End

For thousands of years, humanity adhered to a rhythm of life dictated by the sun: active by day, dormant by night. They rose with the dawn to work and sought rest as dusk descended.

Yet, with the relentless march of technological progress, night gradually transformed into the domain of a select few.

Pinpricks of light dotted the otherwise dark city below. High above, within an aerial battleship, final preparations were underway.

“Any other issues? I still have plenty of things I could offer you.”

Yisha stretched languidly, a hint of drowsiness in her voice, yet it was laced with undeniable excitement.

“No, the intelligence we’ve acquired is sufficient for our current needs. Welcome to our alliance, Ms. Shimazaki Yisha.”

“Only temporarily. Don’t forget, I can leave at any moment.”

The young woman remained sprawled on the floor, projecting an aura that screamed, ‘I’m so sleepy, don’t talk to me.’ However, the members of Ratatoskr weren’t fooled into thinking she was merely soft and adorable.

They couldn’t forget the way she had relentlessly demanded items during their recent negotiations. It was as if a famished ghost had stumbled upon a gourmet restaurant.

“In that case, we will initiate the handover in a few days. Please be prepared.”

“Yes, yes, yes. With Yina around, I won’t be running off anywhere these next few days.”

After her resentful reply, Yisha covered her mouth with a hand and yawned.

‘I have what I wanted. They’re shrewd individuals too, clinging stubbornly to those key points.’

Intending to depart, Yisha gave Yina a gesture. The two then proceeded to the aerial battleship’s transfer zone, the only place from which they could be transported back to the surface.

With their departure, the conference room fell silent. Each person present was now processing the information Yisha had provided during the exchange.

“A Spirit whose entire body was pixelated, possessing terrifying combat power—a foe even Shimazaki Yisha at full strength might not defeat… Commander Itsuka, what can you tell us about Shimazaki Yisha’s combat capabilities?”

Woodman murmured to himself for a moment, and upon realizing the gravity of their predicament, he posed his question to Kotori.

“Tohka said she found Shimazaki’s combat power terrifying. While in the shop, she felt as though she was being targeted by a ferocious beast—the kind that could pounce and tear her to shreds at any moment. However, when Shimazaki began coughing blood, Tohka’s sense of danger towards her significantly diminished.”

Kotori relayed everything she currently knew to Woodman. Even as he posed his question, she had anticipated the exact concerns weighing on his mind.

“From what we’ve gathered, Shimazaki and that Spirit are like fire and water, utterly incompatible. Which side should we ally ourselves with?”

“Let’s observe for now. I have a strong feeling that Shimazaki Yisha is holding back a secret, one that is both crucial and extremely dangerous to us. Is she perhaps intentionally trying to curry favor?”

Unsure if his intuition was correct, Woodman kept his deeper thoughts to himself. After briefly outlining Fraxinus’s immediate course of action, he disconnected the communication.

“Kotori, when do we begin?”

Reine, who had been waiting patiently, continuously scrolled through the tablet in her hands. It meticulously detailed the gains made by both parties in the recent transaction.

It had to be said, as a Spirit, the ‘Dancer’ was truly exceptional to an astonishing degree.

She had demanded money, equipment, weapons, and even personnel, as if preparing an immense arsenal for some impending event.

“The day after tomorrow, perhaps. That’s when we can begin our strategy to ‘capture’ Shimazaki Yisha. What an inauspicious start this has been.”

In an effort to minimize the damage caused by a rampaging Tohka, they had exposed themselves to the Spirits. In a sense, however, this was merely a slight acceleration of events.

Given Yisha’s capabilities within human society, to claim she had no connections would be utterly unbelievable. Consequently, investigating them would inevitably lead back to Ratatoskr, sooner or later.

“It’s not entirely bad, though. From our discussions, Shimazaki Yisha is a Spirit with extremely high vigilance. We were likely on her radar the moment Shido and Tohka visited her shop.

This early exposure won’t significantly decrease her favorability towards Shido. If we had been exposed during a date, however…”

Kotori understood her meaning without Reine needing to elaborate further.

‘Her favorability could have plummeted to rock bottom. Looked at this way, perhaps it truly is a blessing in disguise.’

“Then let’s prepare for the date the day after tomorrow. Though, I don’t hold out much hope.”

Kotori offered a wry smile. In a situation where one party understood her well, and her own side knew very little about the other, only her idiotic older brother would believe a single date could secure a ‘capture.’

The young women walked slowly along the street, streetlights casting a faint glow around them. Even in the profound silence, it seemed to have no effect on their demeanor.

The wind rustled through the leaves, a sound that usually brought a sense of calm to the soul. But for these two, it offered no such peace.

“Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough!!!!”

Yisha’s sudden, violent coughing shattered the stillness. The metallic tang of blood continuously rose from her throat, filling her nostrils as well.

Blood spewed ceaselessly from her mouth, and excruciating pain seized her body. It felt as though countless blades were slashing back and forth within her, while her skin was subjected to alternating sensations of searing heat and freezing cold.

In an instant, the young woman’s body teetered on the brink of collapse.

“Zadkiel, revive!”

A colossal surge of life force poured in from all directions, mending her ravaged body. With no regard for the expenditure of her spiritual energy, Yisha’s injuries were, for the moment, barely stabilized.

“Sister…”

Yina fought back the sting in her nose, desperately calling out to the surrounding life forms, urging them to donate a portion of their life force. Alas, this was a city; living beings were pitifully scarce.

Even exhausting all her spiritual energy, she could only prevent the young woman’s injuries from worsening.

Gently cradling the unconscious Yisha, Yina found herself at a loss for words.

She couldn’t even imagine what might have happened if she hadn’t forcefully interrupted the negotiations several times, feigning dissatisfaction to accelerate the transaction.

‘Why? Why are you always like this? For me, for the children, for everyone, always pushing yourself to the brink…’

The blur before her eyes became unbearable. Yina hugged the unconscious girl tighter and wept softly.

For Yisha personally, the benefits of the transaction were pitifully few.

The deal included an aerial battleship, three CR-UNITs, close protection for specified targets, a large quantity of miniature Realizer equipment, a substantial sum of money, and finally, regardless of Yisha’s actions, Ratatoskr would protect Yina to the extent they could protect any Spirit.

They would grant her a life akin to a sealed Spirit’s, never attempting to ‘capture’ her.

Yina was not a sealed Spirit; she possessed a degree of self-preservation ability. Yet, Yisha had still insisted on these terms, and Yina understood the underlying implications.

If Ratatoskr genuinely aimed to protect Spirits, then Yina would undoubtedly become one of the individuals they would fight to the death to safeguard. Moreover, she could depart at any sign of trouble, destined to live alongside the sealed Spirits.

In exchange, Yisha would become their ally, providing necessary assistance during their ‘capture’ operations, and would partake in one date each month.

‘Sister, please don’t push yourself so hard, alright? I just want to be with you. As long as you’re safe, I don’t need anything else. Just that would be enough…’

Yina knew that Yisha would never agree to such terms. Their lives had been anything but stable over the years; if not for Yisha and Yina frequently traveling abroad to evade their pursuers, something dire would likely have befallen them by now.

The Kanzaki family was not as they appeared. They were merely in disarray after Yisha had destroyed two of their experimental bases. Once they were free to act, a fierce battle was inevitable.

“I will follow your will. I hope we can resolve everything in this city before they arrive.”

Under the cloak of night, the young woman gently stroked her sister’s face, speaking in a soft whisper.

The greatest happiness in the world was possessing a healthy body—a thought the girl had entertained more than once.

She was born with a frail constitution. Others walked while she was just learning to crawl; by the time she took her first tottering steps, others were already frolicking freely, having snowball fights in the snow.

‘Oh, how I wish I could play with them!’

She stood by the doorway, watching their lively forms run back and forth with envy. But before she could gaze much longer, someone pulled her back a step, and the door clicked shut, sealing away the white snow, the joyful play, and her yearning heart.

“Luo’er, didn’t I tell you not to go to the door? Are you trying to go outside again?”

The woman, her mother, exclaimed loudly.

Luo’er, as she was called, composed herself with effort, then turned to face her mother, managing only a strained smile.

“I’m fine, and I wasn’t trying to go out. I was just looking. You should be careful yourself, after all, you have a younger sister to think of.”

The woman and her husband had previously gone to the hospital for a check-up, where they were told it would be a girl. That was why Luo’er referred to her as her younger sister.

“Even so, no. You must take your medicine diligently. You can only go outside when spring arrives.”

Her mother’s expression hardened into a stern frown.

“Understood.” Luo’er lowered her gaze and, supporting herself against the wall, painstakingly made her way back to her room.

Indeed, this was her reality; without the support of a wall, even walking normally was a struggle.

Thus, the playful antics that were so commonplace in others’ eyes remained an unattainable luxury for her.

She was all too aware of her own physical condition.

She knew no one would ever let her go outside.

She understood that even if she did go out, she wouldn’t be able to do anything, and no one would play with her.

Yet why, then, had she still come to the doorway? Why did fantasies still stir within her heart? And why, above all, did she yearn for a friend?

Was it a thirst for knowledge about the things described in books, a simple desire to see them, or was her heart merely craving companionship?

The girl didn’t know. She walked down the long corridor, arrived at the back garden’s entrance, and sat down there.

She needed time to quell this inexplicable restlessness, and watching the snow naturally became one of her few ways to calm her mind.

Snowflakes drifted down from the sky, gathering little by little on the ground. They continuously accumulated, joining their fellows until the earth was covered in a smooth, glistening layer of white.

She gently touched it, and a small indentation appeared on the pristine white surface, filling her with a sense of guilt as if she had defiled a work of art.

‘Why would such a beautiful thing be here?’

Tilting her head back to gaze at the sky, the young girl attempted to ponder the question without resorting to scientific reasoning. Clearly, however, she found no answer.

Unable to fathom it, she resigned herself to simply watching the snow. Yet, she soon noticed something amiss.

‘Why is the snow gone from the eaves?’

Before she could reach a conclusion, a pair of hands gripped the top of the eaves, and a figure swiftly shot upward. However, it seemed they hadn’t accounted for the slippery effect of the snow being wiped away from the edge, for the dark silhouette plummeted to the ground like a falling goose.

“Hm??”

The girl tilted her head in confusion, picked up the walking stick left by the back garden’s entrance, and slowly approached the dark figure.

“Argh, why is it so slippery! It was just a wall climb!”

The dark figure scrambled to their feet and immediately vented their frustration on the wall, but alas, it was an inanimate object, and their efforts had no effect whatsoever.

Only after he calmed down did he notice the girl standing nearby.

“Hello, I’m Xia Yu. I accidentally fell down, but I’ll be heading back in a moment.”

“Falling Rain?”

The boy’s mouth twitched slightly. Even though the pronunciation was the same, he could tell the girl meant “rain” and not “Xia Yu.”

“It’s the ‘Xia’ from summer. What about you?”

After observing the boy, Luo’er finally confirmed that the person before her had stumbled in by accident rather than harboring ill intentions. She spoke timidly.

“Just call me Luo’er.”

“Huh? Luo’er? Do people still use names like that these days? How about I call you A’Luo instead?”

The boy didn’t give her a chance, changing her appellation without a second thought.

Luo’er had no objections. After all, no one at home truly called her by her name, though this new nickname coincidentally overlapped with what her father used for her.

“Are you the child from this house? You’re quite pretty. Want to be my wife?”

At this, Luo’er first fell silent. Then, a pig-slaughtering shriek echoed through the entire back garden.

“Huff~ huff~ huff~”

After approximately a dozen blows, the girl panted heavily, glaring fiercely at the boy. If only her stamina hadn’t failed her, she would have given him a few more hits to teach him a lesson!

“I was just joking, wasn’t I? Is it really… I’m sorry, I won’t say it again.”

Xia Yu swiftly changed his tune upon seeing Luo’er raise her walking stick once more. Though her strength was minimal, her strikes still stung.

“Did you fall down?”

Calming the anger in her chest, Luo’er returned to the back garden’s entrance, pouring Xia Yu a cup of tea as she asked.

At that moment, Xia Yu was engrossed in studying the ground mechanism Luo’er had opened, showing no inclination to answer her.

Luo’er said nothing in response. She had grown accustomed to her questions being ignored; her peers didn’t understand, and adults didn’t want to talk to her.

The wind ceased, and snowflakes drifted down freely, gradually filling the space where the two had been. Yet, no matter how much they filled, a trace always remained.

And so, the two children met for the very first time.