Chapter 1
Rain pattered lightly on the pavement as students poured out of the school gates like ants from a disturbed hill. Among the crowd trudged a lone figure—back slightly hunched, hair damp, and a faint shadow of boredom in his eyes. His name was Kazuki Ren, a third-year high school student, known neither for brilliance nor delinquency, but for his remarkably average existence.
"Another day, another math quiz that nearly assassinated me," Kazuki muttered, dragging his feet along the sidewalk, clutching a convenience store melon bread. "At this point, I'd rather be hit by a flying isekai truck and get it over with."
Thunk!
Something smacked the top of his head.
"OW! What the hell—?!" He looked around, rubbing his scalp furiously. On the ground lay a strange, thick CD case. It was pitch black with swirling, faintly glowing gold markings, like veins of magma trapped in obsidian.
There was no title.
"No way... this isn't one of those cursed game setups, right?" Kazuki picked it up and turned it over. Nothing. No label. No brand. No disk info. Just a single engraving on the back:
"For the One Who Seeks Chaos in Order."
"...Well, that's not ominous at all." He looked up. "Did this literally fall from the sky? Is that even legal?!"
His eyes lit up with morbid curiosity. "Okay. It's either a divine gift or a death sentence. Which means I absolutely need to play it."
Grinning like a kid who'd found a secret boss fight in real life, Kazuki sprinted the rest of the way home.