The neon lights of Tokyo flickered through the rain-streaked window, casting pale reflections against the glass. Renji Kuroya sat alone in a dimly lit izakaya, nursing a half-empty glass of cheap whiskey. Conversations buzzed around him—office workers unwinding from the grind, students celebrating, lovers whispering. None of it reached him. He was drowning in a silence only he could hear.
His phone vibrated on the table. The message was short, to the point.
I'm sorry, Renji. I can't do this anymore.
He stared at the screen for a long moment before placing the phone face down. There was no anger, no outburst—just a dull emptiness. Mikasa had left him. He knew this was coming. After losing his job six months ago, he had watched their future slip through his fingers like sand. She had dreams, ambitions. He had nothing but excuses and unpaid bills.
"Another?" The bartender's voice was distant.
Renji nodded, though he barely tasted the burn when the alcohol hit his throat. He used to believe in stability. That if you worked hard, followed the rules, life would reward you. But the world didn't care about effort. His company had cut him loose without hesitation, and Mikasa had done the same.
He rubbed his temple. Maybe he deserved it. Maybe he had been naïve.
Outside, the rain had picked up, hammering against the pavement. He stood, tossed a few crumpled bills on the counter, and stepped into the downpour. Cold droplets soaked through his shirt instantly, but he didn't care. The streets were alive with neon signs and the scent of sizzling street food, yet he felt more detached than ever.
A news broadcast blared from a convenience store television.
"—another unexplained incident near Shibuya. Authorities have yet to comment, but witnesses describe creatures unlike anything seen before—"
Renji barely glanced at it. The world was always falling apart somewhere.
By the time he reached his apartment—a small, one-room space barely large enough to stretch in—his mind was numb. He collapsed onto the bed, staring at the ceiling. His thoughts blurred into the hum of the city outside.
That was when he heard it.
A low, guttural sound, like something wet dragging against concrete. His blood ran cold.
He sat up slowly. The noise was faint, but it was there, just beyond his window. With hesitant steps, he approached and peeled back the curtain.
At first, he saw nothing. Just the alley, dark and slick with rain. But then—a shape. Wrong. Twisted. Clawing at the asphalt, its limbs moving in unnatural jerks.
Renji's breath caught. His mind screamed at him to move, to run, but his body was frozen.
The thing lifted its head.
And it looked straight at him.
---
The thing in the alley did not move at first. It only stared, its body twitching in unnatural pulses. Then, with a grotesque snap of its limbs, it lurched toward the building. Renji stumbled back from the window, heart pounding, mind racing to process what he had just seen.
A hallucination? No, this was real. Too real.
A sharp screech tore through the night, followed by a distant explosion. Renji's breath hitched as sirens wailed outside, merging into the cacophony of screams and honking horns. Something was happening—something far worse than a single twisted creature lurking in an alley.
His phone buzzed violently on the nightstand. A news alert.
BREAKING: Unidentified creatures sighted across Tokyo. Citizens urged to stay indoors. Emergency response teams dispatched.
Renji's stomach twisted. He turned back to the window. The alley was empty now, but the streets beyond it were a different story. Figures ran in panic, some stumbling, others dragging themselves in ways that defied human motion. Streetlights flickered, casting broken shadows that stretched unnaturally across the pavement.
Then the first one attacked.
A man in a suit bolted across the street, only to be tackled mid-stride by a hunched figure. It moved too fast, too aggressively. The man's scream was short-lived, cut off by a sickening crunch. Blood sprayed onto the sidewalk as the creature tore into him. Pedestrians nearby froze in horror for only a moment before breaking into a full-blown stampede.
Renji's fingers gripped the windowsill, his body locked in place. He had to move. Now.
A pounding knock rattled his door. He spun, fear gripping his chest.
"Renji! Open up! Please!"
It was his neighbor, Jun. Renji hesitated only a second before yanking the door open. Jun practically fell inside, gasping, sweat-soaked, eyes wide with fear.
"They're everywhere," Jun wheezed. "They're— they're eating people."
"I know," Renji muttered. "I saw one."
Jun nodded frantically. "TV's saying they aren't human. That— that something's wrong with them. Some are mutating, changing. Like something out of a nightmare."
Renji clenched his jaw. He wanted to believe this was just mass hysteria, some kind of freak outbreak. But deep down, he knew that wasn't it. The world had just changed, violently and irreversibly.
Another explosion rocked the city, this one closer. Through the window, Renji caught sight of something far worse than the monsters in the streets. A rift. A massive, jagged tear in the sky above Shibuya, pulsating with an unnatural glow.
And from it, things were still coming through.
The city was falling. And there was no going back.