How did it come to this?
Yesterday, I was cursing at a gacha game because I pulled an off-brand panda.Today, I'm gripping blood-covered scissors, standing over a woman I just killed.
A boy around my age leans against the wall, arms crossed, expression unreadable. He has snowy white hair with bangs that hide his left eye, and his blue gaze locks onto mine like he's watching a movie he's already seen a hundred times.
He's always smiling. Not the warm kind. The kind that makes your skin crawl.
Two Hours Earlier...
Two hours ago, life was normal.Wake up. Eat. Shower. Pretend to go to class. Play gacha. Repeat.
I was stretched out on the nurse's office bed, hiding from a math quiz, tapping away on my phone.
"C'mon, momma needs the SS-class Princess Knight Nella…"
The screen shimmered, the wheel spun—and landed on an A-class panda named Pou.
"Are you kidding me?! I don't need a bootleg Kung Fu Panda!"
I hurled the phone onto the mattress, sulked, then grabbed it again and rerolled.
Princess Knight Nella.Eight-year-old chocolate-skinned princess in pink and white armor, dual-wielding sparkles and justice.
I jumped. "YES!"
Then—
"Sakane!"
I fumbled my phone like I was hiding a dirty secret. The nurse, Ms. Yui, glared from the doorway.
"You're here again? I only let you stay because no one else comes."
I smiled sweetly. "You're the best, Nurse Yui. I'll be out of your hair soon."
She rolled her eyes and mumbled something about me being hopeless, then left.
Time passed. I almost considered going back to class. Almost.
Then the door opened again.
I didn't even look up. "Hey, Nurse Yui, I swear I'll—"
A low growl.Then, something heavy slammed into the bed beside me.
I barely rolled away in time.
The thing that used to be Nurse Yui snarled and lunged again, eyes pale and cloudy, her mouth smeared with red.
"What the hell!?"
I scrambled backward, heart hammering. My hand hit the desk—fingers closing around a pair of scissors.
I held them up, shaking. "D-Don't come any closer!"
She didn't stop.
My arm moved on instinct. Cold metal met flesh. A sound like wet paper tearing.
When I opened my eyes—She was still.
The scissors were buried in her eye.
I stumbled back, clutching my stomach. My throat tightened.
I threw up beside the bed.
"…Blood in real life is way worse than in games…"
I wiped my mouth with my sleeve, trying to breathe, when—
"Not bad."
I jerked around.
A boy stood by the cabinet. He looked like he belonged in a manga—white hair, flawless skin, blue eyes that gleamed like glass.
I didn't even hear him come in.
"W-Who are you!?"
He tilted his head. "Your fiancee." He smiled, Sakane eyes were blinded by this ikemen handsome face.
I stared. "What?"
"I'm Jin," he said casually. "Jin Kyuzei. I just arrived here."
"…And instead of helping, you watched?"
"I was curious." His voice was calm. Smooth. Way too relaxed for someone standing near a dead body. "You did well, by the way. The eye socket was a lucky shot."
"I didn't aim!" I snapped. "It was instinct!"
He smiled wider. "Then maybe you've got good instincts."
I swallowed hard. "What… the hell is going on?"
"From what I've seen? Infection. Fast spread. No communication from the city. Most people panicked and died. Some are still fighting."
His tone didn't change, but his eyes were sharp—analyzing me like I was part of a puzzle.
I backed up until I hit the wall. "My sister… She's in the next building. I have to find her."
Jin nodded. "She's smart. She's hiding with a classmate, and they've barricaded the room. You still have time."
"…How do you know that?"
He didn't answer. Just studied me.
"Your parents are in Hokkaido, right?" he added softly. "Still working their hospital shifts. They're okay for now."
My breath hitched. "How do you know all this?"
Jin uncrossed his arms and walked over, stepping around the nurse's corpse like it was trash on the sidewalk. He knelt beside the body, calmly pulling the scissors free and wiping the blood on the bed sheets.
"I pay attention," he said simply.
He stood and handed the scissors back to me.
"I'm not going to ask you if you're okay. You're not. But you're breathing. That's more than most right now."
I took the scissors silently, hand trembling.
"You want to find your sister?" he asked.
I nodded.
"Then you're going to need to do that again." He gestured at the body. "Only faster next time."