Nodding with satisfaction, Inaba Tsukiyo reached out and stroked Origami's hair. She had to admit, this girl really took good care of her hair; she wondered how she did it.
"Hey, do you like Itsuka Shiori?"
"...Why are you asking that?"
Hearing about Shiori, Origami's heart immediately tightened, and the emotionless expression on her face became somewhat serious.
Was Inaba Tsukiyo planning to threaten her with someone she cared about?
"Hehe~ I'm just very curious about this. After all, you did a lot of things to her when you were at school. You know she's a girl, right?"
"...You're stalking me!"
"A Spirit's business... how can that be considered stalking? I was openly watching you smell clothes, and I even recorded the footage."
Saying that, Inaba Tsukiyo took out her phone and played a video file. This was footage she had recorded in the Imaginary Space: Tobiichi Origami from a full 360-degree, no-dead-angle perspective, smelling Shiori's school uniform, complete with an infatuated expression.
Seeing this video, Origami's face completely changed.
She wanted to snatch the phone, but in this Imaginary Space, how could she be a match for Inaba Tsukiyo? She was very easily controlled by Inaba Tsukiyo.
"I wonder what your classmates or Shiori would think if they saw this video? The ice beauty of the academy doing something like this, it would probably be very interesting."
"...Despicable Spirit!!"
"The feeling is mutual. Weren't you also secretly following Shiori behind her back, without her knowledge, and even secretly photographing her with a camera? I'm just learning from your behavior."
After this period of understanding, Inaba Tsukiyo completely understood Origami's personality. This girl was, to some extent, the shameless, bottomless Origami-sensei.
Although she presented herself as an ice beauty, when it came to shameless acts, her emotionless demeanor could have an even greater impact.
Moreover, leaving such leverage was something someone had taught her. Besides better controlling a certain unexpected event, it could also be used to reveal this leverage at a future point in time for a good show.
Origami's expression was incredibly vivid. It was truly difficult for this emotionless person to display so many expressions in such a short time.
After a long period of struggle, Origami's shoulders slumped, looking somewhat dazed.
"What... do you want to do?"
As an experienced veteran, Origami understood that Inaba Tsukiyo's explicit display of leverage was meant to communicate something to her.
Since she hadn't made a move, it meant Inaba Tsukiyo had other motives; otherwise, she definitely wouldn't have sought her out.
"Very sensible, I don't dislike that. However, I don't want to get anything from you. I just want to ask you one thing."
"Why... do you hate Spirits so much? Do you crave greater power?"
Two questions: the first was the reason Origami hated Spirits, and the second was whether Origami pursued greater power.
When asked about the reason for hating Spirits, Origami recalled the scene from her childhood when her parents died after a Spirit engulfed in flames appeared.
Even after so many years, the scene of her parents' death felt as if it had happened yesterday.
If not for Spirits, her parents wouldn't have died. It was because of the existence of Spirits that so many tragedies existed in this world.
To prevent others from experiencing the same tragedy as herself, Origami had always strived to eliminate Spirits.
Although Origami knew that her mentality, different from that of ordinary people, was not the way her parents would have wanted her to grow up, she now had no turning back.
Origami didn't voice this memory, but her memory was playing out in this Imaginary Space, which also allowed Inaba Tsukiyo to understand Origami's past.
A spirit wreathed in flames? That was just because Origami was young at the time; the spirit was only wreathed in flames because young Origami's vision was blurred by the fire and her tears.
Although the fire in Amamiya City might have been caused by a fire-controlling spirit, the death of her parents was definitely not caused by that spirit.
'This is interesting. It seems there's a big secret here. I wonder what exactly happened to her.'
Inaba Tsukiyo was very curious about the spirit that caused Origami's parents' deaths. From the images in Origami's memories, the figure of this person looked somewhat familiar.
Origami, meanwhile, was considering Inaba Tsukiyo's second question: whether she wanted even greater power.
Power — this was why Origami joined the AST, and the visualization device was the equipment that allowed her, an ordinary human girl, to fight spirits.
But the visualization device was not omnipotent; it was not very useful against some powerful spirits.
Just like Inaba Tsukiyo, just like the Godfather, the visualization device Origami possessed was completely ineffective.
"You… can give me stronger power?"
"Of course, and this power is not the power of a spirit. This is, in a sense, technological power."
Besides Anti-Entropy's titans, Schicksal's valkyrie armor was much more powerful than the AST's visualization devices.
Most valkyrie armor did not have flight capabilities, but this was not a major issue; with a slight adjustment, it would be fine.
Just as she was leaving the Honkai World, Otto thoughtfully input his research on valkyrie armor into her.
With this memory, Inaba Tsukiyo could combine the power of a Herrscher to manifest the valkyrie armor.
"Let me show you a sample first. This way, you can properly experience this power."
A dark blue sphere appeared in her hand. Before Origami could examine the sphere closely, she was struck by it.
Immediately, a brilliant blue light enveloped Origami's body, and a never-before-seen armor appeared on her.
To add, I saw someone in the comments asking about Inaba Tsukiyo's eyes.
In the setting, Inaba Tsukiyo's eyes are supposed to be blind, but in the Honkai World, Inaba Tsukiyo's eyes had already been healed.
However, to conceal this fact, whenever she tells someone she doesn't know, she always tells them she cannot see.
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