November 9th, night.
"Huff… huff… huff…"
Shido was running at full speed through the streets of Tengu City.
This was not the first ti he had borrowed Kurumi's power to return to the past, so after appearing here, he imdiately asked soone about the ti axis he was in. His torn clothes and the bloodstains covering them nearly scared the passerby into running away, but in the end, he managed to ask what ti it was.
Whether it was because Kurumi did not want to waste too much spiritual power, or because she felt this was enough, or perhaps because she did not know the exact details, the ti she had rewound to was rather delicate.
[It would've been great if I had co back to this morning.]
Shido thought.
He would not forget. It was today at noon that, because of Origami, he had said sothing terribly cruel to Mikoto. If possible, he really wanted to undo that event too.
However, it was already too late.
Right now, Mikoto should be staying at the shrine in sadness, while he himself was at the Itsuka house explaining to Kotori about ti reversal and the series of events concerning Origami being Devil.
Although suddenly barging into the house might seem bizarre, judging by the ti, the him of this ti period should already have finished telling Kotori about changing the world. In that case, his little sister should be at least sowhat able to accept this "Shido" from the future.
With an uneasy heart, he unlocked the door of the Itsuka house with his key.
"…I'm saying, before then, you absolutely must not be alone with Mikoto."
The mont he entered, he heard Kotori saying that to the him of this ti period.
"That's wrong—!"
He could not simply ignore Mikoto like this, because doing so would lead to an irreparable result. Almost without thinking, Shido shouted out by instinct.
"Wh… wh… what is going on?"
Kotori… no, not just Kotori. Even Shido and Reine froze.
Another "Itsuka Shido" had walked into the living room of the Itsuka house. What on earth was happening?
"Na… Natsumi?"
That was Kotori's first reaction.
After the series of events in October, whenever she encountered two people with the sa face, she would first consider the possibility that Natsumi was playing a prank. Even so, her expression was grim. Having spent so much ti with Shido, her intuition told her that the Shido before her was real.
"No… I'm not Natsumi. Kurumi sent here from the future."
Shido hurriedly waved his hands and explained.
"Kurumi…"
Although she had already heard about Kurumi's ability, actually seeing two Shido from different ti axes standing in the sa living room still made Kotori feel sothing strange, as if sothing had shifted out of place.
"Tell us. What exactly happened?"
But now was not the ti to dwell on that.
Kotori knew very well that Kurumi was not the kind of Spirit who would send soone back to the past for fun. If Kurumi had done this, then it ant sothing irreversible had happened in that future.
Especially when she saw that Shido was covered in blood, she beca even more certain. If not for her healing flas, those wounds would have been enough to kill an ordinary person ten tis over.
"Right…"
Shido nodded, then told Kotori, Reine, and the version of himself from this ti axis what had happened in the future.
"So, as long as Shido seals Origami, Mikoto will learn that Shido lost his mories?"
After hearing his explanation, Kotori felt her head ache as if it had split in two.
Originally, inverted Origami had already been troubleso enough. She had never expected that her own decision would lead to Mikoto inverting too.
And it had happened under the condition that Shido had absolutely no mories of Mikoto at all.
"I'm not completely certain, but I can't think of any other explanation."
Shido nodded.
The ti Kurumi had left him was limited. Right now, he had no way to erase the wounds in Mikoto's heart.
There was only one thing the Shido from the future could do: pass the limited information he had to the other Shido sitting before him, so that he would not walk the sa path.
"But sothing is strange."
Reine suddenly said.
"Did you think of sothing?"
Kotori asked.
"I am not doubting Shin's account. However, from my perspective, Kotori's plan itself did not have any problem. Even if Mikoto learned that Shin had lost his mories, with her personality, it does not seem severe enough to cause an inversion."
Reine said.
If there was a flaw in Kotori's plan of conquering Devil first and then comforting Mikoto, it was probably that she had not expected Mikoto to discover the truth at the exact mont Shido sealed Origami.
However, if one thought about it carefully, Origami had already been conquered at that ti. There should have been plenty of ti to soothe Mikoto's feelings. So why had inversion still occurred?
"Shido, think back carefully about the details from that ti. Did anything else happen?"
Kotori asked.
She agreed with Reine's view.
Mikoto would not invert simply because Shido had forgotten her. The girl was not that fragile.
If that truly were the case, then the only way to stop her inversion would be to ensure Mikoto never learned that Shido had forgotten her for the rest of her life.
But considering Mikoto's intelligence, Kotori did not think her idiot older brother could possibly accomplish such a task.
"Details…"
Shido frowned and carefully recalled every minute and every second from that ti.
"Ah!"
He suddenly thought of a tiny detail.
"Ellen! At that ti, Ellen seed to be there!"
Although when he arrived beside the inverted Mikoto, there had been no one there, from a distance he seed to have seen a spear of light striking the barrier.
"I see. Then it makes sense. After learning that Shido had forgotten her, before she even had ti to adjust her feelings, she encountered that woman, Ellen Mira Mathers."
Kotori nodded.
In that situation, whether Mikoto was about to be captured by DEM or killed by Ellen, either would count as absolute despair.
While everyone was thinking, the future Shido's figure began to distort. That was the sign that Yud Bet's power was about to run out.
"Please, you have to save Yakumo-senpai. I'm begging you, ''!"
He looked at Shido sitting on the other side and said earnestly.
"Yeah, I'll definitely save her. Don't worry, ''!"
The other Shido also nodded.
Although the way they were talking sounded very Kurumi-like, no one would bother to comnt on that right now.
"Don't worry. Once you wake up, you'll find that the world has returned to normal again, Onii-chan!"
Kotori raised her thumb toward the gradually disappearing Shido. (TL: hey I like this detail, of two Shido from two tiline interacting and all)
And so, the Shido from the future disappeared from the Itsuka house, leaving only the original three looking at one another in a heavy atmosphere.
"In any case, let's carefully think about how to change this disgusting future."
Kotori took a mint flavored Chupa Chups and put it in her mouth, then gathered all her focus and spoke.
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