[You're saying... Yutsuki-nee, is at ho watching TV.]
Through the earpiece, hearing Shido's report, Kotori's voice beca very strange, sowhat hard to believe.
[...Are you sure?]
"Mhm..."
Glancing back at Yutsuki, who was watching TV with sparkling eyes in the room, Shido nodded silently.
"If I'm not hallucinating, the person lying on the sofa watching TV right now is definitely Yutsuki."
[...What is this?]
After a long ti, Kotori let out an exceptionally exhausted sigh. Shido completely understood his sister's feelings. It was like losing sothing important, searching around for half a day, only to find the item was in your pocket the whole ti—feeling relieved, while also feeling an exhausted, "What the hell am I doing?" kind of frustration that left you not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
[But... this is indeed a good opportunity.]
As expected of the commander of the Fraxinus, Kotori quickly adjusted her mood and said seriously to Shido.
[At the very least, looking at it this way, Yutsuki-nee didn't deliberately try to avoid you. While she's still at ho, Shido, you need to raise Yutsuki-nee's affection as fast as possible. Seal her Spirit power—Hey, what are you doing, Kaguya, Yuzuru?!]
"Kotori?"
Suddenly, Kotori's surprised shout ca from the other side, then after a burst of static, the voices on the other end of the earpiece changed.
[Hey hey—Shido, can you hear my telepathy?]
[Mic check. Shido, can you hear Yuzuru's voice?]
"Yuzuru? Kaguya? What's wrong with you guys?"
Shido couldn't help but ask in surprise.
[Kuku—I heard it. My comrade is right—now—by your side, right?]
"M-Mhm..."
Shido nodded stiffly. For so reason, he felt that Kaguya's tone inexplicably carried a hint of gunpowder.
[That's good—My possession, no matter what, you must make my comrade stay. Even if you use forceful thods, it doesn't matter.]
[Affirmation. If you let Yutsuki run away, even if it's our favorite Shido, Yuzuru won't easily forgive you.]
Sweat ford on his forehead. Shido asked tentatively.
"Uh... could it be, you guys... are angry?"
[Denial. Absolutely not!]
[I am not angry! Just because I recalled the events of the previous world and learned that my comrade actually left the Yamai, the Children of the Typhoon, aside and went alone to face the Demon King and seek death, and then used such despicable thods to shut our mouths while we had forgotten—sothing like that! Listen well, Shido. I—Am! Not! Angry! At! All!]
"Uh... mhm... I understand."
Imagining the Yamai sisters gritting their teeth on the other side, Shido felt black lines on his head.
After a while, Kotori's slightly helpless voice sounded in the earpiece again.
[Well... as you can see, everyone is basically feeling this way right now. It's just that Yuzuru and Kaguya seem the most agitated.]
"Haha... Is everyone okay?"
After a couple of dry laughs, Shido asked worriedly. After all, if Spirits get too emotional, it's easy to cause their Spirit power to flow in reverse.
[Well... you can rest assured about that. Although everyone looks very angry, their Spirit power surprisingly hasn't had any particularly violent fluctuations.]
Answering Shido's question, Kotori shook her head with a bitter smile.
In the previous world, Yutsuki called Tohka and the others to the airship to protect them from being hard by Origami. anwhile, she went alone to fight a death match with the inverted Tobiichi Origami.
Although from the perspective at the ti, Yutsuki undoubtedly made the most accurate judgnt, but to Tohka and the others, Yutsuki's actions equated to treating them as burdens.
Being furious is only natural. But if their Spirit power flowed in reverse over sothing to this extent, it would undoubtedly be affirming the correctness of the judgnt Yutsuki made back then. That was the most unacceptable thing for them.
(Well... it's not like I can't understand their feelings.)
Kotori thought helplessly in her heart.
[Well, that's how it is. We won't be coming back today. Shido, have a good date with Yutsuki-nee. Although I don't know what kind of answer will make Yutsuki-nee accept it, please do your best. This is just my selfish desire—I want Yutsuki-nee to co back.]
"Mhm..."
Hearing Kotori's request, Shido nodded with unwavering determination.
"Yo, finished your phone call?"
Seeing Shido return from the hallway, Yutsuki, with a potato chip in her mouth, raised her head and looked at Shido.
"Yutsuki, can I take up a little bit of your ti?"
"Mhm, sure. I've had enough of watching the replay anyway."
Nodding lightly, Yutsuki chewed twice, swallowed the potato chip, turned off the TV, and sat up from the sofa. Shido took this opportunity to sit next to Yutsuki.
"So, what is it, Shido?"
"I..."
Shido opened his mouth slightly, but recalling the girl's previous question, for a mont he didn't know where to start.
What reason is there? She doesn't need to worry about spacequakes, isn't afraid of being hunted by the AST and DEM, and can be independent and self-sufficient living a normal person's life.
For a Spirit like this, no matter how many righteous-sounding lines Shido spouted, they would be aningless.
(No—I do have a reason!)
Shido told himself this in his heart.
In the previous world, the brown-haired girl chose to fight a death match with the inverted Spirit for his sake, so that if he failed, he would have a world to return to.
Not just that ti. Shido knew very well that ever since eting Yutsuki, the girl had been silently bearing everything alone to protect him and her family.
This ti too, it was entirely thanks to the fact that Yutsuki's Spirit power hadn't been sealed. Origami's rampage was safely resolved without any major mishaps.
(But, that's not right, is it?!)
Shido couldn't help but grit his teeth in frustration.
Asking himself—why did he choose to undergo Spirit power training in the first place? Wasn't it because he resolved to stand in front of her, so she could rely on him even a little?
Wasn't it because he wanted to tell her—"Leave everything to , and it will be fine"?
"Shido?"
"Phew..."
Thinking of this, Shido took a deep breath, looked directly at Yutsuki, and said,
"Yutsuki, I... want to seal your Spirit power."
"Sure~."
Yutsuki nodded, indicating it was fine.
Anticipating a refusal from Yutsuki, Shido wasn't surprised and earnestly began to state his resolve.
"True, I have no reason to seal you. With my current immaturity, I also can't guarantee that you, Yutsuki, can live a peaceful life. But, could you... huh?"
Suddenly noticing that Yutsuki's reply was vastly different from what he expected, Shido looked completely dumbfounded.
Chu—!
However, before Shido could comprehend what had happened, Yutsuki suddenly leaned in and gently kissed Shido's lips.
The mint like fragrance, the soft touch of her cherry lips, were clearly imprinted in Shido's mind.
Imdiately after, the black trench coat and the Tokiwadai sumr uniform instantly turned into light particles and dissipated in the room. The girl's pure white skin, alluring shoulders, perfectly sized and bouncy breasts, and those round, perky buttocks were all exposed before Shido's eyes.
"Ah... I knew this would happen, but it's still embarrassing."
Muttering with a blushing face, Yutsuki reached out and closed Shido's eyes. Then, covering her chest with one hand, she picked up the shopping bag placed next to the sofa and walked into the bathroom.
"Wait a mont, I'll go change my clothes and be right back."
"——————————"
But in reality, unable to digest this sudden developnt, Shido's entire brain had completely crashed.
"Sorry for the wait."
Soon, Yutsuki changed into a neutral casual outfit and returned to the living room.
"Well then, Origami's problem is completely solved. I happened to find a few slices of premium cake in the fridge, let's celebrate properly. Speaking of which, why aren't the others back yet?"
"—————!? Yutsukiiiiiiiiiiiiii!"
Finally, his crashed brain seed to start working again. Shido yelled, not even knowing what he was doing himself.
"Wh-What?"
Yutsuki asked, sowhat startled.
Completely unable to understand what had happened? His head a ss like paste, Shido scratched his hair, feeling a headache coming on.
No, having the problem solved was naturally the best thing for Shido, but because both the process and the ending were too casual and sudden. Simply put—it was completely unacceptable!
"Why did you agree to let seal your Spirit power?!"
"What kind of weird question is that? Why should I refuse to have my Spirit power sealed?"
Yutsuki asked back, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
"B-Because—didn't you say yesterday, Yutsuki, that you have absolutely no reason to be sealed. So..."
"What... So it was about that..."
Hearing Shido's question, Yutsuki seed to understand what exactly he had misunderstood, and let out a long, speechless sigh.
"Shido, think back carefully, what exactly did I say yesterday?"
"Hm?"
Although he didn't understand what Yutsuki wanted to convey, Shido closed his eyes and carefully recalled what Yutsuki said last night.
...
[Why?]
[Help ? Help with what?]
[In this world, I can already control the occurrence of spacequakes. As long as I want to, I can quietly descend to the human world without drawing the attention of the AST and DEM. Moreover, I can decide when to return to the neighboring world of my own will. Household registration and things like that, I can easily forge a copy using my hacking skills. Naturally, I have no worries about money, housing, or daily life. Then, a question arises.]
[Shido, what reason do you have to seal my Spirit power?]
[Then, since Origami's problem hasn't been solved yet. Isn't it better if I stay like this?]
...
"—!!"
Shido seed to realize sothing, shocked to the point his jaw almost dropped to the floor.
"Indeed, I did ask you why you needed to seal my Spirit power back then."
Yutsuki shrugged and said,
"But—when did I ever give you a 'No!' answer?"
"..."
Hearing Yutsuki's words, Shido felt the corners of his eyes twitching constantly.
"Does that an... as long as Origami's problem was solved, you were willing to be sealed?"
"Mhm."
Yutsuki nodded matter-of-factly.
"You've got to be kidding eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!"
Shido couldn't help but fall to his knees, pounding the floor and shouting.
(What on earth have I been agonizing over these past few days!!!!)
"Please, saying that was just to let you know that there's nothing to worry about on my end. So you don't need to worry about , just focus on solving Origami's problem. The reason I didn't imdiately agree to be sealed was just because I was afraid more unexpected trouble might arise, and having my full Spirit power would allow to help you handle it more comfortably."
Seeing her good intentions treated as malicious, Yutsuki puffed her cheeks in dissatisfaction.
"And practically speaking, I wasn't wrong, right. I originally only planned to check the situation and then go back to watching TV. Who knew you'd manage to draw out the inverted Origami under those circumstances? If I hadn't shown up, you definitely would have had to go through a lot of trouble to resolve it."
"Ugh—"
Shido was left speechless.
Indeed, looking at it from Yutsuki's perspective, such thoughts were naturally a matter of course. If anyone was at fault, it could only be him for arbitrarily misinterpreting Yutsuki's words.
"I understand. It's my fault... Thank you."
"Well... although back then I did intentionally want to make you misunderstand a bit when I said that..."
Yutsuki turned her face away and muttered quietly.
"But... is this really okay? Yutsuki?"
After a mont, Shido asked sowhat hesitantly.
"What?"
"Um—although it's weird for to say this. But, you don't really have a reason to co back, right."
"What, I thought you'd understand by now, Shido."
Hearing Shido's question. Yutsuki shrugged speechlessly, picked up the cake taken from the fridge, and took a bite with relish.
At this mont, Shido suddenly noticed.
The cake Yutsuki took out from the fridge—there were five pieces. The four pieces on the table had stickers that read "Kotori-chan," "Darling," "Yuzuru," and "Kaguya."
And the cake in Yutsuki's hand read—"Hacker (Real na is Ryougi Yutsuki-chan~)".
"No matter how the world changes, this is my ho."
Yutsuki waved the spoon in her hand and answered with matter of fact face.
"Do you need a reason to return to your own ho?"
... —Smack!
After a long silence, Shido slapped his own head hard.
"...I really am an idiot."
What exactly had he been doing? Shido couldn't help but question himself like this.
Spirit and human? Savior and the saved? The relationship between Shido and Yutsuki could no longer be summarized by such simple concepts.
Precisely because of this, even if he couldn't give a proper reason, Shido still, no matter what, wished for Ryougi Yutsuki to co back.
(Then, there is only one thing I need to do right now.)
Thinking this in his heart, Shido looked at Yutsuki and naturally showed a gentle smile.
"Welco ho, Yutsuki."
"Mhm—I'm ho!"
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