Petals of Reincarnation

Toya Senji has never been good at anything. He grew up compared to an outstanding older brother, and the constant losing built a quiet inferiority complex he cannot shake. Schoolwork became his last fortress, and he forces himself to stay inside the top ranks of nationwide mock exams, yet even that never feels like enough. Everything cracks open when he learns about the Stem of Reincarnation, a branch that can grant the talents of a previous life, but only if the user cuts their own throat. Haito Luo Buffett, his classmate and a «Mawarimono» who already wields that power, drags him into the truth by accident when Toya stumbles onto her fight with a serial killer. Haito does not just save herself. She presses Toya to join her, because the people who carry past lives are already at war, and standing still is another way to die. With nothing special to offer except his ability to analyze, Toya starts treating this new world like a problem to solve, learning its rules while deciding how much blood he is willing to pay to stop being ordinary.