"Hey, Tohkaa~...."

While letting out a perplexed voice, Shidou *knock* *knock*, knocked on the door.

But..there was no response.

"Tohka....I'm begging you, hear me out on what I have to say."

Once more, he said that while knocking on the door.

When he did that— *Don!* A loud sound occurred and the whole house shook.

"..Uh!"

Due to the sudden noise, he twitched his shoulders in reflex.

And, from the door that Shidou had been knocking on, a mumbling voice echoed.

"....Fuun. Don’t bother me....Hurry up and go to that side Idiot –Idiot."

And with that response the matter ended like that. Tohka was completely sulking.

"Haaaah..What am I supposed to do..?"

Shidou was completely at a loss, he sighed gloomily while rubbing his brows with his fingers.

Shidou was currently in front of a door located in the deepest part of the 2nd floor in the Itsuka residence, there was the word [Tohka] scribbled on paper and pasted to the door.

It had been 5 hours since [Yoshinon] went back to the other world.

After that, he was retrieved by <Fraxinus>, and went back to his house, which was a good thing. But, upon entering the house he found that Tohka had locked herself inside her room and refused to come out.

"—Shidou. Got a moment? There is something I want to confirm."

From the intercam that was on his right ear came Kotori’s voice.

"Ah....? What now, this isn't the right time for that—"

"Shidou, you really did kiss Yoshinon properly, right?"

"....Uh, huh? What's this all of a sudden....?"

From the sudden question, Shidou made a shrill voice.

"Just answer, at that time Shidou and Yoshinon's lips met together. That isn't a mistake, correct?"

"....Ah, yeaah...."

"Fumu...."

"S-So what's wrong with that? I'm saying this first, that was completely an accident—"

"I know that. Instead of that, I would even praise you for achieving the goal we were aiming for."

"..Then what is it?"

When Shidou asked, Kotori after groaning [umu] replied:

"—It would seem that even though you kissed, you couldn't seal any of the Spirit's power at all."

After being told that Shidou's eyes widened.

That's right. Even after kissing [Yoshinon], she was still using her Spirit powers.

"Well, the affection level wasn't raised as high as that time with Tohka and of course sealing all of the power is impossible, but even so— it is a little concerning that not even a little bit of it could be sealed. In numerical values, I thought that even at that stage it would be divided by 2 or even 3."

After saying that, she once again returned to talking to herself.

"..Somehow either Yoshinon has a hidden special ability, or—"

"Hey, HHeeeeyyyy, Kotori. I think Yoshinon is also a big problem but....err."

While saying that, Shidou had his eyes turned towards Tohka's door.

Kotori probably guessed what Shidou was thinking and replied immediately.

"—Ahh, it's about Tohka, huh? How is her condition now?"

"Just like what you can see....I was trying to talk to her just now, but it was no good."

"I see. From seeing the numerical values it would seem that her powers temporarily resurfaced, though then they flowed back into the Pass and are once again sealed. But...it would be better if you hurried up and fixed her mood."

"Her mood....but how?"

"....Shin. If it's okay with you, would you leave this problem to me?"

After Shidou asked, he heard a strangely sleepy voice from the intercam— It was Reine.

"Eh..?"

"....As expected, she is getting worked up about that. If I am not mistaken, tomorrow is a Saturday. Would you mind leaving Tohka to me in the afternoon? Let's see....How about you let us go out and buy the groceries?"

"I don’t mind but what is this about all of a sudden?"

A few moments after Shidou asked, Reine let out a sigh.

"......With things like this, it is better if the?Shinperson concerned?is not there. These are delicate traits of a woman’s heart. Please remember that."

"Ha-Haaa...."

Shidou, scratched his cheek with a confused feeling.

"....And so, that's about it, Tohka. I am thinking of going out shopping, would you mind accompanying me?"

The next day, 13th of May (Saturday) 10 A.M.

Just like what she said yesterday, Reine visited the Itsuka house and said those words in front of Tohka’s room.

Her current attire wasn't the usual white robe or the army uniform. From her chest pocket a stuffed bear covered in scars was peeping out from the jersey like clothing with dark colored bottom. There was also a bag on her shoulder, showing that she was planning to go out and buy something.

But Tohka was the same as yesterday, and from beyond the door echoed an irritated voice.

"Shut up, leave me alone......!"

She still sounded angry. Shidou, who was standing right beside Reine let out a sigh.

"She has been like this since yesterday."

"......Fumu."

Reine put her hand on her chin to show that she was thinking.

And then from the bag, she brought out a terminal like computer, and started fiddling around with it using her other hand.

After looking at the terminal screen, she closed it and stepped forward towards the door.

"......Tohka."

"I told you to leave me alone......! I wa—"

"......I am thinking of eating something outside while shopping. How about it?"

When Reine said that, Tohka was unexpectedly silent.

And then, after 10 seconds.

...

*Creak*

The bedroom door opened, and from inside Tohka's angry face popped out.

She probably hadn't changed her clothes since yesterday; she was still dressed in her high school uniform. What's more her clothes were still wet. Speaking of which, maybe she hadn't slept, there were dark circles under her eyes. If she were to walk beside Reine, others would say they were sisters.

"Wha..?"

Shidou opened his eyes wide in surprise.

"Re-Reine-san....? What on earth did you do......?"

"........Nothing. It's because her hunger value is rising. I thought it is probably about time that she is reaching her limits now."

"I see......eh, yesterday night I tried calling her out for supper but she didn’t come out.."

"....That is well; she probably doesn't want to see your face."

"...."

And he was told such harsh words directly and plainly.

But, it was the truth. Tohka, who had finally come outside, upon seeing Shidou *pui* she turned her face away, and walked away with heavy steps.

"Hurry up and let's go!"

"......Un, let’s do that. Rain has also been falling since this morning. Please do not forget to bring an umbrella."

While saying that, Reine made eye contact with Shidou that seemed to say [Leave this to me].

"......I-I'm counting on you."

The only thing Shidou could do was to send both of them off.

And just like that he was standing there dazed for a few minutes.

"Errrr......"

But, he immediately realized he was wasting his time. He lightly pulled his cheek to regain his composure and then descended the stairs.

"It's a day off from school after all......I guess I'll go shopping in the afternoon too."

He planned to go shopping yesterday right after school, but because of various things he couldn't go.

Shidou hurriedly finished dressing, and left the house taking an umbrella with him.

"Umbrella— well, I'll hang on to it just in case, since Kotori is still sleeping."

After opening the umbrella and saying that, Shidou made footprints on the road of rain.

—And then, wondering how long he spent walking.

"......Uh!?"

In the middle of walking to the shopping street, he noticed the back of someone he recognized. Shidou then stopped his legs.

That was, because he found someone with rabbit like ears attached to a green colored hood.

"Yo-Yoshinon......?"

Shidou, raised his eyebrows as that name came out of his mouth.

Yes, due to the area being destroyed by yesterday’s spacequake, from over the other side of the prohibit entry sign that was placed up, the Spirit [Yoshinon]'s figure was there.

Shidou hid his body behind the wall, observing [Yoshinon].

"The alarm....didn't ring....Eh, the same pattern with Tohka at that time, huh."

Speaking of that, when he encountered [Yoshinon] the first time, the alarm wasn't ringing. Maybe because, she was a Spirit that frequently comes and goes to this dimension from the other world.

"......But, what is the best thing to do now..?"

Now that he found her, there was no way he could ignore her now— he did not know what kind of action he should take.

After Shidou took some time pondering over his thoughts— he pushed the buttons on his cell phone.

After hearing the calling tone going on for a while, he heard a sleepy voice from his cell phone receiver.

"......Fua~i....Hello......? Onii-chan........?"

It was clearly the sound of her just waking up. And of course, it was Shidou's sister, Kotori.

"Hey. Good morning Kotori."

"Unn-....Gud morning. What's wrong........?"

"..It's an emergency. I found Yoshinon."

"......"

The moment Shidou said that, on the other side of his cell phone, *Pachin!* *Pachin!*, he heard the sound of cheeks being hit with all her might.

And right after that a dignified voice, that he knew and at the same time doesn't, echoed.

"—Tell me about the whole situation in detail."

"Y-Yeah."

While being a little overpowered by the sudden change, Shidou explained the current situation in a simple manner.

"......I see. Another quiet appearance huh? This is troubling— So, Shidou’s existence hasn’t been discovered by the Spirit yet, right?"

"Aahhh....I think so. What should I do?"

"Do you have the intercam?"

"Eh? Aah— yeah just in case."

Shidou, lightly felt his pocket to confirm the feeling of the small device was there.

Since the affair with Tohka, he was told to carry one just in case there was a problem.

"That is good. Wear that. Don’t lose sight of the Spirit and standby for orders."

"Eh? Wai—"

—— *snap* *toot*,*toot*,*toot*. The call disconnected.

"Sta-Stand by......"

From the careless instructions, he raised his eyebrows.

Since, there was nothing else he could do. He quietly put the intercam onto his ear, and peeked at [Yoshinon]’s condition.

After 5 minutes had past, from the intercam he heard his precious little sister's voice.

Apparently she had finished her preparation in a short time, and then moved towards <Fraxinus>.

"—Can you hear me? Shidou."

"....Yeah, I can hear you."

"We can't leave her alone if this continues. For now let's make contact first."

"....Understood."

After taking a good breathes, he steadily walked towards [Yoshinon].

Even now [Yoshinon] was not in the state to realize Shidou was there, she was desperately looking at the ground.

"......Well then, talk to her."

"Eeh...Pl-Please wait a second."

Because of Shidou approaching the Spirit, a window was displayed on the bridges main monitor.

①The same time when trying to talk to her, face upwards after rolling over then show your stomach, to show that you have no hostility towards her.

②Immediately hug her tightly, to tell her the love from this side.

③To show that you are unarmed, talk to her after getting stark-naked.

The method to avoid provoking the Spirit, were shown in 3 patterns.

"*Tsk* Although it hurts to not have Reine here, it can't be helped."

Kotori, after taking a glimpse at the vacant seat on the lower bridge, she clicked her tongue.

Currently, Reine should be taking Tohka shopping right now. They also couldn't take the chance of abandoning Tohka and lowering her mood even further.

"—All members, choose!"

Together with that order, from the display on Kotori's hand, the crew's choices appeared on it.

—①,②,③. All together, almost all the votes of that amount were gathered.

"*Tsk* It’s a little broken."

While Kotori was murmuring frustrated, voices from the lower bridge echoed.

"It should be ①! To animals, exposing the stomach is the pose for surrender! The other party would feel safer!"

"Ridiculous! Obviously ② is the decided one! Rabbits die when they are lonely!"

"That is just a girl wearing a rabbit hood— it’s not even a real rabbit anyway! Leaving that aside commander, it's choice number ③!, to show that there is no ulterior motive from this side— it is to go naked, there are no other choices than being naked!"

"Shut up old hag! You only just wanted to see a naked high school boy!"

"Wha....? Uh, what a rude remark! Don’t you know!? When persuading a primitive man that has been brought back to modern times, to be fully naked is the most effective way to go!"

"What kind of talk is that! Anyways it's ② pick ②!"

"No, it must be ①!"

"Naked! Naked!"

"........Quiet!"

*Bam*!, the console got hit, and the crew that were getting heated, got yelled at.

And inside the quiet downed bridge, she slowly took the mike and—

"——Shidou, before talking to her, take off your shirt."

She calmly, said that.

Then from the lower bridge, a few numbers of female crew members, and for some weird reason one male crew member, did a Guts pose?[2C 1]..

But—

"No way!"

Shidou's shout echoed at the same time as it being delivered via the speaker.

"—!?"

The [Yoshinon] in the screen, *piku* twitched her shoulders in surprise.

"......! This is bad."

The moment Shidou let out his shout, [Yoshinon], turned towards him with a trembling motion.

Her face turning pale and her teeth made clattering sounds, her whole body started to tremble.

"........Hi, i..........u"

And thus, she was making a face showing that she would cry at any moment now and immediately raised her right hand high up.

Shidou's heart constricted as if were being squeezed by an illusionary hand.

He had memories about that movement. Yesterday, [Yoshinon] was behaving like this when the giant doll manifested.

"Wai.., Wait! Calm down!"

But, even if as he said, that there was no way they could communicate.

When Kotori also realized what [Yoshinon] was trying to do, she too shouted out.

"Shidou! For now if you still have time ——pick ①! Show her your stomach and roll over!"

"Hu,——Haaaaah......!?"

"Hurry!"

There was no other way.

After Shidou threw his umbrella on the ground, on the road wet with the rain, *Roll*, he threw himself down and rolled.

"I give up, I surrender."

"........!?"

At that instant, when [Yoshinon] was going to swing her hands down, she made a dumbfounded face.

And then, timidly, she slowly lowered her hand to its original position, and started examining Shidou’s current state.

"......D-Did we......succeed?"

"—Probably, try talking to her while you avoid provoking her."

Being told that, Shidou who was still rolled over, slowly raised his neck.

"......Y-Yo......"

"............"

Even when he tried talking to her, [Yoshinon] continued staring at him in full alert mode.

"Wha-What is wrong with today..........?"

"............"

"T-This is some amazing rain............"

"............"

Nothing, there were no replies coming back.

"..........What am I going to do about this?"

Shidou tried tilting his head to the side.

It might be a mistake but— right now, he thought that he could see [Yoshinon]’s left hand.

Meaning, she was not wearing her puppet.

At the same time Shidou was raising his eyebrows in doubt, once again a restraining voice echoed from Kotori.

And again choices appeared on the <Fraxinus> monitors.

①Walk and approach her while talking in a tenacious way, and fill in the gap of the distance.

②To regain normal composure, temporarily retreat.

③Ask her why she is not wearing her puppet.

"Fumu......"

After looking at the total results from the crew members, that were being shown in the small display on her hand, Kotori made a small hum.

The most common one was, ③. As expected everyone, realized that she was not wearing her puppet.

And certainly it was also a matter that even Kotori wanted to find out.

"Shidou, pick ③. She might have lost her puppet, and is probably now looking for it. It was about time to get a reaction anyway, try asking her about the puppet."

"......Understood."

With Shidou in agreement, he opened his mouth.

"Hey........you, are you perhaps, looking for your puppet........?"

"............!"

The moment Shidou said that, [Yoshinon] immediately opened her eyes wide.

And when he thought that, she ran towards him and she immediately grabbed his head, as if to ask a question she shook his head hard.

"............! ............!?"

"Ah, ouchouchouchouch..........! Wait, please stop that."

When he said that, [Yoshinon] steadily removed her hands from Shidou’s head.

Shidou got up while looking at the girl, and he then tried asking again.

"As expected..........you were looking for it."

And [Yoshinon] kept nodding her head hard.

After that, she looked at Shidou with very worried eyes. It was as if, she was asking for the whereabouts of the puppet.

"............Uh, so-sorry. I don’t know where it is too........"

When Shidou said that, [Yoshinon] made a face as if the world is about to end, and losing her strength she sank down on the floor.

And just like that she hung her head low, [ue........, e........] and the sounds of weeping started to leak out.

"Er, errrrr.........."

If she were to go on a rampage it would be troubling, but this was also troubling in its own way. Shidou quickly fell into a panic with his sights wandering around.

"——Calm down, Shidou."

And, the honest voice of Kotori got delivered into his eardrums.

Receiving [Yoshinon]'s reaction, the window was deployed on the screen for the 3rd time.

① "That kind of guy, I will make you forget about him"?appeal to her as a reliable man.

② "Together with me, let's go find the puppet"?appeal to her as a kind man.

③ "Actually I am the puppet all along!"?appeal to her as a man filled with a humorous sense.

"All members, your choices!"

When Kotori sent out that order, the total results were shown on her small-scaled display.

The most votes were on ②, the next was ①. And only one vote was on ③.

"Well, ② is the safest choice. ......but who was the person that picked something like number ③."

"........Is it a bad choice then?"

From behind, Kannazuki’s dispirited voice mumbled.

"............"

Kotori ignored him and pulled the mike towards her.

"Shidou, accompany her to look for that puppet."

And from behind, [aah, an ignoring play is also not that bad too........!] was heard but, she ignored it.

"Er,erm about this, Yoshinon."

"............!"

The moment Shidou raised his voice, [Yoshinon]'s body shook in surprise again.

And when she immediately waved her hands, the water puddles around her rose up, forming like bullets that exploded near the place that Shidou was sitting down.

"No..........nowaa!?"

Without thinking, his body cramped.

"So-sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you!"

As if to examine the condition on his side, without lowering his guard he cautiously looked over there (......comparatively, when their eyes met she would look away) to [Yoshinon], he fixed his posture and lowered his head a little.

And then to show that there will not be any resistance he raised both of his hands up, then continued his words.

"Err......I-If it is okay.....I, will also help to search for the puppet with you?"

"..........!"

The moment Shidou said that, [Yoshinon] opened her eyes wide in surprise.

After a few seconds, and for the first time her face turned very bright, *um* *um* she swung her head hard up and down.

After Shidou exhaled an [okay], he finally raised his hips up from the wet ground.

It was quite wet but, well, now wasn’t the time to care about it.

"Ermmmm......soo, about that. The puppet, where and when did you lose it?"

When asked, as if she was hesitating [Yoshinon] eyes wandered around, and then she opened her cherry blossom colored lips.

"........Yes...terday........"

And then, she pulled the rabbit ears that were stuck on the hood and covered her face, while hiding her eyes she carried on talking awkwardly.

"The scary........people, when I realized........we were......attacked, I lost it......"

"Hmmm..........? You, were attacked by the AST huh?"

When Shidou said that, [Yoshinon] threw her head down vertically.

"I see, it was after that............"

While Shidou was talking, he looked around by craning his neck to the left then right.

Whether it was destroyed buildings or cracked roads, he expanded his full view as much as possible. This was going to be a hard task.

And, as if matching together with that reaction, from his right ear sounds were delivered from <Fraxinus>.

"——We will send you as many cameras as we have. Try to communicate with her as much as you can while searching."

To show that Shidou understood, he poked the intercam a little, and once again brought his eyes to [Yoshinon].

"Okay....now then, let's start searching, Yoshinon."

"..........!"

[Yoshinon] consented——after mumbling a little in her mouth, she let out her voice.

"I, I am........"

"Eh?"

"I......am, not Yoshinon,......but Yoshino. Yoshinon......is my, friend......"

"Yoshino........?"

When Shidou replied her by saying her name, the girl— Yoshino tried to run away.

"Ah........wait!"

And, probably she was surprised by that voice, Yoshino twitched her shoulders again.

At that instant, the rain surrounding Yoshino suddenly turned into something like needles and flew towards Shidou.

"Uwaaaaaaaa!?"

He lowered his head on the spot in panic, and managed to somehow dodge them.

It was okay since there were just few. But, if this was shot more towards Shidou's body, he would have been a cactus by now.

"C-Calm down! It’s me it’s me!"

When Yoshino turned this way while twitching, and after seeing Shidou's face, she took a deep breath.

Shidou stood up while talking in a timid tone.

"I-If it is okay use this........although you are already wet, it’s still better than nothing right?"

He picked up the umbrella that he had just thrown away, and gave it to Yoshino.

"? ?? ??"

"Aah, this is how you use it."

He grabbed Yoshino's hand while she was tilting her head in curiosity, and then held it up.

When he did that, she was surprised by the fact that raindrops no longer touched her, and Yoshino looked up with eyes that were turning around in amazement.

The transparent vinyl umbrella was repelling the rain that was falling and hitting it while shining brightly.

"............! ..........!"

Yoshino excitedly, flapped her other hand that was not holding the umbrella.

"Y-Yeah, you are happy with it huh? Use it, use it!"

And after Shidou said that, Yoshino turned her eyes to Shidou as if she was asking him.

"Ah......? Me?"

Yoshino nodded her head repeatedly.

"Aah, I'm okay. It's okay just use it."

After hesitatingly looking at the umbrella and then to Shidou for a few moments.

"Th......ank, y......ou."

And after she bowed and lowered her head, they continued their search for the puppet.

"Doing something cool like that."

From his right ear, he heard Kotori teasing like voice.

"S-Shut up."

"—Well, if the Spirit's feels like it, something like a wet shirt could immediately be dried though. But even before that, she has no difficulty making rain bullets from the invisible film that she set up."

"I-Is that right?"

......Well, that wasn't really a problem. He just could not bear to watch, a little girl getting soaked by the rain.

Shidou lightly wiped his wet face, and began the search.

"—How did it go? Did you find the puppet?"

"No, not yet. We haven't found it yet."

When Kotori asked the question, she heard a reply from a crewman down at the lower bridge.

The time was now 12:30 p.m. It has been almost 2 hours since Shidou and Yoshino started their search. If they continue working under this rain, their bodies would get too cold and, their fatigue would also accumulate.

It would have been okay if [Ratatoskr] were able to send in the mechanics department members too but— it would be dangerous if too many people were to be thrown into the search, they might scare Yoshino and then they might lose everything. Even if she wasn’t scared by them, there was a chance that her good impressions that was supposed to only　go to Shidou, would be spread in multiple directions.

"How about the images?"

Kotoris eyes turned to her right hand side, and the crews that were fiddling with their consoles, without looking away, replied back.

"The resolution is a little rough but........we can manage somehow."

"Then bring it up on the monitor."

Kotori said that, and on one part of the <Fraxinus> bridge monitor, images of the area from around the time of yesterday's battle between the AST and Yoshino were being projected.

It was like it was dragged into the aftershock of the battle, the camera took some distance to get a better picture of the area, and compared to the resolution from just now the image quality　now was quite bad.

"She no longer has the puppet—— in the image of when the Spirit was lost."

After a while, the image enlarged and close-upped on Yoshino.

"——Turn it back, the image from just before the AST attacks land, we are able to confirm that the puppet is in the Angels mouth. It is right to think that it was lost during that attack."

"So, where's the important puppet?"

"Because of the smoke getting thicker, although I can't say that it is for certain but........I can confirm the shadow of it falling off, I think the worst case scenario of it being burnt up because of that attack has been avoided."

"Fumu.........."

Kotori used her hands and hit her jaw.

"Right after when Yoshino was Lost, aren't there anymore images left of the surroundings?"

"I-I will try looking for it."

And, at that moment the speaker went, *riiinnnngg* such a sound leaked out and she heard it.

"Yoshino?"

"..........!"

It had been almost 3 hours, since they began searching for the puppet.

While Shidou was combing up his wet hair, he looked at Yoshino beside him who was still looking for the puppet.

It would seem that he realized an amazingly cute voice echoed.

Yoshino once again as she was scared, she twitched her shoulder— maybe she got a little used to Shidou's voice, this time she didn't make needle water bullets and shoot them.

"......Are you hungry?"

When Shidou asked, Yoshino face turned red and *pun* *pun* swung her head from side to side.

But, at that timing, her stomach grumbled.

"..................!"

It would seem that Spirits get hungry too.

He heard that for the life form called Spirit, all it needed for sustenance was Spirit energy but.. ..speaking of which, after Tohka's power was sealed she became very gluttonous.

"........What am I supposed to do."

Although he doesn't know how long it has been since Yoshino started searching for the puppet, but since it was already past noon, it would be weird not to be hungry. Shidou's stomach was a little empty too.

Using his finger, Shidou gave his intercam a small poke, and a voice from Kotori that had already guessed what subject he was about to raise:

"——Hmm I guess so, how about taking a rest while having lunch?"

"Un......I guess you're right."

After making a light stretch he said to Yoshino.

"Yoshino, let's take a rest, okay?"

When Shidou said that, Yoshino swung her head sideways. And then her stomach gru-->>

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