Everlasting Stars

―This is really bad.

He felt the hard floor against his cheek, and realised that he had collapsed onto his face.

His strength was completely gone, and he had already lost sensation in his fingers.

The heat from his core was so excruciating it made him want to tear his throat out.

―Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot, hot, hot.

The moment he opened his mouth to scream, what spilled forth was no shriek, it was a clump of blood.

He vomited up large quantities of his lifeblood as he coughed. Frothy blood started foaming up at the corners of his mouth as he gurgled. Within his dim field of view, the ground had been dyed red.

―Aah, this is all, my blood?

There was enough to soak his fallen body. Blood comprises about 8% of the human body, and it is said that losing about a third of that would be life-threatening, but ― It seemed to him that he'd already lost just about all of it.

He had stopped vomiting blood, but the 'heat' that felt as though it would incinerate him still persisted. He moved his hand toward his abdomen with great difficulty, and having felt an impossible sensation there, he understood.

―My stomach's been torn open, huh.

It was no wonder he felt so hot. It seemed his brain had confused 'pain' for 'heat'.

He was almost torn in half, only a bit of skin at his back held him together.

In short, it seemed that this was 'checkmate' for him.

The moment he realised this, his consciousness started fading.

Even the heat which was making him writhe in agony had disappeared, Even the unpleasant feeling of blood and the sensation in the hand he'd used to feel his organs, it was all fading away along with his consciousness.

All that was left was his body, which would not be able to accompany his soul.

This body used the last of its disappearing consciousness to move just a little. It turned its head upward.

Black shoes formed ripples in the pool of blood before his eyes. There was someone there. And that someone was most likely the one who killed him.

Strangely, he didn't feel like looking at their face. This person was the one who took his life, and yet he still decided to simply remain a spectator to his own demise. He had no clue who they were, but right now he didn't really care about that.

He only wished for the girl's safety.

"―iro?"

He felt like he heard a voice like the chime of a bell.

He was beyond the point where he could even differentiate his senses, so he probably just imagined it.

Despite that, even supposing it wasn't real, he found it extremely comforting.

So―

"―!"

A short scream, and then the carpet of blood welcomed yet another person.

She had fallen right next to him, exactly where his arm was.

Her fair hand dropped powerlessly, and intertwined with his.

―Probably just a coincidence.

He felt her fingers move slightly, as if squeezing his hand.

"…ait"

He forced his disappearing consciousness to return for a moment. The pain and the heat, everything had faded away. It was a meaningless effort, nothing but a loser wasting time.

But even so―

"I will.. come back, again and again—

and I will.. save you."

In that very instant, Shiro Nakajima lost his life.

—<Transcend>

Special supernatural phenomenal abilities manifested by the people capable of such feats.

For instance, <Transcend> is the ability most people on this planet possess, using this ability grants the user supernatural abilities regarding which matter they are capable of Transcending.

Such as, a person who possesses the ability to <Transcend Time> can use countless abilities to alter time to their advantage, using countless abilities and spells to do so.

In this planet, Earth-081P, such is the daily routine of the residents that reside in Kyoto.

Ability-wielders, capable of transcending time and shapeshifting, capable of transcending death and matter.

As such, magic is commonplace.

Spirit Art Users, Dark Art Users and Mages are also commonplace—as such, most people manipulate spirits to their own benefit.

Strangely, despite all that, Elves, demi-humans, beasts and other monsters cease to exist—or, to be more precise, haven't been scientifically proven.

There are said to be more active magic-users rather than ability-wielders such as <Transcend>—

Even as a child, you're taught self-defence and basic magic-spells to protect yourself.

It is claimed that ability-wielders can manifest the spirit directly rooted to their <Transcend> ability,

For instance, anyone with the ability to use the <Transcend Time> ability would be able to manifest a proportion of the Spirit of Time—

—THE EMPEROR OF TIME, REMPH.

It can directly draw proportions of its abilities and call upon them manifesting its Angel.

The complicated yet simplistic style of combat has driven Earth to the brink of extinction.

And so, most people, military forces in this world have resorted to drastic measures such as using ability-wielders military tools—subjected to experiments including physical and magical enhancement.

A similar case to what one would coin, "A lab-rat."

And so, possessing similar abilities mentioned above—Shiro Nakajima is an ordinary boy with no parents and relatives to speak of, only sharing a good relationship with his prodigious sister, Akane Nakajima.

Despite his sister being a prodigy and talented in magic, Shiro has no such feat to speak of except a bit of talent in swordsmanship and weaponry combat.

However, when it comes to reflexes and close-combat, Shiro's no better than a group of bandits.

However, despite looks, Shiro Nakajima's past is driven to the ultimate depths.

To fulfil his sacred goal, in this day and age, Shiro Nakajima and his sister decided to enrol in the top institution inside Bentonville—

The Kyoto Avant-garde Magic High School—

Shiro thinks but doesn't dare to say aloud, whilst glaring and confirming his surroundings, he found himself in an advanced town beyond his imagination.

He looked around to see flying robots, advanced buildings, advanced roads, advanced vehicles and a whole new automated city created purely by artifical intelligence and modern-day technology.

—Beyond all expectations, huh?

Shiro was still experiencing a hard time comprehending such a view, afterall, before coming here, he lived back in Tokyo—although, it used to be way more advanced than the current Kyoto, multiple situations have driven it to the brink of collapse.

Needless to say, Japan, as a whole, has been experiencing tough times despite having a good roster of prodigious ability-wielders.

As of right now, Shiro Nakajima was clueless about his school's facility location.

His older sister, older than him by one year—is the student council president of the Kyoto Avant-garde Magic High School.

As a result, Shiro's status and standing in the school has already been boosted due to the reputation of his sister alone.

However, since this is his first day, with no one to accompany him, he's facing trouble navigating the streets of Kyoto.

Lost and penniless, those few words were all he could think of.

Well, penniless wasn't quite right. He did have his wallet in his pocket, and setting aside the fact that he had an abundance of small change and very few notes, it couldn't be denied that he had his assets on him.

More than enough to go to the nearest mall to do some shopping and eat some lunch. Even so, he could only be called penniless.

Flipping the common ridged 10 yen coin he was holding, the youth sighed deeply.

He was an unremarkable youth bearing average-long black hair and average stature, his eyes were like Vermillion, dyed completely red. He stood roughly at 160" centimetres tall. The average and ideal height for a 16-year-old.

He had some muscularity which combined with his school uniform with his shirts' shoulders rolled up, which gave off the air of a badass youthful schoolboy.

Even so, he found himself out-of-the-place when he considered how much his appearance was standing out amongst the rest.

His kind-of good looks were his only noteworthy feature, and now even his looks were outmatched by the rest.

The banality of his appearance was such that one could instantly lose him in a crowd, however the gazes directed at him were those of wonder and incomprehension, as though they were looking at something strange.

Obviously, there wasn't a single person sporting black hair or a jersey among those looking at him. Their hair varied extensively, blonde, white, brown, green, blue and so on.

The youth could only cross his arms in comprehension as their brazen gazes washed over him.

"So basically, it's like that, huh."

Snapping his fingers, he pointed at those who were staring at him.

Before his eyes were drawn by a flying robot.

Nakajima Shiro was born in Heisei-era Japan's pressure-free education system.

He had lived sixteen years in such a world. and to describe his life would take seventeen years in itself.

Setting that aside, his present situation could be simply described as "a good-for-nothing freeloading of his talented older sister,"

Reconfirming his surroundings yet again, he heaved his umpteenth sigh.

He had moved from the street he was on, and was presently sitting in a somewhat dim alley.

The ground was paved. A rough job compared to modern Japan, but it wasn't bad.

He thought back to the sights he'd seen on his way to the alley and organised the information in his head. He would frequently let his imagination run wild, as a result he was more than prepared for his present situation.

Shiro moved his fingers nervously as he contemplated his future in despair. However, his expression changed when he heard the sound of footsteps echoing through the alley. He looked up to see three men blocking the exit, whilst picking on a girl, who from Shiro's vague point-of-view, looked like a youth similar to him.

That's when Shiro's head snapped—

—I get it now, this is one of these situations where I go and save the girl and show off my powers, eh? I gotta say, Nice assist, thugs.

However, Shiro was unfazed as he saw the three men walk forward, holding their heads high as they noticed him, Shiro still could not get a read on the situation nor the appearance of the girl.

They grinned at him with scorn and unknown intent, Shiro immediately deduced that this situation was where the 'main protagonist' had to show off his power by absolutely demolishing the thugs and bandits that come his way—

—however, Shiro also realised that he couldn't feel that he was capable of combat.

Right now, all he had on him was his cellphone, some coins that weren't even useful here and mail and a photo from someone, somewhere far away. And, additionally, a school bag. Even if they wanted something, he would've given it up except the mail and photo he had.

It was doubtful even if they were thugs, just what would they even demand from such a broke like him—

"Woah, easy there, boys. I'll let you on something before you pick on me to assure you that I'm probably the strongest here—"

In that instant, before Shiro could talk any further, he felt a strange pain in his abdomen and vital organs such as his heart.

—That hurts..

It was unusual, the three guys were just staring at him with scorn and intent as if they wanted to rob him.

The cause of this pain?

Unknown—however, he realised it felt like someone was about to stab his heart right as he was speaking,

"Hey..hey.."

Heavy panting and supposed hyperventilating, the three men looked in deep concern as Shiro was apparently falling over and couldn't stand up straight.

"Eh? He's weak as hell. Rob him off everything he's got."

"As if! Come at me with—all your might… I'll send you to meet the angels!"

Shiro knew he couldn't actually defeat them but he still had to show off in front of the girl. However, even though he had some experience in actual combat whilst training with his prodigious sister. He could primitively land a few hits on them and potentially knock some of them out, if he wanted to. However, not only did he sense faint magical trances surrounding them, this strange pain was holding him back, even so—

With that declaration, Shiro launched his preemptive attack before they could react. He flew into one of them with a full bodied right straight. He landed a direct hit on the leader's face with such force that his front tooth cut Shiro's hand.

He'd hit someone for the first time! And it was much more painful than expected!

This was all he'd tried in his simulations, but it was his first time actually doing it, the man he hit fell to the ground and stopped moving. Driven by emotion, Shiro immediately lunged at another man who was still in shock.

"Eat this! A high kick forged by after-bath stretches!"

"Guh!"

His foot drew an arc right into the man's temple and slammed him into the wall. Having knocked a second person out, Shiro started to believe he was invincible due to his unexpectedly competent performance.

"Looks like this situation is set to raise my power after all! With all this adrenaline I can definitely win!"

Filled with courage, Shiro turned to the last man as he prepared to take him out. However, the glint of the knife in his hand caused Shiro to prostrate himself on the spot.

"I'm sorry, it was all my fault! Please forgive me, spare-!"

He surrendered on his knees, the greatest and lowest representation of the Japanese spirit.

His earlier excitement had completely disappeared. Shiro felt his blood run cold as he tried his very best to beg for mercy, with his head on the ground.

After all, he had no chance against a blade. If he were cut, he'd be finished. Even users of <Transcend> and Magic users are only capable of enduring so much—

Skill didn't matter when it came to a knife-wielding opponent. And, he didn't have the ability to dodge his attacks, either. Even if he tried to use magic on him, it would prove futile since he didn't have the ethic to use medium-level magic that would be effective in some way.

He then realised the two who were supposed to be down were also getting back up. They nursed their bleeding noses and shook their heads dizzily, but otherwise seemed fine.

"Huh?! How come my peerless attacks failed?! Where's the power I'm supposed to have?!"

Shiro was still trying to play it cool, he couldn't focus on the girl but he could tell she was still staring at them.

"What sort of crap are you spouting?! How dare you do that to us?!"

They stomped his head into the ground, causing his forehead to bleed as it scraped against the road. Shiro desperately curled up as they continued to pile on blow after blow. He now realised his true limit. All that adrenaline rush made him forget the pain from earlier but he knew he can't do it all bb himself.

―This is bad, it hurts like hell. I might actually die, for real. So much for my "saving the main heroine act,"—fuck, fuck, fuck. Well, not that it matters if I die, though.

They showed no mercy whatsoever, and unlike his old world there was no guarantee they'd spare his life, there was a strong possibility that he'd be tortured to death like this.

Perhaps he should have fought, prepared to die an honourable death. But that was no longer a possibility considering his injuries. Even so, he couldn't just die like that.

"Don't move, fool!"

"Ow Ow Ow Ow! That actually hurts, it hurts, it hurts!"

The moment he tried to get up, they crushed his hands underfoot and he could only scream in agony. The man turned red with rage and sent spit flying as he yelled, he then held the knife in an underhand grip.

"Shut up and give up everything you've got now. If you do so, your life will be spared."

Even crushing his pride and giving up his belongings was a small price to pay for his life. As a result, Shiro made up his mind and decided to give in, since he realised it was valuables they wanted.

"Okay okay okay. I'll give up everything I've got. Let me go—"

"My, my, looks like playtime's over."

The girl who had stayed quiet until now, supposedly the one who was supposedly getting "mugged," in this alleyway stepped forward;

—Cute!

As she stepped forward, Shiro saw a beautiful, cute and adorable with hair white as snow that cascaded down her back, she was one with elegant features and long legs—you'd think she was a princess of a nation—her blue eyes resembling the ocean, combined with that, her aura was chilling, perfectly fitting the bill for who one would call, "An ice queen,"—she stood at about 160" centimetres tall, too—the same height as Shiro, in comparison.

Shiro glared at her as he couldn't take his eyes off him. It didn't take Shiro to quickly realise she seemed to be from his school aswell, not only that, he noticed an emblem on her shoulder that symbolised that she was a new student, aswell.

Realising all of these things, Shiro was beyond overjoyed and processed a lot of things in an instant.

"I didn't think it would have come to this, but I suppose—Come forth, Serverain!"

Just as she chanted a spell, several forms of icicles appeared above their heads being drawn from a blue magic-circle,

—As I expected, an Ice-type, huh?

However, the girl, in question was not ordering the icicles to directly slash the three thugs, as they became wary of the situation, they had no choice left.

"You… I swear, we'll get you for this, Goddammit!"

The leader of the pack yells alongside his comrades as they quickly flee from the situation, that also indicated that the girl retracted the icicles from the huge magic-circle displaying above their heads;

That also meant Shiro escaped them crushing his skull under their foot,

As she carelessly wiped off the dust on her clothes in a fashionable way, nonetheless, she approached Shiro who was slowly gaining his composure to stand back up again.

"That's pretty reckless. Jumping in to save a stranger and getting beaten up, huh? You're a Kyoto Avant-garde student on top of that, too.. Jeez.."

Shiro could tell she was trying to hide her worry by playing it cool but it also stinged how pathetic he looked in front of the very girl he was trying to impress.

"I'm no good at combat, Swordsmanship is all I've got going for me. And, to be honest, I don't think I have a <Transcend> ability either."

Shiro, who had no intention of hiding his abilities and lying to make himself look cool immediately confessed. Oddly enough, the girl wasn't fazed by his confession, though. Shiro could tell she was weirdly laid-back.

"Eh, to be honest, despite how you put it, you did jump in to save me despite knowing all that.. For that, thanks.. I guess."

All of a sudden, she tilted her head away as she said the last few words of gratitude whilst hiding her visible embarrassment, however, all Shiro was concerned about was whether he even deserved her gratitude.

"No, no.. you totally saved my ass back there. Thanks too. As you said, I was navigating and eventually got lost, I found myself in this alleyway and swooped in. Today's my first day in Kyoto, at I'm enrolling in Kyoto Avant-garde, too. My name is SHIRO NAKAJIMA."

"—SHIRO NAKAJIMA. Heh..? Feel like I've heard that before.."

The girl rotates her head in puzzlement.

"Perhaps, could you be related to the council president?"

"Oh, that's right—AKANE NAKAJIMA—she's my older sister."

"Eh?!?"

Hearing that, the girl was taken aback and startled. Even though it was considerably her first day enrolling as well, she was fairly familiar with the school background.

"I heard the president was pretty strong too, as her little brother, you should have a bit of talent too, shouldn't it?"

"I don't know about that."

Oddly enough, the girl wasn't concerned much regarding his patheticness—normally, students with skills equivalent to Shiro wouldn't last long in Kyoto. Shiro began to think as if she didn't care how powerless he was in such a competent society.

"Well, in any case, I'll be enrolling today, too. I'm Miura Mio. Nice to meet you."

—MIURA MIO, huh? I've never heard that name anywhere before, well, it is my first day, afterall.

"Nice to meet you too, Miura-tan."

"You can call me Mio, also you can drop the pet name, it's cute but it sounds weird."

—Even I'm hurt by that.

"Mio-san..?"

"Just 'Mio' is good enough, we're of the same age, correct?"

"I guess so, Mio."

"Well then, we should get going, Shiro."

Oddly enough, she put up a decent-enough smile whilst uttering his name, it seemed like Shiro's heart skipped a beat as his face turned into a buried cherry-red.

Even so, he didn't turn down the offer as he symbolised going with her as he shook his head slightly.

Before they started navigating by themselves, Mio made sure to heal Shiro's wounds even if they were minor as sort of, "gratitude," or so she said.

"—NAKAJIMA SHIRO! Beloved of all disciples, YOU PRESENT!?"

What could be described as an eerie encounter, many commoners, gathered in one large room—One could easily describe this as an "classroom," or, training facility.

However, no one could tell the air that surrounded the room, strangely, the man hovering over a young Shiro's face had been glaring at him with scorn.

Shiro could not tell who he was, why he was here and ultimately—WHAT DID HE WANT?

The man's appearance was, oddly enough, concealed.

To Shiro's eyes, he felt a dark silhouette right beside him. But he didn't rotate his eyes to look at him.

But to no one's heed, Shiro remained silent as his glare grew more and more scorn.

"—NAKAJIMA SHIRO, The Archbishop of DEATH. MY, MY! HOW INTERESTING?!"

The Archbishop of DEATH—A familiar nickname, but strangely, Shiro knew this was his first time hearing it.

"I see, now."

Coming to a conclusion, Shiro tilts his head whilst presenting a dark smile in response to the man hovering over him, in return, the instructor could do nothing but glare—

"—『 RETURN BY DEATH 』."

※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※

"—iro?"

"Hah―?"

A youth with beautiful features called out to him, Shiro recognized this face.

That was, indeed—Miura Mio. The girl he met back in the alleyway and supposedly the one he was walking to school with.

And he absentmindedly responded as such. This response caused Mio's already slightly creased brow to wrinkle up even further as she scowled at him with concern.

"What's up? You've been spaced out. You okay?"

—What was.. that?

"I'm okay. Just remembered something."

However, Shiro immediately read the room and confirmed his initial safety since Mio—Oddly enough, looked concerned.

"Alright—"

Without a single word, they both marched on.

Even though Shiro was still concerned regarding what that recollection was about,

As far as Shiro's past goes, he doesn't remember much. The only things he could accurately recall were associated with his own family, and nothing about his initial past.

Although he knew one thing from the very start—strangely enough, growing up—Shiro was never even keenly interested in magic and combat.

Nor did he possess the talent to learn magic as a unit.

It was a strange gut feeling he had but Shiro became more and more sure. He despised Magic, even though he can't recall the exact reason why.

After 5 minutes of further walking, Shiro came to a realisation that nor did he, nor Mio had spoken a word to each other.

Even though Shiro knew he shouldn't be friendly with Mio right-off-the-bat, for people of her calibre, such activity is easily written down as "suspicious outsider activity," worst-case-scenario, she could easily interpret Shiro as an assassin tasked to rid of Mio.

—That'd suck.

And, so to break the awkward silence. Shiro knew just the perfect thing to ask, this instant.

"Umm… Mio-san.. I noticed this earlier but, aren't people staring at us?"

Mio quickly tilted her eyes towards him—Shiro's suspicions were indeed correct. People had been staring at them, Shiro could see scorn in their eyes but didn't know the source. He assumed they were just enchanted by Mio's beauty but he knew that couldn't be right.

"I told you to just call me "Mio,"—and shouldn't that be more obvious?"

"Eh? Pardon?"

"My, my. You really don't know anything about Kyoto, do you?"

"I mean, yeah. I am new here."

"In Kyoto, the Miura family reigns supreme. Simply put, my father, Miura Satou is the leading president of this city—furthermore, me—being his only daughter, am quite the centre of attention."

—Looks like she likes boasting about herself, huh? Wait.. Did I even hear that right?

"No… no way! For real?!"

Being boasted by shock, Shiro could not help himself but express his shock whilst slightly shaking. In response, Mio kept a poker face, as if she wasn't bothered, at all.

One of her traits Shiro noticed after meeting her,

"Really. I don't like it, to be honest, but it is what it is. I assume, since I am seen walking with a commoner, but above all, a person of the opposite sex, it is quite common for people to stare."

Shiro was quite dumbfounded by what she had just said, in truth, he was quite concerned about her.

"I mean, when you put it that way.. I kinda get it but.. Isn't this technically bad for you?"

"Eh, me? It's not like I care. But, in truth, rumours when they spread are quite an annoying pitch, aren't they?"

"Well, not that I can relate—"

"Anyway, school is approaching soon. Better watch out."

"O—okay.."