Chapter 860: The Spirit's Stress-Induced Greeting
"All finished?" Ren asked, his voice a low, satisfied rumble.
Yaeko swallowed audibly, her throat bobbing. She tilted her head back, exposing the elegant, snow-white curve of her neck, and playfully stuck out her flushed tongue for his inspection.
Ren's gaze swept over her immaculate features, a pleased smirk tugging at his lips. "Good girl," he praised, reaching out to gently stroke her cheek. "Rest up. I have a little errand to run."
Savoring the lingering warmth and the fruitful aftertaste of his recent display of power, Ren tapped into his administrative privileges. Space warped around him as he set his coordinates for Tokisaki Kurumi's world. In a blink, he vanished from the room.
Yaeko lay there for a long moment, her sultry eyes slightly glazed, still riding the afterglow of his departure. The room was quiet, save for the faint sound of breathing nearby. Slowly, a knowing smile curved her lips.
"Yuzuru... Shoko..." she murmured, her voice soft but carrying a distinct edge of maternal authority. "You two are getting awfully bold, thinking you can spy on your own mother."
"Eep!"
Two synchronized squeaks broke the silence. The two girls curled up under the adjacent blankets, who had been desperately feigning sleep, flinched violently. Panic radiated from them. They had pushed their luck spying on Mom's private time, and now they were caught.
Smack!
A crisp, sharp sound echoed through the bedroom.
"Ouch!" Yuzuru yelped, instantly breaking cover to clutch her stinging rear. "Mom! Why did you hit me first?!" she whined, pointing an accusatory finger at her sister. "Shoko was the one who started drinking his milk like a baby first!"
Beside her, Shoko buried her fiercely blushing face into the pillows, absolutely refusing to meet her mother's eyes.
"You're still talking back?" Yaeko's brow arched dangerously as she raised her hand again.
Smack!
"Ah! Mom! I'm sorry! I was wrong!" Yuzuru wailed, scrambling away.
Across dimensions, the atmosphere was considerably more tense.
"What exactly are you trying to pull here? Stop staring at Yoshino like that, you're scaring her!"
The high-pitched, comical voice belonged to Yoshinon, the slightly worn rabbit puppet perched on the hand of a trembling, blue-haired girl.
Tokisaki Kurumi merely tilted her head, her mismatched eyes—one a crimson clock face, the other deep shadow—curving into a crescent of pure amusement. "Oh my," Kurumi purred, a dangerous, silken edge to her tone. "If a little staring is enough to frighten her, then the gentleman standing right behind me might just scare her to death."
"Behind?" Yoshinon squeaked, pivoting its plush head.
Yoshino timidly followed suit, peeking over her shoulder.
"Nice to meet you," Ren greeted casually, stepping out of the spatial ripple with a relaxed smile and a lazy wave.
"Kyaaa!"
"Eek!"
Two distinct shrieks pierced the air. The first came from a thoroughly spooked Yoshino. The second erupted from Miku Izayoi, who had been standing a short distance away.
Their reactions, however, stemmed from entirely different traumas.
Yoshino was simply paralyzed by her innate timidity. She despised being the center of attention, shrank from violence, and feared the pain of injury. Her only sanctuary was the rabbit puppet on her left hand. Naturally gentle and painfully shy, the sudden appearance of a stranger caused her to stumble backward in an exaggerated, frantic scramble, her wide blue eyes brimming with unshed tears.
Miku Izayoi's panic was far more visceral. It wasn't shyness; it was pure, unadulterated revulsion toward men. Before she became a Spirit, she had been Tsukino Yoimachi, a fifteen-year-old idol whose entire world revolved around singing. Her career had been a meteoric rise, fueled by a heavily male fanbase, until she hit the dark underbelly of the industry. Refusing a sleazy television producer's demand for 'favors' had triggered a catastrophic smear campaign. The very fans who had worshipped her turned on her overnight, spewing vitriol that shattered her psyche. The trauma had manifested physically as psychogenic aphonia—stealing her precious voice.
Pushed to the brink of suicide, she had been saved only by the sudden infusion of Spirit mana, transforming her into an otherworldly being. That betrayal had forged a deep, festering misandry within her. To Miku, men were nothing more than filthy, untrustworthy beasts fit only to be mind-controlled slaves, while girls were cute, harmless dolls to be collected. Seeing a man suddenly materialize in her sanctuary triggered every defensive instinct she possessed.
Driven by sheer panic, both Spirits involuntarily unleashed their Astral Dresses.
The temperature plummeted instantly. Yoshino's Angel, Zadkiel, responded to her terror. A massive surge of freezing Reiryoku erupted from her small frame, condensing the moisture in the air into a biting, localized blizzard. Zadkiel possessed the terrifying ability to freeze anything infused with Spirit mana, capable of shattering even the defensive Territories projected by advanced Realizers. Jagged, crystalline barriers of absolute zero ice violently erupted from the ground, forming a thick wall between her and Ren. The out-of-control frost rapidly crawled across the floor, snapping and crackling as it surged directly toward his feet.
Simultaneously, Miku's throat vibrated with lethal intent. Her Angel of Sound, Gabriel, manifested in a brilliant flash of light—a towering, ethereal pipe organ gleaming with silver tubes and a luminous keyboard. She didn't even bother to play a melody. Instead, she weaponized her scream, channeling it through Gabriel's silver pipes. The sound wave distorted the very air, transforming into a devastating, concussive shockwave aimed squarely at Ren's chest.
"Tsk. What an unexpectedly enthusiastic welcome," Ren remarked, his tone completely flat as he watched the dual onslaught of absolute zero ice and sonic destruction barrel toward him. He didn't even shift his stance. "Kurumi, is this how you teach your little friends to treat guests?"
Kurumi leaned against a nearby wall, her dark gothic dress swaying as she offered a proud, cunning smirk. "Oh my~ Ren-kun only asked me to gather the Spirits for him. You never said a word about training them~"
"Heh. Guess I'll just have to fast-track the bonding process myself," Ren sighed.
He raised a single hand and casually swiped it through the air.
Crack. Vwoosh.
The apocalyptic wave of ice shattered into harmless, glittering dust. The devastating sonic shockwave hit an invisible wall and dispersed into a gentle breeze that merely ruffled his hair. Against his overwhelming stats, their frantic attacks were less than nothing.
Before Yoshino could even blink, Ren vanished. He reappeared directly in front of her, closing the distance instantly. As she froze in wide-eyed terror, he reached out and gently placed his hand on the rabbit puppet, Yoshinon.
"Don't!" Yoshino cried out, her actual voice breaking through her fear, convinced this terrifying man was about to destroy her only friend.
But instead of destruction, a blinding, warm light erupted from the puppet. Yoshinon slipped smoothly off Yoshino's trembling hand, suspended in mid-air by an unseen force. The fabric expanded, shifting and morphing as Ren pumped his reality-bending energy into the entity. Flesh and bone knitted together from pure light, condensing into a perfect human silhouette.
When the brilliant glow finally faded, a new figure stood on the floor. It was a girl. She was the exact same height as Yoshino, possessing the exact same delicate facial features, the same azure hair, and the same petite frame. She was a flawless, living mirror image.
The new girl blinked, her long eyelashes fluttering as she opened her eyes, deep confusion swirling in her gaze.
She looked at the trembling Spirit in front of her. "Yoshino? Why are you looking at me with such a terrified expression?"
The voice was no longer the squeaky, high-pitched tone of a ventriloquist act, but a clear, energetic girl's voice. Yet, the cadence and inflection were unmistakably familiar.
Yoshino blinked, her fear momentarily overridden by sheer bewilderment. "Are you... Yoshinon?"
Yoshinon looked down at her own hands, flexing her newly articulated fingers. The realization hit her like a thunderbolt. She wasn't cotton and thread anymore. She had flesh. She had a heartbeat.
"Waaah! Yoshino! I have a body! I actually have a body!"
Overjoyed and practically vibrating with thrill, Yoshinon lunged forward, wrapping her new, warm arms tightly around Yoshino in a fierce hug.
Yoshino stood rigidly for a second, completely stunned. She had no idea what kind of magic this man had used to grant her puppet a physical form, but feeling the genuine warmth and overwhelming happiness radiating from her best friend, a soft, relieved smile began to form on her lips. She was happy for her.
That heartwarming happiness, however, lasted for exactly three seconds.
As Yoshinon squeezed her, Yoshino's gaze drifted downward. A critical, horrifying detail finally registered in her timid brain. The body Yoshinon possessed was a carbon copy of her own. Every curve, every proportion, every inch of skin was identical.
And Yoshinon... didn't have a single shred of clothing on.
Which meant... Her body... her exact body... was currently on full, unhindered display to the strange man standing right in front of them.
"E-Eek!!!"
A violent, crimson blush exploded across Yoshino's face, crawling rapidly from her collarbone all the way to the tips of her ears. Literal wisps of steam seemed to rise from her head as her brain short-circuited. The sheer, overwhelming embarrassment was too much for her fragile psyche to handle. Her eyes rolled back, her knees buckled, and she collapsed softly into a dead faint.
"Yoshino?! Yoshino, what's wrong with you?!" Yoshinon panicked, dropping to her knees and shaking her unconscious friend's shoulders frantically.
"Suggestion. Yoshinon, although the mechanics of this situation are highly confusing, I strongly advise that you... put on some clothes," Yamai Yuzuru remarked from the sidelines, pointing a single index finger downward.
Yoshinon paused. She slowly lowered her head, following Yuzuru's pointing finger. She stared at her perfectly bare, completely exposed body.
[Inorin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me and keeps these daily updates flowing!
Want to read 50 chapters ahead or just want to help keep a shameless translator alive? (My livelihood actually depends on this, haha 😭). You can support me directly here:
(P.S. Just remove the brackets and replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters): patreon[.]com/InorinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/InorinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]