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Chapter 1: Foreign Matter
It started with pressure—building in his gut like a twisting knot of steel and fire. His vision blurred, mouth dry, sweat pooling at the base of his spine. He stumbled into the alley behind the lab, fingers clawing at the brick wall as if it could stop the storm inside him. It couldn't.
CPH4.
They told him it was a myth. A chemical only found in trace amounts in pregnant women, part of fetal development—nothing worth studying. Then some underground biotech syndicate claimed they could synthesize it. Said it could push the brain past its limits. Said it could unlock everything.
He should've said no.
He didn't.
And now it was killing him.
Or evolving him. Maybe both.
His name was Kazuki Ranvil. Nineteen. College dropout. Failed biotech intern. Nobody special.
Until five minutes ago.
The pain reached critical. He dropped to his knees. His chest heaved. And then—
Nothing.
Not unconsciousness. Not sleep.
Just…
A full stop.
The world froze.
No air. No sound. No time.
Just a white space stretching into nowhere.
Then a voice.
"That wasn't supposed to happen. But hey, mistakes are how great stories begin."
Kazuki tried to move, speak, scream—anything—but nothing obeyed him. He wasn't paralyzed. He just wasn't there. No body. No heartbeat. Just his mind drifting in this blank void.
"Relax. I'm not here to kill you. Already got that covered on Earth-0452C. You imploded five seconds ago. Bits of you are still on that brick wall."
Silence.
Then laughter. Warm, amused. Bored.
"But I like your odds. You took in more CPH4 than any human should've. The compound didn't vaporize your consciousness. That's... interesting."
Kazuki managed one thought.
Who are you?
"I go by many names. But for now? Call me the Random Omnipotent Being. Or R.O.B. for short. Has a nice ring, doesn't it?"
Kazuki would've rolled his eyes if he had any.
"Here's the deal. You're dead. That part's done. But you've got potential. Enough for me to intervene. I'm tossing you into a new world. A fun one. Magic, science, violence, gods, girls, the works. Place is called Academy City. Part of something humans like to call the Toaru-verse. Look it up. Or don't. You'll figure it out the hard way."
"One catch—you start from scratch. No powers, no knowledge, no guidance. But the CPH4 residue? Still inside you. Still rewriting your cells. You'll grow, painfully and slowly. Or you'll die again, probably faster."
"Anyway. Good luck. Or don't. I'll be watching."
There was a snap. A soundless click that rearranged reality.
Then everything crashed in at once.
Pain. Cold. Wind. Sound.
Kazuki gasped awake, face-first in asphalt.
The sky above him was clear, blue, and busy—cables and rails running between high-rise buildings like a spider's web of metal and electricity. Neon signs blinked in languages he couldn't read. Airships floated lazily across the sky. And the people? Uniforms. Badges. Some looked like students. Others looked like soldiers.
The city buzzed with the kind of life that didn't stop. It pulsed with energy and surveillance. Cameras on every corner. Drones in the air. He sat up slowly, hands trembling.
No blood. No wounds. No evidence he'd just died.
But something was off.
He wasn't hungry. Or tired. Or even sore.
In fact, he felt…
Wrong.
Like he was standing next to himself. Everything looked sharper. Sound carried too far. He could hear a girl's music through her headphones from half a block away. He could feel the vibrations of an approaching train through the soles of his feet.
Kazuki stood. Shaky, but upright. His mind felt overclocked. Every second stretched. He processed things too fast, like someone had taken his brain and overclocked it to breaking point.
Was this the CPH4?
He walked. Carefully. Tried to look like he belonged.
This wasn't Tokyo. That much he could tell. It was a city built for something else—an experiment wearing the skin of a metropolis. Everything screamed artificial control: the layout, the security, the eerie sameness of the buildings. There was no chaos here. Just a lot of order, like a cage made of skyscrapers.
A siren wailed nearby.
Two armored vans rolled past him, marked with something he couldn't read. The back doors flew open and half a dozen girls with riot gear jumped out. They looked no older than sixteen. One of them had glowing wires running along her arms. Another moved her fingers and sparks crackled in the air.
They sprinted into an alley, chasing something—or someone.
Kazuki kept walking.
He ducked into a quiet side street and leaned against a wall, trying to calm his racing thoughts.
He needed information. A map. A phone. A plan.
And food.
Even if he didn't feel hunger, he figured it wouldn't hurt to fake normal.
Then, a voice behind him:
"You're not from here, are you?"
Kazuki spun. A woman stood a few feet away, wearing a green jersey and pants. Long black hair tied neatly. Calm eyes.
Too calm.
He opened his mouth. Closed it.
She studied him like a scientist dissecting an unknown life form.
"You have no ID. No school registration. Your clothes don't match any district. And your bio-signature's… off."
Kazuki froze.
She took a step forward.
"You're a new variable. And this city hates variables."
He had no idea who she was.
But for the first time since waking up, he felt fear.
Real fear.
Not from her words.
But from the way she said them.
Like she was reading a report.
And he was already being filed under Threat.
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