Chapter Twenty-One: Codename—The Hermit

Rain poured down from the sky in relentless sheets.

In the park, a young girl walked with her head bowed, not bothering with an umbrella, simply letting the cold rain soak her as she moved through its icy curtain. Her small head kept shifting, as if she were searching for something.

Upon seeing her, Su Mo had already guessed her identity.

Yoshino, known as the Hermit, possessed the ability to control both ice and water. She was gentle-hearted, compassionate, a spirit like Tohka, but among all spirits, she was the kindest and the most thoroughly childlike.

When he saw her, Su Mo didn’t rush forward recklessly.

Instead, he paused to think. He had little interest in helping spirits; his assistance to Tohka was only to complete the tasks set by the Lord God. The Lord God had given him three missions: the first was to max out a spirit’s affection, which he had already accomplished with Tohka.

However, the next two tasks were much more difficult—obtaining a Spirit Crystal and a Reverse Spirit Crystal was nearly impossible. A Spirit Crystal was the source of a spirit’s power, embedded within their body; to get one, he would have to kill the spirit.

But spirits were not so easily killed. If they were, humanity would not have lived under the constant threat of spatial quakes.

Of course, Su Mo was no longer an ordinary person.

With Tohka’s angel, he had gained a wish-fulfilling sword, Shidou Eadie, which allowed him to wield power on par with a spirit. Moreover, Tohka had entered into a contract with him and would obey his commands unconditionally. With the sword and Tohka’s strength, even killing a spirit would not be such a daunting task.

Yet, upon seeing the adorable Yoshino, Su Mo hesitated.

Spirits were inherently good-hearted beings. How could he bear to harm such a creature? If the spirit were evil, he could have killed her without remorse. But Yoshino was the kind who would rather hurt herself than others—a spirit who deserved saving, not hurting.

It seemed the girl finally noticed Su Mo’s presence. Her head, previously bowed, suddenly lifted, revealing a delicate face framed by long blue hair like the ocean, soft lips tinted with cherry blossom, so beautiful she resembled a French doll. Her dreamy appearance and petite figure suggested she was about the same age as Kotori Itsuka. When she saw Su Mo, she froze.

Under her long lashes, her sapphire eyes lost focus as she instinctively stepped back twice, tugging at her hood with both hands as if to bury her head completely within her clothes. Her whole body trembled with anxiety, and her gaze was tinged with fear.

“Um…” Su Mo, seeing her timid expression, was about to explain when the girl suddenly pleaded, “Please… don’t hurt me, I beg you.”

She seemed convinced Su Mo might harm her, which made him frown. What had this spirit been through to react so defensively?

He recalled that in the original story, even when AST members hunted Yoshino relentlessly, she never fought back—only silently dodged and endured injury. Such a personality inspired pity.

“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. But I noticed you kept looking down just now—are you searching for something?” Su Mo asked, curiosity piqued.

He scanned her for any sign. As the Hermit, her most distinctive mark was the rabbit-like puppet she wore on her left hand, but at this moment Su Mo noticed her left hand was empty.

Could it be…?

Upon hearing Su Mo’s words, Yoshino still showed signs of unease, but her deep wariness had eased somewhat. She was very concerned by what he’d said, so she raised her head and stammered, “I… I’m looking for Yoshinon. Have you seen him?”

Anyone else would have been clueless about what Yoshinon was, but Su Mo understood: Yoshinon was the rabbit puppet, seemingly her second personality.

A case of split personality, similar to Kotori.

Kotori switched between commander and cute sister modes depending on her hairband color. The spirit girl before him, Yoshino, would trigger her hidden persona when wearing the rabbit puppet, and would speak in a ventriloquist-like voice. Interestingly, Yoshino’s two personalities were not interconnected; their senses and memories were independent, able to exist simultaneously—quite a marvel.

“So, your Yoshinon is missing?” Su Mo realized.

“Yes…” Yoshino nodded and looked at him with hopeful eyes. “Um, um… could you help me find Yoshinon?”

“I can, but you’ll need to tell me where you lost him first,” Su Mo replied, meeting her gaze. Though he couldn’t obtain a Spirit Crystal from her, he was still happy to help a spirit.

After all, Ratatoskr’s mission was to save spirits and allow them to converse equally with humans.

After his question, Yoshino’s gaze became evasive. She opened her cherry-like lips and whispered, “…yesterday…”

Then she gripped her hood tightly, hiding her face, as if concealing the fear and panic in her eyes, her words broken and hesitant: “I… was attacked by scary people, and when I noticed, he was already… gone.”

By “scary people,” Yoshino must mean AST members, since only they targeted spirits in the entire city of Tenguu.

But if a spirit appeared yesterday, why wasn’t the spatial quake alarm sounded? That was unusual. Su Mo immediately took out his phone and called Kotori.

“Onii-chan?” Kotori’s sweet voice came through the phone.

“Kotori?” Su Mo asked in surprise; it was rare for her to be in little sister mode.

“Do you need something, Onii-chan?” Kotori asked again.

“Yes, it’s important—it’s about a spirit,” Su Mo replied.

“I see, please wait a moment.”

Soon, he heard rustling sounds on the phone—probably Kotori tying her hairband. Before long, the commander mode Kotori came online. “—Alright, you foolish brother, tell me everything about the spirit!”

The immediate and merciless switch was nothing like his adorable sister.

Still, Su Mo dutifully reported Yoshino’s situation. After a long silence, Kotori’s voice returned: “Yes, yesterday, Tenguu City detected a faint spirit presence, but since the scale was small and the spirit seemed to purposely suppress the spatial quake, no alarm was triggered.”

“—In any case, keep the spirit calm for me. We’ll help search for the missing puppet with everything we’ve got.”

With Kotori’s instructions, Su Mo turned to look at Yoshino.

But the space where she had stood was now empty—Yoshino had vanished without a trace.

“Gone?” Su Mo looked around, murmuring softly.