"Don't tell me you wanted to sing there, so you tried going boom! to drive off the band and audience and take the stage for yourself?"
"Oh my, Dreamy, you really do know me~"
Delighted that Lingmeng had guessed what she'd been thinking, Miku narrowed her eyes in a smile.
Lingmeng and Shiori weren't delighted at all.
"Don't you think that was going too far?"
"Yeah... Just for a reason like that..."
Shiori muttered, disbelief written all over her face.
Miku puffed out her cheeks slightly and said with a hint of displeasure,
"How can you say 'just for a reason like that'? That's so mean~"
"Sorry... I didn't mean it..."
Thinking her careless words had upset Miku, Shiori hurried to apologize.
But Lingmeng stretched her left arm across Shiori's chest.
"Shiori, we don't need to apologize. She's the one in the wrong."
"I don't think I did anything wrong~"
Miku answered breezily, without a trace of guilt.
Sensing the atmosphere turn strange, Shiori pressed her lips together and continued.
"What if the girls who were with you earlier had been there and gotten caught in the Spacequake you caused? How would you feel?"
"I'd be pretty troubled~"
Miku placed her right hand against her cheek and gave a fairly normal answer.
It seemed Miku wasn't beyond saving after all. Encouraged, Shiori added,
"Exactly! So—"
"Because if something happened to them, I'd have to go out of my way to find new girls~"
"Huh...?"
Before Shiori could finish, Miku's words overturned that impression all over again.
"Tch..."
Beside her, Lingmeng clicked her tongue softly. She didn't look happy either.
They had encountered Spirits who took lives at will before.
Kurumi, for example—
She was terrifying. Her malice and killing intent still haunted Shido.
But everything Kurumi did served some purpose.