Origami ignored Souta's mental spiral and continued calmly:
"Of course, this body belongs to both of us. I can't stop the other me from approaching you, just like she can't stop me from approaching Shiori."
"So, I've decided to turn a blind eye to her feelings for you.
If she wants to get close to you, to touch you... I'll ignore it."
Souta watched her silently, his eyes clearly saying: Please, continue your performance.
He was curious to see just how far Master Origami would take this madness.
"However, if she were to give you her first time that I absolutely cannot tolerate! That first time must go to Shiori, from me."
Origami's gaze turned sharp, her tone resolute:
"Besides, Shiori's a girl, so we can't do anything too extreme. You don't mind that, do you?"
"I think… you're totally going to do extreme things to her." Souta couldn't help but comment.
"Are you trying to stop me?"
Origami narrowed her eyes dangerously:
"You've done a lot for me, I won't deny that. But when it comes to Shiori, I won't back down. If you try to interfere, I will retaliate."
Souta waved his hands quickly. "No no, I'm not trying to stop you... I'm just curious…"
He looked at her and asked:
"If Little Origami really does, you know… get intimate with me, wouldn't that technically be cheating on Shiori? Doesn't that bother you?"
"If I'm not the one in control of the body when we make love, then it's not my fault," Origami stated, totally deadpan. "It would be an involuntary physical betrayal. But since my thoughts remain loyal, Shiori will forgive me."
Shiori's probably going to beat you up, you know…
Souta was beyond exhausted trying to mentally process this logic.
And for Origami to drop the phrase "make love" with such a blank face, she was seriously something else.
Master Origami, indeed.
Just then, Origami's body wobbled and her head dropped forward about to slam into the table.
Souta quickly caught her and asked with concern:
"You okay?"
She grabbed his hand for support, steadied herself, then looked up and shook her head:
"I'm fine… no, wait! This isn't the time to worry about that!"
Her previously pale cheeks now blushed a deep red, right up to her ears.
"Souta!" she called out firmly.
"What's up?" Souta blinked.
Yup. Big Origami had logged off. Little Origami had logged in.
"Just now…" Origami looked shy and annoyed. "Everything that other me said was total nonsense! She's… she's a pervert! Please don't take any of it seriously!"
"So what you're saying is…" Souta smirked, a little mischievously, "her claim that you like me, that's also fake?"
"Ugh… um… I…"
Origami stammered.
She wanted to shake her head, but was too embarrassed to go through with it.
Because denying it… would be like confessing.
She mumbled for a bit, unable to form a sentence, her expression flustered.
Seeing her like that, Souta stopped teasing. He gently patted her head.
"It's fine. I already know. You don't have to say it out loud."
Under his light touch, Origami quieted down.
"Mm…"
She nodded slightly, touched by Souta's gentleness and understanding.
"Actually," Souta shifted the topic, "I came to see you today because I wanted to help with your… body situation. I kind of saw this coming."
That got Origami's attention, she looked at him intently.
Souta continued:
"Don't worry. I'll extract the other Origami's personality and give her a new body—wait, no… You're two personalities in one soul. Just extracting her personality isn't enough. Without a soul, she can't inhabit a new body. I'd have to create a whole new soul…"
He paused, thinking deeply.
It suddenly dawned on him that this was going to be harder than he thought.
Sure, divine spark was a universal fixer, but it wasn't truly omnipotent.
It could enhance souls like what he did for Inori.
But to create a soul from scratch… could he really do that?
If it were so easy, then all those D&D gods wouldn't need to harvest faith anymore.
They'd just mass-produce worshippers in their divine realms and farm power endlessly.
Souta figured even gods, if they could create souls, paid a heavy price for it.
So instead of committing, he softened his stance:
"Don't worry, Origami. I'll do my best to help you both become independent. I'll work on it."
Whether or not he could create a soul, he'd need to experiment first.
"Um…" Origami hesitated. "Actually, the way we are now is… kind of nice. You don't need to stress too much about it."
Seeing his confused look, she added:
"The other me… is still me. I don't dislike her. So I'd rather keep things the way they are."
"?" Souta frowned. "Why?"
"Um… I just don't dislike her. So, yeah, let's leave it as is."
She was clearly repeating herself.
Souta studied her carefully, trying to read her intentions.
Is it just me… or have I seen this before?
Wait a sec... wasn't this exactly like Inori and Eve?
He'd once offered to separate Eve's consciousness and give her a new body, only for Inori to insist Eve should stay inside her.
Inori's goal had been clear: to learn from Eve, let her occasionally take control, and coach her live on how to seduce Souta.
Cough… Could Origami's reason be the same?
Souta felt like he'd cracked the code.
In the other timeline, Origami was a master.
A goddess of relationship tactics.
It wouldn't be strange if Little Origami saw her as a mentor wanting to learn from her directly.
His logic made sense.
"Alright," Souta said, understanding. "If you change your mind, just let me know."
"Mm." Origami nodded obediently.
Whether her other self wanted to stay bound didn't matter.
Once she'd drained her of all her knowledge and skills, she could revisit the "separate housing" issue.
After all, they were still the same person, she'd understand.
And besides, she loved Shiori.
Hugging and cuddling with another girl didn't count as cheating on Souta… in her book.
Perfect!
"By the way," Souta remembered the original reason he was here. "Shiori's supposed to seal your reiryoku, right? Why did she leave without succeeding?"