"Miku's ability is mainly supportive, but her control is kind of awkward. Although she can control people on a large scale, she doesn't have much effect on those who have spirit power protection." Seeing Kurumi Tokisaki's expression, Tohka quickly explained. In the original story, the spirits had already been nerfed to the extreme. Even though they could manifest angels, their own spirit power was not much, and the remaining power was mostly used to supply their angels. That was why... As for those AST, maybe it was their equipment. (Forget it, not going to explain anymore. None of the AST got controlled. Logically speaking, even if the spirits were weakened, their strength should still surpass the AST.)
"If that's the case, what do you plan to do?" After hearing Tohka's words, Kurumi Tokisaki frowned. If what Tohka said was true, then even if they caught their target, it would be very difficult to get any information.
"Heh heh, don't worry about that." Tohka only smiled at Kurumi's concern but didn't rush to explain. After all, this woman was no naive little thing; there was no need to lay everything out so plainly.
"Oh, I see. No wonder you wanted to gather so many people. As long as you just beat that guy flat, won't that solve everything? Seriously, I get it now." After hearing Tohka's words, Kurumi licked her lips and showed an excited smile. Indeed, under normal circumstances, it couldn't be done. But that didn't mean there weren't other options.
"Oh my, I'll be going first then. When the time comes, just call me. Ahahaha." As she finished, Kurumi wore an extremely delighted smile and didn't wait for Tohka to reply before disappearing into the shadows.
"This one's in such a rush—is she going to stockpile time for a big battle? Seriously, how is she even more anxious than me." Watching Kurumi vanish, Tohka curled her lips. That woman was surely going to stockpile time, leaving only a clone behind to watch her. As for how she knew, it was because she could still feel that sense of being watched. It was weaker but hadn't disappeared.
"All right, is everything just about ready?" Lazily stretching her back, Tohka felt that she had now gathered all the forces she could. When the time came, even if she had to charge into a dragon's den, she could do it. After all, this wasn't Marvel—there weren't so many ridiculously strong bosses. And the world here was less open than that world. Presumably, even if those big shots came here, they would be suppressed to some extent. No way around it—back there, with the Space Stone's help, she could launch star-busting attacks. But here, even with the Space Stone, it would be suppressed to a considerable degree. Forget about blowing up stars—at best, it'd be comparable to that big explosion thirty years ago.
"But the ADC is set, the support and control are there, the front line is ready. Though there's no AP, it should be enough. They're not going to buy Thornmail, right? What am I even worried about?" After parting with Kurumi, Tohka mumbled to herself as she left. Having cooled off, she'd come out of her no-appetite state. So right now, Tohka desperately needed food. Otherwise, who knows if she'd turn into someone from a gourmet show, Tokyo Ghoul, or Attack on Titan.
...
The next few days were a bit miserable for Tohka. For whatever reason—probably Miku's own malicious amusement—she insisted that Tohka train with her every day. The result was that every time Tohka stepped out of the school gates, a car would dart out from a corner and kidnap her. At first, this caused quite a commotion, but later, almost everyone just got used to it. No matter what, Tohka would always show up the next day completely fine, so no one bothered to ask anymore. After all, these days money wasn't easy to make; everyone was trying to earn a little on the side... Fine, without realizing it, Tohka had once again been misunderstood—and in a very terrible way.
"What did you get yourself into this time? Why do you always look like you've overindulged yourself?" Sure enough, Origami Tobiichi immediately launched into her taunt the moment she saw Tohka. She had been unable to bear it any longer. These past few days, Tohka had been listless, not arguing or paying attention to anything, and Origami, who was used to bickering with her, couldn't stand it.
"Heh heh." Under normal circumstances, Tohka would have snapped back without hesitation. But today she really had no energy, so she only managed a couple of hollow chuckles. She really wanted to slap herself—serves you right for being nosy and getting involved. She had no idea about others, but she was about to lose her mind.
Miku's musical talent was truly terrifying. She'd managed to perfectly recreate the music for Tohka's song—and it sounded exactly like the one Tohka remembered from her previous life. And then... she'd gotten addicted. Every day she forced Tohka to sing it on endless repeat, and even handed it over to the Yamai sisters. The result: Tohka had been tortured by this song on an endless loop for days. Now she finally understood why her college roommates back in her previous life had always wanted to beat her up whenever she set this song as her ringtone. No one could take it—wake up to this, fall asleep to this, play games with this—she really was about to snap.
"Um, Origami, it's not like that." Before Tohka could explain, Shido Itsuka spoke up. Maybe no one else knew what Tohka had been doing, but he was very clear about it. For the past few days, Ratatoskr had been on twenty-four-hour high alert, monitoring Tohka nonstop.
With so many unsealed spirits gathered together, any accident could blow Tengu City sky high. So, they had no choice but to remain on standby. Fortunately, everything was still under control. There hadn't been any major incidents—heck, there hadn't even been a spatial quake. Even now, AST still had no idea that a whole flock of fully-powered spirits was hiding out in Tohka's house.
"By the way, when's your concert happening?" After explaining to Origami, Shido turned to ask Tohka about the performance. He was still quite curious about the "Diva" spirit.
"It's in a few days. The tickets are already on sale." Tohka wasn't surprised that Shido knew. She remained slumped on her desk and didn't even lift her head as she answered.
"?" Okay, now Origami looked left and right, having no idea what they were talking about.