"Uuu..."
Seeing Mikoto standing right below them made Origami's thoughts grow even more confused. Although she wanted to explain to Mikoto that she had actually ant to refuse, now that things had reached this point, no matter what she said, it would sound weak and unconvincing.
In the end, the girl's face turned red, and she ran down the stairs with quick footsteps.
Leaving Shido alone to face Mikoto, whose mood was clearly turning from sunny to cloudy.
"Um... Yakumo-senpai... listen, let explain..."
Looking at Mikoto as she walked over, Shido could not help growing flustered.
"Mm, I'll listen to Shido's explanation."
Mikoto smiled as she said that.
However, for so reason, looking at that warm and gentle smile, Shido understood very clearly—
Mikoto was definitely angry.
"Um... actually, Origami and I are just ordinary friends..."
"'Origami,' huh... so Shido goes on dates with or-di-na-ry friends, and even calls them by their first nas that affectionately?"
Mikoto placed her index finger against her chin and tilted her head as she asked.
"Ugh..."
That question hit straight to the point, leaving Shido speechless.
He wanted to explain, but he did not know how.
Should he say that he had known Origami before?
That with Kurumi's help, he had actually changed the world, so he wanted to ask Origami out, and while he was at it, figure out why the current Origami had inverted?
[No.]
Shido rejected that idea in his heart.
Although he was certain, for reasons even he could not explain, that Mikoto would believe him, the problem was—that would also let Mikoto know that he did not have the mories of this world.
Shido felt that if it was Mikoto, she would definitely realize it in an instant—
That he did not rember her at all.
[...]
Although he did not know what the consequences would be, Shido did not want to take that risk.
"So Shido and Origami really aren't ordinary friends, are they?"
Seeing that Shido had nothing to say, Mikoto grew even angrier.
The girl had never complained about Shido's luxurious harem life, because all the girls Shido saved were Spirits, and only Shido could save those girls—just like when he had saved her.
So not only would Mikoto not get jealous, she would even help Shido with his captures.
Mm, at most she would get just a tiny bit sour when he had to kiss them.
But Origami was different. The girl was only a Wizard. Although she had lost her parents, she was still far from despair, rely living a life that was just slightly different from an ordinary high school girl's.
In fact—now that she had resigned from AST, the current Origami was completely just an ordinary high school girl.
Mikoto would not stop Shido from capturing Spirits. She even thought that since Shido was willing to risk his life to save those girls, then earning the love of the Spirits was a reward he deserved.
But conquering an ordinary girl was different.
That would simply being a playboy.
That was what she thought.
Because of that, the mont she heard Shido invite Origami on a date, Mikoto's heart clenched.
The forever herbivore Shido had actually asked an ordinary high school girl out on a date. This gave Mikoto a small sense of crisis.
It felt as if—Shido was slowly moving away from her, turning into another Shido she no longer knew, soone a little unfamiliar.
"So—what exactly is the relationship between Shido and Origami?"
She asked angrily.
Origami too. For the sake of talking with Shido, she had directly stood Mikoto up.
And Shido too. Origami had only just transferred in, and he was already asking her out.
It felt like the relationship between those two was far more complicated than Mikoto had imagined.
However, Shido did not know how to explain.
Tell Mikoto that Origami was actually Devil?
Putting aside the fact that he had no proof, once he said it, he would definitely have to explain the matter of changing the tiline.
Even worse, seeing the girl angry made his heart instantly turn into a complete ss. Just like yesterday, it was as if his instincts were rejecting the idea of Mikoto misunderstanding him.
But the more that happened, the more his mind turned into paste. He could not even gather the focus needed to form proper words.
At the sa ti, an unnad anger began burning deep inside him.
He clearly did not know Mikoto, so why did he care so much about her?
It felt as if there was so huge mismatch between his body and his heart. He could not even understand why he was panicking this much, and that gave rise to a kind of frustration.
"Even if you ask that, what kind of relationship I have with Origami—has nothing to do with Yakumo-senpai, does it?" (TL:??????????????????????????????? WTF IS THIS ASSHOLE SAYING? SHIDO? YOU FUCK? DEPLOYED TACTICAL YUTSUKI!!!!)
In his panic, he said sothing that he regretted the very instant it left his mouth.
Plop!
The lunch that had originally been prepared for Mikoto and Origami to eat together on the rooftop slipped weakly from Mikoto's hand and fell onto the stairwell floor.
Mikoto stared blankly at Shido. For a mont, she could not say anything.
Shido was right.
Although she liked Shido very much, and although all the Spirits liked Shido very much, thinking carefully, Shido had never said who he actually liked.
Even after capturing so many Spirits, including herself, each person's relationship with Shido was still only at the point of more than friends, but less than lovers.
Then, just as Shido had said—if Shido liked Origami, she had no right to interfere.
She—was not Shido's lover.
"Y-you're... right. Sorry... I asked sothing strange."
The girl's body trembled lightly. She lowered her head, hiding her expression beneath her hair.
Even so, Shido could still see it.
Two trails of tears slowly dampened her lovely cheeks. Large teardrops fell, wetting the floor.
"No... that's not what I ant..."
Shido raised his hand, wanting to explain sothing.
However, just seeing Mikoto crying made the anxiety in his heart shoot straight to max.
It was as if his mind had been filled with molten lava, giving off chaos and a burnt sll.
Like that, he could not even say words of comfort or explanation. He could only watch helplessly as Mikoto turned around and ran away from him.
_______________
No one knew how much ti had passed. Even after lunch break ended and the bell rang for class, Shido still stood blankly in the stairwell.
"Damn it—!"
Bang!
He punched the wall, not caring at all that bright red blood began staining the surface.
What exactly was wrong with him?
He had actually said sothing that did not feel like sothing he would ever say.
It was not as if he had never dealt with Spirits getting upset because he was capturing other Spirits. For example, when he had been capturing Yoshino, Tohka's emotions had once beco very unstable.
Even so, he had never said anything as cruel as what he said today.
It felt as if, whenever he faced Mikoto, his emotions would unconsciously lose control.
He clearly had no mories of her, but for so reason, he cared about this girl to an unbearable degree.
If he had to compare it to sothing, it felt as if Mikoto had used a cheat tool to modify his affection level. Even though no events or flags had been triggered, the mont she appeared, she was already in a captured state.
Because of that, when he saw Mikoto misunderstanding him, his feelings unknowingly spun out of control in the worst possible direction.
All he had to say was:
"My relationship with Origami is definitely not what Senpai thinks it is. Although I can't explain it right now, please believe , Senpai!"
He believed Mikoto would have understood if he had said that.
But when he looked at the girl getting angry because she was jealous, his heart beca so panicked that he could not even say sothing like that.
He clearly did not know her, yet he held such strong feelings toward her. That dissonance made it impossible for him to naturally face the angry Mikoto.
"Damn it—!"
Bang!
He punched the wall again, then slumped down in the stairwell, his mind in total chaos.
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