(Written while listening to: "Sign" by Flow on YouTube)
<<<>>>
They went to the cemetery the very next day.
Although Laito's current body still looked worse for wear, he could "force" it to move above its capabilities, by flooding it with his Essence… wording may be weird, but that's how it worked.
His dad did a good job maintaining his body in the best possible state. Unfortunately it was still in much worse condition than it would be if he himself moved and even exercised regularly.
Laito had to constantly use quite a considerable amount of Essence to pretend he is "allright".
He still recovered far more than he used up.
That's why Laito could easily pack himself into the car and accompany his father on their short trip to the local shrine, beside a small cemetery where their family monument was placed.
The tradition in Japan was to cremate the bodies of the deceased.
For the last couple of years Tomio has kept a traditional memory shrine in the house.
But the ashes were kept here.
As the father-son duo visited, Laito kept focus on his emotions.
When he stood in front of the stone monument, his thoughts went back towards the years he had spent with his family.
Warm, loving atmosphere, his mom' s cheerful smile, his dad's tired, but fulfilled expression, his elder brother's sassy jokes…
Memories poured in.
"Dad?" Laito grabbed Tomio's attention.
"What's up bud?" Tomio asked softly.
"I think… it's raining…"
Tomio glanced briefly at Laito after his claim, and then at the slightly clouded, but mostly clear autumn sky, with sun currently out.
"
—
—
[Laito's Room]{Afternoon}
After returning home and eating the dinner Laito decided it's time to get back to work.
He had already told his dad about his situation, but now Tomio also told Laito about what happened here in the Meta-world.
Laito was reasonably angry at the corrupt company that caused his mom's death, but there was nothing more to do about them. So his thoughts turned to perpetrators of his brother dying.
From inspecting the timeline, Laito already guessed that the Vigilantes events had already happened, so he couldn't have a "talk" with Bee User as it was already dealt with.
Too bad, as he viewed it as the primary cause of his brother's death, by offering him some kind of faulty, prototype version of trigger.
Unfortunately that was in the past. Other groups involved with Trigger were Shie Hassaikai… and All-for-One.
And these were the enemies that Laito wasn't ready to face yet.
He wasn't even sure if Overhaul already managed to take over the group and start his endeavours.
So for now, Laito focused only on the most imminent threat:
Winter Solstice.
The day, at which he will most likely be ripped off from the Meta-world and forced into a random spot of the Dream Realm.
And there was a huge problem with that.
Laito was quite sure that his current physical body would not follow alongside his soul.
After all, Laito's "Spirit body" true form was an orb of light.
And while that form was mostly invulnerable within the Meta-world, unless he encountered some seriously bizarre quirk…
That definitely wasn't the case for the Dream World… where fallen deities and ancient abominations hid behind every nook and cranny.
The only thing Laito could count on while there were his faithful echoes: Bona and Apollyon.
Because as a flying lightbulb he didn't have a mouth!
No mouth meant no Words.
And as he already established earlier:
No Words, No Spells.
So what he needed was to have a body that could speak.
Here came his dormant ability.
Laito laid comfortably at his bed and focused back at his core, "detaching" from his body.
A small, invisible white core raised up from resting boy's chest.
'Now the next step…' Laito prepared himself.
He tried to "possess" something else.
The description of his ability said that he could become a part of anything.
Surely now he could just float into literally anything and just take over?
Wrong!
Because everything in existence, from the smallest grain of sand to the mightiest of gods had their own spirit.
The exception were beings which had their souls destroyed… and even then some residual echoes of their spirit remained.
For Laito, the most important thing about it was that said "spirits" of things were rejecting him.
With his current strength he even had a problem connecting with a small dead item like his pen, or cup.
Not even mentioning living beings.
Apparently his body was an exception, because it was… well… his.
If Laito wanted to enter into something else he had to "overpower" the spirit of the thing he tried to connect with.
And right now it took a lot of time and effort.
In the end he failed to get even close to connecting with an ant that he targeted after floating down from his window.
'It's really bad… I need an alternative!' Laito thought to himself and returned to his room.
There, he summoned Bona.
The pale female skeleton coalesced from motes of white Light in nearly an instant.
She still held her rusty sickle and waited for Laito's orders. He thought that if it's his Echo then maybe it will accept him.
He was wrong again.
As he floated up inside Bona's bone ribcage, where should be her spirit core, Laito unknowingly brushed with it and tried to connect.
He was instantly repelled away. So strongly, that before he managed to stop himself he was already launched through the wall and onto the streets.
After reorienting himself, the worried lightbulb returned to his room and dismissed Bona after thanking her for the experiment.
'Now what?' Laito thought as he found himself in a predicament…
—
He summoned the runes of the Spell once more and carefully read all through it once again.
Certain entry attracted his close attention:
Avatars: —
He wondered earlier if this is related to something similar to Sunny's Shadows that were his version of "upgraded Echoes" that were unique to Shadow Slave aspect.
As Laito tried to remember what were the requirements that Sunny had to meet for creating his first Shadow, The Spell spoke:
[You have an empty Affinity slot and a fully researched, compatible Tome of Magic.]
[Do you wish to create an Avatar?]
<<<>>>
[1,5 years left until MHA plot beginning]
[Chapter End] The story is not over yet
---
Author notes:
In the end I made a timeline mistake.
Just before the Mc entered his Nightmare, he he said that Midnight was a teacher at the UA, while in canon, she wasn't yet.
Its minor, inconsequental mistake, but still. I am fixing it right as I am releasing this chap.
If you'd notice anything else, feel free to point that out, I'll fix that ia a jiffy.
Thanks for reading and:
See ya soon!