"That guy really has already set her sights on Origami Tobiichi. Oh well, I guess that girl won't be causing me trouble again in the future." Glancing at the broken Origami Tobiichi, Tohka no longer intended to attack her. Instead, she walked over to Shido Itsuka. Even though he had a huge hole in his chest, the vitality in his body hadn't really diminished much. So Tohka knew that even if she ignored him, he could rely on Kotori's abilities to recover. That was probably why Reine Murasame had insisted she seal Kotori years ago—after all, that was a form of insurance.
"Whatever. Since I agreed, I'll seal my power into him now." Without waiting for him to recover, Tohka walked to his side. Then she half-knelt beside him and placed her hand on Shido's forehead. Next, she began pouring her power into him. She had to admit, as a vessel, Shido did have the capacity to contain a spirit's power. If it were anyone else, they would have burst apart long ago. Let alone the fact that this was Tohka's origin power—normal people simply couldn't bear it.
As Tohka's energy flowed in, the life force of the Kabbalah Tree of Life was also infused into him. Immediately, the gaping wound in his chest began to heal rapidly, without even waiting for Kotori's flames. And as her power left her, the spirit armor on Tohka's body also began to disintegrate, revealing the ordinary clothes she had worn underneath. She had known this would happen, so she'd kept her clothes on—so there wouldn't be any of those awkward "nothing to wear" situations.
"Phew, it's over. I've fulfilled my part of the bargain. Now, what about yours?" Rising from the ground, Tohka turned her gaze to another direction. There, a phantom-like figure was faintly visible. Seeing Tohka looking her way, the figure nodded and then disappeared.
"Mm?" But at that moment, a beam of light shot over, and in the blink of an eye, both Tohka, who was standing there, and Shido, who was lying unconscious on the ground, disappeared together. Meanwhile, up in the sky, Kotori let out a sigh of relief. Even though Tohka's affection level had still failed to reach the supposed threshold for sealing, she hadn't expected Tohka to go ahead and seal her power on her own. Even if the process had deviated from plan, the end result was fine. As for Tohka, she now couldn't detect any unique spirit waves from her body, so she'd immediately teleported the two of them aboard.
"Hello, Tohka Yatogami. My name is Reine Murasame. We've met before, but let me introduce myself again." When Tohka regained consciousness, she found herself in an unfamiliar room, and then she heard Reine's voice.
"How did she get here so fast? She's really strange." The corner of Tohka's mouth twitched as she glanced at the woman before her. But she didn't expose her identity, simply following along and saying, "Tohka Yatogami."
At the same time, she noticed that this time Reine truly wasn't just acting. She was genuinely unsteady on her feet, and her spirit seemed exhausted. Clearly, taking that attack head-on and then rushing here had not been easy for her.
"All right, come with me. Our commander is waiting for you." Seeing Tohka's attitude, Reine didn't say anything more. Instead, she wobbled ahead and led Tohka to the captain's room. As for a certain unlucky boy, he was still lying there asleep.
"..."
But as soon as Tohka entered, the previously cheerful atmosphere abruptly vanished. Everyone looked at her with awkward expressions. After all, they had ultimately failed to capture Tohka. They hadn't even managed to raise her affection level by much, which was more than a little embarrassing.
"Tch, so this is that group of leftover men and women. And as for—uh—it's you." Even though she already knew, Tohka still put on a surprised face. No matter how unreliable this organization was, it was still a high-tech operation. No one would have expected that the commander would be a little girl. In fact, if Tohka hadn't known the story, her expression would probably have been the same as Shido's the first time he saw this.
"Hey, hey, you, the spirit over there." But just then, Kotori's annoyed voice rang out. After all, Tohka's earlier sniping had been quite deadly and had dealt her no small blow. Back at the house, she hadn't wanted to reveal herself and risk affecting Shido's impression. But now she couldn't be bothered to hide it anymore. She could tell that capturing Tohka was going to take a long time, and whether it would succeed was uncertain. No one here really understood Tohka, so no one had dared suggest cross-dressing—otherwise they would have gotten another round of scathing ridicule. After all, cross-dressing, come on.
"What, do you think just because my power isn't what it used to be, you can pick a fight with me?" Hearing her annoyed tone, Tohka rolled her eyes at her. She knew this girl must have come up with plenty of harebrained schemes today, but luckily, after Shido's earlier lesson, he hadn't followed them.
"You—never mind. What do you plan to do next?" Kotori had originally wanted to argue, but she quickly gave up. Even though the spirit's power was sealed, there were still many variables. And if they weren't careful, a magical rampage could break out. So, her top priority now was to arrange where Tohka would stay.
"Mm, I don't know. But whatever. Even though most of my power is sealed, that doesn't affect my ability to live in this world." Hearing Kotori's question, Tohka knew she was hoping to have her stay here. But she honestly didn't want to live too close to these people. Who knew what kind of crazy ideas they'd come up with next.
"Wait, are you saying you plan to just go out and start robbing people?" Kotori was startled by Tohka's answer. From what they knew, this girl had no background or records—meaning she was essentially a born spirit. So, it wasn't surprising she wouldn't understand human society.
"How about this—we'll provide you with food and lodging. How about that? Isn't it better than going out and stealing?" Seeing Tohka's expression, Kotori hurriedly switched to enticement mode. "Three meals a day, all covered, and you'll have your own dedicated quarters."
"Uh, fine. But I have one condition: you give me my own private room." After all, she didn't want to drift around outside, but before anything else, she definitely didn't want to share space with anyone.