Vol 11 Chapter 2 (1/2)

Chapter 7: Phantom

Part 1

“Kuruo?”

Several ’s top shi+dou was really surprised when he heard Kurumi’s words

[Yes As I said earlier, there is only me in this world that can mess with time Then There is only one person that has <zafkiel> in that tio]

“But the tiht? I haven’t even searched for…”

[You don’t need to worry Certainly, I o]

“Around here…?”

shi+dou couldn’t believe he was this lucky He raised his eyebrohile looking surprised

“…It can’t be Did Kuruht?”

[No If I reh I was around there, it was only to observe the great fire that suddenly occurred]

“To see the fire?”

[I thought that this disaster ht have been caused by a Spirit]

“…”

Hearing her word, shi+dou started to sweat …If he hadn’t sealed Kotori’s powers back then and they were discovered by Kuruht have been her food

Kuruhtly laughed

[Please Even I am not that low]

“Ri-right…”

shi+dou vaguely answered her and coughed to pull hi

[I was around there five years ago But I haven’t uarantee that However- No, that’s why this action has a ]

“What do you mean?”

[Please think about it If shi+dou-san, who hasn’t met with me, htly changed?]

“Certainly, it e…”

[Anyway, please hurry As I have told before, we don’t have any spare time]

“Yeah… Understood”

After saying that, he clenched his fist

“Kuruo?”

shi+dou readied himself and asked Kurumi that

And… we return now

“…”

shi+dou stared at the figure of the girl at the top of the building, while he was trying to cal deep breaths

The Kuruhtly different from his memories

No… In e Her dress was somewhat different She wore a monotone blouse and a skirt that had laces and frills Her hair wasn’t tied up but in its place she had Alice band decorated with a rose Her most characteristic part was her face As if to hide the clock pattern, she wore an eye patch on her left eye

When he saw that dress, shi+dou slightly knitted his eyebrows Then, he asked in a low voice so that only the Kurumi in his head would hear it

“…Kuru an eye patch?”

[Please don’t worry about it]

“Was it hurt or so?”

[Please don’t worry about it]

“But…”

[Please Don’t Worry About It]

She said it with such a strong tone, he decided to keep quiet

At the sao’s Kurumi in front of him responded

“Araaraara”

She said that jokingly while tilting her head to the side in a cute way

“What are you whispering? What business do you have at this place?”

Kuruh, she didn’t look she was relax at all

She had a s his moves and behavior in a peaceful but accurate way

But, shi+dou didn’t have time He readied himself and opened his mouth

“Kurumi! I ask a favor from you!”

“…Ara?”

When he called her name, Kurumi bended her eyebrows curiously

“You know my name… You, who the heck are you?”

She said so while lifting her right arm When she did that, an ancient pistol flew to her hand from the shadow under her feet

Then she pointed its muzzle towards him with a smooth move shi+dou shook his hand in a panicked state

“Wa-wait a moment! I mean no harm…”

The ht under him

“Woah!”

“Don’t move without my permission please I have souarantee your safety”

It seems if he doesn’t answer them, his heart will be stopped He opened hishis hand

“I, I am Itsuka shi+dou I came from the world of five years later! Kurumi… You have lent your power to me!”

“…, Just nohat did you say?”

As shi+dou said that, Kurued

“If you are joking, you will end up dead”

“I wouldn’t be standing in front of you if it was a joke! Please, listen to me!”

“…”

Kuru the truth in his words Then, Kurumi’s voice that sounded like she was amazed by the situation echoed in his head

[Araara… The old ht? …I don’t want to spend any more time shi+dou-san, please touch the me in front of you somehow]

“Touch… Don’t say absurd things”

“Did you say so?”

The Kuru the muzzle towards shi+dou, made a puzzled face Of course, that is natural When looked fro to himself

shi+dou, prepared for another shot, held out his hand towards her

“Please It is okay if the gun stays like this Can you hold my hand?”

“I a like that when asked by a stranger, OK?”

“[Kurumi] says she wants to talk to you”

“!”

When shi+dou said that, Kuru his senses with a Kurumi from another era was Kurumi’s ability in the first place So this Kurumi, too, should understand it

“Fuun… Is that so?”

Kuru at shi+dou and touched his hand

Then,

“…!”

And like a weak current flowed thorugh, her body shi+vered a little

[Long tiht Me]

“…I understand This is definitely ht? –Just what happened in the world of five years ago?”

Soo’s Kurumi, too, can hear Kurumi’s voice that echoes in shi+dou’s head Indeed, this ould be more effective than any kind of persuasion

Kuruinal world, briefly explained the situation That we failed to change the history And that, in order to try once again, we needed this era’s Kurumi’s power

“… We need to use [The Twelfth Bullet/Yud Bet] like that, is that what you are saying, me?”

[Yes That’s right I wish for it, me]

Five year ago’s Kuruhed

“…OK, then If it is this much, I will help you”

“! Re, really?”

“Yes However, the needed poill be collected from you”

Kuru shi+dou and moved behind him Then, at the same tih

“No, come forth <zafkiel> It’s your turn”

As if answering her call, a giant clock’s figure appeared fro that send shi+dou to this era, the angel that can manipulate time

At the saht the shadows under Kuru, they started to coil around his feet

The next ue attacked him

“Uh, guh…”

He re sent froinal tiht by Kurumi

“<zafkiel> - <yud bet=””>”

Kuruun in his hand above Then, a thick shadow came out from <zafkiel>’s [XII] letter and entered in the muzzle

“Now We are starting”

Kurumi slowly turned the muzzle He knew <yud bet=””> wouldn’t hurt but still his body became stiff in a reflex

Even though she saw his state, she still grinned

“You said you were… shi+dou-san, right? I wish you a good luck”

“…Th, thank you Also, Kurumi”

“? What is it?”

“I think that eye patch fits you”

[…]

“Ara?”

When he said that, the Kuruhed and the Kurumi in front of him relaxed her cheeks

“… Your praise honors o”

Kuru due to the fierce er

A jet black line flew out towards his chest from the muzzle

The moment <yud bet=””> hit shi+dou, he felt as if his bodywith the bullet

As if he was caught in the momentum of the bullet and his vieent black

Part 2

[…dou-san, shi+dou-san]

When he heard the voice in his head, he opened his eyes He immediately understood that he had collapsed face-first

He was at the sa to say the sao’s Kurumi wasn’t here and the Nankou district which can be seen from here hadn’t been surrounded by fire yet

“It was a success?”

[It seems so]

Kurumi responded to shi+dou’s words

Right

He couldn’t understand the specific time but he had come back in time

To a world before the fire had started

To a world before Kotori had become a spirit

And, to a world before Origami had killed her parents

[There is no tihts, shi+dou-san]

“Ah, yeah…”

After being told that, shi+dou stood up and took a look at the view of the Nankou district that spread out under his eyes He clenched his fist and whispered as if he was talking to Kurue the world”

Kuru “yes” After hearing her affir by the eency stairs

“Noe have successfully returned to time before the fire occurred but… What should we do now?”

[We arrived to a good position with great troubles but it has suddenly become a mess, huh?]

Kuru voice as if she was surprised

“Guh… Th, there is nothing I can do! I mean, why have you been cold for a while?”

[There is no such thing]

Kururude

“Kurumi, is it about the eye-patch?”

[Anyway]

Kurumi raised her voice to stop shi+dou’s talk

[It was only an impolite act of rebellion and only that The difference between thehappen afterwards Let’s organize the situation based on that]

“Ye, yeah…”

[First, what do we really need to do?]

Kurumi asked in the manner of a teacher shi+dou started to think of an anshile running down the stairs

“That is… To prevent Origa her parents”

[Yes, that’s right Then, what can you do in order to accomplish that?]

“Soami somehow”

[Certainly that is the easiest thing to do but, I don’t think that is quite realistic]

“Guh… Th, that’s right…”

Origami, who had believed that

was her parent’s enee As shi+dou raised his voice, he noticed that only that there had to be more to that

In addition, the power of the girls that turn into spirits is the strongest without a question Practically, shi+dou needed to chase the girl that will fight with

Naturally, the possibility wasn’t zero If Origami paid attention to shi+dou and listened to hi he couldn’t think of

However, the time liinning, wasn’t that ht be the last tierous to bet all to such optihts

“Then… If I take her parents to a safe place… or so like that…”

[I see, there ami at all]

“Ri, right? Then…”

[But, I wonder if they will obediently do so, if an unknown teenager coerous to stay there and tells them to run away]

“If, if I explain the situation”

[I am sure they will believe you if you tell them that you cahter that also coht?]

“Uh…”

He started to shen he realized how suspicious he would look

Just now the Kuruo, had believed in his words but that because inally her ability and… The sound of the Kurumi in his head had quite a lot to do with it In the first place, if he had explained the situation to Origami’s parents whom had never heard about spirits, the fire would probably break out halfway through

[Also… Even if you auaranteed that everything would work out for real]

“Huh? Wh-what do you mean?”

[What if the world retracts to the original tiht be a possibility that Origaht would be released before they could evacuate]

“…”

shi+dou was shocked by those words Certainly, it was as Kurumi said At the moment shi+dou had returned back to this tio, the world had subtly changed into one that they didn’t know about It was dangerous to think to assuo on as they knoould

…However, so his eyes

“Kuruht?”

[Ara, I don’t remember such denial I don’t have any proofs, so I just assumed”

“…”

He felt somehow confused but this wasn’t the time to pursue such probleether

“Nohat do you say we should do?”

[Right…]

Kuru, then she continued her words

[How about a of her own parents?]

“Huh? Wh-what are you saying?!”

shi+dou shouted when he heard Kurumi’s proposal,

[Ara, you think it is against the coami-san, the despair she had when she had realized that the thing she thought was a foe was her own self?]

“Th-that’s right, but wouldn’t the fact that she had killed her own parents stay the same then!”

shi+dou started to shake tremendously

Certainly if they used her ht evade her reversal However, then the fact that she killed her own parents with her own hands would stay unchanged

Moreover, the fact that her parents had died in the hands of a spirit would reeance was pointed towards soreat fire and possibly towards

“Ah…”

As he thought that, he let out a small voice

[? What happened? You stopped running]

Kurumi said so in his head shi+dou realized that he had stopped running unconsciously

However, before ain, he told the idea that occurred to him in a breath

“Hey, Kurumi”

[What is it?]

”The point is; if Origami’s neood?”

Part 3

Fivein the bushes while looking at the swings

There was a single girl, who had her hair split to two, sitting on the swings She ht be 7 or 8 years old She hadwhile the swing squeaked

There was no doubt about it Five year ago’s Kotori

“Kotori…”

He looked at her weary expression and had a feeling as if his chest tightened Surely this day was Kotori’s birthday shi+dou had gone to the next town to surprise her with a present, but… He didn’t think that she would be this lonely

When he saw the lonely Kotori, his chest hurt and he heard a chuckle in his head

[shi+dou-san, you are a coht?]

“…Shut up”

He was annoyed by her words and groaned as a reply

Well certainly, he would be in trouble if he was seen in this scene in which hi at a female elementary school student

There would be flyers, which states that there was a suspicious person roa distributed around the city

However, the young Kotori’shadn’t been printed in his retinas yet

shi+dou aiting

For the arrival of

[Even so… You have surprisingly made up your mind, shi+dou-san]

Kurumi said so in an interested tone shi+dou hesitated for a second before answering

“There is nothing I can do Also, didn’t you support this idea?”

[Well, that is right but Certainly, if you can drive away

“If I can do it… I want to talk”

[Talk? With

?]

Kuruhtly surprised way

[That is unexpected I had thought shi+dou-san hold a hostility towards

]

“…Very much I can’t deny that They are the one that turned Kotori and the others to Spirits… But, before that I don’t know anything about

When he said those, Kuru, then…

[Fu-fufu, ahahaha…]

She laughed at a time like this

“Wh, what is it?”

[It is nothing… I only thought this is shi+dou-san for you]

Kuru a little more

[However, I don’t reco if it is with that person If it is the char confused]

“Eh…? Kurumi, you, about

…”

Then

He stopped talking before finishi+ng his words

The reason was si in the park alone, there was a strange visitor

Age, gender or physique unknown, [So]

However, that was natural As if its appearance waslike a noise

…

That had appeared in front of Kotori, now

“…”

shi+dou looked at that figure and got goose bumps Kotori who had become Spirit freet> He recalled her painful expression

[shi+dou-san, you can’t act rashly]

“…, yeah, I got it”

shi+dou was restrained by Kuruhtly to keep cal He pressed his nails to his palhtly blood oozed from there

He shouldn’t stop Kotori’s turning into a Spirit He was told so by Kurumi just now

-After Kotori and

And, the moment Kotori touched it, her body stared shi+ne faintly

“Ah, ah, aaaaaaah…!”

Kotori yelled in anguish

At the sa heat ith her in theflame rose

“Guh…!”

shi+dou lowered hily, he somehow reflected the heat wave