"Hey…"
"Hmmm…"
"Heeyyy…"
"H-huh?"
"Wake up…"
Astraea slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was a boy with black hair and dark blue eyes crouching beside him and poking his cheeks.
"W-where am I?" Astraea asked as he began looking around.
All that he saw was just the lush greenery at first. The crickets sang alongside the trees, as their leaves danced from the winds that were blowing through them. He heard all these. The moonlight illuminated the beautiful starry night sky. He stared up at it.
"Welp, you fell from the sky and landed here in the forest near the shrine I'm currently staying in." The boy with black hair coughed for a bit. "I thought you were a shooting star, but I'm quite surprised to find a girl instead of a shooting star."
"…I'm a boy…" Astraea replied blandly.
"A-ah! I'm s-s-sorry! I thought you were a girl!" Flustered by the realization, the boy stammered.
"It's okay…" Astraea was about to stand up when he noticed a jacket covering his upper body.
"cough cough... You didn't have any clothes on, so I lent you my jacket. It's quite cold in this forest at night." The boy slowly stood up as he coughed after mentioning these.
"… I think you'd need this more than I do…" Astraea said as he took it off and reached out to offer the jacket back to its owner.
"It's ok. You can wear it!" The boy smiled as he said..
"But…"
"I said I'm fine!" The boy shouted which startled Astraea for a bit. "I'm not weak, okay?!"
"…I didn't say you are weak…"
"Ah! I-I'm sorry…" The boy meekly replied.
Astraea was a bit curious about the boy's sudden lashing.
"Well… why do you suggest that you're weak?"
He breathed in and out heavily.
"They said I was born with some sort of illness. They also said I only have 4 months left which made me feel uneasy… ah, I don't wanna talk about that stuff. Anyway, I snuck out of the house to get some fresh air and I saw a shooting star and wished to save me from this miserable life I have…"
"Save you? Are you gonna die?"
"Yeah… I did say I have 4 months left…"
"Those words… are new to me…" Astraea replied.
"You're kind of funny, you know?" The boy chuckled. "My name is Sam Shirohime and you?"
Sam reached out a hand to Astraea.
"I'm Astraea Von Ernst Albert." Astraea reached out to that hand and grabbed hold, helping him onto his feet.
His smile dropped after picking up something wrong. The crickets of the forest around them… all suddenly fell quiet.
"Wait…" Sam looked around. "Something's not right… Stay behind me." Sam guided Astraea to stand right behind him as the noise coming from the bushes made itself known. It launched itself out of the foliage and showed itself to the boys.
An eerie-looking creature emerged. It had four legs that look like a goat's legs; multiple tentacles sprouted from its dark hide as saliva dribbled down its gaping mouth. It let out a menacing roar before it rushed and chased the two.
"Run!" Sam pulled Astraea's hand as they ran away from the monster.
"D-don't worry! pant pant… Even if I'm a little weak, I will protect you!" Sam assured Astraea despite knowing that he couldn't at his current state.
Upon reaching a certain distance, the monster launched its multiple tentacles as artillery to aim at the two kids. Sam stood in front of Astraea to block off the attack. They still both got hit and the intense force sent them flying away. They both landed badly, but Astraea wasn't the one in most pain from it. He turned to look at Sam, right near his side and coughed gravely as blood was mostly what came out of his mouth. He tried standing up but failed as he no longer felt control over his broken legs. He grunted through the pain and made his journey slowly crawling towards Astraea.
"Astr…aea…!" Sam coughed up his words.
"Oh no!" Astraea panicked and got up.
He rushed towards Sam and held his hands up, making Sam sit up and rely all of his weight on the one who held him.
"I-I… don't…wanna…die… but–" Sam panted as his consciousness slowly faded. "Astr…aea… run…"
…
Just as his speech slowed down, Sam had stopped breathing. His heartbeat was barely detectable even when Astraea desperately pressed on Sam's chest to feel it with one hand.
… run…
The moment Astraea heard this word, he remembered his mother and Kyrlios.
"No! I won't run! I will save you!" Astraea cried out, shaking his head in denial.
"But– how? How can I save him!?" He panicked in thought.
You do that to save a person's life when it is in danger
The events from the beach flashed right into Astraea's eyes. He remembered this thing they saw that his mother mentioned being "a way to save a person in danger". He then held Sam's cheeks by the cheeks.
"Please! I don't want anyone to die!" Astraea whispered to himself as he plunged his face forward and kissed Sam on the lips.
His eyes were closed. His intentions were only secluded and offered to Sam's well-being. That didn't mean he knew what he was doing there. He was unsure if it was even working if he was even doing it right. He just kissed him.
Then after reopening his eyes and letting him go, he saw a bright light had engulfed Sam. Seconds after the light that cloaked Sam had disappeared, he gasped for air and sat straight up. The monster finally caught up with them after having been separated. It couldn't reach them with its own body fast enough so it again launched tentacles at them. It slammed onto the ground in the area. It wasn't certain that they got hit, but the act brought forth clouds of dust.
To its surprise, Sam leaped out of the dust while carrying Astraea in his arms, fleeing the scene. It continued its pursuit after setting sights on them again.
"What happened?!" Sam looks around his body, a bit confused. "H-how come I'm strong and feeling very much healthy?!"
"You said you wanted to be saved." Astraea smiled and gave Sam a thumbs up. "Maybe that shooting star you wished on really did work after all!"
But before Sam could further process what was said to him, the monster's roaring from nearby alerted the both of them.
"H-here it comes!" Sam shouted as he ran away from the monster while still carrying Astraea in his arms.
Astraea just held onto Sam's back tightly. Not gaining even an ample distance to reach them, it kept launching its tentacles and reaching for them, but Sam was able to dodge them all. He had never felt this kind of strength in life.
"I know it's not the right time to say it but… I FEEL SO ALIVE!" Sam happily shouted as Astraea smiled at him.
"Hey hey! Are you a mage or something?" Sam asked.
"... What's a mage?" Astraea asked.
"It's a person who can use magic!"
"I don't know if my ability is considered magic…"
"Then try pointing your arms towards that monster and shout 'LIGHT BEAM!' or something!"
"I'll try that then!" Astraea stretched out his arms and pointed his hands at the monster.
"LIGHT BEAM!" He shouted.
But nothing happened.
"Well, I tried."
"Think, think!" Sam muttered to himself. "Ah! Try imagining that you concentrate your powers in your palm and let it out! That's what they do in the anime I watch in the early morning!"
"A-anime..? Oh, alright then!" Unsure about what he just heard at the end, he followed Sam's suggestion, concentrating his power onto his palm.
His palm glowed and it brightened further and further. After building up that much focus in one area, he let it go. What came out was an intensely bright beam of light. He was able to directly hit that beam onto one of the monster's legs.
"Yay! I did it!" Astraea exclaimed.
"Good job!" Sam cheered.
It didn't hinder it for long. It just made it even madder as it kept on its pursuit even harder.
"Oh no!" Astraea shouted.
"What happened?" Sam asked.
"One light beam didn't stop the monster…" Astraea pointed at the monster. "And it's speeding up…"
"Oh no indeed!"
Sam sped up his escape.
The monster hurled its tentacles towards the two. They got hit just like last time. They may have been sent flying, but it did not cause any serious injury this time. Sam landed on his butt and managed to catch a falling Astraea as he was once still mid-air. The monster finally caught up to them with dangerously close proximity. It was right in front of them. Cornered and clueless with what to do next, the Astraea then latched himself onto Sam as he screamed out in terror.
But then Sayuri appeared out of nowhere, leaped into the scene, and easily made quick work of the monster that gave them a hard time for the longest time. She cleanly cut down the monster half, and each of the sliced halves never moved again.
"Can you please stop screaming?" Sayuri complained as she sheathed her great sword back into the scabbard at her back. "It's very unpleasant to my ears…"
"W-we're saved!" The two rejoiced as both stood up.
"Wow, the monsters keep getting wilder and wilder…" Sam said as he kicked the corpse of the monster nonchalantly.
"What do you mean?" Astraea asked.
"Monsters randomly appear in this area…" said Sam. "My relatives tend to agitate those monsters they find and make it chase them for fun and then the adults come in to rescue them which always results in them getting scolded." Sam added.
"Ohhhh…" Astraea nodded.
"By the way… Who is she? Is she your friend?" Sam asked as she pointed at Sayuri.
"She is Sayuri." Astraea replied. "She helped me escape them before."
"It's rude to point while the one you're referring to is literally standing right here, you know…?" Sayuri told Sam.
"Hmmm…"
Sam stared at Sayuri.
"Anyway, you dropped this." She passed a book to Astraea while ignoring Sam.
"What's that?" Sam asked.
"Oh! It's the book that I asked my mother to buy." Astraea's smile slowly disappeared. "Will mother be okay…?"
Before Sayuri would have answered, five arrows flew towards her, she dodged four but one arrow managed to graze her left cheek.
"Tsk!" She clicked her tongue as she scurried away to hide in the bushes.
Five people with fox ears dressed in kimonos appeared behind them, all wielding ōdachi(Japanese long sword) and Yumi(Japanese asymmetrical bow). Four of them chased Sayuri while one, who was a beautiful 20-year-old, approached Sam and Astraea. She had silky violet hair, pale white skin, and lustrous blue eyes. Unlike the rest who were wearing a kimono, she was wearing a jacket and skinny jeans, below her jacket is a tight sweater that highlighted her ample bosom.
"Haven't I told you not to leave the house!" She shouted at Sam. "You know you have a frail body right?! What if we come late and something bad happens to you?!"
"B-but I am okay now! Really! Astraea did something?-- and I feel all healthy and strong now!" Sam stood up as he said.
"I don't believe you… and who is this Astraea you're talking about?" She asked.
"The kid here, with the long white hair! And uh, he's a boy by the way…" Sam said, pointing to Astraea who was just right beside him.
"Hello, I'm Astraea Von Ernst Albert." Astraea waved.
"I'm Samantha Shirohime." Samantha slightly waved back at him. "I'm this scrawny brat's grandmother."
She then firmly patted Sam's head.
"No really! I am fine now!" Sam jumped away from that. "Astraea! Climb on my back!"
"Okay!"
Astraea immediately climbed onto Sam's back and they ran around the area together, with Sam dodging all the boulders and bushes in their path.
"Wait, what?! What in the world is going on?!" Samantha chased the two. "Hey, wait!"
"You believe me now?" Sam asked Samantha.
"Yes, yes! I do!" Samantha interjected. "Now could you just keep still!"
Sam stopped his running right in front of Samantha and Astraea jumped off his back.
"Where did you find her–- I mean 'him' anyway? And I'm quite surprised that he didn't find it weird that I'm your grandmother." Samantha wondered.
"He fell down the sky! Like a shooting star!" Sam replied.
"What's a grandmother?" Astraea asked.
"What? Seriously?" Samantha flinched.
"Take it easy. He might've hit himself on the head or something." Sam whispered to Samantha.
"Ah, well. 'Grandmother' means that I am the mother of his father."
"Ohhhh." Astraea nodded.
"In any case, we should be heading back." Samantha offered to lead the way. "It's quite dangerous here at night if you haven't experienced that for yourselves already."
"But before that, you should tell the others to stop chasing Sayuri! She saved us from that monster!" Sam told Samantha.
"Really? But we detected that she is an Eldritch!" Samantha answered. "Weird…"
"Even if she's an Eldritch that doesn't mean she's bad!" Sam shouted.
Astraea just nodded.
"Fine…" Samantha whispered a spell in her palm. After a brief moment, a fire suddenly appeared on top of her palm and it slowly turned into a firefly "Tell them to stop chasing her…"
The firefly flew away after Samantha gave out an order.
After they got out of the forest, they were soon greeted by a walkway made out of stones which led to a long staircase which was also made out of stone. The trail led to the residence where Sam and Samantha were supposedly staying. It sat at the top of the hill.
Four girls at the age of ten could be seen standing beside the gate. Upon getting closer, each of them waved and greeted them.
"Grandma!"
"Where did you find Sam?"
"Did he magically find himself a girlfriend?"
"…"
"He's a boy..." Sam replied blandly.
"I-I'm Astraea Von Ernst Albert." Feeling all shy, Astraea hid behind Sam.
"I'm Ashley Shirohime." The girl with long purple hair and purple eyes introduced herself.
"I'm Kimberleigh Shirohime." The girl with long black hair and brown eyes introduced herself.
"Hello! I'm Louisiana Shirohime! You can call me Lina!" The girl with dark blue-green hair sporting short twin tails waved at him.
"…I'm Myrrha Shirohime." a girl with long, wavy dark violet hair and violet eyes meekly introduced herself as she tightly hugged the teddy bear that she was carrying while hiding herself behind Kimberleigh.
"These four are my sisters, we are quintuplets who all don't look alike." Sam whispered to Astraea.
"Ohhh…" Astraea whispered back in reply.
"You two must be feeling a bit cold, right? Go take a bath." Samantha ordered Sam and Astraea. "I'm also gonna take one myself."
"I also wanna take a bath!" Lina raised her voice in excitement.
"Me too!" Ashley added.
"Didn't you two already take a bath earlier?" Samantha asked.
"But I wanna take a bath again in the onsen!" Lina shouted.
"Same goes for me!" Ashley seconded.
"Fine…" Samantha allowed the two girls to join the bath, not wanting to argue anymore because she was tired.
"What's an onsen?" Astraea asked Sam.
"It's an open ceiling hot spring bath!" Sam answered Astraea.
They entered an onsen building located at the back of the main building.
"Grandma. We'll enter the boy's side of the onsen." Sam told Samantha.
"Don't! You two join us on the girls' side!" Samantha told the two.
"Why?! We aren't girls! We are boys!" Sam complained.
"You can't handle the heat in that side of the bath and always pass out! I'm not gonna want to fish you out of there, so you're taking a bath with us and that is final!" Samantha explained.
"…But!…"
"No buts!" Samantha pulled the two by the collar before both started complaining again.
Samantha helped the kids undress.
"What the?!" Samantha and the rest were surprised to find that Astraea had no genitals at all.
"You're genderless?. What even are you?" She asked.
"Well, my mother said that I'm an Etoille." Astraea replied.
"Etoille?" Samantha asked herself with it.
"What's an Etoille?" Lina asked as Ashley pulls out her smartphone and searched for the word 'etoile' on the internet.
"Etoile means star in french." Ashley confidently answered.
"Where did you find him, Sam?" Lina asked.
"Much like the word, he fell from the sky…" Sam answered.
"Wait what?" Lina replied. "So, are you like an actual 'star'?" Lina curiously stared at Astraea.
"Hey hey! Stop scaring him!" Sam put himself in between Lina and Astraea.
"Ah! Sorry!" Lina patted Astraea in the head.
"A-anyways! Let's head to the bath! I will call a friend to ask about it!"
They soon entered the bath.
Hot steam came out the moment they opened the door. The water from the hot spring is heated by the mountain. Multiple logs form as a wall that divides the men and women section, though the only spot occupied as of that moment was the woman section. There is no roof for both sides so the people taking a bath at night can enjoy the starry night sky. Huge boulders are located in the middle of the bath and act as a chair for the users to sit upon. At the left side of the bath are 3 showers for washing off dirt before entering the bath.
Lina immediately jumps towards the onsen, creating a huge splash.
"Hey! I told you to wash first before entering the hot water!" Samantha scolded Lina.
"Don't wanna!"
Lina swam without a care in the world.
"Hey! That's bad manners!" Samantha complained
Sam helped Astraea to wash his back and hair and soon entered the bath alongside the others.
"Wow! This strangely feels good!" Astraea smiles as he submerges half of his face into the water.
"I know right?" Sam replied with the same energy, as he also submerged half his face.
"Don't pass out you two!" Samantha told them as she entered the hot water.
Ashley stared at Samantha's breasts which were floating on the water.
"I wonder if mine will grow as big as yours, Grandma…" Ashley wonders.
"... You will!" Samantha patted Ashley on the head when suddenly, Lina jumped out of the water and slapped Samantha's breasts.
"OUCH! Hey!" Samantha shouted.
"Huehuehuehue!" Lina swam away.
"Will my chest also gonna grow like that?" Astraea asked Sam.
"Those kinds of breasts are for girls. Aren't you a boy?" Sam answered.
It took Astraea a while, but he surveyed all the information that was right there in front of him. Their faces, their bodies, and even each of their genitals. Compared to himself, he doesn't have any similarities to those, well except for his face, at least.
"... what's the difference between a boy and a girl?" Astraea asked as he stared at Sam.
Sam stared back at him without answering. Sam then stared at Samantha, gesturing: "Help!" with it. Samantha stared back at Sam and gave him a disinterested look. Sam then stared at Ashley and Lina but both of them were playing and completely ignored him. He stared back at Astraea who was still staring intensely at him.
"Y-you're from another world or something, right?" Sam tried to change the subject and asked Astraea.
"I guess so." Astraea answered.
"Why did you end up here?"
"Scary creatures who called themselves 'Eldritch' were hunting me. I just barely escaped with some girl who brought me into this world."
"So, the Eldritch is the cause, eh?" Samantha sighed.
"Seems like Eldritch also exists in this world…" Astraea said.
"Not really, more like they are invaders from a different world." Samantha inserted herself into the conversation. "They are a pain in the ass but they can be dealt with!"
"Wow! That would mean you are strong! The Apotheoses in my world all struggle to fend them off!" Astraea replied. "Are you also an Apotheosis?" Astraea asked Samantha.
"I am no Apotheosis and I can't beat them on my own." Samantha replied.
"Oh! So Apotheosis also exists in this world!" Astraea excitedly said.
"The Eldritch are strong, but as long as you destroy the apprehension engine, they won't be a problem at all!" Samantha's breasts jiggled as she stretched her arms up.
"Apprehension engine?" Astraea asked.
"Apprehension engine is an apparatus that forcefully changes the world's unique laws of nature. These unique laws of nature prevent people from different worlds from invading other worlds. These Eldritch kind use those apparatuses to bend a world's laws for them to invade a world." Samantha explained.
"The Eldritch in my world doesn't have those things. They just appeared out of nowhere or from a portal." Astraea commented.
"Impossible. They need those at all costs to invade!" Samantha replied.
"By the way…" Sam poked Astraea in the back. "I have been wanting to ask this, but what really is an Etoille in your world?" Sam asked.
"Ummmm…" Astraea then thought of explaining what he heard back then when Georgia and Hellian were chatting about what an Etoille is. So he talked about just that.
"That's what I know about what I am…" Astraea explained.
Samantha stood up, rinsed herself off, left the onsen without saying anything, and just left the kids to continue their bath.
After a while longer, all that remained also got up, rinsed off, and left the onsen.
Only wrapped with a towel, Sam and Astraea went straight for Sam's room. They entered after Sam slid the door open.
"Are you alone in this room?" Astraea asked. "Your siblings don't sleep with you?"
"Yeah, thanks to my health condition…" Sam replied. "Well, former health condition."
Astraea didn't catch that and instead stared at some of Sam's toys lying around.
"You can play with them if you want." Sam replied as he took out some of his clothes from the drawer in the side of his room.
"Here. Some fresh clothes."
The two began changing into new clothes before someone opened the door. A woman with dark brown hair and brown eyes entered the room; she looked at least twenty years old.
"Eek!" Sam squealed as the woman approached them, she then pinched Sam by his ear.
"I told you not to go out! What will you do if something bad happens to you?!" She scolded Sam.
"But, I'm fine now! A-Astraea healed me!" Sam pointed at Astraea.
"No buts!" The woman complained, oddly in the same manner as Samantha.
"So you're Astraea, huh? Mom already told me about you. I'm Leona Shirohime, Sam's mother." Leona introduced herself.
"Umm… Hello!" Astraea slightly waved at Leona.
"Now then. Go to sleep! Kids should not stay late at night!" Leona told the two.
"Okaayyy!" Both answered in sync as Leona left the room. Sam prepared the bed and the two slept together.
Well, at least attempt to sleep.
"Hey, Astraea. Are you still awake?" Sam whispered.
"Yeah…" Astraea answered. "I'm worried about my mom…" Tears came out of Astraea's eyes. "I miss my world. I want to save my world…"
"Then, I will help you." Sam replied.
"H-huh?" Astraea stared at Sam.
"You 'saved' me, so I will return the favor and help you return and save your world!" Sam smiled at him as he kept his voice down.
"Really??"
"Yeah! I promised! Let's pinky swear on it!" Sam held out his right hand.
"Uh, what's a pinky swear?" Astraea asked.
"It's a sign that a promise has been made and should never be broken! We lock our pinkies like this!" Sam's pinkies held onto Astraea's.
"Pinky swear, whoever lies will be made to swallow a thousand needles." Sam sang.
Astraea followed along with a delay but got through the lyrics just fine.
Feeling assured of the promise, Astraea fell fast asleep. Sam, already seeing Astraea comforted, also fell asleep soon after.