Emergency klaxons blared as Ryouko marched across the floor of the SDF Tengu Garrison CR unit hanger, field jacket whipping about behind her in the afternoon breeze.
Of all the brain dead, stupid, idiotic things to do…!
She came to a halt at her destination, the bay of the DW-029 Destruction Armament 'White Licorice', the CR unit now missing, as officers rushed around the scene in a barely organized panic.
No signs of forced entry, Ryouko determined before setting her sights on Chief Mechanic Fujimura, who was currently conversing with another mechanic— Asahina, by the looks of it.
"Chief Mechanic Fujimura, what the hell happened here?"
Fujimura turned to her in a panic, eyes wide and trembling.
"I-I-I don't know! I… I must have forgotten to lock it down…!"
"Cut the crap. Just tell me what's going on."
Asahina stepped in, clearing his throat before speaking.
"White Licorice and all its ammunition have disappeared without a trace."
"I can see that. I want to know how that happened."
"That… We were busy with maintenancing the other equipment. It must have happened after that, when we went on break."
Ryouko shut her eyes and massaged the bridge of her nose, eyebrows twitching.
"Great…"
How the hell were they going to explain this to the brass? The White Licorice had been sent to them by none other than Deus Ex Machina Industries themselves— the company at the forefront of humanity's defense against the spirits. Ryouko wouldn't be surprised if there was an official investigation from the goddamn ICC over this.
"It looks like whoever took it did so using an emergency equip device," Asahina supplied. "There should be a record of who activated it. Though, since the White Licorice is still just test equipment, its activation won't show up in the official flight records… Oh, but it should be in the test records…!"
"Look them up. Now."
She kept her eyes trained on Asahina's terminal, face hard as her mind turned the situation over.
It was just a suspicion for now, but all the pieces were there. These last few months, she'd done her level best to instill in the new recruits the nature of their work. How they were in the business of fending off spirits, not killing them.
Only one private had pushed back on that.
I better not see your name in there…
As Asahina pulled up the test records, Fujimura offered a truly respectable bow for a foreigner.
"I'm so sorry! This is completely my fault!"
"It's fine, Fujimura." Ryouko set a hand on her shoulder. "You're not the one who ran off with a piece of experimental military equipment."
"I've got it!" Asahina announced a moment later, sorting the records by latest entry. "It's… Private Origami Tobiichi…!"
Her worst fears confirmed, Ryouko closed her eyes and took a deep breath, fists trembling at her sides. Asahina and Fujimura backed away slowly as the fury in her chest boiled over.
"Tobiichi— What the hell are you thinking!"
At the moment, Tohka and Yoshino were on their second go around the lazy river this time from the right side.
"Alright, and if we take a look over here!" The tour guide at the bow of the ship indicated the volcano at the center of the park. "This is the biggest volcano at Ocean Park. It's normally inactive, but what's this? It seems to be excited that you all came to visit today! It's about to erupt!"
Tohka scooted all the way to the edge of her seat, until she was about to fall into the water.
"Oh, I didn't get a good look at it the first time! I can't wait to see—"
Her words were cut off by an explosion in the distance, completely drowning out the artificial volcano. Yoshino leapt into Tohka's outstretched arms as distant screaming followed soon after.
The tour guide had stopped mid-speech, going pale as she pressed her ear and began speaking in hushed tones.
"…That definitely wasn't the volcano…"
"…Think it could be a spacequake…"
"…Wouldn't the alarms have gone off by now…"
Troubled voices filled the air until more explosions began ringing out, and then everyone was panicking, struggling desperately through the water to get to dry land and then safety.
"Wait!" The tour guide chased after them. "P-Please evacuate in an orderly fashion!"
As the crowd fled, Tohka stayed rooted in place with Yoshino, the familiar sound of those blasts tensing every muscle in her body.
It couldn't be. Why here? Why now?
She was desperately hoping for anything but the obvious when she saw it.
A massive CR unit she had never seen before and who she now knew was Kotori, clad in her naked dress. They shot up over the trees, trading blows as they flew through the air, before disappearing out of sight again, the violent clashing of metal continuing on.
A strange calm came over Tohka as her worst fears were realized. The AST must have come after Kotori. And if Kotori was fighting, then Shidou couldn't be far behind. And if those two were fighting, then there was only one option.
She stood to go after them—
"Wait!"
Yoshinon grabbed her wrist in her stubby paws, holding her in place with surprising strength.
"Don't do it, Tohka! I've been shot at for almost thirty years and that sounds like nothing I've ever heard! Right now, your spirit powers are sealed inside Shidou! If you go out there, you might not make it!"
Tohka looked down at the puppet, taking in the desire to protect her suffusing her words, and gently stroked her cheek.
"I appreciate the warning, but I can't leave Shidou alone."
"Tohka…"
She had her own desires, too, and the one desire at the forefront of her mind right now was…
A familiar weightlessness overtook Tohka as her limited naked dress manifested, her gauntlets and leggings appearing as the top and bottom of her swimsuit became translucent and looser.
"I'm sure he's fighting to save Kotori. The least I can do is protect him."
Saying that, she turn and leapt off the now deserted boat, flying into the air in search of Shidou and Kotori.
Concern in her eyes, Yoshino watched after her before looking down at Yoshinon.
These last few months, she'd spent so much time with Shidou and Kotori, the one's who'd made it possible for her to enjoy the sun on her face and warm breezes in her hair. Despite how she could be sometimes, those two had only ever been kind to her, never mean.
Now, after everything they'd done for her…
"Yoshinon… Can I go too?"
She wanted to protect those people too.
"If that's what you choose to do, why would I stop you?"
At those words of approval, a deep resolve overcame Yoshino, and with it an unexpected weightlessness, her swimsuit fading away as the ruffles around her shoulders elongated to cover her body.
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
The worst had come to pass.
Not only had Origami discovered Kotori's identity as Ifrit, she had succumb to a murderous rage in pursuit of her revenge, going so far as to attack her in public.
From the relative safety of a now abandoned cabana-themed shop, Shidou looked out at the damage their battle had already wrought.
The brick paving making up the plaza had been reduced to rubble, kiosks and food stands were blown to pieces, and fires burned throughout the park. Glass from the dome fell to the ground after shattering from shrapnel and stray rounds.
The scene before him was just like the aftermath of a spacequake.
He turned his gaze to the skies, where Kotori and Origami were still fighting.
Since he had found out about the spirits, Shidou had seen them attacked by the AST many times. But not once had he seen them seriously injured by any of their artillery— the protective shield that surrounded them had always prevented them from suffering serious damage.
This time was different.
Whatever CR unit Origami was piloting, it cut right through Kotori's defenses like they were nothing. If not for her regenerative healing — if it were any other spirit — she would already be dead.
Even now, one of Kotori's limbs, blown off and nearly unrecognizable, lay on the destroyed pavement below, burning to ashes as the same limb regenerated on her body.
"Not bad at all. Did DEM lend you that new toy?" She idly studied the fingernails of her newly regrown hand. "I wonder, though… just how fun it is!"
She made to charge, but in the same instant, the murderous glee on her face faltered, and Kotori gripped her head tightly, keeping an eye on Origami.
"Damn it… Have I used too much already…?"
Continuously relying on her spirit powers like this was burning her sanity at an unsustainable rate. She needed to find a different way to approach this, and fast.
"Cleave Leaf— removal deploy!"
But Origami was even faster, deploying the blades of her CR unit into beams of energy that snapped around Kotori like ropes, holding her fast. She deployed a territory around the spirit to contain the following attack and took aim.
"Annihilate— Blastalk!"
In the next instant, a torrent of magical artillery fired, the sound and impact contained entirely within the territory Origami had set up. It dispersed seconds later, letting the cloud of smoke and debris disperse as shrapnel fell to the pavement.
She was pale, sweat beading on her face as she struggled to catch her breath.
"Camael."
Origami started at that word, fleeing the area like a startled animal only to be batted into the earth below, bouncing like a ball after she'd deployed her territory at the last second. She quickly corrected her trajectory and shot off blindly in a direction, pursued by a comet of fire.
It was Kotori, her broken and battered body wreathed in healing flames as she pounded her battleaxe into Origami's shield relentlessly.
"Where's all that good shit you were spouting just a second ago! You were going to kill me, weren't you! Then do it! Raise your blade at me, aim your barrel at me! Because if you don't, you'll be the one who ends up dead!"
Kotori knew she should fight back, try to resist, to not give in to these urges to punish any and all wrongdoing.
But it felt so good.
This stupid girl, who was willing to throw everything away, endanger innocent civilians, just for some meaningless revenge. That was useless. Sinful even. And thus worthy of punishment.
When people weren't punished for their mistakes, they only became emboldened to commit even greater misdeeds, until they became worthless, useless wretches. That was why every sin, even the littlest one, needed to be punished with the utmost force.
With a manic energy, Kotori raised her axe to strike and strike and strike, her regeneration barely overtaking the damage she was causing to her still healing muscles.
It was agony.
But she had no right to complain. Not when others had died from the very same flames that licked away her wounds like lollipops.
It was her rightful punishment.
That was the appropriate sentence for the likes of her— punish.
Punish everyone. Punish everything.
Punish, until this useless life of hers finally gave out.
I just might get addicted to this!
With a deranged cackle, Kotori raised her Camael and smashed it against Origami's territory, shattering it like glass and sending the wizard and her CR unit crashing into the ground.
She landed a short distance away, chest heaving and nipples hard. Her arousal dribbled down her thighs, turning to steam as quickly as it was produced.
"What? Are you finished already?" she groused, fingering herself. "And I was just getting close… Oh well. Camael— Megiddo."
Coldly, she transformed her battleaxe into its cannon configuration attached to her arm. Flame began to gather in the barrel, ready to fire the moment Kotori commanded.
"An opponent who can't even fight back is useless."
Shaking from exhaustion, Origami raised her head to glare hatred at her. There was not a trace of fear in her eyes.
"Ifrit…!"
A frown crossed Kotori's frenzied features. "I hate that name. I wonder where you could have heard it."
"Did you kill them like this…" she panted. "Five years ago… did you kill my parents like this too!"
"What?"
The flames converging in her Camael ceased as a flash of clarity returned to Kotori in that moment.
"You don't even remember? Five years ago, you set fire to the Nankou Area, killing seven people and leaving dozens with severe burns. My parents were among the ones burned to death by you— Ifrit! I'll never forget that! I will never forgive you!"
With a furious roar, Origami forced her territory to send Kotori flying. She didn't even try to break her fall when she hit the pavement.
"Aah, so someone finally came to punish me…"
All these years, she'd lived with the guilt of killing and maiming those people. Every day, she'd pushed herself to the limit, trying to make up for her crimes. But there was no amount of work that could make up for killing someone, was there?
She thought she'd been punishing herself. But in reality, she'd just been trying to run away from her true punishment, from the ghosts of her past. It seemed one of those ghosts had finally caught up to her, each and every victim it created on its path to vengeance her fault, the one who could not even leave this world without causing trouble.
But none of that mattered anymore.
Not only would she never be able to make up for what she'd done, but Shidou would never love her the way she wanted, which was only just. Even so, more than anything else, that hurt the most.
Like a condemned sinner, Kotori shut her eyes and waited for the strike of her executioner.
"Condense territory… White Licorice— enter critical operation!"
It was better this way. At least like this, she could go out while she was still herself.
"Don't shoot!"
The sound of rushing footsteps and a desperate shout snapped Kotori's eyes open.
It was Shidou, standing between her and Origami's White Licorice, arms out to protect her.
"Wha…?"
Origami's fury faltered for a moment. "Shidou, get out of the way."
"Like hell I will!"
Origami grit her teeth before taking a deep breath.
"…I told you. All these years, I've lived only to avenge my parents. Killing Ifrit, the spirit that killed my parents, is my reason for being."
"Once you pull that trigger, you can't go back! You'll be a murderer, Origami!"
He shouted the first thing that came to mind, scrambling for a way, any way, to talk Origami down.
"I don't care." She shut her eyes tightly. "I can't… I won't forgive her…!"
"Please, Origami! I'm not asking you to forgive her! I'm just asking you to think about what you're about to do!"
"…This is my chance to slay Ifrit. I'm not… I'm not letting it go to waste." The barrels of her CR unit flared to life. "This is the last warning— get out of the way!"
"I am not going to watch my little sister get killed, or watch someone I care about become a murderer!"
For the first time, Origami seemed to reconsider herself, eyes going wide as his words sank in. She hung her head, shoulders trembling from a deep, internal struggle.
Shidou watched on with bated breath.
Had he gotten through to her?
The hum of her CR unit's engines was the only sound for a long while. Then, all of a sudden, her body stopped trembling. And a moment later—
The world became distant, as if he was hearing it through a tin can, and his vision grew blurry.
"Th-This is—!"
Origami had set up a protective barrier around him.
"No, don't do it! Origami!"
With a shout loud enough to drown out the world, Origami fired on Kotori—
"Not so fast!"
The screech of metal tearing filled the air, and the barrel of her CR unit crashed heavily to the ground as the other barrel was frozen solid, leaving the machine lopsided.
"Tohka! Yoshino!"
While Yoshino bounded above them on a smaller version of her puppet angel Zadkiel, Tohka touched down beside Shidou, Sandalphon in hand and her sights trained on Origami.
"You okay? Shidou? Kotori?"
Origami's concentration now broken, the territory locking him in place disappeared, and Shidou rushed to Kotori's side, ignoring the heat radiating from her to take her in his arms.
"Kotori!"
She looked unharmed, but didn't respond to his voice.
"Shidou, go." Tohka called back to him. "We'll distract her while you seal Kotori's powers."
The notion of leaving them to fight Origami and that monstrous CR unit of hers alone didn't sit well with Shidou at all.
Kotori could withstand those attacks due to her healing abilities, but if the same thing happened to Tohka or Yoshino, who weren't even at full strength…
"Go now! You need to take of Kotori, right?"
Tohka risked a smile, flashing it his way before charging forward, joining Yoshino in the fight against Origami.
With a heavy heart, Shidou got to his feet and ran, fleeing the area as Origami watched on helplessly.
"Get out of my way!" She rounded on the spirits interfering. "I don't have time to deal with you right now!"
She was already running on fumes. It was all she could right now to keep her vision steady. If this went on any longer…
Origami deployed her energy blade, meeting Yatogami head on.
"Stop this already, Origami Tobiichi! What good will killing Kotori do you!"
"You're just a spirit, what would you know!"
"Have you already forgotten!" she shouted in her face. "When you nearly cut down Shidou! I felt awful when that happened— just awful! Didn't you feel the same way when you lost your parents!? Do you want to make Shidou go through that! I don't! I don't ever want Shidou to feel that way!"
Her words brought to mind useless memories.
Memories of her talk with Shidou in her bedroom, about how she wouldn't hunt a spirit that had lost their powers.
Memories of Kusakabe telling her off, reminding her that their primary mission was to protect civilians.
And memories of her parents' funeral, without even ashes to remember them by.
Origami buried those painful things under a mountain of rage.
How dare a spirit make her remember that!
She forced Princess and those memories away with a howl, firing her rear-mounted artillery at the enemies before her.
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
The sounds of gunfire and explosions growing distant, Shidou stopped behind a still standing shop, setting Kotori down.
The smell of burnt hair filled his nostrils, cleared away in strips where his skin had touched Kotori, and his jacket had shriveled from the heat in several places.
Kotori wasn't in much better shape, despite her lack of physical injuries. She slumped limply against the wall of the shop, unresponsive.
"Kotori… Kotori!"
Shidou called her name over and over again, until she seemed to suddenly come to, leaping to her feet in a panic.
"Wha—What happened with Origami!?"
"It's fine." Shidou set his hands on her shoulders. "Tohka and Yoshino are fending her off. They're buying us time."
"Buying us… time? What do you mean?"
"I mean to seal your powers, Kotori."
She stared up at him in dumb confusion.
"Seal my… But I—I thought you weren't sealing spirits anymore?"
So it was just as he had suspected. She really had taken his words back then to heart.
Every moment today that he had interpreted as a shit test flitted through his mind. She hadn't been giving him a hard time, she'd been trying to gauge whether he still even liked her.
"Kotori…" He brought her into his arms. "Why would I still think that after everything that's happened?"
She tried, tried to keep up her usual, strong demeanor. But there were tears in her eyes.
"I… I don't know, damn it! I just… I thought you didn't…"
"I thought you would never love me the way I wanted."
He couldn't be certain, but he felt those were the words she couldn't say right now.
And, well, before today, before Shidou had learned the depths of her feelings for him, and his own for her, maybe that would have stayed the truth.
"I'm sorry for making you feel that way, Kotori. I didn't… I didn't understand how much you loved me."
"You're just saying that because my spirit powers need to be sealed!"
"I'm saying it because I love you."
He placed both hands on either side of her head and stared her straight in the eyes.
"I don't care if you're a spirit, a commander, or even my little sister. I love you because you're Kotori. Because you're you."
Was that a copout to avoid the guilt of incest? Realistically, it probably was. But he'd realized that if he didn't do this, he was going to lose someone he loved very much.
There was no more time to fool around or hesitate. It was now or never. Either Origami found them and enacted her revenge, or Kotori would lose herself to her spirit powers forever.
"You-You—I can't… How do you… expect me to just—!"
Shidou took his sister by the chin and kissed her.
"Kotori's very dominant, but she's also very submissive."
Reine's words from before passed through his mind as he pulled away to regard Kotori's stunned expression, a rakish smile on his face.
"I'm telling you to forget about all that." He kissed her again. "The only thing… I want you to think about right now… is me…"
He didn't have the Fraxinus to tell him Kotori's mood or IOIs or anything like that. But he didn't need that kind of thing anymore. The hunger in the way Kotori locked lips with him told him everything he needed to know.
He felt her up as they continued to make out, thumbing her erect nipple and treasuring the meek little moan his sister let out when he did so. Her hands lifted up to cup his cheeks and pulled him even deeper into their kiss.
When Shidou broke away, the trail of saliva between them evaporating in the heat between them.
Kotori stared up at him, eyes wide and unguarded and needy, so unlike herself she was almost unrecognizable. The air was thick with the scent of her arousal, and Shidou's body was responding to it with arousal of its own.
Her eyes flicked down at the sound of his swim trunks rustling, shoved out of the way to allow his cock to spring free.
She stared at it, mesmerized, watching him work the shaft a few times, drawing his foreskin from his glans, before beginning to tease her clit with it, wetting the sensitive flesh with her slick juices, her mouth gaping and her body twisting in pleasure.
He was already so hard, but watching her chest heave with every gasp, brace herself against the shop walls, and quiver beneath his touch was a feast for the eyes.
"I'm gonna put it in," he eventually said before doing just that.
Shidou pressed his cockhead past Kotori's labia, pushing deeper and deeper with his hips until the base of his cock met her clit.
It was so intense that he had to stop there, just to let himself cool down a little. He moaned when Kotori's insides trembled around his cock.
Hot.
More than any of the other spirits he had made love to, Kotori was hot. Painfully so. But as Shidou rocked into her, his sister gradually matching his rhythm, he found himself more and more desperate to throw himself into that fire.
If he got to feel her caress him like this, then it was a pleasure to burn.
Kotori moaned wantonly beneath him, lifting a thigh for Shidou to hook in his elbow, using the extra leverage to really grind against him, targeting her own G-spot and ringing more cries of pleasure from her.
Things were going well, but there was still one element missing.
Just having sex wasn't enough. There had to be love.
Like this, there was still a chance Kotori's spirit powers wouldn't be sealed.
"Kotori… tell me… do you love me…!"
"Wh-What… kind of… question is that…!"
Her offense at the question even bled through her arousal.
It was without a doubt an inelegant way to ask, but at the moment, Shidou wasn't able to come up with a more romantic line.
"I'm asking… because I need to know, Kotori! I need to know… if you feel the same way…!"
Somehow, she had the audacity to be bashful at a time like this, trying to speak through her moans.
"I—I… can't just-Oooh~!"
But her words were cut off, not by further embarrassment, but by her rapidly approaching orgasm, her eyes going cross and her jaw slack.
Seeing this, Shidou locked in and just kept doing what he was doing.
He was getting close too, he could feel it in the tip of his cock and the way his hips were getting away from him. But he wasn't going to stop. Not when she was this close.
"Ko… tori…!"
She came first.
Her thighs shook as her pussy clamped down on Shidou, sucking on his dick with a wet, inhuman force.
"Aaahn—I do~! I love you, Shidou! I love you—more than—anyone in the world! Shi—douaaah~!
Kotori threw her head back and yowled as her orgasm reached a fever pitch, reducing the girl to mindless, animal noises. Shidou squeezed her ass in his grip as he tumbled with her over the edge, crushing her hips against his as his cock began to pump in time with her body's convulsions, wringing every last drop of cum out of him.
"Haa… haa! Ooooh~!"
With stiff motions, Shidou pressed his free arm against the rough brick above Kotori, his fist clenching white. It was all he could do to not rut her straight into the shop's exterior. Each time her pussy tightened around his cock head, his hips jerked into Kotori with a reflexive force that threatened to topple them over.
Like that, Shidou had a clear view of Kotori's face, her eyes glazed over as her jaw stretched and snapped shut. In the throes of orgasm, he imagined he didn't look much different himself.
He had never loved her as much as he did in this moment.
Overcome with that emotion, he kissed her, and in the same instant a very different kind of heat — warmth, really — suffused his entire being as the path between them was reestablished. Kotori's naked dress burst into a shower of sparks like fireworks vanishing into the air, her spirit powers sealed once again.
Forgotten memories began to flood Shidou's mind, of that day five years ago. He witnessed the same ineffable presence from the video footage explain to Kotori the nature of her powers, coaching her through her first time with him, sealing her spirit powers before that presence removed both their memories of the event, claiming that it wasn't time for them to know.
With a lurch, Shidou returned to the present as the two collapsed to the pavement, gasping and shaking from exhaustion.
He felt utterly spent.
A sheen of sweat covered their bodies. His own hair was matted to his face, and his trunks stuck to his thighs at uncomfortable spots. Kotori wasn't in much better condition. Strands of her long red hair hung from her lips and stuck to her body in odd places. Her chin was plastered with drool, and her eyes were still distant and unfocused.
The two stayed like that, lost in their own little world, gazing at the other wordlessly while they caught their breath, until the sound of explosions interrupted the still intimacy of their moment.
That was right. He still had one more issue to take care of.
Shidou removed his jacket and gently draped it over his sister, holding her in his arms and planting a soft kiss on her head before hauling himself to his feet.
As he left, Kotori belatedly called after him.
"…W-What are you doing?" She struggled to get to her feet. "Even with my healing… you can't fight her!"
At her words, Shidou stopped and threw a reassuring smile her way.
"Fight her? Come on, sis, do I even have to say it?" He turned and continued on his way. "I'm a lover, not a fighter."
Origami…
Shidou was no military officer, but he knew there was no coming back from what she had done today. In the pursuit of revenge, that girl had chosen to throw everything away.
So it was probably impossible to convince her to give up on her revenge.
But he didn't need to convince her to give up…
He found Origami still fighting with Tohka and Yoshino. When she caught sight of him, she dropped altitude until she was within earshot.
"Shidou. Where is Ifrit."
She was pale and covered in sweat, and her breaths were labored. Behind her, Tohka and Yoshino watched on, studying Shidou's response.
To them, he just nodded. He had this.
To Origami, he said, "I remember everything that happened five years ago! Kotori couldn't have been the one who killed your parents!"
After regaining all of his memories from that day, Shidou knew that for certain.
Origami's story matched up with neither his memories or Kotori's account. So she must have been mistaken, taking out her revenge on the wrong person.
Above him, she studied Shidou with unsteady eyes, fighting through the dizziness threatening to overwhelm her. She touched down on the ground, disengaging the White Licorice's active thrusters to rely on the passive production mode of her basic Realizer.
It reduced the rate of energy consumed, but only barely. She'd already burned through so much of her blood sugar that such measures were useless.
"What are you talking about?" she forced out the words. "Five years ago… Ifrit— Ifrit killed my parents!"
"No, the fire may have been caused by Ifrit's power, but Kotori was with me the entire time! She couldn't have killed your parents! Not with her own hands!"
"That— It was definitely a spirit!"
"Then it must have been someone else!" Shidou protested. "I know it must be hard to believe, but I saw someone else that day, the same person who gave Kotori the powers of Ifrit, and the same person who killed your parents!"
"You expect me… to believe you?"
"Fine then. But answer me one question, Origami. The one you want revenge on is Ifrit, right? Not Kotori? Not anybody else?"
She narrowed her eyes, trying to tease apart the logic of that line of questioning.
"…What? Ifrit and Kotori are one and the same… You are speaking nonsense."
He was trying to stall her, she realized. Trying to run out her White Licorice's fuel reserves.
If that was the case, then—
Above them, a broken shard of glass fell from the park's dome ceiling, headed straight for him.
"Shidou!"
Origami reacted only too late, the shard cutting into his shoulder and chest on its way to the ground, and for a horrible moment she was brought back to that day in April, when she'd cut him instead of her target.
But instead of dropping like back then, he stood tall as azure flames burst from the wound, eating away at it until nothing remained of it.
Origami just stared, dumbfounded, as Shidou pressed a fist to his chest.
"Do you see that, Origami? I've taken Ifrit's spirit powers! I'm Ifrit now!"
What the— that was not how things worked. Not at all.
And yet, her instruments clearly registered the spirit signature emanating from Shidou as Ifrit's.
"If you don't believe me, then shoot me! Cut me down! Just like you did back in April! Because I'm not getting out of the way!"
He threw his arms out, ready to accept her revenge in place of his sister.
Origami glanced behind him, towards the shop he'd emerged from, where that sister no doubt still lay.
With a mental command, she deployed her energy blade.
If he had Ifrit's regenerative abilities now, then it should be safe to…
Shidou stared at the blade in her hand before returning his eyes to hers.
"Origami, do you remember our conversation back in May? About why you fight spirits? I'm asking because back then you promised that you would not hunt any spirit that had its powers sealed."
She hesitated, the memories of that day halting her in her tracks.
Why did he have to remind her of that?
As she struggled to string together thoughts, the White Licorice's critical fuel level alarms began blaring.
Her blood sugar levels had finally dropped below the emergency shut off levels. Against her will, the CR unit crashed to the pavement and ejected her, throwing her onto her hands and knees as even her blade deactivated.
This was it. It was over. Without the White Licorice, there was no wa—
No! She was a machine! A machine whose only purpose was to annihilate the spirit that killed her parents!
Origami pulled her service pistol from its holster, aiming the barrel at Shidou. Her hand shock uncontrollably, even as she gripped it in a futile attempt to steady it.
Why did this always happen?
Shidou was once again rejecting her.
Her mind drifted to that sunny afternoon the last day of their first year, when she'd asked him out while he was retrieving his shoes after school.
She had been so nervous that she hadn't even talked to him the whole year.
He'd rejected her, of course, quite curtly at that. But somehow, she hadn't lost heart.
It was a story her parents had told her once or twice, about how they'd gotten together. Her mother had asked her father out at some work function or another, and he'd politely turned her down. They'd become friends for some time after that, getting to know each other, until one thing led to another and they started dating.
It was that story that had let her stay hopeful— the idea of a future where they laughed about how he had turned her down but she'd won him over with steadfast persistence.
How romantic it would have been…
She really had thought such things. It seemed so naive now.
Her consciousness was slipping away. She needed to do this now. It was now or never.
But… What did she need to do? What was she doing after this?
Her love for the man who meant the world to her. Her hatred for the spirit that killed her parents.
Immovable object met unstoppable force and Origami's mind stalled like a malfunctioning engine. Her eyes slid shut as she fell over, unconscious before she'd even hit the pavement.
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
The AST arrived soon after that, managing the situation, rescuing civilians, as well as apprehending Origami and the White Licorice. In the commotion, the Fraxinus had transported Shidou and everyone else to safety. They'd all been sent to the infirmary and, save for some bruises for Tohka and Yoshino, were quickly cleared. Kotori of course stayed, for more extensive testing.
At the moment, Shidou stood in the bridge of the airship, arms crossed as he stared at the screensaver of main monitor, a constantly shifting set of 3D patterns and graphics.
In the end, Origami had not forgiven Kotori or given up on her revenge or anything like that. The problem had merely been kicked down the road.
Talk about an unsatisfying finish…
But, Shidou supposed that was only to expected.
Rarely did things in the real world end in any happily ever afters. Though it seemed they'd at least managed a happy for now ending.
"My apologies, Chin."
Shidou turned to face Reine as she entered through the automatic doors.
"This entire situation could have been avoided if I'd had better judgment."
"…Do you mean taking Tohka and Yoshino on the date? They did save us at the end, so I think it wasn't a bad idea."
Reine shook her head. "Kotori and you never should have gone on a date in the first place. It would have been safer to seal her immediately after you woke the other day. It's just that Kotori was looking forward to the date so much."
"I mean, well yeah, but we needed to raise her comfort levels, right? Not to mention mine. Otherwise, it wouldn't be possible to seal Kotori's spirit powers?"
In response, Reine brought up a graph on the main monitor— Kotori's biometrics and spirit data. Though he rarely got to see it out in the field, Shidou was familiar enough with the values displayed there, and was surprised to see the absence of the line tracking comfort levels.
It took another second of studying the monitor to realize that the measurement was there, just as a straight line spanning the entirety of the top of the graph.
"What…"
"From the beginning, her comfort levels were already at maximum. They never dropped in the slightest." Reine set her tired eyes on him. "I told you didn't I? Kotori loves her big brother."
Her values had been that high the entire time? Then that mean—
"It must have been an error!"
The irate voice of Kotori Itsuka interrupted any thoughts he might have had, as his sister marched through the automatic doors, wearing a deep blush and a very professional pink hospital gown under her military jacket. Her long hair out behind her without its customary black ribbons, having been destroyed in Origami's initial strike.
"That thing's useless I swear! AI isn't worth the electricity it's running on!"
Adjusting her glasses groggily, Reine turned to her.
"It definitely wasn't. The machine was calibrated just last week, on your ord—"
"Ten La Pucelle limited edition cream puffs."
"My mistake, Chin. It must be broken."
"Don't be bribed so easily!"
Her lips quirked in a slight, triumphant smile, Kotori took a seat at the Commander's chair.
"Reine, what's the status on the AST and Origami?"
"They appear to have stabilized the situation at Ocean Park, and the last civilians have already been admitted to nearby hospitals. As of now, it appears there are no casualties. Regarding Origami Tobiichi, we can't be sure, but given that it seems she operated that experimental CR unit without authorization, it's likely she will be court-martialed and stripped of her rights to use a Realizer, at least."
"Well that's good. So far, Origami's been nothing but a thorn in our side. If she's out of commission, that can only spell good news for us."
Shidou wasn't sure how he felt about celebrating another's downfall, but Origami had brought it on herself. She had no one to blame but herself for what she'd done.
"So, how are you feeling? Shouldn't you be getting some rest after all this?"
Kotori scoffed, fingers clacking away at her keyboard.
"Rest? I don't have time for that. We need to fill out some reports."
"Report? Sheesh, sis, can't that at least wait till tomorrow?"
He understood the importance of work as much as the next person, but after everything they'd been through today, Shidou felt like they'd at least earned a little bit of rest.
"No can do." Kotori retrieved a lollipop from her jacket, popping it in her mouth, before returning to typing. "I finally remembered the spirit from five years ago. We can't rule out the possibility of our memories being tampered with again, so we need to make a record of this somewhere outside our heads."
Shidou was about to protest further, before Reine set a hand on his shoulder and leaned in to whisper.
"Let her. This is how she relaxes. Check on Tohka and Yoshino. You can send in your report later."
Shidou wanted to protest, but honestly, he was just glad to have finally resolved everything, if only for now. Everything else would have to come later.
"Alright. Just… don't push yourself too hard, sis."
"I'll try not to," Kotori answered in that way that made it clear she would do anything but.
Shidou couldn't help a wry smile at that. That was very much like his sister.
Slipping his hands into his pockets, he headed for the doors to the bridge.
"Hey, Shidou…"
Kotori's voice, timid and uncertain, stopped him before he could leave. He looked back at her, his sister turned in her seat to face him but conspicuously refusing to meet his eyes. She looked so different without her ribbons. Somehow more vulnerable, and a little softer.
"You know all that… stuff you said when we… before you sealed my spirit powers… Was it true?"
"Of course it was. I love you, Kotori."
Then, a teasing smirk.
"As a little sister!"
A bit of payback for everything she'd put him through during their date, despite having maxxed out emotional values.
With a laugh, she tossed a stack of sticky notes after him.
"We had sex!"
Dodging with a laugh of his own, Shidou exited the bridge while listening to Kotori order Reine to bring on Kannazuki just so he could pick up the sticky notes.
After that, he was teleported to the hilltop park overlooking the city, where Tohka was waiting. In the distance, the sun had just begun its descent behind the rim of the spacequake crater containing all of Tengu City, leaving most of the city in darkness.
An arm around Tohka's waist, the two watched that beautiful view in silence for some time.
"Thank you for saving us, Tohka," Shidou eventually said. "If you and Yoshino hadn't shown up, I don't know what I would have done."
"I just reacted to all the heart you were showing. I'm sure Yoshino did the same."
As the two fell into comfortable silence once more, scenes from recent conflicts played out in Shidou's mind. Origami's self-destructive quest for revenge, Kurumi's assault on the school, and the way Tohka and Yoshino had fought in his stead.
"Also… I'm sorry."
"Hmm? For what?"
"For these last few days, I guess…" Shidou cast his gaze aside. "I've made you fight so much, even though I know how much you hate that… I just feel bad for being so useless that you have to fight for me."
In a rare display, Tohka put on a wry smirk at his silliness, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, pulling him down, and kissing him.
"Oh, Shidou. We've already been over this! If it's for you, I don't mind fighting at all."
It took Shidou a second to remember what she was talking about— the discussion they'd had before he'd gone on to seal Yoshino, when they'd cleared the air between each other after a day's long misunderstanding.
At the time, he'd come to the conclusion that Tohka's feelings for him, genuine and lovely as they were, were not love, because she did not understand such things as love.
Maybe that was true back then but, after everything they'd been through and done for each other, Shidou didn't know how he could call these feelings between them now anything other than love.
"Yeah, I guess I forgot." He kissed her back. "Thanks, Tohka. I couldn't have done any of this without you."
The warm glow of the setting sun cast everything in a soft glow as Shidou gazed into Tohka's eyes, this girl who had crashed into his world and completely turned it upside down. A gentle breeze passed through the park, drowning out everything else, so that nothing seemed to exist save them…
"A young couple partaking in a little hanky-panky in the park! Talk about a romantic moment!"
With a start, the pair looked up at the sudden voice, finding nothing but open air above them.
"Kotori!?"
Was she using the Fraxinus' Realizer to cast her voice to their location? As if in response, the silhouette of the massive airship flashed into view momentarily before vanishing.
"Oh, don't mind us. Please, proceed."
The Cheshire smile was clear as day in her voice. And of course, Tohka didn't mind an audience at all, hiking a leg up his side and grinding her hips against his.
"Hey, let us join in!"
As if things weren't already chaotic enough, Yoshinon forced her way in between them, courtesy of Yoshino, snatching a few kisses in the process.
Tohka, kind soul that she was, just smiled brightly at the new arrivals.
"Of course!"
"Not happening!"
Now, romancing and seducing girls to have sex with them in order to seal their spirit powers? That, Shidou could allow. But public sex with an audience? That was a bridge too far.
As a chorus of "oh, come on"s and "why not"s filled the air, Shidou reflected on everything that had happened these past few months.
When he'd started this whole crazy thing, which could charitably be described as polyamory under duress, he never could have expected in his wildest dreams feeling this way about multiple girls— even his own sister!
But that was just how love was, wasn't it?
It showed up in the most unexpected ways, in the most unexpected places, and all one could do was recognize it when they came across it.
As he reflected on this fact surrounded by the people he loved, Shidou couldn't help feeling that it really was such a romantic moment.
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
Britain— 10:02 a.m.
Halfway across the world, on the top floor of a high-rise in the Canary Wharf, the wet smack of flesh slapping against flesh echoed through the executive office of Deus Ex Machina Industries' headquarters.
Strewn across the ornate desk of that office was none other than the Adeptus 1, Ellen Mira Mathers, her naked breasts bulging out of her black blazer and her already short pencil skirt bunched up around her ass. Before her was DEM's founder and director Sir Issac Ray Pelham Westcott, currently pounding away at her sopping pussy with on arm resting on his back.
"Yes yes yes yes! Agh, fuck, Ike! Fuck~!"
Sunlight from the curtain walls bathed the space in bright light, illuminating Ellen's blonde hair in sharp relief as it clung to her sweaty face. Her wanton moans filled the space, drowning out the sounds of measured but hurried footsteps approaching the office.
"Mr. Westcott, sir, I have a repo—"
Jessica Bailey, Adeptus 3, pushed open the mahogany door, stopping in her tracks at the sight of her superiors going at it without a care in the world.
Neither responded to her intrusion. If anything, Ellen became even louder.
Jessica stood there awkwardly, restlessly running a hand through her scarlet hair, the terminal displaying her report held in the crook of her elbow. Her gaze snapped between the two of them repeatedly before Isaac spoke up.
"Come in. And close the door behind you, Bailey," Westcott grunted out. "I'm just about to finish."
She started at being spoken to, and stepped fully inside the office, allowing the door to close behind her.
She stayed there obediently, as she often did when she walked in on these two. Would this time go like she hoped, or would it be like last time, when Westcott finished Ellen off, but sent her off on some inane mission?
It wasn't fair, being ignored like this. Just because she was only Adeptus 3…
Examining Baily like this from the corner of her violet eyes, Ellen quickly identified the emotion radiating off the woman in waves.
Jealousy.
The younger woman watched on in barely restrained envy, her thighs grinding tightly together as she furtively bit her lip.
"Ahh~! Just like that, Ike…! Fffuck…!"
Ellen basked in the attention of her man and Bailey in equal measure, working her hips to meet his.
This was her privilege as the Adeptus 1, the strongest wizard, nay strongest human in all the world. Getting fucked by the likes of Ike was simply her privilege, and she had no compunctions about showing that off.
She was so turned on by the situation that she could feel her body already preparing a third orgasm.
Not yet.
She wanted this one to be with Ike.
She didn't have to wait long.
His rhythmic thrusting was quickly devolving into instinctive rutting, his face constricting in pleasure.
"Ellen—!"
That was her cue.
With a throaty cry, Ellen came, her body bucking and her pussy spasming and tensing in an effort to coax him to orgasm. She drew her thighs up further to lock her ankles and Ike in place.
He groaned, almost falling upon her, catching himself on the desk as he crushed his hips against hers and his cock began pulsing inside her.
"Oh yes! Cum for me, Ike! Fill me up~!"
His hot semen spurted into her depths, and she watched with ecstatic fascination the ways she could make his body and face contort with just her pussy.
Only she could make him melt like that.
The two stayed entangled like that, Ellen running her fingers through his short hair, even after the peak of their orgasm had passed, savoring the sparks of raw pleasure they could ignite by grinding together.
Eventually, Ike patted her shoulder, and she released him, allowing the man to right himself, pulling her to a seated position as he did so.
Her least favorite part came, when Ike pulled out, still semi-erect and dripping with their shared fluids. Well, that sight wasn't so bad.
With languid motions, Ellen retrieved a box of tissues from the desk, stemming the flow of cum dripping from her while Ike and her caught their breath.
When she was satisfied that she wouldn't drip too much, Ellen slipped off the desk, dropping into a deep squat and beginning to lick Ike's cock clean, massaging her still tender pussy all the while.
"The report, Bailey?"
Bailey, who's eyes were half-glazed over with lust, snapped to with a start.
"Huh?"
"You said you had a report to give, didn't you?"
"Ah! Y-Yes, sir!" She began tapping away at her terminal. "It's about Takamiya and the situation in Japan…"
"Oh? I've been wondering what our dear Adeptus 2 has been up to."
"Yes, well… it appears she's been put in the hospital by the spirit Nightmare."
Bailey did a poor job of restraining her contempt for Takamiya in her report. She'd made little attempt over the years to hide her naked desire to rise above Adeptus 3, and it was for that reason that she would remain so.
That said, it seemed the Adeptus 2 was off embarrassing them. They were the strongest wizards in the world. A mere spirit, even one as infamous as Nightmare, shouldn't have put Takamiya in the hospital. Disgraceful.
"That is unfortunate, but not unexpected, if Nightmare is involved. I doubt anyone could have fared better." Ike glanced down at Ellen. "Other than our dear Mathers. Wouldn't you agree, Bailey?"
"Yes, sir…"
Ellen preened under Ike's praise, completing the work of cleaning his cock with her tongue while Bailey did what she did best— seethe impotently.
"Though, how troublesome. After all the increased spirit activity in Japan, I'd been hoping to gather some data on the White Licorice."
"Ah, actually, the White Licorice did see some operational use the other day…"
Raising herself to her full height, Ellen leaned back against the office desk and took stock of the way Ike's meat stood at attention again after her lavishing, and watched on as he strode towards Bailey.
"Hmm? That's quite unexpected. I would have thought with Takamiya out of commission, that would be it for our little toy."
"Yes, well… it seems that one of the AST's wizards stole it to take on the spirit designated Ifrit."
"Now that is quite interesting."
Bailey looked up from her terminal to the sight of Ike looming over her, cock standing erect in a way that stole all her attention.
"S-Sir?"
"Don't mind me, Bailey." He took her chin in his hands and brought her lips against his. "I'm simply rewarding you for bringing this fascinating information to me."
From her position, Ellen could just make out how the woman melted under Ike's affection, her normally snide demeanor vanishing for the time being. He made out with Bailey for a little while longer, before slipping around behind her, doing something with his hand that made her gasp.
"Oh, good. I was wondering if you'd remembered not to wear panties," he whispered into her ear. "Good girl."
Bailey's head rolled back and she moaned like a stuck pig, gripping Ike's hair as he lifted her skirt. Ellen saw that, clear as day.
After some teasing, Ike penetrated her and began smacking his hips against hers with a measured rhythm that made the Adeptus 2 arch her back in ecstasy.
"Now, tell me more about this incident."
"They—Today, a—AST wizard took the—nah!—White Licorice—and used it to—attack a spirit! Haa~!"
"You already told me that. What of the recorded data? The name of the wizard?"
Ike was clearly fucking Bailey's brains out, Ellen idly noted as she fingered herself to their fucking, because the woman was even more incoherent than usual.
"Haah! Origami Tobi—ichi! The wizard's—name is Origami… Tobiichi!"
"Oh? It's been ages, but I was quite the whiz at origami back in the day. I wonder if this Tobiichi could be of use to our plans?"
Bailey offered nothing in the way of response, just cried out in dumb bliss as she came on Ike's dick. Well, for once, Ellen couldn't blame her.
Coming off her own orgasm, she watched Bailey crumple to her hands and knees on the carpet as Ike stood above her, the evidence of their quickie all over his cock. Seemed like she'd have to clean up after another of Bailey's messes.
But, rather than make his way over to Ellen, or even leaving the job to the Adeptus 3, he made his way across the office to the window overlooking the River Thames.
"I've been wondering… despite greater than average spirit activity, there's been no corresponding increase in spacequakes… Is it possible that the spirit's powers are being sealed?"
"Likely the work of that traitor Elliot."
Ellen answered offhandedly, tossing the tissue box Bailey's way and being predictably disappointed when the woman failed to catch it, instead yelping stupidly as it bonked her on the head.
"Yes, that would explain some things. Seems the old fool's finally decided to make some moves…"
With a flourish, Ike spun around, arms out and the noonday sun at his back. In that moment, he looked very much like he had all those years ago, when they had first decided to walk down this path.
"Ah, how delightful. I was just thinking we should do something about that meddlesome organization of his."
Putting his dick away and zipping up his slacks, Ike slipped his hands into his pockets before striding towards the door.
"Ellen."
"Yes, Ike."
"Get ready. We have much work to do."
Immediately, Ellen rose to her feet, putting her breasts away before doing her top up and tugging her skirt down over her ass, running her fingers through her hair as she followed Ike past Bailey and out the office.
"First things first. We'll need to book a flight to Japan."
"On it." Ellen was already busily tapping away at her terminal, clearing their schedule with a few short presses.
"I wonder… will we finally be able to do it? Will we finally witness another Sefirot inversion?"
"If that happens, do I have permission to fight?"
"Of course. I couldn't care less about what happens to them, as long as we the get the Sefirot crystals." Ike flashed a rakish grin. "After all, spirits… are nothing more than incubators."