This is not the date I wanted.

Hiroto Tenmachi asked, raising his hand excitedly. 　

"That's right!" 　

After receiving affirmation from Teacher Xiaozhu, there was a burst of excited cheers in the class. 　

"Then—come in."

It has to be said that it was very rare for students to transfer schools during this period, but at this moment Shidou's mind was full of thoughts about Origami and Mengyue, so he didn't pay much attention to it and just glanced forward slightly. 　

however-- 　

"……Eh?" 　

Shidou's eyes widened in shock as he watched the girl approach the podium. 　

A girl with a doll-like dignified and beautiful face and a slender figure. With long light-colored hair covering her entire back, one can't help but wonder if she is a princess from some country. 　

"——My name is Tobiichi Origami. Please take care of me."

After writing her name on the blackboard, the girl named Tobiichi Origami bowed deeply.

04 Origami Today

==============================

(What is going on?)

During the break, Shidou pretended to join in the conversation with Tonomachi while secretly observing Origami who was chatting with the trio of Mei, Mii and Mai.

Different from the Origami Tobiichi that Shidou had in mind, the Origami in front of him had beautiful long hair, richer expressions, and could smile naturally when talking to others.

If Origami used to be an icy beauty who was difficult to communicate with, now she gives people the feeling of a gentle and friendly top student.

To be honest, this is the origami that Shidou has always hoped to see.

(Could it be that... the Devil in this world and Tobiichi Origami are not the same person?)

Shidou couldn't help but wonder. Now that the factor of kinslaying is gone, Origami would never accept the power of the phantom and become a spirit, let alone the reversal. It is not impossible for the phantom to give the spirit power to other humans afterwards.

(No... it's too early to tell.)

Shidou tapped his head lightly and kept reminding himself.

If you jump to conclusions without sufficient intelligence, you may end up misleading yourself.

"Goka! Goka!"

"Hmm? What's wrong? Tonomachi?"

Seeing his friend staring at him suspiciously, Shidou asked a little uncomfortably.

"You've been peeking in the direction of the transfer student since a while ago. You're a playboy. You've already won the affections of Tohka-chan, Yakuya-chan, Yui-chan, and your sister. Do you want to continue to expand the influence of your Gokawa harem?"

"How could there be such a weird thing?"

Shidou looked at Tenmachi speechlessly and said.

"Hmph - let me be clear, Origami-chan is my favorite, you are not allowed to interfere. Otherwise -"

"I'm talking about you..."

Looking at Tonomachi who was trying to scare him with a scary and lukewarm expression, Shidou sighed in a helpless manner and turned to look in the direction of Origami.

"—!"

To Shidao's surprise, Origami was looking at him at that moment. After their eyes met, Origami immediately turned her head away, with a faint blush on her pretty cheeks.

(Uh - if it was the old Origami, she would probably continue to watch without any disguise - come here.)

When he looked into the eyes of a woman of the same age, such an inexplicable feeling emerged in his heart. After realizing this, Shidao couldn't help but frown.

(Speaking of this reaction...Does Origami in this world know me?)

“Hey hey—Gokawa Gokawa! Origami-chan just stared at me and then shyly turned her head away, right? Doesn’t that mean I have a good chance of winning?”

"Ah - sorry, Tenmachi, I have to make a phone call."

"Hey, don't ignore me, Gokawa!"

Ignoring Tenmachi's dissatisfaction, Shidou walked out of the classroom with his cell phone and called Kotori.

[Hi, what's up, Onii-chan?]

"Kotori, Devil transferred to our class?"

[…Explain to me what happened, Shidou.]

On the other end of the line was Kotori, who had changed into a black headband and transformed into commander mode.

Shidou told Kotori everything he saw.

The reversed spirit went to Shidou's school. At first, Kotori didn't believe it. After all, a spirit that specialized in hunting spirits, only knew how to destroy, and whose sanity couldn't be confirmed suddenly came to school. Even if Kotori told Shidou, Shidou himself might not believe it.

However, seeing that Shidao was so persistent in his attitude, Kotori on the phone finally compromised and chose to trust him, agreeing to send a reconnaissance plane to assist Shidao in the investigation.

[Let me make it clear first. If you intend to use the power of Ratatoskr to investigate the girl you like, you don't need to tell me what the consequences will be, Shidao.]

"I wouldn't do such a thing."

[Huh~ Who knows. ]

After Kotori snorted, she continued to ask,

[Then I will be responsible for investigating. What is the name of that female student? ]

"Tobiichi Origami."

Hearing the name, Kotori's brows raised slightly.

[Tobiichi Origami... Are you talking about AST's Tobiichi Origami? ]

"Eh? Kotori, have you recovered your memory?"

Shidou asked in surprise.

"What are you talking about? How could I forget the magician who fought with Tohka and the others several times?"

"That's it..."

Shidou nodded suddenly in understanding. After all, there was a precedent of Kotori and the others knowing Yumezuki who called herself a hacker, so it was not impossible that Tobiichi Origami knew Kotori and the others in another way in this world.

(However, has the Tobiichi Origami of this world also joined AST?)

From Kotori's words, Shidou learned that Origami Tobiichi was also the ace magician of AST and was fighting with Tohka and the others, just like in the previous world. However, this magician suddenly resigned not long ago.

The time of resignation happened to be very close to the time when the Devil appeared.

During the conversation, Kotori seemed to realize this herself, and her originally skeptical attitude began to become serious.

[In short, leave the investigation to us. Shidou, remember, Devil is a very dangerous inverted form. If she is really Tobiichi Origami, don't get in touch with her easily.]

"Ah, I see... Thank you, Kotori."

[Really? You have to explain this to me clearly when you get back.]

Kotori sighed helplessly. She didn't know why, but since yesterday, she felt that Shidou had become a little strange.

"So……" 　

He put his phone in his pocket and leaned against the wall to think for a while. After the bell rang, Shidou, who hadn't figured out what was going on, took a deep breath and returned to the second-year class four classroom.

The voice of the teacher's lecture began to echo in the classroom. Although he had just decided to listen to the class carefully yesterday, unfortunately, today Shidao was unable to hear what the teacher said no matter what. 　

(As expected... I should talk to Origami.)

Although new information was obtained, other questions also emerged one after another - why did Origami join AST? If Origami is the Devil, why was she able to maintain her human form after the reversal?

Even if it's just to be on the safe side, Shidou must get in touch with Origami now and understand what happened to her in this world.

Thinking of this, Shidao took advantage of the teacher's inattention, tore off a piece of paper from the notebook, and wrote a line of small words on it.

【Please come to the rooftop of the teaching building during lunch break.

】

——Sorry, Kotori. In his heart, Shidou couldn't help but apologize to his sister. He crumpled the note into a small ball and threw it onto Origami's desk while no one was paying attention.

Then, it was lunch break time. As expected, when Shidou arrived at the rooftop of the teaching building, he saw Tobiichi Origami waiting for him.

"Um, um... Gokawa-san, is there anything wrong?"

Origami looked at Shidou with some caution. It was inevitable that she felt uneasy and nervous when she was called to the rooftop by a male classmate right after transferring to another school.

However, Shidou, who had been maintaining his chastity under the crazy attack of Origami from another world, felt subtly uncomfortable with this.

(No! No! Even though it’s all origami, it’s such a shame to have such a feeling.)

Shaking his head suddenly, Shidou adjusted his mood and started talking to Origami.

At first, Origami seemed a little reserved towards this unfamiliar classmate. However, when Shidou asked her about the fire five years ago, Origami's attitude suddenly changed.

It turns out that Origami had inexplicably paid attention to Shidou before because she witnessed Shidou being pierced through in order to save her parents, and she was concerned about his extremely similar appearance.

Five years ago, he was just an elementary school student. Even if he said that he traveled back in time to save Origami's parents, Origami probably wouldn't believe it. So Shidou lied a little and said that the "dead" him five years ago was his brother.

"Your brother saved my father and mother. Without him, my parents would have died. Now I can't express my gratitude in any words, but I still want to say, thank you very much...!"

"Okay, okay..."

Seeing Origami lower her head to express her deep gratitude, Shidou nodded somewhat unrealistically and responded vaguely.

Then, Shidou learned from Origami everything that Origami had experienced in this world.

Origami's parents who were saved by Shidou five years ago died in a traffic accident a year later; 　

Origami doesn't want anyone to suffer the same fate as Shidou's "brother", so she joins AST with the determination to protect humanity; 　

And she had no idea that she had once become an elf, or even reversed.

(The power of history to correct...)

A feeling of powerlessness spread in Shidao's heart, causing him to grit his teeth unwillingly.

In the previous world, Mengyue once mentioned a hypothesis that in order to prevent the impact of time travel from causing a time paradox, there may be some special power in the world that can achieve the same result by correcting the process.

At that time, Kuang San maintained a wait-and-see attitude towards this statement, neither denying nor admitting it.

"Itsuka-san?"

Origami looked at Shidou with some concern.

"Ah, nothing much. I pulled an all-nighter last night, so I'm a little sleep deprived."

"It's true. Not getting enough rest is bad for your health."

Origami sighed and a helpless smile appeared on her face. After knowing that Shidou was the "younger brother" of the boy who rescued her parents, she unconsciously became closer to Shidou.

Just then, the bell for the end of lunch break suddenly rang.

"Lunch break is over, and I should probably go home soon. Thank you, Gokawa-san, it's really nice to be able to talk to you."

Origami bowed slightly to Shidou and turned to go back to the classroom.

"Wait, wait a minute."

Shidou shouted hurriedly. There were still many questions that had not been answered, and moreover, he felt that he couldn't just leave Origami like this.

"Hey, anything else?"

"Well - if possible, I would like to continue chatting with you. Not today, but when you are free - can we meet again?" 　

"Eh?" 　

Origami was stunned at first when she heard Shidou's words, and then her cheeks turned red. 　

Seeing Origami's reaction, Shidou finally realized that what he said was like an invitation for a date. 　

"I, I'll think about it—" 　

After answering with a stuttering tone, Origami quickly turned around and ran down the stairs in a hurry.

Then, during the afternoon class, Shidou received a note from Origami. 　

——I am free this Saturday. And Origami's email address. 　

"call……"