Miracle Gracer
Chapter 1 - Altair
Written by: CS-Masyet
Original version: October 8, 2014
Re-written version: August 12, 2016

Saiph

"It's such a beautiful day today."

I said to myself, heading down the perfectly normal path to the perfectly normal grocery store to do my perfectly normal weekly shopping in my perfectly normal rural town.

"And so peaceful, too. On a day like this, I doubt anything exciting or special will happen, but it'll sure be nice and relaxing. Nothing could go wrong on a day like this!"

"This town... is in dire need of a hero!"

Stated an odd girl standing in the middle of the path, with her arms crossed. She faced her head slightly downward, her eyes closed, with a serious expression on her face.

"There is a serious threat on the rise, and yet no one seems to notice! If no one lifts a finger to stop it, they'll bring about complete chaos!"

She lifted her head up, focusing her attention on the people passing by.

"Only a true hero can save us now! If there's a hero out there, please... come to our aid!"

The passersby walked by her without stopping, doing their best to look away from and ignore her.

They have the right idea... I'll just ignore this weird girl and continue on my way to the grocery sto-...

"Excuse me, sir!" Unfortunately for me, the girl seemed to take notice of me and called out to me.

I'll pretend I didn't just hear that. I mean, it's not like I did anything to get her attention, right? She must be calling out to someone else...

"Excuse me, sir with the green hair and ponytail!"

Damn it; she's definitely calling out to me...

"... What do you want, young lady?" I finally answered, with a mildly irritated tone. "I have things to do at the moment."

"Sorry sir, but this is a very important matte-... 'young lady'? You're not that much older than me, are you?"

"Never mind that. What is this 'important matter' you want to tell me about?"

"O-oh, right! Tell me sir, have you heard of the Disco Faction?"

"Nope." What kind of stupid name is that?

"Seriously? But they've been all over the news recently! Pretty much every news station on TV has been reporting on their various petty crimes!"

"Sorry, I'm too poor to own a TV." I can't even afford to go to the barber...

"Oh, that's too bad. But anyway, they're really bad news! If they aren't stopped, not only will they cause total chaos to unfold in this town, but that chaos may even spread across the region, or maybe even the entire world!"

"What the heck are you talking about? You really shouldn't take a group called the 'Disco Faction' too seriously..."

"We need a hero! A hero to stop these villains once and for all!"

"Are you even listening to me?! You said it yourself that they're known for petty crimes, right? If they ever get too out of hand, the police should be enough to handle them..."

"... No, those crimes are just a cover."

"Huh?"

"You see, last night, I decided to go out and take a walk in the park by myself..."

"Um, you know that's dangerous, right? Especially for a girl your age. There's bound to be someone suspicious around during that time..."

"Don't worry, I was fine. Because I met a man with eyes, hair, a fedora, and a tuxedo... all of which were a shimmering white."

And that's not suspicious to you?!

"He told me about the dangers of the Disco Faction. And that we need the power of a grand hero to defeat them. And... he chose me to send this message to as many people as I can, to protect the citizens and to finally locate a hero that can save us all! That a plain girl like me gets the honor to do something like this... it's tough, but I'm so honored!"

I patiently waited for her to finish her small speech before I interjected. "So, let me get this straight... That suspicious stranger told you all that, and you blindly believed him?"

"He wasn't suspicious in the slightest! There's no way he was lying to me!"

"And how can you be so sure?"

"Well, that's because... He was really handsome!"

So?!

"You know what sir... You kind of remind me of him, in a way..."

"Oh, really? How so?" If I'm doing something that reminds you of a guy like him, I'll be sure to stop doing it immediately.

"Well, y'know... You're both handsome!"

And that's enough for me to remind you of him?!

"... So, if you know any heroes looking for a job, can you tell them to help stop the Disco Faction?"

"What would make you think I would know anyone like that?"

"Well, it's not like you meet someone with a green ponytail everyday! I figured someone like you would know of a hero or two!"

"Hey, it's not like I chose to have hair of this color. And the only reason I wear my hair like this is because getting haircuts all the time would be too expensive... Wait, what does any of this have to do with me knowing any heroes?"

"So... does that mean you don't know of any heroes? Specifically ones with superpowers?"

"Superpowers...? Now you're being ridiculous..."

"What do you mean? I'm sure even you have dreamt of getting superpowers... or at least getting to meet someone that has them!"

"Well... I guess that's true." I admitted. "I used to wish upon the stars every night to give me some sort of superpower, that I could use to fight bad guys. I remember pretending I had all sorts of abilities, using them to thwart all sorts of villains, to prepare for the day I finally got them..."

"There, you see?"

"... But that was when I was little." I continued. "I'm an adult now; I've grown out of such things. I no longer have any desire to fight any bad guys, with any sort of superpowers or whatever. If the rest of my life turns out to be normal and mundane, that's perfectly fine by me."

"Jeez..." For the first time since I've seen her, the girl looked at me with an unhappy expression. "For such a interesting looking guy, you sure are pretty boring..."

"Sorry to ruin your expectations."

"I think I need to look in a more unusual spot for a hero. Like..."

She looked around, until I saw her eyes practically light up with joy.

"... Like there! There we go!" She pointed at it happily.

"A back alleyway?!"

"Lots of bad folks hang around places like that, right? If I get myself in trouble with them, a hero is bound to come rescue me!"

"You can't seriously be that stupid, right?" Doesn't this girl care at all about her own safety?!

But before I could do anything to stop her, she was already gone. Down the alleyway...

There's no way any help's going to come for her. I'm kind of worried, but... It's none of my business. That girl's a stranger, and I'm not some sort of hero or anything. I'll just forget I saw her and move on with my life...

With that, I turned away from the alleyway and continued on my way to (finally) buy some groceries.

"Help! Someone help me!" I heard a girl's voice scream from behind me.

I didn't hear that... It was just my imagination...

"Won't someone come save me?! Pleeeaase!" The girl yelled even louder.

I didn't hear that either! It's not my business!

"O woe is me! If only a hero would come to my rescue!" She yelled at the top of her lungs.

"Seriously; do you not know the meaning of the world 'subtlety', you imbecile!?"

I guess wanting to enjoy this day peacefully was too much to ask for...

"... Damn it!"

--

I decided to go through the back alleyway, to look for the stupid young lady. I made sure to make my way through slowly and quietly, as to not catch the attention from her supposed assailant.

"... Crying out for help, are you? You know you've got no one to blame but yourself, missy!" I heard an unfamiliar voice say, off in the corner to my right. "You're in our ter-ri-tor-yyyy~! Aaooww!"

"This isn't your territory, you afro-wearing weirdo! Even dark alleyways like this should be able to be used freely by any of this town's citizens! And any other town's citizens!"

I was expecting some random thug to be hanging around here, but I didn't think it'd be an actual Disco Faction member. What are the chances...

I decided to hide behind a random trash can and silently listen in for the time being.

"Wrongo, missy! Only those who belong to the Disco Faction, or anyone who appreciates the absolute beauuuty of disco is allowed to set foot here! Aaooww!"

"There's nothing 'beautiful' about what you're all trying to do, disco scum!"

"W-wha? Excuuuse me?!" The Disco Faction member, who had been dancing around happily up to this point, had begun to look angry. "Now, I normally am all for sassy girls, but you've gone too far there, missy!"

"I'm not scared of you, disco freak! I'm sure a hero will come to my aid; just you wait!"

"A hero, huh? And where is this so-called 'hero' of yours, hmmm?" He mockingly questioned. "Come to think of it, that school uniform you're wearing... You must go to that newly built private school, dontcha? Your family must be loaded, missy! Did you use your money to buy yourself an invisible hero or something?! Aaooww!"

"Grr! You'll all get your comeuppance sooner or later!"

"Sorry, but the only one here in need of punishment is you, missy! Taste the power of my Di-sco Fe-ver~! Aaaooowww!" He cried, beginning to wildly spin towards her.

"Eeeeekkk! Someone help!"

Before the afro man was able to "attack" the girl, I threw the trash can lid at him, successfully stopping his spin.

"W-wha?! Who just stopped my groove, yo!?" He asked, stepping around in a daze.

"A-a hero!" The girl exclaimed in joy, beginning to turn around in my direction.

"No, sorry. It's just me." I uttered, finally stepping away from my hiding place to face them.

"Who are you, ponytail boy? Are you picking a fight with the Disco Faction? Are you one of the rebels?!"

"I don't know what you mean by 'rebel', sorry." I responded. "I'm Saiph. Just... Saiph. And don't call me boy."

"Saiph, huh? Well, you're gonna have to change your name to 'Danger' after what I do to you! Aaooww!"

That... didn't make any sense.

"Listen, dude. I'm sorry about throwing that metal lid at you, but I don't mean you any harm. This young lady isn't very bright; I was just trying to be a good samaritan and prevent her from getting into any trouble."

"Oh? Does that mean you want to beg the Di-sco Fac-tion for forgiveness?"

"If that's what's necessary, then sure."

"What're you talking about?! He's a bad guy; we shouldn't be offering him forgiveness or anything like that!" The girl in question interjected. "We need to defeat him right now! And why do you keep calling me 'young lady'?! I'll have you know I'm already 14!"

"Hey there, missy! I consider myself a pretty mellow fellow, but if you don't stop acting up, I'll have no choice but to go really wild on you! Aaooww!"

"Listen, young lady." I turned my attention to her. "Let's just leave him alone. If the Disco Faction causes any trouble, let the police handle them."

"Never! I refuse to bow down to these disco scumbags!"

"Did you even listen to a word I just said!?"

"That does it! I've had enough of your attitude, missy! Take this... Groovy Spin!"

The disco man began to spin toward the girl once again.

"That weirdo is doing that weird spin again!"

In the middle of his spinning, I noticed him take out a metal claw and quickly attach it to one of his hands.

"Taste the power of my Disco Claw!" He cried out.

"Watch out!"

I hurriedly jumped toward the girl, pushing her to the ground, narrowly avoiding getting her hit by the attack.

"T-that was close... That guy almost just slashed you." I said to the girl, after getting up off of her. "Are you alright?"

"W-w-wha..." Rather than get up herself, she continued to lie there, looking at me with a horrified expression on her face. "A-a-are you for real...?!"

"Now do you see, missy? This is the true power of the Di-sco Fac-tion! Aaooww! Don't mess!" Disco guy stated with glee, seeming satisfied with the result of his previous action.

"You didn't get hurt, did you?" I continued to ask the girl, ignoring the raving man behind me.

"W-why are you asking about me? W-what about you?! Y-y-you're bleeding! A lot!" She shouted while covering her face, tears pouring out from behind them.

I looked down at my hip, which I was holding with my hand. I managed to avoid the young girl from getting hurt it seemed, but I wasn't so lucky, as the sharp claw had grazed my side. The blood coming out from my wound had created a large puddle on the ground.

"D-do you understand now? You shouldn't be doing dangerous things like this, young lady..." I told her, trying my best to keep myself from wincing in pain. "S-something terrible could happen; something you can never undo..."

The girl peeked at me from her hands, then immediately covered them again.

"O-oh no, it's not stopping! I-I-I'm so sorry! I-I never wanted it to go this far..."

"If you're able to, please get up. You need to get out of here, right now."

She got up slowly, but still kept part of her face covered up. Her face wasn't covered enough that I could still see her regret filled eyes; tears still pouring out of them.

"B-b-but what about you? T-that wound looks really bad! You need to be taken to a hospital!"

"Sorry missy, but I'm not just going to let you go so easily! Not after insulting the greatness that is the Di-sco Fac-tion... Aaooww!"

"Could you please just let it go this once?" I asked, attempting to reason with him. "You know how children can be. Could you find it in your heart to show her mercy? Please?"

"Hm... nah." He answered, looking annoyed. "Simple begging isn't good enough at this point, aaooww!"

"Fine, then you can take any aggression you have out on me. Will that satisfy you?"

"W-w-wha?!" The girl screamed. "N-n-no, don't!"

"... You know, I kinda like you, dude." The disco man admitted. "To be honest, there's a lot of selfish people in this world. And I admit; I'm one of them. And here you are, risking your life for this rude missy's sake. Not to mention you're showing us a lot of respect, which we could really use more of, y'know?"

"You disco scum don't deserve any respect!" The girl shouted, then immediately covered her mouth once she realized the mistake she'd just made.

"Wow. Just wow." The man turned his attention to the girl, glaring at her angrily. "I really feel sorry for that dude. He was being so nice that I was almost considering letting both of you go, but..." He slammed his metal claws together in anger. "No more nice 'Disco Dan'!"

I sighed. "It looks like there's no reasoning with him anymore. I guess I've got to resort to some more... drastic measures."

"W-what are you going to do?" The girl questioned. "Especially in your condition...?"

"Listen, young lady; you really don't need to worry about me." I gave her a gentle smile. "I'll be perfectly fine, okay?"

I didn't want to have to do this in front of them, but I guess I've got no other choice...

To their surprise, my hair and eyes began to glow in a bright, green light. All of the blood on the ground rose up and returned to my body through my wound.

"W-w-wha..."

"W-what kind of sorcery is this...?! Aaooww!"

Once the puddle of blood was gone, my hair and eyes stopped glowing.

"See?" I said to her, releasing my hand off of my hip, showing her that my wound was now gone. "I'm all better now."

The girl said nothing, speechless by what I'd just shown her.

"N-no way..." The disco man uttered, also a bit stunned. "Y-you... You must be..."

"Still want to go, pal?" I asked him seriously.

"A-are you kidding?! I can't take someone like you, aaooww! Time to make a groovy retreat!"

He shouted one final time, before spinning away wildly.

Well, that was weird... At least I don't have to deal with him anymore...

"Wooow..." The girl said, her hands over her mouth in amazement.

"What's up?" I inquired, even though I knew how she'd respond.

"Y-you're the real deal, aren't you?!" A huge smile appeared on her face, and her eyes began to practically glow in excitement. "You're a full-fledged superhero, aren't you? I knew it!"

I sighed again. "Sheesh, this is why I wanted to avoid showing you that..."

"But wait!" She suddenly protested. "Didn't you tell me earlier that you never got any superpowers? You liar!"

"I never said that." I argued. "I told you that I used to always wish for superpowers when I was a kid, didn't I? Well, when I was 10 years old, I actually ended up getting my wish granted..."

"That's sooo cool! So, what power did you get? Is it, like, super healing?"

"I don't know what it is exactly, but... I'm pretty sure it's something like... immortality."

"I-immortality?! Y-you're immortal? F-for real!?"

"Yep. Any wound I get can be reversed... or will be. If I don't heal it myself fast enough or if the wound is bad enough, my body heals all by itself."

"That's great! You never have to worry about ever getting hurt!"

"Well, even though it always heals me, my wounds still hurt just as badly. My power isn't limited to just physical harm though; I also can't get sick, either. Because of that, basically... I can't die. No matter what."

"You seriously can't die? How do you know for sure?"

"... Because I've tried. To kill myself, I mean. Many times."

"W-what?! Why would you ever want to do something like that!? I mean, isn't it great to have such a cool power...?"

"No. My power isn't all sunshine and rainbows. After getting my power, my hair and eyes turned green for some reason, and my hair grows a lot faster now. But, what's most notable of all is... my body now ages a lot slower than before, too..."

"R-really?! Is that why you've been calling me 'young lady' this whole time? A-are you actually an old man?!"

"Heh; I'm not that old. I'm only 23."

"Wow, that's still older than I thought you were!"

"That's not surprising. I'd say my body's aging has slowed to about half that of a normal person, so right now I'd look about... 16?"

"16½, actually." She corrected.

"Does it matter? It's pretty much the same thing..."

"Well anyway, it's not so bad. Even with your aging being slowed, you're still almost an adult appearance wise!"

"Yeah, I suppose it's not so bad now. But when I was younger; in high school specifically, it was pretty tough for me. Once I had reached that age, I got over being a superhero, and wanted to live a normal, school life. I decided I wanted to be more independent, so I moved into the school dorms and got a part-time job. I studied hard to get into a good college...

... But with my small size, finding a job was almost impossible. And because of my appearance, I got bullied. A lot. At that point, I wondered if things would be like this forever... I wanted more than anything for my power to just go away. I just wanted... to be normal."

"O-oh... I'm so sorry..." She looked down sadly.

"Whatever, it's fine. I didn't get everything I wanted in the end, but I've hung in there, I guess. And, as an adult, I've learned that life is hard for pretty much everyone, whether you're immortal or not." I explained. "And besides... at least I don't have to worry about anyone else getting this power. That's something I wouldn't wish on anyone."

"... I see." She said, taking in what I said rather seriously.

I scratched my head uneasily. "Jeez, what am I doing? I pretty much told my whole life's story to a total stranger just now..."

"That's fine! It was really interesting! Thank you for telling me all that." She proceeded to bow for some reason. "But I still think you have the potential to become a great superhero! You can totally stop the Disco Faction once and for all!"

"I already told you, I'm not interested in that sort of thing anymore. As I explained earlier, they seem pretty small time; the police can handle them."

"B-but..."

"And as for you, young lady, stay away from trouble like this from now on, alright? Unlike me, you have the potential to live a great, normal life. Don't go wasting it."

I waved to her, starting to walk away from her, to finally leave that back alleyway to continue on my way to the grocery store, as originally intended.

"W-wait a sec!" She called out to me. "I..."

"I hope you take to heart what I told you, young lady!" I told her, before leaving the dank area.

... Come to think of it, I never asked her what her name was. Oh well; I'll probably never see her again, anyways...

--

By the time I'd turned 18, and had already graduated from high school, I fell into a deep depression. I had attempted suicide a few times, but because of my immortal power, I obviously was never successful at actually killing myself. I've tried to put those times behind me, but it still gives me nightmares occasionally. To be honest, a lot of my memories of being depressed are actually pretty hazy, though. I believe I did some rather... questionable things, but I can't really remember what they were. I assume my mind has automatically been attempting to erase all memory of when I was depressed, as it was... not very fun for me.

Well, whatever strange things I did in the past, it hasn't really had any impact on my current life, so I don't really dwell on it anymore.

Fortunately for me, I have very caring and understanding parents, and took me randomly getting powers pretty well. It's not like I could've hid it from them even if I wanted to, as my changed hair color stood out like a sore thumb. They're a bit eccentric (especially my mother), but they tried their best to give me as much support as they could, especially at the times when I needed it most. I'm so grateful to have parents like them. I doubt I'll ever have a kid of my own someday, but if I do, I want to be as great a parent to them as the both of them were to me. I love them so much...

Ahem... Anyway, after I finally managed to get over my depression, I decided I wanted to become independent and live on my own. My mother was upset by this, but I figured it was about time I started taking care of myself at my age. I still had a lot of difficulty actually getting a job however, but I finally managed to get one once I had turned 21. Once I had saved up enough money, I rented a small room in an apartment complex. It's not the best living space ever, but for 2 years, that's what I've called home.

My current life now isn't so bad, but it can get kind of lonely sometimes. It'd be nice to go home and have a cute girl welcome me home, or something like that. Although, considering how things went with my ex, it's probably best I remain single...

... After heading to the store to buy this week's groceries, I headed home and brought the stuff I bought to my room, as always.

"I'm home!" I said, upon entering my small living space, even though I knew there wasn't anyone that would answer me back. "Finally..."

Dealing with a strange girl and a Disco Faction member isn't how I thought I'd be spending my precious day off. Oh well, I'm home now, so I can at least spend the rest of my day peacefully relaxing at home...

All alone...

"*scritch* scritch*"

"Huh? What was that?" Some sort of scratchy noise...?

To be more precise, it sounded like someone was scratching something against something else. Like... a crayon or pencil against a piece of paper.

It's true that I never bother to lock the door whenever I step out, but that's because I figured no one would ever want anything from my room!

"Hey, is someone there?" I asked, leaving my grocery bags on the kitchen table and moving over to the other side of the wall, to the "living room" section of my abode.

And that's when I saw her, for the very first time in my life... A little girl sitting on the floor, drawing something in a notepad with a crayon...

"U-um..." I guess I got my wish for a cute girl to appear in my home after all... Although I was expecting someone a lot... older.

H-hold on, now's not the time for that! What's going on here?!

Obviously I had no idea where she came from, or who she even was for that matter. So, of course, I decided to ask her.

I bent down to talk to her. "So, who might you be?" I said in a very gentle manner.

The girl stopped what she was doing, and looked up at me. She continued to stare at me, not uttering a word.

"Uh, excuse me? Little miss?"

She then finally uttered something, something I wasn't expecting at all...

"... Daddy?"

Eh? What did she just say...?

She suddenly became wide-eyed, like she had just realized something. The girl took something out of a bag next to her (presumably hers) and handed it to me.

"Huh? An envelope?"

I opened it up, and took out a piece of paper that was inside. I unfolded it and saw it was a letter.

"Dear Saiphy,
This is Diana. Remember me? Your beautiful and fun ex-girlfriend? Well, yeah, of course you do; who could forget about me? Anyways, do you remember all that time we spent having fun together? We did so many "wild" things, y'know? But for some reason, you decided to leave me. To this day, I still don't know why. Well, you at least left me an unexpected... "present". That being that cute, little, green-haired hellspawn sitting in your dingy apartment room right this very second! I'm fed up with looking after her though, so would mind raising her for me instead? You are her FATHER after all, so it shouldn't be a problem, right? Well, take care, sweetie! ♡
- Diana ~☆"

"..."

I couldn't even think of a way to respond to what I just read. Although there was one word in that letter that stuck out in my mind the most...

... Father.

I know there are a lot of memories during my depression that I can't remember anymore, but did I really end up creating a child with Diana?! To be honest, taking advantage of my depressed state to make love with me isn't that surprising for her to do, but still... How could I forget something like that?! Is that girl really my...?

I took a better look at the girl, who was staring up at me with wide, innocent eyes.

Well, she has green eyes and hair, just like me. And I don't really know anyone else who she could have inherited those traits from...

... Wait, green?!

My hair and eyes only became like this after I got my immortal power. So why would she inherit something like that? Could she... also have this power too? Come to think of it, her hair is abnormally long as well...

... No, it's still too early to say for sure. For all I know, the change in my eye and hair color could've somehow affected my DNA, and she just inherited my pigments that way. Honestly, I hope that's all it is...

I don't want her to grow up dealing with the same things I did...

"Um... Daddy?" The little girl repeated. "Are you Daddy?"

"Yeah, that's right. I'm... your father." I answered her, not believing what I was saying aloud seriously.

She looked at me in confusion.

"Ah, sorry. Yes, I'm Daddy." I corrected.

"... Oh." She uttered with dull surprise.

Wait, that's it? I was expecting her to have more of a reaction than that...

She stopped looking at me and continued drawing in her notepad.

Maybe she's not comfortable enough with me yet... Maybe she'll become more used to me if I talk with her a bit more.

"So, what are you drawing?"

"Stars."

I took a closer look, and noticed she was, in fact, drawing stars.

"Stars, huh? Do you like stars?"

She nodded. "They're pretty."

"Oh, I see. I think they're pretty, too!"

Out of curiosity, I tried to flip one of the pages to she what else she drew. But before I could get the chance, she suddenly swiped the notepad away and held it close to her defensively.

"Ah, sorry about that! I just wanted to see the other things you've drawn."

"... C-can I keep... drawing stars here, Daddy?" She asked, with a more sorrowful expression.

"Sure you can! You can draw as many stars as you want!"

She gave me a faint smile (the first smile I had seen on her so far, in fact), as a expression of relief seemed to appear on her face.

What was that about? Did she think I was going to take the notepad away from her or something?

She placed it back down, and started drawing more stars.

Anyway, what should I ask her next? Hm... I thought about it, then realized there were some important things I needed to ask her first.

"How old are you?"

"Um... this much." She answered by holding up four fingers with her non-drawing hand.

Four, huh? Yeah, I guess that makes sense.

"And what's your name?" I finally asked; what I should have to begin with.

"Name...?" She looked at me, with an odd look of confusion.

"What does mommy call you?" I said, changing the wording of my question.

"Uh..." She thought about it pretty hard, then... "Brat."

Wha?!

"Um, that's not quite right, sweetie. What's your name?"

She looked very puzzled by this, not knowing how to answer.

Could it be... she was never given a name? I don't think even Diana would be irresponsible enough to not even do something like this for her...!

... But if she really doesn't have a name, then...

"Would you mind if I see that for a second?" I pointed at her notepad.

She responded by taking the notepad and hugging it close to her defensively.

"Don't worry, I promise I'll give it back." I reassured her. "Daddy just wants to give you something. Something important."

"P-promise?"

"I promise." I gave her a gentle smile.

She hesitated, but eventually nodded, and handed it to me.

I closed it, took one of the crayons, and wrote something on the front cover.

"Here you go." I gave it back to her. "Can you read that?"

"A... L... T... A... I... R...?" She read the letters aloud slowly, although she didn't seem to know what they meant.

"Altair." I told her. "It's a name of a star. And it'll be your name from now on."

"My... name?"

"Yes, that's what you're going to be called. The name people call me is Saiph, which is also the name of a star." I explained to her. "So we match... kind of. Are you okay with that?"

"Al... ta... ir..." She looked at the cover of her notepad again. A huge grin appeared on her face. "Heehee! Altair~!"

That's good... She really seems to like her name!

"So, Altair." I said to her. "If there's anything you need, don't be afraid to ask Daddy, okay?"

The grin on her face suddenly turned into a frown once again.

"Altair is a good girl... I don't need anything, Daddy. Daddy doesn't need to worry about Altair..."

"Um, alright. If you say so..."

The way she's acting seems kind of strange. I wonder if something is bothering her?

All of a sudden, I heard a light gurgling noise, coming from Altair's direction.

"Hey, are you...?"

"Altair isn't hungry, Daddy..." She looked downward to hide her face, but I could still see that she was still frowning. "Altair is fine, Daddy..."

I heard the gurgling sound again, it being louder this time. Altair responded to this by hugging her stomach and turning away from me.

"... Listen, Altair. If you're hungry, just say so." I told her, gently placing my hand on her shoulder. "I just went grocery shopping, so there's plenty of stuff I can make for you."

She looked back at me in surprise.

"I-I... can eat something now, Daddy?"

"Of course! What would you like to eat, sweetie?"

"Anything Daddy makes is fine."

"Really? Don't you have any favorite foods? Or foods you like or don't like?"

She didn't say anything for a while, but eventually she said: "Bread."

"Bread?"

"Bread is fine, Daddy."

"Just bread?" I looked at her in confusion, until I realized. "Oh wait, is it a sandwich you want? What do you want me to put in it? Cheese?"

"..."

"Or are you lactose intolerant?"

"Lac... tose?" She looked at me, her being the one confused this time.

Idiot! What are you doing, saying such complicated words to a four-year old!?

"Er, I mean, do you like cheese?"

She nodded. "But just bread is fine. Altair doesn't want to make trouble for Daddy..."

"It's no trouble at all, sweetie." I patted her head softly. "It'll take a little while, so do you mind waiting a bit?"

"Okay, Daddy."

I went to the kitchen to prepare a meal for the two of us. I began to look through the food I bought, while Altair continued drawing in the other room.

"Let's see... What can I make that's okay for a little girl like her to eat?"

Altair seems really hungry. There's no way I'm going to give her just bread...

"But come to think of it, I don't really know what she likes. All I know is that she can eat bread and cheese, and outside of a sandwich, there are little to no options with just those two things..."

Well, if she likes bread, she'll probably be fine with pasta too...

... Ah, I know!

I rummaged through one of the bags again, now having in mind what I wanted to make this time.

"I know I bought some today; it should be in here somewhere... Ah ha!" I picked up two boxes from the bag. "This should be good enough! It shouldn't take too long to make, either."

And with that, I finally started to make dinner.

--

Once I had finished, I placed two bowls of the food I had made on the kitchen table, having moved the bags somewhere else already.

"All done!" I called out to her, to get her attention. "Could you come over here, Altair?"

After a few seconds of waiting, Altair had slowly made it to the kitchen, holding her notepad close to her nervously.

"Oh, you can keep your drawing book in the other room, sweetie."

She looked sad, holding her book tighter.

"Okay, okay. Never mind, then." I moved one of the chairs slightly for her to sit in. "Have a seat, Altair."

Fortunately, both my kitchen table and chairs were small enough for her to use without much issue. She slowly climbed up her chair, placing her notepad next to her bowl.

I got two spoons from a cupboard and placed one of them on the table next to her, and then took a seat myself.

"I didn't make you wait too long, did I?" I asked her.

She shook her head. "No, Daddy."

"Alright, then go ahead and eat whenever you're ready."

Altair looked at her bowl questioningly. "This is... for me, Daddy?"

"Of course it is, sweetie!"

"What is it, Daddy?"

"It's called 'mac & cheese'." I explained to her. "It's really good! I used to eat it all the time when I was your age."

And I eat it all the time now too, since I'm poor and my cooking skills still aren't that great...

"And... this?" She held out the piece of silverware I had given her.

"What, you mean the spoon?"

She stared at it, looking confused.

"Have you never used one before? You've never eaten cereal, or oatmeal, or anything like that?"

She shook her head again, frowning.

"I see..." I sighed. "You use it like this..." I slowly spooned up some of my own dinner, and brought it against my mouth to eat. "See? Like that."

"Oh!" She exclaimed, imitating what I had just did. She made special care not to drop any of it as she brought it to her mouth.

"Well? Is it good?" I inquired, watching her eat it.

"Mmngh!" Her face lit up in surprise, her mouth still filled with food.

"W-what's the matter?! Do you not like it? Or is it too hot?"

She swallowed it, a big smile appearing on her face.

"Y-YUMMY!!!" Altair cried, in an unusually loud voice.

"Heh, it is, isn't it?"

"Yes! Altair loves this 'mac & cheese'!" She continued to gobble up more of it from her bowl.

"Don't eat so fast! You might choke!"

She might get thirsty eating all of that, too... I have no idea what she likes to drink, so I guess I'll get her some water...

Before I had come back to the table with some cups of water, she had already finished eating.

"Here you go." I set down one of the cups next to her.

She said nothing, sadly looking at her empty bowl.

"What's wrong?"

"All gone..."

"Well, of course it is. You did eat it all, Altair."

"... All gone..." She repeated.

"... Do you want some more?"

"Ah, r-really?!" She said in shock. "C-can Altair really have more, Daddy?"

"Sure you can! There's still plenty left in the pot!"

"T-thank you, Daddy!" It almost looked like she was starting to tear up. "Altair promises to always be a good girl, Daddy!"

"You don't need to make such a big deal out of it; it's just mac & cheese..."

She picked up her bowl and went over to where the pot was.

"Wait, Altair!"

"Altair can get it, Daddy!" She said, trying to reach over to it on the counter above her.

"It's too high! You can't rea-..."

Before I could stop her, it fell over, hitting her head and making her drop her bowl. Thankfully, she had actually went to grab another pot by mistake; a small, empty one that I had left there to dry from last night's dinner. But it seemed to still hit her fairly hard.

"Waaah!" She fell over as well, and started to cry.

"A-are you alright, sweetie?" I ran up to her worriedly. "This is why I told you to wait..."

There was a large bump on her head, which seemed to be hurting her pretty badly.

Oh no, what do I do? Because of my power, I never bothered to store a first aid kit anywhere...

All of a sudden, Altair's eyes and hair began to glow, with a bright green light. The bump gradually shrunk in size, until it had completely disappeared.

"N-no way..."

She stopped crying, but she continued sniffling.

T-this confirms it... Altair definitely inherited my power. My immortal power...

End of Chapter 1

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Writer's Comments:

... And this re-write is finally done. As you can probably tell, I only really intended to fix up the first half of this chapter, but it ended up taking a lot longer than I thought. I originally thought I could finish this in July, but it's already the middle of August! However, as I was pretty busy with other things (and was lazy), things didn't go as intended. Oh well.

I feel a bit iffy on how I wrote the beginning part, and it dragged on a bit longer than I would've liked, but other than that it pretty much came out as intended. Interestingly enough, as barely anything changed in the second half, I actually just copy-pasted most of it, as that ended up making things a lot easier for me, despite me never really choosing to do so when I re-write any chapters. I did still fix up some stuff there, though.

Oh, by the way, if you want to read the old version's "Writer's Comments" section for some reason, it's still left intact with the old version of this chapter in the "Old Fictions" section. Other than that... enjoy!

- CS-Masyet