Ratatoskr "..." At this moment, Shido Itsuka and his sister Kotori Itsuka were standing side by side, staring at the girl in the living room. But unlike Kotori's expression, Shido looked absolutely headache-stricken. Because Tohka had eaten all their food supplies in a single morning, and this girl didn't feel even a shred of embarrassment, treating the place as if it were her own home.
"Hey hey, Shido, do you see that? This Spirit really likes to eat. Remember that—it'll be useful to you." At this moment, Kotori quietly tugged Shido's sleeve to get his attention.
"Mm, hahaha..." But obviously she was going to be disappointed, because Shido was focused on something else entirely. That was...
"There's barely any living expenses left for this month. That was nearly half a month's worth of food..." Right now, Shido was calculating his meager wallet, and thinking about how if he really did succeed, Tohka's food expenses alone made his future look pitch black.
"Mm, you're here. Looks like I have pretty good luck. I randomly broke into a house and ran into someone I knew." Of course, Tohka wasn't about to say how she'd actually found this place, but phrasing it this way meant the two of them probably wouldn't care. After all, what they were concerned with was the capture plan. Wasn't that perfect? See—Kotori, who had at some point swapped back into her black headband, was already looking excited.
"Uh... fine." Hearing Tohka say that, Shido reflexively nodded. But soon he realized another problem, namely...
"Wait, since you've appeared, why isn't there a spacequake?" There was no helping it—both times Tohka had shown up before, there had been violent spacequakes. But this time, there was no sign of anything abnormal.
"Mm? Spacequake? Are you talking about this?" Hearing Shido's question, Tohka casually lifted one hand. Instantly, a terrifying wave surged over the house, accompanied by a piercing alarm siren.
"Stop—don't release a spacequake!" Seeing Tohka's motion, Shido instinctively lunged forward. But when he met Tohka's threatening gaze, he froze in midair and then collapsed onto the sofa.
"Tch, isn't it just a spacequake." Glancing boredly at the instantly-cowed Shido, Tohka casually withdrew the spacequake she'd summoned. It wasn't an exaggeration—this spacequake wasn't even in the same league as the one she'd unleashed in the universe with the Infinity Stone. But she didn't really care. After all, she'd already cleaned out their refrigerator, and besides, she wasn't incapable of making her own breakfast, so she had prepared quite a bit for herself.
"Hey, you—come over here." Casting a look at her useless brother, Kotori quietly pulled Shido down from the sofa, dragged him to a spot where Tohka couldn't see, and whispered, "Enough nonsense. Ask the 'Princess' her name."
"Princess?" Hearing that, Shido blanked out. He didn't get it—what princess? There were only three of them here—where was any princess?
"You idiot—'Princess' is the code name we gave this Spirit. After all, we don't really know much about Spirits, so we can only use nicknames." Giving his sleeve another tug, Kotori whispered, "Remember that..."
"..."
"Tch, Kotori Itsuka, really—can't you people think of something else?" Casually stuffing a piece of bread into her mouth, Tohka already had a good idea what the two of them were talking about. But in order to eventually negotiate with that "Phantom," the original Spirit, she had no choice but to play along. Besides, if she wanted to stay here, she really needed their help. For now, the fact that Yoshino's identity hadn't been exposed meant it was still risky to approach her directly.
"By the way, when exactly did she show up? And did you make that breakfast?" On the other side, Shido threw a sidelong glance at Tohka, who was calmly eating, and asked Kotori with some confusion.
"No, when I got up this morning, she'd already made breakfast herself. Go on, Shido—you at least have to get her name." Without waiting to hear whether Shido was willing or not, Kotori shoved him out of the corner.
"Um... may I ask—what is your name?" Pushed into it by his little sister, Shido had no choice but to suppress his urge to run and walk up to Tohka. He spoke awkwardly—after all, the girl in front of him was someone who could crush him to death any time she liked. He couldn't afford not to be cautious, even if he knew she wasn't actually malicious.
"Mm, finally you asked. Before this, you didn't even know my name, and you wanted to go on a date with me—was your brain kicked by a donkey?" She gave him a bland look, then turned her gaze to Kotori, who was peeking around the corner of the wall with half her face visible, spying on them. Calmly, Tohka stood up from the table. Ignoring the cold sweat that instantly broke out again on Shido's forehead, she said lightly, "Tohka Yatogami."
"..."
"All right, everyone—today we're all gathered here again. We absolutely must help Shido secure a strong start. Everyone to your positions." Up on Ratatoskr, Kotori sat in her captain's chair, addressing her assembled subordinates calmly. Though even as she said it, she didn't really believe it herself. There was no helping it—after all, yesterday evening, Tohka's performance had been far too sharp-edged.
"..."
But in a corner no one was paying attention to, Reine Murasame was frowning as she stared at the screen showing Tohka. She could already feel that the first phase of her plan had encountered a huge obstacle—because this girl seemed to have already seen right through what they were doing, though she wasn't sure how much Tohka knew. And that wasn't even the biggest issue. The real problem was that Tohka appeared to be in a state where she was simply un-capturable.
"Fine—if Shido can't manage today, it looks like I'll have to go talk to her myself." Glancing at the staff, who were all tense and ready, Reine had already decided—if Shido failed again, she'd have no choice but to negotiate with Tohka directly. And if that still didn't work... At that thought, a cold glint passed through her eyes. She had invested too much time in this project to allow everything to fall apart before it even began. Tohka's position was simply too crucial—if they couldn't secure her, the rest of the plan would never get off the ground.