"Today's patrol is finished~ No particular abnormalities found."
I had been running through the night streets and was now overlooking the city from the top of a building. This is one of my favorite places, where I can see artificial lights shining in various colors like illuminations. However, the wind is strong, so with my still young body, I could get blown away, so caution is necessary.
Four years have already passed since I manifested my Sacred Gear. It feels strange, like it was both short and long. Since I was seven years old back then, I've now become eleven years old, the same age as my sister was then. Whether it's thanks to my Sacred Gear's effects or just good luck, I've been able to live peacefully without encountering anything supernatural so far. I didn't actively search for underworld connections, but still, not encountering anything even once means my luck value might not be bad. Lancers usually have low luck values, which makes me sad. I want to improve that jinx.
"Whoa, the wind is a bit strong today. Hey partner. Annihilating the wind in this entire area... is limited to a few seconds with my ability. In that case, it would be wasteful to use my power for that. Things without substance or that are fluid are really troublesome."
While leaning against the rooftop railing, I look at the crimson spear resting on my shoulder. Perhaps because it's not a Sacred Gear that seals divine beasts or magical beasts like the Red Dragon Emperor's Boosted Gear or the White Dragon Emperor's Divine Dividing, or maybe because it hasn't awakened, this spear is very quiet. I usually end up talking to myself. I think I shouldn't talk if that's the case, but I can somehow sense this guy's thoughts.
When I ask "Can you erase this?" thoughts like "Might be doable" or "No way, no way" flow into my head. It's fine to just hear it in my head, but staying silent all the time makes me depressed and a bit lonely. So even though I know there won't be a response, I started talking to this guy. Maybe it can't speak, but it might have consciousness. If it does, I'd like to talk about various things - just wishful thinking though.
"Still, it's peaceful itself. ...Come to think of it, stray devil attacks are originally about as likely as encountering a natural disaster. Issei had a dragon dwelling in him, and there were descriptions of it calling turmoil, so maybe this is normal."
Standing up from the railing I was leaning against, I hold the spear with my right hand and dust off my clothes with my left. It's hard to believe that behind this peaceful world visible to my eyes, so much sadness and life-threatening conflicts are taking place. Still, I know about it. And knowing this, I still haven't done anything. A bit of guilt crossed my chest, but it's also true that I have no choice but to do so.
Whether this world is really the world of High School DxD - investigating this was both cautious and urgent content. In parallel with mastering my Sacred Gear, I researched at libraries and on computers, wrote down my original work knowledge, and other tasks. Furthermore, I exhaustively searched phone books and maps of Japan for the names of dangerous-sounding towns that I knew. I searched for various keywords related to the surface world one after another.
There was also the possibility of a Sacred Gear-only crossover like the "Tales (techniques only)" sometimes seen in fanfiction. I focused on investigating death flag locations like "Uminari City," "Academy City," "Fuyuki City," and "Mahora." I worked quite desperately, thinking that if it turned out to be an unexpected crossover situation with total chaos, it would be terrible.
Perhaps my wishes got through, because the only place name that caught my eye was "Kuoh Town." I wondered for several minutes whether I should be relieved by this or lament "as expected." Anyway, though there's no certainty yet, I concluded it would be better to act assuming this is the world of DxD, and decided to gradually start taking action.
"What I'm most curious about is whether there are other reincarnated people besides me, which is common in fanfiction. This can probably only be understood through differences from the original work. Also, what are the usual conventions of reincarnation-type creative works..."
Maybe I've read too many commercial and web novels. It's something I should laugh off as a product of delusion, and I'm probably overthinking it. But for me, this is reality right now. It might happen to me someday. Even if I can't solve it, I think I should at least make assumptions. Honestly, there are more things I can't do anything about.
"This is bad, I've gotten a bit depressed. I'm tired today, so I should head home soon. I'm honestly sleepy. I could probably erase sleep deprivation, but if I don't sleep, I won't grow taller. Moderation is best. ...Eh, you're saying I shouldn't use my ability for such trivial things? But it's convenient."
At my words "sleep deprivation annihilation," I received thoughts that seemed to have a lot to say. This Sacred Gear's annihilation effect is quite flexible when I activate the ability targeting myself. Long ago, when I suddenly felt the urge to urinate but there was no restroom nearby, I was greatly helped by "Disappear, the source of my urge to urinate!" to avoid a dark history moment. Incidentally, at that time, I might have felt quietly angry thoughts.
When I try to activate effects on others, the difficulty suddenly jumps up, so including Sacred Gear control training, I've been practicing fine control targeting myself for four years. Thanks to this, I was able to increase the selection slots I can annihilate at once. Currently, the maximum is three. Usually, I physically annihilate things touched by the spear tip, but if I set targets with selection slots, I can now annihilate only those things.
This is very convenient. For example, even though I'm bad with bony fish, if I set "Bones, disappear!" and stab the fish, the fish's skin and flesh remain while only the bones are erased. It was so wonderful I almost cried. Incidentally, afterward, my partner ignored me for a long time, so I apologized while washing it clean in the bath.
"Well then, as usual, please. With 'target is me,' annihilate 'Sacred Gear wavelength,' 'my presence,' and 'gravity.'"
When I gripped the crimson spear again, red light spread to envelop me. It's a familiar sensation now, but I basically erase these three things when exploring the night streets. Pseudo-presence concealment is convenient in various ways since people around won't notice me. An elementary student walking around at night would be grounds for protective custody, and it's dangerous. As for gravity, this allows me to fly through the sky, dramatically increasing my exploration range. Being able to fly this well is probably the result of four years of training. At first, I crashed and couldn't control it, so various things were difficult, I think nostalgically.
If I get a fourth slot, I'm thinking about whether I can erase 'my appearance from others.' Even if I can erase my presence, I still show up on security cameras. Well, security cameras of this era have poor image quality and are expensive, so there aren't many of them, which is fortunate. Also, fatigue levels differ depending on what I erase, so that needs consideration too. Since it's a power with various applications, summarizing it in my research notebook (aka: dark history notebook) was also one of my daily routines.
"Maybe I'll go to the neighboring town tomorrow, there should be a port there. The night sea would be beautiful. Oh, but I wonder if there are lights."
Adjusting by turning gravity on and off, I hop along the tops of traffic lights and telephone poles. This is the fastest way to travel. Despite being a regular person spec-wise, having a Sacred Gear instantly creates an amazing human. I can understand why Sacred Gear users are viewed as dangerous. Even I can't tell anyone about my Sacred Gear.