Hmm?" Tohka paused for a moment before realizing that
It turns out that the figure that rushed across the playground like a rocket was Shidou.
Behind him, Katsu's mouth was twitching wildly. "Didn't you agree to run slower?"
"! Four... Shidou-san... ran a time of 4.38 seconds..."
"What!"
"Wait a minute, isn't the world record 5.56 seconds?"
"And after Shidou-san gave the order to start the race, he stood there for a while!"
"Hey! So what's his actual result in seconds?" The students at the finish line suddenly became agitated.
"Did no one notice that Hayashi-san was following behind Shidou-san?"
"Hmm...what's wrong with everyone? Why are you so surprised..." However, the person involved, Shidou, didn't seem to care much...or rather, he looked half-conscious. He shook his head and then collapsed to the ground helplessly.
"Shidou!" Katsu behind was slightly startled.
"Shidou─" Tohka also widened her eyes and rushed over here.
...something's not right...no, something's not right with me.
Shidou thought so in his hazy consciousness. He was currently lying on the bed in the infirmary. He was resting here temporarily because he was feeling lazy, but his physical condition was getting worse instead of getting better.
Blurred vision, confused mind, fever, and a strong sense of fatigue invaded the whole body. The symptoms were like having a bad case of influenza.
But that's not the problem.
"...What's wrong with me?" Shidou murmured softly, raised his slightly trembling right hand, and stared at it intently.
Staring at the right hand that destroyed the grip strength meter and threw the ball into the distant sky a few hours ago. The classmates and the physical education teacher seemed to be shocked, but the one who was most shocked was undoubtedly Shidou. Because Shidou almost didn't use any strength... It should be said that even if he tried his best, it would not be possible to cause such a result.
This situation was just like── "...Spirit..." he murmured in a hoarse and intermittent voice.
That's right. That power is similar to the spirit power of Tohka and others.
He is indeed like Katsu... ...having the ability to seal the spiritual power of spirits who have opened their hearts through a kiss, but did he ever kiss any spirits? All of them have been sealed by Katsu.
His head too fuzzy right now to think straight so he throw all of this at the back of his head and rest.
… …
… …
"I never thought that the Devil would fall into Ratatosk's hands." Executive Director Isaac Westcott sighed softly in a room at the DEM Industry Japan branch.
He was a man in his mid-thirties, with dull grey-blond hair and eyes like blades. He was dressed in a dark suit, and his eyes were fixed on the documents spread out on his desk.
"I'm so sorry." The person who said this as if responding to Isaac was the girl with light golden hair standing next to him, Ellen Mathers. She was the executive force behind DEM, the head of the Second Executive Department, and the wizard who held the title of the world's strongest.
Westcott shrugged exaggeratedly and shook his head.
"You don't need to apologize. Even I didn't expect the [Demon] can be conquere by the [Wizard]."
"It's just that—" Westcott sighed.
"--It's such a pity to miss such a precious sample of a naturally occurring Inverse spirit. Apart from the [Princess], I have never seen such a perfect reversed body." Westcott said, turning his chair and looking out the window.
Westcott and Ellen captured several of them about three months ago and successfully inverse them. Among them, Westcott felt that the most perfect inverse form was the [Princess].
Although the Japanese branch's office building and surrounding facilities were damaged, and many weapons and wizards were lost, these were just trivial matters.
The half-destroyed office building and facilities have been repaired through the manifestation device, and the fantasy beast Bondsky only needs to be recreated. It's a pity for the excellent wizards, but as long as you think of them as the cornerstone of realizing the long-cherished wish of Westcott and others, it is also a nesscary sacrifice.
"Of course, it's impossible for the spirit to appear natural in an inverse state. I am really curious about the reason why the [Devil] fell into despair. If possible, I really want to ask her to tell me." Westcott said this and stood up from the chair.
"Oh, right - Ellen, the facility on Neril Island contacted me just now." Neril Island. Upon hearing the name, Ellen's eyebrows twitched.
The name refers to a small island in the Pacific Ocean owned by DEM and the experimental facilities built underground on the island.
It was natural for Airen to react to this name. Because the deepest part of that facility held DEM's top secrets, the life forms that she had captured in the past and were designated as special disasters.
"It looks like 'Material A' has been processed. Those spirit inverse a few months ago brought us great progress, and we estimate a 75% success rate. Don't you think that's a good number?"
"So..." Hearing what Ellen said, Westcott raised the corner of his mouth.
"Yeah. We can almost try to create a perfect inverse body, right?"
… …
School, Class 4, Grade 2, Katsu lay on the desk, rubbing his temples, thinking in distress: "What is going on... I don't care, but Shidou has also lost control of his abilities?"
Just as Katsu was thinking this, someone suddenly patted him on the shoulder.
Katsu raised his head in confusion and looked at the man. It was a boy, someone he knew, but not very familiar with...
"What's up?"
"Um... there's a very cute junior high school student looking for you." The boy said, pointing to the classroom door.
Katsu blinked. A very cute junior high school student? Then he looked up at the door. Red twin ponytails and red agate eyes of the same color. Who else could it be but Kotori?
So, Katsu immediately stood up and ran towards Kotori.
"Kotori, why are you here?" Katsu took Kotori to the other side of the corridor and asked puzzledly.
"Hmm... Brother Katsu, you're so smart, can't you guess it?"
"… ...Is it related to the loss of control of abilities?"
"Well---you are worthy of being Brother Katsu. Since you know everything, there is no need for me to say more. Yoshino is outside, you just go with her, I still need to go and call Shidou. Shidou's situation is much more serious than you---"
"… Tsk, as expected, it is related to the spiritual power of the spirits…" Katsu rubbed his temples, saying with a headache.