Gravity User of the Abyss Guard: Fuwamoco and the Irregular Transmigrator - The Call of the Abyss — The Hand I Could Not Save

Only the sound of rain seemed unnaturally loud. Amano Kaito stared at the figure lying on the asphalt, conscious of the cold water weighing down the shoulders of his school uniform. The white shirt clung to the man's skin, and droplets dripped from his bangs into his eyes. Even so, Kaito couldn't look away. It was an old man. His white hair, soaked by the rain, stuck to his forehead, and his open eyes focused on nothing at all. (No way.) The thought spun uselessly somewhere in his head. Just minutes ago, this man had been alive. He had clutched his chest in pain, and in a hoarse voice, he had said "help me." Kaito was sure of it. And yet, now he didn't move. —He had run. Searching for a payphone, turning the corner at the intersection, nearly slipping on the wet pavement, he had run desperately. He called for an ambulance and came right back. It had only taken a few minutes. And yet. "...Damn it." His voice trembled. His clenched fist tightened, nails digging into his palm. There was no pain. Only a black something pooling deep in his chest. (If I'd just helped him directly back then.) He'd never performed chest compressions. Didn't even know the proper technique. But it still would have been better than doing nothing. He despised himself for leaving it to someone else and running off. The rain only grew heavier, and there was no one else around. By the time the distant wail of an ambulance siren reached his ears, Kaito finally noticed that his body was shaking. He couldn't tell if it was from the cold or something else. The siren drew closer. Red light flickered against the wet walls. Kaito stood frozen in place, watching the paramedics rush toward him as if it were someone else's problem. One of them asked him something. Probably to confirm the situation. But he couldn't answer properly. When he tried to open his mouth, only cold air filled his throat instead of words. In the end, Kaito gave a brief explanation on the spot and waited in the rain until the police arrived. It was another thirty minutes or so after the patrol car pulled up that he gave his statement. The officer was kind. "You did the right thing," he said, over and over. But those words never reached Kaito's heart. Doing the right thing didn't change the fact that the person in front of him had died. By the time he was finally released, the sky had gone completely dark. The rain had let up, but his uniform was soaked through enough to wring out. His shoes were squelching, water seeping out with every step. (Let's go home.) Kaito dragged his heavy feet and started walking toward his house. His mind was filled with what he had just seen. The old man's unfocused eyes. The white hair soaked by rain. And the fingertips that had twitched ever so slightly. Once he entered the residential district, the streetlights illuminated the rain-slicked road. This street would be full of children's voices during the day, but now it was quiet, with only Kaito's irregular footsteps echoing. —That was when it happened. The air trembled. "...What?" The space in front of him wavered like a heat shimmer. Raindrops vanished as if sucked into the distortion. The next moment, the center of the distortion began to glow. White light. No—not white, but a strange radiance, as if every color had blended together. "What the hell is this...!" He tried to run. But his body wouldn't move. The light expanded rapidly, beginning to swirl. Though there was no wind, the air around him pushed at Kaito's body. He had no time to resist. The instant the vortex of light swallowed Kaito, the ground beneath him vanished. No—the ground itself disappeared. His body floated up, and an intense sensation of weightlessness enveloped him. He couldn't tell up from down, left from right. There was only the feeling of falling endlessly. "Uwaaah—!" His scream was swallowed by the light and vanished. His consciousness faded. —When he next opened his eyes, Kaito was lying on cold soil. "...Hah, hah, hah." His breathing was ragged. His heart pounded loudly. He tried to sit up and realized his arms had no strength. His whole body was heavy as lead. (Where... am I?) His vision was blurry. After blinking several times, his surroundings finally came into focus. —Islands were floating in the sky. "Hah...?" Kaito was speechless. Countless floating islands stretched across the sky as far as he could see. Some large, some small. Islands covered in green, islands with bare rock exposed. They floated among the clouds, drifting slowly. And filling the spaces between the islands, a deep mist hung in the air. The mist dropped away like valleys, with no bottom in sight. An endless white darkness spread beneath the world. "A dream...?" Kaito pinched his cheek. It hurt. Not a dream. The cold air stung his skin. The smell of mist filled his nose. The sensation of damp soil reached his fingertips. Everything was real. Kaito slowly sat up. Directly behind him towered a massive white tree. So large he had to crane his neck to see it, its trunk looked like countless pillars twisted together. Its branches spread toward the sky, white leaves swaying in the wind. (I've never seen a tree like this.) He must have collapsed at its base. White roots crawled across the ground around him, spreading as if to encircle his body. Almost as if this tree had caught him. Then, from somewhere in the distance, he heard a low growl. "...!" A beast's voice. No—it was far too eerie to call it a beast. A wet sound, like something being squeezed from deep in a throat. It came again and again from beyond the mist. A chill ran down Kaito's spine. (This place is dangerous.) His instincts told him so. He had to run. But where? To his right, to his left—nothing but unfamiliar scenery. The ground shook. "What—" The soil beneath his feet was turning black. No—black mist was seeping up from the ground. It spread in an instant, surrounding Kaito on all sides. Something crawled out from within the black mist. It had a human shape. A head, arms, legs. But its outline was blurred, its surface covered in black haze. In the place where a face should be, only two eye-like things glowed red. "Hii...!" A soundless scream escaped him. There wasn't just one. Two, three—they appeared one after another from the black mist. They turned slowly toward Kaito. Their red eyes stared fixedly at him. I have to run. He knew it in his head. But his legs wouldn't move. Fear had frozen his body as if bound by chains. One of the monsters reached an arm toward Kaito. Midway, the arm changed shape, becoming a black tentacle that wrapped around his ankle. "Get off me!" The tentacle was cold. Cold as ice, and sensation drained from wherever it touched. His ankle went numb, bit by bit. (At this rate, I'm done for.) The moment his fear peaked, something took hold in Kaito's right hand. Hot. His palm was burning hot. "...Aaaah!" It was instinct. Kaito swung his right hand down toward the tentacle coiled around his ankle. The instant it made contact, an invisible force exploded. —BOOM! A heavy impact rang out, and the tentacle shattered into pieces. No—it didn't just shatter. The monster it belonged to was crushed into the ground along with it. "...Huh?" Kaito stared at his hand. What just happened? He hadn't even touched it, and yet the monster had been crushed. The remaining monsters charged at Kaito all at once. He thrust both hands forward reflexively. "Stay back!" Once again, an invisible force was released. This time he understood clearly. From his palms, something like a transparent wave spread outward. The moment it touched the monsters, every one of them was slammed into the ground. A heavy thud. The ground caved in, and the monsters dissolved into black mist and disappeared. "Hah, hah, hah..." Kaito dropped to his knees. Sweat poured from his entire body, and his breathing was ragged. His heart pounded like a drum. (What... was that?) That wasn't his power. He shouldn't be able to do something like this. Just minutes ago, he'd been an ordinary high school student. Then, a sharp pain shot through the fingertips of his right hand. "Ow...!" Looking down, a crack-like light ran from his fingertips to his wrist. A faint golden glow pulsed beneath his skin, flickering like a heartbeat. (What is this...) The pain faded quickly. But the light didn't disappear. It remained faintly, as if something had been carved into his body. Kaito stared intently at his own hand. That was when it happened. "Found you!" A girl's voice echoed from the distance. Kaito raised his head. Two figures came running through the mist. They were small. Children—no, not quite. Something was on top of their heads. "Kaito-kun, are you okay?!" Another voice. Different from the first, a little higher. The two of them reached Kaito in no time at all. And Kaito caught his breath. White, fluffy hair. Hair as pure white as snow, soft-looking, swaying in the wind. And on top of their heads, dog-like ears stood perked up. One was a girl with light blue eyes. She had a calm air about her, her hair flowing down to her waist. The other was a girl with pink eyes. Hers was short, and she seemed full of energy, her tail seemingly wagging behind her. (Dog ears...?) Kaito was bewildered. "Are you all right? Can you stand?" The blue-eyed girl extended a hand toward Kaito. Her voice was calm, but tinged with worry. "Amazing, amazing! Did you do that just now, Kaito-kun?! Those black things disappeared in an instant!" The pink-eyed girl leaned in close, eyes sparkling. Her ears twitched and bounced. Kaito finally managed to force out his voice. "...Who are you two?" The two of them looked at each other. "I'm Fuwawa. A guardian of the Abyss Guard." The blue-eyed girl—Fuwawa—introduced herself. "I'm Mococo! Fuwawa's little sister, and a guardian too!" The pink-eyed girl—Mococo—cheerfully continued. "...Abyss Guard?" It was a term he'd never heard before. "This is Yggdrasil. A world at the boundary of the abyss. You were summoned by us." "...Summoned?" Kaito furrowed his brow. "Sorry, we surprised you. But we really needed your power." Mococo's ears drooped. Kaito was remembering the vortex of light from earlier. That hadn't been an accident. These two had called him to this world. (So it wasn't a coincidence.) A tangle of emotions swirled in Kaito's chest. Just moments ago, he'd been at a rainy intersection, witnessing an old man's death. He hadn't been able to do anything. He hadn't been able to save him. And now, he had defeated monsters with his own power. (I have... power?) Kaito looked at his right hand. The crack of light at his fingertips was already fading. But it was still there. Proof of that power. "Can you stand? It's dangerous here. I'll take you to our base." Fuwawa extended her hand again. Kaito hesitated for a moment, then took it. Her hand was small and warm. "...Please." Kaito answered briefly. Fuwawa smiled, just a little. Mococo circled around Kaito as she spoke. "Kaito-kun, you've got an amazing power! Taking out that many Void Spawn in an instant!" "...Void Spawn?" "Those black monsters from before. Offspring of the void that crawl out from the abyss. They devour people's memories and emotions." Fuwawa's voice hardened slightly. "Devour... memories..." A chill ran down Kaito's spine. "If they touch you, your precious memories disappear. Your family's faces, your friends' names, all of it." Mococo's voice suddenly grew quiet. Her ears lay flat with unease. Kaito looked at Mococo and started to say something. But the words wouldn't come. "But with your power, you can defeat them. Otherworldly gravity... a special power that no one in this world can replicate." "Gravity..." Kaito clenched and unclenched his hand. That feeling from before. Without touching anything, he had slammed the monsters into the ground. So that was what gr

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Episode 1

Name: Gravity User of the Abyss Guard: Fuwamoco and the Irregular Transmigrator
Author: Novelia

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