At exactly 3:02 PM, the sky split open over Tokyo.
No sound. No warning. Just a jagged rift bleeding red light, pulsing like a heartbeat across the clouds. For a moment, the entire city froze. People looked up. Traffic stopped. Somewhere, a school bell rang out one last time.
Then the girl fell.
She came out of the rift like a meteor—arms limp, hair trailing black smoke, her school uniform shredded by speed and heat. A glowing red core pulsed in her chest. Not a wound. Not tech. A thing. Alive.
Takeru stood alone on the edge of a shattered overpass, watching her drop. Cigarette halfway to his lips.
"The hell…"
She hit the street below with a sound like thunder. The ground cracked. Wind exploded outward, flipping cars and shattering nearby windows. Drones blinked out. Lights died. Sirens screamed to life.
Takeru flicked away the cigarette and ran. Boots thudding over crumbling concrete, breath steady, blade strapped to his back.
He found her lying in a crater outside the ruins of a convenience store. Her legs were twisted under her. Blood soaked the concrete. But her chest still pulsed—one, two, three beats.
She was alive. Somehow.
Her eyes opened as he knelt beside her. First black. Then a rush of color. She stared straight through him.
"You're not hollow," she whispered.
"Neither are you. Barely," Takeru muttered.
The Godcore in her chest throbbed again. Bright red. He could feel it vibrating in his bones. His stomach twisted. He'd seen what those things could do.
"What's your name?" he asked.
She coughed. Blood hit his jacket. "Hinata... Aozora."
The sky above cracked again. Takeru looked up and swore.
Three figures descended through the rift. Pale. Inhuman. Wings of steel. Faces covered in golden veils. Voices like choir static.
The gods had followed her.
Takeru didn't wait. He scooped her up—light as ash—and sprinted toward the underground tunnels.
The first godspawn hit the ground behind them with enough force to shatter the road. Its limbs moved wrong—too many joints, too many eyes. It screeched. Tendrils lashed out.
Takeru spun mid-stride, drew his blade, and slashed. Sparks exploded as metal kissed divine bone. The creature reeled back, howling.
They ran.
Down into the subways, through collapsed stairwells, past murals painted in cult blood. The city above screamed. Fires bloomed in the sky.
He slammed the bunker door shut behind them. Darkness. Silence.
Hinata stirred.
"You saved me…"
"Don't thank me yet," he said.
The Godcore beat again—louder this time.
Takeru looked at it. Then at her. Then at the door.
This wasn't just some random girl. She was a trigger. A key. Maybe a bomb.
Outside, the gods howled. Tokyo trembled.
And the fall had only just begun.