47 Chapter 6: Pair after Pair [4]
[A/N: It seems that my assumptions about last chap was wrong. Not so many were saying it's bad so yeah. Glad ya guys like it]
——
"I'll take that silence as a yes, I guess?" Rei said as he smiled in satisfaction.
Realizing their expressions, they immediately changed it—or so Kotori wanted it to be but instead she retorted.
"I don't know what you are t—?"
But even before she could finish her words, Reine interrupted her by tapping her shoulder, getting her attention in the process. This made Kotori look at her as she lifted one of her brows.
"Reine? What are you...?" Kotori asked.
"....Mm, I think it's better to stop right here Kotori. Our reactions already gave him an answer, putting up your refusal wouldn't be worth it"
Even so, blatantly saying that right in front of the said person was way too... bold? Or maybe, Reine just doesn't care? Who knows?
Rei just gave a smile as he uttered his next words.
"That's right, so now tell me, that 'person', how many of our 'kind' has been sealed by him"
Turning back her attention towards Rei, she once more attempted to speak.
"...Why would we ans—"
But her words were clogged down from here mouth once again as Reine answered Rei instead.
"At the moment, it is just one. Only Kotori to be exact," Reine said as she pointed her finger at Kotori not minding the stare that she was receiving right at this very moment.
'But not sealed definitely or properly, is what you should've added I think,' Rei thought.
"Reine?!" At this point, Kotori couldn't help but exclaim.
Kotori felt betrayed for some reason, that's just how it was. This was the second time! Kotori was visibly frustrated at her companion.
Looking at Reine as if she had gone mad, before Kotori could even utter her next words... she was interrupted once again.
"...Kotori, calm down. Let me handle this, cool your head first"
Reine calmly said as she tapped on Kotori's shoulder. This resulted her to slightly calm down, however, the fact that she was fuming in dissatisfaction still haven't ceased, and it wouldn't be at any moments time.
"...."
What would you feel if someone were to interrupt every time you try to say something? Especially if it is a matter of importance or so? Would you feel frustrated? Maybe mad? Obviously dissatisfied?
Of course you would. There are other more than these feelings that you would have!
Why wouldn't you? Interrupting someone's words while talking halfway is downright rude in the first place.
If you don't feel mad or even slightly dissatisfied about it, then maybe you are just a person full of patience or maybe you are the type of person who just doesn't care.
Right at that very moment, Kotori felt something inside her had snapped.
"Well, that was interesting," Rei mused. "However, I digress. This person, I think it is clearly obvious to me who it was considering that he even approached me just a few days ago"
".....Mm, it is Shin. If you're thinking that we... or he meant any kind of harm, I suppose that it was just a simple misunderstanding. We don't do that here in [Ratatoskr]," Reine replied.
"...."
Kotori just stared at them in silence waiting for the conversation flow to the point where she can properly say something. If Rei knew this, he would snicker in pity at the poor girl's thought.
"I see, about your offer about this 'protection' which seemed rather unnecessary for now, then... but about us going 'under' your protection—or control of some sorts, rather than that, I would rather put our relationship on 'equal' grounds. I would like to set up some things for me and Tohka. You would have no problems about that simple request, would you?"
"....Nn," Reine nodded as she glanced at Kotori giving some kind of message. In response however, Kotori just shrugged as she gestured with her hands as she didn't want to say anything.
"...As you can see, we have no qualms in that unless you may do extreme actions such as purposely destroying things and wreaking havoc here and there," Reine pointed out and added. "Just like what happened a few days ago where Kotori and you needed to fight it out for the situation to end the situation but... it didn't go well as expected as you cleaved and made a landmark of severing the northern west part of the city"
"..."
Rei averted his gaze for a while as he heaved a wry expression. It was mainly his fault back there, and he won't deny it. Simple and plain and nothing else to argue over.
"Going back to the point where you said that you want to help—"
"Yes..... as any means possible, we would gladly help Spirits," Reine immediately answered interrupting his words. Rei couldn't help but wince at her if this was on purpose on riling someone up by not letting them finish their words just like what she did earlier with little Kotori over here.
Poor girl.
Setting that aside...
"I see, then if I tell you that I would leave Tohka under your care for this week, what would you say? Knowing you guys though, you would accept it thankfully so this comes with a simple challenge"
"Challenge?" Kotori can't help but utter back.
"Yes a challenge... or if I word it into simpler terms, a test. A test about getting her 'trust' to you guys. It depends on her after all on how much I would give my cooperation with you guys in the future"
Reine made a small groan at Rei's words.
"...Well, to put it bluntly— when she is with you, Tohka's state would be best called stable and 'controlled'," Reine pointed. "This kind of situation would surely be put in some kind of havoc if she knows that she will be separated with you in a duration of a few days. In worst case scenario, she may even turn hostile against us"
Reine then paused before continuing.
"...That is to say— while this is hard for us to judge, Tohka hasn't put her trust on any individual other than you. Whether it's me or Kotori, although we would have many opportunities to be in contact with her in the future, I bet that she wouldn't take everything we say in mind unless you say it or you accompany her along the process"
"Precisely...." Rei answered as he pondered.
"...Yes, that's why I think this should 'observation' of yours would only last for a week. Consider it as a test about gaining a piece of my 'trust'," Rei then added. "If you could gain her trust up to the point where she could consider you guys as 'worthy' within that short amount of time, then I would consider working alongside with you people to some extent"
Anymore than that is beyond what Rei is thinking. Tohka being separated with him for that long would surely bring complications as far as he had observed.
'Or else, who knows what might happen to you lot, for more I know, Tohka is somewhat... very attached to me,' Rei thought to himself.
As soon as those words were said, he held his breath.
Nevertheless, he looked kind of smug right now. And this of course did not escape Kotori's eyes.
Kotori then snarled as she looked at him, visible confusion as well as irritation showed on her face.
"...Why do you sound so confident in that? Huh?" She then held up her chin and after a few seconds, her eyes widened as she pointed her finger on him. "Don't tell me you groomed her that fast to be your wife or something... ah! No! Maybe a servant, what a pitiful girl she is!"
Rei stared at Kotori blankly wondering why this girl had a sudden exaggerated outburst of nonsense out of the blue.
Thinking so, Rei couldn't help but spat, "...What? Are we playing a comedy skit here or what?"
With a serious look, Kotori then said. "So it is true then?"
"No, of course. I'm no master of manipulating how a person thinks and how to control them like puppets. You should ask for a expert psychologist or a mind genius to do that," Rei denied as he gave her a deadpan look.
"...I see, too bad I can't file a case against you violating the law..."
'What now? Laws? What nonsense, does that even apply to us Spirits, obviously not,' Rei pondered in amusement.
This girl right now was spouting some crap nonsense at this moment. Is it because of Reine always interrupting her earlier? Did it cause some loss of braincells or anything? Maybe... but that doesn't matter right now.
——
Their talks continued.
The boy who has the power to seal Spirits. Their powers to be exact and their lethality to harm humankind. The ability to seal them through a kiss with the process of calming their emotional states, which led to the conclusion of having them fall in love with the so called person.
That is Shidou Itsuka, the adoptive brother of Kotori Itsuka.
From explaining things about Shidou and their goals, Rei had gained a broad picture of the situation.
Instead of Reine though, it was Kotori who soon held the reign in the conversation after she had composed herself as she calm down.
Her tone was totally different from a while ago. While giving off adult-like vibes, Kotori had spoken.
—Right.
<Ratatoskr> proposed to use this method to subdue the Spirits, which is through peaceful and non-violent means—that is for Shidou to get in good terms with the Spirits, and then seal the powers in his own body— even to put it in words, this was a stupid thing to do. Or so was the plan at first before Rei came into picture.
It came to the point where Kotori asked Rei if he would gladly take the role of sealing the Spirits themselves instead of Shidou.
Rei of course was welcome to the idea but for some reason, Reine adamantly refused to continue with those thoughts and tried to justify why Shidou should be the one—or at least, partake most of the sealing to himself.
Surprisingly, it was backed up with clear reasoning such as if they agree that if Rei were to acclimate more Spirit powers than what he could contain, then it may accidentally create a larger spacequake compared to 30 years ago.
Or maybe, if Rei were to became a threat to humanity while taking other Spirits' abilities, then stopping him would be close to impossible.
Still, saying those facts in front of the person himself was plainly... courageous—or probably, stupid.
Rei just looked at them in bafflement wondering if they really hit their heads or something since they are ignoring him for quite a while as they discussed about that topic.
Reine having said all of that, Kotori bent her body slightly forward while opening her lips.
"Geez, If that's the case, then there's nothing we can do anymore," she grumbled.
"Hoh...?"
"We can either quietly watch the world getting messed up by spacequakes or patiently wait for a miracle-like event by letting the AST kill the Spirits. It'll probably be one of those two that would take place"
"And so, you plan to risk the life of your brother knowing that if someone like me were to face him, he'd be obliterated to nothingness? Is that what you want to say"
After being told that, Kotori was left speechless for a brief moment before answering.
"...I trust my broth— Shidou, more than you think. He won't be taken down that easily. Besides, Reine was pretty confident on Shidou doing the job well, you see"
"Because of him possessing that regenerative prowess of yours from your Angel. That would be the only reasonable reason as for why you would even throw him in harm alongside that trust of yours," Rei pointed out before adding. "But in front of my ability, you know that regenerative ability alone wouldn't be just enough"
"Correct..."
"But don't worry. I won't plan to harm him," Rei then added into his mind.
'As long as he minds what actions he would take in the future. If not, then I bet he'll die anytime soon, even if it wasn't done by me in the first place'
"I see... A thank you should suffice I guess," Kotori afterwards bit her lip.
Many thoughts were now swirling on Rei's mind.
The Spirits, who exist in the alternate dimension that is said to be the neighboring world, would rarely appear in this world.
On these occasions, there would be a large fluctuation with the walls between the dimensions, causing a phenomenon known as a spacequake to occur.
Whether it was on a large or small scale– as long as Spirits appear in an area, the latter would be absurdly destroyed, as though a bomb had exploded.
After that, the Spirits would be known as dangerous existences, and people would be attempting to eliminate them by any means with the help of members of the JGSDF's Anti-Spirits Team's, the AST's, military powers. If not enough, then the whole world would even go and prepare to hunt them down.
The Spirits would be in grave danger if that were to happen.
These facts however, only applies if the Spirits were too weak to protect themselves. Well, there are some Spirits who are pacifists in nature and even are useless in battle, but that doesn't change the fact that they all have their unique perks—their <Angels> to be exact, that could deal 'damage' in a variety of ways depending on how they use it.
For example, if Spirits were to be war-freaks in nature, then the world would be undoubtedly in chaos and filled with devastation already.
Imagine having a Spirit who was currently in Space and could just shower comets and asteroids around the world is she wanted too.
Or maybe those twin spirits that wreak typhoons at their wake?
Or perhaps a Spirit who could turn simple fantasies to reality just like those in fairy tales for she was a witch?
Or maybe a Spirit who could use time-related abilities in exchange of her own lifespan—which could be avoided if she uses the lifespan of every living being around her if she wanted to.
These were just a few examples. Rei himself could literally— anyways...
"The unusual power that can seal the ones of the Spirits away— you two are the only individuals in the whole world that holds that," Kotori pointed with a growl. "And yet, you're saying that you don't want to do this. Doesn't it mean that there is no possible alternative anymore?"
"... Alternative huh. I like that word but you know, Kotori"
"What is it?"
As if she somehow managed to guess what was about to ask, Kotori leisurely replied.
"Answer me first, will you tell what [Ratatoskr] really is. If you are wondering also, I already have a main picture knowing how your organization works, especially after this whole conversation we've been through. I just want to hear your thoughts about it"
Kotori sighed, and took out her favorite food—a Chupa Chups—from her pocket once more. Only after unwrapping it and putting it in her mouth that she began to talk.
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[A/N: This chap is more like a continuation filling up some details that I should've added on the previous chap. More or so, the next chap would probably the last one of this 'pair after pair' thing.
I'm planning on concluding there how Rei would finalize his deal with this two, moving on to a prelude of a new chap name.
And so, bad news I think...
Face2Face classes are now being implemented here in my place. As you know, this means that my time writing would be affected drastically so yeah...
I'll try my best to post at least 1 chap per week. This much is what I could promise ya guys from now on. RL responsibilities comes first after all.
And so, I conclude this long note with this, adios guyz]
