The first day at Kuoh Academy came to an end. When the final bell rang, Jin, without waiting to be swarmed again by a hive of curious classmates, quickly gathered his things and was one of the first to leave the classroom. He exited the massive school building and paused for a moment at the gates, breathing in the warm evening air.
He was lost in thought, analyzing the impressions of the day. Aside from the excessive, almost suffocating attention to his person, the academy, he was forced to admit, was actually nice. Spacious, bright corridors with perfectly polished floors, modern classrooms equipped with the latest technology, a huge library that looked like a cathedral of knowledge. Even the school cafeteria was impressive—the food there was on par with a decent restaurant, not the tasteless slop they served at his former, ancient school.
That old school of his… the memory of it brought only a dull irritation. An old, shabby building that smelled of dust and hopelessness. Creaky floors, graffitied desks, dim lamps humming eternally overhead. Grayness had soaked not only into the walls there, but into the students themselves—their tired, indifferent faces, their extinguished gazes. Here, everything was different. Everyone seemed to exude a kind of positive vibe. Laughter, energy, life. Even the boring lessons, whose material he already knew, weren't as tedious here, perhaps because of the general atmosphere, or simply because the teacher was pretty.
This world, for all its absurdity and hidden danger, was… brighter. More alive. And that was disorienting.
"Hey, Jin! Wait up!"
A familiar voice, full of irrepressible energy, tore him from his musings. Issei was catching up to him at the gates, waving his arm. Behind him, like loyal squires, trudged Matsuda and Motohama.
"Ugh, barely caught you!" Issei panted, drawing level with him. "Why'd you run off so fast? The girls were almost crying that they didn't get to say goodbye!"
"That's exactly why," Jin threw out dryly.
Issei, however, paid no attention to his tone and walked alongside him with a carefree air, as if they were old friends.
"C'mon, don't be such a grouch!" He clapped Jin on the shoulder. "Is it so bad being popular? It's the first step to the dream! You gotta use it!"
Matsuda and Motohama nodded in agreement, looking at Jin with poorly concealed envy and admiration.
On the way, Issei chattered non-stop. He talked about his hobbies—a new video game he couldn't beat, a rare figurine he'd seen in a shop, the latest magazine issue with photos of gravure idols. Then he enthusiastically started to question Jin.
"So, what are you into?" his eyes burned with curiosity. "You like music, I get that, since you never take off those headphones. But what else? Movies? Manga? Maybe you have some... special fetishes? Y'know, like, girls with glasses, or ponytails, or maybe you like cat ears?"
"I like silence," Jin replied sarcastically, hoping the hint would be understood.
But Issei was impenetrable. "Silence? Pfft, that's boring! Life should be lived! Me, for example, I think there's nothing better than a girl's legs in stockings! It's true art! What about you? 'Fess up!"
"Issei, leave the guy alone," Matsuda interjected, adjusting his glasses. "Everyone has their own aesthetic preferences. Although, I must admit, the analysis of the perfect curvature of a thigh under a specific lighting angle is a topic for a whole dissertation."
Jin groaned inwardly. The conversation was becoming more and F-n unbearable. He was waiting for their paths to finally diverge so he could sink into his blessed solitude.
"Hey, I've got an idea!" Issei suddenly exclaimed, stopping and turning to Jin with his eyes blazing. "Jin, you're the cool and mysterious guy now! The girls are crazy about you! You could help us!"
"Help with what?" Jin asked wearily, already sensing this wouldn't end well.
"Get girlfriends!" Issei blurted out. "Here's the plan: you go up to a group of hotties, start chatting them up, and then, totally casually, you introduce us! You say, like, 'and these are my best buds, reliable and fun guys'! They'll see that a cool guy like you hangs with us, and they'll instantly know we're not so bad either! It'll work, I'm sure of it!"
Jin stared at him in silence for a few seconds. At his completely serious face, his naive faith in this idiotic plan. "Issei," he said slowly, "if I do that, they'll either think I'm your pimp or that I have a very specific sense of humor. Either way, they won't even look at you."
At some point, when Issei had finally run out of steam and fallen silent, tired of his fruitless attempts to drag Jin into his schemes, an awkward pause hung in the air. They were just approaching the bridge where their paths were supposed to split. And Jin decided to use this moment.
"Issei," he called. His tone had become serious, making the boy turn around in surprise. "I have a question for you. Purely hypothetical."
He stopped, staring somewhere into the distance, as if pondering a complex philosophical problem. "Imagine a scenario. There's a guy, ordinary, unremarkable. Lives his life, dreams about something of his own, stupid and unattainable. And then, one fine day, he's faced with a choice." Jin spoke slowly, choosing his words, trying to make them as detached as possible so Issei wouldn't catch the hint. "The choice is this: die. Right now. A simple, meaningless death, unnoticed by anyone. Put a period on it. Or... get a chance. A chance at a new life, one where he'll gain an incredible power, capable of fulfilling his most cherished dream. But there's a price. He'll have to pay for this power with his humanity. Become someone... or something... else." Jin turned to Issei. "So, here's the question. What would this guy choose? A guaranteed death as a human, or a phantom chance at his dream, but in the form of a monster?"
Issei blinked in surprise. The question was strange, unexpected. He wasn't used to Jin talking about such things. He frowned hard, squeezed his eyes shut, his face taking on a strained expression, signaling that he was genuinely thinking. He imagined himself in this hypothetical guy's shoes.
After a short while, he opened his eyes. His gaze was firm and clear.
"I'd choose the chance," he said without hesitation.
"Even if you had to become a monster?" Jin clarified.
"Yeah," Issei nodded. "Because between a chance and no chance, I'll always choose the first. To just die, having achieved nothing—that's the worst. But if there's even one possibility, just one in a million chance to make my dream come true... you have to grab it. Even if you have to become someone else. It's better to be a living monster with a dream than a dead human without one."
Jin closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting the air out through pressed lips. "I see..."
He had expected as much. The answer was predictable. But hearing it from Issei himself was... important. It relieved Jin of some of the responsibility. He wasn't forcing this fate on him. He was merely following Issei's own choice, even if it was one made in ignorance.
They reached the bridge where their paths diverged. "Well, 'kay, I'm this way," Issei waved his hand toward the bridge. "See ya tomorrow, Jin!" "Later," Jin threw out shortly and, without saying goodbye, turned onto the road leading to his new home.
After walking a little way, he obeyed some inner instinct and glanced back toward the bridge. He saw Issei stop before he was even halfway across. A girl had approached him. Pretty, with long black hair, in a cute dress. She asked him something, pointing off into the distance. Issei, upon seeing her, immediately turned red to his ears, started acting shy, gesticulating awkwardly, trying to explain something. The girl laughed demurely, covering her mouth with her hand. A typical 'meet-cute' scene.
But Jin knew it wasn't. He knew who it was.
Raynare.
The fallen angel. The one who would kill Issei on their first date. Which meant...
'The canon has finally started.'
He watched the scene. Watched Issei's happy, unsuspecting face, his stupid, lovestruck smile. Watched the girl's sweet, innocent face, which hid a ruthless killer. In his gaze, fixed first on Issei, then on her, a shadow of sadness appeared, and a kind of heavy weariness. He exhaled quietly, the vapor turning into a small cloud in the cool evening air.
Then he pulled his headphones over his head, turned around, and continued on his way home, without looking back.