“……Disappear! Disappear! All of you… just vanish!”
The girl’s eyes looked both weary and sorrowful, yet she wielded her greatsword with effortless grace.
In an instant, the wind shrieked.
A colossal sword-light, as if tearing through the very air, swept across the sky. The AST members flying above scattered like startled birds, frantically fleeing their positions.
However, in the very next second, a massive laser beam shot out from another direction, targeting The girl.
“…”
Itsuka Shido instinctively closed his eyes, unable to bear the sight of The girl being attacked.
Yet, as expected, the seemingly powerful beam was effortlessly deflected by a barrier The girl conjured with a casual flick of her hand. Afterward, the laser burst apart like fireworks in the night, scattering into myriad shimmering motes of light.
“Tch!”
The girl wielding the high-powered laser cannon snorted disdainfully, then cast aside the depleted weapon, drew the light-saber from her back, and charged towards the Spirit.
“Is that… Origami Tobiichi?”
Itsuka Shido murmured the name he had only learned that morning.
Indeed, the girl clad in a peculiar mechanical battlesuit, fighting the Spirit, was none other than his classmate, Origami Tobiichi.
“Yes, that’s Master Origami!”
‘A poor girl who hates Spirits because her parents were accidentally killed by her future self.’
“Wait, if Origami is a member of the AST, then aren’t you, Ji Qianye, her target?”
“Yes, but don’t worry, she won’t notice us for now.”
Ji Qianye casually brushed her pink hair.
“Why?”
“It’s like how I’ve been waiting here for you for ages, yet you’ve only just noticed me now.”
“Why?”
“Because I didn’t want you to!” Ji Qianye chuckled softly. “I subtly gave you a hint earlier, telling you not to notice me.”
“By the same logic, Origami and her squad won’t notice you, because I’ve also secretly given them a hint. From their perspective, you’re likely as invisible as air, until they make you choose that clumsy option. To play along, that’s when I allowed the AST to notice Tohka.”
Ji Qianye’s tone suggested she knew Itsuka Shido was speaking under Kotori’s instructions.
Which, in truth, was precisely the case.
“Speaking of which, if you remain completely unharmed like this, it’ll be too obvious. You really do need to take a hit!”
As Ji Qianye spoke, the eye hidden by her eyepatch suddenly turned pink, and then a pink heart materialized within it.
As if influenced by Ji Qianye, the AST members suddenly swiveled their weapons to aim at Itsuka Shido.
“Whoa!”
Gazing at the missiles and lasers suddenly hurtling towards him, Itsuka Shido couldn’t help but cry out, instinctively shutting his eyes.
When he opened his eyes again, his vision was met with a cascade of flowing purple hair and a shimmering purple barrier that swayed with it.
“It seems you weren’t entirely lying. That mechanical legion truly did attack you. Perhaps I can trust you, for now.”
The girl slightly tilted her head to look at Itsuka Shido, all the while effortlessly fending off the incoming attacks.
‘As expected of Tohka, even in an unconquered state, she instinctively protects Shido.’
“Shido… is that that man’s name? Then Tohka is… my name?”
“Exactly!” Ji Qianye affirmed with a nod.
“Itsuka Shido gave you that name!”
Ji Qianye shifted the conversation towards Itsuka Shido.
“Me?” Itsuka Shido’s face was etched with confusion. He had clearly heard the name from Ji Qianye himself, yet Ji Qianye gave him a look, urging him to play along.
“Yes, Itsuka Shido gave you that name!”
“Don’t joke around! He didn’t even know me at first!”
Though Tohka wasn’t the sharpest, she wasn’t so foolish as to be unable to discern such a blatant inconsistency.
“What exactly is my relationship with this man?”
“Well, now…”
Ji Qianye tilted her head slightly, pinching her chin thoughtfully.
“You could say ‘lovers in a past life, destined partners in this one’!”
“Lovers in a past life?”
“Destined partners in this one?”
“What does that mean?” Tohka asked, bewildered. Her life, blank as a fresh page, offered no context for her to comprehend these words.