Murr SSR: To the Sea of Light Where Wishes Shine (Tanabata 2022)

[bunnyandcomet]

Card Story: Asking You About Love
Chapter 1

Murr: ............

Rustica: ............

Akira: (Murr and Rustica? They're standing at either end of the hall and staring at each other, I wonder what's up?)

Murr: No matter how wide the river, my love for you can't be washed awayyyyy!

Rustica: How I wish I could fly over to the other side of this sparkling river that divides us!

Akira: !?

All of a sudden, the two started to exchange passionate words that echoed clearly throughout the hall.

(Footsteps)

Akira: Um, what on earth are you two......

Murr: Ahhh! Stop right there, Madam Sage. You're gonna drown in the Milky Way!

Akira: Huh?

Rustica: Perhaps this will make it a little clearer. << Amorest Viesse >>

The next thing I knew, the area around my feet where I stood between Murr and Rustica had begun to sparkle.

It shone exquisitely like the surface of water in sunlight. I should have been soaked up to my ankles, but strangely enough, I couldn't feel a thing.

Akira: So pretty......This is......an illusion?
Ah, could this be the Milky Way you were talking about before?

Murr: Ding ding, correct! It's the bright shiny river of stars from Madam Sage's world! The one that separates the two people in love.

Murr flew in a circle over the beautiful river as Rustica walked elegantly towards me.

Murr: Ta-da! It's Hikoboshi, coming to visit!

Rustica: Oh my, I had also planned to be Hikoboshi.

Murr: Ahaha, there's two Hikoboshis! We went to the trouble of doing an experiment, but Orihime's disappeared!

Akira: Experiment?

Rustica: Indeed. We had various debates regarding the Tanabata legend, and it seems to have stirred the blood of the wisest man of the era.
At the moment, we're verifying how wide the Milky Way that separated Orihime and Hikoboshi was by becoming the two legendary lovers themselves.

Murr: Madam Sage, aren't you interested in just how big that Milky Way was? There's a ton of other things I wanna know as well! If only I could ask Orihime and Hikoboshi directly.

Akira: Wow, this legend from my world has really piqued your curiosity, huh......!
After being asked something like that, I've become interested too. Have you learned anything from your current experiment?

Murr: Not a thing!

Akira: Eh.

Murr: I mean, the real Milky Way is made of stars, and it's up far away in the sky. It must be WAY bigger than the Milky Way we've made.

Rustica: Even if we cross this river, we can still see each other and our voices still reach. It appears to be a bit undersized to separate our divided lovers.

Murr: So this is just a bit of pretend play to soothe my heart that oh-so aches with intellectual curiosity.
Next, I wonder if I should turn into a woman to more accurately reproduce Orihime? Maybe then I'll understand something.

Akira: (......I kind of want to see that......)
By the way, what other debates did you have？

Murr: About whether being separated for a long time would cause their love to change!
What do you think, Madam Sage?

Chapter 2

Akira: It's difficult since it's a philosophical question......

Rustica: In that case, how about you think of it this way. ......Let's say you have someone you consider precious. Whether that may be in a romantic or platonic sense.
One day that person is suddenly separated from you, having gone to a faraway place across a large river, and you can meet them only once a year.
In the midst of being far-removed from them in terms of both time and distance, would your love for that person stay unchanged? Or would it change? And if so, what shape would it take? Such was our discussion.

Akira: That's easy to understand. Let me imagine it a bit.
(A person who is precious to me, who seems to be by my side every day, huh......)

Raising my head, I saw the tree that Figaro had prepared in place of bamboo grass.
There, the star-shaped ornaments that contained all the wizards' wishes sparkled silently.

Akira: (If I were to suddenly become separated from everyone who's always with me now......)

Murr: Hikoboshi Sage, Orihime Sage. Have you come up with an answer?

Akira: My answer......It's difficult, isn't it.
Because it's someone precious to me, only the memories of them will be left unchanged, and they'll surely remain in my heart. But I also think I'd be lonely.

Murr: That's true. It is lonely. All the more if memories are the only thing you have left to cling to.
Maybe that loneliness would change your feelings towards them. On the other hand, maybe it wouldn't.

Akira: Yes. However, if possible, I wouldn't want them to change. And I'd want the strength to not have them change, I think.
Having to be apart will definitely be painful, and the sudden change in circumstances will be confusing, but......
Even so, we can meet once a year. With that as my crutch, I'd want my heart to be strong enough to bear the loneliness.

Murr: So Madam Sage would think of the fact that "we can meet only once a year" as "we can still meet once a year".

Rustica: What a fresh perspective! It's like seeing a wilted flower as the beginning of a new budding season.

Murr: So, if your yearly meeting wasn't guaranteed but instead a matter of probability, you wouldn't be able to endure it?
Your love towards them, your memories of them, perhaps you'd think it easier to forget them.
It seems like there's still room for debate about how the existence of a guarantee would affect the decision!

Akira: W-We're really getting into this...... Actually, since we've discussed it this much, I'd like to hear both of your opinions on the changing of love as well.

Rustica: As for me, I believe that not being able to meet just means that the time you spend thinking of one another increases.
As their thoughts grew stronger and stronger, wouldn't Hikoboshi and Orihime's love have grown deeper?

Chapter 3

Akira: The time you spend thinking of one another will increase......What a romantic, Rustica-like thought.
How about you, Murr?

Murr: No matter how often we can meet, no matter how far the distance, there'll definitely be feelings that don't change.
When it comes to the intense feeling of love, that's just a given.
But I guess it's not in my nature to just sit around waiting for the day we can meet again. << Eanul Rambul >>!

As if it were raining stars, a bridge of light was built across the Milky Way that Rustica had created.
A shining bridge and, underneath it, as if it was pulling the sun's rays, a beautiful flowing Milky Way. I was unconsciously mesmerised by the contrast between them.

Murr: I'll always love the faraway moon that only comes near once a year.
Not only that, I've continued to search for ways to get closer to it. So if it were me, I'd create a device that'd let me cross the Milky Way whenever I wanted!

Murr snapped his fingers, and a series of small boats and stepping stones made of light appeared one by one. And then...

Akira: On Murr's back......Wings!?

Rustica: You've also grown some lovely wings, Madam Sage. It's as if you're a fairy of light.

Akira: Huh? ......Whoa, it's true!

Murr: Well? If you do something like this, you can meet anytime you want, right?

Murr, who bore the same wings of light as me, smiled cheerfully when our eyes met.

Murr: Ahaha! Mm-hmm, if it's like this, you might be able to cross the Milky Way.

Rustica: If it were me in Hikoboshi and Orihime's place, I think I also would've set out on a journey to find my partner when I became lonely.
It appears that we are both the type to cross time and space to meet the person we love.

Murr: That's right! Wouldn't it be interesting if we could freely come and go from the Sage's world like this too?

Akira: ......!

Rustica: That would be wonderful.
Even if the Sage were to return to her world, were she to miss our surprised-by-a-prank faces, she could come to see us right away.

Murr: Exactly! Great idea, right?

Akira: ......It really is! I'd love to be able to come and see everyone whenever I want even when I go back to my world.

Murr: Well then, if I find a way to connect this world to yours, let's build a bridge between them.
Then maybe both you and we can stay like this forever.

At Murr's words, I unconsciously gazed at the sparkling bridge of light spanning the Milky Way.

Akira: (If it's Murr......)

He really might be able to do it someday, I thought to myself.

---

Card Episode: In Case of an Emergency

Akira: Good evening, Murr. Are you looking at the moon?

Murr: That's right! I'm seducing it. Whispering passionate words of love and all that!

Akira: Ahaha, you really love the moon, don't you, Murr.
This is just a sudden thought, but if you were able to meet the < Great Calamity > only once a year like Hikoboshi and Orihime, what would you do?

Murr: Whaat! I'd hate that!

Akira: It-It's a hypothetical question! I'm just curious, that's all......

Murr: Hmmm. But actually, the chances of that happening are definitely nonzero. Maybe I should think of some countermeasures.
Tell me what separates me and the moon. Give me all the details of the situation.

Akira: Uh, I haven't thought that far......Something like, you're locked up in a room with no windows?

Murr: I'd break down the wall!

Akira: How about if you were blindfolded?

Murr: If I can bathe in the moonlight, that's the same as meeting!

Akira: Um......Then, if the moon were hidden by thick clouds?

Murr: If I asked Oz, I guess he could probably clear up the clouds for me, but.....
If the moon is bashful and has clad itself in clouds, it wouldn't be well-mannered of me to tear them away by force.

Akira: Ooh, what a gentleman......

Murr: That's the answer from the current me!
If the moon really does become shy, try asking me again then!

---

Home Screen Voice Line

I'm jealous of the stars; they get to be so close to the < Great Calamity >! If one of the stars in the night sky was wooing the moon, what do you think I would do? Interfere? Or would we talk of the many charms of the moon together? Tell me about your inner Murr, Madam Sage!