Chapter 2

The Game Begins

It’s been a while.

A familiar voice echoed in his mind.

We finally, finally get to meet, XXX.

It was yearning, affectionate.

I’m so happy. But please wait just a tiny bit longer.

Who was it? There was no answer to this question.

I’ll never let you go again. I’ll never make that mistake again. So—

The mysterious voice cut off there.

“…Ah!” Shido woke up with a gasp. “Whoa!” he shouted.

Of course he did. A strange woman was holding up his eyelid with a finger, shining a small penlight at his pupil.

“…Hmm? So you’re awake.” The woman’s voice was slow and dreamy, which paired well with her sleepy face.

She was uncomfortably close to him since she appeared to have been checking his eyes while he was unconscious. A pleasant aroma entered his nostrils, perhaps the scent of her shampoo.

“Wh-wh-wh-wh-who are you?!”

“…Mm, oh.” The woman got up, still looking spaced out, and pushed back the bangs hanging listlessly over her forehead.

Once she stepped back, he was able to take in the whole of her.

She was around twenty, clad in a military uniform. Her hair was tied back artlessly, deep, dark circles adorned her eyes, and for some reason, a battered teddy bear was poking its face out of one of her pockets.

“…I’m Reine Murasame, an analyst here. Unfortunately, the medical officer’s not in right now… But you can relax. I don’t have a license, but I can perform basic first aid.”

“…”

He actually couldn’t relax. After all, it was clear that this woman was worse off than he was. She’d been wobbling back and forth this whole time, her head making little circles in the air.

Now in a seated position, Shido zeroed in on something she had said. “Here?”

He looked around and found that he had been put onto a simple metal-framed bed with white curtains that created a partition around him. It reminded Shido of the school nurse’s office, but the ceiling was a little different, with rough pipes and exposed wires.

“Wh-where is here…?”

“…Ohhh, the medical office on Fraxinus,” she replied. “You were unconscious, so we went ahead and had you brought in.”

“Fraxinus…? And wait, unconscious? …Oh!”

Right. He had passed out after getting dragged into that fight between the mysterious girl and Origami.

“…Uh. Um. Can I ask you a question? There are too many things that I don’t understand.”

Reine turned her back silently to him without responding.

“Oh… Hey?” said Shido.

“…Follow me,” she told him and pulled back the curtain. “There’s a person I want you to meet. I’m sure you’re dying to get answers, but I’m pretty bad at explaining things. I’ll introduce you to someone who can lay it all out for you.”

The drapery opened up to a larger room. There were six additional beds and unfamiliar medical instruments farther back.

Reine turned in the direction of what Shido presumed was the exit and staggered toward it. But her feet quickly buckled under her, and she hit her head against the wall with a loud bang.

“A-are you okay?!”

“…Mmph.” At least she didn’t fall down. She groaned as she leaned against the wall. “Aah, sorry. I haven’t gotten much rest lately.”

“Wh-when was the last time you slept?” Shido asked, and Reine considered the question before raising three fingers. “Three days ago. No wonder you’re sleepy.”

“…Oh, I think you mean thirty years?”

“I didn’t expect that!” He had been ready to hear a maximum of three weeks as a response, but this answer was indeed a surprise. Plus, the number clearly exceeded the age Reine looked to be.

“…Well, it’s true that I can’t remember the day I last got some sleep. Seems I’ve got a touch of insomnia, hmm?”

“I—I guess…?”

“…So. Oh!” She suddenly dug around in a pocket and pulled out a pill case. “Excuse me. Time for my medicine.” She opened the case and tossed every single pill into her mouth.

“Uh, hey!” Shido shouted involuntarily.

Reine crunched, chomped, crushed, and gulped a terrifying number of capsules without any hesitation whatsoever.

“…You’re a real live wire, huh?”

“It’s just, that was a lot of pills!” he yelped. “And what’s the medication for anyway?”

“…They’re all sleeping pills.”

“You’re gonna die! This is serious!”

“…But they’re not that strong.”

“What is up with your body?!”

“…Well, they’re sweet and tasty, so it’s fine.”

“Are you sure that isn’t candy?!” he shouted and then let out a sigh.

“…At any rate, this way. Follow me.” Reine returned the empty pillbox to her pocket, started walking, her stride still precarious, and opened the door of the medical office.

“Uh!” Shido hurried to put on his shoes and followed her out of the room. “What exactly is this…?”

They stepped into a narrow hallway with pale, mechanical walls and floor. He was somehow reminded of the interior shots of rocket ships in space operas or the hallways of naval vessels in movies.

“…Okay, what were we doing?” Reine paused for a moment before tottering ahead on unsteady feet.

Shido started after her slowly, still not understanding a single thing that was happening. His footsteps echoed in the hall that looked like it was straight out of a movie set.

He couldn’t say how long they’d been walking when Reine stopped in front of a door with a small electronic panel next to it at the end of the corridor.

“…Here we are,” she announced.

The panel chirped mechanically, and the door slid open.

“…Well, come in.” Reine entered, and Shido followed her.

“This is…” He opened his eyes wide at the scene on the other side of the mechanical gateway.

Simply put, it was the bridge of a warship. An elliptical floor spread out from the door Shido had come in through, and set in the middle of it was a chair that seemed to be the captain’s seat.

Gently sloping steps stretched out to either side, and he could see the crew operating a set of complicated controls on the deck below. The entire room was dimly lit. The glow of the monitors dotted the room, and the presence of those monitors dominated the space.

“…I brought him,” Reine said, her head wobbling in a loop.

“Good work.”

The tall, butler-like man standing next to the captain’s seat bowed slightly. He had wavy hair and a nose that didn’t look particularly Japanese. He was handsome, looking like he’d stepped right out of the pages of a BL novel.

“Hello,” he greeted Shido. “I am the vice commander, Kyouhei Kannazuki. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

“Uh…huh…” Shido bowed his head slightly as he scratched his cheek.

For an instant, he thought that Reine had been speaking to this Kannazuki, but that was wrong.

“Commander, Analyst Murasame has returned,” Kannazuki announced, and the captain’s chair slowly turned toward them, squeaking quietly.

“Good to have you. Welcome to Ratatoskr.”

The voice was a little too cute to belong to someone with the title of commander.

Once the chair stopped turning, Shido found himself facing a girl clad in a bright red military uniform. Hair tied up with two large black ribbons. Small physique. Eyes round like walnuts. And a Chupa Chups lollipop in her mouth.

Shido knit his brows. No matter how hard he stared, this was definitely…

“Kotori?” he asked, stunned.

There were a few differences—her outfit, her tone, her entire aura—but this girl had to be his beloved little sister, Kotori Itsuka. No question about it.

“Shido Itsuka.” Origami spoke so quietly that no one else could hear her, his face popping up in her mind.

There was no mistake. It had definitely been that boy from before. Her memory was not wrong. They’d only met the one time, so it was no wonder he didn’t remember her, even though it disappointed her a little. She’d tried all kinds of ways of getting in touch with him since they started high school, but all had ended in failure.

And right now, she was facing a more pressing question.

“What was he doing there?”

She didn’t understand why he’d been out in the middle of the city when there’d been a spacequake alert. Plus, he had definitely seen everything—both Origami in her special gear and the Spirit.

“Master Sergeant Tobiichi, the preparations are complete!”

“—”

Origami snapped up her head when the mechanic suddenly called down to her.

Then she let the command floating in her mind take shape. The order was conveyed to the thrusters on her back through the combat wiring suit that covered her body to activate the Realizer there. The equipment enveloping her body seemed ill-suited for flight, and yet Origami floated up into the air together with the heavy weapons.

Ground Self-Defense Forces, Tengu Garrison.

Guided by the mechanic in one corner of the hangar, Origami steered herself onto her own personal dock, landing seated, and finally let out her breath once she had put her weapons away in their set positions and released all the Realizers. At the same time, the weight of the gear—which she hadn’t felt at all until that moment—pressed down on her, together with the exhaustion accumulated over the course of the mission.

She heard a mechanical klik-hiss from behind, and the connection with the thrusters on her back was released. But she couldn’t stand up for another three minutes. It was like this every time after she used the CR unit. Her body always felt abnormally heavy whenever she downgraded from superhuman to human.

Combat Realizer unit. CR unit for short.

It was the name for the miraculous Realizer technology obtained by humanity after the great disaster thirty years ago, equipment used for military purposes. This machinery used computer calculations to distort the laws of physics and recreate these computations in the real world. Although there were limits, Realizers made imagination reality. This technology produced what was essentially magic using scientific methods.

And it was also the sole means by which humanity could resist the Spirits.

“Get back! Stretcher coming through!”

She heard an angry roar from her right. When she glanced over, she saw a platoon member in the same type of wiring suit she wore laid out on a stretcher.

“…Dammit. Dammit…! I am totally going to kill that girl!” The soldier on the stretcher cursed, pressing on a bandage oozing blood on her forehead.

“…”

If the soldier still had it in her to curse, she was probably going to be fine. Origami turned her gaze forward again, disinterested.

As long as a person made it to treatment with a medical Realizer, they would make a complete recovery, excluding the most severe injuries. When Origami had broken her leg, she’d been able to walk again the next day.

“—”

She let out a slight sigh and looked up, turning the day’s battle over in her mind.

A world-killing calamity—the Spirits.

Anomalies that even a group of superhumans like Origami couldn’t scratch. Natural disasters who appeared out of nowhere and wreaked whatever havoc they pleased.

“…”

Today’s fight had only come to an end because the Spirit had been Lost.

Lost didn’t mean that the Spirit was dead. She had simply escaped by leaping through space.

Ideally, the Spirit would have retreated thanks to the efforts of the AST. But everyone fighting her on the ground, including Origami, knew that the Spirit didn’t view them as any kind of threat. The fact that she was Lost was nothing more than the Spirit’s whim.

Origami gritted her teeth tightly, her expression not changing on the surface.

“Origami.” A voice came from deep in the hangar to interrupt her thoughts.

“…”

Wordlessly, she turned in that direction. She was still not used to her body; her head was dull and heavy.

When the basic Realizer in the wiring suit was activated, a Territory of several meters was deployed around the wearer. This was the key to the CR unit.

Territory. Just as the word implied, it was a space the user could make into whatever she wanted. It would mitigate any external shock, and even internal gravity could be changed as needed. When the Territory was deployed, Origami and other AST personnel became superhuman. In exchange, for a brief period after using a CR unit, they were unable to move as they wanted to.

“Nice work.”

A woman who looked to be in her midtwenties stood before her with her hands on her hips, wearing the same wiring suit as Origami. Captain Ryouko Kusakabe, the leader of Origami’s AST squad.

“You went and drove back that Spirit all on your own… I’ll have words with Tomohara and Kagaya. I can’t believe they withdrew and left you alone with that thing.”

“They didn’t withdraw,” Origami stated.

Ryouko shrugged. “It’s got to be like that in the report to the brass. We have to make it seem like we’re getting stuff done, or else they’ll slash our budget.”

“…”

“Don’t make that face at me. I was giving you a compliment. You did great, especially when our ace wasn’t in the game. If you hadn’t been there, we would’ve seen a couple deaths at least. But…it’s just…” She sighed as she narrowed her eyes, grabbed Origami’s head, and turned it toward her. “You’re a bit too reckless. You really want to die that badly?”

Origami held her tongue.

“Do you understand what kind of creatures you’re fighting out there? They’re monsters. Sentient hurricanes… Listen. We keep the damage to a minimum, and we make it Lost as fast as possible. That’s our job. Don’t go courting any unnecessary danger.”

“No.” Origami stared back into Ryouko’s eyes and parted her lips slightly. “The role of the AST is to defeat the Spirits.”

Ryouko winced. That was true. As an AST captain, she had a much deeper understanding than Origami of the Anti-Spirit Team. She was trying to get through to her junior with her experience: We can only reduce the destruction.

Origami spoke once more, fully aware of this fact. “I will defeat the Spirits.”

“…” Ryouko let out a sigh and released the girl’s head. “I should keep my opinions to myself. You think what you want. But if you go against my orders on the field, you’re off the squad.”

“Roger,” Origami replied briefly before standing up and walking away, her body familiar again at last.

“…So this is called a Spirit, and this is an AST, ground Anti-Spirit Team,” Kotori explained. “You got yourself tangled up in a real mess there. If we hadn’t recovered you, you probably would’ve died two or three times by now. Anyway, moving on—”

“H-hang on a minute!” Shido interrupted loudly.

“What? What’s wrong? Here you are getting an explanation directly from the commander and everything. You should be choking up with tears at the honor. I’ll even let you lick my boots just this once—a real privilege!”

She jerked her chin upward to look down on him as she spat out this line that made her seem very un-Kotori-like.

“R-really?!” Kannazuki cried out joyfully from his position next to her.

She immediately shoved her elbow into his solar plexus. “Not you.”

“Hngaaah…!”

Shido opened his mouth, dumbfounded. “…Y-you are Kotori, right? You weren’t hurt in the attack?”

“Oh my!” She gasped theatrically. “Did you forget what your own sister looks like, Shido? I knew you had a terrible memory, but I’m surprised it’s gotten this bad. Perhaps I should find a nice seniors’ home for you.”

A stream of sweat ran down Shido’s face. He pinched his cheek to see if he was dreaming. Ow. This wasn’t a dream.

But there was no way his adorable little sister would make his first name sound like an expletive like that. He scratched the back of his head.

“My brain’s totally fried because there are just too many things that don’t make any sense. What are you doing here? And, like, what is this place? Who are these people? And—”

“Calm down.” Kotori spread out her hands patronizingly to stop her brother’s troubled rambling. “If you can’t comprehend the other stuff, there’ll be no telling you anything.”

She pointed at the large screen on the bridge, which still showed the girl with black hair who he had encountered earlier, along with people wearing mechanical armor.

“Umm. A Spirit…? Was that what you said?” Shido asked hesitantly.

A being of unknown origin who appeared at random in their world. He was pretty sure that was how Kotori had explained it.

“Mm-hmm. Normally, she doesn’t exist in this world. She just shows up and blows away an entire area, whether we like it or not.” Kotori threw her arms out to mimic an explosion. “Boom!”

Shido pressed a hand to his forehead and grimaced. “…Sorry. This is a lot to take in. I don’t really get it.”

“You still don’t understand?” She shrugged and sighed. “I’m telling you that the spacequakes are an aftereffect of Spirits like her appearing in our world.”

“Wh—?” He unconsciously furrowed his brow.

A shaking of space itself. Spacequakes. The absurd phenomenon eating away at humanity, at the world.

And they were caused by that girl?

“Well, there are different scales of magnitude. The small ones are a few meters wide, and the big ones, those are the ones digging holes into continents.” Kotori made a large circle with her hands.

They’d called the first one thirty years earlier the Great Eurasian Spacequake.

“You’re lucky, Shido. If this explosion had been any bigger, you might have been wiped out along with everything else.”

He shivered at the thought. She was exactly right.

She rolled her eyes. “Why did you go outside when there was an alert anyway? Are you stupid? Do you want to die?”

“Oh… It’s just, I mean, look.” He fished his phone out of his pocket and made it display Kotori’s position.

Indeed, her icon was still stationary in front of the restaurant.

“Hmm? Ohhh, that.” She pulled her own phone out and turned it toward him.

“Uh…? Why are you—? Huh?” Shido looked back and forth between the two phones.

Since she was on this ship, he’d assumed that she’d dropped her phone by the restaurant.

Kotori sighed. “I was wondering what you were doing outside during an alarm. So that’s why. Exactly how stupid do you think I am, my idiot brother?”

“No, it’s just… Uh, I mean, why—?”

“Simple,” she said. “We’re in front of the restaurant.”

“Huh…?”

“This is perfect. It’ll be a lot faster just to show you. Cut the filter a sec,” she said, and the gloomy bridge grew immediately brighter.

It wasn’t that someone had turned the lights on. It was more like a dark curtain hanging over the ceiling had been yanked away. Blue sky spread out all around them.

“Wh-what the…?!”

“Don’t freak out,” she told him. “You’re just seeing what’s outside.”

“Outside… This?”

“Yes. We’re fifteen thousand meters above the city of Tengu. In terms of our position aboveground, we’re right around the restaurant where we were supposed to meet.”

“So this is…,” Shido trailed off.

“Yes. Fraxinus is an airship.” Kotori crossed her arms and clucked her tongue with satisfaction, like a child showing off her favorite toy. Actually, it was maybe more like an overprotective mother introducing the precious child she’d devoted her life to for the past several years.

“A-an airship…? What? Why would you be—?”

“I told you I would explain, right?” she cut him off peevishly. “Even a chicken can retain information longer than you can, I swear.”

“Mmph…”

“…But you checking my phone’s GPS location… That was a blind spot. I set Invisible and Avoid with the Realizer, so I got careless. I’ll have to work out a countermeasure for this later,” she muttered, placing her hand on her chin.

“Wh-what are you talking about?”

None of the words she was saying made any sense to him.

“Oh, don’t worry about it. I don’t expect you to understand. You’ve got a brain that would lose out to a horsehair crab’s if we were talking price per gram.”

“…”

“Commander,” Kannazuki said gently. “Crab paste is not the brain. It’s a digestive gland.”

“…”

Without a word, Kotori gestured for him to come closer. When he bent down, she spat the stick of the now-finished lollipop into his eyes.

“Nngaah!” He fell backward, hands pressed to his face.

“A-are you okay?!” Shido cried out.

This was no joke. He started toward Kannazuki and then stopped again.

Having fallen to the floor, the tall man pulled a handkerchief from his pocket with a look of ecstasy on his face and tidily wrapped it around the lollipop stick Kotori had spat at him.

“Whoops! Did I worry you? It’s all right. In our industry, this is a reward!” Kannazuki said and leaped to his feet to stand at perfect attention.

What industry was that? Actually, scratch that. Shido didn’t want to know the details.

“Kannazuki.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Kotori held up two fingers, and Kannazuki placed a replacement lollipop there for her.

“So next is…the AST. The specialized troops for the Spirits,” Kotori said, indicating a group on the screen.

“…‘For the Spirits’?” Shido asked. “What exactly does that mean?”

“Simple.” She looked at him as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “When a Spirit appears, AST race to the area and take care of it.”

“Take care of it…?”

“Kill it, essentially!”

“…!”

He gasped, but what she was saying wasn’t entirely unexpected. Still, he suddenly felt like someone was squeezing his heart tightly in a vise. “K-kill it…?”

“Yes.” She nodded, as if it wasn’t a big deal.

He swallowed hard. His heart pounded loudly in his ears. He understood the words coming out of her mouth. Spirits. Yes, indeed, they were dangerous. But no matter how dangerous, killing them was just…

The girl’s face suddenly popped up in the back of his mind.

“I mean, didn’t you come to kill me, too?”

He finally understood what she had meant. As well as why she looked like she might burst into tears at any second.

“Well, if you think about it,” Kotori said, “it’s best that they die.”

She didn’t seem particularly concerned about it.

“Wh-wh-why?” Shido half groaned, screwing up his face.

“What do you mean, ‘why’?” She put a hand to her chin, as if deeply engrossed. “There’s no ‘why’ here. They’re monsters, y’know? The worst, evilest, deadliest poison. They cause spacequakes just by appearing.”

“But you said it yourself, right? The Spirits aren’t causing the spacequakes on purpose.”

“Yes. At least, the current prevailing view is that the explosions happen regardless of the Spirit’s intentions. The damage from duking it out with the AST, though—that could also be counted as spacequake damage, and that is the Spirit’s doing.”

“…But isn’t that only because these AST people are attacking?”

“Well, that might be,” agreed Kotori. “But that’s a guess at best. Maybe the Spirit would happily start trashing the place, even if the AST did nothing.”

“That’s…not likely.”

“And your proof for that?”

“Someone who loves to destroy towns…wouldn’t look so sad.”

This was far too vague and weak to be called proof, but for some reason, Shido was completely convinced that it was the truth.

“The Spirit’s not doing it herself, right?” he asked. “But—”

“The big problem isn’t whether it’s deliberate or not,” Kotori cut him off. “Either way, it doesn’t change the fact that the Spirits cause spacequakes. It’s not that I don’t get what you’re trying to say, Shido, but we can’t exactly leave a creature that is nuclear-warhead levels of dangerous to run free just because we feel sorry for her. We got away with a small-scale explosion this time, but you never know when a spacequake on the Eurasia level is going to happen again.”

“But you can’t just…kill them,” Shido persisted.

“For someone who only had a few minutes of contact with one—and that one almost got you killed—you sure do have the Spirits’ back… What, did you fall for her?”

“N-no. It’s just, I was thinking maybe there’s some other way.”

“Okay, tell me then.” She sighed. “What other way is there?”

“I…” He had nothing to say to that.

In his mind, he understood what she was saying. The Spirits were an anomaly that left deep scars in the world just by showing up. A threat like that did need to be dealt with as swiftly as possible.

However, Shido had seen it. Just for an instant, he had seen the girl’s face, and how she seemed ready to burst into tears at any second. He’d heard the sorrow in her voice.

Aah, this is the wrong way to go about this, he’d thought.

“At any rate.” The words came unprompted from his mouth. “You won’t know…until you actually…talk to them just once.”

The terror of death from that moment was still etched into his bones. He was actually petrified. He wanted to run away. However, he couldn’t leave that girl like this. After all, she was just like him.

Kotori stretched her lips out into a grin, almost as if to say she’d been waiting for this. “Right. So then we’ll help you.”

“Huh…?” His jaw dropped.

She threw her arms out, broadly gesturing to Reine, Kannazuki, the crew on the deck below, and the airship Fraxinus itself. “I said we’ll help you do that. The assembled power of the Ratatoskr organization will be at your disposal, Shido.” She locked her fingers together in her lap, looking graceful.

“Wh-what’s that? I don’t get—”

“I’ll answer your first question,” she interrupted. “The one about what we are. Listen. There are basically two ways of dealing with the Spirits.”

“Two…?”

She nodded exaggeratedly and held up her index finger. “The first is the AST way. Go up against them with battle power and exterminate them.”

Next, she brought up her middle finger. “The second is…to speak with the Spirits. We are Ratatoskr, a group formed to resolve the spacequakes through dialogue without killing Spirits.”

“…”

Shido’s thoughts raced. He had a lot of questions—What was this organization? Why did Kotori belong to it?—but for now, he gave voice to the thing that was most important in that moment.

“…So why are you putting this organization at my disposal then?”

“Actually, it’s the other way around,” she noted. “Ratatoskr was originally created for you, Shido.”

“H-huh…?!” He was more stunned by this than anything else. “Hang on a sec. That makes the least sense of all. For me?”

“Mm-hmm. Well, it might be more precise to say the organization has placed you in the position of negotiating with the Spirits to try and resolve the Spirit issue. Either way, we can’t even get off the ground without you.”

“H-hang on. What do you mean? You’re saying that all these people are here for that? And, like, why me?!”

Kotori twirled the lollipop in her mouth. “Mm. Well, you’re special.”

“That explains nothiiiiiiing!” he shouted, beyond frustrated.

His sister smiled boldly and shrugged. “Well, you’ll understand the reason soon enough. It’s all good. I’m telling you we’re going to have your back with our gadgets and gizmos, mmkay? Or are you going to get between a Spirit and an AST again all on your own with zero prep? Next time, you’ll die, y’know,” she stated coolly, eyes narrowed.

Shido gulped involuntarily. She was totally right. He had only his ideals and hopes, but no way to turn them into reality. He had so many things he wanted to say that they all piled up in his throat, but he managed to push these many doubts down somehow and voice a question that would move the discussion forward.

“…So what specifically does this ‘dialogue’ entail?”

“Well, you see…” Kotori’s lips curled upward, and she put a hand to her chin. “You’re going to make the Spirits…fall in love!”

…A few seconds passed by.

“…Excuse me?” A bead of sweat slid down Shido’s cheek as a confident grin remained on his sister’s lips. “…Come again? I don’t quite get what you mean.”

“You get chummy with a Spirit, chat a bit, do some flirting, go on a date, get ’em all starry-eyed,” she replied, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“…Umm.” He clutched his head in his hands. “And how will that fix the spacequakes?”

“Hmm.” She placed a thoughtful finger on her chin. “If we’re going to solve the spacequake issue with something other than military power, then basically we have to win the Spirits over, right?”

“I guess.”

“The quickest way to do that is to get the Spirits to like this world,” she continued. “If they get, like, ‘oh, what a wonderful world,’ then they won’t run wild all over the place.”

“Makes sense.”

“They say the world looks beautiful when you’re in love. So you’re gonna date the Spirits and make ’em lovesick!”

“No, that doesn’t make sense,” Shido said flatly. Kotori was clearly getting ahead of herself. “I—I don’t think that’s how—”

“Oh, shut up, you drumstick!” She cut him off in a forceful tone that brooked no argument. “Ooh, I can’t let the AST kill the Spiiiiriiiiits, there haaaaas to be another waaaaaay, but I don’t liiiiiiike Ratatoskr’s methooods… Is that it? You gotta toughen up, bombardier beetle. What can you do by yourself? Know your place.”

“Hnngh…”

“You don’t have to love every little bit of this.” An evil smile spread across her face. “But if you don’t want to kill the Spirits, then you can’t really pick and choose here, hmm?”

She was exactly right. With no power and no support, Shido would never be able to talk to that Spirit girl again. The AST method was absolutely out of the question. He was sure that Kotori and her crew had only dangled that in front of him to get him on board. But it was indeed a fact that he had no other choices here.

“…Fine!” He nodded, pained.

“Excellent.” She grinned. “Analyzing the data so far, the earliest we can expect another Spirit is in one week. You’ll start your training tomorrow.”

“Huh?” he muttered, bewildered. “Training…?”

The next day…

Origami suddenly grabbed Shido’s hand. “Come.”

“Huh?” he cried out. “Uh, h-hey…”

His chair fell over as Origami dragged him out of the classroom. Tonomachi gaped from behind, while a group of girls started squealing and whispering.

Shido imagined the rumors that would be traveling through the school as he trailed after Origami. He reconciled himself to the inevitable gossip, thinking it was infinitely preferable to being Second Best Couple with Tonomachi.

Tuesday, April 11. The day after Shido’s mysterious experience. He still couldn’t quite believe it had all been real.

Eventually, he’d been moved to a different room, where some old guy went on and on in great detail about every aspect of the situation he was in. (To be honest, he could barely remember any of this.) Then Shido had to sign all kinds of papers before they finally let him go home. He stepped through the door and dived into bed without bothering with a bath, and before he knew it, it was morning.

He dragged his listless body to school and made it through classes somehow, rubbing his bleary eyes, until the final homeroom ended. And now this.

Origami silently climbed the stairs until she got to the locked door to the roof. Only then did she finally release him.

He could hear the chatter of students heading home, which felt far off in the distance, even though they were less than ten meters away from where everyone was. The space felt isolated, as though it were entirely cut off from the rest of the school.

“Uh. Umm…” He knew it wasn’t what Origami had in mind, but a girl bringing him to a place like this still made him blush. He looked anywhere but at her.

“What were you doing there yesterday?” she asked, with no preamble, looking straight into his eyes.

“Oh,” he said. “It looked like my little sister was in town during the alarm, so I went to find her.”

“Mm-hmm,” she replied without a hint of emotion. “And you found her?”

“Oh! Uh, yeah…I did.”

“You did? Good,” she said. “You saw me yesterday.”

“Y-yeah.”

“Don’t tell anyone,” she instructed, with a force that left no room for argument.

He wondered what kind of reaction he’d get if he said something like, “If you don’t want anyone to find out, you’ll do what I tell you, right? Heh-heh-heh,” with morbid curiosity on his face.

But of course, Shido didn’t have the nerve for that. He bobbed his head up and down.

“And not just me. The things you saw yesterday, and everything you heard. It’d be in your best interest to forget all of it.”

She had to have been talking about the Spirits.

“…You mean, that girl?”

“…” Origami simply stared at him.

“H-hey…Tobiichi. So, like, who was she?”

He’d heard about the Spirits from Ratatoskr, but he asked anyway.

What he’d been told was, at best, the viewpoint of Kotori’s organization. Origami and the others who had actually crossed swords with the mysterious young woman and others like her might have a different way of thinking about them.

“She was a Spirit,” Origami replied briefly. “Something I have to defeat.”

“…S-so this Spirit is a bad guy…?” He posed this tentative question and got the feeling that Origami was gritting her teeth, albeit ever so slightly.

“My parents died five years ago because of a Spirit.”

“…Wh—?” He was at a loss for words at this unexpected reply.

“I don’t want that to happen to anyone else.”

“…You. Don’t…” He put a hand on his chest as if to try and calm the wild pounding of his heart. Another question popped into his mind. “So, like… Is it really okay for you to just tell me this stuff about Spirits? I mean, I know I’m the one who asked, but…”

“…” She stared at him unflinchingly before finally saying, “It’s not a problem.”

“R-really?”

“As long as you don’t tell anyone.”

“…And if I did?”

“…” She stopped again for just an instant. “It’d be trouble.”

“R-really? Yikes,” he said. “I promise I won’t tell anyone.”

She nodded and then took her eyes off him at last. She turned away and started down the stairs.

“…Heeaah.”

Once he could no longer see her back, he leaned against the wall and let out a huge sigh. They’d done nothing but talk, but he’d still felt so nervous about the encounter.

“So her parents died because of the Spirits,” he muttered and knocked his head against the wall.

A Spirit was a calamitous being whose very existence threatened to destroy the world. It made sense that there would be casualties.

“…I guess I really have my head in the clouds…”

Origami and Kotori were working under a firm conviction, even if they were coming at the issue from two different directions.

What about him? Would he be able to snarl and yell in front of Origami the way he had with Kotori the previous day?

“…” He sighed.

He didn’t think what he’d done was wrong, but he had a hard time figuring out his complicated feelings.

“Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!”

He was about to go down the stairs himself when he heard a girl screaming from the hallway.

“…Wh-what was that?!”

Shido flew down the stairs, taking them two at a time, to find several students clustered in the hallway. He could make out a woman in a lab coat lying facedown on the floor in the middle of the cluster.

“Wh-what’s going on?”

“I—I guess she’s a new teacher… But she suddenly collapsed!” a girl near him replied in a panic.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but at least get the nurse—,” Shido started, and the woman in the lab coat grabbed his leg. “A-aaah?!”

“…You don’t need to worry. I just fell down,” she explained as she slowly raised the face that had been plastered to the floor.

“Y-you…!”

Long bangs, dark circles under the eyes. They were framed by glasses now, but there was no way he would forget such a distinctive look.

“…Mm? Ohhh, you.”

The woman—the Ratatoskr analyst Reine Murasame—sat up, wobbling.

“Wh-what are you doing here…?” he asked.

“…Can’t you tell? I decided to put myself into service here for the time being as a teacher. By the way, my subject is physics, and I’m also the vice homeroom teacher for Year Two, Class Four,” Reine said, showing him the name tag attached to the front of her lab coat. A battered bear peeked out from the breast pocket immediately above it.

“How should I know?!” Shido shouted and realized that he was the one getting all the looks now. “Oh… I—I guess she’s okay,” he announced, reaching out and helping Reine to her feet.

“…Mm, thanks.”

“Don’t mention it. But how about we walk and talk?” he said, a little anxious about the group of onlookers. He tottered along, matching Reine’s pace. “Umm, Analyst Murasame?”

“…Mm, yeah, Reine’s fine.”

“Huh?”

“…I’ll call you by your first name, too. Coordination and cooperation are born of trust, after all.” She nodded in agreement with herself and looked at his face. “Umm, you’re… Was it Shintaro?”

“You only got the first bit right!” he cried. If they didn’t have trust, they didn’t have anything.

“…So, Shin, then. To get to the point—”

“You’re just switching subjects?! And, like, don’t give me weird nicknames!” he shouted, entirely vexed.

Reine continued as though she hadn’t even heard him. “…The preparations for the intense training Kotori was talking about yesterday are complete. You have impeccable timing. I was just looking for you. We can go straight to the physics prep room.”

Shido gave up on any snarky reply, since it would be pointless no matter what he said. He let out a sigh. “So what exactly is this training, umm, Reine?”

“…Mm-hmm. Kotori told me you’ve never dated a girl, Shin. Is this true?”

Why does my dear sister have to spill the details of her big brother’s (nonexistent) history with women to a stranger?

Shido assented vaguely, grimacing in annoyance.

“…I’m not reproaching you here or anything,” she told him. “It’s perfectly fine to be chaste. Just not if you’re going to be seducing Spirits.”

“Hngh…,” Shido groaned and then spotted something strange as they were passing the teachers’ room. “…Huh?”

“…Something wrong?”

“No, it’s just…”

His homeroom teacher, Tama, was walking up ahead, with a tiny, somehow familiar shadow trailing behind her, hair tied back in two bunches.

“Ah!” The shadow must have noticed his gaze, because its face lit up. “My dear brotherrrrrrrrr!” And that small shadow was Kotori.

She crashed into Shido’s stomach like it had its own gravity.

“H-Haggar…!” he groaned.

“Ha-ha-ha! Silly rabbit! Haggar? That’s the mayor of Metro City! Ha-ha-ha!”

“K-Kotori…?! Why are you at my high school…?!” Shido somehow managed to peel his clingy sister off his midsection.

“Oh, Itsuka.” Tama stepped out from behind Kotori. “I was just about to call you over the PA because your sister’s here.”

“Uh… Uh-huh…”

When he looked closely, he saw that Kotori was wearing the slippers reserved for school visitors and had a visitor badge pinned to her junior high uniform. She had apparently followed all the proper procedures before entering.

“Aah, thanks, miss!” Kotori waved her hand vigorously.

“You’re very welcome.” His teacher grinned in return. “Aah, your sister’s so adorable.”

“Uh…sure.” Shido forced a smile, sweat beading on his forehead, and offered a noncommittal reply.

“Bye-bye!” Tama and Kotori smiled and waved at each other, and then his teacher walked off toward the teachers’ room.

“…So, Kotori.”

“Hmm? Whaaat?” she said, eyes wide. This was the usual little sister Shido knew only too well.

“Um… About that thing yesterday—with the whole Ratatoskr and the Spirits and—”

“We can talk about that later.”

Although her tone was no different from usual, Shido felt an indescribable force for some reason and fell silent.

“…That was fast, Kotori.” Reine’s quiet voice came from behind him.

“Yeah, I got Fraxinus to pick me up on the way.”

Even though she said they would talk later, she was sure tossing the name of the ship around like it was nothing. Shido pressed a hand to his forehead, feeling like her logic made no sense.

Kotori watched this with a blithe smile before starting down the hallway, tugging on his hand as if to lead him. “Anyway, look. Let’s hurry it up.”

“Uhhh… Hey, I get it. Don’t run.”

Apparently, it was his day for getting dragged around by women.

They came to stand in front of their destination: the physics prep room on the fourth floor of the east building.

“Wohkay. Let’s go inside! Inside! ”

“Don’t make it into a Disney song,” he grumbled as he opened the sliding door—and then immediately frowned and rubbed his eyes. “…Hey.”

“…What’s up?” Reine raised an eyebrow.

“What is this room?” he asked.

Students didn’t generally go into the physics prep room, and Shido had no idea what it was supposed to look like. But he was sure that this was no physics prep room because his field of view was filled with computers and displays and all kinds of devices he’d never seen before.

“…It’s for the equipment?”

“Aah, why do you sound so unsure?!” Shido shouted. “And, like, this is supposed to be the physics prep room, right? What happened to the teacher who was in charge of it before?!”

This would originally have been the only safe haven outside of the bathroom for the kind and inconspicuous aging physics teacher Shoichi Chosokabe (nickname: Natural-Born Invisible Man). But Chosokabe was currently nowhere to be seen.

“…Ohhh, him? Hmm.” Reine put a hand to her chin and nodded slightly.

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

A few seconds passed.

“…Well, we’re not getting anything done just standing here. Go inside.”

“What were you going to say?!”

He felt like he could actually feel the breeze as Reine zoomed right over his question. Her powers of unobservation were tremendous, a skill that all modern Japanese people should absolutely acquire.

Reine went into the room ahead of Shido and sat down in a chair placed toward the back.

Kotori slipped by him and let down the hair tied up with white ribbons in a practiced movement before tying it back up with black ones she pulled out of her pocket.

“Phew,” she said.

He felt like her entire vibe changed.

She loosened the collar of her uniform languidly and threw herself down in a chair near Reine. Then she pulled what looked like a small binder out of her bag. Inside, a variety of Chupa Chups were set in neat rows. Incredibly, it was a special lollipop case.

She selected one and put it in her mouth before turning a contemptuous gaze on Shido, who was still standing in the doorway.

“How long are you going to stand there? You trying to be a scarecrow? Quit it. With your idiot face, I doubt you could even chase away a single bird. Aah, but it’s just so creepy that it might ward off people.”

Shido looked at his little sister, instantly transformed into some kind of imperious queen, and put a hand to his forehead. So was the changing of the ribbons some kind of mentality switch? Like turning over a piece in Othello, a magnificent Jekyll and Hyde.

“Kotori, which one’s the real you…?”

“That’s a nasty way of putting it,” she said. “You’ll never get girls chasing you like that… Ohhh, so that’s why you’re still a virgin. I’m sorry for pointing out the obvious.”

“…Hey.”

“Statistically speaking,” she continued, “more than half of all men who don’t date a woman before the age of twenty-two remain virgins their whole lives.”

“I’ve still got more than five years! Don’t underestimate future me!”

“‘I’ll do it tomorrow’ is the go-to excuse for people who are stuck on the idea that they have infinite time and options.”

“Hngh…”

Realizing that he couldn’t win this argument, he let it go with a grunt and closed the door.

“…So anyway, Shin. Let’s start your training. Sit down here,” Reine instructed, gesturing to a chair set up between the two women.

“…Fine.” He sat down in the chair as told, knowing full well that it would be pointless to complain further.

“Now, we’ll just get right to the discip—koff-koff, training,” Kotori said.

“You were going to say discipline, huh?”

“All in your head… Reine.”

“…Uh-huh.” Reine recrossed her legs. “Whatever your actual intentions, you’re going to need to be able to do one thing—the bare minimum—as long as you’re going to be working with us.”

“And that is…?” Shido asked.

“…It’s simple, really. You have to get used to dealing with girls.”

“Dealing with…girls?”

“…Uh-huh.” Reine nodded. She looked like she was about to nod off to sleep right there. “Conversation is essential in getting the subject to let her guard down and start to feel fondness for you. We can instruct you in what to do and say. But if you’re too nervous, we’re not going to be able to get anywhere.”

“Conversing with girls?” he asked. “I can manage that much.”

“I wonder.” Kotori suddenly shoved his head up against Reine’s chest.

“…Ngh?!”

“…Hmm?” said Reine.

A warm, soft sensation accosted his cheeks, while a scent so good it threatened to melt his brain tickled his nostrils. He immediately removed Kotori’s hand and jerked his face up.

“Wh—?! Wh-wh-wh-wh-what are you doing?!”

“Huh. No good at all.” Kotori scoffed and shrugged. “I knew it. This plan’ll be dead in the water before we even begin if something so simple sends your heart rate through the ceiling.”

“Your example here is clearly bananas!” Shido cried.

Kotori wasn’t interested in hearing what he had to say. She shook her head in exasperation. “You’re such a hopeless virgin that it’s actually sad. Ugh. Honestly. Do you think it’s cute or something?”

“Sh-shut up,” he stammered.

“…Well, it’s fine. That’s why we’re here, after all,” Reine said and crossed her arms.

This naturally emphasized her impressive bust. It was more like her chest was resting on her arms.

“…Ngh!” Shido was suddenly embarrassed to look directly at her, and he averted his eyes.

Training to get used to dealing with girls.

The words cut through his mind. They were going to make it so he wouldn’t get flustered in erotic situations…and stuff. But what exactly were they going to do to him?

“Drooling, huh? Disgusting.” Kotori narrowed her eyes at him as she set her elbows on the desk.

“…! Th-that’s not it!” he protested. “I—I wasn’t—”

“…Well, how about we just get started then?” Reine interrupted and pushed her glasses up.

“Oka—W-wait, I’m not mentally prepared!” Shido straightened up, his voice shaking from nerves.

“…Mm.” Ignoring this, Reine leaned in toward him.

This abrupt movement got his heart pounding far harder than before.

Aah, what? What exactly is she going to do to me…?!

Pulse racing, he couldn’t move. He squeezed his eyes shut, looking entirely like the protagonist of a shojo manga from the ’80s.

No matter how long he waited, nothing happened.

When he cracked his eyes open, Reine was turning on the monitor on the desk.

“Huh…?”

The word Ratatoskr appeared on the screen in a cute design. Next, beautiful girls with brightly colored hair popped up on-screen, a cheery pop song playing in the background. The title “Fall in Love: My Little Shido” bopped around.

“Wh-what’s this?” he asked warily.

“…Mm-hmm. It’s a romance simulation game.”

“A dating sim?!” he shrieked.

“Ugh, what did you think we were gonna do?” Kotori asked. “Geez, someone let their imagination go wild. Gross.”

“No. I—I just…,” he stammered and then cleared his throat and got his heartbeat under control.

“I—I was just wondering if this counts as training.”

Kotori stared at him silently, like she was witness to something truly disgusting.

He wished she would say something at least. The cold shoulder was hard to bear.

“…Oh, don’t be that way,” Reine told him. “This is the first step in your training. And it isn’t some retail game. It was created by the director of Ratatoskr. It provides realistic recreations of situations that could actually happen in real life. It should prepare you mentally at least. Also, it’s aged fifteen and up.”

“Ohhh. So it’s not rated R,” he observed, for no particular reason.

Kotori gave him a look that was very near pity. “Ugh. The worst.”

“…Shin, you’re sixteen, right?” Reine scratched her head. “You can’t actually play an R-rated game.”

“Hey, isn’t there a bit of a contradiction with what you two were saying before?!” he cried.

Kotori and Reine appeared intent on ignoring him.

“…Mm, well, just…get to it.”

“Yeah, yeah. Fine…!”

Finding the whole thing hard to swallow, he took the controller he was given, all the while wondering what he had done in this life to deserve this punishment, forced to play a dating sim with his little sister and a teacher watching.

He skimmed the protagonist’s monologue and proceeded with the game. And then the screen went dark for an instant.

* * *

“GOOD MORNING, MY DEAR BROTHER! IT’S NICE OUT AGAIN!”

The screen filled with beautiful graphics as this line chirped out of the speakers. He was looking at a small girl depicted from a low angle. So this was the protagonist’s little sister then.

She was stepping on the sleeping protagonist.

And her underwear was on full display.

“Heeeeeeeeeeeey!!” Shido shouted, clutching the controller.

“…What’s wrong, Shin?” Reine asked. “Problem?”

“Uh, didn’t you say that this was a recreation of something that could actually happen?!”

“…I did. Is this weird?”

“Not just weird! There’s no way something this ridiculous would…ever…,” he started, and then sweat beaded on his forehead. He felt like he’d had an experience very much like this one just yesterday.

“…What?”

“Nothing. Never mind.” Shido returned to the game, feeling like the whole thing was incredibly absurd. When he pressed the NEXT button, a square of text appeared in the middle of the screen. “Hmm? What’s this?”

“Options. You select what the protagonist should do. Your choice will make her affection toward you go up or down, so be careful,” Kotori explained, pointing at the bottom right of the screen. Shido saw a gauge there with the cursor at the zero position.

“Hmm. I get it. So I just have to pick one of these, right?” Shido shifted his eyes from the affection meter to his options.

(1) “MORNING, MY BELOVED LILIKO.” YOU HUG YOUR SISTER LOVINGLY.

(2) “I’M UP. AND SO IS SOMETHING ELSE.” YOU DRAG YOUR SISTER INTO THE BED.

(3) “GOT YOU, JERK!” YOU GRAB THE FOOT OF YOUR SISTER STANDING ON YOU AND GET HER IN AN ACHILLES LOCK.

“…What’s up with these choices?! How is this real?! I’ve never done any of these things!”

“Whatever,” Kotori said. “But there is a time limit.”

“Huh…?!” He caught sight of the number displayed beneath the choices steadily dropping.

“Fine,” he half groaned and selected (1), the least ridiculous of his options.

“MORNING, MY BELOVED LILIKO.”

I HUG MY LITTLE SISTER LOVINGLY.

LILIKO INSTANTLY GETS A LOOK OF DISDAIN ON HER FACE AND SHOVES ME AWAY.

“UH… COULD YOU QUIT THAT? IT’S CREEPY.”

The affection meter dropped to minus fifty.

“That was too realistic!” Shido cried, slamming the controller into his lap.

“Aaah, you dummy,” Kotori scolded. “She might be your little sister, but that’s obviously going to happen if you randomly hug her… Honestly. I know this is a game, but if this were the real deal, you’d have a hole ripped clean out of your stomach, y’know.”

“So then what I am supposed to do here?!” he shouted at the sheer absurdity of it all, but she had no interest in bantering.

Letting out an exasperated sigh, she turned on the display in front of her.

“Uh? What are you doing?”

“I know this is just training, but I’m gonna need you to feel like there’s actually a lot riding on this,” she told him.

A familiar scene was displayed on the screen. The entrance to Raizen High. An old guy wearing the school uniform was standing in the camera’s line of sight.

“What’s with him?” Shido asked.

“One of our crew,” Kotori said, before pulling a mic out of nowhere and starting to speak. “It’s me. Shido chose wrong. Go ahead and do it.”

“Yes, ma’am!” The man on-screen bowed.

“Huh…? D-do what?” Shido frowned as the man on the screen pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. He showed it to the camera.

The moment Shido set eyes on it, he thought his heart would stop. “Th-that’s—”

“Exactly.” Kotori smiled, appearing pleased at his reaction. “The poem you wrote influenced by manga when you were young, ‘Étude for a Corrupt World.’”

“Wh—?! Wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-why is that—?!”

It was indeed the poem he had written in his notebook in junior high. Hadn’t he thrown it out before he started high school because it was too embarrassing?

“Heh-heh. I fished it out of the garbage. I figured it’d come in handy one day.”

“Wh-wh-wh-what are you going to do with it…?!”

“Do it,” Kotori instructed, grinning.

“Yes, ma’am!” the man replied briefly and then folded the poem up neatly and tossed it into a nearby shoe cubby.

Now the students would read the poem Shido had poured his soul into when they came to school the next day!

“Wh—?! What are you doing?!”

“Nothing to get all worked up about,” Kotori told him. “Geez, pathetic. You mess up handling a Spirit, and you won’t get off this easy. Of course, you’ll take damage, but it’s possible we’ll take a hit, too… So I set some penalties for you to get a sense of what’s involved here.”

“This is too muuuuuuuch!” shouted Shido. “Plus, I’m the only one suffering here!”

Reine put a hand to her chin thoughtfully. “…I see. Shin does make a point.”

“…! R-right?!” His face lit up at the arrival of this unexpected lifeline.

“…So then when Shin makes the wrong choice, we’ll take a penalty, too.” She started to take off her lab coat.

“Hey! What are you doing?!”

“…Oh, didn’t you just say it’s not fair that you’re the only one embarrassed here? Then, whenever you make the wrong choice, I’ll take off a piece of clothing,” she said and crossed her arms, not looking particularly embarrassed at all.

“That’s not what I meannnnnnt!”

“I don’t care.” Kotori kicked his chair impatiently. “Just go. Move forward.”

Still looking like he was about to cry, Shido resigned himself to his fate and turned back to the screen. If these were the kinds of options that were going to pop up, he doubted he would be able to get any of them right.

“…Hey, Kotori,” he said. “For future reference, is it okay if I try all these options?”

“Whoa! You’re such a chicken! And greedy, too! Pathetic.”

“Sh-shut up! I’ve never done this before, so let me have this!”

“You’re beyond help. Just this once. Okay, so save.”

“O-okay…”

Once he had saved the game, he reset it and went back to his initial set of options. He glared at the choices sternly. He still was convinced they were all bad. He couldn’t imagine her affection toward him would go up with (3), so left with no other choice, he selected (2).

“I’M UP. AND SO IS SOMETHING ELSE.”

PULLING MYSELF UP ROUGHLY, I DRAG LILIKO INTO THE BED AND POUNCE ON TOP OF HER.

“AH…! WH-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

“WHAT ELSE WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO? IT’S YOUR FAULT THIS HAPPENED, LILIKO.”

“!! NO! STOP IT! NOOOOOOO!”

“IT’S FINE; RELAX. IT’S ALL GOOD; IT’S FINE.”

The screen went dark.

The rest of the story played out in mere seconds. The little sister breaking down in tears. The father beating the protagonist to a bloody pulp. The sound of handcuffs clicking together. The protagonist chuckling, alone in a dark room.

A sad song played over these graphics, and the credits began to roll.

“What the hell is thiiiiiiiiis?!” Shido shouted, at his wit’s end.

“That’s the only logical outcome, you sex offender,” Kotori sneered.

“So then three is the right answer?!”

Shido reset the game, returned to his initial set of choices once more, and selected (3).

“GOT YOU, JERK!”

I YANK UP MY SISTER’S FOOT AND TRY TO GET HER IN AN ACHILLES LOCK.

HOWEVER.

“TOO SLOW.”

SHE TWISTS AWAY, ESCAPES MY HAND, GOES AROUND TO MY BACK, SEIZES MY LEG, AND GETS ME IN A SHARPSHOOTER HOLD.

“GOUF…?!”

The protagonist is partially paralyzed because of this injury, forced to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair. And then on to the ending of the game.

“So this means one is the right answer?!” he yelped. “And no normal little sister would know techniques like that, you know!”

“Hmm.” Kotori yanked on his collar and had no sooner thrown him to the floor than she was grabbing his leg and putting him in a sharpshooter hold.

“Lesch…?!” he whined.

“Hmph. ‘Lesch,’ he says. Go ahead and cry for your mommy.” She sniffed and then released him.

“Wh-where did you learn that trick—?”

“It’s the art of being a lady,” she said crisply.

Shido’s image of a lady shifted to a muscular pro wrestler.

“Y-y—! So then how am I actually supposed to get this one right?”

“Honestly. So now you’re even going to ask the examiner for the answer? Pathetic.”

Even as she spoke, she was taking the controller from Shido. She reset the game and advanced to the same place as before. And then she stared silently at the screen without selecting any of the options.

“What are you doing?” he asked. “If you don’t hurry and pick—”

The number displayed below the choices dropped to zero.

“MM… TEN MORE MINUTES…”

“NO! YOU HAVE TO GET UP!”

This extremely normal conversation was displayed on the screen.

“Wh—?” He gasped.

“Why would you pick any of those dumb choices? Is something wrong with your head?” Kotori snorted and gave him back the controller. “I’m giving you special permission to play through the rest, so hurry up. Penalties start again with the next choice.”

“Hngh…! Guh…” Shido gripped the controller, overwhelmed by the absolute nonsensicalness of the entire situation.

When he clicked ahead, a female teacher boasting a hundred-centimeter bust appeared on the screen. This was already deeply unrealistic, but he said nothing and kept the story moving forward.

“EEK!”

The teacher cried out and tripped over nothing, falling onto the protagonist so that his face ended up pressed to her chest.

This time, Shido threw the controller onto the desk.

“This doesn’t happen! I mean…,” he said. Sweating once more, he sadly picked up the controller. He felt like the situation was different but somehow similar to before.

“What’s wrong, Shido?” Kotori asked.

“…It’s nothing.”

Obediently, he began to play again.

Another set of options appeared.

(1) “IF YOU DO THIS KIND OF THING TO ME…I’M GOING TO END UP FALLING FOR YOU.” YOU EMBRACE HER ABRUPTLY.

(2) “OH, GLOBULAR GODDESS!” YOU GRIP HER CHEST FORCEFULLY.

(3) “YOU’RE WIDE OPEN!” YOU MOVE INTO A JUDO ARMLOCK.

Once again, he could not believe that any of them were remotely probable.

“R-right!”

He clenched a hand into a fist. This had to be the same thing as the last time. He waited until the timer beneath the choices ran out, and indeed, new text appeared on the screen.

“…EEEEEEK! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! PERVERT! HELP! HE’S GROPING ME!”

The teacher shrieked, and her affection meter dropped down to minus eighty.

“Why?!” Shido screamed.

Kotori shook her head in exasperation. “The obvious outcome if you don’t even try to move out of the way and just enjoy the sensation of her breasts.”

“So then what was I supposed to do?!”

“Didn’t you read the text before the choices? She’s the girls’ judo team coach, Chimatsuri Goshogawara. You had to get her to stop thinking about her breasts by bringing in a pinning technique and making her think about fighting.”

“How am I supposed to know thaaaaat?!” he wailed.

“…Well, a failure’s a failure. Do it.”

“Yes, ma’am!” The man on the screen pulled another piece of paper out of his pocket and showed it to the camera.

Shido saw a bad drawing of a character with detailed specifications written next to it.

“Th—! That’s…!”

“Uh-huh. A reference sheet for the original character you created way back when.”

“Hngaaaaaaaaaah?!”

Ignoring Shido’s shriek, the man once again chucked the paper into a random shoe cubby.

“Stop! Stop! Stoooooooooppppp!” Shido begged, clutching his head in his hands, while Reine began to squirm around. “…Reine!”

He’d forgotten. She had said she would take off an article of clothing every time he got a penalty. He was a healthy teenager, so he’d have been lying if he said he wasn’t pleased, but…it was still…concerning.

Fortunately, she was wearing plenty of clothing. So long as he didn’t pick wrong again, he was—

“…Hmm.” Reine reached a hand around behind her, and he heard a snap. She stuck her hand down her shirt, wriggled around, and produced her bra out from her collar.

“Why would you start there?!” Shido cried.

“…Is that a problem?” she asked with a tilt of her head.

“No, I mean, the order is clearly all wrong! And you don’t have to take anything else off!”

“…Hmm? But isn’t that unfair? I can totally keep going—”

“You actually just want to flash us, don’t you?!” Shido yelled, and Kotori kicked his chair again.

“It doesn’t matter. Hurry up. Look, the next character,” she said, indicating the screen.

“Hngh…!”

With no other choice, Shido started to play again.

This time, a girl who looked like she was a classmate collided with the protagonist as he turned a corner in the hallway. She flew back onto the floor, legs splayed so that her underwear was on full display.

“—! No way!!” he exclaimed, clenching his hand into a fist as he dug through his own memories. “This! This definitely would never happen!!”

“…Really? I think this sort of thing happens more often than you think,” Reine said, but he had definitely never encountered anything remotely like this, and he shook his head with certainty.

And got another kick to his chair.

“The point of the game isn’t to whine about how it could never happen,” Kotori told Shido and started punching buttons on the computer in front of her. “Do it right. Next time you mess up, this is what you get.”

“Uh?” Shido frowned as a video was displayed on the screen.

The scene was his own bedroom. And he was standing in it, naked from the waist up.

“What…is this…?” The color drained from his face.

“Secret technique! Instant flash boooomb!”

The Shido on-screen clapped his hands together and dropped his hips before thrusting his hands out in front of him.

“Yes. A video of—Heh-heh!” Kotori told him, laughter spilling out of her, a look of the greatest pleasure on her face. “When little Shido was home by himself—Pft! When you were practicing your original killer technique in your room.”

“Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo—!” he screamed louder than he had all day. “Kotori! You can’t! This is where I draw the line!”

“Heh-heh! Then you better succeed with your next choice, huh? Oh, and if you give up halfway through, I’ll post this online.”

“…Ngh.”

On the verge of tears, Shido picked up the controller.