[17] The Echoing Star

Chapter 17: The Echoing Star

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

I told Ruby who scoffed, making me laugh. Tsubasa gave me 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 me with another girl, as I had fun teasing her a bit more.

I didn't do the same 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]

Rias Gremory stood before me, smiling so softly that most people would miss it. Her school dress was a bit different from others, while she wore a tie and a vest, her shirt was replaced with a white bodycon that reached her thighs, after which a pair of black tights took over. walked over to me, right in front of the girls, and leaned over to whisper.

"Good acting yesterday. Made me blush, it was entertaining."

Then, she walked away. I wanted to call her but there were two other ladies beside me. I felt a little touched, just a bit, that she was waiting on the bench just to tell me that.

I suppose it's about time I stopped ignoring her presence. Back then I was a kid, I was weak, and I couldn't deal with the consequences of interacting with a devil princess. But now it was different, maybe I should note her in my list of potential girlfriend.

"See you later." I said in a not very loud voice, but she still turned around and gave me a smile, walking off.

The two ladies beside me stopped to stare at Rias' back and then shot me a glare before they walked away without me.

What is this?

* * *

Here's the thing. I am not a good guy. I am also not a bad guy. I have done both bad and good, a demon and a saint; I am someone who has walked both paths and taken both the red and blue pills. Nobody will be able to put me on a chart of good & evil, but I am not neutral, I am the opposite of that.

The one word I'd use to describe myself was "crazy". Though admittedly, I have done no such crazy thing in this life. Until now, my actions have been pretty tame.

However, I have chosen a path now. Sadly, it's the path of crazy people, not good, not bad, not neutral. This means I have to build myself a faction, though it'd be smaller than a usual faction, and packed with singular powerhouses instead of useless minions.

This was the best choice for me since I didn't like being a part of groups, even if I were to be the leader of it. A small Sect was the best.

With a few hyper-powerful underlings, I can live my life the way I want, while taking on anybody, Gods or Devils alike, who might be dissatisfied with my ways and come to deal with me. As I lived a similar life in my 9th life, I knew from experience that there were a lot of people like that.

For example, I'm planning to let the world know about magic and divinity. It relates to a grand plan of mine but that's for later. Many won't like that, and I'll be hunted down for it. It's a goal for the near future, not yet, but when that time comes, many strong people will come for me.

I didn't mind dealing with them, but as the Honored One, I can't be seen taking on any and every small fry that comes my way. First of all, Ruby needs to grow faster, I am going to harshen her training. As my sister and disciple, she's obviously going to work for me, even if she didn't want to.

Beyond that, I'll also need to grow stronger myself and gather some other subordinates.

That brings us to the current situation.

[Image Here]

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 me.

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 came to school with the intention to heal Shoko's illness. It was the day when I met 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 me. She was about to weave signs saying that she couldn't understand but paused. She paused and stared at me, surprised at how she understood me 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 met me.

As for why she could understand me, 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. Meaning, 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 roamed around a bit and scanned this guy named Genshirou Saji, 2nd Year, whom I knew for a fact from the DxD anime had a Sacred Gear. Now, I have confirmed 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 become alive for her. Plus, she would know about my magical identity. If her deafness was normal, then I'd have just given her medicine 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 me to see what the power was. It was honestly crazy, as it was a sound variation of Word Magic.

===

Name: Echoes [1]

Type: Sacred Gear

Rank: New Longinus

Description: This power resides in the user's voice, causing her words to come 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 somehow 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 become 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 message 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 Metaphysical Consciousness.]

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

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

"W-wha-"

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

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

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

"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 some people came to check on her a few times. However, I just waved them off; since Shoko was crying while hugging me, they decided to trust me.

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 came to the school, little miss Yuzuru Nishiyama began to throw hands at me.

"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 me.

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

It was broken, but it was Japanese. Yuzuru stopped. It took her a moment 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 time 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 me 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 home and announce this to their parents. Shoko cried for me, reaching out a hand to hold me, asking me to go along with her, but I had other things to do.

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

When she was gone, I stood up and dusted off my shirt. Oh shit, the lipstick mark will be troublesome 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 time.

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 time around. It was an indoor place, a Game Center. It would be boring if we went to a park for all the episodes.

I didn't immediately reach the clouds when I took off, which allowed me 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 same 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 meant 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 time; that fate stayed kind to him so he mustn't die due to some butterfly effect.

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