Christmas had passed, and the New Year was about to arrive.
As if a wind of change had blown through Tengu City, the streets that had been decorated with colorful lights and Christmas trees only yesterday had, in the blink of an eye, beco a combination of kadomatsu and straw ropes. It made one sigh at how quickly the next holiday had arrived.
"Yakumo-senpai, is it really okay for you to co with ? Since it's New Year, the shrine should be very busy, right?"
Today, Shido was heading to Ratatoskr's underground facility for a routine checkup. Ever since he had gone berserk, these kinds of checks were necessary until they could confirm that his body had completely recovered.
"It's fine. I finished most of the preparations before Christmas."
Mikoto shook her head. Although New Year was a traditional holiday in Japan, and shrines, as representatives of traditional culture, played an important role in it, Mikoto had already finished preparing everything she needed before Christmas. On top of that, with Hina helping her, Mikoto was no longer the only shrine maiden at the shrine.
Today, she was accompanying Shido to the underground facility.
"Eh? As expected of Yakumo-senpai."
Shido said in admiration. The girl was always able to handle the things around her in an orderly way.
"It can't be helped. Looking at the timing, the next Spirit should be appearing soon. If things beco like that, it'll be troubleso, right?"
Mikoto smiled wryly.
A big part of why she had prepared early was because she was worried that a new Spirit might encounter Shido around New Year. If that happened, helping Shido conquer the Spirit would beco the top priority. If the shrine matters had not been handled by then, it would be very troubleso.
"A new Spirit? Senpai, why do you know that?"
Shido asked strangely. Logically speaking, Spirit appearances could not be predicted, so he did not know why the girl seed to think he would definitely et a new Spirit around New Year.
"Well, it's just experience. Look, from April until now, Spirits have been appearing at a pace of about one per month."
Mikoto said.
Although it was not perfectly accurate, and there had been cases where the intervals were either very short or far longer than a month, there seed to be so unseen force at work. It was as if, only after Shido sealed a Spirit and got enough rest, the next Spirit would be sent before him. (TL: The force of fiction~)
"Now that you ntion it, it really does feel that way."
Shido scratched his cheek. Although he felt it was only a coincidence, maybe he really would et a new Spirit soon.
"Right, senpai."
He suddenly spoke.
"Mm?"
"Are Spirits… really all transford from humans?"
Shido rembered the possibility Mikoto had guessed from Phantom's few words after the berserk incident and asked.
"I can't say for sure, but I think it's very possible."
Mikoto nodded.
Although she was not completely certain, Phantom's words had indeed carried the aning of separating Mikoto from the other Spirits.
That was right.
Only Mikoto was different from the rest of the Spirits. In other words, aside from Mikoto herself, everyone else might have been created by Phantom.
"If that's true… what exactly is Phantom thinking?"
Shido sighed. Even Kotori had been shocked after hearing Mikoto's guess. If that was really the case, perhaps they should focus their investigation on girls who had suddenly disappeared from society.
While the two were talking, the building disguised by Ratatoskr was already close in front of them.
"Then, I'll be back in a while."
After saying that, Shido went with Reine toward the room equipped with the examination facilities, while Mikoto sat in the resting area and waited for him.
The checkup took longer than expected, so the girl took out her phone, planning to read a novel.
"Ah, this is bad."
She looked at her phone's battery and widened her eyes in surprise. Although it still showed around ten percent battery, if she read a novel…
(I should give up after all.)
It was the end of the year. If soone called her about shrine matters and her phone was out of battery, that would be bad.
The girl sighed and put her phone back into her bag.
"Ah, Mikoto-chan ca too?"
"You ca with Shido-kun, right?"
At that mont, Nakatsugawa and Shiizaki walked over from the entrance. The two were carrying white plastic bags. It seed they had gone to buy sothing.
"Mm."
Mikoto nodded, confirming what they had said.
"Mikoto is so considerate."
Shiizaki smiled.
"Yeah. But speaking of which, is Mikoto-chan just going to sit here the whole ti? Shido-kun's checkup might take a while."
Nakatsugawa asked.
"I wanted to read a novel for a bit, but my phone is almost out of battery."
Mikoto smiled wryly. The two imdiately showed expressions of understanding. It seed that the pain of a phone running out of battery was sothing almost everyone experienced.
"In that case, I'll lend this to Mikoto-chan for now."
Nakatsugawa took a book out of the plastic bag and handed it to Mikoto.
"Weekly Shounen… BLAST?"
Mikoto tilted her head.
"Ah, right. Mikoto-chan is a Spirit."
Noticing Mikoto's confused gaze, Nakatsugawa suddenly understood and nodded.
"Actually…"
"I see. Then thank you, Nakatsugawa-san."
After hearing Nakatsugawa's explanation, Mikoto learned that this publication was very famous in this world. It seed to be roughly like Shounen JU*P in her original world.
"Then we'll go first. After you finish reading it, just leave the book on the table in the resting room."
Nakatsugawa and Shiizaki waved their hands, then walked deeper into the underground base.
So more ti passed.
"Senpai?"
Shido walked out from inside.
"Shido, how is your body?"
Mikoto closed the book, stood up, and asked.
"The numbers are finally normal."
Shido let out a long sigh of relief. With this, he would no longer need to receive these body checks so often.
"Right, senpai, what are you reading?"
At that mont, he noticed that Mikoto was holding a book he had not seen when they arrived.
"This? Weekly Shounen BLAST. Nakatsugawa-san lent it to ."
"Eh, it's actually BLAST?"
Shido showed a surprised expression.
"Shido knows this book?"
"Among people our age, there are probably very few who have never read it even once."
Shido nodded.
"Then, does Shido want to take a look? It's the latest issue."
Mikoto handed the book to Shido.
"Let see… wait, ohh, Silver Bullet started serialization again?"
Right after that, Shido showed a shocked expression.
"Silver Bulelt? Ah, you an one of the manga inside, right?"
Mikoto thought for a mont. In her mory, that seed to be the na of one of the manga in this magazine. It seed to be drawn by an author nad Honjou Souji.
"That's right, that's right. I used to read this work before. Later, for so reason, it suddenly stopped publishing."
Shido said nostalgically.
"In that case, let's buy a copy on the way back later."
Mikoto placed Nakatsugawa's book on the table and said that while looking at Shido.
"Ah, that's true."
Shido nodded.
The two discussed what to make for dinner while heading to the shopping street. After they bought everything, they walked in the direction of the Itsuka house.
At the corner of the street, the two ran into a girl collapsed on the ground.
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