In every relationship, there comes a time when its members must experience their first fight.
For some romances, this represents an opportunity for growth and reflection, beyond the faerie glamour of the honeymoon period. But for a far greater number of relationships, such events signal the beginning of the end, when pet peeves can no longer be ignored and rose-tinted glasses give way to ugly reality.
At the moment, a young man by the name of Shidou Itsuka was standing at the crossroads to just such an occasion.
"Please, Tohka. Just talk to me..."
For the umpteenth time that day, he knocked on the door to Tohka's room, and for the umpteenth time that day, he received no response.
Utterly at a loss, he pressed his head against the door and slid down to his knees.
"Agh... what am I gonna do..."
It hadn't even been a full day since the incident.
After returning to the Itsuka house on her own, Tohka had fled to her room, where she had refused to speak to Shidou all night up to the present time.
As for Yoshinon, the spirit had fled the department store into the surrounding streets, before being assaulted by the AST until becoming lost after approximately five minutes.
And now he was desperately trying to do... not even he knew.
Shidou knew she had left the room at least once, from the plate of kinako bread he'd left out for her now sitting empty in the kitchen sink. The fact that even her favorite food had not resolved this spoke to the seriousness of the situation.
He'd really taken Tohka's cheery, placable personality for granted, but after what had happened yesterday, he couldn't blame the girl one bit for her reaction.
He'd replayed that moment countless times in his head, trying to puzzle out just how he could have screwed things up so badly, how he could have been so stupid, blurting out lines like "this isn't what it looks like". God, that was like something straight out of a crappy second act breakup.
That made it sound like this was just some simple misunderstanding that could be fixed with a climactic moment where they bared their souls to each other and it turned out things really weren't what they had looked like, but Shidou really had all but cheated on Tohka with Yoshinon.
Before that point, he'd been wondering if the two of them were ever even in a relationship at all, but Tohka's reaction had made it clear that she cared for him in her own way.
And now that care was in jeopardy.
What was he supposed to do? He couldn't just do nothing, right? Things were only going to get worse ta this rate.
He was agonizing over things like this when he heard the long-awaited sound of the doorbell ringing downstairs.
Shidou hurried down to the front door and threw it open to a certain perpetually sleepless woman, dressed in a casual blouse and jeans combo. Over one shoulder was a purse, that raggedy bear of hers peeking out of it, and in her hand an umbrella to keep the rain from pouring down on her.
"Reine!"
"Morning, Chin." She tried and failed to blink the sleep from her eyes. "Sorry I wasn't able to drop by until now. How is she?"
"I honestly don't know..." Shidou stepped aside to let her in. "She just... won't talk to me at all."
Listening to this, Reine was led to the second-floor hallway. There, she knocked on Tohka's door.
"Hello, Tohka. It's me, Reine. I wanted to go shopping and I was hoping you'd come along too?"
Silence.
Shidou hadn't expected anything else. Was she even still in her room?
Cupping her chin in thought, Reine eventually pulled a small terminal from her purse, inspecting the complicated looking readout displayed, before adding the following line:
"Oh, and I was planning on stopping for a bite before that."
Nearly a minute passed after Reine said this, and Shidou was about ready to call it a lost cause, when the door slowly creaked open, revealing Tohka's red eyes and face. She still wore her school uniform from yesterday and from the bags under her eyes, it was clear she hadn't gotten much sleep.
Beside Reine, Shidou was stunned.
"What? Why did you come out for her and not me?"
She held up the tablet in her hand.
"She has elevated hunger values. Though, it's probably just that she didn't want to see your face."
Reine said this with the same listless tone as always, so she probably didn't mean anything harsh by those words, but they cut unexpectedly deep nonetheless.
"Well then, let's be on our way."
So saying, Reine led Tohka down the stairs to the first floor, the girl hiding behind the older woman as if she were a shield the whole way.
Like that, the two exited out the front door, leaving Shidou in the house alone.
In that deafening silence, he was beset by apocalyptic visions of Tohka returning just to tell him that she thought he was scum and wanted nothing to do with him anymore and then Kotori and the others would abandon him for failing to seduce spirits and then he'd be utterly alone and then he'd never find love because he never deserved it in the first place and then—
Before he could spiral into further self-loathing catastrophizing, Shidou briskly clapped his cheeks.
"I can't do anything about this right now... There's nothing I can do"
All he could do now was trust Reine to do... whatever she was going to do, and then they could go from there.
If Tohka was even still willing to take him back.
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Of course, after everything that had happened yesterday, Shidou had skipped school.
Perhaps there was a part of him that didn't want to face his classmates after the bombshell that had been dropped during lunch, but he was far more concerned with Tohka. And he wouldn't have been able to focus on schoolwork anyway.
Despite his relationship drama, life went on.
Or more accurately, because of his relationship drama, he needed something mundane and familiar to calm himself down.
So, Shidou was currently on his way to actually shop.
Normally, he saved that kind of thing for the weekend, so this unscheduled outing was probably gonna mess up his routine. Though admittedly, trying to maintain a shopping schedule was a losing bet when he lived with the unpredictable black hole that was Toh—
Shidou's thoughts ground to screeching halt as they threatened to involve that girl.
Just thinking about her was painful right now.
Back when this had all started, all the way back when he'd first sighted her in the crater of that spacequake and saw the lonesome air that was suffocating her, he'd just... wanted to see her happy.
But, now that he'd messed up this badly, was something like that even still possible?
Before he could pursue that line of questioning any further, Shidou spotted something odd out of the corner of his eyes that completely derailed his thoughts.
The route to the shopping center passed by the department store, which had been all but destroyed by the AST's assault yesterday and cordoned off with yellow police tape. While passing the taped off area, he caught sight of a familiar green raincoat rummaging through the rubble as if in search of something.
As soon as he saw this, Shidou stopped in his tracks, having forgotten all about his shopping schedule. Making sure that he hadn't been seen, he pulled out his terminal and called a number.
"Hey, Kotori. You're not gonna believe this, but I just found Yoshinon."
Five minutes later—
15,000 meters above Shidou's location, the Fraxinus' main monitor prominently displayed three potential openers for the ongoing seduction of the spirit Yoshinon.
1. When you speak to her, roll over and expose your belly, to show her you 're not an enemy.
2. Wrap your arms around her and pull her close and declare your love.
3. To show her you're not a threat, strip naked before you talk to her.
"Kotori, what the hell are these options? I thought you said they were selected by a state-of-the-art AI."
The cross voice of Shidou came through the system's speakers.
"Normally, Reine would adjust the parameters based on the context. Without her expertise, we're operating off the AI's default settings."
"Great ..."
With that, Kotori clapped her hands sharply.
"Alright, people! Make yourselves useful! These options aren't gonna choose themselves!"
Out came her orders and soon after, the results of the vote. Kotori frowned at the three-way split.
"Seriously, another tie..."
Down in the bridge, her subordinates were discussing the matter between themselves.
"It's one, clearly." This was Nakatsugawa. "Showing one's belly is a submissive sign in the animal kingdom. It should put Hermit at ease."
"It's obviously two. Don't you know that rabbits die from loneliness?"
Minowa scoffed at Mikimoto's reasoning.
"She's just wearing a rabbit raincoat, she's not an actual rabbit! Commander, it's definitely three! Total nudity to show we have no weapons! It's the only choice!"
"Oh come off it! You just want to see a teenage boy naked!"
"H-How rude! Don't you know that nudity is thought to have apotropaic effects in certain cultures?!"
"What are you even talking about? Anyway, it's two! Two!"
"Hold on, it's gotta be one!"
"Quiet!"
Kotori, who until now had patiently presided over the debate, slammed her fist onto the console. It appeared the Commander had made her decision.
Solemnly, she took hold of the mike in front of her and spake thusly:
"Shidou... before you talk to her, slowly take off your clothes."
"Not a chance!"
As the sounds of (mostly) female cheering from his earpiece, Shidou let out an impulsive protest.
Of course, Yoshinon jumped at the sudden noise, whipping around and in the same motion flinging a flurry of icicles his way.
"W-Wait!"
But it was too late — from the falling rain Yoshinon flung shards of ice at Shidou, who threw himself to the ground, sending his umbrella flying as he desperately avoided Yoshino's attacks.
"Agh! Hey, hey, hey, wait!"
It is said that when a ferret, stoat, or other member of the weasel subfamily sights prey (typically rabbits), they begin hopping and bouncing excitedly and in doing so mesmerize their prey into submission.
Among animal behaviorists, this unusual technique is known as the weasel war dance and, as Shidou tumbled and rolled out of Yoshinon's attacks, the girl was left utterly baffled by his bizarre movements until, finally, she slowly dropped her hand to warily watch him.
"Shidou, are you okay?"
Shidou, who was on his back gasping for air, gave his body a full pat down and confirmed that he was not missing any limbs.
"...Somehow..."
"Alright, then ask about the puppet. It looks like she's not wearing it right now."
That did make sense. It would explain why she had been digging through the debris of the department store on all fours. She'd probably lost it when the AST attacked her yesterday.
"Hi... are you... maybe... looking for your puppet?"
At his question, Yoshinon's eyes flew open and she immediately crawled over to him, grabbing his head and shaking it as if to interrogate him.
"Ow! S-Stop! I don't know where it is! It just looked like you were looking for it!"
With a defeated look on her face, Yoshinon released him, her head hanging low as quiet tears began to run down her cheeks.
Shidou immediately felt his heartstrings being yanked in his chest, and he went to lay a hand on her shoulder.
"Hey... uh—"
She flinched at the sudden contact, and for the briefest moment, the rain falling around her became needles of ice before returning to liquid water and splashing harmlessly against the ground.
"Uh, sorry about that..." Shidou pulled his hand away. "I just wanted to ask if I could help you look for your puppet?"
Yoshino looked up at him with wide eyes, as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing, before flapping her hands in joy.
Talk about a woman of few words ...
Thinking this, Shidou pushed back his rain-soaked hair.
"Okay. Then let's get—"
He was interrupted by a low gurgling courtesy of Yoshinon's stomach. With a deep blush, the girl covered herself, apparently embarrassed by this.
In any case, Shidou was hungry himself. For obvious reasons, he had skipped breakfast, and now was as good a time as any to eat.
"Before that, maybe we should eat first." He went to pick his umbrella off the ground. "How does that sound, Yoshinon?"
Visibly bothered by his words, Yoshino fidgeted until opening her mouth, speaking in a voice so small Shidou had to lean down to hear her over the rain.
"...I'm not... I'm not Yoshinon... My name is... Yoshino... Yoshinon is... my friend..."
Her name was Yoshino and she'd named her puppet Yoshinon? Sounded like a confusing arrangement, but Shidou wisely decided not to comment on that.
"Oh, my mistake. Still wanna eat lunch?"
As he asked this, Shidou belatedly noted the full-frontal nudity going on beneath Yoshino's raincoat, which the girl was making no attempt to keep out of sight.
It wasn't called a naked dress for nothing.
"Uh... before that, do you mind if I button that up?"
Yoshino sent him a confused look before nodding.
"Hold, this please."
He handed her the umbrella and got to work doing up the buttons of her coat.
How she managed to get around like that is a mystery, but I'm not getting put on a sex offender's registry.
When he finished, Yoshino held the umbrella out for him.
"Oh, you're worried about me getting wet. Well, that's very kind of you, but I'll be fine. A little rain doesn't bother me."
She was already soaked, so perhaps it was needless, but Shidou felt that doing them despite their needlessness was precisely what made such gestures meaningful.
With that in mind, he took Yoshino's hand.
"Is this okay?" he asked, waiting for her consent before beginning the walk back to his house.
As he did so, the sound of Kotori's voice played from his earpiece.
"Look at you, already taking the target to a seduction location. *sniff* They grow up so fast."
"Yeah, yeah."
"Anyway, we have drones stationed all over, and the Fraxinus' AI can be set to search through their footage for the puppet. We'll let you know when we find it."
"Got it."
Saying this, Shidou nearly missed Yoshino muttering something that he eventually realized was a barely audible "thank you".
His heart warmed by this girl's timid but kind nature, Shidou continued on through the chilly rain.
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The monotonous sound of rain pelting against her umbrella drowned out the world and left Tohka with nothing but her grumbling stomach and the ache in her chest.
At the moment, she was following Reine through the streets of Tengu City, reflecting on a certain boy who until recently had been her enter world.
Shidou ...
Just the name alone brought on a fresh pang of agony deep in her chest.
This was no better than the time she thought she'd lost him. To think that that pain could still be possible, even though he was still alive. She never could have imagined it.
It wasn't as bad as the time before she'd been sealed, when she was fighting the AST every waking moment of her life, but it scared her. It made her feel that those times wouldn't stay in the past for long...
So lost was Tohka in such thoughts that she didn't notice Reine coming to a stop, summarily bumping into the woman.
She looked up to see a diner with a colorful sign reading "Danny's".
"How about we stop here to eat?"
A nod.
"Mm-hmm..."
After seating themselves and ordering their food, a waiter served them individual glasses of water which Tohka drained in a single gulp in an attempt to stave off her hunger.
Noting this with her weary eyes, Reine took a sip from her glass before fiddling with the tablet terminal she'd laid out on the table.
"Tohka, if you don't mind, I wanted to talk while we wait for our food."
"Hmm... about what?"
Without meaning to, Tohka pulled back.
She couldn't help it; she could never tell what exactly this woman was thinking — even though it often felt like Reine could see right through her — but it didn't take a genius to guess what she probably wanted to talk about...
"So Tohka, how have you liked school so far?"
That threw Tohka for a loop. Why did Reine want to know about school? Didn't she want to talk about... him? Had she been wrong?
Well, if she was wrong, then she was happy to be. Tohka relaxed, if only partially.
"It's... going well, I think. Sometimes the classes are so boring, but it's very interesting."
"And how about your classmates? Do you get along with them?"
"My classmates..." Tohka thought about that for a moment. "Well, there is this girl from the AST who will not leave me alone. She's so... annoying! But, aside from her, everyone else is very nice."
Listening to this as she took a sip of her water, Reine set the cup down silently.
"You said she's from the AST?" She leaned forward, and said in a quiet tone, "Does she know that you're a spirit?"
"Mm-hmm, but it doesn't seem like she's told anyone."
This didn't seem to reassure her all that much, but Reine sat back all the same.
"...Well, that's good to hear. But make sure to keep it a secret."
"I know that..."
Tohka was well aware of the fact that she was not normal — that Origami Tobiichi wouldn't allow her to forget that fact, not even for a day.
If the other humans knew what she was, there was no telling how'd they'd react. It was part of the reason she'd kept her the other students at arm's length. There was still much about human society that she didn't understand, and so a part of her worried she might do something to expose herself.
The only classmate she really talked to on a regular basis was that Origami Tobiichi, and they certainly didn't get along at all.
"This classmate... are they the reason you've been so stressed lately?"
At Reine's question, Tohka started.
"Well... kind of, but..."
She did understand why Origami had targeted her, back when she still had her spirit powers and was causing spacequakes, and the fact that she was no longer outright attacking her now that she no longer could, meant that she at least recognized Tohka's harmlessness.
She just... didn't like the way she badmouthed her to... him. Tohka knew he would never listen to her nonsense, but it was... it bothered her.
But even so...
"That's not it, is it?" Reine offered. "Or at least, not all of it."
Once again, the older woman seemed to see through her, but right now Tohka welcomed it.
"M-Maybe... I don't know... It's just, ever since yesterday, my chest has been hurting every time I think about... him..."
"Yesterday? You mean when you saw Chin with that girl?"
Chin — Reine's nickname for Shidou. Just hearing that name hurt, and it took everything she had not to react.
"I... I guess... When he asked me to stay with the others, that's when it started... Before that, I think I did something to make him mad, so I was worried and wanted to go see him, but when I got there, Shidou... he was with that girl and the puppet, and he tried to tell me it was nothing, but I could tell he was lying, and that just made the pain in my chest even worse, and then the puppet started saying these awful things, and then I... I..."
"And then you became afraid he would leave you for them?"
"...Yes."
In a tiny voice, Tohka said that, hunched over with her hands clasped tightly in her lap.
"I was so scared... If Shidou said he didn't want to be with me anymore, I don't know what I'd do..."
In her heart of hearts, Tohka really had believed that, once her spirit powers had been sealed, she'd never have to deal with such painful feelings ever again. She'd taken Shidou's presence in her life for granted, and now that that fact had been called into question, she didn't know what to do.
Having finally achieved her goal of getting Tohka to pour out her heart like this, Reine glanced at the terminal at her side, and the series of charts and graphs displayed there.
Where before her emotional values had fluctuated wildly, they had now settled into a much gentler series of crests and troughs. They were still low, but Tohka was now in a far more receptive state.
Satisfied by this, Reine pressed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and addressed the girl in front of her.
"Tohka, do you think Chin would ever leave you?"
"I don't know... This is the first time I've ever felt like this." She looked up at Reine, desperate. "Is there something wrong with me?"
"Not at all. I think what you're feeling is very reasonable given the situation."
"It is?"
A nod.
"That's right. You started feeling this way because he wouldn't tell you the truth, isn't that what you said?"
"Yes! Why would he do that? Why wouldn't he just tell me?"
"He probably thought he was protecting you, but he made a mistake by not being honest with you. Trust and honesty are vitally important when it comes to matters of love, after all."
"Love?"
Tohka tilted her head in confusion, apparently unfamiliar with the word.
She probably should have anticipated this. Given her lack of knowledge, Tohka would have no frame of reference for that elusive concept known as love. Very few truly understood it; even Chin, who no doubt would have claimed otherwise, was still little more than a boy when it came to such matters.
Well, things like that came with time and in any case, she was in the middle of a conversation.
"Forget what I said. Let's just say that you are someone very important to Chin."
"Really?"
"Of course. He risked his life to save you from those ice shards, didn't he? He's clumsy about showing it, but that boy really does care about you."
At Reine's words, Tohka's eyes widened with all the unbridled awe of a monk attaining enlightenment.
"I... completely misunderstood Shidou..."
Ironically, it seemed she was misunderstanding, just not about Shidou.
The point of this whole talk was to point out that Shidou had been the one who messed up, but Reine decided to let it slide.
As she saw it, the principal problem here was a basic case of mismatched expectations.
Shidou wanted a perfect, novel-style romance. This was impossible of course, because the girl he was with knew nothing of romance tropes or clichés, let alone anything about the real thing.
Tohka, for her part, was obsessively clinging to him because she had no one else to share her life with, and she had yet to develop the confidence to strike out on her own and find people she could do so with.
A situation like this was the perfect opportunity for the two of them to grow together and come out of this stronger.
With a vigor completely opposite from the somber mood she'd come in with, Tohka leapt to her feet.
"Reine! Sorry, but can we go shopping some other time? I have to go talk to Shidou!"
And it seemed Tohka, at least on some level, didn't misunderstand this at all, a fact that brought a faint smile to Reine's face.
It seemed her work here was done.
Except—
"Sorry for the long wait! Here is the double cheeseburger set rice with large servings of fried chicken, fried oyster set, mix grill, margarita, and the spaghetti bolognaise! And please be careful of the hot iron plate!"
Just then, the server arrived balancing several trays carrying Tohka's orders.
Without a moment's hesitation, she plopped back down in her seat and seized the nearby silverware.
"Right after I finish this delicious meal!"
...Or almost done.
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Yoshino was sitting in the living room on the couch, her gaze wandering around curiously. In the kitchen was Shidou, preparing the meal he'd promised, who quickly noticed her gaze settling on him as he began chopping vegetables.
"Oh, don't mind me. You're welcome to turn on the TV and watch some videos."
Yoshino just stared blankly at him until he realized she wouldn't know how to turn on a television.
"Oops. Uh, take that rectangle looking thing... and then press the button on the top left."
Following his instructions, the girl fumbled with the remote for a bit before pressing the button. Immediately, a loud jingle played as the screen came to life and displayed the logo of the service provider.
Almost as immediately, Yoshino jumped in fright and pulled a ball of water from the sink and sent it flying through the television.
"Wha—!?
"Great, you scared her and now the TV's been wrecked. Now how am I gonna watch my shows?"
Kotori's color commentary came through loud and clear on the other end of his earpiece.
"Shut it. Besides, doesn't Ratatoskr compensate for any damages incurred while seducing spirits?"
"That is true ... Say, you mind getting her to destroy the oven next? That thing's pretty old."
"Yeah, I'll get right on that..." said Shidou, who had no intention of destroying any further appliances.
Currently, Yoshino was looking back at him with a truly apologetic expression. There were even tears in her eyes.
"Uh, don't worry, it's fine." He tried to assuage the girl. "The food's almost ready, so why don't you just come over here?"
Yoshino tottered into the kitchen, taking a seat. At some point, she'd undone the buttons of her naked dress after getting inside. Assuming she preferred it that way, Shidou decided not to comment in favor of focusing on cooking.
Less than ten minutes later, he was finished, setting down two bowls of chicken and egg broth with some garnish and rice mixed in at the kitchen table.
The girl stared at it in cautious amazement, eventually picking up the spoon and bringing an experimental mouthful to her lips.
Yoshino was utterly still for but a moment as she savored the food, before squirming in her seat and screwing her eyes shut as she slapped the table as if to tap out.
Watching this scene with a bemused smile, Shidou dug into his own bowl. Normally, he might have found the reaction over the top, but compared to a certain someone, this was pretty tame.
"I'll take it you like it?"
Too overwhelmed for words, Yoshino threw a hearty thumbs up before going to town on her bowl.
When she finished, she sat back with a satisfied little smile on her face — the first Shidou had seen on the girl.
Looking at her like this, he felt that he was finally getting to see the real Yoshino, past the ventriloquism act she seemed so adamant to hide behind.
"Yoshino's emotional values are looking perfect right now." Kotori's voice came through on his earpiece. "If you can, try asking her a few questions."
Shidou nodded faintly at that. They were probably thinking the same thing.
"Hey, Yoshino?" He sat forward. "You mind if I ask you a few questions?"
She started at the sudden request, but she nodded tentatively.
"That puppet — Yoshinon. I can tell it's very important to you? Would you mind telling me why that is?"
At his question, Yoshino stared into her bowl for a long time, seemingly gathering the courage to speak. When she did, it was so quiet that Shidou had to struggle to make out her words.
"...Yoshinon... is my ideal... and... hero."
"Hero?"
She gave an unexpectedly decisive nod.
"Yoshinon... is my... ideal self... Not weak... or hesitant like me... but strong... and cool..."
"Your ideal, huh..."
Shidou couldn't help but recall her interaction with Tohka the other day. Did she think it was strong to randomly insult people?
"Hmm... well, I don't know exactly how to say this, but I think you're fine just the way you are right now."
At his words, Yoshino's face flushed beet red. Actual steam shot from her ears.
"Nice one, Shidou ... Was that calculated?"
"No, it was romantic."
Perhaps that glib retort wasn't entirely untrue, but it wasn't exactly what Shidou had had in mind when he'd said that.
It was true that the girl in front of him clearly had some kind of crippling anxiety, but he didn't think the remedy for that was to become the sort of irresponsible person who didn't think about how their actions affected others.
Heh. Look at me, the pot calling the kettle black ...
Self-deprecation aside, he still had questions to ask.
"So... does that have anything to do with the fact that you never fight back against the AST — ah, those flying people?"
Yoshino grabbed at the hem of her naked dress, and Shidou was reminded of that time in the restaurant right before he'd sealed Tohka, when she'd agonized over her impact on the world.
"...I... hate... painful... and scary things... and I hate... when others are mean to me... Those people... must be the same..."
She was fighting to get the words out. Shidou heard that struggle clearly in her voice and felt like his heart was being squeezed in a tight vice.
She was a kind and gentle spirit. Too kind.
"Yoshino... that's very nice of you, but those people attacked you first. I don't think there's anything wrong with being mean to people who were mean to you first."
"No...!"
Yoshino shook her head with a surprising fierceness, her body trembling with something that was hard to describe.
"...Those people... they're protecting... what's important to them... But... I'm so weak... so weak that I can't help... but get scared... when they attack... and then I... do such awful things... That's why Yoshinon... is my hero... When I get... scared... or hurt... Yoshinon tells me it'll be... okay... And then... it really is... T-That's why... that's wh—"
Shidou cut off her words by laying his hand on her head. While she was too focused to notice, he'd wound up on the other side of the table kneeling in front of her.
Though she'd squeezed them out through bitter tears, there was a quiet authority in Yoshino's words that reminded Shidou more of the adults in his life than someone her age.
It reminded him of his homeroom teacher, Okamine Tamae, whose short stature and petite body had led more than one teacher to mistake her for a student. Despite that, she was a nearly thirty-year-old adult woman, obviously eligible to engage in sexual activities. Though she seemed to struggle greatly in this department, it would be wrong to deny her something like that merely because her body looked underage.
And it seemed like something similar applied to Yoshino.
Kotori had said Yoshino had been active for close to twenty years, and Shidou had no reason to doubt that fact. Her body may have looked young, but her mind was anything but — she was, in fact, one of those characters who were actually much older than they looked.
But more than that, what moved him was this girl's quiet strength.
For two decades, the AST had attacked her relentlessly for the express purpose of killing her, and yet she still refused to retaliate, and even empathized with them.
And she called herself weak?
She was strong. Unbelievably so. Far stronger than him, anyway.
"It's fine. You don't have to force yourself to say any more." Shidou smiled gently as he caressed her head. "I'll help you find Yoshinon. I promise."
Yoshino looked back at him with wide eyes.
"...You... will?"
"Of course. I've always considered myself a lover not a fighter, so... I think I understand where you're coming from. And I want to help you."
At his words, she blushed and bowed her head slightly.
"...Th-Thank you..."
As she said this, his eyes couldn't help but be drawn to the sight of her soft lips, slightly parted as she gazed back at him, and then slightly lower to the delicate lines of her breasts followed by her thighs, which were squished flat against the chair beneath them.
Rather than mere lust, what moved Shidou's gaze in that moment was something far deeper.
Yoshino may have been strong, but he couldn't stand the thought of just leaving her to her life of running away from the AST. If he wanted to save her from that, and he truly did, then there was only one course of action.
Taking the hand resting on her head, Shidou cupped the side of her face.
"Yoshino... yesterday, we kissed, didn't we? Do you... mind if we did that again?"
Back then, she really had seemed ready to go all the way with him. Was that just posturing via Yoshinon, or the honest feelings of Yoshino?
The girl herself met his words with eyes that were two parts bashful and one part receptive.
Shidou chose to focus on the one part, bringing his face closer and closer to Yoshino's, ready to stop at the first sign of resistance.
But Yoshino did not pull away, her eyes sliding closed as she waited, until—
A kiss.
Much more hesitant than Tohka's, but just as sweet.
A moment passed as they savored the feel of each other's lips, and then Yoshino's tongue darted out, brushing against her partner's lips before just as quickly retreating, as if trying to steal a taste beneath his notice.
But Shidou did notice, and in response introduced his own tongue, quickly becoming lost in the depths of Yoshino's mouth, whose passion — once cautious — now grew bolder by the second.
She wrapped her arms around his body, letting out a quiet moan as she groped him, and then—
The door to the main hallway flew open.
"Shidou! I'm sorry, I—"
Shidou immediately recognized Tohka's voice and almost as immediately broke off the kiss with Yoshino, creating a wet pop in the process which rang out clearly in the ensuing dead silence.
A thousand and one possible responses flitted through Shidou's mind, each more incriminating than the last, as everyone just stared at each other in one unbearably long moment where it seemed anything might happen—
And then Tohka stepped back and quietly shut the door.
He turned back to find that Yoshino was gone.
She had vanished, as if she had never been there in the first place. The sudden stress must have caused her to become Lost.
Left alone like this, Shidou sat down and buried his face in his palms.
It was burned into his memory. The way her face had instantly transformed from excited to apologetic, as if she was the one in the wrong.
"What the hell am I doing..."
"Shidou, keep it together. Focus on what you can do right now."
Kotori had immediately understood where her brother's mind was headed and cut it off before it could go any further.
"...And what is that?" he asked through muffled words.
"For one thing, we've found the puppet, and you're never gonna believe where it is."
Shidou pulled his head out of his hands.
"Try me."
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
"You're right, I don't believe you. Or rather, I don't want to believe you."
Shidou was currently standing in the elevator of a certain high-rise apartment building, watching the floor number steadily rise as his hand remained pressed against his earpiece.
"You better believe it," Kotori retorted. "Our sensors caught Tobiichi picking up the puppet before leaving the scene."
"Is there a reason you're having me arrive uninvited?
"She's going to have the home field advantage over there. We need the element of surprise."
"Element of surprise?" Shidou furrowed his brow. "For what?"
"To seduce her, of course."
"..."
"I'm just kidding, sheesh. But seriously, that girl's head-over-heels for you. I'm sure if you gave her some of the ol' in-and-out, she'd be much more compliant."
With a lurch, the elevator came to a stop, its doors sliding open soon after. Shidou walked out onto the open-air corridor, a dubious expression on his face.
"Yeah, I bet..."
"Well, either way, once... ...et ther—"
"Huh? Kotori? Hello?"
Concerned, Shidou tapped his earpiece repeatedly, but there was only static on his end.
"That's not ominous at all..."
On his own now, Shidou continued on until he was in front of a nameplate reading "Tobiichi". There, he took a breath, pressed the doorbell, and waited.
After approximately thirty seconds of tense silence, the door opened with a swift motion.
"Yes, what is—"
It was Origami of course, a hand on the door frame as she leaned forward. Her eyes widened and her head tilted in uncharacteristic shock.
"Sh-Shidou?"
She was wearing a white sports-bra-leggings combo and, if the sheen of sweat coating her body was any indication, it looked like she'd just come back from a run.
Well, it seemed he'd certainly taken her by surprise.
"Uh, hey." Shidou put on an apologetic smile. "I stopped by for a friend, but I noticed you live here too, huh? You mind if I stop by?"
Taking a moment to compose herself, Origami stepped aside with an open arm.
"Please, come inside."
Feeling somewhat perturbed by the tone she said that with, Shidou tried and failed to squeeze past her without brushing against her chest, before being led into the living room.
"I'm going to make tea." Origami headed to the adjacent kitchen. "Your favorite is chamomile, correct?"
"Uh... yeah..."
How does she know that?!
Feeling very perturbed by this inexplicable knowledge of his tea preferences, Shidou knelt down at the coffee table.
The more he interacted with this girl, the more terrifying she became.
Though, as he watched her hurriedly prepare a pot, Shidou noticed a distinct blush on her cheeks. Perhaps it was just from the prior run, but something told him it had more to do with that disclosure just now, which he now thought was an accident.
So the doll has feelings after all ...
Origami Tobiichi was normally so expressionless, so stoic. But, taken together with her surprisingly cute reaction when she answered the door, this moment painted a bizarrely human picture of the girl.
Watching her work diligently from behind, her skintight leggings broadcasting ever little shake and jiggle of her surprisingly toned ass and thighs as she did so, Shidou couldn't help but recall Kotori's earlier suggestion from before she was cut off.
Back then, she had misunderstood his silence as a refusal, but in truth he'd been seriously considering her proposal.
Right now, he was here to retrieve Yoshino's puppet. Much as he hated to admit it, distracting Origami with sex might be an effective way of getting her out of the way so he could search in peace.
She did think of them as boyfriend and girlfriend, after all. Just as Kotori had said, it probably wouldn't take much to get Origami to sleep with him.
And besides, wasn't polyamory all about free love or whatever? He was basically playing the rakish hero, who saw sex as nothing more than a way to satisfy his carnal needs.
Despite these self-serving justifications, the thought of doing something like that still didn't sit well with Shidou.
By now, Origami had finished brewing the tea, and came over to Shidou, where she poured him a cup.
"Ah, thanks Origa—"
It looked like an oil spill.
What Shidou was holding in his hands looked like the accidental release of liquid petroleum hydrocarbons into the marine environment.
"Please, go ahead."
Beside him, Origami offered no quarter.
"...Hey, about thi—"
"Please, go ahead."
"Uh, no wait..."
"Please. Go ahead."
It looked like he wasn't getting out of this one.
Bracing himself, Shidou downed the thick liquid in a single swig, careful to keep his tongue tucked out of the way.
Seemingly satisfied, Origami held the teapot up.
"I'm taking a shower. Drink as much as you like."
She then set the pot down behind a conspicuously placed, half-empty pack of pills. Shidou gulped at the sight of it as she left for the bathroom.
He waited patiently until the moment he heard the water running, at which point he instantly shot to his feet and began searching the place for that puppet.
His first target was the living room, where a quick perusal revealed nothing of note, save for a few magazines scattered on the dining table. He nearly did a spit take when he glanced at the saucy covers and their equally saucy titles.
Titles like 50 Blowjob Techniques That'll Blow Him Away, Sex for the Modern Woman, and Everything You Need to Know About the Male Orgasm.
What are these titles!?
Well, actually, that middle one wasn't so ba—
Anyway, it looked like he wasn't going to find what he was looking for here. Perhaps she was using the puppet as an oven mitt?
With that thought in mind, just to be safe, he combed through the kitchen to no avail.
As he moved on, Shidou caught sight of some rather interesting products poking out of the garbage can in the corner.
Several empty bottles sat at the top, each of them plastered with slogans like "INCREASE YOUR DRIVE!" and "LAST ALL NIGHT!"
Are these ... no, I don't have time to be thinking about this!
His last stop was the bedroom, where he instantly noticed the wedge pillow sitting conspicuously atop Origami's bed, and the embroidered "No problem" on it.
Ignoring this, Shidou went through the cabinets and was greeted to a selection of every adult toy imaginable. Vibrators, anal plugs, lube, dildos. At first, he thought Origami was just very committed to self-pleasure, but he quickly noticed some instruments that contradicted this interpretation, such as a sex sling and an S&M kit.
Just as he was getting lost in this extensive collection, Shidou shook his head. He was getting caught up in irrelevant details again.
And it was while shaking his head like this that his gaze fell on a certain rabbit-like silhouette, sitting nearly out of sight on a tall shelf.
He had found it.
Just then, the sound of the shower stopped.
With a lightning quick motion, Shidou snatched the puppet off the dresser, folded it like a master origami folder, and shoved it into his pocket before awkwardly speed walking out the room while trying not to make a sound.
No sooner had he rushed back into the living room, gliding into a kneel like a batter sliding into home plate, than the door to the bathroom opened.
Unsurprisingly, it was Origami. Also unsurprising was the fact that she was in a towel. And only a towel (this was very surprising), slung haphazardly around her shoulders.
Being the worldly individual that he was, Shidou did not react to the sight of this nubile young woman approaching him. For her part, Origami acted as if this was the most natural thing in the world, promptly plopping herself down seiza-style beside him, her hands folded neatly atop her toned thighs.
Maybe that was just how she normally went about the house? It was her place after all, though doing that with a guest seemed a little too carefree...
Just as he thought this, Origami inched up to him, pressing her body firmly against his in the process. In response, he inched away and in response, she glanced at him.
"You've been having sex with Princess."
Shidou spluttered.
"H-huh? Uh, well... yeah?"
"But I am your girlfriend."
"...I-I mean, that's—"
"That's very unfair."
"I-It's completely my fault." Shidou looked away in shame. "Honestly, I don't even know what I'm doing anymore..."
"It bothers me that you're doing it with Princess, but I don't mind an open relationship."
"You don't?"
Her answer to his question was to pounce on him, pinning him to the floor between her arms and thighs.
"W-Wha—!?"
"I don't. As long as I get to be with you."
Despite his earlier protestations to the contrary, there had been an unmistakable bulge in his pants for some time now, a fact which Origami had definitely noticed.
"No go?"
Hearing the unconcealed innuendo in her tone, Shidou gulped.
"Ah, well, I mean, you know, like I said, I just stopped by to talk after visiting a friend, so it might be a little..."
He'd already retrieved the puppet, so there was no longer a need to distract her. His main goal now was figuring out how to make a graceful exit.
"That was just a pretense, right?" Origami countered. "You have no friends in this apartment complex, so I thought you came because you were finally ready to go all the way?"
This girl has seriously misunderstood the situation!
And how did she know he had no friends here?
"No go?"
Once more, Origami asked this and once more, Shidou deflected, his eyes glancing to the pot of tea, sitting untouched on the table beside them. Those suspicious bottles in the garbage can were on his mind.
"Origami. Be honest with me. What did you put in this tea?"
"Aphrodisiac."
She didn't even hesitate!
"Wait! W-What about STI's?"
"Neither of us have any. I checked."
Disclosing this confidential information with a terrifying casualness, she leaned forward, and it took everything Shidou had to keep his hips from bucking against hers.
That aphrodisiac is pretty strong!
Origami must have noticed his predicament, because she ground her crotch against his erection, refusing to break eye contact all the while.
Shidou's body stiffened in response and only then did Origami seem to hesitate.
"No go?" she asked simply.
Something about her voice seemed concerned in that moment, and it made him look closely at her for the first time.
Unlike Tohka, who looked soft but was actually surprisingly muscular, there was nothing deceptive about Origami's muscularity.
Her round breasts took up the center of his vision, framed beautifully by her firm abs and hard shoulders. Her hair, still damp from the shower, hung from her head, slightly tilted with an expectant look in her eyes as she awaited his response. The sweat from her run had been washed away and replaced with a gentle fragrance and between her thighs, Shidou felt a now familiar heat.
She truly was an arresting sight.
Beautiful, sexy, and even cute at times. Any ordinary young man would be thrilled to spend even a single night with this girl.
So then, where did Shidou stand on the matter?
In the past month, so much had happened that he never could have imagined. The matter with Ratatoskr and his sister, Tohka and the spirits, and now this. He really was out of his depth.
All he'd wanted for so long was to meet a nice girl, make a life with her, have a few kids, and grow old together. Simple things. But now, such simple things seemed so far away.
Maybe it had all been wrong. Maybe he didn't deserve it. Maybe love and romance were nothing more than fairy tales. Maybe, maybe maybe.
In that moment though, Shidou couldn't help but recall a certain girl, whose curiosity seemed to know no bounds, whose smile shone like the sun, and who he had promised himself he would never leave.
Tohka.
He didn't know where they stood, or how she felt about him, or even what his feelings were for her now. But he knew that. He knew that he wanted her to be happy.
As for Origami, well, Shidou had nothing against the girl. Her grudge against the spirits was objectionable, but also understandable.
No, the trouble was that they hardly knew each other. Yes, she knew his tea preferences, his social circle, his STI status, and probably his blood cholesterol levels, but none of these details had anything to do with who they truly were.
At least with Tohka, they'd had a chance to get to know each other. That was how they'd spent the better part of a day before making love to each other for the first time.
If he were to give in now, it would be neither love or romance. Or polyamory, for that matter.
It would just be giving in to his basest urges and instincts, instead of pursuing that which he truly desired.
And so, it was easy for Shidou to put his hands on Origami's shoulders and softly push her back.
"No go."
To her credit, she immediately got off of him and assumed her earlier position beside him, Shidou belatedly following suit. They stayed like that for a moment as he processed what had just happened.
"...Uh, thanks for not forcing things."
Origami nodded as if her actions were but a matter of course.
"Consent is important."
"Well... I'm glad you realize it."
"You should know, for future reference, that if it's you, I always consent."
"...Glad to hear it..."
"I am fine with freeuse."
"Duly noted!"
I swear, this girl is worse than Tohka!
After that, silence reigned in the Tobiichi household, until Shidou spoke up once more.
"...Hey, can I ask you something?"
"Yes."
"You... hate spirits, don't you?"
Instantly, the fraught but airy atmosphere from before vanished, replaced by something far more tense — Shidou immediately felt like he was walking on eggshells.
At his question, Origami simply tilted her head, the confused surprise evident in that slight motion.
He had asked that question completely out of the blue, so it wasn't an unexpected reaction. But Kotori was not here right now; this was a rare opportunity to get some real answers about this spirit business.
"Sorry, that was a strange thing to ask... I guess... I just wanted to know why you fight them."
Origami didn't respond for a long while, until Shidou was ready to just accept her silence, but she eventually began speaking.
"...Five years ago, in one of Tengu City's southern districts, a fire broke out that killed seven people, and wounded many others."
Immediately, that description leapt out at Shidou. A fire five years ago, and in one of the southern districts? Then she could only be talking about...
"...The Nankou Area Fire."
As he uttered those words, they dredged up harrowing memories from the past.
It would be five years ago in less than a month, and yet Shidou remembered everything about that fire. The inescapable smell of smoke. The distant sounds of screaming. And the fear of losing his little sister. Yes, that day was forever burned into his memory.
When a fire got out of control like that, it became a living thing, a monster, devouring everything in its path in order to sustain itself. Just the heat radiating off it is enough to singe one's lungs, to say nothing of the acrid smoke which stings the eyes and burns the throat.
To save his sister from that monster, Shidou had recklessly plunged into its bowels and found out just how merciless and inhospitable a beast it was, eventually losing consciousness amidst the suffocating smoke before even reaching his house.
In the end, both he and Kotori had been rescued by fire fighters. Their house had burned down, but they had escaped relatively unharmed from the experience.
Beside him, Origami seemed to be reliving similar memories, though something told him that her confrontation with that fire had not ended with such an easy happily ever after.
"I was walking home from school with a friend when I saw the smoke rising from the neighborhood. With everything I had, I sprinted through it all to find my parents, standing in front of our house. And then, just like that, they were gone, vaporized by a beam of light that had cut the street in half. I hardly even understood what had happened. But through the molten concrete and the smell of cooked meat, I made out a figure in the clouds, white and glimmering like an angel.
"After that, my aunt took me in, and eventually realized what I had seen that day. She was a retired wizard from the AST, and helped me get enlisted. It was there that I learned of the AST's true purpose, as well as the monsters known as spirits. And it was there that I pledged to exterminate all spirits. So that no one would ever have to suffer what I have."
Shidou listened intently to Origami's story, and the earnest intensity she told it with.
To protect others from the pain she had suffered. It was a noble cause.
"But that's... Isn't it possible that not all spirits are like that?"
"Impossible."
Her answer was curt, as if chiding a child for suggesting nonsense.
"Spirits destroy the world just by existing. They are the enemy of all living things. All spirits are like that, without exception. Just like the spirit that killed my parents."
There was something unreadable in her eyes at that moment, a kind of conviction so bone-deep that it made Shidou doubt himself. What she had seen that day had changed her, and in the face of the absolute resolve which had resulted he could not find it within himself to stand against her.
He must have seemed like a crazy person, suggesting something like that to someone whose life had been destroyed by spirits.
But he knew what he'd seen.
Shidou knew that Tohka was just a girl — yes, sometimes reckless or impulsive, but for those very reasons also incredibly genuine and spontaneous. And, though he hadn't known her as long, he knew that Yoshino was gentle to a fault; the kind of soul who couldn't bear to hurt even a fly.
He knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that not all spirits were like that.
"...I don't know how to say this, but there really are good spirits."
Origami was, in the most literal sense, baring her all to him, so he couldn't betray that honesty by holding anything back.
"I'm talking about Tohka and Yoshino, the one you guys call Hermit. They're good spirits — good people. And you're a good person, too. None of you are bad. So why does it have to be this way?"
At his impassioned words, Origami answered, her face and words even colder than usual.
"There are some things that can't be helped."
Just then, before Shidou could respond, the sound of the spacequake alarm played from a nearby siren, cutting further discussion.
"Even if what you say is true, even if Hermit isn't aggressive, it still causes spacequakes."
A fact that Origami was all too happy to point out, it seemed.
"Damn it...!" He sent a frustrated glance out the window before turning back. "Origami..."
"I'm being dispatched." She stood up, her gaze pinned on Shidou. "You should hurry to a shelter."
Before she could leave, he grabbed her wrist.
"Tell me something, Origami... If a spirit, like Tohka, lost her powers and stopped producing spacequakes, you'd stop hunting them, right?"
Origami shut her eyes tightly and he felt her hand clenching into a fist.
"...It's not what I personally would do, but as a soldier I cannot defy the orders of my superiors and act on my own judgment."
It was clear that Origami resented this greatly, but Shidou trusted her to stay true to her principles.
With that confirmation, he let out the tension in his body with a sigh, releasing her.
"That's... all I wanted to hear."
And then, she charged out the room, to her dispatch for the AST.
Shidou quickly exited the apartment, opening the door to a downpour. He couldn't be sure, but he thought it was raining even harder than before.
Yoshino ...
With that girl in his thoughts, he adjusted the stubborn boner in his pants and took off running.