Shortly after leaving the rooftop, Shichen didn't immediately proceed to the next world. Instead, he headed out from the front gate of Toyogasaki Private Academy.
He didn't want to cause any trouble for Kasumigaoka Utaha.
After all, if there were no record of him leaving, the school might become concerned. If no one could find him, they might start questioning Utaha. Best to avoid extra complications.
Pausing at the school entrance, Shichen glanced back. He couldn't see the rooftop from this angle—only some heads poking out the windows of the classroom building, staring in his direction.
Let them keep on guessing, he mused with a slight curve of his lips before turning to go.
Once beyond the town, Shichen reached a deserted area and came to a stop, preparing to communicate with the presence in his head.
"Let's do it—let's leave," he said.
[Understood.]
"Hmm?"
Shichen noticed that, this time, the voice in his mind was no longer that oddly mechanical, androgynous tone, but distinctly female.
Yet it still carried no discernible emotion.
[Is there a problem?]
"Your voice—what happened to it?"
[Unclear. Possibly related to your acquisition of the Divine Fragments.]
"So the fragments help you too?"
[I have no related memory. But as you gain more fragments, I recall more as well.]
So there were lost memories, then. That confirmed it was not exactly a "system," and it had even changed how it addressed him—not calling him "Host" anymore.
"I see… So can you take me to a world where I can gain power?"
[Understood.]
[Searching…]
Shichen wasn't in a hurry, so he waited quietly, all the while pondering what exactly this "entity" in his mind could be.
A female voice was unexpected, and it apparently wasn't a system. Maybe a soul of some kind?
But why choose him? And if the more Divine Fragments he collected, the more this voice would remember, obviously he couldn't glean much from it now.
Though it wasn't a system, at least it was female—better than the alternative. He couldn't really control whether it watched his actions, especially that episode with Tohru on the cloud. If this presence had been male, that would have been another story entirely.
The search took a while. Shichen, bored, wandered around. He was currently in an open field of weeds, with the nearest sign of civilization being a distant railway.
Once he came back someday, he thought, maybe he could bring Tohru and Chisato here for a little outing, away from their daily routine at the café. They were supposedly running the café to attract bearers of Divine Fragments, not just to make money. Their happiness was more important.
Just as he was considering a nice picnic spot, the female voice spoke again:
[Search complete.]
[Next, you will go to the world of "Strike the Blood" to seek Divine Fragments.]
"What? Strike the Blood?" Shichen exclaimed, surprised. He hadn't expected that.
He was very familiar with that world, and it was indeed a good place for him to gain powers.
In that instant, he realized which power he'd most likely acquire. He recalled how Nishikigi Chisato had mentioned a "blue beast" that he supposedly manipulated. The only ability that made sense was… that.
Everything clicked.
[Prepare yourself. Three, two…]
Suddenly:
[Divine Fragment Host Detected!]
[Target: Hoshino Ai!]
"…?"
Shichen froze, glancing around, and then spotted an approaching train in the distance.
At one of the windows, a girl wearing a white baseball cap was leaning out, gazing his way.
Her cap couldn't conceal her long purple hair fluttering in the wind, and her distinctive starry violet eyes.
Their gazes briefly locked. Before Shichen could do anything, the countdown resumed:
[…One. Initiating transfer.]
His lips parted to speak, but then he vanished on the spot.
Onboard the train, Hoshino Ai saw the handsome young man suddenly disappear without a trace, as if she'd imagined him. She blinked in shock, wiping her eyes and staring again at the spot where he'd stood. Nothing remained.
But she was certain she couldn't have hallucinated it.
"Ai, what are you looking at?" asked Saitō Ichigo, wearing sunglasses, following her line of sight out the window. He only saw weeds and open fields.
"It's nothing," Hoshino Ai said softly, sitting back down with a gentle shake of her head.
"Hehe—nervous? Don't worry; you'll definitely become a superstar idol. I guarantee it!"
"Mm! I'll do my best!"
…
When Shichen snapped back to his senses, he found himself on a bustling city street. Surrounded by pedestrians and traffic noise, not a single person was looking at him.
As if he simply didn't exist.
But Shichen was too preoccupied to mind. He was thinking about Hoshino Ai!
He wasn't worried she'd tell anyone about him disappearing into thin air—nobody would believe it anyway. But randomly encountering Ai just before leaving her old world made him remember all the hardships she'd face and left him uneasy.
But for the moment, he couldn't leave this new world. He had to acquire another Divine Fragment here.
At least, Ai was so young—maybe only twelve at most—adorably tiny. That presumably meant there was still time for him to help, if needed.
Shichen calmed himself, now turning his focus to the surroundings. The city looked advanced, the crowd normal. Hair colors spanned the rainbow, but no one seemed unusual—just regular folk.
No familiar faces popped out.
He pivoted about, scanning each direction. He did see some vaguely recognizable high-tech buildings.
All was well, except he felt out of place.
It was as though he didn't belong in this dimension. People neither saw him nor felt him.
Experimenting, he walked right up to someone. They strode straight through him as if he were intangible.
He wasn't truly in this space?
[Please move somewhere empty. Protection is about to end,] the voice said inside his head.
Shichen's lips twitched. He ducked into an empty side alley.
Crack—!
He heard what sounded like glass shattering around him. Abruptly, he sensed that he existed physically in the world once more.
Now everything should be fine. But what to do next?
He was a stranger here, and that "transfer" had been random. In Frieren, he'd appeared right at her side. In the main world, he'd received a café. Tohru had also arrived quickly.
But now, apparently no freebies.
Could it be because he'd voluntarily chosen to find power in this world, so no "welcome package?"
No quest had been announced, nor any special perks—this was a tough start.
Well, so be it. He needed to figure out the timeline, find the people he knew, figure out how to approach them. At this point, he was off the grid with no official papers. Perhaps his only asset was his face.
With a sigh, Shichen lamented how he disliked approaching unfamiliar girls for help. But he had no choice.
"Sigh…"
"Hey, kid—why the long face?" A crisp, no-nonsense female voice cut in.
He looked around but didn't see its owner.
"Up here," the stern voice prompted.
Raising his head, Shichen found a petite girl dressed in a black Gothic Lolita outfit, holding a lace fan, floating in midair and fixing him with a steely gaze.
'Girl' felt slightly off. Her figure was tiny, her exquisite doll-like face extremely youthful, so 'loli' was more apt.
Yet she hovered there as if standing on some invisible platform.
Shichen recognized her at once—the Witch of the Void, Minamiya Natsuki!
Simultaneously, the presence in his mind chimed in:
[Detected Divine Fragment Host.]
[Target: Minamiya Natsuki.]
[Objective: Spend two months with her and earn her trust in order to claim the Divine Fragment.]
[Once the task is complete, you can leave to continue searching for more Fragments.]
[Task Privileges: Immunity to magical damage, to beast-vassal attacks, to mana-based harm, to spiritual power harm, to psychic abilities; plus Teaching Skills, and "True Ancestor's Body" (limited to two and a half months).]
[Upon claiming the Divine Fragment, these privileges become permanent.]
~~~
Patreon(.)com/Bleam
— Currently You can Read 100 Chapters Ahead of Others!