Chapter Forty-Four: Outing
Saturday,
Itsuka Shidou.
To put it simply, everything felt unreal.
What happened on Thursday had completely reshaped his understanding of Spirits and the AST.
They were far more dangerous than he ever imagined.
Not only had he failed to ask Princess out on a date…
but far worse—
Raizen High had been wiped out.
He could still picture Kotori raging, screaming about how she wanted to incinerate the responsible parties.
Thankfully, everyone inside had been safely evacuated.
He had also managed to contact most of his friends, everyone except Morgan.
But that didn't worry him much.
Morgan was tenacious, much like a cockroach. He didn't know.
Shidou simply felt it should be so.
Anyways…
If their plans were still on track, the group should be meeting today.
Though everything about school was a mess, the administrators were already arranging alternatives.
Raizen would be closed roughly for about a month.
During that time, students would be temporarily transferred to another school—
Especially the Second and Third Years, since their college exams would be coming up soon.
And for the third years, in preparations to that.
Still, there was no point stressing about that right now.
"Ooh, Shidou really showed up. Yahoo, Shidou!"
Standing atop a pedestrian bridge overlooking the expressway behind the Center Mall.
A lively group of youths gathered casually.
Despite the scorching sun overhead, the weekend atmosphere was enough to keep them energetic.
"Haah… I was starting to worry you weren't coming."
"Sorry for the delay, everyone."
Shidou stopped in front of Ai, rubbing the back of his head with an apologetic smile.
Behind her stood Tonomachi, Ai's trio of friends, and a mix of other guys and girls.
They were by the railing where one could rest and overlook the cars below.
Scattered around the paved bridge were patches of flower beds and all.
Ai spun around briefly.
"I guess the ones we're waiting on now are Morgan and Origami."
Arms crossed, she nodded confidently to her own words.
Meanwhile, Tonomachi slung an arm over Shidou's shoulders.
"Fu. Rough week, huh?"
His friend said that with a lament smile, before his lips parted into a grin.
"Y-yeah… pretty much."
Shidou forced a small laugh.
Really, it wasn't a joke.
Spirits, Spacequake, Wizards, AST, DEM, and a whole lot of other nonsense.
It was like opening the mind of a clueless person to what the universe is.
Yes, it was hard to swallow.
But, at the same time, it couldn't really be helped.
Shidou laughed back forcing that answer now.
For some reason,
Tonomachi noted that Shidou was looking rather awkward, but he immediately tossed it to the back of his mind.
In truth, this outing was also being monitored by Kotori when she got wind of it.
And even now, Shidou had a small pod embedded into bis right ear.
"By the way, did you manage to get in contact with Morgan after Thursday?"
"Speaking of which, I couldn't also find him, and you and Origami too."
At first, Tonomachi crossed his arms, glancing at the sky as though in thought.
Next, he stared at Shidou with a painfully suspicious, narrow gaze.
"Don't tell me the three of you went for a thre— Gahf—!"
He didn't get to finish.
Rather, before he could even finish his words, Shidou's fist lodged itself in Tonomachi's stomach.
He buckled over, holding his stomach.
Yet, Shidou didn't relent.
He stood over Tonomachi with an invisible "Certain Death" kanji practically etched above his brows.
"W-wait—timeout, timeout! I was kidding—!"
Only after seeing him suffer long enough did Shidou release him with a heavy sigh.
"You brought that on yourself."
Huffing, Tonomachi staggered upright, giving a helpless shrug.
T'was merely a trial
He swayed on his feet.
I can handle more
For some reason,
The confident look on Tonomachi's face made it seem like the guy was asking for another round.
Shidou tightened his fist.
"H-hey! Why are you still clenching your hand?"
"It's nothing."
At last, Shidou lowered his fist, prompting Tonomachi to exhale in relief.
Rolling his sleeves up slightly, Tonomachi checked the time on his sleek wristwatch.
"It's almost time."
The meetup was set for ten, and most people had already arrived.
More importantly, it was meant to be a sort of secret pairing meetup.
"Ah, Origami's already here."
From the girls' side,
They happily welcomed Origami as she walked toward them from the left side.
Sure enough, Shidou and Tonomachi naturally turned their heads.
It was refreshing to see her in casual clothes.
A short-sleeved top, denim shorts, and tennis shoes.
Even so, her beauty was undeniable. Shidou himself couldn't refute that.
"You do know you struck gold, right?"
Once again, Tonomachi slung an arm over Shidou's shoulder with a grin.
Two boys from their class shot Shidou sharp glares.
Why are you making this worse…
Shidou thought wearly with an almost deathly pale expression.
In the first place, both his and Morgan's incessant yaps about her had led him to this situation.
Were he to complain…
Naturally, he'd blame them.
Yet, at the same time, he couldn't deny that he was curious about what he could do as her boyfriend.
But it was then—
"For someone as uncultured as he is, he doesn't even know how to appreciate a beautiful woman."
A voice came from behind them.
Tonomachi instantly agreed without even turning around.
He tightened his grip on Shidou's neck, making him wince.
"I know, right—!?"
But he stopped mid-sentence.
Both boys slowly turned to look behind them.
A familiar face stood there.
Morgan.
"Yo. My bad, I'm late."
Both Shidou and Tonomachi stared at him longer than necessary.
Their strange looks made Morgan tilt his head in confusion.
A moment later, the two huddled together.
"Is it just me, or does Morgan look different?"
"I don't think it's just you."
They glanced at him again.
He had definitely changed.
Meanwhile, while that happened below
this same scene was also playing out on the panoramic screen of Fraxinus Spaceship.
Normally, Kotori wouldn't pry into her brother's personal life.
But right now…
Given the circumstances, too many unknown and unstable factors were on the ground.
'Unidentified X' had somehow become a new threat, with even AST classifying as an S-Rank Target.
Worse, a high-ranking DEM member was also in Tengu City.
Even if they hadn't seen or known Shidou yet, she couldn't afford to relax.
"Oh? So that's the Morgan guy he keeps talking about."
She already knew Tonomachi, that scummy friend, but Morgan was a new face.
It was already in her mind to keep watch on him.
Then again…
Looking at the image on the screen, a thought came to her.
"Hey… when you think about it, isn't this actually a chance for Shidou to gain real-life experience?"
The whole bridge fell silent as everyone's eyes shifted toward the girls on-screen.
Origami aside…
There were other targets too, mainly Ai, Mai, Mil, and one other.
"Indeed, but that Ai girl is shrewd, if you look at it."
Kannazuki replied while stroking his chin, followed by Kotori, who nodded.
"That's true; she evened the numbers. Rather, it would look like she had set this up before the incident."
At the mention of the incident, everyone froze.
Yes. The Origami Incident.
But they could neither blame Shidou nor their commander.
It was even known that Shidou had nearly zero close interaction with girls before.
Remembering that—
Kotori rubbed her temples.
"Well then… let's see what we can gather."
Saying that, she reached into her breast pocket and pulled out her favorite sweet.
Chupa Chups.
After unwrapping it, she crumpled the small wrapper and flicked it toward Kannazuki.
Facing the monitor, she pointed at the display.
"Maria, collect all the data. It may come in handy later."
«Understood.»
Below, all ten had gathered together
"Alright then, how about we forget our troubles for today and just enjoy ourselves? What do you say?"
"Yeah!"
The other nine raised their hands with loud enthusiasm.
Meanwhile, Ai let out a soft sigh as she took in the evenly matched numbers.
She really did want to spend time with her friends, but most of them couldn't come.
All because of what happened on Thursday.
Some even said their parents intended to use the incident as a reason to transfer them abroad.
Only these ten managed to make it.
"Yo! Soichiro. I thought with parents as strict as yours, you wouldn't be able to show up."
Recognizing one of the two remaining boys from their class.
She walked over with her hands clasped behind her back.
"Hahaha… well, let's just say they're busy. I slipped out while I could."
The brown-haired boy gave a sheepish grin while scratching the back of his head.
"Ahh, so you're the same."
Morgan gave him an exhausted yet sympathetic smile.
…which made the boy freeze for a second before mimicking that same strained smile.
"So, you get it too."
Both nodded in mutual understanding.
Even in his previous world.
And in this one… he considered himself lucky to have such strict parents.
For some reason,
Having such strict parents would force one to develop strange skills like…
Coming up with excuses on the spot.
Or finding creative ways to maneuver around their rules or punishments.
Thinking about it, the two immediately shook hands with identical expressions.
It was the unspoken connection of people who had survived the same upbringing.
"Mm. Is this what they call a sense of comrade?"
"It's called camaraderie."
Ai turned her head to see Tonomachi wearing an overly serious, comedic expression as he looked at both boys.
She stared at him briefly, then simply shook her head.
Men are simple creatures.
Her mother had said that over and over again.
But now, she felt like she understood what her mother was trying to say.
To think befriending each other was as simple as them just having the same experience.
And this...
Was perhaps as simple as they could get.
"You guys... let's just go."