Shido POV:
"You…"
The indigo girl, who's until now still acting as if all her decisions are handed as destined, widens her eyes slightly with surprise.
"Been a while since we last met, miss Izayoi."
The thing narrows its crimson gaze right on the girl, who's now I knew is Izayoi, and her body shaking slightly.
"Although I did plan for more… civilized talk, this is still acceptable."
With a mechanical statement, that thing called walking inside the shop—right in the middle of the girls.
"And as I just said a moment ago—release her."
And when it is standing right of her, face to face… it asked—demanding that with a straight face, as its eyes—glowing crimson, shuddered both me and her.
… Kuh.
"What if I don't?"
Right after she mutters the line with unfathomable arrogance, a faint sound suddenly humming from somewhere.
"Hm? This is…"
The girl let out a frown with that sound and opened her bag, with the sound suddenly turned louder. After a bit of searching, she takes out what should be the source of that sound, her own phone.
She unlocked the thing and swiped for a bit—before freezing completely.
Her gesture then slowly breaks apart, her eyes widen filled with pure panic…
"… What?"
She mutters a concerning sound, one that shattered her confidence, if not arrogant completely.
Huh… What did she just see on the phone?
"That's that."
And amidst the fear and confusion shared between us all… it calmly spoke, still with that uncaring gesture.
"…"
She slowly lifted her head from the phone to it, her eyes glinting a feel of struggling…
Okay, what did it just do?! Blackmail?!
"… You know that I can just—"
"'I will make your life a living hell for rejecting me'."
She then regained her confidence… somewhat, and spoke up with it in a clearly masked arrogant voice, only for it to shut it down with… admittedly, childish threat?
But this time, contrary to my confusion, her reactions are… concerning, to say the least.
She fell down on the stall behind her, her body shaking wildly, her gaze locked on that thing with nothing but terrified.
… Something that aches my heart, for that's the same face I used to look at through the mirror.
The face of someone rejected by what they love.
"Sis!!!"
All the girl who's restraining me immediately let me go and lean down for her, but she didn't react one bit with their actions.
"Sounds familiar?"
It leaned down at her face with none of the care in the world, with the girls all tensed up with anger… while she just, well, staring at it in horror.
"… Tch."
With a faint growl, Izayoi, instead of acting all bossy again, just merely snapped her finger. The same sensation then swept through me again, and Tome figure slowly regained its function.
"… Huh? What—"
"Tome!!"
Seeing Tome mutter in confusion, I immediately shot up and embraced her tightly, earning me a faint squeak from her.
"… Shido?"
Tome muttered in confusion, as my action is, well, weird. But instead of answering or letting her go… I still hold her tight.
We just standing there, hugging each other for a while—
"Could you stop your loving dove thing?"
—And it ended with the 'friendly' reminder from that thing.
I slowly separated from Tome, taking everything of her carefully in the process, while she expressed an embarrassed yet confused face.
"Hm? That voice… you?!"
And it quickly washed over by a realization as she turned to its side.
"It's been a while, Tome-san. I assume that you've successfully reconciled with Shido?"
That thing, with a rather calming voice more than just now, greeted Tome. In response, Tome let out a faint smile at it and, with a graceful voice, thanked it.
"Yeah… Thanks for your advice."
"Great to know, Tome-san."
She returned its word with a faint friendly smile, with its gestured back in response.
"Hm? That… you!"
And with the shirt reunion (probably), she finally noticed the distraught Izayoi by the stall, with the others trying to help with her unusual state.
"Uh… what's wrong with her?"
Tome asked me with a concerned voice, and her gaze narrowed down with sympathy on Izayoi.
"She's being… reminded, per say."
"Huh?"
The thing quietly said that to us, earning him an even more confused Tome.
Seeing her confusion, I quietly let out a sigh and explained the whole thing to her, in the least offended way as possi—
"In short, she mind-controls you, making you reject him and try to kiss you, while making him watch."
—And it just basically told her the worst version of what just happened (although it kinda is…).
Great. Just great.
"WHAT?!"
With a shocked yet terrifying roar, Tome immediately whipped to Izayoi, who's still in shock, with a haunting gaze.
"You!! What did you do to me?!"
She then approached Izayoi, her hand clenched tightly and shaken with anger, looking like she desired nothing more than to hand a hit on her shady face.
"Stop right there!"
The girls flocking around Izayoi immediately stand up before Tome, all looking like they're willing to throw hands with Tome if she twitches her finger.
"Enough."
And then, the voice of the culprit, who's created this mess in the first place, gave her word while slowly standing up.
She let out a deep sigh, her expression unreadable, and turned toward the girls who's still tensed at everything.
And, in an act that completely caught me off guard, she turned toward the nervous receptionist, and let out a warm smile while taking the paper cup she just made.
"Thanks for the latte, dear."
"Ah… it's nothing, nee-san!"
The receptionist babbling uncontrollably with a tomato face, and Izayoi looks at the girls as if signaling before making her way to the door.
The girls, still confused about the whole thing, quickly make their way to Izayoi side after giving us, mainly me, a dirty look.
"Who allows you to run—!"
"Wait, Tome!"
Tome, who still leers at her every step with a burning gaze, tries to step up before I stop her.
"What?! Why did you stop me?!"
"Please, don't do this!! Just don't!"
I desperately try to stop her from breaking my restraint, pleading with her not to do what she's obviously trying to.
The main reason why I stopped her is that she's dangerous. Too dangerous.
What she did just now on a whim, the power she just demonstrated… It was a miracle that Tome escaped the whole thing unscathed.
And I just can't risk her being controlled again… not after all the things I wished to do for her…
… Besides… for some reasons, I… just don't want to see her being hurt…
"… Fine, if you said so…"
After some time struggling to hold her back while pleading, and that they're all vanish from our sight, she finally let out a sigh and stopped the struggle.
"I believe you have all forgotten me."
Mine, and Tome, gaze slowly back to the thing, now standing by the stall all alone.
I immediately stood up in front of Tome, my eyes wearily following every move as if eyeing us with a calm demeanor.
"You…"
"Is that the way you act with your helper?"
I flinched with its response, feeling a bit weird out with its manner. I mean, it did bail us from Izayoi just now… oh.
"Thank you, for helping us."
With a guilty feel in my mouth, I slightly bow before it with the utmost gratitude.
To think I honestly owe it twice, probably thrice… Kotori's gonna be so mad when she hears about this.
"Hm."
That thing didn't exactly react to my thanks, but it did… well, let out a sound at that… so it probably takes it? I hope?
And… I don't know if we will meet again, preferably never, I… also did something else.
"… I'm sorry."
After much thinking, I decided to apologize, for everything, which earn myself a confused look from Tome at my side.
"Ho, so you did know how to apologize it would seem."
That thing casually acknowledged my apology, its voice glinting a sound for indifference, which somehow put me on edge more than that day.
"Um… what's wrong? Why are you apologizing to him?"
And, unknowingly easing me from my waryness, is a confusing question from Tome, as she looks between us in total darkness.
… Oh yeah, she didn't know—crap. Um… how to say this—
"Tome-san, have you by any chance met Honjo-san?"
Ask the thing, which I'm certainly having a grudge on about everything… something I absolutely have no excuses on.
"Hm, Honjo…?"
Mutter Tome, now stated to wander in her mind with her over exaggerated gesture.
"I don't believe I've ever seen her…"
With a sigh, I explain her situation for Tome.
"Of course you didn't. She has been quite detached from us, and is now dormant in her own room upstairs… not that I could blame her… and you kinda stay with us for what, a few days?"
"… Huh?"
At that moment, with a faint gasp, Tome slowly widened her eyes with an unreadable emotion.
"… You mean… the one at the end of the hallway?"
"Huh? You met her?"
"Yeah, I did meet her eye back when I just arrived. I did introduce myself to her like you say… but she didn't seem to care."
"Although… thinking back… I did feel something weird…"
I flinched at that part, and guilt slowly creeped up my mind…
… I did this… I pushed her away from us… I saw what she's trying to hide…
"I know why…"
I slowly spoke up with a strained voice, and Tome slowly turned toward me with a puzzled look.
And, looking straight in her starless, empty eyes, all I could say is—
"… It was all… because of me."
Tome POV:
"Hi, my name is Tome! I hope we can help each other around!"
It was my first introduction to everyone at Shido house, one that I practiced a lot for.
"Welcome to our home, Tome-san!"
Kotori, still with a lollipop in her mouth, wholeheartedly welcomed me.
"Make yourself at home, Tome."
Shido, with a gentle smile, looked at me warmly.
"So… this is your house, Shido?"
"Yeah, it's not that impressive though…"
"No way! This is the best house I've ever seen!!"
I look around with a beating heart, taking everything in with grace, as Kotori and Shido just standing there smiling.
After looking all the stuff in the living room, I went the stair right outside the hall and arrived upstairs—
"Hm?"
The moment I take my final step there, I face an eyes spying on me.
It came from the door at the end of the hallway, with the door slightly open.
As I realized the eye, the whole door quickly shut closed.
Huh? Is there someone else here? But Shido didn't say anything about her…
Eh? Her? Why did I… huh?
I slowly approached the door, and, remembering back what Shido taught me about manners, slowly knocked it.
"… What do you want?"
After some moment of waiting, a screeching growl came through.
"Um… hello there, I'm Tome… I'll be living here for a while…"
"…"
I awkwardly introduced myself to her… and got no response.
… And yet, something still lingers in my mind. Something that's familiar… but I just can put it where…
"Tome, we have prepared a meal for you! Would you like some?"
Shido then called from downstairs, and I, with a growl from the belly, turned to the stairs…
With one last look at the door, I hesitantly walk away, still concerned about her.
That was our only conversation, for a while at aleast… until today that is, when Shido decided to explain it all.
"Before she's with me right now, I… well, I knew about her when she went with it."
… Huh?
"We… kinda take her away, all to protect her from… this thing…"
Shido then spared an uncertain glare at it, something that it didn't even bother to react back…
… But I did.
"Don't forget the part the lil' sis' of yours blasts me off my face."
And then, as if everything didn't sound absurd enough, that thing calmly added more fuel to the absurment.
But what truly seals the deal here… is Shido flinches at that part, something turned my nerve further down.
"… Shido."
With a surprisingly cold voice that I didn't even acknowledge, I turned toward him.
"What it said… is it true?"
Shido, with a hard flinch after the question, turned around awkwardly and, after a long while of suffocating quiet, nodded.
"… Yes."
… What?
Okay, now I'm kinda confused here… what the heck just happened between these 2?!
So Nia, the broken girl… originally with this thing, then Shido swooped in and took her by force, THEN blasting this thing in the face…
"… So… you steal Nia… from this thing…"
"… Well, it was mostly Kotori's idea… and I kinda worry about it being with her, you know, since Kotori kinda drew him in a bad light…"
Shido mutters his reasoning with a slowly dying voice, and I slowly sink into my seat, which I kinda just realized that I'm sitting right now…
… Even with my limited knowledge on everything, this… is still a mess up…
"Not quite, Honjo-san really just my honorable guest, so you didn't technically steal anything from me…"
That thing calmly explained my mistake just now for me, still tilting by the… something that looked like a long table.
And then, there's only silence. We just… well, there, not really doing anything besides occasionally drinking our drink.
… That was kinda… weird? Hm…
Wait! If what it said is true—
"Hey!"
I called it out with a doubt, and it slowly turned toward me.
"If you are truly being blasted by Kotori… then how can you still be here?"
Shido then immediately perked up with my question, his eyes also narrowed down on that thing.
"Right, I've never explained that to you…"
That thing slowly musters up a chuckle, a faint metallic but still one, and narrows down its glowing eyes on me.
"That never was my only body, Tome-san. In fact, I have never been here."
… What? What did it mean by that?
"This is the only way you can see me, and, admittedly, the Spirits."
… So… it has like, what, many bodies?
"… What?"
Shido then shot up completely with that, his eyes widened completely.
"What do you mean Spirits…?"
And, against Shido's rather shaken reaction, it reacted… show nothing. It just stares at him, its eyes still glowing that same red light.
"Spirits are fascinating beings."
It slowly speaks up with us, one that finally gives me a glimpse at its objective.
"I wanted to understand them, I wanted to know them… why they possessed such power…"
"And for that end, I built this—"
It then stretches its hand under that cloak of its, something I didn't quite understand why… but from Shido shudder just now, it can't be something good.
"—All for the sake of meeting them."
And with that, I finally understood it.
Why it greeted me in that… pathetic body that day, why it seemed so eager to be with me.
And I… don't know what to feel.
I truly wish I could understand it all, but… I just can't.
I don't know what to think about it, and I can't even comprehend his… actions… with my… kin?
… What should I do, I wonder?
"Well, it's been quite something."
With a murmur, that thing places something on the stall and slowly takes its stance and walks, much to Shido surprise, probably, based on his dumbfounded looks.
"W-wait?! You're gonna just—leaving?! Like that?!"
"And how will you stop me?"
That thing spared one unimpressive glance at a frantic Shido before walking out the place, leaving Shido frowning… hard, at that table.
"…What did she desire from you…"
Hm? What?
I looked at that thing again, confused about what I just heard… but it somehow disappeared completely.
… What? Where…? How?!
How could it just… disappear like that?!?!
Miku POV:
["I will make your life a living hell for rejecting me."]
That line. That utterly despicable line.
I still remember that… the very line that started it all.
The very line that buried me, Tsukino Yomaichi.
From that moment on, my life… one I used to adore… crumble…
My fans reject me. My parents disown me. My friends bullied me…
I lost it all on a whim… my dream, my life, myself…
I was ready to throw it all away that day, to die in the very house I have left… that is, until she appeared.
After that day, I deleted it all behind—my very past, my very shame—all burned, forgotten.
And from that ashes… Izayoi Miku was born, living for no other than herself, living to her fullest.
… I thought I could—already get over it, forget it, ignore it behind…
And yet, with a simple line, all those thoughts crumble, and I return to her again.
How did it know?! Why did it know?! When did it know?! Why am I fallen?! Why am I afraid?! Why did I return?!
Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why—
"Nee-san, are you okay?!"
"Nee-san, do you want my handkerchief?!"
"Do you want me to massage you, nee-sa?!"
… Ah.
Right… I still have them.
… That's right, I still have it all. My power. My servant… My girl.
I'm no longer that weakling, waiting to rot and spoil under their watch.
I'm now holding their leash. I'm now in control…!
And nothing, and I mean nothing, will ever stop me from achieving my dream…
… Speaking of which, that girl earlier—I like her ~
She looks pretty cute for my taste, and that fiery spirit… Oh dear ~ I'd love to fumble.
I wanted to break her ~ And make that filthy being watching.
"You."
I snapped my finger, glancing at the one at my right.
"Fond out who's those at the shop earlier. Bring me all the details."
"Understood, nee-san!!"
Fufufu ~ Oh how I loved their submission ~ Maybe I should reward them all later ~
??? POV:
That was… unnecessary.
Everything is… unnecessary.
But—I suppose it was… right.
To make him confront her, to help him fulfill my quest…
… It is truly unnecessary. But it's right, I suppose.
Now then, I wonder… What will you do next, Shin?