Chapter 353 - 6: Change

Chapter 353: Chapter 6: Change

Spirits possessed tremendous vitality. Even after suffering severe injuries, this world’s advanced medical technology could make them appear perfectly fine again in only a day or two.

"Natsumi-chan~"

"Don’t come any closer!!"

Pestered by Izayoi Miku, Kyouno Natsumi hid fearfully behind Yoshino.

Now that she was no longer suffering from chronic malnutrition, her original appearance had become beautiful as well. Before she could even try enjoying the benefits of being a pretty girl in her true form, however, she first discovered the drawbacks. For example, this terrifying purple-haired woman kept pestering her and trying to force her to say "Onee-sama." If Natsumi lowered her guard, she might even get kissed.

Miku planted her hands on her hips and complained, "This time, Onee-san did not come to harass you."

"So you do know that counts as harassment..." Natsumi muttered under her breath as she tugged Yoshino’s clothes and retreated.

Yoshino was also one of Miku’s targets, and Natsumi couldn’t stand the thought of Miku kissing her best friend.

"You looked so depressed, so I wanted to comfort you. Don’t distance yourself from me just because of how I act."

"You already know the reason yourself..."

Natsumi lifted Yoshino’s hand. "If you want to kiss someone, kiss D4C. She counts as a girl too."

Yoshinon shouted, "Who are you calling D4C?!"

Miku stopped advancing and maintained a safe distance. "Yimi-chan has returned. Aren’t you going to greet her?"

"There’s no need for me to go greet her, right? She’s so popular."

Natsumi looked away. "I’m not exactly depressed. It just feels strange. The Spirit of Origin may not have had pure motives, but without her, that woman would have killed me."

"That woman" naturally referred to her mother.

Miku nodded. "The same applies to me. Had I never become a Spirit, I would probably have remained a mute girl trapped in depression forever."

"Hey, let me make this clear: I’m not saying there was anything wrong with killing her. She flat-out said, ’If the plan fails, please die. If it succeeds, please die anyway’... And you’re using this conversation as an excuse to creep closer to us, aren’t you? When did you get this close?!"

...

"Then Tomohisa ate a coconut, Madoka ate a lemon, Walpurgisnacht died, and then I met a big fish and blew it up. After that I met Betty. Before that, I also met someone who could keep starting over... Then I came back and wanted to beat Diego up again."

That was what Yimi said, but the people of Ratatoskr knew about her inexplicable hostility toward Kannazuki Kyohei and had arranged matters so the two would not meet. Kannazuki himself, meanwhile, had said that getting beaten by her sounded rather pleasurable.

Yimi gestured with her hands as she tried to recount everything that had happened to Origami. Origami understood every individual word, yet once they were strung together, she could not understand a thing.

Looking down at the little girl who had seemingly returned from the dead, Origami raised her right hand as though to spank her. In the end, it still did not land on Yimi’s bottom, because the child looked so happy to be reunited with her.

She was only a Spirit.

Origami lowered her gaze to her own hand.

She was a Spirit now too, and Spirits were merely beings transformed from ordinary humans by the Spirit of Origin.

"Aren’t you going to hug me?" Yimi moved closer in confusion.

Origami crouched down, gently embraced Yimi, and stroked her head. She said nothing and thought about nothing.

Yimi quieted her chattering mouth as well and rubbed her head against Origami.

At the far end of the corridor, Tokisaki Kurumi leaned against the wall without expression. Seeing her without that wicked smile was somewhat unsettling.

Only one person could make the Worst Spirit look like that.

Fraxinus had been completely destroyed by Takamiya Mio’s Angel. However, its founder, Elliot Baldwin Woodman, had long anticipated that such a situation might someday occur and had prepared a backup airship.

He now sat in his wheelchair outside one of the rooms along the corridor, staring through a transparent bulletproof glass wall. Inside, Murasame Reine held the little bear she usually kept in her chest pocket and turned it over and over, apparently deep in thought.

Kurumi stood outside the room with her gun in hand, utterly unconcerned by everyone else’s vigilance. She seemed prepared to remain there forever and put a bullet through Reine’s head the moment she dared step out.

After an unknown length of time, Elliot, who loved the Spirit of Origin, sighed and left the being that he and the others had created with their own hands.

"How is she?"

Kotori, biting down on a lollipop, asked the person beside her. Normally, Reine herself would have been the one answering.

"Her spirit power is weaker than that of a Spirit sealed by Shiori. Judging by the readings, she may never recover."

"According to her, the injuries Yimi inflicted last time never healed, and she was unable to fuse completely. The dominant half was killed outright. Only the side belonging to ’Reine’ survived, barely clinging to life."

"Commander."

The subordinate glanced at Kotori. "What do you think?"

Naturally, Kotori had listened from outside the glass throughout the conversation with Reine. It could hardly be called eavesdropping; after working at Ratatoskr for so long, Reine obviously knew the procedures here.

Kotori understood Reine better than anyone. Perhaps she should be the one to judge whether Reine was still the Spirit of Origin or possessed an independent side that truly belonged to "Reine"...

"Heh-heh~ Does that distinction have any meaning?" Kurumi answered instead.

The wicked smile returned to Tokisaki Kurumi’s face. "Ms. Reine is part of the Spirit of Origin. Can we forget that fact merely because the current Ms. Reine is harmless?"

"I cannot refute that at all."

Even Reine herself had said there was no meaning in keeping her alive. She had no desire to go on living and no attachment to this world.

Kotori crushed the lollipop between her teeth. "Even so, whether for official reasons or personal ones, I will never let you go inside and hurt her."

"That..."

"Tokisaki Kurumi."

Origami stopped Kurumi before she could continue. "I need you to help me return to the past."

"Origami-san, you are terribly impatient. Didn’t Shiori explain that the Twelfth Bullet: Yud Bet cannot alter history? Of course, if you only wish to change the recent past, I can use the Sixth Bullet: Vav to send your present consciousness back into your former body."

"But this child survived." Origami seized Yimi by the shoulders and pushed her forward.

"Meow?"

Yimi had babbled so many incomprehensible things that no one could determine whether she had survived because Shiori altered the past.

* * *

After considerable trouble, Origami ultimately persuaded Tokisaki Kurumi to send her back to that day several years ago, framing it as an experiment.

A fire raged through vast sections of the city. It had been caused by Kotori, who had only just become a Spirit.

Origami could not possibly resist the power of the Spirit of Origin. But before that happened, she could at least move her family and her past self to safety.

Origami flew toward the location in her memories.

Please. Let me make it in time!

"Oh? You are the First’s..." The indistinct voice belonged to Takamiya Mio in her Phantom form.

She moved closer to Origami in confusion. "I should not have given that away yet. How did you appear?"

"Get away from me!"

Mio’s approach made Origami’s scalp crawl. Ranks of floating cannons aimed at Takamiya Mio. Origami did not hope to repel her; she only wanted to harass her enough to keep her from following.

"Origami!"

Then she heard a voice.

She saw the beams she had fired streaking toward her past self, while her parents ran toward her in alarm.

Don’t tell me—this is the place!

No!

Origami desperately tried to intercept the attack, but by the time she understood what was happening, the beams she had fired with her own hands were already about to strike.

The devastation nearly tore her mind apart.

Perhaps the temporal power of the Twelfth Bullet acted as a catalyst. The Sixth Bullet that had struck Origami without effect after The World smashed Ain Soph was suddenly activated.

The Sixth Bullet sent its target back into their own body in the past. In a sense, it could also be said to send present memories into the past to alter history. Unlike the uncertain Twelfth Bullet, this shot had already been proven capable of changing the past.

Judging by the timing, Origami should have returned to the moment before she asked Kurumi to send her into the past.

But perhaps the only version of herself that existed "before" this point was an even younger one. Her viewpoint abruptly dropped, and she saw flames raging nearby. Her parents had not yet begun running toward her.

She remembered. Papa and Mama were in that direction...

Origami moved her unfamiliar little legs and ran toward them.

She could do it!

She stopped crying. The moment she took that step, history had already changed!

"Papa! Mama!" At a much safer distance, Origami threw herself into her parents’ arms.