Chapter 5: A Light to Rip Through the Wind
Chapter 5
A Light to Rip Through the Wind
A violent gale razed the woodlands that separated the north and the south sections of Arubi. The green leaves that signaled the advent of summer were ripped to shreds and sent flying, whirling in the air as if they’d been tossed into a blender. Slender trees were ripped out by the roots and launched like javelins.
The act of a tyrannical Berserker. The incarnation of senseless violence, annihilating everything within reach.
Who on earth could have imagined that the cause of this sudden storm was a massive quarrel between two girls?
“I’ve thought this for a while now! You always try to handle everything all by yourself!” Kaguya shouted as she threw her enormous lance. The tip began to spin at high speed like a drill, generating a powerful tornado.
The lance swept toward Yuzuru as if to hurl her away with this maelstrom.
“Objection. I will return those words to you wrapped up with a bow on top!” Yuzuru replied with the utmost calm, despite the destructive tornado closing in on her, and made some complicated gesture with her left hand.
The pendulum in her hand wriggled as if it had a life of its own and formed what looked like a magic circle in front of her. After neatly shielding her from Kaguya’s tornado, it returned to its original chain form and looped around Yuzuru.
“You’re too gentle! I’m ready to cede the seat of main personality to you, so be a good girl and take it!”
“Refusal. I never had any interest in being the main personality.”
“—Ngh! Do you have any idea how hard it’s been for me to lose realistically in our contests so far?!”
“Objection. It’s the same for me. More than once, I was frustrated that you did not come in for the attack even though I worked hard to leave myself open.”
“Yamai is the tornado queen who rakes all of creation! You’re the only one suitable for that title!”
“Negative. That is incorrect. Kaguya, you are the one who should bear the name of the true Yamai.”
“But you can fly faster than me!”
“Kaguya is stronger than Yuzuru.”
“But you have better taste than me!”
“Kaguya’s skin is smoother.”
“But you’re cuter than me!”
“Objection. I cannot accept that. Kaguya is obviously cuter than Yuzuru.”
As they kind of quarreled, kind of not, the spinning top of Kaguya’s lance collided with the blade Yuzuru’s chain had woven itself into. The two forces were perfectly matched. The howling winds grew wilder still and slammed into Shido.
“Ngh!” He somehow managed to withstand the blow, curled up around Tohka. Without the protection of Spirits, he likely would’ve been blown away by now. The damage from the battle of the Yamais—or actually, to be more precise, the damage from the side effects of their battle—was that incredible.
Each time their Angels clashed, a powerful gust whipped through the area and ripped up everything nearby.
But Shido shook his head as if to clear away these thoughts, and staring, almost glaring at the two girls, he managed to push back against the wind and stand up straight.
Kaguya wanted Yuzuru to survive; Yuzuru wanted Kaguya to survive. They were both thinking of the other. And it was for this—if it was for the sake of the other, they would not hesitate to sacrifice their own lives.
And yet… Why?
“Why does it have to be like this?!” Shido shouted, practically ripping his throat open. “Stop! Both of you! You love each other, don’t you?!”
Perhaps the roaring wind drowned his voice out, or maybe they were so absorbed in the battle that they couldn’t hear him. Or maybe they were ignoring him. He couldn’t tell which it was, but either way, Kaguya and Yuzuru remained locked in mortal combat.
“Ngh!” He gritted his teeth and covered his face with his hands. He was utterly helpless.
“Shido! Watch out! Something’s coming!” Tohka cried from his side.
He looked around and frowned. “Wha…?”
In the few seconds that he had been chasing Kaguya and Yuzuru with his eyes, ten human figures had popped up to surround Shido and Tohka.
Actually. Wait. They had the same head and limbs attached to bodies as human beings, but they were clearly a different shape.
Smooth heads like full-face helmets attached to slender bodies, legs with joints that bent the opposite way from a human knee braced against the ground. Their arms were large in contrast, giving them a strangely unbalanced form. And all of it was composed of metal armor polished smooth like the surface of a mirror. Not to mention the CR units strapped to them.
“Wh-what the…? What are they?!” The slightly hunchbacked dolls sent a shiver of fear racing up his spine as they crept toward him and Tohka.
“DD-007 Bandersnatch—I suppose that doesn’t mean anything to you, though.”
A girl stepped out from behind the dolls. It was the photographer for their school trip, Ellen Mathers.
“Mm. What are you…?” Tohka said.
Ellen nodded. “At last I’ve got you all alone, hmm, Tohka? It seems you have a plus one, but well, we can work with that.” She glanced at Shido and gave him a dismissive snort. “But I am surprised. To think those two are Spirits. And not only that, top-priority target Berserk. It seems I’ve landed a big one after a string of bad luck.”
“Wha…?” Shido furrowed his brow. This girl had just called Kaguya and Yuzuru “Berserk.” “You… Who are you? AST?!”
“! Oh-ho…” Ellen arched an eyebrow, showing interest in Shido for the first time. “So you’ve heard of the SDF’s anti-Spirit squadron? Unfortunately, however, your guess is incorrect.”
She held up a hand, and the dolls she called Bandersnatches dropped down and came charging at Shido and Tohka.
“Ngh!” He squeezed his eyes shut.
But when a few seconds passed and no impact shook his body, he slowly, curiously opened his eyes.
“Mm. Are you okay, Shido?!”
Tohka had manifested a limited Astral Dress around her yukata and was clutching the shining sword Sandalphon in both hands. She had apparently unlocked some portion of her Spirit power the moment the Bandersnatches had come flying at them and mowed down their attackers with her weapon.
Ellen opened her eyes wider in excitement. “Princess. So it really is you.”
“You even know Tohka’s code name…” Shido frowned. He had zero time to spare if he was going to stop Kaguya and Yuzuru, and yet now he was faced with this unknown enemy.
But Ellen didn’t seem to care one bit what Shido thought. She turned to Tohka and held out a hand. “Tohka. Would you come with me? I promise you the warmest of welcomes.”
“Shut it!” Tohka half screamed as she leveled the tip of Sandalphon at Ellen.
“H-hey, Tohka,” Shido said. “That’s an actual human being. You can’t—”
“Huh…?”
Tohka glared at Ellen, her face tense, as she continued. “I noticed it the first time we faced her. I get a gross feeling from this woman. It’s like… It’s like the feeling I get from the AST, but super concentrated.”
A smile appeared on the corners of Ellen’s mouth for the first time. “That’s quite a description.” She spread her hands slowly as if challenging Tohka, and a faint light enveloped her body.
An instant later, she was wearing a wiring suit and a CR unit. The suit was different from the AST’s, and what appeared to be mechanical armor covered every part of her body. On her back was a remarkable sword.
“Wha…?” He gasped.
“Bandersnatch squad. Please do not interfere for the time being. I will see for myself exactly how powerful the famed Princess is.”
She unsheathed the sword on her back and materialized a blade of light. And then she crooked the fingers of her left hand in invitation.
“You think you can take me?!” Tohka shouted and raced toward Ellen. She yanked Sandalphon up into the air and brought it down on Ellen’s head faster than the eye could see.
But Ellen easily stopped it with her sword one-handedly. “Oh my. Is that it?”
“Ngh!” Tohka groaned and swung Sandalphon again and again.
But Ellen defended against each and every blow. Her equipment wasn’t even scratched.
“Hyaaah!”
“…” Stopping the stream of attacks, Ellen let out a short sigh. “Is this all you have, Princess?”
“Wh-what did you say?!”
“I even went to the trouble of equipping Pendragon. But it seems there was no need. I expected more. Let’s finish this then.” Ellen readied her massive laser blade and brought it down on Tohka.
“Ngh—” Tohka raised Sandalphon to intercept the blow.
““Huh?””
Shido and Tohka cried out in shock at the same time.
The moment it caught Ellen’s sword, Sandalphon shattered into pieces.
“What…is…?” Tohka groaned before Ellen’s attack sent her small body flying backward. “Ngaaah!”
She bounced several times before coming to a stop facedown against the ground. A heartbeat later, the shattered, rebounding pieces of Sandalphon turned into particles of light and melted into the air.
“T-Tohka!” Shido cried and started to run to her side. But two Bandersnatches appeared in front of him and blocked his movement. The other Bandersnatches clustered around Tohka, prone on the ground.
“Killjoy. Please render her unconscious and carry her to Arbatel,” Ellen ordered, snapping her fingers, and the armor wrapped around her body vanished in an instant. She turned her face away and crossed her arms as though she had lost interest even in Tohka.
But Shido’s predicament was unchanged. Two Bandersnatches grabbed Tohka’s arms where she lay motionless and lifted her up. As she slumped forward, another machine stepped in front of her and reached for her face with its talons.
“Ngh… Aaaaah!” Tohka writhed in anguish.
“Tohka! What are you doing to her?! Dammit! Get away from her!” Shido shouted, but the two dolls standing in front of him didn’t move.
A cross between a scream and a groan left Tohka’s throat.
“Tohka!” he shrieked.
His brain was overwhelmed with helplessness and despair. In the end, there was nothing he could do.
He couldn’t stop Kaguya and Yuzuru. He couldn’t save Tohka.
The sole power he had, the power to seal, was useless in a situation like this. And the only other abilities he had were the healing power he borrowed from Kotori and the Spirit protection he gained from Tohka.
If he just had one more. If he only had the power to cut down these dolls and get to Tohka’s side.
For some reason, Kurumi’s face popped into his head, the face of the evilest Spirit, the murderer.
He remembered the unbearable powerlessness he’d felt facing her on the roof. And all he was left with was despair that he hadn’t been able to save Kurumi.
He never wanted to feel that way again.
Shido heard a sound like something bursting inside his head.
He didn’t care if it was just once in his entire life. If it was just this one time. If he had the power to save Tohka right now…
“Tohkaaaaaaaaaa!” He raised his right hand.
And then…
“Huh…?” he said, stunned.
When he brought his hand back down, the upper halves of the Bandersnatches blocking his way vanished. The head of another Bandersnatch—the head of the machine gripping Tohka’s arm—slid off at an angle.
Tohka slumped down onto the ground, coughing.
“What…the…?” He looked down at his own right hand as if he was seeing something impossible.
A dazzling sword emitting its own light.
“Set temporary direction for Protect Territory range, coordinates one-three-two by five-oh by three-nine. Range, two fifty-five point two, four, six.”
“R-roger. Protect Territory range setting, coordinates one-three-two by five-oh by three-nine. Range, two fifty-five point two, four, six,” Deep Love, Minowa repeated back Kannazuki’s order and tapped at his console.
The Territory around Fraxinus changed in nature and contracted in the direction and range specified by Kannazuki to form an invisible wall.
A half second later, a magic projectile from the enemy ship slammed into that exact location. While the monitor displaying the exterior of the ship whited out in a dazzling light, the bridge rocked slightly.
““…”” The crew of Fraxinus gasped as one.
Just as the name indicated, the objective of the Protect Territory was to defend the interior area from attack. As a general rule, the wider the area of effect, the weaker the Territory itself. Its strength increased dramatically if it was contracted until it just barely covered the surface of the target within.
But the orders Kannazuki had just given went beyond that. He had contracted the Territory into a wall on a single fixed location.
Naturally, doing so gave the Territory near limitless strength. And the the crew had just witnessed the results with their own eyes.
But this method of use was a risky double-edged sword. The reason for this was simple. When the Territory was deployed over a limited range, the rest of the ship was completely defenseless.
“Next, same directionality, Protect Territory range specification, five-oh point six-nine.”
“F-five-oh point six-nine?!”
“Please hurry. We could die, you know… Oh, but there is that, isn’t there? I do understand the desire to experience just once a pain as great as death—”
“Protect Territory specification, range five-oh point six-nine!”
In the middle of Kannazuki’s speech, the Territory was deployed at the specified coordinates. And again, a powerful magic bullet was launched at this small area the Territory covered.
The incoming round was strong enough that the ship would have been horrendously damaged if they had left the Territory at the previous settings. Somehow, almost as if he’d known where the enemy would strike, Kannazuki had specified the exact point where their defenses should be deployed.
And not once or twice, either.
After Fraxinus had taken the first hit, twelve magic bullets had been fired against them. And Kyouhei Kannazuki had defended against every single one.
True, there was just the one enemy ship. The direction of attack could be roughly estimated. On paper, it wasn’t impossible. However…
“Okay, I’ve more or less grasped the rhythm. The truth is, I’d like them to go harder—I mean, attack, but we mustn’t damage Commander Itsuka’s beautiful world tree any further.”
Kannazuki threw his hands up as if to get everyone’s attention and glared at the enemy ship displayed on the main monitor.
“Ready the convergent magic power cannon Mistilteinn.”
“Why aren’t our attacks having any effect?!” Paddington roared and slammed a fist down on the armrest of the captain’s chair.
They had launched any number of magic missiles, and yet Fraxinus stayed in the sky. The ship was not striking their attacks down or taking evasive action, either. It merely waited in position, accurately defending against the bullets.
Almost as if sneering at Arbatel.
“I-it appears they are deploying a Protect Territory at the estimated impact location an instant before the round actually arrives!”
“Ridiculous! As if anyone could do that!”
“B-but—,” the crew member started when an alarm began to sound on the bridge. “Heat source detected! Magic is converging in the main armaments at the prow of the enemy ship!”
“Ngh.” Paddington gritted his teeth. “Starboard one-oh-four! Divert all generated magic to Protect Territory!”
“Roger. Starboard one-oh-four.”
The massive Arbatel shifted course.
In the next instant, a flash came from the prow of the enemy ship, and an incredible current of magic jetted forward.
This pierced the Territory of Arbatel on its new course, grazed the ship itself, and slipped past them, cutting through the clouds and melting into the air in the distance. A powerful tremor rocked the bridge.
“Ngh! Damn you! Damn you, damn you, damn you!” Paddington shouted and issued new orders. “All Ashcroft-beta up to number fifty in parallel world drive! Contract Territory to three meters from the ship’s surface and then hard to port! Full speed ahead! Eliminate the enemy ship’s Territory!”
“R-roger…!”
“Aah, aah. Right about now, Origami should be vacationing on a tropical island. I’m so jealous,” Milly drawled, fanning herself with a lightweight crystal display tablet in the hangar in one corner of the SDF Tengu Garrison.
“Don’t just flap your mouth. Get those hands moving.” Ryouko yanked on the goggles Milly had pushed up onto her forehead and let go. They snapped back into Milly’s forehead, and she fell over backward.
“Owww! Wh-what are you doing?!”
“Come on, this one’s next.” Ryouko indicated the combat Realizer in her hand, the laser knuckle Nutcracker. A cable stretched out toward Milly from the metal glove designed to cover the fist and lower arm. “I need to use this later, so get a move on.”
This equipment was specialized for close-range combat and allowed the user to cloak a fist in magic generated by a Realizer. It had an extremely short range, however, and only a few specialized soldiers on the squad used one. Ryouko was about the only one who happily used it on a regular basis.
“Really? It’s violence at every turn with you, Ryouko. You should take better care of your mechanic’s face!” Milly complained as she connected the cable to her tablet, tapped the screen, and began to fine-tune the equipment.
“What are you talking about? I’m already being unbelievably nice. You should’ve seen the captain when I joined the AST. Now he was wild. Gives me chills just thinking about it,” Ryouko said, her face paling as though she really was remembering something terrifying.
“Wild?” Milly glanced up doubtfully as she poked away at her tablet. “Was he really that bad?”
“Yeah.” Ryouko nodded, frowning. “So let’s say you were backtalking like you were now.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“The captain would come over without a word and…put a hand on your shoulder. And that was it, you were out. You’d have to spend the whole day in whatever embarrassing costume of his choice. Naturally, when we were in training, you were forced to wear it over your wiring suit.”
“Whoa…” Milly’s eyebrows shot up on her forehead. Her hand slipped, and the numbers got knocked off. She hurried to correct the error she’d caused. “S-so it was costume play?”
“Yes.” Ryouko nodded. “And that was just the beginning. The second time, a penalty would be added where you had to step on the captain while cosplaying.”
“What? You mean the captain didn’t step on you?”
“No. The team member being penalized had to step on the captain.”
Milly’s cheeks twitched, and sweat beaded on her forehead. “Why, though?”
“No idea.” Ryouko shrugged. “Anyway, it creeped us all the hell out, so we always followed the rules.”
“Um, so then, what if you got a third warning?”
“Do you really want to know?”
Sensing something unnatural in Ryouko’s expression, Milly shook her head. “H-he sounds like a very particular captain, huh?”
“…I guess he was. When you pass all that through the filter of the beautiful Japanese language, you’re just barely left with the possibility of such a euphemistic description.”
“Uh. Uh-huh.” Milly smiled at Ryouko’s uncharacteristically dark tone.
“Well,” Ryouko continued. “He was a next-level pervert, but…his skills were the real deal. No joke, the way he could handle a Realizer was head and shoulders above everyone else. He was without a doubt the ace of our team.”
“W-wow, really?” Milly said. “Um, so then, where is he now? Someone that strong, the brass would want to put him on the front lines.”
“That’s…” Ryouko frowned, troubled. “I don’t really know. One day, he said, ‘I must find a suitable master to serve! Aah, please forgive me, comrades in arms! Please don’t stop me, brethren! Farewell, my average sworn friends!’ And then he disappeared somewhere. At any rate, I guess they kept him on the books with the faint hope that he might come back, but…”
“I do wonder what he’s up to.”
“They evaded Mistilteinn!”
“Oh dear, did we miss then? Mm, I’m not used to being on the side dishing it out,” Kannazuki joked, and the crew offered lifeless smiles.
“The enemy ship is coming this way!”
“I see. Are they coming to eliminate our Territory directly?”
In a fight between two ships equipped with Realizers, the logical end was that one of them would rip away the other’s Territory and conclude the battle.
Kannazuki hummed and then said, “Parallel operation for all basic Realizers. Please divert the generated magic to the Territory. Simultaneous with Territory contraction. Please narrow it down to two meters from the ship surface.”
“Roger. AR-008 numbers one through ten, commencing parallel operation.”
“Oh,” Kannazuki said. “And the control Territory, too. Leave one base and please divert the remaining magic.”
“Rog—uh, what?” The crew that had been faithfully repeating Kannazuki’s words hesitated.
That wasn’t very surprising, really.
Fraxinus’s Realizers could be broadly split into two categories. Basic Realizers generated the magic for the Territory and the weapons, and control Realizers that regulated them.
Given that the control Realizers were also Realizers, it was possible to use them to generate magic, although this was much more inefficient than with the basic Realizers. And perhaps this was their only option to resist the enemy ship closing in on them with its vast magic reserves.
But releasing the majority of the control Realizers was basically the same as stripping out the computers and CPUs. While a vast amount of magic might have been generated, there was the risk of not being able to channel it into the Territory properly.
Kannazuki nodded as if he understood his crew’s anxiety all too well. He pulled what looked like a black headset out from behind the captain’s seat and set it on his head.
“It’s all right. We have this in place of the control Realizers if need be,” he said, pointing at himself.
“What…?”
“I’ll explain later. If you don’t want Fraxinus knocked out of the sky, please follow my orders.”
“Ngh! Roger! Control Realizers two through eight, shift to magic generation!” The crew member entered the command into the console, and the Territory enveloping Fraxinus started to disappear but was soon restored.
“I-impossible…”
“Commander, what on earth did you do?”
“‘What’?” Kannazuki arched an eyebrow. “The basic principle is no different from the AST wiring suit. They control the magic generated by the Realizer with their own brain waves, yes?”
“Control… We’re talking about seven control Realizers made for an airship, though?!”
“We can discuss it later. Incoming.”
An alarm began to blare on the bridge.
“The enemy ship has increased Territory output!”
“Hmm,” Paddington said. “Are they going to fire on our Arbatel then?”
“We’ve made contact with the Territory! Brace for collision!” a crew member shouted as the bridge shuddered and shook.
“Ngh! Ranged Territory deployment!” Paddington yelled. “Concentrate on the contact surface with the enemy ship! We’ll crush it in one go!”
“Roger! Ranged Territory deployed!”
A crew member swiped across a console, and the Territory deployed around Arbatel contracted in the direction of the enemy ship. There was no sign of movement on the enemy’s part.
Victory! Paddington clenched his hands into fists. The Territory output at the time of contact was equivalent to the size of the impact. They’d contracted their Territory first, making it that much stronger. The enemy could contract their Territory now, but it was too late. The poor Ratatoskr ship would be crushed by Arbatel’s—
“…?!” Paddington’s eyes flew open in surprise at the roar of an explosion from the rear of the ship.
For an instant, he thought it was an enemy attack, but that was impossible. The explosion had come from the exact opposite side of the enemy ship.
“Report!” he barked.
“Breach starboard side! Damage due to an external impact has been confirmed!”
“External impact?! An enemy attack?!”
“I—I don’t know! Cause is unknown!” the crew member shrieked.
Another crew member screamed. “Ngh! Captain, this is bad! Section B-2 is on fire, and there’s damage to the control room tasked with long-distance Bandersnatch operation!”
“What?! Put that fire out now!” Paddington clenched his teeth as he gave the order.
“Wh-what was…?” Hinako muttered on the bridge of Fraxinus after the shaking stopped, stunned as she watched the enemy ship retreat.
She had panicked at Kannazuki’s apparent lack of strategy after the enemy contracted and strengthened their Territory, when flames suddenly shot up from the enemy ship, and it pulled away from Fraxinus.
Not to mention the fact that the enemy ship had been damaged in an entirely different place from where it was in contact with Fraxinus. Just who had joined in the attack?
Hinako wasn’t the only one with questions. The majority of the crew was at a loss for words as they all stared in Kannazuki’s direction.
The man in question shrugged and tapped the small monitor in front of him. As if to say, “Eyes on your stations.”
When the crew obediently looked at their own monitors, their eyes grew round as saucers.
They could see the enemy ship turning, flames shooting out of it, and…a silhouette like a small leaf with Invisible deployed.
“Is that…Yggdrafolium?”
The independent unit launched as a relay station for communication with Arubi right before the enemy ship appeared.
At once, they all understood. A shiver ran up their spines.
Yggdrafolium was equipped with its own small Realizers. They allowed remote operation from Fraxinus, as well as the generation of a Territory. But that deployed Territory was supposed to be for communication purposes only.
Kannazuki had remotely operated this device and used it like a land mine.
However, it was hard to immediately believe that this kind of fine remote control was possible, even with the assistance of seven control Realizers.
“Well, what shall we say?” Kannazuki began, perhaps reading his crew’s minds. “It’s sad, perhaps. However high level our technology, a human being still can’t re-create a single human brain.” He shrugged casually.
He was apparently deaf to the thought next broadcast by the entire crew: But there aren’t any human brains that can do something like this…
“Wh… This is… Sandalphon?” Shido said, staring at the sword that had appeared in his own right hand.
The broad, shining blade. The hilt with its precision detailing.
Yes. This was without a doubt Tohka’s “miracle made manifest,” the Angel Sandalphon.
“Shi…do? H-how can you have Sandalphon?” Tohka was also looking at Shido in surprise.
And of course she was. Despite being shattered by Ellen, Sandalphon was now sitting in Shido’s hand.
Even as Shido was surprised by this turn of events, a part of him had already calmly accepted it as fact.
After all, his healing ability was not his by nature, but rather something that manifested because he had sealed Kotori’s power after she became a Spirit. So maybe this structure could also be adapted to the other Spirits whose power Shido had sealed inside himself. There was a nonzero possibility that Shido might be able to wield the powers of those other Spirits.
This theory was, in fact, proven most powerfully by what was happening right now. By the manifestation of the Angel.
“An Angel? And the same one as Princess? Impossible. I smashed it to pieces just now. And more importantly, why would you—?” In a complete turnaround from her previous total lack of interest in him, Ellen stared at Shido with a hint of curiosity. “Shido…Itsuka, was it? What on earth are you?”
“Human… More or less.”
“…” Ellen frowned and raised a hand.
The surrounding Bandersnatches dropped down into a defensive posture.
“I’ve changed my mind. Shido Itsuka. You will also be coming along. I would not recommend resisting.”
“Ngh…” Shido scowled, clutching the weapon.
It was true that he had essentially shut down two Bandersnatches. But there were still eight of them left, and they were all on the defensive. Plus, the mysterious wizard behind them had easily defeated Tohka in limited Spirit mode. He could only too easily imagine how difficult it would be to flee with Tohka in this situation.
“Bandersnatch squad. Please capture him. If it appears that he is going to resist, you may break limbs,” Ellen said and brought down her hand in Shido’s direction.
The Bandersnatches charged at Shido.
“Ngh! You…!” He swung Sandalphon, but he couldn’t activate the slicing attack again. The blade merely carved out an arc in the darkness, its light dull.
Naturally, there was no way a blow like this would hit the Bandersnatches. Easily evading his attack, they reached out for his right hand and Sandalphon.
An instant later…
“Huh…?”
He had no sooner heard a sudden crackling than the mechanical dolls surrounding Shido and Tohka started writhing in place, sparks shooting from their heads.
“What the…?” He frowned. The mechanical dolls had been functioning until that very moment, and now they began behaving erratically, like electronic toys whose batteries had just run dry.
Ellen stared at the sword gripped in Shido’s hand and scowled, baffled. And then she put a hand to her ear and began to speak.
“The unit reactions are confused. Did something happen?” She listened for a moment and then groaned. “The control room was bombed? How can that be? …A battle with an airship? I don’t recall authoriz—”
“…!” Shido couldn’t let this chance pass them by. He grabbed Tohka’s hand and started running as fast as he could.
“Wh-what’s going on?” Tohka cried.
“Don’t know! But this is our chance!” he said and raced toward the forest, away from the dolls.
“We can’t let them get away,” Ellen said behind them. “Please give chase.”
Several Bandersnatches turned their heads as if to go after Shido and Tohka. But their limbs moved at random like broken marionettes, flailing wildly until they fell on their faces.
“Ngh… What are you doing?!” Ellen clicked her tongue impatiently and started after Shido and Tohka herself.
But…
“Hangh?!” Her foot was caught in a hole in the ground, and she slammed into the ground. “Wh-why is there a hole…?! No! The super-fast hole-digging technique—”
A Bandersnatch toppled forward on top of her.
“Huh? Wh-what?!”
Thinking she was in the clear after taking Tohka down and releasing her CR unit had apparently brought catastrophe. Ellen was crushed beneath the heavy mechanical doll.
“Th-this is ridiculous… I—I am the most…powerful wiza—mph!” she cried out, and then stopped moving.
She could have regained consciousness at any moment. The Bandersnatches could have recovered their functionality. Shido stopped looking back, turned his face forward, and ran in the roaring wind.
“…! That’s—”
“Mm!”
Shido and Tohka cried out together as they raced forward, side by side.
In the sky above the forest, trees flattened in a circle that radiated outward, they could see Kaguya and Yuzuru engaged in combat.
“Kaguya! Yuzuru!”
They really needed to get away from Ellen and her squad as fast as they could, but Shido came to an immediate halt.
If he didn’t stop them here and now, they would almost certainly decide this themselves. And deciding this meant that one of them would be annihilated.
Even if they didn’t reach that decision tonight, the result would be the same thing if they were Lost to the parallel world.
To save both of them, Shido had to seal their Spirit power here and now.
“Kaguya! Yuzuru! You have to stop! There might be a way for both of you to live!” he shouted, but it didn’t look like they could hear him. He wasn’t that far away, but the swirling wall of wind around them shut out all sound.
“Ngh! What am I going to…?” he said, and then his eyes flew open and he looked down at his own hand.
He was still holding Tohka’s Angel Sandalphon.
With one blow of this Bandersnatch-slaughtering Angel, he might be able to cut through the storm wall around Kaguya and Yuzuru.
Naturally, he didn’t think that would be enough to stop them—but it just might hold their attention for a moment and make them listen to what he had to say.
It was a slim chance. But he was out of options.
“Sorry, Tohka. You need to get back a bit!”
“Mm…? M-mm.” Tohka nodded unquestioningly and took several steps away from Shido.
After checking this in the corner of his eye, he readied Sandalphon in both hands and made the blade flash as if to cut through the wind fortress enveloping Kaguya and Yuzuru.
“Hyaaah!”
But Sandalphon did not shoot the light it had shown him the first time.
“Ngh…”
He kept trying, but the result stayed the same. Sandalphon only cut the air within range of its blade and refused to show him the absolute power it had when Tohka wielded it.
“I can’t…!” He gritted his teeth and readjusted his grip on the hilt of the sword.
It wasn’t over yet. He looked over at the blade’s true owner.
“Tohka! Please! Use Sandalphon to stop them!”
“What?” Tohka shouted. But then she nodded, indicating that she was all in, maybe because she saw how Kaguya and Yuzuru were clashing furiously, or because she guessed that things were dire from the look Shido gave her.
“Sorry. I need you to do this!” He held the hilt of Sandalphon out toward her.
“Mm. I got it.” She nodded again and took Sandalphon in hand.
However…
“…!” She gasped, and a crease rose up on her brow.
“Tohka…?”
“It’s no use. I can’t use Sandalphon like this.”
“Huh?” Shido was visibly confused.
Tohka stared straight into his eyes. “Sandalphon’s no ordinary sword. It’s an Angel that manifests due to the wish of someone with Spirit power. Maybe if I had my full Spirit powers, but Sandalphon was summoned because of your wish, meaning I can’t use it.”
“But that’s—then…” Shido lifted his face, despair in his heart.
In the sky above, the two Spirits were still mercilessly going at each other, no holds barred, in their battle to let the other live.
Praising their opponent all the while. Thoughts of their opponent filling each and every action. Conveying their love with every blow.
The twisted battle between the extremely awkward fighters who loved each other more than anything else continued unabated.
Both of them fought as hard as they could to make sure only they would be the one to die.
“… Like I’d let that happen!” Shido shouted, then he grabbed Sandalphon’s hilt a little more tightly and swung the blade one more time.
Naturally, he got the exact same result. But he was out of options. He kept swinging.
“Dammit! God dammit! This has to work! If this keeps up, they’ll…”
If Shido used his sealing ability, he could lock away both of their Spirit powers. And then maybe, just maybe, the two girls would not return to being the single Yamai, but be able to stay the way they were now.
He didn’t have to step into the center of that storm. Just a single blow. If he could rip through the wind and force them to turn their attention on him!
Tohka placed a hand on his shoulder.
“…! Tohka?” He turned his face away from the sky toward Tohka and swallowed hard.
Her hand on his shoulder was not a gentle one to comfort him in his failure, but strong as if rebuking him fiercely.
“I’m jealous—seeing you fighting so hard.”
“Tohka…?” Shido said, baffled.
Tohka flashed him an almost wistful smile. “I started to say this before, but I think the only way is for everyone to talk it out actually. If they know that you have a way to let them both live, Kaguya and Yuzuru will put away their swords.”
Her words were so simple, but full of truth.
“But how can I—?”
“I told you. Sandalphon was summoned because of your wish, Shido. So you’re the only one who can make it come true.”
“…! Me?”
Tohka bobbed her head up and down and guided Shido’s hands around the hilt of the sword. Then she slipped behind him and wrapped her arms around his body so that they were gripping Sandalphon together.
But…their physiques were really different.
“Mmm,” Tohka grumbled and slid under Shido’s arms to stand in front of him. With him behind her, arms around her like a helping hands comedy routine, she slipped her hands over his on the hilt of Sandalphon.
“Tohka…”
“Calm your mind. And remember. What do you want to do? What are you wishing for right now? Put everything else out of your mind. Imagine that wish in your heart and swing the sword. The Angel will respond.”
“…” Shido swallowed hard, lowered his eyes, and let out a tiny breath.
As instructed, he took several breaths to calm his mind.
Setting aside the wail of the wind beating on his eardrums, the gale whipping his hair up, and even the warmth of Tohka against his hands and chest, he pictured one thing in his heart.
Kaguya and Yuzuru. The Spirit split into two by chance or by necessity.
Beings forced to reckon with the destiny that one of them would disappear from the moment they were born. But knowing what fate awaited them, they each fought with all their might to let their beloved other half live.
Shido clenched his teeth.
“Like I’d ever let that happen!”
He couldn’t let either of these two kind girls disappear.
So before they settled this fight, a profane and absolute blow would crush their sacred battle!
“…!!” Shido stared in shock. Sandalphon’s blade was shining so powerfully, its earlier glow paled in comparison.
When he readjusted his grip on the hilt, Tohka tightened hers along with him, and her head dropped forward.
Shido lifted his face once more and looked up at the two awkward idiots brawling in the sky.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
With a scream of a battle cry, he brought Sandalphon toward them.
Light shot out from the blade and reached upward.
It easily cut through the bastion of wind blowing high above and plunged through the air, passing between Kaguya and Yuzuru. The roiling clouds were split in two, and the hidden moon showed its face.
The squalling storm stopped as if it had never been, and he heard two baffled voices.
“Wha—?”
“Unease. What is…?”
Facing each other with lance and pendulum, Kaguya’s and Yuzuru’s eyes grew wide, and as if searching for the origin of this slicing attack, they turned those eyes downward.
When they saw Shido there, they frowned.
“Shido…?! Was that you just now?”
“Shock. Impossible. That was amazing Spirit power.”
Shido plunged Sandalphon into the ground like a staff, and half riding on Tohka’s back, he shouted, “Kaguya! Yuzuru!”
One blow. Just a single blow, and yet his whole body screamed with pain. But he couldn’t let this chance to make them hear him slip away. He screamed so loudly, his throat threatened to split open.
“Please… Stop fighting!”
Kaguya and Yuzuru scowled, displeased.
“Were you not listening? Yuzuru and I are made so that one of us has to incorporate the other.”
“Agreement. That is exactly right. Please do not get in the way. I am in the middle of teaching this blockhead just how excellent a Spirit Kaguya is.”
“Y-you’re still saying that?! I told you there’s no point in me surviving! Why don’t you get it?! Yuzuru! You’re the one who should live!”
“Negative. I do not think so. Kaguya is the one who should live.”
“You just—!”
“Exasperation. Kaguya is the one—”
“I—!”
If he let them keep this up, the battle he’d worked so hard to interrupt threatened to begin once more. He raised his voice again. “I have no intention of stepping down as the judge of your final battle! I will choose! Who is the Spirit suited to be the true Yamai?! Who should live on?!”
““…!””
The eyes of both Kaguya and Yuzuru flew open, and they glared at Shido. But neither of them said anything. Apparently, they were willing to at least listen to what he had to say.
But he understood only too well what those glares turned on him meant. He could feel the pressure from both girls practically sparking off his skin.
Basically, they were thinking: Fine, he can choose. But if he tried to choose her, she would run him through the heart before he was finished even speaking her name.
And they were the wind Spirits Berserk. They did, in fact, have the power to make that happen.
Shido swallowed nervously and opened his mouth.
“I choose…both of you!”
His voice echoed in the silent, still woods.
Kaguya and Yuzuru stared at him for a few seconds before sighing in near unison.
“…What? Are you for real?”
“Scorn. That is the response of a child. An indecisive man with no powers is pathetic.”
They both sounded exasperated.
But Shido was for real. He was dead serious.
“I don’t have much of a choice! You each have so many good qualities that are different from each other, there’s no way to choose!”
“Wha…?” Kaguya’s face turned red.
“…” Yuzuru rolled her eyes.
“Each of us?! Don’t talk like you know us! What do you even—?!”
“I know!” he cried. “At the very least, there’s one thing I learned before you two!”
“…Question. What is that?”
Shido clenched his hands into fists and pushed the words out of a tight throat. “I know that Kaguya cares so much more for Yuzuru than Yuzuru cares for herself, and Yuzuru believes Kaguya is so much more precious than Kaguya would ever dare to think.”
“…! What?”
“…”
The pair fell silent, at a loss for words.
Shido willed himself to stay on his feet, although his exhausted and aching body threatened to collapse at any second, and continued, wringing the words out of the very core of his being.
“You two!! Have the right to select what comes next! So choose!
“One! Yuzuru incorporates Kaguya and becomes the true Yamai!
“Two! Kaguya incorporates Yuzuru and becomes the true Yamai!”
The Spirits immediately opened their mouths, their expressions indicating their confidence in their responses.
“That’s obvious. One!”
“Reply. There is no need to even question this. Two!”
But Shido ignored them and kept going.
“Or three! You lose your Spirit powers, and you both survive!”
““…?!”” Kaguya and Yuzuru were momentarily stunned into silence.
“Huh?” Kaguya said finally. “What did you say?”
“Demand,” Yuzuru insisted. “What was that just now?”
Shido cleared his throat loudly. Tohka turned a concerned face toward him. But he couldn’t stop talking now. Swallowing to wet his throat, he managed to say something.
“Sorry. I’ve only been allowed to choose from a set of three options for a long time now… I can’t work with just two.”
“What…are you talking about? There’s no way that’s even possible.”
“Dubious. That’s right. I have never heard of such a method.”
Kaguya and Yuzuru turned doubtful eyes on him. He had expected that much. Telling them to believe his claim was an exercise in futility.
However…
“Please!” he shouted. “You have to trust me! Just this once! Give me the chance to let both of you live! If that fails, you can do whatever you want! I don’t care! You can even kill me! So…!”
“…What? You’re just a human. You can’t—”
“Have you forgotten who sliced through your precious wind just now?”
“Ngh!”
“Consideration…”
Kaguya and Yuzuru glanced at each other. They looked less like they were trying to figure out whether or not what Shido was saying was true and more like they were simply baffled by this sudden development.
“So just stop! There’s no need for you to fight! There’s no need for…one of you to disa—”
A wave of dizziness washed over him, and he crumpled to the ground. Sandalphon fell over, turned into particles of light, and melted into the air.
“Shido!” Tohka cried and shook him by the shoulders.
But answering her was too much for him. He was technically still conscious, but all he could do was wheeze; he couldn’t speak at all. It seemed that his human body had reached its limit at last.
“…”
“…”
In the sky above, Kaguya and Yuzuru stared at each other.
“…That’s what he said,” Kaguya remarked quietly. “What d’you think, Yuzuru?”
“Distrust.” Yuzuru shook her head. “It’s impossible. Even if Shido did strike that blow now, I have never heard of power being taken from a Spirit.”
“Right?! Same here.”
“…! …!” His vision blurred, Shido worked his lungs to try and speak somehow. But no matter how much air he pushed out, his breaths refused to become sound.
It was no use. He couldn’t convince them. And his grip on consciousness was slipping.
Stop. Please stop. I really do have the power to save you. If you reach out your hands, I can take them.
His unvoiced thoughts did not reach the sky above.
Kaguya and Yuzuru continued as they looked into each other’s eyes.
“Honestly. Shido is the real problem. Getting in our way twice now.”
“Agreement. It is exasperating. Just when I was about to defeat you.”
“What are you talking about? I was just about to launch a special attack.”
“Sneer. Was it Sturm Lanze—asterisk laugh asterisk?”
“Sh-shut up! Say that again, and I’m gonna get angry for real.”
“Counterattack. Go ahead. Please do as you wish. Either way, the winner will be Yuzuru. I will make sure that you live.”
“Not on my watch. I’ll be winning this thing. You have to live on.”
“Objection. No, you do.”
Kaguya readied her lance, Yuzuru her pendulum. The wind began to blow around them once more.
However…
“Hey, Yuzuru?”
“Response. What is it?”
“Just spitballing here. Talking if. Talking about possibilities. What if what Shido’s saying is true?”
“Petition. Would you allow me time to consider?”
“I’ll allow it. Thirty seconds.”
“…”
“Okay, time’s up. So?”
“Response… I think that would be very wonderful.”
“…Hmph. You’re surprisingly romantic.”
“Indignation. So then what about you?”
“…Real coincidence. Same here.”
“Question. If both of us could live, what would you want to do, Kaguya?”
“Me? Right… Oh! I might want to have some of that kinako bread Tohka was talking about. Apparently, it’s the most delicious thing in the world.”
“Agreement. It does sound good.”
“What about you?”
“Answer. I’d like to try going to school.”
“Ohhh. Nice. Ha-ha-ha! I just know all the boys at school would be in love with you.”
“Negative. I don’t think that would happen.”
“Huh? Why not?”
“Response. It’s just, you’d be with me, too. I’m sure you would be more popular, Kaguya.”
“Ha. Ha… I’d be with you?”
“Affirmative. After all, we are speaking hypothetically. I don’t recall there being any limits placed on that.”
“Ohhh… Is that it? Okay, so then once class is over, how about we go walk around in town after school?”
“Agreement. That would be wonderful. I’d like to go to a café.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. But we’d split the bill, got it?”
“Negative. That is unfair. You eat more, Kaguya.”
“N-not that much more.”
“Doubt. Oh, really?”
“…”
“…”
There was silence between them for a while.
In the howling of the wind, the first one to speak again was Kaguya.
“…Hey, Yuzuru?”
“Response. What is it?”
“Sorry. I lied… I.” Large tears spilled from Kaguya’s eyes. “I…don’t want…to die,” she sobbed. “I want to live… I want to be with you for a long time. I want to be together much, much longer.”
“Respo—” Now tears streamed down Yuzuru’s cheeks. “Me…too. I do not want to…disappear. I want to live with Kaguya.”
“Yuzuru…”
“Kaguya.”
Their eyes met, and their mouths moved at the same time.
““…””
But the voices from their throats did not reach the other.
The sound of an enormous engine roared far above Kaguya and Yuzuru in the sky, drowning them out.
“What…?”
“Attention. That is—”
Kaguya and Yuzuru looked up.
A massive black warship hung there, smoke spewing from its rear.
“Captain! It’s too dangerous to descend any farther! With Invisible deactivated, we risk being seen by the locals!” a crew member cried anxiously on the bridge of Arbatel.
“Quiet!” Paddington silenced them with a bark from the captain’s chair.
Seen by the locals? That was the point. And indeed, as soon as Arbatel started to drop altitude, the Ratatoskr airship stopped its pursuit.
In a stroke of good luck, the captain of that ship appeared to have the same mediocre brain power as his own crew. With anonymity as their top priority, they were about to let a wounded enemy escape before their eyes.
“Wait. Or perhaps not?” Paddington licked his lips.
If their objective was to keep their own ship hidden, there were still ways to attack without following Arbatel. They could fire a concentrated magic cannon or have more of that unknown explosive they’d used earlier.
But at this altitude, such an attack risked damage to the island.
That ship’s captain belonged to an eccentric organization that was trying to win over the Spirits through peaceful means of all things… Paddington had risked this gamble, and it seemed to be paying off.
But that wasn’t enough.
He’d lost several Bandersnatches, Arbatel was damaged, and they were fleeing an enemy. At the moment, Paddington’s loss was definitive.
To come out on top somehow now, he needed to do something more.
Paddington glared at the two girls displayed on the screen.
According to the intel he’d received from Ellen right before communications had been cut off, they were the Spirit Berserk.
“Is the fire in the control room out?! Deploy all remaining Bandersnatches! Secure Berserk and Princess at any cost!”
“B-but—”
“Just do it!” Paddington snarled.
A moment later, the crew member grimaced and entered the order into the console.
“What the heck is that?”
“Agreement. I wish they would read the room.”
Kaguya and Yuzuru spoke disapprovingly as they stared up at the enormous lump of steel that had appeared in the sky.
They had finally been about to reach a settlement with their other half, and this ship had interrupted that precious moment with almost purposeful timing.
And that wasn’t the end of it.
A hatch built into the bottom of the ship had opened, releasing heavily armed dolls one after another.
Smooth, inorganic forms. They did have heads and limbs at least, but they looked less like humans and more like the villains or demons that often appeared in fairy tales.
The mechanical dolls spread the wings on their backs in midair and turned with surprising agility to fly up and surround Kaguya and Yuzuru.
In the blink of an eye, the dolls turned gun barrels equipped on their right hands and shot beams of light toward the two girls.
“Whoa?!”
“…!”
Kaguya and Yuzuru just barely managed to dodge the incoming attacks and turned to glare at the dolls. But their pursuers had quickly readied their weapons for a follow-up attack and were already firing again.
“Ngh! What is with these doll things?!”
Kaguya spun the tip of the lance to produce a small tornado and mow down one group of dolls.
“Attack. This is irritating.”
Yuzuru did something with her pendulum, and another group was blown away.
But the scattered dolls instantly reoriented themselves and came at them again, ignoring the law of gravity.
Kaguya and Yuzuru both furrowed their brows unhappily.
“Heh… Creepy.”
“Agreement. To be honest, I do not want to touch them.”
They knocked the dolls away once more and looked up at the sky.
The doll attack was apparently not over. More and more fell from the hatch of the massive airship and fluttered down toward them.
The two girls frowned in annoyance and opened their mouths at the exact same moment. They could cut down all the dolls they wanted, and it would never be enough.
“So, like, Yuzuru?”
“Suggestion. Kaguya.”
Their voices perfectly overlapped. They opened their eyes wide in surprise and looked at each other.
And then they laughed.
“You wanna do it?”
“Affirmative. I want to do it.”
They nodded at each other.
And then Kaguya put out her left hand and Yuzuru her right, and they laid them on top of each other. Their Astral Dresses and Angels shone brightly as the wing on Kaguya’s right shoulder and the wing on Yuzuru’s left came together, taking the shape of a bow.
Yuzuru’s pendulum became the string, connecting the tips of the wings while Kaguya’s lance became a nocked arrow.
Now, hands cloaked in the armor of their Astral Dress, Kaguya on the right and Yuzuru on the left pulled the string back together.
When they had pulled it back as far as it would go, they turned the bow toward the airship in the sky.
They released the string together and launched this massive arrow high into the heavens.
A wind pressure orders of magnitude greater than anything they’d conjured before tore through the air.
Directly beneath the girls, Shido and Tohka were safe from the effects, but the turbulence left in the wake of this intense pressure hit the charging dolls, knocking them helplessly backward. The wind mowed down the few trees still left standing in the area, and the forest rippled, waves running through it.
Nothing in this world could stop the advance of this arrow cloaked in the blessing of the wind.
An absolute and peerless attack focused on a single point.
The most powerful arrow, launched for the first time by the two Yamais.
There was no way that the airship, a product of human engineering, had any hope of avoiding it.
Raphael’s arrow pierced the enormous ship, and the wind pressure cloaking it ripped the interior apart, causing a massive explosion that dyed the sky red.
“Ngh. Aah…” Groaning, Origami cracked open her eyes.
Her field of view showed not the sky of the island in the middle of a storm, but the ceiling of a room in the inn illuminated with a square lamp. She was suddenly overcome with the sensation that it had all been a dream, but no. She registered a dull pain in her side.
Scowling, she touched her chest and found that a compress and bandages had been applied. “What on earth…?”
“…Oh, you’re awake?”
She heard a sleepy voice from beside her head. The assistant homeroom teacher, Reine Murasame.
“Ms. Murasame? Where am I?” she asked.
“…My room. Sorry, I had to carry you inside. If the other students had found you, it would have been a whole thing.”
“That…doll—”
“…Oh. After you passed out, it suddenly stopped moving for some reason.”
“It did?” Origami said briefly and sat up, her body squealing in protest.
“…Best not to push yourself,” Reine told her. “You just rest for now.”
“Did you treat me?”
“…Mm-hmm. Sorry it’s a bit of a patchwork, though.”
“No… I’m grateful.”
“…I’m the one who should be thanking you. You saved me. Thanks.” Reine bowed her head.
Origami swallowed hard. “About that doll.”
“…I didn’t tell anyone. That way’s best, right?”
“…” Origami looked at Reine silently.
She felt as if this teacher, Ms. Murasame, was curiously calm for someone who had recently been assaulted by a mechanical doll-monster. On top of that, she had coolly assessed the situation, treated Origami’s injuries, and hadn’t told a single soul about anything that had happened.
And she was right. Origami didn’t want word of this mysterious doll to spread far. But she couldn’t help feeling somehow that this teacher was a little too competent.
…Almost as though she was aware of the existence of CR units.
But Origami cut off that line of thought because something more important had crossed her mind.
“Shido.”
“…Hmm?”
“Where’s Shido?”
“…Oh, he’s fine. He’s heading this way now.”
Origami started to let out a sigh of relief but then frowned. “How do you know that?”
“…” Reine looked everywhere but at Origami as she scratched her cheek, troubled. Finally, she opened her mouth. “…Gut feeling?”
“…” Origami crawled out of the futon. Something as unreliable as a “gut feeling” wasn’t a guarantee for Shido’s safety. She couldn’t relax just yet.
But the moment she got to her feet, a sharp pain ran across her abdomen, and she dropped to her knees. “Unh!”
“…I told you. You can’t push yourself. Come on. He’ll be back soon.”
“…Ngh.” On all fours, Origami punched the tatami-matted floor. This impact caused a minor flare of pain in her side, but she ignored it and punched the mat again.
Just one blow. A single blow that didn’t use weapons. This was the blow of a human being who wasn’t a Spirit, who wasn’t anything more than a regular person.
Now that her Realizer had been taken from her, Origami was just a human being, so human, it made her sad.
Too weak, too powerless. Her life had been spared by mere coincidence. If that doll hadn’t stopped functioning, she and Reine might have been killed. A fragile little girl who couldn’t even get Shido—her lover—out of a dangerous place. That was all Origami Tobiichi could claim to be in her current state.
She clenched her teeth and tasted a hint of blood.
“—ong.”
“…Hmm?” Reine cocked her head to one side.
But Origami wasn’t saying the words for Reine. She repeated them again, telling herself, “I want…to be strong. Strong enough to…not rely on anyone…and be able to protect…Shido…!”
“…” Reine lowered her eyes and draped a sweater over Origami’s shoulders.
“Arbatel. This is Adeptus One. Please respond. Arbatel,” Ellen called, having regained consciousness somehow and crawled out from under the Bandersnatch, but all she heard through her earpiece was static.
“…” She clicked her tongue, and her eyebrows twisted up.
In all probability, Arbatel had been downed. There was little doubt about that, given how all the Bandersnatches had abruptly ceased functioning.
She considered the current situation. It would have been one thing if Arbatel had been completely destroyed so that not a trace of it remained and Paddington and the others were dead. But she couldn’t allow the ship to fall into the hands of Ratatoskr—
She jumped slightly. A sound had suddenly come through from her earpiece.
“Arbatel, is that you? Status re—”
But the person on the other end of the line was not whom she had expected. A familiar laugh echoed in her ear.
“Heh-heh… From the look of things, I’d say the mission was a failure. Quite unusual for you, hmm, Ellen?”
“Ike.”
Yes. It was none other than Isaac Westcott.
“My sincerest apologies. I’m responsible for all of this.” Naturally, she didn’t believe this in her gut. It was the fault of that incompetent boob given a toy with too much power—and those demonic schoolgirls.
Westcott laughed again. “So where’s Princess?”
“…My apologies. I failed to capture her.”
“And was she a Spirit?”
“What? Y-yes. I was able to confirm that,” Ellen said. “There is no mistake. Tohka Yatogami is the Spirit Princess.”
“Heh-heh, well then, you’ve clarified that, hmm?” Westcott sounded quite satisfied. “This mission has produced results even if only for the fact that we learned that. Good work. Head on home.”
“…”
“Is there a problem?”
“Not at all. I just have one final question.”
“Oh? And what’s that?”
Ellen parted her lips quietly. “Do you believe there exist human beings who are able to wield Spirit power?”
Shido staggered back to the inn, leaning on Tohka’s shoulder.
The forest was a shadow of its former self, and he had a clearer line of sight than when they’d first entered, so walking was a bit easier.
“I hope the inn’s still in one piece,” he muttered, staring at the dim path ahead.
He heard Kaguya and Yuzuru gasp from behind. Maybe.
They were almost at the inn when they came upon something curious.
“Hmm? That’s… It’s one of those Bandersnatch things, right?” he said.
It had apparently been thrown here by Kaguya and Yuzuru’s wind. Its head looked caved in. Maybe it had hit it when it fell from the sky.
“Keh-keh.” He heard Kaguya’s laughter from behind. “Our tornado is powerful indeed. Toying with a doll is easy.”
“Agreement. The wind of Yuzuru and Kaguya is the most powerful.”
The two bumped fists and smiled at each other. They were acting so chummy that it was almost impossible to even imagine how hostile their relationship had been.
“More importantly, Shido. You must soon seal our powers.”
“Agreement. Although there is still time, sooner is better.”
“Uh. Well. The thing is…” Shido glanced at Tohka. She stared back blankly, curiously. “I—I have to get some stuff ready. I’ll definitely do it tomorrow morning. Just hang on a bit longer.”
Shido stalled for time. There was no way he could do it in front of Tohka.
“Hmph… This is no lie, yes? Should you spew falsehoods to the children of the hurricane, not even your bones shall remain when we’re through with you.”
“Death. You will be in pieces.”
“I-I’m not lying.”
““…””
The two girls looked at him with suspecting eyes and then sighed.
“Keh-keh… Well and good. I shall believe you. Incidentally, Tohka?”
“Mm? What?”
“Appeal. Would you allow us to borrow Shido for a brief period?” Yuzuru said, as if completing Kaguya’s thought.
“I don’t really mind.” Tohka cocked her head curiously to one side. “But why?”
“D-doesn’t matter. It’s just for a bit. You may wait here,” Kaguya said and took Shido’s hand from Tohka’s shoulder.
The two Spirits carried him to the edge of the forest.
“Wh-what is it?” he asked.
“It’s fine. Just be quiet.”
“Agreement. Silence is golden.”
They were clearly brooking no objection, and Shido obediently shut his mouth. The girls stopped when they were out of Tohka’s line of sight.
“…Shido. Well, I don’t know how to put this. Thanks. For a bunch of stuff.”
“Gratitude. Thanks to you, I no longer need to fight Kaguya.”
“Oh, I mean…” He smiled, troubled. He was flabbergasted by their sudden meekness.
After signaling each other with their eyes, Kaguya and Yuzuru turned their gazes back on Shido.
“So, well, it’s nothing much, but think of it as a thank-you.”
“Petition. Please close your eyes.”
“Huh? Close my…” He frowned, but he obeyed their instruction.
And then…
“…?!”
From either side, something gentle pressed against the right and the left sides of his lips.
Yes. Kaguya and Yuzuru were kissing him at the same time.
“Wh—what are you—?” he stammered, flustered.
“I—I told you. A thank-you. The first kiss of two absolute beauties like me and Yuzuru, okay? I figured you’d be dancing with joy. So what’s with the freak-out?”
“Apology. Was this an inconvenience?”
Kaguya’s face turned red as she crossed her arms, while Yuzuru hung her head apologetically.
“Wha—?”
“Shock. What is this—?”
They cried out in confusion. And of course they did. The bondage gear and chains twined about their bodies had turned into particles of light and vanished.
“Panic. This is pervy.”
They covered their chests and crouched down.
“C-calm down, both of you!” Shido hurried to explain. “The truth is, what you did just now is what’s supposed to seal your Spirit powers—”
“Shido? I saw a flash of light. Did something happen?”
Just when he thought things couldn’t get any worse, Tohka popped her head out from behind him.
“…?! T-Tohka?!” he yelped.
Her eyes grew wide in surprise as she took in the scene, and her face turned bright red. “Sh-Shido?! Wh-wh-what are you doing?!”
“N-no! You’ve got the wrong idea! I didn’t—”
“Shido suddenly ripped our clothes off…”
“Tears. No one will marry me now.”
Kaguya set him up perfectly for Yuzuru to deal the final blow. Tohka’s cheeks grew even redder, and she fixed a glare on him.
“Shidooooo!”
“H-hang on! I-I’m injur—ah! Aaaaaaah?!”
Shido’s shrieks echoed throughout the night woods.