The owner of that familiar voice was, of course, the young lady.
The young lady, wearing a coat made of black and red, walked toward us with a mischievous smile.
"Ufufu, are you all well? Shido, Kotori, Hieta. And... the unfamiliar spirit."
"Kurumi!"
None of us had expected that person to show up, so Itsuka-kun, the Commander, and I were all taken aback.
I never thought the young lady, who hadn’t even been invited, would show up here.
No, come to think of it, maybe she’d come because of Itsuka-kun’s empty wish.
After all, the young lady could still be called one of Itsuka-kun’s "friends," in a manner of speaking.
Thinking about it that way, her coming to the park wasn’t all that strange.
"Why are you in a place like this――"
"Please don’t be so wary. I have no intention of fighting here today. I only came to say hello."
As if she had come for no other purpose than a simple greeting, the young lady looked at Len and said,
"You were Len, yes?"
"Yeah. I’m Len. Just some insignificant spirit."
"Ufufu, you don’t need to be so modest. I can already smell how delicious you are."
"Delicious smell...."
Just like before with Itsuka-kun, and with me too, the young lady had told those with some special power that they looked tasty.
Given her ability, which consumed time and took that time from others or absorbed spirit power and converted it into strength, I could understand why she’d say it that way. But it was still a deeply unsettling choice of words.
"I’m Tokisaki Kurumi. I’m the dearest of friends with Shido, Kotori, and Hieta."
"...Y-yeah."
"...Well."
Itsuka-kun seemed to accept it reluctantly, but I didn’t.
We weren’t close enough to be dearest friends, so I’d call us more like casual acquaintances.
Aside from the occasional time we met up to go to a cat café or play with stray cats, we hadn’t really met much at all, so there was definitely some exaggeration there.
"Oh my, I thought we were friends, but you don’t, Hieta? How sad."
"You..."
When the young lady made a show of looking like she was about to cry, the Commander crossed her arms and shook her head, apparently fed up.
"Oh? Is there some problem?"
Of course, the young lady just brushed it off with a face that said she had no idea what she’d done.
It was a little ironic that someone so relaxed would break into a cold sweat when I entered [Incarnation of Kings] mode.
Back when I saved Itsuka-kun and tried to kill Rinne by fighting in [Incarnation of Kings] mode, the young lady had broken into a cold sweat, and that had caused some misunderstandings too.
If I had to guess, when she fought me, the Commander and I had pushed her with flames, so maybe it had stayed in her subconscious like a kind of trauma.
While I was thinking those pointless thoughts, the Commander was saying something to the young lady.
"It’s not like... if you’re that close, I’d like you to let us seal your spirit power quickly."
So that was what she meant. The young lady still hadn’t had her spirit power sealed by Itsuka-kun yet.
That was why the Commander let out a sigh and said that.
From the Commander’s perspective as a member of [Ratatoskr], the young lady was a symbol of failure and a target that had to be challenged again, so she had spoken as if making a subtle request. But the young lady only grinned at that and picked a fight.
"Ufufu, I’m not as easy as your group, Kotori."
Vein twitch!
At the word easy, a vein popped on the Commander’s forehead.
Calling someone easy was insulting, and I hadn’t expected the young lady to provoke her that directly. While Itsuka-kun and I were still stunned, the Commander charged at the young lady first.
"W-who are you calling an easy woman!!"
The Commander rushed at the young lady and tried to grab her, but.
"Ufufufu, do you really think you can catch me?"
As always, the young lady toyed with her opponent and slipped past the Commander’s hand by a hair’s breadth.
"I see. You really do seem to get along well."
Len saying that the two of them got along well was just a bonus.
"Ahaha...."
"So, is that it?"
"No, there’s more."
Len seemed ready to rest now, but there were still more people left.
"Ah! It’s Papa!"
"You’re here right on time."
A small girl with pink hair ran toward Itsuka-kun, shouting "Papa!"
Behind her came a girl with a similar appearance, a blonde girl, and a woman with light blonde hair.
"R-Rio! You have to come with us!"
"Uncle! Hi!"
"Yeah, good to see you too, Rio."
Rio clung to Itsuka-kun while greeting me.
I returned the greeting and checked to see who else was arriving.
"To think you’d already met a new spirit. Hii, what on earth have you been doing?"
Mayuri immediately scolded me the moment she arrived, looking exasperated.
Normally I would have laughed it off awkwardly, but this time I hadn’t done it on purpose, and in a way I’d been dragged into it by Itsuka-kun too, so I felt wronged.
"I didn’t meet her because I wanted to. I got dragged into it by Itsuka-kun."
"You got dragged into it by Shido?"
"Yes. I ended up meeting her after Itsuka-kun asked me to come along."
"Hee...."
After hearing my explanation, Mayuri gave Itsuka-kun a sharp look.
It was the sort of look that seemed to accuse him of why he’d brought me along and made me meet a new spirit, and Itsuka-kun panicked and broke into a cold sweat. Rinne, seeing that, shook her head.
The Fire Keeper, used to Mayuri acting like that, didn’t pay it any mind and came straight over to me.
"My dear, you’ve got another woman now?"
Correction.
This might be even worse.
"N-no, you heard me, didn’t you? I――"
"It’s all right, my dear. I’m not complaining."
Her tone was perfectly calm, as if she truly didn’t care at all, but the meaning behind it was completely different.
She was saying that I hadn’t met Len because I wanted to, but wasn’t it a bit much to only bring it up now after saying nothing before?
How many women was I already tied up with, and now I was adding another one?
That was the kind of meaning packed into that one sentence.
Even her mouth was smiling, but her eyes weren’t smiling at all!
"...Sometimes, you know, I think Sachi is the scariest of all."
"...Me too."
Mayuri and Rinne exchanged thoughts after seeing the Fire Keeper’s behavior.
If they had the time to say that, I wished they’d stop her instead.
While I was left speechless, the Commander’s voice came from beside me.
"Sachi. Hiki wasn’t doing it on purpose, so let it go."
After failing to catch the young lady, the Commander saved me by stopping the Fire Keeper.
"I see. So that’s what jealousy is. Hieta’s surprisingly the type who gets dragged around by the nose."
"Are you analyzing me or what...."
I heard Itsuka-kun’s exasperated voice in response to Len’s analysis.
Beside him, Rinne was looking at Len with an unreadable expression.
"So, the new spirit is..."
Mayuri also looked a little uncertain.
The two of them were acting strangely, and I was about to wonder why when Len greeted them.
"It should be nice to meet you, right? I’m Len. Just a worthless spirit, and for now I’m helping fulfill Shido’s wishes."
"...I’m Sonogami Rinne. Nice to meet you."
"...Amamiya Mayuri. Nice to meet you."
The way they awkwardly introduced themselves felt somehow very strange.
Rinne and Mayuri both looked like they were forcing themselves to greet her.
"Rio is Sonogami Rio! Nice to meet you!"
Rio was the only one reacting to Len without any awkwardness.
I felt a strange sense of discomfort, but I told myself it was just because they were meeting for the first time and let it go.
Vrrring—!
Then my phone rang.
Thinking it might be a text, I turned it on, and white and black popped out.
"So it’s finally our turn?"
"It looks that way."
Marina and Maria’s voices spilled out of the phone, drawing everyone’s attention.
"Waaah! Maria-chan and Marina-chan! It’s been so long!"
[Good to see you, Rio!]
[Good to see you, Rio.]
Since Rio didn’t usually come to [Fraxinus] and couldn’t go to school with them either, it had been a very long time since she’d seen Maria and Marina.
That was why she was so excited.
"So, the new spirit?"
"Ah, just a moment."
To introduce Len, I held up my phone and pointed it toward her.
Since I was using the front camera and not the rear camera, there was no chance of any weird misunderstanding.
"That’s her."
"I’m Len. Nice to――"
[The introduction’s fine, we just heard it. I’m Marina. Nice to meet you.]
[Marina.... Sorry about our Marina. I’m Maria. Nice to meet you.]
[W-what did I do!?]
After cutting Len off and then acting as if she’d done nothing wrong, Marina’s attitude made Maria apologize to Len over and over.
"I’m fine. Still, a being inside a phone... how unusual. Is that Hieta’s taste?"
"What are you talking about...."
Since the two of them had been born as AIs and still didn’t have bodies, they were only in cyberspace. But that didn’t mean I liked 2D girls.
If I did, I wouldn’t be so helpless around real women.
"Well, anyway, is that everyone? Then I suppose we can say the first wish has been fulfilled?"
At Len’s words, now that everyone had finally exchanged greetings, Itsuka-kun nodded.
"Yeah. My first wish has come true."
As soon as Itsuka-kun said that, light suddenly began to pour out of Len.
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