Mana Takamiya opened her eyes slowly with a short sigh. Her field of vision was blurred, as if she were seeing the world through a filter, perhaps because she hadn't used her eyes in a long time. She felt weak, and her whole body ached.
"Where...am I...?"
For a moment, she didn't recognize the voice as hers. Dry throat, ringing ears. That was more than enough to give her pause.
After a few minutes, she regained control of her body more or less and took a look around to figure out where she was and what was going on.
White room. Large bed. Bandages wrapped around every part of her, IV stabbed into her left hand, oxygen mask covering her mouth. Electrodes were attached to her chest, and a monitor pinged in time with her heartbeat.
Mana half grinned. With all this gear, she could be a model for a patient in critical condition.
"Why am I so...?" she started, and then her eyes flew open wide. She ripped the oxygen mask off and sat her aching body up. She turned her head and glanced at the digital clock on the shelf.
2:00 PM. 5th July.
"It's...July...fifth?!"
Mana gasped. Unless the clock was wrong or someone had deliberately changed the date to mess with her, nearly a month had passed since the day she fought the Magician- Lucas. Since the day Mana had been utterly crushed by the full might of the Magician, who used an unknown technique on her.
And then she finally realized something very basic.
"Why...am I not dead...?"
True, her body ached. Yes, her vision was hazy. She would have been hard pressed to say that she was anywhere close to tip-top shape. But she was alive. Mana had been exposed to that monster at her most helpless, her most defenseless, and yet she continued to exist.
Now she was even less certain of what had happened that day.
Mana found it hard to believe that anyone in this world possessed enough power to beat her that easily.
But how else could she explain the fact that she was alive? Unless that twisted girl let her go on a whim or for revenge or something.
Mana put a hand on her throbbing head. Although she'd survived, she had no idea if the others had come to harm or not. What had happened to them?
"...Huh?" Mana frowned.
The door to her room had opened, and several people in black suits were now stepping inside.
"Takamiya Mana, yes?"
"Is this someone's idea of a joke?" Mana's gaze grew sharp. "Doctors and nurses in black, hmm?" The men in black did not so much as flinch.
"You'll be coming with us. I'd rather not do this the hard way, but that isn't out of the question if you resist."
"...Uh?" Her face scrunched in doubt, and she glared at the man who had spoken. "Do you realize who you're speaking with? The hard way? With me? Ha! Go ahead if you think you can."
Mana stood up and cracked her knuckles.
"Ms. Takamiya, is something the matter?" the nurse asked, opening the door. The moment she peered inside, she froze in place. "What...?"
She had come to check in on Mana Takamiya after noticing an irregularity in her EKG reading, but there was no one in the room.
Oxygen mask, electrodes, and IV needle were scattered on the bed, and there was a faint indentation in the mattress indicating that someone had been lying there recently.
But when she scanned the room and even checked under the bed, her supposedly unconscious patient was nowhere to be found.
The nurse hurried to the head of the bed and pressed the CALL button.
◇
"We're free..."
When the familiar sound of the bell ringing echoed through the school, Itsuka Shidou fell forward onto his desk, the last drop of his strength gone. He couldn't see it himself, but he would bet anything that plumes of smoke were wafting up from his head.
Which was honestly no surprise. Shidou had just finished challenging one of the greatest enemies to be faced in school life: the final exam.
"Okay, okaaay! No collapsing yet. Please pass your papers forward!" called the short, bespectacled teacher from the podium as she clapped her hands. His homeroom teacher, Okamine Tamae, or Tama for short.
The class rose like zombies and handed their tests to the students in the seats in front of them. Shidou felt like the zombie ratio among his classmates was higher than usual, but this, too, was reasonable.
It might have been the standard final examination on the usual range of subjects, but the students attending this school were forced to evacuate a lot of times during their studies but the final exam schedule remained mercilessly the same as it had been preclosure.
"...Hmm?" He was about to hand the stack of tests with his own on top toward the front when he caught sight of the girl sitting to his right. Like Shidou, she had flopped down on her desk a moment earlier. "Tohka, you okay?"
"M-mm..." Tohka slowly raised her head.
"How was it?"
"M-mm, okay, I guess." She waved her hand, an exhausted look on her face.
For the midterms, she had just scribbled on her answer sheet (and Reine had intervened to keep her from failing), but once Shidou told her what the tests were for, she started studying on her own. Apparently, she didn't like that Shidou had been studying for the exams while she sat there doing nothing.
Ratatoskr encouraged this sort of self-motivated action from Tohka, and they'd held a study party at the Itsukas' house five days before finals. The unfamiliar act of studying, however, had chipped away at her strength. An hour after the study session began, she'd developed a fever- a literal burning for knowledge.
"All right, that's the end of the exams for the first term. Nice work, everyone!" Tama announced, and the class sighed in both joy and relief. "But we still have some decisions to make, so you can't go home yet, okay?" She tidied the bundle of answer sheets and left the classroom.
"Shidou..." Tohka staggered up from her seat. "I'm gonna go get a drink of water."
"S-sure. You okay?"
"Mm... Don't worry. I'm just a little tired." She cut across the classroom on unsteady feet, opened the door, and stepped into the corridor.
"Ha-ha! Well, she did work really hard." Shidou watched her leave and leaned back in his seat. And then his eyebrows twitched upward.
The reason was simple. He could see the girl sitting to his right out of the corner of his eye. She had black hair, with unusually long bangs on her left side, which covered her left eye. Her hair was tied into low pigtails using ribbons matching the color of her eye, red.
It was Tokisaki Kurumi, his classmate. Unbeknownst to anyone but him and a few, she is actually a Spirit.
But even if she's a Spirit, wasn't she a bit too relaxed right after finishing her finals?
Shidou thought the same as he stared at her, before asking.
"Tokisaki, how was it?"
"Mm.. I'd say it was pretty easy."
"E-easy?!" Shidou suddenly raised his voice. "Are you sure...?"
"Yes, I'm confident."
Shidou could only let out a long breath. He wished he had this kind of intelligence and confidence. Now that he thought about it, he wondered how it went for Lucas. Lucas doesn't really look or act like someone who studies a lot. It might have just been Shidou though.
Speaking of the devil, right after he thought about it, the door slipped open. A boy, roughly the same size as him, maybe a little taller, walked into the room. His hair was black and his eyes red like a ruby. His hairstyle was similar to Shidou's but his overall appearance was exceptionally more attractive.
"Kyyaaaa!!"
"It's him! It's him!"
"Can I get your number!?"
The girls (except Origami), who just earlier looked like zombies, started screaming out of a sudden, full of energy. Lucas was like a model in their eyes. And it does seem about right. He was top tier model material.
The boys (Except Shidou) in the classroom were acting up as well.
"Dammit. Damn him..."
"So the basic recipe for poison is an acid and a base, right?"
"Play Hymn Number 13 right now."
Lucas ignored the rest of the classroom, especially the girls and turned his face to Shidou and Kurumi.
"How did it go, Lucas?" Kurumi asked, but she kind of looked like she already knew the answer.
"I wanted to ask the same thing." Shidou said to him.
"Huh? Do you not know, Shidou?"
"Huh?" Shidou was confused. Doesn't know what? He was sure he hadn't missed anything. "Eh, but Kurumi asked the same-"
"Kurumi knows already; she asked this merely as a joke." Lucas cut him off.
"W-what do I not know then?!" Shidou cried.
"I am on the top of the students' ranking." Lucas simply said.
"Wha-?!"
He turned his gaze to somewhere else. He spotted Tonomachi, who knew everything about the school and the students individually (especially girls).
He quickly dashed to him and asked him about Lucas.
"Hey, Tonomachi. Who's at the top of the student ranking?"
"Huh?" Tonomachi didn't expect Shidou to suddenly ask him. But he knew the answer. "It used to be Tobiichi Origami, but she was overtaken by Lucas."
"W-what?!" He turned back around to Lucas, shocked. "And what place is Tokisaki?"
"Third." Tonomachi instantly replied. "And both are number one on the most date-able girl/boy ranking."
"I didn't wanna know about that!" Shidou shouted, quietly. He let out a sigh and got back on his seat.
"I have to get back to my classroom. See ya."
"Later."
"See ya."
Shidou and Kurumi said, kind of in sync.
When Lucas left, the door was left open for some reason. He didn't know why, but he got up to close it. When he was about to close it, someone, who wanted to enter the classroom, bumped into him.
"O-ouch!" They both fell on their butt.
"A-are you o-" he froze. Infront of him was Tohka, on her butt, legs spread. He could see them. A cute pair of pink and white.
Tohka hadn't noticed until now, and only held her head up with her right hand while her left supported her upper body.
"What are you doing, Shidou?!" She shouted. But she didn't get any response. She looked confused at Shidou, who was blushing uncontrollably. "? Something wrong, Shi-?!" She looked down on herself. Her head flushed a bright red and she pulled down her skirt. "Nngh...!" He felt like Tohka was about to burst into an outrage.
He heard the classroom door opening from behind, and Ms. Tama appeared.
"Okay, enough. Everyone, take your seats. It's time for homeroom."
A godsend.
"Tohka, we better sit!" Shidou shouted, louder than necessary, and set off in the lead to his desk.
Ms. Tama let out a giggle. "Oh my, you looked like you were having fun. What were you all doing?"
"Oh, nothing...," Shidou said, feeling hot.
"Iiiinteresting." Tama laughed happily from her place in front of the podium. "It's the last period of the day. But there's something we have to decide on before we leave."
"Ummm! What are we deciding?" Tonomachi held his hand up high.
"Roommate arrangements and seating on the flight for the school trip," Tama announced.
"...Oh," Shidou muttered.
Now that she mentioned it, the school trip to Okinawa was coming up in mid-July, right before summer break. With the finals and all the Spirit stuff, he'd forgotten about one of the biggest events of student life.
It seemed that he wasn't the only one. About a third of the class joined Shidou in nodding. "Oh, riiiight."
"Ha-ha-ha! You're all so forgetful. Okay then, let's get right to- Whoops! I just remembered." Tama's eyebrows shot up as something apparently came to mind, and she pulled a stack of papers out from where they were wedged in her attendance book. "First things first. There's been a bit of a change in where we're going."
"Huh?" went the entire class.
There were only two weeks left before the trip. Destinations didn't just change at the last minute for no reason.
"Mm." Tama nodded. "Well, that's exactly what's happened."
"Umm, so then where are we going?" Tonomachi was asking the hard questions once again.
The class was curious as to why their destination had suddenly been changed, but the where was their biggest concern.
Sensing this ominous aura, Tama spoke at a slightly higher pitch than usual. "I-it's okay. The new place is also wonderful."
"And where's that?"
"Let's see... Arubi Island."
Half the class groaned, while the other half looked confused.
"Arubi? That's by Izu, right?"
"That's not a real destination. A downgrade."
"Hey. It's not bad for a tourist spot."
"Okay! Quiet, please." Tama clapped her hands to interrupt the sudden chatter.
The class quickly came to the general consensus- "Well, at least they didn't totally scrap a trip to the beach" -and followed their teacher's instruction.
"We'll go through it in detail once the revised itinerary is done, so we'll settle on roommates for now. Please form groups of four or five with whoever you like."
Tonomachi walked over to Shidou. "Hey, Itsuka, you and me-"
"Shidou!"
But he was drowned out by a shout from Shidou's right. Tohka was leaning across her desk, eyes shining. "Let's team up for this roommate thing!"
"Uh... Uh?" He frowned.
"Mm?" Tohka gave him a quizzical look, like she couldn't understand why Shido was surprised. "Is something wrong?"
"Uh, actually, that would be a really bad idea."
"Why? It's groups of five, right? So there's no problem."
"N-no, Yatogami-san!" Tama shouted from the podium. "Girls and boys should form separate groups!"
"Mmph." Tohka pouted. "Why? I want to be with Shidou."
"Wh-why...? It's...," Tama stammered, her face turning beet red.
Shidou sighed and turned toward Tohka. "I told you not to give the teacher a hard time. Anyway, boys and girls have to be in separate rooms."
"Mm. They do?" Tohka slumped for a moment, but she quickly lifted her face with a gasp. "I know!"
She ran out of the classroom and slammed the door shut. He heard the rattling of a locker from the hallway.
A minute or so later, the door opened again, and Tohka came waltzing in. Wearing track pants instead of a skirt, her long hair tied back.
"...Tohka?" Shidou asked.
"No. I-I am To...To...Toru," Tohka replied, deliberately lowering her voice. "As you can see, Ms. Tama, I'm a boy starting now. There shouldn't be any more problems."
"There's a huge problem!" Tama shrieked.
"Mm." Tohka drooped, looking utterly exhausted. "So this won't work, either, then."
"Wait." An unexpected person threw Tohka a lifeline- Origami.
"I want you to accept Yatogami Tohka's request. Be flexible, please."
"Wh-what?!" Tama looked stunned at this from Origami, who fought like cats and dogs with Tohka. And it wasn't just their teacher. Everyone who witnessed the girls' daily squabbles was shocked.
"You... What's your endgame?" Tohka stared at Origami, eyes narrowed in open suspicion.
"Your commitment and persistence have made a deep impression on me. You have earned the right to be in a boys' room."
After a few seconds, Tohka snorted and averted her eyes.
"I-I'm not thanking you!"
"No need," Origami said.
"H-hey, hey, hey! What are the two of you talking about here?! You can't just decide that!" Tama banged the podium with her fist.
Origami paid this no heed. "However, if you're going on the school trip as a boy, then you'll have to obey the rules."
"Rules?"
"Yes. The toilet, the bath- you'll do everything together with the boys."
"Wha...?!" Tohka turned beet red.
"Whoa...?!" The boys were suddenly very interested. The girls glared at them.
"Having people stare at you or touching you on some kind of impulse will all be within bounds," Origami continued.
"Because you are a boy, after all."
"Wh-wh-wh-wha...?" Tohka's hands shook, and she glared at Origami, about to burst into tears.
Origami ignored this and turned her gaze on Shidou. "However, it's not often that a girl becomes a boy. There needs to be a proper balance."
"Huh?" Shidou frowned. "What's that mean?"
"Given that the number of boys has increased, it's only reasonable for you to become a girl, Shidou."
"That doesn't make any sense!"
"Let's go to the bathroom together, Shidomi."
"That's my new name?!" he shouted.
Tohka put a hand to her chin as she considered the proposal, and then her eyes flew open. "Wait a second! If Shidou becomes a girl, then we wouldn't be able to share a room, now would we?!"
"Live strong as a boy. I'm excited for you."
"Unnngh! You set me up, Origami Tobiichi!"
"Aah! Calm down!" Shidou shouted. "Girls and boys are in separate rooms! No switching!"
The two girls finally fell silent.
However...
"W-well, you might not be able to share a room, but you can sit next to whoever you want on the plane," she noted entirely unnecessarily. "So you could always sit together, right?"
Tohka's and Origami's eyes began to glitter once more.
Monday, July 17. After about three hours on the airplane, Shidou and the eleventh graders from Raizen High School landed on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
"Wh-whoa...!" Stepping out of the airport, Tohka's eyes grew wide, and her hands trembled.
This was perfectly understandable. The view that greeted them was so vast that it was impossible to take in unless she physically turned her head from side to side.
The ocean spread out on the other side of the road, past the sandy beach, and the horizon in the distance divided heaven and earth. The sky was a clear blue. The sun shone brilliantly, and a beautiful gradation colored the ocean water.
"Th-this is...the sea?!" Tohka shouted. Seeming even more excited, she whirled around, her small frame trembling.
"Ha-ha... You're pretty excited, huh?" Shidou grinned at her somewhat over-the-top gestures
They had just set foot on Arubi Island. A total area of seventy square kilometers nestled in between Izu and Ogasawara Islands. The northern part had been gouged out during the series of spacequakes thirty years ago and redeveloped in recent years as a new tourist destination. It was a place with a history very similar to where Shidou and his friends lived, Tenguu City.
"Hmm." Although he couldn't quite match Tohka's excitement, Shido wasn't so emotionally detached that he felt nothing when taking in the magnificent view. He looked around and stretched as he took deep breaths. And then yawned abruptly. "Aaaah. Oops."
His eyelids were strangely heavy- perhaps owing to their early departure. On the plane, too, he had very nearly fallen asleep. Well, that said, though...
He sighed as he glanced at Tohka still waving her hands in excitement and Origami coming out of the airport.
Fortunately- or maybe not- the plane seats were in groups of three, so they'd managed to reach an accord with Shidou in the middle and the girls on either side of him, but...
"Shidou, look. It's so pretty."
"Shidou! This side's pretty, too! Wait! The window's far away! You did this on purpose, didn't you, Tobiichi Origami?!"
"It's your fault for not asking for the window seat."
"Hnnnngh..."
"Shidou. Look. You can see the horizon."
"Ngh! Sh-Shidou! Over here, I mean, you know! It's amazing! The aisle is super cool! This is something you're not gonna get from a horiz-a-whatever!"
"Look. You can see the mountains in the distance. Come closer."
"Ngah! Th-this way, I mean...! Shidou, look! Huge mountains on Reine's chest!"
"We broke through the clouds. Look. A sea of white. Like a carpet."
"Th-this way, there's... Uh-ungaaaah!"
With this constant chatter arkund him, he couldn't have slept even if he'd tried.
"Mm?" Tohka made a strange sound and whirled her head around.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"...Oh, I just felt like something or someone was watching us."
"Huh?" Shidou cocked his head to the side. He heard a snap, and then they were suddenly bathed in the light of a flash.
He unconsciously covered his face with his hand. "Whoa!" He narrowed his dazzled eyes and looked in the direction of the light to find a girl standing there with a large camera.
Nordic blond hair fluttering in the wind. Her white skin stood out in this crowd, and her sharp features were definitely not Asian.
"Um. What was that?" Shidou asked, bewildered.
"Apologies." The girl lowered her camera and turned her gaze on him. "I'm Ellen Mathers, the photographer sent from Cross Travel to accompany you. I'll be keeping a record of your trip for the next three days. I'm sorry for the candid shot. If that was rude, I do apologize."
"Uh, no, it's fine."
Now that she mentioned it, he vaguely remembered that someone had mentioned a photographer would be on the trip with them. He never dreamed it would be a foreigner- and a girl not much different in age from Shidou and his classmates. Shidou and Tohka stared at her.
"Well, if you'll excuse me." Ellen bowed once more and walked toward the other students.
"What's her deal?" Tohka crossed her arms.
"Dunno," he said. "But that explains why you felt like someone was watching you."
"Mm. Mm-hmm." Tohka looked to both sides before peering upward. "I still feel like there's eyes on me, though."
"Huh?" He frowned and turned his eyes in the direction she was looking, but there was nothing there except the clear blue sky.
◇
"Nngh...! That flight was awful..."
Lucas said, looking like a walking corpse. The plane itself wasn't awful, but with Tohka and Origami constantly fighting, he had to intervene multiple times. Over the several hours of flight, he hadn't gotten a blink of sleep.
"They should just get along...."
click, he heard on his left, a bright light flashing his eyes for a millisecond.
"Huh?"
A person with a camera covering her face faced him.
"Uh.. who might you be?"
"Apologies, " she started and lowered her camera to reveal her face. She had blue eyes like the ocean around them and pale blond hair. "I am Ellen Mathers. I am the photographer in charge of Cross Travel. Sorry for the sudden photo."
"Ah, no..it's fine."
It kind of felt strange to Lucas. She had a different vibe from the others but she didn't seem suspicious. Maybe he was just overthinking it.
"If you excuse me." She said and left.
"..?"
"Lucas, is something the matter?"
He turned his head towards the direction of the voice. It was Tokisaki Kurumi. Merely seeing her face relaxed Lucas and his strange feeling melted away,
"No, it's nothing."
They looked around to group up with the rest of the eleventh graders, but they haven't seen two figures.
"Shidou..? Tohka?"
Yes. They were missing. Have they gone off to somewhere else? No... they were told to stay on standby until everyone was out of the plane. For a moment, it was silent. Until Lucas noticed something strange again. This time, he was sure something was off. The sky.. a storm was approaching at rapid speed.
◇
"Incoming from Adeptus One. The targets have landed on the island."
"Camera six, north sector, Akaru Airport. Targets confirmed."
"One Target confirmed here as well. It's Princess."
As the voices rose from the lower deck of the bridge, a girl was shown on the monitor. A girl who looked exactly the same as the AAA-rank Spirit- code name Princess.
"Hmm..."
The middle-aged man sitting in the captain's chair on the Arbatel, a DEM-made 500-meter-class airship, murmured and stroked his beard.
James A. Paddington. With a rank equivalent to colonel in DEM Industries' second enforcement division, he had been assigned by Westcott, the owner and founder of DEM, to captain the ship.
"Surprisingly anticlimactic," he remarked. "Is that really a Spirit?"
"Please make sure to stay on guard," came the voice of a young girl through the speakers on the bridge. The voice of call sign Adeptus One and head of the second DEM enforcement division, Ellen. "She may be a Spirit. That is reason enough to be on high alert."
"And..," he continued as another picture was displayed on the screen next to the girl. "This is..?" It was an image of a seemingly normal highschool boy. He had red eyes like ruby's which ever so slightly glow.
"Kunshu Lucas." She started. "He may seem like a human but looking into his past records and relationships, he very well be Magician."
He shrugged. "I shall take that to heart then."
Ellen frowned ever so slightly, seeming unhappy with Paddington's response.
"...Tch." He clicked his tongue too quietly for her to hear.
He didn't care if she was the strongest wizard or whatever. He didn't particularly enjoy being ordered around by someone young enough to be his daughter.
He cleared his throat and addressed the girl on the screen. "So what do we do? She might be a Spirit, but we should be able to capture a lone girl quite easily if we bring in the Bandersnatch."
"It's not that simple. We proceed with caution. Please interrupt electronic communications."
"Roger. Parallel activation of Ashcroft-β twenty-five through forty, deployment of Permanent Territory. Target: Arubi Island."
The crew quickly began to tap at their consoles.
A thin dome was rendered over the image of Arubi Island on-screen- an invisible wall, undetectable by the naked eye, untouchable in the physical space. A Territory.
Arbatel was floating twenty thousand meters above Arubi. From where it hung in the sky, it used its Ashcroft-β Realizers to deploy a Territory large enough to cover the entire island; AST member Territories paled in comparison. With this dome in place, transmissions between the island and the outside world were possible only via the special devices used by Ellen and her comrades. Meaning that whatever happened on the island, the AST could not interfere.
"Speaking of, what should we do about that wizard?" Paddington asked, stroking his chin. He was sure there had been talk of an AST wizard who attended the same school as the target.
"There shouldn't be a problem. We only met for a few minutes at best, and I was wearing sunglasses at the time. It doesn't seem like she's notic-" Ellen was abruptly cut off in the middle of the transmission.
Paddington glanced at the monitor and saw that she had thrown her hands up over her face because of a sudden wind.
"Are you all right, Chief?"
"Yes. But...this is strange," Ellen said, looking up at the sky.
At the same time, Paddington saw a change in the video displayed on the bridge's large monitor. He frowned.
The reason was simple. The clouds were swirling at a speed that would normally be unthinkable.
◇
"Aah, seriously? They left us behind! Hurry up, Tohka!" Shidou quickened his pace as he looked back at Tohka, who was still craning her neck.
Tohka had insisted on finding out who was watching them, so they'd gone to take a look around, and at some point, everyone from their school had moved on without them.
"Mm. Sorry. But I really did feel like we were being watched," she apologized, trotting after him.
Shidou let out a sigh. "Well, yeah, when you make that much of a fuss, people are gonna stare."
"Mmm, was that what was going on...?" She half groaned and fell silent.
"Umm. I'm pretty sure it was this way, right?" Shidou tried to visualize the map he'd looked at before they left. He remembered the museum they were supposed to visit being this way.
He touched his right ear and checked that the small earpiece was there. He'd been told to wear it in case Tohka's mood destabilized while they were on the trip.
Kotori was apparently not in Japan at the moment, having gone to some headquarters or other, but Fraxinus was hovering above the island. In the worst-case scenario, he could contact them before they got hopelessly lost.
"Mm?"
He heard a doubtful sound from Tohka behind and stopped. When he looked back, he saw her staring up at the sky again.
"Hey, give it a rest already. No matter how hard you look-"
"No, that's not it," she interrupted him. "Don't you think that looks weird?"
"Huh...?" He turned his own eyes to the sky and was suddenly at a loss for words. "Wh-what...is that?"
The sky had been perfectly clear until a moment ago, but now a vortex of gray clouds swirled above their heads. And the area around them was changing shockingly fast. The blue sky turned gray.
In terms of time, not even a minute had passed, but in that instant, the world around them had changed completely. The wind roared like an earthquake, and the trees whipped about wildly. The wind was so strong, it was practically typhoon-level already. It seemed that at least one nearby garbage can had overturned, given that empty cans and newspapers now whipped across his field of view.
Shidou grabbed Tohka's shoulders and pulled her down low. They might have been knocked over by the wind otherwise.
"What...the hell...?!" He furrowed his brow as he covered his face with his arm.
The weather forecast had said that all three days of their school trip would be sunny. Of course, Shido didn't think that would be 100 percent accurate, but this was just strange.
"Tohka, you okay?! We have to hurry to the-"
"Shidou! Watch out!" Tohka shoved him away midsentence.
"Wha...?"
An instant later, a metal garbage can slammed into Tohka's head.
"Hng-a-oof?!" Crying out somewhat comically, she collapsed on the spot.
"H-hey, Tohka! Tohka!" Shidou shouted in a panic, shaking her shoulders, but she was out cold. "Ngh... We need to get moving."
He managed to somehow hoist her onto his back and started walking in the direction of the museum. Slowly but steadily, he moved forward one step at a time.
"It's just a little farther, Tohka!"
How long had they been walking in this state...?
"Ah...?" Shidou frowned.
In the center of the raging sky, he saw what looked to be two silhouettes.
"That's..." He gasped.
Floating people meant only three things to Shidou: Lucas, Spirits or AST wizards.
"No way..." A bad feeling tickled his brain.
A violent storm coming on so suddenly was a near impossibility. If it was because of a Spirit...
"No, but...the spacequake alarm didn't go off. What exactly...?" Shidou racked his brain for a few seconds before setting out again on his predetermined route.
If those silhouettes really were Spirits, he couldn't just walk away. But he didn't have any proof that they were, and his first priority was getting Tohka to safety. He adjusted the way his unconscious passenger rested on his back and kept trudging toward the museum.
"Shidou!" A familiar voice suddenly called out, seeming like the person is also in a hurry.
"Lucas!" Shidou shouted. He saw Lucas run down the way at mad speeds, as if the wind isn't even budging him in the slightest. "Quick, we have to get Tohka to safety!"
However...
"...!" Shidou gasped.
The two shadows clashing in the sky above slammed into each other so hard that they generated an even greater shock wave, and the wind grew impossibly strong, making everything up to that point feel like a gentle breeze.
"Wh-whoa!" He braced his feet to keep from getting blown away and curled into himself.
Lucas deployed a simple shield to protect Shidou from the shockwave. Lucas wasn't moving an inch from the spot even though the wind is still rampaging.
The shadows wreaking havoc with the air itself knocked each other out of the sky and crashed into the ground. Exactly to the right and left of the three of them, with Lucas standing on the front.
"Wha...?" Sweat beaded on Shidou's forehead. Panic squeezed his heart, and his throat was suddenly dry as a bone.
The storm raging around them abruptly weakened.
"Huh...?" He furrowed his brow unconsciously and looked around.
The storm had...not yet ended. Wind still blew on Arubi Island. But around Lucas, Shidou and Tohka-or to be more precise, around the two shadows that had fallen to earth- the air was calm, like the eye of a typhoon.
Was it Lucas' doing? No... his wind manipulation isn't nearly as great or powerful enough to stop a raging typhoon.
"Those are.. Spirits." Lucas muttered to himself, looking left and right towards the two.
"Keh. Keh-keh-keh-keh-keh..."
From his right, a girl marched over, a bold smile on her face. She was around the same age as Lucas. Long orange hair tied back on her head. Mercury-colored eyes. Her perfectly symmetrical face was twisted up into a sneer.
Most distinctive of all was her outfit. Wrapped in a dark cloak, her body was covered in belts with buckles fastened seemingly at random. And she had manacles around her right wrist and ankle, complete with trailing broken chains.
"-Bravo, Yuzuru! As expected from my other half. Only you could manage to score twenty-five wins, twenty-five losses, and forty-nine draws. But that ends this very day." She had a slightly strange way of speaking, exaggerated or perhaps theatrical.
"Objection. Kaguya does not get to decide this hundredth battle. Yuzuru does."
This came from a girl with her long hair tied in a braid. Although her face was the spitting image of Kaguya's, her expression was pale, her eyes half-closed. She also wore bondage gear similar to Kaguya's, although the design was slightly different. And the manacles were on the opposite side, hanging from her left wrist and ankle.
"Ha, you do prattle on. Perhaps it's time for you to accept that I am the Spirit befitting the title of Yamai?"
"Disagree. Yuzuru will be the survivor. You are not worthy of the Yamai name."
"Keh... Your struggle is in vain. I foresaw the outcome long ago with the future sight of my witch's eye: You pierced by the next blow of my Sturm Lanze!"
"Argument. There have been no instances of your witch's eye being correct," Yuzuru said.
"Sh-shut up!" Kaguya stammered, her dramatic style of speech completely vanishing. "It totally has been right before! Don't make fun of me!"
"Demand. Yuzuru requests that Kaguya provide a specific list of examples."
"Nnngh! Look, come on. You know... I've predicted the weather right."
"Sneer. I cannot contain my laughter at this paltry result of your witch's eye- asterisk laugh asterisk. It's no different from flipping a coin." Yuzuru put a hand to her mouth and breathed strangely. Apparently, this was her laughing.
"Sh-shut it! Mocking my magical sight is worthy of death! You will pay in flesh for angering me!" she shouted as she dropped into a fighting stance.
Yuzuru, however, paid this no mind. "Demand. Yuzuru asks that you explain Sturm Lanze."
"Keh," the other girl snorted. "There is not a vessel bound by reason that could comprehend my Sturm Lanze. Solid and yet formless. Visible but invisible. A conceptual power specialized in piercing."
"Summary. In other words, it is meaningless?"
"Tch! No! It does have meaning! You're just an idiot who can't understand it, Yuzuru!"
"Petition. Then explain so that Yuzuru can also understand. Given how smart you are, you should be able to."
"I... N-naturally. But sadly, my black brain cells have ascended to a higher dimension than you could even hope to comprehend."
"Understood. So in other words, you can't."
"Keh-keh, you... You'd do best not to anger-"
"Sneer. Sturm Lanze. Ha. Ha."
"D-don't laaaaaugh!" Kaguya shouted, her face beet red as she threw her hands out. The chain attached to her right wrist rattled, and the raging storm in the area increased in intensity.
As if to match her, Yuzuru dropped into a fighting stance as well.
The two girls glared at each other on high alert.
"Sink into the black! Hyaaah!"
"Charge. Hiyah."
"Shidou, get back. Now!" Lucas shouted.
With the shriek of a battle cry and a tired sigh, they launched themselves forward at exactly the same moment.
Lucas had no time left for thinking about a strategy. Even if it's risky to just barge in, it was his only choice to stop them.
With that said, Lucas rushed towards the middle, just before the two of them collided. He was probably even faster than the two of them. He spread his arms out left and right, spread his fingers and braced for impact. Both his hands connected perfectly with the fists of the two Spirits. A strong shockwave blew out around them.
"Huh? But wh-?! Wuaah?!!" Shidou cried as his body flew away, along side Tohka. He didn't have enough time to react to anything. He flew straight into a rumble of solid rocks behind him and he struggled to stay conscious. "Ngh..
Tohka flew towards the rock as well, landing perfectly on Shidou like he was a cushion to soften her impact. "Ugarh-?!" He let out a weird noise and ultimately lost consciousness.
Lucas' body shook a ton. Not only did the shockwave hit his wrists hard, but it also went through his body. He could feel each and every muscle group shake, even his own heart.
""...?!"" The girls stopped in their tracks. Their attacks were stopped.. and by what looked to be a human at that.
"Humans? Impossible. Who would have the power to stop us Yamai?"
"Admiration. I am overcome by surprise."
They turned doubtful eyes on him.
"........If I was any weaker, both my arms would have shattered." He said, clenching his still trembling hands.
He'd managed to stop the two of them, but in exchange, he'd drawn their full attention. Although, it was inevitable anyway.
Static faintly crackled somewhere nearby. He turned towards the direction. In Shidou's right ear was an earpiece. It was strangely vibrating. But then he heard a sleepy voice coming from it. He ran towards Shidou's unconscious body and took out the earpiece and put it inside his right ear.
"...Shin. Can you hear me, Shin?"
"Reine?"
"Hm? I didn't expect you to answer, Lucas. What happened to Shin?"
"He's knocked out cold, by-" he briefly explained the current situation and what has happened.
"...What did you say? In the wind, two- impossible."
"Do you know about them?"
"What exactly do you wish to gain by intruding upon our sacred final battle?" Kaguya demanded to know, as if to interrupt the conversation between Lucas and Reine, her gaze sharp. "Depending on your response, you may end up pierced by my, um, Schatten Lanze."
"Argument. The name is different from before," Yuzuru said with a cool look on her face.
"Wh-whatever!" Kaguya snarled like a carnivorous beast. "Quiet, Yuzuru!"
"Doubt. I do not understand why Yuzuru must be silent."
A number of things tugged at his curiosity, but Lucas went with what caught his attention the most. "Your final battle...?"
"Exactly." Kaguya narrowed her eyes. "You appeared in this field and forced this extended break from our sacred final battle to determine our fate. How do you plan to atone?"
"Restraint. Kaguya, that is a threat."
"Shut up! And just when I was finally getting into the groove..."
"Confirmation. Did you say something?"
"I-it was nothing!" Kaguya snorted in indignation and turned her face away from Yuzuru. "Anyway, I still have fight in me. So-"
But then her eyes flew open as if she had just remembered something. "Oh, I know! In that case..."
She turned toward Yuzuru once more and looked her up and down carefully from head to toe, as if appraising her looks.
"Question. What is it, Kaguya?"
"Keh-keh... I have been struck by a flash of inspiration, Yuzuru. You and I have battled in many different ways. To the point where we have exhausted all paths," Kaguya continued, gesturing dramatically as though she were acting in a play. "But...perhaps there is one score we have yet to settle?"
"Doubt. What do you mean, one score we have yet to settle?" Yuzuru looked at her quizzically, and Kaguya chuckled as she glanced at Lucas.
"Huh...?" Lucas saw something a little cold in her expression.
◇
While the eleventh-grade students of Raizen High School were heading to their first scheduled destination, the wind started gusting violently in the blink of an eye, and before they knew it, they were in the middle of a violent storm. Unable to continue at a leisurely pace, they ran into the museum at the instruction of their teachers, a place not far from the airport.
"Shidou...," Origami murmured into the powerful wind making the thick glass of the windows creak, and she clenched her fists.
She wasn't the only one who worried though. Kurumi couldn't stop thinking what could've happened to Lucas. They took a long time already. Longer than it would usually take Lucas.
There was no sign of Shidou or Lucas (and Tohka) among the students taking refuge in the museum.
Origami and Kurumi had obviously tried to race outside to go look for them, but they were stopped by a teacher when they were almost out the door. Even if they had gotten past them, they couldn't really go out and search for them during a typhoon.
They were both overcome by an intense helplessness and frustration that had no outlet.
"Hey, is the sky kinda clearing up?" asked a boy near the window. The rest of the students clustered around the windows to look outside.
Origami and Kurumi yanked their heads up as if compelled by that voice and ran through between the other students and headed straight for the door of the museum.
"Ah! T-Tobiichi-san, Tokisaki-san! It's still too dangerous out there!" Tamae tried to stop her, but Origami and Kurumi ran right past her and yanked the door open.
"...?" They stopped in place. The people they sought were standing before them in front of the museum.
"Oh.. Hey, Kurumi..."
Maybe because of the wind, his hair and clothes were a mess, but fortunately, he didn't appear to have been injured.
But there was still something off with Lucas.
First, there was Tohka in his arms. Second, there's Shidou on his back. Both had apparently passed out.
That was fine. Well, technically, it wasn't, but it wasn't totally unexpected.
The issue was...
"Well, Lucas? I'm more appealing than Yuzuru, right? Choose me, and I'll let you plant a kiss wherever you wish to conclude our contract!"
"Temptation. Please choose Yuzuru. I will do good things to you. I'm amazing. Kaguya is nothing."
Clad in school uniforms, two girls with identical faces stood on either side of Lucas, touching him in an excessively familiar fashion as they tried to seduce him.
In visible pressure, Lucas recalled the events of ten minutes prior as Kurumi's classmates all turned their eyes on him.
In the center of the pseudo-typhoon, Kaguya had spoken, a bold smile on her face.
"The score we have yet to settle... In other words, our charm!" she declared, striking a cool pose. "Don't you think that the true Spirit, the child of the hurricane, Yamai needs not only power and intelligence, but also a beauty and allure great enough to make all of creation jealous?"
"Consideration..." Yuzuru fell silent for a few seconds as she took her turn to look Kaguya up and down- slowly, from head to toe, as if estimating her value. And then she nodded. "Answer. 'I see' is my response. We have not competed on that before."
"Keh-keh... Right? But that's only natural. No one has ever dared to interrupt our battle, and thus we were unable to have a third party provide impartial judgment. Until now." Kaguya chuckled and snapped a finger out at Lucas. "You there. What are you called?"
"Huh? L-Lucas."
"Lucas. Hmm. An appropriately frail name for a sacrifice. Excellent. We will leave the decision to you."
"Uh...? Um, oh..." Lucas' eyes went wide. He didn't have a clue as to what she was talking about.
But Kaguya clearly could not have cared less about what he thought. She lifted her chin jeeringly and continued in a challenging tone, "How about it, Yuzuru? Are you brave enough to answer this call to battle? Keh-keh. Of course, given that my charisma is powerful enough to bring the world to its knees, it's clear how this contest will end. Should you turn tail and run, I would not call you coward."
"Negative. That is not possible. There is no path to victory for Kaguya. Yuzuru is far more appealing. Men fall like dominoes before me."
"Keh-keh. Your arrogance is the only fully developed trait about you."
"Declaration. Yuzuru is cuter. Frankly, Kaguya is below average."
"Wh-what did you saaaaaaaay?!" Kaguya shouted, hurling her protests into the depths of oblivion.
As far as Lucas was concerned, he thought Kaguya looked exceptionally beautiful and cute. If she was below average, then the rest of the women in the world didn't have a hope of ever reaching the high bar set by Yuzuru.
We have the same face!" Kaguya cried. "The difference between us can't be that different!"
"Pity. Appeal and charm are not decided solely on the construction of the face. Even if the raw materials are the same, the impressions they create are different. But please don't worry. In the world of uggos, you're in a relatively high standing."
"In the world of uggos?! Doesn't the fact that you can say that so casually mean that your personality is ugly?!"
"Remorse. I forgot that it is not always to the benefit of the person at hand to tell the truth."
"It's not the truuuuuuth!" Kaguya clutched her head and then seemed to remember Lucas' existence. She straightened up and cleared her throat.
"A-anyway! If you would speak so, then you do not object, yes?" She snapped a finger out at Yuzuru. "The final battle! The winner will incorporate the loser and become the true Yamai! The method of contest is simple and clear! Whoever wins over this man- Kunshu Lucas- is the victor!"
"Agreement. I accept the terms of this contest."
"H-hang on a second!"
And now here they were.
After a discussion with Reine, it was decided that bluntly refusing this demand/request was far too dangerous. So he'd brought the girls along. The eyes of his classmates boring into him now were painful.
"Kunshu? Who are these girls with you? I've never seen them before..."
"Huh? You already picked up some local girls and are forcing them to cosplay? You always carry girls' uniforms around with you, Lucas?"
The students all started to talk at once. His reputation is plummeting to an all time low.
"THAT'S NOT TRUE AT ALL!!!" He shouted so loud, he could've shattered the eardrums of all students and teachers in front of him.
Per Reine's instructions, the pair had dematerialized their Astral Dresses and clothed themselves in the Raizen High School summer uniform. Just like Shidou did with Tohka, Lucas had helped them produce the outfits with the information they could obtain from looking at the uniform.
The entire situation might have been weird already, but if they had still been wearing that bondage gear, the entire eleventh-grade would have misunderstood and taken that to mean that Lucas had particular fetishes.
Kurumi gave Kaguya and Yuzuru the once-over before quietly opening her mouth. "Lucas-san. Who are these girls?" He kind of felt a sharp aura coming from Kurumi. He had to explain this misunderstanding to Kurumi from the beginning to the end.
"Uh. Umm...," he stammered, averting his eyes. Beads of sweat popped up on his face, but then a sleepy voice came from the back of the crowd, as if to put a stop to the growing commotion.
"...Aah, there you are. Transfer students Yamai Kaguya and Yamai Yuzuru...right?" The assistant homeroom teacher Reine Murasame was standing there, her head wobbling from side to side.
""Transfer students?"" Origami and Kurumi asked in sync.
Reine nodded.
"...Normally, they'd transfer after summer break, but they wanted to come on the school trip no matter what. So we decided they would meet us here. I got a message earlier that their flight had landed, so I sent the two to meet them."
"What? Tr-transfer students?" Tamae's eyes grew round as saucers. "Ms. Murasame, I haven't heard anything."
"...It happened pretty suddenly. I'm sure you just missed the e-mail."
"Uh. Uh-huh..." Tamae retreated, a look of bewilderment on her face.
Kurumi looked at Reine with doubtful eyes before returning her gaze to Lucas. "Really?"
"R-really...," he replied, his voice strained. He never intended to do this in the first place. Kurumi was like a girlfriend who found you hanging out with other girls and got jealous. But for some strange reason, it also felt kind of cute seeing her a little jealous. Maybe she hadn't realized yet that the two of them are Spirits. Although, she should already know, judging by how everything went until now.
Kaguya and Yuzuru nodded from where they were glued to either side of him. As a condition for helping judge their final battle or whatever it was, Lucas had told them to go along with his story.
"A-anyway, Tohka and Shidou got hit in the head with a garbage can, and it knocked them out. Is there someplace they could lie down?"
"...Oh, really? That's awful. Come this way. Transfer students, I'll explain some key things to you. You come along, too," Reine said in a monotone and beckoned Lucas and his entourage with a hand.
All eyes on him, Lucas followed Reine deeper into the museum. He kind of felt like the girls in the class have taken notes or something. But also a few who had completely looked at him with disgust.
After Reine had showed them to the office, Lucas set Tohka and Shidou down on the sofa and bowed to the woman.
"Thanks. You really saved me there."
"...Oh, don't mention it. More importantly..." Reine looked at Lucas or, more precisely, at the two girls who had twined themselves around his arms. They had stepped away when he put the two down and grabbed on to him again the second he was done.
And then they started whispering at him, like the change of place didn't change the contest between them.
"Now, Lucas. All you have to do is choose me. Simply swear your loyalty to Yamai Kaguya and devote your mind, body, and soul to me."
"Negative. Nothing good will come of choosing Kaguya. Vote Yuzuru with a clear conscience."
The girls whispered in Lucas' ears as if Reine was not in the room. Lucas squirmed, sweating. He kind of understood how Shidou must've felt. But he kept his cool... somehow.
"...This has turned into a real bit of trouble, hmm?" Reine scratched her cheek.
"...Yes," Lucas agreed. "But it doesn't seem too bad... I think I can manage on my own..for now."
"Keh-keh... This is a treat, isn't it? You, a mere human, may receive our favor and attention for a brief moment. Weep tears of joy at your good fortune. There is no need to gripe."
"Do you really think a mere human could've stopped your attacks?"
"Skepticism. While Yuzuru is clearly desirable, is there a man who would delight at being approached by Kaguya?" They completely ignored his comment and continued on.
"H-hmph... Challenge me in this manner if you wish, but it will be to no avail. Once we see the results of the final battle, all will become clear. Now, Lucas, go ahead and speak the truth. Who is more appealing as a woman, me or Yuzuru?"
"Question. Yuzuru or this rag? Who is cuter?"
"Wait. Stop that subtle slander!"
"Disregard. Who: This rag or Yuzuru?"
"Are you doubling down?!"
Kaguya and Yuzuru pressed close to Lucas as they sparred verbally. A drop of sweat dropped down his cheeks. This wasn't the first time a girl's face was this close to him. He had flashbacks to the time Kurumi had comforted him. Now that he remembered, why was he so embarrassed so much in the first place? Maybe he wasn't embarrassed but just worried about his social status?
Lucas waved his hands. "Hang on a minute. You keep going on about battle this, battle that... Why are you even fighting?"
"...Hmm? Ohhh." Kaguya jerked her chin up, all haughty. "Didn't we mention it? We were originally one Spirit called Yamai."
"Affirmative. But after a number of appearances in this world, Yamai was split into two."
"Split into two...? Is that even...?" Lucas frowned as he looked back and forth between them. Although their hairstyles and facial expressions were different, their faces strongly resembled each other. More than twins. If someone told him they were clones, he would have believed it. "How did that happen?"
"Only the goddess of fate on her throne in the heavens knows the truth. Hmph, perhaps boredom and world-weariness torture her. From time to time, she enjoys a random toss of the dice with no rhyme or reason."
"Huh...?"
"Summary. Kaguya is saying we don't really know."
"Ohhh... Okay." Lucas nodded, finally understanding thanks to Yuzuru's explanation.
"That's not very poetic," Kaguya snapped. "And now that we have been rent asunder, each time we gaze upon the other's face, we are reminded of this- the destiny, the mission etched into this body, infused in this blood. Yes. We remember there is only one true Spirit Yamai in this world!"
"Explanation. Yuzuru and Kaguya have been split into two, but we realized how to return to being one."
"You 'realized'...?"
"Addendum. It might be more correct to say we 'knew.' From the instant we were split apart, we have understood what will happen to our bodies." Yuzuru pointed to her head and continued. "Explanation. However, the personality of the original Yamai has been lost. In other words, when the time comes, only one of us can be the true personality of Yamai."
"So then...about the final battle..." The girls nodded as one. Lucas continued. "That storm was caused by you two fighting?"
"It was." Kaguya crossed her arms, looking smug. "Our battle spans a great stretch of time. Yes. At the current stage, we have fought ninety-nine contests."
"Ninety-nine... You've fought for that long?"
"Correction. Although we say 'fighting,' it is not the case that we have simply been battering each other. Our contest methods cover a great deal of ground, such as races, cup-and-ball games, and speed eating."
"..."
Those were pretty peaceful contests.
"The results are twenty-five wins, twenty-five losses, forty-nine draws. The winner of what was our hundredth battle should have been the true Yamai. And yet..." Kaguya glared at Lucas, and he caught his breath.
He understood now. He had apparently interrupted this all-important fight. But it's not like he'd had any choice in the matter. If he hadn't stopped them, who knew what would have happened to Shidou and Tohka?
When Lucas stayed silent, Kaguya and Yuzuru grabbed a hold of his arms again.
"Keh... But that is trivial now. In fact, I feel gratitude. Thanks to you, we have a new way to compete with each other."
"Affirmative. Given that our physical challenges have ended in draws so many times already, I did wonder if another slugging match was appropriate for our final battle. I have no objections to this contest." Both of them leaned enticingly into him.
"Uh, oh, that's good to hear, but..." Lucas felt his face grow a little red when they got a little too close. He felt the lbouncy, soft and pretty large breasts of the two of them, gently pressing against his arms.
"...It really is out."
"Wh-what's out?" he asked, and Reine turned toward him.
"...Oh, communications with Fraxinus are cut off."
"Huh? Why would they...?"
"...It's unclear. I'm going to look into it a bit." She closed her terminal and stood up. After staring hard at Kaguya and Yuzuru snuggled up against Lucas, she said, "...Kaguya and Yuzuru, right? You're competing over Lucas in order to become the true Spirit Yamai. Can you confirm?"
Kaguya and Yuzuru looked at her for the first time.
"Yes, that is the case. Watch if you wish, but I'll show no mercy should you attempt to interfere, hmm?"
"Question. Who are you?"
"...One of the schoolteachers," Reine said deceptively before turning on her heel. "Lucas, you watch Tohka and Shin. Kaguya. Yuzuru. I need to talk to you. Come with me."
"Reine!" Lucas sent her a look to try and say that it was too dangerous. These girls were Spirits, after all.
But Reine raised a hand as if to say not to worry.
"Hngh... This is what you propose to us? Why should we obey the words of a mere human?"
"Request denied. Yuzuru will stay with Lucas."
They both refused to budge. Reine shrugged, as if this was within the realm of her expectations.
"...Lucas is a harder nut to crack than he looks," she said. "I think it couldn't hurt to hear what I have to say."
"What...?"
"...It's obvious from how he's reacting, isn't it? Even I can tell that you are extremely cute and appealing girls. And yet he still hasn't reacted to either of you."
"Wait.. what do you mean by 'reacted'?" Lucas asked, but he was again ignored.
""..."" Kaguya and Yuzuru exchanged a glance, eyes wide.
"...So what's it going to be? Personally, I don't care if it's just one or the other of you." Reine opened the office door.
The two girls glanced at each other once more and then regretfully let go of Lucas to follow Reine.
"..How much do you even know about me?"
"Hm... Almost everything.. I guess?"
The color sank out of Lucas' face immediately. "E-everything...? That's creepy.."
◇