“Strange, why is the Reiryoku reaction so thick?”
After a quick six hours of practice, a constantly approaching surge of Reiryoku put Shiratori’s nerves on alert.
Stopping her fingers on the keys, Shiratori walked over to the window.
Unnoticed, cloud cover had entirely blocked out the sunlight, and a misty drizzle blurred the scenery outside.
Spirits could indeed sense each other’s aura—much like a radar, the denser the emitted Reiryoku, the clearer the perception.
There was one—no, technically two Spirits.
Although one had weakened to a degree where it could barely be called a Spirit, it was undeniably emitting Reiryoku.
Which meant there were currently two Spirits in this city, at least within her sensory range.
“…Sigh, looks like I need to prepare tea.”
Sighing, she noticed Yoshino’s Reiryoku signature was heading straight toward her.
It seemed she had encountered some unsolvable problem, or else she had been duped by Yoshinon once again.
Leaving the piano bench, Shiratori pulled out a bag of black tea stored inside her Angel, opened her laptop to search for afternoon tea procedures, and replicated them perfectly.
Curiously, however, she didn’t prepare two servings of black tea, but three.
Knock, knock, knock.
Right on cue, a knocking sound echoed from the front door.
“Shiratori-nee…
hello…”
Upon opening the door, there was no need to look to know who it was.
Yoshino greeted her in a voice as tiny as a mosquito’s.
“Mm.
The one beside Yoshino shouldn’t be a stranger either, right?”
Shifting her gaze toward the blue-haired youth standing nearby, Shiratori’s brow furrowed tightly.
This sudden reaction startled the boy, causing him to gesture in a flustered panic.
“Um…
nice to see you again…”
Although he had imagined who “Yoshinon’s” friend might be, did it really have to be such a coincidence?!
Whenever Shido looked at Shiratori’s face now, his mind instantly flashed back to the fresh dark history he had created just two days ago, causing an indescribable surge of embarrassment to well up within him.
“Hm?
Where is Yoshinon?”
“Isn’t she right in front of your eyes?”
“Uuu—”
Shido pointed toward “Yoshinon” with a completely bewildered expression.
Wasn’t she right in front of this white Spirit?
Why was she still looking for her?
In truth, when Shido met Yoshino earlier today, Yoshinon had told him her name, but Shido had mistakenly assumed the name “Yoshinon” belonged to “Yoshino.”
Hence, this misunderstanding came to pass.
Having her core identity pointed out, “Yoshinon” wore the face of a tearful little girl who had just been bullied on her way home, softly sniffling as she threw herself into Shiratori’s arms. Find the original chapter at g.com.
“Itsuka, Yoshinon is the name of her puppet.
Her name is Yoshino…”
“What?!”
[HA?!]
Like a heavy bomb detonating, not only did Shido feel like the impressions he had gathered over hours of interaction were blown to smithereens, but the operators commanding aboard Fraxinus also widened their eyes in shock.
Stroking the head of Yoshino in her arms, Shiratori felt utterly exasperated by this clumsy youth.
“Come inside first, it’s raining hard outside.”
The three walked into the room.
Although Yoshino was practically carried inside in Shiratori’s arms, there was nothing wrong with that.
The brewed black tea was intended for Yoshino and Yoshinon.
After their verbal scolding last time, Shiratori felt it was quite necessary to prepare a cup for Yoshinon as well.
However, watching Shido awkwardly pick up his cup of black tea felt rather subtle.
Well, whatever.
Consider it poured out of courtesy for his mysterious identity.
“Don’t be afraid, Yoshino.”
Comforting Yoshino, who was resting on her lap, Shiratori looked at her completely empty left hand, her gaze growing grave.
Yoshinon was Yoshino’s most precious companion, her hero—it was utterly impossible for her to go around without her.
If such a case arose, there was only one possibility.
—Yoshinon was lost.
Shido instantly became the prime suspect once more.
Observing his reaction as he avoided eye contact, Shiratori reached a definitive conclusion.
It absolutely had to do with this person.
Yoshinon was lost entirely because of him.
“What on earth is going on here?
Why is Itsuka with Yoshino, yet Yoshino isn’t with Yoshinon?”
“…”
With her puppet lost and her naturally shy disposition, Yoshino obviously couldn’t answer her.
Thus, the burden of explaining naturally fell onto Shido’s shoulders.
“Um…
it’s a long story…”
Shido offered an awkward smile while scrambling to organize his thoughts, trying his best to make his explanation sound reasonable.
If he was misunderstood again and exposed even more dark history, that would be truly disastrous.
After all, the crew of Ratatoskr was listening in on everything through the earpiece hidden in his ear.
“The reason is—”
“Forget it, explain later.
Yoshino looks very tired.” You are reading on g.com, the official source.
Shiratori cut Shido off, removing Yoshino’s hat, gently stroking the girl’s head, and lightly running a finger past her nose.
What an unpleasant Spirit.
The main screen on Fraxinus’s bridge displayed a close-up feed of Shiratori.
Kotori gave a thumbs-down gesture toward the Spirit’s actions.
The screen displayed numerous data lists, with “Affection Rating” occupying the prime center-top spot, while all other metrics surrounded Shiratori’s image on screen.
Those values were the product of Reine’s Realizer analysis and data conversion, primarily used to reflect Shiratori’s mental state.
Incidentally, the AI aboard Fraxinus could synchronously generate subtitles of their conversation at the bottom of the screen.
In short, it was no different from the interface of the dating sims Shido used during training.
When conversing with a Spirit, the AI would generate three options based on the analyzed data.
The romance masters would then vote on which option was most appropriate.
The option with the highest vote count would be read aloud or acted out by Shido—exactly like a romance game.
The carefully selected romance masters all stared at the large screen with extremely solemn expressions.
Then, just as everyone awaited this Spirit’s next move, she suddenly uttered something unbelievable.
“Is bringing little trinkets into someone’s home on your very first visit considered a Japanese tradition?”
“What?”
Completely out of the loop, Shido had no idea what she was talking about.
“Yoshino is already asleep.
For some reason, I don’t have the heart to let her see this scene, so I used a few tricks to let her sleep soundly like this.”
Looking at Yoshino fast asleep on her lap, Shiratori carefully moved her aside, choosing as comfortable a position as possible for her to lie on the sofa before standing up.
“W-What on earth are you talking about…”
“I forgot to introduce myself.
I am the Spirit of machines, the White Higanbana.
My identification codename is ‘Shiratori’ (White Bird).
My name is also my codename; calling me Shiratori will suffice.”
“Though you knew all of this long ago, didn’t you?
High school youth with a mysterious identity—Itsuka Shido.”
Shiratori decorated her emotionless face with hostile eyes.
After a flash of light, her Astral Dress equipped onto her body.
“What on earth are you trying to do?!”
Seeing her manifest her Astral Dress, Shido panicked instantly.
[Calm down, Shido!
The options are coming up soon!
Hold Shiratori down first!]
“To dare play these petty tricks right in front of the Spirit of machines—did you truly think I wouldn’t detect your micro-earpiece and the Bee-Eye floating right beside you?!”
“!!!”