Kirika watched as it finally began to fall.

Under the gloomy skies of winter, the lack of morning warmth and brightness which should be bathing the world was suffocating.

The gloom and doom made the falling white pinpricks from above the skies seem dim and dull, instead of reflective and beautiful.

Even so, the sight of the snowfall made her smile from the bottom of her heart.

Finally. It's the beginning of a cold, cold winter.

The winds had been strong and mischievous, singing out cacophonies whenever it passed by. The temperature was similarly chilling, most normal humans would not go outside without layers of extra clothing.

Before Kirika arrived to this place - [Seidoukan Academy] - she had purposefully arranged the transportation to arrive earlier than the scheduled meeting with the student council president, specifically to enjoy the scenery of a city bathed by the winter snow.

It turned to be nothing but disappointment, since snow wasn't falling. That stripped away her desire to walk around the district within Seidoukan's territory to make herself more familiar with its landscapes. So she cut her losses and walked to the school grounds.

Contacting the school to push forward her meeting with the student council president crossed her mind, but she decided against it. Instead, she strolled the school grounds to kill her time. Hopefully, it would quell her disappointment.

Her hope was answered, and her expectations were beautifully met this time. The academy was so large, and it contained various facilities that normal schools wouldn't ever have - including gardens, parks, and even a large lake.

Looking at the scenery so abundantly flavored with nature's grace, it was difficult to believe that the whole city, including this school ground, was built on an artificial island.

[War Academy City Asterisk] - one of the most-well known artificial islands of its kind, actually. She supposed this part of the city lived up to its reputation, at least.

If it was a place like this, then she didn't mind getting lost. As long as she followed the established stone footpath, she could find her way back easily, anyway.

She was busy admiring the school facilities until her thoughts were interrupted by a small, wet little thing hitting her nose.

An event that brightened her whole day - the snow fell after all.

"Thank goodness… hmm?"

Something caught her eye as she gazed up to the sky.

Among the white pinpricks, something, that was similarly small and white, was flying on a direction that seemed to follow the snow. For an instant, it looked like a feather made out of snow - but it was just a handkerchief.

Considering the speed of which it flew, it was probably stolen by the wind, but how come it reached such a high altitude? It was probably flying higher than the height of a three-story house...

Still, she supposed it didn't matter. It was only a momentary distraction to shrug off. Most likely someone had discarded it from a high-altitude location, probably from a tall building.

If it was discarded from such a place, it was reasonable to assume the owner didn't care where it would fly off to. Thus, it was not her problem to care about.

"Ahh!"

Kirika snapped her neck to the direction of the voice.

The voice itself was quite lovely and feminine. But the tone it had was panicked, and clearly out of its depth.

Alert had overtaken her by that point, and by pure instinct she turned her gaze into her surroundings.

There were trees lined up to her right, the direction the handkerchief was blown to. It was a small forest which served as a border.

On the other side there was an intricately designed fence dyed in white, which was a meter and a half away from the footpath she was on.

Behind the fence, there was a large building with red walls and large windows - one of which, in the fourth story, was open and covered with curtains.

So it flew out from there.

"Of all the things that could happen, why at a time like this!"

The voice from before was heard again from the other side of the curtain, this time filled with urgency. Her suspicion was right, time to formulate a task-

"Anyway, I'd better go after it before it flies far away!"

That confirmed her mission. Kirika turned around and jumped high, landing over one of the large tree branches on the right side of the footpath.

It was something that normal humans couldn't do, and she would normally avoid displaying her physical abilities like this - but this was urgent.

That person needs help.

Right after she landed her feet on the branch, Kirika followed that with an even stronger jump, breaking the branch she was on, onto another tree branch. She then made another powerful jump, breaking another branch and another, and another.

Kirika felt sorry for the trees, but she had to follow the handkerchief and leave a clue for the owner. Today was a very windy day, and the chilling gusts of wind were also strong. That handkerchief would fly away very quickly, and far away.

With that in mind, she steeled her mind and quickened her pace.

Jumping from one tree to another, she didn't allow the tree leaves, branches and the snow falling from distracting her focus on the handkerchief, which was still quite high in the sky above the forest.

After about half a minute, she emerged out of the forest. With no more trees to step on, she finally landed on both of her feet on the ground, coming to a halt.

As she refocused herself forward, Kirika immediately noticed a few things.

First of all, she was now in a park that she passed by earlier.

Secondly, this was the park with the large lake on its center, and that lake was a few tens of yards ahead of her.

The third, was that the speed of the handkerchief's flight was slowing, and its altitude was gradually descending.

In conclusion, the handkerchief would fall into the lake.

"I won't allow it."

She voiced her resolve, but her rationale knew it was pointless.

Even with her top speed, there was no way she could catch it before it went above the lake.

In that case - there was no choice.

"...[Ephemeral Frost]"

Julis was mad.

This had to be one of those days. Winters were supposed to be windy, that much she had expected.

But she didn't expect her handkerchief would be stolen by the wind just moments after she opened her window to clean it.

Julis wouldn't allow it. She wouldn't - couldn't - lose that handkerchief.

Thus, right after she put away the chamois she was about to use for cleaning, she had immediately leaped down the window.

No sane person would ever do that, and even somewhere in her mind Julis thought it was a little scary...

But as a child of the [Starpulse Generation] - even jumping from the top of this dormitory would not affect her in the slightest.

Such was the physical abilities of a [Genestellar] like her.

As she landed down the footpath a little outside of the dormitory's fence, Julis looked around.

No sign of the handkerchief.

Julis tried to calm down the raging storm that was her panicked mind.

If it was not here, it must be somewhere in the forest. Searching for it would be horrendously difficult-

"...Hm?"

It was then Julis noticed something strange.

There was a broken tree branch lying down the base of one of the trees ahead of her.

Julis became curious. Was the wind that strong to break the tree branches? It was still only the first day of the winter season.

As she approached the tree to examine the fallen branch closer, Julis immediately noticed another thing.

There was another fallen branch, not far into the forest.

And even further inside, there was another.

And another.

Unnatural.

Her instincts alerted, Julis slowly walked into the forest.

Someone was surely responsible for this - they had jumped on the tree branches and broke them.

Julis didn't know how long ago, but it was clear that somebody, or maybe a group of people, were here, in the forest.

What could they be doing?

Then the realization hit her. It must be someone from the student body, who was spying on her.

She was a [Page One], one of the top students in the whole Academy after all.

Being spied upon, or ambushed, was nothing new so that the lower rank students could advance.

Oh, no...

If anyone had been spying on her just now, they could clearly tell that the handkerchief belonged to her, and they could pick it up.

The thought of having Orphelia's last gift in the hands of someone other than her was terrifying.

She didn't even want to imagine it.

Without a second thought, Julis ran through the forest, following the lead of the broken branches.

The possibility of someone trying to pick up a flying handkerchief was low, but it was not a chance she would take.

Especially not after Julis saw that the branches were consistent. No Genestellar would be this careless - they had purposefully left them as a trail for her to follow.

Faster than Julis expected, the branches stopped as she was near the end of the forest and found herself in a park.

Now that she thought about it, there was a lake in this park. No... could it be the handkerchief had fallen to the lake-

"...!"

...What's that?

The sight was surreal. It looked like a scene straight out of a painting.

A figure she could recognize as a female student of Seidoukan with a long, snow white hair stood upright on the center of the park's lake.

The girl was raising her left hand to catch a handkerchief above her head, and her feet clearly standing on the water's surface.

Is that... Orphelia?

No, no way. There was no way she could be here.

Not to mention, how could she stand on the lake like it was a solid ground?

Am I dreaming...?

"Ow!"

...No, she was not dreaming. The sudden coldness from the snowflake hitting her between the eyes proved that.

As if realizing her presence, the girl on the lake turned around.

What she saw next made Julis held her breath.

The girl was not Orphelia after all, but she reminded Julis of her best friend nonetheless.

The first thing that caught Julis' attention was the girl's eyes - they were large pools of periwinkle blue, so pale it was almost white. Her gaze was ethereal - devoid of any emotion. Not unlike Orphelia's, the last time Julis saw her.

Her facial features were thankfully different from Orphelia, at least. Her oval face had very smooth features, almost unseen because of the pale skin. Julis could confidently say she was elegant, somewhat unfitting for a high school student.

Even the emotionless stare didn't take away the strong impression she gave. No, if anything, it made her gaze feel powerful; the kind Julis had attributed to a rare few individuals she knew.

However, further examining the girl made her feel uncomfortable. It was... even more similar to her best friend. The girl was not Orphelia, she had to remember that.

Not just the face, the girl's visible body features were all very pale - almost unnaturally so, and her hair was nearly indistinguishable from the snow falling around them. Even the way the winds swept her long, waist-reaching hair was similar to Orphelia.

Julis stopped her scrutiny when she noticed that slowly, the girl's mouth opened.

"...Are you the owner of this handkerchief?"

A voice that Julis couldn't describe as anything but melodious snapped her back to reality, and Julis caught herself from stuttering.

"Yes. You… did you run all the way from the dormitory to catch that?"

The girl answered with a slow nod, as she casually walked from the center of the lake back to the dry land, her eyes still focused on Julis.

Julis frowned. Her suspicion was correct, and thus the probability of this girl spying on her was quite high.

However, if she was confrontational now, she might not get Orphelia's gift back - thus she decided to play her part: mimicking the girl's actions, closing the distance between them.

Slowly, her eyes identified a lot more details on the girl's form.

This girl was taller than Julis herself, by roughly half a head. That was not too strange on its own - that only meant the girl's height was somewhere in the 170s or so centimeters - but she also had surprisingly broad shoulders, almost like a male.

Her Seidoukan uniform was slightly different than Julis' own - the girl wore the white jacket with the red lotus emblem on the left breast unbuttoned similar to herself, but the girl had dark green undershirt with white collars to match the jacket, and a blue skirt.

That ensemble was like a strange combo of male and female Seidoukan uniforms. Males were given undershirts and trousers while females like Julis were given one-piece dresses, but this girl wore a mix of both. Was it a new dress code for transfer students?

The girl also had black leggings to cover her long, strong-looking legs up to her thighs. It was almost identical to the ones Julis herself liked to wear, but that girl's leggings didn't have slits on their openings to make it easier to wear and take off; it was form-fitting.

Finally, the girl wore a pair of stacked high-heel shoes similar to the ones on Julis' own feet. That was about the only thing she knew of which Orphelia would probably never use, honestly.

She is certainly quite something to look at...

But that was that. Julis had more pressing issues at the moment.

4 meters away from the girl, she halted her approach. In sync, the girl also halted.

Julis narrowed her eyes at that action, but she supposed it was not worth commenting.

"Return it."

Wordlessly, the girl rather forcefully threw her handkerchief at her, prompting Julis to catch it with both of her hands.

An intense wave of relief hit her mind - the handkerchief was not harmed or even dirtied in the slightest.

Almost instinctively, Julis held it close to her chest. She wouldn't ever open her window with her handkerchief out of her pocket again.

"Thank you. It's something very, very precious to me."

The girl didn't respond. She didn't even react. She only stared at Julis with those empty eyes, unchanged from earlier.

Julis felt a little unnerved, but she brushed the thought away. She had her suspicions to confirm.

"Were you spying on me?"

Julis expected the girl to immediately deny it. No criminal would confess to being a criminal, after all.

However, the girl merely raised an eyebrow, and after a few seconds, shook her head twice, surprising her.

She wouldn't even speak?

Was this girl not taking it seriously? That arrogant attitude was beyond rude.

"Speak when you answer me!"

"...Why would I spy on you?"

The girl spoke with a tone that was far too calm for someone getting caught spying. It was gritting Julis' nerves.

"Why else would you be out here? You were the one who broke those branches, didn't you?"

"I did. But what makes you think I was spying on you? Are you perhaps... a Page One?"

Julis raised a brow. Was she serious?

Every self-respecting student in this school would know the students listed on the Page One of the [Omnicon Chart] - the list for the top 72 students of a combat academy.

The exceptions were few and far in-between. Only students who honestly didn't care about the chart, and perhaps the transfer students, and even then, it was unlikely anyone would transfer now, in the 2nd trimester of the year.

The thought made Julis narrow her eyes. "Are you playing dumb with me? You don't know me?"

"No. I am a transfer student." The girl didn't even change her expression as she said that.

"Do you expect me to believe that?"

"My uniform is newer than yours."

"You could have bought a new one and pretend to be a transfer student."

"Do you want the student council president to prove it?"

Surprised, Julis halted herself from arguing further.

The student council president - Claudia Enfield - never approved of the stalkings and the ambushes done to the Page Ones by lesser students.

Informing Claudia of this would be the most foolish action any spy could have done. With that in mind, Julis supposed she had to lower her suspicion of the girl before her. Maybe, just maybe, she was being honest.

"No, I don't need her taking care of my problem."

"You don't have a choice. She is already here."

The girl raised her right hand, and pointed a finger to the forest behind.

Julis raised her brows, but she followed the direction regardless.

What could this girl possibly mean- huh?

Kirika couldn't be more grateful for the timing.

She hadn't expected the person she helped to be someone like this.

At first, Kirika was quite surprised - the owner of the handkerchief was, in a single word, cute.

Not beautiful - not in those school outfit, anyway - but certainly eye-catching. The girl's hair had the colour of a deep pink rose, and its length was roughly the same as Kirika's own. It reminded her of a bouquet of pink roses often used for wedding ceremonies.

The irises on the girl's eyes reminded her of young leaves too, which was also interesting to look at. The large size of those eyes, the facial features, and the fair complexion suggested this pink-haired girl was non-Asian, probably Caucasian.

Kirika doubted that a little, though. Caucasians, and especially Genestellar Caucasians were generally very tall. Meanwhile, this girl was 10 centimetres or so shorter than herself, and last time Kirika checked, she was 175 cm.

It's true I am taller than most Japanese girls my age, but this disparity...

Overall, the pink haired girl looked like Kirika's mother when she was younger. Their resemblance was uncanny; the facial features were only slightly different, while her body posture, complexion and even hair colour were almost the same. Only their eye colours were different.

If anything else was different, it was the way the girl carried herself. The pink haired girl was regal and more graceful than her mother. Despite being obviously surprised earlier after seeing her on the lake, the girl remained calm and didn't comment, focusing on that handkerchief.

A handkerchief which was, judging from its clumsy pattern and the vestiges of past repairs, likely handmade. It was either made by the girl herself or someone close, if she had enough attachment to it to run all the way here just to get it back.

In conclusion, the pink haired girl seemed to be surprisingly tender, and probably affectionate with people she was close with.

...Or at least that was what she thought, until the pinkie accused her of being a stalker.

The pink-haired girl turned out to be a Page One, and she seemed to be already suspicious - which was problematic. Kirika didn't expect the handkerchief she caught to belong to one of the top-ranked students in the Seidoukan.

Considering this girl's attitude, it would seem she already had her fair share of stalkings - something Kirika couldn't relate to, but certainly could empathise.

The thought of being followed and spied upon everywhere you went, not to mention the possibility of ambushes, were not something most people would enjoy to have.

However, as much as Kirika could understand her reasons for being suspicious, she didn't want to waste her time arguing her innocence here.

It's good the student council president... and that other person had been following me around.

Kirika didn't exactly mind that, either - she could understand why. A student council president of a combat academy was an authority figure in their territory.

Thus when a transfer student arrived earlier than scheduled and didn't make a contact, it was reason enough for suspicions to grow and supervision to be imposed.

She didn't expect the student council president to personally follow her, though. Wasn't the ninja - correction, the [Shinobi] - following her enough?

Regardless, Kirika was grateful for them both.

"There is no need to hide, Miss Claudia Enfield."

"...Ara. Well, this is quite a pleasant surprise."

As the pink-haired girl turned around from Kirika to the forest, a young woman came out from among the trees.

Claudia Enfield had a dazzling, blonde manes of hair that were thicker, longer and wavier than both her own and the other girl's, with bangs of hair that seemed to split unnaturally to accentuate her face.

Compared to the pink-haired girl, Claudia was much more obviously Caucasian. Her height seemed to be at the exact midpoint between Kirika's own height and the other girl's, too.

The only thing out of place from an ordinary person would be the pair of deep violet irises conveying the serene tranquility of its owners, which contrasted the fiery eyes of greenish blue that the other girl had.

Even the president's student uniform appeared classy, what with the frilly high-collars and sleeves on the white jacket, a dark green blouse with dual-tiered ruffled skirt, on top of a pair of high-heeled knee-reaching boots as well as thigh-high stockings with garter belts.

Seeing her body though, Kirika couldn't help but frown a little. It was... so voluptuous that even the clothes Claudia wore seemed to strain itself to contain it.

That chest. Did she button her jacket properly only to emphasize those breasts of hers?

Kirika had confidence in her own proportions and three-sizes - it was B83/W55/H88, last time she checked - but even she had to admit those things on Claudia's chest made her feel a tinge of envy.

"I didn't expect you to know that I was here."

The student council president approached both of them with a calm posture that matched her voice.

The urge to smile mockingly at the blonde welled up within Kirika, but she decided against it.

It seemed Claudia was confident in her own skill at following people, and was subtly hiding her surprise.

Well, pointing that out right off the bat would be very rude, so she settled for something else.

"Hiding in the shadows doesn't suit a president such as yourself, Miss Enfield. A task like that is more fitting for a subordinate. Perhaps a ninja, for example?"

She was speaking softly, but Claudia's eyes widened at her words, almost imperceptibly so. If Kirika wasn't paying attention, she would have missed it.

The president was caught off-guard. Probably from realising that the transfer student she had been following was not just aware of her, but also of her ninja subordinate.

However, she recovered just as quickly as she was surprised. Kirika admired that.

"That's true, it was rude of me. However, it is also improper to not contact me when you arrive in my school much earlier than the schedule, isn't it?"

Claudia sounded polite, but there was a subtle edge underneath the question.

Kirika couldn't refute that, and she had no intention to. She purposefully didn't contact Claudia since she wanted to admire the greenery of the school.

It was a selfish reason - thus, Kirika was prepared for the consequences. She bowed her head as low as she could.

"I apologize. I overstepped my boundaries because I allowed my love of nature to make me forget my place as a transfer student."

"Love of nature?"

Kirika couldn't see, but she could hear Claudia did nothing to hide her surprise this time.

Before she could form a reply though, the pink-haired girl seemed to finally understand what she and Claudia were talking about.

"Claudia, you have been following her?"

"I'm embarrassed to admit it, but yes."

The pink-haired girl seemed to be deep in thought, as she fell into silence. Claudia, on the other hand, spoke again.

"Please raise your head. It's not a major transgression, and since you are a transfer student, it's understandable that you have no idea of the more intricate rules of this academy."

"Thank you very much."

Kirika supposed that was good enough as 'apology accepted'.

When she straightened up, Claudia and the other girl seemed to be scrutinizing her. The president quickly spoke to hide it, though.

"Julis. I apologize for interrupting you two, but as I said, she is a transfer student. I can assure you that she wasn't spying on you."

As Claudia said those authoritatively, the pink-haired girl - now Julis - turned to glare at the blonde.

They both seemed to communicate with their eyes, before Julis let out a sigh.

"Humph. Very well then."

Julis walked past Claudia and away from Kirika, not even bothering to look at her anymore.

Internally, she was slightly upset that this Julis girl didn't even bother to apologize for accusing her.

Not that she wanted to blame her, but it seemed some people were just too prideful for that-

"Transfer student, what's your name?"

That, surprised Kirika.

"Amagiri Kirika."

Julis turned her head slightly to her.

"I see. My name is Julis Alexia van Riessfeld, ranked fifth of Seidoukan Academy."

Kirika felt surprised a second time.

Van Riessfeld?

That meant, Julis was part of-

"I apologize for accusing you as a stalker. I should not have allowed my circumstances cloud my judgment."

Once again, Kirika was surprised. Okay, she had to revise her current opinion of Julis.

"I won't pretend that I am not offended. But I now understand your situation, the fault isn't yours to bear. There is no need to apologize."

"Is that so? Still, I owe you one for catching my handkerchief before it falls to the lake."

Julis turned around completely to face Kirika, with a surprisingly bright smile on her face.

"I will repay this in kind."

And with that, she left.

As soon as Julis was out of sight, Claudia let out a sigh that revealed signs of distaste.

"Honestly, that girl just couldn't be straightforward."

Kirika couldn't help but agree with Claudia's comment. That was a pretty roundabout way of saying 'I am grateful'...

Still, Kirika was not one who would speak ill about someone whom she barely knew.

"Miss Enfield. Is it okay for us to start our appointment now?"

"Ah, that's right. Then, shall we get going? The snow will wash our clothes if we stay here for too long."

Kirika couldn't help but allow her lips to form a slight smile at those words.

Being bathed in snow was not a pleasant feeling for most people, but not her.

"...That's not something I would mind."

"Really?"

Unexpectedly, Claudia didn't try to hide her curiosity this time.

Kirika decided to humor that.

"You could say that I am fond of the concept [Yugen]."

"Yugen?"

"It is an aspect of the Japanese aesthetic."

Kirika felt like she should have stopped there, but for some reason, she didn't want to stop herself from explaining what it was.

No... I know why.

She loved it so much, after all.

"It refers to the awareness about the depth and the vastness of our world."

Kirika spread her arms wide to emphasize her point, posing to grasp nature as much as she could.

"The emotions we feel. The thoughts we conjure in the face of our mysterious world. That's what Yugen means."

Claudia didn't seem to expect her to explain in such a detail, as the president stared her with a perplexed look.

"It's not that I don't understand the appeal of nature, but I never give much thought about it."

Once again, Kirika couldn't control herself. A small smile formed again on her face against her will.

"It is just a value I hold. I spend too much time thinking about everything."

Act 1

Start of a Study Case

Chapter 1

Amagiri Kirika

How was it? Leave your thoughts in the reviews~

For the ones that know that the story starts during an early summer, don't be quick to assume that I made a mistake: it is intentional. This is an Alternate Universe after all.

This story is the first of my series of side experiments regarding harem light novels, in which I will replace their main character archetypes (the archetypal Ideal Hero) with a completely different type of hero. Thus, this story is a SIDE FIC.

"Amagiri Kirika" is an OC to replace Ayato, and as you can see, while she is very different, she does have a few subtle similarities with him.

Kirika's name means "mist, flower" which is based on an alternate reading of Amagiri Haruka's first name, which could mean "distant, flower." Details about her will be written on my bio soon, but her appearance is already there in the cover image of this story.

If you find continuity errors – such as Kirika knowing about her mother Amagiri Sakura, which Ayato didn't – rest assured it is all, calculated. Kirika's backstory isn't identical with Ayato's, and I didn't spend so long being busy without preparing my plot.

For the readers who know me from my other works, I am sorry that I took my time writing this while I haven't updated my Main and Side fics for months now. I am out of touch, so I write this as a form of exercise to "warm up" my skills for the real deal.

I promise, if real life would give me enough time, I will update them soon.

Now then, that's all I have to say. Thank you for dropping by to read "Asterisk Winter"!