"So that's why they call karma a bitch."
In a golden expanse stood a lone figure. He was standing, though there was nothing beneath his feet. Before him loomed a towering—thing—if it could even be called that: a shifting mist. To look at it was to realize it did not belong to any human idea of shape.
"कर्मणः फलम् अधुना प्राप्स्यसि!।"
"Me? An interloper?" He laughed, though he wasn't sure why. "Yeah—gotta be the worst joke of the century."
The mist did not react. It never needed to.
"Diti."
.....
RING—! RING—!
"Already?!"
A messy head emerged from beneath the sheets, groaning, before slumping upright for a few minutes.
Doesn't matter where I live. Getting out of bed in the morning still sucks.
After a few minutes, he reached for his phone. It buzzed relentlessly—three missed alarms glaring back at him.
"Wow," he muttered. "Future me really hates present me."
His fingers brushed a thin black thread around his wrist—a habit he didn't even notice anymore— Some things stuck, no matter how far you were from home.
Standing up, he stretched, shaking out the stiffness that sleep had left behind.
He tossed the phone back onto the bed.
"Good morning, Iwatodai," he muttered, surveying the room.
A few minutes of freshening up later, he held up a charred piece of toast.
"Man, old habits die hard. My toast looks more like charcoal now."
He glanced down at his watch.
7:30… should be able to catch the train if the info I got is reliable.
"Whose idea was it to catch a flight just a day before orientation? …Oh right. That was me."
Slinging his bag over one shoulder, he stepped out of the dorm and inhaled the crisp morning air.
"Hope my Japanese is up to standard," he muttered under his breath, Tying his shoelaces.
Our brown-skinned friend, for the record, was Pranav Karthikeya.
A foreign exchange student from India, and honestly still a little surprised he'd made the cut, Pranav muttered under his breath
"So, Iwatodai Station… direct stop to Gekkoukan High. Hope it's nothing too different. Learning Japanese was already a pain."
Stepping out of his dorm, he found himself in the residential area—quiet, orderly, and just a short walk from the station.
As he made his way toward the platform, people moved purposefully in all directions—workers heading to their offices, a few students in the same uniform as him.
"It was pretty dark when I arrived last night… everything looks so alive right now. Should probably follow those students, though."
"I guess I am doing this"
"Excuse me… uhh."
A boy in a baseball cap turned around, a pensive look on his face.
"Yeah? Uh… I hope you don't mind me asking, but… you don't seem Japanese."
Pranav blinked, caught off guard. "Yeah… is that gonna be a problem?"
"Whoa, whoa! What's with the defensiveness?" The boy laughed lightly. "I'm Junpei, by the way."
"Pranav, nice to meet ya… that's how it's said, right?"
"Yeah," Pranav replied, a small smile tugging at his lips. "You've got the language down to a T, buddy. I guess you're new as well?"
"Welp, we're both heading the same way. Didja wanna tag along?"
"I was gonna anyway, but yeah—thanks."
They walked together, exchanging small talk as they approached the station. Soon, they were squeezed into the crowded train, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with other students.
"Is it gonna be this crowded every day?" Pranav asked, raising his voice slightly over the rumble of the train.
"The short answer? Yep." Junpei laughed, shaking his head.
As the train pulled out of Iwatodai Station, Gekkoukan High came into view in all its grandeur.
"Damn… gotta say, the people who own this place must be loaded," Pranav muttered, craning his neck to take it all in.
"Yeah, dude," Junpei replied with a grin. "Speaking of which… what's your class number?"
"1-B," Pranav said.
Junpei punched the air in an awkward fist bump. "Nice! We're in the same class, then."
The train screeched into Gekkoukan Station, disgorging a tide of students. Junpei wove through them like he'd done it a thousand times before, and Pranav followed, trying not to trip over his own feet.
"Just… follow me. Trust me," Junpei said with a grin, sidestepping a group of girls in matching skirts.
Pranav nodded, keeping his backpack snug on his shoulders, and let his eyes wander. Everything was so… organized. Students chatting in small clusters, the sharp smell of polished floors, the faint metallic hum of lockers. Japan was orderly, yes—but also alive in a way that made him feel both small and alert.
By the time they reached the classroom, a few other students were already settling in. Pranav paused just outside the doorway, taking it all in. 1-B. A neat row of desks, sunlight slanting through the windows.
"Feels surprisingly homely"
He noticed a few stares on him, people whispering, stealing quick glances.
"And Its back to being an animal at the zoo"
Junpei clapped him on the shoulder. "C'mon, Pranav. Don't just stare. Find a seat!"
Pranav nodded again, spotting an empty desk near the back. The place somehow hypnotizing him—the sunlight slanting just right, the murmurs of classmates blending into a rhythm he couldn't quite name.
As soon as he finished setting up, two people entered the classroom: a guy and a girl.
The guy looked… strange. There was something about the way his eyes held an unnatural calmness that set Pranav slightly on edge. He couldn't put his finger on it.
Junpei stood up immediately, waving them over. "Yuka-Tan," he called cheerfully to the girl. The guy introduced himself as Makoto.
Then, as if on cue, Junpei dragged them toward Pranav. His stomach fluttered with a familiar, low-grade anxiety.
"So… Yuka-Tan, Makoto, this is Pranav," Junpei said, grinning.
"Pranav, this is Yukari Takeba and Makoto Yuki," Junpei added.
"Nice to meet you, Takeba-san… Yuki-san," Pranav replied, keeping his voice steady despite the nervous flutter in his chest.
"Umm… nice to meet you too… uhh," Yukari said, fidgeting slightly.
"Trust me," Pranav said, finding a small spark of confidence, "my last name is a bit complicated to spell, calling me Pranav is best."
"Alright then, Pranav-san. Nice to meet you," Yukari smiled politely.
Makoto, as always, simply nodded, his calm gaze meeting Pranav's for a brief moment. That same sense of unease lingered—the sort you get when someone seems to see more than they should.
Pranav exhaled lightly. "Okay… first introductions done. Not too bad."
The day was quite uneventful, if you could ignore the people murmuring and staring.
By lunch, a few people had gathered near him
"So...." Started Junpei
"So?"
"So, how are you finding Gekkoukan?"
"It's...weird"
"it'll grow on ya"
While they were conversing Takeba came over, Yuki in tow.
"Yuka-tan, wanna have lunch together?"
"Not really, but I was here to talk with Pranav-san"
"Oh? Whatsup?"
"You clearly don't look Japanese, if you don't mind me asking. where are you from?"
While opening a bento, "India"
"Heard it's nice up there" Junpei chimed in
"I suppose"
Lunch was a bit of an interrogation, but it quieted down soon enough.
While Pranav fumbled around using chopsticks, he just stuck to eating using his hands
That caught a few people's attention.
After School
Pranav bid Junpei farewell and made his way back to his dorm.
The clock on his desk ticked softly as Pranav leaned back in his chair, rubbing his temples.
"Gotta say… hiragana never gets easy," he muttered.
He flipped a page in his notebook, eyes skimming over characters he knew he had memorized yesterday. Somehow, they looked different now—shapes bending just enough to mess with his confidence. He sighed and shut the book.
The room was quiet. Too quiet.
Outside, the sky had begun to darken, the late evening sun slipping behind Iwatodai's buildings. The city lights blinked on one by one, orderly and distant. Pranav stood and stretched, joints popping faintly.
"Break time," he decided.
He stepped toward the window—and froze.
The moon hung unnaturally large in the sky.
Not red. Not glowing. Just… wrong. Too prominent for the time of day, like it was watching instead of shining.
Pranav frowned. "Huh…?"
A faint pressure settled in his chest, the same sensation he'd felt that morning in class. His fingers curled instinctively around the thin thread on his wrist.
Then—
Click.
The lights went out.
The hum of the dorm vanished, replaced by an eerie stillness. No wind. No distant traffic. Just silence so thick it pressed against his ears.
Pranav's breath hitched. "Okay… that's new."
His phone vibrated.
He grabbed it instantly—no signal, no time displayed. Just a blinking notification he didn't remember installing.
12:00 AM
Before he could react, a sharp pain lanced through his head. Images flashed behind his eyes—
A golden expanse.A shifting mist.A voice, layered and ancient.
"अहं समाप्य त्वां अपराधिनं प्राप्य…!"
"That's.....familiar for some reason. And what's with the green moon-"
There stood a huge tower, It being a mess of shapes stacked atop one another, almost as if a child had built it
"I must be losing sleep, damn"
Pranav stared at the window.
The moon hung too low. Too large. And… green.
He squinted, leaning closer, then shook his head. "Yeah. Definitely not normal."
The glass reflected his own tired face back at him, the light warping just enough to make doubt creep in.
"Must be the jet lag," he muttered.
He grabbed his jacket from the chair and slipped it on. One look outside. That was all. Fresh air would clear his head—it always did.
Pranav unlocked the door and stepped out.
The night air hit him immediately.
Cool. Still. Wrong.
Pranav took a few steps forward, the sound of his own footsteps oddly loud. Okay… definitely not normal. The sky looked frozen, like time itself had stalled.
He exhaled slowly, fingers brushing the thread on his wrist. Get a grip. You're awake. This is real. Probably.
Then he noticed the street.
Coffins stood where cars should have been.
Upright. Silent. Lined neatly along the road, their dark surfaces swallowing the pale green light of the moon.
Pranav's breath caught.
"…Nope."
One of the coffins creaked.
The substance rippled.
Black, viscous, crawling across the ground like oil given intent. It pooled, convulsed—and then rose.
A thing formed.
Hands.Too many hands.
They stacked, intertwined, palms pressing against palms as if in prayer gone wrong. Fingers twitched independently, bending at impossible angles. Even its face was a hand—one eye staring unblinking from the center of the palm, a mouth splitting open beneath it, wet and grinning.
Pranav's stomach dropped.
"…What the hell is that."
The thing shuddered, hands scraping against each other, producing a sickening, dry rustle. It took a step forward—no, pulled itself forward, fingers digging into the ground and dragging the rest of it along.
Instinct screamed at him to run.
His legs didn't move.
His chest tightened, heat blooming beneath his ribs, like something inside him had braced itself—held the line. Fear was there, sharp and undeniable, but it didn't spill over into panic.
The creature tilted its hand-face.
The eye locked onto him.
And then it spoke—not in words, but in a chorus of grasping intent, like a thousand voices all trying to claim the same thing.
Pranav's head rang.
अहं—
"No," he hissed, teeth clenched. "Not you."
The air shifted.
A sharp voice cut through the Dark Hour.
"HEY! GET BACK—NOW!"
A streak of motion crossed his vision. A girl in a red armband skidded to a stop between him and the Shadow, bow already raised, eyes sharp and focused.
Another figure stepped forward calmly, almost casually, as if this nightmare were just another Tuesday.
Makoto.
"Stay behind us," he said evenly. "And don't look away."
The Shadow recoiled slightly, hands spasming.
Pranav swallowed hard.
"So this is real," he thought. "All of it."
Yukari didn't hesitate.
The bowstring snapped taut, and a glowing arrow tore through the air. It struck the Shadow square in the mass of writhing hands, erupting in a burst of light. The creature screeched—not a sound, but a pressure that rattled Pranav's teeth.
The hands recoiled violently, fingers spasming, some peeling away and dissolving into black mist.
"That thing was getting way too close," Yukari muttered, already nocking another arrow. "You okay?"
Pranav nodded stiffly, though his heart was still hammering. "I—yeah. I think so."
The Shadow wasn't done.
It slammed its palms into the ground, dragging itself upright again. More hands emerged, clawing out of its body, reaching—always reaching.
Makoto stepped forward.
His movement was calm. Deliberate. Like this was a drill he'd practiced countless times.
He raised the Evoker.
Pranav felt it before he saw it.
A sudden pressure, like the air itself had been compressed. His vision blurred at the edges, heat flaring in his chest, sharper this time—focused.
Makoto fired.
The crack echoed across the street, followed by a surge of blue light. A towering figure manifested behind him for a split second—steel, deathly calm, eyes like an executioner's.
The Shadow howled as it was cleaved apart, hands disintegrating mid-reach, the black substance evaporating into nothingness.
Silence returned.
The coffins stood unmoving once more.
Pranav exhaled shakily. "That… wasn't a gun."
"Nope," Junpei said, jogging up behind them, bat slung over his shoulder. "But it works."
"Junpei?!"
Yukari turned to Pranav, studying him closely now. "You didn't transmogrify."
"…What?"
"You didn't turn into a coffin," Makoto said evenly, lowering the Evoker. His gaze lingered on Pranav, sharper now. "That usually doesn't happen."
Pranav opened his mouth to respond—
And the pressure in his chest spiked.
He staggered, clutching at his shirt as heat surged upward, spreading through his arms, his spine, his skull. Images flashed violently behind his eyes—
A spear splitting darkness. A peacock's cry, fierce and commanding. Fire, not wild—but disciplined. Controlled.
He gasped. "Something's—wrong—"
Makoto's eyes widened just a fraction.
Yukari took a step back. "Wait… is he—?"
The green moon loomed overhead.
And far beyond Tartarus, something ancient and malicious noticed the stir—not with anger, but with interest.
Diti smiled.