Chapter 1

DEM Maneuvering

“Now to announce your sentence,” said the man, his voice quiet and solemn.

He was seated with several other men in the SDF Tengu Garrison, and all of them had their eyes on Origami, who stood in the center of the room. Their faces were severe, gazes critical of the girl who had come before them.

But that was only natural. They were in the middle of an investigation into Origami’s scandalous behavior, after all.

“Master Sergeant Origami Tobiichi,” the man directly in front of her—General Kiritani—continued harshly. “You are subject to disciplinary action. You will never touch a Realizer again.”

“………” She let out a tiny sigh, the look on her face unchanging. She’d been expecting this. The result had been decided before the investigation even started.

For formality’s sake, her direct supervisor, Ryouko Kusakabe, was also in attendance, acting as her counsel, but the board had acknowledged almost none of the points she’d raised. The “investigation” was nothing more than a thin excuse to punish Origami.

And of course it was. Her error had been that serious. Origami had done what she did fully prepared for this conclusion.

If only. If only she could defeat this Spirit—Efreet, the very Spirit who had killed her parents—she didn’t care if she was ever allowed to fight again, which was why she had pulled the trigger that would end her career as a soldier. But she had miscalculated something: Efreet—Kotori Itsuka—was not the true target of her vengeance.

Actually, she wasn’t entirely sure of that yet. But she also couldn’t discount Shido’s desperate plea. He wouldn’t have risked his life to lie to her. If what he said was true and there had been another Spirit present five years ago, Origami was, in this very moment, losing her chance to go after the real killer.

Her heart was very rarely moved, but this cut her to the core.

“…?”

The door opened abruptly, and the men all looked in that direction.

“We’re in the middle of conducting a hearing here. I said no one is to—,” Kiritani started, frowning, but stopped when he saw the face of the intruder. “Mr. Westcott?”

He sounded so doubtful, the look on his face so suspicious, that Origami felt compelled to turn toward the door.

Accompanied by a girl who looked to be his secretary, the man standing there was tall and dressed in a jet-black suit, with dark ash-blond hair and eyes as sharp as knives. He couldn’t have been older than thirty-five, but he had a mysterious air that made him seem far wiser than his years.

Origami’s eyebrows twitched the slightest bit.

DEM Managing Director Sir Isaac Ray Pelham Westcott. For all intents and purposes, the head of the world’s only Realizer manufacturer.

“Oh, you were in the middle of something. So sorry,” Westcott said in fluent Japanese as he looked around the room and shrugged affably.

“Wh-what are you doing…?” Kiritani stuttered, baffled.

Westcott turned his eyes on the general. “Oh, I heard that Mana went down after we took the trouble of sending you White Licorice. I was planning a trip to Japan anyway, so I thought I might drop by and offer her some words of encouragement. But then I heard something rather interesting.”

“Interesting?” Kiritani arched an eyebrow.

The younger man nodded theatrically. “A member of your AST activated White Licorice and fought a Spirit.”

“…!” Kiritani gasped.

With good reason. DW-029 White Licorice, the weapon of total annihilation Origami had taken without permission, was an experimental DEM model, the crystallization of top-secret technological innovations. Setting aside the fact that this equipment was technically difficult to use, the only person with permission to operate it was Mana, who had been transferred to the AST from DEM.

“You mustn’t jump to conclusions.” Westcott shook his head with a dramatic flair, as if he had read the general’s mind. “I don’t intend to reproach you for that or take advantage of this scandal to make demands of you.”

“Then what?”

“Pure curiosity. I simply wondered what kind of wizard managed to ride that wild stallion, even if only for a brief moment. Well.” Westcott turned his gaze toward Origami. “I didn’t think it would be a girl so lovely as yourself.”

“…” Origami felt something disturbing in that gaze and swallowed hard.

Westcott smiled dryly and shrugged.

General Kiritani cleared his throat. “We will formally apologize for this incident at a later date. We also intend to discipline the master sergeant.”

“What sort of discipline?” Westcott asked.

“After memory processing, we have come to the conclusion that a dismissal would be appropriate,” Kiritani replied curtly.

“What are you talking about?” Westcott heaved a great sigh. “Do you realize how few wizards possess the skill and ability necessary to handle that piece of equipment?”

“…That is not the issue here, sir. This is a matter of military discipline.”

“Ohhh.” Westcott placed a hand on his forehead in an exaggerated gesture as he exhaled. And then he slammed his hand on the table in front of Kiritani and brought his face in very close. “Do you not understand what I’m hinting at? I’ve said quite enough here.”

“…!” The officers in the room all gasped.

Isaac Westcott was indeed that influential. But that wasn’t all. This man was the managing director of DEM. In other words, it was no exaggeration to say that he controlled the world’s Realizers, the miraculous technology humanity had obtained thirty years earlier. A piece of “magic” that turned fantasy into reality.

Although it was not public knowledge, every country used Realizers in key institutions. If, hypothetically speaking, DEM decided on a whim not to supply a certain country with Realizers, it would have severe repurcussions.

Origami heard General Kiritani gulp loudly. The SDF owed DEM a significant debt. If the general made the wrong decision here and soured Westcott’s mood, it would no doubt mean trouble.

However, Kiritani gritted his teeth and hit the table with a fist. “Don’t underestimate us, you private sector peacock. The decision will not be overturned. Master Sergeant Tobiichi is discharged.” He glared at Westcott.

She could hear the room hold their collective breath. But no one objected to the general’s statement. Which was to be expected. They couldn’t exactly create a precedent here for senior officers of the SDF to yield to the demands of a foreign manufacturer.

“Wonderful.” Westcott met Kiritani’s eyes briefly and then exhaled, pulling a smartphone from his jacket’s inside pocket to make a call. “Oh, hello. How’ve you been? Yes, actually, there was something I wished to discuss…”

After a few more words, he handed the phone to Kiritani.

“…? What—?”

“You’ll understand once you take the call.”

Scowling doubtfully, Kiritani took the device and held it to his ear. “…! Minister of Defense Saeki?!” He flew back in his seat, his face colored with surprise. “Ah… But…! N-no, that’s definitely not…” A sheen of sweat formed on his forehead, and a deep furrow was carved between his brows.

When the call was done, he threw the phone at Westcott.

“Ah! Please handle this with more care. It’s the latest model.”

“…You little…!”

“Heh-heh. Civilian oversight is a marvelous system. No need to take on the brawny types; a matter can be settled simply by befriending a single gentleman.” Westcott tucked the phone back into his inner pocket as he turned up the palms of his hands, encouraging Kiritani to speak.

Kiritani groaned in annoyance. He raised his fist once more and slammed it against the table. “Master Sergeant Origami Tobiichi is sentenced to two months’ suspension!”

“…?!” The eyes of the assembled officers grew wide at this declaration.

Suspension—essentially, the prohibition of Realizer use. Considering what Origami had done, the punishment was unbelievably light.

“General, that’s—”

“…! Quiet. The decision has been made. This hearing is adjourned. Get the hell out of here!”

“But—,” Origami started, but Ryouko stood up, flustered, and took her hand.

“E-excuse us!” She bowed and led Origami out of the room on quick feet.

As they left, Westcott raised his hand slightly in a friendly sort of way, but Origami simply glanced at him and let her superior officer pull her out the door.

Ryouko marched down the hallway with Origami in tow until they were far enough away that their voices wouldn’t carry back into the room. “Origami, you started to say something back there.”

“…However indirectly, the SDF executive submitting to the request of a foreign corpo—,” she began, and Ryouko whacked her on the head.

“How could you?” Origami turned curious eyes on the older woman.

“I could ask you the same thing. What if you said the wrong thing in there and they decided to dismiss you on the spot, damn the consequences?!”

“…That would be a problem,” Origami replied.

Ryouko sighed and ran her hands through her hair. “Then we can just leave it at that. A happy little coincidence. Just think of him like one of God’s angels—one with a grim face. Now you’ll be able to get revenge for your parents, right?”

“…” Origami clenched her hands and nodded.

Ryouko’s expression relaxed. She dipped her head forward and then frowned. “Hmm?” She looked back down the corridor.

Following suit, Origami turned and saw two small heads poking out from where the hallway branched off. She looked at Ryouko, and the two started walking quietly in that direction.

“Wah!” Ryouko shouted, and the two heads bounced up and collapsed on the spot.

“O-ow. What are you dooooing?”

“Hngh! Y-you’re heavy, Mikey.”

The girls were somewhere in their mid-teens. One had her hair tied up in two bunches and was wearing a Raizen High School uniform. The other had blond hair and blue eyes, glasses, and a large white jacket over work clothes.

Private Mikie Okamine and Sergeant First Class Mildred F. Fujimura. Although combat personnel and mechanics had different responsibilities and their own sections, both girls were members of the same AST as Origami and Ryouko. Perhaps because they were close in age, the pair were strangely attached to Origami.

“Mikey and Milly… What are you doing here?” Ryouko asked, arms crossed and eyes narrowed.

The girls straightened up in an instant and began to wave their hands, flustered.

“Oh. Um. You see, um, what was it again, Milly?”

“Wha—?! Don’t toss this hot potato to me!”

Ryouko let out a long sigh. “So you were just worried about Origami… Honestly.”

“Uh. Uhhh…”

“We’re sorry.”

Mikie and Milly seemed apologetic, and their shoulders slumped.

But Mikie quickly lifted her face with a gasp and turned her eyes on Origami. “S-so…? What happened, Origami?!”

Ryouko sighed again, looking exasperated. “Ugh.” She jerked her chin at Origami as if ordering her to answer them.

Origami nodded at Ryouko. “…I was given two months’ suspension.”

“O-oh…” Mikie’s knees buckled under her, and she slumped to the ground. But she quickly shook her head and pulled a brown envelope with resignation letter on it from her pocket and threw it to the floor. “And in conclusion, I would like to résign…”

“Weird emphasis, Mikey.”

Milly rubbed Mikie’s shoulders as if she were pacifying an animal. “Just calm down and actually think about what Origami said.”

“Huh…? B-but Origami’s got two months’ suspension— Wait! What? Suspension?” Mikie stood up, wiping away the tears in her eyes with her sleeve. “S-suspension? Does that mean you don’t have to quit?!”

“Yes,” Origami replied.

The despair on Mikie’s face turned into sunshine. “Th-that’s great… If you had been discharged, I…I…!” The tears she had just wiped away welled up in her eyes once again. Carried away by emotion, she threw her arms out and leaped toward Origami. “Origamiiiiiiii!”

Origami twisted her body to one side to allow the incoming attack to slip past her and elbowed the other girl in the back of her head. She hadn’t intended to fight, but something deep in her bones instinctively reacted to the charge.

“Plergh?!” With a curious cry, Mikie slammed into the floor facefirst. “O-Origami…”

“…It catches me off guard when you rush forward suddenly.”

“B-but… That was supposed to be our big emotional scene…” Mikie sniffled as she rubbed her bright red nose and forehead.

Eyeing Mikie, Ryouko crouched down and snapped up the brown envelope from the floor. “Hmm. You want to quit the AST? Well, it’ll hurt with us being short-staffed, but if you’ve gone to all the trouble of writing a letter, it would be rude to reject your request.” She shrugged in an exaggerated manner and sighed.

“What?!” Mikie cried. Her eyes flew wide open, and she hurried over to Ryouko. “Uh. Um! That isn’t…!”

“Hmm? What? Something wrong, Mikey?” Ryouko raised an eyebrow. “Oh, sorry for being overly familiar there, Okamine. It’s all right. I’m sure you’ll have many successes in the future.”

“Captain, y-you’re getting it all wrong! No!” Mikey reached out to try and take her letter back from Ryouko.

But when she almost had it, Ryouko yanked her hand up, and the envelope shot out of reach.

“Th-this is—this is some kind of mistake!” she wailed. “A plot by an evil organizatiooooon!”

“A mistake? Even though you’re the one who wrote it?”

Mikie jumped up and down while Ryouko simply yanked the letter farther up and up. She was clearly playing around. For the ever-serious captain, it was a rare act. But maybe she was trying to release the stress of the hearing they’d just left. Or maybe it was because Mikie was someone no one could resist teasing.

Origami watched over them with her usual expressionless face, and Milly laughed out loud.

“Well, I guess you’re both just happy that Origami got by without getting the ax,” Ryouko said. “But I can’t believe you only got two months’ suspension. To be honest, I thought you could only come out of that room with a dishonorable discharge.”

Origami wasn’t sure how to explain, but then Milly gasped and waved her hands in front of her. “Ngh! N-n-n-n-n-n-no way…”

“Mildred?” Origami asked doubtfully.

Milly ignored this, her cheeks flushing, sweat beading on her forehead. “This kind of thing is normally a discharge-worthy offense… But your punishment was suspension. An unnaturally light sentence… A dark room… Officers with leering grins… ‘You don’t want to get fired, do you? Then you know what you have to do, don’t you?’ Aah, Origami on all fours in a humiliating outfit, a girlish look she’s never shown anyone—”

“Shush!”

Whap! Ryouko’s fist came down on Milly’s head.

“Eek!” Milly yelped. “Wh-what was that for?! My brain is a valuable asset to humanity, you know!”

“Shut it. Every thought you have leaks right out of your mouth.”

“L-leak…? They wouldn’t actually force her to indulge that kind of fetish—”

Ryouko’s fist slammed into Milly’s head yet again.

“Ow-ow-ow,” Milly moaned. “Honestly, what would you do if you turned me into an idiot?!”

“You’re already there, you sex-crazed perv,” Ryouko said, exasperated, and then tousled Milly’s hair.

Tak, tak. She heard footsteps up ahead in the corridor. When she peered in that direction, she found a man in a black suit and a girl in sunglasses. Isaac Westcott and his secretary.

“…” Ryouko bowed neatly. Seeing this, the others noticed Westcott, too. They stopped fooling around and immediately snapped to attention, zipping up their lips.

“Aah.” Westcott raised an eyebrow as if he had just noticed them. As he walked past Origami, he laid a hand on her shoulder. “I’ve got high hopes for you, young wizard. I’m sure that you will be able to destroy the Spirits.”

“…!” Origami swallowed hard. She sensed no hostility or danger. But her heart began to contract faster, pounding at a speed that seemed impossible. Almost as if she felt fear toward the man passing by her.

“Give,” he commanded, and his secretary pulled a small piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to Origami. “Here.”

Origami accepted it wordlessly. The paper was a card with the name I. R. P. WESTCOTT, a series of digits that appeared to be a phone number, and an e-mail address.

“Let me know if you have any problems,” he told her. “Anytime. Deus Ex Machina will spare no expense in cooperating with you.”

“…I appreciate that,” she replied quietly as she accepted the business card. She couldn’t meet his eyes.

Perhaps noticing this, Westcott smiled slightly before walking off with his secretary.

“Uh. Um… What was that?”

“Who was he?”

Mikey and Milly cocked their heads to one side in perfect sync.

Ryouko’s expression changed from tense to exasperated as she scratched her head and half-closed her eyes. “Mr. Westcott from DEM. Haven’t you seen him on TV or in a magazine or anything? And I mean, Mikey is one thing, but Milly, didn’t you transfer over from DEM? Why don’t you know who he is?”

DEM was the only company in the entire world that made the Realizers that were the key to the CR unit. Consequently, supervisors and mechanical engineers were regularly dispatched from DEM to military and police organizations equipped with Realizers. Milly was one of them.

Milly put a finger to her chin. “Oh, now that you mention it, maybe I’ve seen him before.”

“Now that I mention it? He’s technically your boss, isn’t he?”

“Ah-ha-ha! Mechanics don’t come face-to-face with upper management too much. So long as they shut up and keep shelling out for me and the rest of us, I don’t care who’s who in that little army of salespeople.”

“Someone loves to be controversial.” Ryouko smiled dryly.

But Origami wasn’t paying any attention to this exchange. She almost glared at the letters and numbers on the business card still in her palm and swallowed hard once more.

Westcott sighed quietly. His shoes clacked against the floor.

“Did you see that, Ellen? They do not understand the magnitude of this. A group of incompetent people came this close to censuring a one-in-a-thousand genius. Simply bizarre.”

“Yes, sir,” replied the girl walking a few paces behind him—Ellen.

“But to think that an unrefined wizard could move White Licorice! If that Kiritani hadn’t changed his punishment for Origami Tobiichi, we might have welcomed her into our own fold. In that sense, it’s a bit of a disappointment that he did bend the knee.”

“Would we have welcomed her at DEM?”

“Yes. If we processed her properly, she might become a wizard to surpass Mana and Artemisia—or even the world’s most powerful wizard, Ellen Mathers.” Westcott grinned.

“…” The world’s most powerful wizard was silent for a moment. She may have known it was a joke, but it perhaps left a foul taste in her mouth.

Westcott found this unbearably adorable.

“That reminds me,” she said suddenly. “I have a report.” She opened the folder in her hand.

“A report?” he asked.

“Yes. The other day, I was informed that the AAA-rank Spirit—code name Princess—has not been sighted for approximately three months, despite making repeated appearances before that in the Kanto area.”

“Oh, yes, I heard. But that’s not particularly unusual, is it?”

“No. But look at this.” Ellen turned a photograph toward Westcott.

It showed two girls. One was Master Sergeant Origami Tobiichi, whom they had just met, and he was reminded that she was technically a reserve AST member and attended high school when things were under control.

The issue, however, was the other girl.

She was slender, in a uniform of the same design as Origami’s. Her face was beautiful, framed by hair as black as the night hanging down to her waist. Ephemeral crystal eyes that, once seen, would have been impossible to forget.

There was no doubt. No mistake here.

“—Princess?” Westcott murmured as he worked to slow the pounding of his heart.

Yes. Shown in the photo was the very Spirit in question, Princess.

“What is the meaning of this?” he asked, frowning. “Are you saying that the Spirit is attending high school?”

“Her name is Tohka Yatogami,” Ellen told him. “She apparently transferred to Raizen High School at the same time that Princess vanished.”

“And how did the SDF react?”

“It seems Master Sergeant Tobiichi reported a student who was the exact likeness of the Spirit. However, because they could not measure a Spirit reaction, they determined her to be a civilian.”

“And the method of measurement?”

“External measurement with a DS-06.”

“Fools.” Westcott placed a hand on his forehead and sighed. “They measured the one time with a low-precision device meant for use aboard vehicles and then decided it was merely a passing resemblance based on that alone?”

“It appears that way.”

“I’m certain of it now, Ellen. Getting drunk on peace is even more frightening than dementia.”

“I’ll request an immediate reexamination.”

“No. Wait.” Westcott spread his hands to stop her. “If we leave this to the gentle little SDF notables, the most they’ll do is an investigation on par with a health check.”

“So then?”

“We shall do it ourselves. Independently. That will get results much faster, and more reliably.”

“But—”

He held up a hand to stop her. He knew what she was going to say.

Given the possibility that this Tohka Yatogami was a Spirit, they would need to muster a force powerful enough to respond when she showed her true colors. But it would be extremely difficult to secretly bring in the personnel and equipment required to handle an AAA-rank Spirit right under the AST’s noses. There was a feast spread out in front of them, but they couldn’t even touch it. This was part of the reason Ellen had wanted to make another request of the SDF.

“Can I take a little peek, then?” Westcott pointed at Ellen’s hand.

“Sir.” She handed him the file, and he flipped through it, the corners of his mouth sliding up.

“Oh-ho! Why, this is excellent timing, isn’t it? Say, Ellen, you’ve gotten a bit rusty recently with no Spirits to keep you on your toes, hmm?”

“………” Her cheeks twitched.

The Spirits were elusive and fickle. They didn’t only appear when wizards were fully armed and ready to go. And when the wizards did manage to back the Spirit into a corner, she would be Lost, rendering the whole endeavor pointless.

If they knew her whereabouts in advance, however, the whole process became a lot simpler.

“I’ll leave this to you, Ellen Mira Mathers—humanity’s peerless wizard. You can do it. Even up against that atrocious, world-shattering Spirit.”

“Of course,” Ellen replied a beat later. “I never lose, no matter who my opponent is.”

That was the expected and anticipated response. Westcott chuckled to himself.

Mana Takamiya opened her eyes slowly with a short sigh. Her field of vision was blurred, as if she were seeing the world through a filter, perhaps because she hadn’t used her eyes in a long time. She felt strangely weak, and her whole body ached.

“Where…am I…?”

For a moment, she didn’t recognize the voice as hers. Dry throat, ringing ears. That was more than enough to give her pause, and she thought—fleetingly, idiotically—maybe her brain didn’t remember the sound of her voice.

After a few minutes, she regained control of her body more or less and took a look around to figure out where she was and what was going on.

White room. Large bed. Bandages wrapped around every part of her, IV stabbed into her left hand, oxygen mask covering her mouth. Electrodes were attached to her chest, and a monitor pinged in time with her heartbeat.

Mana half grinned. With all this gear, she could be a model for a patient in critical condition.

“Why am I so…?” she started, and then her eyes flew open wide. She ripped the oxygen mask off and sat her aching body up. She turned her head and glanced at the digital clock on the shelf.

2:00 PM. 7/5 WED

“It’s…July…fifth?!”

Mana gasped. Unless the clock was wrong or someone had deliberately changed the date to mess with her, nearly a month had passed since the day she fought Nightmare—Kurumi Tokisaki—on the roof of Raizen High School. Since the day Mana had been utterly crushed by the real Kurumi, who manifested the Angel.

Shido, Tohka, and Origami had been there as well. She couldn’t imagine that they had been able to turn that terrible situation around by themselves. And that meant… In other words…

“My brother!” She yanked herself free of the electrodes on her chest and the needle in her arm. The EKG began beeping in distress.

And then she finally realized something very basic.

“Why…am I not dead…?”

True, her body ached. Yes, her vision was hazy. She would have been hard pressed to say that she was anywhere close to tip-top shape.

But she was alive. Mana had been exposed to that people-eating Nightmare at her most helpless, her most defenseless, and yet she continued to exist.

Now she was even less certain of what had happened that day. At the point where she lost consciousness, the battle had reached its horrible climax. The roof had been filled with Kurumi avatars, and behind them all sat her time-controlling Angel.

Anyone could have seen at a glance that the situation was dire. Mana found it hard to believe that anyone in this world possessed enough power to beat back that black tide.

But how else could she explain the fact that she was alive? Unless that twisted girl let her go on a whim or for revenge or something.

Mana put a hand on her throbbing head. Although she’d survived, she had no idea if the others had come to harm or not. What had happened to them?

“…Huh?” Mana frowned.

The door to her room had opened, and several people in black suits were now stepping inside.

“Mana Takamiya, yes?”

“Is this someone’s idea of a joke?” Mana’s gaze grew sharp. “Doctors and nurses in black, hmm?”

The men in black did not so much as flinch.

“You’ll be coming with us. I’d rather not do this the hard way, but that isn’t out of the question if you resist.”

“…Uh?” Her face scrunched in doubt, and she glared at the man who had spoken. “Do you realize who you’re speaking with? The hard way? With me? Ha! Go ahead if you think you can.”

Mana stood up and cracked her knuckles.

“Ms. Takamiya, is something the matter?” the nurse asked, opening the door. The moment she peered inside, she froze in place. “What…?”

She had come to check in on Mana Takamiya after noticing an irregularity in her EKG reading, but there was no one in the room.

Oxygen mask, electrodes, and IV needle were scattered on the rumpled bed, and there was a faint indentation in the mattress indicating that someone had been lying there recently.

But when she scanned the room and even checked under the bed, her supposedly unconscious patient was nowhere to be found.

The nurse hurried to the head of the bed and pressed the CALL button.

“We’re free…”

When the familiar sound of the bell ringing echoed through the school, Shido Itsuka fell forward onto his desk, the last drop of his strength gone. He couldn’t see it himself, but he would bet anything that plumes of smoke were wafting up from his head.

Which was honestly no surprise. Shido had just finished challenging one of the greatest enemies to be faced in school life: the final exam.

“Okay, okaaay! No collapsing yet. Please pass your papers forward!” called the short, bespectacled teacher from the podium as she clapped her hands. His homeroom teacher, Tamae Okamine, or Tama for short.

The class rose like zombies and handed their tests to the students in the seats in front of them. Shido felt like the zombie ratio among his classmates was higher than usual, but this, too, was reasonable.

It might have been the standard final examination on the usual range of subjects, but the students attending this school had been hospitalized en masse until only a few days earlier.

At the end of the previous month, the students and staff at Raizen High School had suddenly all fallen unconscious. After closing down the school to conduct a thorough investigation of the gas lines, the building materials, and any possible foreign matter generating noxious fumes, the school had reopened, but the final exam schedule remained mercilessly the same as it had been preclosure.

“…Hmm?” He was about to hand the stack of tests with his own on top toward the front when he caught sight of the girl sitting to his right. Like Shido, she had flopped down on her desk a moment earlier. “Tohka, you okay?”

“M-mm…” Tohka slowly raised her head.

“How was it?”

“M-mm, okay, I guess.” She waved her hand, an exhausted look on her face.

For the midterms, she had just scribbled on her answer sheet (and Reine had intervened to keep her from failing), but once Shido told her what the tests were for, she started studying on her own. Apparently, she didn’t like that Shido had been studying for the exams while she sat there doing nothing.

Ratatoskr encouraged this sort of self-motivated action from Tohka, and they’d held a study party at the Itsukas’ house five days before finals. The unfamiliar act of studying, however, had chipped away at her strength. An hour after the study session began, she’d developed a fever—a literal burning for knowledge.

“All right, that’s the end of the exams for the first term. Nice work, everyone!” Tama announced, and the class sighed in both joy and relief. “But we still have some decisions to make, so you can’t go home yet, okay?” She tidied the bundle of answer sheets and left the classroom.

“Shido…” Tohka—ragged—staggered up from her seat. “I’m gonna go get a drink of water.”

“S-sure. You okay?”

“Mm… Don’t worry. I’m just a little tired.” She cut across the classroom on unsteady feet, opened the door, and stepped into the corridor.

“Ha-ha! Well, she did work really hard.” Shido watched her leave and leaned back in his seat. And then his eyebrows twitched upward.

The reason was simple. He could see the girl sitting to his left out of the corner of his eye.

She was pale with a pin in her shoulder-length hair. He couldn’t see her face because it was turned to the left, toward the window, but he could say with certainty that there wasn’t a hint of anything that could be called an expression on it.

Origami Tobiichi. Shido’s classmate and a member of the Spirit-hunting AST.

“…Unh.” He unconsciously screwed up his face. It wasn’t like she was doing anything, but his heart throbbed nonetheless.

Shido hadn’t spoken to Origami once since the major commotion last month. And now he felt like he’d somehow let the opportunity slip past, missing his chance to talk to her. He made up his mind at this moment.

“O-Origami.”

Her shoulders twitched, and she looked over at him. “—What?” she said in her usual monotone voice.

For some reason, he was just a little relieved to see her like this. But then silence fell between them.

“Uh. Um.” He couldn’t say nothing forever.

He had been about to ask what happened to her after that day on the roof. But he couldn’t talk about that in class, not where all their classmates could eavesdrop.

Fortunately, they had a little time before their final homeroom, and Tohka was still out on her quest for water. Shido swallowed hard before opening his mouth once more.

“Origami. You want to go someplace where we can be alone?”

“…!” Her shoulders jumped up. “A place? Where we can be…alone?” she asked, breaking the question up into pieces for some reason.

“Yeah. Like on the stairs, where we talked before, or—”

“Come.” She stood, grabbed Shido’s hand, and started walking.

“U-uh, Origami?”

Ignoring him, she headed deeper into the school without so much as glancing at the stairs leading to the roof. She was headed for a girls’ bathroom at the end of the hall.

“Uh. Hold up!” Shido just barely managed to yank his hand away.

“What?” Origami cocked her head to one side. “No one comes here during exams. It’s too far from the classroom.”

“Okay, that might be true, but still!”

“It’s fine.”

“Hey! Stop—no, seriously, where are you taking me?!”

His struggle was futile. Origami jerked on his hand to lead him to a stall at the end of the row and locked the door.

“…Umm.” Shido felt his cheeks grow hot as he faced Origami in a space clearly not designed for two.

She began to wriggle and squirm in the corner of his eye.

“Origami, what are you—?” he started and then gasped.

A reasonable response. Just as he wondered if Origami had actually stuck her hands down the sides of her skirt, white underwear dropped halfway down her legs.

“Hey! Whoa! Stop! If you have to go, I’ll wait outside!”

“…?” Origami raised an eyebrow in surprise.

But then she clapped her hands like she understood something, pulled her underwear back up, and squatted down. She reached out and started to undo his metal belt buckle.

“Eep!” He gasped and grabbed her arms, stunned. “What are you doing?! What are you doing?!”

“…? Why else did you bring me here?”

“You brought me here?!” he shouted, half crying. He stopped and took several deep breaths. “I…I just wanted to talk about what happened last month.”

“…Oh.” The look on Origami’s face was one of understanding and disappointment.

“…What did you think I was going to do?”

“I—”

“Actually, you-know-what-don’t-tell-me-sorry-I-asked.”

“Oh.” Origami stood up and looked at his face. “I was suspended for two months at the hearing.”

“Huh?”

“You know, afterward.”

“Suspended…? You didn’t have to quit the AST?!” Shido cried out in surprise, and Origami nodded. “Then you didn’t get fired?”

He put a hand to his chest and breathed a sigh of relief. Origami’s eyebrows moved very minutely.

“What’s with that reaction?”

“Oh. Well… Right, I guess. Why, huh?” He scratched his head, puzzled. He didn’t want Origami to fight the Spirits. He would have preferred it if she could leave the AST entirely. But for some reason, when she told him she was still in, he had been a little relieved.

“—I’m not convinced yet,” she told him, and he gasped.

“…!”

He understood in an instant what she was trying to say.

“The Spirit of flames, Efreet. You said she wasn’t the Spirit that killed my parents. But you have no definitive proof.”

“… I…”

Origami had joined the AST to strike down the Spirit who killed her parents. And then last month, she finally caught sight of this Spirit. Shido’s little sister, Kotori.

Naturally, Origami had thrown away everything, even violating the laws and regulations of the AST to come after Kotori and kill her.

But Shido had gotten his memories back. Visions of the city enveloped in flames five years ago—and the presence of another Spirit on the scene.

“Maybe I don’t. But…I need you to trust me. I swear I’m not ly—”

“Don’t get the wrong idea. It’s not that I don’t trust you, Shido. I want to believe you. In fact…I want what you said to be true.”

“Huh…?”

“If I can avoid it, I’d rather not kill your sister.”

“Origami…” Shido opened his eyes wide for a second before clenching his hands into fists and bowing a little. “Thanks.”

“I should be thanking you.” She turned her eyes away from him again.

Shido frowned, not sure what she meant by that.

She slowly lifted her gaze again and said somewhat hesitantly, “I appreciate it… You talking to me like normal.”

“…Oh, uh, you—”

“I tried to kill your sister. And I nearly killed you three months ago.”

“…” Shido got a sour look on his face and scratched his head. “I mean…I’m not about to say we’re all good there. But I still want us to hang out, Origami. Is that not okay?”

She showed a moment’s hesitation before shaking her head from side to side.

“Mm.” He crossed his arms. “Okay then. We should be getting back to class. Homeroom’s starting soon.”

“—Wait. There’s one last thing I want to ask.”

“Hmm? What?” he asked, turning around.

She stared hard at his face. “—Shido. Are you human?”

“…!” He was speechless. But he should have anticipated the question.

“I’ve thought it strange for a while now,” she continued. “I know I shot you that day. But a few days later, you came to school, completely fine. And there’s what happened at the amusement park, too.”

The amusement park. The place where Origami attacked Kotori. Shido had sealed Kotori’s Spirit power and used the regeneration ability he got from her. And then he had told Origami:

“Kotori—my little sister—is a human being! It’s Efreet you want to kill, right? Then shoot me! Right now, I’m Efreet!”

“Ngh…” Thinking about it now, Shido realized he’d been reckless. Although he’d had no other choice, he had spilled his secret to her, a member of the AST, a group that was dedicated to hunting down Spirits.

Perhaps reading his mind from the look on his face, Origami spoke again without waiting for Shido’s response. “Don’t worry. I didn’t report it.”

“You didn’t?” he asked, and Origami nodded immediately. “But why…?”

“I can’t pass along unproven information. In the event you are determined to be a Spirit, it’s possible that there will be an order to eliminate you.”

“…!” His heart started beating wildly. The order to eliminate. That could only mean one thing—the AST, those modern wizards clad in mechanical armor, would summon every ounce of strength at their disposal to kill Shido.

But this made perfect sense. He had sealed the Spirit’s powers, and he was using them, albeit at a fraction of their true potential. It wouldn’t be a surprise if they considered him a Spirit by association.

However…

“I’m…human. At least, I think I am.” He ended up using the same words as Kotori, not on purpose, but because there was nothing else he could say.

“Oh.”

“…Do you believe me?”

“I told you. I want to believe you.” Origami glanced at his face and continued, “If the time comes when you can talk to me, I want to hear the details.”

“…Sorry. Thanks,” he said, and she opened the stall door and left the bathroom.

A second later, Shido realized he had been left alone in an extremely dangerous location, and he hastily fled after her, whipping his head around to make sure no one was watching.

Once outside, he started down the hallway after Origami, back to the classroom.

“…Shido?”

He heard Tohka’s dubious voice from behind and jumped a few centimeters from the ground.

“T-Tohka…”

She looked doubtfully back and forth between Shido and Origami before continuing, her face severe, “Why did you and Origami Tobiichi come out of the girls’ bathroom?”

“Ngh!” Instantly, he started to perspire. She had seen everything. “Uh… Oh, that was… Um…” He tried to explain, but he could see other students in the area. He couldn’t say the wrong thing.

“…” Still silent, Origami gave Shido a look.

“What was that just now?!” Tohka cried. “What exactly were you doing?!”

“Not telling. It’s our little secret.” Origami raised her index finger and brought it up in front of her nose in a comical gesture that was very unlike her.

“Wh-what?!” Tohka shouted and glared at Shido. “Shido! What were you doing?!”

“Huh?! Uh… Oh, right.” He scratched his head. He didn’t mind telling Tohka, but he couldn’t really bring himself to talk in front of their classroom with almost forty people jammed inside. “…Sorry, I’ll tell you later.”

“!!”

He could practically see his words hit her. She collapsed on the spot.

“T-Tohka!”

“Aaaah! Aaaaaah… Why? Why can Origami Tobiichi know and not me…?” she moaned, gritting her teeth.

“C-calm down! I promise! We’ll talk for real later!” He knelt down and pleaded with her, waving his hands emphatically.

“R-really?”

“Really! Promise!”

Tohka finally lifted her anxious-looking face.

“…He can’t tell you. Not after he did that to me,” Origami said in a flat voice.

“Sh-Shido…?” Tohka’s eyes grew wide in shock. “What on earth did you…?”

Their classmates were starting to whisper now.

“Whoa… Itsuka’s the worst.”

“I’ve never seen Tobiichi look like that.”

“And in the middle of the school day?”

“Even though he’s already got Tohka…?”

“Dammit. Damn him…”

“So the basic recipe for poison is an acid and a base, right?”

“Play Hymn Number 13 right now.”

“I didn’t do anything! Also, those last few comments were insanely shady!” Shido raised his voice in self-defense. But all eyes remained firmly focused on him.

He heard the classroom door opening from behind, and Ms. Tama appeared.

“Okay, enough. Everyone, take your seats. It’s time for homeroom.”

A godsend.

“S-see, Tohka?! We better sit! And everyone else should, too!” Shido shouted, louder than necessary, and set off in the lead to his desk.

His classmates looked like they had more to say, but they were forced to hold their tongues and return to their seats now that the teacher had returned.

“…You have to tell me everything later,” Tohka told him as she, too, sat down.

Ms. Tama let out a giggle. “Oh my, you looked like you were having fun. What were you all doing?”

“Oh, nothing…,” Shido said, feeling hot.

“Iiiinteresting.” Tama laughed happily from her place in front of the podium. “It’s the last period of the day. But there’s something we have to decide on before we leave.”

“Ummm! What are we deciding?” Tonomachi held his hand up high.

“Roommate arrangements and seating on the flight for the school trip,” Tama announced.

“…Oh,” Shido muttered.

Now that she mentioned it, the school trip to Okinawa was coming up in mid-July, right before summer break. With the group coma incident on top of finals and all the Spirit stuff, he’d forgotten about one of the biggest events of student life.

It seemed that he wasn’t the only one. About a third of the class joined Shido in nodding. “Oh, riiiight.”

“Ha-ha-ha! You’re all so forgetful. Okay then, let’s get right to— Whoops! I just remembered.” Tama’s eyebrows shot up as something apparently came to mind, and she pulled a stack of papers out from where they were wedged in her attendance book. “First things first. There’s been a bit of a change in where we’re going.”

“Huh?” went the entire class.

There were only two weeks left before the trip. Destinations didn’t just change at the last minute for no reason.

“Mm.” Tama nodded. “Well, that’s exactly what’s happened.”

“Umm, so then where are we going?” Tonomachi was asking the hard questions once again.

The class was curious as to why their destination had suddenly been changed, but the where was their biggest concern.

They were originally supposed to go to Okinawa. Blue ocean, white beaches, the travel mecca of coral, gentle welcomes of “mensore,” and munching on baked goods like sata andagi donuts and chinsuko. More than a few girls had bought new swimsuits specifically for the occasion. If they learned that their trip would be bringing them to some landlocked prefecture, a riot wasn’t out of the question.

Sensing this ominous aura, Tama spoke at a slightly higher pitch than usual. “I-it’s okay. The new place is also wonderful.”

“And where’s that?”

“Let’s see… Arubi Island.”

Half the class groaned, while the other half looked confused.

“Arubi? That’s by Izu, right?”

“That’s not a real destination. A downgrade.”

“Hey. It’s not bad for a tourist spot.”

“Okay! Quiet, please.” Tama clapped her hands to interrupt the sudden chatter.

The class quickly came to the general consensus—“Well, at least they didn’t totally scrap a trip to the beach”—and followed their teacher’s instruction.

“We’ll go through it in detail once the revised itinerary is done, so we’ll settle on roommates for now. Please form groups of four or five with whoever you like.”

They all sent their eyes racing around the room before standing up, chairs clattering, and forming groups with their friends.

Tonomachi walked over to Shido. “Hey, Itsuka, you and me—”

“Shido!”

But he was drowned out by a shout from Shido’s right.

Tohka was leaning across her desk, eyes shining. “Let’s team up for this roommate thing!”

“Uh… Uh?” He frowned.

“Mm?” Tohka gave him a quizzical look, like she couldn’t understand why Shido was surprised. “Is something wrong?”

“Uh, actually, that would be a really bad idea.”

“Why? It’s groups of five, right? So there’s no problem.”

“N-no, Yatogami!” Tama shouted from the podium. “Girls and boys should form separate groups!”

“Mmph.” Tohka pouted. “Why? I want to be with Shido.”

“Wh-why…? It’s…,” Tama stammered, her face turning beet red.

Shido sighed and turned toward Tohka. “I told you not to give the teacher a hard time. Anyway, boys and girls have to be in separate rooms.”

“Mm. They do?” Tohka slumped for a moment, but she quickly lifted her face with a gasp. “I know!”

She ran out of the classroom and slammed the door shut. He heard the rattling of a locker from the hallway. A minute or so later, the door opened again, and Tohka came waltzing in. Wearing track pants instead of a skirt, her long hair tied back.

“…Tohka?” Shido asked.

“No. I—I am To…To…Toru,” Tohka replied, deliberately lowering her voice. “As you can see, Ms. Tama, I’m a boy starting now. There shouldn’t be any more problems.”

“There’s a huge problem!” Tama shrieked, seeming at her wit’s end.

“Mm.” Tohka drooped, looking utterly exhausted. “So this won’t work, either, then.”

“Wait.” An unexpected person threw Tohka a lifeline—Origami.

“I want you to accept Tohka Yatogami’s request. Be flexible, please.”

“Wh-what?!” Tama looked stunned at this from Origami, who fought like cats and dogs with Tohka. And it wasn’t just their teacher. Everyone who witnessed the girls’ daily squabbles was shocked.

“You… What’s your endgame?” Tohka stared at Origami, eyes narrowed in open suspicion.

“Your commitment and persistence have made a deep impression on me. You have earned the right to be in a boys’ room.”

After a few seconds, Tohka snorted and averted her eyes. “I-I’m not thanking you!”

“No need,” Origami said.

“H-hey, hey, hey! What are the two of you talking about here?! You can’t just decide that!” Tama banged the podium with her fist.

Origami paid this no heed. “However, if you’re going on the school trip as a boy, then you’ll have to obey the rules.”

“Rules?”

“Yes. The toilet, the bath—you’ll do everything together with the boys.”

“Wha…?!” Tohka turned beet red.

“Whoa…?!” The boys were suddenly very interested. The girls glared at them.

“Having people stare at you or touching you on some kind of impulse will all be within bounds,” Origami continued. “Because you are a boy, after all.”

“Wh-wh-wh-wha…?” Tohka’s hands shook, and she glared at Origami, about to burst into tears.

Origami ignored this and turned her gaze on Shido. “However, it’s not often that a girl becomes a boy. There needs to be a proper balance.”

“Huh?” Shido frowned. “What’s that mean?”

“Given that the number of boys has increased, it’s only reasonable for you to become a girl, Shido.”

“That doesn’t make any sense!”

“Let’s go to the bathroom together, Shidomi.”

“That’s my new name?!” he shouted.

Since this was coming from an honors student, the rest of the class started giving the idea some serious thought.

Tohka put a hand to her chin as she considered the proposal, and then her eyes flew open. “Wait a second! If Shido becomes a girl, then we wouldn’t be able to share a room, now would we?!”

“Live strong as a boy. I’m excited for you.”

“Unnngh! You set me up, Origami Tobiichi!”

“Aah! Calm down!” Shido shouted. “Girls and boys are in separate rooms! No switching!”

The two girls finally fell silent.

Seeing this tentative conclusion, Tama heaved a sigh of relief.

However…

“W-well, you might not be able to share a room, but you can sit next to whoever you want on the plane,” she noted entirely unnecessarily. “So you could always sit together, right?”

Tohka’s and Origami’s eyes began to glitter once more.