“Um… Tohka?”
The blue-haired boy chose his words carefully, his gaze hesitantly sweeping over the girl’s face.
“What?”
A simple response, her head tilting slightly.
The girl with beautiful long black hair looked at the first person to speak with her—Shidou Itsuka.
“What exactly… are you?”
“Hm?”
Tohka frowned at Shidou’s question.
“I don’t know.”
It wasn’t a brush-off but a sincere answer given after brief thought.
“You… don’t know?”
“I’m telling the truth. I can’t help it—I just appeared there one day, and that’s all I know. My memories are all blurry. I don’t know what I am.”
She answered matter-of-factly, as if the question of “who am I” had never crossed her mind.
“Is that… so?”
Shidou scratched his cheek as he responded, prompting Tohka to sigh and cross her arms.
“That’s how it is. The moment I appeared in this world, those robot legions were already swarming in the sky.”
“Robot legions…?”
“You know, those bang bang bang, noisy humans.”
Twirling her fingers, Tohka mimicked the sounds as she elaborated.
She was probably talking about the AST, right?
Her tone, likening them to the noisy cicadas of summer, drew a wry smile from Shidou.
Then, a cheerful electronic chime, like solving a riddle, sounded through his earpiece, followed by a girl’s voice.
“Great opportunity, Shidou!”
“Huh…? What?”
Shidou muttered, not quite catching on.
“The spirit’s affection meter has passed seventy! If you want to take it further, now’s the time!”
“Take it further… how?”
“Hmm, well… for now, try inviting her on a date!”
“—What?!”
Shidou’s involuntary shout made the spirit girl, who was carefully writing her name on the blackboard, turn around with a puzzled sound.
“Tch—nothing, don’t mind me!”
A clumsy, thoughtless deflection.
Naturally, it didn’t work.
Tohka continued to eye Shidou with suspicion.
“…”
“Hurry up and ask her out! Strike while the iron’s hot to boost your bond! Go!”
“Even if you say that, if she goes outside… the AST will…”
“That’s why you have to do this. You need to convince her to hide in a large building next time she manifests. An aquarium, a movie theater, a department store—anywhere. Underground facilities are even better. That way, the AST can’t just barge in.”
“Uh… yeah.”
“What are you mumbling about since earlier? Are you plotting how to kill me or something?”
Tohka demanded, unconvinced.
“No, no, no! You’ve got it all wrong!”
Shidou hurriedly stopped Tohka, whose eyes glinted dangerously as a glowing orb appeared at her fingertip.
“Then spit it out! What were you just talking about?”
Unwilling to let it slide, Tohka raised an eyebrow, pressing him.
Sweat beaded on Shidou’s cheeks as he muttered, the hidden earpiece in his right ear transmitting a mocking voice—
“See? Just give in already! Date! Date!!!”
“Date!!!”
A chorus of teasing shouts erupted from the other side of the earpiece, egged on by Kotori.
“Argh, fine, I get it!”
Shidou let out a resigned cry.
Tohka’s probing expression grew sharper in his vision.
In truth, Shidou fully understood Kotori’s point and the importance of laying groundwork for the next phase, but saying something like this was just too embarrassing.
“Um… Tohka…”
“What?”
“So, uh… next time… would you, um…”
“?”
“Go on a… a date… with me?”
“What’s a date?”
“Well…”
Embarrassed by Tohka’s straightforward question, Shidou averted his gaze, habitually scratching his cheek.
At that moment, a loud voice blared through his earpiece.
“—Shidou, the AST is moving!”
“What—” Ignoring Tohka’s reaction, Shidou’s eyes snapped to the classroom’s exterior, where the earlier bombardment had obliterated any cover.
In that instant, two figures appeared.
Tohka’s expression hardened.
Standing her ground, she spread her palm, and a glowing sword clashed against it, sparking blinding flashes like a welding site.
“Hm?”
Swatting the lightsaber away as if shooing a fly, Tohka sent Origami Tobiichi flying along with it.
She raised her armored hand to block a punch that brought an airburst.
It was a woman with a single ponytail, someone Shidou didn’t recognize but was undoubtedly AST, like Origami.
“—Get in the way!”
Deflecting the opponent’s move with her gauntlet, Tohka spat in disdain, raising her arm to catch Ryoko Kusakabe’s next charging punch and kicking out.
No dodging—!
Never thought I’d have to fight Princess in close combat.
This is the worst.
“Origami!!!”
Her pupils contracted as Ryoko made a split-second decision, countering with a knee strike while shouting the name of the teammate who landed steadily, adjusting her stance.
Without a word, Origami Tobiichi rushed toward Shidou.
“Shidou, there’s—!!!”
“—!”
A dull thud of something being crushed echoed through the classroom, drowning out the rest of the girl’s shout in Shidou’s earpiece.
Even with her Territory’s protection, the captain was slammed into the wall, her right leg twisting unnaturally.
Though she immediately dulled her pain perception, Ryoko’s vision blurred.
Struggling to prop herself up, she glanced back.
Per the plan, Origami was supposed to rescue her classmate and evacuate from that side of the classroom, with Ryoko following to retreat and coordinate with the team to destroy the building, forcing the spirit to appear and be driven out.
But Origami wasn’t there.
“How—!”
“Shidou!!!”
“You?!!”
Tohka’s, Ryoko’s, and Origami’s furious voices rang out simultaneously.
Tohka couldn’t shake off Ryoko’s entanglement in time. Shidou didn’t catch the earpiece’s warning.
And Origami didn’t manage to scoop Shidou into her arms for a rescue—she missed.
The reason was simple.
A fifth person had appeared in the classroom.
A crimson glow flickered, emerging from the darkness—a single eye radiating an overwhelming sense of danger.
Origami gripped her anti-spirit lightsaber again, illuminating the slender figure in the shadows carrying the boy she was meant to save.
“You seem to be having quite an interesting conversation,” the girl said, raising a free hand to place a finger near her lips, flashing a mischievous smile as her right eye, now rose-red, blinked.
“But sorry, I’d like to borrow this boy for a bit~ When I return him depends on my mood.”
The ground cracked, and strange metal fragments materialized, their forms blurring in the light.
“Give Shidou back!!!”
A massive, broad sword loomed before her.
“Metatron (Seraphic Armor)”
BOOM—
The greatsword, along with the princess-like spirit, was flung out of the classroom.
Black-purple armor wove and overlapped, twenty-four crimson orbs lighting up in sequence like the eyes of some creature.
A three-meter-tall figure rose slowly, clutching the panicked blue-haired boy like a spoon in its grip.
“You—! I never believed you’d keep your word, but to think you’d claim you wouldn’t cause trouble and then show up immediately!”
Shaking as she maneuvered her Realizer to float, Ryoko Kusakabe roared her designation—
“—Beast!!”
***
Current Disclosed Information:
???
Designation: Beast
Divine Raiment ??: C
Angel: Metatron (Seraphic Armor) AA
Description: Not a direct weapon but a large-scale limb armor that significantly enhances the defensive capabilities of the Divine Raiment. The attached orbs amplify strength and double as clustered turrets.
Side Effects: ???, ???, ???