After Khan executed his ruthless plan and seized control of key politicians, the military, the Prime Minister of Japan, the royal family, and many other high-ranking figures using Izayoi Miku's power, he ordered them to drive out and aggressively purge every last DEM agent and Westcott's henchman from the country.
At the same time, he established Academy City as a sanctuary for all spirits and anomalies who had been brutally rejected by humanity.
His actions were bold and public, and with Izayoi Miku—a spirit and beloved idol—openly endorsing them, some spirits began to arrive while others remained cautious.
The first to come were the twin sisters and Kotori, who stormed into his office with her black ribbons tied, fully in commander mode.
She crossed her arms tightly, her small frame radiating fury.
"I know it was you…!" Kotori Itsuka pointed at him accusingly. "You and that Worst Spirit are connected. I saw you together with her. Now return my brother back to normal—turn him back into an adult!"
Khan looked at her like she was an idiot. "Why should I? What's in it for us? Your brother wanted to turn all spirits into powerless cripples while DEM hunted them down. Why would we help someone who wants to weaken us?"
Kotori's eyes flashed defensively. "He just wanted to help! We believed spirits and humans could live together if we showed them we're not aggressive."
Khan's smile turned strange and knowing.
Kotori immediately felt a chill crawl down her spine.
"Really?" he said, his voice dripping with dark amusement. "Then how about we show you exactly why you became a spirit… and who was truly responsible for your dear brother friend parents' death?"
Kotori's face went pale.
Her eyes widened, then immediately narrowed with denial. "No. Thanks. I don't believe you. I saw it myself—I killed them. I was the one who lost control. Please don't speak about this again."
Her voice was shaking now, and there was a hint of bloodshot red creeping into the corners of her eyes.
Khan didn't buy a single word of her denial.
He raised his hand without hesitation and activated his power.
"Zafkiel!"
The world around them shattered and reformed.
Time itself bent to his will, dragging them both backward through the years until they stood in a familiar neighborhood on a familiar day—five years ago, the day Kotori had first awakened as a Spirit.
Everything was peaceful at first.
Quiet and normal.
The calm before everything went horribly wrong.
And then it wasn't peaceful anymore.
Kotori watched in frozen horror as a phantom—a figure she recognized instantly, a figure she had trusted, a figure she had called her best friend—slipped silently into her house.
She watched as that same phantom injected her younger self with a crystal that triggered the awakening.
She watched as the massive fire consumed the residence, flames roaring to life and spreading with unnatural speed.
And she watched as her brother—Shido—somehow, coincidentally came back from school earlier than usual. Earlier than Origami.
And kissed her to seal her power.
Why had he known that a kiss was the solution?
In this setting, he was supposed to be her brother. Yet he had kissed her without hesitation—something the adult Shido of later years had never once shown the guts to do.
"Coincidence?" Khan asked wickedly, his voice low and mocking.
"NO! PLEASE, STOP IT! BRING ME BACK! RIGHT NOW!" Kotori screamed hysterically, her Spirit power spiraling completely out of control.
Flames erupted around her in a raging inferno, blasting everyone and everything in the immediate radius.
But Khan simply stood in front of her, completely untouched by the flames, and lifted her chin with his fingers, forcing her to meet his eyes.
"You know who the phantom is, don't you, Kotori?" His voice was soft.
Almost kind.
Which made the words cut even deeper.
"Want me to spell it out for you?"
"I... I..." Kotori couldn't form words.
She couldn't do anything except feel the hot tears spilling down her cheeks as she stared at the tragedy unfolding before her eyes.
This was where everything began.
Where her normal life was no longer normal. Where her family was shattered. Where she became something other than human.
And where she finally understood, with crushing, undeniable certainty, that Reine—her supposed best friend, the woman she had trusted and confided in and leaned on for years—was actually the one responsible for all of it.
The phantom. The manipulator. The architect of her suffering.
It had been Reine all along.
"Want to go back thirty years? I'll show you your brother's true face."
Khan wasn't finished.
Not even close.
He was just getting started, and the wicked gleam in his eyes made it abundantly clear that he had been waiting for this moment for a very long time.
"Zafkiel!"
In an instant, he pulled Kotori back thirty years, and she stood frozen, stupefied by the scene unfolding before her eyes.
The world shattered and reformed around them once again.
Time bent and twisted to his will, dragging them both thirty years into the past.
When the light faded and the world settled back into focus, Kotori found herself standing in a place she didn't recognize, watching a scene that made her blood run cold.
She saw her brother.
Shido.
But not the Shido she knew—not the awkward, kind-hearted, slightly useless brother who couldn't even work up the courage to kiss a girl without stammering.
This Shido was older and happier.
And he was sitting across from Reine at a small outdoor café, sharing ice cream and laughing at something she had just said.
They looked so happy together. So connected. So completely at ease with each other, like two people who had known each other for years and shared secrets that no one else in the world knew.
Kotori's legs gave out beneath her.
She crumpled to the ground, clutching her head with both hands as the reality of what she was seeing crashed over her like a tidal wave.
"Is that my brother... and he's dating Reine? How could this be? How are they both still alive in the present day? This has to be a lie, right? This has to be some kind of illusion!"
Her voice cracked with desperation, her eyes wide and bloodshot as she stared at the scene before her.
"Tell me this isn't real! Tell me you're making this up!"
Khan said nothing.
He simply stood beside her, watching her unravel with the patient satisfaction of a man who had planted a seed and was now watching it grow.
Kotori's mind raced, connecting dots that she had never wanted to connect.
Her brother wasn't just some innocent bystander caught up in events beyond his control.
He was an active participant. He had been involved with Reine—with Rastarork—from the very beginning.
He was probably the one responsible for everything that had happened to her. To all the Spirits. To everyone.
Why, Shido? Why would you do this? Why would you pretend to be my brother? Why would you deceive me for all these years?
The brilliance of Khan's plan was in its simplicity.
He wasn't showing her the full truth—he was showing her carefully selected pieces of the truth, biased and incomplete, arranged in exactly the right order to make her draw the worst possible conclusions.
By showing her Shido and Reine together thirty years ago, by letting her see their happiness and their connection, he was making her completely distrust her brother.
Making her believe that Shido was some kind of undercover agent, someone who had been manipulating and corrupting her from the very beginning for reasons she couldn't even begin to understand.
And it was working perfectly.
"If you want to stay here and confirm everything with your own eyes, I'll give you one week." Khan turned away, preparing to leave her in the past. "I'll come back and retrieve you when the time is up. Take as long as you need to verify the truth."
Kotori's hand shot out and caught his wrist before he could take another step.
"No. I'm not a fool, Khan." Her voice was firmer now, steadier, though the tears were still streaming down her cheeks.
"Shido and Reine are clearly not innocent. I don't know what they were planning or why they did what they did. But since Reine was the one who injected us with those crystals and gave us this power, I believe she could have transformed Shido back into an adult without my help. Without anyone's help. She has that kind of power."
She released his wrist and straightened her posture, forcing herself to meet his eyes despite the turmoil raging inside her.
"I will investigate this myself. I will confirm whether everything you've shown me is true or not. Until then, I will not trust you. And I will not move against my brother until I have proof that cannot be denied."
Khan's grin widened with genuine satisfaction. "Of course, Kotori-chan. Of course. Take all the time you need. Investigate. Confirm. I wouldn't expect anything less from the Commander of Ratatoskr."
He spread his arms wide, the picture of magnanimous patience. "Now, shall I take you back? Or would you prefer to stay a little longer and see what else the past has to offer?"
"Take me back," Kotori said firmly. "Now. I will not bother you or help you until I have confirmed everything myself. That is my final word."
"Then back we go."
Khan snapped his fingers, and time folded around them once more. When Kotori opened her eyes, they were standing in his office again, exactly where they had been before the journey began. Nothing had changed except everything.
She turned and walked out without another word, her mind churning with questions and doubts and the slow, creeping horror of realization.
Khan watched her go, his grin never faltering.
The seed of doubt had been planted. It would grow. It would fester.
And when it finally bloomed, Kotori Itsuka would no longer be an obstacle standing in his way—she would be an ally and another piece on his board, pointed directly at the people she had once trusted most.
His conquest over all Spirits and Japan had officially begun.
And it was going exactly according to plan.
...
Note: Alright, guys and gals: well, girls actually read this story for some reason, but whatever. Anyway, let's get back to the topic.
Yeah, you know I've been stuck in limbo for so long. Honestly, I don't like talking about my real-life situation at all, so I'll skip that part.
The problem is that after dealing with everything in real life, I went an entire month without touching this fanfic. Now I've forgotten a lot of what I wrote. Honestly, I'd rather rewrite it—not because I think the story is bad, but because I need to reconnect with my own fic.
As you can probably see, I can still continue writing this story instead of rewriting it.
However, I need to know whether this fic has turned into a graveyard or if it can still be saved.
If not, I'll rewrite it, publish it as a new book with the same premise, and attack the top rankings once again to regain all of its popularity.
My previous plan to make self-cest a popular genre basically failed. Instead of people writing original stories, I ended up seeing a lot of people stealing from MTLs without even adding any lemon scenes.
I just sighed, feeling that this site was completely hopeless.
So, I'll take matters into my own hands.