The sound of birdsong pierced the morning air.
Renji's eyes opened slowly to a cracked ceiling, dull and water-stained, like an ancient relic forgotten by time. The smell of damp wood and ash filled his nose. He sat up abruptly, breathing hard. He was cold. Sweating. Confused.
"Where... am I?"
His voice felt foreign — younger, lighter. He looked at his hands. Small. Pale. He stumbled to his feet and rushed to the nearby cracked mirror leaning against the wall. The reflection that stared back wasn't his.
A boy. Maybe 14. Thin, messy black hair, sharp eyes — and a gaze filled with confusion and panic. That's when it hit him.
Memories.
They weren't his — but they were flooding in like a tsunami. A woman's tired face smiling gently. A weak hand brushing his cheek.
"Renji... I'm sorry... I won't be around much longer."
She died giving birth to him. That memory hit like a brick — but it wasn't his either. It belonged to the boy before him. The real Renji.
The rest was fragmented. A house in the outskirts of town. No father figure — just a vague image of a tall man with cold eyes and a shadowy presence. A blurry silhouette walking away into the snow.
His legs gave out beneath him.
"This is a dream... right?"
But it wasn't. And the sting of the cold floor told him so.
Hours passed. He wandered the quiet house, now fully absorbing the situation.
Somehow, his soul — from a different world, a different reality — had ended up here. In a boy's body. A boy named Renji. And this world? It was… ordinary.
Disappointingly so.
No magical aura in the air. No HUD display. No mysterious voice telling him he had awakened a cheat system. Just dust, wooden floors, and empty shelves.
Still — he didn't give up easily.
"Alright," he muttered, standing on the old table like some ancient monk. "System, awaken! Cheat power — activate! I accept my destiny as the chosen one!"
…Silence.
He waved his arms dramatically.
Nothing.
He jumped, did a backflip (or tried and crashed), even screamed "Status!" ten times — but the only thing that responded was a coughing neighbor from the next house shouting:
"Renji! Keep quiet before I beat sense into you!"
He sighed, flopping back on the bed. His gaze shifted to a torn calendar on the wall.
"Awakening Ceremony – Tomorrow."
Apparently, when children turned 15, they underwent something called an "Awakening" at the academy — a ceremony that unlocked their animal-type soul or elemental affinity.
So there was something special in this world.
He exhaled, the corner of his lips twitching into a smile.
"Fine. I'll play along. Let's see what fate you have in store for me… Renji."
And with that, the day slowly faded to night — his last as an unknown, ordinary boy.
Tomorrow would change everything .