Nao’s head spun. The mounting pain in his body suddenly faded into numb tingles, his lungs no longer heaved quite so hard. He was so dazed that his mind didn’t even register the danger; he sank without resistance into a heavy unconsciousness.

It seemed that it was only a second before his eyes flew open again, a much-needed breath whistling down his throat. Light sparkled in his vision, coming together into a flower of life.

In an instant, Nao realized something was wrong.

His glasses were missing, yet his eyesight was unaffected. He was laying on a smooth surface rather than pressed to a rough brick wall. And his body, his body, why was it so strange—

A voice spoke; Nao cringed at the sensation of it pouring into his ears, and it took several long seconds before he worked out what had been said.

“State your name.”

Nao was full of misgivings about the situation, instantly coming up with a nonsense name: “Nao Suruna.”

That's my voice?!

He forced himself to sit up, doing his best not to feel panicky at the foreignness of the movement. There were people, hundreds of people, maybe thousands, watching him like hawks. Fine threads of orange hair fell over his face; a paralyzing sense of dread speared his chest.

His hair was black, not orange.

“We have no records of a ‘Nao Suruna’.” The person who’d spoken before spoke again, and Nao’s eyes were drawn to them. “We will search outside databases. In the meantime, you will be made a citizen of Ultimum Spes.”

This woman was so dazzlingly beautiful that it was unearthly. High cheekbones, angular features drawing down to a delicate, sharp chin, naturally arched brows that made one feel as insignificant as an ant. The scariest part was the eyes set beneath those brows—cold and heartless as a snake about to swallow its prey.

Nao shivered, looking at her. He forced his throat to unstick. “I. . .What’s. . .going on?”

“You have been reincarnated in a new body,” she answered. “You were dead, but are now living once more. It is currently the Third Age, Period Two, ten one.”

Third Age, Period Two. . .It’s been a hundred and forty-one years?! I died?! What?!

Nao was stunned into complete detachment, unable to believe the information he’d been presented with—but at the same time unable to refute it. His ever-reliable mind had, for once, fallen dead silent. The woman continued to speak.

“Please provide your birth date, age, gender, and ethnicity.”

“First Age, Period Forty-Five, eleven two. . .I’m sixteen, male, and. . .Japanese. . .”

The words came in an expressionless voice. Nao didn’t even realize he’d answered. His mind was still floating out in space.

“Educational status?”

“Midlevel Seven.”

“Please come forward and provide your eyeprints.”

He felt as though his body was on puppet strings, in someone else’s hands, under their control. The whole scene played out in moments that could’ve been centuries or milliseconds; Nao only knew that the time had passed at some rate.

When he reached the woman, she held up a scanner. He stared into it and didn’t blink, allowing it to examine his eyes. After a moment, a robotic voice said, “Eyeprints logged under: Nao Suruna.”

She put away the scanner and retrieved a slim black tablet. She handed this to Nao.

“This is your personal archive and database,” she said. “It will open with your eyeprints or fingerprints. Take care not to lose it. Inside you will find archives on Hanaka Nao, the past owner of this body. You can also rely on it to guide you to your home. Everyone may now leave.”

Nao stood there with his arm still extended, holding the tablet he’d been given, looking like a human statue. The crowds of people seated in rings around him all got up and started to leave, a great flow of faces that passed like ghosts. Nao felt nothing even as the place became deserted and the lights flickered out, leaving only dim and indirect light to cast faint shadows.

A time passed in the quietude. Through the daze he was mired in, Nao heard footsteps approaching in a swift yet somehow unhurried manner.

“Are you going to stand here forever or get a move on?” an almost harsh voice asked. “If you stay zoned out like that, you’ll get left behind. People won’t look out for you.”

Nao came back to himself and turned to look at the person who said this. It was a boy not much older than he was—or than he had been. Every subtle part of his expression screamed ‘don’t come near me’, and yet he had approached Nao.

Nao felt that this was someone he would like to know better, and then felt a wearying sense of loss.

“You looked out for me,” Nao said after a second.

The boy’s expression opened, one brow clearing the other. It was clear that wasn’t the response he’d expected. But his face soured again without delay. “You won’t always meet people willing to go out of their way to help you. You should get moving if you want to be able to live in this world.”

Feeling more helpless than he ever had in his life, Nao simply said, “I don’t know how.”

There was something in his voice that resonated with the other boy, making his expression soften in response. His tone was also not quite as rough when he said, “If you don’t know, then you can learn.”

“But I really. . .don’t know what I’m supposed to do now.” Nao tried to explain, but he couldn’t convey exactly what he was thinking. “I don’t know where I live. This person might have family members—I don’t know who they are or where they live, or what they’re going through right now. I don’t even. . .”

“Hanaka Nao didn’t have any living relatives,” the boy said. “If he had, he would’ve been sentenced to death instead of rebirth.”

Nao frowned. “What did he do?”

The boy standing next to him in the darkened room clenched his fists, looking away so that his face was overshadowed. It was a moment before he spoke again, his voice heavy. “Two counts of murder.” He looked up again, then said irritably, “Do you want to get home sometime this century or what? I have to be home in time to study. If you want to learn how to get around, then follow me.”

“What’s your name?” Nao asked, hurrying to follow the boy. He caught up with ease.

“. . .Rin,” the boy answered. “As in ‘phosphorous’.”

“. . .You glow in the dark?”

This actually provoked a sudden snorting laugh from Rin, but it was quickly stifled and replaced by his default thorniness. “Of course not.”

They exited the building together at this moment. Nao stopped at the top of the steps, looking at the city before him with wide eyes.

When he’d lived, Ultimum Spes had been a dull, dreary place, with dim yellow streetlamps lighting everything outside.

Now, instead of the black expanse of space, the dome showed a blue sky with puffy white clouds. The city was a utopia of skyscrapers lit with pink and blue neon signs, travel pods zipping through the streets. All of it glittered and swayed in his vision like bursting stars; looking at it, he felt like he couldn’t breathe.

The truth crashed down on him; a hundred and forty-one years had really passed. Everything he knew had been transformed, forgotten, or left behind, not even acknowledged in the pages of history.

All of his bonds had been cut, but he had been cruelly forced back into this world where he had lost everything, including his life. All he could do was be tossed back and forth in the waves of time and change until his lungs popped.

Nao couldn’t take the force of the epiphany. His legs gave out underneath him and he crumpled right there on the stairs.