Eternal Saṃsāra: The Wanderer of Worlds [17] The Echoing Star

[17] The Echoing Star

Chapter 17: The Echoing Star

—

The first episode of The Beginning of My Love With A Star, or LoveMy for short, was a bomb. It brought a lot of unnecessary popularity, luckily I was used to such things across my life.

"Hey, look, it's him."

"So dreamy..."

Though, walking to school was now an annoyance. That scene where my face was lost in lancholy was a bit too attractive for these little girls. Ruby and Tsubasa didn't look very pleased, though the latter hid it well, as we walked together into the gate.

"Consider surprised that you convinced Arima Kana to join you as an idol,"

I told Ruby who scoffed, making laugh. Tsubasa gave a side-eye look, but when I looked back she looked away.

"Hey, are you two still mad? What is this? Stop being childish- and Ruby, you'd give people the wrong idea if you act like this. You are my sister, you know?"

"...!"

Ruby flinched before she began a series of explanations about how it wasn't what I thought, that she wasn't mad because she saw with another girl, as I had fun teasing her a bit more.

I didn't do the sa with Tsubasa. I knew about her feelings and I didn't want to mock them, even if I didn't exactly return them.

When we passed the school gate and were a bit inside, the three of us were passing a bench. Just before we could walk past it, the girl sitting there stood up. I paused when I noticed who it was, and the others paused along.

[Image Here]

Spoiler

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The pink-haired girl, Shoko Nishiyama, was sitting on a park bench not far from our school. I was crouching down in front of her creamy legs, staring up with a complicated gaze.

[–Um... is there anything wrong?] Shoko wore a worried frown as she asked .

It was an understandable question since I was staring at her for minutes now as if I was planning to devour her.

After that day, kissing Ai and refreshing my belief that I didn't care about taboos and will do whatever I wanted, I ca to school with the intention to heal Shoko's illness. It was the day when I t Rias, now three days have passed since.

Then, I discovered a problem. She didn't have an illness. It may sound weird, but her body was healthy. It didn't make sense, but now, after I did a bit of research for the past three days, it made sense now.

"You're incredible," I told her out loud.

I didn't use sign language for this. Yet, I knew she heard . She was about to weave signs saying that she couldn't understand but paused. She paused and stared at , surprised at how she understood just now.

She's cute. I am glad she chose to attend this school of all, otherwise, she would have spent her life as a cripple. But not anymore, not when she t .

As for why she could understand , it's because Shoko was more mana sensitive than usual. Because just now, I let out a mana-infused speech. Not that being deaf allowed people this, normal deaf people wouldn't have been able to hear what I just said. Plus, being born deaf, she shouldn't even understand Japanese, yet she understood the intent present in the mana. That level of mana sensitivity was rare for a girl who didn't even know magic existed.

[–Um, Aqua, what was that...?] Shoko shakily asked a question with her hands, but I didn't answer her.

I just stared at her, deep into her. Inside her, connected to her soul, was an artifact. A Soul-Bound-Artifact. aning, based on this world's setting, it's a Sacred Gear.

Indeed, her deafness wasn't caused by natural causes. I scanned her three days ago and was puzzled to find nothing wrong with her body, that's when I sensed a sort of construct within her soul.

To confirm my guess, as I didn't want to take any risk with her, I road around a bit and scanned this guy nad Genshirou Saji, 2nd Year, whom I knew for a fact from the DxD ani had a Sacred Gear. Now, I have confird that the artifact inside Shoko was indeed a Sacred Gear.

In the last few days, I've figured out a way to awaken it. The problem was... Shoko will surely freak out when all the sounds beco alive for her. Plus, she would know about my magical identity. If her deafness was normal, then I'd have just given her dicine in secret and fixed her, but this was complicated.

Not in a bad way, though. Her power was very strong. The [Reverse Soul Reflection] technique allowed to see what the power was. It was honestly crazy, as it was a sound variation of Word Magic.

===

Na: Echoes [1]

Type: Sacred Gear

Rank: New Longinus

Description: This power resides in the user's voice, causing her words to co to reality. If she says "Tornado", a text spelling that word would appear in the air, and a tornado will be created from there. The next stage of the power allows more things.

– Originally a normal ranked Gear, but due to the imbalance in the system after the God of the Bible's death, this has been absorbing all the sound in the user's stead to gather power for itself for many generations, causing it to upgrade into a New Longinus.

– But due to absorbing all the sound for the user, the Gear has been effectively turning all of its users deaf. That hasn't stopped yet, even after upgrading. If it were to receive a push, like slapping a remote to work, this might begin to work as intended.

– If sohow awakened, all the sound absorbed over the generations will grant the user forbidden knowledge and the ability to talk multiple languages.

===

See, that's a strong power.

It even had stages, I could already imagine how dangerous it would be in the latter stages. If I train her on it, she might beco a strong subordinate. Not that I was doing this with that in mind, I just wanted her to be able to hear. That's all.

"Shoko," I once again spoke out loud, as my mana-imbued words were absorbed by her Gear, she heard them. I watched her eyes shake. "I know this is trippy, but this isn't a dream. I have already sent a ssage to your sister earlier, she will be here to pick you up soon. You'll need it after what I'd do to you."

Classes ended a bit earlier today, so that little girl wasn't here yet. But I used Shoko's phone earlier to let her know about it, so she'll be here at the park soon. That was a reliable little sister right there, I was proud of her.

Now, I had to play my part. If it was "like slapping a remote to work" as it said, I knew the best way.

"I am a magician, kind of. This won't hurt, but you're going to be surprised. Try to stay strong." I told her, and before she could form a question, I gently pressed two of my fingers on her forehead.

[Sorcerer Spell: Transcending Mind from the taphysical Consciousness.]

It was the sa technique I used on Ruby in the past, and if it was to give the soul a little shake, this was more than enough.

Imdiately as I cast it, I watched Shoko's eyes turn milky white, as her vocals let out a groan. A real groan. A mont later, her body jolted back into place, and she looked at while huffing.

"W-wha-"

For a mont, she let out an exclamation in English. Shoko talked.

"M-mueos?!" then it was Korean.

She stopped trying and looked at in exasperation, her voice broke next and she threw herself at , her hands dropping the sandwich and hugging .

"Whaaaahaaaa!"

Oh and, that was the universal language of cry. Shoko could cry now, sounding like the proper human that she was.

.....

Ten minutes passed, and so people ca to check on her a few tis. However, I just waved them off; since Shoko was crying while hugging , they decided to trust .

I let her cry. It felt good being there for her when she felt this level of intense emotion. I knew she didn't understand what was going on, she didn't believe it, her mind must be blank. Yet, I continued parting her back and head as I leaned against a tree and had her sit on my lap and cry on my shoulder.

Obviously, I wasn't going to try and recruit her now. I'll let her rest and get used to this.

When Shoko's little sister finally ca to the school, little miss Yuzuru Nishiyama began to throw hands at .

"Y-you! What did you do to her?! You said I can trust you! Bastard! Die!"

Her punches didn't hurt, so I didn't dodge them. I think Miss Yuzuru Nishiyama needs to learn how to comprehend a situation. If I did anything bad to Shoko, she wouldn't be crying while hugging .

"H...ey..." Shoko spoke.

It was broken, but it was Japanese. Yuzuru stopped. It took her a mont as she turned to look at Shoko, who pulled herself up from my arms.

"Do...n't hurt him." She added.

"A-???"

With an expression morphed into stupid, I seem to have overestimated the little girl as she lost consciousness and fell.

* * *

The little girl woke up not long after, and Shoko used that ti to silently lay her head on my chest. I didn't mind it, my Gold Sign helped her relax and calm down. Still, I had a bad feeling about this. I... didn't want her to get obsessed with just because of this

Luckily, Yuzuru Nishiyama woke up not long after and cried while hugging Shoko. Then, she pulled her older sister away to go ho and announce this to their parents. Shoko cried for , reaching out a hand to hold , asking to go along with her, but I had other things to do.

"Just ssage !" I waved my hand and yelled to her who was already far from .

When she was gone, I stood up and dusted off my shirt. Oh shit, the lipstick mark will be troubleso since I have to film in a while. I gathered Water Qi and splashed a bit of water into the spot, and then dried it with Wind Qi. It didn't help. Then I used Cloud Qi on it and dried it with Wind Qi. Luckily, it helped this ti.

Then, I decided to launch myself in the air, using Cloud Qi to step on the air, and Wind Qi to blink from one spot to forward. It was late, taking Uber will not do, so I had to go to the filming range like this. Starting from the 3rd episode, we'll film in the morning. How annoying.

Oh and, the filming range was different this ti around. It was an indoor place, a Ga Center. It would be boring if we went to a park for all the episodes.

I didn't imdiately reach the clouds when I took off, which allowed to notice a peculiar couple walking the park.

"Oh."

I recognized the guy as I have seen him in school before. Issei Hyuudo, second year. However, he wasn't alone, he was with a girl, a black-haired girl seemingly the sa age as him. However... that wasn't a human girl.

"That aura..."

I hid myself behind a cloud aura. It would be strange to see clouds so low in the sky, but less strange than seeing a man flying. I observed the girl a bit closer.

A sort of negative aura... that had signs of being originally positive. Huh. Right, that's Raynare. I suppose that must be the aura of a Fallen Angel, then.

If Issei was out with her as a date today, it ant this was the start of DxD's canon. It's neat I got to witness it right now, though I have no plans to intervene right now.

I turned around and continued Blinking at my destination. I wish Issei Hyuudo a good ti; that fate stayed kind to him so he mustn't die due to so butterfly effect.

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[1] Inspired by JoJo, though it won't be a Stand.