"Look, look! Onii-chan, I found a new Chupa Chups flavor!"
Today was Saturday. Itsuka Shido had come to the supermarket with his little sister, Kotori, to buy groceries. Kotori was happily hopping around as she picked out the Chupa Chups lollipops she liked.
"I'm saying this first. You're not allowed to eat them before meals."
"Yeah yeah~!"
Shido looked helplessly at his lively little sister. Right now, Kotori had a white ribbon tied in her hair. Depending on the color of her ribbon, Kotori's personality would also change. White was her innocent little sister mode. If it was black, she would become the sharp-tongued,mean commander mode.
"Now that I think about it, Tohka said she wanted hamburg steak."
Shido thought for a moment and decided to buy the ingredients for lunch first.
"Hm?"
But just then, the figure of a girl entered his sight.
"What's wrong, Onii-chan? You shouldn't stand there with that blank look."
Kotori moved closer and looked at Shido.
[!!!]
Following his gaze, Kotori also caught sight of the person who had made Shido freeze in place.
Black long hair. Eyes like the bright moon. Without a doubt, that was the Spirit Miko. Though for some reason, she was wearing the uniform of Shido's high school, carrying a basket, and wandering around the seafood section.
Rustle, rustle.
Kotori skillfully changed into her black ribbon.
"Shido! Put on the earpiece and go talk to that Spirit!"
"Huh? Now?"
"Do you even need to ask? Miko had a silent manifest. This is a once in a thousand chance. Because AST hasn't found her, she has no need to open her barrier. Right now, conversation is possible! Shido, you have to take this chance and date her! Make her fall for you!"
Kotori took out her phone.
"...It's me... An emergency has occurred. Everyone, return to your posts immediately."
"Listen, Shido. You go talk to that Spirit first. We'll support you from Fraxinus soon."
"Wait..."
Watching Kotori run off and vanish into the supermarket, Shido helplessly lowered the hand he had already stretched out.
"Now then... what should I do..."
Shido scratched his cheek and spoke in distress. Looking at the Spirit in the distance, he had no idea how to start talking to her.
At that moment, the Spirit took something like a flyer out of her pocket. After looking at it for a while, she sighed in worry.
"Um, excuse me. Are you having some trouble?"
Shido walked over and asked.
"May I ask who you are?"
"My name is Itsuka Shido."
"Nice to meet you. I am Yakumo Mikoto."
The Spirit politely bowed in greeting.
"May I ask, do you know where the discounted salmon is?"
"Huh?"
Shido had thought the Spirit before him was in trouble. But he had not expected that her problem would be this close to everyday life.
"I mean this."
"Uh... Half price salmon, from 12pm to 3pm... limited time and limited quantity sale."
Shido took the flyer and saw that it was about a discount sale for salmon.
"Um..."
[Wait, Shido! The choices are out!]
Kotori's voice came from the earpiece. He had not expected her to reach the airship so quickly.
"Choose what you think is the right answer. Within five seconds!"
Kotori sat in her seat and looked at the choices that had appeared:
① Instead of salmon, why not go on a date with me!
(Settle this with a straight pitch!)
② Actually, the salmon is already sold out.
(Solve her problem and raise her affection.)
③ Instead of salmon, how about buying something else?
(Take her to the adult goods section inside the supermarket.)
The crew members all operated the controls beside them, and the result appeared on the screen.
"All right. Looks like everyone agrees."
Kotori looked at the second option, which had received 100% of the votes, and said.
"If we choose the first one, we can enter the main topic quickly. But for the gentle Miko, it might scare her."
Kannazuki stood beside her and nodded seriously.
"As for the third one... why is there even an option like that?"
Reine looked at the screen in confusion.
[Did you hear that, Shido? Choose ②. Tell her the salmon is actually sold out.]
"Um... I'm sorry, but the salmon is actually already sold out."
Seeing Mikoto watching him, Shido quickly spoke.
"Huh? But it said it would last until three."
Mikoto looked at the time on her phone and confirmed that it was only one o'clock.
"Um... usually, half price ingredients like this get snatched up in less than half an hour."
Reality was harsh. A supermarket was a tropical jungle where the weak were meat for the strong to ate. From the moment a discount sale began, the battle power of Tengu City housewives could even surpass that of a Spirits.
"Uu... how could this be..."
Mikoto sighed.
[What are you doing, idiot Shido? Miko's mood dropped! Hurry up and think of a way to bring it back up!]
"Even if you say that, it isn't because of me. It's because of the salmon, right?"
Shido awkwardly scratched his cheek. Fraxinus was equipped with devices that could detect a Spirit's mood and affection toward Shido. Right now, Mikoto was troubled because she had failed to buy salmon.
[Guh. In that case, begin the operation. Code F-10. Operation 'Absolutely Cheap Salmon' begins. Take her to the shopping district, Shido!]
"Um... there's cheap salmon in the shopping district. How about I take you there?"
"Huh? Then I'll trouble you."
"...So, because Tamako Obaa-san has a weak stomach, you wanted to make light salmon ochazuke for her."(TL:'Ochazuke': a japanese dish about having rice drowned in green tea and eat with salmon? sound weird as hell but it probably taste good.)
"I... I see."
On the way, the two of them talked about why she wanted to buy salmon. The topic was so close to daily life that even Shido, and everyone on Fraxinus, started to think that the girl before him might just be an ordinary person who looked too much like the Spirit Miko.
"Could we really have mistaken her?"
Kotori bit her Chupa Chups and said doubtfully. A Spirit making ochazuke for an old woman at home with a bad stomach—something like that did not seem much more likely than Shido going out with an ordinary girl.
"Based on the readings, we can say for sure she is not an ordinary person. Also... there is a very simple way to confirm it."
Reine said.
"That Spirit is wearing a school uniform."
[I see... Shido, ask her which class she belongs to.]
"Um, Yakumo-san, you're wearing our school's uniform."
"Huh?"
"Can I ask which class you're in? I don't think I've seen you around before."
Shido's question made Mikoto pause for a moment.
"Mm... Third year, Class 2."
Mikoto looked Shido over. Since he looked young, he was probably a first-year or second-year student. To remove his doubt, she gave him the name of an upper-year class that lower-year students normally would not come into contact with.
"In that case, you're my Senpai."
"Mm. So you can call me Yakumo-senpai. In return, may I call you Shido?"
Seeing that she seemed to have fooled him, Mikoto smiled and said.
"As expected, there is no student named Yakumo Mikoto in Third Year, Class 2."
But what she did not know was that Fraxinus had quickly obtained the list of every third-year student at Raizen High School.
[That's confirmed it. She's a Spirit. Shido, take her to the store on your left.]
Shido turned his head and found that the building on his left had, at some point, become a fish shop he had never seen before. A sign was written on it—
Salmon Special Sale. Today, starting at 70% off.