Final Chapter

Chance Meeting at Dusk

Around the time that the evening sun was falling in the canyon of buildings, Kurumi Tokisaki was rolling her neck slowly on the edge of a rooftop.

Behind her lay several human beings. Actually, all of the human beings in this building were in a state of unconsciousness.

City of Devouring Time—Kurumi’s wide-range barrier that sucked up the time of any human being who set foot on her shadow.

The clock of her left eye was spinning counterclockwise to fill in the extra “time” she had been forced to expend the other day. She let out a quiet sigh, and the shadow covering the building slowly gathered at her feet.

It was most effective to keep absorbing their time until the moment of death, but there would definitely be a fuss if this many people all died at once. And given that she hadn’t yet sufficiently replenished her time, Kurumi wanted to avoid the AST or that red Spirit sniffing around.

“Haah. It’s still nowhere near enough…” She yawned and stretched out her left hand. “Zafkiel.”

A massive clock appeared from Kurumi’s shadow. The numbers I, II, and III had been lost in the battle, but they were restored now. The VI at the very bottom, however, was pale, having lost its color for some reason. Kurumi held up a hand, and the short hand of the clock—an ancient handgun—dropped down into it.

She moved her lips bewitchingly.

“Eighth Bullet. Het.”

The clock of her left eye began to spin forward at incredible speed, and a shadow oozing out from the VIII was sucked into the gun. Kurumi brought the barrel of the gun loaded with this shadow bullet to her own forehead in a slow motion and pulled the trigger without hesitation.

The shock of it made her head shake, and then the girl split into two. Actually, that was not quite it. It was perhaps better to say that another Kurumi was born from Kurumi herself.

Zafkiel’s Het—a bullet that created a clone by cutting away the self she was up until the moment she shot herself with it. The life span of this avatar was proportional to the time spent on the generation of Het. In other words, to generate a clone that would exist for a long period, Kurumi had to use up an appropriate amount of her “time.”

“You get the worst mileage, hmm?” she complained as she fired Het at her head one more time. Another Kurumi was born and swallowed up in the shadows that curled around the roof.

Mana Takamiya and the Spirit of flames had erased approximately five hundred avatars on the roof of Raizen High School a few days earlier.

She still had a number of clones in her shadow at the moment, but she needed to replenish her time and build up her forces for now.

“Next time…I will absolutely have you, Shido.”

One corner of her mouth twisted up, and a giggle slipped out of her.

“…?” Kurumi looked back abruptly. She had sensed the presence of someone on the roof when there should have been no one conscious.

It didn’t take long before she understood the true nature of this presence. She exhaled through her nose and moved to shrug her shoulders.

“Oh, oh, it’s you.” Her eyebrows arched, and she narrowed her eyes slightly at the familiar silhouette standing there.

But it was perhaps a little incorrect to say she knew the “true nature” of this presence. This whatever had a strangely low resolution that made it very difficult to perceive.

“So? How was he?” came a strange voice.

She couldn’t even tell if it was a man or a woman, high-pitched or low. It was a curious sensation. Even though she registered what the words meant, she couldn’t pick up any defining characteristics of the voice that uttered them.

But it wasn’t like this was the first time. Kurumi simply nodded calmly, without surprise.

“Yes, he was wonderful. I couldn’t in fact believe that someone like that could actually exist until I saw him with my own eyes.”

Yes. She had been dubious when this something had appeared before her a month or so ago and told her that there was a human being who had stored within himself the power of three Spirits.

But if he actually did exist…that would have been a huge step toward Kurumi’s objective. She’d assumed it would prove a dead end when she first set up contact, but she was pleasantly surprised. Her sharp nose had detected the rich scent of Spirit powers coming from Shido.

“Did you give up on him then?”

“Hee-hee. Of course not!”

The something snorted.

“But right now, accumulating time comes first. In this state, I won’t be able to kill off that Spirit of flames… However, I’m most certainly not giving up!”

She fired Het at her head again.

“In order to use Zafkiel’s final bullet—the Twelfth Bullet Yud Bet—I must have Shido’s power. I will have him. I will. I will not give up. I won’t.”

The desire she had thought would never be fulfilled. The deep-seated wish that had smoldered in her heart since she dropped into this world. She had finally found the path to achieving it.

Each of the numbers on the face of Zafkiel was equipped with a “bullet” containing Spirit powers. These manifested by using up Kurumi’s time, but the eleventh—Yud Aleph—and the twelfth—Yud Bet—alone were of a slightly different nature. These bullets required payment on the level of a single Spirit’s life.

If she were to fire them, Kurumi might very well expire on the spot. And even if she were to live through it, she would not have enough power left to achieve her objective.

If she could manage to “eat” Shido—Shido with his three Spirits’ worth of power—Kurumi would be able to fire Yud Bet with plenty of strength left to her.

The power of Zafkiel’s Yud Bet was…

“The bullet to go against time. What on earth do you intend to do with that?” the something asked, as if reading her mind.

“…” Kurumi frowned and averted her eyes. “I do wonder how you know even that. Not only have I never shown anyone, but I have not so much as spoken of it.”

“Well…I wonder,” the something joked.

Kurumi sniffed indignantly.

Yes. The power of Yud Bet was to go against time. A bullet to send the target to a world of the past.

She brandished the pistol in her left hand as she slowly opened her mouth. There was no advantage in giving this mysterious something information. But her lips moved very naturally. Perhaps she simply wanted someone to listen to the desire that she had never been able to speak of before.

“Yud Bet. I’ll use it to go back in time thirty years.”

“Thirty years ago…? Why then?” the thing asked.

Kurumi continued, her finger on the trigger of her pistol. “Thirty years ago, a Spirit first appeared in this world. The first Spirit, the source of all Spirits. I will kill her.”

“…”

The something was silent. Regardless, Kurumi continued.

“I’ll erase the very fact of a Spirit appearing in this world. I’ll make it so that all the Spirits in this world now were never here. That is my heart’s truest desire.”

After a moment of silence, the something spoke. “Oh? You’re surprisingly kind.”

“…!” Kurumi scowled before turning the pistol she held toward the something and pulling the trigger.

But before the bullet she fired could reach it, the something melted into the darkness.

“Reine, how’s Kotori?” Shido asked when Reine returned to the bridge from the medical office.

“…Mm, nothing to worry about. She’ll probably wake up soon.”

“She will…?” He let out a sigh of relief. Fraxinus had recovered Kotori soon after the attack, but it looked like there was nothing wrong with her.

“And what about Origami? What’s going to happen to her…?” he murmured, looking troubled. Other AST members had come flying in when the fighting was done and carried Origami off in restraints.

“…Mm. Well, she did mess up pretty badly. It probably won’t mean her life, but… She might be discharged and never be able to handle a Realizer again.”

“…!” Shido gasped. But maybe that was just how it had to be. Although she did have her reasons for it, she had exposed a top secret weapon to the public and put people in danger. The AST’s greatest objective might have been the destruction of the Spirits, but that sort of thing would absolutely not fly.

Well, there was no point in him thinking about that now. All he could do was wait until Origami’s punishment was decided.

He sighed and turned back to Reine. “So then… I should probably get going. Tohka and Yoshino are starving, I bet.” He pointed at the floor and the Itsukas’ house directly below.

After saving Shido and Kotori, Tohka and Yoshino had their powers sealed in Shido’s body once more through the Path and then had undergone a simple examination on Fraxinus before returning to the Itsukas’ house to wait.

He’d confirmed that Kotori was okay. It was getting to be time to make supper, and it was probably best if he went home for a while at least.

“…Mm, I guess so. They’re probably worried about Kotori, too. Go put their minds at ease.” Reine nodded, appearing to have no objections.

“Okay. Keep an eye on Kotori for me.”

“…Sure, you leave her to me… Oh right. Shin?” Reine called to him just when he was about to leave the bridge. She bowed deeply. “…I’m sorry.”

“Huh…?” Shido was stunned. “F-for what, Reine?”

“…Today was entirely an error in my judgment. I misread the situation and exposed you all to danger… I’m really sorry.”

“No, that’s…” He felt uncomfortable at the sudden apology and fidgeted. To begin with, what was this error in judgment—?

“Ah!” he cried out. “Do you mean having Tohka and Yoshino come along on the date? Well…sure, at first, I was panicked, but they did save us in the end, so…”

Reine jerked her head up and shook it. “…There was also that, true. But my fatal mistake came before that.”

“Huh?” His eyes grew round. “So then exactly what mistake are you talking about?”

Reine moved to her seat on slow feet and began to tap at her console with a practiced hand. “…The truth is, there should never have been a date at all today. You could have safely sealed Kotori’s powers with a kiss once you woke up two days ago… But Kotori was so excited about the date, I couldn’t bring myself to tell you… I’m really sorry.”

“Huh…? N-no, that would’ve been impossible, though? I have to get my likability up first.”

Yes. He was sure that either Reine or Kotori had said that. In order to seal a Spirit’s powers with a kiss, he had to get his likability with them above a certain level.

Reine put up a curious image on the monitor. He had seen this before. A graph showing the changes in Spirit likability with time. But there was no line indicating likability on this one.

Wait. Shido realized his mistake. There was a line. A straight line following the very top part of the graph.

“That’s…”

“…The changes in Kotori’s likability toward you,” Reine said and turned her chair toward Shido as she indicated the monitor. “…For the two days since we started monitoring Kotori. There has been absolutely no change in the likability value. It was maxed out from the start…”

“Huh? So then… This means…”

Reine nodded. “…I told you, didn’t I? Kotori loves her big brother.”

“Huh…?” Shido gaped at the screen. “Unh…! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

Someone kicked him from behind, and he fell forward face-first into Reine’s chest.

“…Mm?” Reine lowered her gaze.

Shido hurried to straighten up again. “S-sorry to intrude…!”

“…Mm. Come back anytime.”

He bowed and then looked back to find Kotori standing there, face beet red, wearing a military jacket over her hospital gown.

“Kotori?! You’re awa—”

“Whatever! Just forget what you saw now! Those numbers are obviously wrong!”

“…That’s not the case. There was no mistake in my device, either.”

“Ten limited-edition milky cream puffs from La Pucelle!” Kotori shouted.

“…I’m sorry, Shin. There might have been some problem with the measurement device.” Reine walked back her previous statement.

“…Uh-huh. Sure.” Reine was rather easily bought off. Shido tousled his hair and turned back to Kotori. “Anyway, how are you feeling? You should probably go back—”

“Hmph! I don’t have time. I have to prepare a report.”

“Report? That can wait until tomorrow, can’t it? You need to rest today at least.”

“No can do.” Kotori’s gaze sharpened. She pulled a Chupa Chups from the inner pocket of her jacket, popped it in her mouth, and flicked the stick up before continuing. “I finally remembered the being who gave me Spirit powers five years ago. Given that there is a non-zero possibility that my memory could be erased once more when I wake up tomorrow, I need to make a record of this somewhere outside of my head and yours.”

“…! Oh yeah?” Shido frowned and clenched his hands slightly.

The mysterious Spirit that had appeared to Kotori and Shido five years earlier. And probably the Spirit that had killed Origami’s parents. Although he could remember its presence, its real identity was still shrouded in darkness.

“Don’t push yourself too hard, Kotori.”

“I’ll use discretion.” Kotori waved him away and walked over to the captain’s chair. She pulled out a small memory medium from her console and started toward the door again. And then she stopped.

She turned her head ever so slightly, so that her expression could just barely not be seen from where Shido stood.

“Hey, Shido?” she asked, her voice quiet. “What you said before you sealed my Spirit power… Was that true?”

“Before I sealed… Um.” Shido went back through his memory and then slapped a fist into his hand. “Oh!”

Now that she mentioned it, right before he’d locked her power away, he had told Kotori, “I love you.” That was it.

“Of course it’s true. I love you, Kotori.”

“…!!” She shuddered, and her fingers twitched restlessly. “Uh. Oh. Th-that’s… I—I—”

“As a sister!”

“Oh, thaaaaaaaaat way!” Kotori whirled around with an energy that seemed impossible for someone recently abed and launched a dropkick at Shido’s head.

“Hngh…?!” Knocked flying from the impact, he dived into Reine’s chest once again.

“…Mm, that was quick.”

“I-I’m sorry!” Shido hurriedly pulled himself back up and whirled around toward Kotori. She was already walking to the door.

“Kotori!”

“…What?!” she barked, seeming extremely put out, without turning her face toward him. In a very arrogant, strong tone. A manner that seemed impossible for crybaby Kotori.

Shido scratched his head, sighed, and called to her back, “Those ribbons look amazing on you!”

“…!” She looked back, surprised. And then, after meeting Shido’s eyes for a few seconds…

“…Mm. Thanks, Big Bro,” she whispered and left the bridge.