"Mmm… sour and sweet."
Suō Yuki's small tongue slipped across the corner of her lips, and she nodded in satisfaction.
When her eyes lifted, she caught sight of Kuzeha's strangely stiff expression.
Her cheeks flushed pink, but that didn't stop her from blurting out with playful bluntness:
"What's wrong, onii-chan—did that get a reaction out of you?"
Kuzeha immediately knocked her lightly on the head, exasperated.
Of course there was a reaction.
But not the kind she thought.
[Ability Entry Triggered!][Congratulations, Host has obtained a Purple Entry: Colossal Tongue Lash!]
[Colossal Tongue Lash]: When using your tongue to attack, it induces violent spasms and drains the opponent's strength!
The moment he read the description, Kuzeha's mind filled with disbelief.
What the hell?! He wasn't Tahm Kench from League of Legends—how was he supposed to fight with his tongue?
And worse, every possible use he could imagine for such an ability was… unspeakably indecent.
Kuzeha recalled that the trigger mechanism of entries often had a mysterious correlation with the emotional intensity of the person involved.
He glanced down at Suō Yuki, deeply suspicious of what exactly had been going through her head just now.
Yuki met his eyes, then quickly shifted her gaze away, guilty under his stare.
"What? If you really want to lick it back, I still have more tomato sauce right here…" she murmured, feigning casualness as she tried to change the subject.
Kuzeha sighed.
The infirmary was getting more crowded by the minute. How could he possibly do something that outrageous in public?
Otherwise, he'd make sure Yuki learned exactly how terrifying this new purple entry really was.
Yuki gave a smug little hum at his silence, then couldn't resist teasing him further.
"No need to worry, onii-chan. If something does happen, Jukawa Shizuka-sensei is amazing with orthopedics—ah! Ouch…"
She didn't finish the sentence before Kuzeha flicked her on the head with a sharp knuckle.
Raizen Middle School — Opening Ceremony
The new students sat in neat rows, eyes fixed on the stage where the third-year student representative was reading her speech.
"She's so cute!""Isn't her name Itsuka Kotori?""Being chosen to give the student address means she must be an exemplary role model!"
The incoming first-years looked on with admiration, their hearts fluttering with fresh admiration.
The upperclassmen, however, exchanged pitying looks and shook their heads.
"Still too young…""Calling Itsuka Kotori an exemplary student? That's rich.""Since when do tardiness, skipping class, and leaving early count as virtues? She barely shows up three days a week!""But hey—she's got perfect grades, and apparently that's all that matters.""Damn school administration, playing favorites again…"
On stage, Kotori read her speech in a lazy monotone, clearly uninterested.
Being the student representative didn't matter to her.
She only studied hard so she could secure admission to Sōbu High.
Because that was where Kuzeha would be.
At that exact moment, a voice crackled urgently in the hidden earpiece at her ear.
"Emergency! A spacequake has been detected at Sōbu High!"
"Nani?!"
Kotori's languid expression shattered. She slammed her palm on the podium with a resounding crack.
The entire auditorium jumped in shock.
Then, under the baffled stares of teachers and students, the student representative tossed aside her script, vaulted off the stage, and sprinted out.
"Itsuka-san?!"
A teacher tried to call her back, but all she saw was Kotori's vanishing silhouette.
High above, within the invisible airship Fraxinus.
A pale-faced, perpetually drowsy-looking woman leaned back in her chair, listening to the report in her headset before speaking in a languid voice.
"Calm down, Commander. Kuzeha is safe."
"The spacequake vanished at the moment of detonation—swallowed by something."
Kotori, still running, let out a relieved breath.
But the words that followed made her slow to a halt, her brows knitting.
"Vanished…?"
"Reine, has this ever happened before?"
Murasame Reine's half-lidded eyes narrowed slightly. Her voice was as calm as ever.
"Never."
"I'm coming over immediately!"
"What about the school—"
"Not important."
"Pull up surveillance from Sōbu High. I need to confirm Kuzeha's condition myself. Meanwhile, accelerate the analysis on why the spacequake disappeared."
Sōbu High
Half an hour later, the all-clear broadcast echoed through the campus, and only then did the teachers begin guiding students out of the shelters.
Back in the classroom, the atmosphere finally began to calm after the earlier panic.
"Kuzeha-kun, you and Suō-san… are you two close?"
Eri, her expression tangled with hesitation, finally asked the question weighing on her heart.
"We grew up together… childhood friends, you could say."
Kuzeha replied casually, repeating the same line Yuki herself always used.
"Childhood friends…"
In the student council, Suō Yuki was the perfect picture of a refined young lady.
But in front of Kuzeha, she had shown a closeness far beyond anything normal.
It wasn't the behavior of childhood friends—it was something much more intimate.
Eri lowered her head, unease and jealousy stirring inside her.
Kuzeha paid her no mind. The news of the spacequake was spreading fast, and he was busy replying to a flood of messages.
Editors from various publishing houses he worked with, friendly neighborhood wives, older sisters who had once left the orphanage, and of course, his younger sisters…
One by one, he reassured them all.
Only after putting down his phone did a new thought strike him.
To the average person, spacequakes were incomprehensible natural disasters.
But Kuzeha knew the truth—spacequakes were caused whenever Spirits crossed between their realm and the present world.
With only rare exceptions, a spacequake's appearance almost always meant a Spirit had descended.
And yet this time, he hadn't seen a single Spirit.
"Don't tell me…"
Kuzeha's brow furrowed, a strange gleam flickering in his eyes.
"Did the Spirit… get swallowed into my Imaginary Space as well?"