Chapter Text
Darkness.
Not sleep. Not unconsciousness. Not even nothing—but something beyond nothing. A void that stretched endlessly, where time had no meaning and thoughts felt sluggish, like swimming through thick molasses. I couldn’t see, couldn’t hear, couldn’t feel—but somehow, I knew I existed.
Then, suddenly, sensation returned. A stabbing pain behind my eyes, sharp and insistent, like reality itself was forcing me awake. Light pierced the void, blinding in intensity. I gasped, lungs burning as if they had never drawn air before.
Cold. Hardness. Rough texture against my back.
As my vision cleared, the world came into focus in jagged fragments. I was lying on asphalt. The air reeked of smoke and dust, a metallic tang biting at my nose and throat. Sirens wailed faintly in the distance, distorted and uneven, and the faint echo of explosions rattled my bones.
My hands fumbled to push myself upright. Muscles felt wrong—alien, unfamiliar, yet responsive. I blinked, trying to orient myself.
The city was destroyed.
Buildings lay shattered like broken teeth; roads had cracked and buckled under some unimaginable force. Fires burned uncontrolled, casting an orange glow against the gray smoke. I swallowed. This… was familiar.
A crater yawned several dozen meters away, blackened edges rimmed with molten rock. And at its center, she stood.
Tohka Yatogami.
Purple hair streaming like a banner, her armor gleaming under the smoke-choked sky, sword held easily as though it weighed nothing. She looked terrifying. She looked… beautiful. Too beautiful.
And then it hit me. The truth, crashing into my chest like a tidal wave.
I’m Shido Itsuka.
No, not Shido. Logan. I was Logan. Reincarnated. Trapped in his body.
My heart hammered.
Before I could even process the shock, she moved.
The sword swung. Air screamed. A shockwave ripped past me, flattening what remained of a nearby building. I stumbled, barely keeping balance as debris rained down.
“Not you too,” she said, her voice steady, almost detached.
She rushed forward, pressing the blade against my throat. Metal radiated heat; the power behind it was palpable.
“I see… so it’s true. You came here to kill me.”
I froze, words caught in my throat. I’m not supposed to be here yet. I don’t want to kill anyone.
“N-No,” I stammered. “I’m not here to kill you!”
Her violet eyes narrowed, skeptical.
“You are like the others. You are here to fight. To destroy.”
“I don’t… I don’t kill people,” I said, voice shaking. “I don’t even know what’s happening here!”
A distant roar shattered the moment. Jets screamed overhead, trailing missiles like deadly shooting stars. The AST had arrived.
Missiles streaked toward Tohka, who barely flinched as a shimmering force field intercepted them. She moved like a storm incarnate, slicing through the chaos with her sword, deflecting projectiles and cutting down obstacles without effort.
I couldn’t move. I couldn’t speak. I was frozen by both fear and awe.
And then, someone landed near me.
Pink hair. Expressionless eyes. Perfect posture. Origami…
“Shido,” she said, calm, almost clinical. My name hit me like a hammer.
Before I could respond, the world exploded in light. Heat and energy swallowed everything, and my vision went white.
When I woke again, it was gentler—but no less disorienting.
A soft hand steadied me. A cool breeze swept my hair back as my eyes slowly adjusted to the sterile lighting of the sickbay. Machines hummed, lights blinked, the faint scent of antiseptic stung my nose.
Silver hair. Half-lidded eyes. Lab coat hanging loosely over a figure that seemed small but precise.
“Easy,” she said. “You’re safe.”
My mind raced. “Where… where am I?”
“The sickbay aboard Fraxinus,” she replied. “You were unconscious after the encounter.”
I tried to remember. The crater. Tohka. AST. Explosions. Fear. Chaos. My body, alien.
“…I see.” I coughed. “I’m… awake in Shido’s body?” I kept that last part a whisper.
She tilted her head. A curious glance. “Something like that.”
Even in her calm voice, I could sense suspicion, intelligence… and something more. Something that I wouldn’t fully understand yet.
After what felt like hours of scans, questions, and repeated explanations, I was escorted through endless corridors of steel and glass. Voices and murmurs echoed behind walls, screens flickered with unfamiliar symbols. Every corner, every shadow, made my mind race—what can I do to change what I know will happen?
Finally, the bridge doors opened, and all sound seemed to stop.
A small girl sat at the commander’s seat. Red hair, sharp eyes, lollipop between her lips. Kotori Itsuka.
“This is him?”
“Yes,” Reine answered.
Kotori leaned forward, studying me as though weighing the weight of the world in a glance. “Congratulations,” she said, voice calm but piercing. “You’re about to become very important.”
My chest tightened. “Important… how?”
“Understanding will come later,” she said, gesturing to a screen. Tohka’s face appeared, flashing violently with energy readings and damage reports.
“That girl,” Kotori said slowly, “is a Spirit. She’s not from this world, and her existence threatens everything around her. The AST would handle her, but there’s another way—a way that requires your… cooperation.”
I nodded slowly, swallowing hard. This was it. The moment where I realized there was no option to walk away.
“Your help is required,” she continued, voice steady and commanding.
The weight of that statement settled over me like armor. I had a choice: step up, or let the timeline play out, letting canon tragedies unfold all over again.
“…Alright,” I said. My voice was steady, but my heart was pounding.
Kotori smiled thinly. “Good. Because from this point, there’s no turning back.”
Even as she spoke, my mind was racing. The memories of the canon Shido—his mistakes, his missed opportunities, the lives lost—I could feel them like ghostly echoes in my mind. I had been given a second chance, and I would not waste it.
And then there was Reine. Watching me. Measuring me.
I realized, with a thrill and a pang of fear, that she might be the key to everything.
By the time the introductions were done, I had been introduced to the crew, briefed on protocols, and left to my own thoughts for the first time since awakening.
I stood by a viewport, looking out at the city below. Smoke rose like dark rivers into the sky. I knew their names, their fates, their desires—and I knew the mistakes Shido had made that I could now avoid.
And I would.
Every spirit they would all have a chance at a better future. I promised myself, and I promised them all, that I would not fail.
Even if it killed me.