Scorching—
Instead of materializing on the surface, she teleported directly into a lightless tunnel.
The weightlessness hadn’t even faded when Kotori Itsuka felt the searing gaze and an oppressive force so intense it seemed capable of incinerating everything around her.
Almost instinctively, she wanted to call out her Angel’s name, but Kotori suppressed the urge with sheer willpower, turning slowly with feigned calm…
A fiery glow flickered, casting the narrow tunnel in a crimson hue.
The whistle of wind brushed past her ears, and a faintly cold sensation grazed her cheek, slithering like a snake.
‘Tap.’
Her ear felt pressure as the communicator was flicked by a finger.
Before Kotori could react, the intrusive touch withdrew.
“Is this how you treat your date?”
Kotori, already somewhat afraid of ghosts, instinctively stepped back, her spine hitting the uneven rock wall.
She forced herself to meet the ominous, glowing eyes in the darkness.
“You didn’t attack me, yet you brought a communication device,” the spirit said, easing the oppressive aura.
The piercing red light dimmed, and the dangerous spirit spoke lazily.
“Is it you who came for the date, or all of you?”
“Options have appeared—”
“No need, Shidou. We don’t need Fraxinus’s support for now.”
Kotori crossed her arms, deliberately keeping her voice loud enough for the spirit to hear.
She could sense that if her response didn’t satisfy the spirit, the conversation would end, and this encounter with Beast would fail outright.
“The one who came is just Kotori Itsuka. This,” she pointed to her earpiece, “is just my overprotective idiot brother. Our last meeting wasn’t exactly friendly, so it’s only natural my family’s worried.”
She sighed, adopting a posture of reluctant compliance with her brother’s insistence on the communicator.
“Is that so?”
The spirit had thrown out the word “date” as a test.
Even if the girl hadn’t shown up before the AST arrived, it wouldn’t have been a loss.
She could still sense Kotori’s spiritual energy.
It was unclear how much time had passed since her last manifestation, but the fact that Kotori’s powers remained unsealed suggested a strong trust in familiar spirits.
That was promising.
She wouldn’t even mind entrusting her own spiritual energy to an organization like this in exchange for a normal, peaceful life—but not yet.
The girl’s spiritual energy hasn’t changed much since last time.
That strange berserk state could still happen.
“I believe your words.”
There was time yet.
This manifestation was only meant to deepen mutual understanding and probe the cause of the girl’s previous power surge.
“My name is Yuu Kagami. You can call me that.”
“Yuu Kagami, huh…”
It didn’t sound like a complete name, but Kotori didn’t dwell on it.
“So, Yuu, shall we go somewhere else? A tunnel isn’t exactly a date spot. Mind trying teleportation?”
“If you put it that way, I do have a place in mind.”
“Oh? Where?”
Surprised that the spirit had a destination, Kotori listened intently.
“That day, when I took the boy, it was at his school. There’s something I want to verify.”
“The school…”
Due to the tunnel left by the spirit, which required investigation, the Realizers for repairing buildings hadn’t been deployed.
Even now, the school where Shidou studied remained a pile of rubble.
Construction barriers were strung together with warning tape, and the school gates were firmly closed.
Naturally, classes had been suspended for repairs.
“Reine.”
Kotori had no clue what Yuu wanted to verify, but since the school was empty and Fraxinus could help avoid detection by the AST, there was no need to oppose the spirit’s wishes.
“We’ve locked onto Raizen High School. Ready to teleport anytime…”
“How do we do this?”
Kotori asked, but her actions didn’t pause.
She reached out and took the spirit’s hand.
The back of her hand and palm felt a cool, silky softness—hard to believe this was a hand capable of effortlessly burying someone in the ground.
“Just stay still and don’t interfere.”
Unaccustomed to being led by others, Kotori answered stiffly.
A sensation of weightlessness enveloped them, lasting only a moment.
The morning sunlight wasn’t harsh, but their prior negotiations had been in a dim tunnel where they could barely make out each other’s forms.
The sudden change in scenery made Kotori squint instinctively.
“Don’t move,” Yuu said, releasing Kotori’s hand and stepping behind her.
She patted Kotori’s back, brushing off noticeable dirt marks.
“You got dust on you.”
From their last encounter, Kotori didn’t seem afraid of combat.
It was far-fetched to think she’d been intimidated by Yuu.
Her retreat against the wall in the tunnel, tense and startled, suggested she was afraid of something else.
Ghosts, or perhaps darkness.
Yuu quietly tucked this observation away.
They weren’t yet familiar enough for playful teasing.
She stepped back, studying the girl before her.
A white dress adorned with simple lace, a bold black hairband, and white stockings that matched her outfit.
With her natural charm, even minimal effort made her effortlessly cute.
For a last-minute date, this was more than passable.
Pleased by the pleasant sight, Yuu’s expression softened.
“This time, I manifested with a strong desire to ‘come here.’”
Not one for games, the purple-haired girl looked up at the ruined school, a heap of bricks and debris.
“…Hm?”
“If a spirit resists manifesting, they’re pushed out irregularly and vanish naturally. I’m usually the go-with-the-flow type, but since I agreed to your date, Kotori, I wanted to come here.”
“I don’t know how much time has passed, but judging by the school’s construction progress, it hasn’t been long.”
“You’re saying you appeared so soon because you actively wanted to manifest this time?”
If she was trying to gauge the time since her last manifestation, there was no need to come to the school.
Kotori vaguely grasped something but couldn’t quite pin it down.
“That’s just why I appeared. Coming to the school was to confirm something similar yet different.”
“You mean?!”
“Just a guess, but my kin—your ‘Tohka’—likely had the same ‘I want to come here’ thought when she vanished last time. I was hiding then, and after being hounded by the Self-Defense Forces, she probably didn’t know I took the boy. If she’s going to appear, it’ll be here.”
This logic of “If I manifested because we thought alike, she should too” sounded utterly unreliable.
Yet, on Yuu’s face, Kotori saw only unshakable confidence, as if she was certain Tohka would appear.
…No way, that’s just…
“Commander, we’ve detected Princess’s spiritual energy signature fifty meters ahead!”
You’re actually here?!