"The rain outside is thick with spiritual energy. This must be the work of the Four Lolis." After staring down Origami Tobiichi for half the day, the two of them were finally worn out. And since Origami couldn't sense any spirit energy coming from her anymore, she couldn't call in her unit to evacuate civilians either.
"Hey, don't you get tired?" Retracting her gaze, Tohka glanced again at Origami, who still looked like she wanted to tear her apart. Shouldn't she be looking at Shido Itsuka instead? If she remembered right, this girl was usually obsessed with stalking Shido. And it had already been two days—why was she still like this?
The way she kept glaring made Tohka feel awkward all over, especially during home ec class when she was making snacks. Origami had kept watching her like a thief, which ruined the kinako cookies she'd been trying to make and even caused a small explosion. Fortunately, Tohka dodged quickly, so she hadn't been hit by the mishap.
"Hmph, damn spirit." Hearing Tohka, Origami snorted coldly, but finally stopped staring at her. She had already contacted her commander, but to her annoyance, Tohka's identity papers were perfectly in order. And since she wasn't giving off any spirit reactions, AST had no grounds to deploy. Otherwise, she'd have long since drawn her energy sword to chop Tohka down.
"Mm, is class over? Let's go—I don't want to get drenched." Glancing out at the dreadful weather, Tohka walked straight out. But just then, a shrill alarm began blaring.
"That's a bit fast, isn't it? I thought there was usually more of a delay. Maybe I'm remembering wrong—anyway, I'd better go take a look." Tohka wasn't interested in going to the underground shelter, so she deliberately slipped away from the crowd of students and went up to the roof. But just as she stepped outside, she suddenly vanished, and when she came to, she was standing aboard the Ratatoskr warship.
"Damn it, I let my guard down." Muttering under her breath, Tohka didn't say anything else and simply strolled toward the captain's room as if she were at home. There, she saw everyone standing ready, with Kotori Itsuka waiting at the captain's podium.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Kotori couldn't help herself as she watched Tohka walk in. Ever since Tohka had crushed her with sarcasm, their relationship had been strained. "Shouldn't you be heading to the underground shelter? Staying outside is dangerous, you know. Your spiritual power has been sealed—this isn't the time to be wandering around."
Kotori had tried several times to get Shido to come to her room, but all her attempts were thwarted by Tohka's locks and wards. Finally, fed up, Tohka had even gone over and picked a fight with her in her black-hair mode. So, there was no way Kotori was going to show her a friendly face.
"Tch, who said I'm completely powerless? And you—are you ever going to quit? Did you hack into the school's hallway cameras or something? The moment I stepped out of the building, you teleported me here. Did you plant a portal right at the door?" With her dead-fish eyes fixed on Kotori, Tohka knew perfectly well she'd been plotting all sorts of things. But she'd blocked them all—she wasn't the same as in the original story, no way was she going to fall for that.
"Hmph, you—" Kotori was about to snap back, but right then, the large screen in the room flickered. A figure appeared on the display—a small person in green clothing holding a white stuffed toy.
"That's 'Hermit'!?" Kotori stared blankly for a second, then blurted out the Four Lolis' codename. Shido, meanwhile, looked puzzled.
"'Hermit' is our codename for her. Every spirit has one," Kotori explained quickly to her brother, then cast a glance at Tohka before going on. "Just like Tohka Yatogami—her codename is 'Princess.'"
"Mm, those guys again—like a bunch of sticky gum." Ignoring their conversation, Tohka kept her eyes on the video feed. Soon, a group of people appeared in the frame. She recognized them—it was the same team that had ganged up on her before. Of course, leading the charge was Origami again, which made her frown.
"Damn, I was so focused on arguing with her I forgot—I really shouldn't let her see AST attacking a spirit." Kotori noticed the look on Tohka's face and muttered worriedly. But seeing there was no sign of a spirit energy surge, she relaxed. It meant Tohka's emotions were still stable.
"They're going too far, aren't they?" Unlike Tohka, who had always faced them head-on, the Four Lolis were just running around dodging bullets. So, AST couldn't engage in melee—they were stuck chasing her and shooting nonstop. When Tohka had been in the same situation, she hadn't panicked at all and had run AST in circles, coming and going as she pleased. That was why Shido hadn't felt particularly alarmed this time. Well, if he had to admit it, there was still one exception—Origami's insane long-range sniping.
"Hmph, you probably don't really understand AST's mission." Hearing Shido's comment, Tohka just let out a cold laugh. AST was comparatively less irritating—they only attacked spirits, and so far they'd never succeeded. DEM, though—now that was the truly infuriating one. She didn't bother with AST unless they really annoyed her, but DEM's people—she would never hold back against them. Fortunately, DEM hadn't sent its elite squad here yet. Otherwise, the place would already be soaked in blood.
"What exactly is AST's mission?" Shido asked hurriedly when he heard her. Meanwhile, Reine and Kotori both frowned—because it felt like Tohka knew far more than she should.
"Their mission is to eliminate any spirits appearing in the world, to prevent the occurrence of spacequakes, and to stop another disaster like the one thirty years ago that blew up half of Eurasia."