Tale of Discovery

Raising my arms, I stretch my back as students walk past me toward the plane's doorway.

For the past hour or so, I had been making constant use of Vector Manipulation to give a small boost to the plane's velocity and get us back here faster.

Naturally, I kept the boost was a small one to the point that the pilots wouldn't notice it, and even if they did, won't make too much of a fuss.

"Let's go," I say as I cast a glance at the still-seated Origami and Tohka.

--

{Code waves detected. Entity identified: Kurumi Tokisaki.}

As I undo the Rework done on the girl in the cargo, AI's voice rings within my head.

Currently, AI is back 'inside' my body due to there being no necessity for otherwise. Out of sheer curiosity, I asked her if she had a preference in regard to materializing in Platforms, to which she responded by saying, "The closer to Father, the better."

Taking that into mind, being 'inside' me is the closest she can get to me, physically, that is.

Aside from that, there is the fact that when she is inside me, I feel a marginal boost to my senses and whatnot.

Upon further investigation, it turned out that other than vitality and strength, all my parameters are increased by a single point when she is one with me.

Considering how much of a difference a single point makes, this is a significant buff that can be perfectly helpful in a lot of situations.

"Ara, Shido," a melodic voice reaches my ears as Kurumi seemingly appears out of nowhere, "You appear to be undertaking a rather interesting activity."

Hearing her words, I realize that the position I am in right now can be easily mistaken for me being on the verge of committing an assault crime.

Retracting my right hand from the rope the girl is bound with, I proceed to get up from the floor and turn to face the graceful young lady, who is smiling while gazing at me.

"Why are you here?" I question.

"I wished to speak with you," she responds, "Could it be that my presence is delaying plans you've had for today?"

"Not at all," I state with a wry smile on my lips, "It's just that I find it odd that you're here at the moment."

After all, it seemed like she had some business to deal with yesterday. Seeing how she is here, I reckon that she already did whatever it was.

Now that I think about it, Kurumi has the ability to create replicas of herself.

I'm not sure how well these replicas fare in battle compared to the 'real' one, but they are definitely weaker one way or another, after all, they're Binary Factors, while the 'real' one is a Code.

"I suppose you would want to finish what you were doing earlier," Kurumi states with a frigid smile as she glimpses at the girl I've taken hostage.

"Right," I reply before telekinetically lifting the girl from the floor and proceeding to walk toward Kurumi, only to come to a halt once I'm less than a meter away from her.

"Get to the heart of the matter, already, will you?"

Hearing my words, the smile on Kurumi's mouth grows as she peers into my eyes and says, "Three days from now."

"Huh?" I utter, perplexed.

"A date."

"You want us to go on a date in three days?" I question while deliberating over the reason she would make such a proposition.

Why in three days? From the sounds of it, she has a location already set in mind.

"Yes," Kurumi responds while continuing to smile, "I reckon that you have no problem with that?"

I take a brief moment to think it over before nodding my head and replying, "None at all. So, at what time should we meet, and where?"

As a response to my query, she places her finger against her lips as she slightly tilts her head and adopts a thoughtful look on her face for a few seconds before saying, "How about early morning in the room we had our pleasurable activity in?"

Yeah, this sounds sketchy as heck. She definitely has something in mind, and I can only assume whether it's 'good' or 'bad'.

At least, it is more likely to be something 'good' than otherwise, judging from our recent interactions and the fact that we have already done the deed.

"Alright, I'm fine with that. So long nothing urgent gets in the way, I will be over at your little base at eight o'clock."

"Wonderful," she responds as her eyes turn to crescents, expressing her joy before saying, "I must depart now."

Beaming a smile, I reach my arm out to rub my fingers against her cheek while uttering, "Okay, take care."

The next thing I know, Kurumi grabs my arm and takes a step forth before closing the distance between our lips in one swift yet graceful motion.

More than welcoming of such intimacy, I directly wrap my arms around her body and begin a small battle with her tongue while rubbing my palms against her body.

The kiss goes on for a few minutes before, in the end, we detach our lips and Kurumi bids me farewell before 'melting' into shadow on the ground.

Releasing a small sigh, I cast a glance at the girl floating in the air before making my way toward the door I entered from.

Candidly, I would much preferably have used my teleportation magic to form a gateway and have her transferred over to Kurumi's base, but then again, I feel like I have been using the ability too nonchalantly.

I have yet to gain a proper understanding of Dominion and her capabilities, so I would be better off not giving her any more opportunities than I already have. For all I know, she could've been taking advantage of me using teleportation to keep her 'sight' on me without me being aware.

Naturally, there is no guarantee that's the case, but the possibility still exists nonetheless. It wouldn't hurt to be more careful, even if it means that I would have to take some bothersome actions.

--

After a quick flight home during which I had rendered myself invisible with Rework, I settle the girl down in my room and make sure that she has no hope of escaping before making my way back to school.

Once there, I use Clairvoyance to check on all the girls I'm close to at school, only to be surprised by the presence of Reine in the infirmary.

More than a little curious about her mysterious disappearance, I decide to head over there, and while doing so, I run into the twins who had been exploring the school building.

Right now, the students are to spend one hour at school, aiding the teachers in some minor handy works.

Apparently, this is required after every school trip, unless it was a very exhausting one.

And so, while Origami, Tohka, and Natsumi - who is still going on with her act for some reason - are helping out, the twins and I head to the infirmary.

On the way there, the two of them humor me quite a bit with their usual shenanigans…

"Refusal: Kaguya is the one that should make the first attempt."

"No, no, the great Kaguya believes that Yuzuru should be the one to do that! The all-seeing eyes agree with this!"

Currently, the two of them are arguing over who would be the first one to try and seduce me. The reason they're doing so is most likely due to a lack of confidence in themselves.

Either of the twins wants the other to make an attempt, see the results, and act upon them in their turn.

In the end, I suppose that the two of them will come to an agreement to seduce me together with some conditions needing to get fulfilled for one to triumph over the other.

After a short while, the three of us reach the door leading to the infirmary, which I directly open and head inside as the twins follow along.

"You're here, Shin," a tired voice reaches my ears.

"Indeed," I respond while gazing at the woman who is currently sitting on one of the beds present in the room, "How was your abrupt trip to DEM industries?"

Instead of showing any signs of surprise over my question, Reine's expression remains unperturbed as she simply states, "I see that you visited the Fraxinus."

Her response is the correct one to my question in this case. My response will give her information she seeks, such as whether I had actually been to the Fraxinus, or if I used some other means of tracking her down.

Shaking my head, I say, "Why was I unable to contact you?"

"That's a good question," she replies, "It's unfortunate, however, that I don't know the answer."

Hearing this, I release a sigh and say, "Whatever, let's leave this aside, for now. Some time ago, you suggested we go out somewhere and discuss some matters – You, me, and Kotori."

"Yes. Would you like to do that today?"

"Not today, because I still have to take care of a few matters related to these two," I respond while pointing at the twins behind me with my thumb.

"Then, tomorrow?"

"Yeah, tomorrow. You don't have any plans, do you?"

"No, I'm free tomorrow."

"Great. Now all that's left is to inform Kotori and make sure that she is free as well."

"There isn't a need for that," a voice suddenly reverberates within my right ear, "I'm free as well."

"You were listening in on us… " I mutter in a miffed tone.

A giggle resounds within my ear as a response to my muttering, causing me to slowly shake my head and say, "Anyway, this settles it. Tomorrow, we are going to meet up somewhere. As for the location…"

Deliberately trailing my words off, I gaze at Reine for a few seconds before stating, "I believe Reine will handle that."

To this, Reine simply looks back at me without uttering a single word.

---

"Welcome to your new home," I say in a merry tone as I step through the house's front door, while Natsumi and the twins follow from behind.

My words being directed at them, each of the twin sisters responds in their own way.

"Appreciation: Yuzuru is thankful for making the objective easier to accomplish."

"This place is nice! Very suitable for the great Kaguya!"

At this moment, a cheerful voice reaches our ears as two figures appear in front of us, "Welcome home, Big Brother!

"Hm? Who are these girls and why are they here?"

Staring at Kotori, who now has her white ribbons on instead of the black ones, I release a sigh of mild exasperation before saying, "These two are homeless girls whom I have decided are going to be staying with us from now on."

"Eh? But we don't have any empty rooms."

"It's fine," I reply while shifting my focus over to Yoshino who is standing behind her, "Henceforth, Yoshino and Tohka will be staying in my room."

"What (Eh)!?" three voices exclaim collectively.

"Judgment: Shido Itsuka is a philanderer."

Ignoring Yuzuru's remark, I adopt a gentle smile on my lips as I say, "Are you fine with that, Yoshino?"

With the focus being set on her, a small blush forms on Yoshino's cheeks as she slowly nods her head as confirmation.

Just as I'm about to turn around ask Tohka the same thing, her voice resounds within the whole house as she cries out, "I'm fine with that too!"

"Well then, that's that," I say, satisfied with the way everything turned out, "Like this, we will have two free rooms once we move everything over to my room."

And by 'everything', I mean a few clothes and some personal belongings. As for furniture and whatnot, I might simply have to destroy my current bed and create a slightly bigger one in its place.

Speaking of which…

"Kaguya, Yuzuru, are the two of you going to stay in one room?" I say as I turn around to face the sisters.

"Response: Yuzuru is fine with that."

"That sounds superb!"

"Great," I mutter while considering inviting Origami to live with us as well.

"Come on, don't stand in front of the door like that," Kotori's voice suddenly reaches my ears, causing me to shift my focus over to her.

To my surprise, I find her giving me an odd look despite her supposedly being in her cheerful persona.

"Big Brother, I will prepare the bath for you," she continues before turning around and making her way to the bath.

Following this, Yoshino glimpses at me before also turning around and heading toward the stairs, which I assume is because she plans to prepare her belongings for me to move.

"Now then," I say, seeing that the two of them are gone, "Anyone interested in taking a bath with me?"