"Why… would she think that?"
Soyo's question hung in the air, and Nero, eavesdropping from behind the counter, thought, Good question. I wanna know too.
"It's gotta be because a teammate died, right?" Aine flipped open the notebook. "I know it's kinda rude to Little Tomori, but the stuff in here…"
Ritsuki cut her off. "What're you talking about?"
Aine shot her an annoyed glance, but Soyo stepped in to smooth things over. "Yeah, Aine, that's a weird thing to say. None of us—me, Ritsuki, or Little Tomori—have ever seen a teammate die."
"Huh?" Aine's shock was palpable. "Then who's this 'Little Shoko' person in the notebook?"
Shoko? Shoko Toyokawa? Nero's mind raced. So, she was one of those demon-hunting girls. But before she could process further, Soyo's next words hit like a thunderbolt.
Soyo frowned, taking the notebook. "Little Shoko? Ritsuki, you know her?"
Ritsuki shook her head firmly. "Never heard of her."
"For real?" Aine hadn't seen this coming. She stood, leaning over the table to flip to a specific page. "Look here… it says, 'I killed Little Shoko,' over and over, a whole page of it. Plus a bunch of creepy bug drawings."
Since it involved Tomori, Ritsuki snapped to attention, studying the notebook. After racking her brain, she shook her head again. "I don't know this person. At the very least, she's not a demon hunter like us."
Soyo set the notebook down, resting her chin on her hands, lost in thought. "I've always wondered why Tomori suddenly ditched us. Sounds like something else happened to her."
Shoko Toyokawa isn't a demon hunter? Not one of Tomori or Soyo's crew? Nero's gut screamed that something was off, but she couldn't pin it down. They were all part of CRYCHIC in the anime—Tomori, Soyo, Ritsuki, and Mutsu were demon hunters, but Shoko wasn't? It felt wrong, but assuming it had to be wrong was just falling into a trap of her own assumptions.
Ritsuki, not bothering with niceties, snatched the notebook and flipped through it. "But why would she think she killed this person? Soyo, got any ideas?"
"That's not the point, is it?" Aine countered. "If she just felt guilty for getting a friend killed, that's one thing—sad, sure, but not crazy. But Tomori said she'd get all her friends killed."
"So, what, some kind of bigger force is at play… but she still blames herself?" Ritsuki mused, scanning the notebook. Then her eyes narrowed. "Wait, that's weird."
She flipped a few more pages, confirming her suspicion. "'Who's Little Shoko?' Tomori doesn't even know this Shoko person?"
"What?!" Aine's eyes widened, leaning in to look, but Ritsuki held the notebook up, blocking her.
All three girls were stunned, but Nero's mind clicked. That's it. That's the piece. It wasn't that Shoko never became a demon hunter—it's that no one remembers her. That was her demonic power.
Nero recalled Shoko's three demon allies, piecing it together.
Mortis, Timoris, Amoris—Latin names tied to Moon Lake. They meant Death, Fear, and Love.
For demons, "true names are their essence." Mortis (Death) controlled lifeless puppets. Timoris (Fear) ruled shadows and darkness. Amoris (Love) bent living creatures to her will.
And Shoko Toyokawa? If Nero's hunch was right, her name now was Oblivionis—Oblivion, or annihilation. Her power? Manipulating memories.
"Guess I've gotta dig deeper," Nero muttered, taking a deep breath. She turned toward the café's back room. Time to talk to the Hanezawa manager.
To unravel the mystery around Shoko Toyokawa, Nero planned to visit her family—a massive conglomerate-running dynasty. She couldn't just waltz in without some prep, and the manager might just have the connections she needed.
Aine and the others didn't notice Nero slip away, still caught up in their fruitless debate. No surprise there—they were just high school girls, clueless about Latin, demonology, or Shoko's true name. To them, Shoko Toyokawa was just some vague friend of Tomori's, if she even existed.
Soyo vaguely recalled a strange incident from before, nagging at her, but she was still miles from the truth.
Then, an uninvited guest arrived.
"Right here."
The cryptic words came from a girl with short white hair and heterochromatic blue-yellow eyes. She wore an off-shoulder black tee over a white camisole dress, paired with lace-up high boots. Sauntering in with a lazy swagger, she plopped down across from Ritsuki like she owned the place.
The three girls froze.
After an awkward silence, Soyo clasped her hands, forcing a smile. "Uh… is she a friend of one of you?"
Her sweaty brow betrayed her unease, while Ritsuki was more blunt. "Who're you?"
Hearing the doorbell, Nero hurried out from the back, maintaining her polished demeanor. "Welcome, miss. What can I get you?"
"Matcha coffee," the white-haired girl said curtly. Then she tilted her head at the trio. "Need Rakuna."
That was her name—and her answer to Ritsuki's question.
Order taken, Nero slipped back to the inner room. Ritsuki, half-irritated, half-resigned, pressed, "That's not what I meant… whatever. Who sent you?"
She'd clocked that this girl only answered exactly what was asked, ignoring subtext. To get anywhere, you had to be blunt.
"Little Ace."
Soyo and Ritsuki instantly got it—she was their new teammate.
Alright, time for something big… two days or so to go.