Chapter 82

They're not even related by blood.

Coupled with the bad impression she had from the beginning, no matter how much Kotori tried to explain things from a macro perspective, she just couldn't bring herself to like Ratatoskr.

To put it bluntly, if he simply abandons his responsibilities, then Ratatoskr's so-called "Date A Live" plan will be nothing but empty talk.

On the contrary, the sense of security that Yulande provided was real. At least Shiori knew very well that if she was a member of Schicksal and Yulande's protector, then that DEM would definitely not dare to cause trouble for her every time.

"If Yulande weren't here, I might have had a tough time! She truly is my dearest friend!"

Tohka isn't very good at saying thank you, so she can only express it in an awkward way.

"You're welcome. Although we have a business relationship, you are my friends, and that won't be tarnished by that cold partnership."

Amber was quite fond of the original pairing of Shido and Tohka. Although many other Spirits appeared later, she always felt that Shido and Tohka were the most suitable.

"Yulande ..."

Shiori looked at Amber with increasing emotion. Perhaps her greatest fortune was that day when she was buying groceries, she kindly helped Yulande and Rita deal with the merchants who were bullying outsiders.

An ordinary girl like me actually met the world's strongest while grocery shopping? That's too much like a protagonist!

Oh wait, thinking about it carefully, I'm not exactly ordinary either.

Am I really destined to be a protagonist? No, no, no, if we're talking about protagonists, it's definitely Yulande.

"Now that things are settled here, I'll head back."

Knowing that she needed to give the two of them some space, Amber didn't plan to stay any longer.

"Huh? They left so soon?"

Tohka tilted her head, seemingly recalling how the other person had also left quickly last time. Hmm... perhaps it was because Yulande was a powerful human and Shiori was a weak human, so Shiori could stay in the outside world at will, just like elves couldn't just come out at will.

After explaining it using her own worldview, Tohka nodded again. "See you next time, Yulande!"

"Would you like to come to my house for dinner sometime? I didn't get to properly entertain you last time."

Shiori, unaware of Tohka's peculiar understanding, said somewhat embarrassedly to Amber.

The last visit was a disaster. First, Origami and Shiori's conversation made the atmosphere stiff, and then Kotori and Möbius brought the atmosphere to a freezing point.

"Okay, I'll bring Rita with me next time."

Amber knew that the other party wanted to take this opportunity to express their gratitude, so she did not refuse and agreed directly. She then flew to the Schicksal Hotel.

At the same time, an airship much larger than Fraxinus took off from Schicksal and flew straight towards Amemiya City.

Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Approaching Möbius

"Is that Möbius coming to Amemiya City?"

At the Itsuka Residence's dinner table, Kotori looked incredulously at Amber, who calmly delivered the astonishing information.

"Well, it should arrive around tomorrow morning, or maybe in the early hours of the morning."

While pondering the merits of Shiori and Rita's skills, Amber replied somewhat casually.

"Wait a minute? Isn't she the Bishop of Schicksal, the key figure? Why would someone like that come to this small place?"

Kotori's expression grew increasingly grim, as she felt that this behavior definitely had a deeper meaning that she did not understand.

Why can't a ruler just stay quietly in his own territory? What's he doing here?

It's not that Kotori looks down on Ratatoskr and Japan. To be honest, although Japan is small in size, its national strength surpasses that of 95% of the world's countries. It's just that a few major powers stand in its way, making Japan seem like a tiny island nation.

That being said, this place is indeed an insignificant little place in terms of Schicksal.

"Dr. Möbius's ideas are beyond the comprehension of ordinary people."

Rita sat down next to Amber and said with a smile, "It's not that I'm belittling you, it's just the truth."

She didn't mean to mock Kotori. After all, Kotori's age is a factor. To be able to think and act to this extent at her age is definitely genius. Although yesterday's action of acting unilaterally without informing Schicksal was indeed abstract, it was still understandable.

Even so, to Rita's eyes, Möbius still seemed immature and inexperienced; to Möbius, genius was probably just the threshold to meeting her.

Kotori was aware of this, but she was still somewhat annoyed.

Despite knowing in her heart that the other person was an ancient being who had lived for who knows how long, there was no doubt that the other person's appearance was similar to her own, and Kotori could not find any fault with their beauty. In fact, the unique temperament added to her charm that set her apart from others.

Kotori's confidence in her skills and beauty was suppressed by others in front of her beloved, especially right after Kotori had just finished showing off. Naturally, Kotori found it hard to accept.

"It's alright, Kotori."

Shiori didn't know how to comfort her, so she could only say, "No matter what, I'm always on your side."

"There's no need for that idiot Shiori to worry about it."

Kotori placed her palm in front of her, making an unnecessary gesture.

"Please change your headband back when you eat!"

Shiori felt a little heartbroken when her beloved younger sister called her an idiot.

"Who is this Möbius you're talking about? Is he a bad guy like those machine corps members?"

Finally stopping her struggle with the bread, Tohka looked at Shiori with a puzzled expression.

Just now Shiori forbade her to eat her favorite bread and only allowed her to eat something called rice. Although she was very reluctant, she finally gave up the bread because she thought of what Shiori had done for her.

"I don't think he's a bad person..."

Shiori smiled and patted Tohka's head.

Last night, not long after Amber left, the two officially sealed their Spiritual Power, and Tohka naturally became a member of the Itsuka Residence.

"But he wasn't exactly a good person either."

Despite having two key figures from Schicksal right in front of her, Kotori snorted without any hesitation and said, "You definitely have some purpose in coming to Amemiya City this time."

It wasn't because she was arrogant, but because she had already removed the identity of 'Schicksal Valkyrie' from the two people in front of her, and her uninhibitedness at this moment was due to her being a friend and making sarcastic remarks.

Rita didn't refute Kotori's statement, not only because she had a deep affection and doting on such a child, but also because... she knew too well what kind of person 'Möbius' was. Kotori's stereotype of her wasn't entirely accurate, but at least the general direction was correct.

Amber, however, believed that Black Amber had no ill intentions, and even if she did, she would suppress them for her own sake, so she helped by saying, "Bishop Möbius is not the kind of person you imagine. To the Valkyrie and to humanity, she is a hero."

I don't deny that.

Kotori frowned. "But whether she's a hero to us is another matter."

The "we" here naturally refers to the elves and the Shiori.

"Believe me, she is not an evil being. She may occasionally do things that are misunderstood, but her behavior will not go too far."

Amber knew that Kotori was somewhat stressed by Black Amber during their last phone call, which deepened her prejudice. This was entirely Black Amber's own doing. However, Amber didn't want her friend to see Black Amber as a monster, so she could only vouch for her in her own name.

"... Alright then."

Yulande 'Kotori assurances quite a bit. Although she didn't immediately classify Möbius as harmless because of them, she felt somewhat relieved.

Judging from Yulande's attitude, she is definitely on the side of justice. Even if she was fooled by Möbius, she will definitely help her sisters after discovering the truth.

That's enough.

Shiori, however, believed her immediately. "Since Yulande has said so, Kotori, you don't need to worry."

Tohka nodded in agreement. "Yulande is very reliable."

"You two will just side with her."

Kotori merely gave a cold laugh, showing no emotion whatsoever towards their attempts to comfort her.

Shiori was a little embarrassed by what she said, after all, she had just said that she would stand on Kotori's side.

But... this is Yulande's guarantee, and given Yulande's character, there certainly won't be any problems.

Feeling somewhat guilty, Shiori simply gave Kotori her own hamburger patty as an apology.

Kotori, whose diet was usually controlled by Shiori, had a slight glint in Kotori eyes, but she didn't show it. Instead, she showed a helpless expression, which was considered as accepting Shiori's apology.

Seeing this, Tohka frowned, feeling neglected. "Shiori, I want to eat that too!"

"Ah?"

Shiori paused for a moment. "Then should I go and fry another piece? But speaking of which, after sealing her Spiritual Power, can Tohka eat that much?"

"Of course not."

Kotori forked the hamburger patty from her plate with her fork, a victorious smile spreading across her face, "Sealing your Spiritual Power makes you just like an ordinary person. Aren't I the best example of that?"

"In that case, Tohka can't overeat like before."

Shiori glanced at Tohka's plate. Out of curiosity about the food she had never seen before, Tohka took some of most of the dishes, and the plate in front of her was almost overflowing.

"If it's not enough, we'll give you more tomorrow, but you can only eat this much today."

"Huh!?"

Tohka couldn't understand why her diet was suddenly restricted when she was just as eager to be fed as before.

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Kurumi Wants to Cooperate.

"I have never seen such a big ship, Daxi!"

"A word of caution: Kaguya keeps running around, it will anger Dr. Möbius."

"Yoshino ~ Look, look! You can see white clouds from here! Would you like to pick some to keep as a souvenir~"

The three elves haven't left Schicksal for a long time. Although there is an artificial lake on the Artificial Floating Island where they can take a boat ride, after so many years, they've gotten a little tired of it.

Knowing they were going to other places, Yoshino was alright, but both Yamae were somewhat unable to hide their excitement.

Although she wasn't particularly excited about going outside, Yoshino was still happy at the thought of seeing Yulande later, and she was also somewhat interested in the airship called the Hyperion.

It wasn't that she was interested in the airship itself, but rather that it was her first time being so high in the sky. The clouds that she could only look at from afar in the past now seemed within reach, making her curious about what they would feel like to touch.

As an elf, she could fly very high, but firstly, flying high would attract attention, and secondly, she had never thought about flying too high before, so she never had the idea of touching the Sky Manipulation.

On the contrary, Yamae is extremely familiar with the Sky Manipulation.

"What's so interesting about collecting that kind of thing?"

Black Amber slowly approached Yoshino: "Clouds and mist are essentially the same thing. If you want, you can collect misty skies at will, right?"

"Dr. Möbius has absolutely no idea what a naive girl is thinking."

Yoshino's puppet remained silent.

"Oh, so you know a lot about this?"

Black Amber cast a dangerous glance at her.

"Aha, I only know a little bit. After all, Yoshino an innocent and well-behaved child! Being around her will surely teach me something!"

Yoshino's puppet immediately admitted defeat. "But since I'm not a beautiful girl like the young and cute Doctor, there might be some discrepancies."

Yoshino originally wanted to try putting the clouds into a bottle, but because of Black Amber's comments, that idea has faded considerably.

So he asked about another matter of concern, "How much longer until we see Yulande..."

"If all goes well, it should take about 24 hours."

Black Amber said, "Although it only takes half the time at full speed, I still need to do some final preparations before that."

"Prepare?"

Yoshino tilted her head.

"Kids shouldn't think so much."

Black Amber had no intention of explaining to Yoshino. Yoshino was still just a child in terms of both mindset and thinking, so there was no point in talking to her. "I came here to warn some troublemakers that they'd better not cause any trouble at this time."

Her gaze fell on Kaguya.

"What... what are you doing! Do you think I can't even stand it for one day!?"

Kaguya's body trembled, but she still managed to maintain her proud posture and what she considered to be a very authoritative verbal tic.

"I promise I will keep a close eye on Kaguya and prevent her from doing anything unreasonable."

"That's what Yuzuru said."

"That would be best."

Black Amber's warning was heavy-handed. "If some people can't follow the rules properly, I'll show them what I'm capable of."