Morning— the rooftop of Raizen High.
Shidou, along with Tohka, Origami, and Mana were each restrained by varied clones of Kurumi, an effort to stop them from interfering with her setting off a spacequake above the school. An effort that would have succeeded, except for one complication—
Another spirit, wreathed in rings of fire and bearing a great battleaxe.
Before their stunned gazes, that spirit alighted on the ground, the gravel beneath her geta melting into puddles of molten rock like ice cubes on a stove.
"Koto... ri?"
Shidou repeated his sister's name dumbly, trying and failing to comprehend the sight before him.
And it was his sister, without a doubt. From her fiery red hair — now loose and framed on either side by bull's horns — to her petite, practically naked figure.
Her kimono looked thrown on, sporting a side part so high it exposed her labia and the bright patch of pubic hair just above it. Keeping her clothes on her was an obi, tied around her waist at the front and pushing up her slight breasts, framed behind sheer petals.
In other words, she was wearing a naked dress. Just like Kurumi.
"Would you kindly stop interrupting? I was just getting to the good part!"
The other scantily clad girl aimed her rifle at Kotori, manifesting her clock angel behind herself.
Kotori was not intimidated by this in the slightest, lifting her axe from her shoulder and planting it on the ground with a heavy thud.
"Dispel your clones and your angel. Now, or I'll have to punish you."
A titter.
"My, my, punish me? And what if I want a little punishment? Though, somehow I doubt you have what it takes to punish me and my Zaf—"
"Quit your yappin'." Kotori tossed her hair in annoyance. "If you're going to fight, then come at me already, you black sow!"
Kurumi bristled at that, seemingly put off for the first time.
"...Myselves, take care of this interloper."
A contingent of Kurumi's clones broke off from the mass holding Shidou and the others, each moving in coordinated unison before launching themselves at Kotori.
"Camael— Infernal Demon."
Kotori raised her battleaxe high above her head and, with as much effort as though she were but sweeping out the trash, swept away each and every one of the attacking clones with gouts of flame that reduced their bodies to cinders before they even hit the ground.
The flames did not stop, snaking around the rooftop like living things, striking and incinerating each Kurumi holding Shidou and the others captive while leaving them unharmed, save for some singed hair.
While the true Kurumi watched on in shock, Kotori leapt into the air, landing gently with her back to Shidou, bringing with her a wall of heat like he'd just opened an oven.
"Kotori, wha—what the hell is happening?"
Why was... How had she done that just now? With the giant axe and flames and everything? Was Kotori a spi—
"Quiet, Shidou." She glanced back at him. "All you need to think about is escaping with the others. Right now, you'd die instantly if you got involved."
Instinctively, Shidou balked at the dismissive tone she said this with. Didn't he have a supernatural healing ability? Though, given how useful that had proved just now, he couldn't exactly disagree.
"My, my, my! Aren't you the little firecracker, Miss Flame Spirit!"
Kurumi cackled from the other end of the rooftop, summoning the first bullet of her angel with a "Zafkiel— Aleph". An instant later, she was above Kotori, her movements accelerated to a blinding pace.
Kotori retreated, deftly fending off Kurumi's strikes one after the other with the same, irritated expression.
"Splendid! Absolutely splendid! I'd expect nothing less from Gevurah! Ahh, I'm getting all tingly down there!"
"You're getting on my damn nerves. Quit the useless squawking and have some composure like the lady you pretend you are!"
Kurumi's maniacal grin faltered, replaced by a frown, and she raised her pistol to the sky as the clock in her eye began to accelerate.
"Fine then. I suppose I will comply with your request and end this elegantly. Zafkiel— Zayin."
Shidou recognized that name, his heart skipping a beat.
"Don't! Those bullets—"
But it was too late.
Despite the instantaneous nature of Kurumi's angel-augmented bullets, Kotori managed to deflect it with her axe— and was instantly immobilized.
From her hair to her kimono to the very flames licking them, she was motionless.
"No matter how strong one may be, that strength is meaningless unless time is allowed to progress."
Saying this, Kurumi proceeded to act out an awful recreation of Mana's defeat, her remaining clones firing off a volley of gunfire at Kotori's defenseless form.
"Kotori!"
Shidou watched on, helpless, as Kurumi pressed the barrel of her gun to his sister's forehead.
"Farewell, Miss Flame Spirit."
She pulled the trigger and blew Kotori's brains out.
Freed from Zafkiel's influence, her body crumpled to the ground with a meaty thud.
The roof was silent.
Her musket still extended, Kurumi stared at Kotori's corpse with an unreadable expression.
And then she just laughed.
Laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed.
"My, my, my, my, my! Strange how things change, when you add just a little bit of time!"
Shidou couldn't understand what he was seeing.
Kotori's... dead?
She had to be. He could see her brains on the gravel behind her.
He felt numb.
He felt like his heart had been ripped from his chest and stomped out on the ground.
As dying flames wavered feebly on Kotori's corpse, Kurumi leveled her cruel gaze on Shidou, having caught her breath.
"Hmm? Was she important to you? A friend? A lover? Well, I suppose it doesn't matter. Since she's dead and all."
Woodenly, he turned towards the one who killed her. The spirit that killed his sister.
He'd extended an olive branch to her. He'd been willing to overlook everything she'd done. And this was how she had repaid him.
"Kurumi... you...!"
"Get it together, Shidou. How are you gonna seduce Nightmare if you hate her?"
It was Kotori, the flames that had weakly flickered until now bursting out all across her body, licking away each of her wounds in moments.
Kurumi stared at her.
"I shot you in the head."
The fire consuming Kotori burst into her naked dress, revealing her flesh to be intact, as though she had never suffered any damage at all.
"And it was useless. The best outcome for you right now is to give up and surrender. No one's died yet, so let's say we let you off with a simple spanking and call it water under the bridge?"
Kurumi reeled at the outright insult in Kotori's words, stumbling like she'd been physically hit.
"...Useless, you say? Kihi... Useless?"
Her head hung low, uneven twin-tails swaying listlessly in the wind, before her shoulders shook in mirthless amusement.
"...I'll show you... what's truly useless— Zafkiel!"
She shouted this at the top of her lungs, calling forth her angel as her left eye spun.
"Tsk, none of that!"
Kotori immediately made to intercept any oncoming attacks, but seemed to stumble, gripping her head for a moment, before raising her angel into the air.
"...Camael— Megiddo."
In response to her command, the blades of Kotori's Camael retracted into the head of the axe, transforming the weapon into something like a cannon attached to her forearm.
And with a strangely calm motion, Kotori aimed that weapon at Kurumi, as it rapidly drew in the flames around her body and began to glow white hot.
Kurumi frowned, concern flashing across her features before she barked out a short "Myselves!", calling her remaining clones to her side and forming a defensive wall against Kotori's impending strike.
"Burn to ashes— Camael!"
In the next moment, she discharged a line of pure heat and light that burned itself not only into Shidou's retinas, but straight through Kurumi's clones and even her clock-face angel, destroying a quarter of the disc instantaneously.
The girl let out a wretched shriek and collapsed to the ground, convulsing violently as Kotori just cackled.
"Aha! Where's all that good shit you were spouting just a second ago? Huh? HUH!"
Kurumi forced herself to her hands and knees, gasping for breath as she glared hatred at Kotori.
"Weren't we fighting to the death?" She scowled down at her. "Weren't you gonna make me regret my words! But you get clocked real good once, and you cower like a little bitch! Don't get in the kitchen if you can't take the heat!"
There was something violent in Kotori's voice, a cruelty that Shidou had never heard before. He'd had the feeling that something was off with her ever since that stumble, but that feeling became impossible to ignore when Kotori began charging her weapon again.
"Fine then. If you can no longer fight back, then all that's left for you is execution."
Shidou charged towards his sister.
"Kotori, what the hell are you saying! Ratatoskr's supposed to help the spirits, not kill—"
But the look on her face stopped him in his tracks.
A sadistic, ecstatic grin split her face, her chest heaving with barely restrained arousal. Steam wafted from her thighs.
"Don't stop me now, Shidou." She didn't even look at him. "I'm about to blow my load all over this bitch."
The way she said that made his blood run cold. She'd always had a domineering streak, but this was something else entirely.
Kotori was going to kill her.
In that moment, something snapped inside Shidou. He sprinted towards Kurumi, nearly tripping over himself as he skid to a stop beside her.
She shot him a confused glare, her skin pale and clammy.
"...Wha—What are yo...?"
He wasn't forgiving her for what she'd tried to do today, or anything like that.
He just couldn't stand the thought of things ending like this.
Shidou slid his arms under Kurumi, heaving her into a support carry and trying to steady himself before it was too late.
"No! Shidou, out of the way!"
But in that very instant, his sister's panicked shriek reached him like a distant sound on the waves, reality itself drowned out by a fire that engulfed everything.
And in that fire, he saw... a familiar sight.
Burning.
Houses burning. Trees burning. Cars burning.
It felt like the world itself was burning.
Even the air was burning, and it made Shidou's lungs sting all the more as he tore through the devastated streets.
"Kotori! Kotori!"
He was running for his sister, his little sister who was all alone right now as the whole world burned.
Years ago, after he had been abandoned by his birth mother and lost in despair without even knowing it, it was his adoptive parents who had saved him. Them, as well as Kotori.
And it was for that reason that he was risking his own life now, for the people who had become his first family.
Despite perfectly retracing the route he'd taken to the station, when Shidou came to a stop at the street to his house, he could not believe they were the same places.
Everything that could be burned had been burned. Only warped plumbing in empty lots signified the places where houses once stood. Scattered about the area were the charred remains of things he could not bear to identify.
In the remains of the lot that once contained their home was a small girl with red hair. She was wearing an oversized kimono for some reason, her face buried in her palms as flames danced around her.
"Kotori!"
"Big brother!"
She was crying, like she often did back then, her tears evaporating as they fell down her cheeks.
Immediately, he tossed aside his bag and ran towards his sister.
"No! Stay away!"
The fire around Kotori shivered, as if reacting to his presence, before a gout of flame rose up like a tsunami, lapping against Shidou's body and sending him crashing to the ground.
His shirt had melted to his skin, and his body was wracked by a kind of total agony that simply overwhelmed his mind. He could barely even breathe— his mouth, nose, and throat had been seared by the brutal heat.
As his consciousness faded, Shidou heard his sister's cries from above, and the pain of being unable to do anything for her nearly equaled that of his wounds.
"DO YOU WANT TO SAVE HIM?"
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"...at's this? Do you want to save him?"
"Please, doctor..."
"Alright! Then let Dr. Strangelove handle this!"
Shidou awoke to a certain puppet thrust right in his face.
Groggy memories swam through his head as the image of Yoshino came into focus, the girl quickly hiding Yoshinon behind herself with an apologetic smile.
"...Good morning."
"Ugh... morning..."
His voice came out in a croak. It felt like his body had been thrown into a woodchipper. He hadn't felt this awful in ages.
Hesitantly, Yoshino turned and left through the curtains cordoning off the area. Shidou belatedly realized he was in an infirmary when he felt something heavy land in his lap.
"Shidou..."
He looked down to see an unconscious Tohka, her brows still furrowed with worry even as she was already snoring.
Immediately, he understood the situation and gently stroked the girl's head despite his soreness.
"Tohka... If you sleep like that, your neck's gonna get all kinds of messed up..."
How long had she been watching over him? And after everything that had happened, on top of that.
Everything... that had happened?
The implications of this thought erupted into consciousness a moment later, and with it all the emotion and stress that accompanied them. Shidou shot up with a wince just as Yoshino returned with Reine in tow.
"Reine, what happened! Kotori showed up all of a sudden, dressed like a spirit or something! What about Origami! She looked like she was barely holding on!"
"...Hold on, Chin."
"Hold on? How can I hold on! What the hell happened to Mana! I lost sight of her halfway through the fight! And Kurumi, she's alive, right? And Tohka— she's just sleepi—"
In a few, swift motions, Reine pulled open her top and pressed Shidou's face against her braless breasts.
Initially, Shidou struggled, but Reine's grip on him was unexpectedly powerful, and she gently stroked his head until his shoulders relaxed, combing her fingers through his hair.
"There, there..."
Perhaps it brought forth primitive memories of his time as a wee babe sucking on his mother's teat, but the familiar warmth of Reine's soft, pillowy breasts, as well as the steady heartbeat he felt behind them, calmed Shidou's heart and soul.
From the other end of the bed, Yoshino made a show of covering her eyes but watched on with unabashed interest through her fingers, a voyeuristic blush spreading across her cheeks.
In any case, when Reine finally released him, Shidou blinked dumbly a few times, staring uncomprehendingly at her chest.
"...Thanks. Surprisingly, that helped."
Covering a yawn as she nodded, Reine began to explain, putting her breasts away and buttoning up her uniform as she spoke.
"The situation yesterday is more or less resolved now. To my knowledge, there were no casualties, though the local hospital was overwhelmed with students and staff. As for Mana and Origami, they were taken to the Tengu SDF Hospital by AST wizards. Kurumi appears to have fled before that. And Tohka is exactly as she appears. Though she sustained minor injuries herself, she insisted on staying by your side."
Shidou took all of this in and hung his head in defeat.
In the end, all of his talk about redemption and forgiveness had just been a bunch of pretty, useless words, hadn't it?
Kurumi had completely rejected him. Mana had still tried to kill her, and had nearly wound up dead herself. And if it hadn't been for Kotori's timely intervention, the entire student body would be dead right now.
His fists clenched as the futility of his actions began to set in.
What was the point of love if he couldn't do anything useful with it? Was it really all just fanciful nonse—
"You did well, Chin," Reine spoke up. "No one expected Kurumi to have that kind of power. Just take heart in the fact that no one was seriously hurt or killed. With just that, you can always try again."
Shidou let her sober words soothe the feelings of powerlessness inside him.
It was just as Reine had said— he should be glad he still had a chance to do things over. He looked up at her, his gaze weary but no longer defeated.
"This... It's not over yet, is it?"
"Not at all."
"Where's Kotori."
"I'll take you to her. Can you stand?"
Nodding, Shidou threw his legs over the bed with some difficulty, setting his feet onto the floor before putting on the shoes there. He tried to stand and steady himself but his muscles screamed bloody murder.
He nearly toppled over, if not for Yoshino rushing over from Reine's side to support him.
"Agh, sorry...! Thanks, Yoshino."
"N-No problem..." Yoshino answered with an embarrassed smile of her own. On her left hand, Yoshinon whistled. For some reason.
After tucking Tohka into the bed and leaving Yoshino to look after her, the two left the infirmary. As they entered the halls of the Fraxinus, however, Shidou couldn't ignore just how sore his body was.
Even after everything he'd been through these past two months, he'd never hurt like this. Had he really just been roughed up that much, or was something else going on?
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Reine led Shidou through the halls of the Fraxinus, the echo of their footsteps and the foreboding air that accompanied them all too familiar. But, rather than leading him to the bridge of the airship, she stopped in front of what seemed like a large bank vault.
Reine entered her credentials and biometrics into the electronic panel at the side of the door, eliciting a small beep as the door split in two and slid open.
It was a tall room, at least five meters high, two rows of computer consoles facing the entrance and illuminating the otherwise dimly lit area.
A large, glass enclosure took up the remainder of the space, containing what looked like a replica of the living room of their house, complete with a potted plant in the corner, and even the credenza with several vases and books.
And at the center of that space was his sister, sitting comfortably at a copy of their dining room table while sipping from a coffee mug, her black ribbons tying her twin-tails despite her casual streetwear.
Smoothing out her skirt, Reine sat down at the main console, located at the center gap between the two rows.
"The glass is soundproofed. I won't be able to hear you from inside."
Listening to this, Shidou watched his sister set the cup down and rest her arms on the table.
It was hard to match the image of her now against the fearsome spirit he'd seen on the rooftop yesterday morning. Fiery though she may be, Kotori did not typically spout flames and wield a giant battleaxe.
But, then again, a few months ago he never would have imagined that she was the commander of a secret organization embroiled in geopolitical conflicts the likes of which he could scarcely imagine.
What else was she hiding?
If she'd been a spirit this whole time, then was she even hi—
No. He didn't want to assume. Not until he had a chance to hear from Kotori's mouth directly.
With that thought firmly in mind, he marched up the short steps to the door, let it slide aside, and entered.
"Oh, if it isn't Shidou. I see you've come to."
Kotori spoke like he'd just come back from an afternoon nap, taking a sip of her coffee as she did so.
"Yeah. I suppose I have."
He closed the door behind himself before answering.
"Well, don't just stand there like an idiot. There's a perfectly good seat for you right here."
Sitting down across from her, he glanced in the direction of Reine. The wall that was transparent from the outside bared the same cream color as their house on the interior. For all intents and purposes, they were alone right now.
Shidou returned his gaze to his hands, resting on the table before him.
He'd wanted to interrogate her, to finally get the answers to all his burning questions. But the moment he saw her, every question, every demand died on his tongue.
"What... What are you?"
He didn't want to ask it that way, but the words came out like that anyway.
He'd seen her recover from a direct headshot like it was nothing, after all. It was a little hard to see her as just a regular girl after that.
"I'm your adorable little sister~☆" Kotori answered with a sarcastic grin.
"...Did you just call yourself adorable?"
"It's true, isn't it?"
He couldn't help a wry laugh at that.
That was so like her.
Supposed he couldn't argue with her, though. Regardless of what she was, the girl before him was still his adorable little sister.
"Kotori. Are you a spirit?"
So he came right out and asked the first question that came to mind.
And they had themselves a little stare down.
Kotori blinked first, leaning on her elbow and letting out a scoff.
"Hmph, would you believe me if I said no?"
"Well... If that's what you say, I'll believe you."
"Are you serious? Believing whatever someone else says over your own eyes is crazy."
"I'm not 'believing whatever someone else says', I'm believing what you say, Kotori." He looked her straight in the eyes. "I've known you for almost ten years now. I know when you're telling the truth. After all, I'm your handsome big brother~☆"
"Did you just call yourself handsome?"
Kotori let out an amused huff of air, a muted smile on her face. She gripped the mug in her hands, staring into its contents as she spoke.
"...I'm human. At least, that's what I believe I am. But I don't get to decide that. The values from our measurement devices identify me as a spirit. But... I was born into the Itsuka family— that's a fact. It's also a fact that, five years ago, I became a spirit."
"You became... a spirit?"
That was all Shidou could say.
Spirits were powerful beings from a parallel dimension that entered their reality at sporadic intervals, causing spacequakes as a result.
At least, that was what Kotori and Reine had told him.
"...What does that mean? Aren't spirits and humans, like... different beings?"
"That's... true. It might be more accurate to say that I'm a human who gained the powers of a spirit."
"That's... better?"
"Oh come on, it's not that weird. You seal the power of spirits. So why can't a human gain the power of a spirit?"
Kotori said this like it was some throwaway line, but it opened up a hell of a lot more questions.
What exactly were spirits? Where exactly did they come from? Why did their arrival into this world cause spacequakes? And perhaps most importantly of all, why the hell did they all wear such skimpy outfits?
That last question brought to mind the memory of his sister five years ago, wearing the naked dress she'd worn on the roof top. Shidou winced, trying to wring the awful memory out of his head.
"What? What is it?"
"No, it's just... I remember when you became a spirit?"
Kotori leaned forward in her seat. "What do you mean?"
"...I went out to the station to get you a present for your birthday, when the fires started. I ran all the way back home to get you... and that's when I saw you, alone and crying out for me in tears. I tried to go near you, but got burned... And that's about it."
Kotori took in his account, averting her gaze with a flush after he finished.
"Can't say I remember sobbing and crying for you, but otherwise that's mostly consistent with what I remember..." She took a swig of her coffee before continuing. "When I retrieved my powers from you yesterday, it's possible that my memories flowed into you through the same Path. Or maybe it caused your repressed memories to rise to the surface...?"
"Well, whatever the case, what happened back then? How did you become a spirit?"
"To be honest, I hardly remember myself."
"Are you serious?"
"I know something happened, okay!" Kotori waved off the skeptical stare Shidou sent her way. "I... vaguely remember becoming a spirit, but no matter how hard I try, I can't remember the details."
"That's strange..."
"You can say that again. There's no way I would forget something that completely changed my existence. That's why, for some time now, we've suspected that something or someone erased both of our memories."
"Someone... erased our memories?"
"That's just a possibility for now. Anyway, Ratatoskr found me after that. They're the ones who told me about the spirits and the true nature of the AST. After that, I... wanted to make myself useful, so I did everything in my power to help."
"Wait, but... Haven't you lived a normal life since then? How were your spirit powers sealed?"
"You don't even remember that part? It was obviously you who sealed my powers."
Shidou took a second to consider the implications of this statement.
"...What?"
"What do you mean 'what'? It's exactly as I said yesterday."
At her prodding, he recalled the exact words Kotori had used when she arrived above the school rooftop.
"Sorry for not asking, but I'm taking this back for a bit. It's high time I made myself useful for once, isn't it?"
That certainly made it sound like her spirit powers had been sealed at some point. But there was just one thing he couldn't wrap his head around.
"No, but... if I sealed your powers back then, that means... you know..."
"We fucked. What's not to get?"
His worst fears realized, Shidou just buried his face in his palms.
"This explains... so much..."
"Don't be such a drama queen. That's just how spirit's powers are sealed. And that's the reason Ratatoskr chose you for all this. It's the reason it has to be you, Shidou. No one else we've found has the power to seal spirits like you."
"B-But... what?"
Why would he be the only person who could seal spirits?
All this time, he'd been thinking this was something anyone could do, but if he was the only one they knew of who could do it, it certainly explained Kotori's insistence these past few months.
"Why didn't you tell me though? I probably would have been a lot more willing to go along with this, after all."
"Are you sure about that? Because if we'd done that, it... it would have just introduced a lot more questions. Either way, you need to know that you can't rely on your healing abilities for the time being."
The sudden subject change threw Shidou for a loop, until he realized what Kotori was getting at.
"You mean... that healing ability was your spirit power?"
He clearly recalled Kotori recovering from Kurumi's attacks after the same azure flame that he'd experienced engulfed her body.
"Yes. Once I became a full spirit again, I withdrew all my spirit power from you. That means you can't do stupid things like jumping off buildings or getting in front of Camael's cannon. If I hadn't come to my senses at the last second back then, you'd be dead right now."
Something about that last statement struck Shidou as significant, and it didn't take him long to figure out why.
"Come to your senses? Are you talking about... when you weren't your self?"
"It's... battlelust."
With a quavering voice, Kotori drew her arms up and hugged herself.
"From the moment I regain my spirit power, there are times where I have the uncontrollable urge to punish things... Sometimes, it gets so bad my body practically moves on its own. We're managing it with medication, but I... I was definitely trying to kill Kurumi yesterday."
Recalling the feral grin Kotori had worn then, Shidou had to agree with that statement.
"Maybe I was only able to come back to myself because you stepped out in front of her like that, so maybe I shouldn't be so hard on you." She gripped her arms tightly. "It's just... scary, thinking I might end up losing control again, cause a repeat of five years ago, an—"
Kotori stopped herself, scowling as if to admonish herself.
"Ugh, this isn't like me at all. Getting all emotional like this..."
"You shouldn't downplay your feelings like that."
Shidou rested a hand on her shoulder. His sister tried too hard to be strong sometimes. She was obviously worried about what she'd do in that state. Denying that was just trying to deny reality.
In response to his words, Kotori just glanced at him with a tired smile.
"What, you already trying to seduce me? You don't waste any time, huh, big bro?"
A frown.
"Seduce you?"
"Unlike Tohka and her limited naked dress, I took back all of my power, remember? It won't return on its own now, so we'll have to seal it again."
"Hold on, seal it again? You can't be serious!"
Obviously, she meant seduce her and have sex with her, but to even suggest that was insane. She was his little sister, for crying out loud!
"Look, I don't like this anymore than you, but if we don't seal my powers soon, there's no telling when I might lose control, to say nothing of me producing spacequakes. That's why... that's why you're gonna have to suck it up and fuck me, okay!"
Kotori slammed her fists onto the table, a crash following a second after.
She'd knocked the mug off the table, shattering it on the wood flooring. She glared at the spilled coffee like she hated it more than anything in the world before she wobbled on her heels and collapsed to her hands and knees.
"Kotori! Are you oka-"
"I'm fine!" She threw out a hand to stop him from rushing to her side. "I'm... fine."
She bit out the words through gritted teeth, taking measured breaths that made her shoulders heave.
Shidou wanted to press the matter further, but the door to the enclosure slid open and Reine entered, carrying a black bag.
"Chin, let's stop here for today."
"Reine... what's wrong with Kotori?"
The woman didn't answer immediately, crouching beside his sister and reading her expression.
"I'll take care of her. Please, go. Now."
Shidou was taken aback by the abrupt tone she said this with, but there was nothing he could think of to do in that moment, so he did as told.
Eventually, Reine exited the enclosure, black bag in tow. She sat down at the main monitor beside a standing Shidou.
"...How's Kotori?"
"She's fine, for the time being."
"What do you mean?"
"The interval between episodes is getting shorter. Right now, we're managing it with tranquilizers and mood stabilizers, but we can't rely on that forever. Eventually, Kotori will start disappearing from this world altogether and producing spacequakes. She will lose herself entirely to her spirit powers when that happens."
Shidou listened to Reine's words with his eyes planted firmly on the floor. He was reminded of that day, before he'd met Tohka in the ruins of the school, when Reine had told both him and Kotori off in the physics prep room.
"I understand this is difficult. Two days from now, you two will go on a date with Kotori and seduce her. Take that time to come to terms with what you need to do. For now, go check on Mana."
"Mana?"
He was ashamed to admit it, but he truly had forgotten about the girl calling herself his sister after everything that had happened.
"Yes. You should still be able to make visiting hours at the hospital. Please, Chin, just do it."
There was something different about Reine's demeanor in that moment — something firm, and uncompromising — that compelled Shidou not to argue with her, just leave the room with his head hung low from the weight of everything he had learned.
With no prior warning, he had just been thrust into the worst possible situation. In just two days, his sister would lose herself entirely. And the only way to stop that was to do the unthinkable.
To seduce her. To have sex with his own little sister.
It wasn't like Kotori hadn't tried to come onto him countless times these past few months, but he'd always rebuffed her at every opportunity.
Now he was just supposed to... forget all that?
Forget that they were siblings, forget that that was incest, forget how wrong that was, forget everything and have sex with Kotori?
He didn't know how he could even imagine it.
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
"You're looking for Takamiya Mana? I'm terribly sorry, but right now we cannot allow even family members to visit her."
The receptionist at the front desk met Shidou's request with an apologetic smile.
"Is her condition that bad?"
"Once again I apologize, but due to the nature of her deployment, we aren't allowed to discuss any of the particulars of Miss Takamiya's treatment. Hospital rules, I'm afraid."
At the man's plain words, all Shidou could do was turn away in resignation.
"...Well, thanks for letting me know that much, at least."
He was about to head out in defeat when a familiar voice spoke from behind him.
"Shidou?"
It was Origami, bandaging wound around her head and arm. She wore a light-colored hospital gown, carrying an IV pole along with her as she stopped at the end of a corridor.
"Origami! Are you alright?"
She studied him for a moment before shutting her eyes and letting out a brief breath.
"...I'm fine. I'm glad to see you are as well."
He let out a sigh of relief of his own at that.
This girl had caused him and Ratatoskr a lot of trouble these last few months. Even so, Shidou was glad to see she was okay.
"What about Princess?"
Coming from her, that question threw him for a loop.
Origami? Asking about Tohka's well-being? Is she finally turning over a new leaf?
"Tohka? Yeah, she's totally fine."
Instantly, Origami clicked her tongue.
Never mind...
"Anyway, what brought you down to the front desk?"
"I wanted information about Takamiya's condition."
"Mana? So did I, but apparently they're not letting anyone see her right now. Something about being off-limits to the public, I guess..."
"She's likely being treated with highly experimental equipment. No one will be allowed to see her until she's discharged to the general wing. Anyone who tries to before that will be lucky to be arrested."
Scary.
"Uh, well... since neither of us can see Mana right now, do you mind if we hang out for a while? I'm sure you could use some company, right?"
Shidou hadn't visited her at all when she'd been hospitalized by Tohka back in April, and he still felt the guilt of that oversight. At the very least, it'd be a way to make this visit not a complete waste of time.
"I would be fine with that."
Perhaps he was just imagining things, but Origami's tone in that moment seemed just the slightest bit different. He wasn't sure how to explain, but he got the feeling she was very excited.
"So, where's your room? Let's chat while we head back."
He made to take Origami's lead, only to watch on in stunned silence as the girl fell forward like a plank of wood face first onto the linoleum floor.
"Origami?!"
Rushing to her side, Shidou lifted her up by the shoulders. Her forehead and nose were flushed red, probably from slamming into the floor. Paying no mind to the concern her fall had earned from staff, patients, and visitors, Origami turned to face him.
"It looks like I can't make it back by myself."
"...Well, there's a wheelchair over there we can-"
"I get terrible motion sickness."
Somehow, after watching her zip around in a CR Unit combating spirits these past few months, Shidou found that hard to believe.
"So then, what do you want me to do...?"
"Take me on piggyback."
"Huh."
"Take me on piggyback."
...
"On piggy—"
"Okay!"
As per usual, it seemed Origami was not taking no for an answer. For someone who was totally down with freeuse, she could be surprisingly demanding.
Shidou crouched down with his back to the girl, and she leapt onto his back with a surprising amount of vigor for an invalid.
...Whatever.
After everything that had happened yesterday, Shidou was willing to indulge the girl a little.
"Anyway, where's your room?"
"Third floor. West Ward."
They were in the Central Ward.
On the first floor.
"Whelp, guess we'd better get a move on then, huh?"
As he began what was shaping up to be a long trek through the hospital, Shidou adjusted Origami in his grip.
She wasn't heavy or anything, just denser than he'd expected.
Her abs, her arms, her thighs, even her ass. This girl was pure muscle.
She must have trained a long time to build that physique. And all to hunt down the spirit that had killed her parents.
After everything that had happened with Kurumi, Shidou had a newfound understanding for what drove Origami. While he still believed it a shame to resolve things with violence, he understood that sometimes that was the only way to avoid worse outcomes— that people like the AST were necessary to protect innocents.
Just then, as Shidou walked onto the elevator, he became acutely aware of a certain mass pressing against his back— the one part of her body that was decidedly soft.
"...Origami, what are you doing?"
"Grinding my breasts against your broad, manly back to simultaneously stimulate us sexually."
...
Give me back my reevaluation of your struggles...!
"I see. And don't you think that's something you should save for the bedroom?"
"This is just... foreplay for that..."
Saying this in an increasingly breathy voice, Origami tightened her hold on his body, gripping his thighs with her legs particularly firmly.
Her breath tickled the back of his neck, stirring up feelings he'd rather stayed unstirred, his body already beginning to react to Origami's motions. He couldn't even adjust himself to keep his pants from incidentally stimulating him.
Shidou was struggling to shift his boner without his hands when he noticed the elevator stop at the second floor.
"Stop it! Someone's about to get on!"
"I'll be quiet."
"That's not th—"
The elevator doors slid open to reveal a middle-aged nurse, pushing a medical cart. She walked into the cabin as Origami buried her face into Shidou's hair, perhaps to hide her flushed face, but from the deep whiffs she was taking, something told him that was only an incidental side-effect.
The three stood in complete silence, Shidou sweating profusely while watching the floor indicator.
How long is this damn elevator!?
"Excuse me sir, but is that young woman alright?"
The worst possible outcome had occurred— the nurse began speaking to them.
"Yeah, she's good. I'm a friend of hers, and I just came to visit, but she was waiting for me down at the lobby. Which she shouldn't have been doing, since her doctors told her to avoid strenuous activity."
All throughout this, Origami continued to surreptitiously grind her body against his, the girl clearly lost to the world around her.
"Ah. Well, a civilian really shouldn't have to do that. I can get a free nurse to bring her back to her room?"
At the mere suggestion of this, Origami clung to Shidou like a barnacle. It would be easier to pry apart a welded piece of metal.
"No, no, it's fine. Her room's on the third floor. I'm sure once she gets back to her bed and gets some rest, she'll be fine."
Mercifully, the elevator came to a stop just then, opening onto the third floor. The nurse shrugged her shoulders before making her exit.
"Alright, but if she needs anything be sure to contact us through the patient phone."
"Will do," Shidou answered, trying not to think about the way Origami's body began to tremble as he followed behind her.
He walked at a deliberately slow pace, allowing the nurse to outpace them until she turned a corner and allowed them some privacy.
What the hell was that?
Origami had never made her desire a secret, but she'd always respected his wishes to not go any further.
"Origami, where's your room?" he asked, whispering the words for some reason he couldn't decipher.
It took a second for the now-limp girl to respond, pulling away from his hair to heave a shaky breath.
"...Room 385."
Great.
When they finally arrived at Origami's room on the third floor in the West Ward, all the way at the end of a distant corridor, Shidou had half a mind to just dump her on her bed.
Instead, he gave in to his better nature, letting her down onto the sheets before adjusting his pants for some welcome relief.
"Okay, well, I need to get back—"
In the time he had done that, Origami snatched up the apple and paring knife sitting on the room's vital sign monitor, brandishing the tool blade first at him.
"Peel it."
She had the gall to make demands like this after what she just did? Never let it be said that Origami Tobiichi wasn't a bold girl.
But... as someone who was in the kitchen and handled knives multiple times a day, peeling an apple would take no time at all, so Shidou allowed her to once again take advantage of his better nature and pared the apple, neatly cutting it into slices and setting them on the accompanying plate afterwards.
"Feed me."
"I feel like... Can't you at least eat them yourself?"
"I've been told to avoid strenuous exercise."
Alright, she was just taking advantage of his better nature, now.
"I'd prefer if you fed me mouth-to-mou—"
Origami's lips were momentarily put to better use as Shidou shoved an apple slice in her mouth.
"There! How do you like them apples?"
...
Even he had to admit that one was pretty bad.
But rather than groan at his awful pun, Origami simply moaned quietly as she clamped her lips around the apple and his finger, locking his wrist in a vice—like grip when he reflexively tried to pull away.
She then proceeded to chew the apple, careful not to bite his flesh, gazing sensuously into his eyes the entire time.
Quite against his will, Shidou found himself getting deeply aroused by the whole experience. As she chewed, her tongue tickled the side of his finger, its wet warmth igniting a strangely lewd impression.
Finally, mercifully, Origami swallowed, releasing Shidou's hand and drawing a long strand of saliva between her lips and his finger. It snapped, and Origami wiped the drool from her chin with a satisfied expression.
"Thank you for the meal."
Somehow, he felt like she wasn't just talking about the apple. But never mind that.
He looked at the slick sheen of saliva coating his finger and for one insane second, contemplated licking it clean.
Thankfully, Shidou thought better of it, wiping his finger off on his pants.
"That's enough, right? Please tell me that was enough..."
"One last thing. I have to take my temperature."
"Haaa... alright. Let's get this out of the way."
Origami nodded, producing what he belatedly (and horrifiedly) realized was a rectal thermometer.
"I need to have my temperature taken."
...
"I've been told to—"
"You can't just use that excuse for everything!"
Several minutes later—
Origami lay half atop Shidou, her gown slid down her shoulders and exposing her petite breasts. She had her arms wrapped around his shoulders and a leg draped over his waist. And in his right hand was the thermometer Origami had supplied, its display reading a perfectly healthy 36.2C.
As he lay there, several questions drifted through Shidou's mind.
How had things ended up like this? Was this what harem MCs felt like? And did hospitals even use rectal thermometers nowadays? Or ever?
Resting her head on his chest, Origami began drawing little circles on it.
"Was it as good for you as it was for me?"
He shot up.
"Alright, what is going on here?! Even for you, this is way too... aggressive."
Origami was certainly horny and thirsty and kinky and just generally down abysmal even at the best of times, but this was ridiculous!
"You were nearly seduced by Nightmare on multiple occasions due to her aggressive approach." She sat up to look him in the eyes. "If I can seduce you so that you only have eyes for me, you won't be led astray by other women."
Was that why she'd done all this?
He swore, sometimes this girl was the dumbest smart person he'd ever met.
"Did it work?"
"O-Of course not!" Shidou said way too hastily. "I mean *ahem* I prefer more modest girls! Who take things at a slower pace while we get to know each other."
At his evasive-yet-sincere words, a blush spread across Origami's cheeks, before she averted her gaze, letting out a quiet "Oh you..." as she did so.
Did this girl think she was modest?
Did this girl, who had just shamelessly used his back to get herself off in a public elevator, honestly consider herself modest?
Well, that was completely expected of Origami, so Shidou wasn't shocked at all. What did shock him was how late it had gotten, judging by the time on the room's clock. The day was finally starting to give way to evening, casting the hospital room in a warm glow.
He sat up, lifting Origami with him as he did so.
"I do need to head out, though. Visiting hours will be over soon."
Reluctantly, she disentangled herself from him, doing up her gown as Shidou got ready to leave.
He was just about to open the door when Origami stopped him.
"...Can I ask you one last thing."
She uttered those words in a decidedly different tone than she'd used today, and it gave Shidou pause.
"...Yeah. What is it?"
She was sitting off the side of the bed, hunched over with her hands on the edge.
"It's about yesterday. I want you to tell me what happened after we fought Nightmare. Another spirit appeared in the sky, a spirit in a kimono-style naked dress— one who controlled flames."
She raised her head to meet his gaze.
"Do you remember that?"
"Oh, uh... I actually passed out pretty quick too, so I don't really know."
He lied.
For some reason, Shidou's instincts told him to lie in that moment.
Origami let out a short, disappointed sigh.
"If you do remember anything, I want you to tell me right away. Nothing is too trivial."
"I'll be sure to do that."
She didn't realize it but she was talking about Kotori right now, and with a tone that reminded him very much of that time when they'd talked in her room, before he'd gone out to seal Yoshino.
"...If you don't mind me asking, why do you want to know about the spirit so badly?"
"That's... Do you remember what I told you before? About my parents?"
"Yeah. They were... killed by spirits, right?"
"Yes. Five years ago, a spirit rained hellfire upon the Nanko Area of Tengu City and burned my parents to ash... A spirit that controlled flames, codenamed Ifrit..."
Shidou's blood ran cold as his worst fears were realized.
How had he not made the connection?
The Nankou Area Fire had killed people
Kotori had caused the fire.
Kotori had... killed innocent people.
She hadn't meant to do it, but she had.
"That spirit is the spirit that killed my parents."
And she had killed Origami's parents.
The light of the setting sun through the curtains bathed the room in a blood red as Origami gripped the edge of her bed until her knuckles went white, her body trembling with barely restrained hostility.
"...Everything I've done for the last five years has been for that day. I enlisted in the AST for that day. I qualified for a Realizer for that day. I trained every day until my body gave out for that day. All of it — all of it — was so that I could one day find Ifrit.
"Find it— and kill it."