"…Are you serious?"
With a low voice, Ryouko glared at the group standing before her.
The Wizards transferred from DEM, deployed as supplental AST personnel.
Though officially that was what they were called, in reality they were not only an independent unit bearing only the title, but they were also granted special authority allowing them to disregard superior orders at critical monts.
Ryouko deeply believed that this organizational structure was utterly ridiculous.
It was obvious at a glance that the reason DEM's Wizaed had been incorporated into AST was simply to make DEM's personnel more convenient for operations within Tengu City.
At that mont, inside the command room at the Tengu garrison of the Ground Self-Defense Force, Ryouko, the original AST mbers, and the DEM dispatch personnel were standing in confrontation with one another, with a faint sll of gunpowder in the air.
In response to Ryouko's question, Jessica, who stood in the very center of the DEM dispatch personnel, said:
"Of course. If you can't believe it, should I show you official docunts bearing the insignia of the higher-ups?"
"Fine, let ask you another way—have you all lost your minds?"
Slapping the order docunt in her hand, Ryouko glared into Jessica's eyes and questioned her fiercely.
The contents of the docunt alone were so absurd that just reading it felt ridiculous.
It concerned a capture operation for the suspected Spirit 'Princess'—the high school girl Yatogami Tohka—and her classmate, Itsuka Shido.
"Even if I tell you that Yatogami Tohka has already been confird to be a Spirit and goes to school, we would not have any objections. But why is an ordinary civilian included in the capture target list? Is this boy also a Spirit?!"
Hearing Ryouko's rude question, Jessica seed to reveal a sowhat malicious smile.
"The details are confidential, but I can tell you this much: he is a very important target for us."
"I'm telling you, you…"
"Then let put it another way: you are not authorized to know this matter."
"Tch…"
Having been accurately nailed on the head by Jessica, Ryouko let out a sharp click of her tongue, audible even to Jessica, and pointed at the next item in the docunt.
"And what about this?—Operation date: Saturday, September 23rd. Location: Tengu Plaza Tenou Festival venue!? You know the Realizer device is a classified technology, right!? And you're going to use it in front of that many people—No, never mind that, are you planning to fight a Spirit in such a densely crowded place?! Do you even realize how insane what you're saying is?!"
Ryouko let out sothing close to a wail.
The problem was not limited to the capture targets.
On that day, the Tenou Festival venue would probably be the most densely crowded place in all of Tengu City, yet the AST unit was being ordered to invade it and capture Yatogami Tohka and Itsuka Shido in front of the public.
Furthermore, the actual executing unit for the operation consisted only of DEM personnel, while the forr AST mbers like Ryouko were assigned to security and information control, preventing them from getting close to the scene. That ant that even if they ran wild at the site, Ryouko and the others would have no way to stop them.
What an absurd order. It practically looked like… no, it was exactly like the higher-ups in AST had been bribed by DEM. Ryouko thought through clenched teeth.
"If you had your pick, there are plenty of more favorable tis than that day. What is the point of doing it this way?!"
Unlike the flas burning in Ryouko's chest, Jessica let out a breath as cold as ice and curved the corner of her mouth into a faint smile.
"This is for—"
---
"For giving a proper greeting to our beloved arch-enemies of course~! If we're going to do it, shouldn't it be done with full ceremony? Otherwise it would look like we are underestimating them."
Sitting on the sofa of a five-star hotel, Isaac Ray Pelham Westcott is swirling the red wine in his glass and letting out a strange laugh.
"…If that is the reason, then allow to request a revision of the operation plan,Ike."
Standing behind Westcott, Ellen whose body had already fully recovered from her previous injuries looked at him. Though her expression did not change, there was a hint of complaint in her gaze.
"Don't say it like that, Ellen. This is what makes it interesting. Only a heavy blow can make those naive pacifists truly realize how childish they are."
With no intention of stopping his laughter, Westcott waved his hand at Ellen.
In the end, Ellen seed to give up and let out a deep sigh.
"Hah… if that is truly what you intend, then I have nothing to say about it."
"Well… if you think you can't do it, I can make an appropriate adjustnt, too, you know?"
"I do not need that. I am the strongest Magician in the world, after all."
—————————————————anwhile, at night. After leaving Miku's house, Yutsuki and Shido were imdiately transferred back onto Fraxinus, the airship, where they were greeted by Kotori's visibly displeased expression.
"Do you have anything to explain, Shido?"
"…I have no face left to et anyone."
Still in his Shiori-mode seiza, Shido sat on the floor, sweating profusely as he spoke in a low voice.
By the way, Shido was currently seated in the center of the command room's round table, surrounded by the crew's stares… it felt as though he had been brought in front of a court as a defendant.
At the sa ti…
"Shiori-chan did nothing wrong! You're not allowed to bully her!"
Like a mother protecting her childs, Ryougi Yutsuki held Shido in her arms and shouted.
By the way, the chest…
"By the way, Yutsuki-nee, I've got sothing to say to you too." Kotori scratched her head, sounding extrely drained. "At the ti, you yourself said you'd run off to provide rescue support for Shido. So why, when Shido shouted things like 'I hate you the most' and 'I'll reject you,' did you not only fail to rescue him, but actually fanned the flas from the side…"
"Ah… I just reacted according to the atmosphere at the ti."
Yutsuki looked away with a guilty smile.
"But, but… that girl was way too strange! She didn't care about human life at all!? No… more like she used that voice to make everyone like her, so nobody around her told her what was bad or what she wasn't allowed to do. In that case, I should be the one to—"
"You didn't need to say it. At least not at that ti."
"Guh…"
Being cut off so directly, Shido was unable to argue.
"No, while the timing wasn't ideal, from my perspective, Shido's way of handling it was not wrong."
However, Yutsuki firmly denied Kotori's statent.
"Yutsuki-nee, can you explain your reasoning? Let make this clear first—don't mix in your personal feelings toward Shiori."
Though Kotori's brows furrowed slightly, considering Yutsuki had been there on the scene, she might have a different perspective, so for the mont she still asked.
"Relax! Though I'm very annoyed, I was watching the situation very clearly the whole ti." Yutsuki nodded lightly. "I dare say that if we hadn't acted that way, the chance of successfully sealing Miku would have been extrely low."
"Hoh~? And your reason is?"
"Because from what we just saw, even after we revealed our true identities, Izayoi Miku still placed herself at the very top of the world and looked down on us. That girl has already beco twisted… by the power of Spirit." Yutsuki shrugged faintly and said in a low voice, "Kotori-chan should be able to understand too, just how terrifying a Spirit's power is—whether for other people or for the Spirit herself."
Kotori's expression visibly stiffened.
Indeed, whenever she used her own power, a violent urge to destroy everything would occasionally rise in her heart. If her spiritual power had not been sealed, she would probably not be standing here living a peaceful life now—she would instead be hunted by humanity as a disaster of destruction.
"Indeed, Izayoi Miku's values are skewed away from those of ordinary people. But precisely because of that, she needs spiritual power sealed away. She needs comprehensive moral education…!"
Just as Kotori got halfway through her sentence, she suddenly felt the terrifying aura radiating from Yutsuki.
"What you just said, I will treat as if I never heard it. Please take it back… Kotori-chan"
If Tohka and Yoshino and the others were being educated because they lacked common sense and needed to better adapt to human society, Yutsuki would not say anything. But although Izayoi Miku's values were warped, they had undoubtedly beco a self-contained system of their own.
Kotori's statent, in a certain sense, was no different from handcuffing a prisoner and then taking the opportunity to brainwash them.
"Well… Kotori didn't really an it that way either. Calm down, Yutsuki."
Sensing that the situation was getting a little delicate, Shido—who had originally been kneeling in reflection—quickly stepped in to smooth things over. After all, quarrelling between both sides was not good for anyone.
"…Sorry. I got impulsive for a mont. I'm sorry, Kotori-chan…"
After Shido spoke, Yutsuki realized she had been a little rude. Kotori's enthusiasm for Spirit rescue operations was probably no less than Shido's, and she herself had clearly been too impulsive.
"…No, I was also a little out of line."
Kotori understood Yutsuki's feelings. After all, Yutsuki had only agreed to be sealed because she trusted that their side would treat Spirits reasonably. If the human rights of Spirits were denied, of course Yutsuki would be displeased.
"Back to the main point, personally, I think if we use ordinary thods to increase favorability, we may never succeed in the end. The best-case scenario would be that Miku and I are both placed by Shiori-chan in the category of especially precious Barbie dolls. And then nothing more."
"Mm… so what you're saying is, we need to stand on equal footing in order to seal Miku's spiritual power?"
Shido was completely confused by Yutsuki's vague explanation, but Kotori had already understood her point.
"Of course. The God of galga strategy once said—if you don't stand on equal footing, then no matter how sharp the move, it'll still only lead to a BAD END!"
"Though I have no idea what you're talking about… I understand the aning. It's true that Miku's emotional values haven't shown any special changes."
Kotori acknowledged Yutsuki's idea. After all, this was not Kotori's one-man decision. As commander, she had to properly accept any reasonable proposal.
Then Kotori shifted her gaze to Shido.
"And then? After you accepted her declaration of war, do you have any ans of victory?"
"Uh... no."
Shido lowered his head guiltily.
Seeing Shido's answer, Yutsuki and Kotori let out deep sighs almost the sa ti as Kotori, as though they had anticipated it all along.
"Well… if we leave this to Shido alone, it really would be a guaranteed loss. Kotori-chan, please."
"I know. Since Ratatoskr was established precisely to save Spirits, we'll handle the background work for the executive committee. In order to perform on the Tenou Festival stage, Shido and Yutsuki rember to negotiate with the perforrs tomorrow. Since this has already been decided, we're going to do everything we can to win. Do you all hear ?"
"Yes!!"
Kotori said with her arms crossed over her chest, and everyone responded together with great force.
"Though I say that, the other side is a popular idol, Izayoi Miku, so she is not soone you can beat easily. What is your school's first-day stage performance going to be, Shido?"
"Mm… it looks like the girls in Shido's class—Ai, Mai, and Mii—are going to hold a band performance. I heard they're actually short on people too."
"Oh yeah… speaking of which, you really know a lot about them, even though you're not in the sa class."
"Your class is always making such a ruckus that it's basically beco a hot topic for us to kill ti with."
Yutsuki rolled her eyes irritably. Shido could only smile bitterly at that. To be honest, he knew very well that the reason Class 3 was getting this kind of attention had a lot to do with him.
"A band, huh? Haha! That just happens to be your specialty!"
"Mm?"
"Huh?"
Under Yutsuki's curious gaze and Shido's puzzled expression, Kotori operated the remote control in her hand and played a certain video on the big screen.
It was probably from his chunibiyou years—a certain boy sitting on a bed, holding what looked like a second-hand guitar, playing an original tune with a deeply serious, cold expression.
The boy showed a mysterious and wicked smile, lightly stroking the guitar strings with his fingertips and saying in a "The world is drunk, but I alone am clear" kind of mood:
[Only this instrunt can understand …]
Shido suddenly felt a chill as though he had fallen into a glacier.
This was also a fairly common phenonon. Teenagers going through puberty often have a surge of youthful passion in their hearts and therefore begin trying out all sorts of things to express that feeling. Guitar is one of the more common ones.
This was one of Itsuka Shido's black-history monts that was especially embarrassing!
"The skill you worked so hard to train… pfft… finally has a chance to shine, huh… ku-ku…"
Kotori's shoulders shook slightly as she desperately held back her laughter. Looking more carefully, aside from Yutsuki, who was staring unblinkingly at the screen, everyone else was also trembling all over.
"Hey— w-why is there a recording of that?!"
"Well, I figured it might co in handy one day, so… pfft pfft!"
In the video, Shido was already playing at the climax, standing on the bed and dramatically strumming the strings.
Kotori finally could not hold it in anymore and burst out laughing.
Then the performance suddenly stopped. The boy on the screen sat back down on the bed and began talking to himself as if he were giving an interview.
[Because language barriers cause friction between people, and in this age of endless warfare, I have decided to use the guitar as a pioneer of the era to vent my anger at the world's injustice. Therefore, I shall dance and cry out together with my companions!]
"Sto- sto- stopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstop!!!"
What does it feel like to have your black history exposed in front of the public? — Itsuka Shido can tell you: it feels unbelievably refreshing in the worst possible way!
"It's okay~ Shiori-chan~"
"Yu-Yutsuki…"
Holding Shido in her arms, Yutsuki's gentle voice gave him so comfort.
Though she was also rubbing her cheek against his while muttering "Blushing Shiori-chan is super cute," but let's just ignore that.
"It's okay, Shido." Even after watching the entire black history video, Yutsuki did not show the slightest teasing smile. She said solemnly, "Chunibiyou is a very cute thing."
"Back when I used to carry a guitar case and say things like 'Be careful… maybe there's a submachine gun in here' to my classmates… let's pretend I never said any of that."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO—!"
One line from Yutsuki and Shido was completely sunk.
Just as Shido was about to be utterly broken, Kotori decided not to push it further and cut the video.
After taking a few deep breaths to calm down, Kotori snapped her fingers.
"In any case, Shido should go and audition as the guitarist. I'll have professionals give you so guidance afterward. Yutsuki-nee, what can you do?"
Hearing Kotori's question, Yutsuki—who had been holding Shido while replenishing her "Shiori elents"—finally released him, then patted her chest with a bit of satisfaction and said, "I've learned a little guitar, keyboard, bass, and drums. Any of them are fine."
"Hoh~ That's really amazing."
For Yutsuki's multi-talent passive, Kotori let out an admiring sound.
"Then how about you join the band with Shido at that ti?"
"Hm, about that, Kotori. I'd like to separate myself and Shido into different performances."
At Yutsuki's answer, Kotori slightly furrowed her brows, but did not imdiately object.
"What's your reason?"
"Maybe it's because she has absolute confidence in her own singing. Miku's declaration compared the overall score of the school competition rather than an individual event score, so I'm thinking we should split into two groups. That would make victory more advantageous."
"Mm… true. In order to secure victory, taking a few asures within a reasonable range is also justified… However, the stage performance schedule for Tenou Festival has already been arranged, so adding another performance now would probably be troubleso…"
Kotori showed a thoughtful expression as she spoke.
"This part doesn't need to be a concern."
Yutsuki said that, and a slightly strange expression appeared on her face.
"Actually, before this, I already had a performance scheduled on the Tenou Festival stage."
The others all made faces like "What a coincidence!" as Yutsuki continued:
"And this morning, when I went to check the performance order, I found out that it was right after the Rindouji brass band performance."
"Commander, the Rindouji All Girls' School brass band just said they are giving up their original performance, and the program has changed to a performance by Izayoi Miku."
"Miku really is doing that after all…"
Since adding a new program at the last minute was very difficult, both Miku and Shido, who had originally not intended to participate in Tenou Festival, would now have to go and communicate with the perforrs from their respective schools.
It was hard to imagine that a club performance would give up so simply, but the aning was clear enough: Miku had used her "voice" to issue them a command.
"Well, I guess this kind of situation was expected."
Kotori waved a hand, not the least bit surprised, then turned to Yutsuki and asked:
"So, Yutsuki-nee, what is your performance program?"
"—A solo vocal performance. A song I wrote myself."
At that mont, everyone simultaneously made a peculiar expression.
Adjacent performance order, sa type of performance program.
"…And by so incredible coincidence, this has beco a direct confrontation."
Compared to Kotori's stunned expression, Yutsuki looked quite satisfied.
"Hmph-hmph… so Izayoi Miku really is the arch-enemy of my destiny?"
Using a flamboyant chunibiyo tone similar to Kaguya's, Yutsuki walked up to Shido, slowly knelt down before him, kissed the back of his hand, and declared in a voice as solemn and affectionate as a knight's:
"Rest assured… for Shiori-chan's chastity, I shall surely return victorious!"
Shido felt very troubled. What exactly was he supposed to respond with now?
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