Pain was the first thing I felt.
Not the kind of pain that fades with time, nor the kind one could simply ignore, but something far worse—something fundamentally wrong. It felt as though every bone in my body had been shattered into pieces and then reassembled carelessly, leaving behind a constant, unbearable ache that spread through my entire being.
I tried to breathe, instinctively seeking relief, but the moment I did, a sharp, crushing agony erupted in my chest, forcing a weak groan out of my throat.
"…ghh…"
Even my own voice sounded unfamiliar to me—dry, fragile, and distant, as though it didn't belong to me at all.
For a brief moment, a single thought surfaced in my mind.
Who… am I?
Slowly, with great difficulty, I forced my eyes open. What greeted me was not a ceiling, nor anything remotely familiar, but an endless blue sky stretching far beyond what felt possible. It was vast, overwhelming, and painfully real in a way that immediately told me something was terribly wrong.
This wasn't my room.
This wasn't Earth.
Before I could process that realization any further, a shadow suddenly blocked the sunlight above me.
"Hey! This one's still alive!"
A rough voice reached my ears, followed by the sound of heavy boots pressing against dry ground. Gathering what little strength I had, I turned my head slightly—and what I saw made my thoughts come to a complete halt.
Men stood around me. Dozens of them. They were dressed in a way I had only ever seen in old western movies, wearing wide-brimmed hats and dust-covered clothing, with weapons resting casually at their sides. Behind them stood horses, snorting and stomping the ground, sending clouds of dust into the air with every movement.
Dust.
The detail struck me harder than it should have.
This wasn't a staged environment.
This was real.
A deep sense of unease crept into my chest as my gaze shifted forward—and that was when I saw it.
A massive banner, waving violently in the wind.
The letters were bold. Clear. Impossible to misunderstand.
STEEL BALL RUN — 1890
For a moment, my mind went completely blank.
Then—
My pupils shrank.
"No… that's impossible…"
I knew this.
I recognized it instantly.
Steel Ball Run.
The cross-country race across America. A brutal competition filled with danger, greed, and death—a world where Stand users clashed, where gunmen roamed freely, and where survival was never guaranteed.
This wasn't fiction anymore.
This was reality.
And it was a death game.
"Oi, you good?"
One of the men crouched beside me, his expression sharp but not entirely unkind. "You collapsed before the start. You joining the race or not?"
Before I could respond, a strange sensation washed over me, followed by a faint sound that seemed to echo directly inside my mind.
A soft, almost artificial ding.
For a brief moment, the world felt distant, as though something else had slipped into it without disrupting its flow. A translucent blue interface appeared quietly at the edge of my vision, subtle yet undeniable.
A system.
For reasons I couldn't explain, its presence didn't feel unnatural. Instead, it felt as though it had always been meant to be there, waiting for the right moment to reveal itself.
Information began to appear.
I had been recognized as a "player."
An attempt to initialize my Stand followed almost immediately.
Then—
Failure.
The word alone was enough to make my heart sink.
My Stand was incomplete.
Broken.
A hollow feeling settled deep within me. In a world where power dictated survival, starting with a broken ability was no different from being sentenced to death.
However, before that despair could fully take hold, another message appeared.
A compensation.
Something had been granted in place of what I had lost.
The Spin.
The moment I focused on it, a subtle change occurred within me, as though something had shifted just beneath the surface. It wasn't overwhelming, nor was it powerful, but it was real—a small, fragile possibility.
A chance.
Then came the mission.
Simple.
Unforgiving.
I had to survive the first stage of the Steel Ball Run.
No alternatives.
No second chances.
Failure meant death.
A faint, bitter smile formed on my lips.
"…Of course it does."
Reincarnated into one of the most dangerous worlds imaginable, equipped with a broken ability and nothing but a weak substitute to rely on—it was almost laughable.
And yet…
I was still alive.
Which meant I still had a chance.
The world around me snapped fully back into focus as voices rose across the field.
"HEY! LINE UP! THE RACE IS STARTING!"
Excitement surged through the crowd, mixing with tension and barely concealed greed. Riders began preparing, gripping their reins tightly as the atmosphere grew increasingly chaotic.
I clenched my jaw and forced my body to move.
Pain coursed through every muscle, my vision threatening to blur with each step—but I stood anyway.
Because staying down wasn't an option.
If I stayed—
I would die.
If I moved—
…I might still die.
But at least I'd be moving forward.
"…Heh."
Grabbing onto the saddle of a nearby horse, I pulled myself up with unsteady arms, barely managing to stabilize myself.
"Guess I don't have a choice…"
As I lifted my gaze, scanning the vast field ahead, my eyes suddenly landed on a single figure in the distance.
A man standing calmly amidst the chaos, completely unaffected by the surrounding noise. In his hands, steel balls spun effortlessly, moving with a precision and control that immediately set him apart from everyone else.
Gyro Zeppeli
"…So it's real."
A quiet realization settled within me.
This world wasn't just similar.
It was exactly what I thought it was.
At that moment, a subtle tension crept into the air, almost imperceptible, yet enough to send a chill down my spine. The system responded silently, feeding me a single, unmistakable warning.
Danger.
Something powerful was nearby.
Something far beyond me.
My instincts reacted instantly.
Run.
Hide.
Survive.
But before I could act—
"THREE!"
"TWO!"
"ONE!"
A gunshot rang out, echoing across the plains.
And just like that—
The race began.
Horses surged forward, the ground trembling beneath their weight as dust swallowed everything in sight. The world descended into chaos within seconds.
And in that exact moment—
Something behind me moved.
Fast.
Silent.
Unnatural.
A whisper reached my ear, cold enough to freeze my blood.
"…You don't belong here."
My entire body went still.
The system reacted instantly, a sharp sense of danger flooding my mind as an unknown presence locked onto me.
Slowly…
I turned my head.
There was nothing there.
No one.
Only empty space.
And yet—
Something was watching me.
Waiting.
Smiling.
To be continued…