[!!!]
But just then, a change happened inside Tsukuyomi.
A powerful pull ford above the shrine hall, as if it wanted to suck everything into it.
"Oh no!"
Mikoto knew this feeling very well.
That pull, as if it would drag her whole body into another space, was the sign of Lost.
"Is this... Lost?"
The strange pull did not affect Shido. It felt as if its targets were only Mikoto, her Angel, and the AST mbers sealed by that Angel.
Perhaps because there were foreign objects inside the Angel this ti, the process of Lost was no longer clean and silent.
Instead, like a black hole, it twisted the whole barrier.
The violent way Lost was happening caught Mikoto off guard. She tried to undo the barriers holding the AST mbers, but found that she had lost control over Tsukuyomi.
"Shido... Tsukuyomi... Tsukuyomi has gone out of control!"
The strong pull lifted Mikoto's feet off the ground.
She desperately reached out her hand and looked at Shido with a helpless expression.
"Damn it! Why now of all tis?!"
Shido jumped up, grabbed Mikoto's hands, and tried to pull her back down.
But under that powerful pull, even Shido was dragged into the air.
"Tch! Is this how it ends?"
Far away, near the edge of the barrier, Kusakabe Ryouko tried to attack the seal with all kinds of weapons.
But it was all useless.
The only change she could see was that the twisted part of Tsukuyomi was getting closer and closer to them.
It felt like being tied up on a beach as the tide rose, watching helplessly as the sea swallowed them over their heads.
Mikoto did not want to disappear like this.
She had only just grabbed the rope that led out of hell. She had only just found a path toward happiness.
She did not want to disappear like this.
At the very least, she had to free the AST mbers. She could not use her own hands to commit another sin.
She did not want to disappear like this.
There were still so many, so many things she wanted to do. She no longer wanted to return to that world of despair.
But there was nothing she could do.
Mikoto did not know how to stop Lost from continuing.
The only thing she could do was tightly hold Shido's hands and cry out in a helpless voice.
"Save ! Shido!"
In that instant, Mikoto felt the hands holding hers pull her in with all their strength.
"Yeah! I'll definitely save you! Definitely!"
Shido used every bit of strength in his body to hold onto Mikoto and pulled the girl into his arms.
How could he stop a Spirit from disappearing?
For Shido, there was only one answer.
He leaned down and pressed his lips against hers.
In that instant, the soft feeling of the girl's lips, like pudding, made his mind grow hazy.
At such a close distance, he could feel Mikoto's gentle breath brushing over his cheeks.
The girl's eyes were wide open in surprise. Tears still hung at the corners of her eyes, not yet wiped away, and her cheeks were flushed from shyness.
Noticing that the body in his arms was trembling softly, Shido even wished ti could stop right there because she looked far too cute.
[!!!]
But the ti that felt like eternity ended in the blink of an eye.
The pull that had been dragging everything toward the Neighboring World vanished the instant their lips touched.
Gravity returned to the two of them.
"Shido!"
Feeling the Spirit power inside her rapidly disappearing, Mikoto used the last bit of power she had left to hold Shido and land lightly on the ground.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah. Thanks to you, Yakumo-senpai."
The two stood while holding each other, looking into one another's eyes, as if they were still lost in the warmth from before.
But then, along with a clear sound like breaking glass, a ray of light fell from the sky.
"That is..."
"Tsukuyomi..."
The two raised their heads.
On the endless night-colored do, a crack had appeared.
As if it was putting an end to the girl's long suffering, Tsukuyomi also laid down, for now, the duty of protecting Mikoto.
"Thank you, Tsukuyomi..."
Mikoto looked at the barrier as it kept breaking apart, turning into countless clear crystals that reflected the sunlight while slowly falling.
She cried, but still tried hard to smile.
"Thank you, Tsukuyomi."
[Live on, Mikoto. As long as you live, you will surely find happiness. Yes, surely.]
It felt as if Tsukuyomi's voice rang beside her ear again.
Those words she had not understood back then—now she understood them.
No matter how painful her life had once been, right now, Mikoto felt that she must be happy.
The huge barrier began to collapse.
Its fragnts rained down upon the earth like a shower of light.
Even the AST mbers, who had been released from the seal, forgot their mission and stared at the blessing falling from the Angel.
"It's so beautiful, Shido."
Mikoto held out both hands, caught the fragnts in her small palms, and smiled at Shido.
"Yeah..."
Shido also looked up at the sky and sincerely admired this grand miracle.
[!!!]
But soon, another beautiful sight—one that was far more shocking in a certain sense—stole Shido's gaze.
"Huh? Huhhhhhh?!"
The glowing fragnts fell onto the girl's Astral Dress.
As if they were being absorbed, the Astral Dress also began to shine brightly, then scattered and fell apart like flower petals.
"Th-that, uh... sorry! This is what happens when Spirit power is sealed..."
Shido quickly covered his eyes with both hands.
However, the gaps between his fingers and his eyes that were far too fixed in place had no power to convince anyone.
Even though Mikoto had told him that she used to be male, when he saw that beautiful and shining figure, those words seed to be smashed apart by so kind of finishing blow.
"Uu... I know this can't be helped. But how long are you planning to keep looking, Shi-o-ri-chan!"
This scene was far too embarrassing.
Being stared at so directly by Shido made her feel as if her whole body had been seen through.
She had not been this nervous even when she was about to be pulled into the Neighboring World.
So Mikoto kept telling herself in her heart that the Shido in front of her was Shiori.
"I-I'm really sorry!"
Inside the crumbling barrier, along with the light fragnts dancing like flower petals, "Shiori's" apologetic voice echoed through that brief miracle.
————————
With her Spirit power sealed, the life of Yakumo Mikoto as a living disaster finally ca to an end.
The shrine was rebuilt after that.
With the power of Realizer technology, the project that should have been huge was finished like a castle built overnight, and by the next day, the shrine had returned to its original form.
With Ratatoskr's help, Mikoto received a new identity.
She beca the daughter of a distant relative of Tamako obaa-chan, currently transferred to Tengu City.
Today was her first day of school.
New textbooks.
A new schoolbag.
A new school uniform.
That life called everyday life, which she had almost forgotten, made her heart dance with joy.
As she walked along the road to school, a familiar figure appeared ahead of her.
It was Shido.
[Huh? Tohka isn't with him?]
Tohka, who should have been living together with Shido, was not by his side.
[Ah...]
Thinking about it carefully, if the school found out that Shido was living with a girl, that would be very bad.
So they must have purposely left at different tis.
And if she looked carefully, the boys passing by from ti to ti were looking at Shido with a gaze Mikoto knew very well.
"Ahaha... those are the eyes looking at a riajuu."(TL:a normie)
After all, she had once been a boy too.
She was far too familiar with that gaze full of envy, jealousy, and resentnt.
"What should I do?"
She really wanted to go over and greet him, but sohow, she felt that would expose Shido to even more terrifying looks.
[I should probably avoid causing him trouble.]
Just as she thought that, Shido, walking ahead, seed to sense sothing and turned around.
So Mikoto smiled and lifted her hand near her chest, giving him a small wave.
In that instant, Shido's face turned red.
He looked away in panic, then hurriedly grabbed the schoolbag that had nearly slipped out of his hand.
His reaction was so exaggerated that Mikoto found it funny, and before she knew it, she laughed.
After arriving at school, she first t her horoom teacher.
She had been placed in class 3-2—the sa class she had ntioned when she lied before.
It was almost ti for horoom. Mikoto walked down the school hallway.
Around her, she could hear voices now and then.
"Hey, what class is that girl in?"
"She's so pretty. There's no way we wouldn't have heard about a girl like that. Maybe she's a new transfer student."
"Really? Please let her transfer into our class!"
All kinds of voices ca from around her.
As horoom ti arrived, the students returned to their classrooms.
Mikoto stood outside the classroom door and heard the horoom teacher say from inside:
"Before roll call today, we have a little surprise. Ah... co in."
So Mikoto opened the door and walked in.
"Hello, everyone. I'm Yakumo Mikoto."
Because she was such a beautiful girl, the whole class beca noisy in an instant.
Mikoto picked up a piece of chalk and wrote her na on the blackboard.
Facing her new class, her new classmates, and her new life, she showed a warm smile.
[Hey, Tsukuyomi. I found it. My own happiness.]
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