Chapter Text
The clock showed 0.00 A.M. The date had moved from 8th January to 9th January.
In a building belonging to the [Deus Ex Machina Industries], within his personal office, the Executive Director Sir Isaac Ray Pelham Westcott sat on his chair with an obvious good mood.
"I said, postpone the attack, Ellen."
In front of his table, the secretary Ellen Mira Mathers, was confused by the orders from her direct superior.
"Postpone? But the preparations are already complete."
A few hours ago, the director had ordered to prepare a fleet of space battleships to attack a Spirit who wandered above the skies in outer space. She was code-named [Zodiac].
DEM would probably never manage to locate this Spirit, if they didn't secure [Beelzebub] (Tome of Divine Corruption) from the Spirit [Sister] a week ago. But then now, after the preparations were done, Westcott ordered to postpone the departure.
Ellen wasn't one to question orders, but she didn't see any reason for postponing the attack. Especially since, Sister's survival and the existence of [Rasiel] (Tome of Revelation) had heavily restricted Beelzebub's omniscience.
That meant they had to immediately capture Zodiac before she left her position.
There must be a reason behind his change of mind. "May I ask the reason why, Ike?"
"I found something interesting." Westcott replied cheerfully.
The secretary only raised an eyebrow as her director smirked.
"From Beelzebub?" Ellen couldn't help but feel skeptical. "Isn't its function being restricted now?"
"Indeed it is, but only partially. The interference from Sister won't affect any information unrelated to her. I can still know many things, although not as many as I would like." Westcott explained.
"Then, what do you find out this time?"
"A powerful Spirit will visit our city today."
Ellen was slightly surprised at the news, mostly at Westcott's nonchalance at the matter.
"Spirit? Then we will have to-"
Westcott raised his hand, cutting her off.
"Now now, no need to be so hasty. This Spirit is important not just for us, but also for [her]." Westcott narrowed his eyes.
There were sillence for a moment. When he said that, that meant-
"You mean... this new Spirit is also one of her experiment subjects? How do you know?" After all, that woman was...
"I am unable to decipher anything about this Spirit, even though I can tell that it's coming. Its powers are similar to that person." Westcott closed his eyes.
...So that's how it was. Ellen let out a long, annoyed sigh.
"So it's another one of her pawns? Honestly, I personally dislike the way she is playing her game. Her pawns keep on appearing one after another."
She wasn't the type to complain, but this was an exception.
Her boss, however, merely smiled cheerfully.
"You don't like it? I love it. She had proven that beings like Itsuka Shido could exist, so now I am eager to see more of her surprises..."
"Well... if that's the case, what should we do then, Ike?"
"Here's your orders."
The white-haired man handed her a document, which she quickly skimmed over.
"Hmm...? Are you sure this is the order, Ike?"
Ellen raised an eyebrow as she read the content. In respond to this, Westcott's smirk grew.
"Of course I am. Isn't it fitting? We should welcome [Ruler] like the queen that she is..."
"Don't forget."
A voice whispered.
He didn't know where he was. As far as he could see, it was a vast expanse of absolutely nothing.
And yet, the voice resonated and echoed, persisting until it couldn't be heard anymore.
"Who...is that?"
He didn't receive an answer. Instead, he heard another request.
"Don't forget about me."
There was a pause. Forgetting... who?
"Promise me, Itsuka Shido."
"...Huh?"
On his bed, the blue-haired boy opened his brown eyes. It was still sleepy, but he forced it open regardless.
The boy, Itsuka Shido, took the phone that was next to his pillow and flipped it open. It was 6.34 A.M, January 9th.
The morning of his first day of the new school term.
As soon as his brain cells were fully awake, memories of his dream immediately resurfaced.
"That dream again..."
Shido had experienced this dream for a long time. But because he had no memory of his childhood, he had no idea when he first had this dream.
One thing he was sure, it didn't came frequently. Perhaps the last time this dream occurred to him was a few years ago. Long before he began his 'quest'.
"Don't forget? I can't even remember my past..."
All of a sudden, Shido felt anger.
Shido was not the type of person who got angry easily. However, anytime he had the dream, he felt pain in his heart.
It was irrational. He couldn't explain why, or how. What's more, he couldn't contain the unreasonable pain within. His anger burst out, even though he had no reason to.
Just as he was about to leave the bed, he heard a knock and a familiar voice on his door.
"Shido? How long are you planning to sleep? Wake up already!"
Shido knew this voice very well. It was his foster sister, Itsuka Kotori.
A redheaded girl whose personality changed between cheerful, adorable 'sister-mode' when she was wearing white ribbons to tie her twin-tails, and harsh, tough and bossy 'commander-mode' when she used black ribbons instead.
Shido had known her well enough to guess that she was wearing black ribbons right now.
"Yeah, yeah... I'm coming.."
He jumped from the bed, and quickly went to his showers.
After a few minutes of showering and changing his clothes, he was ready for another day in school.
As he went down the stairs to the kitchen to prepare breakfast, he saw that the girls in his house were silent in front of the TV in the living room.
"That's unusual,"
From normal perspective, having seven female guests within the house early in the morning was already unusual. But for Shido, who knew these girls very well and lived a life different from any others, the sight of silence coming from them was the unusual thing.
"Um..."
Shido tried to see what the TV might have done to them.
The screen was pure blue.
The Blue Screen of Death.
"What!?"
Shido quickly approached the TV. He blinked, and took one more look at it.
It was reality. The TV was in BSOD.
It was shocking news for him.
"Why? This TV is powered by [Ratatoskr]! Things like this shouldn't be..."
He turned around. He saw the expressions of the watchers.
"Nee, Shido..."
The voice came from a girl who lived by the name Yatogami Tohka.
She was usually lively, but this time, she didn't sound too amused.
"What happened to the TV?"
That's a question Shido would like to ask his sister.
"Wait, Tohka... no, everyone, please wait. I'll take care of this."
"Good luck, Shido."
The robotic voice came from Tobiichi Origami. Since she was the only one who understood how TV worked, she was the only one to wish him a good luck.
Shido quickly went to the kitchen. There, he found Kotori was sitting comfortably before the dining table, waiting for the breakfast.
"Kotori!"
Honestly, Shido didn't want to sound irritated but his voice ruled him to be so.
"What's wrong, Shido?"
Kotori turned her attention to Shido, clearly uncomfortable from the way her big brother called her.
"The TV is wrong. Why is it in BSOD?"
Hearing that, Kotori was silent for a moment. Then she jumped from her seat.
"BSOD!? That's impossible! Are you sure those girls didn't hit it in their fight or something?"
"Err, no, the TV didn't look like it was harmed..."
For Shido, the possibility of losing things he owned to property damage everyday was not low. In fact, with those girls in his house, it was quite high. But, he was sure it was not the case right now.
"Oh well. I'll contact Ratatoskr. Just make the breakfast now." Kotori went up the stairs, returning to her room.
Shido let out a long sigh.
"I hope it's nothing serious..."
As he wore the apron and prepared to cook, Shido remembered about the dream he had again.
He very rarely had that dream, so when he did, it was hard to get it out of his mind.
"That dream... just who...?"
However, he knew that it was a question he couldn't answer.
Trying to remove the dream from his mind, Shido began cooking as he reminisced the events happening in the past months.
"Spirits... beings who cause disasters called Spacequakes whenever they pop out from their home dimensions to our world. As such, the group [Anti-Spirits Team], the AST, hunt them for existing."
Shido was reminded of the sad look on a beautiful face, back when he first met Tohka.
"I'm the only one capable of saving them from that fate, by sealing their powers. And so, my sister's organization Ratatoskr helped me to make those Spirits fall in love with me, so I can kiss them and seal their powers, turning them into ordinary, human girls."
Shido clenched his fists. He knew that being the only one able to do so meant it was entirely his responsibility to save Spirits.
Even if it was forced upon him, it didn't matter as he would have done it with or without orders.
"It seems that, since I keep their powers inside me, I can use their powers, their Angels. However, I was told that the stress of having the powers of 8 Spirits and their 7 Angels seemed to drive me berserk a few months ago."
Shido had no recollection whatsoever on that period. One side of him was curious, another side of him was afraid.
Afraid of what he could have done.
"What should I do now? Can I continue to seal Spirits?"
Shido could feel chill ran down his spine. His hand trembled.
"No, not just that. There's a lot of other things to worry about."
Shido had to bite his tongue to calm down.
"There's still Kurumi, the Spirit who refuses to be saved."
The sight of the corpse of Kurumi's clone, killed by the original Kurumi back then, replayed in his head. It was disgusting. And regrettable.
"Deus Ex Machina Industries, the group that wanted the powers of the Spirits for themselves. Those two, Ellen... Westcott..."
Shido could still feel it. The terrifying stare thrown at him by Inverse Tohka, and the despair exuded by Inverse Origami.
Why would anyone unleash the monstrous form hidden within every Spirit? What sort of thing they would gain?
"Then, there is [Phantom]... the being who created Spirits from humans."
The memory of the enigmatic entity, taking the form of an unknown -yet familiar- girl, during the time travel trip, returned to his mind.
"And also, Nia... she hasn't fully recovered yet."
Shido remembered as he saved the life of the otaku Spirit a week ago.
When one of DEM Wizards took most of her Crystal when she was rampaging in her Inverse form, the process stripped her from most of her powers and would have killed her if Shido didn't save her in time.
"What should I do? These hands... what can they do for them?"
Shido stopped cooking for a moment to take a firm look at his own right hand.
He closed his eyes and kept silent for several moments.
"...Ah, I may not be spacing out like this."
Shido brushed his thoughts aside as he continued his day.
Going out of his house at 7.17 for school, Shido walked with Tohka, Origami, Kaguya, and Yuzuru.
A few things were off about them. Oddly, the dark-haired Spirit and the white-haired Spirit weren't looking forward, but locked at one another. Meanwhile, the twins who were usually noisy were completely silent right now.
Which went against all laws of nature.
"I can't believe that worked..."
During breakfast, Tohka and Origami were about to have another quarrel. But, Kotori had wised up and instead turned it into a competition.
"The one who can keep their mouth shut for the rest of today, except for when Shido allows them to talk, will get a chance for a date with Shido tomorrow!"
Kotori had told them so cheerfully.
Shido was fairly convinced that it wouldn't work to convince the two rivals to be silent. To his surprise, it did. And it worked on other girls, too.
Therefore, as Shido, Tohka, Origami, Kaguya, and Yuzuru walked to the school, no one dared talking.
"Well, calmness like this is fine, but I guess being ordered to be silent all day is too harsh."
He had to be considerate towards the feelings of his girls.
"You guys may talk until we reach the class."
That instant, however, Tohka and Origami immediately began to belittle the other.
"Huh, you looked relieved when Shido allowed us to talk. You can't keep it up anymore, can you?"
Tohka smiled mockingly at Origami. However, the latter didn't even change her expression as she turned to eye the former.
"I wonder. Maybe it was you who was unable to hold back your desire to talk. Seeing as you immediately spoke the moment Shido gave permission, I assume your brain lacks the capacity to control your tongue."
Origami returned the favour with a slight smile.
"What did you say?! You-"
Before she could continue, Shido cut them off before it could escalate.
"All right! All right! Tohka, Origami, keep quiet! Kaguya, Yuzuru, you may continue talking until homeroom teacher comes!"
"But, Shido! Oh, owh..."
Tohka tried to protest, but remembering Kotori's words, she immediately fell silent.
Shido sighed. He was anxious. There were so many things that could go wrong in this contest.
What if they tried to eliminate one another? How would they even do that?
Heck, what if more than one Spirit managed to survive until the end of the contest?
"I really don't want to be trapped in another triple date... Kotori, my little sister, can I believe in you?"
Shido was about let out another sigh, before all of a sudden, something was heard in his ears.
"Eh?"
It was very weak, but, he clearly heard something.
No, wrong. The barely audible sound was continuous.
"What the? What is this?"
Shido stopped in his tracks.
"Hmm? What froze you, Shido?" Kaguya asked.
"Confusion. Shido, why do you stop?" Yuzuru asked.
"Huh?"
Shido turned to the Spirits behind him.
"You guys don't hear anything?"
The four Spirits shook their heads.
Meanwhile, in Shido's ears, the sound was gradually becoming louder and audible.
After a few moments, Shido could finally recognize what was it.
"This is... music?"
The blue-haired boy looked around, trying to find any source. However, there was none.
"...?"
Early in the morning or not, Tenguu City was still a city. Sidewalks began to be crowded, and streets were slowly filled with vehicles. Noisy, but one could almost taste the peacefulness of the busy city.
However, so long as light existed, so would shadows.
"Hump."
A girl clad in blood red and shadow black dress hummed as the sounds from outside made her aware of the time of the day.
The city had awoken.
"So the sun has risen..."
It was the Spirit with code-name [Nightmare], Tokisaki Kurumi.
Her differently colored eyes were focused at herself through a mirror wall.
The room she was in couldn't be said to be in the best condition. There were no furniture, dust covered both floor and walls alike, and even the mirror wall had very long and very visible cracks across its surface.
It was of no surprise. After all, it was inside one of the most ideal hideouts in the city: an abandoned building that was to left to be destroyed.
Thanks to the Spacequakes, whenever a building was scheduled into a low-priority destruction, people would simply left it alone, hoping that the not-so-natural disaster would destroy them, saving the money and time necessary to burn it to the ground.
In other words, it was an ideal place for the Nightmare Spirit to hide. She found that fact oddly comfortable.
That being the case... it seemed she still couldn't hide from someone.
"...Stop lurking in the shadows and come out. You are not me."
Without turning her gaze from the mirror before her, Kurumi let her displeasure be heard.
Much to her dismay, she was not alone here. There was an uninvited guest, and it was not one of [Hers].
"Heh."
It was a garbled noise which seemed to come from everywhere at once. The distorted sound was clearly understandable, even though it was barely audible.
Kurumi hated it. She didn't like how the voice made her feel. It sounded like the devil itself was whispering into her ears.
Then again, considering it was [Phantom], perhaps it would fit her to sound like that.
"You seem to be more and more hostile to me every time we meet..."
The voice continued in a lighthearted tone, as if she was trying to joke. If that was her intent, she was doing a poor job.
"There is no reason for me to be kind or polite to you."
Kurumi had to resist the urge to scowl. She really could not stand the enigmatic entity's presence, much less her antics.
"Really? After all the things I've gone and told you? Don't you think I should have earned your fondness?"
Sarcasm was clear even with its garbled noise. Soon, Phantom's figure - distorted and protected with mosaics - appeared behind Kurumi.
Even so, Kurumi didn't see the need to meet her gaze. She wouldn't dignify the annoying pest by acknowledging her presence in that manner.
Still, Phantom was definitely here for a reason.
"I have neither the need nor the patience to deal with you. What brings you here?"
"Is that so. Well, I am only here to tell you something you'll like, time keeper."
The sudden nickname made Kurumi's clock eye twitch.
In a sense it was fitting - her [Zafkiel] (Emperor of Time) was indeed an Angel that could manipulate time.
It didn't mean Kurumi could appreciate it. Not if Phantom was the one using it.
As if the enigmatic being had read her mind, Phantom made a chuckle.
Kurumi decided she wanted Phantom gone from this place as soon as possible.
"You, a bearer of good news? I find that quite preposterous."
"That's where you are wrong. I am telling you that your friend will visit you. Soon."
As soon as she heard the word 'friend', Kurumi couldn't stop her eyes from widening.
"My friend? Could it be...?"
Kurumi had never told anyone, but she had a partner. A fellow Spirit, who was working with her from afar.
No one knew about her except for herself, and of course, Phantom who made Spirits from humans.
She was also someone Kurumi had told to stay away from Tenguu City for the time being.
The thought made Kurumi scowl. She threw a glare at Phantom's reflection on the mirror.
Phantom was trying to deceive her.
"Do you think you could fool me? The time is not right. She is not supposed to visit yet."
Kurumi let her anger color her voice, harsh but controlled.
Phantom made a gesture that seemed to be a shrug.
"I never deceived anyone with words."
Phantom replied dismissively.
Kurumi narrowed her eyes.
"Ara, I am a type of person who doesn't believe even [myself]. Why would I believe in you?"
"Because you believed me before, on occasion. Such as when I told you about that man."
Was this about Shido? As useful as the information about him was, it was no proof that Kurumi trusted her.
That, and her partner would not have a reason to visit early anyway.
"Only after I see an irrefutable evidence. And unlike Shido, you are in no position to speak about her. You do not know her the way I do."
"Huhu... ha ha ha!"
The enigmatic Spirit let out a distorted laugh that was unclear as it was unpleasant to Kurumi's ears.
Before Kurumi could open her mouth to respond, Phantom spoke again.
"Oh, I know all of my children, alright."
As soon as Phantom said that, the mosaics covering her figure dissolved like a fog under sunlight.
It then revealed a girl with short, light pink hair with a tied-up braid, and light brown eyes, clad in Raizen High School sweater and skirt.
Seeing that through the reflection, Kurumi clenched her fists so hard it became white.
Kurumi knew that form. It was the same one Phantom took in a past timeline, when Kurumi sent Shido to the past in their attempt to figure out and save Origami from her despair.
Phantom had used that form to communicate with Shido to conceal her true form. A form which didn't belong to her.
"Look, I can even use her appearance like this."
Kurumi felt her blood ran cold when Phantom mimicked the voice, the expression, and the mannerism of her friend.
"How dare she?"
Did Phantom think she could get away with using that form again? Kurumi could not reach her last time, but now was different.
"You... I advise you should stop using her appearance like it was your own."
It was not a warning. It was a threat.
However, Phantom was not the slightest bit intimidated.
"Hee hee... sorry, Kurumi."
That familiar face made a nervous smile, and shot her a guilty look.
It was fake. Kurumi knew it. That manner of apologizing belonged to someone else.
"This woman..."
Kurumi intended to end this encounter without wasting her Spirit mana. Phantom's very presence was enough to darken her mood, but at least she could tolerate that.
However, Kurumi was not going to allow Phantom escape unscathed for making fun of [her friend].
"I told you..."
Kurumi snapped her neck to Phantom's direction, and drew both her flintlock and musket from her shadow.
"Don't act like her!"
However, just as she called forth her Spirit energy-
"!?"
"...!"
A foreign, faint noise had startled them both.
Phantom looked surprised, and she floated away from her by a few meters.
Kurumi halted her intent to attack, and sharpened her senses to focus on her surroundings.
She had expected an ambush from outside the room. Probably by AST or DEM.
However, there was nothing. The room remained still.
Her senses could only detect her own clones, who were dispatched to observe around and watch this place. Apart from them, only Phantom was in her eyesight.
But the noise continued. Kurumi immediately noticed something - the noise which was almost ethereal, it reached her ears without any vibration the way Phantom's voice did.
Gradually, it became louder. Clearer and more audible. It had... tempo and melody. Then it hit her; it was not a mere noise; It was music.
"Wait... could this be!?"
Realization dawned in Kurumi's mind.
"This melody... it can't be..."
In disbelief, Kurumi accidentally spoke her mind out loud.
Phantom, clearly recognizing the music as well, bent her body into a taunting akimbo.
"See? I told you she was coming."
Hearing a mocking tone from her friend's voice snapped Kurumi out of it.
Kurumi would love to wipe the smile on Phantom's face off, but now she was too surprised to focus.
Maybe she was hallucinating? However, the longer Kurumi listened, the clearer it became. It was certainly that [music].
"No way, she really came? Why?"
It was not time yet. Her friend was early. Way too early.
"Why would she... no."
Kurumi was not going to ask Phantom. She was going to ask the guest herself.
With that in mind, Kurumi ran past Phantom, who simply ignored her.
In the darkness of the hallway, Kurumi phased to the floor and into the building itself with her powers. Within her own path of darkness, Kurumi ran forward into the light at the end, almost like a tunnel.
In no time, she emerged from the pavement outside the abandoned building. Kurumi looked around for possible witnesses.
Luckily for her, there was no one except for her, it seemed.
"Good for me."
Kurumi closed her eyes, concentrating on the music.
It was light, calm, and soothing melody. Being a girl of goth as she was, Kurumi was familiar with its type.
A serenade. A musical greeting performed for a lover, friend, or other people to be honored. In short...
Her friend was calling her.
"The music is coming from... there!"
Kurumi used her powers to once again phase into the ground below.
After a while, she surfaced again, this time in a T-junction street.
Kurumi took a deep breath to calm herself down. From this point, there was no need to rush.
Calmly turning right, Kurumi smiled at what she saw.
"There you are... Rinne."
In the middle of an empty area devoid of people, the person Kurumi referred to was eye-catching.
She was clad in a long, purple clock dress. She had a long, light pink hair, with braids reaching her legs. Her head was decorated with a large headdress, and her face was mostly covered by a piece of veil.
On her left hand she held a bright violet, metallic Hebrew lyre Kurumi recognized as a kinnor, and with gentle strums of her right she produced a beautiful serenade.
"Long time no see, Kurumi."
