Japan, September 2012
"Chirp, chirp."
I groggily open my eyes as morning light slips through the half-drawn curtains, bright enough to sting them. For a moment, I simply lie there, for a second thinking about not getting up and going to school.
"Morning already…?" I whisper.
The thought feels distant and extremely sluggish.
With a slow breath, I push myself upright. The mattress sinks under my weight as I sit at the edge of my bed, stretching my arms before relaxing.
Then the world tilts out of nowhere.
Dizziness crashes into me without warning. My balance slips, and before I can react as I fall back onto my bed, something inside me shatters—
No.
Something floods.
Memories that aren't mine surge forward all at once. Images slam into my mind, overlapping and colliding. Classrooms filled with chatter. Sunlit hallways. A kitchen glowing in the morning light. Faces I don't recognize—but somehow i know.
My head throbs. I fall back onto the bed, clutching my skull as relentless pressure builds behind my eyes like my head is about to explode. It isn't sharp pain. It's crushing. Like two lives are being forced into one.
Then out of nowhere
Alot of memories.
Someone else's yet extremely similar.
Tangling together.
I grit my teeth, barely holding back a scream.
Seconds drag on endlessly. Then, slowly, the pressure begins to fade. The chaos quiets. The pain dulls into a distant echo.
I lie there, soaked in sweat, breathing heavily, my hand on my chest as my heartbeat steadies.
"…What happened?"
My voice sounds hoarse.
The memories remain, lingering beneath the surface. Almost identical to my own, yet subtly different. Like a mirror.
And then I hear it—
Footsteps right outside my door.
Almost measured.
"Oniichan, have you woken up?"
A beautiful voice slips into my ears naturally.
Too naturally.
My body reacts instinctively before my mind has time to process it. My mouth opens, ready to answer on pure instinct—
Click.
The door opens.
A girl steps inside.
She's beautiful in a way that almost doesn't feel real, like a real angel. Long black hair falls loosely over her shoulders, slightly messy from sleep. Her face is soft and gentle, framed by tired eyes that carry a hint of worry.
She's dressed in simple rabbit pajamas.
The morning light follows her into the room.
For a moment, the world feels unreal.
The sight of her feels natural.
And extremely comforting.
And also deeply unsettling.
"Brother, are you okay?"
My heart skips a beat for a second.
I am struggling to put my finger on it, but a sensation tightens in my chest. Instinct and reason collide—familiarity and uneasiness.
I force myself to respond quickly.
"I'm fine," I say. "Just a headache."
She steps a little closer, her brows knitting together.
"If you're feeling sick, we can skip the opening ceremony today."
Opening ceremony…?
I sit up fully and force a smile, careful to make it look natural.
"It's okay. I'll be fine. I'm going to shower first."
She hesitates, studying my face with concern like she's searching for something off with me.
Then she nods slowly.
"Alright... Don't take too long Oniichan."
As I pass by her, I can feel her gaze with concern lingering on my back.
Once inside the bathroom, I shut the door and lock it. The click of the door echoes loudly in the small space.
I grip the edge of the sink and stare at my reflection.
Same handsome face.
Same messy dark hair.
Same blue eyes.
But there something wrong with my eyes that i can actually tell—
They feel sharper.
Clearer.
As if something fundamental has shifted behind them and myself.
"What the hell happened…?"
Think Noah think.
Yesterday, I prepared my things for the first day of school.
I checked my bag.
I prepare my uniform.
I went to bed like any normal day.
And now it's morning—
Except I've woken up with memories that don't belong to me.
And apparently…
I have a new sister.
The moment that thought crosses my mind, a name surfaces without hesitation.
"Yuki Suou…"
My breath catches.
That name triggers something deep within my memory.
An anime.
A slice-of-life type anime i used to watch in my spare time.
And Yuki Suou was one of the few female leads.
while also being the protagonist's sister.
The realization hits all at once.
"I still can't believe it..." I mutter.
I'm trying to focus my mind to find any useful information in this situation.
"Incredible," I whisper while holding my head and still looking at my reflection.
It feels like a limiter in my brain has been removed.
My mind moves more quickly. Connections are formed more easily than normal. My memories and the other Noah's fit perfectly like a puzzle, lining up as though they were supposed to be one.
Even my emotions feel steadier.
Controlled.
I don't know how much my processing power has increased, but—
This must be what being a true genius feels like.
Before I can analyze it further—
I quickly snap back to reality.
I quickly get inside the shower. Warm water cascades over me, grounding me in physical sensation. Thought the unease in my mind still doesn't vanish.
A thought suddenly crossed my mind
Wait… does this mean I transmigrated into a slice-of-life anime world?
Relief and excitement swell inside me. A peaceful world. Cute girls. And apparently, some kind of cheat ability—though I'd still prefer a system.
"Oniichan Hurry up! We're going to be late!"
After quickly changing into my uniform and cleaning my teeth in the bathroom, I head downstairs while still trying to get used to my new reality.
Yuki is waiting by the door with a smile in her face, already dressed in her new school uniform.
A crisp white blouse sits neatly beneath a deep crimson blazer, the black ribbon at her collar tied with practiced precision. Her matching pleated skirt sways lightly as she shifts her weight, dark knee-high socks and polished loafers completing the look, while holding two bentos.
"Here you go, brother. I made breakfast for you."
She beams proudly.
I stare at her.
Then at the bento.
Then back at her.
"… Where's Ayano?" I ask flatly. "I want to thank her."
Yuki freezes.
"What do you mean?" she asks. "Do you really think I'd ask Ayano to make it and pretend I did?"
She tilts her head, trying to look innocent.
"Yes," I reply without hesitation.
She gasps in shock at my betreyal.
While she protests, I glance toward the kitchen.
A single ahoge swayed slowly behind the kitchen counter.
I stared at it with a deadpan for a second.
"… Ayano. I can see you."
There was a brief pause.
Then, with the resignation of someone who has been found out, a girl also holding a bento in her hand steps out from behind the counter.
She wore a school uniform the same as Yuki is wearing, long black hair almost the same as Yuki's, though a few loose strands framed her face. Her features were soft and pretty, the kind that would stand out in every way possible. She let out a quiet sigh, shoulders dropping slightly.
"I told you, Miss Yuki," Ayano said calmly, glancing in Yuki's direction. "He wouldn't believe you."
Yuki stiffened.
Then she dropped to her knees with exaggerated flair, clutching her chest as if struck by betrayal by the person she trusted the most.
"I can't believe you didn't trust me, onichan!"
I pinched the bridge of my nose.
"Last time you cooked," I said flatly, "you almost blew up the house."
She immediately wilts.
"… That was an accident."
I can't believe even comedy moments like in the anime like this are actually real.
Realizing we're almost out of time for school, I grab both Yuki's and Ayano's hands.
"We're going to be late."
I quickly close the door to our house and lock it.
We rush outside.
The morning air is cool against my face as we run by. The streets are alive—students chatting while walking the same direction as us, bicycles passing, the hum of a waking city.
Everything feels ordinary.
Yet my body moves like it's done this a thousand times before.
"Wait, brother, let me take a break..."
Yuki asks me for a short break, gasping for air after all the running.
Ayano is sweating a little from all the running.
I answer while searching for a place to rest.
"I told you, Yuki, you should have taken the exercise classes. After all, last year you did incredibly badly in P.E."
"After all, Ayano is doing much better than you right now."
She blushes as she tries to come up with a comeback.
We slow down near a bench, letting Yuki and Ayano catch their breath.
As both of them recover, I stare ahead.
A beautiful stepsister.
A cute maid.
A normal peaceful world.
And a mind that almost feels limitless.
With this cheat-level intellect, becoming rich and influential shouldn't be difficult at all. No—at this point, it almost feels inevitable.
"Brother, I'm fine now," Yuki says, straightening up and brushes her hair aside as her breathing finally settles while Ayano silently stands up beside Yuki.
I watch them both as I nod at them, and we continue walking side by side.
As we move forward, I let my gaze wander. The same streets, the same buildings, the same cars everything looks exactly the same as I remember. Nothing feels out of place or weird. It's as if my old world and this one looks exactly the same, layered on top of each other without a single visible seam.
If I hadn't woken up with those memories, I might never have noticed anything was different at all.
The thought is oddly reassuring.
I smile while the three of us walk towards our school.
Ahead of us, a large structure gradually comes into view. The school stands tall and imposing, its gates already crowded with various students wearing different custom-made uniforms and a variety of hair colors, gathering for the morning.
Some of them are chatting and reunating with their friends
Some are making new friends or talking with different girls.
this is youth...
The sight stirs something in my chest.
My instincts are screaming thats something is very wrong.
A flash of thought suddenly crosses my mind.
"Hey, Yuki," I ask quietly while still watching the entire building. "What's the name of our school?"
While Yuki walks toward the school gates, she answers with a smile on her face.
"Kuoh Academy. What? You forgot, brother?"
…
"Fuck."