Seeing the dazed boy, Tohka didn't hurry to say anything. Honestly, she still wanted to hear what his support team would say—back when she watched the anime, their antics had made her laugh so hard her stomach hurt.
"Uh, um..." Drenched in cold sweat under Tohka's stare, Shido Itsuka's expression suddenly turned a little strange. He seemed to hesitate, but soon he resigned himself and said, "Miss, how old are you this year? Do you have a boyfriend?"
…..
An awkward atmosphere descended. Tohka knew perfectly well these guys were trying to "capture" her, but seriously—who starts a conversation by asking that? So, she simply widened her dead-fish eyes and stared at the boy before her, thinking this guy's brain must've been kicked by a donkey.
Gulp. Feeling his scalp tingle under Tohka's stare, Shido's earpiece suddenly came alive again. "My name is Shido Itsuka, please go out with me..."
Boom. But before he could finish, a blue-purple sword beam blasted past him. Drenched in cold sweat, he turned around and saw that the wall behind him now had a gaping hole. The edge of the hole was so smooth that he could see light reflected from it.
"You really are infuriating." Before he could recover from the shock, a voice reached his ears. Tohka was slowly walking toward him, her forehead sprouting cross-shaped veins of irritation.
"Even if I know those weren't your words, can't you at least use the tiny bit of brain you have left?" Staring down at Shido, who had slumped against the wall, Tohka stopped in front of him and continued, "Did you really think this was a gal game capture scenario? You're making me laugh."
"Uh..." Hearing Tohka's words, Shido had no way to refute her. The truth was, he really had played a lot of gal games recently, and he'd even tried some of those lines on his teacher and Origami with pretty good results. That's why, even though he knew it was absurd, he'd still forced himself to say it.
"I'm guessing the ones feeding you lines are a bunch of aging single men, leftover women, and fat shut-ins. These people can't even get dates themselves, and you actually believe them? Who's the real idiot here—me or you? No—probably the idiots who came up with this strategy." Tohka, ignoring the blue-haired boy's embarrassed stare, uncharacteristically started talking a lot.
"Uh, ah..." As Tohka's words kept coming, Shido felt a cold sweat drip down his face. He distinctly heard the sound of someone snapping a pen in frustration over his earpiece, followed by a chorus of ghostly wails. He realized that in a single sentence, Tohka had managed to break the will of his entire support team at Ratatoskr.
"So, tell me, how much longer are you planning to listen to their nonsense?" Without waiting for a reply, Tohka reached out, ripped the earpiece off his ear, and casually crushed it in her hand. Even if she hadn't read the original story, she would've known he was wearing it. After all, back in the other world, she'd worn enough of those herself to be sensitive to earpieces.
"Uh, um..." With his earpiece torn off, Shido was completely flustered. This meeting had been disastrous—every move he'd made, Tohka had seen right through. It was unbearably humiliating.
"Hmm, here we go again?" Seeing Shido reduced to a wreck by her scolding, Tohka had been about to say more. Honestly, there was just so much to roast about this whole situation. And since she was in this world now, she couldn't be bothered to hide it anymore. But before she could continue, she suddenly sensed a fierce gust of wind behind her. She immediately raised her barrier, and a hail of bullets came raining down.
But that wasn't all—there she was again, the white-haired girl she'd met just yesterday, charging at her with no regard for her own life, energy sword raised to strike Tohka's head. This time, there wasn't the slightest hint of restraint.
"Have you had enough yet? Do you really think I can't beat you?" Watching Origami Tobiichi recklessly charge her again, Tohka finally felt annoyed. Yesterday, she'd deliberately held back—did Origami really think she'd survived because she was strong? This time, Tohka had no intention of going easy. She raised Sandalphon to block Origami's attack, while her other hand gathered a swirling blue-purple energy sphere right against Origami's abdomen.
"Crap." Realizing she couldn't possibly take this attack, Origami jumped back as fast as she could.
But Tohka was even faster. She swung Sandalphon in a sweeping arc, swatting Origami out of the air before she could react. Origami crashed into the wall of a nearby classroom. Tohka didn't forget to taunt her: "Come challenge me again when you're actually one of us."
"All right, that's enough for today. Boy, good luck to you. We'll meet again. Oh—what was your name again? Never mind, it's not an important detail." Sparing a glance at the blue-haired boy, Tohka didn't bother letting him answer. She simply turned and walked away. After all, she already knew everyone's names—why bother pretending to ask?
"Huff... finally gone." Watching the blue-armored girl disappear, Shido let out a deep sigh of relief. He felt like he'd just crawled out of death's jaws yet again. Then he remembered Origami, who'd been knocked aside by Tohka. He hurried into the adjacent classroom. When he found her, he finally relaxed—she wasn't badly hurt.
"Seems that girl isn't so bad after all. She's actually pretty kind." At that moment, he finally formed a clear impression of Tohka. After all, Origami had come at her with deadly force from the start. Even he had found that hard to watch. But Tohka had never used lethal force—if she'd swung Sandalphon seriously, Origami would've been cleaved in two.
"All right, come back, Shido. Today's operation was a complete failure." Just then, his phone rang. Since Tohka had crushed his earpiece earlier, this was the only way they could reach him now.