Shido ran and ran and ran. He stopped for a moment. That's when he saw her.
The blue-hair girl. The source of his current problems. Shido looked at her hand. Unlike last time, one notable thing was missing: She definitely had a puppet before, and now she didn't. "Suppose I'll need to talk to her and team up to find that rabbit..." Shido cleared his throat and approached the girl. "Hey." The girl turned and gasped. In no time at all, she started booking it. "Wait up! Oh hey, where's your puppet?" The girl gasped once more, probably easily afraid, and ran back to Shido and clung to him like a lost puppy. "Ah. I see.. You're looking for it?"
She nodded.
"Well, in that case, let me help you, alright?" Shido smiled. The girl gasped yet again... and slowly nodded.
"Oh, but first..." Shido pulled out his umbrella. "Take this. You could get really sick in the rain like this. Mario knows from experience."
The girl looked at the umbrella, and then her height, and then Shido's height. The girl was a LOT shorter than Shido, so he would have to duck all the time to fit under the umbrella. Shido, however, confirmed this.
"Ah, don't worry about me. Trust me, I want you to take it."
The girl was happy, although hard to say. She finally spoke. "U-um.. thanks... you're so kind.."
"Let's go find your puppet, Yoshinon!" Shido exclaimed.
"U-um.. well, the thing is... my-my name's not Yoshinon... It's Yoshino... and... Yoshinon's the puppet we're looking for..."
"Ah, understood, Yoshino, let's go find your puppet!... is what I said earlier." You can tell he's got 'lie' written all over Shido's face.
Mario was alone in the house now. "Here I am. Alone. With a whole lot of thoughts... If-a that spacequake from a small HERMIT was that-a big, then I dread what's-a happening to Luigi or the others... I really gotta find them-a soon, but I can't really DO anything, and it-a frustrates me..."
"The big-a question is..." Mario continued his paranoid thoughts. "What if there's more people I didn't-a meet in the Mushroom Kingdom that ended up here?"
Mario thought. "I can't-a think of anyone else that'd get sucked in by a portal that-a small..." Mario thought to himself as he shook his head. "The Rabbids? Maybe? Perhaps? Could they have-a been pulled in too? They stayed behind in the Mushroom Kingdom after-a the Megabug incident.. Bowser Jr recently transported a giant washing-a machine with Rabbid Kong inside it... RABBID KONG could-a be here too?!" Mario exclaimed. This was either pure paranoia, or pure genius. However, he shook his head once more, getting his head fuzzy. "Woooah, Okay, I'm definitely paranoid, definitely-a the latter..."
Just then, the door opened. Mario turned, it was Shido with Yoshino. Mario was the first to talk.
"Uh, who's-a she?"
"The Spirit we went over in Fraxinus, remember? Her name's Yoshino." Mario grumbled when Shido said the words 'yoshi'. Shido went on. "She was hungry, sooo..." Mario nodded.
Mario just simply shrugged his shoulders. "I don't-a know what you have, so I'll-a let you take it away, Shido."
"Now that you mention it..." Shido looked around. "You are still pretty alien to this world. I thought Kotori'd settle you in by now. Guess that's the fault of a little sister who tries too hard to be tsundere."
"Ah well." He went on. "I'm going to the kitchen to make her some food." Mario then pointed out.
"The kitchen's literally in-a the same place as the living room..." Shido was snapped back to reality again. That's right. Literally next to the kitchen equipment were couches, a table and a TV.
"Sooo, Yoshino." Shido tried to ignore all the complaints from Mario. "That puppet must be really special to you. Most people would give up and get a new one."
Yoshino also ignored all distractions. "Y-yeah... Yoshinon... was there to protect me.. and she's my hero..."
"Your hero?"
"She's big... and strong.. and brave... she's not a big scaredy cat like me... She's always there for me... Always.. there.. to protect me, and to get me through tough times." Mario was taken back by this. Yoshino was basically Princess Peach and Yoshinon was Mario. Yoshino, 5 seconds later, found herself being patted on the head. "...! Why are you petting me...?"
"Come on, I'm here now. I'm here to protect you." Shido smiled and gazed at her with a confident look. "That's right. It doesn't matter if she's a Spirit. She's still a human on the inside, a human in need of rescuing."
"U-uh..." Yoshino spoke. "Thank you... that's very kind.."
"No problem. Oh, uuuh.." Shido blushed. "Sorry for... kissing you earlier."
Mario gasped. "YOU WHAT?!"
Yoshino ignored him. "Th-that's fine.. but what's a kiss...?"
Shido was ready. "Well, you see, a kiss is where you get real close and touch lips.." Shido approached Yoshino, getting closer. "Like this..." Mario gawked at the scene. He couldn't believe what he was just about to see!
Mario thought for a minute. "Where's-a Tohka been?"
And as if to answer, she arrived. At the worst time. She witnessed Shido about to kiss Yoshino.
"Tohka!" Shido gasped. "This, uh, isn't what it lo-" Shido didn't even finish that sentence before Tohka stormed up her room. Yoshino dipped out by using teleportation. Everyone was still.
"Oooh, that's-a why she was so angry." Mario thought.
"Shido." Kotori came in through the communicator. "We found Yoshinon."
"You did? Where?"
"That's the bad news."
"..." Shido was standing in front of some apartment building. Origami's place. He awkwardly rang the doorbell.
"Who is it?" Origami asked from the receiver.
"Itsuka Shi-" He didn't even finish his name when the doors swung open. Shido sighed. Here goes nothing. He talked to himself as he went up the elevator. "Who would've thought it'd be at Tobiichi's place..."
Kotori replied. "Our investigations only came to that conclusion. We have damning evidence that Origami is the one that kidnapped Yoshinon."
"Doesn't help me that I'm gonna kidnap Yoshinon myself..." Shido sighed.
"Who CARES?" Kotori shouted. "But don't worry, we-l h- br-"
"Kotori? You're breaking up!" Static could only be heard on the earpiece, and then silence. He looked at the apartment room number. Origami's room. "Here goes..." He pressed the 'call button' and the door immediately opened. Shido could only question what sort of ridiculous maid getup did Origami so happen to wear, but this is the timeline he lives in. "U-uh.. Hello, Tobiichi..."
"Hello." She replied as if nothing was wrong. Many things were wrong!
Cue inside their room. "Uuuh, thanks for bringing me in, Tobiichi..."
"No problem" Origami was making tea. "Here you go."
"Thanks." Shido was about to drink it.. but then looked at the drink in question. It was boiling purple. "Tobiichi? This is-?!"
"Drink it."
"But-!"
"Drink it." Origami repeated like a record player.
"...Fine, yes, I would love to..." Shido gulped down the mixture.. only to gasp at his throat as he choked and forced himself down, Origami getting herself on top. This is definitely a fanservice moment. She moved closer.
"Do you like that?"
Shido blushed. "If I had to give an answer, I'd say no..."
"I'll get off you if you grant me one request. No if's, and's, or but's. Do we have a deal or not?"
"...Depends on what it is." Shido is surprisingly calm during this. Then again, he did date a world-ending woman a while back.
"I'm completely over you calling me over by my last name. I hear you calling others by their first name, but I'm still just 'Tobiichi' to you."
"What." Shido blanked out.
"My name is ORIGAMI Tobiichi. That is what I prefer to be called. Do we have a deal or not."
Shido thought for a moment. "That's it?" He decided to go along with it, anything to prevent his innocent mind from experiencing fanservice. "U-uh, sure.."
Awkward silence. Origami glared and leaned closer. Shido blushed more. "Heey, Origami-?" Origami was satisfied by being called her first name. She did a majestic twirl, away from Shido. She entered a room. "Where are you going?" Shido asked. Origami replied.
"The shower."
"...seems like a weird time to do so.." The door was closed behind Origami. "Oh, right! The PUPPET!" And thus, Shido began a frantic search for Yoshinon, and the time limit is Origami's shower. He checked, and checked, and checked. He found very questionable stuff, which certainly did not help. "Ah-" He noticed the puppet on the shelf. Bingo! Now to hide it...
Origami stepped out the shower. She did not mind only being in a towel in front of Shido.
"That was a qui- Gah!" Shido did NOT want it, however.
"What is it?" Origami got on her knees and crawled to Shido. Shido backed up.
"Hey now-"
Origami got closer, backing him in a corner. "Something the matter?"
"U-uh..." Awkward silence.
Origami spoke after a few minutes. "I suppose I should ask you something."
"Ah, good, I was just about to leave.." Shido thought sarcastically. Is it even possible to do that?
"Are you human?"
"E-eh?" Shido started to sweat. Such sincerity. Such wow.
"I always thought it was a little strange. The day I shot you. I definitely shot you. No mistakes there."
"Origami..."
"Yes?"
"I believe I'm a human. That is what I want and hope for."
Origami turned and pinned Shido to the wall. "Truth?"
"I think it is."
The phone rang, Origami turned and noticed the AST Commander's name on it. "We're being deployed. See you." She took off without any word from Shido.
"A-ah..." Luckily, Shido managed to hide Yoshinon from Origami. Goodness knows where. Maybe he can "pocket" anything like a certain villager.
"Looks like it's time to save Yoshinon and deploy Mario to stop the AST deploy!" Shido exclaimed to nobody but himself. "Mario, you copy?"
"Yeah, yeah, I know-a the drill." Mario replied with a tired voice on the communicator. Shido asked Mario what's wrong, and all Mario could muster up with was: "I'm a thirty something year old man at-a this point, I'm-a not in the best of moods today, Shido."
Mario ran toward the freezing cold city. He looked up, to see the AST giving chase to Yoshino. The plumber clenched his fist - these girls were about as tenacious as Bowser, and that was really saying something.
"So many girls, for only one-a Spirit. They didn't go this-a hard on Tohka..." Mario mumbled. "I'm counting at least-a 30 here...a little overexcessive," Mario added, "don't you think?" He asked to nobody. Then he noticed something on the ground, which was very familiar to him.
"They already-a shot down Yoshino! Were we-a too late?!" Mario looked at the laying down Yoshino, surrounded by AST. Mario ran up to check on Yoshino when he heard a voice that made him reconsider.
"ZADKIEL!"
The ground burst open with fog, AST and Mario alike were startled. There was the giant shark creature that Mario saw earlier. It sprinted around, charging and firing ice bullets and ice lasers at the AST. Mario, at first, was happy that his job was easier, but on the other hand, who's side was he on anymore?! If he didn't stop Zadkiel, the city would be doomed. If he didn't stop the AST, Yoshino would be doomed. He then noticed Shido on a rooftop. He had an idea and smashed his fists together. "Hoho! Mario, you clever little-a plumber!" He relayed the plan to himself audibly to make sure he understood it. "Lure-a the shark towards Shido's roof! That-a way, he can communicate with-a Yoshino!" The plumber giggled like a child. "It really is-a that simple!"
"It's-a battle time!"
With his battle cry, Mario jumped across several rooftops and stomped on Zadkiel. As expected, it turned to the pain, glaring at Mario, who was now down on the main streets. "Perfect!" Mario ran, with Zadkiel chasing down a straight line. "Darn it, only goes a singular line..." Mario notices Shido, 3 blocks ahead, and confused at what was going on. Mario jumped and waved at Shido, but Shido was more focused on the bigger threat. Mario ran into the ruined building and up the stairs to meet him.
Up on the roof, Mario finally met up with Shido, After the duo managed to get their bearings together, Shido called out. "YOSHINO!"
Yoshino finally realised. "He... came back...?!" She screeched Zadkiel to a halt.
"Yoshino! I have something for you!" He reached in his pocket for Yoshinon, but was stopped. Mario and Shido turned around. The leader of the AST.
"You two! What are you doing there?! It's dangerous!" She then noticed Mario. "That boy-!" Mario and Shido noticed the commander, and unfortunately, so did Zadkiel. It charged up a giant ice laser!
"Nooo!" Yoshino tried to stop it, but it was no use. The AST commander flew away, and Mario gave chase. The giant shark fired it's laser, which MIRACIOUSLY didn't hit Shido, but Mario wasn't so lucky. He got flung all way across the city and fell to his doom.
"Waaaah!" Mario flailed his arms and frontflipped to land on his feet, his knees quaking upon impact - that's certainly going to hurt. "Calm-a down there, shark..." Mario turned to the action and tried to keep up.
Shido looked at what blocked him from the laser. "Isn't this...Sandalphon?!" A giant sword was protecting him. "Shido!" Tohka landed behind him, wearing some of her features when she was a Spirit.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah, you?"
"I wanted to say sorry for a lot of things... I know this isn't much, but I hope you can at least find the heart to forgive me..."
"I will, but I need to save this girl!"
"So... that's it?"
"Please!"
"Ah.. right...! How could I forget? The man that saved me... I need to do something for him... Just this once..." She walked over and kicked Sandalphon over, turning it into a hoverboard. "Get on. We don't have much time."
Meanwhile, the AST were stumped. Zadkiel had summoned a giant blizzard barrier around itself. Origami looked at the Building and summoned a giant green forcefield to lift it up like normal. "Origami?!"
"Attack at the exact moment the barrier falls." Origami soon released the barrier, letting the building fall, but the building was casually sliced in half by a purple beam. Out came Tohka, with Sandalphon in hand.
"Yatogami Tohka. Why couldn't you just stay home?"
The AST commander shouted. "Troops! Change targets to Princess!" At once, they leapt at Princess, with Tohka smiling, as if it was part of the big plan.
Mario & Shido landed on the ground level of the city. Mario stretched his arms, cracking some bones in the process, ready to fight. "Here we go..."
Shido looked at the giant blizzard barrier. He stepped forward before being shouted at (but concerned this time) by Kotori.
"Wait, hold on! It's too dangerous! Before, you survived a single bullet..."
"This should be no problem, right?" Shido asked.
"This will be like trying to dodge MACHINE GUN FIRE!" Oh.
"So, how DID-a Shido survive that bullet!" Mario yelled. Which Kotori yelled back.
"Don't test your luck on Spirit Power, Shido!" Shido then thought of something.
"So... the reason I lived was..." Kotori couldn't believe what Shido was saying and gritted her teeth. She then noticed Shido was headed DIRECTLY for the blizzard.
"Wait! Stop!" Both Mario and Kotori cried out, but he wouldn't listen. "SHIDO!"
"Yoshinon.." Yoshino cried out in her personal blizzard place. "Yoshinon..."
"Have no fear, Yoshinon's here!" A voice called out. Yoshinon emerged from the darkness. Yoshino gasped as it stepped forward, revealing Shido, brutally injured. He collapsed on the floor, bleeding out. Yoshino got off Zadkiel and ran to Shido, stepping back when blue flames covered his body and healed the wounds.
"Sh-Shido...?"
"It's me... in the flesh!" Shido smiled. "Here's your puppet..." He waved Yoshinon around. "Told you I'd find it."
She looked at Yoshinon, tears welled up. She then burst, crying out loudly.
"Wh-what's wrong?" Shido asked, getting up as if to ignore the brutal wounds.
"T-thank you... So much...! Yoshinon is my hero.. and you returned... sniff... thank you...!"
Shido silently gave Yoshinon back to Yoshino.
"No problem. Now it's your turn to be saved. But uuuh, first, do you remember what a kiss is?"
Yoshino looked down.
"Oh, hah hah, I was j-just kidding around. You don't have to k-" Yoshino leaned forward and did it, interrupting Shido. She leaned back.
"W-was that enough?"
"Yeah, it was awesome."
"G-great... If it's awesome for you, then it's awesome for me too." Yoshino's clothes slowly disintegrated, as a Seal was successful. The dark rainy atmosphere melted away into a bright sunny rainbow paradise. "Beautiful."
After Shido dealt with bullets and Mario... one thing came to his mind.
A little rain doesn't faze him at all.