Chapter 243: Second Spirit ; Slight Anger (1/2)

”Well then,” I while setting down the lunch box I had prepared for myself on my desk.

To my right, Tohka has brought her desk closer as she places her own lunch box, which I had prepared as well, on her desk.

I would've much rather not bothered with this, but Tohka's piercing expectant gaze early in the morning was too intense.

Suddenly, I feel a small slam as Origami pushes her desk close to mine too.

Right, as my girlfriend, she will be doing this too.

Still, it's kind of annoying to be gawked at for most of the day. There are now quite a few rumors going around at school.

Not that I care, anyway.

Opening the lid of my lunch box, I feel an odd sensation as I gaze at the food within.

Letting out a small sigh, I grab my chopsticks and plan to start eating, however, before I can do so, Origami says, ”What's the meaning of this?”

Hearing her query, I look at her, only to find her shifting her sight from my lunch box to Tohka's.

Oh, is she asking why we have similar lunch boxes?

”Tohka is living with me now, hence why I cooked for her?”

”What?”

”You heard me. Due to various reasons, she is going to be living with me and my sister from now on.”

Origami just gawks at my face without uttering a word with her face being as impassive as ever, albeit with a barely noticeable frown.

All of a sudden, an emergency alarm resounds as the voice of a mature woman resounds all over the place, ”Warning. Signature of a space quake has been detected in the area.

”This is not a drill

”Please evacuate immediately.”

The moment the voice fades, our young-looking teacher, Tamae, rushes into the room and hurriedly says, ”Everyone, please remain calm and line up properly!”

As a response to all this, a small commotion arises among the students as they get up from their seats and leave the class.

Just as I'm about to get up as well, Origami does so first with a solemn look on her face.

Right, she has to go fight against the spirit that's about to appear.

According to Kotori, there is a special unit that specializes in taking down spirits. The name of the aforementioned special unit is AST standing for the 'Anti-Spirit Team'.

Focusing back on reality, I watch Origami as she hastily leaves the classroom.

”Shido, what's happening?” Tohka asks a little anxiously.

”Nothing much,” I say as I get up from my seat, ”It's just that a spirit like you is about to appear.”

”Huh?”

”Don't think about it much,” I say while reaching out my arm to grab her hand, ”You focus on getting to a shelter.”

”What about you,” Tohka asks as I pull her along with myself out of the class.

”Me?” I say as I halt come to halt and turn my head to look her in the eyes, ”I will go save the spirit as I did with you.”

---

”We're here,” Reine, who is walking in front of me, says once we arrive in the command room.

”Perfect timing,” Kotori responds before grasping the lollipop in her mouth and pointing it in front of her, ”Take a look at that.”

Doing as she instructed, I am pleasantly surprised by the sight of a giant screen showing a young girl dressed in green clothes with a white rabbit puppet on her left hand.

”Is that little girl the spirit?” I ask.

”Yes,” Kotori responds, ”The space quake happened moments ago, and it was a relatively small one. Well, the Hermit is like that.”

”Hermit? Is that her name?”

”A codename, to be precise. For instance, Tohka's codename is Princess,” Reine explains.

Ugh. Whoever is the one giving these codenames sucks at it. At least, Tohka's codename is still appropriate in a sense, however, I'm not sure I can say the same about Hermit...

”So, what's going to happen now,” I say while inspecting the screen.

”Soon, the AST will appear and try to kill her,” Kotori responds.

”Even though she is just a child?” I ask with furrowed brows.

”The AST doesn't care about the appearance of the spirits they're ordered to hunt. Besides, that spirit should be much older than what she looks like.”

I wonder how old. From what I can see, her mental age isn't high.

Suddenly, the land near the girl bursts as several golden glints strike the surrounding ground.

As a response to the abrupt attack, the little girl swiftly dodges to the side before dashing into the air.

The screen pans out, revealing a dozen or so girls flying in the air, one of which is Origami.

They're all aiming their peculiar weapons at the little girl and are shooting without mercy.