An hour had passed.
During that time, I’d been walking back and forth through the rainy alleyways twice over, trying to find Yoshino’s Yoshinon.
“Yoshino, you didn’t go anywhere else besides here, right?”
“..............”
Yoshino flinched a little at the question, her shoulders trembling. But soon she answered by nodding, and went right back to searching for Yoshinon.
“Let’s keep looking for another ten minutes, then head somewhere else, okay? We already reported it to the police, so we should be able to find it soon. Just hang in there a little longer, all right?”
“…………Yes.”
Yoshino gave a tiny reply that almost got swallowed by the sound of the rain, then kept scanning the area. Right now, she was walking through the alley with an umbrella she’d bought separately at a convenience store. At first, seeing her out in the rain, I’d shared my umbrella with her, but she seemed really uncomfortable with the idea of two people sharing one, so I’d bought her a separate one.
Actually, the clothes Yoshino was wearing weren’t normal clothes to begin with, so even if she got rained on, there wasn’t a single spot that looked wet. She didn’t really need an umbrella. But still, if we were wandering the alleys looking for Yoshinon and she wasn’t using an umbrella while I was the only one under one, what would people think?
Anyway, Yoshino and I had spent the last hour looking for Yoshinon and, as a bonus, exchanging simple introductions. Normally, I should’ve introduced myself to Shido first, but since I’d accidentally taken an important event away from him, I felt a little like a thief.
Still... even if I hadn’t known Date A Live in the first place, I definitely would’ve helped Yoshino look for Yoshinon. Honestly, unless you were a complete heartless bastard, there was no way you’d just walk past a girl searching for something in the rain without an umbrella.
“Ah... this is annoying.”
Even though I was using an umbrella, after walking through the pouring rain for an hour, the wet patch on my school uniform pants had climbed all the way up to my thighs. Where the hell had Yoshinon gone? I’d been searching by checking every place Yoshino had passed through, but instead of finding it, I hadn’t even spotted a shadow of it.
Once this was all over, I was definitely going to the bathhouse first. Just as I was feeling miserable about my damp pants and taking another step forward—
“Haneul?”
“Oh, Jisoo?”
A familiar voice called out to me from behind. When I turned around at the sound, I found a close female classmate from my class. Her name was Jisoo. For some reason, it made me think of spring potatoes.
“School’s already over, so what are you doing here?”
“Ah, I’m looking for something.”
“Looking for something?”
“This kid lost a rabbit plushie she wears on her hand. So I’m helping her find it.”
“Oh my... what a cute child.”
Jisoo said that while looking at Yoshino, and Yoshino, startled by the appearance of someone she’d never seen before, hurriedly started hiding her body behind her umbrella. Jisoo and I let out a brief awkward laugh at the adorable sight.
“She’s really shy, huh... Is she your little sister?”
“She’s not my little sister. She’s just an acquaintance from Japan.”
“From Japan?”
I answered Jisoo’s question with a vague excuse.
“Ah, perfect timing, Jisoo. Have you seen a rabbit plushie that goes on your hand? About this big... a white one wearing an eyepatch?”
“Hmm, let me think...”
At my question, Jisoo tilted her head and fell into thought for a moment. I wasn’t expecting much from her, and Yoshino peeked out over her umbrella, looking at the thinking Jisoo with hopeful eyes.
Come on, though. We’d been walking around for an hour and still hadn’t found anything. There was no way asking a random passerby would suddenly get us an answer...
“Oh, do you mean one that looks like this?”
Huh?!
At Jisoo’s words, as she pulled out her phone and asked if this was it, Yoshino and I both jumped and hurriedly turned our eyes to the screen. It was a photo of our classmates Cheolsu and Younghee, taken in a crowded place. Judging by the tent in the background, it looked like a circus. Between Cheolsu and Younghee stood a handsome man in a circus outfit, smiling brightly in the photo with the very familiar rabbit plushie on one hand.
Seeing the plushie in that man’s hand, I shouted that yes, that was it, and Yoshino also let out a tiny, “Yoshinon...!”
“What is this?! Why does this guy have Yoshinon...? No, more importantly, Jisoo. When was this picture taken?”
“About thirty minutes ago? Anyway, Cheolsu and Younghee sent it to me, saying they took it at the circus. I figured it might be the white rabbit plushie with the eyepatch.”
“That’s it! Hey, Jisoo. Seriously, thank you! I’ll buy you something tasty next time!”
“I’m rich.”
Ah, right. Her family was loaded, wasn’t it?
“Anyway, thanks! Then we just need to go to the circus!”
“But do you even know where that is?”
“……………No.”
For a brief moment, I’d been happy that we’d found a lead, but Jisoo’s question turned me into a mute in an instant. As I shut my mouth with a stupid look on my face, Jisoo burst out with a short “Pfft!”
“I’ll guide you. I know where it is.”
“Will that be okay?”
“I was heading there anyway. And how could I not help when such a cute kid is in trouble?”
Fair enough. I agreed with Jisoo, and she said this way before heading off toward the alley on the opposite side.
“Yoshino, let’s go.”
As I followed behind Jisoo and said that, Yoshino’s expression brightened compared to before, and this time she nodded vigorously.
The moment when the anxiety on Yoshino’s face turned into a smile. Seeing that bright smile, Jisoo and I, after briefly looking away, both muttered that she was cute without thinking.
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“There are a lot of people here...”
Even though the rain was pouring down like this, the circus grounds were packed wall to wall with people. I muttered that to myself while looking at the crowd. It felt less like a circus and more like some huge night market festival. Since large tents had been set up high over the walkways, it didn’t seem like we’d need to keep our umbrellas open from here on.
“If you go over there, you should find the tent from the photo. Then I’ve got somewhere else to be, so I’ll head off here. See you later~”
“Oh, yeah~”
Jisoo and I exchanged a brief goodbye and parted ways. After leaving, she quickly blended into the crowd and disappeared from sight. I stared blankly at her receding back, then called out to Yoshino and prepared to head toward where Yoshinon was.
But at that moment—
“…………!!”
Maybe because there were suddenly so many people, Yoshino was trembling and wearing a frightened expression. Ah, crap. If Yoshino went berserk here, we’d be in serious trouble. The image of an ice storm sweeping through my head flashed by, and I broke out in a cold sweat.
“Yoshino, are you okay?”
Yoshino was still terrified. When she slowly turned her head to look at me, her face looked like she was about to burst into tears. For now... I didn’t know if it would help, but should I at least try to comfort her?
“Yoshino. Are you scared you might hurt someone?”
“………….”
At my words, Yoshino nodded with a frightened face. To meet her at eye level, I bent my knees. Patting her shoulder gently, I started comforting her in the kindest voice I could manage.
“Don’t worry. Until we find Yoshinon, I’ll stay by your side. If you’re afraid of hurting someone, or if someone attacks you, I’ll take responsibility and block it all.”
“…………!”
I didn’t know whether the comfort had worked or not, but Yoshino’s face did seem a lot more relaxed than before. Letting out a small chuckle, I held out my hand to her.
“So, kid. Just trust me for now.”
Ah, I’d meant to call her Yoshino, but I accidentally called her kid instead. Why did I slip up like that? I don’t even usually use that word.
There’d been a bit of a verbal slip, but anyway, that was my version of comfort. I wondered if something like this would even work, but when Yoshino, who had been hesitating at my outstretched hand, stopped trembling and took it, it seemed like it wasn’t completely useless after all.
Looking a little relieved, Yoshino gave a faint smile.
“Th-thank... you...”
“No need to thank me.”
At Yoshino’s thanks, I shrugged.
And then it happened. Suddenly, a rumbling grrrr sounded in my ears.
“............”
“Yoshino?”
“............”
A different kind of silence settled in. Yoshino blushed and lowered her head, and instead of being tactless and asking if she was hungry, I looked around for something that could fill her stomach.
Hm, there’s hot dogs right in front of us. Hearing another rumble, I told Yoshino we should buy some hot dogs and headed that way.
“Ah, this is...”
“Eat.”
I bought two hot dogs and handed one to Yoshino. For a split second, I had some strange urge to put it on top of her head and mess with her, but I quickly came to my senses and placed it properly in her hand.
I told Yoshino to eat, then took a bite of my own hot dog.
“Not bad.”
The pickles and onions inside crunched as I muttered that it was pretty good.
“Then should we start moving again?”
Yoshino, who had been eating her hot dog, nodded at my words and took my hand again after letting go for a moment. Leading her along, I slowly started walking forward.
Compared to her frightened state from earlier, Yoshino was clearly doing much better now. Seeing that, I let out a sigh of relief inside.
○○○
As we passed through the crowded street, the rows of booths stretching out on both sides came into view.
Wait, wasn’t this supposed to be a circus? No matter how I looked at it, it felt like a night market festival.
“Is this how circuses are supposed to be?”
I muttered to myself as I walked with Yoshino. The tent we were aiming for was pretty far away, so it took more time than I’d expected. On top of that, the crowd made moving around inconvenient, which ate up even more time.
Once we found Yoshinon, maybe I should look around the circus a bit too. It’s not like I had anything else to do if I went home anyway.
“………Hm?”
I felt something off from the right side. I hurriedly turned my head that way, and there I saw a small alleyway opening up at the corner of the road. And from there, I could sense something strange.
Something felt wrong. It might’ve just been my imagination, but I couldn’t just ignore it. There was definitely something bothering me.
“Yoshino. Maybe if we wait here for a bit—no, that won’t work.”
Just as I was about to speak, I saw her face turn uneasy in an instant and muttered that it wouldn’t work.
Well, no helping it. I had a bad feeling that if I left her alone, something disastrous would happen, so I asked Yoshino to bear with me and slowly headed toward the small alley tucked away in the corner. Yoshino followed behind me in quick little steps.
The alley was in a corner, so there weren’t many people around, and it was fairly dark too. And because it was raining, it was damp and humid.
“Well now~ this is a bit of a surprise~”
Just as I was about to ask Yoshino if she was okay because she was following behind me so anxiously, I heard a woman’s voice from around the corner. I knew exactly who the owner of that voice was. It was Kurumi’s voice. Startled by the sound coming from just ahead, I peeked my head out around the corner.
“Hmm~ I came because I sensed something strange, but what’s going on here~?”
Kurumi, wearing her spirit outfit, was the first thing I saw. When I’d only heard her voice, I’d thought, just maybe? But seeing her with my own eyes, it really was her.
Still, that was surprising. So Kurumi had come to Korea too. While I was inwardly marveling at the appearance of another Spirit and feeling a little uneasy, something at Kurumi’s feet caught my eye, and I slowly lowered my gaze toward it.
And at that moment, I let out a blank sound.
“………Huh?”
Two people were lying on the ground.
And both of them were people I knew. Cheolsu and Younghee. They were classmates of mine.
“Oh? Who’s there?”
“..............”
Noticing my presence, Kurumi looked toward the alley where I was hiding and drew a handgun. I told Yoshino to hide for a moment and slowly stepped out. As I emerged from the corner, sweating coldly, Kurumi looked at me with a slightly surprised expression and put the handgun away again.
“Hmm, judging by your clothes, you seem to be a student~ What is a student doing in a place like this~?”
“.................”
The moment I faced Kurumi, the profile I’d once glimpsed on a wiki flashed through my mind. A Spirit with an overall danger rating of S. Codename: Nightmare. Apart from the Spacequake, the worst Spirit, one who had personally killed more than ten thousand humans.
Seeing me with curious eyes now, I asked her in a tentative voice.
“...Um, those two are my friends. Did something happen here? Why are they lying there...?”
“Japanese, huh~ How did you know I’m Japanese and start speaking Japanese~?”
“I heard you speaking Japanese when I came in earlier.”
I brushed it off like that in response to her smiling question.
“Hmm~ You asked what happened, right~?”
With a mischievous smile, Kurumi said that, bringing a finger to her lips as if debating whether to answer or not, taking quite a while before replying.
But then, after that, Kurumi wore an even more playful expression than before and opened her mouth.
“I did it~”
“……………Hey.”
“Oh? You don’t seem to believe me. Would you believe me if I did this?”
Suddenly, dozens of arms emerged from Kurumi’s shadow and grabbed Cheolsu and Younghee, who were lying on the ground.
Kurumi let out a strange laugh and spoke.
“You really aren’t as surprised as I expected~”
“If you don’t want to spend the rest of this in a horrible way, you’d better let go of those hands right now.”
I’d wanted to end this with words if possible, but looking at the situation now, that was probably going to be pretty difficult. Just in case, I pulled my left hand out of my pocket, ready to use the other of the two techniques I’d learned last week but hadn’t used yet.
“I can feel something similar to spiritual power from you, but also something different. And that power is filling your body?”
“.............”
“You and the cute little lady hiding behind you both look very tasty~”
The moment she finished speaking, Kurumi drew two pistols and aimed them at me. I summoned twelve bones and ignited blue flames in my left eye. I thrust my left hand forward. At the same time, Kurumi’s body was wrapped in a blue glow.
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