AN: This guy is cheating. I just can't prove it.
*****
Gasper could only stare at the floating screen, jaw hanging so low he might as well have dislocated it.
[$250 (Universally Applied) [Mortal]]
Basic currency. Universally accepted.
[Giorno Giovanna, Full Outfit (Part 5) [Mortal]]
A stylish ensemble, suitable for dramatic flair.
[Pluck (Part 1; Jonathan) [Arcane]]
A Sword of a certain Gentleman
[Locacaca Fruit (Part 8; Holy Joestar-Kira) [Ultimate]]
A rare fruit with unknown effects. Handle with caution.
[German Army Assault Rifle (Part 2; Rudol von Stroheim) [Mortal]]
A heavy firearm. Functional but mostly decorative in this world.
[Training Rope (Part 2; Hamon Users) [Mortal]]
Used for endurance and conditioning exercises.
[Steel Ball (Part 7; Gyro) [Arcane]]
Just a steel ball.
[Joestar Bloodline (Parts 1-9; Various) [Transcendent]]
A hereditary trait enhancing latent potential beyond normal limits.
[German Army Rifle (Part 2; Soldier) [Mortal]]
A standard-issue firearm. Mostly for display or themed collections.
[Hamon Breathing Guide (Part 2; Lisa Lisa) [Arcane]]
A worn manual detailing Hamon breathing techniques. Useful for learning fundamentals
Yeah… He was definitely becoming a devoted follower of magical girls.
And that red-haired scammer? Oh, he would be hearing from his lawyers.
He closed the gacha tab and opened his inventory, tapping on one of the new items.
Then a small vial materialized in his hand.
Gasper froze.
It was… beautiful.
The vial was clear glass, cool to the touch. Inside was a bright blue liquid, glowing radiantly. The liquid slowly rotated on its own.
And drifting inside that spinning blue were tiny yellow lights.
They looked like little stars, flickering quietly as they floated around.
Gasper stared at the vial.
'How would this even work? Do I just… drink it?'
A hundred terrible possibilities immediately flooded into his head. Knowing JoJo's, something like this always had a cost. Or at the very least some kind of destiny stapled to it.
But after a few seconds of staring at it, he sighed.
He had an idea of what could go wrong but, 'what's the worst that could happen?'
He unsealed the vial.
The moment the lid came off, a soft blue mist drifted out, rolling across the room like a fog. Tiny yellow stars scattered into the air around him.
The mist curled around his arms, his shoulders, his face. It felt warm.
Then, without giving Gasper time to react, the liquid inside the vial surged upward.
It jumped, as if it had a mind of its own.
"Ah… I see," he managed to say, eyes going wide. Trying to move out of the way on instinct.
But the blue liquid reached him, wrapping around his body in an instant. His clothes dissolved on contact. In seconds, he was completely engulfed, suspended in a sphere of swirling blue.
Gasper's body began to rise within the cocoon.
A yellow glow pulsed from his chest, then spread, first across him, then bleeding outward into the room. The light intensified, gold mixing with the spinning blue around him.
Then he started to rotate.
Slowly at first… then faster… and faster, until all that was left was afterimages. The air trembled. Ripples of yellow rolled outward with every rotation, washing through the room like waves of heat.
And deep within that spinning cocoon, something began to take form.
A shape, sharp, glowing through the swirling blue.
A light red star.
*****
(twenty minutes ago)
Koneko sat on a couch in the old school building, petting the white cat while slowly nibbling on some sweets. Her expression looked almost the same as any other day, but Shiro(The Cat) could tell that his master was still somewhat down in the dumps.
Seeing her expression, Shiro couldn't help but think, 'She's been like this ever since Gaspy shut himself away in that room.'
Rias and the others claimed he had isolated himself for their sake… and Shiro, even though he was just a cat familiar, had respected that wish. Well, to a certain extent. Whenever he got bored, he'd sneak around outside Gasper's windows, quietly checking to see if he was doing okay.
Bored of the pampering, Shiro decided to go out for a walk. He lifted himself from Koneko's lap and padded toward the open window. Koneko let out a short sigh. Shiro had been wandering off on his own for a while now, and she didn't think much of it at this point, but she thought to herself, 'Couldn't he wait for later?'
Shiro slipped out onto the side of the building and walked toward Gasper's window. The last time he'd checked on him, Gasper had been doing basic workouts. It was honestly a little strange to see him like that, but hey, to each their own.
Arriving outside the window, Shiro peeked inside… only to see Gasper poking at the air.
The cat tilted his head, ears flicking. 'Is he… okay?'
Before he could make sense of it, a vial suddenly appeared in Gasper's hand. Shiro blinked in surprise. There was no magic circle. No summoning light. It just popped into existence, as if reality decided to put it there.
Gasper opened the vial.
And then everything went to hell.
It wasn't like anything he had ever seen before, nothing in this world, or in any anime he has seen with Rias, nothing came close. It was weird. It was Unnatural. Some might even say… bizarre.
The room erupted in light and motion, an overwhelming swirl of energy bursting outward in every direction. A glowing blue liquid leapt from the vial and wrapped around Gasper, sealing him inside a shimmering sphere. Tiny star-like motes scattered across the room, drifting through the air like a galaxy had bloomed right inside the walls.
The liquid spun around Gasper's body like he was a sun at the center of a miniature universe. Then the sphere tightened, solidifying into a cocoon that rotated faster and faster, pulling the surrounding energy into its orbit.
Shiro's fur stood on end as the pressure built. His brain finally caught up with what his eyes were seeing, and every instinct he had screamed at him.
Without a second thought, he completely abandoned the rule Koneko and the others had set about not approaching Gasper until he was ready.
Shiro shoved his paws against the window.
And pushed it open.
←–TO BE CONTINUED—