One Kick Girl — Chapter 37: "Signal from the Stars"
Raon hated mornings.
Mostly because mornings meant meetings.
And today, the Hero Bureau had summoned her at 7:00 a.m. sharp.
Unfortunately for the Bureau, Raon's definition of 7:00 a.m. was "whenever ramen finishes cooking."
So when she finally walked into the command room — slurping noodles — every hero, scientist, and half-broken intern was already staring at the giant screen.
On it, a waveform pulsed.
It wasn't sound. It was something deeper — like the heartbeat of space itself.
Shion pointed at the display.
> "That's the same frequency you emitted after the Silent Field collapse. It's now repeating… from orbit."
Raon blinked. "So I texted space."
Shion pinched the bridge of her nose.
> "You didn't text it. You awoke it. The signal is responding to your resonance pattern — like it recognized you."
Raon slurped another mouthful.
> "Cool. I'm famous in space now."
---
1. Cosmic Customer Support
Manager Kimchi nervously gestured toward the data feed.
> "The signal's strengthening. We've tried jamming it, translating it, even blocking it with pop music. Nothing works."
DJ Bloop raised a finger. "I tried remixing it. It remixed me back."
Raon glanced up. "So what's the big deal? It's just noise."
Shion tapped the console. "Not noise — a message. Look."
On the screen, the waveform shifted — rearranging into letters.
Slowly, glowing symbols formed a phrase across the display:
> "ECHO UNIT DETECTED. INITIATE CONTACT PROTOCOL: RESONANCE HOST #001 — RAON."
Raon frowned.
> "I don't like being numbered. Makes me sound like a cereal brand."
Kimchi groaned. "You're the first human ever classified by a space frequency. Please don't joke right now."
> "Then stop making it sound so cool," Raon said, flexing her leg. "What happens if I just kick it?"
Shion froze. "Do NOT kick the orbital signal!"
---
2. "Do NOT Kick the Orbital Signal"
Naturally, Raon kicked the orbital signal.
She stepped outside onto the Bureau balcony, raised one leg, and launched a casual half-power kick skyward.
The resulting shockwave bent the clouds, split the morning light — and reached orbit in under a second.
The entire Bureau building shook. Every satellite in Metrosonic's hemisphere blinked offline.
Kimchi screamed through the comms, "RAON WHAT DID YOU DO!?"
Raon shrugged. "Just knocked politely."
The clouds spiraled. A hole opened in the sky — perfectly circular, rimmed with glowing light. From the void, a hum descended.
It wasn't thunder. It wasn't even sound.
It was language made of vibration.
> "CONTACT CONFIRMED. RESONANCE HOST ACKNOWLEDGED."
Raon muttered, "...Okay, yeah, that's new."
Shion's voice crackled through her comm.
> "Raon, whatever that is, it's not human — it's answering you directly!"
---
3. The Voice of the Stars
The sky shimmered like liquid glass. A figure began forming within it — a humanoid silhouette, translucent and radiant, woven from pure frequency threads.
> "You've broken silence across seven layers," it said. "Your resonance reaches beyond human scale."
Raon squinted. "Is this an alien audition?"
> "We are the Harmonic Core," the voice continued, every word layered in octaves. "We record the echoes of collapsing worlds. You have disturbed the cosmic beat."
Raon tilted her head. "Cool. My bad."
The being paused, clearly not used to sarcasm.
> "You risk dissonance. The balance must be restored."
Raon crossed her arms. "Every time someone says that, I end up kicking them. You sure you wanna go there?"
---
4. The First Resonance Test
Without warning, the being raised its hand.
Waves of pure pressure rippled downward — reality vibrating like a drum.
Buildings bent. The air warped.
Raon cracked her neck. "Yup. Called it."
She leapt — her first kick colliding midair with the invisible wave.
The shock created a ripple through the sky itself, splitting the clouds into musical bars.
From below, Shion screamed, "Raon, that's an orbital-scale resonance! Stop kicking physics!"
Raon grinned. "I'm just tuning it!"
---
5. Kicking the Cosmos
Every impact became a rhythm — Raon's kicks drumming against cosmic harmony.
The entity countered each with elegant precision, like an orchestra conductor wielding gravity.
Raon spun, her resonance growing louder — the pulseband on her wrist glowing with Echo's faint voice.
> "Let me help," Echo said. "I can match its tone."
> "You sure?" Raon asked. "You're still basically a mixtape ghost."
> "Trust me. I was made for remixes."
Together, they launched a synchronized resonance strike — the first true duet kick.
A spiral of energy surged upward, piercing the skyhole and splitting the waveform entity apart into cascading light.
Silence returned.
Then — the voice whispered one last time:
> "You've proven tone… but harmony demands chorus. Others will come."
Raon exhaled. "Others? Great. Cosmic fan club incoming."
---
6. Aftermath
Back inside Bureau HQ, half the staff was still recovering from the lightquake.
Kimchi sat pale at his desk.
> "She just karate-kicked a satellite god."
Shion nodded weakly. "And won."
Raon entered, dusting herself off.
> "So… we good, or do I need to subscribe to alien Spotify now?"
Shion's tablet beeped with new data.
She froze.
> "The signal's spreading. Across the solar system. They weren't lying — more are tuning in."
Raon slurped her last bit of ramen. "Cool. Guess I'll need new shoes."