Chapter 187 Shidou fail at convicing Phantom

"… …"

[Phantom] answered Shidou's question with silence. However, it seemed that he didn't ignore Shidou's question or didn't give any extra information──but he was speechless.

This made Shidou even more confused about the situation and he frowned.

The words and actions of the free and easy [phantom] in his imagination and the "something" standing in front of him now were completely different, and Shidou even doubted whether the person standing inside the noise expanding in his field of vision was a completely different existence.

"..." [Phantom] moved his body which was shrouded in noise, seemed to sigh, and then escaped as if sliding on the ground.

Faintly, Shidou heard a sentence---

"The task assigned to me is very troublesome I haven't done with it yet..."

However, Shidou did not pay attention to that sentence. What he cared more about was the figure of [Phantom] running away!

Seeing this, Shidou instinctively ran after the Phantom.

At the same time, Shidou glanced at Kotori who was slumped in the park.

After the young girl gained power of unknown origin, she kept shouting "Brother Katsu, brother - where are you?" as if asking for help.

"...Hmm..." Seeing this scene, Shidou's heart tightened, but soon, he breathed a sigh of relief, because he saw Katsu being carried from the bushes where they had been hiding before, and walked towards Kotori---

Shidou then felt relieved and continued to chase after the [Phantom]

He couldn't let the [Phantom] escape at this moment. Shidou kept his eyes on the [Phantom] that he could easily lose if he wasn't careful, and chased after it with all his might.

Although they succeeded in keeping the Phantom away from the park, this alone was not enough. Their goal was to prevent Origami, who had come to this era, from finding any traces of the Phantom.

In order to achieve this goal, the [Phantom] must be driven to a place where Origami can never find it──that is, to make the [Phantom] disappear into a different place.

"--However, his reaction is really unexpected...Does he know me? At least among the people I know, there shouldn't be anyone with mosaics all over their body.." Shidou muttered to himself, but his speed did not slow down at all---

But he was also frowning and thinking - just now, [Phantom] obviously recognized his appearance.

Shidou had met people who had similar reactions after seeing his face before.

That's right. That person is Isaac Westcott, Executive Director of DEM Industry.

When he and Katsu were trying to save the abducted spirits, Katsu was shot through the heart and lost consciousness. Because his attention was on Katsu at the time, he didn't pay much attention to it. But now thinking about it, he remembered that at that time, Westcott, who should have seen him for the first time, noticed him kneeling beside the "dead" Katsu, and seemed to laugh and call him ── ── Takamiya.

"...!" The contraction that was not caused by intense exercise shook Shidou's heart. Takamiya. This last name is the same as that of Takamiya Mana, who claimed to be Shidou's biological sister.

Moreover, Shidou, who was adopted by the Itsuka family, lost his memories before he became an adopted son, and his memories before five years ago are all vague...

"Phantom, what on earth do you know about me...?" Phantom kept running through the streets engulfed in flames, and Shidou chased after him, shouting loudly.

Thinking about it carefully, there are several things that Shidou doesn't understand.

What was he doing before he was adopted by the Itsuka family? Why did Westcott know him?

"Hmm..." Shidou frowned, gritted his teeth, and stomped hard on the ground.

And then - at that moment, the phantom that was moving in front of him suddenly stopped. Shidou also followed his action and urgently stopped his body.

"...[Phantom]!"

When Shidou called out the name, [Phantom] slowly moved his body that was shrouded in noise.

It seemed that he turned around and looked at Shidou. "... [Phantom] Ah... You gave me this name."

Then, after murmuring the name again and again, he sighed softly. Although the sound was distorted, for some reason, Shidou felt a feeling similar to that of a girl in love complaining about her boyfriend's small but not great things.

"No wonder he called me Phantom when he first saw me..."

This made Shidou stunned for a moment---

At this time, [Phantom] seemed to have calmed down and sighed, "I'm sorry, I ran away so suddenly. I thought it would be best not to talk about it in front of her."

The "she" He was referring to was probably Kotori.

Shidou's breathing stagnated, and then he took a deep breath---"What is your purpose---"

[Phantom] stood there in silence. It seemed that he had no intention of answering Shidou's question, but looked at Shidou quietly. After a while, he tilted his head and spoke---

"...Hmm, my purpose of the [Spirit] is after all for you and not for [Katsu]... Um... That's not right, ah ah... Never mind. Anyway, I can't guess what my future is thinking. It seems my plan changed these spirits should be for [Katsu]."

Listening to the [Phantom] mumbling to himself, Shidou was confused. The answer give out more questions than answers.

However, at this moment, the attention of the [Phantom] was "truly" placed on Shidou, and there was a hint of curiosity in the distorted voice---

"By the way, what about you? When did you come here? Judging from your appearance, it should be four or five years later. Was it Katsu who sent you here? Or was it Kurumi? Hmm---four or five years later--hmm, it seems to be Kurumi----"

"What...!" When Shidou heard what the [Phantom] said, his face was filled with astonishment.

This is understandable because Shidou never expected that the [Phantom] not only knew him, but also knew Katsu and Kurumi... ... and even knew about the time travel.

However, facing Shidou's astonishment, [Phantom] continued in a calm tone: "...So...do you have something to talk to me about? You even used a time-reversing bullet to come to this era, so you shouldn't just be here for sightseeing, right? is Katsu here too?"

"..." Shidou glanced behind him - at the park where the [Phantom] had just been.

There was no glittering spirit figure in the sky above the park. After confirming this, Shidou's voice trembled a little: "Do you... know me? And Katsu... If you call him that, you must be someone very close to Katsu..."

"...Yes, I know you. I know you two very well." [Phantom] responded to Shidou's words. Shidou felt his fingertips trembling with nervousness.

"Tell me. Who am I? What is this power all about? Katsu and I both have the power to seal spirits, and you know both of us. You also have the ability to turn humans into spirits... If you say this has nothing to do with you... I won't believe it!"

"..." Hearing this question, [Phantom] was silent for a few seconds. Then he shook his head and answered:

"...I don't mind it...but if the [System] knew, it would definitely teach me a lesson using the butterfly effect or the world's will. Besides, someone is eavesdropping on us right now..."

"Huh...?" Upon hearing this, Shidou's eyes widened.

[Phantom] continued as if he saw through everything: "I said it, right... Tokisaki Kurumi. Can you hear me?"

"...Aiya, aiya." From the very beginning, the power of [Ninth Bullets] remained in Shidou's body. Kurumi could naturally hear what Shidou heard and see what Shidou saw. It was not difficult for Kurumi to connect Katsu and Shidou at the same time---

What Shidou didn't expect was that Kurumi actually responded to [Phantom] with a calm voice in Shidou's mind.

"It's really --- it's just as unpleasant..."

Of course, the [Phantom] that didn't touch Shidou's body couldn't hear Kurumi's voice, but he didn't care. He just put his attention back on Shidou---

"Let's put that aside for now. Anyway... did you come to me just to ask these questions? Then, the way you use [time] is really extravagant."

"...No." Shidou lowered his eyes and shook his head.

"That was just my question. I came to you for something else."

"…What is it?"

"I want you to disappear from here immediately."

There were so many things he wanted to ask. Shidou finally found someone who knew about his past, and he wanted to know. To be honest, he wanted to get his information from this [Phantom] even if he had to use any means.

However, this is not what he has to say now. The most important thing to do is to prevent the Origami from inverse.

"…Is that a more elegant way of saying you are going to kill me?" Phantom asked, tilting his head.

Listening to the somewhat inexplicable words of [Phantom], Shidou's eyelids twitched suddenly---

"No..." Shidou was about to deny the other party's statement, but the phantom seemed to have not noticed the question he wanted to express, and sighed--

"Ah... That's true. Katsu of four or five years later is probably still in love with the Kurumi. It's understandable that he came back to kill me for her. But why did he bring you here?"

"… …" Shidou was confused by the words of the [Phantom] for a moment, but in the end he knew in his heart that the most important task now was not to figure out what the [Phantom] meant, but to get him to leave here quickly so that when Origami arrived here, she would not find the enemy---

"...I'm not saying I'm going to kill you, I just hope you can hide as soon as possible. Can you go to the neighboring world?"

"...oh?"

[Phantom] continued with interest: "May I ask why you want me to do this?"

"That's because..." When asked by the [Phantom], Shidou was speechless. The reason was very simple, because he had no idea of ​​the intention and purpose of the [Phantom] in front of him.

Origami - Five years from now, the girl who was transformed into an spirit by the [Phantom] will come here and try to defeat the [Phantom]. It is easy to tell her about this, and it is also easy to convey your wish to prevent Origami from inversing.

However... if the purpose of [Phantom] is the same as Westcott of DEM, which is to inverse the spirits, then telling her this information will definitely have a completely counterproductive effect.

How should I answer this? When Shidou was worrying about this question, [Phantom] sighed impatiently.

"… Never mind. Since you can't answer, it doesn't matter. But I'm sorry, I have to refuse. I have something else to take care of."

"What...!" Hearing the answer from [Phantom], Shidou was shocked - in this case, wouldn't this operation have failed again?

Seeing the other party turning around and seeming to leave, Shidou impulsively didn't care about anything else and said directly: "Wait a minute! In this era not long from now──" Shidou was about to tell Origami about it.

However - at that moment, Shidou's body seemed to be suppressed by an invisible hand, unable to move.

It felt like my body was restrained by a Reliazer field opened by a wizard like AST or DEM. It was difficult to even move my fingertips, and I couldn't make any sound.

"Okay, please stop bothering me~ I really have things to deal with, bye--" After saying that, the Phantom flew into the air without looking back.

However, what was unexpected was that at this moment, a ray of light shot from the eastern sky towards the [Phantom] floating in the air.

"...! That's──!" Shidou shook his shoulders, looked towards the source of the light, and then froze.

What he saw before him was a girl. She was wearing a glittering pure white spirit outfit, and she had countless "feathers" facing her enemy, as if she was embodying her murderous intent. The spirit of light that spread destruction was there.

The answer was self-evident──it was Tobiichi Origami. "Origami...!" Shidou called out Origami's name with a sad tone.

However, his voice certainly couldn't reach Origami's ears.