"Kotori" POV:
Dang it!!! How did I lose them again?! They were right here!!! How?!?!?
… But still, how can they escape?
The way they escape… It looks so similar to teleportation. The
But that can't be the case! I destroyed the
Then… who after their escape?!
Ugh!!! Seriously!!! How did he even survive after all that, and even escape as a whole?!
I have him in my grasp the whole time!!! And I fumbled!!!
… Ughrk!
This feeling… Dang it! Me again…?!
… Why won't I just give up?! Why could I let myself die?!
I quickly calm the ruptured pain deep in the chest, suppressing her once again…
Seriously… now then, what should I do next…?
… Hm? That… Oh. Oh right, I did that.
Hmp…
Yoshino POV:
It hurts…
It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt—
—Why?
Why did they attack? What have I done? Why… am I here?
Why am I even here? Why do I have to suffer? Why couldn't I just… disappear?
Yoshino—huh?
Yoshinon?
"Hello there, Yoshino-san."
… It's him. The one from back then.
The one… I hurt. The one I destroy. The one… didn't attack. The one… I didn't know.
The one who knows… who am I.
"Ah…"
"… Seeing your state right now, I will cut to the chase. Do you want to save your Yoshinon?"
… Huh? What?
Save… Yoshinon? Why did it—where is he?!
"I know where he is… but he needs your help."
He… Yoshinon… need my help?
How?! How can he need my help? Why did he need my help?!
… He needs my help… my hero…
"What do you say?"
… I… I don't trust him. Not a bit. My guts told me not to trust him, ever…
… But… but then… What should I do?
"… I see. So that's her play."
What?
"Well, if you still, hm, 'distrusted' me… take your time then."
And with that, he… simply walked away.
No pleading, no screaming, no anger… it just—walk away.
It… didn't like them. Not a bit.
And, in a way, he… reminded me… of Yoshinon.
… Yoshinon… What should I do…?
Shido POV:
… I didn't recognize this ceiling.
I don't recognize the wall.
I don't recognize… anything.
Where… am I?
After a brief moment of revaluation of the… room… I slowly push myself up.
… Kurgh!
What… my ribs… it hurts?
Why am I here? How am I here? What…
… Yoshinon?
That's right! I remember! I was… in the middle of…
"Sorry for this, Shido-nii ~ But I wanted to be free."
That's right… I… she…
She… struck me down with her halberd,
She said… wanted to be free…? But why did she say that? Why…
… I see… so that's why…
What she said came to pass, what she feared for happened.
… But why? Why did she lose herself? She specifically assures that her time is still there, that today shouldn't even remotely be her limit.
And yet, everything points to the opposite.
… Huh? Wait…?
Why… Why am I—alive? Why am I still… here?
The injury on my shoulder, on where she cut through, is all gone… Well, not entirely gone looking at the scar running through my chest here, but it mostly all patched up from the looks of it.
Did Yoshinon save me? But the way the injury is being treated… look so professional. And I doubt a little girl, Spirit or else, is capable of this.
So who—
"1 minute."
My whole being instinctively tensed up, my breath hitched up with fear, my eyes shot up at the door.
Standing at the door, directly at the end of the bed, is that amalgamation of steel… and that crimson eyes, now staring straight at me.
… The
"Took you long enough to notice me, kid."
The thing sarcastically spoke up at me, with a mixed tone of indifference and… disappointment.
"But consider your mental strain, and that you're just woken up from that, I suppose that's fair."
That thing calmly states its own fact… which in hindsight was kinda correct, as I was still on edge with it.
"Also, stop with your patient manner of caution there. As if you could actually do anything against me now."
Kuh—Of course it knows, why am I even surprised now?
"… Now what? What are you trying to do… with me?"
Swallow back my fear, or at the very best trying to, I bravingly murmur back at it with what can only be described as a trembling, fearful voice.
"You're afraid?"
"… Yes."
I reluctantly mod back with a question… which feels more like a statement all things consider, as it lean closer.
… Well, I might as well try it here.
"Why… am I here? If… you don't mind me asking?"
Not that I count on receiving any response here, but it still worth a sho—
"Of course."
And, much to my surprise, it did respond back. A half-hearted answer of course, but better than the alternative.
"So… you're the one that saved me?"
"No."
… Huh? It… not? But if it's not it, then who…?
"Tome-san saved you."
What…?! She… Tome?!
"How?! Didn't I seal her?! How can she save me from… her?!"
… Ignoring all of Kotori words of keeping my ability a secret, I babble everything out in one go as a question. Which earned me a… well, look at it, not that I complain here.
"You have much to learn, Shido. Your 'seal', as you call, wasn't as sturdy as you desired."
Huh? My seal… what did it mean by tha—Kugh!!
"Hm… rest, kid. We will discuss more later."
And with that, the thing quickly makes itself out of the room, leaving me all alone here struggling with the pain.
Well, at least I'm still—Aiay!!
Dang it…
Tome POV:
"… Please be fine, Shido. Please be fine, Shido. Please be fine, Shido. Please be fine, Shido…"
Sitting impatiently in this fancy, I silently murmur the mantra in my head for… uh…. some time?
Well, it doesn't matter. The only thing that matters now is him being safe…
… Please be safe, Shido.
"He woke up."
As my patience slowly reached its limit, and my mind went haywire with worry, it finally returned with the new.
Wasting no more moment, I quickly stood up right before it, or the door to be exact, eager to meet him face-to-face.
"Wait."
But my steps quickly halted by its arms, looking at me with those vividly red eyes.
"Stand aside."
I subconsciously leer at it with my most intimate gaze, as all I can think of now is to ease him from the pain—from what happened.
I need to be with him at this time! How could I let him be alone?!
How could I… listen to it?! How could I leave him alone after all that?!
"I know you worry about him, but I suggest not to disturb his rest. After all—"
It then pointed down below, where my leg is, and my eyes… subconsciously following it.
"—How can you walk with that?"
Where once resides my right leg, where there should be something below my… yeah, knees, is gone.
My whole knees were all in bandages, where the pain from the strike was still inkling.
The reason why I can still standing, was all thanks to something called a crutch. Even so, using this to move around… proved to be more difficult than I thought.
… And that frustrated me to no end. All because I… doom myself to merely a let down… for him…
"You should rest too, Tome-san. You wouldn't want to stress him more do you?"
And that line of it settled my final decision.
With a reluctant gaze down the hall, I finally decided—and sat down at the opposite chair with a long sigh.
With his condition now stable, or at least according to its word, my mind wanders back to the fight—or at least what should've been.
That beat Kotori… to think she'd hide such power all this time, while letting him do everything alone…
To think she's basically toying with me, even after all that training…
… And that I leave him alone with her, to bid in my absence, something that could risk his life without any support.
I left him alone all this time, even after all… that… and even disabled myself…
Useless Tome…
"Don't blame yourself for that."
And, surprisingly, that thing opened up its mouth to console me?
"It was my fault as well for not sending you there sooner. So it's entirely my mistake here."
…
That… well, to an extent, true. Like, despite what it did for me for the past few days here…
… Despite everything else, what it said just now is true, in one part at least.
Not that it was, well, useless as it says it was, it did, however, doing its best to prepare me for this future. That not to mention it did save him, and us all, in a nick of time too.
Overall, even with… my limited knowledge here, it did more than what I could've asked for from her, and from myself.
"So don't blame yourself there. For the fact that you could actually save him there was, statistically speaking, a miracle."
… Yeah, why the heck does that sound fishy?
Seriously, what's up with this piece of scrap…
"Eto…"
As contempt slowly settled my feeling down, or at least tried to, a faint yet trembling voice called out from the corner of the room.
… Oh yeah, I almost forgot about her. Or it. Or them—Hm?!
Wait?! Where the heck is she coming from?!
"…"
I took a look at the bunny girl, who was hiding as best as she could from… everything actually.
Serious, where did she come from?! I didn't see, or heard, her coming in!
… Hm? Hiding?
Wait, come to think of it… this girl… hm…
… Yeah, she's different.
She's quieter, even outright fearful, more so than at that mall. Like, if that one from earlier is an annoying beat saying some otaku thing, then this one… feels more like a wounded girl…
… A wounded girl…
"So, have you decided yet, Yoshino-san?"
While I started to struggle with the sudden flash about… the last, that thing suddenly openly spoke up to her with a, uh, collectively-warm voice?
Huh… I didn't think it could make such a voice, like ever.
And, to be honest, it sounds pretty disturbing. Like, even more so than… it's usual manners. Which consist of acting all mysteriously, while murmuring some odd sounding line.
Weird—wait?
"Yoshino?"
I look back at it full of puzzlement, feeling pretty confused about… well, the name it mutters.
I thought her name was, well, Yoshinon. I mean, how could I forget the name she's literally screaming back then?
"You didn't know, right. For short, Yoshino was her name."
The little girl silently trembles with that thing, while I… growing really confused.
Not really on the fact that it somehow knows what I just thought about, but rather, this time at least, on what it just said.
Yoshinon wasn't her name? Then… What name did she mutter back then? Did I misheard her back then?
"In short, the little girl here—"
It gestures its hand at that little girl, who's now hiding even more under my gaze.
"—Is Yoshino, and the other one, the thing on her hand, is Yoshinon."
After the whole explanation, albeit slightly stuttering a bit for some reasons, I… just dumbfounded stare at it.
… I mean, I guess it makes sense, seeing the girl here and back then are too different to even remotely consider otherwise… probably.
But that thing huh… now come to think about it, it did talk to me mostly back then…
… Huh, guess my guts were spot on after all.
And, come to think of it, where the heck is that th—Huh?
"Everything going bad, now she lost her friend, that thing on the hand—"
It continues to speak about something, but I no longer pay any attention to it. For what I just discovered… pretty disturbed me.
It's just about her hand… or, in its language the lack of it.
Seeing that scene, I couldn't help but be reminded of that girl back then. The one I took everything from.
And that… hurt me more than I realized.
… I wonder what she's doing right now.
"—Which leads back to me, again."
Hm?
I slowly look back at the thing, my eyes still unable to divert from her hand. Or at least I believe I am doing.
"… So, like, you met her?"
"We did. She, and that Yoshinon, kinda barged in on her a while back, destroyed my stuff and ran away."
I honestly asked it about what I was just curious about, earning me a… well, weird response.
"Huh…"
Nodding in (not) understanding about the whole thing, I look back at the girl—Yoshino, trying to avoid the stump that once harbored that thing… and paying much more attention to her.
… And honestly, I kinda regret doing it.
The more I look at the girl, the more her image overlaps. That same shiver pose, that same tearful eyes, that same retracting posture.
Even if I knew she's not her, I can't help being reminded of her… of my mistake…
… And that, in a way, slightly nudged me away from her. Even unaware of the way she secretly stares at me the whole time.
"Apology."
Then, as the atmosphere… or something, slowly turned uncomfortable, it suddenly stood up.
"I have to leave for something. Please call my Sentry if any of you desire anything."
With that line behind, it quickly made its way out of the room, leaving me and her behind…
And once again, the uncomfortable feeling came back.
… Okay, this is… um…
What was the word again….oh yeah, awkward.
So… what now?
We then, much to my awkwardness… huh, that sounds weird thinking out loud for some reason, we just kinda sit there in silence, inches away from each other.
Uh…
"… Nee-chan."
Huh?
What the… that voice…
"Hum?"
I murmur at the little girl, feeling a bit… perplexed with her… voice.
Let's see, she just says… Nee-chan? Yeah, probably that.
"… Thank you… for earlier…."
… Did she—did she just—thanks me?
I… what should I say…? Like, what should I really say here…?
Quick, Tome! Come up with anything! Anything at all!
My mind suddenly flashes back to that TV show I saw a while back, something about quintlet… if I remember correctly…
"Um… your, uh, welcome?"
I awkwardly wave back at her… with a fractured smile…
… And that, for some reasons I don't know, warms my chest a little bit.
Shido POV:
"Feels better?"
I silently nod to the speaker, while drinking the cup of water.
Bleh… why even the water taste like iron?
"Good. Now then… let us discuss."
Placing the empty cup aside, the speaker… the
"For that brat—"
I slightly flinched with how it mentioned Kotori, but decided against doing anything besides gripping my hand.
For I know… I have nothing to do against it… and that it's my only chance to save her…
"Call them then."
… Heh?
It… give me a phone back? But why?
Take another glance look at it… uh, inhumane face, I proactively pick it up and dial their number.
… And, even weirder than what I think, the line went through. Without a hitch at that.
"Shido!!!"
Kannazuki panic greeted me the moment the call connected, and, well, almost ruptured my eardrum there.
… I normally would be confused about that, but I sadly couldn't spare any of my own sentiment. Not until Kotori's safe.
Shido, are you okay???!!!! We couldn't contact you for hours now!!"
"I… I'm fine. Really!"
I unconsciously tried to ease off the urgency in his voice, one I knew ain't gonna work with how similar I am to him.
"I… you… Oh, forget it!!!"
Luckily, or probably not, his voice did calm down a bit there… and sound kinda weird there, for some reason.
"I'm gonna make this quick Shido! Is Tome with you there?"
… My heart drops with that question, and my gaze somehow makes its way to that thing.
And, seeing it slightly nod back at me, I clenched my lips. Hardly.
I quickly—difficulty shake off the thought formed in my head and focus back on this matter.
I… I can ask Tome about this later… I need to save Kotori first!
"Yeah, she's fine. We're… well, somewhere."
I take a glance at it while speaking, wondering if Kannazuki could pinpoint my location through this phone.
I mean I don't even know if they have yhat… but seeing how they literally bending physic here, it might as well be.
… At least I hope they did.
For now, I probably should shut up about the fact that I'm in
As in it's literally watching me right now.
"Um… could you find our location, Kannazuki-san? I seriously have no idea where we are."
Kannazuki suddenly fell silent after that question for a while, someone that quite disturbed me.
And the moment he spoke up again… the reality crashed on me.
My hand turned pale gripping the phone, my teeth literally biting on the lips. And my mind… going haywire, for the lack thereof.
… Kotori…
"I see… don't worry… we'll take care of ourselves."
With a trembling voice, I canceled the phone… and started to frown.
"Satisfied?"
That thing speaks up after a long time… probably, not like I actually pay any attention to the time here, snap me out of my train of thought.
"…"
And yet, despite it all, despite what I've heard, despite my deepest desire to help her… I couldn't do anything.
I… what can I do? What can I, a mere normal high school student, who couldn't even understand his own gift, do to save his sister?!
What can Itsuka Shido do?
"I can help you, kid."
… Huh?
Remember that back, what just happened mere minutes ago… I couldn't help but to drop down my own gaze.
I never was the one in control, or even have the right to tell otherwise.
… But to give up on her—was the only thing I couldn't fathom or even thought of.
I intensely listen to its plan with her, not after occasionally frowning with… some part it mentions, and take that all in.
"Got that all in?"
I sternly nod at it, with more so than mere determination to save her.
"Good. Get ready."
With that, it swiftly leaves the room in silence, leaving me here alone once more with my thoughts…
… I wanted to doubt myself, I truly am. I wanted to think that I couldn't do it.
I wanted to think that I have nothing. I wanted to think anyone could be better than me.
… But now, at this instance, at this very moment… I need to do this.
I will save Kotori, even if I have to shake the devil's hand!