Tuesday, April 11, 10:20 AM

The school break had begun. All the students of Raizen High School were enjoying this moment, but unlike the rest, Shido seemed not to have noticed it. He remained seated at his desk with one hand resting on the right side of his face.

Since waking up this morning, he kept looking for a logical explanation for what happened last night.

While preparing breakfast, he analyzed the night encounter with Natsumi yesterday, thus concluding that it was like a dream. So during all these hours, he tried to convince himself that it was.

—Itsuka

However, the kiss the witch gave him on his cheek and the last words she said by her provoked a great debate to know if everything that happened yesterday was real or not.

—Itsuka!

He hadn't even paid attention in class; something strange came from Shido, who used to be one of the best students. But today, he just copied what his teacher wrote on the blackboard without giving importance to the explanation given by her.

—ITSUKA!

When he heard his last name being shouted, he reacted. He blinked a couple of times and saw that a few centimetres away from his face was his friend's face.

—Uwaah!

Shido was startled at how close he was to his friend's face, so he leaned against the back of his chair to escape.

Unfortunately, he put too much weight on the backrest, which caused the chair to give way and start to fall backwards; however, halfway through the fall, the chair stopped moving. It was as if gravity had disappeared.

—Huh?

Once she sensed that her fall had stopped, she looked to her right and exchanged glances with a white-haired girl, who had put one of her hands on the back of the chair to break her fall.

—Good morning, Shido.

Origami greeted him without showing any emotion. Even if the moment was not right, she took advantage of the situation and did what she thought appropriate.

—G-good morning, T-Tobiichi-san. T-thank you for saving me.

Shido returned the greeting and thanked him for saving him from some embarrassment. He hadn't expected Origami to keep him from his fall; he had mentally prepared himself to take the fall and pretend it didn't hurt, but in the end, that never happened.

—Be more careful next time.

After giving him that little advice, Origami returned him to his previous position without making any effort.

—Hm? So it was true, you've always been close to Tobiichi? Itsuka sex beast

Tonomachi expressed his opinion on what he had just seen. The previous day, Shido had told her that he didn't know her, but today it seemed to be the opposite; she saved him from falling backwards to the ground, something that in Tonomachi's eyes showed a certain closeness between the two.

—Hey, don't call me that... !

[Pip]

Before Shido could complain to him for calling him in such an embarrassing way, the sound of a notification from Tonomachi's cell phone interrupted the moment.

Tonomachi pulled his phone out of his pants pocket and looked at it with a smirk, then looked up and saw Shido with a modest expression.

—Well, if you'll excuse me, I must spend time with my girlfriend. Good luck talking to Tobiichi, Itsuka.

After saying goodbye to Shido, Tonomachi left the classroom while looking intently at his cell phone screen.

Shido couldn't say anything; a lot of things had happened so quickly that it was impossible for him to defend himself from the embarrassing nickname Tonomachi gave him; the only thing that could cross his mind at that moment was a somewhat absurd question.

—Since when did Tonomachi have a girlfriend?

After wondering inwardly, he looked ahead and realized that most of his classmates were not in the classroom, so he figured they were at recess.

—Shido

A female voice called him from the right; Shido knew who it was since he had just spoken to her a few moments ago.

Shido turned his head and saw her without making her wait too long.

Now that he appreciated her better, he could tell that her face was very similar to a doll's, not only because she always kept the same expression but also because of her beauty.

—What's wrong, Tobiichi-san?

Unconsciously, he blushed. He certainly seemed like a timid boy when talking to a girl, something that, for one thing, was true. Not for nothing did most students who know him say he bats the other way.

—Have a date with me.

—Cof, Cof, Cof, Cof!

Shido choked with his saliva after hearing the unexpected proposal; the girl didn't hesitate to say what she was looking for; she had been forthright.

—What are you saying?! We just met yesterday, Tobiichi-san! Isn't it too soon to go on a date?!

—No. If we go on a date, we can learn more about each other. It's a very efficient way to make us closer.

Shido blinked several times and grimaced, showing his dissatisfaction; having a date as the first step to being friends seemed too much to him.

—Em... If you don't mind, I could give you my answer at the end of the day, Tobiichi-san.

17:10 PM

Classes had ended ten minutes ago. Most of the students left for home. The only ones left were Origami and Shido, standing at the high school entrance. The latter promised to give her his answer once the day ended, so Origami waited patiently for his response.

—Erm... Tobiichi-san.

Now that he was in front of her, he didn't know what to say.

After Origami proposed to go on a date, he had been thinking of various ways to talk to her, but the moment he put them into practice, no words managed to come out of his mouth.

Sweat began to soak her face; he placed her hand on the side of her face while in her head, he kept repeating, "Calm down, Calm down, Calm down."

—R-Respective of your invitation...

The beads of sweat were becoming more visible, his cheeks were increasing in temperature, and he couldn't deal with what was happening to him. Still, if he ran away from her, Origami would think he was a coward, so stuttering, he tried to finish answering her.

—I-I agrees to accompany you.

After hearing his answer, Origami changed her monotonous expression and raised her eyebrows. She never thought that Shido would accept such a sudden proposal.

After being surprised, Origami returned to her usual expression, held the boy's hand, and handed him a small piece of paper. On his side, Shido was still blushing; he averted his gaze to his hand and saw that the paper had a series of numbers on it.

—W-wait... D-did you give me your phone number?

—That's right, with this we can meet at tomorrow's date.

Shido paled as he listened to her; if he already thought her proposal was sudden, now he didn't know what to think about the appointment.

—T-tomorrow?

He asked, hoping she'd say he was wrong and put it off for a few days later, or if he was lucky, the weekend.

—Yes. Tomorrow at 7:00 P.M. I wait for you in front of the Obujo in West Tengu Park.

—W-what? But isn't it too late? The next day we had to go to high school.

—It won't be a problem, Shido. You can sleep over at my place if our date ends too late.

Origami said that without showing any signs of embarrassment, Shido, on the other hand, turned into a walking tomato. Origami's idea caused him to imagine quite embarrassing situations.

—W-W-W-W-WHATTTTTTT?!

Tengu City Streets, 17:52 PM

He was walking home at a slow pace. Any guy in his condition would be jumping for joy at getting his first date, but Shido was lamenting something he had overlooked all day instead of doing that.

—I forgot to ask Tobiichi-san what she meant by his question.

With all the things he had on his mind, he couldn't remember it.

First, it was what happened yesterday with Natsumi and then Origami's date proposal, which ended up taking him by surprise and didn't allow him to think of anything but to answer her calmly and quietly; well, in the end, that never happened, because we already know how it all ended.

[TAP, TAP, TAP]

While he was still lamenting, a girl approached him from behind without noticing. Suddenly, the woman covered the boy's eyes with her hands, causing his eyesight to go completely dark.

—Can you guess who I am?

Shido froze in place after noticing that his vision had gone completely dark. Usually, he would be scared; however, he could hear the voice of the person behind him, and it sounded familiar.

—Na...? Natsumi-san?

Hearing the answer, the stranger giggled and slowly removed her hands from Shido's eyes.

—You got it right, Shido-kun! Although... Instead, call me by my name.

After discovering her identity, Shido turned to face her. When he did, he crossed glances with her and saw again those beautiful eyes that had hypnotized him, which caused a slight red tint to appear on his cheeks.

He couldn't describe his feelings; it was a strange sensation: Joy? Embarrassment? A combination of both? He wasn't sure.

Natsumi saw the way Shido looked at her and thought it was tender. So she would take advantage of the boy's state to get a little closer to him.

—And... Tell me, Shido-kun, are you glad to see me again?

Shido had no idea how to answer him; the first thing he did was to avert his gaze to the side. He had no experience whatsoever in this kind of situation.

—Ahh... I...

As he thought of a way to tell him. The witch waited impatiently for the answer the boy would say; her excitement to know that answer increased with each passing second.

—Come on, say it, don't be shy!

Shido closed his eyes because of his nerves and immediately answered the question asked by Natsumi.

—I'm glad to see you, Natsumi!

As he finished pronouncing his answer, he slowly opened his eyes; when he was about to open them, the witch hugged him affectionately.

—You're a good boy, Shido-kun! I knew you'd be happy to see me!

Shido's little red tint on his cheeks increased; he could feel Natsumi's breasts resting on him. Although it sounds strange, it was the first time he was so close to a girl other than his little sister.

After a few seconds, Natsumi pulled away from Shido; he wrapped both arms around her bust, winked at her and proposed something.

—Would you like to take a walk with your Onee-san?

Ten Minutes Later

Natsumi and Shido were in a small park. The witch was sitting on a bench, watching Shido, who was talking on the phone a few inches from her.

—Remember to bring me the candy you promised, Onii-chan! If you forget, I won't forgive you!

The voice of her little sister came from her cell phone. It had already been a few minutes since Natsumi proposed to take a walk. Needless to say, what her answer was.

—Okay, Kotori. See you at home.

He waved goodbye to her as a slight sweat trickled down his hundred. When he called her to tell her that he would be home late, Kotori innocently teased him, telling him that it was her first time dating someone, which hurt him coming from his little sister. Still, in the end, he managed to stop her from filling him with questions by telling her that he would buy her favourite sweets on the way home.

—Well, see you later, Onii-chan!

[Pip]

That noise signalled the end of the call. Shido sighed in relief at being able to avoid being questioned by Kotori; she used to be quite curious about anything related to her older brother; she always liked to know what he did.

—I never imagined you had a little sister, Shido-kun —Natsumi spoke as she stood up from the bench where she was sitting before.

—Ah, yeah, I'm sorry you had to listen to our whole conversation, Natsumi —replied Shido with embarrassment.

—Don't worry about it, Shido-kun! We'd better hurry up and start our walk!

After saying that, Natsumi grabbed the boy's hand and walked out of the park at a hurried pace. Shido, who could barely keep up with her, asked the first thing that came to his mind.

—W-where are we going, Natsumi? And W-why are you going so fast?

Natsumi turned to look at him without stopping and smiled at him.

—You'll soon find out, Shido-kun! Just trust me!

After that, they both left the park. However, after they left, a white-haired girl in a Raizen High School uniform emerged from behind a tree and whispered something to herself.

—Spirit Witch, located.

Natsumi and Shido met again after yesterday's night encounter. Shido didn't understand why Natsumi was looking for him, so during the walk, he would ask her if his nerves didn't prevent him from doing so.

On the other side was Tobiichi Origami, the girl who would have a date with Shido tomorrow. She was watching Shido and Natsumi while hiding behind a tree, which is entirely mysterious.

What is she hiding behind her actions?