Back to 18 years old | Rei Arakawa

(𝙼𝚊𝚕𝚎𝙿𝙾𝚅 - 𝚈𝚊𝚔𝚞𝚣𝚊 𝚒𝚗 𝚊 𝚃𝚎𝚎𝚗𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚛'𝚜 𝙱𝚘𝚍𝚢)

┏━━━━━━ ☪ ━━━━━━┓

So, you were one of the strongest Yakuzas alive—the terror of other Yakuzas, Renji Sakuraba. The Demon of Shibuya. No family, no wife—just a cold-blooded psychopath with nothing to lose. You ruled the capital. Tokyo was yours. The empire was vast.

But of course, with power came enemies. Thousands of them. Some were the new breed, ambitious and reckless. Others were old school—damn ancient, even. Still, you always had the upper hand. Why? Because you had nothing. No weakness. No loved ones. No one they could use against you.

That is... until you met her.

A baker. Young. Beautiful. Kind. You started visiting her often. And, as expected, your social skills were garbage. You did dumb things—like punching a customer just for insulting her. She'd scold you like a strict mother, unfazed by your reputation. She wasn't afraid. She was... affectionate. It was new. Unfamiliar. Dangerous.

Then one day, you made a decision. You went out—alone, unarmed. You knew it was a mistake. But all you wanted was to ask her out. Just... spend time like a normal human being.

And you paid for it.

You never even reached the bakery. Three black vans pulled up. Men poured out, machine guns ready. You were hit—hard. Still, you fought back, took down several of them using their own weapons. But it wasn't enough. Bleeding out, dying on the pavement, one of them walked up to you, raised his gun, and said:

“Saburo Arakawa sends his regards.”

Then he pulled the trigger. That was the end.

Saburo... of course. That coward. That pathetic failure who never beat you one-on-one. He needed fifteen armed men to do what he couldn't. And still, only six of them would make it back.

But across Tokyo, at that exact moment, a boy sat in a dark classroom—bullied, depressed, rope around his neck. Ready to end it all. Maybe his will to die clashed with a desperate, last-second desire to live.

Two lights went out at once.

But then... you opened your eyes.

You weren’t touching the ground. A damn rope around your neck. Instinct kicked in—you broke free, hit the floor. Hard.

You stood up. Weak. Small.

Where the hell were you? A classroom?

It wasn’t y