Darkness.
That was all he knew at first — not a peaceful kind of darkness, but a suffocating, bottomless void. It wasn't a dream. It wasn't death. It was something in between, a holding place for souls caught between ends and beginnings.
And then came the breath.
A harsh inhale forced air into his lungs. His chest arched off the bed, eyes snapping open to a blinding white light above. The ceiling was sterile, the scent of disinfectant sharp and invasive. Heart monitors beeped nearby. He could feel the dry tug of an IV in his arm and hear the muffled voices of nurses down the hallway.
He was alive — again.
But it wasn't his old life.
He sat up too fast, dizziness crashing into his skull. The name came back to him first — Kaito Hoshino. That was who he was now. Fifteen years old. Transferred to this town two weeks ago. And yet, memories that didn't belong in this body surged up like a rising tide.
> "I died. I remember it."
A truck. A cold road. The taste of iron in his mouth. He had been a different boy, in another world — one where ghosts and aliens only existed in comics and late-night conspiracy shows.
And yet here he was, reborn in the Dandadan universe.
He remembered it from manga and anime: Momo Ayase, the delinquent beauty with psychic fists. Okarun, the nerd who inherited a perverted yokai's powers. Turbo-Granny. The aliens. The chaos. The ridiculous and horrifying mix of absurdity and danger. Except now it wasn't fiction. He was inside it. And if he was right about the timeline, it was about a year before the canon began.
Which meant he had time — but not much.
---
Three Days Later – Back at Home
The doctors never figured out what knocked him out. "Stress," they said. "Maybe heatstroke." Kaito didn't argue. What could he even say?
That he'd gone to a supposedly haunted riverbed and blacked out after seeing something that looked like a ghost covered in static? That he'd woken up to find his muscles sore, but stronger? That when he looked in the mirror now, his eyes felt… sharper?
He'd gotten hurt. That part was real. His body had been overwhelmed by something — a spirit, maybe, or alien tech. But he hadn't just survived. He'd changed.
When he flexed his hand, his grip felt stronger than before. His reaction time in the mirror? Slightly faster. Subtle changes, sure — but unmistakable.
> "Every time I get hurt… I get stronger."
His body didn't just heal. It adapted. That pain at the riverbank had flipped a switch. Whatever power he'd inherited, it rewired his biology to turn damage into growth. Muscle density, nerve pathways, maybe even brain function — everything upgraded after trauma. Physical or mental.
It was terrifying. And thrilling.
---
Monday – First Day at the New School
Kaito walked through the school gates with a blank expression. Just another transfer student, keeping his head down.
That lasted all of ten minutes.
> "You're blocking the hallway, dumbass."
The voice was loud, sharp, and unmistakably annoyed. He turned to see her.
Momo Ayase.
The real one. Blonde-streaked hair tied up lazily. Short skirt, long legs, sharp eyes. Her attitude walked two steps ahead of her. She looked him up and down with that trademark scowl.
> "You're the guy who fainted at the river, right?" she said, tone edged with amusement. "Better stay outta haunted places if you're gonna be that lame."
She walked off before he could answer.
He blinked. She hadn't even given him time to react — but something in her expression, the half-smirk at the end… she wasn't mocking him completely. There was curiosity buried under her armor.
> "She's just like I remember," Kaito thought. "No… she's more. She's real."
Later that day, during lunch, a soft voice cut through the classroom chatter.
> "Kaito Hoshino?"
He turned. Rin Sawaki stood beside him, holding a juice box and looking down at his hand — the one he'd injured at the river. Her eyes were quiet, but piercing.
> "Something touched you," she said softly. "At the river. You saw it too, didn't you?"
Kaito froze.
> "I… yeah," he said. "You saw it too?"
She nodded once. "I don't talk about it. People laugh."
Rin sat beside him, uninvited, and started sipping her juice.
It was the beginning of something strange — and silent — between them.
---
That Evening – Back Streets of the Town
A woman leaned against a fence, watching him from the shadows. Her cigarette glowed orange in the dusk. She wore a long coat, high heels, and a knowing smile.
Seiko Ayase, Momo's grandmother. A legendary exorcist. She looked him over like he was a riddle she already half-solved.
> "You've got weird karma, boy," she said, exhaling smoke. "Something in you's alive that shouldn't be. Spirit? Alien? Demon? Hell, I don't even know. But you're not normal. Not anymore."
Kaito met her gaze. "You're not scared?"
> "Kid," she said, flicking the ash. "I raised Momo. I wrestled a toilet demon when I was thirty. I don't scare easy."
She tossed him something — a paper charm. "Stick that on your door. It'll keep the weak ones out. The strong ones? You're on your own."
Then she was gone.
---
Night – Alone in His Room
Kaito sat cross-legged on his bed, staring at the spiral-like mark glowing faintly on his palm. It pulsed in sync with his heartbeat. It hadn't been there before the incident. It looked half-biological, half-alien — a visual signature of his evolution.
> "If I want to survive this world… I can't stay human."
A dull ache settled in his chest. But beneath it was something deeper: resolve.
He wasn't the protagonist of this story. Not like Momo. Not like Okarun.
But he could be something else.
Something stronger.
> "Bring on the pain," he whispered. "I'll evolve past everything."
Outside, in the space between this world and the next, something ancient watched him back.