December 30th, 11:50 PM, Itsuka Household.
"Phew... it's so cold..."
The night's cold was even more piercing than the day's. Watching the lights of the neighborhood houses gradually extinguish one by one, Shido couldn't help but shiver, stuffing his hands into his padded jacket pockets for warmth.
"Onii-chan, co inside quickly. You'll catch a cold if you keep standing at the door blowing in the wind."
Walking out from the house, Kotori couldn't help but say worriedly.
"It's fine, I'll wait a bit longer."
Shido smiled and shook his head. He exhaled a puff of white mist, his gaze fixed on the intersection ahead, silently waiting for a certain soone's figure to appear from around the corner.
(Has Yutsuki... already taken Nia ho?)
Tapping his shoes lightly on the ground, Shido thought silently. If so, then she should be on her way back by now.
Around 9 PM, Shido and Kotori were doing so final confirmations for the manga showdown tomorrow. The others were exhausted from rushing the manuscript over the past few days, so Yutsuki went out for a walk alone at that ti.
Initially, Shido didn't think much of it when he heard, believing a walk wouldn't take much ti. But he didn't expect Yutsuki to be out for over two whole hours.
Tomorrow was the day of the showdown with Nia. Given the girl's personality, it was impossible for her to be wandering aimlessly at a ti like this. As it drew closer to midnight, everyone's tension gradually turned into unease.
Just as Kotori couldn't hold back anymore and wanted to send subordinates to search for Yutsuki, Shido's phone suddenly received a text ssage from her.
[Sorry, I ran into Nia while taking a walk and sothing ca up. She's drunk right now, I'll head back after taking her ho. You guys go to sleep first.]
Perhaps afraid Shido and the others would worry, the text ssage also included a photo. In the picture, a helpless-looking Yutsuki was carrying Nia, who was as drunk as a skunk, on her back.
Although there were many things to be concerned about, after confirming Yutsuki was safe, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief. Unable to withstand the fatigue accumulated over the past few days, they successively returned to their rooms to sleep.
"Kotori, you should go to sleep soon too. I'll go to sleep in a bit as well."
"Is that so... Hah~ Sorry, Onii-chan... I'll go rest first. You go to sleep early too, we have to get up early tomorrow."
Rubbing her eyes that were about to close, Kotori let out a long yawn. After nodding gently and reminding Shido, she returned inside to rest.
(Everyone is exhausted...)
Looking at the Spirit apartnt where all the lights were already out, Shido couldn't help but think.
It wasn't just Natsumi and the others who were responsible for drawing the manuscript. Over the past few days, although Tohka, Miku, and Yoshino didn't draw, they very actively cooperated with Kotori on various behind-the-scenes preparations. And tomorrow was the ti for them to step up as the trump cards. He couldn't make them stay up late with him.
If Shido said he wasn't tired, that he didn't want to imdiately dive into his bed sheets and fall fast asleep—he'd be lying. His insistence on standing here right now was rely his own stubbornness.
December 31st, 12:09 AM.
"...! No good, no good!"
Almost falling asleep leaning against the wall, Shido slapped his cheeks hard, forcing his drooping eyelids open.
(At the very least... I want to say 'Welco back' to her before going to sleep...)
——Ring ring ring ring!
Just then, the ringtone of the cell phone in his pocket rang out suddenly like spring thunder in the quiet street, instantly waking Shido up.
Hurriedly taking out his phone and seeing the caller was Yutsuki, Shido answered the call.
"Hello! Yutsuki, where are you now?"
[In Nia's apartnt... By the way, you answered really fast.]
After answering Shido's question, Yutsuki asked sowhat surprised.
[I thought it would take a while to connect. Haven't you slept yet, Shido?]
"Eh? Ah—um, I just got up to use the bathroom. And you happened to call right then."
Too embarrassed to admit he was still waiting for her, Shido told a small lie to cover it up.
"What about Nia? How is she now?"
[Nia... is resting on the bed in the bedroom right now. Because her emotions were too unstable, I used so slightly forceful thods.]
"Yutsuki?"
Hearing Yutsuki's answer, Shido felt a slight sense of incongruity.
If combined with the text ssage sent earlier, Shido would have interpreted this as Yutsuki complaining because she couldn't stand Nia's drunken tantrums. But right now, Shido couldn't hear the usual composure and steadiness in Yutsuki's voice.
—Self-bla, confusion, and unease.
"Did sothing happen?"
His expression inevitably turning more serious, Shido asked worriedly.
[...Phew.]
A deep breath sounded from the phone, and subsequently, Yutsuki's voice beca much calr.
"I encountered... a slightly troubleso problem. I need your help, Shido."
—————————————
"Alright... I've already switched to Ratatoskr's encrypted channel... Unless it's a situation like Nia or Yutsuki... it's basically impossible to be wiretapped..."
At 12:46 AM, in the school's physics preparation room, Murasa Reine typed on the keyboard and said.
"Sorry, Reine-san, troubling you so late at night."
Shido said sowhat apologetically.
"It's fine... Originally... Shin... I wasn't going to sleep anyway..."
Sporting a very convincing pair of dark circles under her eyes, Reine shook her head slowly, indicating he shouldn't worry about it.
At this ti, the phone in his pocket rang again. Shido placed the phone on the table and tapped the speakerphone button.
[Alright, I've pretty much handled things on my end. Shido, how are things on yours?]
"Channel encryption is already complete... although it might not be as secure as yours..."
Before Shido could speak, Reine spoke first.
[Reine-san, huh... That makes sense, you'd be the only one awake at this hour. Never mind, we'll inform Kotori and the others tomorrow.]
Hearing Reine's voice, Yutsuki sounded a bit surprised at first, but she quickly accepted Reine's presence and began to explain things to the two of them.
[What happened on our end is very difficult to explain in detail. So I'll state the conclusion first.]
Yutsuki said in a very certain tone,
[Tomorrow, after the doujinshi event ends, Nia will invert into an Inverse Spirit, and then she will be killed by DEM.]
"Wh-!"
Nia will invert? And be killed by DEM?
Hearing this unexpected news, Shido's eyes widened, montarily not knowing what to say.
"...Please... explain in detail... Yutsuki..."
Compared to Shido, Reine's reaction was much calr. After only a mont of silence, she accepted Yutsuki's statent and waited for her to continue.
Next, Yutsuki gave a simple and clear explanation of what happened yesterday: after Ratziel and Rasiel connected, Ratziel activated Future Glimpse and saw Nia invert and be killed by "soone".
"Wait—Yutsuki."
Listening to Yutsuki's explanation, a question couldn't help but pop into Shido's mind.
"If it's just predicting the future, you can do that even without relying on Rasiel, right?"
Yes, if it was just predicting the future, this wasn't Yutsuki's first ti. Whether it was when Origami inverted or when Shido went berserk, Yutsuki had always used that ability to see the future to help them.
[Future Prediction and Future Glimpse are two completely different abilities. At least, that's how it is for ... Shido.]
Yutsuki sighed and slowly explained.
[Future Prediction, to put it simply, is calculation. Ratziel integrates and analyzes the information gathered by my senses, and based on that, deduces the developnts of the next few seconds. Strictly speaking, it's not the future, just one of many possibilities. The limit of this ability to maintain accuracy is no more than ten seconds. The further into the future it predicts, the lower the accuracy. At the sa ti, I have the right to accept or reject this 'future'.]
So people believe that the mont a person sees the future, the future changes. Because regardless of whether you accept or reject this "future," the "future you" is already different from the "current you."
But in reality, this is just because what you saw wasn't the future, rely one "possibility" of the future.
"But Future Glimpse is different. While it's also a calculation, this ability doesn't base its deduction on , but on so law of the world that I don't understand. I cannot trigger it actively, the predictable ti range is unknown, and once observed, it becos an unalterable future."
"Unchangeable..."
Chewing over this word spoken by Yutsuki, Reine asked faintly.
"Given your personality, you wouldn't easily make such absolute statents... In other words, this ability 'Future Glimpse' has activated more than once..."
"—!?"
Hearing Reine's words, Shido was startled.
"Is that true? Yutsuki."
"...If we don't count this ti. Up until now, Future Glimpse has happened three tis in total."
After a mont of silence, Yutsuki confird Reine's guess.
The first ti it happened was in the previous world. Yutsuki saw Origami destroy the town after inverting, and from that, she got the inspiration to deduce the truth from five years ago. But before Yutsuki could take action, in just five short minutes, the observed future beca reality.
The second ti was after the world had changed. It was a very peaceful day for Yutsuki without any disturbances. While watching ani in her room, an image of an unfamiliar little girl drinking cola suddenly popped into her head.
At that ti, surging curiosity compelled Yutsuki to go out and look for that little girl. She soon found her target in a crowd on a street.
At that ti, the little girl was holding so change, preparing to buy a drink from a vending machine. To verify whether that future could be changed, Yutsuki secretly hacked the vending machine to make it crash, and used Future Prediction to calculate the little girl's route, buying out all the cola in the convenience stores along the way ahead of her. Being a step slower than Yutsuki, the little girl naturally couldn't buy anything.
[Just when I thought I had changed the future, a cheer suddenly erupted from ahead. It seed a man had won the third prize in a supermarket lottery—a very generous assortnt of snacks and various drinks.]
"Wasn't it a little girl?"
Shido couldn't help but ask. To this, Yutsuki answered very helplessly.
[I thought much the sa as you at the ti. After being slightly startled, I didn't pay much attention to it. But when that little girl threw herself into the man's arms, I finally realized—they were father and daughter.]
(Uh... that works too...)
Shido thought with a sweatdrop.
[Afterward, just as observed by Future Glimpse. Out of all those drinks, the little girl only picked the cola and drank it very happily. At the ti, I thought I failed because the information wasn't sufficient, so I didn't take it to heart.]
The third instance of Future Glimpse happened in August when Yutsuki arrived in Tengu City. Yutsuki saw an image of "herself" rushing onto a train looking extrely anxious, three days later.
At that ti, Yutsuki, confirming that there was nothing special to do three days later, planned to stay holed up in her hotel room all day without going out.
[But when that day ca, the hotel's electrical facilities and network suddenly crashed, and 70% of the staff got food poisoning and couldn't work. The place was a total ss, and the manager compensated for the rent and asked to check out.]
After that, Yutsuki also tried to find other hotels, internet cafes, or manga cafes to kill ti. But no matter where she went, the response was either full capacity or issues preventing her from staying.
[And it wasn't just that. On that very day, a store in Akihabara had a scheduling error and moved up the release date of a limited edition bonus rchandise. And it was exactly the one I had been keeping my eye on for a long ti. If I didn't take the train to Akihabara, I definitely wouldn't be able to buy it. Can you imagine—such a coincidental mistake occurring.]
Shido couldn't help but ponder. Indeed, if it was just once or twice, it could be explained as a coincidence. But what if three or four coincidences overlapped at the sa ti?
"So you got on the train?"
[No... harboring the thought that I could just pay a scalper a high price for it online later, I held back. I was inexplicably stubborn at the ti, thinking that as long as I didn't go, the future seen by Future Peeking definitely wouldn't happen.]
Yutsuki said in an exhausted tone.
[And then guess what happened next? A man ran past on the street, bumped into , and then rushed hurriedly to the station.]
"Your wallet got picked?"
[No, on the contrary. He dropped sothing on .]
Yutsuki denied Shido's guess and continued.
[A paper bag containing almost two million yen in cash, and a copy of an old lady's dical record for heart disease.]
"Uh..."
Shido sweatdropped. What era is this, for soone to wander the streets carrying that much cash?
[Honestly, at that ti, I really felt a chill run down my spine. In this day and age, there are actually still people who carry that much cash on them. And it just so happened to be encountered by on that specific day.]
On the other end of the phone, Yutsuki echoed Shido's sentint.
"So, you went to the station to return the money to him?"
Although he asked, Shido actually already knew the result. Given Yutsuki's personality, she wouldn't drag others into her own stubbornness.
[Yeah. Exactly as observed by Future Glimpse, I dashed onto the train just in the nick of ti. I returned the money to that person.]
Later, Yutsuki found out that the person didn't live in Tengu City. In order to get a heart bypass surgery for his elderly mother, he had traveled everywhere, borrowing and scraping together the two million yen for the surgery fee, and was rushing back to his hotown to pay it.
If it weren't for Yutsuki, he wouldn't even have known he lost his money.
[At the ti, the guy just started crying and knelt on the ground desperately thanking . I really couldn't stand that atmosphere, so I jumped off the train midway and sneaked away.]
When saying this, Yutsuki sighed with a bitter smile. She didn't feel a sense of accomplishnt for doing a good deed; on the contrary, Yutsuki even believed that the person lost the money precisely because of her.
[Let's suppose I had pocketed that money back then. His mother wouldn't have had the money for the surgery, and he himself might have committed suicide out of guilt. That would have indirectly killed two people. And what's worse, if I still chose not to get on the train, I'm afraid those 'coincidences' would continue to happen one after another.]
"Indeed, I would have made the sa judgnt."
Imagining it slightly, a chill spread down Shido's back. What was originally just catching a train was forcefully linked to human lives; it was indeed terrifying.
"Judging from what Yutsuki said... Future Glimpse should have two characteristics..."
Just then, Reine, who had been listening silently, suddenly spoke up.
"First, if the observed subject of the future is a third party, attempting to interfere with this future would be like editing a movie tape—it only adds content to the process, but cannot change the outco. Second, if the subject is the person themselves, an irresistible 'external force' will appear, forcing the person involved into a situation where they have no choice but to choose that 'future'."
[Drawing a conclusion based on just these two cases is very arbitrary, but my conclusion is also about the sa as Reine-san's.]
"Either way, the future didn't change..."
Shido now understood exactly what kind of bitter feelings Yutsuki harbored when she said "unchangeable".
Looking at the results, Future Glimpse wasn't seeing the future, but locking the present person into a single ending. Whether it was good or bad depended on personal luck.
Naturally, Yutsuki wouldn't hold any expectations for an ability that was like Russian roulette. After all, one can't afford to gamble with human lives.
"Fortunately, although Future Glimpse cannot be activated at my will, I can choose to turn it off. I just didn't expect that after connecting with Rasiel, it would boot up like an updated computer reverting to default settings. And unfortunately, it drew the worst possible lot for Nia."
Standing on the apartnt balcony, she let the cold wind blow across her face, cooling down her feverish head.
(It's my responsibility...)
Recalling Nia's pale and vacant face, like a corpse, from just now, Ryougi Yutsuki secretly clenched her fists.
Even though Nia was relentless at the ti, Yutsuki, who didn't firmly refuse, also bore an inescapable responsibility.
[Yutsuki... you just said that you saw Nia's chest being ripped open by 'soone', right.]
Just then, Shido suddenly spoke up and asked.
"Mhm... that's right."
Yutsuki nodded.
[Then did you confirm it? Did Nia really die in the image?]
"—!?"
Hearing Shido's words, Yutsuki widened her eyes in surprise. Then, a smile curved on her lips, and she answered with absolute certainty:
"I don't know."
[Then that's great. Whether Nia will die or not is still an unknown to us. We just have to work towards a future where 'Nia is saved even after having her chest ripped open'.]
"Are you an idiot? Generally speaking, you can't survive having your chest ripped open, right? Naive! Too sweet! If Nia were awake, she'd definitely scold you rcilessly. 'A brat who can't face reality!' "
[You just scolded yourself!]
Shido retorted with dissatisfaction. But he didn't know that at this mont, Yutsuki wore a very relieved expression.
Yes, this is the Shido in Yutsuki's eyes. Naive, childish, always saying unreasonable things, doing impractical things, and in the end, dragging everyone around him into it, even if unwillingly.
But if Itsuka Shido were a more rational and mature person, perhaps many of the people Yutsuki knew wouldn't have been saved either.
[Nia is still alive right now, so let's figure out a way to save her together.]
[Mhm... you're right...]
Yutsuki nodded gently.
(First, soone has to be able to say with certainty 'We can save her'. Otherwise, nothing can even begin...)
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