"I'm home..." Arriving back home, I announced my presence as I usually did. Before the sun settled for the day, I decided to tell Kurumi that it was close to my curfew. While I didn't have a curfew, I just needed to some time away from all of the stuff that just recently happened in the span of a day.
"No answer... I guess nobody's home." Taking off my shoes, I headed for my room so I could rest in bed. A little sleep is something that I need.
"Kioshi-san." After reaching my room, Maria's voice echoes from my phone once again. This time, without taking out my phone from my pocket, she instantly hovered over my phone in a holographic form.
...
...
"Hm? Kioshi-san, why is your position sideways?" She tilted her head after she asked me that.
It's because you're talking from the position of where my phone is in my pocket Maria...
"S-sorry about that!" Taking my phone from out of my pocket, I placed the phone onto the desk the was right next to the window of my room.
"Is there something you need, Maria?"
"Yes, I believe that we both need to discuss something that happened earlier in the day. At Ratatoskr, we recently found an huge spike of Spiritual energy that was close to where you met Kurumi the Nightmare for your date." Using her finger, she swiped to the left (her left) and it showed an graph of some sort.
"Which Kuru-"
"The first Kurumi that you encountered, Kioshi-san. Now then, coming down with a synopsis, I was able to determine that this spike of Spirit energy might has some connections to the First Kurumi that you had seen, Kioshi-san."
"That's amazing, Maria. Shortening everything into a summary would be most beneficial with the amount of research that you have to do. Do you mind me asking about how you were able to determine this?" An spike of energy that had relations to the First Kurumi? What kind of relations could that be?
"It was simple, Kioshi-san. All I had to do was connect to the city's camera's at the time that the spike had occurred and watched."
...So it didn't require a synopsis then.
"A-ah, I see. So, can you tell me what happened in the recording?" Again, swiping her finger, she showed a video that took place on a rooftop in the early morning of today. I don't recognize the building, but it doesn't matter. All I need to know is what happened at this specific time and place.
As the video started to play, everything seemed normal. The birds were landing onto the floor of the rooftop, the blue sky developed in the sky, the city's buildings looked ever-so glossy... but it was until after we hit the first minute mark, that something was wrong...
...In the middle of the rooftop, stood a lone female figure with long black hair that extended all the way to her hips. The figure looked at least of the age of 20, and she wore a fully black gothic dress. While that didn't all that interesting at first, it was something else that made me feel...scared.
A crack on the camera had developed; causing the video to become a little distorted.
...While she stood on the same rooftop, the blue sky was no longer blue. The flooring of the rooftop was cracked, and the city... oh god the city...
Why was the city destroyed...?
In a brief instance, the female figure that stood in the middle of the rooftop had a gun to her head. We wasn't able to hear what she said because the sound of the recording was making nothing but static. As soon as she pulled the trigger, everything that I had just seen disappeared. Like nothing had happened at all, everything was back to normal.
All that had change was the female figure that now stood in the middle of the not-so-destroyed rooftop. While yes, the change that had happened was that she was there, but what strikes me surprised, was that her appearance had also-
Wait, is that the same dress that the First Kurumi wore to the... um, date...?
"Kioshi-kun... I'm coming! I'm coming back for you~!" As she sees the camera that hovered above her, she gave a smirk before shooting it down with her gun. Was that-
"Kioshi-san, it seems that you have a problem, right now." Before I had the time to fully think to myself, Maria had swiped the video and the graph away.
"This... seems hard to understand, Maria. What happened to the city in that-" Before I was able to finish my sentence, I heard the front door close. Is someone back home?
"K-Kioshi-san, w-we're home!"
"How you feeling after your first date, Mopey~? Come on down so we can see you~!" Ah, I see that Yoshino and Yoshinon are back from their journey out from somewhere. I should probably go down and-
Wait, who's 'Mopey?'
"Hide." That single word had raised the hairs on my arms. Her sudden serious tone had scared me beyond belief. Is everything alright?
"H-huh? Maria, what are you-"
"Kioshi, Yoshino and Yoshinon are still on Ratatoskr helping Shido with a recent problem with Origami." Wait, what-
"K-Kioshi-san, are you home? We're coming up..." If what Maria is saying is true, then who was Yoshino and Yoshinon that I'm hearing? Could it be Natsumi just playing a trick on me? No, there would be no reason to. Why would she even-
"Kioshi-san, open your window, turn off your lights and hide." Without wasting anymore time, I opened the window, turned off the lights, and hid in the nearest closet that was next to me.
...
...
...
The silence was starting to fuel my fear with my constant heavy breathing...
As I heard the wind blew into my room, I could also hear the footsteps that belonged to Yoshino as she's climbing up the stairs. Was it starting to become a bit chilly in my room? Maybe I shouldn't had opened my window.
"Kioshi-san, hold your breath for a little longer. Do not worry, I'm trying hurry and make a telep-" Before she was able to finish her sentence, my phone had cut off. It wasn't because of my phone being out of battery, it was because it had been frozen into ice. As 'Yoshino?' came closer to the room, I opened the closet door a little to see that there was a mattress of ice coming from the bottom of the door.
"Kioshi-san?" The door started to creak open. With each second of the door creaking open, I could hear my heart pump vigorously.
"Hm? He doesn't seem to be here, Yoshino." With the closet closed, I could hear Yoshinon's cute voice, but something feels wrong.
"Tch. Look, the window's open. He escaped before we even had the chance to catch him." Did... did Yoshino just click her tongue?
"Don't be upset, Yoshino, I'm sure we'll be able to follow him. I'm sure he didn't get that far away from us." All of a sudden, I heard a loud thud from where I could Yoshino and Yoshinon's voice.
"Find him and bring him back." Yoshino... why does she sound so cold?
"Don't worry, I'll try to not take too long. Who knows? Maybe one of the other Spirits had got to him first?" After Yoshinon said this, I heard something smash against the wall near the door.
"Just. Find. Him. Now!"
"No problem, Yoshino!" I heard a crash near my window; which was giving another reason as to why I could hear more wind coming inside my room.
"*(Sigh)* Why must he persist on running away from me?" I heard Yoshino sit on my bed as she started to wait on Yoshinon's scouting report. What was going on here?
"Ara ara, still acting like a child? You know, Kioshi wanted an actual woman to protect him, right?" A familiar voice had echoed into my head. Kurumi...
"You're still alive? How many times do I have to kill you just to make that you won't touch him again?" By the tone of Yoshino's voice, I could tell that she was annoyed by Kurumi's presence.
"Ah, I can see that you hold a conversation without stuttering now. What a improvement, Yoshino! I'm so proud of you~!" I heard Kurumi start to clap in celebration.
"Shut up. I have no problems killing another Kurumi without Yoshinon's influence on me." As she said this, it was starting to become even more colder. Looking down, I could see that my feet was frozen solid.
This... isn't good...! Maria, where are you?!
"So scary~! I'd be careful though! I don't think that our guest would appreciate it if you freeze him to death!" Wait, is she talking about me? Does... Kurumi know that I'm still here?
"What are you talking about? Kioshi-san isn't here!"
"Oh, the poor naive girl~! Do you really think that he's not capable of hiding under our noses? If I was you, then I would check the closet~"
She knows...
She knows that I'm here...! Just after she said this, I hear footsteps coming straight towards me. Becoming frightened, I closed my eyes, waiting for my imminent death to come before me.
Step...
Step...
Step...
Step...
Before I knew it, the closet door slammed open; awaiting me, was Yoshino's shock expression...
"K-Kioshi-san?" I could see her new reddened eyes staring down at me. Before I had the chance to fully look at her, I felt something tug my body into a random location. And before I even knew what happened to me...
"Kioshi-san, are you alright?" In front of me, stood Maria in a form that wasn't even displayed onto a phone. This was actually a form that Maria has to make her look human...
"Kioshi-san, are you alright?"