Shiori's sudden attack made Inaba Tsukiyo let out a cute yelp.
Just as she was about to kick Shiori's face hard, Shiori quickly hugged her right leg, looking at her with teary eyes.
"Miss Inaba, I beg you. Please don't be so ruthless, okay?"
"It's just a black history diary. Why do you care so much about this? Who hasn't been chuunibyou? Let go quickly!"
This person, she was so much taller than her, she could even hug her waist while sitting, yet she was doing something like this.
"You don't understand! You don't understand, Miss Inaba! Those were mistakes I made when I was young! When I was in high school, I already wanted to escape the past!"
Shiori said, with tears and snot, truly wanting to forget that chuunibyou period.
Inaba Tsukiyo was right, who hasn't been chuunibyou? But this was her own business, Shiori didn't want others to know.
"No, this is your punishment. I won't reveal your name. I'll just post this article on my Niconico account's feed; I won't say who wrote it."
"Then that's even worse! You're trying to kill me, Miss Inaba."
Shiori cried even harder. To post this article on Niconico? Wouldn't that make it spread even faster?
"Do you know how many followers you have on Niconico? Tens of thousands of people already follow you, and that number is constantly growing. Aren't you trying to let more people know about this stuff?"
"Tens of thousands? No way. I just created this account a short while ago, how could I have so many followers?"
Inaba Tsukiyo didn't believe Shiori. She had only created her account today, and her video had only been up for a few hours. How could she have such a high follower count?
"It's true, Miss Inaba. If you don't believe me, I'll show you. You'll know once you see how many followers your account has."
Shiori picked up her phone from the floor, hung up Kotori's call, and quickly went to the mobile version of Niconico. She opened Inaba Tsukiyo's account and showed her the follower count.
However, after doing this, Shiori remembered that Inaba Tsukiyo couldn't see.
Just as she was about to explain to Inaba Tsukiyo how many followers she had, she noticed Inaba Tsukiyo staring at her phone screen with her eyes wide open.
'Didn't she say she couldn't see?'
It was still those lifeless pupils. Didn't Inaba Tsukiyo say she couldn't see anything? Why was she acting as if she could?
"You're lying to me…"
"Huh? How could I be? There are already tens of thousands of followers."
Shiori remembered that when she followed the account, tens of thousands of people were already following it. She would never lie.
Quickly looking at her phone, Shiori found that the follower count had already reached over a hundred thousand. Indeed, it wasn't the tens of thousands she had mentioned… Wait a minute… "Over a hundred thousand! No! I absolutely cannot put this up. I beg you!"
The previous tens of thousands had already made her flustered enough; now the number had reached over a hundred thousand. Didn't that mean even more people would see this article?
Facing Shiori's desperate pleas, Inaba Tsukiyo hesitated for a moment, then, thinking of an idea, a smile curved her lips.
"It's not impossible for me to keep this secret, but you must grant me one request, and then I'll agree."
"Wh-What request?"
Catching herself just in time before saying something reckless like, "I'll agree to ten requests," Shiori asked with a hint of fear.
She was a little worried that Inaba Tsukiyo might deliberately make some difficult demands to make things even harder for her.
"…Heh heh~ Next weekend, I want you to put on a dress and go on a date with me."
"…Eh eh eh eh!!!!"
Shiori was sent back to the Itsuka household by Inaba Tsukiyo in a daze. Even after arriving home, Shiori remained in a state of confusion, seemingly not having recovered yet.
Seeing Shiori, who had been unreachable, emerge from Imaginary Space, Kotori quickly ran to her, anxiously asking where she had been.
After finally regaining her composure, Shiori told Kotori the general gist of what happened, including Inaba Tsukiyo's request for her to wear a dress for a date next weekend.
"Put on a dress? A date? That's not a big problem, but what's her purpose in doing this? It's not like she hasn't dated you before."
Kotori was a bit puzzled. No matter how she thought about it, she couldn't understand Inaba Tsukiyo's reason for asking Shiori to go on a date with her.
A trap? Or was she plotting something, planning to do something to Shiori?
But if Inaba Tsukiyo really intended to do something to Shiori, why didn't she act when they were alone just now? That was such a good opportunity.
Kotori couldn't figure out the connection, and her head started to ache. She slumped onto the sofa, deep in thought.
Shiori went to prepare dinner, but even while cooking, she was pondering Inaba Tsukiyo's reasons for doing this.
Was Inaba Tsukiyo's initial goal to punish her for her method of sealing Spirits? Was it because her method of sealing Spirits involved a kiss?
And her first kiss… Shiori didn't have any memories of kissing anyone else, yet Kotori knew she possessed the power to seal Spirits.
What was the connection here? Had Kotori seen her seal Spirits before, which was why she knew about her ability?
Shiori wanted to ask Kotori how she knew about this, but seeing Kotori contacting the Bridge crew, informing them about Shiori's date with Inaba Tsukiyo next weekend and making various arrangements, she didn't interrupt.
"A date, and I have to wear girl's clothes again. While changing back into a girl isn't something I can't do, but… why?"
Could Inaba Tsukiyo's sexual orientation be girls? It wasn't impossible. Recently, Origami had driven her to a nervous breakdown, almost making her afraid to even go to school.
However, Origami had been very strange lately, often spacing out. Had she not been sleeping well?
"So, what should I do? Honestly, I hope no major problems arise next weekend."
Meanwhile, Inaba Tsukiyo, having parted ways with Shiori, arrived in Imaginary Space and was dealing with important matters.
"Although it's just a daily regulator, I'm really looking forward to what kind of surprise Shiori will give me next week. Heh heh~"
A date? That wasn't Inaba Tsukiyo's goal. She wanted to see another side of Shiori.
Moreover, Shiori's identity was very special. The power to seal Spirits—this was not a power an ordinary person should possess.
This feeling, it was as if Shiori's power to seal Spirits was predetermined, set up to achieve some purpose, to make her seal the Spirits.
And Inaba Tsukiyo sensed two very strong spiritual powers within Shiori. These spiritual powers were likely from the Spirits Shiori had sealed in the past, as well as the spiritual power of Tohka, whom she had sealed not long ago.
The Spirits' powers weren't sealed; they were transferred into Shiori's body.
Rather than calling this power the power to [seal] Spirits, it was more like the power to [absorb] Spirits.
Although it hadn't been confirmed yet, Shiori should be able to use the powers of the Spirits she had absorbed, but what it would cost to use this power that wasn't her own was still an unknown.
"A bit interesting. This world seems ordinary, but someone is constantly controlling the development of events. Neither the [Eurasian Great Quake] thirty years ago nor the birth of the Spirits were coincidences. Spirits… distinguishing their powers by numbers, the names of the kabbalah tree of life sephiroth, the Tree of Life…"
The angel sister she saw in her dream back then was probably the Guardian Angel of a sephirah, and specifically, the Guardian Angel of the fourth sephirah.
However, everything has two sides, and even the kabbalah tree of life is no exception.
Just as light is to shadow, day is to night.
Right and wrong, good and evil, order and chaos, rational and irrational.
Since the kabbalah tree of life represents the side of order, then there must be a chaotic side opposite to it.
The chaotic side of the kabbalah tree of life is the inverse kabbalah evil tree.
She remembered that the angels' weapons were called Angels. If Spirits could wield the opposite power of the kabbalah tree of life, did this mean that the other side of an angel was a demon?
"Who is it? Who is secretly controlling all of this? Is it DEM? Is it Ratatoskr? Or some other unknown force? Heh heh~ The mastermind no one knows about, this world is truly interesting."
"Hmm? Is there something you want to tell me?"
While Inaba Tsukiyo was making adjustments, a Honkai Beast she had sent out to gather information returned to the Imaginary Space and whispered something in her ear.
These small Honkai Beasts were her best helpers for collecting information. Due to their unique nature and the Honkai Energy within them, monitoring devices couldn't detect their presence at all.
"You mean... you found a captive Spirit on a secret island belonging to DEM Industries?"
Her eyes narrowed. Hearing that DEM Industries had actually captured a Spirit, it became clear how DEM Industries was able to develop visualization devices.
Presumably, those guys used the data obtained from the Spirit to create devices to combat Spirits.
No, things shouldn't be that simple.
If it was just about making those pieces of equipment, there would be no need to imprison a Spirit; that would be like using a butcher's knife to kill a chicken.
The only explanation is that these people have another objective, and this objective is very likely to be to obtain something more important than visualization devices.
"Since I already know about this, how could I let you succeed? I was just worrying about how to advance my plan, and I didn't expect DEM Industries to bring me such good news."
With that, Inaba Tsukiyo looked at the tall, giant battleship in front of her, and the massive robot next to it.
"This is... getting more and more interesting."
---------------------------------
If you'd like to read the next 70 chapters in advance, you can support me on Patreon.
I regularly post chapter previews there, so you'll always be up-to-date and won't have to wait too long.
patreon.com/SolyuraMT
And if you enjoy the story, don't forget to give me a Power Stone. Your support really motivates me to continue translating!