[Shido, are you all right?]
Clearly, in order to prevent Ellen from threatening Mikoto, Fraxinus had raised its guard level during this period. There was no way it would fail to observe Mikoto's spirit power going out of control.
Through the earpiece, Kotori asked Shido.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
[Anyway, we'll talk about the details after you get back.]
Kotori said helplessly.
She had never expected that the day before his date with Origami, Mikoto would experience such an intense spirit power reversal.
As for the reason… she felt that even without asking, she could guess it.
"Sorry, Kotori… I want to be alone for a while."
Although the urgent priority was to return to the Itsuka ho and hold a strategy eting with Kotori, trying to co up with a reasonable solution, the current Shido no longer had the energy for that.
[Wait… Onii-chan?]
Shido turned off the earpiece and walked alone through Tengu City, which had gradually entered deep night.
[Yakumo… senpai…]
He did not know how long he had walked.
Sitting on a bench and closing his eyes, what surfaced in his mind was the scene of Mikoto running away at the very end.
For a mont, Shido's heart hurt as if it were being cut by a knife.
Where had things gone wrong?
Was it because he had lost his mories of Mikoto?
Or was it because of that unfamiliar feeling deep in his heart?
No, that was not the most fundantal issue.
In a daze, Shido realized the greatest difference between Mikoto and the Spirits he had conquered before.
That was—the girl had already been sealed from the beginning.
In other words, when facing Mikoto, Shido had lost the desperate resolve he normally had when facing a Spirit.
Because she was already sealed, she no longer needed saving.
Because she was already sealed, Origami's situation should be prioritized by comparison.
However, it was precisely that numbness and carelessness that had pushed the girl back into despair.
There was no ti to hesitate.
There was no ti to be depressed.
"Honestly…"
Shido opened his eyes and suddenly stood up.
[I really am the worst…]
He should have realized it much earlier.
Whether he had lost his mories or not, whether he carried unfamiliar emotions or not, the Shido who had lost everything still had only one thing he absolutely had to uphold.
That was the desire to save her.
He started running. (TL:Play 'You say Run')
He ran toward the shrine.
At this mont, night had grown deep. Most people had already fallen asleep.
On the road, only the lonely streetlights accompanied the running boy.
After so unknown length of ti, Shido arrived at the shrine.
[What should I do?]
Although he had co here in a rush of emotion, Shido had absolutely no plan for what ca next.
[Anyway, I'll knock first.]
Knock, knock, knock!
Knock, knock, knock!
Knock, knock, knock!
He tried knocking on the door of the Yakumo residence.
Although he received no reply, he persistently continued the action.
After an unknown amount of ti, footsteps finally ca from inside.
However, when those footsteps reached the door, everything beca silent again.
"Um… senpai?"
Shido tried to start a conversation.
"Go ho…"
But all he received was a cold reply.
Knock, knock, knock.
Mikoto curled up on her bed, hugging her knees and burying her face between them.
Outside, the knocking continued endlessly.
Who was it?
Kotori? Tohka?
Or… Shido.
The mont she thought of Shido, an indescribable pain surged from deep within the girl's heart.
Shido did not rember her.
If it were just simple amnesia, Mikoto felt that she would have the confidence to face everything. After all, it would only be amnesia. At a ti like that, she should be the one to pull herself together and stay by Shido's side.
However, the truth was far more cruel than she had imagined.
The Shido before her was Shido from before history had been changed.
What was that?
It was just like… another Shido had replaced the Shido she knew.
Knock, knock, knock.
The knocking still did not stop.
And so, she ca to the entrance to see who it was.
Through the peephole, by the moonlight, the girl saw a boy who was both familiar and unfamiliar.
She did not want to open the door.
Leaning her back against the door, she stood there blankly, her mind in complete chaos.
"Um… senpai?"
Shido's voice ca from outside.
It was familiar, yet so unfamiliar that it frightened her.
"Go ho."
Mikoto said coldly, not wanting to converse with that voice.
"Please, listen to …"
Shido knocked on the door with his fist and shouted sincerely,
"I know I did sothing terrible to senpai. Even if you hate , even if you can't forgive , still… please—! Please give one chance. A chance to save senpai from despair again!"
[!!!]
Hearing Shido's words, Mikoto widened her eyes in shock.
Those were undoubtedly words that only Shido could say.
Shido, who would risk his life to save Spirits from despair.
But even so…
"I don't understand at all…"
She said through tears.
"You don't understand....?"
Shido's confused voice ca from the other side of the door.
"What should I even do? I don't understand anything anymore!"
Mikoto had completely lost track of whether the boy outside the door was Itsuka Shido who had lost his mories, or a stranger who had crossed over from another world.
So believed that after history was changed, the new world would overwrite the old one. In that case, the Shido before her was undoubtedly still Shido, only missing part of his mories.
Others believed that after history was changed, the new world would rely coexist with the old world as a parallel world. In that case, the Shido before her was a stranger from the old world.
But Mikoto had no mind to analyze the science of ti and space.
The girl only felt that the Shido outside the door was both familiar and unfamiliar.
She wanted to entrust her feelings to him, but feared that he would turn into a completely unrelated stranger in the very next mont.
She wanted to reject him coldly, yet the boy before her revealed everything that only Shido possessed.
"It doesn't matter if you don't understand! Yakumo-senpai's anger, sadness, all of it—I'll accept everything! So… please, don't fall into despair!"
Shido shouted loudly.
He was not afraid that Mikoto would reverse from despair and destroy Tengu City.
It was simply that deep within his heart, so intense feeling was burning, making him willing to sacrifice himself if it ant erasing the wounds in the girl's heart.
"Even if you say that… how could I possibly entrust my sadness and anger to the current Shido?"
[!!!]
Hearing Mikoto's words, Shido finally understood.
The girl before him could not connect the current him with the Shido from the past.
"Of course you can!"
He absolutely could not let Mikoto continue misunderstanding this.
Not only because he feared she would keep spiraling inward, but more importantly because an indescribable anxiety had risen in his heart—as if the self that Mikoto refused to acknowledge would lose sothing precious.
And so, Shido kept knocking on the door and shouted loudly,
"Even if I've lost my mories, I'll prove it to senpai—I am still Itsuka Shido. Even if the whole world denies it, I'll prove myself to senpai! So… please, believe in … Yakumo-senpai!"
Beneath the night sky, the boy shouted with feelings so intense that it seed as if his very soul was burning.
(TL:Ugh...it's author's fault for making Mikoto such a lovable character that my day is ruined because of this plot line, not that I didn't know this plot line will co sooner or later)
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