Ren Hoshino woke up face-down on the cold wood floor of his apartment.
Again.
For a second, he wasn't sure if it was morning or the end of the world.
His limbs felt like twisted metal—heavy, overheated, sore in places that didn't exist yesterday. There was the faint taste of static on his tongue, like someone had poured soda into a dying battery.
He groaned.
"…What year is it…"
Light slanted in through the blinds. Warm. Normal. Deceptive.
Because nothing was normal anymore.
He rolled over. The ceiling fan creaked in lazy circles above him. His breath came slow. Shaky.
The glow from his chest had dimmed to a soft, rhythmic pulse—barely visible. But it was still there. Still humming with some deep, ancient frequency that didn't belong in his body.
The creature.
The armor.
The explosion.
The crowd.
He buried his face in his hands.
"I vaporized a kaiju in front of the entire school…"
His phone buzzed beside him like an angry hornet. Over and over and over.
Koji [12 Messages]:
BRO.
I SAW.
WAS THAT YOU?!
TELL ME THAT WASN'T YOU.
I'M COMING OVER.
DO NOT TRANSFORM WITHOUT ME.
Ren stared at the screen for a moment. Then dropped it on the floor.
"…Of course you are."
He dragged himself upright, limbs stiff. His whole body felt off-center, like his skeleton had been rotated five degrees in the wrong direction. The act of standing up felt like a threat to physics.
In the kitchen, he poured hot water over instant miso. The packet hissed. Steam rose. When he touched the spoon, a crackle of static sparked from his fingertips.
The mark on his chest flared once—like it was laughing at him.
Elsewhere — 9:02 a.m.
Inside a nondescript black van parked across the street, four people sat surrounded by screens.
All of them watched Ren.
His every move. Every breath. Every pulse of energy.
"He's stable," muttered the agent with silver hair, eyes glowing faintly behind digital lenses. "For now."
Across from him, a woman in a sharply cut suit leaned forward. Her eyes didn't blink. They measured.
"How long until he activates again?" she asked.
"Could be minutes. Could be days. Without a collar, there's no suppression algorithm."
She didn't sigh. She calculated.
"Then we bring him in. Quietly. No panic. No casualties."
Her gaze rested on the monitor.
Codename: UNIQUE
Class: Unranked
Status: Mutating
Containment Protocol: Immediate
She tapped the screen once.
"Move."
Ren's Apartment — 9:11 a.m.
Koji didn't knock.
The door slammed open like it owed him money.
"DUDE!"
Ren nearly dropped his miso. "Have you heard of doors?"
Koji stomped in, phone in one hand, energy drink in the other. "I saw the video. The armor. The blue laser thing. That monster looked like someone hacked a Digimon. Was that YOU?!"
Ren hesitated.
"They're not called Digimon," he muttered. "And no. I mean—yes. But not on purpose."
Koji blinked.
"Then what are they called?"
Ren looked down. The glow under his shirt pulsed like a heartbeat trying to escape.
"…Gairex," he said.
The word felt sharp. Like glass on the tongue. It echoed in his bones.
Koji frowned. "That sounds like a knockoff Gundam. But okay."
They sat. The silence grew.
Ren stared into his miso like it had answers.
"I don't feel like a hero," he said quietly. "I didn't choose this."
Koji's voice dropped with him.
"Maybe someone else did."
10:10 a.m. — Rooftops Above
They moved like ghosts.
Sleek armor. Silent boots. Visors lit with strings of glowing text.
Ren's vitals floated across their HUDs:
Heart rate: Elevated
Core Energy: Unstable
Transformation Risk: 42%
The lead agent raised a rifle—sleek, matte black. Inside the chamber, a nanite-coated tranquilizer hummed with violet light.
"Target locked."
He didn't hesitate. "Permission to engage?"
The cold voice in his earpiece answered:
"Bring him in alive. But if he resists… Protocol Zero."
9th Floor Window
Ren lifted the spoon.
Then—CRACK.
A dart shattered the window, spinning through glass and space in a blink—
THNK.
—buried itself in his shoulder.
His mug hit the floor. "OH COME ON—AGAIN?!"
Koji screamed, diving for cover. "SNIPER!!"
Ren staggered back. Vision warping. Legs failing. The drug burned through his blood like ice.
But the mark on his chest… didn't like that.
It howled.
A flood of energy surged through his veins. His skin lit up. His breath hitched.
"Koji," he gasped. "Get—back—"
Sequence Glitch.
Forced Activation.
BOOOM.
A shockwave vaporized the wall.
Light poured from Ren's body—too much, too fast. Armor snapped in and out of place, glitching between states. His silhouette flickered like a corrupted file, edges jagged, features distorted.
His voice layered with static.
His eyes burned white through his bangs.
"Contain him!" a voice yelled.
Three agents crashed through the windows.
Ren turned—barely human now. The air around him crackled with raw power.
"Ren Hoshino," the lead agent barked. "Stand down!"
He stumbled back, half-transformed. His hand twitched, sparks dancing across his palm.
He looked at them.
Looked at Koji.
Then smiled, just a little.
"…I've had a really weird week."
And then—
FLASH.
Everything went white.
End of Chapter 3