Tohka! I Used to Think That 32 Intelligence Was Just Something the Official Source Made Up

"It's you." The spirit girl with long midnight hair stared majestically at Qian Huanyue.

The purple dress armor on the girl's body shimmered with a strange luminous film. This was probably the special effect that came with a spirit's Astral Dress.

She lowered the angel [Sandalphon] slightly, its length matching her own height.

"Mm-hm, it's me." Qian Huanyue did not seem surprised. Instead, she waved and stepped closer, giving a cute little wave. "Hi, we meet again."

"Do you remember what I said before?"

The purple-haired girl looked at Qian Huanyue in confusion.

Huh?! She really forgot? Tohka! I used to think that 32 Intelligence was just something the official source made up.

Qian Huanyue's eyes turned blank and round again.

"...That you're one of my kind." The purple-haired spirit girl gave a cold snort before answering.

"Shouldn't we kill the human?" She glanced at the human "man" she had encountered here last time and asked as if it were only natural.

The purple-haired spirit's tone was utterly pure. From the moment she had been born in a Spacequake, her impression of humans had been nothing but the constant attacks of AST—their desire to hurt her and kill her.

[Sandalphon] in the purple-haired spirit girl's hand glinted coldly, as though it could strike at any moment.

"...!"

Shiori met the spirit girl's eyes, her face going pale.

"No, she's a friend." Qian Huanyue reassuringly shielded Shiori behind her.

"..." The purple-haired spirit frowned slightly and spoke with a weary expression. "Humans all come to kill me."

"I'm not here to kill you!" Shiori hurriedly retorted.

"You're lying. Every human I've met wanted to kill me."

"Do you mean AST? Well... that's true." The first time Qian Huanyue came to this world, she had been surrounded by those AST girls wearing Realizers.

Tohka's nostrils twitched. "What is that?"

She curiously stared at the backpack behind her kind. That pleasant scent was coming from there. She unconsciously leaned forward, even loosening her grip on [Sandalphon] by several degrees.

—Stare—

Shiori followed the other girl's gaze toward the bag. The sweet fragrance drifting through the air made her unable to help guessing: Was it bread?

"Mm-hm." Qian Huanyue did not keep them in suspense. She took out a freshly baked soybean flour bun from the bag, still retaining a trace of warmth.

"If you promise not to hurt this human, I'll give it to you."

She was actually looking out for her so much...

Shiori looked at Qian Huanyue's back as she stood protectively before her, warmth rising in her heart.

The purple-haired spirit's gaze shifted between the bread and Shiori. The hostility in her violet eyes was gradually replaced by longing.

She muttered, "That human looks weak anyway..."

Then she accepted the object that had completely captured her attention. It seemed to gleam so brightly that she could not look away.

Just as the purple-haired spirit was about to stuff the soybean flour bun into her mouth, AST's artillery fire rang out at the worst possible moment, blocked outside by the spirit's barrier.

"Those people again..."

The spirit girl wore an expression so sorrowful it was like she was about to cry. That fragile look stabbed into Shiori's heart, instinctively triggering Shiori's passive nature.

Because of having been abandoned by her relatives as a child, Shiori had suffered severe self-destructive tendencies before being adopted. Although the Itsuka family had healed her pain, that experience had shaped her into someone unable to ignore the sorrow and suffering of others.

Qian Huanyue handed the backpack to Shiori and patted her shoulder.

"What comes next is up to you. I'll go draw AST away."

Shiori's pupils shrank slightly, and she instinctively grabbed the hem of Qian Huanyue's clothes. "Be sure to stay safe, Huanyue!"

Qian Huanyue turned around and nodded in response to Shiori.

Qian Huanyue gave Tohka a slight smile, soothing her with that gentle expression she always wore. "You don't have to keep doing this."

"Fighting all the time must be painful, right?"

"..."

"I'll take action from here. You don't have to fight so desperately anymore. Try making friends with this human and enjoy this delicious food, okay?"

"...Mm."

"After all—" Spiritual light began to shimmer around her body. "We're of the same kind."

"What a strange thing to say..." Although the purple-haired spirit said that, the wavering expression on her face was genuine.

After hesitating for a moment, she stuffed the soybean flour bun into her mouth.

The soft bread and sweet soybean flour filling melted across her tongue. That warm, sweet flavor was a joy she had never experienced before.

Seeing this, Qian Huanyue's lips curled up slightly. She turned toward the direction from which AST's firepower was coming.

"[Seraph of Thousand Blades]."

"Don't let her get away! Spirit!" Ryoko Kusakabe immediately ordered part of the firepower to pursue.

"Yay, come chase me." Qian Huanyue swiftly flew out, even teasingly winking at the AST members, including Ryoko Kusakabe and Origami Tobiichi.

"Catch me, and you can do whatever you want with me. How about it?" she said with a light laugh.

Her figure darted nimbly through the ruined walls and rubble. Occasionally, she waved an arm, and condensed spiritual power became invisible barriers or clever bursts of force, deflecting and detonating the incoming missiles and energy beams.

None of her attacks felt like attacks at all. It was completely like play. Her angel looked like a sword, yet it was not made for destruction.

Her goal was not to defeat AST, but to buy time for Shiori.

Ryoko Kusakabe felt as if the spirit had provoked her, and her temper unexpectedly flared. The peanuts in her hands blasted toward the spirit as though they cost nothing.

As Qian Huanyue drew away most of the firepower, the explosions at the scene temporarily became less frequent.

Seizing the opportunity, Shiori took a deep breath and stepped forward, looking sincerely at the purple-haired spirit who was still savoring the bread.

The purple-haired spirit raised her head. More than half the hostility in her violet eyes had already faded?

She looked at Shiori, this seemingly weak human whom her kind had called "friend."

"...Mm." She softly responded, remembering the name of this delicious thing called "bread."

She looked at the half-eaten bread in her hand, then at Shiori, seeming to weigh something difficult.

In the end, her trust in her kind's words, along with the unprecedented deliciousness in her mouth, temporarily outweighed her long-held fear and hostility toward humans.

"You..." The purple-haired spirit looked at Shiori and tilted her head. "...You really won't kill me?"

Shiori shook her head vigorously. "Absolutely not! I want... I want to be friends with you."

"Friends..." Repeating the unfamiliar term, the purple-haired spirit recalled what her kind had said. "Human, what is your name?"

On Ratatoskr's bridge, Kotori looked at the stable curve representing Tohka's spiritual-wave readings on the screen, as well as the smoothly progressing conversation on Shiori's side. She gave a quiet hum, though a satisfied curve appeared at the corner of her mouth.

"Not bad, that spirit..." she muttered, her gaze sweeping toward another screen where Qian Huanyue was currently tangling with AST.

At this moment, Ratatoskr's choices appeared.

"① I'm Shido Itsuka. I came to get to know you.

② My name is Shido Itsuka. I want to go on a date with you.

③ When asking someone's name, shouldn't you introduce yourself first?"

"Shiori, choose ③."

"When asking someone's name, shouldn't you introduce yourself first?"

The moment the words left her mouth, Shiori felt it was incredibly unreliable, as though she had subtly been set up.

Just as Shiori expected, the purple-haired girl showed a somewhat displeased expression.

"What are you talking about, human?"

"..."

"Last chance. If you don't answer again, I won't be nice to you."

Shiori saw that sorrowful expression again and decided not to follow the advice given by the Ratatoskr Fraxinus crew.

"I'm Shido Itsuka... I mean, Shiori! I'm a student here! I don't want to be your enemy!"

"...Hm?"

"Not every human wants to kill you."

"..." The purple-haired girl froze. Remembering the one of her kind who was facing the "robot army" outside on her behalf, she felt that perhaps this person's words could be trusted.

"...Is that so?"

"Y-Yes, that's right."

"You're called Shido, right?"

"Mm!"

"You really don't intend to kill me like the other humans?"

Seeing the girl before her show that sorrowful, almost tearful expression again, Shiori made her tone firm.

"Absolutely not!"

"I would never want to hurt you! I would never deny you! You are completely entitled to live a normal life!"

"Just like Qian Huanyue said, you don't have to keep doing this. It's already been enough—this fighting!"

"...!"

Shiori's words had clearly moved her deeply.

"I think I heard someone mention my name."

Qian Huanyue's voice sounded from nearby. There was none of the battered state one might have expected; she stood there perfectly unharmed with her arms folded.