hat she wanted. Right before he was about to start the music, Shidou was reminded that he forgot to give Origami those lyric cards.

"Oh, uh, Origami... here."

"These aren't necessary. I already memorized the lyric."

"O-Oh..."

Shidou scratched his face again and played the music.

-After the prelude, Origami started singing.

"Eh...?!"

Amazed, someone screamed behind Shidou.

Shidou was surprised too. Despite singing with her usual expression, Origami's singing could still match with that of a professional singer.

"Ha-...."

Just when Origami finished singing, Ai, Mai and Mii applauded.

"Wow! It's amazing!"

"Origami, you could sing so well!"

"I guess this would be perfect."

The three girls cheered excitedly. Shidou could understand them. Indeed, it was surprising that Origami, despite her usual behavior, could sing much better than a normal person. She could sing in such a fantastic tone and with such an adequately loud voice, just like that in the CD they listened to.

Shidou gulped and walked closer to Origami.

"Origami, can I leave the vocalist position to you...?"

"Yes, if it's for the sake of your victory, Shiori."

Origami answered without any hesitation nor consideration. Ai, Mai and Mii cheered once again.

Then, someone poked Shidou at his back. Shidou turned his head and noticed that Tohka was standing close behind him with an eager look.

"I want to sing, too! Can I sing please?!"

"Oh? Sure, of course."

Then, Shidou gave her the cards. Knowing that she couldn't memorize the lyric just like Origami, Tohka had to take the cards.

Tohka, with a hand holding the mike and another holding the cards and the tambourine, stood on the stage.

Shidou reminded that he had never seen Tohka singing. He did see her humming before that but he was sure that Tohka had never sung in a band with music.

Since Tohka was also spirit, he thought that she could also sing well, but maybe not as well as Miku.

"Ermm... eh?"

Surprised, Tohka frowned and waved her hands at Shidou.

"Is there anything wrong?"

"Uhm... how do I read this... kanji?"

Annoyed, Tohka passed the cards back to Shidou.

"Eh-..."

Everyone thought that it would be good to have Origami as the vocalist... for now.

"Alright, we don't have much time, let's start the practice!"

"Ohhhh!"

Everyone, including Tohka, shouted as they raised their hands.

Meanwhile, in Rindouji All-Girls Private School.

"Listen, girls. I've decided to perform on the first day."

After Miku announced that, the meeting room turned chaotic.

"O-Onee-sama, is it true...?!"

"But you were afraid of standing before a crowd of people..."

"If that's so, then we would definitely win on the first day, since onee-sama is going to perform anyway."

The girls sitting in two lines cheered joyfully, some even screamed happily. Miku smiled as she looked at them happily.

"Well then, I shall leave the preparation to you girls. And, please get some new clothes too. I would also like some better instruments. Oh, and yes, we have to settle the students' application for dancers as well."

As Miku was giving order, all the girls were hugging their chests, imagining how the performance that day was going to be. -But,

"W-Wait a minute!"

A four-eyed girl who sat at the left stood up.

"Huh-? Is there anything wrong?"

When Miku looked at her, the girl was frightened. Though, she calmed and continued speaking, grabbing her knuckle.

"Excuse me but... how are we going to deal with the brass band club that previously registered for the performance that day?"

"Hmm- ...Well sadly, we would need to have them forfeit their performance. Well, won't that be good? If I'm performing, our school would definitely win."

"N-No, this is not right!"

The four-eyed girl said angrily.

"Everyone was practicing so hard for the performance. Won't you feel bad for them?!"

As she protested, everyone idled. Everyone wanted to see Miku perform, but they couldn't ignore what the four-eyed girl told as well.

Then, a girl who was sitting right the opposite of the four-eyed girl raised her hand and spoke.

"U-uhm, Onee-sama, if you're going to take over the performance, how are other clubs going to..."

"The school won last year too, right? It won't be a problem if we just did what we did last year."

Right after Miku spoke, the girl who sat next to the opposite of the four-eyed girl spoke.

"I'm really sorry but... There won't be enough budget to get new clothes and instruments for Onee-sama already..."

As the three girls protested, the meeting room became noisy.

Miku sighed. She then squinted her eyes and spoke.

"Anyway, just do what I ordered."

-Soon after that, the noisy room turned into silence.

"So, shall I leave this to you girls? Hmm, never mind, I think I would solve all the problems myself-"

As Miku prolonged her sentence, the girls answered "Yes, Onee-sama." together.

September 22th. Origami Tobiichi, in order to carry out maintenance on her unit, came to the station.

Although the Tenou festival would be held next day, as a member of AST, she couldn't slack. After the maintenance, she changed into uniform, and then took a check-up on her CR-UNIT that she just put into the hanger while taking a look at her duty list.

"......"

While she was doing her duty, Origami had a strange feeling and furrowed her eyes slightly.

There were other AST members in the hanger, too. However, they weren't behaving like usual. The atmosphere in the hanger was so tense.

"......"

She thought to herself deeply. ...However, she couldn't recall being assigned any orders recently. Even after she checked again, she couldn't find any new orders, either.

Just when Origami was busy confirming if there was any new orders, she could hear footsteps from her left.

She turned her head to her left and saw a golden-haired girl with glasses scurried while holding onto some documents. -AST Readiness Officer, Mildred F. Fujimura, nicknamed 'Mily'.

Immediately, Origami grabbed Mily's neck just in the time she passed through her.

"Woah!?"

Mily moaned with a cat-like sound as her boobs that were bigger than Origami's shook.

"W-What are you doing-?! What if my backbones were damaged-?!"

"Mildred, I have something to ask you."

Mily noticed that criminal the higher-up mentioned was Origami. "Puu", she had an inner laugh as she drooped her eyelids.

"I'm not quite satisfied with what Origami is doing to me! I demand improvement!"

"Understood."

As Origami let her off, Mily sighed.

"...So, what business do you have with Mily? Mily is very busy, you know."

"Is there any special operation recently?"

Mily turned her eyes big, pretending to be surprised.

"What are you saying, Origami? Of course, we're preparing for the operation tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

Origami was surprised. Mily nodded her head.

"But why wasn't I notified of it? Just what operation will be carried out tomorrow?"

"Eh? Really? Ah- seriously. That Ryouko always loved to criticize people but now when there's crisis, she just ran away huh-"

"Tell me what operation is it tomorrow."

"Alright, alright. Tomorrow-"

Mily stopped. -It was Jessica who suddenly appeared and covered her mouth, preventing her to tell Origami the secret operation.

"Cease your words, Miss Readiness Officer. What you were going to tell is a secret."

"Eh? W-What do you mean-?"

Mily, seemingly surprised, asked. Then, Jessica whispered something to her ear.

"...Uh, sorry, Origami. It seems like this is something that you can't be let known."

"Just what do you mean?"

Origami squinted her eyes as Jessica shrugged her shoulders.

"Hehe, it means what you just heard there. Come on, don't put on such an angry look. If you want to, you can appeal to your boss."

After that, Jessica walked away. Mily, with a look of apology, left Origami as she held onto some documents.

Just what kind of operation would there be? Origami thought to herself as she looked at the other AST members.

However, everyone was just doing their duties and wouldn't look at Origami eye-to-eye.

"......"

Annoyed, Origami finished her duty quickly and left the hangar.

Origami thought to herself that since she wasn't allowed to know the operation, it couldn't be helped no matter how much doubt she had.

Rather than thinking about that, it would be better to practice at home for the performance on the next day.

Just when Origami was alone in the changing room, someone opened the door.

Origami glanced at the door and saw Ryouko entering the room.

"Lieutenant Kusakabe."

"......"

Not responding to Origami's greeting, Ryouko walked to the center of the room. Facing away from Origami, she sat on the bench, drinking a can of coffee. After she took a sip, she let out a sigh of tiredness.

"......"

It seemed like she still didn't want to talk to Origami.

Knowing that, Origami continued changing, quietly.

However, just when she was about to take her clothes from the hanger, Ryouko spoke.

"Ah-, it's so frustrating to deal with those annoying foreigners. Since there aren't too many people in the room right now, I guess I shall grumble to myself a little then."

"...?"

Origami frowned slightly and turned to her back.

Origami thought that instead of "grumbling", Ryouko might be trying to explain about the operation to her. Besides, it would be preposterous if Ryouko really forgot about Origami being in the room due to tiredness since she was not expected to as she was the one who lead the AST members.

Though, Ryouko, pretending as if she never noticed Origami, continued speaking, to the wall.

"-Tomorrow, September 23rd, 1500 hrs, the third combat unit would plunge into the Tenguu Plaza. The target to be captured would be Tohka Yatogami, the girl who was suspected to be the spirit <Princess>."

"...What-"

Listening to what Ryouko said with her lower lip attaching the can, Origami was so surprised that she couldn't resist letting out some voice.

The third combat unit, as in the unit that consisted of only DEM members, would be capturing Tohka Yatogami tomorrow. And what was more was that, they were going to do it right when the festival was going on.

Origami was so astonished at the information Ryouko leaked to her. Having yet to put on her sleeves completely, she turned to the direction where Ryouko was sitting.

However, Ryouko had yet to finish.

"-And a Second-year student of Raizen High School, Shidou Itsuka?"

"...?!"

With that name being spoken from Ryouko's mouth, Origami gasped.

Before she knew it, Origami grabbed Ryouko's shoulders.

"What is the meaning of this? If it's just Tohka Yatogami, I could understand, but why Shidou too-"

"......"

Although Origami shook her shoulders violently, Ryouko didn't say anything, as if she was overcome by a ghost.

Remaining silent, Ryouko let out a sigh, again. She took some sips from the can of coffee in her hand as she walked to the door of the room.

"Ahh, the operation tomorrow would be very tiring, so tiring that I might have forgotten to lock the door of the second hangar. Well, it doesn't matter. There won't be any accident, I guess."

Then, she added.

"-Origami, it's up to you now."

Ryouko, after finishing her last sentence, left the room.

"......"

Alone in the room, Origami stared at the door blankly.

"Tch..."

Not being able to calm down, she held her knuckle firmly.