'There is definitely sothing wrong with today!'
Origami thought with a face that looked like she wanted to cry but had no tears.
When she went shopping to a pharmacy, even though she had never been to this store before, she unknowingly picked up a large pile of aphrodisiacs and sexual enhancers, took out a non existent mbership card, and prepared to pay.
And then, at the clothing store, she didn't know what kind of evil spirit possessed her. She picked up a school swimsuit, paired it with a dog ear headband, a dog tail accessory, and a collar. Harboring the baseless confidence that "this is Shido's favorite outfit," she put the clothes on and even barked at Shido.
Just recalling this mory slightly made Origami feel like dying of embarrassnt.
However, this wasn't the worst of it.
When they went to a family restaurant to eat, taking advantage of Shido going to the restroom, she actually couldn't help but pick up Shido's spoon and lick the residue off it. When Shido saw her, she panicked and accidentally spilled juice on his clothes. Then, while he was wringing out his clothes—she took out her phone and frantically took consecutive pictures of Shido's belly button.
After that, Origami still couldn't control herself and did many inexplicable things. Every ti, her mind unhesitatingly believed that her actions were conforming to the natural laws of the universe, and she even brought out a bunch of dialectical theories from philosophers to justify them. But when Origami cald down and thought about it—isn't this just being a pure pervert!????
Although Shido didn't seem to mind Origami's series of strange actions. But as her first ti going out with a guy, she had completely failed in every aspect.
(Ugh... he definitely thinks I'm a weird girl.)
Sneaking a glance at Shido walking ahead, Origami couldn't help but lower her head in dismay.
"It's getting cold."
Suddenly, Shido spoke up.
It was already past evening, and the late autumn night had long fallen. The warmth of the day seed like a hoax; the nightti temperature had dropped so much that even a single breath would turn into faint mist. The cool breeze rustling the leaves brushed past them, making one involuntarily shiver.
"Y-Yeah—I let my guard down because it was quite warm during the day. It would have been nice if I brought gloves."
Origami snapped back to reality, rubbed her palms together slightly, and answered with a bitter smile.
Hearing Origami's words, Shido fell silent for so reason. Just as Origami was feeling a bit puzzled, suddenly, Shido gently grasped Origami's small hand.
"Eh—?"
Origami couldn't help but widen her eyes in surprise, her heartbeat unconsciously speeding up.
"I-I'll go find a vending machine to buy so coffee in a bit."
Shido said this with his back facing Origami.
"Mhm, mhm—"
Origami nodded sowhat bashfully.
His walking pace quickened slightly, but not to a speed that would trouble Origami. Seemingly doing sothing he wasn't used to, Origami could clearly see his bright red ears from behind.
In an instant, Origami felt her own face turning bright red as well.
(Ugh... my heartbeat is getting faster... This feeling... as expected, it's...)
"O-Origami, what are you doing?"
"Eh?"
Hearing Shido's flustered voice, Origami realized that her right hand was rubbing and teasing Shido's palm back and forth using a very indescribable technique.
"Eeeehh? It's happening again—Stop quickly, my right hand!"
_________________
"Phew—Feels good, affection level is also good. Looks like there's hope to resolve this today."
Seeing the two of them progressing smoothly on the screen, Kotori slowly sighed in relief.
Honestly, when Shido consecutively chose the worst options provided by Maria, Kotori was still worried if her brother's brain had short-circuited while changing the past. Surprisingly, although these options were aborted halfway due to Origami's massive emotional fluctuations, they genuinely increased Origami's affection for Shido.
According to Shido, the Origami of the previous world was a woman who would pile up various aphrodisiacs for Shido to drink, set up escape traps in her house, and lick his neck when he carried her on his back.
At first, Kotori thought, Where in the world is there a woman like that? Looking at it now, she was indeed a bit naive.
"But... although the affection level has reached the required value, the anxiety and stress levels are still a bit high..."
Reine said softly. Hearing this, Kotori seed to understand, shrugging sowhat helplessly.
"Well, after doing so many strange things in front of a guy. It's perfectly normal to worry if Shido will accept her."
[...To eliminate her anxiety... what should I do?]
Hearing Shido's question, Kotori spread her hands and answered matter-of-factly.
"Isn't it obvious? A confession of love, of course. Or are you planning to tell her, Shido, that you happen to have a special fetish that gets turned on by these behaviors of Origami's?"
[As if I would!]
Shido retorted with black lines on his forehead, denying it.
"Well... is this the only way?"
It was unavoidable. If he didn't seal Origami here, soone would definitely get hurt because of it later—it could be a sealed Spirit like Tohka, an unt Spirit, or even Origami herself.
Glancing at Origami, the girl was currently sitting on a park bench, taking small sips of coffee. For a mont, Shido couldn't help but overlap Origami's figure with that of a certain girl.
Harboring a slight sense of guilt, Shido returned to Origami's side.
"Say—Origami."
"What is it, Itsuka-kun?"
Origami looked at Shido with a curious expression. Shido felt a slight sting in his heart.
Looking closely at her, her front bangs, long eyelashes, clear eyes, and cherry-like small mouth that seed to steal one's heart with a single touch—no matter how you looked at her, she was a very cute, beautiful girl.
In the previous world, because of Kotori's training. Shido accidentally confessed to Origami, and they beca a couple.
Thinking about it now, Shido felt how lucky he was.
However, to be honest, Shido himself wasn't entirely clear on what kind of feelings he held for Origami. But at the very least—it wasn't romantic love.
Although many coincidences led to him not explaining this issue clearly back then, in the end, Shido also gave up explaining with thoughts like "it can't be helped," letting this ambiguous and ssy relationship continue based on a misunderstanding.
If he confessed to Origami here, would he repeat the sa mistakes as last ti?
Perhaps, if that brown haired girl were here, she would ask him that.
What if there were no unavoidable reasons?
Then his actions could be evaluated as the worst kind of scum.
(But, I have to do it. This ti, after the problem is solved, even if Origami beats into the hospital, I have to explain everything clearly.)
Shido silently made up his mind in his heart.
"Um... I have sothing I want to tell you."
"Actually, I... also have sothing I must tell you, Itsuka-kun."
Just as Shido was about to confess, Origami suddenly spoke up.
"Sothing you must say?"
Missing his chance to confess, Shido had to ask in return.
"You know that I used to be a mber of the AST—the Ground Self-Defense Force's Anti-Spirit Team, right."
"Mhm... I know."
Shido nodded.
"But a while ago, I resigned from the AST."
"Is that so..."
Although he had already heard it from Kotori, Shido still asked sowhat hesitantly.
"Is it because... of what you said last ti, losing consciousness due to anemia?"
"Mhm, that's one of the reasons. After all, it's a job using dangerous weapons; this kind of symptom is quite fatal. But the main reason is that I felt a bit lost."
"Lost?"
Seeing Shido's puzzled expression, Origami showed an awkward, bitter smile.
"Well, although it's classified information, I'll make an exception and tell you now. Hacker—do you know this Spirit's identification na, Itsuka-kun?"
Seeing Origami unexpectedly ntion Yutsuki here, Shido widened his eyes in surprise, then hurriedly feigned ignorance and answered:
"W-Well... sounds like a very unique Spirit."
"Mhm, indeed a very unique Spirit." Origami nodded with a bitter smile. "A girl's school uniform from an unknown school, a strange black trench coat, and she's often seen playing on a tablet when she manifests. Honestly, when I first saw her in July, I even suspected she was a chuunibyou high school girl who didn't evacuate in ti."
I understand completely! Shido nodded in absolute agreent in his heart.
Origami seed to recall sothing, and a complicated expression appeared on her face.
"At first, because she was an S-class dangerous Spirit like Nightmare, everyone was very cautious. However, Realizers ant nothing in front of Hacker, so we were defeated without exception. But what surprised the most was that Hacker saved my teammates whose aircraft crashed after being disard."
After that, Origami tried to look up information on Hacker. Then she found that the reports regarding this Spirit were extrely contradictory.
—The scale of spacequakes was the smallest, and the number of casualties upon manifesting was zero. Yet, she was the Spirit most dangerous to humanity.
As she spoke, Origami looked up at the night sky and let out a long sigh.
"At that mont... how should I say it... I wanted to laugh at myself, 'Ah—what are we doing?'... I started doubting if what I was doing was truly right..."
"Origami..."
"...I'm sorry, even though a Spirit is the murderer who killed your brother..."
Seemingly not knowing how to face Shido, Origami lowered her head in sha.
"No, you don't need to apologize."
"Eh?"
Shido shook his head and answered decisively.
Perhaps this answer was completely unexpected in the eyes of the current Origami, but to Itsuka Shido, Origami being able to let go of her hatred and accept Spirits was one of the things he desired most in the previous world.
"I don't think your thoughts are wrong at all, Origami. I—no, even my brother would definitely say the sa thing."
"Itsuka-kun..."
Origami's voice trembled, her shoulders shook slightly, looking like she was about to cry.
"I-I'm sorry... to think I..."
Seemingly not wanting anyone to see her current state, Origami turned her head away. Shido didn't continue speaking either. Instead, he silently held Origami's hand tightly, looked up at the bright moon in the night sky, and a gentle smile appeared on his lips.
(That's great, Yutsuki... our efforts weren't in vain.)
At the sa ti, the triumphant sound of the affection ter maxing out ca through the earpiece. It seed what Origami was truly anxious about was whether Shido would accept her forgiving the Spirits.
"Look, Itsuka-kun! A shooting star!"
A shooting star flashed across the night sky. Seemingly to cover up her previous loss of composure, Origami pulled Shido to the fence, leaned over the wooden handrail, and pointed at the sky.
"It's a shooting star! We have to make a wish quickly!"
"Even if you say that, so suddenly, I can't think of any wish..."
Shido said, looking troubled. But in reality, he still secretly made a wish in his heart—Let Yutsuki return to my side. ...Well, even though the shooting star had long disappeared by the ti he made the wish.
Crack—!
Suddenly, perhaps due to aging, the wooden fence Origami was leaning against let out a cracking sound. Naturally, Origami, who was leaning on the handrail, was about to fall off the edge of the elevated park.
"Waaaah!?"
"Origami!"
In a stroke of luck amidst misfortune, Shido was still holding Origami's hand. He managed to grab Origami in ti and exerted all his strength to pull her up.
"Phew... are you okay."
Shido sighed in relief and asked Origami with so concern.
"..."
"Origami?"
Looking at the silent Origami, Shido felt an eerie sensation.
Hot— Right then, a scalding burning sensation ca from his left hand. Shido then realized that when Origami fell just now, his arm was scraped by the cross-section of the wooden plank, leaving a shocking gash.
Naturally, pale white healing flas automatically appeared on the surface of the wound.
"Oh no—!"
Shido seed to realize sothing, his pupils violently shrinking.
"Spi... rit..."
Accompanied by a low utterance, violent Spirit power erupted from around Origami, easily blowing Shido away. Imdiately after, murky black sludge enveloped Origami like a vortex, transforming into a pitch-black Astral Dress resembling mourning clothes.
User Comments
0 comments from readers