Kazuki Haruto was having a bad day.
Not a tragic, soul-crushing, movie-tier kind of bad day. Just… the kind that starts with no breakfast, continues with missed buses, and ends with your shoelace snapping at the exact moment you trip in front of a girl you've had a crush on since middle school.
So yeah. Bad.
Now, standing in the glow of a rusty vending machine on a quiet Tokyo street, Kazuki pressed the same blinking button for the fifth time.
Nothing.
He stared at the screen like it had personally insulted him.
"Okay. You're supposed to dispense a melon soda," he muttered, jabbing the button again. "I put in the exact amount. Don't play with me right now."
The vending machine, being a vending machine, said nothing. Its screen blinked in stubborn defiance. No melon soda. No refund. No dignity left.
Kazuki sighed, then looked up at the sky. Gray clouds rolled overhead. He wasn't sure if he should shake the machine or accept this as divine punishment.
"I'm not asking for much," he groaned. "Just one drink before I die of thirst or embarrassment."
Lightning cracked far too dramatically for such a mundane situation.
"…Okay, that felt a little ominous."
Suddenly, the vending machine screen glitched.
The digital numbers scrambled. The selection icons vanished. A strange blue symbol pulsed onto the screen — an intricate circle that looked like something out of a fantasy game: runes, spirals, and what suspiciously resembled a chicken holding a staff.
"…What the heck is this?"
Before Kazuki could back away, the coin return lit up with a blinding blue glow.
"Oh no," he whispered, his body already tensing.
A wind burst from the machine like someone had opened the hatch to another dimension. Papers flew. His hair whipped around wildly. A pigeon screamed in the distance.
Kazuki turned to run, but his foot caught on a crack in the sidewalk.
He tripped. Of course he did.
The last thing he saw before his vision went white was the sky cracking like glass—and a melon soda can slowly, finally, rolling out of the machine.
When he opened his eyes again… he was no longer in Tokyo.
The sky was green. The trees glowed. And somewhere in the distance… something screamed, "MEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRR!"