Tobiichi did not realize that she was a spirit.
"No. Maybe it would be more accurate to say she couldn’t realize it."
I thought back to when Tobiichi had confronted me as Devil after hearing her words.
The version of her from that time had been giving off the same atmosphere as Tobiichi before history changed.
In other words, maybe when Tobiichi transformed into Devil, things like her personality and reason disappeared.
If that was the case, then the biggest problem was that we would have no way of knowing how she had become a spirit in the first place.
"Uh..."
Itsuka-kun was also flustered by the unexpected answer and couldn’t continue.
In the meantime, the bell rang to signal the end of lunch break.
"Looks like lunch is over. Thank you. I was happy to talk with you, Itsuka-kun."
Saying that, Tobiichi turned to head back to class.
If we let it end like this, it felt like we might never find out why she had become a spirit, so I signaled to Itsuka-kun with my eyes and a hand gesture to do something, anything.
Itsuka-kun saw that and gave a small nod before speaking to Tobiichi.
"W-wait! Would you talk a little longer?"
"But class is about to start."
"It doesn’t have to be today! If you have time, could we meet again sometime?"
Tobiichi looked flustered at Itsuka-kun’s words.
Yeah, if you just heard that line on its own, it was basically no different from asking someone out on a date.
"You mean...!"
"Eh? I mean...!"
While I silently admired Itsuka-kun for casually launching a date invitation without even realizing it and tapped my forehead, Tobiichi lowered her head and said,
"Could you give me a little time to think about it...?"
"O-of course."
The fact that she was now shyly hesitating over an offer she would have eagerly accepted before the change was proof enough that Tobiichi had become someone different from before.
Maybe that had always been the real Tobiichi. With that thought in mind, once she left the rooftop and her footsteps could no longer be heard, I stepped out from the corner and went over to Itsuka-kun.
"Wow, Itsuka-kun. I’m impressed. How did you manage to ask her out like that...?"
"W-what are you talking about! You know I didn’t mean it that way!"
"I know that. Still, anyone who heard that would think it was a date invitation."
Honestly, I really thought Itsuka-kun had the talent of a casanova.
He wasn’t ugly, his personality wasn’t bad, and on top of that he was good at housework!
The girls around me were a little numerous, so the class kept calling me a harem whatever, but that was complete nonsense. The one in front of me was the one who truly suited the word harem master.
Seriously.
"No, Hieta. Why are you looking at me like that, all impressed...?"
"I just thought Itsuka-kun had the talent of a casanova. That sort of thing is every man’s dream, isn’t it?"
"That’s not something you should be saying..."
"And it’s not something a high schooler who just asked another girl out while already having a daughter should be saying either."
"Hey!"
He tried to fight dirty with facts, so I fought back with facts too, and the one with more social damage because of Rio lost.
"So, shouldn’t we go too? We’ll get marked absent if we keep this up."
"Ah, right."
Anyway, we were students too, so we had to go back to class like Tobiichi. Just as we were about to head down, Itsuka-kun stopped walking.
"Itsuka-kun?"
"Hieta. Come to think of it, when you usually deal with AST or spirits, what do you look like?"
It was a sudden question, but I figured he must have had a reason and answered anyway.
"I’m wearing armor."
When I usually fought AST or spirits, I wore armor.
Part of it was to reduce damage, but the main reason was to hide my identity.
It wasn’t like damage mattered much anyway since I’d just revive, but if my identity got exposed, the people around me would be in danger.
Well, it looked like those demonic bastards at DEM had already dug everything up anyway.
Still, when I looked at Itsuka-kun with a questioning expression, he voiced the concern he’d had.
"Then Origami still doesn’t know that you’re [Knight], right? What if she finds out?"
"Uh..."
Come to think of it?
It was a problem I hadn’t really thought about.
From Tobiichi’s point of view, spirits had nearly taken her parents away, but then spirits ended up saving them, so wasn’t that a complete contradiction?
"...Hmm. I guess I’ll just hide it well."
"Is that so?"
If I hid myself properly, there wouldn’t be any reason for her to find out.
Besides, the armor wouldn’t come off unless I unequipped it from my inventory, so there was no chance of being exposed in the middle of a fight either.
If she found out later, I’d have to smooth it over somehow, but I’d worry about that when the time came.
"But aren’t we late?"
"Ah."
We’d spent so long talking about pointless things that too much time had passed.
Crack!
"Huh?"
Thinking we were really going to be late, I hurried down the stairs, and something must have gotten under my foot because I heard a breaking sound.
"Why?"
"N-no, it’s nothing."
When I looked closely at what had broken, it was definitely the hairpin Tobiichi had been wearing.
Of all things, I’d stepped on and smashed that tiny hairpin, so I briefly wondered what I was supposed to do about it, but if I delayed any longer, we’d be in real trouble. I put the pieces in my pocket and ran back to class.
When school ended, I went up to the rooftop for a moment.
The reason was that Tobiichi had left a note on my desk saying she had something to tell me.
I had a rough idea of what she wanted to say. During lunch, while I was suppressing the terrorist attack, I had unintentionally saved her parents, so maybe she wanted to thank me for that.
As I waited for Tobiichi while looking out at the red sky, the rooftop door opened with a creak.
"Ah, Tobiich..."
"Oh my, what are you doing here?"
"Young lady?"
It wasn’t Tobiichi who had come to the rooftop, but the young lady.
I was flustered because I had no idea why she was here, and the young lady slowly approached me, licking her lips.
"A person who still retains memories from before the altered history... Ah, how are you seducing me like this?"
"...W-what!?"
The way she suddenly started talking about seduction and closing in on me made her look like a succubus trying to suck out my life force, so I backed away.
But the young lady closed the distance even faster than I could retreat.
In the end, my tiny escape ended only after I hit the rooftop fence.
"Kihihit! Aren’t you running away a little too much~?"
"P-please don’t come any closer. If you come any closer, I won’t be able to help it either."
"Ah, please don’t be so wary. I only came to talk with Hieta."
"Talk... you say?"
I couldn’t trust the young lady at all.
Anyone who came at me with that kind of predatory aura and said they just wanted to talk was an idiot to believe.
But the young lady, as if proving her words were true, sat down on the floor and patted the spot beside her.
I stayed wary and slowly sat down in my own spot.
Maybe because I hadn’t sat next to her, the young lady looked a little dissatisfied, but I decided to ignore it.
"So, what did you want to talk about...?"
"I only have one thing to ask. How do you still have memories from before the history change? That should be impossible for anyone besides me and Shido."
Just as the young lady had said, she also understood that history had changed.
She even seemed to have the same memories from before the change as Itsuka-kun.
If I had to guess, maybe she had the power to control time, and since she was the one who sent Itsuka-kun into the past, that was why she kept those memories.
So in a situation where only the person who changed history and the spirit who sent him back should have retained their memories, my existence had somehow slipped right in there, and that must have bothered her.
"Hmm... I’m not really sure myself."
"Pardon?"
"Even if you ask me, all I can say is, ‘I don’t know.’"
In truth, I didn’t know why I still had my memories either.
I only had a guess that it might be because I had experienced regression, like I’d told Itsuka-kun.
But I didn’t think there was any need to tell the young lady about my regression, so I answered that I didn’t know.
"Hmm... I see."
Her eyes said she didn’t believe me, but I had given the best answer I could, so there was nothing I could do.
Still, I had something I wanted to ask too, so I decided to go ahead and ask it.
"Then may I ask something this time?"
"What is it?"
"Why are you wearing your spirit weapon?"
The young lady had been wearing her spirit weapon ever since she came onto the rooftop.
It was as if she were about to use her power.
"Kihihit! Why, to absorb Hieta’s power, of course."
"What...!"
Before I knew it, the young lady’s shadow had stretched all the way to me.
On top of that, white hands had emerged to grab me and keep me from escaping while I was seated, and before I knew it I’d been caught helplessly and turned into an endless-power battery.
"Hieta has ‘infinite’ ‘time,’ doesn’t he? So I’ll have you make up for a little of the time I spent sending Shido into the past."
"Haah..."
Somehow, it didn’t seem like talking was her only goal.
It was true that, as an undead, I had no end to my lifespan.
Still, if she was going to do this, she could have just asked. I didn’t like being forced, so I glared at the young lady and said,
"You could have just asked."
"Surprises are better for things like this, aren’t they?"
"...Just undo this. I’ll sit still."
Thanks to the young lady, Itsuka-kun had been able to save Tobiichi, so I was willing to sit still and let her absorb my time.
I figured that counted as a kind of repayment.
The young lady chuckled at my words and sent the white arms back into the shadows, and I kept sitting there while my time was drained away.
After a little while, the rooftop door opened and Tobiichi came in.
Right, I’d forgotten for a moment because I was busy being wary of the young lady, but the reason I had come to the rooftop was because Tobiichi had called me here.
"To, Tobiichi?"
But somehow, Tobiichi looked a little strange.
The light had vanished from her eyes, and she had started muttering something.
"Sp...irit."
Tobiichi, looking at the young lady’s form, muttered that and spread her black wings.
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