Tohka let out a gasp of awe once more, and couldn't glue her eyes away from the sight.
"This is amazing! There are lakes and mountains inside a building!" said Tohka.
"There's so much water!" said Yoshino.
"Boy, I'm so excited!" said Yoshinon.
"Shido, am I allowed to go into that lake?" asked Tohka, pointing in front of her. In that swimming pool, waves were being sent against the people inside.
"Yeah, of course."
"All right! Let's go, guys!"
She began running with the floaty in hand, as Yoshino and Sera ran after her.
"O-Okay," said Yoshino
"I bet I can stay afloat longer than Yoshinon, haha!" said Sera teasingly.
"You have a bet, lecher! Yoshinon is the almighty commander of the sea and floaties!"
As they ran to the pool, Kotori walked up to Shido after previously detaching for a bit.
"They sure are lively."
Shido noticed her swimsuit and stared.
"What are you looking at? Getting turned on by your sister?"
"O-Of course not!"
"What are you doing, Shin? She wore that for you," said Reine.
He coughed.
"Kotori."
"What?"
"That, uh... That swimsuit looks good on you. I think it looks cute."
She looked to the side, lollipop in mouth, but then grinned
"Why, thank you. Did Reine or Kannazuki tell you to say that?"
"N-No, it's what I really think."
"Really? I'm flattered. So... what about it makes me look so cute?"
Aboard the Fraxinus, three choices once again appeared on the screen, as Kyouhei passionately stood up.
"It's time to put our skills to the test! Everyone, vote!"
The crew made their choice, as did Tonomachi, as did many other people, including those who played the same dating sim. Surprisingly, no one voted for the third choice, with 42% voting for the second choice and 58% for the first one.
"I see. That's not surprising."
"She shouldn't feel bad after hearing number one," said Minowa.
"Number two suggests that he's only paying attention to her swimsuit. Number three is out of the question," added Nakatsugawa.
"I see. That makes sense."
A moment of pause as he thought.
"Shido-kun, number three!" suddenly said Kyouhei.
"Huh?!" wondered everyone.
Shido sighed and braced himself.
"That developing chest is making me huff and puff."
"Wh-What the hell?!" she blurted out, as she covered herself.
"N-No, I—"
Shiizaki threw her voodoo doll at Kyouhei. Everyone looked at him, anger in their faces, as some picked up the nearest thing next to them.
"What?! Why are you so mad?! What's so bad about a developing chest?!"
"I can't believe you!" said Nakatsugawa.
"You want to dig up another hot spring?" asked Minowa.
They began throwing things at Kyouhei, who fell on the ground, still confused.
"Shin, it's an emergency. Her Mood Meter is..."
"I understand. I'll talk to Kotori..."
"Not her. Yoshino."
He noticed an iceberg floating in one of the pools with a sobbing Yoshino on top of it.
He ran over as Tohka was trying to calm Yoshino down.
"What happened?" he asked.
"She lost Yoshinon! But I don't know where it is..."
He looked around, as he noticed Sera in the pool scrambling to get Yoshinon, but the waves kept messing his attempts up. He jumped to his aid, and together, they rescued Yoshinon. Then, they both got out of the pool.
Shido took the puppet and ran over to Yoshino.
"Yoshino! Come down, I got Yoshinon!"
She sobbed and looked down.
"Yoshinon!"
She slipped and started sliding down, landing on Sera.
"Ow..."
"S-Sorry..."
Tohka came running.
"I got a fan!"
"Thanks."
Shido began fanning Yoshinon, as Yoshino helped Sera get up.
"So you panicked when Yoshino got swept away?" asked Shido.
"Y-Yes. I'm sorry."
"Forgive me, I was supposed to watch her," said Tohka to Kotori.
"Nothing bad happened so forget about it."
"My back has a refutation to give..."
"Well, it's all Shido's fault. If you want someone to blame, blame him," said Kotori.
"Hey!"
"Hmph."
He finished fanning Yoshinon and gave it back to Yoshino.
"This should do it."
"Wow, thanks, Shido-kun! I was about to get dragged into an adventure."
"I'm sorry, Yoshinon."
"Don't worry, nothing happened!"
"Speaking of that, it looks like you lost a bet," smirked Sera.
"Double or nothing!"
"Ok, guys, let's get back to playing!" said Tohka, as she ran away somewhere.
"Okay!" said Yoshino.
"By the way, I accept your offer!" called out Sera, as he ran after them.
"Hey, Shido. About what you said...," said Kotori.
"What I said?" asked Shido.
"About what makes this cute. Did Fraxinus tell you to say that?"
"No, actually..." he said, scratching his head.
"Shin, I know you're facing Kotori, but you have to respond according to the data. Separate your feelings from your logic," said Reine.
He shook his head.
"It was me."
"I see..."
Kotori looked aside.
"Kotori?"
"Hey, Shido! Let's go on that!" called out Tohka.
"Tell Yoshinon what this strange contraception is, Sera!" asked Yoshinon.
"Ah, that's a water slide."
"I'm sure it'll be fun if we all go!" said Tohka.
"I'll pass. I might lose Yoshinon again," said Yoshino.
"Count me out, too. I'm not a kid," said Kotori.
"Ah, I'm a bit afraid of water slides..." uttered Sera.
"Oh, okay. Then, Shido... let's go together!" said Tohka, latching onto his arm.
"Oh, uh..." he uttered nervously.
"Wait. I'll go with you, after all," said Kotori.
Reine nodded.
"Good move, Tohka. Even though Kotori is on a date, I was afraid that she wouldn't really show her excitement."
The three went up the slide, with Shido nervously sweating. Yoshino and Sera stayed below. Kotori got on Shido from the front, and Tohka from the back, both latching onto him.
"It's not that I mind, but... This arrangement is kind of..."
"Alright, let's go!" said Tohka, pushing them down the slide.
They all screamed, each for differing reasons. Because of their arrangement, they fell out the slide before it even finished, fortunately into water. Yoshino and Sera stared in shock.
"Now that's what I call touchdown! Homerun! Sera, why don't we go together next?" asked Yoshinon.
He gulped.
Tohka emerged from the water, laughing.
"That was amazing, Shido!"
Shido looked annoyed, while Kotori was still latching onto him. She was quietly sobbing.
"O-Onii-chan..."
"Kotori? Are you—"
She gasped, realising what was happening and let go before turning around.
"Go... Go get my ribbon."
He did so, and handed it to her, as they all went to land. Tohka ran over to Yoshino and Sera.
"We went swoosh! And then boom, and finally, splash!"
"Wow... Sera, we definitely need to go! Yoshino, won't you change your mind?" asked Yoshinon.
"Why do you insist on going with me?!" asked Sera nervously.
Kotori and Shido were standing separately from them, as she put her ribbon back.
"Jeez, you must be crazy," said Kotori to Shido.
"Hey, Kotori. Why are you wearing black ribbons today?"
"What, you don't like them?"
"N-No, that's not it."
"I had to. I'm weak when I'm in white. I need to be strong... in black."
Shido looked at her, as if he was thinking about something.
"Hey, Shido! Did we go "swoosh" or "splash" on that thing?" asked Tohka.
"Huh?"
"Whichever..."
"No, this is important. How was it?"
Yoshinon looked annoyed because of Tohka interrupting his thing with Sera, so he went up to Kotori's bra and untied it.
Everyone looked at Yoshinon and a Tohka without a bra in shock. She instantly covered herself.
"Shido... did you see?"
"I saw nothing! I really did not!"
Kotori punched Shido with her elbow once more.
"Hard to believe you when you keep staring at her!"
Sera was already covering his eyes.
"Eyes closed! I-I saw nothing, I swear!"
Afterwards, they went up to the outside shop, and ordered food. They sat at one of the tables, as their food appeared in front of them shortly. The tree already munched on the food.
"This is delicious!" said Tohka.
"It's very good," said Yoshino.
"Have to agree, the foods are always amazing when Reine's covering the bill," said Sera.
"I'm glad to hear that, everyone."
He realised Kotori was silent, staring at them, frowning. Shido turned to talk to Reine.
"Reine-san, how are Kotori's mood and love numbers?"
"Not declining, but not increasing either. No change at all."
She's totally unmoved, huh? I'll never seal her powers if this goes on. But it's up to me to do something about it...
Kotori sipped the orange juice but began coughing.
"Are you okay?" asked Shido.
"Yeah. A bit just went down the wrong pipe."
She got up.
"Hey, where are you going?" he asked.
"You'd be dead met if you asked any other lady where she's going in the middle of a meal."
She walked away, as they looked at her, before looking at Shido, who sighed.
"What is it?" he asked.
"I was just thinking that you've only just gone back to normal," said Tohka.
"Did you have a fight with Kotori-san?" asked Yoshino.
"You loosen up the moment she leaves! It's plain as day, Shido-kun!" said Yoshinon.
"You're tense around her, and I think she takes notice," noted Sera.
"I-It's that obvious?"
"Yeah," nodded everyone.
Shido got up from his seat.
"I'm going to use the bathroom, too."
He ran off, as everyone stared at him.
"Shido..."
"What's up with him?" asked Yoshinon.
"He and Kotori are on a date, but it sure doesn't feel like it. I think our antics aren't helping too much..." said Sera dejectedly.
"Are we... unwelcome here?" asked Yoshino.
"No, no! Of course we are. It's just... Kotori is different. She's not like you or Tohka. I guess Shido needs time to adjust to that fact."
"Really?! We need to help them then! Maybe we should—" blurted out Tohka.
"If we butt even more into their date, we might as well climb up on the Fraxinus."
But if you need help, my friend... I'll be here. Something feels off about this... Origami is a super genius for a reason. Were she to ever find out the truth, about who the Spirit of Fire is... Hellfire will rain down on Tengu city. I promise I'll do everything to prevent that, my friends.
As Shido was walking inside the building, he talked to Reine.
"Reine-san, am I really that tense? I want to know what the data says about my mental state."
"Oh, Shido-kun. Analyst Murasame is away at the moment," said Kyouhei.
"Oh, okay."
He noticed Reine behind two vending machines, a part of her body. It hid off promptly.
"Shido-kun, don't..."
He walked forward, ignoring Kyouhei's warning. He listened through the vending machines.
"Are you okay, Kotori?" asked Reine.
"Yeah, I'll make it. But that was close. Please."
"We already gave you fifty times the normal dose this morning. You wouldn't..."
"I'm a Spirit. Drugs won't kill me. Please... I'm on a date with Shido... with Onii-chan!"
Shido gasped.
"Please... This might be my last chance. If he fails, I'll never be myself again. Before that happens, I want to go on this date with Onii-chan."
Reine picked up something and injected it into Kotori's arm. Then, she came out, and saw Shido, who walked off. She followed him.
"Reine-san. How long has Kotori been like that?"
"Since the moment she regained her spiritual power."
"Then why—"
"Kotori requested it. She didn't want us to tell anyone close to her. She didn't want you to date her out of pity."
He clenched his teeth.
"So please, pretend you never heard that... for Kotori's sake."
"I understand."
She walked off, as Kotori shortly came back. She noticed Shido sitting alone by a table, the food finished and everyone else gone.
"Shido? Where are those other three?"
"Kotori, let's change and go to the amusement park area."
"Huh? Oh, you must've been instructed by Fraxinus. Are we moving into the amusement park because this isn't going so well? Well, it's not like I mind."
"No."
He took out his earpiece and threw it away.
"Shido!"
"I like amusement parks more than waterparks."
"What?"
"Don't worry about Tohka, Yoshino and Sera. They're on the Jungle Cruise."
He grabbed her arm.
"Let's have fun. We haven't been to an amusement park in a while. Get ready, Kotori!"
Kotori stared at him, confused and surprised.
Meanwhile, at the AST HQ in the most confidential part, Captain Kusakabe escorted Master Sergeant Origami Tobiichi to the secret weapon they brought in.
"This is the cool thing?" Origami asked.
"Yep. It's a prototype: the EW-029 Annihilation Suit, "White Licorice." It puts the firepower of a whole AST squad at the disposal of one person. It's a crazy suit."
"Could one defeat Efreet using this?"
"Judging by the numbers, it's at the level that it could beat a Spirit, but you can't use it, for both political and technological reasons."
Origami stared at the weapon, a huge white suit.
"A professional wizard from DEM corporation broke down after 30 minutes of maximum operation. But what makes you bring up Efreet? Oh, I see. The Spirit in that video was Efreet? It did use fire..."
"Video?" asked Origami.
"Yeah. We've got footage from the battle on the rooftop."
"Please. Please show me. I... must know. Who is Efreet?"
"Sure, I'll show you. This way."
She took her to a room with a big projector, as she played the footage. And on it was clearly the Spirit of Fire, Efreet... Kotori Itsuka herself.
Origami's face clenched up, as she finally realised.
"Itsuka... Kotori... Itsuka... Kotori! Kotori..."
To be continued...
Author's note: Please vote and comment to show support! Follow me to stay updated. I would love to also hear your feedback! To end this off, thank you for reading!
Your support keeps me writing, and I do appreciate it.