"Um, Tohka, are you okay?" The next day, Shido Itsuka came into the classroom as usual and saw Tohka slumped over her desk looking exhausted, as if she'd been completely worn out. Knowing that Tohka had quite a few people living at her place, he hadn't gone to bother her early in the morning. But what surprised him was that Tohka had arrived so early. Looking around, he noticed that there were hardly any other students yet, which meant Tohka had actually shown up unusually early today.
"Don't mention it. You should know too, right?" Letting out a powerless sigh, Tohka didn't bother hiding anything. She didn't believe for a second that after she and the others had been out playing around the streets for so long yesterday, this bunch wouldn't have noticed.
"Yeah, well, that's true. Your place must be pretty chaotic." At her complaint, Shido could only laugh awkwardly. Seriously, with four Spirits all gathered in one house, those girls could probably wipe out an entire country. That was exactly why he hadn't dared to visit Tohka first thing—if any of them lost control even a little, he'd be lucky to escape with his life.
"Sigh." Now Tohka really didn't know what to say anymore. Those girls were even more uninhibited than she was, leaving her completely at a loss. This morning when she woke up, she found that besides herself there were three other people in her big bed. She'd nearly coughed up blood on the spot. Right now, she truly regretted wanting a large bed back then, thinking she could lounge on it to play games or watch TV. In the end, this morning she'd nearly been unable to get up. Of course—not for that reason, she'd simply been too shocked by the scene in front of her. That was why she'd come to school so early today, planning to nap in the classroom.
Bang. But just then, Origami Tobiichi suddenly opened the door and walked in as if nothing had happened, sitting down in her seat between Tohka and Shido—it was her usual spot.
"Um, Origami." Seeing her enter, Tohka immediately perked up. There was one thing she wanted to confirm: "Origami, have DEM's people started working inside your AST?"
"Hmm?" Origami froze for a second at Tohka's question. After all, that night when Tohka and Ellen were about to fight, she'd been knocked out cold by a robot whacking her on the head before it even started. When she woke up, she was in her bed, and she hadn't even seen that massive explosion. Plus, neither Shido nor Reine had mentioned any of it, so she still didn't know who Tohka had fought. So, without thinking, Origami replied calmly: "Yeah. Just this morning, that group suddenly showed up at our base. But they were so arrogant—Captain Ryouko even got into an argument with them."
"Hmm?" But as soon as she finished speaking, Origami realized something seemed off. She looked at Tohka with slight suspicion and asked: "Why are you suddenly asking me about this? What are you planning?"
"Ah, hahaha, it's nothing—just curious." Faced with her question, Tohka gave a vague laugh and didn't elaborate further. That left Origami looking puzzled—she had no idea what Tohka was up to. And since it clearly didn't have anything to do with Shido, she decided not to think about it further.
"What exactly is that girl planning? Whatever DEM did to provoke her, it's their own bad luck." Origami might not have understood, but Shido had a vague guess. He couldn't figure out why Tohka seemed to have such a grudge against DEM, but he knew better than to ask. Yesterday, when they'd brought up that company on the Fraxinus, almost everyone's face had darkened. Even Reine, who usually just stood there half-asleep, had had a glint of murderous intent in her eyes. Although it only lasted a moment, he'd definitely seen it. But when he turned to look, Reine was already back to her usual sleepy expression. Even so, that was enough for him to decide—when it came to DEM, he'd better stay out of it. He could only hope those people didn't push Tohka to the point where she completely lost it like last time.
"So, they've come—DEM. Looks like Westcott is here too, that bastard..." After questioning Origami, Tohka slumped back down over her desk and didn't say anything else. She didn't want to ask too many questions and draw attention, but even so, she was already making plans in her mind.
"..."
When school let out, Tohka walked unsteadily out the gate. Out of habit, she started heading toward the supermarket. After all, living on her own meant she still had to cook.
But right then, a car parked by the school gate suddenly lurched forward and sped toward her. With a perfect drift, it came to a stop right beside her, and a hand shot out of the window, grabbing her and pulling her inside.
Bang. The door slammed shut, and the car tore off like a bullet.
"Ah—kidnapping!" This scene happened to be witnessed by Ai Yamabuki, Mai Hazakura, and Mii Fujibakama, who were fairly close to Tohka. The three girls immediately panicked, shouting in alarm. They'd only ever seen something like this on TV—never imagined it would happen here.
"Hey, hey, you don't need to call anyone. It's fine—it's not a kidnapping." But right then, Shido, who'd been following Tohka, stopped them. Just moments ago, he'd clearly glimpsed a flash of silvery hair inside the car. He knew it was Miku Izayoi. And besides, did they really think any ordinary person could kidnap Tohka? Come on—if this were an actual kidnapping, did they really think that car would still be in one piece? It would have been blown sky-high.
Kotori had said it too—no matter how strong she was at her peak, if she tried to fight Tohka even in her sealed state, it would still take considerable time. And even then, she wasn't confident she could stop Tohka from escaping if she really tried.
"Hey—you, what are you doing? Couldn't you just talk to me normally? Was it really necessary to grab me out of nowhere?" Just as Shido had guessed, although Tohka had been momentarily stunned when she was pulled into the car, she'd recognized Miku sitting next to her almost immediately. The tension in her body relaxed, and she couldn't help complaining in exasperation.