Keigo Sato was a 20-year-old professional reviewer of novels. He wrote articles about every single one; it did not earn him much money, but it was enough for him to buy a small apartment on the outskirts of Tokyo. It was his passion, so at least he was glad he had a job he enjoyed.
He had just finished reading a novel to review called Black Dream. While reading this piece of crap, he thought he would rip all his hair out from how terrible it was. The characters were stupid, it felt extremely unrealistic, and the grammar was awful. Because of that, Keigo often had no idea what the author was even trying to say.
On top of that, Keigo's talent was that he had a very good memory, so he remembered all the nonsense that did not make sense and all the mistakes the author had made.
The worst part was that, before writing the review, he had to read it again, because he wanted to be sure he would not make any mistakes in the review.
The only reason he was reading it at all was because negative reviews are more attractive than positive ones. And Keigo was saving up for a new phone, because his old one barely worked; the phone was practically his work tool, since he read almost all the novels on it.
He finally finished it and felt as if he had aged ten years. He had not read such crap in a long time.
He turned his gaze to the ceiling. And he admitted it to himself: he could not mentally bring himself to read it again. He would leave it for later, for when his masochistic side woke up and he would try to read it again.
Three months passed. In the meantime, Keigo had reviewed many good novels, which actually surprised him, because usually out of ten novels half of them were average or bad, but this time there had only been good pieces.
And so his masochistic side surfaced; he wanted to read something bad, properly bad. And that was when he remembered that he had one such novel right in front of his nose, and he immediately started reading it.
After finishing five chapters, he decided to go to the local supermarket to buy some snacks to eat while reading, so that the time would pass more quickly.
It was exactly one in the morning, and Keigo decided to take a shortcut home that would get him there more than twice as fast.
On the way, he opened Black Dream on his phone and immersed himself in reading, not even noticing that someone was waiting in the shadows ahead of him.
When he got close, the person ambushed him from behind, pressed a knife to his throat, and stuffed a cloth into his mouth.
"I recommend you cooperate. Do not try to resist, you will just lose your life for nothing," the attacker whispered into his ear.
Keigo's eyes widened; he did not even process what was happening around him and suddenly someone had jumped him.
"Good, now you are going to calmly turn around and I will tie your hands," the man said and let go of Keigo, because while holding the knife to his throat, he could hardly tie him up without releasing him.
Keigo was not a particularly brave type, but he was not the type to freeze up in fear either. He could not imagine what this person wanted to do with him; tied hands did not look like a simple mugging. He had to take advantage of this; this might be the only chance to escape he would get.
When the man let him go, Keigo did not hesitate: he spat the cloth out of his mouth and started running away. The man looked angry and ran after him.
Keigo was almost at the end of the alley, but another figure appeared from around the corner and hit him in the head with a bat.
His head spun, and he fell directly onto his phone, in which Black Dream was open.
The person who had been chasing Keigo came up to them and looked him over. "Hey, I told you that if he ran you should trip him, not break his neck. What are we supposed to do with his body now, you idiot?" he scolded the one who had hit Keigo.
Blood was flowing from Keigo's head and his vision was blurring. What had he done to deserve this? He had not done anything wrong.
He could still hear the two figures talking to each other for a short while, and then his mind began to fade as well.
It was an interesting feeling, so strange and at the same time so satisfying. He felt all his problems and thoughts disappearing from his head.
But then something pulled him out of that state; he felt something hit his cheek quickly.
---
A few minutes earlier.
A small student with glasses walked shakily up to a vending machine and put coins into it. He stared at its contents nervously and looked like he had no idea what to choose.
"Hey, do you need help with something?" a girl in a red hoodie asked; she was leaning against the machine.
"No," he said, quickly picked something, and ran off.
He went behind the school yard, where a group of people was already waiting for him. There were five boys in uniforms. At their head stood a handsome, tall young man with silver eyes and hair.
The student with glasses knelt down in front of him and handed him the can he was holding. The young man examined it.
"Pear juice?! I told you clearly I wanted grape!" he shouted at him and started kicking him.
Suddenly someone jumped at him and kicked him straight in the cheek.
---
Keigo's vision came back; he was on the ground and blood was running from his nose. He was still very confused; he had felt like he was dying, but apparently he was not.
He stood up and looked around. In front of him stood a girl, and around them were some students. He focused on the girl in front of him, and as he looked her over, his eyes widened.
'Long blond hair, slightly brown skin, unbelievably beautiful.' He thought quickly. She looked exactly like one of the main characters from Black Dream.
Yuna Kisaragi is one of the main characters. In the future she becomes a very strong fighter. She has great talent for kickboxing and earth magic, which is what makes her famous.
"Hey, are you okay?" the girl reached out her hand to the student with glasses.
Keigo focused on the boy, and his eyes widened again; this had to be way too much of a coincidence.
Akihiro Yamioka, one of the main antagonists of Black Dream. He dives far too deep into researching dark magic; to gain power he will do anything, since he has no talent for anything other than dark magic. He becomes enemies with the main character, even though they used to be friends.
The boy in front of him looked exactly like him.
Nothing made sense to him right now; this had to be way too big of a coincidence. And what was he even doing here? He remembered someone hitting him on the head and feeling as if he were dying.
But how did he end up here, and why did he not feel any pain except for the pain from the kick? He was sure that person had hit him with the bat quite hard; it had to at least cause a concussion.
What the hell is going on?!