Chapter 3

Sister War

“Ooh! So this is your home now!” the girl observed, sounding polite but also not, as her hair that was a little too short to be an actual ponytail swung about. They had come to stand in front of the Itsuka house.

Shido’s self-professed sister. Mana Takamiya.

She was a deeply suspect girl, but after she hugged Shido on the street, she sank down to the ground and told him in great detail about how much she’d missed him, all with tears in her eyes. So he hadn’t had much of a choice but to bring her along.

Naturally, he’d gotten Kotori’s permission. Or rather it had been none other than Kotori who instructed him to bring Mana to the house.

“Mm. I’m surprised,” Tohka noted, staring intently at Mana. “I didn’t know Shido had another sister.”

“Yeah, I don’t remember having another one, either.”

“Really? She sure does look like you.”

“Naturally! I am his younger sister, et cetera!” Mana crossed her arms, very smugly, and then gasped as she turned to look at Tohka and Shido with a complicated expression. “But, my dear brother. I’m not particularly impressed.”

“Huh? With what?”

“It’s most obvious, of course!” Mana cleared her throat, her cheeks coloring. “You have Tobiichi—er, let’s see, my future sister-in-law, and yet you also have relations with other women.”

“H-huh?!” Shido cried out, his eyes snapping wide open.

“Whatever is the matter?”

“I don’t even know where to start! First of all, what? You know Origami?”

“Yes. Well, by chance,” Mana said, averting her eyes as if to hide something. He was very curious about where they had come across each other, but there was something even more deserving of his attention in that moment.

“And what on earth is this ‘sister-in-law’ stuff about?”

“Oh,” she replied. “I mean, I don’t feel totally gung ho about calling her that, but that is who she will be in the future, so…”

“I don’t plan on it!”

“I-is that so?” She frowned, perplexed. “But in that case, her suspicions that you’re cheating on her…”

“Cheating. What’s that?” Tohka looked at them quizzically. She had once again latched on to the inflammatory bit.

But before Shido could distract her with an explanation, Mana turned to Tohka. “I’ll ask you directly. It was Tohka, wasn’t it? Are you in the process of dating my brother?”

“Wha—?!” Shido’s cheeks grew red, and he pushed himself between the two of them. “Wh-what are you talking about?! We’re obviously not going out!”

“Tohka?” Mana poked her face out from Shido’s side to turn doubtful eyes on the older girl. “Have you ever gone on a date with my brother?”

“Oh! I have!” Tohka grinned.

“…” Mana stared at Shido long and hard.

“N-no, that was…” This was hard to deny, given that it wasn’t a lie. He took a step back, his face burning.

Cheeks still red, Mana began to question Tohka again, more timidly now. “Tohka. Have you perhaps already smooched…?”

“Smooched?”

“K-kissed.”

“Mm. We have?” Tohka replied, ever so casually.

“…!!” Mana’s eyes grew wide as saucers. “How i-immoral!”

“C-calm down…”

“That my own brother would be such a gigolo! …My heart breaks! Rectify this! This must be rectified!”

“Shido, what’s a gigolo?” Tohka asked, once again brimming with curiosity.

“Aah, come on!” Shido messed up his hair and gave Tohka a push in front of the neighboring apartment building.

“Mm? Shido, why did you push me?”

“This is getting complicated, so go back to your place for now! Okay?!”

“Mph, but it’s jus—”

“I’ll make Salisbury steak for supper!” he cried.

“Ooh! Really?!” Tohka’s eyes lit up. She waved and ran off to the apartment building. “And give me a fried egg on top, too!”

He shooed her away in exasperated assent and watched her go.

“…You do seem too accustomed to handling women,” Mana said, half glaring at him.

Shido pretended he hadn’t heard that and slipped through the gates of the Itsuka house. He put his hand on the doorknob and opened the door.

“—Welcome home, Big Bro.” Kotori was waiting for him in the entryway in casual clothes (the ribbons in her hair black, of course), and she put a peculiar emphasis on the Big Bro as she greeted him. She had gone ahead of them on Fraxinus in order to welcome their guest.

“H-hey, I’m home,” he replied, raising a hand slightly, his forehead sweating under the indescribable pressure he felt.

Kotori deliberately shifted her gaze to Mana at his right. “Oh my! And who is this?”

A standard question. Which was no surprise. It would have been strange for Kotori to have known about what happened on the street earlier since she had (supposedly) been in the house all this time.

“O-oh… We just met outside. She’s—,” Shido started, but Mana pushed ahead of him.

“Are you a member of this family?! You have taken such good care of my brother!” she said, beaming, and grabbed Kotori’s hand, half forcing her into a vigorous handshake.

Strangely, Kotori shrank back and started to sweat. “Brother? You mean Shido?”

“Yes! I’m Mana Takamiya! I’m his younger sister!”

Kotori exhaled through her nose, shook Mana’s hand off, and indicated the interior of the house. “Well, come in anyway. You can tell me all about it.”

“Yes!” Mana replied energetically and followed her.

“…Aah.” He couldn’t help but feel that this was going to be a whole lot of trouble. He sighed before slipping his shoes off and following the girls into the living room.

Tea and sweet treats were already laid out on the table when he got there, and Kotori and Mana were sitting facing each other. Kotori jerked her chin to indicate that he should sit next to Mana, and so he did. It felt somehow like a parent-teacher conference at school.

“Now, I’d love to ask you a few things.”

“All right!” Mana replied, cheerful.

“Mana, was it? So you say you’re…Shido’s little sister?”

“That’s exactly correct.” Mana nodded.

Kotori flicked up the stick of the Chupa Chups in her mouth as she continued, seeming dubious of her reaction. “I’m Kotori Itsuka. I’m also Shido’s little sister.”

“…?” Mana cocked her head to one side. “Oh! Then would that mean that you’re…my older sister…?!”

“No!”

“Oh! Excuse me. I’m sorry, Kotori. I just assumed you were the older one.”

“You are not my sister, okay?!” Kotori raised her voice, which was unusual for her in commander mode. Surprised, Shido turned his gaze on her, and she cleared her throat.

“Oh, ha-ha! I simply assumed there was a sister of whom I have no memory.”

“Honestly…” Kotori ran her fingers through her hair with a sigh. She had apparently been seriously knocked off her stride. “But…sister, hmm?” She scowled at Mana.

Normally, if out of the blue, a person said she was your sister, you would never believe it. But Shido’s personal circumstances made it impossible to definitively state that she was not. He had no memory of any sister other than Kotori, but he wasn’t actually related to the Itsuka family by blood. They had raised him as a member of the family ever since his real mother abandoned him when he was little.

So he couldn’t say for sure that Mana was totally lying or telling random stories. Given that he didn’t remember his childhood, she might very well have been his real little sister. Although it was a bit hard to swallow that the younger Mana would remember that childhood where they had been torn apart when his own memories were so hazy.

“Umm, Mana,” he began. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Yes! What is it, Brother?” Mana replied so energetically, so thoroughly delighted, that she practically leaped out of her seat.

Kotori snorted with displeasure for some reason.

“Um. Sorry, but I don’t remember you at all…”

“Well, that’s no wonder.” Mana crossed her arms and bobbed her head up and down.

He swallowed hard before asking the question that most concerned him. “I wanted to ask you one thing… Your mom, where is she now?”

Yes. If Mana was Shido’s real sister, then she would have to know the mother who had abandoned him.

However…

“No idea,” she admitted with a blank face.

“Huh?” He frowned. Had Mana actually been abandoned herself, after he was?

Perhaps guessing at his thoughts from the look on his face, she shook her head from side to side. “Oh! No, that’s not it. Not at all. That’s not what I—”

She smiled, embarrassed, and took a sip of the tea in front of her before continuing.

“The truth is, I don’t have a single memory of the past.”

“…What did you say?” Kotori asked, sounding deeply suspicious. She adjusted her position, turned to Mana, and opened her mouth once more. “The past? How far back exactly?”

“Hmm, right. Well, I do remember the last two or three years, but before that’s a little…”

“Two or three years… So then, how do you know Shido’s your brother?” Kotori asked, and Mana pulled out the silver locket around her neck to show them the faded photograph inside. A picture of a young Shido and Mana.

“Is this…me?” Shido asked in surprise.

Kotori had a doubtful look on her face. “Hang on a second. Shido’s around ten years old here. He was already living with us then.”

“Oh… Now that you mention it.” He tapped his face. But the fact remained that the boy in this picture looked like none other than himself.

“Is that so? There are strange things in this world, hmm?”

“Strange? Are you sure it isn’t just someone else who looks like him? …Although it really does look like him.”

“No, there’s no mistake. He’s my brother.”

“How can you be so sure?” Kotori asked.

“It’s that—the bond between brother and sister!” Mana pounded her chest proudly.

“…” Kotori shrugged like there was no talking to this girl and let out a long sigh. For some reason, she looked almost relieved, at least a little.

Mana lowered her eyes, deeply moved, as she continued. “Oh, I was also surprised indeed. It was actually a shock. When I saw him, I felt this, hmm, zap of electricity.”

“Huh? This isn’t some cliché love-at-first-sight sitch.”

“Oh! So this is love at first sight? Kotori, please let me have him.”

“As if!” Kotori shouted reflexively, before coming to herself with a gasp and deliberately clearing her throat. “Anyway. I’m not exactly convinced by your inadequate reasons. First of all. Shido’s part of my family now. And you want to go dragging him out of here—”

“But I have no intention of doing that,” Mana replied.

“Huh?” Kotori’s eyes widened.

“I cannot begin to express my appreciation to the people of this household for welcoming my dear brother as family. If he is happy, then I am more than satisfied with that.” Mana went around the table and took Kotori’s hand again.

“Mmph.” Kotori pinched her lips together, looking uncomfortable. “Hmm… Well, so long as you understand.”

“Yes. My memories are hazy, but I do remember that my brother went off somewhere. I was sad, but more than that, I was anxious about whether or not he was well. So now that I see that he is living a good life, I’m extremely glad. And he has such an adorable small sister, as well.” Mana smiled.

Kotori’s cheeks flushed, and she looked away awkwardly. “Wh-why would you say—?”

“But of course,” Mana interrupted. “You’re no match for his real younger sister.”

“…”

Shido felt like he heard an electrified crackle rip through the air.

“H-hey, Kotori?” he said, but it seemed that she wasn’t listening.

As she wrestled the twitching muscles in her cheeks under control, a very strained smile rose up on her lips. “Huh… Is that so?”

“Oh, well, most certainly. Blood is thicker than water.”

“But they do say that a neighbor nearby’s better than family far away,” Kotori noted.

Although she had been all smiles thus far, Mana’s forehead twitched. A beat later, she released Kotori’s hand and slammed her own on the table. “Oh! Ha-ha… But consider this. When it comes right down to it, there is a comfort to be found in a sister who shares his blood. After all, they do say that the child is the father of the man, yes?”

“Hngh. M-mm-hmm. But the thing is, you know, even if you’re not related, it’s all about the time you spend together.”

“Oh dear, but in the end, a stranger is still a stranger. On this point, his real sister is his blood relation. We share the same blood! The sister index standard value is simply on a different level!” Mana cried in a high-pitched voice.

Sister index. This was a phrase he hadn’t really heard before.

“Blood, blood, blood. Can’t you talk about anything else?” Kotori retorted, without the slightest hesitation. “Adopted or not, I’ve been his little sister for over ten years! It’s pretty obvious who’s got the higher sister index!”

“You make me laugh!” Mana cried. “Siblings ripped apart in childhood are crossing time to be reunited here! Is that not moving?! Time is nothing in the face of a true bond!”

“Shut up! Blood is nothing!” Kotori shouted. “His real sister can’t marry him now, can she?!”

““Huh…?”” Shido and Mana yelped in harmony. He felt somehow like something very strange had just been said.

Kotori’s eyes grew wide, and she seemed flustered as she pounded the table to apparently try and distract them. “A-anyway! I’m his sister now!”

“What?! It’s obvious his real sister is more powerful!”

“Powerful? What? That’s got nothing to do with this!”

“O-okay, calm down, both of you.” Shido tried to talk them down, perspiring, while Kotori and Mana whirled to face him at the same time.

“Shido, you—!”

“Which faction do you belong to: real sister or adopted sister?!”

“H-heeah?!” he squeaked, faced with this sudden and unexpected question. “N-no… I mean, faction…?”

““…””

Kotori and Mana stared hard at him. It was very easy to see that whichever he chose, nothing good would come of it. He racked his brain to try and find a way to dodge the subject.

“O-oh right.” He clapped his hands suddenly. “Mana?”

“Yes?” Mana looked at him with wide eyes, puzzled.

“You said you don’t remember the past, right?”

“Yes, that’s right. And?”

“So then, where are you living now? I mean, you can’t live with your family, right?”

“Ohhh… Mm.” Mana had been crisp and clear in her responses, but now she faltered for the first time. “W-well, you know.”

“Do I know…?”

“Er. I guess I work somewhere with employee housing.”

“You work somewhere?” He frowned. “Mana, how old are you? You’re about the same age as Kotori, right? What about school?”

Although Kotori herself was the commander of a secret organization and all. But she did go to school at least.

“Th-that’s… Umm.” Mana looked away, uncomfortable. “I-I’ll visit again soon!”

“Huh? H-hey…,” he protested as she raced away like a startled rabbit. “Wh-what was that…?”

He scratched his cheek and stared vacantly at the door through which Mana had disappeared.

Kotori stood up from the seat across from him and, for some reason, collected the teacup that Mana had used.

The next day, the familiar school chimes rang in his ears. The hands of the clock pointed at 8:30. It was time for morning homeroom to start. The classmates who had been chatting happily around him began to take their seats.

“Huh?” In the midst of this, Shido appeared to be at a loss, having gotten to his desk earlier.

Even though the bell had rung, there was no sign of Kurumi.

Tohka whirled her head around, questioningly, with apparently the same thought. “Mm,” she said. “That Kurumi’s late on her second day!”

“—She’s not coming,” came a quiet voice from Shido’s left. Origami turned only her eyes toward Tohka as she spoke.

“Mm? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Exactly what I said. Kurumi Tokisaki is not coming to school anymore.”

“Huh? You mean—,” Shido started as the classroom door clattered open and Ms. Tama came in, carrying the attendance book in both hands. The class representative immediately gave the signal to the students to stand up and bow. “Whoops.”

Although he was curious about Origami’s statement, he couldn’t exactly ignore the order. He stood up and bowed together with everyone else and then sat down again.

“Good morning, everyone. It’s time to take attendance,” Tama said and opened the attendance book before reading out the students’ names in order.

“Tokisaki.”

When she got to Kurumi, there was no reply.

“Hmm? Is Tokisaki not here today? Oh goodness. I thought I told you all to make sure you contact me if you’re going to be absent.” Tama puffed out her cheeks in a pout as she moved to make a note in the book.

“Here.” A clear voice suddenly rang out from the back of the classroom.

“Kurumi?” He looked back, and his eyes grew wide. Yes. Standing there, having opened the rear door quietly, was Kurumi, her hand raised as a gentle smile crossed her face.

“Tokisaki. You’re late.”

“I do apologize. I felt slightly ill while I was en route to school.”

“Hmm? A-are you okay? Do you need to go to the nurse’s office?”

“No, I’m quite all right. I’m so sorry to have worried you.” Kurumi bowed and walked over to her desk on light feet.

“Huh. So you are here, after all.” Shido let out a sigh of relief and turned his eyes on Origami, who had delivered the ominous pronouncement. “Uh…?”

Her forehead was creased the barest hint, and she was staring at Kurumi. It wasn’t that the change in her expression was so dramatic. But for some reason, Shido more or less understood that Origami was completely stunned.

“Ori…gami?” he called to her in a quiet voice.

The tips of her fingers twitched, and she pulled her gaze away from Kurumi.

“All right. That’s all for today’s announcements.” Tama quickly brought homeroom to a close and left the room.

In that moment, the phone he had tucked away in his pocket began to ring cheerily. The timing was very bad. If it had started ten seconds earlier, his phone might have gotten confiscated.

He looked at the screen. Displayed there was the name Kotori Itsuka.

“Hello? Kotori?”

“Hey, Shido.”

“Why are you calling me? I would’ve been in trouble if you’d been ten seconds earlier.”

“Oh dear. My most excellent brother always says to put phones on vibrate at school.”

“Hngh.”

“Well, fine. Anyway, Shido, the situation’s not great. Even speaking generously, it’s the worst.”

Shido gasped at her pained tone, so unlike Kotori. “Did something happen?”

“Yes. We’re not even sure what to do over here. I never dreamed this could actually happen.”

His anxiety only grew at the heaviness he heard in her words. He cupped a hand to his mouth to keep his voice from echoing across the classroom. “What exactly happened?”

“Well, the truth is…”

Someone grabbed his shoulder.

He looked up and saw Kurumi, head cocked to one side, a curious look on her face.

“Whatever are you doing, Shido?”

“…! O-oh,” he said. “Just a phone call. Can you give me a sec?”

She produced an exaggerated look of surprise before bowing her head. “You will have to excuse me. I had no intention of intruding.”

“Oh… It’s okay. Don’t worry about it.” He flashed her a smile and turned his focus back to the phone. “So what, Kotori? What exactly—?”

“Hang on, Shido,” Kotori cut him off, abruptly serious. “Who were you just talking with?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Just now, you were talking with someone. I’m asking you who it was. Tohka? Origami Tobiichi? Hiroto Tonomachi?” She peppered him with questions like she was interrogating a criminal.

“Wh-whoa. You don’t need to get so angry,” he grumbled in reply. “Someone just started talking to me is all.”

“Just answer me,” she said in a tone that brooked no argument.

Shido said the name with a sigh. “Kurumi.”

Kotori suddenly fell silent.

“Kotori? What’s wrong?” he asked, confused.

After talking to someone on the other end of the line, she said to him, “Shido. Go straight to the physics prep room at lunch. There’s something I want to show you.”

“The physics prep room? Why do I have to go there again?”

“Doesn’t matter. You make sure you come,” she said, then hung up.

“Wh-what the hell…?” he muttered, raising an eyebrow high on his forehead.

At 12:20, the bell rang, signaling the end of fourth period. The students bowed, and the teacher had barely left the classroom when preparations for lunch began.

Tohka was no exception. Her eyes glittered like she’d been waiting for this moment, and she slid her desk up against his.

“Shido! Let’s eat!” she said, pulling her lunch box out of its bag.

Shido frowned. Normally, a desk would also close in from the left to fuse into three bodies. But Origami wasn’t moving her desk that day. Thinking this strange, he glanced in her direction.

She had an unreadable expression on her face and was staring at her hands.

“…?” He was curious, true, but Origami was free to have lunch whenever she wanted. He was about to pull his own lunch out of his bag when his hand stopped. “Oh, right.”

He’d been told to go to the physics prep room over lunch. Although he hadn’t been given a specific time, this was Kotori he was dealing with. He got the feeling there’d be some kind of penalty if he was late.

“Sorry, Tohka. I actually have a thing to do today.”

“Mm?” Tohka turned a blank face at him, her hand already on the lid of her lunch box. “Where are you going? I’ll come, too!”

“Oh…” He scratched his cheek awkwardly. The fact that Kotori had told him to come to the physics prep room almost certainly meant whatever she wanted him for involved Ratatoskr. He couldn’t assume that everything they discussed would be appropriate for Tohka’s ears.

“Sorry. You can’t today. Go ahead and eat without me. Okay?” He clapped his hands together apologetically and set out toward the hallway.

“Ah! Shido…”

He heard her sad voice from behind and felt saddled by extreme guilt. He shook his head and stepped out into the hallway.

He moved through the building until he finally arrived at the physics prep room. When he knocked on the door, it was yanked open as if someone had been standing behind it waiting impatiently for him.

“You’re late.” Kotori, in her junior high uniform, popped her head out, her lips pursed with displeasure.

“I’m not. I didn’t even eat before I came.”

“Whatever, just get inside. We don’t have a lot of time.” She jerked her chin to invite him into the room.

It was then that he realized she didn’t have the usual visitor badge pinned to her chest. When he looked closely, he saw that she wasn’t wearing the visitor slippers but the indoor shoes from her junior high school.

“Wait. Did you come today without telling anyone?”

“Of course. It wouldn’t have been a problem if I’d come after school, but a junior high student can’t be showing up at a high school at this hour.”

“Oh, yeah, I guess.” He nodded, convinced, and turned his face toward the interior of the room.

The very person he’d expected was sitting in the swivel chair in the back: Ratatoskr analyst and Raizen High School physics teacher Reine Murasame.

“…Mm, so you’re here, Shin.” As usual, she called him by the nickname that had absolutely nothing to do with his actual name (and he was tired of correcting her by now). She indicated the seat next to her. He was sure this meant he was supposed to sit there.

So he sat himself down.

Kotori settled into the chair beside him as if to squeeze him in… It was the exact same placement as in the dating sim training two months earlier.

“So then what did you want to show me?” he asked, and Kotori indicated the monitor on the desk.

Reine moved the mouse in her hand, and a video started to play on the screen. Girls with colorful hair popped up one after the other before displaying the title “Fall in Love: My Little Shido 2—Are You Afraid of Love?”

“A sequel?!” A shiver ran up Shido’s spine.

“…Oh, wrong window. I meant to pull up something else.” Reine moved the mouse once more. The screen abruptly went dark.

“H-hang on a minute! What was that just now?!”

“You’ll go bald if you stress about every little thing, Shido,” Kotori replied, sighing with irritation.

“This isn’t a ‘little thing’! I’ve had enough of the dating sims—” He cut himself off. A new video had appeared on the dark screen.

For some reason, Kurumi and a girl with a ponytail were standing facing each other in a narrow alley.

“Hmm? Is that…Mana?”

Indeed, the girls in the video were Kurumi and Mana.

“Yes. This is from yesterday. Take a good look at the area.”

“Wha—?” Shido furrowed his brow. In this utterly ordinary corner of the residential area, he could see several people clad in mechanical armor. “The…AST?” He choked the name out, half-stunned.

AST. Anti-Spirit team. Superhumans in mechanical armor tasked with annihilating the Spirits, dangerous creatures who wronged humanity and the world. He’d seen them any number of times before. There was no way he could mistake them here.

His classmate Origami Tobiichi was also on the edge of the screen. And they were all equipped with larger-than-life weapons. Just like when a Spirit appeared together with a spacequake.

“Yes. For some reason, we caught an AST signal in town out of the blue. A member of my crew dispatched a camera that way just in case. I was surprised when I saw this.” Kotori crossed her legs.

“Wh-why would the AST…?”

“Because there was a Spirit, obviously,” she replied nonchalantly.

Shido swallowed hard. “But…there was no spacequake. The people around them didn’t evacuate, did they? If the Spirit ran wild—”

“…Well, they were confident they could take her down before she did,” Reine explained.

“…!” He gasped.

There was still something he didn’t understand. The girl who insisted she was his younger sister was standing there for some reason. Mana Takamiya.

“Wh-why is Mana—?” he started to say, just as the Mana on-screen glowed briefly. White mechanical armor sprang up around her. “Wh—?”

It was a little different from what the rest of the AST was wearing, but there was no doubt that it was a wiring suit.

As if in response, Kurumi threw her arms out, and the shadow at her feet crawled up her body to form a dress. A frilly band on her head. A corset tightly binding her torso. A skirt that was all ruffles and lace. All of it a black reminiscent of darkness, covered in a film of light that was red like blood. Finally, her hair was pulled up to the sides, in two uneven bunches for some reason. Almost like the long and short hands of a clock.

“Astral. Dress,” Shido said, dumbfounded.

Astral Dress. A Spirit’s castle, her impregnable fortress. A divine film to protect her.

Kurumi raised a hand above her head. The shadow crawled up over her once more to concentrate in her palm. And then she danced up into the air.

“Huh?” He let out a dazed cry, unable to understand what was happening on-screen. But a second later, he got it.

Mana had launched a beam of light from the unit on her shoulders, piercing Kurumi’s stomach.

Kurumi shuddered.

It looked less like she was shivering in fear and more like she was letting out a high-pitched laugh. Why?

The rest was over in a few seconds. Kurumi moved to counterattack, but before she could, Mana’s attack shot through her. Bright red blood splashed across the narrow alley. When Kurumi fell faceup on the road, motionless, Mana brought her sword of light down on her neck.

Kurumi’s life had been plucked before she even had the chance to mount an attack on Mana.

“Ngh…!” He instinctively held his head and averted his eyes.

Because the scene was simply too unreal, it took him a second to really feel it. He finally felt nausea rising up in his throat by the time Mana had finished dissecting Kurumi. Even though it wasn’t cold, his teeth chattered, and his body shivered.

A person—well, not a person in the strictest sense, but a being that looked just like a person had been killed. And he had witnessed it, albeit on video. No one would reproach him for this reaction.

On-screen, Mana stretched her neck from side to side, looking like she had just finished a mundane task. The CR unit on her body vanished, and she was back in the outfit she’d been wearing before.

Shido frowned. He felt an absurd sense of disconnect. He was this shaken up just watching it through a screen, no smell or sensation reaching him, while Mana herself looked as though she felt nothing at all.

No guilt.

No panic.

No despair.

Not only that, not even any sense of accomplishment.

Like this was an extremely routine task. She was simply accustomed to it, just going through the motions of a task she’d done countless times. That’s how indifferent Mana was to Kurumi’s death.

“What…?” He gasped, after he finally managed to push back the nausea.

“…Just as you saw. Yesterday, Kurumi Tokisaki was killed by AST member Mana Takamiya. Not badly injured or in critical condition. Her existence was completely, utterly, without a shadow of a doubt eliminated.”

“I-it’s.” Shido couldn’t string any words to that beginning. After all, he had only just seen it with his own eyes. Kurumi had been killed. There was no way she was coming back from that.

He gasped. His attention had been wholly taken up by the shocking footage, so he’d forgotten. But there was a very obvious contradiction here.

“But Kurumi came to school today like nothing happened,” he pointed out, and Reine and Kotori crossed their arms perfectly in sync.

“…Yes. We don’t understand that, either.”

“When you said you were talking to Kurumi, I thought you were starting to hallucinate,” Kotori said, half-jokingly, as she shrugged.

Shido couldn’t react to anything resembling a joke at the moment. His mind was racing as he opened his mouth again. “So then she…came back to life from that state?”

He glanced at the screen. The AST members had just started cleaning up Kurumi’s body and the traces of blood. He saw Origami among them and finally understood her reaction that morning.

Of course she was surprised. The girl she had watched die the day before had turned up in class that morning, totally unfazed.

“I’m not sure. We can’t say anything at the current stage.”

“I…guess.” Although the video was still flickering in the back of his mind, he managed to calm his breathing and his racing heart. He unclenched the hands he had clenched at some point.

Kotori recrossed her legs at the same time. “But, well, at any rate.” She unfolded her arms and thrust a finger out at him. “As long as Kurumi is alive, we continue the mission. You have tomorrow off for the school founding day, right? Ask her on a date. She’s coming at you pretty hard, so if we’re lucky, we might be able to seal her power in one go.”

“…Huh?” Shido could feel his eyes widening, and his throat closed over. “W-wait. This happened, and you’re still—”

“Shut it.” She cut off his protests. “It’s because this happened. Like I said before, Kurumi’s abilities are unknown. It’s plenty possible this is some kind of conditional regeneration or a one-time miracle, and the next time she’s killed, it’ll be game over.”

“Unh…”

She was exactly right. Kurumi was okay right now (although this was also weird), but they didn’t know if she’d come back to life again the next time.

“We have to strike as soon as possible. Origami Tobiichi knows that Kurumi’s alive. She’s probably already told the AST. And Mana Takamiya, too, of course.”

“…!” Shido scowled at this name. It made him remember the scene he’d just witnessed. Even though he had only met her yesterday, he loathed that the girl who called herself his little sister would kill Kurumi with that kind of emotionless, accustomed manner. “…Roger. I’ll try.”

Before Kurumi was killed again.

Before Mana killed her again.

“—I’ll make Kurumi fall head over heels for me.”

This was serious stuff, but when he put his decision into words, it did sound a bit ridiculous.

After watching Shido leave the classroom out of the corner of her eye, Origami stood up slowly. She was curious about where he was going without eating lunch and even leaving Tohka Yatogami behind, but there was something more important she had to do.

She slipped past a dejected Tohka and walked toward the desk of her target.

“I need to talk to you,” she said, casting a cold gaze on the owner of that desk, Kurumi Tokisaki.

Kurumi tipped her head exaggeratedly to one side and opened her right eye wide. “Origami…was it? You need to speak to me?”

“Come,” Origami replied curtly and stalked out of the classroom.

Kurumi placed a finger on her chin in a display of hesitation, but when Origami was about to step out into the hallway, she stood up hurriedly from her desk.

“P-please wait a moment. What is the matter?”

“…” Origami glanced back and saw a girl desperately chasing after her, pumping arms and legs so slender they looked like they might break if she touched them. Somehow, this cute girl seemed to rouse a desire in other people to protect her. However, Origami felt nothing but a strange revulsion.

She didn’t slow her brisk pace and kept walking toward the door to the roof. She had brought Shido here before. People generally never came this way, which was useful when you had something to discuss that you didn’t want anyone else to overhear.

“Haah… Haah…” Kurumi panted as she leaned against the guardrail after climbing the stairs all in one go.

Once her breathing was more or less under control a minute or so later, she opened her mouth, eyebrows drawn down in a show of concern. “Um. What do you need? I haven’t gotten the chance to eat my lunch yet.”

“Why are you alive?” Origami demanded, the look on her face not changing in the slightest.

“What…?”

“You died yesterday.”

Yes. Origami had seen it herself. Mana had cut off her limbs and crushed her head, completely annihilating her. On Ryouko’s orders, Origami and the rest of the AST had been posted in the area in case Mana failed to take down the Spirit, although Mana herself hadn’t been too happy about that decision.

“…” Kurumi raised the end of one eyebrow. She looked Origami’s face over with the eye exposed to the elements.

And then…

“—Ohhh. Ohhh. You. It’s you. You were there with Mana yesterday.”

“…!” Origami jumped back from the spot. She had no logical reason for this. Her brain had sensed an indescribable feeling that triggered her fight-or-flight mode.

“Oh my! An excellent reaction. Marvelous. Truly fantastic. However…”

“…!” Origami gasped. Someone was grabbing her ankles.

She looked down and saw that Kurumi’s shadow had stretched out beneath her feet, and two thin white hands had sprouted from it. The shadow was steadily getting larger, crawling up from the ground to the wall. Countless hands popped out of the wall now and clasped tightly around Origami’s arms and neck from behind.

“Ngh!” She struggled, but the thin fingers didn’t budge. In fact, they tightened their grip, pinning her to the wall.

“Kee-hee-hee! Hee-hee! That’s no use. It’s pointless to struggle!” Kurumi laughed, a twisted smile plastered onto her face, unimaginable on the Kurumi of a few seconds earlier. Just the sound of her voice made something cold spread in the pit of Origami’s stomach.

“I do appreciate all your efforts yesterday. Were you able to clean everything up nice and neat? The. Pieces. Of. My. Body.”

Kurumi brushed her hair back as she approached Origami. Instantly, Origami caught sight of the left eye that had been hidden by her bangs. An inorganic gold. This eye seemed impossible for the organ of a living creature, and in it, she could see twelve characters and two needles. Almost like a clock.

“Was it not the teensiest bit careless to make contact with me all by yourself when you knew what I am? And you were even kind enough to prepare a location away from prying eyes.”

“…!”

Kurumi was right. Maybe Origami had gotten the wrong idea after seeing her disappointingly abrupt end the previous day. Or maybe she’d had the wrong idea because they were at school. Either way, it was Origami’s mistake. She always insisted the Spirits were a threat, but in some part of her mind, she’d let her guard down.

“What…do you…want?” she wheezed, even as her throat was crushed.

“Hee-hee-hee!” The corners of Kurumi’s mouth slid farther up. “I was not lying when I said I wished to attend school at least once. But yes, I suppose my main objective is really…”

She paused for a beat and brought her face in so close that Origami could feel her breath.

“…Shido.”

“…!!” Origami was stunned into silence.

Kurumi’s smile grew even more delighted. “He’s wonderful. He’s amazing. He looks truly delicious. Ah, how I yearn for him. How my heart longs for him. I want him. I want his power. I came to this school to obtain him, to become one with him.”

Origami shivered in fear and broke into a cold sweat across her back. She never expected that a Spirit would appear targeting a single person—and that it would be Shido of all people.

However, this gave rise to a question in her mind. What Kurumi had just said. “His power.” What exactly does that…?

“…!” She gasped at the sudden sensation of Kurumi’s fingers seductively trailing across her body.

“Origami. Origami Tobiichi. You are also very good. You look extremely delicious. Ah, I simply cannot stand it. I just can’t. I want to eat you up right now.” Her cheeks were flushed, and her breathing ragged as her left hand crawled along Origami’s chest, while her right wandered up her legs, threatening to slide into her skirt.

“…! Don’t touch me.”

“Heh-heh. You mustn’t be so cold and cruel.” Kurumi stretched out a long tongue and drew out a line of saliva on Origami’s cheek.

“Ngh…”

“Aah, aah. But I can’t. I simply can’t. It’s very, very vexing, but I must put off these pleasures until later.” Kurumi shook her head dramatically and pulled away from Origami, leaving just a kiss on her neck. “I’ll save you for after Shido. Please make sure you become even more delicious.” She turned on her heel and trotted down the stairs.

When Origami could no longer see the other girl, the hands restraining her were sucked into the shadows.

“…! Koff! Koff!” She crumpled to the ground.

The shadow in the hallway shrank toward the stairs, as if to return to its master.

“Shi…do—” Origami didn’t understand why, but for some reason, Kurumi was after Shido.

She had to tell HQ about this right now, but she didn’t know if they would believe her that the Spirit was targeting a single person.

In that case, Origami would have to protect him herself. She gritted her teeth and clenched her fists.

“…Mm.” Still seated, Tohka raised her face and looked at the clock above the blackboard. It was almost the end of lunch break.

Her stomach growled. She hadn’t had a bite to eat since breakfast that morning, and being the glutton that she was, she was already so hungry that she felt dizzy. But she still didn’t open her lunch. Shido had said to go ahead and eat, but now that she knew how much better food tasted when she ate with him, she somehow couldn’t bring herself to do that.

“Shido…”

Those students who had left the classroom to go hang out somewhere else were already starting to trickle back into the room. The quickest among them were getting ready for their next class. But there was no sign of Shido.

“Unh… Unh…” For some reason, her eyes grew hot, and it was getting harder to breathe through her nose. She sniffled and wiped her eyes. The sleeve of her uniform came back a little damp.

“Huh? What’s wrong, Tohka?”

“What? You still haven’t eaten?”

“Class is about to start!”

Three girls who had eaten outside had no sooner entered the classroom than they were calling out to Tohka. They often concerned themselves with her. She was pretty sure their names were Ai, Mai, and Mii. They said they became friends because of how similar their names were.

“Whoa! What’s going on, Tohka? You’re crying!”

“Did someone do something to you?!”

“Hey! Who did this?! Show yourself!”

They surrounded Tohka in a magnificent combination, speaking all at once. The boys in the classroom flinched.

“N-no! No one did anything!” Tohka hurriedly waved her hands, and the three girls got to work on her.

“What? You sure?”

“So then what’s wrong?”

“Allergies? Is it allergies?”

Tohka shook her head back and forth and lowered her eyes to the lunch box before her. “Shido’s still not back. And I was just thinking how I haven’t gotten to talk to him hardly at all today, and then I don’t know why, this…” Large tears spilled from her eyes.

“Ah! Tohka! It’s okay. If it’s too hard, you don’t have to say anything else!”

“But, like, that Itsuka is something else! I can’t believe he’d make a cute girl cry!”

“Cut his head off and feed him to the pigs!”

The three shouted, getting excessively excited.

Tohka stopped them once more in a panic. “I-it’s not Shido’s fault! It’s just, I’m…” Pulling words from her meager vocabulary, she explained that Shido was not to blame and that the reason was that she was used to having him around.

Hearing this, Ai, Mai, and Mii groaned.

“So you’re saying that for you personally, talking with Itsuka, eating with him, and hanging out with him on top of that makes you super happy?” Ai asked to confirm, and Tohka bobbed her head up and down.

“Ngh! It’s just so pure. A hundred punches won’t be enough for Itsuka.” Mai pretended to wipe away theatrical tears, and Tohka’s eyes grew wide.

“I’ll go get the iron maiden and the wooden horse from the shed at home then,” Mii said with a serious face, and Tohka blinked at her.

The three girls slapped their knees with a “Wohkay!”

“If it’s for Tohka, I’ll pitch in and help!” Ai announced and pulled two pieces of paper out of her bag.

“A-Ai, those are…!”

“Yes. Tickets for the Tengu Quintet Aquarium! We have tomorrow off for school founding day, right? Tohka! You can have these. Go with Itsuka tomorrow!”

“Ai! I thought you were going to go with Kishiwada—,” Mai started, and Ai checked her with a hand.

“Not another word! You’ll make Tohka feel like she has to turn this down,” Ai told her, and Mai and Mii made a gesture like they were holding back tears as they each clasped one of Tohka’s shoulders.

“Tohka! Please don’t say a word. Just take them!”

“Do this for Ai! Do it for Ai as a woman!”

“M-mm…?” Tohka was reluctant to destroy whatever mood was happening and meekly accepted the tickets.

Ai collapsed on the spot instantly. “Tohka… May you find…happiness…with Itsuka.”

“Ah! Aiiiiii!”

“Stay with us! This isn’t the end of the world!”

“…?! …?!” Tohka was baffled and whirled her head from side to side, still holding the tickets. Maybe she had done something she wasn’t supposed to. Tears filled her eyes, and she pushed the tickets back into Ai’s hand.

“Aaaaaaah!” Ai came back to life.

“Ai!”

“It’s a miracle!”

“Wait. No, no.” Suddenly calm, Ai handed the tickets back to Tohka. “You can’t give them back, Tohka. I’m telling you to take these and invite Itsuka out.”

“I-invite him out…?”

“Yup. You get out there on a date tomorrow.”

“…!” Tohka opened her eyes wide. Date. She was pretty sure that was when a girl and a boy went to hang out together.

Ah, this was very good.

Now that she was thinking about it, she hadn’t gone on a date with Shido in forever. A date at last. That seemed like a terribly wonderful thing.

But there was one problem.

“I—I ask him…?” she said, a nervous sweat popping up on her brow.

“Yeah. Just do it, just get in there. It’s good for the girl to ask sometimes, too.”

“B-but…what if he says no?” Tohka asked anxiously, and the three girls shrugged and sighed.

“Okay, okay. First of all, I don’t think he’s going to, but if he does dare to say no, he’ll be punished with a public shaming. But I’ll teach you my special secret techniques.”

“S-secret techniques…?”

“Yup. Boys are basically motivated by sexy times. If you ask him like this, you’ll have the power to overthrow an entire country.”

“O-oh, I don’t need to do that…”

“It’s fine; you’re fine. So first…”

Tohka listened to Ai’s secret techniques, nodding intently.

When the last period, homeroom, was over, Shido got up from his seat and immediately headed for Kurumi. He felt Tohka’s bashful eyes on his right side and Origami’s absolute-zero demon eyes on his left, but he ignored them somehow and kept moving.

“Kurumi, you got a sec?” he asked, pointed toward the hallway, and started walking.

She followed him meekly.

Once they’d walked out of earshot, he turned back to her.

“Shido. What is it that you need?”

“R-right. I know this is sudden, but… Are you free tomorrow?”

“Yes. I don’t have any plans.”

“So then, um, if you’d like, maybe I could show you around the neighborhood?”

“Hmm? So you mean…”

“W-well…put simply…a date, I guess.”

Instantly, Kurumi’s face lit up. “Do you mean it?!”

“Y-yeah. Are you interested?”

“Of course. It would be an honor.”

“Yeah? Okay then.” He paused thoughtfully. “Let’s meet in front of Tengu Station at ten thirty tomorrow morning.”

“All right. I’m looking forward to it!” She beamed at him.

“Okay, see you then!” He raised a hand in a wave and returned to the classroom.

When he opened the door, Origami was standing there. “Eep…?!”

“What were you talking about with her?” she asked in a quiet, inflectionless voice, as she stared at him with sharp eyes.

“U-uh, nothing.”

“Answer me. This is extremely—”

If she pressed him any further, he might let it slip. He slid past her, ran over to his desk, and grabbed his bag. “I-I’m in a hurry, so I’ll see you later, Origami! Tohka! Come on, let’s go!” He fled before she could interrogate him.

“Mm? Uh, uh-huh!” Tohka chased after him.

“Haah… Haah…” After running for a while, he checked that Origami wasn’t following them before slowing down a bit.

“What was that about, Shido?!”

“O-oh. Anyway, um… Should we get going?”

“Mm. Okay,” Tohka agreed, seeming hesitant.

He thought this was a bit weird, but, well, it wasn’t anything to interrogate her over. He headed down the hallway, changed shoes at the entryway, and stepped onto the school grounds.

“Ah. Uuuuuuuummmmmm, Shido!” Tohka had been unusually quiet, but now she called out to him in a strangely excited tone.

“Hmm? What’s wrong, Tohka?”

“Oh. Ohhh. Um… Yeah.” She dug around in her bag, and then whirled her head around to check their surroundings before looking down, her face turning red.

“Wh-what’s wrong? Did something happen?”

“N-nothing…!” she shouted, looking anywhere but at him, and trotted off ahead as if to lead him. “Let’s hurry back to the house!”

“What the…?” Scratching his head at her odd behavior, he set out on the road home behind her. He didn’t know why, but she was clearly avoiding looking at him the whole way.

Soon, they arrived at the Itsuka house and the special Spirit apartment building rising up next to it.

“Okay. See you later. You’re having supper at our house again today, right?” Shido said good-bye as usual and raised his hand. And then stopped.

The reason was simple. Tohka was heading not for the apartment building but toward his house.

“Tohka? You’re not going to change?”

“I-I’m fine, so just hurry and open the door!”

“Uh… Sure, fine, I guess.”

She would come over to eat supper anyway, so there wasn’t really a problem. He pulled his keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door.

“I’m home.”

The fact that the door was locked meant that Kotori wasn’t back yet, but he said this out of habit. He took his shoes off in the entryway, stepped into the house, and headed to the living room, where he tossed his bag onto the sofa and stretched lightly.

“Mm…”

Here he heard a clacking sound. Tohka had apparently locked the door again after following him into the house. Head hanging, she trudged into the living room.

“Hmm? You didn’t have to lock it, you know? Kotori’s going to be coming home.”

“…” Rather than answering him, Tohka dropped her bag, thrust her hand into it, and pulled out what appeared to be two tickets. “Sh-Shido. If you want…um.”

She suddenly lifted her face with a gasp, as if remembering something. “O-oh yeah. I have to do this right.”

“Do what right?” He seemed confused as Tohka ran over to the living room window, flustered somehow, and yanked the thick curtains shut.

“U-uh, Tohka?”

“Wait a second! I-I’m getting ready!”

“Ready? F-for what?”

Tohka did not reply.

She pulled a sheet of paper out of her bag and set it on the table. And then she put a hand to her chest as she stared at this with a frown and rolled up the top of her skirt. This was a little trick the girls used to temporarily shorten their skirts. Tohka’s healthy thighs were gradually exposed.

“Uh, hey, Tohka?” Shido frowned, unable to figure out what she was up to, face growing hot.

Next, she loosened the school uniform ribbon around her neck and began undoing buttons on her blouse. Two… Three… All the way to the fourth one. Her pale bosom peeked out from the gap in her blouse, and he averted his eyes.

“Wh-what are you doing, Tohka?! If you’re going to change, you should—”

“Sh-Shido!” She interrupted him, put the tickets between her lips, and dropped down to her hands and knees, striking a so-called leopard pose. Her face was as red as a ripe tomato. “Heaah…”

“Wh-wh-what?! What is going on?!” he cried, completely baffled.

She took the tickets from her mouth. “Th-this isn’t working!”

He couldn’t even tell what she wanted.

She glanced at the sheet of paper on the table once more. “O-okay!” she yelled, like a battle cry, and picked up the tickets. Now she stuck them in her exposed cleavage and then tilted her head, frowning.

She hadn’t managed to get them in there properly. She leaned forward a little, pulled her breasts together with her left hand to create a valley, stuck the tickets in there, and turned her gaze on Shido.

“Wha—?!” He took a step back, feeling like he was looking at something that he very much should not be looking at.

“Shido… There.”

“Y-yeah. What?”

“…D-do you want to go…on a date tomorrow?”

“Huh? A d-date?”

“Y-yeah!” She nodded and showed off the tickets in her cleavage.

So was that it? Was he supposed to take them?

If he didn’t take the tickets, there was a chance she would escalate things further. He was in grade eleven, a boy in the very height of youth. It would have been a lie to say that he wasn’t interested, but he really couldn’t just let her continue this behavior. With sweat on his face, he stretched a trembling hand toward her chest…and plucked out the tickets, taking particular care not to touch her breasts.

“O-oh!” Her face brightened in an instant, and she stood up properly again. In the next moment, she had returned her skirt to its original length, hidden her chest, and picked up her bag.

“Tomorrow! We’ll meet at ten in the morning in front of Pachiko at the station! O-okay, I’m going to go change!” She left the living room so fast she was a mere blur. She raced down the hallway, opened the front door, and dashed outside.

“Wh-what was that…?” he muttered, puzzled, and dropped his eyes to the tickets in his hand. For the aquarium. Where exactly had she gotten these?

His eyes kept going down to the piece of paper she had left on the table. Tohka Bewitching Attack Collection was written in a round hand. There was a numbered list below this.

He didn’t really get it, but he might have actually been in danger there.

“What is this?” He shook his head, and there was another clacking sound from the entryway. He braced himself, thinking that Tohka had returned, but no. Striding into the living room was Kotori, her hair tied up in black ribbons.

“I’m home. Hmm?” She frowned, perhaps finding the gloom of the room curious. “Just what kind of indecent things are you doing that you’ve got the curtains closed in the middle of the day, Shido?”

“I—I wasn’t doing anything!”

“Well, whatever… What’s that you got there?”

“Oh,” he said. “Actually, Tohka…asked me on a date.”

“Wow.” Kotori whistled in admiration. “She invited you? That’s a good sign. When exactly? I’ll back you up.”

“Oh, tomorrow, but…”

“Tomorrow?” She scowled. “Hey. You’ve got a date with Kurumi tomorrow.”

“Oh.” Tohka’s seductive poses had been so shocking that this fact had flown right out of his mind. He had made a date with Kurumi for the next day. “Crap. Should I go tell her no?”

“No way.” She shook her head from side to side glumly. “It’s obvious that her mood will plummet if you take back a date you already agreed to go on. Especially when her sadness meter’s been on the rise since this morning.”

“Wait. It’s not exactly like I agreed…”

“What matters is what Tohka thinks. Well, we’re stuck now. We’ll back you up, so make sure you make both dates a success somehow.”

“H-huh?! I—I can’t—,” he started when the phone in his pocket began to vibrate.

He looked at the screen and saw he had a call from an unknown number. Thinking this a little strange, he picked up and heard a quiet voice through the receiver.

“Hello?”

“Mm? This voice. Origami, is that you?”

“Yes.” Origami indicated her agreement, briefly.

“Huh?” He was starting to perspire again. “Did I give you my number?”

She didn’t respond to this and was silent for a moment before continuing. “Tomorrow’s a holiday.”

“Uh, yeah? It is.”

“You can’t be by yourself.”

“Huh?” he asked.

“Eleven in the morning,” she said, her tone not changing at all. “I’ll be waiting at the fountain in the plaza in front of Tengu Station.”

“Huh?”

“For a date.”

“…Uh?”

“Make sure you’re there.” She hung up.

…She never did answer his original question.

“Who was that?” Kotori asked.

“Uh. Origami. But like… Sh-she asked me on a…date.”

“What?!” Kotori cried, her eyebrows squeezing together. “A date… Don’t tell me it’s for tomorrow.”

“I-it…is.”

She put a hand to her forehead and sighed.