A young figure slowly climbed up from the riverbank, gng around in fusion.

  Ryuji Hoshino wasn't sure if it was because this pce was too remote or because it was already near dusk, but the area was pletely deserted, and an air of loneliness pervaded the atmosphere.

  Still feeling a bit dazed, Ryuji tried to make sense of his situation. Just a moment ago, he had been sitting fortably in his dorm, watg anime, and now, in the blink of an eye, he found himself in this unfamiliar pce.

  "Did I seriously got reinated? That's ridiculous!"

  Most people get reinated after getting hit by a truck or toug a live electric switch, but he somehow ma just by watg a show. What kind of absurdity was this?

  Now, with his whole body soaki, his clothes g unfortably to his skin, making him feel even more uneasy.

  "Did I... jump into the river?"

  Ryuji g the flowing water behind him before looking down at his soaked appearance, his eyelid twitg in irritation. His school uniform was now drenched and ging to his body, making him feel even more weighed down.

  Kneeling by the riverbank, he gazed at his distorted refle in the ripples. His normally dark hair was now in disarray, and the sharpness in his red eyes had faded, repced by a weary dullness. (Pi ent)

  No matter how weird this situation was, he figured the first step should be to figure out where he was.

  He sed his surroundings again but found nothing that seemed remotely familiar.

  Thankfully, the moment, his head throbbed, and suddenly, a flood of memories surged into his mind.

  "Hiss…"

  It took a while before Ryuji fully regained his posure and began to digest the new memories.

  "So, he really did jump into the river…"

  From the memories now embedded in his mind, Ryuji could piece together the past of this body's previous owner.

  The previous owner's name was also Ryuji Hoshino. He had grown up on the Kyushu mainnd but moved to Toky high school for his studies.

  From the beginning, life here in Tokyo had always been full of cliques, and bullying was rampant. The previous Ryuji, being introverted and reserved, naturally became a prime target for such harassment.

  The bullyiually reached a breaking point, and uo cope any lohe inal Ryuji had jumped into the river. That was when the current Ryuji Hoshino took over.

  After anizing these memories, Ryuji couldn't help but feel a little disdainful toward the inal owner.

  "You had the guts to face death, but not to stand up for yourself?"

  It didn't make seo him. If the previous Ryuji had the ce to die, why couldn't he muster the ce to fight back? After all, wasn't the worst sequence of resistance death as well? At the very least, he could have taken one or two of his tormentors down with him. That would've been a small victory in itself.

  "Tsk, fet it."

  In any case, the inal Ryuji Hoshino was dead, and the new one him was here now.

  With the memories sorted out, Ryuji at least knew where he was. It was quite far from where he lived, and he usually took a bus to get back.

  With that thought, Ryuji got his bearings and began walking in the dire of the bus stop.

  ***

  "Wait... Is this an anime world?"

  As Ryuji walked, he tinued processing the influx of memories from the inal body.

  It seemed like a normal, parallel world at first gnce, but soon enough, he realized there was more to it than that.

  In the neighb css, there was a well-known high-css girl named Yukinoshita Yukino, while the art club's ace was her than Sawamura Eriri. There was also a top student in the senior year named Kasumigaoka Utaha, often referred to as Sleepiy, and the current rising star among female high schoolers was Sakurajima Mai.

  Not only that, but the rgest glomerate in Tokyo was called the Shinomiya sortium.

  All these familiar old Ryuji that this was no ordinary parallel world.

  It was an anime world, a world made up of various anime characters aings.

  "I wonder... Is this just an everyday, slice-of-life anime world, or is there something more supernatural going on?"

  If it was just a regur slice-of-life setting, then there wasn't much to worry about. At most, he'd be dealing with high school drama and youthful mischief.

  But if there were extraordinary or supernatural elements at py, then things would be a lot more plicated.

  "Damn, and I don't even have any special abilities."

  Ryuji tried calling out mentally, hoping for a cheat system or some kind of special ability, but there was no response.

  What happeo the cssic trope where all time travelers get some kind of cheat or overpowered skill? Wasn't that supposed to be guaranteed?

  Even though he had read plenty of webnovels, it seemed like he wasn't going to be one of those lucky ones. Still, even without cheats, with the knowledge he had from all the anime and novels, he figured he could at least scrape by as a pgiarist.

  "Well, let's get bae first."

  No matter hons he might have, they'd have to wait until he fully uood the world he was in.

  With that, Ryuji gnced up and saw the bus stop in the distance. He quied his pace.

  ***

  "Hm?"

  When Ryuji arrived at the bus stop, he noticed it was retively empty, likely because it was already getting dark. Besides himself, there was only oher person waiting a girl wearing a school uniform. She was looking down at her phone, so he could only see her profile.

  She looked... familiar.

  For some reason, Ryuji felt like he had seen this JK girl somewhere before.

  However, she didn't seem to notice him, her attention pletely absorbed by her pho would be awkward to just walk up and greet her, especially if he ended up being wrong. In Tokyo, approag a stranger without reason could easily get you beled as a weirdo or worse, a pervert.

  Having just crossed over into this world, Ryuji wasn't keen on causing unnecessary trouble.

  He decided to wait quietly for the bus to arrive.

  ***

  At the same time, the girl Yotsuya Miko wasn't as focused on her phone as she appeared to be. Her fiapped on the s, but her thoughts were elsewhere.

  What's happening? Since earlier today, I've been seeing these terrifying things. Are they illusions?

  But no, the horrifying figures were still lingering around Yotsuya, giving her chills.

  " you see it? you see it?"

  A grating, hoarse voice echoed in her ears, sending a shiver down her spine.

  Yotsuya Miko had a terrible feeling that if these monstrous beings realized she could see them, things would go very, very wrong.

  To avoid dete, she had no choice but to pretend to be engrossed in her phone, even though her heart ounding in fear.

  "What's that?"

  Out of the er of her eye, Yotsuya noticed someone approag. For a moment, she worried it might be another monster, so she sneaked a gnce.

  Though she didn't reize him, she did reize the uniform he was wearing it was from Sobu High School, the same school she attended. But she had no idea which css he was in.

  Still, why was he pletely soaked? Could he be... a water ghost?

  Recalling some of the creepy stories she'd read online, Yotsuya Miko couldn't help but tremble slightly.

  Thankfully, she soon noticed the shadow beh Ryuji's feet. If there was a shadow, then he had to be human. As long as he wasn't some kind of monster, she could rex at least a little.

  ***

  "Hm?"

  Ryuji also noticed that the girl had g him, though it seemed more like a quick, cautious peek.

  For some reason, her face looked even more familiar now, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't quite remember who she was.

  Just then, the distant sound of a bus approag drew his attention. He looked up and saw the bus sloroag.