Before becoming an Agent, Masaru was a video game content creator whose streams and videos focused primarily around "Monster Slayer DX", a game in a long-famous game franchise that leveraged the power of VR, hard light, and reactive spaces to create a fully physical game world that went far beyond simply controlling a virtual avatar within one's mind. Though he started with nothing, Masaru quickly gained a reputation in the community as he slew beast after virtual beast, often times on his own and against increasingly more challenging odds. His victories were applauded, and his defeats were constant reminders that no matter how well he did, one small mistake or overconfident move could easily be his downfall.

So went the young man's life for a good few years, spending much of his time engrossed in this game and sharing in that passion with others who had deemed him worthy of their time. All of that came to an abrupt stop, however, when Masaru found himself in a sudden Anomaly outbreak while walking through the mall one day. While other civilians who were further from the danger zone managed to flee without issue, Masaru found himself rather unluckily caged in with the monster causing the chaos: a canine beast whose body seemed to ripple with muscle. Dodging falling concrete chunks from the floors above was a stroke of luck; less lucky, however, was the sight of an Agent who had been unceremoniously thrown clear across the area and broke their neck on said chunk right next to him. With no clear way to run away, the lone Masaru chose to pick up the deceased Agent's weapon—a bow of sorts, as luck would have it—and chose to die on his own terms rather than simply be torn to shreds without resistance.

Those years of practice, it turned out, had merit to them; his unorthodox style of combat that left him weaving through and around gaps in the Anomaly's perception allowed Masaru to fire shot after shot into the beast's head—though not without cost, as the nerves of having to fight in a life-or-death experience cost him more than a few nasty gashes and more close calls. Once one of the beast's eyes went, though, abusing the way it instinctually lashed out to capitalize on that opening even further felt almost like child's play to him. Eventually, the Anomaly had been felled, and Sefirot Agents—who by this point had expected nothing but corpses, given their reaction upon seeing him stand heavily wounded but victorious—came to retrieve the corpses of the deceased...

And him.

Initial questioning seemed to presume that he, too, was an Anomaly of sorts, but tests and analysis as he recovered proved that he was just a normal human—physically, at least. After being forced to sign an NDA about the facilities where he was kept and the people who he met with, Masaru was free to go home once his injuries had healed over.

But that freedom was more fleeting than not. Over the course of their questioning, Sefirot staff had deemed that Masaru was a valuable asset to them; while many others who had his level of skill and experience might have buckled from the pressure of the situation, he stood fast and even overcame an Anomaly with no experience against such beings to begin with. Simulacra was by no means interchangeable with reality, as they knew all too well, but it was undeniable to them that the young man had both skill and potential, and that an asset like that could ill afford to be wasted.

Thus began the days of Masaru's constant "harassment", as he would put it; almost like clockwork, Sefirot recruiters would call or even visit his home to speak with him, aggressively attempting to appeal to some sense of "duty" within the young man to put his skills to use and join them. But time and time again, Masaru would refuse; to be placed in such a dangerous position and come out on top felt like a sheer coincidence to him, and it was only by pure luck that the beast he had felled assumed a form that he was at least somewhat familiar enough with to take down, after all, and the chance of lightning striking twice like that felt untenable at best.

Eventually, though, Sefirot would take things a step further than that. By this point, Masaru's regular visits to the facility where the specialized setups necessary for him to play had become common knowledge to the staff, and it was during one of those visits where the young man was informed that not only had the entire area been rented out, but that the staff there had been given specific instructions to pull him aside to meet the person who had done so.

Kotobuki Gen. An older man who seemed far more lax than the eternally high-strung recruiters hassling him, Gen had told Masaru that he simply "wanted to chat". Masaru himself had grown tired of the hassle, but Gen simply beckoned him inside one of the fields used for the game and, after closing the door, threw Masaru the bow and quiver he had used to survive within an inch of his life and clapped his hands. Immediately, the room around them warped into a perfect copy of that fateful day in the mall, complete with the same Anomaly staring him down dead on.

"If you wouldn't mind showing me some of your skills..." Gen had suggested before stepping back, leaving Masaru alone to face the beast once more.

This time was different, though. The memories of that day coursed through him: the adrenaline driving him forward, the fear of facing death despite him knowing this was no more than a fake created by technology...

But what was missing this time was the desperation he had tasted back then. This was an enemy he had bested before, and under these circumstances, he could do it again.

No. He could do it better.

With him own pride as a gamer on the line, Masaru struck forth. Confidence in his movement slowly rose as he gauged his enemy out, reacting to every tell and twitch as he loosed arrow after arrow into its head. When the Anomaly simulacrum fell, Gen had expected to speak on the matter more with Masaru. What he didn't expect, though, was what the young man said soon after the field began to fade away.

"Again."

Confused, Gen seemed to stare at Masaru before giving his assent and allowing the field to reform. This time, however, Masaru slipped up; the briefest of missteps had left him wide open, and a wide cleave that would have bisected him had it been real went clear through him. But despite being visibly shaken, the young man continued.

"Again."

For the next two hours, Masaru would throw himself against the fake Anomaly, much to Gen's own intrigue. The older man soon began to notice, however, that each subsequent attempt upon the Anomaly's false life was faster than the last. It was slow at first, but by his final attempt Masaru had managed to shave minutes off of his time. Now thoroughly exhausted, though, the streamer finally deigned it acceptable to stop and speak with the man who had given him the opportunity to face the beast once more.

It soon became clear that no small part of Masaru's attempts had been driven on by some sense of ego, and it was at this point that Gen inquired as to the streamer's motivations in doing what he had just now. The answer, however, was simple.

"It was a good opportunity to practice against something new in a safe place," Masaru had replied. "And besides, you rarely see monsters like that in game. Better to have the experience against it than not."

With his motivations (and apparent reason for declining all those offers) clear for the old man to see, Gen chose to proceed with negotiations. The idea that Masaru could only assure his own safety through improvement of his own skill was quickly taken advantage of with the idea that he could only do so facing against those threats, and the implication that being a Sefirot Agent was the best way of doing so coupled with the fact that there were far more fights than the ones that went public seemed sufficient to convince the young man to sign on...

Once he had a proper lawyer to settle the matter and had enough time to put his streaming career on indefinite hiatus, at least.