Ren Hoshino was not the kind of guy who showed up early. Or on time. Or particularly alert. Most days, he arrived like a ghost in an anime filler episode—blurry, background, easily missed.
But today?
He slid into class just as the professor finished roll call, breathing like he'd outrun a train.
"Ren Hoshino," Professor Kamiya called, scanning the room through fogged glasses.
"Here," Ren said, voice flat. "In body. Spirit's debatable."
He dropped into his seat like a puppet with its strings cut. His limbs ached. His eyes were gritty. Every part of him felt… scrambled.
Koji, sitting two rows back, leaned forward and whispered, "Bro, you look like you lost a fistfight with a rice cooker."
Ren didn't look at him. "Is that a real insult, or just spontaneous brain static?"
Koji grinned. "You tell me. You're the haunted one."
Haunted.
Yeah. That fit.
Because something had followed him home last night. Something beautiful. Wrong. Smiling.
And now it was inside him.
His skin buzzed with a quiet vibration that hadn't stopped since he woke up. His heartbeat was out of sync with itself. His fingers twitched at random, drumming patterns he didn't recognize.
And beneath his shirt, the mark on his chest pulsed with slow, steady light.
He hadn't told Koji. Of course he hadn't.
What was he supposed to say?
"Hey man, remember that hallucination I sketched yesterday? It walked out of my notebook and touched my soul."
Yeah. No.
11:14 a.m. – Campus Hallway
Class ended early. Not that Ren could tell you what it was about. Something with statues. Or maybe wars. Or war statues.
He drifted toward the vending machines outside the east wing. Instant yakisoba and lukewarm soda. Peak nutrition.
He fished around in his pocket, then froze.
The lights above flickered.
The machine's screen glitched.
And his reflection—his reflection—moved.
Ren didn't.
But the version of him in the glass turned to look at him.
Smiled.
Then snapped back to normal.
A cold spike of silence stabbed through his brain.
"…Okay," he whispered. "That's new."
He lifted a hand. Pressed it to the glass. The reflection followed—late. Sluggish. Delayed like a bad internet stream.
You're losing it.
Or maybe the world was.
Before he could decide, Koji appeared behind him, holding two bottles of melon soda.
"You good, man?"
Ren jerked like someone pulled a plug on his spine.
"I'm fine," he said too quickly.
Koji's eyes narrowed. "You look like you just saw your own ghost and it winked at you."
Ren opened his mouth to fire back something sarcastic—
And then the sound hit.
A low, metallic chime that bypassed ears and went straight into bone. It wasn't a warning. It was a countdown.
Something's coming.
Then—
BOOM.
The world shuddered.
Somewhere across campus, something hit the gym hard enough to punch a hole in reality. Dust exploded. Screams followed. And then—something climbed out.
Jagged. Twisted. Crawling like it didn't belong in this century. Its body looked like broken scaffolding, and it screamed like corrupted data trying to breathe.
Ren stared.
"No. No, no, no—AGAIN?"
Koji grabbed his sleeve. "We're running! Come on!"
But Ren couldn't move.
Because the mark on his chest was glowing now. Bright enough to cast shadows. Hot enough to burn air.
His body locked.
And the world shifted.
Astral Shell: Sequence Initiate
He didn't activate it. There was no button, no choice. The transformation claimed him.
One second, he was Ren Hoshino.
The next, he was something else.
A halo of radiant blue light erupted around him, warping wind and gravity. His feet lifted off the ground. Light spun like orbiting rings around his chest. Armor unfolded from nothing—glass-like, but solid, lined with radiant veins of energy.
His hands were claws now. His eyes filtered the world through layers of data and threat markers. His voice didn't even sound like his anymore.
"What the hell is happening?!"
He didn't know.
But the creature didn't care.
It lunged.
Instinct took over.
Ren's hand moved—aimed—fired. A crack of light. A pulse of energy.
The bolt struck the creature square in the chest.
BOOOOOOM.
It vanished into debris and silence.
For a few long seconds, no one spoke.
Koji hit the floor, eyes wide. "I-Is that—Ren?!"
Phones were out. People were filming. Staring.
And Ren—hovering, glowing, panting—looked down at his armored hands, at the scorched concrete, at the terrified crowd.
"…I'm gonna be so expelled."
End of Chapter 2