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"Yoshino" Speaking normally

"Yoshinon" Speaking mentally or flashback

"Zadkiel" Summoning Astral Dress/Angel or using special skill/ability

Yoshino's POV

"You're telling me the boy was ready to jump in front of Spirit-killing bullet to save the Spirit he was dating?" Miyoi asks in debelief after hearing my story.

"Yes." I confirm. "I was able to protect him by creating an ice wall while remaining hidden, and the AST retreated after that."

"So he really does care about the Spirits." Origami says softly.

"Yep." Yoshinon speaks up. "Say what you will about him, but he really is serious about helping them."

"I suppose." The former AST Captain sighs. "You know, this means he likely knows about you and will probably come after you next."

"I'm aware, and I'm fine with that. The people who hired him aren't bad people, and Shido is someone I can trust with my power."

Shido's POV

"Shido! I made cookies!" Tohka calls as she present a tray of cookies to me. What surprises me is that they look well-made for Tohka's first time baking.

"Wow, these look good, Tohka." I praise her. She urges me to eat one and I do so. "Mmm, they taste good too. How did you make these?"

"Origami helped me bake them!" She says with a smile. Origami, huh?

Kotori and Reine warned me that the seal will break and Tohka will regain her power if she becomes too upset, and to prevent that she needs to stay in close proximity of me. For that reason, Tohka was enrolled in my school and put in the same homeroom as me. Guess my life has truly lost all normalcy. On the plus side, she seems to have become fast friends with Origami.

"Well, I'm glad you and Origami are getting along." I say, smiling back.

Speaking of Origami, I should probably give her my answer.

"Itsuka-kun." And coincidentally, here she comes right now.

"Hey, Origami." I greet her. "Great work helping Tohka with the cookies."

"I'm glad you like them." She smiles at the praise, before her face turns serious. "Anyway, Itsuka-kun, can I talk with you on the school rooftop? Yatogami-san can join us."

Tohka looks at the two of us, confused as to why she's involved. Either way, I accept, and the three of us head to the rooftop after class.

"Itsuka-kun." Origami speaks first. "Have you thought about my question?"

"I have." I nod firmly.

"What question?" Tohka asks.

"She asked what I thought about the Spirits." I tell Tohka. "At first, I didn't have an answer, mainly because I didn't expect Origami to also know about the Spirits."

Tohka looks at Origami with surprise. "Really? You know about Spirits?"

Origami nods. "Yes, and I know you are one as well, Yatogami-san." Tohka's eyes widen in alarm. "But I'm not a member of the AST. You don't need to worry." Tohka relaxes after hearing she wasn't in danger.

That was my queue to continue. "After my date with Tohka, I found my answer. The Spirits... They don't deserve to be hunted to death just for existing. They should be given the chance to live peacefully with humanity, and I'm gonna make sure that happens!"

Origami stares at me for a full minute before smiling. "I see. I'm glad that's your answer, Itsuka-kun." Looks like I earned her approval.

"Hey, Origami." Tohka speaks up. "How do you know about Spirits if you're not part of the Mecha Mecha Squad?"

"Mecha Mecha Squad?" Origami repeats with confusion.

"She means the AST." I clarify. "And honestly, I've been wondering that myself."

Origami closes her eyes. "Have you heard about the Tengu Fire that happened five years ago?"

"Yeah, I've heard about it."

"The truth is that was no ordinary fire. It was the result of a Flame Spirit emerging." Tohka and I were surprised to hear that. "At the time, I didn't know about the existence of Spirits, but I ran there because I was worried about my mom and dad. I was happy when I found that they were alright, but then... another Spirit appeared. A Light Spirit that became known as the Mad Angel." Hearing that another Spirit appeared that day surprised us.

"The Mad Angel... She had an encounter with her?" Kotori speaks through my earpiece, though only I hear her.

"What happened when she appeared?" Tohka asks.

Origami sighs. "While the fire caused by the Flame Spirit was pretty bad, I would like to think that it was accidental. The Mad Angel, however? She purposefully attacked the surrounding area, adding to its destruction. I tried to escape with my parents, but I tripped and scratched my knee, and that's when I saw a huge beam of light heading straight for me."

"You were almost killed!?" I shout, shocked to hear that Origami had a near-death experience that day. Origami nods in confirmation.

"But then, why are you okay with me?" Tohka asks, sounding confused. "You were nearly killed by a Spirit. Wouldn't that make you hate them?"

"It's true that I was almost killed by a Spirit, but I don't hate all Spirits, only the Mad Angel." She smiles. "After all, the one who saved my life was a Spirit herself."

"There was a third Spirit?" I ask with surprise.

Origami nods. "That day, three different Spirits appeared. [Efreet], the Flame Spirit who started the fire, [Angel], the Mad Light Spirit who brought further destruction, and finally [Hermit], the Water Spirit who saved my life with a wall of ice, summoned rain to put out the fire, and stopped the Mad Angel's rampage." I see. Wait, rain? That's just like in my dream!

"A barrier of ice..." Tohka gasps before looking at me. "Shido!"

"Yeah, we were also saved by an ice wall at the end of our date." I remember clearly. Now I know which Spirit saved us.

"So you were also saved by Yoshino." Origami says, smiling.

"Yoshino?"

"Mhm. That's [Hermit]'s true name. Yoshino Himekawa." Tohka and I look at her with wide eyes.

"She personally knows [Hermit]?!" Kotori also sounds surprised. "Keep the conversation going! Try to get more information out of her!"

To be honest, I was planning on doing that anyway because I wanted to know more about Hermit, but Tohka beats me to the punch. "She has a name. Did you give it to her, like Shido gave me my name?"

"Itsuka-kun gave you your name?" Origami asks, sounding interested. "Hmm, 'Tohka'... April 10th. That's a lovely name, and it hold a lot of significance. You're really good at naming people, Itsuka-kun." I chuckle, a bit embarrassed by the compliment. "But no, her name was actually given to her by her mother. You could say she was born with that name."

Tohka and I were confused. "What do you mean?" I ask.

"The truth is... the Spirits of today weren't always Spirits. Aside from the Spirit of Origin, they're all former humans who were converted into Spirits after being given Spirit Power." The revelation shocks me and Tohka.

"Really!? They were all once human!?" I shout in shock.

"Hmm, well, I guess not all of them. Yoshino did say that she felt the appearance of a Spirit who was pretty similar to the Spirit of Origin." I catch her briefly looking at Tohka when she said that. Does she- or rather, Yoshino know something about Tohka that I don't?

"What does she look like?" Tohka asks a very important question. "I want to thank her for saving Shido, so I need to know what she looks like!"

Origami giggles at Tohka's enthusiasm. "Well, I can tell you what her Astral Dress looks like. It's actually pretty cute. It's most iconic feature is a green raincoat with a rabbit theme."

I gasp loudly at that and immediately remember my dream. The girl that saved me was wearing a green rabbit-themed raincoat as well!

"Shido, what's wrong?"

"Is something the matter, Itsuka-kun?" Tohka and Origami look at me.

"That's her." I say. "It has to be! Yoshino! She's the girl that saved me in my dream!"

"EHHH!?" Kotori screams in my ear, making me flinch. Tohka and Origami also look at me with surprise.

"She saved you in your dream as well?" Tohka asks.

I nod firmly. "I had the dream after you and I first met, Tohka. It was raining when my dream started, so it must've been during the Tengu Fire. My little sister was also there, though she was... naked for some reason." I blush with embarrassment remembering that bit, and the two girls blush as well.

"Really!?" I hear Kannazuki shout excitedly. "Oogh! Thank you, Commander~" Aaand Kotori beat him up.

"Anyway, I was going to give her cover when I looked up and saw a huge beam of light heading straight for us. I thought we were gonna die, but then a girl wearing a green rabbit-themed raincoat pushed us out of the way and got hit instead." I look down. "That was when my dream ended. I honestly thought she died protecting us. I'm really glad to hear she's still alive."

Origami looks at me with wide eyes. "So you and Kotori were the other two she saved that day! She told me that she saved two others from the Mad Angel after I escaped with my parents! What you saw was not a dream, but a memory of what happened that day!"

My eyes widen. "That makes sense. I have a gap in my memories from five years ago, yet it feels like something important happened that day that I should remember."

Origami puts a hand on her chin in thought. "Yoshino is a Spirit, and so is Yatogami-san. Maybe meeting another Spirit jumpstarted your memories and helped you remember." That makes the most sense.

I chuckle. "So, I guess my date with Tohka wasn't the only time Yoshino saved me. She saved me five years ago as well."

Origami smiles. " It seems you and I aren't so different, Itsuka-kun. You were saved twice by Yoshino. Just like me."

Tohka and I blink at that. "Yoshino saved you another time?" I ask.

Origami nods. "About a year after the fire, my home was attacked by terrorists." She looks down, clenching her fists. "They killed my parents, and even took me as a hostage." I give Origami a worried look. That must've been terrible. "But Yoshino stormed their headquarters and saved me, and she even got the help of another Spirit who I also became friends with."

"You know another Spirit?" I ask, once again surprised. Just how many Spirits does Origami know? Unfortunately, our conversation had to come to an end as we hear the school bell.

"We'll have to end it here." Origami says, before giving Tohka a kind smile. "Tohka, even though you're still getting used to human life, I would like to be your friend."

"Of course!" Tohka says happily. "You're one of the only people who understand me, Origami! I would love to be friends with you!" I couldn't help but smile at the two. Looks like they've already established a great friendship.

The two left on ahead to class. I mean to follow them, but I flinch when Kotori practically screams into my ear. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME YOUR DREAM INVOLVED [HERMIT]!?"

"You didn't give me the chance to explain it!" I hiss back. "You just brushed it off as a nightmare and had me play your Dating Sim to take my mind off it, which didn't really work by the way!"

Kotori groans in frustration. "Whatever. We'll talk more after school." She ends the transmission, and I go to catch up with Tohka and Origami.

Yoshino Himekawa. I hope we get to meet soon.

Third POV

Kotori rubs her temples in frustration. Today was certainly informative, but not in the way she expected.

For starters, they didn't expect Origami to immediately tell that Tohka was a Spirit. Thankfully, it wasn't that alarming since she's not a part of the AST, as she said so herself.

Then, she talked about her point of view during the events of the Tengu Fire. Seeing the fire caused by [Efreet],that in particular made her flinch, since she is actually the [Efreet], and nearly being by [Angel] before being saved by [Hermit], in the same way that [Hermit] saved Shido, albeit while hidden.

That's when things took a surprising turn when Origami revealed that she actually knew [Hermit] personally.

She told Shido to keep talking with Origami, hoping to get more information on [Hermit] that could help them with sealing her when they meet her. What they learned instead, was that all the Spirits expect for the Spirit of Origin and one other are actually former humans.

Kotori had always believed that she was the only Spirit like that - a human who was given Spirit Power. But knowing now that almost every other Spirit was like her put things into a new perspective.

But that also brought about a new question: Who was the one that was more similar to the Spirit of Origin?

Then Origami told about [Hermit]'s Astral Dress, which didn't really give any new information.

Until Shido brought up that [Hermit] had saved him in his dream.

That had shocked her as she thought it was just some nightmare he had while unconscious. She didn't think it actually involved the Strongest Spirit!

And honestly, that's the bit that annoys her the most.

"Commander." Kannazuki calls, and she looks at him. "I just finished doing a background check. Both Origami's and Shido's testimonies line up with the actual events of the Tengu Fire, in which [Hermit] saved three children from [Angel]'s attack."

Kotori frowns. "But if that's true, and I really was the third child, then I should remember as well."

"Then we'll have to assume that Origami's theory is correct, and it was Shin encountering another Spirit that caused him to remember." Reine speaks.

Kotori frowns more. Like her big brother, she has a gap in her memories from five years ago, so the fact that Shido is starting to remember but not her is frustrating to her.

"Well, at the very least, we should look to recruiting Origami." Kotori suggests. "It's extremely rare to meet someone who sympathizes with Spirits, and her being friends with [Hermit] is a huge boon."

"I'll look into the recruitment efforts." Reine volunteers.

Kotori nods. "Sure. I'll leave you to it."

Yoshino's POV

Today was the day that Shido and Yoshino officially meet.

I was thinking about how our meeting would play out this time, since I have good enough control over my powers that it doesn't always rain while I'm in the human world. That was the main reason that Shido and Yoshino met in canon, and I thought things would be different, especially since Origami told Shido, and Ratatoskr by extension, about her connections to me.

However, what I didn't expect today was for it to rain naturally.

I guess this is the world making sure the meeting happens as intended, which is fine for me. Slipping into an alleyway, I change into my Astral Dress, since it looks like a raincoat, and head to the shrine for my destined meeting.

Still, I also have some fun while I'm at it. I've always been a rain girl, even when I was a little girl in my past life. I would always play in the rain whenever I could, splashing into puddles and the like. I grew out of that as I got older, but physically being a kid again means I could relive some fun from my childhood.

I had so much fun that I had arrived at the shrine before I even knew it, and that when I faintly heard someone gasp and look to see a certain blue-haired boy looking at me with wide eyes.

Shido Itsuka. We finally meet.

He runs up to me and kneels down to my level to look me in the eyes. We stay at direct eye contact for a moment, him not even caring that he was getting soaked, before he finally speaks.

"It's really you. You're the girl from my dream!"

...Eh?

"EH!?"

Okay, that was NOT what I expected him to say!

And so, Shido and Yoshino finally meet.

Origami and Tohka become fast friends this time around, especially after learning that Origami sees Spirits in a positive light. It makes Shido's job easier having someone he knows he can trust to be Tohka's friend. Better her than the trio.

Next chapter will continue Shido and Yoshino meeting. See you guys then!