"Alright, you should be satisfied now, right? Stop looking like you're about to cry all the time—it makes it seem like we did something unforgivable. Honestly, I don't get why you love games this much." In the electronics store, this time it was Miku who paid out of pocket to replace all of Tohka's equipment with a brand-new set. After all, she was currently riding high on popularity and didn't care about spending a little money. Ironically, back in the other world, she was the one always mooching off Tohka, but now their roles had inverse.
These days, Tohka was living on a tight budget, while Miku had become rather generous. But there was no helping it—right from the start, Tohka's mouth had been a bit too sharp, and she'd offended that whole bunch of people. After that, she'd confronted them head-on again and again, to the point where she had no face left to ask for financial support. Even though if she did go ask, those guys would never refuse her, she just couldn't bring herself to do it. Otherwise, she'd be ruthlessly ridiculed by all those old otaku gentlemen.
So, at this moment, Tohka was hugging her brand-new console to her chest, nuzzling it affectionately. As for the TV and computer, they were each being carried by Kaguya and Miku—one in each of their hands.
"I know your old one had a custom, oversized hard drive installed, and you had tons of games saved on it. So, you never even had to swap discs. But are you sure you can actually afford to re-buy all those games?" Watching Tohka's reaction, Miku couldn't help throwing a bucket of cold water over her. Even if she had the console, Tohka wouldn't be able to play anything. As for her old account—that was from the previous world, and completely useless here.
"What?!" Tohka had completely forgotten about that. Subconsciously, she'd assumed this was the same machine as before. But when Miku pointed it out, she finally realized the console in her hands was empty—and its storage space was only a fraction of her old ones. Also, buying all her favorite games again would cost a fortune. As soon as she thought of this, Tohka turned pale and collapsed to the ground once more.
"You—can you have a little dignity?" Watching Tohka about to slump down again, Miku quickly caught her and propped her up, sighing with a mix of exasperation and amusement. Tohka was just too embarrassing right now, she was losing face for everyone.
"Um... is Tohka always like this?" Kaguya looked on, unable to keep quiet anymore. Up until now, Tohka had always seemed overwhelmingly strong—and cunning enough to make your skin crawl. But right now, her whole persona was falling apart. Which was the real Tohka? The sharp one or this bumbling, almost cute version?
"Agreement. Miss Tohka's personality contrast is too extreme." Yuzuru voiced the same confusion, the two of them clearly stunned.
"Well... um... hahaha..." Hearing their questions, Miku scratched her head awkwardly and gave a forced laugh. After thinking for a second to sort out how to phrase it, she continued: "Tohka... isn't always like this. How should I put it... Oh, I know—her intelligence usually isn't functioning. Don't worry—she gets normal again once she puts on her Astral Dress. Now that you mention it, she's only ever stopped acting stupid when she's in her combat gear."
She'd originally planned to give them a more thorough explanation of Tohka's personality, but halfway through, she started confusing herself. So, she trailed off into bewildered silence.
"Does putting on the Astral Dress increase her brain capacity or something? That can't be right..." Tilting her head, Miku muttered to herself a few times, then shook it vigorously to chase away the ridiculous thought.
"Alright, you two head back first. The room still needs to be cleaned up. I'll go grab my stuff. And here—take this one with you. Don't let her embarrass herself in public any longer." Saying this, Miku dragged the despondent Tohka over to Kaguya and Miku, handing her off. Even if she planned to move in, she still needed her belongings. Otherwise, how was she supposed to stay there?
"Alright, we'll head back and tidy up a bit." Kaguya and Miku didn't object. They exchanged a glance, then each took hold of Tohka and began walking back the way they came. As for Miku, she headed off in the opposite direction.
"Hey... have we maybe been making a fundamental mistake all along? Otherwise, things wouldn't have turned out like this." With the four of them gone and everything settled for now, back on the bridge of Ratatoskr, Kotori Itsuka pulled the lollipop from her mouth and twirled it in her fingers. Her voice held a trace of doubt as she said: "Could it be that Tohka's orientation is the issue here? When we compiled the intelligence on Miku Izayoi, it showed that she had no interest in any men at all. And yet, she has this unbelievably high affection rating for Tohka."
It wasn't that any of them were particularly dense—Tōhka simply hadn't shown any obvious signs before. Even though she was the one constantly being pushed to go charm other Spirits, it was usually those Spirits who approached her first. So, none of them had ever suspected this possibility. But after watching how close she and Miku were, Kotori was finally starting to put the pieces together.
"Um... I guess that's... possible?" Shido, sitting beside her, sounded uncertain. After all, Tohka had never behaved in any way that stood out in their class—she could get along with anyone, male or female.
"That must be it. Damn it—if I'd known, I'd have used a different approach. But it's too late to do anything about it now." Ignoring Shido's reaction entirely, Kotori suddenly slapped her thigh with regret and gave him a look that was both strangely wistful and a little unsettling.
"Uh—what are you thinking? Since there's nothing else for me to do here, I'll be going." The moment Kotori's weird gaze locked onto him, Shido felt his skin crawl. He quickly made his excuses, turned around, and ran for it. After all, he had no business here anymore—and if he stuck around, who knew whether his sister might actually act on whatever she was thinking.