Telltale: Dead and Alive

Volume 1 is complete. Volume 2 is coming soon and will continue here under separate numbering.

In Tachiaoi, an independent island city built with private wealth, science runs years ahead of the mainland. The streets look safe, the rules are efficient, and the image is spotless, but the city hides a dark side rooted deeper than anyone realizes.

After losing his only friend, Aizawa Himeko, Kagayaki Ryūta, a sixteen-year-old boy who lives alone, returns to school with a single purpose: to move on and find happiness again, honoring her last wish. But grief isn't the only thing following him. The circumstances behind Himeko's death don't sit right, and the closer he looks, the less anything in Tachiaoi does. A mysterious classmate, Utsushino Sanae, enters his life with secrets of her own, bound to him by something neither of them understands, and a Russian maid placed at his side by powers he barely comprehends, leaving him to choose between his own safety and his humanity.

The city's underworld is far deadlier than he ever expected, and definitely not something he could face alone. But he is not alone. He finds unexpected friends in the sharp-minded Takeda Shinji and his family, in the calm and composed student council president, Hoshizume Nao, and in the soft-hearted yet tough Daigorō and his girlfriend, each carrying their own scars and secrets.

This is a slow-burn fantasy about love, friendship, and family. But unlike the others, this one does not open with swords and spells. It begins with awkward conversations, questionable jokes, and a protagonist who is just trying to survive society, school, and his own emotions before the world demands more of him than he ever thought he had to give.