“Having someone else cover for me or whatever… don’t make it sound like I’m some kind of troublemaker…”
…Is Kyoumi really like what she herself said?
Unrestrained, without hesitation, simply showing enthusiasm because they met and got to know each other…
Is that really a good thing?
He couldn’t say for sure.
Shidou Itsuka hadn’t spent much time with Kyoumi; even adding up these three encounters in the real world, it only amounted to a single day.
He didn’t know.
He wasn’t yet qualified to judge someone else’s way of living, but he vaguely felt that something was off.
Feeling glad just because he understood the other person a little better… such a sentiment was still beyond the current boy’s comprehension.
“Kyoumi…”
Words welled up in his throat.
Shidou Itsuka lifted his head to look toward the glass door, but the girl’s reflection was no longer there.
…She left…
The boy who had earlier wished for her to leave quickly now felt like he had missed something.
“……” The water had grown a little cold. Had so much time really passed?
Reaching for the towel placed on the edge, the boy sighed and stood up, stepping out of the bathtub and irritably drying his hair.
Although he hadn’t had much chance to enjoy the bath, there were still two others who needed to use the bathroom afterward, so Shidou didn’t want to occupy it for too long.
Wiping his shoulders, he pulled open the bathroom’s glass door.
Shidou Itsuka’s gaze moved upward along the smooth tiled floor; before bathing, he had placed the clothes he intended to wear on top of the washing machine.
“Here.”
“Ah, thanks.”
Accepting the clothes the girl handed him, Shidou Itsuka reflexively thanked her—then his body stiffened.
“Kyoumi?”
“Hmm~ Yu’s here~”
“What are you doing?”
“As you can see, sitting on the Itsuka family’s washing machine waiting for the boy to finish his bath.”
Swinging her legs, the girl tilted her head innocently.
Her gaze slid downward, but the boy promptly blocked it with the clothes.
“Ah, but to already have abs at this age—Shidou must work out a lot~”
“Get out!!!”
With strength that came from who-knows-where, Shidou Itsuka wrapped his arms around the girl’s thighs and back, lifted Kyoumi up, tossed the girl who had been commenting on his physique out of the room, and slammed the door shut.
“Ehe~” She landed nimbly.
After the heavy thud of the closing door, the faint rustling sounds of him getting dressed could be heard from inside.
His sense of shame is still this high.
Looks like he didn’t really take those casually made-up words to heart. What a pity~
“Could you trouble yourself to fill the tub with hot water for Yu~”
Not minding too much, Kyoumi simply hugged her knees and leaned against the wall, humming an unknown tune while listening to the sound of the boy walking back to the bathroom at her request.
This feeling isn’t bad either~
However… I didn’t see any tattoos or anything… and there aren’t any particularly noticeable moles on his body either.
Although I can faintly sense spiritual power, it isn’t as obvious as with the other spirits.
When Kotori and Tohka fought, they could confirm the approximate location of the spirit crystal through the sensation of the Seraphic Raiment, but even now, I can’t feel anything similar from Shidou.
I also checked the clothes he changed out of in the laundry basket; they’re all just ordinary materials…
I roughly know that sealing opens a channel to store spiritual power, but I still have no clue where exactly that channel is located.
…Moreover, without a core to bear the spiritual power, how does he ensure he won’t be burst apart by it?
And just what is the storage limit of the seal…
There are too many things worth paying attention to.
Even observing him from such close distance yielded no feasible ideas.
In the end, I’ll probably have to wait for the result of Kotori’s seal and see if it can awaken the memories Shidou once lost.
After thinking it over, that’s currently the only option.
Until I fully understand what this seal truly is, I really can’t risk myself recklessly~
Deciding to temporarily halt her observational records of the boy, Shidou Itsuka—who was completely unaware of what Kyoumi was pondering—opened the door again, revealing his outfit of a white T-shirt paired with blue athletic shorts.
Still with a towel on his head, Shidou Itsuka warily looked left and right.
As expected, he spotted the girl putting on an act of obedience, leaning beside the door and softly humming a strange rhythm.
“I’m telling you…”
“Is the bathwater ready? Thanks for the hard work~”
Using the floor for support to stand up, Kyoumi brushed past the boy’s body.
The sound of the door closing and her words of appreciation reached Shidou’s ears together.
“……”
Maintaining the posture of drying his hair, the boy clearly heard the click of the lock engaging from inside, followed by the much fainter sound of the shower being turned on.
…As expected, I still can’t keep up with her train of thought…
Having gained an even deeper understanding of the girl’s capricious and willful nature, Shidou thought about the date plans with Kotori later, and how Kyoumi had volunteered herself to act as commander…
Although everyone on Fraxinus was fairly reliable and should be able to prevent her from choosing too many strange options, for some reason, Shidou Itsuka still felt a wave of unease.
Whatever… I’ll think about tomorrow’s problems tomorrow.
…For now, I should go find a usable blanket and also…
settle the account with my cute little sister.
***
Parts of the Divine Raiment dissolved into purple-red specks of light at her will.
“……”
Turning the shower temperature to the highest, the bathroom gradually became enveloped in steam.
Kyoumi slowly unwrapped the bandage covering her left eye and lowered her head.
The palm wrapped in a dark glove came into view.
The girl rubbed her eyes, which were still somewhat blurry from being covered for too long.
The skin her fingertips touched was smooth and intact… That was only natural, because the slash that had crossed her eyelid hadn’t actually caused Kyoumi much injury.
While her Divine Raiment didn’t possess particularly strong defensive power, its healing ability was still passable.
Well, after witnessing Kotori’s healing flames, anyone would lower their evaluation of a minimalist healing-type ability.
“…I really envy Kotori’s power… If I could obtain that spirit crystal, I should be able to recover much faster, right…”
The golden heterochromatic vertical pupil flickered a few times as if experiencing poor contact, then dimmed.
“My body still feels a bit uncoordinated…”
In terms of combat, she could only rely on the instincts of the Seraphic Raiment for now.
But at this level, she wasn’t sure if it would be enough to deal with the opponents to come.
“I don’t know when I’ll be able to return to my prime…”
From having her wrist kicked by an ordinary Self-Defense Force member to losing at hopscotch to even a little girl—it was clearly all thanks to the white-haired woman from her dream.
If she wanted to investigate further, she could only pin her hopes on Shidou’s seal awakening the memories that had been sealed away.
Continuing to dwell on it would only add needless worry, so she simply stopped thinking about it.
Still wearing the stockings and gloves, the bare girl climbed into the bathtub.
“……”
The rising steam from the tub made the girl slightly frown.
She tilted her head back to look at the water heater’s temperature display on the wall. “…Forty-three degrees, huh…”
“Tch… still a bit cold…”
The small complaint rose together with the bubbles in the water, burst, and vanished in the narrow space.