"H-How did you...?"
"It's a simple trick for me. But look at you—you're having no problem talking to me, right?" Kousuke said, mimicking Gasper's voice as he slowly approached the dhampir. And yet, the latter remained still, his wide eyes following every movement.
"Yeah... I mean, you look like me."
Gasper 2 wrapped his slender arm around the original's shoulders, but Gasper didn't flinch. Thanks to the Ring of Transfiguration Kousuke now wore on his finger, he could shapeshift into anyone he'd seen—not just appearances, but voice, mannerisms, even the aura they gave off. Right now, he was the spitting image of Gasper Vladi.
"That's right. Of course, this doesn't fix your problem," Gasper 2 continued as he pulled away, giving the dhampir a few reassuring pats on the back. "But you've realized something by now, haven't you? If not, I'll spell it out."
Gasper 2 dropped to his knees and sat cross-legged on the floor beside the laptop, spinning it around so the screen faced Gasper. Light from the screen reflected in the latter's eyes.
"You've got a serious confidence issue."
"..."
"Something traumatic happened, didn't it? Something you still can't forget? Come on, you can tell me. I'll listen."
Gasper fell silent. His birth had marked the beginning of a life he never chose. He lost his mother before he even gained awareness. He was isolated. Abused by his own family. Considered cursed. A freak.
But then... she appeared. His only ray of sunlight in a world covered in gray. He used to secretly play with her, innocent and carefree, believing those days would last forever.
However one day, everything changed.
He remembered it too vividly. His childhood friend surrounded by vampire hunters. He had escaped, but she hadn't. The last thing he saw was her smile. A smile that would haunt him forever.
And then came the red.
The sun in his sky had died that day. No word of her survival ever reached him. He grieved for days. Hated himself for his weakness. Blamed his cowardice. His failure. Even after Rias rescued him and brought him into her peerage, he never truly escaped. The nightmare stayed with him. The guilt chained to his soul.
*If only I had control of my powers that day...*
Gasper clenched his fists tightly, his voice shaking as he began to recount the story to Kousuke in vivid detail.
"Mm. I see," Gasper 2 nodded, listening with an almost solemn calm. At this point, Kousuke couldn't help but think, 'Shouldn't this be Rias's responsibility? First I helped Koneko, then Akeno in a way, and now this dhampir...'
Maybe he had a hidden talent as a therapist, Kousuke thought amusedly. Or maybe he was just a nosy ex-Hero. Then again, his curiosity was what always led him to moments like this.
"Well, you're not wrong, if you'd been able to control your Sacred Gear, maybe that tragedy wouldn't have happened," Gasper 2 said truthfully, causing Gasper to slump his shoulders further.
"But!" he continued with a firmer tone, "That was in the past. You can regret all you want, but you're only here now because of her sacrifice. Remember her smile? She showed you so you could live in her place."
"If she was everything you say she was, do you really think she'd want you moping around for the rest of your life? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of what she did for you?"
"...Or..." Kousuke leaned closer, his voice lowering, "do you think you should've been the one who died instead of her?"
"..."
Direct hit.
Gasper couldn't speak—because deep down, that was what he thought. He didn't feel like he deserved happiness. He didn't feel like he deserved anything after that unforgettable event.
Kousuke knew that feeling all too well. That twisted self-loathing, the "why not me instead?" He wasn't born a Hero after all. He wasn't always this strong. He just kept moving forward because... what else could he do?
"Alright! Enough with the heavy talk," Kousuke suddenly clapped his hands, breaking the thick atmosphere. "Like I said earlier, I can help you with your agoraphobia. Got just the thing."
Gasper blinked in surprise as his clone's hand disappeared mid-air and reappeared holding a sleek black blindfold.
"This," Kousuke said, holding it up, "is a blindfold. But not an ordinary one. Try it on, and you'll see what I mean."
Gasper hesitated. The fabric looked normal—silky, smooth, lightweight. But curiosity won out. If there was even a chance it could help him control his Sacred Gear, he had to try.
After taking a few steadying breaths, Gasper wrapped the blindfold around his head. At first, nothing seemed different. But the moment it was fully secured—
Clicked.
His Sacred Gear deactivated.
"...It worked?"
Snap!
Gasper's head turned instinctively. That snap came from Kousuke's fingers—probably a few feet to his left. Then came another snap behind him. He turned again. And again.
He followed each one with perfect precision.
"How does it feel?" Kousuke asked. "Your body's responding, isn't it? It's like you can *see* even in total darkness."
"H-How is this possible?"
Gasper took a few cautious steps—then confidently walked over to his bed without bumping into anything, not even the laptop on the floor. It wasn't just his hearing. It felt like *everything* was heightened.
"That's my specialty," Kousuke grinned. "But the 'how' is a trade secret."
Just then, they heard the door opened so the two turned toward it almost simultaneously.
"Huh? Where did Kousuke disappeared so abruptly?"
Everyone turned toward the voice—Rias, who stepped in with the rest of the club. Time had resumed for them, and the sight that greeted them was... odd. There were two Gaspers. One sat on the couch with a confident smile, saluting them. The other, wearing a blindfold, and sat quietly on the bed.
Akeno blinked. "...What in the world is going on?"
The rest of the group looked equally bewildered. Kousuke, who had vanished earlier, was nowhere in sight, yet now there were two Gaspers? And neither of them looked panicked. The Gasper without blindfold looks at them first with a sly smile.
"Yo."