"Heh heh... ha ha ha... AHAHAHAHA!"
Makoto Nishikado's laughter ripped through the night, careening down the empty street with zero restraint.
A few late-night pedestrians were still out, and every head turned. He didn't care.
The grin stayed plastered across his face as if the rest of the world were scenery in someone else's movie.
When the laughter finally ebbed, he turned on his heel and strode off in the opposite direction.
Before the second transmigration, he'd planned to stop by the Akizuki house, check in on the family after his month-long disappearance.
But in the Naruto world, they'd already spent four full years together. No rush.
There was, however, somewhere else he wanted to see.
He cut straight across the road, passing Yukino on the sidewalk. In the split second their paths crossed, he tilted his head and gave her a lazy arch of one eyebrow.
Yukino didn't move. She stood frozen from start to finish, unable to even lift her gaze to meet his.
Her fingers twisted white-knuckled into the hem of her clothes as those steady, oppressive footsteps faded, then vanished into the dark.
Meanwhile, the other players who'd returned from the Naruto world alongside Makoto Nishikado after four long years weren't sitting idle either.
Down by the shore, Shuchiin Academy's soccer team was running a nighttime training camp.
The squad jogged in a neat line along the coastline, footfalls in lockstep. Then Kakeru Tobe crumpled.
No warning, no stumble. He dropped as if an invisible hand had violently ripped the soul from his body.
Panic erupted.
"What happened? Tobe, you okay?"
"Was today's session too much? Did he overdo it?"
"Get the coach! Now!"
They crowded around him, voices tripping over each other. Everyone assumed it was simple exhaustion, a momentary blackout from overtraining.
Everyone except Hayato Hayama.
Something terrible had clicked behind his eyes. His face drained of color, and he stood rooted to the spot, stiff as a board.
The burly P.E. coach shouldered through the crowd. "Back up, back up! Give him air!"
He hadn't thought much of it at first, reaching for Tobe's philtrum to begin emergency resuscitation. The moment his fingers touched skin, the coach's face went white. His voice cracked.
"He's... he's not breathing!?"
Not far from Shuchiin Academy, in a family restaurant.
Eriri Spencer Sawamura, Utaha Kasumigaoka, and Megumi Kato had been sitting together chatting with the group when all three shot to their feet at the same instant and bolted for the door without a word.
"Huh? Wait, where are you all going?"
Tomoya Aki, still trying to process what had happened, stared after them in bewilderment.
None of the three looked back. Not one answered. They sprinted out of the restaurant and disappeared.
Eriri's heart hammered against her ribs. She needed to get home, needed to confirm that her mother Sayuri Sawamura was safe.
During the Konoha Crush, she'd thrown everything she had into protecting her, but Sayuri was an ordinary woman with no ninja training whatsoever.
What if she'd been hurt in some moment Eriri hadn't noticed?
Utaha and Megumi were different. Unlike Eriri, they hadn't had family beside them in the Naruto world.
Four years without seeing the people they loved in the real world. Every fiber of their being pulled them homeward.
Only Tomoya remained unfazed.
He'd long grown accustomed to parents who were never around. If anything, their absence meant more freedom. More time for games and anime. He settled back into his seat.
Elsewhere, Ran Mouri had been sweeping the floor when the broom clattered from her hands.
She didn't hesitate. She was out the door in a heartbeat, sprinting toward the Western-style house where her childhood friend Shinichi Kudo lived.
The image of Makoto Nishikado's terrifying power burned in her mind, that commanding presence that looked down on the world like something not quite human.
She had one thought and one thought only: she had to warn Shinichi. Under no circumstances, absolutely none, should he provoke Sensei.
Eri Kisaki's mind had gone to the same place as her daughter's.
Her destination was the Metropolitan Police Department. She knew her estranged husband, Kogoro Mouri, was part of the investigation team. She had to reach him first, had to make him understand that tangling with Makoto Nishikado was not an option.
Every last player who'd clawed their way back from the Naruto world alive had somewhere to be.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep...
In an empty wing of Shuchiin Academy, inside a girls' restroom.
Kotonoha Katsura clutched her phone, fingers trembling, dialing Makoto Itou's number over and over. Praying he'd pick up. Praying he'd come get her.
No matter how many times she called, the only answer was a flat, dead tone.
Until finally, even that was replaced by the mechanical voice of an automated message:
"The number you have dialed is currently powered off."
Her eyes were rimmed red, brimming with barely concealed panic and helplessness.
A group of girls from the neighboring class had cornered her. Shoved her in here. Locked the door. Left her in the pitch dark.
The absurdity of it was almost laughable. She was a Pure-blood student, the daughter of a food company CEO, bullied and locked in a bathroom by girls from ordinary backgrounds without a shred of Pure status.
If the other Pure students found out, they'd have died laughing.
But that was exactly how timid Kotonoha was.
And exactly how stupid those bullies were.
Everyone knew that fear multiplied in confined spaces, and right now the restroom was a lightless box, sealed without a single sliver of brightness.
The night air had turned cold. It wrapped around her, and she couldn't stop shaking.
"What do I do... what am I supposed to do..."
She huddled in the corner, thoughts spiraling.
Her boyfriend's phone was dead. Her parents were overseas. Her sister had already told her she'd be sleeping over at a friend's place tonight.
No matter how hard she thought, she couldn't come up with a single other person to call.
She was completely, utterly alone.
"Last time I was wandering around the school at night, I think it was when I snuck out and climbed the wall to hit up an internet cafe."
A boy's voice, drifting from outside the restroom, right when the despair threatened to swallow her whole.
Kotonoha flinched so hard she nearly fell off the toilet seat.
A boy?
Why would anyone still be at school this late?
For someone with a severe case of androphobia, speaking to any male was unthinkable on a normal day.
The only reason she'd agreed to date Makoto Itou at all was because her new friend Sekai Saionji had spent weeks encouraging her, nudging her, practically dragging her across the finish line.
Even then, she and Itou had never so much as touched. If he leaned even slightly closer when they talked, she'd start shaking all over.
The footsteps were fading.
Her heart sank with every receding step. But the twin pressures of terror and desperation finally crushed through her fear, and she clenched her jaw, summoning every last scrap of courage she had.
"I-is someone there? Please, help me!"
She thought she'd screamed it. In reality, her voice barely rose above a whisper, indistinguishable from normal speech.
If the Reincarnation Game hadn't already enhanced Makoto Nishikado's body well beyond human limits, he might never have heard it.
"Hah?"
He paused, glancing toward the girls' restroom.
BANG.
Two minutes later, the restroom door was wrenched open with brutal force. The padlock twisted into a mangled knot, hanging at an ugly angle. Whatever kind of strength the person on the other side possessed, it wasn't normal.
Kotonoha lifted her trembling gaze.
A boy in a white uniform stood framed in the doorway, his expression sharp and arrogant, his eyes half-lidded but carrying a weight that pinned you in place.
Pale moonlight spilled over his shoulders, outlining his tall frame in a faint halo.
"Heh. Even after transmigrating, I run into this kind of thing?"
He let out a low laugh, more amused than anything.
Kotonoha felt her heart clench. A rush of warmth flooded outward from her chest and spread through her entire body.
"I-I'm Kotonoha Katsura, from Class 1-A. Th-thank you for saving me."
Once she was out, she kept her head low, bowing to him again and again.
"Kotonoha Katsura?"
The name made Makoto Nishikado raise a brow. His gaze lingered on the timid, bullied girl in front of him.
He couldn't square this with the version of her he knew, the one who'd one day take a knife and gut a love rival without flinching.
"Class 1-F. Makoto Nishikado."
His tone was flat, offhand.
"Th-thank you, Nishikado... huh?!"
She'd been bowing on autopilot, but the name caught up to her mid-sentence. Her head snapped up, and she finally got a clear look at his face.
The color drained from hers in an instant.
That Makoto Nishikado? The one who'd killed a classmate on school grounds?
Terror crashed over her like a wave. Compounded by the androphobia slamming back in full force, she stumbled two steps backward, ashen.
"What's with that reaction? This how you treat the guy who rescued you?"
He watched her panic with an amused grin.
"I-I'm sorry, it's, I, I just..."
She couldn't string a sentence together. Her tongue had tied itself in knots.
"Relax. Go home."
He waved dismissively over his shoulder and turned to leave.
"W-wait!"
He'd taken two steps when her voice stopped him. He glanced back. "What?"
"Wh-why did you come back to the school?"
She had no idea why she was asking. This was an extremely dangerous person. Letting him walk away was the safest possible outcome.
"Been gone a while," Makoto Nishikado said with a shrug. "Came back to look around. That a crime?"
He'd enrolled at Shuchiin Academy and immediately been hit with one catastrophe after another. He'd never even gotten a proper look at his own school.
Kotonoha blinked. It sounded reasonable, technically. But something about it felt off in a way she couldn't place.
Then Makoto Nishikado seemed to remember something. Curiosity crept into his voice. "Why didn't you call someone else for help? Your boyfriend, maybe?"
He wasn't sure whether Kotonoha and Makoto Itou were officially together yet, but she had to have family at least. He vaguely recalled she had a younger sister.
"I-I tried calling so many times, but he never picked up... and my sister told me she's staying at a friend's house tonight..."
She mumbled it with her head down, each word dragged out reluctantly.
That pulled a grin out of him, sharp and knowing.
"Congratulations. Your boyfriend's about to have a girlfriend."
So Kotonoha and Itou were already official.
And he was one hundred percent certain that dear Makoto was, at this very moment, busy with Sekai Saionji.
"Huh?"
Innocent and naive, Kotonoha didn't understand.
Makoto Nishikado took his time. "Right now, odds are he's with some other girl..." He trailed off, raised an eyebrow at Kotonoha, and smacked his palms together in a crude, rhythmic gesture with a look that said you get it.
Kotonoha was innocent, not stupid. She'd had her share of crude remarks from boys over the years, thanks to her figure. The meaning landed.
Her cheeks flushed scarlet, then the blood drained just as fast, leaving her paper-white.
"Wh-what do I do?"
Makoto Nishikado didn't hesitate.
"Kill him."
Her eyes went wide, shock written across every feature.
That... that was a bit extreme, wasn't it?
But then she thought about the things Makoto Nishikado had done, and the words didn't seem so out of place coming from him.
He glanced at her. "You'd have the guts to kill a love rival someday, but you wouldn't dare kill the scumbag cheating on you?"
Honestly, back when he'd watched the anime in his previous life, he'd always wished it had been Kotonoha who offed Makoto Itou, not Sekai. Screw that guy. What did Itou even have going for him?
What exactly did Kotonoha see in him?
The question slipped out before he could stop it.
It was something he'd always wanted to ask the heroines of these crossover worlds. In so many series, the guy they loved was surrounded by other girls and drowning in ambiguity, yet they'd still throw themselves into the fray, fighting tooth and nail in the harem wars.
Kotonoha wasn't the only case. Megumi Kato, back in the day, was the prime example.
What the hell was it about guys like Tomoya Aki and Makoto Itou that drew so many girls?
Could they fight like Kakarot?
Were they rich like Sonoko Suzuki?
Or are they packing the legendary assets of a hentai protagonist?
"I... um..."
The barrage of questions left Kotonoha speechless. She stood there, stunned.
She tried to trace it back. How had she fallen for Makoto Itou in the first place?
It started, she supposed, when she noticed him sneaking photos of her on the train. That was how she first remembered his face.
Then Sekai had played matchmaker, nudging and coaxing and cheering her on until she'd half-heartedly agreed to go out with him.
Was that... love?
She didn't know anymore.
Makoto Nishikado watched her silence and chose not to press further. He turned away, back to her, and waved over his shoulder.
"When you change your mind and decide to kill him, give me a call."
I would never!
The protest screamed inside her head, heat rising in her cheeks.
She stood rooted to the spot, watching his retreating figure until it dissolved into the darkness of the campus night. Only then did she come back to herself.
_______________________
Come on man, target is 60 doesn't mean have to keep it at 60 Powerstones the entire day T_T