Chapter 239: Chirp
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24
Killing a person.
Without a doubt, this was an impactful statement.
"The person that was dueling against me has already died, and we were the ones that killed him. And we’re still doing fine right now. Not only have we not had to take any responsibility, we even benefited from his death."
There was a deep look in Natsuya’s eyes.
Mika couldn’t help but stiffen when faced with Natsuya’s expression.
"This is just how magical ability users work... Uehara-san, do you understand? Do you really realize what it means to join us? Have you really considered it?"
Natsuya’s tone of voice was normal, but the content of her words was rather heavy.
Seiji silently watched all this unfold.
With his relationship to Mika, he felt that it wasn't appropriate for him to be saying these things to her. Natsuya was the best person to do it.
He knew very clearly of Mika’s resolution.
But he still hoped that she would think about it some more, and understand what she was getting into.
A brief silence fell between them.
"I know... I know that I still know too little... almost nothing," Mika slowly began speaking. "But I’ve already decided. I want... to walk down this path, and no matter what, not regret my choices."
Mika’s eyes shone with a resolute light.
Her hands were clenched and trembling slightly.
Maybe she wasn’t entirely fearless, but at the very least, her resolve didn't appear to be shaken.
Another period of silence fell between them.
Natsuya sighed. "Alright then..."
Natsuya still wanted to say something, but Mika's face was overcome by a strange expression. She lifted her hand.
"It’s getting hot... come out!" Mika summoned the ball of light.
Natsuya instantly reacted and cast Astral Vision again.
Both girls could see the white ball of light shaking and glowing brilliantly as its shape extended; it seemed like something was about to come out of it!
"What happened?" Seiji hadn’t learned Astral Vision, so he couldn’t see anything and could only observe the girls’ reactions.
"It’s... it’s hatching..." Mika muttered.
What? Now? So quickly!?
Wasn’t it only supposed to ‘hatch’ after ‘hard work?’ That made it sound like it would take a long time... or at least some time was supposed to pass before it ‘hatched!’ Why was it already hatching!?
Seiji was astonished.
"Haruta-kun, take a few steps backwards," Natsuya said as she lifted her hand.
Her kodachi flew into her hand from where it was resting on her hospital table.
Seiji reflexively obeyed the president’s command.
Natsuya prepared for battle just in case.
Mika nervously looked at the ball of light.
*Crack...* She heard the sound of the egg opening up.
*Swoosh!*
Two silver sparkles shot out from the ball of light's sides and suddenly expanded.
It was... a pair of wings! The two bat-shaped silver wings were roughly twice the size of a human’s hand.
After the wings expanded, they began flapping clumsily, and the entire ball of light began to fly shakily.
Mika and Natsuya were rendered speechless.
Both girls watched the now-winged ball of light flying around the room without knowing what to say.
Seiji could only deduce from their lines of sight that there was something flying around the room.
The ball of light flew for a while before it presumably grew tired as it flew into Mika’s arms.
*Chirp chirp!*
Mika heard a cute sound coming from it resembling that of a bird’s.
The two wings lightly flapped against Mika’s body, and the ball of light kept twisting and turning around, as if it was acting like it wanted to be spoiled by Mika.
No, it wasn’t just like that—it indeed wanted to be spoiled by Mika!
Mika realized this and slowly began petting it.
*Chirp~* A sound of delight came from the ball of light.
Mika felt a sense of attachment to it.
‘It’s so cute...’ she couldn’t help but think as she continued to gently pet the ball of light.
The ball of light seemed to curl up in her arms as it chirped and moved in seeming delight.
"This... this is truly wondrous," Natsuya exclaimed, slowly putting down her kodachi. "This egg... its structure actually changed! Even though it was clearly so chaotic earlier, now... how is this possible? Spiritual Creatures should have their own structures, and even changing or evolution has its own rules, but something like this... what exactly is happening? Just what exactly is this?"
The president had a confused expression on her face.
"I’m sorry, but please tell me what just happened. I can’t see anything." Seiji helplessly raised his hand like he was in a classroom and made a request.
Natsuya returned to her senses and gave him an explanation.
Mika was still petting the ball of light and feeling its emotions.
'It's so cute,' she thought to herself.
"It hasn’t hatched completely yet... These wings are so beautiful. I’d really like to see what you look like when you completely come out."
*Chirp~!*
The ball of light jumped up and down in her arms.
"Don’t force yourself, you still need to grow more first, take it slow." Mika smiled gently.
*Chirp...* The ball of light accepted her coaxing.
‘It’s able to understand me... it’s just like a young child.’
At this moment, Mika made the decision to not treat it like a pet, and to view it as a young growing child, hoping that it would finally have a humanoid form!
Sakura had told her to use her own "hopes" to help it "hatch."
As long as her wishes were strong enough, it was possible to give it a humanoid form, right?
What form should Mika imagine?
First, she wanted a girl, and then...
Mika glanced over at Seiji and her face reddened.
*Chirp~* The ball of light was still acting spoiled.
"Right, let’s give you a name first." Mika suddenly thought of this.
"Name?" Seiji had already finished listening to Natsuya’s explanation and looked over at her.
"Yes, a name for this child. Help me think of one, Seiji." An enigmatic light flashed in Mika’s eyes.
"Oh... okay."
The ball of light hadn’t completely "hatched" yet, but part of its structure had changed, and it grew a pair of silver wings. The rest of its internal structure was still chaotic.
Natsuya informed them that this Spiritual Creature was completely unheard of, and incredibly strange. If this Spiritual Creature was publicized in the realm of Spiritual Ability users, it might cause a huge commotion, which wouldn’t be good for Mika.
Mika was determined to "hatch" it completely. Judging by what had happened so far, it would change its form based on her own wishes, although its final form was still unknown.
"My best advice for you would be for you to lay low, and definitely never bring it out in a public place or where there’s people around, to prevent it being seen by other Spiritual Ability users," Natsuya said.
‘I suppose that’s all we can do,’ Seiji thought to himself.
Mika's determination was unwavering. All he could do was watch over her the best he could.
...
After saying goodbye to Natsuya, Seiji and Mika left her hospital room.
Mika kept looking at something on her body, a big smile plastered on her face.
Seiji felt that this seemed rather abnormal. Of course, he knew what she was looking at, but if other people saw this sight, they would definitely feel like it was strange.
It was fine to walk in the hospital corridors where nobody was around, but Seiji felt that he had to make her put that Spiritual Creature back inside her body before leaving the hospital.
That digimon... whoops, that mysterious Spiritual Creature ended up with the name of "Mashiro," which had the meaning of "Pure White."
Seiji was the one who came up with the name, based on the description that the ball of light was white.
The creature’s nickname would be "Shiro-chan..." No, Mashiro-chan. Although he felt that Shiro-chan would be a fine nickname, Mika didn’t like it.
The Spiritual Creature's full name was to be Mashiro Uehara.
Come, let us compare.
There was an anime in Seiji’s past world called "The Pet Girl of Sakurasou," with the main female character being named Mashiro Shiina.
Sakura gave a present to Mika that hatched into a creature called Mashiro.
This felt like too much of an overlap to Seiji!
‘By the way, Mika, is it really alright to give your family name to a mysterious Spiritual Creature without even getting your mother’s permission first?’ He really wanted to ask that, but judging from Mika’s expression, he already knew what her answer would be.
Mika really liked this creature and had decided to treat it like a child.
It would transform according to Mika’s wishes... What type of form would "hope" help it to "hatch" into in the end? Would it really become humanoid? Was this supposed to be Digimon or Shugo Chara!?
Seiji tried to imagine the following scene: a cute and lovely loli with silver wings speaking cutely and calling Mika "mother..." eh, this scene actually seemed pretty good?
Not only was it pretty good, he even began looking forward to it!
‘No, I can’t fall into the abyss due to my own wild imagination! I have to remain calm!’
"It’s impossible to predict the final form that this Spiritual Ceature will have. So far it seems alright, but there’s still the possibility of something bad forming, so be careful." That was what Natsuya told them before they left.
Seiji decided to keep calm and observe.
But before that, he had to learn [Astral Vision]...