Chapter 4: We Need You To…

POV - Shido

Various sounds of explosions are coming from where those two are fighting. It's weird to think that the culprits of this scary sight are those girls, but after seeing their power with my own eyes... No, even then, it doesn't seem real. The only thing that makes sense is that this is all some kind of dream.

However, the powerful feeling those attacks had was real enough for me to not try my luck. I nearly got hit by some of those after all... But the world really is a small place. Tobiichii is just a normal classmate and was fighting with a type of futuristic armor while flying and throwing missiles around. Being surprised is an understatement... Or should I be more surprised by the 'magical knight' girl who could stop all of that?

I still don't know exactly why they must fight, but it is true that I can't do anything about it... Even if I wanted to... I'd better take that blond girl's advice and run away... Wait, speaking of her, the moment she saved me from that attack was the same as when my cellphone started to ring. Making sure I'm far away enough from the action, I look at who called me and immediately start to call them back. After a moment, they pick up.

"Ah, Onii-chan, Hello. Why didn't you pick up the phone when I called? Did you get yourself a girlfriend, maybe? Just kidding, like that would happen. Haha."

She is fine... I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

The reason I went outside during a spacequake was because I was worried about her. We had made a promise to meet at a family restaurant no matter what, even if a spacequake happens. Obviously, no one would keep such a promise, but looking at the GPS location of her phone, it was right at the promised place.

...Since she is fine, I can be as merciless as I want!

"Kotori, my cute little sister... No sweets for a week!"

"WHAT! Wait! Why?! If it's about the girlfriend comment, I'm sorry!!!"

"That's not it! Staying outside when a spacequake is happening. Are you an idiot?"

Even as I said this, she was still confused, so I explained how her GPS told me where she was, and after this, she became silent for a while... And when she spoke up, her tone changed.

"Tch... I can't believe we overlooked simple signals like these; we got careless after applying Invisible and Avoid with the realizer. But still-! How stupid do you think I am, you dumb brother?"

 "...Kotori?"

The voice coming from my cellphone is definitely from my sister, but the words and tone... Its weird to hear this from someone who only called me 'onii-chan' with a lovely voice. She continues to talk as my worldview gets shattered.

"I'll think of a countermeasure later... Shido, I need you to do someth- Hm? What is it? It better be important."

Another voice talks with her from far away. I can't hear what they are saying, so I try to increase the sound of the call and put my cellphone closer to my ear... That was a mistake.

"WHA-SHIDO, YOU ARE OUTSIDE?!?!"

I quickly put the phone away and decreased the volume on it... Ouch.

"Never mind; it's perfect timing, actually. Shido, stay where you are; I'm picking you up."

'Picking me up'? So she is outside after all... I'm already quite far from the fight, but it isn't perfectly safe. But instead of seeing her, my vision started to blur for a second, and in the next instance, it shifted. In one moment, I was behind a somewhat broken building, and in the other, I was in a futuristic-like place.

I felt slightly bad, like I was seasick, but tried to ignore it to look around me until the door opened up and a woman I didn't know started talking to me.

"Are you feeling dizzy, Shintarou? Its normal for anyone not used to the teleporter."

"...Ugh, it's bearable... But my name is Shido."

"I understand. My name is Murasame Reine, the analysis officer at Fraxinus. If you can walk, then please follow me. The commander wants to speak with you, Shin."

"Are you even trying to get it right?! Ah, my head..."

"...Hm? You shouldn't scream while you are dizzy... It's bad for you, Shin..."

I wanted to correct her again, but no matter how I tried to explain, it seemed to go over her head... So I gave up.

"Um, can I ask some questions? Too many things I don't understand happened..."

"If you want any specifics, it's better to ask the commander; I'm bad at explaining things..."

She doesn't wait and leaves with unsteady steps, so I follow along and decide to take a closer look at her.

She looked to be in her early 20s and wore some kind of military outfit. Her messy hair and dark circles in her eyes tell me that she didn't sleep for a long time. Other than that, a small stuffed bear filled with scars was peeking out of a pocket in her outfit...

Her head is swaying from side to side as she walks, like she is about to collapse, and it's making me kind of worried, but that feeling goes away when I notice the corridor. The metallic walls made it look exactly like a place someone sees in a spaceship in movies and made me really wonder where I was.

As we reached the end of the corridor, Murasame clicked on an electric panel to the side, and with an *beep*, the door slid open... To reveal an even more movie-like place.

It was a place like the bridge of a ship with a big open area. In the center was a chair that seemed to be the captain's seat, and a holographic screen was being projected in front of it. To the side, various crew members are operating complex-looking consoles. Murasame walked by everyone straight to the seat in the middle.

"...I brought him."

A tall, blond guy that was standing near the captain's seat looked at us. 'Good work', he said to Murasame before looking at me.

"Hello, I am the vice commander of this place; my name is Kannazuki Kyouhei. Nice to meet you."

I say 'Hello' back, expecting him to be the one that wanted to see me, but he turned towards the seat and spoke with someone else... And I found a familiar face.

"...Wha-"

A small girl wearing a crimson version of Murasame's military uniform on her shoulders is seated there; she was looking at the screen but then turned towards me. Her hair was tied by two large black ribbons, and in her mouth was a lollipop. The moment her voice came out, I was certain...

"I welcome you to Ratatoskr, Itsuka Shido!"

She is my cute little sister, Itsuka Kotori...

I didn't know what to say... She goes back to watching the screen in front of her while motioning with her hands for me to get closer. Looking at the screen, I see the two girls from before fighting. Kotori points at the girl with the big sword before speaking.

"You better pay attention, because I don't want to repeat myself. This is a spirit; even though she looks like a normal girl, she is not human. This white-haired girl is from the AST, an anti-spirit team that tries to eliminate spirits. Next, here are..."

"W-Wait a minute! What's a spirit? When you said 'eliminate' do you mean they... Kill them? Why?!"

Kotori looked unimpressed; she was about to talk, but then looked towards a notification on her screen and gave an order to everyone.

"Everyone, Assassin has appeared! The battle with Princess is probably about to end, so use your efforts to find her."

I was confused about what was happening, but everyone on the bridge started to work faster than before. On the screen I was looking at, a girl wearing the same type of mecha suit that Tobiichi was using is there. I started to wonder if she was Assassin and was about to... 'Eliminate' the spirit, but in the next moment her suit was destroyed and behind her...

"That's Assassin, one of the most headache-inducing spirits we know about."

Kotori explains it to me without looking. The familiar blond girl girl disappears as swiftly as she came. I thought since she was called like that, it would be bloody, but instead she simply destroyed the armor and brought them down from the air to the ground really fast without hurting anyone much... However, looking at her taking those girls out in mere seconds, I can understand why they called her 'Assassin'... The girl that saved me is a spirit... But why? Why fight them instead of talking?

I looked at Kotori and wanted to say my thoughts about all of this.

"...You were talking like spirits were something like monsters, but since she even helped me... Can't we just talk with them?"

And just like she was Assassin herself, she grabbed me by the shirt in mere moments while looking at me.

While I expected a reaction, I didn't expect her to grab me by the collar and start interrogating me.

"She helped you? When? How? Did she say anything? Anything at all?!"

"W-W-W-W-WAIT!!! W-What's going on? I thought you guys already knew about her."

Kotori finally frees my poor shirt alone.

"Listen up, Shido, we don't know everything about spirits... And the things we thought we knew about them... Assassin breaks nearly all of them!!! Not only that, she is slippery as well, so it's hard to even get a photo of her! That's why you need to give us every single detail you remember about your brief encounter with her, so we can better help you. Start now!"

I was feeling pressure from her glare, but something about what she said made me confused.

"...Help me?"

Kotori smiled and then pointed at the screen, where an image of both of the spirits they were talking about were... And then she told me something that would change my lifestyle forever.

"These spirits... We need you to date them."

"..................Excuse me, what?"