Within a world much like earth, a modern metropolis city sprawls across the coast of a landmass. The city's skyscrapers create a mesmerising skyline for all who see it, even in rain that would pouring down on it. Outside the city's borders lies grassy plains and mountains, serving as a pristine and beautiful backdrop for the city...is what the usual scenery would be if the city's waterfront wasn't currently enveloped in shadow. Towering over the largest skyscrapers, a massive frozen tidal wave looms over the waterfront, the power of it crashing frozen in time halfway through its advance. A piece of it breaks off and flattens a warehouse. Such things would cause mass panic, yet no souls are in sight.
Despite the lack of people, various sources of commotion can be heard throughout the metropolis, one such source being a blinding blue light that can be seen for miles. Close to the light itself, everything in its vicinity is melting into puddles. Cars, buildings, and roads are all melting within its radius. In contrast to the melting, another area of the metropolis is completely frozen over. The cold causing horrid creaking sounds as everything fractures and collapses from the compromise of structural integrity. Despite the horrid sounds, the feeling of repeated impacts reverberates throughout the earth, originating from another part of the metropolis.
The buildings in another part of the metropolis separate from the previous three are covered in large gashes. Some seeming to be caused by large and intense impacts, while others seem to be caused by clean cuts. In stark contrast to the sounds of commotion, one area is dead quiet. Even the sound of the rain falling can't be heard...because it isn't falling. The raindrops are falling so slowly that not even 'at a snail's pace' can be used to describe them. These are just some of the effects caused by the battles unfolding within this metropolis. Despite the importance of these battles, they wouldn't be occurring for a very long time. The origin of these battles stretches far back, far beyond the reach of this one world. The origin, not yet known by a single soul that lives, or has ever lived...yet.
A normal high school student, one that you could find anywhere, is where this origin starts. The day was like any other, him walking down a footpath after school, trying to get home. This is something you could find anywhere in Japan. If he had anything different about him compared to the norm of Japan, it would be that his features are a little different from his peers. His traits include dark brown hair, a pretty but sharp face, blue eyes, a slim build, and a height a bit taller than most his age. Maybe his height is due to his mother being considered tall for a Japanese woman, but the rest is from his European father.
The student's lost in thought as he walks along his usual route home, another day of nothing exciting happening. Wake up, eat breakfast, go to school, go home, do homework, eat dinner, study, take a bath. Rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat. I feel like I'm fading into nothingness, like nothing I do matters. It feels like I don't belong here, like this isn't where I should be. I don't know what to do. He suddenly stops in the middle of the footpath. As if drawn by an unseen force, he looks down the adjacent street. After a few seconds of blankly staring down it, he finds himself walking down said street, deviating from his usual route home, there's...something. There's something this way.
He passes by normal people in the street like anyone would; an old lady, an office worker, a guy in a hoodie, a girl in cosplay, and pair of women enjoying drinks at a cafe. Nothing out of the ordinary, just the mundane, ordinary day life. And the street is just a normal street you'd find anywhere, what's meant to be here? Am I imagining stuff again? The only thing that could be considered out of the ordinary here is a construction site. However, it's just a normal construction site you'd find in any metropolitan area.
Suddenly, a large snaping sound rings out from the construction site. The sound is easily drowned out by the bustling people and traffic on the street. The high schooler, who was on the lookout for something looks up to find the source. He isn't able to deduce what exactly the sound was, only that it was a kind of snap, but since he was beside a construction site, it's probably something normal that happens regularly.
As he's looking up, suddenly, a steel pipe comes rolling out of the building that's mostly scaffolding. The pipe is followed by another pipe, and another, and another. The student, shocked by the unexpected flood of pipes, immediately starts to run in the direction he was already facing, as anyone's instincts would scream at them to do. Fight or flight, it is the fastest route to safety. The pipes are falling from a height, but not high enough to give him a lot of time to run. The moment he switches to look ahead, his vision is filled with the back of a woman, who was leisurely walking in front of him after walking around him. She hasn't noticed what's happening, the high schooler's thoughts firing faster than the words can get to his mouth, there isn't enough time to warn her!
There is only one option available to him, which he acts upon without thinking. He pushes the lady, causing her to fly forward and fall to the ground. Before she can even register that she's on the ground, she hears the massive clanging of metal from where she just was, quickly turning towards the source. One pipe that barely missed her falls onto her lap after bouncing, causing her to wince in pain. She opens her eyes and starts to remove the pipe from her lap after realising what it was, only to catch blood slowly creeping towards her on the concrete pavement. She looks to the source on instinct, seeing a pile of pipes where she once was less than a 20 seconds ago. She sees the high schooler, impaled by pipes all over his body. Blood is flowing from his wounds and seeping in all directions. His head is miraculously still intact, but his eyes clearly show that no life remains within them. Seeing the dead boy, the woman lets out a scream as people are rushing towards her. She's too distraught to notice the commotion around her, including the sound of breaking glass.
On a rainy day, a funeral is underway. a picture of the high schooler is on display above the closed coffin, his body too maimed for an open casket. The high schooler's mother is standing lifeless next to the casket, her eyes completely void of life. The funeral is over, people leaving, and the casket ready to be taken away for cremation. The woman who the student saved is there, looking upon the devastated mother with eyes full of sorrow. She is conflicted because she wants to go and say something to the mother, but she feels it would just hurt her more than help her, thus anchoring her legs to the spot.
She overheard some people talking in hushed voices earlier about how the mother's husband died from an illness while the boy was still young. This led her to be overprotective of her son, perhaps too much so, but now she's all alone. This makes it harder for the woman to approach. She's happy that she's alive, but there is a massive amount of guilt weighing on her heart, the weight suffocating. She knows that this guilt isn't due to her own actions, but that doesn't make it go away. The woman ultimately decides to wait until everyone else is gone and approach the mother. It would be rude for the woman to not greet the mother, but it would be easier on the mother meeting with nobody else around, is what she tells herself.
Time passes and the two are finally alone. Having finally steeled her resolve, the woman approaches the mother. The mother's eyes reflect no life as she looks at the woman, almost like the eyes of dead fish, "thank you for paying your respects. My son would appreciate it". The mother's low and monotone voice is so lifeless that the woman's resolve falters immensely, her heart sinking to her stomach, but she manages to not let her resolve go to waste, forcing out a shaky squeak, "I beg your pardon for not introducing myself earlier, I am-".
The mother interrupts her before she can finish, "I know who you are. I thought about you, all day...all night. I wanted to blame you so, so badly...but then it would be just as much my fault if you were to blame. If only you weren't there, my son would be alive...but the same can be said for me. If only I woke him a bit earlier...or even later. If I made a breakfast that he had to eat more or less of, he'd leave the house at a different time. If he gets to school a different time, maybe he makes a different decision about going home. Maybe he decides to wait for a friend to finish their club activities and go to a card shop. If I called him, making him stop for a moment, and asked what he wanted for dinner, he would still be alive...and you would be dead in his place. No matter how much I think about it...nothing will change. I can only be thankful that my son did something worthy of being called a hero, so please go and live your life to the fullest and don't waste the chance my son has given you".
The mother starts walking off, not letting the woman get a word in. The woman can't say anything. She had resolved to be cursed at, even assaulted, but all she could do was bow as the mother left with tears spilling her eyes. This encounter lifted a great burden from the woman, that it wasn't her fault. The woman would later go on to visit the high schooler's grave every year, making sure to avoid the mother who clearly didn't want anything to do with her. She would also name her first son after the high schooler and live a happy, fulfilling life. The mother...not so much.