Final Chapter

Activated Past

“Wh-what is thiiiiiiiis?!”

Two days after Yoshino’s power was sealed, Shido and Tohka were finally allowed to go home, having been thoroughly examined by the Ratatoskr crew. When he woke up that morning, an apartment building was standing beside the Itsuka house…in the space that had been an empty lot two days earlier. Bam! Almost like a trickster fox or conniving tanuki spirit had conjured it up.

“What? I didn’t tell you? That we’re building a special housing unit for the Spirits?” Kotori said from behind, rubbing her eyes sleepily.

“…! Don’t tell me that’s it…”

“Yup. It looks like just a regular apartment building, but it’s several hundred times stronger than normal. Plus, there’s a Realizer there, too, so its Spirit power resistance is bar none. Even if things get a little wild inside, nothing will leak to the outside.”

“No, that’s not what I’m asking about here…!” he shouted. “Exactly when did you even build it…?! You can’t build something like this in a day or two…!”

“Oh, come on,” she sniffed. “I mean, the disaster relief corps repair buildings in a single night, don’t they?”

“Wh—?”

Now that she mentioned it, they did. So Ratatoskr must have made use of Realizers or something here, too.

“So then, that whole thing about how we had to house Tohka until the special housing was complete was a smoke screen,” he accused.

“Ouch. I told you it was also a test period for Tohka living outside the ship.”

“Ngh…” More than one thing was not clicking into place here, but he knew it was pointless to argue.

“So anyway.” Kotori turned and walked toward the house. “Tohka’s moving next door tomorrow. I already told her. I guess she’s busy packing right about now?”

“O-oh. Yeah. I guess so…” He picked at his face. Well, they were only supposed to live together until the residence was built anyway. And it seemed that Tohka’s mood had finally stabilized. Now that the day had come, he was kind of sad.

“Goodness, what is it, Shido?” Kotori feigned surprise. “Did you want to keep living with Tohka?”

“N-no, it’s not that…” He hurried to deny the accusation.

She merely shrugged. “Well, if you want to have an entanglement with her, today’s your last chance.”

“D-do you even hear yourself…?!” he growled, his face turning red.

“Ooh, scary. Gotta go. Bye!” She bounced away back into the house.

“…Geez, Kotori.” He sighed, exasperated, and then turned toward the house himself. “Hmm…?”

A girl wearing a cute dress and a cap on her head, hiding her face, came half jumping, half running toward him.

“Yoshino?!” he called out. She wasn’t clad in the Astral Dress, but there was no mistake. The girl was wearing a rabbit puppet on her left hand.

“Heyooo, Shido!” The puppet’s mouth flapped open and closed as a shrill voice rang out. “Aah, we meet again at last! Sorry I couldn’t come sooner to say thanks for rescuing me.”

“Oh, uh…no, that’s fine. What are you doing here? Are you done with your tests?”

“Mm, just the first one. I guess there are some more, but I wanted to come thank you. They made an exception and let me out for just a little bit,” the puppet explained and then turned its face to the sky like it was looking at Fraxinus. “So once the tests are done, let’s go on another date.”

“O-oh… Sure.”

“Heh-heh. Okay. See ya!” The puppet waved a small hand.

Yoshino shuddered, and she turned her face hesitantly toward Shido.

“Hmm? What’s wrong?”

“Uh. Mm.”

Hearing this, he twitched. This was not Yoshinon but Yoshino’s own voice.

“Can I…come to…your house…again…sometime…?” she asked, timidly turning her gaze on him.

“S-sure. Anytime!” he replied, and Yoshino’s face lit up before she bowed her head and trotted away.

“Heh-heh! Look at you! Way to go!” congratulated the puppet.

“…Uh-huh!” Yoshino exclaimed.

He let out a short sigh, but a smile tugged on the corners of his lips. Now that he was thinking about it, that was maybe the first time Yoshino had spoken when the puppet was there. He didn’t really know why, but it made him kind of happy.

“Okay, then…” He stretched before going into the house. He climbed the stairs and headed for his room. “Ah!”

The door to the guest room at the end of the hallway was open slightly, and Tohka was peeking her face out halfway, looking at him.

“…Wh-what?” he said, furrowing his brow.

“…” She stuck a hand out through the gap without a word, beckoning him to come over.

“Y-you want me to come over there?”

She nodded her head and then retreated back into the room.

“Umm…” He stood there for a moment, a perplexed look on his face, before slowly walking over. He knocked at any rate before opening the door.

Tohka was standing in front of the dresser up against the wall on the left side. He moved forward into the middle of the room to face her.

“Did you need something?” he asked.

She bit her lip before lifting her face. “…Mm. Maybe Kotori told you already, but I’m going to live next door starting tomorrow.”

“O-oh. I heard.”

“And… Mm, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about first.”

“To me?”

“…Mm-hmm.” She averted her eyes slightly, as if whatever it was would be hard for her to talk about. “During the exams yesterday, Kotori and Reine told me some stuff.”

“Uh, um. So by stuff, you mean…?”

“Mm. They said they’re trying to save us Spirits…and that you’re helping them.” She took a deep breath as if to slow her racing pulse and turned back to him. “What I want to talk about is related to that. Shido. Please. If more Spirits like me and Yoshino show up, I want you to help them.”

“Huh…” His eyes opened wide.

“From what Kotori said, I guess they know of a few Spirits so far. And I just know some of them are being yanked into a fight they don’t want, like we were. And that’s so awful, isn’t it?” She smiled sadly somehow. “So I’m asking you. Help Spirits with your power… Just like you saved me then.”

“…” He swallowed hard and looked at her again. “So, um, right. Mm.” He poked himself in the forehead. He’d already made up his mind after everything with Tohka and Yoshino, so why was he stammering when asked to put it into words? He shook his head slightly and opened his mouth. “Yeah. I plan on it.”

“…” Tohka had gotten the response she’d been hoping for, yet her smile was complicated. “Mm… I owe you. And…is one more thing okay?”

“Sure, what is it? Go ahead and tell me.”

“Mm…” She mumbled something and hung her head.

“Huh? What did you say?” He couldn’t catch what she was saying. He listened hard and took a step toward her.

“…” She suddenly lifted her face and pressed in close to him, making him gasp. She wound her arms around his neck and pushed him down onto the nearby bed.

“Hngh…?!” he groaned, utterly confused.

After a brief flash of hesitation, Tohka pressed her lips against his.

Was he still dreaming? And if he was, what was this dream a metaphor for, Dr. Freud? Useless thoughts raced through his mind, but he didn’t need to pinch his cheek and check if he was dreaming. Every sensory organ in his body was screaming that this was reality.

The scent of a girl in his nostrils. The sight of Tohka’s face closing in on his. The comfortable weight pressing down on him. The soft body he unconsciously wanted to embrace. The indescribable feeling on his lips. The taste of saliva that wasn’t his own. All these sensations mixed together and put his brain in overdrive.

A minute passed with him unable to resist or adapt. And then finally, Tohka pulled her lips away and lifted her face.

“Pwah…!” She had apparently been holding her breath during the kiss. Still on top of him, she stared into his eyes.

“T-Tohka,” he stammered. “What…?”

She kept staring. “…Now we’ve made up.”

“Huh…?” he replied like an idiot.

“…I don’t know why.” She averted her eyes now, embarrassed. “It’s just the act of making lips touch. But it’s not a bad feeling. And weirdly, I don’t want to do it with any human besides you… I don’t know…if this is related, but… I kind of…hated it when you kissed Yoshino in the building.”

When he was unable to respond, she continued awkwardly. “So. Like…don’t do it with anyone but me again.”

“Uh. Umm.”

Apparently, she hadn’t been told how a Spirit’s power was sealed. She was asking the impossible. Her two requests of him were mutually exclusive.

“Answer me!” she barked.

“O-okay…!” he yelped, overwhelmed.

In the briefing room in one corner of the Tengu Garrison for the Self-Defense Forces, the AST members were lined up, including the non-enlisted fighters. Ryouko had brought them together there for a briefing on the previous day’s mission and a strategy meeting on the new Spirit signal measured in the neighboring area.

Among them, in the standard uniform, Origami silently stared at her hands on the table, as if to hold back her bad mood.

Two days earlier, Hermit had gotten away from them due to the interference from Princess. On top of that, Princess herself disappeared suddenly in the middle of battle, leaving a signal behind that was different from the usual Lost one. The team members who had been frozen with their Territories were all okay, but the AST had been forced to return to base without any real results at all, much less victory over a Spirit. It was only natural she’d be in a bad mood.

Plus, she didn’t know why Shido had gone out into the city with the alarm going off, when he was supposed to have been at her house. And for some reason, the rabbit puppet she’d found the other day had disappeared at the same time. She had kind of liked that thing. Of course, she couldn’t suspect Shido. Or rather, even if he had stolen one of her personal effects, well, she didn’t really mind, and she had no intention of making an issue of it.

The door to the room opened, and the face of their AST squad leader, Ryouko, popped in. Everyone in the briefing room stood up and bowed.

“Oh, no need for that. Sit, sit,” Ryouko instructed, annoyed, and stood in front of them all. “Now, you’re all here? Okay, I’d like to get started then. But first, I have good and extremely bad news for you.”

“…?” Everyone looked at her, puzzled, and Ryouko sighed.

“Despite the large number of Spirit appearances in Tengu, we haven’t made real progress, okay? So we’ve been allocated extra personnel.”

“Extra personnel?” asked a team member.

“Yes. A star in the ranks, a real hard worker,” Ryouko replied. “Probably fifth in the world in terms of Realizer handling. She’s apparently actually killed a Spirit solo.”

“…?!” Gasps and whispers filled the room instantly. And rightly so. A Spirit was too much for ten AST elite members to handle, and this soldier had taken one down all by herself.

Ryouko shrugged as if to say that this was exactly the reaction she’d been expecting before glancing at the door she’d just walked through. “Come in.”

“Yes, ma’am!” The voice that responded was fairly cute. The door swung open once more, and a girl stepped into the room.

The AST members in the briefing room all frowned. An expected response. After all, the girl looked to be of junior high age at best.

Origami’s eyebrow twitched. She felt like she’d seen this girl before.

“Second Lieutenant Mana Takamiya. A pleasure.” She flipped back the standard uniform and took a bow. It was so ridiculous on her, it looked like she was in cosplay.

“Lieutenant Kusakabe, who’s this?” asked one of the AST.

The look on Ryouko’s face said that she’d been expecting that very question. “This is the star I told you about.”

“Wha…?!” Everyone on the team frowned in surprise.

Mana’s head tilted, as if she were puzzling over this reaction. “Is there something the matter?” she asked, awkwardly polite.

“S-something…? Y-you’re a child—,” stammered one team member.

Mana sighed through her nose. “Is there any sort of problem there? Age has nothing to do with my qualifications. Or is there one among you who might defeat me?” she asked, without any particular disdain, as if her superiority was simply a fact.

“Wh—?” The team member’s eyes widened.

“Yes, indeed. Out of all of you”—Mana turned her gaze toward Origami—“perhaps you are the only one whose future prospects are even worth considering.”

“…” Origami didn’t reply but simply faced the girl silently.

Ryouko flicked Mana on the head. “Don’t go mouthing off. I want to play the video from the other day. Sit down in one of the empty chairs.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Mana replied, and moved on graceful feet to the chair next to Origami.

“Now, then.” Ryouko pressed a button on the wall, and a screen descended from the ceiling as the lights faded. She poked at the terminal in her hand, and the fight from two days earlier was displayed on the screen. It was the part where Hermit had built a barrier and Origami was trying to break through it.

“This is where we were interrupted,” Ryouko said, annoyed, as Princess appeared on-screen. She zoomed in to reveal a boy in front of the barrier.

Origami gasped. There was no mistake. It was Shido.

“…Nn,” Mana groaned beside her, abruptly pressing her hands to the sides of her head as though trying to push back a headache before lifting her face and jumping to her feet.

“Hmm? Something wrong?” Ryouko asked.

But Mana only stared at Shido on-screen. “Brother…?”

Origami frowned and looked at Mana’s profile…and finally understood why she’d felt like something was off.

This girl had the same air to her as Shido Itsuka.