Characters/Aste

"Aste, a stalwart materialist, and Mero, the tomboy, are twin sisters of Taurus and operate the 'Pleiades'."

– In-game description

Aste is one of the characters in KALPA. She, along with her sister Mero, explains much of the story and gameplay to the player through various tutorials and help screens. She and her pack are unlocked by completing her Guide Missions.

Name
Aste is named after Asterope (alternately Sterope), the sixth of the mythological Pleiades.

Appearance
Aste has auburn hair kept in a single braid. She also has golden horns and a pair of cow ears the same color as her hair. Her eyes are green.

She originally wore a red, black, and blue dress with short puffed sleeves, black ribbons in the center, blue bows at the sides, a gray stripe at the bottom, and yellow ruffled trim. On her chest was a black bow with golden ends and a yellow and green clover decoration in the center. She also wore white petticoats, a pair of white ruffled cuffs around her wrists, white thigh-high stockings, and blue Mary Janes.

Aste's appearance changed significantly in version 1.5. She now wears an off-white blouse with long, puffed sleeves, a Peter Pan collar, and ruffles running down the center. A red tie with gold ends is held in place around her neck by a green and gold brooch. She also wears a black overskirt held up by suspenders and attached to a black and red corset with gold buttons. Under this, she wears a white tiered skirt and a red petticoat. Aste's stockings are now dark and sheer, and her Mary Janes are black with thick red soles. A black headband rests in her hair.

In her character art, Aste is depicted with a red leather messenger bag; it has a brown strap and is adorned with gold decorations, including a clasp in the shape of the Pleiades' symbol. This symbol is also visible on the broom she rides in the Pleiades Shop.

Variants
Aste has two variant skins: Aste & Mero and Halloween Aste & Mero.

Prior to version 2.0, Aste and Mero were treated as a single character and could not be selected separately. Their stories and achievements were also shared. In version 2.0, Aste and Mero were made separate characters; however, they may still be displayed together in the Aste & Mero skin, and their appearance and dialogue while using this skin is identical to what it was when they were the same character. Both skins featuring Aste and Mero are usable only with Aste.

Aste
Requirement: Unlock Aste

Transcript: “Mero, I told you to put things in their place once you are done using them.”

“Ah, Aste’s nagging at me again!”

Every Cattle is born with a certain desire.

All the Pleiades sisters, including Mero, have a strong urge for something. In my case, it is the great desire to add things to my collection.

I have always taken care in place of my older sisters, who had strong opinions and were more focused on fulfilling their desires.

I aimed to be a perfect older sister for Mero, so I could be someone that Mero could depend on like parents. Because of that, I ended up having a polite and thoughtful personality.

Although Mero complained, she always listened to me as if she knew about my efforts.

Mero and I are living on the ship Pleiades, which was made by young Mero when she first realized her desire of creating things.

Mero also made this for me, when she learned that I had to travel to various places to fulfill my desire to collect things.

I was so moved that I hugged her tightly for several days. Afterward, she started to avoid me when I so much as tried hugging her, which disappointed me a little.

When I feel down due to Mero disappointing me or failing to add a new item to my collection, I find peace of mind by viewing the lovely collection at the corner of the Pleiades. Everything here belongs to me only. Even Mero is not allowed to view what I have gathered here.

Today I am once again traveling through space, thinking of what to add to my collection.

Two Fox Family and a Mysterious Music Box
Requirement: Accomplish Aste's 1st Reverse

Transcript: One day, as I was traveling with Mero again, two members of the Fox Family with nine tails appeared on the Pleiades with a mystical light.

Although Mero and I were surprised by their appearance, they called our names and talked to us as if they knew us already.

A Fox Family in a priestess’s dress continued on while swishing her bushy tail.

“Oh, now that I think about it, you two haven’t met us yet. We actually came here to give you this. This will become necessary one day!”

With those words, the Fox Family disappeared, leaving a music box surrounded by mystical power.

Mero and I put the music box inside the storage, disappointed by how the music box did not make any sound despite its pretty appearance and was unbreakable.

By the time we had forgotten about it, we were watching a gigantic being destroying the universe.

The unmoving music box suddenly surrounded us in a beautiful light and sound, saving Mero and my life from the oncoming destruction.

In the universe devoid of light, only we could move. We tried various methods to restore the universe to the way it was, but there was no reaction. Saddened by the lack of results, we instead decided to find someone who could save the universe.

Aste's Diary
Requirement: Accomplish Aste's 2nd Reverse

Transcript: The month of X, Day X, XXXX. A lot of time has passed since the day that everything froze. After combining the information that we found in planets of lost light, we learned that the savior of the universe would be a mysterious girl called ‘Kalpa’.

The month of X, Day X, XXXX. Searching through the whole universe is a difficult task. Mero looks very tired, and so am I. Will the universe be saved?

The month of X, Day X, XXXX. Mero made a machine that detects energy by shooting a burst of a strong signal from the Pleiades. Mero hasn’t looked so happy in a long time, as she worked on making the machine. I thought that I would be satisfied just with Mero being able to smile, even if we couldn’t find ‘Kalpa’.

The month of X, Day X, XXXX. It has been two months since we began the search using the machine that Mero created. The machine had detected strange energy, so we changed the course of the Pleiades to move.

The month of X, Day X, XXXX. We arrived at the place where the machine was pointing. Instead of the girl called ‘Kalpa’, we only found a destroyed temple and a mark of a once great tree. This must be the tree Yggdrasil at the center of the universe, and the ‘Temple of Contemplation’ that we found in the records. When we arrived we suddenly felt refreshed, and the machines inside the Pleiades began to recharge as well. Could this be the Yggdrasil’s power?

The month of X, Day X, XXXX. Is this because of Yggdrasil? A revived machine detected new energy. Mero and I piloted the Pleiades to go to the source of it. There we found a beautiful and mysterious girl with soft golden hair, surrounded by golden lights. We had finally found her. We decided to bring Kalpa, the savior of the universe, aboard even though she was deep asleep.

The month of X, Day X, XXXX. Kalpa woke up. We wanted to ask her to save the universe right away, but it seemed like she lost her memory. Perhaps Mero and I were given the role of leading this girl to the rightful place of the savior.

Story (prior to 2.0)
Aste's pre-2.0 story entries were combined with Mero's. For Mero's entries, please see Mero § Story (prior to 2.0).

Aste
Requirement: 8 stars in Tree of Life

Transcript: The sixth out of seven Taurus sisters, she is born to be a maniac collector.

She always organizes and exhibits what she has collected.

She is so kind and generous that she maintains her smile almost every time ( maybe good girl syndrome ).

When she's upset, she talks to her lovely collections and cheers herself up...

But once she gets angry, no one can stop her...

She was searching [BLOCKED] with Mero in the very beginning of the universe with curious eyes, and then got [BLOCKED] and became [BLOCKED].

Because she is [BLOCKED], she has all the [BLOCKED] from the very beginning of the universe, and although she [BLOCKED] the universe from [BLOCKED] , [BLOCKED] and now she is living with sister Mero, relying on each other.

The Huge Mirror
Requirement: 16 stars in Tree of Life

Transcript: She woke up in the morning and, like every time, set out on a journey by making a situation as if she was reluctantly dragged by Mero.

This is because she must always be gentle and calm from Mero's point of view as she is an older sister.

She, who was controlling the Pleiades, moved to the blue thing that Mero found out, pretending that she had no interest in that.

There was something like a giant mirror that reflected light.

She immediately imagined that the huge mirror had entered her secret collection room.

Her dazzling collection of items will be reflected by the huge mirror.

She became crazy about imagining it.

But Mero said it's trivial.

She wanted to carry it somehow, told Mero to go first, then sneaked it into her secret box and made a faint smile unconsciously.

There was a huge blue ore where she went with Mero. She thought to herself.

'I want to have it, I want to have it, I want to have it..!!'

But then, suddenly Mero grabbed a hammer and broke it.

Inwardly, she felt the anger in her boil, but as an older sister, she calmed down her anger and asked Mero if she got what she wanted, and whether to go back or not.

Mero said yes and they returned to Pleiades.

After returning, she put her great collection, the huge mirror, in her secret collection room and placed it in the optimal location.

With a faint smile on her lips, she locked the secret collection room and returned to sleep saying, "Lululala~".

Main Menu

 * "Welco... Ah! Hello, Kalpa!"
 * "Are you interested about my collections? Oh, step back! Take a look with eyes."
 * "Mero is rude, too much talker, impolite, ..., but she is actually kind! She brew the tea so well~"
 * "There is no mint tea, Libera bought all..."
 * "Mero's hammer has some mysterious power. Not only it makes harmony among the broken things, but also the Mero's imagination is also enchanted."

Profile

 * "Oh! You're here, Lady Kalpa. Mero, let's get prepared for teatime."

Pleiades

 * "Welcome to Pleiades!"
 * "Many items to help performance are prepared~"
 * "It is a bit sad to let my collections go away,it is so great that these become helps for you, Kalpa."
 * "Please, do not touch above! It is not on sale!"
 * "Mero went to break some ores~ All that aside, there are so many good stuffs~!"

After Many Fails

 * "Is the playing too difficult?"
 * "If you look around the Pleiades, there are some thing that might be helpf… never mind.."
 * "But still, taking a look for all the beautiful items will be a good refreshment~"
 * "We will be ready to welcome you any time."

Legacy

 * "Ah! Welcome~ Just now a new product is stored!"
 * "Ha, I don't want to work... Oh, hello! If you wait a little bit, the music will be ready!"

Skill
"Mero and I survived the universe that lost its light and froze still." — Flavor text

Aste's skill prevents the player from failing in the Dark Area.

Aste can be used to play difficult charts with high note counts with no consequences, allowing players to place higher during ranking seasons than they may have otherwise. Aste's skill also gives Thumb Mode players the ability to play S.Hard+, Chaos, and Cosmos charts, which grant significantly higher scores and are therefore more beneficial for placing in the Cumulative rankings than Hard+ and Abyss charts. However, players who can clear Abyss, Chaos, or Cosmos charts will benefit more from Lynn's or CODE:I's skills instead.