Chapter 192 Origami other personality

After school, Origami, who had originally been on her way home, returned to Raizen High School alone.

The reason? She had realized midway that the hair accessory she often wore was missing.

Losing a simple hairpin wouldn't usually bother her—but this one was different. It was a gift from her mother.

That being said, Origami had no idea where she had lost it, so she had to walk back to the high school the same way she had come, checking the place to change shoes at the school entrance, the corridors, the classrooms, and then the stairs in front of the top floor where she had talked to Itsuka Shido during lunch break.

"Ah - found it." Origami bent her knees and squatted to pick up the hairpin that had fallen on the ground.

It must have fallen when she was talking to Shidou.

"I need to be more careful…" she murmured, wiping the dust off with her fingers before clipping it back into her hair.

Through the glass window, Origami spotted two figures on the top floor. One of them was her classmate, Itsuka Shidou.

The other wasthe spirit [Nightmare] wearing red and black Astral dress.

"Ah──" The moment she confirmed the identities of the two people── Origami's consciousness was suddenly interrupted as if the power was turned off.

At the same time, Shidou was just recovering from the flood of memories that had overwhelmed him when he heard the sound of a door opening at the entrance to the top floor.

He subconsciously looked towards the source of the sound and found a girl standing there with her head down.

"Eh... Origami?" That's right. Although he couldn't recognize who it was for a moment because she was looking down, but that girl was undoubtedly Tobiichi Origami.

School is over, what is she doing here? Shidou was about to ask Origami this question, but suddenly stopped talking.

The reason was very simple. Because Shidou remembered that the spirit Kurumi was standing next to him.

Origami had been a member of AST not long ago. In other words, the possibility of her recognizing Kurumi wasn't zero. At the very least, she must have seen footage of Kurumi in archive recordings. And Origami would undoubtedly bear strong hostility toward her…

"Origami... Origami, this is because..." Shidou wanted to explain to Origami.

But Origami ignored him. She remained silent, her head lowered, arms limp at her sides, as she took slow, deliberate steps forward.

"Origami...?" Shidou called out to Origami in confusion.

Kurumi couldn't help but raise her eyebrows, but then she relaxed again--

Then, something changed. Shadows swirled around Kurumi's body, momentarily engulfing her before fading away, restoring her original form.

"This is the first time we meet in this world...right, Origami? But you may have seen me before—"

"Spirit… Spirit…"

Before Kurumi could finish her sentence, Origami whispered softly.

Then—darkness spread like a spiderweb, enveloping her entire body.

It seemed that only the area around Origami turned into darkness in an instant. Seeing this abnormal situation, Shidou couldn't help but widen his eyes.

The change was instantaneous. The air around Origami distorted, and within moments, she was clad in a black dress—one that bore a striking resemblance to mourning clothes.

There is no doubt that it is── "Astral dress...!" Shidou made a surprised sound.

Moreover, it was not the pure white Astral dress that looked like a wedding dress that Shidou had seen before, but a pitch-black outfit.

The surroundings were instantly filled with suffocating tension and heavy pressure.

Shidou's legs were trembling slightly, and it seemed that he would collapse to the ground if he wasn't careful.

However, that was only natural, because the incarnation of destruction with enormous power—the "Demon King" now appeared before him.

"[Devil]──it's you after all...!" Through the Tenth Bullets, he recalled his original memories, but he had not forgotten the memories of this world. However, even when Shidou asked, Origami did not answer.

But since he saw Origami's posture, he could only infer this. At least Shidou didn't seem to have recognized the wrong person. In this case, did Origami lie to him? At that time, Shidou didn't think Origami was lying... …

Just as Shidou was trembling and thinking.

Suddenly, several dark blocks appeared one by one around the silent Origami, gradually expanding and turning into the shape of a giant "feather".

Shidou had seen something before. It was an angel that brought down light like rain in the original world and destroyed the town completely──inverse form.

"... [Devil]..." Origami murmured, her voice distant, before the countless black feathers shifted—aiming their razor-sharp tips at Shidou and Kurumi.

"...!" Faced with the sudden situation, Shidou's body froze.

The next moment, Shidou was kicked to the side with a "bang".

A beat late, Shidou realized that it was Kurumi who kicked him... Of course, it could be considered as saving himself...

And Kurumi had already jumped into the sky at this moment.

Several rays of light emitted by the "feather" hit the place where Kurumi was a moment ago, cutting off a part of the school building, breaking through the railings, and piercing into the sky.

"Your greeting is quite rough," Kurumi remarked dryly. Obviously, because Katsu disappeared from this world, Kurumi's mood at the moment was not very good. 

Had she known that changing the past would cost her Katsu's existence, she would have let the world be destroyed by Inverse Origami instead.

She pulled the trigger of the pistol in her hand. Then, a bullet like a solidified shadow shot out from the gun and attacked Origami.

However, the "feathers" floating around Origami formed a line like a shield and easily blocked the attack.

The remaining "feathers" pointed their front ends toward Kurumi in the air──

"Hmm..." Then─the defenseless Kurumi released a dark light.

The light penetrated Kurumi's chest and abdomen, and her head, hands and feet were separated from her body. In an instant, the slender girl's silhouette was reduced to a pitiful corpse.

"Tokisaki-san...!" Kurumi's body fell from the air in pieces as Shidou shouted. When those bodies touched the floor, she disintegrated like charcoal.

"Origami... Origami, you──" Shidou's eyes widened and his mouth opened. He had already recalled his original memories and remembered Katsu... He also knew the relationship between Katsu and Kurumi...

He believed that if Katsu saw this scene, he would definitely go crazy... and then Origami would definitely end up in a miserable state...

Shidou raised his head tremblingly, and then stopped talking.

Then, he made a sound in a daze.

"Huh?"

Origami, who had just obliterated Kurumi, collapsed onto the ground. The countless floating black feathers disintegrated into particles, vanishing into the air.

Then, the jet-black spirit outfit that adorned Origami's body gradually dismantled, returning to its original uniform. 

"This...what on earth is..." Shidou couldn't understand what was happening before his eyes. Soon, Origami slowly raised her head.

Then── "…Eh, Shidou-san? What are you doing in a place like this?" After noticing Shidou's presence, Origami acted as if nothing had happened and said so.

"What...?" Shidou felt very flustered at Origami's unexpected reaction.

Origami's expression was calm. Innocent. Nothing like the cold, ruthless girl who had just annihilated Kurumi. If all of this was achieved through acting, she would surely become a famous actress or a genius con artist.

"What on earth is going on here..." Shidou muttered in confusion, and Origami tilted her head in confusion. However, rather than reacting to what Shidou said, it was as if she didn't understand why she was on the top floor.

…Have I…?" she muttered, brushing the dust off her skirt before standing up.

"You mean again? What...what do you mean?"

"Huh? Ah... did you hear that?" Origami scratched her head embarrassedly after hearing what Shidou said.

"Actually, I've been losing consciousness from time to time since a while ago. I think it's probably due to anemia or something..."

"Lost consciousness...?" Shidou frowned and swallowed.

Origami looked at Shidou's expression in confusion, then she cried out "Ah!" as if she remembered something.

"Um, by the way, did you read the note I passed you during class?"

"Eh...? You...you're talking about that? I saw it." After Shidou answered, Origami turned her back to him.

"Well, this is what happened..." Origami said before quickly leaving the top floor.

"Ah--" Shidou wanted to call her but it was too late. After Origami entered the school building, she walked down the stairs with thumping footsteps.

Shidou, who was left alone on the top floor, could only stand there in a daze for a while.

Origami appeared, turned into an inverse spirit, killed Kurumi, and then left as if nothing had happened. If converted into time, it was probably less than five minutes. However, in this short period of time, the world around Shidou had a 180-degree change.

"... How... could it turn out like this... Katsu... disappeared... Tokisaki-san also..." Shidou showed a painful look on his face. This was not the result he wanted---

"It's not your turn to worry about me yet." At this time, a cold voice once again came into Shidou's ears.

Then, Kurumi, wearing an Astral dress appeared on the other side, and then took a deep breath and said: "I don't have time to tangle with Tobiichi Origami now... Next, I will try to go back to the past to find Katsu-kun, and you find the other spirits, then when my spiritual power is exhausted and I still can't bring Katsu-kun back, they will offer their spiritual power."

"Ah... I... I will. As long as you can bring back Katsu... I can believe that they will offer spiritual power as you want."

Seeing this, Kurumi didn't say much. She was in a really bad mood---

She sighed, turned around and jumped directly from the roof.

Now the real problem is how Shidou gonna convince the other's spirits.