Sunlight filtered through the golden and soft curtains like nothing had ever gone wrong.
Birds chirped outside.
The ceiling was the same off-white color he'd always hated.
Eiji Kuroryuu woke up in bed; the shirt was slightly twisted, the blanket half-kicked onto the floor, and his mouth was dry like he'd gargled sandpaper. He blinked once. Then again.
"…I'm alive?"
He sat up slowly, his heart thudding like it had skipped a few chapters in the instruction manual. He glanced around, checking the dirty posters on his walls. His desk was cluttered with unfinished homework and old manga volumes—still tragic. His mini fridge was humming loyally—still empty.
"Okay," he mumbled, rubbing his face. "So… that whole 'cosmic horror, devil princess, death by monster kebab' thing was just a dream. Good. Great. Fantastic. I'm still crazy, but at least I'm boring."
He laughed once, nervously.
It didn't last.
Because then he looked down at his hand.
And froze.
His right hand.
A faint, pulsing mark glowed on the back of it, just below the wrist. A falcon. Stylized, elegant, carved into his skin like a living tattoo. Crimson-black runes circled it like orbiting satellites.
"…Oh," he said flatly.
He poked it. The mark shimmered, responding to his touch with a faint heat. It wasn't just painted on. It was part of him.
"Okay. That's new. That's real. That's—uh—hell no."
He scrambled out of bed and stumbled to the mirror. Hair: chaos. Eyes: still dark. Mouth: slightly chapped. Nothing looked wrong—except for the mark… and the fact that, despite there being no wound, his chest still hurt as a truck-sized sewing needle had speared him.
"No blood. No scar. But I still feel like someone played Fruit Ninja with my lungs."
He pressed a hand over his heart.
Still beating.
Still there.
But different.
It was like something had crawled inside him and made a home—something quiet and heavy, not evil exactly… but other.
A subtle itch under his skin. Not physical. Existential.
He looked back at the seal.
"Guess that settles it. Not a dream. Just a hardcore genre shift."
He turned away from the mirror, sighing.
"So. I did die back there ."
He paused.
"…I wonder who that woman was who saved me and why."
Why was there a monster here on Earth, and why did the thing use magic? Aaahh, that's too much to think about.
He flopped onto the bed again, arms stretched wide like he was preparing to be crucified. The ceiling hadn't changed. The light still shone. His life? Wrecked.
But he wasn't panicking.
Not yet.
Just… quietly horrified. Casually unraveling. Like a guy who spilled coffee on a test paper and decided, "Welp. Guess I'll burn the school down."
"I need answers. And a bath. And maybe an exorcist."
He glanced at his hand again.
The mark pulsed, soft and steady.
Whatever she had done… I am alive and well, thanks to her.
Then, after deep thinking, he said. "Well, I guess I should leave for school first."
Kusunogi City
The town was buzzing as usual
People rushing. Traffic blaring. Salarymen speed-walking like they were in a shonen opening. Neon lights advertising energy drinks and pop idols with dead eyes. Crowded crosswalks. Honks. Announcements. Life.
Nothing had changed.
Except… everything had.
Eiji moved through it all like a ghost dressed in a school uniform. Headphones in, hood up, pretending to scroll his phone like everyone else. But behind his calm expression was a brain running on overclocked paranoia.
Because now, he felt things.
Every breath in the air carried mana. Every passerby left behind a faint trace of energy. Faint threads of spirit pressure, emotional static, and divine residue clung to shrines, vending machines, and even pigeons. One was radiating minor wind affinity. Why did a pigeon have wind magic?
He stood at a crosswalk, gripping his bag tightly.
No one noticed him.
Same as always.
But now, the silence didn't feel lonely. It felt false.
It's like he wasn't just ignored—he was out of sync—a wrong note in a perfect background song.
Not human.
He bit his lip, trying to stay grounded.
"Okay," he muttered, "deep breaths—no talking to ghosts. No eye-glowing. No screaming about aetherial fields in the middle of town. "
The signal changed.
He crossed with the crowd, blending in as best he could.
The train was worse.
Crammed shoulder-to-shoulder with the morning horde, Eiji stared blankly at the reflection in the window.
It's the same old messy hair. It's the same deadpan expression. Same… wait.
His eyes.
For a second, just a flicker, silver.
Runes. Circles. Rings within rings. Shining like a dormant star behind glass.
He jerked his head down, heart skipping.
No one noticed.
Of course, they didn't.
Eiji leaned back against the wall of the train car and closed his eyes. The mana in the air tickled his senses like a persistent itch. He could taste someone's fear two seats away. Smell a talisman in someone's purse. Hear whispers from a barrier spell carved into the station walls.
"How the hell does no one else notice this?" he muttered. "Is this what it's like being the main character? No wonder they go insane."
He was already exhausted when he stepped out of his school's gate.
Not from walking.
From suppressing.
From pretending to breathe like everyone else, think like everyone else, and be normal like everyone else.
He gripped his bag tightly. His right hand ached faintly, where the falcon mark hid beneath his glove.
"I'm just a guy," he whispered. "Just a guy with allergies and trauma and probably a minor god complex."
He smiled bitterly.
And walked through the gates.
The world hadn't changed.
But Eiji Kuroryuu had.
And something inside him?
Kusunogi High School
Afternoon-
At The Rooftop Of the School Building
The Rooftop was quiet. Warm sunlight. Mild breeze. Seagull noises from who knows where. It should've been peaceful.
Eiji sat cross-legged on the edge, plastic bento box in lap, poking at microwaved karaage like it had personally offended him.
"…Still alive. Still cursed. Still stuck doing math homework."
He took a bite and sighed.
Down below, students laughed, played soccer, flirted, and gossiped. Normal stuff. Background noise.
Eiji? He was the background character watching the movie he wasn't cast in anymore.
Then—
Click.
The rooftop door creaked open.
He glanced back lazily. "This seat's taken unless you deliver a therapy coupon or time travel instructions."
A person stepped onto the Rooftop.
Riku Shinseira.
I remember him as A Third-year Student at Kusunogi High. Silent type. He was always famous with Girls. He wanted badly, but he is not the friendly Senpai kind either—it's more like the "mysterious anime character who shows up before major arcs" kind.
"…Eiji Kuroryuu," Riku said, hands in pockets, face unreadable. "That's your name, Right?" Eiji replied. "I am."
Then Riku said, "Come with me."
Eiji blinked.
"…You're not gonna explain? No small talk?
Riku stared.
Eiji sighed, shut his bento, and stood.
"Alright. Fine. Well, I'm bored enough to follow mysterious upper-class students anyway."
They walked in silence through empty corridors, past regular classrooms, into the old building at the far back of the campus. The one teacher said it was "under renovation," but everyone knew it was just abandoned.
The moment they crossed the threshold, the air changed.
Thicker. Heavier. Humming.
Something beneath his skin twitched.
"…Okay, creepy aura? Check. Classic," Eiji muttered, hugging his bag like a life jacket. "Do we at least get a tour guide for this cursed dungeon-type place?"
Riku didn't answer.
They stopped in front of a clubroom door. History Research Studies Club
Riku knocked once.
Then, he pushed it. The door creaked open like it had a grudge.
Eiji stepped in, instinctively ducking—because if anime and manga ever taught him anything, secret meetings in abandoned buildings never ended well for the guy wearing a school uniform and asking too many questions.
The room was dim, dust swirling through the cracked window light. Long-forgotten chalk lines and arcane symbols littered the floor like graffiti made by demons who'd taken an art class.
Inside, three figures stood waiting.
The one nearest the center carried herself like a noble in a war drama. A girl sat on a desk, legs crossed, picking at her nails with a cursed-looking dagger
. Ayaka Ryuzen. Her blazer was crisp. Her hair was like moonlit silk. Her posture was terrifying. Her gaze hit like a courtroom verdict—elegant, merciless,
Next to her stood the shortest—and somehow the scariest.
Miya Tsukihiro. Third-year middle schooler. Dead eyes. Arms crossed. Aura was colder than every rejection Eiji had ever received.
"Another idiot pervert," she muttered, not even looking at him.
"I've said three words," he shot back.
"I didn't say you talked like one. I sense it."
"…Okay, that's deeply unfair and also freakishly accurate."
And then the room changed.
The light dimmed.
The air rippled.
And from the shadows behind them, she emerged.
Seraphina Falcor.
Heels clicking softly. Graceful. Regal. Lethal.
She walked as though the floor bent to her will.
"Kuroryuu Eiji," she said, voice a quiet command.
His legs didn't ask for permission.
She approached him, and the scent of burning roses spread through the room.
She reached him and took his right hand.
Her fingers touched the falcon-shaped seal.
It flared.
Runes blazed across his arm in crimson-black arcs, lighting the room with eerie pulses.
A low hum echoed through the chamber—magic reacting, binding, confirming.
Her voice rang out, soft yet absolute.
"This mark is not decoration. It is a covenant. Soul-forged, blood-etched."
She leaned in, eyes inches from his.
"You are mine, Eiji. By infernal right. Bound to me… forever."
The runes pulsed once more, slowly fading into stillness, leaving a faint glow beneath the skin.
The silence that followed was thick with implication.
Ayaka gave a quiet nod, analytical and unreadable.
Miya narrowed her eyes. "Tch. Weak men always fold in front of pretty women."
"Bold words for someone who can't legally vote," Eiji muttered.
Seraphina smiled faintly—dangerous, approving.
She announced, "The contract is complete. The House of Falcor accepts its new bond."
Eiji stood, hand still tingling, the weight of the pact settling into his bones.
He tried to breathe.
I tried to think.
But one truth echoed louder than everything else:
There was no escape clause.
The room felt colder now.
Or maybe that was just Eiji's blood catching up with what his mouth was about to do.
Seraphina stood before him like a queen who didn't need to raise her voice to end worlds.
"You will live for me," she said, the words wrapping around him like velvet and steel. "And you will die for me. That is the nature of your contract."
Her tone was calm. Absolute. Like gravity.
Ayaka stood silently behind her, arms crossed. Miya barely bothered to hide her disdain, probably wishing he'd trip on his ego and die again.
Eiji… smiled.
Not wide.
Not stupid.
Just enough to piss off the concept of obedience itself.
"So, in other words, you are saying I am a devil now, and you are my master, huh? So are we going to destroy the world or something? He said jokingly.
But something in her posture shifted—like a queen caught off guard for half a second.
"You also know how to joke around," she said, like a winter breeze brushing a blade.
And to tell you the truth, this is not some lame prank. "I am serious about what I just said. It's ownership. You are mine. Your breath, body, and soul answer to me."
"Cool, cool. Hot and terrifying," Eiji replied, glancing at his glowing hand. "But, uh, side note—do I also get something out of it?"
Miya clicked her tongue so hard it could've cracked marble.
Eiji said, finally locking eyes with Seraphina, "I've already died once. I've already been broken, melted, rebuilt, and shot like a meat comet through the multiverse. So if I'm going to live for someone, wouldn't it be fair if I had something to gain from it?"
Ayaka raised a brow. Seraphina tilted her head. and said
"Fair. You say..."
Seraphina stared at him for a long moment. Then—barely, barely—she smiled.
Not cruel. Not mocking.
Something... entertained.
"Very well," she said, brushing a finger down the line of his seal. The runes pulsed faintly.
"Of course, you gain some things. You gain survival. And earn the rest yourself."
Eiji exhaled.
It wasn't an answer he was expecting.
But he couldn't say anything else either.
He nodded once, steady. "Deal."
The tension in the room cracked like glass under heat.
Ayaka gave him a nod—cold but not unapproving.
"I'll save my tears for bath time," Eiji replied, "like a real man."
After that, he left the room
On the Rooftop of the school
The Rooftop was quiet.
No wind. No chaos. Just the faint hum of distant city lights and the occasional flicker of a star trying to compete.
Eiji leaned against the rusted railing, staring at the night sky as if it owed him answers.
It didn't, of course.
Not after everything.
The school building slept below him—peaceful, mundane, hilariously unaware that someone had just been soul-bound to a devil somewhere under its tiles and lockers.
He raised his right hand slowly. The seal still faintly glowed beneath his skin, like warm embers just waiting for a breath of wind to reignite.
"It's always the quiet ones," he muttered. "First, she saves me, then brands me, then calls me hers like some lost luggage."
The runes pulsed in response. Not angry. Just there. Reminding him.
And beneath that glow… something else stirred.
The Omniverse Eye.
Still sealed. Still slumbering.
He could feel it like a second heartbeat now. Watching. Remembering. Calculating.
And no one knew.
Not Seraphina.
Not Ayaka.
Not Miya.
Not even Riku, who probably still thought Eiji's biggest problem was unfinished math homework.
They all thought the seal was the story.
The whole story.
It wasn't.
Eiji exhaled, rubbing his eyes.
He was exhausted. Mentally wrecked. He was physically sore in places he didn't even know could feel pain. But despite it all, he wasn't broken.
Far from it.
"I said I'd play along," he murmured, eyes still locked on the stars. "And I meant it."
He grinned faintly—tired, sarcastic, dangerous.
"But I never said I'd stay on their board."
Let them believe I was tame. Let them think I was just some bonded mutt following orders to survive.
Because right now, survival is the plan.
But later?
Later, it will be different.
He tapped his temple with a fingertip. "Let them underestimate me.
He lowered his hand, clenching it.
"They're powerful. Fine. Let them be. I've got time. I'll learn their rules. Study their power. Figure out exactly how this devil world works."
And when the time was right—
When the chains slipped just enough—
He wouldn't bark.
He'd bite.
Eiji tilted his head back again, staring into the dark.
There was no music. There is no dramatic lightning—just city air and starlight.
But his voice, when it came, was quite steel.
"When the time comes…"
He closed his eyes.
"I'll show you what I am."
And somewhere in the silence—deep within his soul—
The Eye pulsed once.
End of Chapter 2