"Heroes?" he repeated aloud, disbelief coating his voice.
The word felt foreign on his tongue, almost sacred. He hadn't spoken it in years—not since his dreams had been ground down by the harshness of reality. But now, here it was. Real. Tangible.
The white-robed woman—the Goddess—paused for a heartbeat, her eyes flicking toward him. There was something in them… a flicker of disdain, subtle and sharp. She masked it quickly behind a radiant smile, the kind that didn't quite reach her eyes.
"Yes," she said, her tone smooth like silk laced with something colder.
"You are all here because you have been chosen. Each of you has a role to play. And I know all your names."
She raised her hand. With a golden shimmer, glowing words appeared in the air—one after another.
"Haruka Saito. Kenta Nishida. Mio Takamine. Yukari Aoyama…"
The names kept coming, floating in brilliant light. Even the teacher's.
"…Reiji Asano. Riku Hayashi. Hina Morimoto. Akane Fujiwara…"
His chest tightened as he waited for his name. And then—
"…Toma Ryuzaki."
His eyes widened. He hadn't heard his full name spoken like that in years. For a moment, something stirred inside him—something fragile.
Hope.
"Toma…"
He could still remember it—six-year-old him, running around in a makeshift cape, shouting about defeating monsters and saving kingdoms.
That dream had long since been buried beneath ridicule, pain, and silence.
But now, here he was.
Maybe… just maybe…
But then—
The Goddess turned, her voice louder.
"Toma Ryuzaki… You are not fit to be a hero."
The words hit harder than any fist ever had.
His breath caught in his throat.
"W-what?"
His voice was barely audible, shaken, confused.
"You heard me." Her eyes sharpened. "Your sins are far too great."
The glowing runes around his name shattered like glass, disintegrating in the air.
He stepped forward, heart pounding.
"Sins…? I—I've never done anything wrong! I—I help people. I—"
He wasn't angry. He was pleading. Desperate.
This was the only thing he'd wanted… to matter. To be someone.
The Goddess placed a hand to her head and suddenly collapsed to her knees, her robe flaring dramatically. A gasp echoed from the crowd.
"He… He attacked me," she said, voice trembling, yet her lips curled into a hidden, knowing smile.
And he saw it. That smile.
The same twisted, wicked kind he'd seen from his bullies a thousand times before. That smirk you wear when you know everyone's on your side and your victim is powerless.
His blood ran cold.
"No… no, that's not—!"
He reached out, but before he could take a step, two people blocked him.
Mio and Kenta.
"Stay away from her!" Kenta shouted, helping the Goddess to her feet like a knight in shining armor.
Mio wouldn't even look him in the eyes.
"You're not who I thought you were," she said, her voice full of quiet disappointment.
His heart cracked.
"Wait—Mio, please! You know me! You know I wouldn't—"
But another voice cut him off sharply.
"Just stop already."
Haruka.
The class rep stepped in front of him, arms crossed, gaze sharp.
"I always had a feeling the rumors about you were true. I just didn't want to believe them."
Rumors. Lies. Whispers in the dark hallways that no one ever asked him about.
He was frozen. Betrayed. Powerless.
The Goddess raised her hand again, her expression composed, divine, untouchable.
"Toma Ryuzaki. You will still be sent to my world. But you are not a hero. You are unworthy."
A glyph opened beneath his feet.
"No—no, wait!"
Too late.
The ground vanished.
The white realm disappeared.
He was falling—plunging through a tunnel of colorless void.
And then—pain.
His body began to convulse, burning from the inside out. His fingers twisted unnaturally, his bones cracking, reshaping. His skin burned like fire, as if it were being rewritten. He screamed—raw, broken, inhuman.
"What is happening to me—!?"
The light at the end of the void came fast.
He was ejected into the open sky, wind roaring in his ears.
His eyes barely adjusted before he realized—he was hundreds of feet in the air, the vast expanse of a green forest stretching out beneath him.
"I—I don't wanna die!!"
He flailed, body trembling with heat and pain. Then—he saw it.
Below him, a sparkling lake, shining like crystal in the sunlight.
"There…!"
He braced.
SPLASH.
The cold hit him like a wall. Every nerve screamed as he sank into the shimmering depths. The light faded above, and his thoughts went dark with it.