Chapter 1
A Storm is Coming
Shido rolled out of bed and headed for the kitchen and started fixing breakfast. By the time he was finished, Tohka had emerged from her room. She seemed completely exhausted, but the very second she smelled food; she snapped out of her stupor and seated herself at the table. "Good morning, Tohka," Shido said with a smile.
"Good morning, Shido!" She was obviously waiting for her food, because she was drooling all over the table. "Come on, Tohka, stop drooling like that."
She closed her mouth immediately and waited for Shido to give her food. Shido placed her meal in front of her and went off into the hallway. He headed into Kotori's room in order to wake her up, but found that she was already gone.
That's when he heard the noises. Sirens were blaring, signaling the coming of a spatial quake. Of course, Shido knew just what that meant:
Another spirit is coming.
Suddenly, he disappeared and reappeared in another room. He was transferred from his home to the Ratatoskr ship that his sister commands. He headed into the main room and looked down at the city and witnessed the spatial quake as it took its toll on the environment.
"There's something different about this quake," Kotori muttered. Her second-in-command nodded his head. "This quake was bigger than any of the ones we've witnessed up to this point, but why is that?"
Reine spoke up, "Probably because it was caused by two spirits that arrived simultaneously."
Kotori ordered the crew to get visuals on the target. What came up were two separate spirits who looked similar to each other. One of them was a boy, the other was a girl. "That's quite abnormal," Reine commented, "Male spirits are pretty rare, but what's more mind racking is why he arrived together with a second spirit."
Kotori grinned and looked to her. "It doesn't matter as long as we can have them dealt with. Now hurry up, big bro, we're gonna need you down there, ASAP."
Shido was then immediately transferred in a ruined building out of the two spirits' sights.
Now remember to just act natural, Shido. We don't want them attacking you, right?
"Yeah, I got it." Shido stepped out and approached the two, only making it two steps closer to them when they turned to face him. They both looked to be around his age, with blonde hair and red eyes. The girl looked to be slightly irritated by his presence, while the boy seemed indifferent towards Shido.
"Who the hell are you?" the girl demanded.
"Uh, my name is Shido Itsuka, and you?"
"Like we'd ever tell you that," she yelled. The boy placed his hand on her shoulder. "Hana, calm down, he's given his name to us, so it's only polite to give ours. My apologies, Shido, we'd be happy to give our names. My name is Arashi Dendo and the rude little girl is my sister Hana Dendo. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintanceship.
"My god bro, you didn't need to do that for some human," Hana spat. Arashi bashed her in the top of the head with a closed fist before turning to Shido. "Now what business do you have here, Shido? It's dangerous to be around us."
"That's exactly why I'm here!" he exclaimed. They focused their attention intently on Shido as he spoke those five words. "What do you mean by that? Are you supposed to be some sort of guardian? Or are you with those people that attack us?"
"That's not it! I'm actually here to ask Hana, uh, if she would go on a date."
The Dendo siblings were shocked by his sudden confession, which seemed to suggest that both of them knew more about the human world than most other spirits. If that's true than they're more than likely aware of what a date is. Hana laughed. "Why on earth would you want to date me, Shido?"
Back at the ship, the crew looked at the screen as three choices appeared.
You're just so beautiful, I couldn't help but ask!
I thought that it would be a nice way to get to know each other.
For what reason do you think I'd ask you?
"The choices are up there on the screen, people, so hurry up and make your choices!" Kotori shouted. The crew immediately went ahead. In moment, the numbers appeared. Number one got 38% of the votes, Number 2 got 50% of the votes and number three got 12% of the votes. "Now that I think about it, Number two really is a good choice. Alright big brother, go with number two!"
"I thought it would be a great way to get to know each other!" Shido relayed.
Hana grinned and turned to her brother. "Hear that brother? It seems this human has fallen for my looks and charm!"
"Pride is very unbecoming of you, sister," Arashi responded. "If you want to go on a date, I don't mind. Although, Shido, I will have to have a place to stay so long as I and my sister are here, so would you be so kind as to allow me to make use of your house until further notice?"
Shido was amazed by how polite Arashi was being towards him, unlike Hana. "I don't mind you using my house, but I gotta warn you that I have other guests there."
"That's perfectly acceptable, Shido, I'm in your debt." Hana wrapped her arm around Shido and pulled him into a headlock that pressed his face against her breasts. "Alright, little Shido, I'll humor you. We'll go on a date. How's tomorrow sound?" She released him and reluctantly nodded his head.
Shido led them to his house.
Before they reached the house, an explosion caught their attention. They looked up and found a squad of AST units staring down at them. "Not again," Shido groaned. Hana laughed, "So I guess you're not at all new to Spirits and these mecha weirdoes, eh Shido? Don't worry, they can't do crap to us."
Hana launched towards the AST, summoning a bolt-shaped lance. Sending electrical currents through every missile fired at her, causing them to prematurely detonate. "Come on, is that all you've got?" She swung her lance into the nearest AST soldier, drawing blood. "I guess even you cyborg knockoffs have red blood." Hana drop-kicked the soldier to the ground, knocking her out instantly. Shido ran over to her immediately. "Hey, don't you think that she's overdoing it a little, Arashi? Hana shouldn't be doing this."
"If my sister is right and you do have an extensive history with spirits, then you should understand that this is how things are for us, who have nothing but our own lives, Shido. We're constantly assaulted, believed to be dangerous, but they just don't understand that we don't do it intentionally. Yet they still attack us and we must defend ourselves and if we hold back, however slight, it will be a mistake that we would never be able to take back. So we give it our all when we combat these individuals who seek to harm us. There's just no other way."
"Yes there is, Arashi! You should know that you won't have to fight anymore if you let me help. Hana is right; you're not the first spirits I've met. I've met a number of spirits and I've managed to save them by sealing their powers. I can make you and Hana more or less human. I can make it so you can never harm anyone ever again."
Arashi was no longer focusing on the battle. "Are you being entirely honest with me, Shido, because I will not tolerate a lie as serious as this?" He summoned a whip sword for emphasis. "I'm being totally honest with you! I can seal your powers and make things better for you. I can save you!"
"Very well, Shido, I will believe you for now."
By the time they had finished talking, the entire AST squad was taken down. They weren't dead, but they would need medical treatment.
Hey Shido, take out your earpiece and give it to Arashi so that I can speak to him. Go distract Hana so that she doesn't overhear Arashi talking to me.
Shido took his earpiece out and handed it to Arashi, telling him to put it in before heading off to talk to Hana.
Hello, Arashi Dendo, my name is Kotori, I'm Shido's little sister.
"It's a pleasure, ma'am."
I need to talk to you about what Shido has just discussed with you. From all of Shido's past experiences with other spirits, he's managed to seal the powers of most of them. The way he is able to do this is by making them fall in love with him and then, he seals their power by kissing them. However through his past experiences, there have been instances where a spirit would try too hard to fall for Shido or to get him to fall for them, so I would appreciate it if you didn't tell your sister about this.
"I promise I won't relay this information to Hana, but is that really how Shido does it? That explains why he asked my sister out on a date right out of the blue."
That's right, Arashi.
"Although I must say, this method poses a problem, Miss Kotori."
Why is that? What's the problem?
"I only find interest in women, you see, so it's very much impossible for me to fall for Shido. So sealing my own powers shouldn't be possible."
That's where you're wrong, Arashi. Ever since Shido made contact with you, we've been analyzing your persons in order to find the best way to seal both of your powers. I believe we have come to a conclusion. You and your sister have a form of link between each other that allows you to feed of each other's strength when you're weak. We may be able to utilize that in some way, but it may take some time.
"It makes me very happy to know that you're trying so hard to protect us, ma'am. I do hope that your research bears fruit."
That's my job. We're finished here, Arashi, so you can return the earpiece back to Shido.
Arashi removed the earpiece and casually bumped into Shido to cover the fact that he had slipped it into Shido's pocket. "Let us be off now, Shido."
