Morning sunlight slipped past Haru's curtains, landing squarely on his face.
He groaned, stretched his now-long arms, and blinked at the mirror across the room.
A tall boy with toned shoulders and a calm expression stared back.
"First day back… here we go," he whispered.
His mother, Saya, was already waiting by the front door.
When Haru stepped into the hall, her eyes widened same as every morning this month, as if she still couldn't fully accept the change.
"Haru…" she breathed, arms already reaching.
He chuckled. "Mom, I'm just going to school"
She hugged him tightly anyway. She barely reached his chest now.
"Stay safe… you're big enough now," she murmured.
Haru smiled, slipping free gently.
"I'll be fine, Mom. Really."
She nodded, though her eyes still lingered with worry softened by pride.
Arriving at School
The walk to school felt different. Not because the streets changed but because people looked.
Girls chatted, then paused mid-sentence when he passed.
Older women gave quick glances.
A pair of teenage girls burst into giggles.
Haru pulled his bag up higher, face burning.
"Why… why is this happening? I'm still me!"
By the time he reached the gate, his nerves were sparking. He wasn't used to this attention. He didn't want this attention.
But he straightened his back anyway.
He'd worked hard. He wouldn't shrink anymore.
Entering the Classroom
He slid the classroom door open.
Silence.
Every head turned.
Every conversation stopped.
Someone dropped a pen.
A boy near the windows whispered loud enough for the entire room:
"…Who is that?"
A girl gasped.
Another muttered, "Did a transfer student get lost?"
Haru raised a hand awkwardly.
"Um… good morning?"
The shockwave didn't stop.
Then
"Haru, welcome back" a familiar voice said.
Chiyuri stood from her desk as she seated him near her.
"That's… Harayuki! Arita Harayuki!"
The entire class exploded.
"EH?! ARITA?!"
"NO WAY!"
"He was like this tall before!"
"He grew HOW MUCH over summer?!"
His heart thumped loudly.
He wasn't used to being looked at.
with amazement…..
The teacher walked in moments later, froze, then pointed at Haru.
"…You're Arita-kun, correct?"
Haru bowed. "Yes, sensei."
The teacher rubbed his forehead.
"You look… very healthy. Welcome back."
More whispers.
One girl whispered, "He's kinda handsome."
Another said, "Cute, actually…"
"Handsome, cute, tall just my type" another one added
System ping:
[Nearby Affection Indicators: Elevated]
[Color Range Detected: Greenish-Pink → Mild Crush]
Haru slid into his seat, hand covering his face.
"Great… I've become a… a walking embarrassment…"
As homeroom progressed, the System quietly overlaid faint auras over classmates:
Yellow: Neutral curiosity
Light green: Friendly
Pink-green: Crush detected
Orange: Competitive interest
Blue: Potential ally
Haru muttered under his breath.
"This is too much… I didn't ask for a color-coded romance radar…" Haru muttered, sinking in his seat. "Can I turn this off? It feels like I'm invading people's privacy…"
A soft ping echoed in his vision.
[Option Detected: Disable Emotion Indicators]
[will automatically turn on for extreme changes in emotion]
[Y / N]
Haru's face heated instantly.
"Y yeah… turn it off…" he whispered, flustered.
He selected Yes, practically jabbing the button from embarrassment.
At lunch, Haru made his way toward the high school wing to buy bread, still overwhelmed.
As he stepped inside, a wave of whispers hit instantly.
"He's so cute!"
"Which year is he?"
"Is he a lost middle schooler? No look at that build"
A pair of girls giggled behind him.
"He could pass as a first-year high schooler… adorable!"
Before Haru could respond, a voice flowed through the corridor like cool water:
"He's with me."
Everything stopped.
Kuroyukihime stepped forward, poised and graceful.
Her uniform perfectly in order, her expression unreadably composed.
The upperclass girls stiffened.
"Ah sorry, we didn't know"
Kuroyukihime simply nodded, then turned her attention to Haru.
"Haru-kun," she said softly, "come with me."
He swallowed. "Uh yes, senpai."
The Lounge
She led him to a quiet, elevated lounge meant for upper-level students, those that held a position.
Which he asked himself how as she was just a first year junior high student.
It was just the first day of classes.
How!?
Haru tried not to stare and ask.
But the place felt… sophisticated.
Too fancy for him.
He turned. "Senpai… um… why am I here?"
Instead of answering, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a thin metallic wire.
Haru froze.
He recognized it instantly.
A direct connection cable.
The entire room audibly gasped.
"That's for couples…" someone whispered.
"Why is she…."
"Is he…."
Kuroyukihime didn't react to the environment at all.
She simply lifted the wire toward him.
"Here. For you."
Haru swallowed again.
"S-senpai… um… that's… uh… people usually… only"
"I know," she said.
Her voice didn't waver.
She wasn't flustered at all.
Haru's face turned bright red, but he accepted the cable anyway.
He expected her to smirk or tease him.
Instead, she bowed her head politely.
"…I'm sorry for dragging you here, Arita Haruyuki-kun."
"…W-why do you sound like you're apologizing to someone who has to die on death row?" he muttered.
Her lips twitched.
Not a smile.
Just a tiny shift.
"Because what I'm about to give you will change everything."
They connected.
Her calm voice flowed directly into his mind through neurospeech.
He blinked.
"Something? Like what? An app?"
Her hand moved elegantly through the AR field.
Haru's display flickered.
A prompt appeared.
[Install Program: BB2039]
[Y / N]
His heart jumped.
<"What—what is BB2039? Is this a game? A virus? A prank?">
In neurospeech, her tone remained steady.
<…More?>
Haru stared.
"A… secret fight club?"
Her silence implied a yes.
His eyes sparkled instantly.
"Senpai. I'm in."
As he recounted scenes of a guy saying "The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is: you DO NOT talk about Fight Club!"
The window blinked.
[Installing BB2039…]
A red health bar flashed across his vision.
It flickered, then faded.
Haru waited.
<…Nothing happened. Is this the entire game? Just… a red bar?>
Kuroyukihime's voice echoed again.
<…Trigger? How>
She picked up her coffee.
For one second, Haru saw her expression shift just slightly.
A quiet, almost painful urgency.
"Senpai…?"
She threw the cup at him.
"What the!"
The world didn't explode.
No flash.
No dramatic sound.
Just
Her voice inside him, clear and firm:
"…Say what?!"
Haru spoke
"BURST LINK!"
Everything shattered.
Color drained.
Sound vanished.
Wind froze mid-current.
The coffee hung in midair, perfectly suspended—each droplet a tiny glass bead.
(A/N: that probably took long enough for the coffee to spill on our mc, but hey novel logic can't really go against it)
Haru wasn't himself anymore.
He looked down.
A small, round body.
Pink.
Stubby limbs.
His AR avatar.
A tiny pig.
"…What did I get myself into…" he muttered.
Kuroyukihime stood beside him except she wasn't in her school uniform.
She then wore the same elegant black and crimson butterfly motif he saw in the lobby.
Her voice, calm as ever, carried across the frozen world:
"Welcome, Haruyuki-kun… to a reality faster than the one you knew."
Haru stared at her, eyes wide, tail twitching in confusion.
She folded her hands delicately.
"I'll explain… all of it."
Her eyes softened.
"But first
Congratulations."
She lifted one finger.
"You have entered… the Accelerated World."
Haru's tiny pig body trembled.
"…Senpai… why do I feel like my life just got infinitely harder?"
She didn't deny it.
Instead, she looked at him with that same virtuous tranquility.
"Because it just did."