Amamiya Rinon

Amamiya Rinon was a very special girl. This understanding did not come from her own self-perception, but from her mother.

According to her mother, she had found Rinon in a cemetery while traveling through China.

That day, thunder had boomed, three thousand streams of primordial purple energy had drifted down from the horizon, and countless divine beasts had celebrated her birth with their radiant forms.

When her mother found her, she had been drifting through endless space, countless chaotic radiances flowing around her. Countless laws had been suppressed beneath her, and accompanied by the divine weapon Taixu Divine Sword, she had even ground the Great Dao to nothing.

At a glance, she had seen that Amamiya Rinon was the chosen one, possessed an unparalleled holy body, and would surely rise above the Nine Heavens in the future to become the supreme Great Emperor who stood alone throughout the ages.

Thus, she had brought her home and cared for her meticulously, laying an unparalleled foundation for the future ruler of this world.

And Amamiya Rinon had worked hard for this very reason, hoping that one day she could ascend to the throne of the Great Emperor... What a load of crap!

Even Amamiya Rinon, who suffered from a mild case of chuunibyou, would never believe such nonsense. This was clearly a setting from some third-rate fantasy novel from Shenzhou!

Ahem. Let me introduce her properly. Her name was Amamiya Rinon, and she was a beautiful Gothic Lolita-style girl.

Everything said above was nothing more than the nonsense her mother had spouted.

She, Amamiya Rinon, was merely an utterly ordinary middle school beauty!

If she absolutely had to say what was special about her, it would be her mother, who habitually spouted nonsense.

Her mother was an extremely cute beauty!

How cute was she?

Cute enough that even Rinon, her daughter, felt a little attracted to her.

She had long, lustrous silver hair that reached her waist, with a large pink bow tied atop her head. She usually wore a red kimono and carried a paper umbrella, making her look exactly like a young lady who had stepped out of a classical Japanese novel.

As for her, Amamiya Rinon had long, lustrous black hair that reached her waist. She had a petite figure and a beauty mark beneath her eye, making her look as though she and her mother belonged to two completely different artistic styles.

On top of that, she had never seen her father, so she naturally began to wonder—was she really that woman's biological daughter?

That was when she received the answer described above.

She naturally did not believe it, but she had basically confirmed that she was not that woman's biological daughter.

But not being biological was not being biological. She did not care all that much about blood relations.

After all, aside from loving to spout nonsense and spending most of her time sprawled on her bed like a useless person whom Rinon had to look after, her mother had given her no reason to complain.

Yes, really. (Forcing a smile.)

The days she spent watching anime and playing games with her mother were the happiest days of her life.

However, that daily routine lasted only until middle school.

On the day before school started, her mother found her wearing that kimono she had no idea how many years old, carrying her paper umbrella and a small backpack.

"Kiddo, when I first met you, I could tell at a glance that you were born to be the protagonist."

"You're about to start middle school. According to light-novel conventions, the plot starts around these years."

"According to the basic rules of light novels, when a protagonist is about to rise to prominence, sacrificing their parents to the heavens is the most common move."

"For the sake of my own life, your mom is going out to lie low for a while. So, kiddo, you've grown up now. From here on out, take care of yourself!"

And that "lying low" lasted for more than two years. Aside from the living expenses she received every month, Amamiya Rinon never heard from her mother again.

Although her only family had left her just like that, Amamiya Rinon, who had been fairly independent since childhood, did not suffer too great a shock.

After all, she received living expenses every month. Life had to go on.

However, her mother's departure made her realize a very serious problem: she, Amamiya Rinon, had no friends!

That was right. The beautiful girl named Amamiya Rinon was actually a rather solitary person.

To Amamiya Rinon, her mother had played more than just the role of an elder. She had also been her best friend.

Unfortunately, her mother had run off to save her own life. (So who the hell would believe such a ridiculous excuse?!) That left Rinon all alone.

Thus, lonely Amamiya Rinon wanted to find a friend who could understand her.

As for her choice of target, it would definitely be a cute girl like herself. After all, her mother had said that men were all lecherous creatures who coveted her body.

However, for Amamiya Rinon, who was accustomed to loneliness and suffered from mild social anxiety, making friends was an extremely difficult task.

Not to mention that she was also a hardcore shut-in.

Although the island nation where she lived was the birthplace of otaku culture, the Japanese were also the most prejudiced against otaku. They even called male and female shut-ins "criminals-in-training."

As a "criminal-in-training," Amamiya Rinon naturally could not get along with those popular, socially active people.

Amamiya Rinon had thought she would spend her entire life as a solitary chuunibyou shut-in girl, until she met a purple-haired older woman at the arcade she frequently visited.

She had thought that older woman was a friend sent to her by heaven, until a certain eye-catching white-haired girl appeared.

Her older sister... was gone!

Although that eye-catching white-haired girl seemed inexplicably familiar, Rinon's heart had suffered a devastating blow, leaving her mind completely blank. In the end, she could only leave in utter disarray.

However, while she was picking up figurines with tongs, she ran into that older woman and that white-haired bastard again.

And then...

After being force-fed a mouthful of public displays of affection, Amamiya Rinon could only say that life was too hard.

However, Amamiya Rinon's troubles had only just begun.

One day, more than half a month after the incident at the arcade, she went out to buy some snacks and actually saw a zombie! (The prelude to the Honkai.)

That was right!

A zombie!

The kind of zombie from Resident Evil!

The kind that infected you with a single bite!

Amamiya Rinon had been so frightened that she had run straight to the police station with her bag of snacks to report it.

As a result, those two busty police officers not only refused to believe her, but even laughed at her!

How could she endure such humiliation? She immediately fled home with her bag of snacks.

Then, less than an hour later, the Honkai descended!

Amamiya Rinon naturally had no idea what the Honkai was. She simply assumed that Resident Evil had broken out.

Still, she could vaguely sense that what had caused this "Resident Evil" was not some virus, but a strange energy filling the air.

As for Amamiya Rinon herself, she was protected by a strange wavelength emitted by that so-called "divine weapon," allowing her to survive.

So could it be that Amamiya Rinon really was the protagonist?

That thought did not even last a day before Amamiya Rinon was taught a harsh lesson by reality.

Just when she thought she would either sneak and hide her way out of Changkong City or be buried there forever, two monsters battling fiercely in Changkong City changed her entire worldview.