At this mont, 15,000 ters above Tengu City, the airship—Fraxinus.
"How is it, can you confirm Shido's location?"
In the commander's seat of the bridge, Kotori, who had changed into her black ribbons and switched to Commander Mode, sucked on a Chupa Chups lollipop and asked grimly.
"Apologies, Commander. After that signal interference disappeared, Shido-kun's wireless earpiece seems to have been destroyed. The surveillance caras in Tengu City haven't captured any footage of Tobiichi Origami or Shido-kun either."
Kotori frowned slightly.
"Did she investigate the blind spots of the street caras beforehand? Even micro-caras were avoided. Damn it, Tobiichi Origami, her planning is truly thorough."
Honestly, although Kotori knew Tobiichi Origami was a Master Sergeant in the JSDF and a forr ace mber of the AST. Her usual image of a stalker relentlessly clinging to Shido was so deeply ingrained that it made Kotori subconsciously ignore these titles. It wasn't until today that she realized just how troubleso Tobiichi Origami was.
"Ah—That idiot brother. Why did he have to go off alone."
Kotori clicked her tongue in frustration.
This afternoon at school, Kotori received a call from her brother saying he planned to investigate the truth behind the fire five years ago.
Knowing that even if she didn't agree, Shido would probably act recklessly on his own. Plus, thinking that with Yutsuki-nee by his side, he shouldn't do anything too dangerous, Kotori didn't stop him.
But she didn't expect that Tobiichi Origami would strike first, using an ordinary student to distract Yutsuki and taking the opportunity to kidnap Shido.
[Hey, Kotori, can you hear ?]
At this mont, Yutsuki's voice ca through the communicator.
"Yutsuki-nee, what is it?"
Kotori asked.
"I've already contacted everyone to gather at the apartnt. Can you teleport everyone to the airship later? I think after kidnapping Shido, Origami's next target should be the Spirits."
"Mhm... Understood."
Hearing Yutsuki's proposal, Kotori nodded. Based on Origami's personality, she probably wouldn't harm Shido, but that wasn't guaranteed for Tohka and the others. Not knowing which corner of Tengu City Origami was hiding in right now, bringing the Spirits into the Fraxinus was the safest choice.
"And then, what do you plan to do next, Yutsuki-nee?"
Kotori asked into the intercom. Earlier, when Ryougi Yutsuki said "everyone," she clearly hadn't included herself.
An awkward laugh ca from the other end of the intercom.
"Well... After all, I bear so responsibility for Shido being taken by Origami. And Tohka and the others are starting to worry about Shido, so I want to search any possible locations."
Hearing this, Kotori couldn't help but sigh helplessly.
"Yutsuki-nee, I know you're always thinking of everyone and Shido. But please rember, you are a 'Spirit' too. You're also among the targets Origami is aiming for."
"Yeah, yeah—don't worry about that, Kotori-chan. Don't you know what kind of person your Yutsuki-nee is? I absolutely won't act recklessly if I'm not confident. Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."
Hearing Yutsuki's confident guarantee, Kotori was silent for a long ti before slowly nodding.
"...Alright. But you have to promise , absolutely don't push yourself. I don't want to worry about another idiot."
"Understood~"
After hanging up the call, Kotori shook her head, her face full of a self-deprecating, bitter smile.
"Seriously... I can sowhat understand now why Shido accepted Yutsuki-nee's training."
If agreeing to Yutsuki's proposal was because she knew the other party was reliable, then being unable to stop her from taking risks was a shortcoming on her own part.
Protecting the safety of the Spirits and caring about their feelings. These were originally things Ratatoskr should be doing. Yutsuki, who was supposed to be in the position of being protected, had no reason to put herself in danger. In fact, from the very beginning, the cause of this incident had absolutely nothing to do with Yutsuki.
Acting purely to protect important family mbers. This excessively pure and simple wish made Kotori realize—she had only done what she was supposed to do, but she hadn't done it the best way possible.
"Report, Commander. Tohka and the others have all been teleported to the Fraxinus."
Hearing the report from her subordinate, Kotori nodded. After sending soone to settle Tohka and the others, she ordered:
"Begin investigating the map of Tengu City. Deploy micro-caras to the blind spots and abandoned areas—"
BOOM—!
As if hitting a massive obstacle, the Fraxinus shook violently.
"What happened?"
"Report! Enemy reaction detected at three o'clock."
A dazzling, platinum-colored airship appeared out of nowhere in front of the Fraxinus.
Viewpoint Shift
"Mhm... Not here either?"
Walking into a shop with an "Under Renovation" sign and checking around, after confirming she didn't see Origami or Shido, Yutsuki climbed out the window.
"Mhm... It looks like they aren't in the shopping district."
Considering the possibility that Origami might have the mindset of "the most dangerous place is the safest place" or "hiding in plain sight," Yutsuki specifically ca to the highly populated shopping district. But since she had searched for a long ti without results, she was probably overthinking it.
"Ah... It really is hard to find them. That bastard Origami."
Yutsuki scratched her head in frustration.
"ow—"
Suddenly, a cat ow ca from near her feet. Yutsuki looked down and saw a black cat sitting right next to her.
"Are you—Kurokichi?"
Yutsuki asked sowhat hesitantly. After all, in her mory, the only cat that wouldn't be scared away by the electromagnetic waves she emitted was the Kurokichi she t before.
"ow~"
Kurokichi seed very happy that Yutsuki recognized her. She stretched out her small head, rubbed against Yutsuki's pant leg, and let out a coquettish ow.
"Good good~. I'm busy today. I'll bring you Pacific saury next ti. Wait—if you're here, that ans..."
Petting Kurokichi's head, Yutsuki, who seed to have realized sothing, broke a slight sweat on her forehead.
"Ara ara~ To et in a place like this. What a strange encounter~Yutsuki-san."
"Kurumi..."
Turning her head and looking at Kurumi, who stood behind her at so unknown point, Yutsuki's expression beca very complicated.
(This is really... I didn't find Shido, but the person I was planning to look for showed up on her own.)
"Did sothing happen? You've been looking around the shopping district as if searching for sothing for a while now. Did sothing happen?"
Kurumi asked curiously.
"Well... it's a long story. Anyway, Shido is missing right now. Have you seen him, or Origami?"
Kurumi tilted her head in confusion. She pondered for a mont, then shook her head.
"Shido-san and Origami-san... unfortunately, I haven't seen them."
"Is that so..."
Hearing Kurumi's answer, Yutsuki sighed in disappointnt. After thinking for a mont, she continued asking Kurumi:
"Then, while I'm at it, let ask you. During the fire five years ago, did you see who killed Origami's parents?"
Kurumi remained silent for a mont, then looked at Yutsuki with a smile.
"...That's a very interesting question.Yutsuki-san, how did you know I was at the scene during the fire back then?"
"Trade secret."
Yutsuki shrugged, indicating she had no comnt.
"You want to extract information from , yet you don't intend to say anything yourself? Yutsuki-san sure is cunning."
Picking up Kurokichi from the ground, Kurumi sighed helplessly and said:
"Never mind. For the sake of a fellow cat friend, I'll tell you for free this ti. It's nothing major anyway. During the fire five years ago, I did wonder if it was related to Spirits, so I went out of curiosity to check the situation. But that was it. As for Yutsuki-san's question about how Origami-san's parents died? I have no idea."
"I see..."
Yutsuki stared at Kurumi for a mont. Although she didn't think the other party was lying to her, Yutsuki couldn't judge whether Kurumi was hiding sothing. However, the main priority right now was finding Shido, so she didn't press the issue.
"Ara~Yutsuki-san seems very troubled. Do you want to ask 'us' to help you find Shido-san?"
"Huh, since when did you beco so kind,Kurumi-san~?."
Yutsuki looked at Kurumi with a weird expression.
"Well~ It's nothing. Having Yutsuki-san owe a favor is sothing I couldn't ask for more."
Kurumi's lips curled up as she spoke in a leisurely tone.
"As expected, you're up to no good..."
Giving Kurumi a displeased look, Yutsuki weighed her options for a mont, then slowly shook her head.
"Forget it. I appreciate your offer. But since even Kotori's airship can't find Shido's location, increasing the search numbers here probably wouldn't make much of a difference."
Plus, if Kurumi ran into Origami, there was no way it would end peacefully.
"Is that so? What a sha." Kurumi sighed, seemingly regretful, then smiled and said, "Then I hope you can find Shido-san as soon as possible,Yutsuki-san."
"Well, I'll try my best."
After saying goodbye to Kurumi, Yutsuki began to reconsider the current situation. She had to admit, even excluding the areas covered by normal caras, trying to find one person in a city the size of Tengu City was extrely difficult.
(As expected, rather than looking for Shido like finding a needle in a haystack, it's faster to just go directly to the culprit and ask clearly.)
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