Eternal You (Premium)

by Yuri Kitayama

  “Ah, good morning, Haru...to.” Aki tried to greet Rio politely when she spotted him inside the living room, but she froze just like Masato had when she saw the spirit girl next to him.

  “Good morning, Aki,” Rio greeted with a strained smile.

  “G-Good morning,” Aki managed to reply hesitantly. She seemed to maintain her calm better than Masato did.

  “I’d like to introduce her to the two of you, but shall we sit down first?”

  Rio decided to explain the situation to Aki and Masato right away.

  ◇◇◇

  Rio gave a simple explanation of what happened to Aki and Masato and introduced them to the spirit girl.

  “...So that’s how it is. Masato, were you listening?” Rio asked with a droll smile. Masato had been distracted throughout the entirety of Rio’s explanation, captivated by the girl in a fluster.

  “Y-Yeah. I was. She’s the spirit lady Haruto’s contracted with, right?” Masato glanced at the spirit’s face before nodding, his voice oddly high-pitched.

  “Well, yes...” Rio wondered with a wry smile and a tilt of his head as to whether or not Masato would be able to live together with her.

  Aki looked at Masato from where she sat beside him. “Don’t let him bother you. He always falls in love at first sight with cute and pretty girls older than him. It seems like he’s suffering from his affliction more severely this time around, but he’ll eventually get used to it, so just cut him some slack for now,” she explained to Rio with an exasperated face.

  “Ahaha.”

  “Wha— T-That’s not true!” Masato blushed furiously with embarrassment.

  Aki shook her head without hesitation. “Liar. You were so nervous the first time you met Miharu, too. Your brother was quite an amusing sight to see, but you were even worse than him.”

  “Wahwahwah!” Masato started yelling as though to drown out her voice.

  “What are you two yelling about this early in the morning? Come on, breakfast is ready.”

  Miharu appeared from the kitchen; she was carrying the completed breakfast dishes from the kitchen counter toward the dining room table.

  “Sorry, Miharu. I left you to deal with breakfast alone... Let me help you carry it,” Rio said apologetically, stepping forward to help set the table.

  “It’s fine. I can at least handle the housework.” Miharu shook her head with a smile.

  “...Thank you very much. It looks delicious.” Rio smiled at the dishes lined on the table; she had prepared a well-balanced Japanese meal.

  “I hope the taste is to your liking... Let’s all eat now. Umm, I made enough for the spirit girl, too, but will you be able to eat the food?” Miharu asked, looking at the spirit. While she looked exactly like a human, it was hard to imagine spirits eating meals like everyone else.

  The girl slowly drew closer and nodded. “Yeah. I can eat.”

  “Thank goodness. Let’s eat together, then. Here.” Miharu took the girl by the hand and led her to the dining table.

  Rio watched the two of them with a smile. They had completely different hair colors, yet they looked like sisters for some reason, Miharu being the older one, most likely.

  After that, the five of them sat in their seats and began to eat their breakfast.

  “It’s kind of inconvenient not being able to call her by a name, though. Have you considered what you’re going to do about that?” Miharu asked Rio partway through the meal as she looked at the spirit girl.

  “Actually, she’s requested for me to give her a name, but I’m stuck on ideas for good names. Do you have any suggestions, Miharu?” Rio asked her with a dry smile.

  Miharu started to think with a contemplative look on her face, but couldn’t come up with anything good on the spot. “Hmm. When you put it that way... it’s kind of difficult. What kind of name would you like?” she asked, turning to the girl in question.

  “As long as it’s a name Haruto picks, anything.”

  The girl’s answer made Miharu smile faintly. “Ahaha. You sure are loved, Haruto.”

  “Good for you, Haruto,” Masato muttered under his breath.

  “Do you have anything more specific than that? Maybe if there’s something you like, you could go in that direction for ideas,” Aki suggested to the spirit girl, ignoring Masato.

  “The things that Haruto loves and treasures,” the spirit girl answered simply.

  “Ahaha, I see. If that’s the case, then you should just use Haruto’s name as a base for your own,” Aki said with a bitter smile.

  ...The things that I love or treasure? Rio thought to himself, glancing at Miharu.

  “...?” Noticing she was being looked at, Miharu cocked her head in question.

  The first thing that came to mind was Miharu... Just how stubborn am I? With a bitter smile, Rio guiltily averted his gaze.

  However, thanks to that, one name came to mind.

  “How about... Aishia?”

  In the ancient spirit folk tongue, “Aishia” was a word that meant “warm spring” or “beautiful spring.” It may have been a bit too simplistic, but the girl’s hair was the gentle peach color of cherry blossoms, so she gave off a rather strong impression of spring.

  However, now that he had said it out loud, he realized “beautiful spring” was the exact same meaning as Miharu’s name. He felt rather embarrassed by it.

  “Aishia. I want that one,” the spirit girl said resolutely.

  “...Umm, we could keep thinking with everyone and come up with a few options first,” Rio offered as he panicked on the inside.

  “Nope. Aishia’s good.” Aishia shook her head bluntly.

  She hadn’t shown many emotions or expressions since waking up, but the firm resolution that had been revealed just now made Rio widen his eyes. “Well, if you’re happy with that, then I guess that’s it?” he said, giving in with a wry smile.

  “Aishia... That sounds like a pretty name,” Miharu said, murmuring the name as though testing it. “Does it have a meaning?” she asked Rio.

  “Umm. It means ‘warm spring,’” he replied, feeling somewhat uncomfortable. He kept the other meaning to himself.

  “...I see. You took the ‘haru’ from Haruto, right? The one that means ‘spring,’ as in the season.” Convinced, Miharu guessed at the explanation of the meaning.

  “...Yes, that’s right.” Rio averted his gaze from Miharu and looked at Aishia. The girl in question should have known the meaning behind the name, but who knew how she felt about it.

  “Miharu, Aki, Masato. It’s nice to meet you.” Aishia bowed her head at the three of them. Since her name had now been officially decided, she greeted them once more.

  “Yeah, it’s nice to meet you. Ai-chan... Can I call you that?” Miharu asked happily.

  “Yup, that’s fine.” Aishia nodded nonchalantly, but the hints of a smile could be seen on her mouth. Aki and Masato spoke up to Aishia, too.

  Rio watched the four of them with a smile on his face, but there was a lot he needed to think about regarding the future.

  I don’t really want to cause them any trouble, but if I can get permission, it might be better to consider bringing Aishia and everyone to the spirit folk village. I would need to head there myself first to get permission from them, but I should at least wait until the others can speak the language in broken sentences... Rio thought in the corner of his mind.

  The spirit folk might know something, whether it be about Aishia or Miharu and the others. It would have taken Rio a month or so to make the return trip there alone, but with the teleport crystal he received from Ursula, he could shorten half of the trip. Even with the crystal it was still quite a trip, but it was an option worth considering.

  Well, first things first: the shopping for today. There might be some things that are difficult to buy with me around, so I’ll bring Aishia along as an interpreter. I’ll ask her about it later.

  As Rio looked at Aishia, he turned his thoughts toward the day’s shopping trip.r />
  Chapter 6: Shopping

  After he ate, Rio called Aishia to join him outside so that he could speak to her alone.

  It was the perfect day to go shopping: the weather was clear, and a refreshing wind gently ruffled the grassy fields.

  Rio stretched lightly and relaxed. “You can fly with spirit arts, right? Do you have an elemental specialty?” he asked.

  As a spirit — the progenitor of spirit arts — Aishia would naturally know spirit arts, too. With spirit arts, a caster or spirit usually had their own specialty element. Experienced casters and high-ranked spirits could all use a certain level of every element, so Rio assumed Aishia could fly as well.

  “Yup, I can fly. My specialty is the same as Haruto. I’m proficient in all of them,” Aishia confirmed quietly.

  “...I see. I’ve heard that universal users are really rare before, though.”

  Universal spirit arts users and spirits were few and far between. Because Rio himself was one of those exceptional users, he didn’t show that much surprise other than the slight widening of his eyes.

  “That’s why I can fight, too. I can protect Haruto. I can stay beside Haruto,” Aishia suddenly said.

  “Aishia...” Rio’s eyes widened further this time, murmuring Aishia’s name.

  “You can lean on me whenever you need me. Just say the word, Haruto.”

  Rio’s eyes widened at Aishia’s words, and he gave a soft smile. “...Thank you. I may need to leave the house in the near future. When that time comes, could I leave Miharu’s protection in your hands, Aishia? Of course, I doubt you’d need to do anything as long as you’re all in this house.”

  “Okay,” Aishia agreed quietly but dependably.

  “Also, we’re going to go shopping today. Could I ask you to accompany Miharu and act as her interpreter while we’re out?”

  “Yup, sure.”

  “...Thank you.” Rio thanked Aishia with an even more peaceful smile on his lips. She was so obedient and earnest, he couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.

  “Is that all?” Aishia wondered, tilting her head.

  “Mm, I actually wanted to try flying in the air together, but could I check your fighting capabilities instead? We won’t be using any flashy spirit arts, though... Can you fight at close range?” Rio asked. Their conversation just now had piqued his curiosity about how well a humanoid spirit like Aishia could hold their own in battle.

  “I can.”

  “Then, let’s do some light sparring. We have to go shopping soon, so let’s keep it short.”

  “All right.”

  “Okay. When this rock hits the floor, the match begins. Are you ready?” Rio picked up a rock, then placed 15 meters of distance between Aishia and himself.

  “Yup.” Aishia gave a short nod.

  Once Rio confirmed her nod, he gently threw the rock upward. The rock drew a parabolic line through the air before landing on the ground.

  Immediately after, Aishia disappeared.

  In actuality, Aishia had moved in front of Rio in an instant. At the same time, her arm reached out to grab him by his clothes.

  So fast! A throwing technique, huh? Rio’s eyes opened wide in shock before his hands moved reflexively. He broke out in a cold sweat, and he evaded Aishia’s hands while backstepping.

  He had underestimated her; Rio had unknowingly categorized Aishia as someone that needed to be protected. However, Aishia had blown his naivety away at a moment’s notice, as though she was proving her own strength to him.

  Aishia closed the gap between them with determination, launching a skillful attack. With a combination of feints, her fists and feet moved at Rio at a terrifying speed. The force behind a single hit would be enough to damage his enhanced body if it made clean contact.

  However, Rio was still able to smoothly evade every attack.

  There’s something familiar about the way she moves... Wait, is she copying my moves?! he thought, seeing that Aishia’s close-range combat techniques were consistent with his own style. While he wasn’t sure of the reason, it was possible that she had learned the same techniques as him through osmosis, just like when it came to his language.

  For several moments, Aishia continued to launch her attacks at Rio, before suddenly changing her attack pattern. She backed away for a moment and put distance between them, then used wind spirit arts — just like Rio — to accelerate her movement, stirring up the surroundings as she took off again.

  With a deep breath, Rio mustered a large amount of ode from within himself to raise the effect of his physical enhancement and sharpen his senses even more. As Aishia closed in on him, Rio was only barely able to perceive Aishia’s movements with his sharpened senses. Suddenly, Aishia thrust the palm of her hand at him, but Rio flanked her and sidestepped her outreached palm at the same time. He then aimed to trip Aishia off balance and used that momentum to lightly fling her in the direction she was moving. Aishia’s eyes widened, but she gracefully flipped over in midair to deftly land on the ground, then turned to resume attacking once more.

  “W-Wait! That’s enough, Aishia! I have a good idea of your ability now!” Rio called out. Aishia froze on the spot.

  “...I couldn’t land a single hit. You dodged them all,” she murmured quietly.

  “Umm, well, they were all movements I knew already... So you could say I’ve been learning longer than you?” Rio replied with a wry smile. He didn’t know how much actual experience Aishia had on the battlefield; all he knew was that she was asleep for the last several years. It wouldn’t be strange for her skills to be dulled, even if she was a spirit.

  “Haruto really is strong.”

  “Ahaha, thank you. We shouldn’t be too late, so let’s hurry back inside the house.” Thus, Rio and Aishia went back inside.

  ◇◇◇

  After his sparring match with Aishia, Rio prepared to depart for Amande.

  “All right, we’ll be going now. You’ll be safe as long as you’re in this house, but we’ll try to hurry back soon anyway. Make sure you stay inside,” Rio said to Aki and Masato, who were left in charge of the house.

  The house was fortified and difficult to physically break into once it was locked and secured, and it was covered by a compact version of the barrier around the spirit folk village, so most outside intruders would never even step within the range of the barrier. Unless a formidable enemy just happened to pass right by the house, it was most likely safe. The surrounding area was devoid of people and the grasslands had very few monsters, so there was a very low probability of a fierce opponent passing by.

  “Yeah, we got it. Take care of Miharu, Haruto.”

  “Please be careful on your trip.”

  Masato and Aki spoke up as they saw them off.

  “I’ve left a lunch that can be eaten cold on the dining table for you, just make sure you heat up the miso soup. You know how to heat it, right?” Miharu asked worriedly.

  “We’ll be fine. You’ve taught us plenty of times already.”

  “How many times has it been, Miharu? Just go already!” They both responded to Miharu’s overprotectiveness with wry smiles.

  “Let’s go, Miharu,” Rio urged.

  “Okay...” Miharu agreed reluctantly. “We’ll be back soon.”

  “But can you really make it back today? It looks like we’re completely surrounded by plains... Is the city actually really nearby or something?” Masato asked curiously.

  “Come to think of it, I haven’t told you how we’re going. I’ll show you something interesting. Come outside for a bit, you two,” Rio said, leaving the living room to head for the front door. Aishia immediately followed him, and the other three slowly made their way over, too.

  Once they left the house, a vast area of grassy plains spread before them outside.

  “...It really is an amazing view,” Miharu murmured, overwhelmed by the view of the land that stretched all the way to the horizon. Now that a full day had passed, the feeling that she was in another world r
eally cemented in as she looked out at the scenery. Aki and Masato hummed in admiration as well.

  “You’re about to see something much more amazing,” Rio said with a faint smile tugging at his lips.

  “Even more than this?” Miharu turned her head hesitantly, unable to imagine how that would be possible.

  Instead of answering Miharu, Rio addressed Aishia who had been standing silently. “Aishia. I want to see how far you can fly, so can you show me?”

  “Sure.” Aishia nodded gently. Then, her legs began to float off the ground. She continued to rise up easily, as though ignoring the force of gravity.

  “Huh? ...Huh? Wha?” Miharu and the others were taken aback, staring up at the ascending Aishia in shock. She had already risen far up into the sky, moving about freely through the air at quite a fast speed.

  She said she could use all types of spirit arts, but I guess that was to be expected of a humanoid spirit. Rio watched Aishia’s figure in admiration.

  In the meantime, Masato returned to his senses. “Wow! Is that sorcery too?!” he asked excitedly.

  “It’s different from sorcery, but you can think of it as something similar for now. I’ll explain the particulars another time,” Rio answered simply. A proper explanation would require much more time.

  Just then, Aishia descended softly toward the ground.

  “Well?” she tilted her head and asked Rio in a monotonous voice after she had smoothly landed.

  “It’s perfect — I have no complaints. Sorry to say this just as you landed, but shall we go now? Are you ready too, Miharu?” Rio smiled and nodded at Aishia before turning to look at Miharu.

  With a flinch, she stepped forward hesitantly. “Y-Yes. Please lead the way.”

  “...It might be a bit late asking this now, but are you comfortable with heights?” Rio asked carefully.

  “I’m okay with them... I think.” Miharu nodded, though in a slightly nervous manner. She had never flown through the air like that before, so all she could do was make an assumption.