Chapter: 44. The Girl Who Will Enable Mass Production of Mothers
“How are we going to find Professor Amakusa?”
Inside the tactical aircraft’s cockpit.
Once everyone realized that Professor Amakusa might be involved in a conspiracy, Erika curiously asked,
“Or was the mention of needing our assistance just an excuse, and the real goal was to protect Miss Yaine?”
“No, we really do need Miss Yaine’s help to find Professor Amakusa.”
Kanade responded to Erika’s question and turned her gaze to the side where Sasazaki was standing.
The latter stepped forward immediately, moving closer to Nagi and Erika.
“Kyoko’s special ability can, to some extent, ‘recreate scenes.’”
Kanade explained. Even though Erika and Nagi had just met today, it would generally be advisable not to share her team member’s special ability with them.
However, Kanade felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity and reassurance the first time she saw the girl named Yaine, which made her willing to trust her.
“… Recreate scenes?” Erika seemed confused and tilted her head in bewilderment.
At that moment, Kyoko Sasazaki smiled as she crouched down in front of Nagi.
“Well, it’s better to see my ability in action—”
“… I see. What should I do?” Nagi had already guessed the nature of the girl’s special ability, but given her status as a newcomer, she could only pretend not to understand and asked how to cooperate.
Speaking of the ability to “recreate scenes,” there was only one such power in the original game of “Star Draw 2.”
From the perspective of game mechanics, it was a very unique ability.
Firstly, it’s important to know that in the battle system of the original “Star Draw 2,” each action, especially attacks, involves randomness, which affects the damage dealt, whether it’s a critical hit, if there are additional effects, and so on.
The girl’s ability, known as “Mirror Echo,” essentially allowed one to “apply past outcomes to future actions.”
For example, if you dealt a critical hit or achieved a remarkably high damage roll in a battle, you could use this ability to copy that specific “result” to the next attack during the same fight.
However, Nagi didn’t expect this ability could also be applied to “finding someone.”
“Miss Yaine, you met with Professor Amakusa this morning, right?” Kyoko asked, somewhat garbled as she spoke through a lollipop in her mouth.
“Yes, this morning, as a student assistant, I met with the professor in the main teaching building…”
This was nothing that required concealment, so Nagi answered frankly.
“At that time, what was the closest distance you were to the professor?” Kyoko continued to inquire.
At the same time, her eyes began to slowly emit glimmers of magical light.
The emerald green glow reflected on Nagi’s face.
Nagi recalled the scene from that morning. While she could immediately provide an answer precise to the centimeter, to maintain her new student persona, she pretended to contemplate for a moment before replying slowly:
“When the professor brought me the black tea, that was probably the closest… I’m not sure, I’m sorry, but it should be about the same distance as where I am from you, Miss Sasazaki…” Nagi deliberately used an uncertain tone.
In truth, she could confirm that Kyoko was at the exact same distance as Professor Amakusa had been at that time.
“Hmm, no need to apologize; you’ve answered very well.” Kyoko looked at Nagi, who appeared guilty and anxious about not being able to help, and felt a surge of affection. Her tone softened.
The others in the cockpit were taken aback, seeing Kyoko’s gentle demeanor for the first time, their eyes widening in disbelief as if witnessing something extraordinary.
Even Kanade couldn’t help but furrow her brows.
Meanwhile, Juuro and the nearby team members began whispering—“Can Kyoko actually have that kind of expression?” “Well, after all, she is a woman by physiological structure; under extreme conditions, she might get a motherly instinct or something…”
“Hey! That’s so rude! What do you mean physiologically? I’m 100% a gentle and virtuous woman inside and out, okay!!!”
““Yes! We are very sorry—”” The two immediately bowed in apology at Kyoko’s outburst.
The next moment, when Kyoko turned her head to look at Nagi, her voice turned gentle again, “I’m sorry for scaring you… Let me take over from here and see if I can sense Professor Amakusa’s location…”
“Y-Yes… I’m counting on you.”
The contrast in tone was so significant that even Nagi felt cold sweat on her forehead.
“(As I thought, that Kyoko really wants to be Miss Yaine’s mother…)”
“(Exactly, but can you blame her? That child… if it were me, I’d want to be her mother too…)”
“(…？？？)” Juuro, upon hearing this, quietly distanced himself from the team member who aspired to be a “male mother.”
Witnessing the diverse range of species, Juuro decided to focus on the task at hand.
He no longer wanted to know how many “male mothers” were in the squad.
Meanwhile, on the other side.
Kyoko gently placed her hand on the back of Nagi’s hand and activated her ability.
In that instant.
The dimly lit cockpit suddenly erupted with disheveled white lines, seemingly self-luminous, clearly visible even in the darkness.
Nagi felt a strange sensation as well.
Perhaps due to her current physical condition, she felt more susceptible to the influence of Kyoko’s ability than usual.
It was as if she was suddenly transported back to this morning.
Back to the main teaching building of Star Academy.
Now, the person half-crouching in front of her was not Kyoko but Professor Amakusa.
It felt like returning to that moment, but upon closer observation, everything was reversed, as if reflected in a mirror.
—Is this the effect of Mirror Echo in reality?
Nagi glanced around the cockpit, mimicking Erika’s reaction, her eyes wide as she took in the scene.
The white lines outlined the room where she and Professor Amakusa had been earlier, even perfectly recreating her pose and the professor’s movements from this morning; the only difference was that the images were flipped, just like a scene viewed in a mirror.
“How does it look? Is it enough of an echo?” Kanade couldn’t help but ask.
Kyoko nodded and smiled, “Though Miss Yaine and Professor Amakusa haven’t known each other for long, their previous interactions are much more significant than I expected—this level of connection is enough to influence reality through echoes, making the two recreate the distance they had at that time… They may be more than ten meters apart.”
Finally, Kyoko practically stated the facts.
Her ability could affect developments similar to “fate.” Since the two had faced each other this morning, once she recreated the outcome, her ability would cause “fate” to resonate, guiding the two toward the situation of “facing each other” through those white lines.
However, it’s challenging to achieve a perfect reproduction; sometimes, distances varying by a few meters or even tens of meters were common.
But at this moment, this level of “recreation” was already sufficient.
The white lines in the cockpit began to tilt in a certain direction, attempting to overlay themselves onto Professor Amakusa.
“Ten o’clock direction!”
