† Grandma's Bullet †

—Seems like someone benefits from my actions, huh...

Well, to be fair, it didn't bother him that much; it only meant that someone was indebted to him. His previous life had proven that it could be more than helpful, but he was still a bit surprised.

He'd never picked up on anything that might be lurking, and even his mother, who had more than a talent for sensing such things, never talked about it either.

According to the messages he received, the Idols caring for him seemed to be several. They could be three, seven, or twelve and from what he knew, it was uncommon.

That said, he didn't have time to dwell upon the voices and messages he heard since he had to join his grandmother at a fast food restaurant before heading to her house on the outskirts of the metropolis, where the city no longer floated on the sea.

Due to the increasing number of monsters popping up all around, his mom would have a long and complicated two-week work to perform, so their grandma agreed to look after them during their vacations.

She resided in a small village on the edge of the endless Verdant Forest, home to many species of animals, including mystical beasts, elves, and other more or less amicable races. It was a forest that stretched from the Sacred Lands to the Sinekir Sultanate and connected the Sacred Lands to the Elven Kingdom centuries ago, before the fall of the Celestial Idol.

The war against this belligerent Idol had wreaked havoc on the entire world and had succeeded in nuking nearly the entire Elven kingdom as it fell back on earth just before its capture.

"Oh, my apologies... I ramble a lot when discussing history. You don't care much about it at your age." His grandmother uttered, holding the steering wheel of her mana-fueled car.

"N-No, I do love history!" Sadako stuttered.

"It shows how dumb our ancestors were and how much we haven't changed sinc-"

"Ren, your language, please. Your sister is here."

"I'm sure she hears worse things at school..."

"That's not a reason."

"Alright, alright. Sorry."

"Mm... M-Mom keeps telling him to tone down his words lately."

"Mister Ren wants to act like a grown-up already, isn't he?"

"T-That's what Mum says too."

"Haha! Like mother, like daughter."

Not wanting to play their game, Ren sighed and looked out the car window, his sister glancing at him worriedly.

It's not that he disliked his family, far from it, he loved them dearly, but the fact that he had to stay home if he was alone—which was 90% of the time—that he couldn't go to school anymore, and that he couldn't behave like an adult irritated him quite a lot. It was like getting blue-balled but without teasing.

Exercising, practicing meditation, mana manipulation, and reading books were not enough to quench his boredom. Six years is a long time.

Seeing that he was precocious, his mother agreed to enroll him in various activities, he even started calligraphy a while ago, but deep down, this wasn't what he wanted. It was still an admirable skill in his bundle, but his ambition and curiosity didn't stop there.

Learning about mana was his goal as of right now.

He refused to bet everything on his system. Only fools dwell solely on what is handed down to them.

However, the Mana Herald had, for now, no time on his agenda to dedicate hours to a single child. Yet, he told Ren and his mom that once he'd finished the jobs the Monarch assigned him, he'd teach Ren, saying it would be a waste and a shame not to tutor a junior with such capabilities.

There seemed to be different levels of mana manipulation, so he hoped to learn more.

"Alright, here we are, kids. It's been quite some time since you came to my house. I doubt you'll remember much at all."

"I 'member you had an old mana-woven guitar," Ren said, advancing inside the house. "Grandpa played sonatas on Christmas Adam."

"Oh, right... I'm surprised you remember that. It's been in the attic ever since he lost dexterity in his hands. It has been a few years already."

"I-If you're gonna play some, I'll listen to you, Ren! Uh-huh!"

"I'll bring it down here then, but you better be careful using it." His grandma warned him, pat-heading both her grandchild. "I think it will be a little too big for you, though."

"Mm... I think I'll manage. Grandpa will show me if I'm too bad at it, after all. Plus, if it's for Sadako and you, I'll do my best."

"It's because of this ideal child behavior that your mother is so fond of you, you know, but that won't work on me."

"Ideal child behavior?"

"Don't play the fool." She scoffed with a smile. "I know you know what I'm talking about. Well, all right, I'll go get you the guitar, so you two settle in and get comfy."

Truth be told, his grandma was less affectionate and amiable than his mom. Most things didn't impress her, and she could be acerbic when she wanted to. In a nutshell, she was aloof. That didn't stop her from being gentle and supportive, yet even with her husband, she kept a chaste and low-key demeanor.

Physically, despite her age, she was quite a bodacious lady, even more so than her daughter in some way.

Ren didn't know how it was possible to develop such large breasts and still manage to keep them firm enough at her age, but he didn't mind seeing them from a close-up. Besides, she was plump and had a few wrinkles; aging probably made her put on a little weight, but that didn't take away the charm of her curves.

She looked a bit like Sadako, with the same straight jet-black hair and the same face shape, only she didn't have the same amethyst-colored eyes. She seemed to be the one to have passed the gene, allowing Ren to have green irises.

"S-Say, Ren..."

"Hm? What is it?"

"You know, about t-the time you fight with those boys and girls at school..."

"Yeah?"

"D-Do you hate me?"

"Huh...? Why would I hate you?"

"Because y-you got kicked out of school because of me..."

"Because of you?"

"Now y-you need to be home all day a-and can't do much, and you look angry all the time... and..."

"Listen, you ninnyhammer; they only got what they deserved, that's all. It was my choice to go there and punch them."

"And even Mum had problems because of me..."

"Not because of you, because I broke the nose of one of the girls. It's not the same thing."

"But if I wasn't so-"

"Shaddap... Stop saying it's your fault. Here, come, come." He called out to her, inviting her to hug him.

He drew closer to her to hug her, a thing which she quietly welcomed. She buried her head between the hollow of his shoulder and neck before wrapping her arms timidly around her brother's abdomen. The hair that hid the upper part of her face was slightly parted due to their position, revealing that she was holding back some tears behind her glasses.

"What song would you like me to play on the guitar?"

"Silence of the Rain."

"Alright, so now stop crying, okay?" Ren said as he lifted the hair before Sadako's face, exposing her sweet eyes and cute pout before kissing her forehead.

"D-Don't do that, t-that's embarrassing..."

"Come on, am I that ugly?"

"N-Not at all! It's just! I-I... I... um..."

Footsteps from the staircase cut her off, saving her from her stammering, something she was deeply ashamed of.

"I found it, kids, it's still a little dusty, but the guitar's sounding all right to me. Grandpa will tell you if it needs adjustments when he returns anyway."

"Oh... Yeah, it's kinda big for me."

"Told you."

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained."

"That's what your mom said when she was younger. I don't know what to think about the possibility of you becoming like her."

Ignoring his grandmother's comments, he grabbed the guitar, placed it at the best spot for his height, and moved his other arm toward the strings. It reminded him strangely of his old burned guitar, now probably buried. The same feeling. A guitar he found in a decrepit, abandoned music store, having undergone a fire.

It was the only lucky enough guitar that had escaped the flames.

Just like he was the only one lucky enough to escape from Hell.

—So this is what it feels like to have a real guitar in my hands again.

Unconsciously, despite his small stature and the lack of callus that made his fingertips achy, his fingers slid over the strings and formed a sound, a melody. It was distant memories, but it was as if his muscles still remembered the melody—Silence of the Rain, a song he created back then to clear his mind.

As his fingers glided and tapped over the strings, they released a bluish-green glow that escaped his fingertips. Soon enough, the many engravings on the guitar slowly turned the same color as Ren's mana flowed like water running down a stream.

Each note energized by his mana vibrated the air with magic. It was what some people called bewitchment, a peculiar type of magic that bards were once fond of. Through this, Ren could visualize each note a bit like these ones: ♪♫, flowing out like a shock wave around him and being absorbed by his grandmother and sister.

The song coming to an end, his grandma raised her eyebrows without uttering a word as Sadako clapped, unaware of the mana magic Ren tried to use.

"Ren, can you tell me where a brat like you learned this? Bewitching is... rare."

"With the Mana Herald and thanks to some books Mom bought for me."

"She's spoiling you too much. Well... Anyway, aren't you too precocious?"

Not knowing what to say, Ren just shrugged it off before handing the guitar to Sadako, who wanted to try to play it.

"Alright... I wanted to take it easy on you since it's your first day here, but you've motivated me to take you somewhere."

"Somewhere...?" Sadako asked with a hint of worry.

"Yeah, the Trees Shrine. Ayame wanted me to get you here at some point."

"Isn't that where s-some Idols live...?"

"Only a few, and they're all pacifist, or at least, non-aggressive. Quit being afraid of everything, will you?" Their grandma sighed as she pat-headed Sadako again. "You should be happy. I'll fly you there."

"Y-You'll transform?!"

"Yes, yes, no need to be that eager."

"First time you'll turn into a Magical Girl in front of us," Ren said, intrigued. "Sadako, you think her catchphrase gonna be corny?"

"I-I hope it'll be fun, haha."

"Errh... I was used to saying it in my youth, but now, just thinking about it makes me embarrassed." She grunted, closing her eyelids. "Well, whatever; at least you'll see what your grandma was like before."

"So, we're going now?"

"Don't get ahead of yourself. I'm not young anymore. I can't take you close to some Idols without resting a bit. I'm taking a breather, and we'll take off."

"Laaame." Both twins whined in one voice.

Idols. They were kind of a mystery to him.

He had never met one before or even seen one in real life, they were entities that didn't mingle too much with humans and were capable of great deeds and specific types of magic, but they were still mortals. Old age wasn't their destiny, but they could be slain.

He learned about a few Idols at school, like the Cloud Idol, the Technology Idol, or the Healing Idol, all different types of beings. The Healing one was an ascended humanoid coming from Nimitarh. The fear people have toward storms, in general, most likely created the Cloud Idol. Last but not least, the Technology Idol arose magically from huge piles of junk and scraps after Tech Cultists had prayed and made sacrifices and rituals for years, patiently waiting for its awakening.

The process of creation or ascension of these pseudo-divinities was kind of foggy. Still, it seemed possible for anyone or anything to evolve into an Idol, a carrier of new charm and magic.

On another note, he didn't know which Idols empowered his grandma, but he might get an inkling in a few seconds.

"Born anew like a thousand suns, may the fire rise on my blades and guns!"

"W-Whoa..."

His grandmother's clothes metamorphosed into a pastel pink kimono with water lily patterns here and there. Her transformation made a mini-explosion that scorched the grass in a two-meter radius, leaving a few pathetic flames on the lawn of her own garden as the smell of gunpowder emanated from her.

On either side of her belt, or rather her obi and obijime, just at hip height, hung three katana, each with different omamori at each end of the handles. Below that, two scary large caliber revolvers were semi-hidden by the waistband knot on her lower back.

"To think there was a time when my transformation alone could blast apart a house... Everything fades, alright..."

"Grandma! Y-You look so strong!"

"Haha! Not as strong as before."

"Does Idols' Gifts fade with age?"

"Oh, no, nothing like that. It's been over a decade since I last used my Gift offensively, so I'm a bit rusty." She said, taking both her grandchild under her arms. "Sadako, go on my back and slide into my belt. Ren, do the same, but at the front; I don't want you to fall off. Not that I couldn't catch up with you, but if your mother ever finds out you free-fell..."

"B-But Grandma, I-I'm afraid of falling..."

"Sadako, stop worrying, really now... These clothes can't fall off unless I want them to, so if you cling to me and get comfy between my kimono and belt, no wrong will come your way."

"O-Okey..."

Undeterred and keen to experience something new, Ren, still light enough to be carried by his grandmother, let himself be dragged along and slipped into the front of her waistband, wedged forcefully against her tummy and between her two tits.

It was indeed comfy, just as she said, but the metallic clanking of the two revolvers in her hands brought him out of his daydream.

"Kids, are you ready?"

"Yes, ma'am!" answered the twin in one voice.

"Excellent... Well then. Kōtsū-anzen jūdan! ♪SPEEDING KATANA BULLET!♪"