Quasi-Spirit Hii Hibiki

The Neighboring World

The Tenth Domain

Qian Huanyue had never ventured this deep into it before.

She had thought it was just a place where Spirits slept. Who knew it held somewhere so interesting?

The buildings looked much like those in the Real World, though the place seemed a little empty.

Kurumi surveyed her surroundings with mild surprise.

"Oh my. This is rather unexpected."

"Right, San-san?" Qian Huanyue looked up at the buildings nearby. "So many people—oh, no, so many Quasi-Spirits."

There were far more of them than there were Spirits.

A Quasi-Spirit noticed them and, without hesitation, summoned her [Nameless Angel] to attack Qian Huanyue's kidney.

"...?"

First-Meeting Kurumi shot the Quasi-Spirit without mercy.

Since when did Quasi-Spirits dare pick fights with Spirits?

But this time, she hadn't been forced to watch helplessly while the other girl was hurt.

After taking down the Quasi-Spirit, Kurumi closed one eye and made a show of blowing across her gun barrel.

"Oh my. Quasi-Spirits seem especially aggressive." Kurumi frowned, plainly displeased.

Attacking someone for no reason was simply awful.

Qian Huanyue lowered the [Seraph of Thousand Blades], yawned, and winked at Kurumi.

"Thanks, San-san."

"...Oh my." Kurumi paused, then gave her an unexpectedly adorable smile. "Be more careful, Huanyue-chan. Don't let what happened last time happen again."

Did she have to bring that up?

Stop talking about it already!

Qian Huanyue covered her face, pretending to be embarrassed, but the act soon crumbled. "Mean Kurumi! Shut up!"

"Hehehe—" Kurumi giggled behind her hand.

"San-san, do you feel it too?"

Qian Huanyue summoned her Angel again. This time, instead of a sword, it took the form of a gun like Kurumi's. Her expression said, Now this is easier to use.

"Even the Spiritual Power flowing through me feels easier to control. So does my Angel."

Unless she needed something else, the [Seraph of Thousand Blades] stayed in sword form, though it occasionally took other cute shapes.

Kurumi studied the silver-white handgun with interest. "Oh my. Would you like me to teach you, Huanyue-chan?"

"Then—" Qian Huanyue smiled slyly and clasped her hands together.

"Help me, Lady Kurumi!"

The sudden gesture caught Kurumi off guard, but she couldn't help smiling. "Oh my, oh my. How could I refuse such an earnest request?"

She moved gracefully behind Qian Huanyue and gently took hold of her gun hand. "First, hold it like this..."

"Relax your wrist."

"Line up your sight with the front sight."

"And breathe steadily..." Though she lacked her original's seasoned skill, this clone was still an excellent shot.

Just as Kurumi was teaching her, Qian Huanyue seemed to sense something. She swung the gun to one side and pulled the trigger—

Bang!

A streak of silver struck a distant thicket with perfect accuracy. A Quasi-Spirit had been hiding there, secretly watching them.

"All right. Come out."

A silver-haired Quasi-Spirit girl crept out from the side, looking thoroughly terrified.

"Eek! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!

I shouldn't have spied on you just because I was curious! I swear I meant no harm!

Please don't kill me! I... I can be useful."

The girl cowered, tears gathering at the corners of her eyes.

Qian Huanyue had a feeling that if this went on, the girl would soon be on the ground begging for mercy—and make quite a spectacle of it.

In any case, she looked like a very weak Quasi-Spirit, one who might not even beat the AST.

Qian Huanyue smiled wickedly and pressed the gun formed by her Angel to the girl's forehead. "Then how will you prove you're harmless, little one?"

Compared to a Spirit, a Quasi-Spirit was small in every sense. Qian Huanyue saw no problem with calling her "little one."

"I—I know every passage in this domain!" the girl blurted, wringing her hands. "I can help you avoid the dangerous areas too!"

"..."

"Dangerous?" Qian Huanyue touched a finger to her lips and smiled. "With me here, I'm the most dangerous thing around."

A trace of teasing arrogance colored her words. The gun remained trained on the silver-haired Quasi-Spirit.

"Wh...!" The girl shuddered, tears welling in her eyes.

"Y-yes! You're right!

You're the most dangerous one! So... so please let me guide you

around those... those foolish people who might disturb you!"

Kurumi watched quietly from the side, a knowing smile on her lips. She seemed to enjoy the villain Huanyue was playing.

Suddenly—

"Oh my..." Kurumi fell silent for a moment, then widened her eyes slightly as if she had discovered something fascinating.

"[Zafkiel]."

A huge golden clock appeared behind Kurumi.

It was her Angel.

The surprising part was that this Kurumi was a clone.

That Angel should have belonged exclusively to the original.

Clones could use part of its power, but it had always been incomplete for them.

Was this another difference between the Real World and the Neighboring World?

"Hehe." Kurumi approached the Quasi-Spirit and took her hand. The girl looked frightened but didn't dare resist.

"Tenth Bullet."

Its core ability was to convey memories of a target's past to someone it struck.

Before the astonished girl's eyes, Kurumi pressed the gun to her own temple and pulled the trigger.

"I see..." Kurumi released her hand, understanding glinting in her mismatched eyes. She smiled. "I think we can trust this young lady."

Qian Huanyue nodded. "Do you have enough Spiritual Power, San-san?"

"Oh my, Huanyue-chan. I haven't even used up what you gave me last time."

"Good. You can 'eat' my Spiritual Power whenever you like." Qian Huanyue lowered the [Seraph of Thousand Blades], still shaped like a handgun.

She watched the Quasi-Spirit, who seemed desperate to move but too afraid to try.

"Pfft!" She chuckled, and the silver-white handgun dissolved into motes of light. "All right, I'll stop scaring you. Lead the way..."

Qian Huanyue paused, then added, "Oh, right. I'm Qian Huanyue, and this is Kurumi Tokisaki. What's your name?"

"Hii... Hii Hibiki..." The Quasi-Spirit girl still looked terrified.

"Okay." Qian Huanyue was in an excellent mood. "I'll call you Hibiki. You can call me Huanyue, Huanyue-chan—whatever you like."

"Mm-hmm! Yes!" Hii Hibiki answered at once, almost by reflex.