Chapter 16

Lingmeng stepped between Shido and Tohka, intending to play peacemaker.

"Then hurry up and tell us, Shido. What exactly were you saying just now?"

Tohka still looked wary, as though she might explode at any moment.

"Shido, what did you say? Spit it out. If you keep quiet, even I won't be able to save you."

Lingmeng watched Shido remain silent and offered him some well-meaning advice.

"Uh..." Sweat beaded on Shido's cheeks as he muttered under his breath. Then his sister's teasing voice came through his right ear.

"Just accept your fate, Shido. Date! Date!"

With Kotori leading the chant, the crew aboard the airship joined in. Their cries of "date" rumbled through his Earphones like distant thunder.

"Date!"

"Date!"

"Date!"

"Ah, all right, I get it!" Shido scratched his head helplessly and spoke like a man resigned to his fate.

"Whatever you want to say, just say it, Shido!" Lingmeng encouraged him with a smile.

"Then... here goes!" Shido looked into Tohka's eyes and finally said, "Tohka... if we get the chance... next time... would you go on a date with me?"

Shido's face flushed red. He practically shouted the last sentence.

For a moment, everything fell silent.

Lingmeng looked like she had a stomachache after hearing what Shido had said.

Good grief, man, are you serious? I've never seen anyone so brave. You actually dared to ask a Spirit on a date? You're a legend!

"Shido, you were joking just now, right? I mean, going on a date with Tohka is a bit much."

Unable to believe what she had heard, Lingmeng asked uncertainly. Shido's expression, however, was firm.

"I... I'm serious!"

What is wrong with this world? Even a shy virgin like Shido has the guts to ask a girl out now? And the craziest part is that she's a Spirit!

Lingmeng thought bitterly. She was growing more and more curious about what Shido had gone through over the past week.

"Shido, Lingmeng, what's a date?" Tohka asked, dumbfounded.

"Uh... well..." Lingmeng smiled awkwardly. Put on the spot and asked to explain what a "date" was, she couldn't think of an answer.

Shido was no better off. His face fell.

"Um... I can't really explain it right now. You'll understand when you come."

Shido scratched his cheek in embarrassment and looked away.

"Oh, okay! Will Lingmeng come too?" Tohka nodded, then suddenly turned the question to Lingmeng.

"Uh... well..." Shido glanced at Lingmeng, and a bead of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.

Huh? Why do I have to come on your date with Shido? Do you want me to be a third wheel, or is Shido supposed to date both of us?

Lingmeng hesitated for a moment before saying, "Um... I'll pass. Shido invited you, after all. It wouldn't be right for me to come along, would it?"

As soon as Lingmeng said that, Tohka lowered her head, deflated. "So you're not coming, Lingmeng?"

At the same time, alarms rang out again inside Fraxinus, and the affection gauge on the main screen began to fall steadily.

"Commander, Tohka's mood is dropping fast! What should we do?"

The crew's anxious voices rose from below.

"Ugh, what a pain. Looks like that girl has to come along." Kotori sighed helplessly and spoke to Shido. "Shido, hurry up and convince Lingmeng to go on the date with you. Tohka's feeling especially low right now. If you don't, the sealing might fail."

"You're asking the impossible! Lingmeng just said no. What am I supposed to say?"

Shido spoke quietly, his voice close to a whimper.

"That's your problem. How you convince her is up to you."

Kotori's utterly irresponsible answer left Shido in a bind.

"Um... Lingmeng, I know this might be an unreasonable thing to ask, but please say yes."

Shido did his best not to look at Lingmeng. Cold sweat dotted his forehead as he spoke cautiously.

"What are you asking? You don't want me to go on the date with you two, do you?"

Lingmeng folded her arms and looked at him in confusion.

"Yeah... that's it." Shido nodded. Asking someone else to join his date was mortifying.

"Can I say no?" Lingmeng replied without hesitation.

"Okay... if you don't want to, I can't make you..."

"Shido, you ape! How can you give up so easily?"

His sister's scolding came through his Earphones, but Shido could only fall silent. He really didn't have the nerve to beg Lingmeng to do this.

"Lingmeng, are you really not coming?" Tohka looked at her with tears in her eyes, wearing the expression of a puppy about to be abandoned.

Lingmeng had intended to refuse as firmly as before, but the moment she saw Tohka's pitiful face, she no longer knew how to say it.

Ah! She's too adorable! Lingmeng marveled inwardly.

After a moment, Lingmeng sighed and said helplessly:

"All right. I guess I can come along..."

"Yay! That's wonderful!" Tohka's face lit up. At that instant, the affection gauge on the main screen shot up to a respectable level.

"Mm-hmm, Tohka's doing pretty well now. But needing Tohka herself to settle something as simple as an invitation? Shido, you're hopeless."

Watching Tohka on the main screen, Kotori nodded in satisfaction.

"Fine, I admit I'm hopeless..." Shido was speechless in the face of Kotori's mockery.

Argh, why did I agree? I really can't bring myself to refuse a pretty girl!

Thinking back on her agreement, Lingmeng felt a little regretful, but she was also looking forward to it.

After all, a date with a pretty girl was the dream of countless shut-ins! Of course, it would be even better if Shido weren't there.

That was Lingmeng's honest feeling at the moment, though it remained only a thought.

"Shido! AST is moving in!"

"What?!" Forgetting that Tohka and Lingmeng could hear him, Shido cried out.

In an instant, Shido's classmate Origami Tobiichi appeared outside the classroom, which had somehow become an open space.

Tohka's expression hardened at once, and she spread her hand.

Moments later, Origami transformed the bulky piece of machinery in her hand into a Light Sword and attacked Tohka...

Everything Was So Unreal

Sparks flew everywhere like they were at a welding site. Tohka swept aside the Light Sword with her hand, knocking Origami back with it, then shouted:

"Talk about bad timing!"

Origami clenched her teeth slightly. As she flew backward, she immediately adjusted her posture and landed perfectly on the floor.

"Why is she the only AST member who came in? Did she act on her own?"

Lingmeng looked around. Aside from the girl named Origami, the other AST members were still outside on standby. There was only one answer: Origami had disobeyed orders and come here alone.

She'd disobey orders just to fight a Spirit? How deep does her grudge against Spirits run?

Lingmeng watched Origami take a fighting stance and marveled.

"Tch. You again?" Tohka flicked the hand that had touched the Light Sword and glared at Origami with disdain.

Ignoring Tohka, Origami glanced toward Lingmeng and Shido. No, more precisely, she glanced only at Shido.

Seeing that Shido was unharmed, she let out a relieved breath. Then she gripped her weapon tightly again and fixed Tohka with a cold stare.

Origami had originally been standing by outside with the other AST members. To confirm whether a Spirit had appeared, she had deployed her Territory and looked this way.

She had found the Spirit here, all right. What she hadn't expected was to see Shido Itsuka—the boyfriend she had just entered a relationship with, as far as she was concerned—standing beside her.

Assuming Shido simply hadn't escaped in time, Origami ignored her captain Ryoko Kusakabe's orders without a word. She dropped the Gatling Gun she had been holding, drew No Pain, the anti-Spirit Light Sword at her waist, and flew here at high speed.

At the sight, Tohka instinctively glanced at Shido and Lingmeng. Refusing to back down, she stamped her heel against the floor.

"Sandalphon!"

The classroom floor suddenly rose, forming something like a throne. Tohka drew the sword from the back of its chair and slashed at Origami.

She's even summoned Sandalphon? I don't think this classroom is safe anymore.

Watching Tohka's Sandalphon from behind, Lingmeng could already predict what was about to happen.

"Shido, run! Get back to Fraxinus for now! Stay as far away from those two as you can!"

As Shido stood frozen, Kotori's shout sounded in his ear.

"Shido, we can't stay here! Let's go!"

Lingmeng spoke up right after Kotori.

"Even you, Lingmeng?" Shido said, sweating.

"What are you talking about? Hurry!" Lingmeng turned and ran out of the classroom. "Run for it!"

"Wait, Lingmeng! Where are you going?"

Just as Shido tried to follow her, Tohka's Sandalphon collided with Origami's Light Sword. The powerful shockwave blew Shido straight out of the classroom door.

"Uwaaaah!" Shido cried out.

"Nice!" Kotori's voice rang out as a feeling of weightlessness enveloped Shido. While he was still marveling at the strange sensation of floating, he found himself back aboard Fraxinus.

"Hey, welcome back, Shido."

Kotori sat in the captain's chair with her legs crossed and a Chupa Chups in her mouth, looking down at Shido where he lay sprawled on the floor.

"Ow, ow, ow." Holding his head, Shido got painfully to his feet. Then, as if remembering something, he asked at once:

"Kotori, how are Tohka and the others?"

"Tohka? She's already gone back to the Neighboring World. The AST girl was injured, so someone carried her away."

Kotori licked her Chupa Chups and answered calmly.

"What about Lingmeng? She's okay, right?!"

"Relax. We didn't find her at the scene, so she probably got away. Still, you can barely look after yourself, and you're worrying about someone else?"

Kotori gave Shido a teasing look. He merely muttered, "As long as they're all okay," and fell silent.

"All right, today's mission went fairly well. At least you built a rapport with the Spirit. Go home and take a shower. Look at you—you might as well have crawled out of a pigsty."

Seeing Shido covered in dust, Kotori waved him off, signaling for him to head home.

"Okay..." Shido agreed. Now that Kotori mentioned it, he did feel rather filthy.

With that, Shido was transported to his front door.

"Shido should be home by now, right?"

Meanwhile, Lingmeng sat atop a tall building. Watching the sky darken toward night, she began wondering where she would sleep...

And so, morning came. Shido stood at the school entrance with a baffled look on his face, gazing at the ruins of his school and sighing at his own stupidity.

"Am I an idiot? I watched AST and Tohka wreck the school with my own eyes, and I still put on my uniform and came here."

Shido scratched his head helplessly, mocking himself.

Although Shido really had witnessed everything yesterday, the whole scene had been so unreal that part of him still thought it was a dream. His judgment had suffered for it, and he had come to school as usual.