Chapter 48: Light and Shadow
“Xiao Guang, don’t run around.”
The voice, coming from far away and growing closer, pulled Nagomi’s consciousness out of the darkness.
She opened her eyes.
The ambient light was dim.
The aquarium on the wall emitted a soft blue glow, illuminating her dark eyes.
Nagomi turned her head toward the source of the voice.
Standing there was a middle-aged woman, showing an expression of headache as she chased after her.
“…..Mother?”
Nagomi murmured while looking at the woman before her.
But in the next moment, she abruptly came to her senses.
“Is this a dream?”
“That’s right, this is your memory.” A layered voice came from all directions, but the people around seemed oblivious to this strange and surreal sound.
To them, everything felt “normal.”
The scene called a memory continued.
A short black-haired boy turned and dashed away from where Nagomi stood.
The two figures separated.
Only Nagomi, with waist-length hair, remained in place.
“What have you done to me?”
Nagomi asked firmly, her cute face revealing a rare serious expression.
“This is that child’s ability; it’s really interesting~” The innocent-sounding voice echoed in the space once more.
The surrounding light sources transformed into specks of starlight, gathering in front of Nagomi.
Finally, they coalesced into a humanoid purple-black nebula.
“DD-chan? Should I call it that? What a cute child~”
The humanoid star cluster split open in what seemed like its face, revealing a radiant smile.
The purple-black starlight on its body flickered wildly.
“So how should I address you, my master? Light-kun? Light-chan?”
“And how do you want me to call you, Shumian?”
Nagomi replied bluntly, her eyes fixed on her “contract beast” before her.
“No, I’m not called that anymore~” the other party laughed, “Hmm, let me think, maybe I can be called this~”
The purple-black nebula suddenly erupted with dazzling light.
In the end, it transformed into a girl with long black hair, with a cute face and an appealing figure mirroring that of Nagomi.
Except for her eyes, which sparkled with purple-black star light.
“Nagomi-chan? No, that’s Light-chan’s name now… Right, you can call me… Nagiying-chan? Where there is light, there must be shadow.”
“Not really, your taste in naming is terrible…” Nagomi’s mouth twitched.
“And how come I didn’t know you identify as female?”
“Woo woo woo~ It was obviously Light-chan who did this to me, and now you don’t want to take responsibility~” Nagiying pouted as she spoke.
“Hey, watch your mouth…”
“Using someone else’s ability without permission and training them~~~”
“So can we say it differently!?”
When humans sign a contract with fantasy monsters, they can use each other’s abilities.
Star Eye, “Perfect Roleplay.”
It is the ability of the final boss from the original work of “Star Pull 1.”
Starlight is the process of using the Star Eye ability to roleplay, forcibly halting the process to get stuck in a state where “self” is stripped away and heavily inclined towards the role being played.
In other words, to possess starlight, one must correctly activate the Star Eye ability.
There must be an “object to roleplay.”
And the object played by the “sunny, natural beauty” is “Shumian.”
No, strictly speaking, it’s the Shumian that Nagomi has been “customizing” through forbidden methods.
“I kind of regret it, can I ask you to disappear now? I promise not to roleplay you anymore…” Nagomi realized what was happening to her now.
Shumian intended to seize her body through the Star Eye.
But an accident interrupted the Star Eye process, turning it into the state of starlight.
And this time, the object to roleplay is “Shumian.”
Due to the excessive inclination towards Shumian during the roleplay, the existence of “self” was not recognized by the world.
Since she was not Nagomi, it was naturally impossible to gain “Nagomi’s memories.”
She was trapped in this endless darkness by the purple-black starlight.
Her current state felt a bit strange.
The soul representing light had been polluted by Shumian, merging into a combined state——purple-black starlight.
This made it difficult for her to consume starlight through some feminine behaviors.
Because Shumian’s “self” had both feminine aspects and contained elements of “light.”
In other words, she was indirectly trapped in a bug created by Shumian.
“It’s already too late…” Nagiying smiled.
At the same time, she directed her gaze towards the woman not far away.
“I’m going home.”
“What?” Nagomi followed her line of sight.
“The poor fish… they shouldn’t be here…”
The woman gently caressed the aquarium on the wall, her face showing a sad expression.
“Could it be… the field trip has already started!?” Nagomi realized.
Nagiying did not respond to Nagomi, but instead extended her finger to trace across the nearby aquarium.
The aquatic creatures inside were wrapped and consumed by the purple-black starlight one by one.
Yet everyone present had no reaction to this.
As if everything was “normal.”
“Some guys want to bring back the stars.”
“Does Light-chan think they want me? Or you?”
The purple-black starlight enveloped all life forms in the aquarium, consuming everything.
Although Nagiying’s personality had been customized by Nagomi to be “sunny, carefree natural beauty,” she was still Shumian herself.
She would not regard any life as significant, whether in a dream or not.
If the purple-black Star Eye were to manifest in the real world—
The purple-black stars would return.
By then, no one would survive in Kawasaki City.
Except for the people who had left for the field trip, like Kanade and others.
“Someone is guiding you, leading you to make what you think is the right choice.”
Thus Nagomi had to participate in the field trip, continuously approaching Kanade to consume the starlight reserves, otherwise—
The complete disappearance of starlight would mean 100% “self”; the starlight reaching the end would transform into the Star Eye, entering a “perfect roleplay” state.
If she maintained a high amount of starlight, over time, it would slowly turn into the purple-black Star Eye.
“But Light-chan, you can no longer use any abilities.”
Contractors and contract beasts sign a contract through their souls and use each other’s powers.
Now that Light-chan’s soul had been polluted by Shumian, every time Nagomi used an ability, whether it was Shumian’s Star Eye or Karura’s storm, she would be pushed towards Shumian’s embrace, accelerating the speed of the curse’s pollution.
“This time, you’ve lost.” Nagiying coldly stated.
“No.” Nagomi raised her head, her expression serious as she replied:
“This time, I’m not the only protagonist.”
…..
…..
“….Nagomi-chan, wake up.”
Mana’s voice pulled Nagomi from her dream.
Nagomi rubbed her drowsy eyes.
She sat up slowly from the bed.
She felt as if she had just had a dream.
But she didn’t remember the scenes from the dream.
In her bright eyes, countless purple-black starlights slowly flickered.
“It’s almost time for the dinner gathering, you know?”
As Mana spoke, she used a comb to help Nagomi tidy her messy hair after sleep.
This jolted Nagomi’s brain awake suddenly.
Because during the dinner segment, there was a task for her to complete with Kanade.
