Tale of Discovery

Arriving downstairs alongside Origami, four pairs of eyes lock onto us as we reach the living room.

Kotori, in particular, focuses her gaze on Origami's body, or more accurately, clothes. She seems to have figured something out but is not sure of the correlated details.

"Huh?" a befuddled voice reverberates within the room as Tohka exits the kitchen area with a loaf of bread in her hands, "You changed your clothes already?"

Having said that, she looks down at herself, only to see that she is still in her school uniform. Then, she begins walking in the direction of the staircase, not sparing us a single glance throughout, seemingly focused on her objective, which I assume is changing into casual clothes.

Thus, Origami and I are left in the living room alone with two deeply flushed little girls and a suspecting sister who is keenly gazing at me while muttering, "No way… right?"

Releasing a sigh, I pull on Origami's hand as I make my way over to a sofa opposite to the one Natsumi and Yoshino are sitting on. Perhaps, I should've picked the other sofa, but I suppose facing the two 'witnesses' would be better.

Kotori seems to have realized I plan to discuss something as she walks over to the sofa we are on as well and takes a seat right to my left.

And so, I am sitting on a sofa with two girls on either of my sides. To my right, there is Origami who is still holding my hand for some reason, and to my left, is my little sister who has closed the distance between our bodies a little too much. This is quite unlike her… Does she feel threatened by something?

I take a moment to gaze at her face, only to notice that she casts a quick wary glance at Origami every few seconds. Realization dawns upon me as a smile forms on my lips. Following that, I shift my left arm so that it's properly wrapped around her slender waist before saying, "So, Kotori, how did your meet-up with the higher-ups go?"

"Surprisingly well," she responds, "I was expecting to get berated for our unnecessary action of taking the AST members hostage, but it turned out that they were planning to do the same anyway."

"That means you basically accomplished a task without even receiving it?"

"Yes, and no," she responds with a thoughtful look on her face, "Our job at Ratatoskr is to locate spirits and have you seal them up."

Expectedly, the girls present are listening to the conversation with curious glints in their eyes.

On one hand, there is Origami who has a solemn look on her face while gazing at Kotori, while on the other, there is Natsumi whose brows have furrowed slightly.

As for Yoshino, she just seems to find the matter itself interesting as she gawks at Kotori.

"Despite what we did being useful to the higher-ups, it was outside our area of expertise and wasn't a requirement, so we were just let off for going out of line."

"That's unfortunate," I say, "So, what had you all been doing prior to me taking on the job of sealing spirits?"

"Well, we were mostly researching them and the energy that's given off by them, so that when the time came, we would be prepared to deal with most if not all issues through the experience we had collected."

"And? Were you able to collect much data?"

"Unfortunately, no," she responds, "The spirits weren't very active for the past few years until recently…"

I doubt that the reason it has become like that because of me, but there is a chance nevertheless.

"Hold on a moment," Natsumi suddenly exclaims as she gets on her feet while remaining on the sofa, "Correct me if I am mistaken, but that guy's job is to seal spirits?"

Seeing the small finger pointed at me, I shrug and say, "That's how it is. Of course, depending on the spirit's persona and…"

I deliberately trail my words off as I focus my gaze keenly onto Natsumi and Yoshino before continuing, "Cuteness."

Hearing my words, Natsumi's face contorts for a second before she releases a somewhat exaggerated sigh and lays her back against the sofa.

Yoshino, who is beside her just seems to understand the meaning of my words as a bright smile forms on her delicate lips.

"This isn't the time for that," Natsumi says in an exhausted tone, "I want to know what she meant by 'sealing'."

"It's exactly what it sounds like," I respond casually, "Your powers and the energy you release will enter a dormant state to the point that even the AST - the group those girls that attacked you belong to - won't be able to so much detect you.

"I should also mention the fact that you won't be causing and 'space quakes', even if you stay for an extended period of time. Isn't that right, Kotori?"

Seeing me looking over at her, Kotori nods her head once and says, "That's right. If you are to get sealed, you won't be facing any trouble."

While Kotori was saying that, I had already shifted my sight over to Origami in order to see her reaction to all this.

Surprisingly, she was relatively calm about the whole thing. She seems to neither have any questions to ask, nor any curiosity toward the 'seal'.

"Say," I utter, "Weren't you informed by your higher-ups or whatnot when arriving here that a spirit was detected?"

After all, if I am not mistaken, I haven't sealed Natsumi's powers yet.

"I was," she responds, startling me.

"And? Did you feel any tension when you did?"

"No," she responds, "They said it was fine."

At this moment, a random notion passes through my mind that results in my eyes to widen – What if everything we're saying is being transmitted over to her organization.

Upon asking Origami, she simply shook her head and said, "Don't worry. I already had someone make sure that was prevented."

"Who, exactly?" I query, for all I know, they could be acting for the organization's benefit.

"My aunt," she responds, "She told me that they had tried to do that to her, so she checked my Realizer device and found it here too."

"Your aunt, huh? Can she be trusted? How loyal is she to the organization?"

"She only does it for the high pay, is what she told me. My aunt would often tell me that if whenever I felt something was wrong, I was to leave immediately."

I see. It seems that I may have found my black sheep, no - my key. She will be the key that will open the gates for me to pick the black sheep out.

"Where does your aunt live?" I inquire.

"Currently, she is away on a trip. Before that, she lived in the dorms provided to us."

"Is that so? When do you think she will return?"

"A week, at most."

"Alright. Thanks for sharing this information with me," I say with a small smile on my lips as I proceed to pat her head.

At this moment, I hear two consecutive coughs to my left as Kotori's voice reaches my ears, "Save this for later. Did you have anything else to discuss?"

Hearing her words, I take a moment to deliberate on something before shaking my head and stating, "Nope. All that is left is for us to get to know each other better."

Hah~ I should probably go visit Mana some time, or perhaps get her to visit me? Either way, I need to get in contact with her as I have a feeling that she will play a huge role in my plans.

Leaving that aside, there is tomorrow's trip that I need to prepare for. Firstly, I would have to make sure that those who aren't coming have their safety guaranteed. I can't exactly just leave it to Ratatoskr alone, so I would have to do something on my part.

I suppose it's about time that I summoned Jeanne over? It will probably be a little problematic to explain her to the girls here, particularly those who are 'curious' about my being, but it's the safest bet I can make…