Chapter 55: Tiga: Where Did This Mosquito Come From?
The next morning, as The Change card's magic cooldown finished, Kazama finally ended this terrible beautiful girl experience card and switched back to his original body.
Then, without any lingering attachment from last night's shared bed, he didn't even leave breakfast—he immediately sent Yukino packing first thing.
As the security door locked with a click, the little toy that had been playing dead in the manga pile finally dared to poke its head out.
"Phew—she's finally gone."
Kerberos flapped those small wings and flew to Kazama's shoulder with a look of surviving disaster.
"Oh, you know how to come out now?" Kazama glanced at it sideways, walked to the desk, opened a drawer, and pulled out a black permanent marker.
"Why've you been on mute these past two days? You're usually pretty chatty."
Kerberos defended itself righteously:
"It's because you turned into that woman!"
"Didn't you notice? When you became that woman, your personality got super dark! Your toxic tongue attribute literally doubled! If I'd opened my mouth then, you'd definitely have roasted me into questioning my existence. For this great one's mental health, staying silent was the wise choice."
Kazama didn't respond.
True enough.
Thinking back carefully, he admitted Kerberos had a point.
While in Yukino's body, his thought patterns had been influenced—becoming more sensitive, more prone to overthinking.
That impulse to find fault with everyone and be ready to mock at any moment seemed somewhat out of control in retrospect.
Like he'd been forcibly dumbed down by some setting.
"Seems like soul swapping has bigger side effects than imagined."
Kazama shook his head, tossing those chaotic thoughts from his mind. Since his body was back, it was time to handle business.
Then he laid out the Clow Cards he'd collected in a row on the desk.
Windy, Shadow, Thunder, Sweet, Illusion, Mirror, Change.
Seven total.
Given the previous lesson, Kazama uncapped the pen and very seriously wrote his name on the back of The Windy card.
As the last stroke fell, the entire card seemed to flash. That originally tenuous connection instantly became tight.
Like connecting a newly bought phone to home WiFi.
"This way I don't have to worry about you getting NTRed by someone else."
Kazama nodded with satisfaction and did the same with the remaining six cards, signing his name on all of them.
At this moment, Kerberos flew over and looked at those privatized cards.
"Hey, Kazama, I'm sensing a new Clow Card aura at school. Want to go check it out?"
"Though today's Saturday and you don't have school, lately the Clow Cards seem to really like appearing at school. Better go look, in case something happens."
"No rush."
Kazama stood up and walked to the living room center, looking at the furniture the Shadow Khan had cleaned spotlessly, nodding with satisfaction.
"I still have more important things to do right now. Clow Cards can wait."
"Tch, lazy is lazy—what excuse are you making?"
Kerberos grumbled quietly but didn't insist further.
Actually, it didn't want to go out either. The outside world was too dangerous for this Seal Beast that couldn't transform.
Especially that woman Kaguya—every time it thought of her gaze, the fur on its back wanted to stand on end.
Kazama seemed to see through its thoughts and waved dismissively.
"Forget about that woman."
"I've been looking for Clow Cards to increase my strength before. Now I should handle some real business."
Then he took a box already prepared by a Shadow Khan.
Inside was a toy full of plastic texture.
The Sparklence.
That was what Kazama had Shadow Khan "borrow" from a toy store yesterday.
Though just a peripheral model worth a few thousand yen, it was made quite exquisitely.
"What's this? A toy?"
Kerberos leaned over curiously.
But Kazama didn't answer, directly pulling the Rat Talisman off it.
"Ack!"
The little lion that had just been lively instantly became a stuffed toy and dropped onto the table.
Kazama moved this space-wasting broken toy aside, then placed the Sparklence in the table's center.
Given the embarrassing experience when summoning Saber last time, he'd learned his lesson this time—abandoning directly summoning anime characters with independent personalities and instead seeking a "usable by ordinary people, no side effects, and self-aware" weapon.
In other words—light.
The Sparklence wasn't light itself, but it was a tool that could connect to light.
But if the Rat Talisman could turn it into the real thing, then theoretically Kazama could directly borrow the Sparklence to obtain the power of light.
However, to be safe, Kazama still had The Shadow and Change cards watching on the side, ready to drag away his body and soul if things went wrong.
After taking all these precautions, he gripped that Rat Talisman and pressed it against the plastic Sparklence's handle.
Then the process went very smoothly, like a water drop merging into the ocean.
That stone talisman, the moment it touched the plastic surface, actually seeped in like liquid.
The plastic toy that originally cost only a few thousand yen underwent a qualitative transformation.
That cheap plastic texture began fading, rough seams healed, and the golden paint became some kind of seemingly flowing real metal.
The transparent winged parts at the top radiated a warm, sacred luster like solidified moonlight.
It came to life.
Or rather, it became real.
"Success?"
Kazama reached out and grasped that Sparklence radiating brilliance, inevitably excited.
This was countless people's dream—after all, no one could resist the temptation to become Tiga.
Then without any hesitation, even though this action might seem a bit chuuni to him now, in this moment Kazama still raised the Sparklence high, striking that pose carved into his DNA.
"TIGA—!!"
The Sparklence's wings spread open.
Instantly blinding white light swallowed the entire room. That light was too bright—so bright that even the shadows wrapped around Kazama hissed in fear.
In that moment, Kazama couldn't feel his body anymore.
That grounded feeling disappeared, replaced by extreme weightlessness.
His soul seemed forcibly extracted from his flesh by an invisible hand and thrown into a bizarre tunnel.
Unknown how much time passed.
Perhaps one second, perhaps ten thousand years.
When that dizziness disappeared, Kazama found himself floating in an endless void.
No reference points surrounded him—only starlight filling the sky.
And before him stood a giant.
A luminous being that appeared incomparably massive even at infinite distance, his entire body wrapped in dazzling light, making his features indiscernible.
Without doubt—that was Tiga.
An ultra-ancient giant existing thirty million years ago.
However, he didn't have that TV show's rubber suit texture with red and purple patterns, nor those iconic oval eyes.
His entire body seemed composed of pure light.
Grand.
Sacred.
Ineffable.
A lifeform far beyond human comprehension.
"This is... light?"
Kazama murmured. Before this power, he felt as insignificant as a speck of dust.
Just then, seemingly noticing this tiny soul's gaze, that giant of light slowly lowered his head. Two milky-white beams of light pierced through endless void and fell upon Kazama.
No kindness, no malice.
But a gaze encompassing all things, transcending space and time.
Like an ancient deity watching a child who'd just learned to walk, with some curiosity.
"This is..."
Kazama wanted to speak, wanted to ask something.
But that will was too grand—his soul simply couldn't withstand this level of direct attention.
The next second, that giant gently raised his hand, seemingly wanting to touch him—or perhaps driving him away.
BOOM—
Abruptly, a massive sound in his consciousness sea.
Kazama felt his brain had been viciously hammered, then his consciousness was forcibly ejected from this space.
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