This is not the date I wanted.

After all, its characteristic is to collect the magic power or spiritual power scattered on the battlefield for its own use.

"Einherjar (Heroic Warrior), Methratton (Angel of Extinction)——"

Halfway through the walk, Origami took off the spear "Heroic Spirit" equipped on her back and planted her feet on the ground, ready to fight.

At the same time, three wings of light of the "Angel of Extinction" were spliced ​​together at the tip of the gun that had been accumulating power for a long time, forming a triangular muzzle.

“——Light Gun!!”

Shouting out the name of the move in a deep voice, Origami thrust out the spear suddenly, as if the weapon had extended, and a spear of light blending black and white shot forward.

Just like Moses parting the sea, the light spear split the turbulent vortex of spiritual power into two, creating an open path.

At the end of the road, there was Rokuko kneeling on the ground crying.

"Right now! Itsuka-san!"

"—!!"

As Origami yelled, Shidou had already poured strength into his legs and ran forward with all his might.

This is really outrageous. A voice in Shidou's heart laughed at him.

If Shidou was forced into crises in the past, then this time's tragedy was entirely Shidou Gokawa's own fault.

If he chose to follow Meng Yue's advice and not unlock Rokuko's [Heart Lock], then everyone would not forget him, and Tohka would not fall into a reversal due to pressure. If he had not been injured in front of Rokuko, Rokuko would not recall the past psychological trauma and fall into despair.

But, precisely because of this, he could not regret it.

Just like Meng Yue said, if you are not prepared to accompany him to the end, then what will appear before Shidao will only be a tragedy where no one can be happy.

"Rokuko!!!"

Ignoring the layer of corrosive black spiritual energy that enveloped Rokuko's body, Shidou used his only remaining left arm to hold her tightly in his arms and shouted her name loudly.

"Official..."

As if reacting to Shidou's voice, Rokuko's mouth opened slightly.

"Leave quickly... Liu'er... I don't want to hurt the master... Not only the master... my sister... my father... my mother... they are all Liu'er... Liu'er... I don't have the qualifications to love..."

Listening to Rokuko's inarticulate crying, Shidou pursed his lips tightly.

Now, Shidou, who has Rokuko's past memories, finally understands. Why does Rokuko reject everyone so much? Why does he want to monopolize Shidou?

Jealousy and possessiveness are just secondary emotions. The real emotion that drives Rokuko to take a series of extreme actions is confusion and fear.

For a girl who originally had nothing, the feeling of "love" was too dazzling and warm.

Because it is dazzling, its importance surpasses everything a girl has.

Because of the warmth, once you have it, you will never want to let it go.

However, even though it was such an important treasure, the girl didn't know how to keep it with her.

The more she immersed herself in the happiness brought by this "love", the more afraid she felt in her heart. All this was just an illusory dream, and the moment she woke up from the dream, she would have nothing.

Therefore, girls feel extremely uncomfortable when their family members connect with people other than themselves and realize that they no longer belong to them alone.

I am not the only one. To those people, a girl may just be a branch accidentally grafted into their lives. Even if there is no girl, there are other treasures to cherish.

One day, they will leave the girls' world.

"You must be scared, Rokuko. You don't want the important person to leave you, but you don't know how to keep him. You have no choice but to use the method you least want to use."

Hearing Shidou's voice, Rokuko's shoulders trembled slightly.

"Ha...we really are alike, Rokuko."

Gently stroking Rokuko's hair, Shidou sighed with a wry smile.

That’s right, Shidou, like Rokuko, has been alone since the day he was old enough to understand. It was not until he was adopted by Kotori’s parents that he experienced the warmth of a family.

Putting aside gender, whether it is background or experience, Shidou and Rokuko are so similar. That is why Shidou can understand Rokuko's feelings.

In fact, Shidou was afraid that his family would leave him one day. However, unlike Rokuko, Shidou did not have the power to distort this fact at that time, and because of this, he was able to discover an important answer.

"It's okay, Rokuko."

Shidou said gently.

"There is no need to worry like this. Whether it's father, mother, brothers or sisters... no matter how far apart they are, there is definitely an invisible thread that connects them tightly together."

Hearing Shidou's words, Rokuko burst into tears.

"But... Liu'er... Liu'er has already... cut off this connection... Even the master... was hurt by Liu'er... If Liu'er stays by your side... it will only make the master suffer..."

"It's okay. I'm used to this kind of injury."

Shidou shrugged and said casually,

"No one is perfect. So don't worry, just move forward slowly at your own pace. One day, you will learn how to love your family."

"…Are you serious?"

"Yeah, I promise."

Noticing a hint of expectation in Rokuko's eyes, Shidou nodded firmly.

"Rokuko, do you know what the difference is between family members and ordinary people?"

"I don't know."

Rokuko shook his head in confusion.

"That is - even if one day you make a mistake that you yourself cannot forgive, as long as you apologize sincerely, your family may get angry or scold you, but in the end they will definitely forgive you."

As he said this, Shidou gently touched Rokuko's forehead, closed his eyes and whispered.

"I, Gokawa Shido, swear that no matter what happens, I will never abandon Rokuko or hate Rokuko. I will treat her as an important family member."

Hearing Shidou's words, Rokuko's tear-filled eyes widened slightly, but soon she understood Shidou's intention, closed her eyes, and answered with a sob.

"Roku'er... Hoshimiya Rokuko... also swears - to work hard to change myself! To become someone who knows how to love! To learn to be a gentle person! To become a family member of Itsuka Shido! Sir -"

Hugging Shidou tightly, Rokuko held back her tears and spoke loudly as if she wanted to pour out all her feelings.

"Liu Er did something really outrageous! I'm so sorry!!!"

Shidou opened his eyes, distanced himself a little, and flicked lightly at Rokuko's forehead.

Shidou smiled cheerfully.

"Okay, I forgive you."

The moment he heard these words, the spiritual energy surrounding Rokuko, which was as turbid as mud, began to be purified bit by bit and returned to its original transparent color.

However, Shidou knew that his mission did not end here.

"Rokuko--"

After silently apologizing in his heart, Shidou pulled her in front of him with his only remaining arm and kissed Rokuko's lips.

"..."

Although she felt a little surprised, Rokuko did not resist and silently accepted Shidou's kiss.

Maybe because of the coughing up blood when he was injured, this kiss was filled with the taste of blood.

Soon, after feeling something flowing into his body, Rokuko's spiritual outfit and the black key standing behind him turned into light dust and dissipated, and the shaking of the earth also stopped.

Rokuko, on the other hand, fell into Shidou's arms, feeling relieved, and fell asleep peacefully.

PS: I originally wanted to write Rokuko as a complete reversal to make this plot more tortuous, but when I thought about the fact that Shidou had already lost his arm, I would feel a little guilty if I continued to torture him, so I deleted it and rewrote it.

41 Calm

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

"call……"

Looking at Rokuko sleeping soundly in his arms, Shidou couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief. His legs went limp and he just sat down on the ground.

"I always feel like I forgot something..."

Shidou scratched his head in confusion. Although he felt that there was something important that had not been completed, after sealing Rokuko, his mind was like a rubber band that was stretched tight for a long time and then suddenly released, and his thoughts were unable to turn around for a while.

What on earth did he forget? Shidao stared at the night sky and fell into deep thought. The clouds seemed to be completely oblivious to the commotion on the ground. They gathered together in groups, and their shapes looked like Tohka's favorite soybean flour bread...

"Ah, speaking of which, Tohka and Yumezuki haven't—"

Shidou suddenly realized what was happening and a drop of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.

"Shidou, be careful!"

"Eh?"

At this moment, Origami suddenly came in front of Shidou and looked into the distance with a nervous look on her face.

Looking in the direction Origami was looking, Shidou discovered that a small dot in the sky was flying towards him very quickly.

boom--!

The object suddenly landed about twenty meters away from Shidou, and continued to move forward while maintaining its sliding momentum. After leaving two long scratches on the ground, it stopped in front of Shidou and Origami with billowing smoke and dust.

"Ahem—wha-what?"

Shidou couldn't help coughing twice and looked at the other party in confusion.

When the smoke cleared, what appeared before Shidou was a girl wearing a pitch-black dress, with long night-colored hair and cold yet sharp eyes.

The other party was none other than the reversed Tohka who was taken away from the scene by Mengyue before. As for Mengyue, she was held under Tohka's armpit. Although she was injured a lot, she did not seem to be in any danger of life.

(What's going on?)

Shidou was a little confused.

"Ji-Jiuxiang?"

"..."

Tohka stared at Rokuko who was sleeping soundly in Shidou's arms, then glanced at Shidou a few times and said with a disappointed look on her face.

"—You turned a rare and excellent warrior into a child."

"Forehead……"

Shidou didn't know how to answer for a moment. Although he didn't know the specific situation over there, it seemed that Tohka had no intention of continuing the battle.

Fearing that Tohka might attack like before, Origami was not willing to be careless and kept Shidou and Rokuko on guard behind her.

"Throat? Are you planning to challenge me?"

As if taking Origami's action as a provocation, Tohka's pupils slightly dilated, and a belligerent smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.

"Wait! We finally solved all the problems, don't create any more trouble. Origami, we're fine here, put your weapons down. Tohka too, don't start a fight as soon as you're provoked!"

Meng Yue quickly spoke up and stopped the two people who were about to start a big fight.

“Eh? Is that so? Sorry!”

Hearing Meng Yue's words, Origami quickly put down his weapon.

"Humph, it's not your turn to order me around."

With an unhappy snort, Tohka threw Meng Yue towards Origami without any hesitation.

"Next! Go back and take her to heal her."

"Eh??"

Seeing Mengyue suddenly flying towards him, Origami was flustered for a moment, but he still caught her and put her on the ground carefully.

"Mengyue, are you okay?"

"Hiss—Luckily, at least he's not dead."

Because the previous blow affected the wound on her body again, Meng Yue took a breath, but still answered calmly.

"What happened to you? Why did the reversed Tohka bring you back?"

"Well..."

Glancing at Tohka secretly, Meng Yue straightened his face and spoke seriously.

"I fought with Tohka, but I didn't expect that Tohka was so powerful. I was beaten without any resistance. But thanks to Tohka's generosity, he said that he didn't want to kill a small person like me, so he mercifully let me go."