"Shido, what happened to your earpiece?" Kotori crossed her arms and looked at the chunk of metal, mangled beyond repair with a slightly annoyed expression. Clearly, they did not come cheap.
"Haah... Jessica crushed it with her Territory.."
"Jessica?"
"One of the wizards. Thats what they called her.."
Kotori's eyes widened in shock.
"You couldn't mean Jessica of the Adeptus Numbers, right?"
"I guess?"
Kotori sighed. "You're lucky you got out of there, then. Jessica Bailey is one of DEM's strongest wizards."
"Y-yeah.."
Reine coughed, unintentionally saving the struggling Shido.
"More importantly, I've finished analyzing Diva's affinity numbers. Please take a look."
She pointed towards the display on the wall, which was displaying a graph of Miku's happiness levels and a number of notes by Reine on it.
"This corresponds to when she sees Shido, and this is where the AST arrived"
She pointed to an incredibly low and high point on the graph respectively.
Kotori scratched her head with a confused expression.
"Why is she that happy when facing the AST? Does she enjoy getting beaten up? I guess the bigger issue is why she became so unhappy when she saw Shido, though.."
"Maybe he said something he shouldn't have?" It appeared that Reine was also at a loss.
"Hey..." Kotori and Reine looked at him in response to his soft murmur.
"What's up? Got any ideas?"
"Shin, do you know anything?"
Shido smiled wryly.
"...What if she's gay?"
...
"Do I have to do this??" Shido's cries went unheard by anyone who cared.
"Stop complaining. You're the one who said she was gay, Shiori."
Yes, Shido was currently in Shiori mode. By wearing the female Raizen High uniform with freshly shaved legs, some stuffing in the right places , a voice modulator, and just a touch of Haniel, Shiori had taken the stage once more.
One might think that it probably wouldn't be smart to decieve Miku like last time and to instead try to get closer to her without crossdressing, but the fact was that getting closer to her as a male was impossible. He pretty much had to use Shiori to break past the outer defenses first.
There probably was a better solution somewhere, but Shido couldn't think of it.
[A/N] Read: There probably was a better solution, but the author couldn't be assed to think of it
"H-hello, you're Yamabuki, Hazakura, and Fujibakama, right?"
He stopped in front of a certain trio of girls, infamous for their one line.
"Who are you?!"
"How do you know our names?!"
"That's so lame.."
There it was.
"Oh.. sorry if I confused you. I'm Shiori Itsuka, the cousin of Shido Itsuka... Class One."
"Shido's cousin? Huh. Nice to meet you. You can just call us Ai, Mai, and Mii, though!"
"Speaking of which, where is he? He should be helping us with the Tenou Festival about now.."
"Aah... I'm afraid he won't be coming in today. He told me to serve as his replacement.."
Shido smiled lightly, trying to calm the trio down.
"He SKIPPED?!"
"That bastard!"
"That's so lame!"
He felt a drop of sweat trickle down his neck.
"..Haha, no need to be so hard on him...."
"That monster skipped all his work and made his cousin take his place! If we let him off scot-free, we wouldn't be called Ai, Mai and Mii!"
"Yeah! Teach him a lesson!"
"He's so lame!"
"Ha-ha..."
Suddenly, he heard a little click behind him. He tried to turn around, but a pair of slender hands stopped him from moving.
"Eh?!"
"Stand still."
It was none other than Origami, holding a suspiciously high quality camera. This wouldn't normally be a problem, but she was currently pointing it at his posterior, which was a little different.
"Wai-wait!"
Too late.
The shutter clicked multiple times in rapid succession, immortalizing his appearance in this timeline yet again.
Suddenly, another pair of hands pulled Origami off of him.
"What are you doing, Origami?! Get off of Shi-mmph?!"
Shido hastily covered her mouth, speaking in a panicked tone.
"Pretend that I'm not Shido, please!"
"..Origami, get off of the girl that isn't Shido!"
as the two continued their bickering, the trio of girls turned back to Shido.
"Aaaanyway, Shiori."
"If you're here to help us with the festival, you can start out in a few hours!"
"We'll be waiting."
Shido forced a smile, trying not to think about the mountain of work waiting for him.
"Alright, I'll see you then! I look forward to working with you three."
"Likewise. Well, we have to leave for now. See you soon!"
"See you!"
The sarcastic voice of Kotori rang in his ears as he headed towards the stage.
"My my, you seem quite used to this, Shiori-chan."
...
Shido slowly approached the girl who was standing on the stage. Long, light indigo coloured hair and a shimmering dress, despite the lack of Reiryoku.
Miku Izayoi, the Spirit of Song, was looking around the stage and smiling delightfully.
"U-Um.. you're Miku Izayoi, right?"
Shido carefully walked up to Miku while wearing a nervous expression.
This might've been considered shameful behaviour in his normal appearance, but the image of Shiori simply eradicated any complaints without exception.
"Oh? And who might you be?"
Miku had turned around with a slightly sharp look in her eyes, but they soon turned into glittering sparkles the moment she took a look at Shido.
"I'm Itsuka Shiori... It's nice to meet you.." The downcast expression seemed to win over Miku
"Shiori, is it? Thats a pretty nice name. Say, what are you doing here? This stage is off limits, isn't it?"
"Well, I saw you going here and thought the same thing."
Miku froze for a moment before laughing.
"Ah-ha-ha! You're certainly right about that, but there's no need to worry. Nobody will complain."
"Shido. While your acting is suspiciously good, you need to figure out a way to meet up with her later." Kotori's voice came in over the earpiece, reminding Shido about what he came here for.
"Yeah, yeah, I got it."
"Hm? Did you say something, Shiori?"
"N-No, I just- Woah!"
Acting as if he tripped over one of the props lying on the stage, Shido tipped forward in a slightly dramatic fashion.
One fall and a touch of Haniel later, his hand appeared to be slightly hurt.
"Oh no! Are you okay, Shiori!"? Here, you can have my hankerchief..."
Mission Accomplished.
"That... wasn't too bad.."
Shido inwardly grinned while being fussed over by Miku, secretly delighting in Kotori's flabbergasted tone.
"Well, I have to go for now."
"It was nice meeting you, Shiori!"
Leaving the happily waving Miku behind, Shido made his way down the corridor, where he was suddenly stopped by the terrifying Kuudere.
"I want an explanation."
"W-well, you see.."
"Stop talking like that!"
...
Ryouko banged a fist on the table, making all the regular AST members around it except Origami jump.
"What the hell was that??"
"What was what?"
Jessica, who was in a wheelchair responded calmly. She had undergone emergency treatment by Medical Realizer shortly after being stabbed by Sandalphon, which was still technically underway, but she had recovered enough to move around in a wheelchair.
She was Adeptus 3. One of the strongest Wizards in the world. Even if she was heavily injured, she wouldn't let some nobody like Ryouko boss her around.
However, Ryouko did not back down.
"I'm talking about the fucking disaster we encountered back there. Who was that boy? Actually, what was that boy? Origami, wasn't he that acquaintance of yours that appeared with Princess?"
Origami silently nodded before turning back to Jessica.
"Urgh... Unfortunately, I can't tell you anything about who he is or what he has done. You don't have the authority to know."
Origami sat forward.
"So, in other words, he did something to piss Isaac Westcott himself off?"
"Tch. Smartass."
"But how are we supposed to deal with him? I doubt that we can handle him, even if we all attack at once." Ryouko entered the conversation once more, with a hint of despair in her voice.
"Heh. Don't worry, that's all been taken care of."
"What do you mean?"
"You'll see."
Ryouko's face twitched at the casual reply from Jessica.
"I'm your captain right now! Why can't you tell me something this important?!"
...
"How about a contest?"
Miku and Shido-well, Shiori were having tea at her mansion, but the mood wasn't entirely peaceful.
"What kind?"
"Let's compete on the first day of the Tenou festival. If Raizen wins, you get to seal my power. If I win, well.."
Miku made a sly smile and leaned forward. "....I get you and your Spirits."
"What?! Isn't that a little unfair?"
"My, you should be grateful that I'm even offering you a chance to seal my powers here. If I lose, its a huge loss for me, isn't it? If you lose, you actually benefit from it instead! It's such a wonderful deal, don't you think?"
"Haaah... I guess we have no choice.."
Shido made his mind up with the help of Kotori and nodded.
"Fine. A contest it is."
...
[A/N] We skipping to the music performance in the festival now :)
"Alright, are we ready?"
Shido looked at the stage around him. It was time for Raizen High's performance.
"Foolish Shido. I am always ready."
"Confirmation. Here we go."
"Let's do this!"
The Yamai Sisters and Tohka were standing on the stage alongside him, as planned, because of the absence of the AiMaiMii trio (due to Miku's interference), all ready to start their song.
The lights dimmed and the audience fell silent as the background music started playing.
Tohka stepped forward and took a deep breath in front of the microphone.
"...
"
__________
"No! How can this be?!"
Miku looked with wide eyes at the scoreboard.
Raizen High, 1st Place.
Rindoji High, 2nd Place.
"I refuse... I refuse to accept this.. GABRIEL! SOLO!"
The Angel rose up from the ground, causing the audience to murmur worriedly amongst themselves. However, as soon as the curious song began playing, everyone fell completely silent, looking at Shido with dead eyes.
"Shido! Are you okay?!"
"Question. What has Miku done?"
"Shido!"
"U-um... are you okay?"
the Yamai SIsters, Tohka and Yoshino ran over to him, thankfully not brainwashed. He had told them to wear two earbuds during the performance to prevent them from being affected by the brainwashing effect of Gabriel.
Miku turned around with an uneasy expression on her face.
"Shiori dear, why are they calling you Shido?"
"Oh... that's because, well.."
Shido waved his hand in front of him, using Haniel to turn back to his normal appearance
"WHAT?!
Miku instantly jumped back, putting as much of a distance between them as possible.
"Audience! Kill this.. man! How dare you decieve me?"
Shido grouped up with the other Spirits, backing off carefully.
They all had grim expressions on their faces, because of the insane amount of people coming towards them.
If they could kill them, there'd be no problem, but these were just some random people. They couldn't simply cause a mass murder like that.
Shido worriedly tapped his earpiece.
"Uh, Kotori? A little help?"
"A little help? How about no? Actually, how about you go die, you filthy person?!"
"What?" Shido froze up. He had forgotten to stop Kotori from being brainwashed.
Crap. Guess we'll just get out slowly, then.
He stomped on the ground, causing a massive shadow to spread across the venue.
"City of Devouring Time!"
All humans hit by the shadow were slowed down immensely, though not quite to the point of being immobile, since he didn't yet have the full power of Zafkiel.
Although, he probably couldn't keep this up for too long, or he'd risk letting Reine notice.
They had to make the most of what little time they had.
"Alright everyone, follow m- Wha?!"
His sentence was interrupted by a shattering noise that rang out through the hall.
"Mana?!"
"Big Bro, you gotta run!"
It was his sister, Mana Takamiya. She was currently using Vanargrandr, the wolf-like CR unit that she got from Fraxinus. Now, normally this appearance would be a blessing, but she appeared to be fleeing for her life from someone. She was also carrying a heavily injured Origami,who was wearing the White Licorice CR unit.
Ellen alone couldn't have made Mana this desperate. Just what had happened?
Shido's eyes widened as he saw a number of figures fly through the freshly opened hole.
The first few weren't a problem. It was just Jessica and her squad of Wizards and Bandersnatches. Those could be taken care of easily.
But the last two to enter were a slightly larger issue.
"Ellen Mathers and....
Artemisia Ashcroft?"
----------------------------------------
To be continued
Chapter 21 is out
This chapter didn't have much action it it, but it is the re-appearance of a favorite character of many: Arte- I mean, SHIORI!
Shiori best girl.
Next chapter is going to be full of action, nearing the end of Volume 7.
I do know that I kind of skipped like half of vol 6, but none of those events have really been changed, so it wouldn't make sense to write them all over again.
Anyway, as always
cya next time