The residential district was engulfed in a sea of flames, everything combustible swept into the inferno, gradually turning to charcoal and ash.
This wasn’t just a fire.
In his vision, a petite figure knelt on the ground, sobbing.
Dropping what he held, shouting her name, he ran toward her.
“…Brother! Don’t come closer!”
He could hear it—the voice that had been crying out, pleading for him.
“…Huh…”
The flames enveloping her suddenly surged violently, his perspective shifting upward as his body was swept into the air by the blazing gust.
“Brother…!”
The last thing he heard was the crying voice of the girl in the flames—his sister, Kotori Itsuka.
“…dou, Shidou…”
Ah, Kotori’s voice.
Struggling to open his eyes, Shidou Itsuka propped himself up, clutching his faintly throbbing head.
An unfamiliar ceiling came into view.
An unfamiliar room, clearly not his bedroom at home.
Sitting up, he realized he was still in his school uniform.
The sensation from his legs to his toes confirmed his clothes hadn’t been changed—only his shoes had been removed, and he’d been placed on a bed.
“Yo, Shidou, awake?”
The girl sat cross-legged on the edge of the bed, her arms lowering from the black hairband she’d just tied, her tone teasing, as if scolding his uselessness.
The image from his dream began to overlap with reality.
The girl who had cried out for him was right here. Shidou stared at his sister’s face.
That vivid sensation couldn’t be dismissed as just a dream.
The fire had been reported as real, and what he’d just seen was surely part of the memories he’d lost five years ago.
He tried to recall more, but no further details surfaced.
“What, smitten by your cute little sister right after waking up?”
Uncomfortable under his gaze, Kotori averted her eyes first, letting out a soft huff.
“Normal people don’t call themselves cute, you know.”
“But I am cute, right?”
“Well… I can’t deny that,” he said, his blurry vision clearing.
It wasn’t about the dream—his adorable sister was right in front of him, and that voice just now wasn’t an illusion.
“Sorry for worrying you, Kotori…”
Unable to stop himself, he reached out to pat her head, not just to confirm her presence but to apologize for causing her concern.
As expected, it didn’t quite work.
When he first saw this strong, independent, sharp-tongued Kotori, the stark contrast had shocked him too much to think deeply or question it.
The image of her standing before him with a battle-axe, wreathed in flames, had radiated an overwhelming sense of security.
…But only now did he notice—only upon waking did he see—the fleeting panic on her face and the faint red tinge on the back of her ears as she turned away.
How could he have forgotten?
How could he have overlooked it?
No matter how strong she acted, Kotori Itsuka was still that little girl who cried her eyes out, calling for her brother.
Even as a spirit, that hadn’t changed.
“…? W-What’s with the sudden sentiment?”
Startled by his gesture, her body jolted, but Kotori didn’t resist the gentle head-pat, as if soothing a small animal.
Instead, she shifted slightly closer to her brother.
“Hmph, you were pretty pathetic, clutching your head and collapsing like that. Someone might’ve thought you were pulling a scam. What a terrible hobby.”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re right, Kotori.”
With no desire to argue, Shidou just nodded along, his expression indulgent and his tone gentle.
“Huh? If you broke your head when you fell…”
“Kotori,” he interrupted, lowering his hand and speaking earnestly.
“I really do want to save them… save the spirits.”
“Normally, I’d say ‘as expected of my brother,’”
Kotori said, sensing something different.
Since waking, Shidou’s demeanor had shifted.
She raised an eyebrow.
“What happened?”
Asking this felt a bit foolish.
Kotori hadn’t left his side since he fainted.
If something had happened, she would’ve noticed.
“I remembered something… about the fire five years ago…”
With no intention of hiding, Shidou shared what he recalled.
“Crying your eyes out, calling for your brother… you sure love to embellish. But aside from that, it matches my memories.”
“You don’t remember why you became a spirit, Kotori?”
“Nope, no clue. I can’t recall anything before becoming a spirit—just what happened after the fire.”
“…Was your power sealed back then?”
He’d been surrounded by flames and likely fainted, but he had memories after waking.
The moments before the fire were vague, but he could recall some things afterward despite the passage of time.
“Pretty sharp, huh? Yeah, your… my power was sealed back then. After that, I’ve been in a human state, no abnormalities.”
Right—Kotori had never caused a spacequake or been targeted by the AST.
Sealing a spirit’s power to protect them was feasible.
Tohka’s lonely expression, the purple-haired spirit’s weary look as she propped herself up, and five years ago, Kotori’s cries.
He didn’t want to see them wear such sad expressions or meet harmful fates.
He could save them.
He wanted to save them.
Spirits should be able to live normally in this world, like humans.
“So, how do we seal a spirit’s power?”
Shidou was filled with determination.
“…”
Though she’d anticipated the question, it came too soon.
Kotori lowered her head, her bangs casting a shadow over her eyes.
“…When interacting with Tohka, maximize her affection, invite her on a… a date… to secure the next meeting. But how to seal her power? I don’t know yet, Shidou.”
“Ugh… sealing, huh…”
It was indeed the top priority.
With her powers fully reclaimed, Shidou lacked any means to ensure his safety against spirits.
And Kotori had brought him to this isolation room partly because, since regaining her powers, the violent impulses of that destructive force constantly gnawed at her nerves.
In three or four days, she might no longer suppress that urge for destruction.
By then, she might cease to be Shidou’s sister, Kotori Itsuka, and become Efreet, the flame spirit bringing calamity.
She’d prepared this room in advance.
Locking herself in with heavy sedatives could buy an extra day or two.
If Tohka reappeared during that time, her straightforward nature likely wouldn’t harm Shidou… Then Kotori could naturally explain the sealing method, securing a date with her brother in the process…
“Kotori?”
Her rationality creaked like a taut string about to snap.
Her thoughts buzzed chaotically like headless flies, accompanied by a faint ringing like a computer crash.
“…The method is… is…”
Kotori’s pupils trembled.
“—!!!”
The spacequake alarm blared.
Never had she been so grateful for a spirit’s appearance.
“Commander! A spirit’s appeared in the city!!!”
“Yeah, no need to state the obvious. Which one?!”
Never had she felt so energized.
Kotori flung off her military coat, rising with spirited flair.
“It’s Beast!!!”
“Huh?!?!”