The school trip to Hitogami Island concluded, and DEM company's plot was successfully foiled. Neither their warships nor the people on board survived.
The Hyperion demonstrated its powerful combat capabilities to the Ratatoskr personnel. A warship driven by Honkai Energy was far superior to other warships.
DEM company and Ratatoskr no longer dared to underestimate this suddenly appearing organization. Anti-Entropy had become their number one concern.
Although Anti-Entropy did not possess the visualization device that DEM company and Ratatoskr had, they owned titans—mechs that didn't require human operation. This was Anti-Entropy's advantage.
What's more, the Fathers sent to rescue Motoari Niya hadn't even been deployed yet. DEM company and Ratatoskr needed to be careful.
The Inaba Household gained two more residents. Although the two only needed one room, if this continued, there would be no other empty rooms in the house.
On the first day of summer vacation, Inaba Tsukiyo, returning from shopping, witnessed a very interesting scene: Shiori and Mio Takamiya kneeling at Kurumi's bedroom door.
"...Is this some special program? Or are you performing some strange ritual? Shiori. I thought your chuunibyou had passed, but I didn't expect..."
"It's not chuunibyou! It's just... just to beg for Kurumi's forgiveness. Mio Takamiya could only think of this method."
Shiori looked helplessly at Mio Takamiya beside her. After she accepted Mio Takamiya's sacrifices for her, the first thing she had to do was atone.
Shiori used the power Mio Takamiya bestowed upon her—the ability to absorb Spirit powers—to absorb Mio Takamiya's power, thus gaining some of Mio Takamiya's abilities.
Then, after learning that Mio Takamiya had once manipulated Tokisaki Kurumi, using her to kill so many innocent young girls, and even her best friend, Shiori went to find Kurumi.
The shut-in Kurumi, the moment she saw Mio Takamiya behind Shiori, immediately donned her Astral Dress and pulled out her Angel, intending to take a few shots at Mio Takamiya's face.
Shiori couldn't forget Kurumi's twisted expression at the time. There was none of her usual yandere demeanor; it was purely an act driven by rage, a determination to kill Mio Takamiya.
However, Kurumi did not have the strength to defeat Mio Takamiya. Even Shiori, who had gained some of Mio Takamiya's abilities, was difficult for her to handle, not to mention all the others watching the show at home.
Knowing she couldn't lay a hand on Mio Takamiya, Kurumi could only shut herself in her room to sulk, ignoring Shiori and Mio Takamiya's calls from the door.
To show the sincerity of their apology, Shiori had no choice but to kneel with Mio Takamiya at Kurumi's bedroom door for several hours already.
"According to the samurai spirit of Neon, shouldn't you commit seppuku to atone? Anyway, you have Kotori's regeneration ability, so it won't hurt much."
Recalling the samurai in TV dramas who would readily commit "seppuku to atone," Inaba Tsukiyo thoughtfully projected a short sword and threw it in front of Shiori and Mio Takamiya.
She wasn't worried that Shiori would actually use the knife on herself. With Kotori's regeneration ability, Shiori didn't need to worry about such issues; even if her stomach was pierced, she could probably recover.
"..."
Shiori and Mio Takamiya looked at the short sword in front of them. Shiori made no move, but Mio Takamiya very consciously picked up the short sword, about to strike her own stomach.
"Wait! Mio Takamiya! Don't do something so foolish!"
"But... I think Tsukuyo has a point. According to your country's tradition, isn't this the best way to apologize?"
"How much do you misunderstand Neon's traditions! And this is an act of atonement for samurai, not an act of apology! Moreover, doing this hurts a lot."
Although Shiori had never tried seppuku to atone, using a knife on one's stomach—no matter how she thought about it—would hurt a lot!
Even if she had Kotori's regeneration ability, what then? That ability was for healing wounds, not for pain relief. Doing this would still hurt a lot!
"It's alright, Xiao Shi (affectionate nickname for Shiori). I am immortal. Neither cannons nor bullets can kill me. And if doing this can make Kurumi forgive me, then I am very willing to do such a thing."
"That's why! That's not how things work!!!"
Shiori stopped Mio Takamiya from doing something foolish, while Inaba Tsukiyo approached Clone Kurumi to ask her about the situation.
"What's going on now? What did Kurumi say?"
"The Original Body... she doesn't know what to do either. The person she wants to kill is right in front of her, but she just can't bring herself to do it."
Clone Kurumi's feelings were also very complex. Every Kurumi had the same goal, and even her goal was to kill the Origin Spirit and prevent all tragedies from happening.
However, what they wanted to do was go back to the past and kill the Origin Spirit during the time of its birth. Even killing Mio Takamiya here wouldn't change anything in the past.
Also, Kurumi was simply no match for Mio Takamiya. Mio Takamiya dealt with her as if playing, and Kurumi had no way to counter her.
"I see. So, why is she locked in her room then...?"
"She's just sulking, like a child who can't get what she wants. The Original Body is probably hiding in her room, wearing headphones, and playing games."
"...She really is like a child."
As her time as a shut-in increased, Main Body Kurumi's personality had become more and more childlike. From such small details, it was clear that Main Body Kurumi was truly angry.
But it was understandable. Her enemy was right in front of her, and she couldn't kill them. Then the enemy came to ask for forgiveness for their past actions. No matter how one thought about it, she couldn't accept it.
"Forget it, let me go talk to her. I guess it wouldn't make a difference if any of you others went."
"Yes, I guess only the Original Body will listen to you, her patron. After all, last time when you found the unit for her allowance was wrong, you still didn't change the unit."
Clone Kurumi smiled mischievously at Inaba Tsukiyo. Although Inaba Tsukiyo had discovered that the unit for Kurumi's allowance was wrong last time, she didn't change the unit from US dollars to Japanese yen, but continued to give it to her in US dollars.
To some extent, Kurumi could really be considered to be kept by Inaba Tsukiyo.
After glaring fiercely at Clone Kurumi, which made Clone Kurumi let out a pleasant laugh, Inaba Tsukiyo went to Kurumi's door.
At this time, Shiori and Mio Takamiya were still arguing about seppuku to atone. Inaba Tsukiyo ignored the two acting cute and placed her hand on the doorknob.
[Click]
The door was locked. It seemed to be a measure to prevent outsiders from forcing their way into the room.
Entering the Imaginary Space, Inaba Tsukiyo arrived inside the dark room and saw Kurumi holding a game controller, intently watching the huge display screen in the room and playing a game.
This display screen... Kurumi bought it with the allowance Inaba Tsukiyo gave her. According to this person, playing games on such a large screen was more enjoyable.
Skillfully, she went to Kurumi's side, picked up another game controller, entered the 2P game character, and joined the battle.
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