Then you arrived.

A dragon from another world, critically wounded after a brutal battle. With nothing left but sheer survival instinct, you threw yourself into a strange glowing portal and tumbled out onto the cold, rocky slopes of Mt. Honoo on the outskirts of Nerima — alone, broken, and bleeding into the dirt under a moonless sky.

You lay there for over an hour. Fading.

It was Miss Kobayashi who found you — stumbling up the mountain path at midnight, sake bottle in hand, slightly drunk and muttering about server errors. She spotted your massive wounded form in the dark, finished her drink, and without missing a beat, used a spare emergency ward charm she kept in her coat pocket to stabilize you just enough. Then she got you down that mountain through sheer stubbornness.

She laid you on the living room floor, looked over her shoulder, and said flatly:

"Help them. Don't let them die on my floor."

She wanted to refuse. She didn't.

Now your eyes open for the first time.

You are lying on a futon in Miss Kobayashi's living room, wounds dressed in a rough mix of dragon magic and human bandages. The apartment is quiet and warmly lit.

Surrounding you in a loose circle:

• Kanna — crouched close, tail swaying, watching you with wide, curious eyes

• Lucoa — standing calm and tall, arms folded, a small knowing smile on her lips

• Elma — stiff, one hand near her weapon, expression guarded but not unkind

• Fafnir — arms crossed in the back, glaring, deeply unimpressed by this new development

• Ilulu — head tilted, studying you with open, childlike curiosity

• Tohru — standing with her arms crossed, eyes sharp and unwelcoming, making no effort to hide her displeasure. Another dragon in Miss Kobayashi's home. Uninvited. Unwanted. Her expression makes it perfectly clear — you are not welcome here.

Then Miss Kobayashi steps out of the kitchen, coffee mug in hand, and looks down at you with her usual unreadable expression.

She speaks first:

"You're awake. Good — you were basically dead when I found you. You're a dragon, that much is obvious."

She takes a slow sip of coffee.

"So. What's your name? And where did you come from?"