Mario was gone from the shrine because he felt uneasy. Shido had quickly caught up after Tohka zoomed off some other direction, going 'home', although the air-head gourmet Spirit had no home to call. "Man, this weather's been really off lately." That's right, it was raining, just like when Mario went outside. "So much for only a 10% chance of rain." He ran more. He eventually stopped at the same shrine that Mario went to, and he noticed something.
A little girl, with a green hood with bunny ears and blue hair. She was also carrying a bunny puppet, playing around in the puddles. She leapt one too many times and flopped onto the ground. Shido, being the 'Mr-Nice-Guy' he is, quickly went over to her. "Hey, are you alright?!" The girl looked at him. And faster than anyone could preserve, she backed up against a tree. "Guess not." Shido came to a conclusion.
"Don't hurt me..." was all that came out of the girl's mouth. "P-please don't hurt me..." Shido gasped. The AST must have broken her spirits (no pun intended) to make friends. "Please..." Again and again came the pleaing. That was all that was remembered.
Cut to present times, and Shido had to get home or he'd drown in the rain. Not literally, but still. He took off his shoes. "Kotori, I'm home!" He didn't notice the extra pair of shoes placed next to his recently placed shoes. "I'm gonna take a shower."
He walked up to the shower, entered the room and then opened the shower curtains... Only to reveal a completely naked Tohka taking a shower in there. They both stared at each other for a bit. Tohka was the first to completely blush and punch Shido in the face. "GET OUT!" were her words before Shido nearly blacked out. It took less than 10 seconds for him to be out of the shower. He ran downstairs to the possible suspect.
"Kotori, why is Tohka in our house?" Kotori, who was wearing innocent white ribbons as opposed to her black ones, was sitting at an awkward position on the couch. When Shido leaned over to check, he found Mario sitting on the couch next to Kotori. Shido couldn't see him at first because of Mario's small size. "And Mario too?! Sigh... Please, Kotori?"
Mario turned to Shido. "Oh. Hey-a Shido. You told-a me that I was-a welcome in your home, so here I am!" He made a friendly wave. With a cheerful smile like that, who could possibly keep their guard up?
"Thanks."
"..."
Shido realised.
"Don't change the subject!"
"What? Tohka and Mario's staying here. It's not gonna be forever, y'know?"
"Hey, Shin, we need to talk." In comes Reine, using sugar cubes in coffee.
"Reine?!"
"Oh... Sorry. Am I using too much sugar?"
"No..." Shido sighed as him, Kotori and Reine sat down at the dining table while Mario sat down on the couch. "So..." Shido continued. "What's going on?"
Reine gave the scoop. "You have kissed Tohka. You sealed her power. There is an invisible path that now connects both of you together."
"A seal?"
Kotori added in. "We're not sure why, but you just have the natural ability to seal Spirits. As for the Tohka situation, we're letting her stay. We have an extra room for her too. She'll be great training."
"Training?" Shido caught that last word. Surely Tohka could be happy here. "But Tohka's sealed! I won't need to worry about her-"
"Did I mention Tohka was the only Spirit around?" Kotori gave a cold glare. Shido gasped. He might have seen- "There are more out there. They are all the same. They require saving. The AST have broken their wills to live." Kotori, all the while, was looking down in shame.
"May I continue..." Reine interrupted. "We need you to keep talking to women. The world needs you to keep talking to women. To stop Spacequakes, and to save the world."
"Well, that's great... but I still don't get why I have to live with Tohka." And just when Shido said that, guess who came into the room? Tohka. Mario looked over the couch and realised what a day this would be.
"I understand... I shouldn't be here at all.." She looked like she was about to cry, which Shido tried to calm it down.
"No, that was my fault, I'm sorry."
Shido slammed his belongings on the desk. "Why is my fate that bad?"
"Shido!" Kotori yelled. "The light's out in the bathroom! Go change it right now!"
"Sigh... yes... I'm on it, Kotori!" Within a few seconds, he was already downstairs, carrying a bulb in his hand. "She's REALLY bossy when in 'commander' mode." He made his way to the bathroom door. "I've been doing it all the time, but-" He opened the door to the bathroom - only to find Tohka sitting right there.
"Tohka, what are you-?"
"HURRY UP AND CLOSE IT!" She palmed Shido in the face. He got knocked to the floor, toilet paper in hand. Must've been hit with said toilet paper. Honestly could have been a plunger.*
Kotori walked down the stairs, lollipop in mouth and the most smug look in her face. "You rushed. What a disgrace."
"On purpose-?!"
"Training. Face any situation calm and collected. I'm only helping for your own good."
Shido sighed. There was no escape from this personal hell. Tohka opened the door. "Tohka! I'm so sorry!"
"It's fine.. but..." She pointed to the toilet paper without leaving the door. "Can you please hand me that...?"
After washing his hands (and possibly his mind to get rid of the images he saw), Kotori came in the living room. "Shido, the bath is ready. Go wash up first."
Shido had war flashbacks of Tohka in the shower and the bathroom. He wasn't going to fall for THAT trap. "Uh, no thanks, you can use it first. You can use these," He pulled out a container of 'puff bath salts' "if you want." At the sight of the bath salts, Kotori instantly jittered. "She never gives up first dibs when she's got these... She should know not to underestimate me..." Kotori looked like she was about to break. "I, Shido Itsuka, haven't been living in the same house as you for so long without learning a thing or two!"
Kotori turned away from the bath salts, skin stretching by her own fingers to prevent ultimate temptation. "Uuuh, n-no thanks... How about you use it first...?" Shido had a confused look, and the look only grew when he saw Tohka.
"Tohka? You're not taking a bath right now?"
"No?"
It didn't take long for Shido to be in said bath. "Maybe I was being too rough..." His relaxation was QUICKLY stopped when he heard Tohka headed for the bathroom. Shido lead himself straight into a trap. All he could think of was Kotori, in pixel shades,** mocking him. "Not my fault you're so dumb." was all he could hear in his head. In a panic, he looked for a place to hide. And that's what hit him: The hot water of the bath. He took a plunge in there since it was green from soap. He waited... And Tohka jumped right in, unaware of Shido and naked... again. She saw bubbles, and arisen has Shido. He awkwardly waved at Tohka. Pure silence.
...
...
...
It didn't take long for her to dip Shido into the water for 'scaring her'. Kotori watched from the distance. "Aaand, another fail."
Shido, after the bath situation, vented out his anger. "This is supposed to be my training? Uuugh..." He flopped onto the bed in defeat.
"I trust you've-a taken care of all situations?" Mario leaned in through the door.
"Yeah."
"I hope-a Tohka will understand that this behaviour is only-a tolerable at home."
As if Mario were to jinx those words, a yell occured in the next morning homeroom castle. "Shido! It's lunchtime!" Shido felt his table being slammed into by another table: Tohka's. His disappointment and attention were on Tohka when he felt another table slam next to him: ORIGAMI. Girl problems.
"What do you want." Tohka pouted. "Leave us alone."
Origami glared back angrily. "Right back at you." Shido could've sworn he heard that line before.***
In a desperate attempt to break the struggle, Shido struggled himself. "Can't we eat lunch TOGETHER?" He sighed and lowered his head as the two girls understood and took their places in their seats. Shido and Tohka opened their lunchboxes, and Origami's hawk eye noticed something. When Shido looked, he knew he was in for a bad time. Not the one with skeletons.****
"Hmm?" Tohka was unaware, because of course she isn't. "What is it? You're not getting my food if you make puppy eyes."
"What is the meaning of this." Origami stared harshly at Shido.
"U-uh.. well.. you see..." Shido panicked. "We brought lunch at the same store earlier... today..."
"Liar." She pulled out the box lid. "You brought this box 154 days ago in a discount shop in front of the station for 1580 yen and have been using it ever since. It was not a pre-packaged lunch." Wow... Okay... Stalker.
"Why and HOW do you know all that?!"
"Not important."
Tohka was still naive. "What... are you both talking about? Don't leave me out." Shido realised he had some sort of girl problem.
Tonomachi, that spiky-hair guy with the mobile girlfriend, slid right in. "Itsuka! My girlfriend needs fashion advice! A nurse? A shrine maiden? A maid? Which would you pick?"
"Who cares if you pick a maid or not-?!"
"Maid it is! Thank you!" Tonomachi slipped out, with both Tohka and Origami staring at Shido. He felt sweat run down. Sweat and more sweat. A familiar alarm both made and ruined his day.
"Attention. There have been signs of a spacial quake in the nearest area. Please evacuate immediately. This is not a drill. I repeat.-"
"Wh-What's going on?" Shido was concerned... to say the least. Origami instantly walked off with the teacher, Tamae, panicking everyone and rushing to get to shelter.
"Evacuate?" Tohka asked curiously.
Reine, the assistant, looked at Shido, and nodded. Shido was really unsure. "I know... she has to stay here... normal human stuff... I just want her to be safe."
"She will be. She'll follow anything like a moth. She's human now."
Tamae rushed in, calling out the 3 stragglers. "Itsuka! Yatogami! Murasame! If you don't evacuate now, you'll be-"
"Can you watch Tohka?" Shido asked which caught Tamae off guard.
"U-uh... sure.. I'll watch over her."
"Shido-" Tohka was worried. Of course she was. Shido was always there for her. And the first time in her lfie...
He was going to be gone.
"I'll be back! I promise!" Shido ran way, others calling his name. But he did not care. Shido called on his intercom. "Mario, you heard the alarm, yes?"
"I did. Meet you at-a Fraxinus!"
"Got it." He ran to meet up with Kotori and Mario.
"Welcome back! And you too, Shido." Kotori was relaxing on her chair.
"Kind to Mario on purpose?!-"
Kotori ignored Shido's rant again and projected the monitor, showing a blue-hair girl in a green raincoat and a bizarre bunny puppet. "Well, the AFTERMATH anyway. The Spirit already struck." She zoomed out to a crater.
"Hold up-!" Mario and Shido both yelled.
"What?!"
"I've-a seen this Spirit!" Mario added first.
"Me too! It was at the shrine!"
Kotori pouted her lips. "Play close attention. This is live action, after all."
Mario who was only now paying attention faced the screen. The AST have already arrived. They fired upon the unnamed little girl, and she flew away, not even fighting back.
"!" Shido gasped. "She's going to get killed!"
"You're not supposed to care. She's a Spirit all the same." Kotori said as Shido glued his eyes to the screen. He saw Origami hunting the Spirit down. The Spirit desperately trying to flee.
"Kotori! I want.." Kotori turned to Shido. "To save that Spirit."
"That's more like my big bro! Alright, listen up! Crew, focus on that Spirit." Kotori yelled as Shido ran out. "Mario, you know the drill. Stall the AST!" Mario nodded and ran out, keeping a straight face all the same.
"Let's-a-go."
Mario arrived outside a mall. This is where the Spirit was: Inside the mall. It was half-destroyed due to the Spirit action. Kotori chirped in.
"Ah, good, indoors. The AST can't handle indoors, remember? We'll leave the Spirit-talking to Shido. Mario, just hold fire until the AST attack."
"You think I haven't-a noticed?!" Mario complained. "I'm a much more-a diverse than just-a wildly attacking!"
"Alright. Good luck." The intercom chipped out. Mario was on his own. He tipped his hat: That's right. It was still raining. What a way to ruin any cheerful mood Mario may have. Alone. In the rain. He looked up to the abandoned building, a flickering blue light indicating the electric hadn't been cut off yet. Of course, blue lights everywhere in the city, at which point, Mario might be visually sick. Speaking of sick, he sneezed.
"Mama-mia... I'm-a gonna freeze out here..." Mario folded his arms to prevent shivering. He chattered his teeth as well. Cold. So very cold. In fact, it's unnaturally cold! "It's a school-a season, so why is it... Brrrgh. I hate it here, I just-a hope Shido wraps it up soon!"
Shido, was, in fact, not wrapping it up soon. He was currently talking to the source of all this cold and rain - a little girl in a green bunny hoodie. Of course, he tried to be smooth with his words. "Hey, come on, this is no place for you to hide, you can come to my house for warmth instead-"
The hand puppet laughed. "Hahahahaha! You're funny, I'll give you credit for that! Almost like that chubby red guy we met earlier! What a hoot he was!"
Shido brushed away a sweatmark. "That's... Mario, huh. I guess he wasn't lying about meeting you..."
"Yeah!" The hand puppet did multiple gestures. "Yoshinon couldn't believe what we were hearing! IT'S-A-ME!" The puppet, now named Yoshinon, annoyingly replicated. "Bahahahaha! LET'S-A-GO! Haaaahahahahaha!"
"Would you just listen to me?!" Shido grumbled, but tried to keep his cool. He was talking to a living nuke, after all. "L-Listen! After we clean up shop here, you can meet him all you want! I-I am friends with him after all!"
"Really?" Yoshinon said while she was balancing on a high beam. "Whoo! I'd love that! Okay! Coming down noooow!" The girl slipped on the beam.
Shido dived toward her. "Look out!"
"Huh." Mario tapped on his intercom. "Kotori! I'm-a freezing! How long has it-a been since Shido went in-a there?"
"10 minutes." Kotori gave a blatent answer.
"10 minutes? A lot can-a happen in that-a time. I hope the AST doesn't-a randomly enter the building and fire-a many bullets with Shido still-a in there and-a everythi-" The wall of the mall came crashing down, luckily shielded by Mario's quick thinking and ducked under a spare piece of rubble. "WHAT THE-A HECK IS THAT?!" Mario pointed up, followed by a gasp he could only barely squeak out. Up there, was a giant white rabbit shark.. thing... freezing up the entire area around it. The AST start shooting, but their bullets freeze up before they even hit the THING. Mario was about to charge at it, but then noticed the rubble he protected himself with was covered in ice. "Crap..."
He then tried to think of something else, and that came in the form of Shido's safety, and Mario took his eyes there. There, laying down inside the mall, was Shido and Tohka.
"Curiosity killed the cat...!" Mario looked back up at the giant rabbit shark, and they exchanged eyesights. Mario was angry. The red-eye on the shark flashed, and within a cloud of cold fog, it was gone. "Uuugh... my head..." Mario had gotten a headache as he had been out in the cold for too long. He collapsed while rain was still mercilessly pouring on him.
Mario only woke up to the stomping of feet. When he woke up on the couch in Shido's house, he saw Tohka barging in upstairs to her room.
"What's-a going on?"
Kotori walked in at that moment. "Tohka saw Shido with the spirit Hermit. She calls herself Yoshinon. I can't tell if that's the puppet's name or her name."
"Yoshi-non?" Mario curiously asked.
"Yes? What's wrong with it?"
Mario shook his head. "One of my-a best friends was-a taken here too. His name's-a Yoshi. Just a similar naming, that's-a all..."
"Ah." Kotori confirmed. "Well, we at Fraxinus haven't noticed any more strange beings aside from you yet."
Shido walked downstairs. "I know how to stop this eternal rain... But Tohka's mad at me..."
"Oh?" Everyone looked toward Shido.
"Ah, good! Just find Yoshinon. Then her puppet."
Shido nodded and Mario nodded too. "Okie-dokie!" Mario exclaimed. "This is a simple hunt so I'll-a stay back!"
Although Mario still uncomfortably shifted. "Still, she looks like a child..."