While Itsuka Shidou and Yatogami Tohka were on their date at the aquarium, Itsuka Kotori and the crew aboard the Fraxinus were simultaneously monitoring Tobiichi Origami and Tokisaki Kurumi's every move.
"Commander! There's a situation on Tokisaki Kurumi's side!"
"What happened? Explain clearly!"
Kotori frowned slightly.
"Tokisaki Kurumi has arrived at the designated meeting spot… but she brought another girl with her!"
"What?!"
No matter how well-prepared these so-called "experts" were, or how thoroughly they tried to anticipate every possible contingency, none of them could have predicted this.
After all, who would've thought that, in a date, the girl would bring a friend or companion along?
And according to prior intelligence, Tokisaki Kurumi didn't have any real friends at school.
The greatest risk of a triple date was that any one of the girls might catch on. Even with the support of the Fraxinus, Shidou's need to constantly move between three girls consumed enormous time and energy.
He wasn't a clone — there was no way for him to be in multiple places at once.
Now that it was almost 10:30, and Kurumi had shown up with another girl, the likelihood of Shidou being exposed suddenly skyrocketed.
"Is there any way to separate them?"
"Sorry, Commander. With the Fraxinus' current capabilities, I'm afraid that's impossible…"
Kotori's expression darkened. She bit the lollipop in her mouth clean in half, thinking through countermeasures.
---
"I say… do I really have to wear this outfit?"
With a somewhat awkward expression, Tenki Sanluo looked down at herself — now dressed in the Raizen High School female uniform — feeling extremely uncomfortable.
After all, in her past life she had been male. Having spent so much time venting her inner rage and hatred, she still hadn't mentally adjusted to her transformation from man to woman. In fact, she had been actively avoiding that reality.
"Ara ara~ of course you do. Otherwise, if Miss Tenki wears her Astral Dress, you'd be discovered instantly."
For the record, Kurumi had not only persuaded Tenki Sanluo to use her spiritual power to transform her clothes into Raizen's uniform — she had also personally tied her hair into a high ponytail.
Tenki Sanluo disliked the feeling of her hair being restrained, but after weighing the situation, she reluctantly gave in.
If her true identity were exposed and caused unnecessary panic in Tenguu City, that would make things very troublesome.
After all, her purpose in coming to this city wasn't just to kill.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have bothered giving Kurumi her spiritual power as a token two nights ago — she could've simply descended at random upon a city and annihilated it outright.
---
"To be honest, Miss Tokisaki, when do you plan to show your real body?"
So far, Tenki had only dealt with Kurumi's clones, each containing a minuscule amount of spiritual energy.
While the two waited for the date to begin, she couldn't help but ask.
"Ara, only when it's necessary, of course."
"That's as good as saying nothing."
In short, Kurumi's answer meant she still didn't fully trust Tenki — and wasn't willing to reveal her true self.
---
Meanwhile, on Shidou's side—
"Shidou, time's almost up. Find an excuse to leave."
Shidou, who had been watching the fish with Tohka, immediately followed his sister's instructions. Using the classic "bathroom excuse," he slipped away, ducking into a small alley to await teleportation from the Fraxinus.
"By the way, Shidou…"
Just as the drop completed and he started sprinting toward his next destination, Kotori hesitated briefly before speaking up:
"There's a small problem with Kurumi's side. She brought another girl with her."
"What?!"
Already out of breath from running, Shidou nearly choked on air when he heard that bombshell.
A triple date was already on the verge of collapse — did this mean it was turning into a quadruple date?!
If that were true, he might as well start looking for a good burial plot now.
"Kotori, are you… huff… joking?!"
"Shidou, you think I'd joke about something like this? You trilobite! You're on your own now — good luck surviving!"
"Hey! Kotori! Kotori!!"
He called out twice more, but no one on the ship responded.
"Forget it! I'll just deal with things as they come!"
---
At exactly 10:30, the one who arrived before Tokisaki Kurumi and Tenki Sanluo was a panting, half-exhausted high school boy — Itsuka Shidou.
"Sorry… Kurumi… I almost came late…"
"Ara, it's fine, Shidou-san."
Kurumi smiled, stood up, and gently took his right hand.
"So this is Itsuka Shidou? Not bad — he does have an enormous amount of spiritual power inside him."
Tenki Sanluo examined him from head to toe, but aside from that overflowing energy, found nothing particularly remarkable.
"Could he really be a special kind of human born from the appearance of Spirits? Well, I suppose that makes sense. It's been thirty years since the 'Eurasian Spacequake.'
If spiritual energy can infect animals, then it can certainly affect humans."
Watching Shidou trying to steady his breathing after the run, Tenki temporarily set aside her suspicion that he might be linked to the illusion she'd seen before.
"Kurumi, may I ask who this is…?"
Finally catching his breath, Shidou straightened up and looked toward Tenki Sanluo.
"Ara, this is my friend, Tenki Sanluo. She was worried about me coming alone, so she insisted on tagging along."
Hearing that, Tenki swallowed the explanation she'd prepared earlier and merely gave a silent nod, acknowledging the story.
As for revealing her name — the only person who knew it was Kurumi anyway. Even if humans overheard, they wouldn't make the connection.
Besides, she didn't care much about names. In fact, the human label Genie (Shura) might fit her better now.
"Ah, nice to meet you. I'm Itsuka Shidou."
Though puzzled — after all, Kurumi had only been at Raizen High for two days, and yet somehow already had a "friend"? — Shidou still gave a polite bow and brief self-introduction.
In response, Tenki merely waved a hand, urging them to get on with it.
"Shidou-san, Miss Tenki is like that — she rarely speaks. Please don't take it personally."
"Oh, no problem, no problem."
Shidou quickly waved his hands to show he didn't mind.
"Well then, Shidou-san, let's begin our date!"
At this moment, Kurumi looked just like a cheerful girl excited to go on a date with her boyfriend.
But Tenki Sanluo knew better — this one was a master at putting on an act.
As the two walked away, their silhouettes slowly disappeared into the distance.
Tenki shook her head slightly and followed after them.
If you're going to watch a good show, you might as well see it from start to finish.
---
"'Friend'? Tokisaki Kurumi's only been at Raizen High for two days — how could she have made a friend already?"
Kotori and Shidou really were siblings (even if not by blood) — their reactions were nearly identical.
"Commander, based on our analysis of Kurumi Tokisaki's movements over the past two days, it's not impossible that she made a friend.
Since the surveillance cameras can't access Raizen High, we have no visibility on what she's done inside the school."
One of the crew members reported.
"But is there actually a student named Tenki Sanluo at Raizen High? She's wearing the uniform, so she can't be from another school, right? Search the student roster."
Following Kotori's orders, the crew combed through the records — and sure enough, there was no student named Tenki Sanluo at Raizen High.
"Then that means her most likely identity is…"
"A Spirit," said Murasame Reine, the Fraxinus' analyst, finishing Kotori's thought.
"Exactly. There's no other explanation. But according to Spirit data, there's no record of Kurumi Tokisaki having close contact with any other Spirit."
Kotori spat out the broken stick of her lollipop, pulled another from her pocket, and popped it into her mouth.
"Run a full search. See if there's any Spirit by the name of Tenki Sanluo."
Relying on Astral Dress data was out of the question — they couldn't afford to wait for a Spirit to manifest before identifying her.
"Understood!"