Taichii No Isekai

Crossing the Line

Crossing the Line

Taichii Minoru walked down the crowded streets of Tokyo with his hands in his pockets, the faint glow of his phone casting shadows over his face. He had just finished reading the latest chapter of *Betrayal's Embrace*, his guilty pleasure of a manga—although he couldn't figure out why he kept coming back to it. It was the story of Yuta Arata, a sweet and sincere protagonist who was hopelessly in love with Hana Karuizawa, the girl of his dreams. But, as fate would have it, Hana was slowly being lured away by Kurou Akuma, the bad boy antagonist.

And Taichii hated Kurou with a passion. Every time Kurou smirked or pushed Yuta aside, Taichii’s blood boiled. Why did the story insist on making life so unfair for Yuta, he wondered. Why did the villain have to get everything?

Lost in thought, Taichii barely noticed the *beep beep* of a truck bearing down on him as he crossed the intersection. The last thing he remembered was a flash of headlights, a screech of tires, and a jolt of pain that surged through his entire body.

Then, silence.

---

When Taichii opened his eyes again, he was staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. It wasn’t his room, and something felt... off. The ceiling was higher, painted in muted tones, and sunlight filtered in through a set of expensive-looking blinds. He blinked, sitting up on the edge of a plush bed, feeling like he’d stepped into a high-end hotel suite.

“What...where am I?” he muttered, rubbing his temples. As he glanced down, he noticed he was wearing clothes he didn’t recognize: a dark, fitted jacket, expensive-looking jeans, and a pair of scuffed leather boots.

Confused, he stumbled over to a mirror hanging on the wall and stared. The reflection staring back at him wasn’t his own. Instead, he saw a young man with jet-black hair slicked back in a cocky style, sharp, piercing eyes that glinted with arrogance, and a jawline that could cut glass.

It was Kurou Akuma.

“No... way,” Taichii whispered, gripping the edge of the dresser to steady himself. “This can’t be happening.”

He frantically searched his mind for an explanation. Had he died? Was this some bizarre fever dream? But everything around him felt so real, from the faint hum of a clock on the wall to the distant sounds of traffic outside.

Suddenly, a wave of memories hit him like a punch to the gut. Memories of a broken family, of a mother who had left, a father who’d drowned his sorrows in alcohol and lashed out in anger. There were fragments of faces, blurred but angry, yelling at him, pushing him around. And then the cold, hollow feeling of sitting alone in a grand house, with only his grandparents to dote on him as they tried to make up for his miserable past by giving him whatever he asked for.

He was living Kurou’s life.

A wave of nausea rolled over Taichii as he tried to process the weight of the memories. He stumbled to the door, flinging it open to find himself in a sprawling mansion. The silence was almost deafening, broken only by his own shaky footsteps as he wandered through rooms full of luxurious furniture and expensive decor. It was a life that seemed grand from the outside, but in reality, it felt like a prison.

Just as he was gathering his thoughts, he heard footsteps echoing down the hall. An elderly woman, clearly one of the house staff, appeared with a respectful bow.

“Good morning, Master Kurou,” she said, her voice polite but distant.

Taichii’s heart skipped a beat. He tried to respond, but his voice felt foreign in his own mouth. “Uh, yeah… morning.”

The woman raised an eyebrow but didn’t question him. “Shall I inform the driver to prepare the car for school?”

School. Right. Taichii vaguely remembered that Kurou went to an elite academy, where his reputation as a notorious delinquent preceded him. A chill ran down his spine as he realized what he was about to face.

“Yeah... do that,” he said, trying to sound as casual as possible. The woman gave a slight nod before disappearing down the hall.

---

Minutes later, Taichii found himself sitting in the backseat of a sleek, black car, watching the city pass by in a blur. His mind was spinning, and he couldn’t stop thinking about Yuta and Hana. If he was really Kurou, that meant he was supposed to steal Hana from Yuta. His stomach twisted with dread at the thought. The last thing he wanted was to play the role of the villain in the life of someone he sympathized with.

As the car pulled up in front of the academy, Taichii took a deep breath, trying to steel himself. The campus was exactly as he’d seen it in the manga—grand, imposing, filled with students dressed in expensive uniforms.

When he stepped out of the car, he felt dozens of eyes on him, students whispering and glancing his way. Kurou Akuma’s reputation was clearly no secret here. And just as he expected, his appearance seemed to demand respect, or at least fear. He could practically feel people shrink away as he passed.

He was nearly at the entrance when he spotted a familiar face across the courtyard. It was Yuta, the innocent protagonist whose life he was supposed to ruin. Yuta stood there with a friendly, almost shy smile on his face as he chatted with Hana, who laughed at something he said, looking radiant in the morning sunlight.

Watching them, Taichii’s heart sank. This was the story he was meant to change... or destroy.

As he tried to look away, he felt a strange tugging sensation. It was as if something deep inside him, Kurou’s own memories or instincts, was urging him to stride right over and interrupt them, to insert himself into Hana’s life, to win her over from Yuta.

But Taichii clenched his fists, forcing himself to resist. *I’m not Kurou,* he reminded himself. *I don’t have to be the villain.*

As the day went on, Taichii found himself constantly battling Kurou’s impulses, trying to navigate a world where he was supposed to play a part he despised. Each step, each interaction, felt like a tightrope walk between who he was and who he was expected to be.

Fate wouldn’t make it easy for him to escape his role.