Today was a day off. According to the original plan, Tohka was supposed to go on a date with Shido. However...
"With rain this heavy, it can't be helped."
Shido stood at the door looking at the sky. Large raindrops crashed against the ground, splashing up countless droplets.
"Ugh... stupid rain! Why won't you let go on a date with Shido! A date!"
Tohka stomped her feet at the doorway in frustration. Yet, against this force majeure from the sky, there was nothing she could do.
"The weather forecasts have been a bit inaccurate lately. It's a sha, but we'll have to do it another day."
Mikoto smiled wryly, looking at the sky outside.
[But... why is this happening?]
In just a few short days, the weather forecast had been wrong consecutively. This struck Mikoto as strange.
[Co to think of it, that child nad Yoshinon is always around in this kind of weather...]
Rather than coincidence, in this unscientific world filled with Spirits, there was another way to explain this abnormal weather.
"Reine-san is an analyst on the Fraxinus, right?"
"Yes, is there a problem, Mikoto?"
Not counting Mikoto, there were currently four people in the Itsuka household: Shido, Tohka, Kotori (who was still sleeping), and Reine, who was sitting at the table desperately piling sugar cubes into her coffee.
"Could you analyze this rain for ?"
"No problem, but... why?"
"Hmm... I just have a feeling this rain might have sothing to do with Yoshinon."
Instantly, Reine and Shido's eyes widened at Mikoto's words.
Five minutes later...
"Shin, wake Kotori up imdiately."
"Understood."
Reine stared at the data on the screen. In her tone, which always sounded sleep-deprived, there was a rare trace of seriousness.
______________________________
"So you're saying the Spirit energy wavelength in this rain perfectly matches Yoshinon's. But... how did you notice that, Mikoto?"
Kotori sat in the commander's seat of the Fraxinus, speaking while looking at the graphics on the screen alongside the crew. The Chupa Chups she was biting on was a secret weapon to quickly drive away sleepiness—Super nthol Candy.
"Well... the main reason is that this rain contradicts the weather forecast. Whether it was at the shrine or yesterday, it was raining like this when we found Yoshinon. And also..."
Mikoto looked at Reine. She nodded in understanding and switched the screen to the recording of the Angel's manifestation from yesterday.
"This is..."
Kotori clearly saw how the rainwater pouring into the building had been turned into sharp shards by the power of Zadkiel, attacking Shido and the others.
"I see. Freezing rainwater to attack, that's one of Yoshinon's combat thods... Ahh, I really want to bathe in that kind of rain. It must... it must hurt so, so much!"
Kannazuki, standing next to Kotori, squird his body as he spoke.
"In that case, analyze the rain's coverage area imdiately. Yoshinon must be right at the center."
Kotori kicked Kannazuki, sending him rolling on the floor in agony from the sharp pain in his knee.
"Found her, Commander!"
Shortly after, a crew mber displayed Yoshinon's location on the screen. From the footage, the girl appeared to be searching for sothing.
"Just as I thought, a Silent Manifestation. Shido, this is a great opportunity."
Since there was no spacequake alarm, the AST wouldn't imdiately detect Yoshinon's presence. Getting to have a date without machine guns and missiles flying across a battlefield was sothing one could only wish for.
"Yeah, I know."
Shido, who was also standing on the airship, nodded.
"But please be careful. Yoshinon's mood level is highly unstable right now, so it's best not to do anything that might provoke her," Reine said.
__________________________
Through the Fraxinus's teleportation device, Shido successfully appeared near Yoshinon.
"Alright, I'm going to talk to her."
[Wait, Shido. The options are up.]
Just as Shido was about to greet Yoshinon, three options appeared on the screen:
① Lie down and expose your belly while talking, to show no hostility.
② Give a tight hug to convey your love.
③ Talk completely naked to prove you don't have any weapons.
"Everyone, make your choice. You too, Mikoto."
Kotori handed Mikoto a remote.
"Uh..."
Mikoto stared at the options on the screen:
① Are you an animal?
② A pervert? A lolicon?
③ A total degenerate!
What could she say? No matter which one she chose, Shido would undoubtedly beco a weirdo in Yoshinon's eyes. However, since there was no ti, Mikoto had no choice but to press the button for option ①.
"Option ①, huh?"
With the votes distributed almost evenly, option ① was in the lead by just about one vote.
"Shido, lie down and expose your belly!"
[!!!]
For a brief mont, it felt like Shido's scream could be heard over the speaker.
Even though it seed like an incredibly unreliable option, it was surprisingly effective. After being discovered, Yoshinon almost summoned her Angel, but Shido's completely unexpected action made her freeze with her hand raised in mid-air.
The subsequent contact went smoothly without major issues. From Yoshinon's mouth, they gained two pieces of useful information.
First, the Spirit they had been calling Yoshinon was actually nad Yoshino, while Yoshinon was the puppet on her hand.
Second, due to Tohka, Yoshino had lost her incredibly important Yoshinon yesterday.
And so, Shido began helping the girl search for her lost puppet.
"Kotori, did Shido's sealing fail yesterday because her affection level wasn't high enough?" Mikoto asked.
"No. Even if he couldn't completely seal it, he should have at least weakened her power by twenty or thirty percent," Kotori answered. She also found it strange. They had clearly kissed, yet no Spirit energy was sealed. It shouldn't have been like that.
"Reine, what is Yoshino's affection level right now?" Mikoto asked again.
"Very low. Under the current circumstances, sealing is impossible."
"Just as I thought," Mikoto nodded.
"Did you find out sothing?" Kotori asked.
Noticing that Shido had Ratatoskr's support behind him, instantly deducing that the kiss between Shido and Yoshino was an accident, and finding the Silent Manifestation Spirit through the abnormal rain—all these actions convinced Kotori that Mikoto was a smart girl with highly capable deductive reasoning skills.
"It's just a hypothesis, but look: when talking to Shido through the puppet, Yoshinon's personality was completely different from the current Yoshino, right?"
Back in the departnt store, Yoshinon's extraordinary boldness, to the point of provoking Tohka, was the complete opposite of her current, small-animal-like behavior, where she looked ready to jump at the slightest touch.
"Maybe Yoshino and Yoshinon are actually split personalities. If that's the case, then the one Shido was trying to conquer yesterday was rely the alter ego, Yoshinon."
"So the target of the seduction was wrong? Then it makes perfect sense why the Spirit energy couldn't be sealed." Kotori nodded.
However, while Mikoto's words made sense, they lacked decisive evidence. If her guess was wrong, it could end up causing more trouble for the mission.
"Kotori, Mikoto might be right."
"Reine?"
"I apologize, this was an oversight on my part. Behind Yoshinon's ntal chart yesterday, there was a very small, hidden response. This should be the proof of Yoshino's primary consciousness existing."
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