Chapter 56: A New Spirit? (Please Vote for Recommendations)

"What? Wait a minute!" Su Mo hastily stopped Tohka from pouncing on him again, sweat breaking out on his forehead. "What do you mean by 'sleep together'? Tohka, what are you trying to do?"

"Isn't Su Mo feeling unwell?"

"Though I do have a bit of a headache, what does that have to do with sleeping together?" Su Mo was utterly baffled by the supposed connection.

"Because that way I can give Su Mo warmth. And we have to be completely naked, holding each other. That way, Su Mo's pain will be greatly reduced," Tohka replied as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

What on earth was this logic?

While Su Mo was agonizing over this, Kotori also entered from outside.

"How are you feeling now, Su Mo? Are you any better?" Kotori wore a red military uniform, the jacket draped over her shoulders, and her familiar black ribbon tied around her head.

"I'm fine, but what exactly is going on here?" Su Mo asked, utterly confused.

Tohka looked at Su Mo with puzzlement. "Eh? Su Mo, you really don't remember anything?"

"Looks like we need to get you a hospital bed. Seems like your fever fried your brain," Kotori quipped, as sharp-tongued as ever. She glanced at Tohka. "But looking at your current condition, you seem much better. So, what did this convalescent here want Tohka to do on his bed?"

"Terrifying. Has Su Mo finally lost control of his adolescent urges?"

"Wait, wasn't it Kotori who just said that sleeping together would help Su Mo recover faster?" Tohka looked at Kotori in surprise. It was because she heard this from Kotori after learning Su Mo was sick that she had just acted that way.

"Did I? Did I say that? Well, if it's Tohka's heartfelt wish, then keeping him company in bed wouldn't be out of the question," Kotori replied.

Hearing Tohka and Kotori's exchange, Su Mo finally understood the whole story.

In short, though he had returned to five years later, it seemed that in this timeline, everyone mistakenly believed he had fallen ill. Kotori had deliberately misled the naïve Tohka into thinking that sleeping together could cure illness, and the most fatal part was that Tohka had actually taken it seriously—thus the scene he had just witnessed.

Looking at Kotori, Su Mo spoke with a weary head, "Alright, alright, I'm fine now. Thank you both for your concern."

At that moment, another thought struck Su Mo.

He had traveled back five years to change history. Had he really succeeded?

He turned his gaze to Kotori, who was in commander mode. Seeing the black ribbon on her head, his thoughts wavered. Was this the birthday present he had given her five years ago?

Then Su Mo asked, "Um, Kotori, can I ask you something? Did anything happen in Tenguu City five years ago?"

"Hm? Happen?" Kotori tilted her head, wearing a look of bemused seriousness.

"I mean the Great Fire of Tenguu City."

"A great fire happened in Tenguu City five years ago?" Kotori looked at Su Mo with even greater confusion, unceremoniously mocking him, "Looks like your brain really is fried. A hospital check-up is definitely in order."

Su Mo ignored the latter part of her sentence and let out a visible sigh of relief. It seemed history really had changed—otherwise, how could Kotori not know about the Great Fire of Tenguu City?

Most importantly, he felt a familiar bond of contract on Kotori—this was the contract he had formed with her five years ago. That meant Origami's parents should still be alive too. He wondered how Origami was now.

As Su Mo was lost in thought, Yoshino also entered from outside.

Today, Yoshino wore a pure white dress. Her sea-blue hair was tucked beneath a white sun hat, and on her left hand was the familiar rabbit puppet—her second personality, Yoshinon.

At that moment, the rabbit puppet spread its little arms wide and shouted, "Yaha! Looks like Mr. Su Mo is in good health!"

"...Su, Su Mo, big brother!" Yoshino greeted him shyly as always, stammering with concern, "Are you feeling better now?"

"Yes, aside from his brain," Tohka nodded from the side, then added, "That's what Kotori said."

Su Mo's face darkened at Tohka's words.

Could you not say things like that? Someone is going to hit you one day.

It seemed best to keep Tohka away from Kotori in the future—she was learning all the wrong things.

Su Mo climbed out of bed, his gaze sweeping over Tohka, Kotori, and Yoshino.

"By the way, what's with you all? Why did you all barge into my room so early in the morning?" Su Mo's mind was still groggy. Before traveling through time, he had just finished a date with Kurumi, but after returning from five years ago, he was suddenly back home.

Did something happen in between?

"Did Su Mo forget everything? You suddenly collapsed while you were out with that Kurumi, and you didn’t wake up for three days straight. During that time, Tohka was so worried she almost cried, Yoshino and the others were all worried about you too," Kotori said, lifting her proud chin with a hint of annoyance.

"Is that so?" The mention of Kurumi made Su Mo remember that he had already formed a contract with her. "Where's Kurumi now?"

"Who knows? She disappeared right after the date," Kotori replied.

Su Mo felt a bit anxious at that. In theory, now that he had made a contract with Kurumi, as his contracted spirit, she shouldn't have left without a word.

Fortunately, he could still sense the bond of contract with Kurumi, which meant she was not in any immediate danger.

"Also, Su Mo, there's something I need to tell you," Kotori continued, her expression turning serious after a few moments of consideration. "While you were unconscious, Ratatoskr detected an extremely powerful spirit wave covering all of Tenguu City. We suspect that a new spirit has appeared and is causing trouble, but we don’t have solid evidence yet. It could also be AST conducting some kind of experiment with their manifestation devices."

Kotori's reasoning wasn’t unfounded. In Tenguu City, only Ratatoskr and the AST Spirit Combat Unit had the ability to use manifestation devices.

That’s why she thought this incident was either spirit-related or connected to AST.

"I think it would be extremely difficult for AST to generate a spirit wave strong enough to cover all of Tenguu City. Even Ratatoskr probably couldn’t manage that, so it’s more likely a new spirit has appeared," Su Mo nodded, quickly giving his own opinion.

But in his heart he was wondering—who could this new spirit be?

Having only watched the anime, he was fairly familiar with the spirits in Date A Live.

Spirits like Miku Izayoi and the Yamai twins who appeared later did not fit this style at all.

He'd never heard of a spirit who could affect all of Tenguu City. Could it be Mayuri from the side stories?

But Mayuri was a spirit born from the collective jealousy of all spirits. Yet for now, spirits like Tohka and Yoshino around him showed no signs of jealousy among themselves, so the likelihood of Mayuri was very low.

Then, if not Mayuri, who could this new spirit possibly be?