Toshirō grew up in Osaka with his mom. His father and his older brother lived in Tokyo, as his mom and dad didn’t marry, and their relationship didn’t work out in the end. It was common that they would plan trips to visit each other once a month if they could, and they saw both of their parents as often as they could. Toshirō’s older brother was in his first year of high school when he was 6 years old. It was also when the apartment complex caught fire and burned down.

His older brother and dad were among the numbers that did not make it out. Toshirō became withdrawn. When he was 13, a transfer student came to his school, a boy from Osaka, who lived in the apartment when it burned down. Rumors spread quickly that this boy, Mamoru Mikaela, was the reason the fire happened in the first place, that he was cursed, or a demon. And the other students quickly started calling him Mamoru Akuma. 

Toshirō didn’t pay attention to the shy, closed-off kid; everyone else had been making his life hell, but when his friends started muttering to him stories about Mika, he started to get the idea that blaming this kid he’s never even said hi to was appropriate. And he couldn’t help that he noticed the way the boy's silver eyes would glance at him, steal looks, look away, and hide obvious blushing. 

Akuma liked him.

And then the cruel prank, Toshirō’s friends had planted the idea in his mind: “Bet you could get him to date you in time for bunkasai, Yoshi.” The school festival was a month away, and it was obvious that this weirdo goth kid had talent with music, probably would aim to present something, but it was also common for students to attend together as a cute little date.

Challenge accepted, and challenge accomplished. He played the role, the handsome, popular boy that he was, flirting with Mika, and for a time, the fact that Toshirō showed interest, the bullying became less intense for a while, and everyone believed Toshirō’s act. The month drifted by, and the two officially were a “couple,” and Toshirō  asked Mika to attend Bunkasai with him, only to show up, looking his best, to find Toshirō and his friends laughing in their meeting area, and the truth was dumped on him

Toshirō would be lying if he said the pained look in those silver eyes didn’t make him feel a sliver of something. A hint of remorse? But if he went back on it, his friends would make things bad for him. So he shoved the image of the crying boy out of his mind, choosing to tell himself he deserved it. He deserved it because it was his fault his big brother and dad were gone. He needed someone to blame. He wanted someone to blame. 

Two years later, some new rumors started drifting around school. Mamoru Mikaela had gone missing. Hours, days, weeks went by, and he was still not found.

“Think he ran away?”

“Or maybe something pushing it a bit too far...?”

“Oh- do you think he actually... You know....”

Suddenly, Mamoru Akuma was gone, and they didn’t have their target to attack, and the teachers drilled them to find out if anyone had been bullying him. And then, the karma hit. In Toshirō’s class, all heads turned to him, and they all pointed to him. The scapegoat. His joke was the worst one done at Mika’s expense; they all blamed him. 

And just like that, Toshirō became the punching bag in school, mocked and insulted because of what he did to poor little Mamoru. He got a bitter taste of what Mika was going through. 

Days later, he was browsing his phone, alone at home. That was when the strange glyphs appeared on his phone, flickering across the screen until they reformed into words:

//DIGITAL GATE: OPEN//

Before Toshirō could blink, the world blurred, and he was pulled into light, tumbling headlong into the unknown.