At 7:30 in the morning, the morning sun shone on the devastated streets of Tokyo.
Shinomiya Kaguya and Hayasaka Ai walked side by side on their way to Totsuki Academy. These two girls, nominally mistress and servant but sisters in all but name, appeared particularly vulnerable amidst the scarred city.
Normally, Kaguya was chauffeured to and from school in the Shinomiya Family's exclusive luxury car.
But now, the Shinomiya Family was in complete disarray. The private estate that had stood in Tokyo for years had been utterly destroyed in the upheaval two days ago.
They couldn't even arrange transport for Kaguya… her eldest brother, Shinomiya Oko, had to borrow a car from another family.
As for the reason, the Shinomiya Residence was just one street away from Shuchi'in Academy. Everyone could guess why.
At this moment, the head of the Shinomiya Family, Shinomiya Gan'an, along with Kaguya's three brothers, were all buried in the family's troubles: rebuilding their home, handling the affected family businesses, arranging care for their ailing father, and navigating the restructured social landscape.
Honestly, in this situation, Kaguya had no desire to go to school. Her home was destroyed, order had collapsed, all the familiar rules were obsolete… why bother with school?
Yet, early this morning, her father, with whom she rarely interacted, a stern and taciturn man, suddenly summoned her. With a serious expression, he ordered her to attend Totsuki Academy starting today.
Kaguya was bewildered.
'Things were this dire, the world's rules were on the verge of collapse, and he still wanted me to go to school?'
'Was there oil hidden in Totsuki Academy?'
But the elite education she had received since childhood instilled absolute obedience to superiors.
Despite her confusion, she didn't question it. She simply nodded in agreement.
She knew better than anyone that she had been a puppet of the Shinomiya Family since birth, a pawn for political marriages, transactions, and sacrifice.
Someday, she would be sacrificed for the family's interests.
Ai accompanied her as her personal bodyguard.
Previously, at Shuchi'in Academy, Ai would never have walked openly with her like this.
She would use the alias 'Herthaka', blending in as an ordinary student, protecting Kaguya from the shadows, providing information and support.
Open protection would only put enemies coveting Kaguya on alert. Staying hidden allowed her to catch them off guard.
But now, the world's structure had been overturned. The power gap demonstrated by monsters like Makoto was despairingly vast.
Facing absolute power, covert protection was meaningless. So Ai shed her disguise, standing openly before Kaguya.
"Kaguya-sama, it's still quite a distance to Totsuki Academy, and it's on the outskirts of Tokyo. We should probably call a car."
As they exited their temporary hotel, Ai looked at the devastated streets and suggested softly.
Class started in an hour, but walking was obviously unrealistic.
Maintaining her usual icy demeanor, Kaguya nodded slightly, her expression revealing little, just a soft "Mm."
But in a city already plunged into chaos, where was functional public transport?
Few pedestrians were on the streets, shops were closed. Only a few people maintaining order patrolled. The two waited by the roadside for a long time… no taxis or private cars passed by.
Who would dare go out in this situation?
With no choice, they started walking towards Totsuki Academy, keeping an eye out for any passing car they could flag down.
"Help! Help!"
Just then, a piercing cry of distress came from the street ahead, tinged with a child's sobs.
Kaguya and Ai looked up simultaneously. Two boys, looking like elementary school students, were running towards them, tears and snot streaming down their faces.
One was fat like a pig, with a pointed head, while the other was thin like a monkey, his face covered in freckles.
The fat-and-skinny combo looked quite comical.
Neither Kaguya nor Ai were the type to meddle. They assumed it was two mischievous kids who had gotten in trouble and were being chased by a parent, so they stepped aside to let them pass.
But unexpectedly, the duo ran straight behind them, hiding and refusing to come out.
"Big sisters! Help! Save us!"
"A crab monster is chasing us!"
Kaguya, maintaining her cool, long black hair, furrowed her delicate brows slightly, dismissing it as childish nonsense.
Ai beside her simply reached out, trying to push the troublesome kids away, her tone impatient. "Go play somewhere else. We're busy."
Hearing Ai's disbelief, Kojima Genta and Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko were frantic, tears streaming as they shouted in explanation.
"No, it's true!"
"It has human legs, but its upper body is a huge crab! Really!"
"It's... it's at least as tall as both of you big sisters combined!"
This made Kaguya, who had been unconcerned, and Ai frown.
Kids these days were becoming more and more annoying.
Thump—! Thump—!
Heavy, drum-like footsteps echoed from the end of the street. Each step made the ground tremble slightly.
Kaguya and Ai instinctively turned to look. The next moment, their pupils contracted sharply.
A bizarre creature was approaching, striding on thick human legs.
Its lower body was indistinguishable from a normal human's, but its upper body was abnormally huge. Its head, chest, and arms were entirely those of a giant crab. Its shell had a hard, bright red texture. Its two massive pincers opened and closed in front of it, making a grating, teeth-aching sound.
At first glance, some might mistake it for someone in an elaborate costume, but the crab-man was nearly three meters tall, its oppressive presence palpable… something no costume could replicate.
"That's him! That's the crab monster!"
Genta trembled with fear, pointing at the crab-man and shrieking.
Mitsuhiko added tearfully, "Big sisters, we saw him smash the ground with one claw! He must be like that guy on TV yesterday, a monster!"
Hearing 'that guy on TV yesterday', Kaguya and Ai's expressions changed simultaneously.
They had witnessed yesterday's earth-shattering battle that reshaped the world order through their screens and had fully grasped a cruel reality: supernatural forces beyond reason had emerged in this world.
'Could this crab-man be like Nishikawa Makoto and those girls from yesterday?'
As they were reeling from this realization, they noticed a little girl, around five or six, about the same age as Mitsuhiko and Genta, fearlessly approaching the crab-man.
The child had fair skin and delicate features like a porcelain doll. She looked up at the behemoth before her with innocent, naive curiosity.
"Mister, how did you make this costume? It looks so real!"
Clearly, the young Katsura Kokoro had no idea of the danger she was in.
"That's... Kokoro-chan!"
Mitsuhiko's eyes widened as he exclaimed in shock.
Kokoro was in the same first-grade class at Shuchi'in Elementary. She was widely considered the cutest girl in their grade.
Well, kids in the 2D World did mature early… they were already picking class beauties.
But this adorable, lovely child didn't stir any sympathy in the crab-man. Instead, it further enraged him.
"More brats! I hate brats!"
With a furious roar, the crab-man raised its right giant pincer and swung it down with a whoosh towards Kokoro's head!
Kaguya, Ai, Genta, and Mitsuhiko's faces went pale. They could only watch helplessly as the red pincer descended.
Boom—!!
With a deafening crash, the hard concrete road shattered, debris and dust flying everywhere.