The day after their first mission in the Neighboring World, after their classes, Shido and the girls from the Spirit Team were in a room with Mio, Ellen and Karen.

"Firstly, I'd like to congratulate you all on your first mission as the Spirit Team. And I want to give further congratulations to those who actually had this as their actual first mission. You've done well, despite the unforeseen circumstances, and I trust that this has also opened your eyes to the dangers of the Neighboring World."

Before they went off on their mission yesterday, Mio had told Shido that one of her objectives was to make the dangers they were facing more clear, since Shido and the girls had made no progress in using his ability to increase their compatibility levels.

Although Shido himself hadn't been subjected to much danger, it certainly worked on him. He had only heard a brief report from the girls, but he couldn't even begin to imagine how he would have lasted even a second against their opponents, the self-entitled Demon Kings, without Da'at.

Thankfully, Kaguya, Yuzuru and Miku didn't have much damage to show, other than her pilot suits being a little torn and some ice on their CR-Units. Kotori, Yoshino, Natsumi and Origami certainly had a tougher time, but none of them were seriously injured either. Even Kotori had recovered perfectly after just a while with a medical Realizer.

Shido couldn't read minds, but he imagined similar thoughts were going through all the girls' heads. They were barely safe this time, largely thanks to Ellen's timely rescue, but what if it happens again? Needless to say, their odds are much better with a Spirit CR-Unit than without it.

"Well, I plan to let everyone rest after this for today, so you can think about it later if you haven't already. Karen, you take it from here."

"Yes. I'd like to review the recording of yesterday's mission with everyone. We've already analyzed some things on our end, but reviewing it together might help us uncover more information. It might also help you in future missions and trainings."

Everyone nodded to Karen's words. Not only could it help them get stronger, they also wanted to figure out exactly what had happened yesterday.

They began by reviewing the footage from right after they entered the Neighboring World. The CR-Units are equipped with a function to record what the wearer sees, that's how they were able to get this footage.

The scene of their first battle against the tree monsters was soon playing. They watched it all, and then gave their opinions on what they thought could have been improved. Ellen also pointed out a few things she thought they could work on.

Before they proceeded, however, Shido remembered something.

"Oh yeah, I think I forgot to get Da'at's weapon before yesterday's mission."

During yesterday's mission, Shido didn't have his CR-Unit's weapon, that's why he limited himself to a supporting role. While that was all fine and good, he couldn't stay unarmed forever.

But Mio simply shook her head from side to side.

"No, Shin, you didn't forget. Da'at has no weapons. Or, to be more precise, it uses the same weapons as the other Spirit CR-Units. That's why you had nothing to use."

"Huh? But then… wouldn't that leave someone else unarmed?"

"I was going to save it as a surprise, but I guess I might as well say it now. The Spirit CR-Units have the ability to create their own weapons. Without getting into the specifics of how it works, the Sephiras will create the best weapons for each of you. Da'at has the ability to copy those weapons."

That honestly sounded really absurd, but at the same time, it wasn't really unbelievable given everything they'd seen so far. It was just one more reason to want the Spirit CR-Units.

After the surprise settled, they moved on to the next part they should review. They decided to begin with the POV of Shido's team.

The recording progressed normally until partway, when they were going to check out the place where they found Lilith. After that, it cut to when Maria and Marina were finally able to make contact with them again.

"Weirdly enough, it seems that there was something blocking the signal during a certain period of time. Even the recording was corrupted. This has never happened before, so we're looking into it. For now, we'd like the four of you to report on what happened in the period of time that's missing in the recording."

Shido, Kurumi, Tohka and Maya gave their report. That said, there wasn't much to tell, they reported on how the monsters seemed to be acting strange, and how they ultimately found Lilith.

Since that was the point of most interest, they focused on describing Lilith. They talked about how she seemed to be around their age, her long blond hair, her beautiful voice, and anything else they thought might help with identifying who she really was.

"... Huh? That's…"

"What is it, Miku?"

"N-no, it's nothing."

Miku suddenly spoke up, but then said she had made a mistake. Since she didn't seem like she'd say anything else, Karen decided to continue speaking.

"It'll be difficult to try and match such a description to any specific person, but I suppose I can have the AIs work on it. Maybe the uncommon name will make her easier to find. Let's move on."

[Yeah yeah, leave it to us.]

Marina spoke with the tone of a worker who really didn't feel like doing their job. Sometimes, Shido thought that these AI were a bit too human-like.

As there wasn't much else to see on Shido's group's recording, they moved on to the next one. That was the group made up of Kaguya, Yuzuru and Miku.

Needless to say, the point of interest was clearly the moment when they saw the icy fields and went to investigate them. There wasn't much to see on the first one, but on the second, when they met the blue haired woman, there was a lot to talk about.

"Firstly, I guess we should begin by asking if anyone recognizes this woman."

As Miku and the others had been flying high in the sky when they saw the woman, they were a considerable distance away. The image was so zoomed in it the quality had clearly gone down, but one could still roughly make out the woman's appearance. The angle didn't really help, but it's not as if they had set up a photo shoot, so this would have to do.

Everyone in the room swayed their heads from side to side, saying they didn't know who that woman was…

Well, everyone but two. Unnoticed by all, Natsumi and Yoshino looked at each other. A person came to mind for both of them. They considered telling the others, but decided against it. The image wasn't good enough to be sure, so it was just speculation on their part anyway.

"Alright, we'll try to run it through the AI girls anyway. For now, let's concentrate on analyzing the fight."

To call it a fight might be too much. The woman was simply shooting ice spikes at Miku and the others, who were desperately trying to dodge.

It might seem like a weird battle situation to try and analyze, but it actually had its merits. For one, while it might seem like a simple situation, just dodge the attacks, the girls who had to actually deal with it can attest that it's anything but.

For about 15 minutes, the members of the Spirit Team discussed how they believed they should act in such a situation, and Ellen gave them pointers and also came up with a training program for them. They may as well prepare as best as they can for any potential eventuality.

After that, it was time to move on to the last review. Of course, it was the recording of the Kotori, Yoshino, Natsumi and Origami team.

Just as before, the video was paused when the Demon King they faced showed up. Karen was going to ask if anyone recognized her, but there was no need to.

"Tenka?!"

Tohka instantly shouted. After taking a second to recover from the shock, Tohka began to explain about her twin sister, Tenka, who had disappeared in a Spacequake last year.

Needless to say, the Demon King being shown on screen could easily pass for Tohka's twin, and there was also the fact that she had reacted to Tohka's name.

All of this seemed to point to one thing…

"It seems that, at the very least, Tohka's sister, Tenka, was sent to the Neighboring World and somehow became one of these… Demon Kings. Of course, we don't have conclusive evidence, but it seems hard to deny. … I trust everyone understands this must remain confidential until we properly understand what we're dealing with."

Everyone slowly nodded. It wasn't hard to understand why Mio had asked them to keep secret about this.

If Tenka had survived, who's to say the other Demon Kings aren't also people that have gone missing? And of course, should the public learn of this, there would probably be a mass outrage of people wanting to search for their loved ones.

But it wasn't as simple as just finding them. Although she had reacted to hearing Tohka's name, Tenka didn't really seem to remember her. It's possible that everyone else would be in a similar situation, and that's not to mention their aggressiveness. Only Lilith didn't attack, but that's not to say she wouldn't in the right circumstances.

Since Tenka's identity was basically confirmed, they moved on to reviewing the fight. But, as expected, Tohka was having a hard time watching, so she asked to be excused and ran out of the room.

"I'll go check on her."

Shido said a few seconds later and then left the room after Tohka. She wasn't too far from the room, so Shido didn't take long to find her.

"Shido…"

As soon as she saw him, Tohka hugged Shido and buried her face on his chest. Her trembling hands betrayed the turmoil of feelings that were probably raging in her mind right now.

She was happy to learn that her sister was alive, but sad that she didn't remember her. There was also worry about what had and will happen to her, not to mention the anxiety of wanting to see and talk to her again, but being unable to.

Shido didn't know what to say to her, so he simply stayed silent and held her in an embrace. That was all he could do, and all he needed to do. After a little while, Tohka seemed to calm down.

"... Shido, I…"

Tohka slightly separated from Shido, but not too much. From their position now, it seemed more like she was trying to press her chest on his, though it was so little that they were barely touching.

Then, she started blushing and completely separated from Shido.

"S-sorry, it's nothing. Thanks."

Well, she at least seemed better than before. Shido was happy with that result, so he decided to not press it further.

He asked if she wanted to go back in, and she nodded. She wanted to properly observe the way her sister fought, so that she could learn and, when they eventually met, Tohka would be able to face her.

But of course, simple resolution wouldn't do much. Tohka also needed power. And she knew where and how to get it.

Her face got red as she imagined it. Her heart wasn't ready for it yet, so for now, she'd do what she could. She returned to the room while holding Shido's hand.

They finished reviewing the fight and learned as much as they could. As she had said at the start, Mio dismissed them to let them fully recover.

They would have to get serious starting tomorrow.