ZU × ORI: Story Summary

At Trinity Rose High School, newcomer ZU struggles with the enigmatic sketches she has drawn, feeling a strange connection to them without knowing why. Her encounter with ORI, a gifted but mysterious student, unlocks a flood of past-life memories from their time in Verona. This revelation also impacts their teacher, PROFESSOR LAUREN, and Ori’s best friend, HERMES, each carrying wounds from their own Verona lives.

As Zu and Ori unravel their pasts as Juliet and Romeo, they uncover a vast world of reincarnation, time crossings, hidden mysteries, and an ancient destiny stretching across centuries—one that divides those who remember their past lives from those who do not. As they piece together their tragedy in Verona, they realize why fate has drawn them together once more.

Their reunion is threatened when the bitter TAI, the reincarnated Tybalt Capulet, confronts Zu with a terrible prophecy: unless she returns to the Capulets, history will repeat itself, and Ori will die once again. Tai gives her Nepenthe, a powerful perfume that erases past-life memories, forcing her to choose between preserving Ori's memories and saving his life.

As the weight of the past tests Zu and Ori's evolving relationship, Ori proposes they collaborate for Trinity Rose’s annual performance event, The Lights. But destiny takes a dark turn when Zu accidentally inhales Nepenthe, wiping her memories of Verona.

To save their future, Ori braves the painful Montague retrieval process (guided by Hermes), awakening powerful forces from his past life as Romeo. With the threat of Nepenthe and humanity’s future at stake, Zu and Ori's performance at The Lights becomes a stage—where every character must either succumb to their painful past or break free to fulfill their destiny.