"What's wrong, want to fight? I'll gladly oblige." Yesterday, they had just resolved the matter with the little loli, and today the whole city had returned to normal. Even Tohka couldn't see any trace of the battle from yesterday, so she came to school again. But as soon as she entered the classroom, she saw Origami Tobiichi waiting for her, clearly still fuming from being beaten down yesterday.
"Hmph." Origami snorted coldly at her words. But she didn't act further—she couldn't exactly start a fight in class, and besides, empty-handed she had no chance against Tohka. For now, she could only endure.
"Ugh." With a helpless sigh, Tohka also felt a little tired. Why did she have to keep confronting Origami anyway? It didn't seem like it would do her any good. Thinking this, Tohka lost any interest in paying Origami further attention and simply flopped face down onto her desk. No matter how Origami tried to exert her intimidating aura, Tohka couldn't be bothered—she just thought, "If you've got the guts, come bite me."
"Hello everyone, we have a new transfer student today." Just then, the teacher's voice rang out, and a girl with long black hair tied in two braids hanging naturally down, long bangs covering half her face, wearing the school uniform and black stockings, walked in.
"Kurumi Tokisaki... why did this one show up so early?" Unlike everyone else's excitement, Tohka's pupils contracted sharply. Of all the spirits, the only one she dreaded apart from that dark shadow was this girl standing before her. But she remembered in the original story there was still a hot spring trip, mainly used to mend people's relationships. But at this point, Tohka had no interest in Shido Itsuka, so she simply hadn't bothered with him or Yoshino. That meant the hot spring trip never happened—but Kurumi showing up so soon was completely unexpected.
"Hello everyone, my name is Kurumi Tokisaki." At that moment, Kurumi Tokisaki picked up a piece of chalk and wrote her name on the blackboard. Then she turned to the class and declared, "I am a spirit."
After that, she showed an extremely wicked, seductive smile. Instantly, everyone in the room except for the three of them, whether boys or girls, erupted in excitement.
"!!!" Hearing those words, Origami next to Tohka and Shido on her other side both jumped in shock, especially Origami who almost rushed up on the spot.
"Hello, Tohka Yatogami." Tohka, who had only intended to watch, almost jumped from her seat. Kurumi ignored Shidou completely and walked straight over to her, eyes glimmering with interest. She even licked her lips before sitting down right next to Tohka.
"What is with this girl... wasn't she supposed to be clinging to him?" Kurumi's behavior made goosebumps rise all over Tohka's skin. At this point, she felt almost like Origami herself, nearly drawing her sword then and there. She knew very well just how terrifying this spirit was. Though all spirits were essentially good by nature, she was perfectly aware that this girl's methods were far more ruthless than her own. Tohka had also killed people before, but they were mostly heinous criminals. As for petty thugs who tried to harass her, she usually just knocked them out and took all their money—she really hadn't killed them.
"Mm, hello, Tohka Yatogami. What's wrong? You seem very wary of me." While Tohka was on guard, Kurumi's voice sounded again. Then Tohka saw that she was studying her with an expression of profound curiosity.
"Hey hey, are we that familiar?" Seeing this, Tohka almost jumped again. If she didn't know this girl was a yandere, she might have been a little excited. But as it was, she only felt a headache coming on.
"This one... looks like trouble." Tohka reminded herself this Kurumi was only a clone, which wasn't so scary. But if she had to face the real body directly, she really didn't have the confidence. Still, she wasn't too concerned—at worst, she could just take back the power she'd sealed or let her other self come out. As for what would happen if the other her emerged, she didn't care—after all, she wouldn't be the one with the headache then. As long as she gave some instructions, her other self wouldn't randomly start killing.
But since this was everyone's first meeting, Kurumi didn't do anything especially outrageous. And so it was noon before long, and it was time for lunch. At that point, the classroom had mostly emptied, and Shido put on his headset to start talking with the people above.
"That spirit is not simple. You'd better not go thinking about dates." Just then, Tohka suddenly came up behind him and spoke to him calmly.
"Uh—huh? What? What did you say?" Hearing her words, Shido paused before continuing. He didn't quite understand why she was suddenly like this. When it had been Yoshino, she'd been happy to help.
"Here's some advice: I can feel the killing intent on her. That's the kind of murderous aura you only accumulate by personally taking many lives, not from accidentally harming people during a spacequake. If you don't want to die, stay away from her—especially since she's not even targeting you right now. That's all I'll say, do whatever you want with it." Glancing at Shido's headset, Tohka didn't continue. She simply left on her own. She knew those words weren't just for Shido—Reine Murasame and the others above had surely heard too.
In the most recent volume she'd read before crossing worlds, Kurumi Tokisaki had been stabbed straight through the heart by her. Kurumi probably couldn't wait any longer—after all, that was about the point of the final showdown.
"Hey hey, you—" Watching Tohka leave by herself, Shido wanted to follow her, but the voice in his headset interrupted him.
"Shido, don't be in a rush. Let Tohka go check her out first—it's fine. She's right, that spirit really is dangerous. And besides, this is a good chance to test the 'Princess' too. We still don't know very much about her." At that moment, Kotori's voice rang in his ear.
"Ah—um, all right." Hearing Kotori's words, Shido stopped in his tracks.