"Ugh..."
As his consciousness gradually cleared, Shido groggily sat up from the sofa and looked around. He found himself in his own living room.
"So we appear at ho first, just like last ti?"
According to his mory from just a mont ago, he should have dived into the computer world with Yutsuki from the dive equipnt inside the airship. But looking around, whether it was the room's layout or the placent of the furniture, there was no difference from the real world. It gave off an incredibly realistic feeling.
The reproduction was so high that for a second, Shido doubted if he was dreaming.
"Shido, welco back."
But the next mont, that doubt was dashed by a girl in a white nun's outfit appearing out of nowhere and hugging him.
"Ah, Maria. It's been a while. I ca to see you."
Shido gently hugged Maria back, patted her head, and spoke softly.
"Mhm, I'm so happy that the day we could et again like this has co!"
Unlike the slightly devilish look she had on the screen earlier, Maria enjoyed Shido patting her head, showing pure joy on her face.
"Where are Marina and Yutsuki? Why don't I see them?"
He rembered Yutsuki diving in with him, and Maria had said Marina was waiting for them in this world. Now that he couldn't see them, Shido was a bit confused.
"Ah, Yutsuki woke up a bit earlier than you did, Shido, so she's upstairs chatting with big sister right now."
"That makes sense. They haven't seen each other in the real world for a long ti either. They must have a lot to talk about."
Shido nodded in realization.
"Well... you could say that."
For so reason, a weird smile appeared on Maria's face.
Shido tilted his head in confusion. Guided by Maria, he walked up to the second floor of his house. Soon, he heard clear, noisy arguing coming from Kotori's room.
"Hey, hey! That's enough! Hurry up and change back, you idiot!"
"Hehe—No way. A child-sized Yutsuki, I can't just not enjoy such a rare opportunity—Ow, ow, ow!"
Hearing the conversation coming from the room, the corners of Shido's mouth twitched.
"Yutsuki, what are you doing?"
Shido knocked on the door and asked.
"It's nothing, co in."
Getting Yutsuki's permission, Shido pushed the door open and walked in.
The first thing he saw was a black-haired girl, wearing a nun's outfit like Maria, crouching on the floor holding her head, and Yutsuki standing next to her wearing a cheerleader outfit.
...What happened?
"Ugh, that hurts, Yutsuki."
"That's because you got carried away. Reflect on what you did."
Sighing helplessly, Yutsuki waved at Shido when she saw him.
"Shido. You're awake."
"What are you wearing, Yutsuki?"
Yutsuki was currently wearing the kind of cheerleader outfit you'd see at sporting events. It didn't use much fabric, so it usually exposed the navel and shoulders.
Unlike the sexy, hot sports girls on TV, Yutsuki, in her loli state, wearing this outfit gave off an innocent, yet guilty feeling. Seeing the girl's smooth little navel and fair shoulders unintentionally exposed before his eyes, as well as those slender, delicate legs, Shido didn't know where to look.(TL:shido ain't escaping the allegation)
"Well, it's like this..."
Yutsuki sighed lightly and explained the situation to Shido.
Probably due to individual differences, after diving into the computer world, Yutsuki woke up a bit earlier than Shido. When Marina saw Yutsuki as a child, she was overjoyed for a split second, pulled out a huge pile of clothes, and treated Yutsuki like a dress-up doll. Although Yutsuki still wasn't used to wearing girls' clothes, Marina had helped her a lot with fixing the computer world, so she humored her selfishness a bit.
As a result, Marina accidentally got carried away, pulling out all sorts of clothes and treating Yutsuki like a dress up darling.
And then, it led to this situation.
"I see..."
Listening to Yutsuki's explanation, Shido couldn't help but glance at the clothes scattered around. There were bloors and gym clothes, gothic lolita dresses, cheongsams, and elentary school uniforms.
(Damn it, did I co too late?)
Shido thought to himself in annoyance.
"Ow, ow, ow... Ah, you're awake. Itsuka Shido."
At this ti, Marina finally seed to recover from the pain, looked up, and noticed Shido.
"It's been a while, you look lively. Marina."
"Well, I'm doing alright. Compared to , Maria really..."
"Big sister, don't say unnecessary things!"
Maria, standing to the side, puffed out her cheeks with a red face and complained.
"Okay, okay~"
Marina shrugged slightly, indicating she'd shut up. Then she turned her gaze to Yutsuki. Yutsuki nodded gently.
"Since Shido is awake, let's get down to business. Maria, Marina. Please."
"Yes. Understood. Shido, do your best."
"Yeah, yeah~ I get it. Well then, Itsuka Shido, work hard."
"Huh? ...Yeah, thanks."
After leaving Shido with so confusing words of encouragent, Maria and Marina disappeared.
Then, like changing a channel on a TV, the scene in front of Shido suddenly switched. His familiar ho was replaced by a strange, large gymnasium. And he was standing right in the middle of it.
"Where is this?"
"The Tengu City gymnasium. Just a random location picked from the database. After all, if we stayed at ho, it would be hard to get into the right mindset."
Yutsuki's voice rang out. What made Shido's eyes widen was that the girl wasn't in her child state anymore. She was wearing her large black trench coat, holding the dark blue longbow nad Ratziel. She looked just like her complete "Hacker" state.
"Yutsuki, did you change back?!"
Shido called out in pleasant surprise.
"No, this is just a recreation using my appearance data from the computer's database. In reality, I'm still a child from Natsumi's power."
Yutsuki shook her head. As if to get used to her body, Yutsuki took a long stretch and moved her joints.
"So, what exactly are we doing here, Yutsuki?"
Bringing him to the broken-and-now-fixed computer world, and then changing back to how she looked before being sealed. Shido didn't understand what Yutsuki wanted to do.
"Well, actually it's nothing too complicated. It's just that starting today, Shido, you're going to start training in this virtual world."
"Training?"
Yutsuki nodded.
"That's right. To help you, Itsuka Shido, better utilize and flexibly control the powers of the Spirits (your harem) sealed inside you. A specially designed training program. If I had to na it, I'd call it the 'Knight Training Project'!"
"No, no, no! You don't need to na it."
Shido retorted, looking completely speechless.
"By the way—this plan has already been approved by Kotori-chan. In her own words, 'If it makes that useless, parasite like Onii-chan even a little more capable, then as long as he doesn't die, Yutsuki-nee can train him however she wants.'"
Imitating Kotori's voice, a smug smile appeared on the corners of Yutsuki's mouth.
"Kotori..."
Hearing that his freedom had been sold off by his dear sister without him even knowing, Shido had an expression that was halfway between laughing and crying.
"Well, I don't mind training. But why so suddenly..."
A confused look appeared on Shido's face. It wasn't like he hadn't done training before. But most of it was playing trashy galgas, interacting with real girls to create rom-com situations, and improving his adaptability to won. Those weird tasks once made Shido doubt the professionalism of an organization like Ratatoskr. Now hearing sothing so serious, Shido actually felt a bit surprised.
"It's not that sudden, it's just that no one thought to bring it up before ."
Sighing lightly, Yutsuki looked straight into Shido's eyes, her tone full of seriousness.
"Rather, I want to ask: why did you, Shido, think you didn't need to train the Spirits' powers?"
"Uh..."
Shido was speechless for a mont.
Although it had sothing to do with the training content Ratatoskr provided, up until now, Shido himself had never had the thought of training the Spirits' powers.
"At first, Ratatoskr focused your training plan on communicating with won and ignored handling the Spirit power after it was sealed. I understand that. After all, to the Spirits, this power is absolutely not sothing we want, and the power itself is very dangerous. If Shido seals the Spirits' power and then uses it casually, to the Spirits, it might look like extrely hypocritical behavior."
But—Yutsuki suddenly changed her tone.
"You have to understand, Shido. Our power is not only the reason we are set against humanity. It is also the strongest power that protects us from harm. And now that DEM has appeared, it's no longer just a simple matter of saving Spirits."
Take Ellen, for example. Even in Yutsuki's pri, she only won by using sches and tricks. If you only looked at physical stats and head-on combat, that strongest Wizard could totally go toe to toe with Tohka in her full Astral Dress.
And behind her, there was a dangerous man Yutsuki still couldn't see through—Westcott.
"Training. Getting stronger. Isn't that obvious? Or are you planning to just think 'Please save them~' and summon our Angels with a gambling mindset like playing a gacha ga when everyone is in danger?"
Yutsuki's words were very harsh and sharp, but they were also absolutely correct. At the very least, Shido himself couldn't think of a single word to argue back.
Just as Yutsuki said, things were no longer just about saving Spirits. During Miku's incident, Tohka was suddenly kidnapped by Ellen, and in the end, she inverted out of despair because she mistakenly thought he had been killed.
If it weren't for Miku and Yutsuki, and everyone's help, would Tohka still be able to live peaceful days, smiling like she is now?
If Tohka had stayed in despair back then, would his sealing her power really count as saving her? The power of the Spirits was the reason they were forced into loneliness, but at the sa ti, it was their strongest shield and sharpest sword to protect themselves from harm.
Sealing a Spirit's power ant the Spirit entrusted their trust, their life, and everything else to Shido.
Sweat started to form on his forehead. For the first ti, Shido clearly felt just how heavy the weight of what he had accepted from everyone truly was.
Thinking about how he had a half-playful mindset before diving in, Shido couldn't help but feel ashad of himself.
(Am I... really saving everyone right now?)
Shido sat quietly on the gymnasium floor, looking up at the ceiling, constantly questioning his own heart.
But Yutsuki wasn't in a hurry. She sat next to Shido. She knew Shido needed ti to think. Realizing that just sealing Spirits couldn't be considered saving them was an unimaginably huge shock to Shido, who had persisted on this path. It wasn't sothing he could sort out in a short ti.
But rather than having soone point this problem out in an even worse situation soday, Yutsuki preferred to bring it up herself. So Shido could think it through as soon as possible.
"Phew..."
He didn't know how much ti had passed. If it were the real world, the sun would have already risen by now. Shido casually wondered if Yutsuki had even thought of this, and slowly let out a breath.
"Yutsuki, as I thought, I can't give up on saving Spirits. Because just like you and Tohka, there must be Spirits troubled by this power. So, I won't change what I do."
"Mhm."
"So, in order to protect this kind of life. Please tell , how can I gain the power to protect everyone."
The power of the Spirits. Although Itsuka Shido had used it quite a few tis, up until now, he had never truly faced the existence of this power.
Enjoying an everyday life that is sotis happy, sotis helpless, sotis troubleso, and sotis interesting.
And then, gaining the power to protect this everyday life.
This was the answer Itsuka Shido found after constantly thinking.
A smile appeared on the corners of Yutsuki's mouth.
"As expected, you never disappoint , Shido. My training is going to be very strict, so be prepared."
"Yes!"
Seeing Shido's unwavering eyes, Yutsuki secretly sighed in her heart. Honestly, she didn't want to talk about these things with Shido. If possible, Yutsuki wished those terrifying powers sealed inside Shido would sleep forever.
Because there was one last reason for proposing this training plan that Yutsuki didn't say out loud.
From Tohka's kidnapping, it wasn't hard to see that DEM's ultimate goal was the inversion of Spirits. Then, the question was—how exactly was DEM going to plunge Tohka and the others into despair?
After discussing it repeatedly with Kotori and Reine, Yutsuki arrived at an answer so simple it wasn't funny at all.
—Kill Itsuka Shido.
As Shido and the Spirits' bonds deepened, Shido's position in the Spirits' hearts beca heavier and heavier. So if Shido were killed, all the Spirits, without exception, would fall into bottomless despair.
The reason DEM hadn't made any big moves on Shido yet was probably because they were waiting for the mont this plan could achieve its maximum effect.
(I just hope this power I threw away can protect Shido.)
Gripping the dark blue longbow in her hand tightly, Yutsuki silently prayed in her heart.
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