"That thing was left to me by a cheap elder who isn't even in this world anymore." She said something vague and left Reine Murasame to wonder about it herself; as for how she might overthink it, Tohka couldn't be bothered to care.
"Elder?" Hearing Tohka's words, Reine frowned. After all, she knew Tohka was a naturally-born spirit. She had never handed over Tohka's spirit core to anyone, so in theory, Tohka shouldn't have any elder at all.
"Mm, you're back. What's with that dejected look on your face? Don't tell me you couldn't even manage a clueless little loli?" Ignoring Reine, who was getting more and more lost in her own thoughts, Tohka turned her eyes toward the downcast Shido Itsuka. She couldn't understand how he had failed at something so simple. In the original story, it was because she had caused trouble that things had gone wrong, but this time she hadn't messed around at all.
"Ugh, don't even talk about it." Hearing Tohka, Shido let out a heavy sigh. To be honest, today's spirit was much better than Tohka—at least she didn't have such a sharp tongue. Well, she was also much easier to coax, being a true loli who didn't understand anything.
"Everything was going fine, but somehow Origami Tobiichi smashed through the wall of our room, and then the spirit got scared and ran away." As he spoke, Shido looked helpless. No one could have predicted that situation, so he didn't know what else to say. It really had been about to succeed.
"..." When Shido finished, everyone turned to look at Tohka. Because they all remembered that Tohka had swung her sword at full power and blasted Origami flying.
"Ah, hahaha... I see." Hearing what had happened, Tohka could only scratch her head awkwardly. She could already imagine it—after she'd knocked Origami away, Origami had crashed right into the room where Shido and the spirit were. Which meant she had accidentally ruined things again.
"Forget it. Shido, what's the spirit's condition?" Kotori looked at Tohka with resignation. She knew Tohka had actually been trying to help them. What happened was purely an accident, so she didn't pursue it. After all, if Tohka hadn't drawn away all the AST, they wouldn't have even gotten close to Yoshino.
"She's okay, but after Origami attacked, she immediately fled." Like Kotori, Shido didn't blame Tohka. He simply explained the situation clearly, since he didn't want to see Yoshino stuck outside being hunted by so many people.
"All right, hold on. We'll relocate 'Hermit.' We need to find her before she triggers a spacequake." Kotori then issued a search order. The entire ship started moving at once.
"Whatever. Looks like there's nothing else for me to do. I'm heading back—beam me down." Glancing around at the busy crew, Tohka felt she really didn't have any further role to play here. So, she decided to leave first. A beam of light descended, and she was instantly teleported to the front of her apartment.
"Yawn... so sleepy. I wonder how Miku is doing. Should I go find her or not?" Back in her room, Tohka flopped down onto her sofa, rolling around aimlessly. She couldn't help it—although Miku always made trouble for her, it was still better than being alone like this. Since she'd come here, she'd ended up on her own again.
Lately, she'd been quietly keeping track of Miku's situation and knew she wouldn't be returning to Tengu City for a while. But with DEM around, it wasn't convenient for Tohka to go looking for her directly. She could only secretly send Miku a message explaining the basics, telling her not to rush, to finish her business first, and just in case, to avoid meeting until DEM made a move.
With nothing else to do, Tohka had originally planned to curl up on the sofa and sleep. Because of Yoshino's arrival, the weather was unusually dark and gloomy, and she felt even more sluggish.
"Knock knock." Just then, there was a sharp knock at the door. She opened it to see a certain blue-haired youth standing there, no idea what he was doing at her place.
"Hey—what is it? Shouldn't you be off playing your creepy pervy uncle role? What, you here to grope me again? Do you want a beating that badly?" She looked at him with dead-fish eyes, and as soon as she opened her mouth it was pure mockery.
"Cough, cough—no, it's not like that." Shido, who had been about to say something, was immediately shut down by Tohka's poisonous tongue. He had no way to retort—she was as sharp as ever.
"So... we've found Yoshino—she's at my place now. But she lost her puppet. I'm going to go retrieve it." Even though Tohka had shot him down, Shido still explained his purpose.
"Mm. You sure about that?" Shido hadn't wanted her to meet Yoshino directly, but now he needed help. To Tohka, this sounded weird—what was she doing, helping this guy collect his harem? Besides, was he sure Yoshino wouldn't end up fighting her too? Every spirit had their own personality.
"Yes, I'm worried she'll feel anxious if she stays at my place alone." Although he didn't know what Tohka was thinking, Shido still nodded earnestly.
"All right, leave it to me." Anyway, she needed Yoshino's power eventually, so she didn't mind meeting her. Though she couldn't help thinking—if Origami was like Asgard's guardian, Yoshino was probably like the guardian of the Frost Giants' home world. If she took her back to Asgard, would Odin completely lose it? Of all the Nine Realms, Niflheim, the Frost Giant homeland, had the worst relationship with them. Of course, that was just idle speculation. This world was way better than that one. She'd never seriously consider dragging them there—she'd only be putting them in danger. Well, except Kurumi, that troublemaker. If Kurumi ever ended up in that world, she'd probably take a keen interest in Doctor Strange's Time Stone.
"You're the spirit from today, aren't you?" As soon as she stepped inside, Tohka spotted Yoshino curled up on the sofa, her hat pulled low over her face as if trying to hide. But for some reason, the moment Yoshino saw Tohka, she shrank back in fear.