Chapter 248: Located ; Time (1/2)
”Shido!” a voice calls out to me as soon as we enter the classroom.
Looking over at the source of the voice, I find Tohka, who seems to have been conversing with three girls, looking my way with a relieved expression.
One of the three girls glimpses at my arm which is being held by Kurumi and remarks, ”I guess they really did know each other before.”
”That's right,” another one adds, ”How else would she know his name on her first day here?”
”Gross,” the third one says in a monotone.
Ignoring them, I gaze at Tohka and say, ”Class is going to start soon, so let's get back to our seats.”
Nodding her head once, Tohka turns to face the trio of girls and says something before walking over to me and holding my arm.
”What are you doing?” I say as more than a dozen pairs of eyes lock onto us.
”It's not fair for her to do it but not me,” Tohka responds with a pout.
”Ara~ Are you feeling jealous and threatened, Tohka (Tohka-san)?” Kurumi says while grinning.
The displeasure on Tohka's face grows as she responds, ”That's not true.”
Letting out a small sigh, I instigate the two to walk in the direction of our seats at the back of the class.
Soon after, the lesson begins as Reine enters the classroom. For some reason, she had been casting glances at me ever since she stepped into the room.
Oh, right! That damned earbud.
Reaching into my pocket, I grab the earbud and put it on after making sure that no one is looking.
”Kotori?” I mutter.
”Finally, you idiot brother!”
”Hey now-”
”This isn't the time for that! Listen, that girl you were with at the rooftop is a spirit.”
”I'm aware of that.”
So, she actually was identified as such despite being a Binary Factor.
”What do you mean?”
”Well, the girl you speak of introduced herself as such. Why do you think I was with her at the rooftop?”
”Oh, now that you mentioned it…”
”Whatever. Do you have anything important to say?” I ask, a little irritated.
”Of course! This spirit… I have a bad feeling about her,” Kotori responds in a solemn tone.
”What's that supposed to mean?”
”I don't know, but just be careful. Of course, try to arrange a date if possible, but remain cautious.”
”Easy for you to say…”
Having had enough of this, I take a look around before taking the earbud off and placing it back in my pocket.
Now then, Kotori said that she had a bad feeling in regard to Kurumi. Currently, the only plausible thing I can think of would be Kurumi hiding her true self.
After all, that's how it usually turns out…
Nevertheless, I should really punish her soon for running her mouth off when conversing with me.
---3rd POV---
”It's him, I'm sure of it,” a white-haired man with seemingly soulless black eyes says while gazing at a giant screen displaying a somewhat blurry image of a high schooler sitting on a bench at a school's rooftop beside a black-haired girl. Included in the image is an odd phenomenon of two trays floating in the air along with an imperceptible dome-like barrier blocking rain on top of the bench.
”But, we did a complete analysis of him, and he turned out to be nothing more than human prior to the recent abnormal events,” a woman with pale blonde hair and purple eyes states impassively.
”That's right,” the man responds with a cold smile, ”Back then, she said that he would appear in this world one day. Ever since then, I had been wondering how, but not it has become clear.
”First, there is the report by AST, claiming that a flying human was protecting a B-class spirit. Now, there is this. It's clear that he is nothing short of abnormal.”
”Sir, what about the S-class spirit, Nightmare? Why would she be in contact with him?” the woman asks with furrowed brows.
”Does that even matter compared to the aforementioned?! Just assign the task to the girl that arrived a few days ago. Mana Takamiya, was it?” the white-haired man vigorously exclaims, attracting the attention of everyone who was staring at computer screens.
”Anyway, our top priority right now is to hunt him down as soon as possible. Contact the national agencies and ask for support. Round up our best team.”