Sobu High School looked quiet due to the holiday. They headed to the staff room and found Shizuka Hiratsuka marking some documents.
"Excuse me, Sensei," said Hayato.
Hiratsuka turned, seeing Hayato with two beautiful girls behind him. "What is it, Hayama?"
"I brought documents for two new transfer students. They'll start tomorrow."
Lala stepped forward, smiling brightly. "Lala Satalin Deviluke! Nice to meet you, Sensei!"
Lilith nodded elegantly. "Lilith. That's all. I look forward to your cooperation."
They handed over the documents. Hiratsuka read them, her eyebrows rising higher. "So… Lala from Hokkaido, and Lilith from Germany? Why transfer here?"
Lala answered innocently, "Because I'm going to marry Hayato!"
Hiratsuka choked. High school students getting married?! And here she was still single?! She looked at Lilith. "Are you… too?"
Lilith smiled flirtatiously while hugging Hayato's arm. "Of course."
Hiratsuka felt irritated. "THE WORLD ISN'T FAIR!!"
[Be patient, Hiratsuka-sensei. Maybe you need to be a little more feminine to attract people.] Hayato's unintentional inner thought crossed his mind.
Hiratsuka suddenly heard that voice in her head. She stared at Hayato. "What did you mean by that, Hayama?!"
Hayato was startled. "Eh?! I didn't say anything! I was just quiet!"
Hiratsuka wanted to retort, but her mouth seemed locked again. 'Why can't I open my mouth?'
Lilith observed with great interest. 'So, the mechanism is the same. His inner voice is heard, but the other party can't directly address it.'
"So, Sensei?" asked Lilith, diverting attention.
Hiratsuka let out a long sigh, taking a cigarette but not lighting it indoors. "Alright. I'll get the uniforms and textbooks. Wait here."
After she left, Lala asked, "Is she angry?"
"Just a little shocked," answered Hayato.
Hiratsuka returned with several packages. "Here are the uniforms and books. Take good care of them."
"Thank you, Sensei," said Hayato, taking the items.
They said their goodbyes and left the school. Hiratsuka stood by the window, watching them leave while holding her cigarette.
Was that a hallucination? Or a weird phenomenon? She shook her head, lit her cigarette, and exhaled smoke with mixed feelings.
---
"Hungry," complained Lala as they walked.
Hayato checked the time. It was already 3 PM. "How about we go grocery shopping? Let's cook for ourselves once in a while." He cleared his throat. "Though… I'll need your help, Lilith."
Lilith smiled. "Alright. I'll teach you how to cook."
They went to a large supermarket. Hayato took a cart and started selecting: carrots, potatoes, eggs, chicken meat, snacks, A5 Wagyu, vegetables, spices. Lilith followed, observing curiously.
"An interesting shopping place," she murmured.
Lala cheerfully added various snacks and weird foods to the cart.
At the checkout, the total cost of their shopping stunned the cashier. "Should I split it into several bags?"
"Yes," answered Hayato. "And pay with this." He took out the Black Card.
The cashier was impressed. "Please wait."
After everything was bagged, they left and walked to a quieter spot.
"Lilith, Lala," said Hayato. "Hold my hand. I want to try something."
They were confused but held his hand.
Hayato closed his eyes. He imagined his house—the front door, the small garden, the feeling of "home". He didn't think about coordinates or distance. Just the concept of a place he recognized and considered home.
The air around them vibrated subtly.
[Conceptual Shift: Imaginary Coordinate Displacement]
Target Location: ✔ Front of House
Arc Memory Status: ✔ Stable
Dimensional Sync: 94.2%
[Transmission Beginning…]
Concept Particle Conversion…
Location Change — Transmission Successful.
[System: You arrived where your mind truly belongs.]
They were standing right in front of Hayato's house. A journey that should have taken 30 minutes on foot, completed in an instant.
Lilith was impressed. "Without incantations, without massive energy. Just memory and desire. Your conceptual power is maturing."
Lala beamed. "Can I do that too?"
"Of course," answered Hayato, patting Lala's head. "But you need to think of a place you've been to before. Not interplanetary yet, still risky."
They went inside and started cooking together. Lilith patiently taught Hayato how to cut vegetables, while Lala helped enthusiastically though sometimes carelessly. Finally, the food was ready: miso soup, karaage, curry, and salad.
"Itadakimasu!"
It tasted good. Really good. Not because of conceptual power, but because of their own effort.
"How is it?" asked Lilith.
"Delicious," answered Hayato sincerely. "Maybe it's not bad to cook together like this every day."
Lala smiled broadly. "Hehe~ I didn't think I could cook. Thank you, Lilith."
This time, Lilith smiled warmly, without a teasing tone. "You're welcome, Lala."
After eating, they cleaned up the kitchen. Hayato yawned. "Now, the final task: tidy up the room. I want to sleep well tonight."
They went upstairs. Lala took out a small device from her pocket.
"That… what is it, Lala?" asked Hayato warily.
"My invention device!" Lala answered cheerfully. "Relax. I'm going to make my own room. I need to move my tools."
She shot a blue beam at the wall. A door with a strange metal frame appeared where there was none before.
Lala opened it, and inside was a room much larger than it should be—filled with workbenches, strange tools, and mysterious materials.
Lilith raised an eyebrow. "Compressed space technology. Interesting. Can you make one for me?"
"Sure!" Lala shot another beam at the adjacent wall. Another door appeared, and when opened, inside was an elegantly Gothic-styled room with a large bed, a gold-framed mirror, and bookshelves.
Hayato could only shake his head, then went into his own room. He tidied up his textbooks, uniforms, and clothes. Fatigue finally overcame him. Unconsciously, he fell asleep on the bed, still wearing his everyday clothes.
---
Night fell silently. Lala and Lilith, after tidying their respective rooms, found Hayato already sound asleep on his bed.
They exchanged glances, then by mutual agreement, lay down beside him—Lala on the left, Lilith on the right.
A false peace enveloped the house. But outside, among the countless folds of reality, something far greater was observing.
---
Within the Folds of Reality
In a place where the laws of worlds are but thin scratches on the surface of eternity, The Watcher stood still.
It had no form—sometimes like a shadow of light, sometimes like a giant eye, sometimes just as pure consciousness floating among infinite timelines.
Its sole task:
To Observe.
Never interfere.
Never intervene.
Unless an Anomaly or Entity disrupts the Multiverse Balance.
"Another fragment of Kyo is beginning to appear," whispered The Watcher, its voice echoing in the void.
"One, Arc of Embodiment. The other… has already touched the Void."
"Will History repeat itself?" asked another The Watcher, its voice like the rustle of dying stars.
They were silent, considering. The History of old—when Kyo first appeared—almost destroyed the multiverse's structure.
Several worlds were erased by the emptiness wrought by the Void. The balance almost collapsed.
Now, two anomalies appear almost simultaneously. One, Issei Hyoudou from another DxD universe, has touched the Void and lost his memory, yet survives. The other, Hayato Hayama, with the Arc of Embodiment—the power to rewrite reality based on imagination.
---
On a Certain Isolated Planet
Zelretch sat in a place difficult to describe with words. A small, artificial planet floating in the vacuum of a calm universe.
On it, there was only one simple structure: an open-roofed hall, with a large round table and several chairs surrounding it. He was sipping tea while observing through his Kaleidoscope. He saw The Watcher beginning to notice.
"They are starting to become aware," he murmured. "The first Kyo fragment anomaly, Issei Hyoudou, has already touched the Void. Although he survived existential erasure, it's still a risk. And the second… Hayato Hayama, with his Arc of Embodiment."
He took a deep breath. "Will the Multiverse Dungeon reopen? I just need to wait until his system reaches Tier-3. His conceptual power will be enough to draw attention… or trigger something."
His eyes looked far, piercing through layers of reality. "I hope… the other entities haven't noticed yet. Anos Voldigoad, the Tyrannical Demon King in Dilhade. Cha Yeon-Woo, the Monster who inherited everything from the Black King. Zeno, the Eraser from Dragon Ball. Altair, the Hater from fiction. Madoka Kaname and Homura Akemi, who have become concepts. Outer Gods: Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos. Su Xiaobai, who understands fundamental laws. The Will of Honkai, targeting civilizations…"
He sighed. "Although others like Saitama, Alucard, or Reinhard van Astrea are too far from that world for now… they can't sense it like the others. If they become interested…"
Zelretch closed his Kaleidoscope. "But that's for later. For now… let's see how far our Anomaly can survive on his first day of school."
He smiled, then took another sip of his tea, enjoying the increasingly intense show.
Meanwhile, in a simple house in Chiba, Hayato Hayama slept soundly, surrounded by an alien princess and the personification of desire, unaware that eyes from outside reality were watching him, and that his fate was becoming increasingly entangled with the threads of multiversal chaos.
Tomorrow was the first day of school. And for Hayato, it wasn't just the start of a new school year—it was the beginning of the next chapter in his life as the center of an increasingly large narrative storm.