"… …" Katsu withdrew the finger that was placed on the chin of the strange girl in front of him. He clearly did not give this command to his body.
"Kurumi?" Katsu blinked, and his mind became slightly clearer.
Kurumi, who was called by name, smiled slightly: "Oh, Katsu-kun still remembers my name? I'm really sorry to disturb you---"
Kurumi, who is already incredibly beautiful, is even more charming when she smiles, but... Katsu surprisingly "sobers up" after seeing Kurumi's smile.
"Kurumi, listen to my explanation---"
"Hehe---what is classmate Katsu talking about? How can I be qualified to ask such a popular classmate, Katsu to explain anything?" Kurumi was still laughing.
But Katsu was in a panic. He was sure that he was really out of his mind before! What the hell was going on?!
"No, Kurumi, I was not in my right mind before." After saying that, Katsu hurriedly ran towards Kurumi.
"Katsu-kun is really good at joking." Kurumi continued to smile, and she dodged Katsu's attempt to hug her without leaving a trace. Moreover, she took the time to glance at the somewhat confused girl not far behind Katsu, narrowed her eyes slightly, and looked at her with an ambiguous gaze.
"… …"
The girl turned around and ran away without saying a word... I knew it... Romance comics and the like are all lies!
… …
Katsu, however, did not know this. Of course, even if he knew, he would not say anything. At most, he would feel a little sorry for the girl.
At this moment, he was still trying to explain to Kurumi: "That's true! Kurumi, don't you believe me? If it doesn't work, you can use [Tenth Bullets] to look at my memory!"
Now that it's come to this, what else can Kurumi say? She will naturally believe Katsu. In fact, from the beginning, Kurumi knew that something was wrong with Katsu. After all, at this moment, she could clearly feel the violent, boiling and chaotic spiritual power on Katsu. She is just acting to see Katsu's helpless expression.
Being embraced by Katsu's attempt to hug her again, Kurumi sighed slightly, and at the same time leaned her head on Katsu's chest, feeling the other's hot body temperature. Kurumi couldn't help but droop her eyes slightly, and her tone was a little tired, but also with more concern: "What's going on again?"
At this moment, Katsu was delighted when he saw Kurumi finally willing to be hugged by him. However, when asked by Kurumi, Katsu really didn't know what to say; after all, he didn't even know what was going on with him.
So he answered truthfully: "Um... I'm not too sure, it was just that today during the physical education class at school, my abilities suddenly went out of control..."
"… …" Kurumi sighed: "Really… Want me to try to turn back the state of my body to before you lost control in the dream?"
"… Well, probably not… Even if I reverse the time, it will be like this sooner or later when time passes again. I still have to solve it thoroughly… After all, I don't want to run out and flirt with strange girls without paying attention… Ahem, what I mean is, I love you, Kurumi, and I don't want to betray you."
"… …" Kurumi was speechless for a moment, then sighed helplessly and shook her head: "Okay, I understand, do you need my help? Or is there anything I can help with?"
"Yes! Of course!"
… …
… …
Half an hour later.
In a shopping mall, in front of a lingerie store.
Kurumi's eyelids twitched slightly, and she glanced at Katsu who was very interested beside her, and couldn't help rubbing her temples: "Is this what you call needing my help? Help you choose underwear?"
"Of course not, I'm the one choosing underwear for you, Kurumi---"
"… …" Kurumi suddenly had a headache. She really doubted what it was about this person that she liked.
Although, Kurumi fell into such doubts, since Katsu asked her to do so, Kurumi had no choice. After all, if she thought about it carefully, she and this guy had not been close for a long time.
In the end, Kurumi satisfied Katsu's "greed" and let him enjoy the view.
Next, Katsu and Kurumi stayed in the coffee shop and VR experience hall respectively for a while, and it was already evening.
"Next, is there any place you want to go?" On the street, Kurumi, who was holding hands with Katsu, turned her head to look at Katsu's face and asked.
"A place you want to go...? I think there is."
"Oh? Where is it then?"
"...soon you'll know."
…
"Shidou! Katsu! Where are you!" Tohka and the other spirits shouted loudly, running around looking for Shidou and Katsu.
The residents walking around didn't know what was going on and looked at them with confusion, but Tohka didn't care at all and kept shouting loudly.
Several hours had passed since the search began. At first, everyone searched everywhere in Ratatosk's underground facilities, but soon found traces of Shidou's escape to the outside world and the empty lounge of Katsu, so Kotori and others also came to the ground to search the surrounding area.
"Hmm... Where on earth did Shidou go with that body? And Katsu, his abilities are out of control, it's very dangerous..."
"Compared to Katsu-ni, Shidou-ni is more worrying. After all, his physical condition is much worse than Katsu-ni... Could he... have fainted somewhere...?" After Tohka finished speaking, Yoshino frowned with an uneasy look on her face and answered.
Yoshino was right. Given Shido's current physical condition, there was no guarantee that he would not faint somewhere. Tohka looked at Kotori with a worried look on her face.
Kotori nodded, as if to show that she understood.
"I have taken this possibility into consideration and have asked people to search nearby hospitals. If an emergency patient who looks like Shidou is sent to the hospital, Reine should notify us, as for, Katsu-ni-san... I believe he will know his limits..." Just as Kotori said this, a communication sound happened to come from the earphone.
"...Everyone, can you hear me?" Reine's sleepy voice vibrated Kotori's right eardrum. Everyone pressed down their earphones to avoid missing any information.
"Reine, what's wrong?"
"...Yes, I found the two patients."
"! Really? Where is he? He fainted and was taken to a hospital...! What about Katsu brother? Is there any news?"
Kotori shouted loudly, and Reine said softly, "Katsu... I saw in the surveillance video on the pedestrian street that he seemed to be with Kurumi. With Kurumi's feelings for Katsu, he should be safe now, don't worry... As for Shidou..."
When Kotori heard that Katsu and Kurumi were together, she was stunned for a moment. After a feeling of jealousy arose in her heart, she unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief. After all, at least she didn't have to worry about the comfort of her brother Katsu.
"Huh... If that's the case, then where's Shidou? Did he faint?"
"…No, he didn't seem to faint. He even—"
"...Even what?" Hearing Reine's hesitant words with a bit of jealousy, Kotori put down the earphones and showed a puzzled expression.
"...It would be quicker if you could see it with your own eyes. Anyway, let's go to the scene first. It's on the main street ---."
After hanging up the phone, Kotori sighed, then scratched her hair, turned around and glanced at everyone: "Um, Katsu brother is fine now, he is with Kurumi..."
After these words came out, all spirits widened their eyes, and a trace of displeasure rose in their hearts. It's not that they were worried that Katsu would be in danger...but they all knew that the guy Tokisaki Kurumi liked was Katsu, and they also understood their feelings for him, which was jealousy.
As if she saw the expressions on their faces, Kotori couldn't help but curl her lips. That guy, Brother Katsu... forget it, I don't want to think about him anymore.
So Kotori continued, "Brother Katsu is safe now, so you don't have to worry about him for now. What's important now is Shidou. Judging from Reine's tone, something seems to have happened..."
"Ah? What happened?!" Before Kotori could finish her words, Tohka cried out anxiously.
"Well... I don't actually know what happened. It's just that Reine told me that it would be best for us to go to Shidou in person to take a look---" Kotori said helplessly.
"Ah... let's go over there quickly!" After saying that, Tohka turned around and ran in a certain direction without saying anything else.
"Tohka, you're going the wrong direction! Sanchome is this way!"
"Hmm! Oh, that's it!"
… …