Chapter 8

Swimwear Battle

The following day, June 10, was a Saturday.

It was the weekend, but that didn’t even matter since Raizen High School, which Shido and his friends attended, was temporarily shut down. Not that it came as a surprise. All of the students and faculty in the school had collapsed and temporarily lost consciousness, after all.

Fortunately, no one was seriously injured, but just in case, the school’s gas pipes were being carefully inspected, and the school would remain closed for the rest of the week.

“…Well, I guess that’s a good thing…” Shido let out a sigh as he locked the door to his house.

“…Okay. It’s almost ten. We’ve transferred Yoshino to the roof of the apartment building. She should be arriving there shortly,” Reine’s sleepy voice suddenly echoed in his right ear.

She was nowhere near him. There was only the small, inconspicuously equipped earpiece.

Shido had been ordered to train for his date with Kotori the following day.

“And what are we training today anyway?” he asked, lightly touching his ear. “No one’s told me yet.” He had only been told to meet up with Tohka and Yoshino in front of his house this morning.

“…Oh yeah. Once Tohka gets there, head for Tengu Station. You’re going to the fourth floor of the B wing of the Twin Building… I want you to have them choose swimsuits.”

“S-swimsuits?!” He furrowed his brow. His eyes naturally shifted to the right, to where the voice was coming from. Swimsuits for Tohka and Yoshino. Just those words brought heat to his cheeks.

“…Yes, swimsuits. I gave you money yesterday, right? That should be plenty to cover them.”

“Oh. Th-that part’s fine,” he stammered. “But why swimsuits?”

“…Shin. You’re going to Ocean Park with Kotori tomorrow. We need to get your eyes used to girls in swimsuits so you won’t be nervous,” Reine told him, sounding like it was the most natural thing in the world.

“Uh, Reine?” Shido rolled his eyes. “Even I’m not going to get nervous at my little sister in a swimsuit.”

“…I don’t know. Well, even if you don’t, you might as—actually, you know what? It’s precisely because you won’t get nervous that you need this training. Kotori won’t be the only girl at Ocean Park. We’d be in real trouble if your eyes wandered to some other girl in the middle of your date.”

“…”

He was about to insist that wouldn’t happen, but given that his cheeks had flushed mere seconds ago at just the thought of girls in swimsuits, he wasn’t really one to talk. He pursed his lips and then agreed with a sigh. “Fine… I understand.”

While they were talking, he heard footfalls from behind him. It was probably Tohka or Yoshino coming out of the apartment building. Shido raised a hand in a wave and looked back.

“Hey, morni—”

And then he froze in place. He saw neither Tohka nor Yoshino, but rather Origami Tobiichi in a comfortable T-shirt and skirt.

“O-Origami?”

“…” She nodded wordlessly.

“What are you doing here? I don’t usually see you up in this ar—,” he started and then gasped. He covered his mouth in a natural kind of way so that Origami wouldn’t notice anything was up and quietly asked his earpiece, “Reine? Is this maybe your doing, too?”

“…No. Or at least, I don’t know anything about it.”

“Y-you don’t…” He slid his hand from his mouth to his cheek and scratched it before turning his gaze back on Origami. “Anyway, how are you doing? You were just in the hospital yesterday.”

“My injuries were nothing serious,” she told him. “I was examined after you left and discharged.”

“You were? …That’s great. Um… What about Mana?” Shido asked, and he thought Origami’s eyebrows moved ever so slightly.

“She’s still not conscious. If Mana was awake, then maybe I wouldn’t have had to come here. But fine. I’m very fortunate to be able to see you.”

“Huh? What do you—?”

“Shido!”

“Heyooo! Were ya waiting long?”

He was interrupted by shouts from the apartment complex next to the Itsukas’ house. He turned his eyes toward it and saw Tohka standing there in a pale tank top and skirt, together with Yoshino in a skirt with suspenders.

“Mm?” With a broad smile on her face, Tohka’s eyebrows shot up when she noticed the girl standing next to Shido. Her expression slowly turned wary. “Origami Tobiichi! What are you doing here?!” She almost growled at Origami as she raced over to put herself between her and Shido.

Origami didn’t flinch in the face of this threat. Instead, she glanced toward Yoshino. “Hermit? Why are you here?”

“…!” Yoshino jumped in fear. Her experience being chased down by the AST might have had lingering aftereffects, or she might have simply been afraid of Origami’s cool gaze.

“Yeah, yeah, little lady,” the puppet on her left hand quickly interjected as if to protect Yoshino. “You mind not picking on Yoshino here? And if you keep scowling, you’re gonna get a whole lotta wrinkles when you’re older.”

Origami didn’t so much as raise an eyebrow at this challenge and turned her gaze back on Shido. “What is this?”

“Uh. Oh. Um,” he stammered and averted his eyes. Now that he was thinking about it, this might have been the first time Origami and Yoshino had come face-to-face since Yoshino’s Spirit powers were sealed away.

Origami had yet to accept Tohka. And now she was up against another Spirit. She must have found this suspicious. But that said, he couldn’t exactly tell her about Ratatoskr.

“…Annoying. Throw her off somehow,” Reine instructed him vaguely.

“S-somehow?” Shido frowned.

“D-don’t ignore me!” Tohka flapped her hands in frustration at the conversation proceeding around her. “I asked you exactly what business you have here!”

Origami glanced at Yoshino before sighing and looking at Tohka. “Tohka Yatogami. I have something to ask you.”

“What?” Tohka frowned. Shido hadn’t expected Origami to say that, either. He had simply assumed that she wanted something from him. “What’s this thing you want to ask?”

“Two days ago. Do you remember the Spirit clad in flames that appeared in the sky?”

“…!”

It wasn’t Tohka who gasped at Origami’s question but Shido.

Now he got it. There had been five of them on the roof when Kotori showed up: Shido, Origami, Mana, Kurumi, and Tohka. He should have anticipated that Origami would set her sights on Tohka as a last possibility.

“R-Reine!” Shido called into his earpiece, frowning. This was not good. Tohka had been on the scene when Kotori appeared. It was plenty possible that she had seen the Spirit’s face.

“…Calm down, Shin. Things are never that simple.”

“B-but—” Listening to the loud pounding of his heart, Shido looked back at Origami and Tohka. Maybe he should stop Tohka from saying anything, though that would just make Origami suspicious. But like this…

“Hmph!” Tohka crossed her arms and puffed up her cheeks, sulking. “Even if I knew, I wouldn’t tell you!”

Shido exhaled with relief, amazed that the fact that they didn’t get along would come in handy.

“…”

That wasn’t the end of it, however. Origami stood there for a while silently, no expression on her face, and then took a step back and lowered her head. “Please.”

“Wha—?” Shido’s eyes grew wide at this unexpected development. Origami bowing to Tohka!

Tohka appeared equally stunned. Her eyes widened, and she shook her head back and forth, unsettled. “S-stop it! What exactly is your game here?!”

“I want you to tell me about the flame Spirit. Please.”

“F-fine! I get it! Lift your head! It’s creepy!” Tohka practically shouted.

Origami swiftly returned her head to its original position. “So?”

“Mmph. The flame Spirit, right? Yeah, I saw her.”

So Tohka had seen Kotori then. Shido felt his whole body tense.

“That was… She was, hmm, yeah, red.”

“And?” Origami stared at Tohka silently.

“Mm? And… Oh, right! She was strong!”

“That’s it?”

“Nn. Umm… She was like, bwoof!”

“…” Once again, Origami was silent briefly before opening her mouth again. “Useless.”

“Wh-what did you say?!” Tohka cried. “I went to the trouble of actually telling you, and that’s your attitude?!”

“I was a fool to have expected a shred of anything from you. A fixed camera or a voice recorder is worth more than your existence in this world.”

“After you made me go through all the trouble of explaining…!”

“O-okay, whoa, calm down.” Shido patted Tohka’s shoulder, secretly breathing a sigh of relief.

Tohka still looked angry, but she quietly obeyed him and fell silent, pursing her lips in a pout.

“By the way, what are you all doing?” Origami asked, looking at Shido, Tohka, and Yoshino.

“Hmph.” Tohka sniffed. “Like anyone would tell you that they’re getting Shido to buy them a swimsuit!”

“You’re going to buy swimsuits?” Origami turned her eyes on Shido.

“Uh,” he said. “Well. Um…I guess.”

“Oh.” Origami turned on her heel and walked off in the direction from which she’d come. After she had gone a few steps, she stopped and clapped her hands rather deliberately.

“Now that you mention it, I only have my school swimsuit,” she mentioned, placing a hand on her forehead and shaking her head in a ridiculously theatrical manner. “I would be in an extremely difficult situation in the event where I needed to go to the pool or the beach.”

When Shido said nothing, Origami glanced back at him. “An extremely difficult situation.”

“…Umm.” He scratched his cheek, feeling himself to be in an extremely difficult situation.

“…Shin. Give up. Ask her to come, too,” Reine said in his ear.

“I-is that okay, though? Like with Tohka? And Yoshino?”

“…You don’t have a choice. If you ignore her, she’ll probably just follow you anyway. And, well, it’s not actually a bad idea to increase the number of girls in the sample.”

“Unh…” He felt hot again. He could easily imagine that scene.

Then he sighed and looked at Origami, who was still in her dramatically troubled pose. “Why don’t you come with us, Origami?”

“Sure,” she agreed and whirled back around.

“Wha—?!” Tohka jumped up. “Wh-why, Shido?! It was supposed to be only me and you and Yoshino and Yoshinon today! Why does Origami Tobiichi—of all people—have to come?!”

“O-okay, don’t get so angry. It’s just, she needs a suit, too.”

“Nngh… Maybe, but that’s not my problem.” Tohka gritted her teeth, looking very much opposed to the whole idea.

Origami nodded, keeping her cool. “If you hate it that much, then fine. I won’t come with you.”

“Wh-what did you say?!” Tohka narrowed her eyes, surprised at this unprecedented submission.

Origami skipped over to Shido on light feet, took his hand, and started to walk briskly away. A heartbeat later, Tohka gasped.

“W-wait! What are you doing?!”

“I’m going with Shido to buy a swimsuit. You can go with Hermit.”

“Why would you come to that conclusion?!”

“You said you didn’t want to go with me. So there’s no other way.”

“Wha—? That’s different! That’s not what I meant!” Tohka shouted.

Origami yanked on Shido’s hand, and he was dragged along behind her.

“Shido! You—! Hey, let go of his hand!”

“But then that would mean you and I would be going shopping together.”

“I-it would?!” Tohka asked, bewildered.

“Yes.” Origami nodded with confidence. “It would be an unalterable fact.”

“Hnnngh,” Tohka groaned and then said, slowly, “F-fine. You can come, too, so let go of Shido!”

“Oh. I don’t want to.”

“…?!” Tohka looked stunned.

“You want to come along? What do you say?” Origami asked.

“Wha…? Wha…?” Tohka looked back and forth between Shido and Origami as if she could not comprehend what was happening.

“That’s fine.” Origami took a step forward, dragging Shido behind her. “I’ll go with just Shido then.”

“H-hey! P-please!” Tohka shouted. “I’m asking nicely! Take me along, too!”

Origami abruptly loosened her grip and fixed her gaze on Tohka. She parted soft lips. “No.”

“Wha—?!” Tohka’s eyes flew open. She looked like she was about to cry.

“…Don’t.” Shido rolled his eyes and sighed. He had seen this coming indeed.

In the end, it was decided that Origami would also come shopping.

On the way, things were stormy between her and Tohka. When he thought about it, however, this was no different from the usual grind at school. They got into the elevator of the Twin Building B wing in front of Tengu Station, and he pushed the button for their destination floor.

Since some schools were in session on Saturdays, there were fewer shoppers than usual, and it was just Shido and his entourage in the elevator.

“Anyway, Shido!” Tohka tilted her head as the elevator motor began to rumble.

“Hmm?” He glanced over at her. “What?”

“What exactly is a swimsuit?”

“Huh?” Shido asked, eyes wide as saucers. But now that she mentioned it, it hadn’t been pool season for gym class just yet. It was maybe no wonder she didn’t know. That said, it was a little embarrassing to explain to a girl what a swimsuit was. He averted his gaze slightly. “Mm. Right. A swimsuit is—”

“S-w-i-m-s-u-i-t. A new weapon for the annihilation of Spirits. When activated, the onboard Realizer commences parallel world operation and analyzes the warhead on a molecular level. The warhead is then launched and easily slips through the Astral Dress to utterly destroy the target’s physical structure to the level at which recovery is impossible,” Origami explained without missing a beat. “The pain it causes is beyond description. International law prohibits personal use for the reason that it is simply too inhumane.”

“Eep!” Tohka gasped. “Wha—? I-is that true, Shido?!”

“No, of course n—” He tried to correct this, but Origami interrupted him once again.

“It’s true. I had no idea he was aware of the existence of s-w-i-m-s-u-i-t—swimsuit.”

“Wh-why would Shido—?”

“The reason is exceptionally obvious and simple,” Origami said. “Anti-Spirit annihilation weapons are only for use on Spirits. I’m sure he was planning a surprise attack the moment you two let your guard down.”

“…!” Tohka turned pale and stiffened up, while Yoshino gasped and hid behind Shido. “D-don’t lie! Shido would never do anything like that!”

“…! I… I…think…so, too…” Yoshino, who rarely raised her voice, followed Tohka’s lead.

“R-right, Shido?!” Tohka demanded.

Shido was about to agree when Origami grabbed his nose and moved his lips.

“No, Origami’s right. I was thinking I’d kill you girls one of these days.”

“Y-you can’t be serious, Shido!”

“That didn’t sound anything like me! Don’t be fooled by that!” Shido shouted.

Tohka shuddered and gasped. She had apparently only just realized she’d been deceived. Her cheeks turned red with anger or embarrassment, and she squared her jaw. “You dirty cheater, Origami Tobiichi! You tricked me!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Origami’s face was as expressionless as always.

“Both of you, be quiet in the store, okay?” Shido said. The two girls started to bicker with him in the middle yet again, and he sighed as he attempted to pacify them. However used to this he might have been, it was still exhausting.

“A swimsuit is just like the word says: a suit you wear when you get in the water to go swimming,” he explained in simple terms.

Tohka reined in her hostility toward Origami for the moment and looked at him questioningly. “Get in the water…? You have to go to all the trouble of changing clothes just for that?”

“Yup.” He nodded. “It feels pretty uncomfortable when your clothes are soaked, right?”

“Oh! I get it!” She grinned. “Shido, you’re like a genius, you know?”

“I didn’t invent them or anything.” He winced, visibly uncomfortable.

A colorful space with swimsuits lined up came into view as soon as they got out of the elevator. It was already the end of June, the biggest sale of the season for swimwear.

“…Well, it took us a while to get there, but we’re at the starting line now. Get them to try on a bunch of suits,” Reine reminded him, breaking her long silence. “…I’ll leave the choices to you. Just make sure you don’t stand and stare or get all confused at them looking hot. The important thing is to keep your cool.”

“…Roger,” Shido said and stepped into the swimsuit sales area with Tohka and the others.

“Welcome!” came the high-pitched call of a clerk from somewhere in the department.

Tohka was the first to run in. She looked around curiously. “So, Shido. Which one is a swimsuit?”

“All of the ones hanging here are swimsuits,” he told her.

“Wh-what…?” Her eyes grew wide, and her hands trembled. Ever so timidly, she picked up a one-piece suit and scrutinized it, stroking the fabric as if to check the feel, and then she lifted her face abruptly as though she had just realized something. “I see. I get it. So you wear something on top of this, right?”

“No… Just that,” Shido said, scratching the back of his head.

The face she turned toward him was colored with fear. “B-but you can’t completely hide your body with this! Why does it have so little surface area?!”

“Oh. Well… Because it’s easier to move in the water that way, I guess?”

“Nngh. That might be the case. But this is almost like Origami Tobiichi’s whatever suit, isn’t it? It’s kind of embarrassing.”

“…” Origami sent a pointed gaze at Tohka. It wasn’t as though she said anything, but he got the feeling somehow that she was indignant.

“…Well, anyway, get them to try some on,” Reine urged through his earpiece.

Shido tapped it to indicate his understanding and got the three girls in his field of view. “W-well… Anyway, try on whatever ones you like.”

Origami immediately bobbed her head up and down, while Yoshino nodded, embarrassed.

Tohka’s cheeks colored. “…If it’s for you.” Then she clenched her hands into fists, turned toward Yoshino, and took on a fighting pose. “All right! Time for battle, Yoshino!”

“Uh. Um. Please…be…gentle,” Yoshino replied quietly.

“Battle?” Shido cocked his head to one side. “You’re going to battle now?”

“Mm.” Tohka nodded. “I guess they’ll give whoever makes your heart pound fastest—me or Yoshino—the right to a date with you, Shido.”

“Wha…?!” His eyes flew open, and he tapped his earpiece. He soon heard Reine’s sleepy voice.

“…We just wanted to make it a little more difficult.”

“Wh-why you—”

“Anyway, Shido!” Tohka cried, interrupting his conversation with Reine.

“Wh-what, Tohka?”

“What exactly makes your heart pound? Running? Running a lot?”

“…Yeah, I guess that would make my heart pound.” He smiled. It was true that that would really make his heart race.

Yoshinon began to cackle and guffaw from Yoshino’s left hand. “Ah! Ha-ha! No, no. If we’re talking about making a boy’s heart pound, there’s only one thing.”

“Mm?” Tohka looked down at the puppet. “So what do I have to do?”

“Hmm, well, it’s not exactly my style to do favors for Yoshino’s enemies. But it’s kinda boring to beat a kid who doesn’t even know what the deal is. Hup, hup, Tohka! Come on over here a sec.” Yoshinon beckoned her over. Tohka brought her face in close, and the puppet whispered something too quietly for Shido to hear.

“Wha…?!” Tohka’s face was instantly tomato red.

“Well, I doubt you’ll be able to take out Yoshino, but you get out there and fight, girl!” Yoshinon dragged Yoshino farther into the shop, and Tohka watched them go, frozen in place.

“H-hey, Tohka?” Shido put a hand on her shoulder. “What exactly—?”

“Aaawoo!” she cried out and shuddered.

“T-Tohka?”

“Mm… Oh, sorry. It’s nothing. But…this is tough. Your heart won’t pound unless I…”

“Wait. What exactly did Yoshinon tell you?!” Shido shouted.

Origami appeared soundlessly from behind them. “I understand the rules. I will get the date with Shido.”

“Wha—?! Y-you’re not a part of this!” Tohka glared at Origami, who ignored her and stepped into the changing room with several different swimsuits.

“Ngh! I—I can’t let that girl have the right to a date!” Tohka clenched her hands into fists, grabbed swimsuits at random, and stepped into the changing room next to Origami’s.

“…Umm.” He clawed at his face. He felt like things were spinning out of control.

He looked over at Yoshino and saw that she was still choosing a suit. She seemed to prefer a one-piece type, but Yoshinon was enthusiastically pushing a very revealing, sexy swimsuit.

The curtain of Tohka’s changing room whooshed open.

“Shido!” Tohka revealed herself somewhat awkwardly in a one-piece suit.

“Y-yeah…?” His eyes grew round despite himself. He had known that Tohka was an incredibly beautiful girl with exquisite proportions, but he hadn’t had any real chances to look her up and down from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. The swimsuit itself was a simple design, but that only emphasized Tohka’s pure beauty and excited him.

“S-so, Shido?!” she demanded. “Is your heart pounding?!”

“Huh. Oh. Um… Yeah.”

“O-oh yeah?! You saying that, Shido… Okay, I’m gonna win this!” She smiled.

As if his pulse were being monitored, Shido heard a familiar buzzing sound in his right ear. “…Strike one. Calm down, Shin.”

“Ah.” He realized he’d been gaping at Tohka’s body. He heard Reine sigh in exasperation.

“…At any rate, you failed, so you’ll have to take a penalty.”

Penalty. Shido felt a cold shiver at this cursed word. “Y-you’re going that far?! Wh-what kind of…?”

When Kotori was in charge, he was constantly punished with things that made his hair stand on end and cry out, “Stop! I’ll never be able to find someone who will marry me if you do that!” So he was all the more on guard.

Reine was silent for a while, and then she asked the crew of Fraxinus on the other side of the earpiece, “…What should we do?”

He could be in real danger here. “Y-you don’t have a plan?”

“…Mm. We don’t have a grasp on your weaknesses the way Kotori does, after all.”

That made sense. If they’d had that kind of grasp on his weaknesses, Shido would have cried. He was a boy, after all.

“…Okay, how about this?” Reine suddenly said, after pondering the situation for a few seconds. “Once you’re finished sealing Kotori’s Spirit power, you kiss her on the cheek when she’s in bed at night and say, ‘Sleep well, my sweet sister.’”

“Wh-what?!” he cried out, stunned at the unexpected punishment.

Reine ignored his protest. “…Then we can make a penalty where we release the video if Kotori has to be away again in the future… Now, get in there and do this. Every time you strike out, another scene is added to the list.”

Shido place a hand to his forehead, despair weighing heavy in his heart.

The curtain next to Tohka’s dressing room snapped open.

“…!” He was briefly at a loss for words.

Origami’s slender body was clad in a triangle-top bikini. Maybe because the swimsuit was a dark color, her pale skin was striking against it, and her thighs, collarbone, and belly button—things normally hidden by clothing—were right there in front of him. She had pulled up her hair, so he got a peek at the almost irresistible nape of her neck. He was aware of his face growing red.

“Shido, what do you think?”

“…! Huh? O-oh… I think…it looks super great.”

“Oh.” She nodded, her face expressionless but still somehow happy, and stepped out of the changing room in her bare feet to do a spin in front of him.

This made his heart skip an extra beat. Once again, he heard the buzzer in his ear.

“…That good night kiss will happen when you’re lying down to sleep next to her.”

“…! Cr-crap!” His shoulders shook, but it was too late. His punishment had already been dealt.

“Ngh! Nn, nn, nn…”

Shido noticed Tohka grunting then. She was looking at Shido and Origami with narrowed eyes and gritting her teeth with maximum vexation.

“Shido! Get me that swimsuit!” she demanded.

“Huh?”

The suit she pointed at was a bikini hanging near him, a sexy design that covered about a quarter of the surface area of the suit Tohka was currently wearing.

“Th-this one? But, Tohka, I thought you were embar—”

“It’s fine! Just hand it over!”

Shido did as told and passed it to her. She snatched it away and closed the curtain. He soon heard more grunting from within the changing room.

“H-how’s this?!” The curtain flew open again, revealing a totally different Tohka.

Clad in the daring bikini Shido had just handed her, she tried to hide her belly button and thighs with her hands, her cheeks pink. Then, as if realizing this attempt to hide was pointless, she pulled her hands away for a moment, before covering herself again like she couldn’t quite relax.

“Th-that’s…” Shido swallowed hard. Although Origami had looked amazing, bikini-clad Tohka had a different kind of appeal. The dark bikini showed off her healthy proportions. And her slight embarrassment at revealing so much skin made it twice as great.

He could hardly stand it.

“…Okay, that’s a good morning kiss added to the list.”

“Ah!” Shido heard Reine’s voice in his right ear and jumped. He had apparently been intoxicated by Tohka’s bewitching figure. This strike was one he couldn’t argue against.

“Shido. D-does this look good on me…?” Tohka asked, rubbing her inner thighs nervously. Shido nodded. “I-it does?!”

“…” Origami began to seethe. Silently, she reentered the changing room.

It didn’t take long before the curtain was pulled back, and Origami stood there in her street clothes. Shido had been braced for an even more revealing suit to take the fight with Tohka to the next level, and so this was a bit unexpected.

It seemed Tohka felt the same way. After a dubious look at Origami’s outfit, she crossed her arms and snorted, self-satisfied. “Mm. So you accept your defeat? Good sportsmanship!”

Origami ignored Tohka and beckoned Shido silently with one hand.

“Huh? Wh-what?” He looked at her questioningly and walked over to her.

She grabbed his hand and wrapped his fingers around the hem of her skirt.

“Whoa?!” Shido cried out, bewildered.

“H-hey! What are you doing?!” Tohka shouted.

With the ultimate coolness, Origami parted her lips. “Flip it up.”

““Wha—?!”” Shido and Tohka were in marvelous harmony. He heard a buzzer in his right ear, but he didn’t even have the brainpower to register it in any real way. He sent his eyes looking anywhere but at Origami.

“Wh-what are you doing, Origami?!”

“Yeah, you! That’s against the rules!”

“It’s entirely in accordance with the rules. Flip it up, Shido.”

“Ah! Th-that’s just sort of…,” he stammered, his fingers shaking.

Origami tightened her grip on his hand, and the hem of her skirt slowly inched up.

“H-hey!” He tried to resist, but it was useless. Slowly but surely, the forbidden area revealed itself. Sadly, Shido was still a boy. Even as he tried to look anywhere but, he ended up staring at what lay beneath this skirt.

Origami was wearing a white swimsuit under her clothes.

“Wha…?! What the—?!” Tohka roared, stunned.

“I told you.” Origami turned her gaze on Tohka, seeming smug somehow. “It’s not in violation of the rules.”

This was a victory of the imagination. Instead of increasing the amount of skin shown, she had decreased it, making the destructive power of the swimsuit all the greater. A victory of tantalizing glimpse. She really is the genius of Raizen High School, Shido thought absently, his brain about to boil over.

“I’m the one who made his heart pound the hardest,” Origami declared. “I will take the date.”

“Th-that’s just…” Tohka hurriedly raced over to Shido and put her ear to his chest. After listening to his heart beat for a few seconds, a look of astonishment came across her face. “H-his heart is pounding…”

Origami calmly flapped her skirt. “You should acknowledge your defeat.”

“Ngh! Nnnnnngh…” Tohka clenched her jaw, brushed off Origami, and took Shido’s hand.

“T-Tohka…?” His eyebrows crawled up his forehead.

Her face flushing red, Tohka clutched his hand in both of hers. “Okay!” she cried, as if she had made up her mind about something.

“Yoshinon… I’m trusting you here!” she exclaimed as she yanked his hand out in front of her.

“Wha—?!” He put on the brakes at the last minute and interrupted this forward motion.

Because the intended destination was Tohka’s soft, bikini-clad breasts.

“He—wha—?! What are you doing, Tohka?!” he yelped. “Stop it!”

“N-no, no, no, no! Make your heart pound for me, Shido!”

“It is! It’s pounding! It’s pounding plenty, okay?!”

“R-really…?” A concerned look on her face, she put her ear to his chest once more.

A few seconds later…

“It was pounding harder for Origami Tobiichi…!” Tohka cried in despair and tried to press his hand to her breasts once again, while her blush deepening.

“H-hold on! Calm down, Tohka!” he shouted. “You’re embarrassed, too, aren’t you?! Don’t force yourself!”

“I-I’m okay…! With you, I’m okay! I mean, you touched them before!”

“What?” Origami was suddenly interested. “Tell me all the details.”

“Don’t get hung up on that. Stop her!” Shido shouted.

“Shi…do…!”

He heard a voice like a mosquito buzzing from somewhere. “Huh?”

Tohka and Origami had apparently also heard it. They froze and raised doubtful eyebrows.

“Mm. That voice belongs to…”

“…”

“That’s…Yoshino, right?” Shido perked his ears up and heard the small voice again.

“Shi…do. P-please…help me…!”

It seemed to be coming from inside the third changing room.

Help me. The instant those words hit his ears, he lost his head, raced over to the changing room, and put a hand on the curtain.

“…! Yoshino, I’m gonna open it! Okay?!” He yanked the curtain open. And in front of him was…

“Sh-Shido…” Yoshino had her clothes half off so that she was half-naked with her arms through the openings of a bikini top that she pressed to her chest with tears in her eyes.

What was this? Her slender body was so alluring that it threatened to cause an abnormal, immoral, forbidden sexual desire to blossom in Shido’s heart.

“I—I can’t…get it…on with…a single…hand…,” she explained weakly.

In his ear, the loudest buzzer of the day sounded.

This was the moment when the winner of the day-long date with Shido was decided.

“Aah… I’m completely wiped out today.” Shido let out a long sigh as he sat down on the bench in the break area on Fraxinus. He brought a paper cup to his lips and downed the café au lait inside.

Although it was called the break room, there wasn’t much going on. It was a simple space with a couple (free) vending machines up against the wall where the hallway dented inward a bit, with two benches opposite them and two tall decorative plants.

There was a proper cafeteria space elsewhere, but Shido preferred this place where there were fewer people coming and going. Especially on days like today when he was tired.

“Training’s fine, but I don’t think I should be using up all my strength before the big day…”

In the end, Shido had bought each of the girls a swimsuit and gotten a bite to eat before returning home. Then Reine had called him up, and they had gone over the plan again. They’d squeezed in a supper with Tohka and Yoshino before returning to the meeting, which had taken a fair bit of time.

He really wanted to talk with Kotori once more, but given that she was unstable, he wasn’t allowed to see her. So with nothing left to do before the big date, Shido was set adrift, and he ended up here, staring at the wall.

“…” He exhaled faintly, looking up at the ceiling.

It had been fine until earlier. As soon as he had a little free time, however, extraneous thoughts that he’d blocked began to pop up. Specifically, thoughts about what Origami had told him the previous day.

“Five years ago. A Spirit caused a large fire in the Nanko residential area in Tengu and burned my mother and father before my eyes. It was that Spirit who controls flames.”

“Was it really…Kotori?”

Kotori. His own little sister had killed Origami’s parents. There was no way he could believe that. He didn’t want to believe it, but he also very much doubted that Origami would make a joke about something of that nature.

“Honestly… What is the truth?”

When he searched his memories from that time, he felt a throbbing pain deep inside his head, far from the reach of any hand.

“Ngh…”

He still couldn’t remember everything about that day. What exactly had happened five years ago? How had he—or Kotori—known the way to seal a Spirit’s power? He couldn’t remember a single thing. He felt like a skillful filter had been planted in his memory, which was an extremely disturbing thought.

“May I sit next to you?” came a man’s voice abruptly from above.

He jumped and looked up to find Kannazuki standing there holding a paper cup.

“Oh. Yes, go ahead,” he said, and the man smiled and sat down.

“How are you feeling about tomorrow, Shido?”

“Um… Ha-ha… To be honest, I’m so anxious, I can hardly sit with my thoughts. I can’t picture me making Kotori weak in the knees. I can’t believe I sealed her power five years—” He cut himself off. It was more than a matter of belief or disbelief—he had no recollection of it.

“…? Is something the matter?” Kannazuki asked.

“Oh. Uh…actually.” Shido briefly explained that he couldn’t fully remember what had happened all those years ago.

“Hmm. You have no memory of it?”

“No. Just of that incident, nothing at all.”

“Well, I suppose not.”

“Huh?” Shido looked at the vice commander in surprise.

He brought the paper cup in his hand to his lips before replying. “When you were first told that she was a Spirit, you seemed very surprised. If you had remembered the goings-on of five years earlier, you would have evinced a different reaction.” He set the paper cup down on the bench and put a hand to his chin. “Hmm. Would you like to watch the video?”

“Video…?” Shido frowned.

“Yes.” Kannazuki gave an exaggerated nod. “A video of the catastrophe in Nanko, Tengu. It’s mere seconds long, but it shows what appears to be the Spirit commander and you, Shido.”

“…!” He gasped and opened his eyes wide. He was glad he’d finished his café au lait already. If he’d had a paper cup full of liquid in his hand at that moment, he would have spilled half of it all over the floor. “There’s a video?!”

“Yes. I believe some TV helicopter filmed it, but Ratatoskr suppressed the master tape before it could be made public. Shall I get it ready for you?”

“P-please…!” Shido said immediately. There was no way he could say no to that.

“Origami?! You should’ve called me if you were already out of the hospital!” AST Captain Ryouko Kusakabe yelled when Origami popped in at the Tengu Garrison CR unit hangar before heading home after saying good-bye to Shido and the others.

Ryouko looked to be doing some kind of equipment check in work pants and a black tank top; she had a clipboard tucked under her arm and a pen in her other hand. Because the CR units were delicate and extremely top secret, few people were permitted access to them. The AST captain often had to take care of administrative tasks, despite her being combat personnel.

Origami lowered her eyes and shook her head. “I was pulled into a very important matter.”

“An important matter? And what is that?” Ryouko raised an eyebrow and pointed at the paper bag in Origami’s right hand.

“This is a priceless gift,” she whispered, bringing the bag up to chest level. “And an ominous item carved with the bitterness of defeat.”

“Huh? Wh-what?” Ryouko frowned doubtfully and stared at the paper bag, which contained the swimsuit Shido had bought Origami.

“I will have my revenge on Hermit.”

“Wait. Why is Hermit part of this story?” Ryouko asked, starting to perspire, just as a simple transport vehicle slowly approached, pulling a massive piece of equipment.

“Whoops. Origami, you get back, too.” Ryouko beckoned her with one hand, and Origami walked over to her.

Then the girl glanced at the equipment passing behind them. It was an enormous unit, five or more meters in length, covered in a protective sheet.

“What’s this?” she asked.

“Mm.” Ryouko ran her pen across the clipboard she’d had under her arm as she replied. “Newly deployed test model. DW-029, destructive weapon White Licorice. Two large Cleave Leaf laser blades, two Blastalk magic guns, fifty point five centimeters, and eight exchangeable, large-capacity Loot Box weapon containers. A wild unit that has one person carrying all the firepower of an entire AST.”

“…” Origami looked up at the large weapon silently. “Is it possible to defeat Efreet using this?”

“Hmm? What are you on about?” Ryouko glanced over at her. “You can’t use this. No authorization, no training. It’s a test model from DEM. Theoretically, at least, it’s supposedly capable of taking down a Spirit… But it disabled a DEM wizard after thirty minutes of fully equipped operation. Take it from me. You leave this one alone.”

“…Then why send it here?” Origami asked.

“Mm. Seems someone in the brass at DEM passed it this way thinking that Mana might be able to handle it. But, well, if the girl in question’s asleep, it’s just a fancy lump sitting here.”

“Oh.”

“And…Efreet? That fire Spirit from five years ago? Why’d you bring her up? She was only ever confirmed the one time and never—” Ryouko stopped abruptly and turned curious eyes on Origami before snapping her fingers. “Oh, that was Efreet?”

“…! What do you mean?” Origami frowned the slightest bit and leaned toward Ryouko with her whole body. She took a step forward and then another to close the distance between them.

Perhaps surprised at this strange behavior, Ryouko moved the opposite foot back and leaned slightly away from her. “Wh-what? That was out of the blue.”

“Just tell me.”

“Tell you?” Ryouko looked at her dubiously. “The day before yesterday, when you and Mana were fighting Nightmare on the high school roof, was that Efreet that showed? It was a Spirit of flames, right?”

“…!” Origami gasped and brought her face in close. “How do you know a Spirit of flames appeared the day before yesterday?”

“How? Because I watched the video, of course.”

“…!” Origami’s eyes flew open. She never dreamed that a clue about Efreet could lie so close at hand. “Captain Kusakabe.”

“Wh-what?”

“Please show me that video. Right now.”

“Er, let’s see…”

Shido and Kannazuki had moved from the break room to the briefing room where the strategy meeting had been held on the previous day. The vice commander had no sooner sat down in the same chair as yesterday than he was tapping at the console before him in the round table.

“I’m sorry this is taking so long. If this were the terminal in my office, it would go a little more smoothly.”

“That’s not a problem at all,” Shido said. “Is the video stored in here?”

“No. The video itself is not stored on Fraxinus. I’m accessing the database at headquarters.”

Shido raised an eyebrow at the unfamiliar headquarters, but it only made sense when he thought about it. Fraxinus was an airship. No matter how well the Realizers worked, it couldn’t exactly stay floating in the sky forever.

“You basically need a network environment then, right?” he asked. “So wouldn’t your office work just as well?”

“Well, that is true, yes,” Kannazuki agreed. “But the screen of my terminal there isn’t very large. It’s not well suited to viewing detailed images. Ah, here we are. Look at the monitor.”

A video appeared on the monitor in the center of the round table. It showed a corner of town filmed from above. The carpet of bright red flames that filled the screen were better described as a gas field or a volcano or a furnace. The infernal purgatory was such that it was hard to believe that only a few hours earlier, people had been living and working there, going about their daily business.

From the speakers, he could hear the whirring of helicopter blades and the choppy voice of what sounded like a male reporter, punctuated with occasional explosions, which shook the screen slightly.

“…Ngh.” Shido frowned. The scene was even more intense than he’d imagined. He only remembered that the place where he used to live had caught fire. He never dreamed it was a disaster of this magnitude.

“Ah, it’s coming up now,” Kannazuki said in a quiet voice, his eyes on the screen as well.

The helicopter spun around and gradually dropped altitude. At the same time, the camera zoomed in, and the image blurred. After a moment, the focus was adjusted bit by bit.

“That’s—!” Shido cried out when he saw what was on the edge of the screen.

In the center of the area, the houses that should have been there had been completely burned down, unlike the outskirts. In that wasteland, he found a familiar figure.

The video was old, the resolution was poor, and the image was unstable since it had been filmed from the air. Plus, there were any other number of quality issues making the video extremely rough. There was no way Shido would make a mistake about this, however.

“Kotori…”

She was wearing the same Astral Dress he’d seen on the roof of Raizen High School the other day. And at her feet was a small shadow.

He furrowed his brow and focused on the shaky screen. “Is that…me?”

And then…

“Huh?” All the air was knocked out of his lungs.

It was in front of Kotori and Shido. A thing. Something was there before them.

The average person probably would’ve assumed it was simply static running across the screen. But it wasn’t. This was… This shadow was…

“…!” Shido dropped to his knees, clutching his head in his hands.

The moment he saw it, the throbbing lying dormant in his head suddenly flared up, and the pain was blinding.

“Shido? What’s the matter?” Kannazuki asked.

But Shido couldn’t answer him. He stared at the screen, gazing at the static lurking in front of a young Kotori and Shido. “Who…on earth…? What are you…?”

“Who? What are you speaking of?” Kannazuki cocked his head to one side.

“This one. In front of Kotori and me…” Shido suddenly understood that this shadow was a person. At the very least, he knew it was a being to which the pronoun who could be applied.

“Ah…”

The pain in his head grew blindingly bright, and Shido passed out.

“…!”

Having dragged Ryouko away from work to the briefing room, Origami looked at the video projected onto the screen, stunned.

The quality of the video itself was extremely poor. The resolution was low, and the camera was too far away. And because the filming only started once events were well underway, it was only a few minutes long, likely because the camera got destroyed.

But it was more than enough for Origami.

The figure she’d seen with blurred eyes five years ago. The silhouette she’d caught sight of with a confused mind two days ago. She could see the face of this hated enemy clearly now for the first time.

She replayed the video from the start and paused it. She zoomed in on Efreet’s face. Origami’s suspicion changed to conviction.

The Spirit of flames she’d been chasing these last five years. This was her face.

“Kotori…Itsuka.”

It was Shido Itsuka’s little sister.