-Chapter 10, Hermit

Both Kotori and Kannazuke turned their heads to the sound of the sudden arrival of Shido who, huffing and puffing, stated, "I'm here..." as the doors behind him closed, Reine following along at his right flank. Aboard the bridge, thrown up on the main screen, the four stared at the aftermath of this most recent spacial quake. Shido recognised the crater as being in one of the more urban areas in town and had eradicated an entire block of stores and warehouses.

Kotori nibbled at the end of her thumb. "Hmm...Kannazuke, wouldn't you say this one was a little bigger than usual?"

He tapped at his handheld – a device similar in design to the thin, translucent displays of the crew's stations – and retrieved an image from a month prior. He studied it intently. Despite still being smaller than Princess', there was evidence to suggest it was larger than average for this Spirit. "I'm inclined to agree. Perhaps Hermit has undergone some abnormal emotional stimuli?"

Without taking his eyes of the screen, Shido tilted his head a little towards Kotori. "'Hermit'?" He asked.

"The name of the Spirit that's appeared this time." The footage zoomed in past the borders of the crater to focus on the newly-arrived girl. "She's known for being more docile than the other Spirits we've seen." The camera zoomed again, this time showing an ever-so-slightly sorrowful expression on a soft, rounded face, with the lingering dregs of what could have been wistfulness keeping her mouth neutral. Shido took in the girl's clothes: a green, patchwork coat, reminiscent of a rabbit with button eyes and a fluffy tail…

"I've seen this girl before!" Shido exclaimed, his mind flashing back to the girl at the shrine.

Kotori wheeled round, stunned. "Where and when?!"

"I met her outside the shrine. It couldn't have been more than a few days ago."

"We were already tracking her by then," said Kannazuke, checking his handheld and pulling up some readings. "But there were no disruptions of her main Spirit-wave numbers at that time."

"So, it's just like Tohka? Showing up without a quake is getting unnervingly-common..." She bit her fingernail in thought. "Cou-"

She was cut off by the AST's inevitable attack on the Spirit. Five of them, all wielding large rotary cannons and spraying a hailstorm of proximity fuse shells down into the crater. They lit up the Spirit within, launching smoke and dust high into the sky. However, attacks ineffective, the Spirit burst forth from the cloud of ash and took off into the sky, blowing past the AST's airborne position and arcing away. Origami and the rest of the unit lit up the sky, struggling to lead the Spirit in order to land a hit. She arched and weaved through the air, spiralling around the AST's wall of lead and death.

"How can they fire on a little girl?!" Shido demanded.

Kotori rested her head on her arm, closely following the action on-screen. "What she looks like doesn't matter to the AST."

"She's trying to run away!" Shido countered. "What they're doing is wrong!"

"There's no use in feeling sorry for her without doing anything about it, you know," Kotori shot, goading him on.

He glared at the screen. The girl's flight rocked under stress. She cried out, unable to evade the unending volume of fire. The AST's shots crept closer and closer. How long before a direct hit? How long before she was sent, tumbling, to the broken floor beneath? How long before they could move in to finish the girl off? How long-

"Kotori!" Shido tore his eyes away and nodded to his sister. "Let's do it. I wanna go save that girl."

"Alright, that's what I like to hear, now get going to the teleporter. The rest of you, listen up! Prepare for a type-one capture!" Kotori flourished her arm toward the rest of the bridge crew, smiling to herself. "I think it's about time for another date."

Kannazuke, predictably, found Hinata in the Fraxinus' gymnasium. In fact, Kannazuke was sure that he hadn't actually seen Nat anywhere else for the past five days. "Hey, kid!" he shouted out, getting the boy's attention. "You're up."

Nat cocked his eyebrow. "A Spirit? Already?"

"Mm-hm." With that, he took off to let the boy prepare himself.

And prepare himself he did. Closing his eyes, he took in long, ragged breaths and quelled his heartbeat, willing the rush of adrenaline in his body to subside. He could still feel the crackle in his knuckles. The spark in his wrist. The jolt in his soul. It was...electrifying. With a stern expression and a sure nod of the head, Nat steeled himself. "Alright. No sweat. Just feel that energy, Nat. You've got this." He hopped on the spot, psyching himself up, rolling his neck, wrists and shoulders. "You feel great! You can win! You. Can. Do. Thi-"

"Are you done?" Kannazuke peeked his head through the door, catching Nat in the middle of his pep talk, then made a show of tapping his wrist. "Clock's ticking."

Nat flinched and hastily tore off his gloves, barged past Kannazuke, and headed for the ship's teleporter, all the while too embarrassed to look up at the man.

Kannazuke chuckled to himself as he watched the boy leave. "You'll do great, kid. Just have some confidence."

The sound of the AST's guns weren't just a conventional rat-tat-tat. No, the weapon that Origami clutched in slick, rain-soaked hands spat a whirring BRRRRRT as it laced the sky with explosions. In the cavalcade of hellfire from her and her squad, it was only a matter of time before shots started to clip their mark, sending the Spirit careening into a deserted department store, smashing through one of the windows and vanishing inside its shadowy interior. Origami grunted and halted the rest of the squad, cursing inwardly for outfitting them all with long-range firepower. "This is Master Sergeant Tobiichi of Strike-One. Requesting permission to pursue target designated as 'Hermit' inside the complex." She waited a moment for the reply, before, again, cursing inwardly. "Yes, Ma'am." She cut comms to HQ and switched channels to her squad, glancing around at their hovering silhouettes. "Strike-One, set up a perimeter around the building. Cover as many exits as you can!" she barked. "It's not getting away, this time."

Unbeknownst to her, the Spirit wasn't the only living thing within the tower of concrete. Shido and Hinata, both laying low, struggled to make out anything in the building's shattered state. The errantly flickering lights threw stark shadows of mannequins up against the thin haze of dust that clung at their throats, then quickly faded as dark overtook the room once more. Under the muffled cacophony of gunfire and distant explosions, Nat opened his mouth to speak.

"It's pretty spooky in here," he murmured.

Shido shot him a glance and was about to make a retort when, with a flash of light, he noticed the boy's quaking form. To that, Shido gave a reassuring smile. "Hey, Hinata. We're gonna be fine."

Nat's eyes nervously flicked between Shido and his trembling fist. "I-I'd feel a lot more comfortable right now if I had any kind of control over my power..." he sighed, his mouth clammy and dry.

"Yeah, I know the feeling," Shido conceded with an honest nod.

"R-really?"

"Yup. Remember that kiss with Tohka?"

Nat did, but if he was being honest, he was far too concerned with Sam to piece together much of what happened. "Vaguely. Why?"

Shido shook his head. "I had no idea that was gonna work. If it hadn't...you, Sam, Tohka, me… We'd all be dead."

Nat crept closer, lips parted slightly. "Then...how did you do it?"

Shido shrugged. "Hell if I know. I just...had faith."

"Faith?"

"Yeah. Faith in myself, sure, but – more importantly – I had faith in my little sister. In Kotori."

The lights flickered. Splayed over Shido's face was an expression of distant longing. For what, Nat had no idea, but the words did resonate with him, if just a little bit. "R-right. I'll try."

Shido gave him a friendly look. "Come on, let's go find that Spirit, Nat."

Brightening at Shido's use of his preferred name, Nat's lips clamped shut into a returned grin, as if to say: "Right behind you, bud."

SMASH!

Their exchange interrupted, the two snapped their gazes into the dreary haze toward the source of the noise. A moment later, the faint crinkle-crunch of broken glass echoed throughout the room, followed again by the scuff of something falling.

"What the hell?" Nat whispered, bringing his fists up and body round.

"Kotori? Was that…?" Shido asked.

"Yup. Looks like Hermit just crash-landed on your floor," Kotori confirmed, nervously eyeing up the AST's formation.

"Alright, we're going in." Shido skulked forwards, futilely trying to pick out the girl through the choking shadows. Outside, the roar of combat had thankfully subsided, and Shido found his mind revisiting the encounter with Tohka in the school. "As long as we stay in here, we might be safe. Unless Tobiichi's out there. She'd definitely risk it." Caught up in his own thoughts, Shido stumbled and tripped over the prone form below him. He yelped as he fell, causing the Spirit to spring up in horror. She faced Nat who, stunned, threw his hands up in surrender.

The Spirit's eyes widened as she backpedalled, before having her legs swept out from under her by the recovering Shido, and falling flat on her back, letting out a winded gasp. The two boys were sharing worried glances when a voice came up from the darkness.

"Everyone's bullying Yoshinon today! Can't you just leave me alone?!" it whined.

They looked down at the girl, but it wasn't the girl speaking. Instead, it was the small, white rabbit puppet shrouding her left hand – that apparently needed an eyepatch over its right eye – talking.

"E-excuse me?" Shido stuttered, dumbfounded.

Still attached to the girl's hand, the puppet hovered closer, combing over Shido with one beady, red, little eye. "Hang on...you're the boy from the shrine! Why are you following me?" it demanded.

A familiar scene played out before the bridge crew of the Fraxinus. A Spirit asking a question, a boy moving to answer, a list of choices appearing on-screen. Again, Shido was stopped by Kotori as they all panned over their options:

1) "My name is Shido. I've been following you...to give you a better life."

2) "Following you? No, you've been following me! So, spill it. You're interested, aren't ya?"

3) "Whatever do you mean? I'm just a wandering vagabond!

"Talk to me, people!" Kotori called out, flaunting her lollipop at the screen. "Name your choice!"

Mikimoto was first. "Come on! It's gotta be two! This one's straight out of a dating sim!" He flashed a grin of self-assured victory. "Turn the question around, put her on the spot, then appeal to her true desires!"

Minowa gave a look of disdain at her colleague's display. "That's risky if you don't know the other person's personality-" Mikimoto made to interrupt, but Minowa cut him off before he could say anything, "And I'm not entirely convinced we're talking to the girl. Perhaps we're talking to the puppet. In that case, option one is our best bet."

"You're talking about a talking, independently-sentient puppet," said Kawagoe, raising an eyebrow at the woman.

"In her defence, we are talking about magical creatures," Nakatsugawa reminded.

"I don't need your defence. I'm perfectly capable on my own!"

"Even so-"

"Surely then, option two-"

"Hang on, all-"

"Everyone shut up!" Kotori yelled, her voice silencing the bickering crew. "We're going with option three, considering none of you can decide between options one and two!" She slammed a finger into one of the many buttons on her armrest. "Shido, go with option three!"

Shido, glancing nervously between the doll and the still-recovering girl, questioned, "Are you sure about that? She's still pretty banged-up. Little tasteless to be cracking jokes right now, no?" At the same time, he quietly gestured for Nat to retreat back and out of view. Nat nodded and did so, disappearing into the darkness.

"Come on, the best we can do is make them laugh and try to cheer them up. And, don't you know someone who would talk like that."

With a grimace, Shido replied, "Tonomachi..." then stood up straight and let out a deep breath. The next moment, he dramatically brushed the hair out of his face and proclaimed, "Whatever do you mean? Me? Why, I'm just a wandering vagabond!"

It took a second for any kind of reaction from the puppet, but when it finally came, Shido was glad to know it responded by throwing its head back and laughing. It drew closer, stopping just in front of Shido's face, bringing the Spirit up onto her feet along with it. "You're trying to make me laugh, aren't you? Nobody talks like that seriously!" the puppet chortled.

From this up close, Shido could make out more of the puppet's details, such as the Jester-like ruffle around its neck, or the deep black button that made up its eyepatch. "Well, I'm glad you liked my joke." Shido paused to let the puppet speak, but when he realised it wasn't going to, he awkwardly continued. "So, my name's Shido. You are…?"

"Oh, how embarrassing!" it quickly replied. "I can't believe I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Yoshinon! Ain't it cute, ain't it cute?"

"S-sure. Yeah, it's cute." Shido pointed a finger between the girl and her puppet. "So, is that your name, or the name of the puppet? Do you guys share a name?"

Like a pin, Yoshinon's expression dropped, along with a frustrated "Ugh…"

Kotori's spine straightened with panic at the new, blaring report scrolling across the main screen. "Shido! What are you doing down there? Her happiness just took a nosedive, and it wasn't exactly high already!"

"What? Nothing, I swear. I was just trying to find out why she only talks in ventriloquism," Shido answered, feeling hurt at his sister's accusations. However, when he looked back at the puppet, he quickly realised why Kotori was distressed.

"I do not kno-o-ow what you are talking about, Shido. What is 'ventriloquism'?" it rasped, bearing over Shido with its one red eye glowing fiercely. It was almost as if the shadows themselves hung over the girl's face, too. The boy could no longer make out any of the soft, cute details that he'd seen earlier. Shido took a step back.

"Look, we'll figure out the cause of this later. For now, just focus on making her happy again."

Now taking a more metaphorical step back, Shido sighed and took it from the top, if not still slightly shaky. "Right, yeah. I get your point. Yoshinon's just Yoshinon! Is that it?"

Thankfully, that subdued the Spirit's puppet, and the bright light in its eye faded. "Oh, Shido… You're one of those people who jokes around a lot, aren't you?" It searched his face. "Why did you come here?"

"Oh! Because...well, I know it's sudden, but will you go out on a date with me?" Slipping into a similar format as before, Shido suddenly found himself acting more confidently.

This seemed to give both the puppet and the girl pause, as despite the Spirit never talking, she always at least seemed focused behind those eyes. Now, in thought, they became a little more glossy. "A...date?" Yoshinon mumbled.

"That's it, Sam! Keep it up!" Mio encouraged, ducking and weaving between Sam's punches. One, in particular, she sidestepped, and prepared to bring her elbow down. Sam, unsurprisingly unwilling to fall for that again, allowed her body to follow after the punch, taking her out of elbow-range and into a neat tuck-and-roll that left her on her feet. Mio grinned appreciatively. "Nice moves, kid. I did hope that wasn't going to work twice."

Sam brushed herself off, her hands flattening the creases in her T-shirt. "Hey, don't underestimate me! You're not so tough, yourself, you know!" She waggled a finger at the Spirit, before coming at her again. One-two! Left-right! Mio caught, blocked, or dodged the majority of Sam's punches, but she'd be lying if she said they didn't connect on occasion, such as right now. Sam threw a reserved uppercut into Mio's guard, purposefully bringing it high, then span ninety degrees and kicked out with her right foot. Mio span to avoid it, but couldn't stop herself before being clobbered by Sam's approaching elbow. Flipping over, she smacked her head against the tiling beneath them, cracking it in half. In the confusion, she collided into Sam's legs and, due to her still being off-balance from the kick, she collapsed on top of the Spirit. Stunned, the two locked eyes, before Sam hastily clambered off. "I-I am so sorry!" she spluttered.

The Spirit wearily giggled and rubbed the back of her head. "'Sorry for whacking you with a dirty move' or 'sorry for falling on you and grabbing your chest'?"

Sam's cheeks reddened as she flared up. "I-it's not like that!" she stammered.

Mio picked herself up and cocked her hip to the side, an unconvinced look on her face. "Uh-huh?"

"It's not like I..." Sam struggled to find the words, "swing that way! And it wouldn't be fair on Nat!"

Mio sauntered closer, a smile playing over her lips. "Sure thing, Sammy." Sam gulped at the sudden proximity of the girl, not to mention the playful way she said her name.

"Wh-what are you doing?" In stark contrast to the warm rush of blood to her face, an icy shiver bounced down the girl's spine. Her eyes flittered to any corner of her vision that wasn't covered by Mio's gaze.

She traced Sam's cheek with a dainty finger. "You know, I'm really proud of you, Sammy. You're getting better and better at keeping up with me every day! You don't even need your armour, either," Mio whispered, moving her lips dangerously close to Sam's ear. She could feel the Spirit's hot breath on her neck, making her head dizzy. "So strong...quick...brave. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were fa-a-ar more capable than me with my own power."

The sing-song way she let words hang in the air completely tore down Sam's defences, while her own words could do nothing but lull in her mouth. It was only when Mio put a hand on her chest did Sam react. She snatched the Spirit's wrist, her face twisting. "Don't. I've had enough of your games."

Mio sighed and took her hand away, then her whole body. "I'll admit I may have pushed too far, sure, but I don't buy that 'I don't swing that way' excuse for one second, alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say," Sam replied, brushing off the comment and clenching her fists. "Now, you gonna send a real attack my way? Or are you just going to keep toying with me?"

Mio chuckled. "You're on, girl."