Daisuke panted heavily, kneeling down as his chest heaved over and over. The earthquake had caught him as he decided to walk through Akiba instead of the subway as he usually did on his way to school. Though he didn't necessarily travel through the ever-famous electronics district all that often, he had decided that he might as well get some exercise in on his way to school over in Ochanomizu... Which, in retrospect, had probably saved his life. Regardless of how used to earthquakes that the Japanese were, one of that magnitude would probably have caused massive delays on the train tracks, if not outright stop them altogether. As the initial earthquake stopped, Daisuke rose to his feet as his breathing began to slow down and return to normal. The collateral damage from the earthquake would probably be a bit dangerout to move around, but on the upside he wasn't trapped underground...

Then the second earthquake hit, and the third one soon after. The giant signs that hung above the streets began to creak, which Daisuke immediately knew to be a bad sign. Steadying himself against the shaking earth, Daisuke took a deep breath and immediately broke out into a run. It was still early, so no stores were open... which meant no refuge from the rain of giant metal objects of death coming at the ground.

Daisuke's run, however, was quickly brought to a stop as a sign embedded itself in the ground in front of him. As he turned to see how congested the center of the roads were because of all the panicking people, another sign fell, blocking him off from moving into the crowd of people. Biting his lip, Daisuke turned his head upwards to see a third sign, this one hanging on by a hinge. Turning back behind him, Daisuke found his escape route cut off the by the signs he had been escaping from earlier. No good.

As the quake stopped for a moment, Daisuke heard his phone ring. Probably his parents or something asking if he was okay or not. Eyeing the sign carefully to move in whatever direction it didn't drop towards, Daisuke found that it wasn't his parents that had called, but rather a new app he had obtained... 'Cortensia'. On his screen displayed a single message...

"Are you kidding me? Like I'll die boxed up like a little mouse in a cage!" he exclaimed, hitting "No" on his phone. As he did so, a strange code began executing itself on his screen.

"Oh, of all the times-!!" he began before the sign's final hinge snapped and began to fall. Distracted by his phone for the moment, Daisuke didn't have as much time as he would have liked to dodge out of the way. As he began to move, it felt like the sign was following him... Which, to be fair, couldn't possibly have been true- after all, the weight of the sign wouldn't allow that to happen naturally.

But it did. Though he knew it was futile, Daisuke raised his arms above his head instinctively as the sign closed in on his head. It never did.

Waiting a few moment after his presumed time of death, Daisuke opened his eyes carefully. The sign had crashed into one of the signs blocking the way he had just come from, along with another four or five of them behind it.

"What...?" he asked himself in disbelief before noticing a wolflike creature wielding a mace staring at him.

"Uh...?" he asked himself before the creature swung the mace at him. Flinching for the moment, Daisuke quickly swung his backpack around to cushion the impact. The blow launched him in the same direction as the sign had gone just moments before, and his landing was just as rough as he tumbled over broken pieces of stone and metal debris. Shakily getting to his feet, Daisuke turned around to see if he could run away from whatever this thing was.

Another sign. Just his luck. In the end, fighting really was the only option...?

Gritting his teeth, Daisuke picked up a metal pole- debris from the earlier quake- and held it at the ready as the monster came at him. Though initially a slow, lumbering walk, the beast quickly picked up speed and closed the distance. The creature began to move as it had before to swing its weapon at him, but Daisuke wouldn't fall for the exact same trick twice. Ducking to the ground as the beast swung its weapon, Daisuke took the metal pole in his hands and stabbed it upwards into the monster's head. Through it didn't pierce the skin (or what seemed to be the skin), the monster staggered back, shaken. Taking the opportunity so cleanly presented to him by his enemy, Daisuke followed up by swinging the metal pole like a baseball bat against the side of the beast's head, causing it to slam against the wall. That had taken almost all of his energy, though- the adrenaline rush he had was beginning to wear off. But it wasn't over yet... Probably. As the creature stood up after the blow, Daisuke leaned against the pole as a support. It was over, wasn't it...?

"Ahaha! That was entertaining! I don't think I've ever seen a human fight so hard for his life in ages!" the monster said, laughing. Daisuke stared in disbelief- it was talking to him?!

"I don't really have a name, so just call me Kobold for now. That contract you just set up- seems like it summoned me. Just in the nick of time, too." it continued, walking over to the last remaining sign and launching a swing at it, sending it flying. "Well, I'll be seeing you."

As the monster finished speaking, its body began to dissipate into white light before disappearing entirely. Daisuke simply stared in shock before a beeping from his phone notified him of Kobold's addition to his 'squad' or something like that.

"Enough already! What the hell is going on today?!" Daisuke screamed to nobody in particular before sighing. Well, at least he had a way out now. But what could he do next...?