Renga Town woke up to bells.
Not the normal kind. These rang from everywhere—rooftops, alleyways, even chimneys. It sounded like a choir of magical goats had just enrolled in bard school.
Kazuki jolted awake on a haystack outside the Guild Hall, a half-eaten meat pie still clutched in his hand. "Mmmph–?!"
Flare swooped down, dropped a party flyer on his face, and screeched.
🎉 TODAY ONLY! THE FIRST ANNUAL KAZUKI MATSURI! 🎉 Come celebrate the walking miracle/disaster with snacks, magical mishaps, and possibly explosions! Sponsored by: The Renga Guild, five bakeries, and one anonymous slime.
Kazuki blinked. "…What do you mean 'anonymous slime'?"
Smile appeared next to him wearing a tiny party hat. It jiggled smugly.
Meanwhile… in the Archives
Aurelis Ignis stood alone in the Guild's hidden library, flipping through brittle scrolls of ancient mana theory.
Unlike Kazuki, she read instructions before swinging swords.
"You're supposed to be at the festival," said the librarian elf, barely looking up.
"I'm tracing the mana fluctuations from last night," she replied, eyes narrowing. "That explosion during the banquet—it echoed something ancient."
Her hand hovered over a map. There—a black forest just beyond Renga. Unmarked. Cursed.
Her core pulsed faintly. Fire Essentia flickered along her fingertips.
Something inside the scroll whispered:
"The Fang sleeps in sorrow. Call it forth in battle, or let it rot in silence."
Aurelis gasped. "What?"
The librarian dropped his mug. "Sorry—did the scroll just talk back to you?"
Back in Town: Total Chaos
By the time Kazuki arrived in the town square, it had transformed into a chaotic mess of balloons, magical food stalls, and a kazuki-shaped inflatable riding a dragon made of cotton candy.
A barker shouted, "Behold! The Kazuki Game Zone! Try to mimic one of his legendary accidents—get a prize!"
Kids were trying to fall off roof ledges into haystacks. One almost succeeded.
Smile was now operating a chili booth labeled Spice or Die and cackling telepathically into people's minds.
Kiba sat in a corner eating yakitori with a glazed, traumatized look.
Yoru had coiled around a boba stand.
Flare tried to assassinate a hot dog.
"I didn't agree to any of this," Kazuki muttered, but he accepted the honorary sash reading 'Accidental Hero Supreme.'
Sudden Quest Trigger: Kazuki Trips Again
While navigating a festival game called "Balance the Mana Muffin," Kazuki tripped (on his own sash), crashed through a cardboard wall, and landed in a hidden underground chamber no one remembered building.
As dust cleared, glowing runes shimmered to life.
A disembodied voice thundered:
"Wielder of chaotic fate! You have awakened the Trial of the Echo Spiral!"
Kazuki blinked. "I was just trying to get my muffin back."
A glowing portal shimmered to life before him. Shaped like… a slime.
Smile wiggled approvingly above ground.
Aurelis Follows the Pulse
Aurelis stormed into the square, her scroll glowing.
"I knew it!" she said. "The Echo Spiral is real—and it's reacting to him!"
She pointed straight at Kazuki, who was now halfway sucked into the portal with his muffin still clutched tightly.
Flare screeched overhead.
The crowd screamed and scattered.
The portal pulsed with mana waves. Aurelis's hand burned.
And then—she felt it.
A growl. A low, ancient sound only she could hear.
From the forest beyond Renga, something stirred.
Not awake.
Not yet.
But watching.
Waiting.