"You're going to die today." Narumi Youta said it at exactly 6 PM on Friday night. "I've watched what happens to a man who reaches twenty-eight still single. Hobby: work. Special skill: business card exchange. Days off: overtime. That's what gets carved on your tombstone, you." Kujou Taiga stood up from his chair and slipped his arms through his jacket sleeves. Black short hair with a few strands of red mesh mixed in—they caught the fluorescent light with a faint gleam. His sharp, deep brown eyes held a cool, detached glint. 175 centimeters, slim build, white shirt, navy suit. Black tie. A wardrobe with no hesitation from start to finish, nothing unnecessary. The only "play" was a small silver piercing in his right ear. "What's wrong with that?" "It makes me sad!" Taiga looked at Narumi's face for one second. Narumi Youta, twenty-eight, same age. Second Sales Department at Miharu Trading. Round face, friendly eyes, tie always slightly crooked. When he used the word "sad," it usually meant he was about to profit. Taiga had learned that over three years. "...At least pay for the train fare." "Leave it to me!" On the train, Taiga had his phone open to next week's business proposal documents. The night Tokyo flowed past the window. City lights disappeared one after another behind them. The seat's gentle vibration swayed his suit. Narumi beside him glanced at the screen and sighed dramatically. "There's not a single person in the world who works before going to a speed dating event. Just you." "The decision-maker on the client side changes Monday. I need to revise the materials tonight." "…………" Taiga kept scrolling. "Shiomaki Bayside. We're getting off." --- "Marebi"—a members-only event hall that opened last year in the waterfront redevelopment area—was a glass-walled building by the sea. Seven minutes' walk from Shiomaki Station, the night sea breeze cut between the buildings. Taiga put his phone away and looked up at the glass doors of the entrance. A normal place, he thought. A normal event hall. A normal speed dating party. On the third floor, the reception staff smiled and handed him a name tag. "Right this way." Taiga took it. A white plastic card with "Kujou Taiga" printed on it. That should have been all. But. Taiga's eyes stopped at the bottom right corner of the card. A small geometric emblem. A spiral-like line inside a hexagon. Too precise for printing. Too meaningful for a design. "What is this mark?" The receptionist's smile froze for just an instant. A real instant. A fraction of a second. A normal person wouldn't notice. "It's just a design! ♪" "Stop overthinking. Come on." Narumi pushed Taiga's back. As Taiga pinned the name tag to his chest, he felt a small snag in his mind. —Something's off. The door opened. The moment he entered the venue, the air changed. A wide hall. A circular stage, cocktail tables arranged throughout. The lighting was soft, background music playing faintly. It looked completely like a normal speed dating party. Except. Taiga's observant eye caught the discrepancy in one second. Every participant's eyes were too calm. No nervousness, no giddy atmosphere, yet they were all appraising something. It was a little like the eyes of a predator hunting prey. Taiga had seen eyes like that at business meetings many times. He knew. (Everyone's sizing each other up.) --- Going to get a drink was the mistake. At the next table, a man in a suit was introducing himself. Thirty-something, ordinary face. As he spoke, he flicked his fingers and scattered sparks. Taiga stopped. "Huh?" Elsewhere, a woman was floating a sphere of water from her palm while explaining something to the man next to her. The water sphere swayed gently in the air. "Huh??" Further back at another table, a man in traditional clothing said seriously: "In my past life, I was a Kamakura samurai with Rank B. My specialty is slash-type purification." "Huh???" Taiga froze completely, still holding his glass. "Taiga, you look terrible." Narumi appeared beside him. "Of course I look terrible. That guy just shot fire from his fingers." "Ah, you noticed..." Silence. "...Narumi." "Yeah?" "You knew about this?" "Well, um..." "You knew about this???" Narumi's eyes darted away to some random direction. He fixed his gaze on the ceiling lights and mumbled. "...I thought you'd come if I said it was a speed dating party. If I said it was a gathering of reincarnators, you'd never show up." Something in Taiga's mind exploded quietly. (Even if it's a cosplay party, 38,000 yen in admission is insane!!!) He didn't say it out loud. His adult instincts barely held it back. "...Let's leave." "Yeah, let's do that." The two headed for the entrance door. It was locked. Narumi's face went pale. Taiga pulled the handle to confirm. It didn't budge. He scanned for an emergency exit. He could see a faint glow somewhere on the wall. Some kind of magic was covering the entire room. "This is bad. This is definitely a reincarnator gathering. Run, Taiga!" "Why are you just realizing this now?! You should've realized it first!!" --- A spotlight hit the stage. A man in a black suit stood holding a microphone. Tall, with a face that seemed artificially refined. His smile was perfect, and because of that, slightly unnatural. "Welcome to tonight's Rinne Enkai—a gathering of reincarnators dedicated to connecting souls bound by ties from past lives." The hall fell silent. "You are all fellow reincarnators. You will remain in this venue until you find a partner connected to you by past-life bonds. Please remember to disclose your skills. The rules are listed on the cards around your necks." Taiga looked around. That's when he noticed. Every participant was wearing a small card around their neck. Taiga reached over and glanced at the card of the man at the next table. —Past Life: Heian-era Onmyoji / Skill Rank: B / Specialty: Purification-type. Another woman's card read—Past Life: Water user from the northern continent / Skill Rank: A. Taiga looked at his own name tag. It was blank. "What...what is this?" "I'm a reincarnator too." Narumi spoke quietly. His face was serious. The carefree attitude from before had completely vanished. "Reincarnators are people who were born again with memories and skills from their past lives. There are a certain number of them in the world. I'm one of them, and...I thought you were just a normal person..." In that moment. Taiga's name tag began to glow faintly. Something pulsed in the center of his chest. Not his heart, but somewhere deeper. The very core of his body. His left wrist began to warm. When Taiga looked at his hand, a soul mark—a unique pattern inscribed on the soul, said to be the source of a reincarnator's power—floated to the surface of his skin like a tattoo. (What is...this feeling?) The murmur in the hall vanished in an instant. Every eye focused on Taiga. "...What skill does he have?" "His name tag is glowing...I've never seen that before." "That emblem, could it be—" Whispers spread like ripples. Taiga received them as if hearing sound underwater. Distant, yet unmistakably directed at him. "Why is everyone staring at me...?!" "Taiga!! You're giving off an insane aura right now!! Run, run!!" "I tried to run but the door was locked!!" --- "Just don't stand out." Taiga told himself this while moving toward the wall. The shadow of a pillar. A place with fewer people. Here he could hide his presence and assess the situation. That was best. Except. There was one problem. Taiga's eyes wouldn't stop. The habit of taking in the entire venue activated automatically. The same sense he used reading a conference room before a business meeting. Everyone's position, direction of gaze, movement patterns. He processed it all unconsciously. A woman flicking flame particles from her fingertips while talking. A man laughing while floating small water spheres in the air. A group comparing their neck cards and starting "past-life matching." (So everyone here is a reincarnator, huh?) Taiga leaned against the wall, trying to absorb the situation quietly. Just as Narumi had said, there were people in the world born with memories and skills from past lives. Tonight Taiga had been dragged into a speed dating party for such people—the Rinne Enkai. The organizers were "Tasogare no Shiori"—a secret organization said to manage networks of reincarnators and arrange their unions. In other words, this venue was sealed by some kind of barrier invisible from outside, and Taiga was completely trapped. (I see. The situation is worst-case.) He sighed quietly and let his gaze drift. By the window, there was a woman standing alone. Silver hair. It fell to her shoulders in a pale white-silver under the venue's lights. Her posture was perfectly straight, a wine glass in one hand, gazing out at the sea. She stood there quietly, separated from the surrounding noise. Her neck card seemed slightly smaller than the other participants'. The woman's gaze shifted. Her eyes met Taiga's for 0.3 seconds. She didn't change her expression. Her gaze returned to the window. A profile like an undisturbed water surface, quiet and still. Taiga looked away too. (…That person has a different atmosphere.) That was all. There was no time to think further. His name tag glowed again. This time stronger. Something pulsed inside his chest with certainty. Not a heartbeat or breath, but something more fundamental. His left wrist's soul mark burned with heat. Taiga reflexively pressed his left hand with his right. "What is...this feeling?" Narumi came flying over. His face was completely white. "Taiga!! You're giving off an insane aura right now!! Run, run!!" "Where the hell am I supposed to run to?!" "Just run!! This is bad, really bad, my soul-vein sensor is going crazy!!" "Soul-vein? What's that?" "It's the pathway connecting soul to soul, but right now—" A voice cut through. From the front. "You there." Not low, but not soft either. A voice with will behind it, straight and true. Taiga turned forward. A figure was walking toward him from the center of the venue. The venue's lighting outlined their silhouette. Long hair. Strong eyes. The scent of flame approached slowly from the front. "Show me your skill." Narumi grabbed Taiga's arm. "This is bad." "This is bad." Their voices overlapped. Everyone in the venue was watching them. Taiga kept his back to the wall and quietly assessed the situation. The exit was blocked. No escape. His name tag was glowing. His left wrist was hot. And from the front, someone wrapped in the scent of flame was slowly closing the distance. (This is hell.) Taiga was beginning to regret saying "at least pay for the train fare."