Date A Mysterious Being

Chapter 22 - Gabriel

"Ngh!"

She scowled slightly, fired her thrusters, and moved away from the spot for the moment. She stopped when she had a view of all the remaining wizards and got her breathing under control.

"Hmm?" Watching Origami suspiciously, Jessica raised her eyebrows. "Oh. Ha-ha! Ha-ha-ha-ha! I get it. Is that it?"
Even though her face had been drained of color until that very moment, Jessica suddenly began to laugh cheerfully and pointed at Origami. "Looks like your time's just about up. Little miss master wizard!"

Origami narrowed her eyes. And then she felt something wet by her mouth. Without taking her eyes off the enemy, she wiped it with a hand. And discovered blood. Apparently, her nose was bleeding.
For an instant, she thought it was because of the previous impact. But that wasn't it.

"This is...," Origami groaned as excruciating pain exploded in her head and she was assaulted by dizziness.

This was the first time she'd experienced this. It was the activation limit.

"Pfft... Ha-ha-ha! And you were so close. You really were. But now that you're at your limit, this is the end for you."
Several silhouettes appeared in the sky behind Jessica. Bandersnatches.
There wasn't a single mark on them. These were apparently not the machines Origami had dispatched earlier, but reinforcements sent from somewhere.
Perhaps having confirmed the arrival of backup, Jessica smiled victoriously.

"Heh-heh. The tables have turned. You really did a number on me, so don't think you're getting off scot-free."

"Ngh." Origami gritted her teeth, her head splitting with incredible pain and her vision steadily growing hazier.

◇

The first day's performers were lined up on Tenguu Square's central stage. They were all holding their breath, looking nervous as they waited for the MC to speak.
And this only made sense. The performances were done, the votes had been cast, and they were about to announce the top schools.

"Third place in the performance division-Senjou University High School!"

The room erupted in cheers and applause, and the Senjo performers onstage cried out with joy.
They were the jazz group that had been on before Shidou and the Spirits. Shidou clapped his hands together politely.
They had to have played pretty well to be voted into third place. Shidou's own recollection of their performance, however, was pretty hazy. Although he'd been listening to them extremely close-up, he'd been so nervous for his own performance that hardly any of their playing actually made it into his ears.

"Second place!" the announcer shouted as if to curb the cheering.
The audience was eager to hear this result. All their yelling and clapping and whistling quickly gave way to silence.

There was no doubt that there were only two names in everyone's heads at the moment: Rindoji, eternal champion, with an overwhelming performance from the actual idol Izayoi Miku. And Raizen High School, with their last-second miracle.
These two performances had obviously been special. That was clear for all to see. Maybe it was because of some aura the Spirits had.

The MC paused, seeming slightly nervous, and then took a breath before continuing: "Falling just short of the win! Raizen High School!"

"...!"

The moment he heard this name over the loudspeaker and saw the results on the large monitor onstage, he felt time stop.
A beat later, deafened by cheering and applause, he opened his eyes and caught sight of Miku's face twisted up in a grin.
And of course she was grinning. Because the fact that Shiduo and his band had come in second meant...