. There was no pain, no immediate threat—just a quiet awareness that something had changed.
When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was stone.
Rough, uneven walls stretched outward into darkness, broken only by faint light from crystalline formations embedded in the surface. The air felt dense, saturated with something unfamiliar.
Not the same world.
I pushed myself upright slowly, testing my balance as I moved. My body responded without resistance, but it didn't feel the way it should have.
Lighter in some ways. Heavier in others.
Different.
I raised a hand, studying it in the dim light.
Not human.
The shape was close enough, but the details were wrong—too refined, too symmetrical, as if it had been designed rather than formed.
Something shifted behind me.
Not a sound. A presence.
I turned.
And saw them.
Wings.
They extended slightly as I moved, reacting in a way that felt instinctive despite having no memory of using them. Pale at the base, darkening toward the edges, like something unfinished.
"Integration incomplete."
"Angel-class vessel detected."
"Conflict: Soul misalignment."
"Result: Aberrant evolution."
I listened without reacting immediately.
Angel.
That didn't align with any prior assumption.
I exhaled slowly, grounding myself in what I could confirm.
The situation was simple, even if the explanation wasn't.
I was no longer human.
Panic didn't follow.
There wasn't a reason for it.
Instead, I adjusted.
New environment. New body. Unknown variables.
The objective didn't change.
Survive.
Understand.
Adapt.
"…Alright."
The word felt sufficient.
I took a step forward, testing the movement again. The wings shifted slightly behind me, unfamiliar but responsive.
There would be time to understand them later.
For now, standing still accomplished nothing.
I moved deeper into the cave.