“Ohhh, Shidou, there’s a castle! Is this the place?!”
Tohka’s excited shout echoed down the street.
A castle?
How could that be?
He had walked this street for years.
Shidou Itsuka knew every building here by heart.
Thinking this, the boy lifted his gaze from the small map on the ticket and looked at the conspicuous structure in front of him.
His body instantly stiffened.
Though not large in scale, it was indeed shaped like a castle—a Western-themed building with a sign that read 【Fantasy Island】.
The name matched the words on the ticket in his hand perfectly.
Ratatoskr’s support had once again surpassed the boy’s imagination.
First, they lined up popular, well-reviewed shops he knew well and had staff run them in his place.
Then they set up a massive lottery event right on the main street.
And now, a building he had absolutely no memory of had sprung up overnight.
…His overflowing admiration curdled the moment he noticed the words on the small sign to the side.
【Short Stay: 4,000 yen and up for 2 hours】
【Overnight: 8,000 yen and up】
“Aaah, looks like we came to the wrong place… I’m such a scatterbrain, always getting lost,” Shidou stiffly turned around, trying to lead the girls elsewhere.
It wasn’t that the Itsuka household budget couldn’t cover this extra expense… At least the couple’s ticket in his hand clearly stated 【One day free with this ticket】.
The problem was that this wasn’t the newly opened theme park he had imagined from the wording.
It was an adults-only love hotel.
Shidou Itsuka—second-year Class 4 student at Raizen High School in Tenguu City, sixteen years old… a minor.
As a law-abiding model citizen, Shidou Itsuka immediately decided to leave.
“Hm? Isn’t this it?”
“No, it’s not… C-come on… let’s head back…”
“Ehh~ Can’t we at least take a look inside? I’m pretty curious too~”
At some point, Kyoumi had looped her arm through the boy’s and tilted her head, tugging with a force that conveyed her determination.
“N-no, no, let’s not, Kyoumi—this is way too soon for me—”
Planting his feet like his life depended on it, Shidou Itsuka forced a dry laugh as he wrestled with the girl, somehow managing a deadlock.
“Oh? We’re already here and you still want to turn back? My timid little brother~”
A sudden weight slammed into his waist.
From the familiar force and the disappointed tone, Shidou didn’t even need to look to know his beloved sister had just kicked him.
“Pff—cough—”
If he hadn’t grown used to her weekend morning samba dances on his body, that blow would have sent any normal person tumbling straight through the doors of Fantasy Island.
But thanks to years of morning battles with his sister, Shidou twisted his body just enough to deflect the kick.
He staggered two steps, then was steadied by Kyoumi on his other side and avoided falling.
“…So Shidou likes flying kicks? Is that a personal preference?”
“Who would have that kind of preference?!”
Under pressure from Kyoumi’s teasing and the unease of having his tastes slandered, Shidou Itsuka turned back to glare at Kotori Itsuka, who had just delivered her Super Invincible I-Love-You Candy Kick, and protested loudly.
“This is way too much! I’m still a minor?!”
“Well, things have been going pretty smoothly, after all.”
Kotori shrugged nonchalantly.
The rest of her sentence was supplied by the analyst in his earpiece:
「Analysis complete. Tohka’s mood value has remained stable. Though she hasn’t reached lover status yet, she’s at the level of a trusted friend. After discussion, we’ve decided to try going all-in.」
“…But these are tickets for four people!” Just how far are you planning to take this “all-in”?!
A horrifying possibility suddenly struck Shidou Itsuka.
His expression as he looked at Kotori turned deliberately terrified.
“The sealing method isn’t…”
“Where did your mind go, you stick insect?!”
After that brief association, Kotori’s face flushed crimson, steam practically rising from her head as she shouted back.
“It’s a kiss! A kiss!!! It has nothing to do with that! ”
“Eh… eh?”
“Hm? Shidou, what’s a kiss?”
“The steps are that simple? That’s different from what I expected.”
“…” Oh no…
To stop Shidou from getting the wrong idea, she had blurted it out…
Why did she even jump to that conclusion in the first place?!
She was the first one sealed, after all!
Even that primitive monkey brain of his should realize it wouldn’t be anything outrageous—
“Ah…”
A storm raged inside her head.
On the surface, Kotori Itsuka froze, her eyes slowly turning into swirling mosquito-coil patterns of confusion…
“A kiss, hmm… It’s a way to express closeness and affection by pressing lips together. But just that probably wouldn’t be enough to seal the power… unless…”
Kyoumi answered Tohka’s question in Shidou’s place.
The purple-haired girl tapped her chin with a finger, pretending to think, then nodded as if she understood.
“Hm? Unless what?”
“Unless you use your tongue…”
“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!”
The moment Kyoumi voiced her reputation-damaging guess, the girl let out an enormous, incomprehensible scream.
The sheer force and emotion in it silenced everyone on the spot.
Far away aboard the airship, even Reine Murasame flinched, spilling half her second cup of coffee onto her chest.
“W-what is it, Kotori… Is someone attacking?!”
Startled by the girl, Tohka nervously looked around.
【Sandalphon】 materialized in her hands.
“…Have you…”
kissed Kotori?
As the spirit associated with flames, the only event Shidou Itsuka could connect to was the fire in Tenguu City five years ago.
The scattered, broken memories seemed to confirm it: the girl crying and calling for “Onii-chan” amid the flames—his own sister, Kotori Itsuka—was the culprit behind that disaster.
But…
…I can’t remember… No matter how hard I try, I can’t recall anything more…
Shidou Itsuka firmly believed that whether it was the past him or the present him, seeing that scene would have made him run to her without hesitation… Yet the flames in his memory were not something a child’s body could walk through unscathed…
So the reason he had no memory of it was most likely because he had passed out from burns or the impact.
Compared to the ambiguity of the word “kiss,” what Shidou cared about—what truly bothered him—was…
His little sister, the clingy, timid girl from five years ago, could never have known how to seal spirit power.
She would have been helpless, only able to cry…
The conversation with Kotori aboard Fraxinus echoed in Shidou’s mind.
Kotori didn’t remember why she became a spirit. She had also forgotten why the sealing succeeded.
…Someone—something—had definitely been there, guiding her, teaching her.
A chill crawled up the boy’s spine for no apparent reason.
Five years ago—what exactly happened?!