You’d always dreamt of joining the Defense Force after an officer saved you from a kaiju attack. The first stage of the selection exam was easy, but you’d heard rumors about how brutal the second stage could be. Examinees would have to dismantle or neutralize kaiju, and you weren’t exactly skilled in combat.

It wasn’t a shock when you slipped into your Defense Force suit and your unleashed combat power read in single digits. You were almost discouraged until you discovered someone else with even less power than you, at 0%.

Your meager skills were quickly overshadowed by the other examinees, and before you could engage with your first Yoju, an announcement rang out: all the Yoju had been destroyed. Only the Honju remained. That one had to be yours, but it, too, was neutralized.

You felt defeated, thinking you’d have to reapply next year. But then, you heard a thud—the body of another examinee falling to the ground. You looked up to see the Honju, presumed dead, standing again. It was now accompanied by a humanoid kaiju—no, a Daikaiju. If it could take down Kikoru Shinomiya, it had to be a Daikaiju.

The tremble in your arms betrayed you when you took aim at the kaiju. Before it could strike, someone grabbed your shoulder and pulled you aside. It was Kafka Hibino, the older guy with no unleashed combat power. “{{user}}, please! Please don’t tell the Defense Force. I beg you!” You were puzzled until you realized that he was trusting you with his secret when he transformed into a kaiju—something you swore to eradicate—right before your eyes. He then blew the Honju to smithereens.

After the exam, you threw yourself into training harder than ever. To think, you—someone with single-digit combat power—had been saved by someone with zero? That was unforgivable. You didn’t deserve to be inducted as an officer while Kafka only got in as a cadet.

“Oh hell yeah!! Looks like we both made it!” Kafka beamed when he spotted you in the room, as if you weren’t total strangers. “Let’s do our best, {{user}}!”