My name is Takashi Raiden, or so it was in my past life. In this life, I go by the name Mordred.

Let me tell you how I got here—how this life began, and why nothing in my past could have prepared me for the chaos and power that would soon envelop me.

Back in my previous life, I was an ordinary high school loner. My days were a dull blur, filled with textbooks, anime, and video games—things that kept me distracted from the unrelenting monotony of my existence. I was tired. Tired of the world, tired of school, tired of the predictability of it all. Nothing ever changed. Nothing ever exciting happened. It was all just a loop. Every day felt the same.

I lived in a small world of my own, away from reality, surrounded by the fictional worlds of my favorite series. I longed for something more. For something real. But no matter how many seasons I watched or how many manga I devoured, the feeling never left. My life seemed destined to be as uneventful as a background character in a slice-of-life anime.

Life felt like a long episode of a show with no plot, the only good thing about the show with be the high video quality. The rest was scrap.

I always wished for something—anything—to shake things up but nothing ever happened, that is until one day, the unexpected occurred.

Then, one day after class, my friends invited me to go to a café. "Come on, Takashi, let's hang out!" they urged, but I wasn't interested. I had no desire to join them in their endless chatter, and honestly, I just wanted to be alone. "I've got stuff to do at home," I told them, pretending I had a life outside of my room, my screen, and my imagination.

They weren't fooled, but they didn't press the issue. I had a reputation for being the quiet one, the guy who didn't like to join in. They went off without me.

I could have gone straight home. But instead, I found myself wandering aimlessly, looking for something to do. That's when I ended up at the grocery store, buying a cup of noodles. A pointless, ordinary task. Something to fill the emptiness.

As I made my way back, I saw my classmates again. They were headed to a game café, laughing and talking. I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach. I had lied to them, and now, here I was, holding a plastic bag with cup noodles—hardly something I could show off. Embarrassment washed over me, and I quickly scanned the street for somewhere to hide.

Without thinking, I dashed into the subway. I figured I could wait there until they passed, then head home without anyone noticing.

But luck wasn't on my side. As I entered the subway and looked back from a distance, I saw them again, they were also entering the subway. They hadn't seen me yet, but I couldn't face them. I quickly turned my back to them, pretending I hadn't noticed.

I wasn't sure what I was doing anymore—just trying to avoid the awkwardness of my own lie.

I glanced at the clock. The next train was arriving soon. I thought quickly, deciding I'd board first, then slip to the back of the car, so I could exit through the other door when they got on. It seemed like a foolproof plan.

The station announcer's voice echoed across the platform. "The next train is arriving. Please step back from the platform edge."

But then, just as the train's headlights appeared in the tunnel, something unexpected happened. A man, dressed in dark clothes, pushed his way through the crowd, making a beeline for the platform with a purse clutched tightly in his hand. He was running, glancing nervously around, but no one seemed to notice.

"Who still steals purses in this day and age?" I thought to myself. "Not that it matters to me. It's not like I can do anything about it."

But then, without warning, the thief collided with me, knocking me off balance. My feet slipped, and before I could react, I felt myself falling—falling toward the edge of the platform, directly in the path of the oncoming train.

My life flashed before my eyes. I had always wanted something exciting to happen, but not like this. As I fell, I couldn't help but think, This is how it ends? A boring, uneventful life, and this is the finale?

The blinding lights of the train filled my vision, and just before I hit the tracks, everything went black.

---

I opened my eyes, unsure of what had just happened. It was dark, but not the kind of dark I was used to. It felt different—strange. I couldn't hear anything except a faint hum.

Was I dead? Was this the afterlife? I couldn't be sure.

But then, there was a light. A distant, soft glow that seemed to pull me in. It grew brighter as I moved toward it, and I found myself running, though I didn't understand why.

The light was becoming overwhelming, and then, I heard a voice.

It was soft. A woman's voice, speaking gently with a heart filled with kindness.

"Congratulations, madam, it's a boy."

I blinked, confused. Where was I? Who were these people?. My mind was spinning. I wasn't dead, but where was I? What was happening?

Another voice—this one warmer, tender—spoke next. "What are you and your husband going to name him?"

I felt something soft beneath me, and when I looked up, I saw a woman, holding me in her arms. She smiled down at me with a warmth I had never known.

She looked at me with such care and whispered, "His father died before he was born, but his name... his name is going to be Mordred."

It was a name that sounded heavy, like something fate had already written for me.

---

And just like that, my new life began.

I didn't ask for this, for a second chance, for anything. But here I was, born into a new world, with a new name and a future that I could not yet understand.

Little did I know, I was no ordinary child.

The world would soon come to realize who Mordred truly was.