He puts her on his back and walks forward, expression unreadable. The fire in his eyes is different now—burning with purpose, but shadowed by questions he’s no longer afraid to ask.
ILLUSION REALITY – SCHOOL SETTING — BRIGHT, CHEERFUL]
Hajime blinks a few times, slowly taking in his surroundings.
He’s standing in the middle of a sunny, vibrant school courtyard. Cherry blossoms drift through the air. Music plays softly from invisible speakers. Students pass by, giggling and smiling.
But something’s off.
STUDENTS (whispering and gasping):
“Is that him?”
“That’s Hajime Hamamoto!”
“He’s so cool!”
“Look at his hair—he’s like a god!”
ALL (chanting):
“Hajime! Hajime! Hajime!”
HAJIME (disgusted/confused):
“What… the rage is this.”
?
He stumbles forward in a daze, looking around at banners with his face, murals of his “greatness,” and people offering him drinks and gifts. He passes a window and sees a TV inside showing a battle—Team Nova vs Team Music Strikers—but it’s frozen, stuck like it’s buffering.
“That’s… the real world. But if I’m here, that means—”
He turns a corner and bumps into—
BONDO, wearing a sparkly version of the school uniform, complete with heart-shaped glasses.
BONDO (sparkling eyes):
“Hajimeee~! You’re so dreamy today~! Did you do something new with your aura?”
HAJIME (face twisted in horror):
“B-Bondo…? What the hell?!”
BONDO (giggles):
“You’re so funny~! You’re always so brooding and mysterious. It’s so hot!”
Bondo twirls in place, sighing dreamily.
?
HAJIME (dead serious):
“Okay. No. This is a nightmare. I want old Bondo back. The one who insults me. The one who tells me I suck at cooking and calls me a dumbass every five seconds. THIS—this is evil.”
BONDO (teary eyed):
“How can you say that? I adore you—!”
HAJIME (stepping back):
“Nope. Rage on. RAGE ON! I’M OUT!”
He turns to leave but notices the hallways loop in on themselves. The classroom doors all have his name on them. Even the intercom rings—
INTERCOM:
“Attention students: It’s National Hajime Day! Please proceed to the Hajime Shrine to worship his greatness.”
?
HAJIME (yelling at the sky):
“NINA, I SWEAR TO EVERYTHING BLUE AND HOLY IF THIS IS YOUR DOING—!!”
?
[FLASH OF RED LIGHT — THE ILLUSION GLITCHES SLIGHTLY]
His eyes widen. For just a second, the walls distort—like a broken TV.
He sees Storyshift’s sword form on his back flicker in his reflection.
HAJIME (calming down):
“Okay. This is an illusion. A trap.”
He closes his eyes, grounding himself. The praise, the fangirls, the fake Bondo—all trying to drown him in ego.
“This isn’t real. I’m not a god. I’m not a king. I’m just me. And I have people to protect.”
?
[FLASH — THE ILLUSION SHATTERS]
Hajime is slammed back into reality, collapsing to one knee on the battlefield. He looks up—Nina’s illusion is affecting the entire stadium. His teammates are all trapped in their own warped visions.
“Tch… this ain’t good.”
HAJIME (smirking):
“Better snap them outta this before Bondo writes me a love letter in real life.”
ILLUSION REALITY CONTINUES — HAJIME’S SCHOOL FANTASY HAREM MODE]
As Hajime steadies himself, just barely escaping the Bondo nightmare, the illusion shifts again.
The cherry blossoms triple. The lighting softens. A piano melody plays in the distance.
Suddenly—
Sockoo, Amy, Angel, Rizra, and Emily appear in slow motion, their hair flowing as if in a romance anime.
They’re all in cute variations of the school uniform, glittering slightly like they’re part of a dating sim.
They surround Hajime.
?
SOCKOO (clinging to Hajime’s arm, eyes sparkling):
“Hajime… I’ve always loved you. You don’t need anyone else, just me… forever.”
HAJIME (blushing hard, confused):
“S-Sockoo?! What the rage is happening now?!”
?
AMY (gently holding his hand):
“I can read minds, Hajime… and I know you think I’m cute. Admit it~”
HAJIME (nosebleed starting):
“W-Wait—Amy too?! This is worse than when Daka threw me into lava!”
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?
ANGEL (hovering beside him, wings out):
“My divine love for you transcends space and time, Hajime. Let us ascend together.”
HAJIME:
“Please don’t ascend near me I don’t know how to handle this—RAGE ON DESU—!!”
?
RIZRA (grabbing his shoulder):
“You like tough girls, right? I can throw a mountain for you.”
HAJIME (literally combusting):
“W-WHAT WOULD I DO WITH A MOUNTAIN!? I DON’T NEED GEOGRAPHY RIGHT NOW!!”
?
EMILY (shyly tugging his sleeve):
“I may not say much, but… if it’s you, I’d cast any spell.”
HAJIME (faint, falling over):
“S-STOP—MY BRAIN IS MELTING—THIS MUST BE AN ILLUSION. IT HAS TO BE—”
?
[FLASH — REALITY GLITCHES SLIGHTLY AGAIN]
Everything flickers.
The fake girls keep clinging, but their eyes twitch unnaturally. Their voices echo, warped slightly.
“You love us, right Hajime?”
“Stay here with us forever…”
HAJIME (eyes wide):
“…Wait. No. Sockoo would never say that. Not like this.”
He remembers:
? Sockoo dragging him from bed like a gremlin.
? Amy calling him an idiot when he tripped over air.
? Angel throwing a book at him for saying “God power go brr.”
? Rizra punching him just because he existed that day.
? Emily zapping his sandwich because he said her food was “a little too crunchy.”
HAJIME (gritting his teeth):
“You’re not real. They’d never all love me like this. At once. This is too peaceful. Too perfect.”
“I’m not a love god… I’m a raging idiot with blue fire and no social sense.”
?
[FLASH — HE SHOUTS]:
“GET OUT OF MY HEAD, NINA!!”
The illusion shatters again. He stumbles forward, breathing heavily—back on the battlefield.
He sees the real Sockoo, Amy, Angel, Rizra, and Emily—each trapped in glowing orbs, eyes dull and dazed.
HAJIME (serious, panting):
“I’m gonna drag you all out, one by one… just wait for me.”
LLUSION TWIST: THE NIGHTMARE ESCALATES]
Just when Hajime thought the nightmare couldn’t get any worse… it did.
He turns a corner inside the illusion.
A soft voice hums a lullaby.
A spotlight shines on a woman in an elegant gown—Seline.
SELINE (sparkles in her eyes):
“Oh, Hajime~ my little man has grown so… strong. So handsome. So—”
HAJIME (eyes widen):
“…Wait… WAIT—NO. NO. NOPE. NOPE.”
SELINE (blowing a kiss):
“Come give grandma a little sugar, darling—??”
HAJIME (gag reflex activates immediately):
“BLAAAARGH—”
He projectile vomits onto a fake cherry blossom tree. The illusion flickers violently.
HAJIME (on his knees, shaking):
“THAT’S MY GRANDMA—MY GRANNY—THERE ARE LINES—I AM SOILED—RAGE OFF—RAGE OFF FOREVER—”
The illusion reality seems to stutter from the sheer emotional damage.
Seline (suddenly fanged and glitching):
“What’s wrong, my sweet flame prince?~ ??”
HAJIME (panicking, backing away):
“I SWEAR IF THIS IS NINA’S ILLUSION, SHE IS DEAD TO ME—SHE’S NOT EVEN GETTING THE COOKIE RECIPE!!”
?
[
As Hajime was still reeling from the trauma of the illusion—his hands trembling, lips mumbling incoherently about cookies, boundaries, and therapy—Jessica suddenly appeared from absolutely nowhere, as if she teleported through the fourth wall of his mental breakdown.
JESSICA (grinning, full of life):
“Onii-chan!!~ There you are!!”
She wraps her arms around him from behind in a tight, fire-warmed hug.
HAJIME (eyes widen in horror):
“WH-WHAT THE—JESS!?”
JESSICA (playfully):
“I sensed your flame weakening. Were you… crying over something lewd?”
“Wait—don’t tell me you saw Grandma again—PFFT!”
HAJIME (faints mid-sentence, but still standing):
“I—I can’t—Not again—Too much—Rage on… d-d-desu…”
He collapses forward, his nose bleeding violently from stress and residual illusion trauma.
?
SOCKOO (runs over, glaring at Jess):
“Jessica, what are you doing?! He just got out of a mental illusion breakdown!”
“He threw up! He saw your grandmother simp for him!”
JESSICA (innocently):
“I was just comforting him! He’s my big brother, I’m allowed to hug him!”
DAKA (off to the side, to Bondo):
“You think we should start a trauma therapy group after this tournament?”
BONDO:
“Only if the first meeting is for Hajime… with guards.”
?
PHOENIX (on Hajime’s unconscious body):
“Y’all ever thought about NOT emotionally destroying this child for five minutes?”
JESSICA (whistles):
“Too late~”DAKA (arms crossed, dead serious):
“You know… I like girls. But if it’s Hajime…”
“I might rethink that. I mean—he cooks, he’s strong, he’s got trauma, and he’s weirdly charming in a way that makes me want to both punch him and protect him.”
BONDO (shrugging):
“Yeah, I’d date him. Just to keep him from traumatizing me more than he already has.”
YU (calmly):
“He has nice energy.”
MAKOTO:
“…He’s not my type, but I get it.”
EMILY:
“Honestly… yeah. He’s like a tragic prince with chaotic energy.”
ANGEL (nodding solemnly):
“He has the holy aura of a martyr and the stupidity of a gremlin. That’s power.”
RIZRA:
“I’d date him just so I could break up with him dramatically.”
AMY:
“No. He’s mine. But this is entertaining.”
SOCKOO (absolutely fuming):
“ALL OF YOU BACK OFF.”
?
HAJIME (visibly trembling in fear, eyes darting):
“O-Okay. That’s it. Nope. I’m pulling out the sanity sword.”
He unsheathes Storyshift, the blade glinting as her voice rings out in his head.
STORYSHIFT (in human-like pouty tone):
“Young master… I’ve been here the whole time, watching this circus. Do I mean nothing to you anymore?”
HAJIME (relieved):
“She’s here. She’s still the same. Still clingy. Still possessive. Still terrifying.”
“Everything is normal again…”
STORYSHIFT:
“I will now proceed to glare at all of them through the blade until they feel like dirt.”
The sword glows ominously blue, and everyone immediately steps back.
?
DAKA (laughing nervously):
“Hey hey, it was just a joke, right guys?”
BONDO (sweating):
“Yeah, yeah—ha ha ha—classic Music Club joke.”
SOCKOO (smiling sweetly but cracking knuckles):
“Joke or not, anyone who tries anything is getting cat-slammed into next Tuesday.”
HAJIME (hugging Storyshift like a lifeline):
“Never leave me again.”
HAJIME (still holding Storyshift tightly, looking around at the strangely adoring crowd):
“Hey… Storyshift… do you know what’s going on? Where are we? This doesn’t feel right at all…”
STORYSHIFT (voice soft but focused, sensing Hajime’s seriousness):
“This world… it’s layered with thick magical interference. Something is tampering with your perception, young master. I… I cannot lock onto our true location. But this isn’t reality. This is an illusion.”
HAJIME (tense, eyes narrowing):
“Illusion…? So I’m dreaming? No, it’s too vivid to be a dream. It’s someone’s magic.”
He looks at Bondo and Daka—still swooning like idiots—and shudders.
STORYSHIFT (muttering):
“If I had a physical form right now, I would have punched that Bondo for calling you charming. That’s my job…”
HAJIME (ignoring that part, tapping his head):
“Then someone is trying to trap me in this illusion… maybe to stall me, distract me, or keep me away from the real battle.”
STORYSHIFT (firm now):
“I recommend forcefully breaking it, young master. Either by disrupting the caster’s magic source… or shocking your mind hard enough to snap out.”
HAJIME (raising an eyebrow):
“Shock myself out, huh? That means…”
He slowly looks around at the people simping over him—Bondo blowing kisses, Sockoo radiating jealousy flames, Yu writing a love poem, and even Seline nearby giving a wink.
HAJIME (deadpan):
“Yeah… if I stay in here one more minute, I’m gonna actually combust from cringe.”
STORYSHIFT (darkly amused):
“Would you like assistance with the combustion, or shall I handle the illusion myself?”
HAJIME (grinning):
“Nope. I’ll do it myself.”
He clenches his fist, ignites it with blue flame, and yells:
“RAAAAAAGE ONNNNNNN!!!”
As his blue flames erupt around him and burn the false world, the illusion cracks like glass—shattering into fragments of false affection and awkward fan-love.
?
Hajime wakes up, still in the battle stadium stands, breathing hard. The illusion is over.
Rizra (shocked):
“He broke out on his own?! What kind of willpower does this guy have!?”
Makoto:
“Yeah… that’s our ace… trauma-powered and rage-fueled.”STADIUM – ILLUSION-BROKEN STATE]
The crowd is still groggy, slowly returning to consciousness after being caught in Nina’s powerful illusion magic. Hajime, standing on the edge of the stands, clenches his fist, blue flames lightly swirling around it as he scans the area.
HAJIME (focused, concerned):
“Everyone’s still knocked out… Tch. Dammit, Nina. You’re really making this a pain.”
He dashes across the row of passed-out students, crouching next to Amy, then Angel, then Emily. With a calm breath, he places his hand over their hearts or foreheads.
HAJIME:
“Blue Flame Magic: Revitalize.”
(a soft, warm blue pulse emits)
“Come on. This isn’t where you fall asleep…”
As one by one the Music Club starts to stir, Hajime keeps moving, casting the same light healing/status-reset flame on everyone he can reach.
Meanwhile—
?
[BATTLEFIELD – CENTER STAGE]
Makoto is panting, barely standing as he fires off another weak magic round from his gun. Beside him, Rizra grits her teeth, one eye bruised, knuckles bloodied.
Across from them, Team Nova’s remaining members are pressing the advantage—Nina looking smug, her illusion magic still in effect on several other crowd members, while two other fighters move in.
RIZRA (under breath):
“Yu… Sockoo… we need you—NOW.”
She glances up at the stands, sees Hajime waking people up, but her patience snaps.
RIZRA (growls):
“Sorry in advance…”
She sprints back mid-battle, reaches Yu and Sockoo, then without hesitation—
SMASH!!
She punches Yu in the gut, causing him to jolt awake with a violent gasp.
YU (panicked, breathless):
“WH—WHAT—?!”
SMASH 2!!
Sockoo takes a straight punch to the face, flipping backward off the bench, landing hard.
SOCKOO (groaning awake):
“Wh…who dares—?!”
MAKOTO (yelling):
“Rizra!! What the actual hell!?”
RIZRA (calmly):
“It worked. You’re welcome.”
Back in the stands, Hajime, still panting from running and healing, watches the others rise.
HAJIME (smiling):
“Nice work, Rizra… That’s one way to wake the dead.”
Everyone who was out now snaps back to action, eyes glowing with regained awareness.
YU (cracking his neck):
“Alright. Let’s rage.”
SOCKOO (wiping her lip):
“Remind me to destroy Rizra later. But right now…”
HAJIME (raising a fist):
“Let’s wake the world up.”
The Music Club roars back to life, just as the battle turns. Team Nova’s advantage is gone, and the real fight begins now. [STADIUM – MUSIC CLUB SEATING AREA]
Hajime slumps heavily into his seat, jaw clenched, fists twitching at his sides. His blue flames flicker faintly, betraying his simmering frustration.
DAKA (kneeling beside him, calm but firm):
“Hajime, hey… you gotta breathe. Getting mad won’t help the team right now.”
HAJIME (gritting teeth):
“Easy for you to say. We got caught off guard. Nina’s illusion nearly knocked us out cold. I should’ve been faster.”
DAKA (placing a steady hand on Hajime’s shoulder):
“You did what you could. We all did. Now let’s focus on what’s next. We fight smart, together.”
Hajime exhales slowly, nodding slightly, the fire in his eyes cooling just a bit.
?
[STADIUM FIELD – OUTER AREA, COVERED BY SHADOWS]
Sockoo, Yu, Makoto, and Rizra crouch behind a large structure, hidden from the view of Team Nova. Their faces are serious as they discuss their next move.
SOCKOO (whispering):
“Nina’s illusion magic… it’s not just a crowd control. It messes with our minds, makes us lose focus.”
YU (nodding):
“Yeah, and it’s affecting stamina too. If we don’t break it quickly, we’ll be easy targets.”
MAKOTO (checking his guns, quiet but determined):
“We need a plan that hits hard and fast. Disrupt Nina’s concentration, and we might just break the illusion.”
RIZRA (eyes sharp):
“I can keep them busy with close-range attacks. Sockoo, you and Yu focus on Nina directly. Makoto, cover our backs.”
SOCKOO (clenching fists):
“Got it. No more getting caught off guard.”
YU (smirking):
“Time to show them what Music Strikers are made of.”
They exchange determined glances, then silently slip from their hiding spot, ready to strike with precision and teamwork.
?
Hajime watches from the sidelines, heart pounding with anticipation, waiting for their move — his anger slowly transforming into focused resolve.
