“Well, yeah, I guess this is a date spot, but…,” Shido said hesitantly as he looked up at the building Origami had led them to.
Before them now was a steeple rising up as if to pierce the heavens. It was Tengu Tower. This was a mixed-use radio tower newly built after the Great Southern Kanto Spacequake of thirty years earlier. Inside, it was outfitted with an observation deck, and a variety of shops and commercial facilities had been built in its environs. It was a sightseeing spot, and on holidays, it was very busy with couples and families.
“…You know, now that I think about it,” he said, “Tengu sure does have everything, huh?”
“Yeah. It’s because it lost everything in the big spacequake thirty years ago,” Origami replied. “There’s not much left in the way of the old city, but we do have a lot of new things to make up for it.”
“So?” Tohka looked at them, arms crossed, finger tapping her elbow. “What about this tower, then?”
“Oh!” Origami said. “It’s, um, well, the rumor—or maybe it’s an urban legend… Anyway, people say that couples who kiss on the observation deck of this tower live happily ever after. So, I figured it was maybe perfect for this contest.”
“Ridiculous,” Tohka huffed and lifted her face to look up at the tower. “But…fine. The location is a trivial matter in the breaking of this boy’s spirit. Choose where you wish to get down on your hands and knees.”
Shido felt like she still had the wrong idea. He and Origami exchanged a look. He realized that sweat was beading up on both of their faces.
Meanwhile, Tohka was marching off ahead of them, and they were forced to hurry after her. It was simply too dangerous to leave her alone in her current state.
“Mm?” Shido looked back over his shoulder. Mukuro had been walking perfectly in step with him, but now she stopped in her tracks. “Mukuro? Something wrong?”
“…Naught,” she said in a small voice.
“Huh?” he asked in response, tilting his head.
“…Naught. I wish not to go.” She was unusually agitated. “This place… I dislike it.”
“Mukuro?” Shido scrunched up his brow.
Right up until that very moment, she had shown no signs of being upset, not even when Tohka and Origami showed up. Looking at her now, though, he could tell that her carefree expression had changed. He would even go so far as to say she looked scared.
“H-hey, you okay, Mukuro?” He peered into her face. He was worried.
Noticing his absence, Tohka and Origami stopped and turned around.
“What now?” Tohka demanded.
“M-Mukuro?” Origami asked, concern in her voice.
Shido put a hand on her faintly trembling shoulder and looked at Origami and Tohka. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I think Mukuro’s not great with this place. Could you take us somewhere else maybe?”
“She’s not?” Origami said. “Um, so then, we’ll just—”
“In other words,” Tohka interrupted, her voice cold, “you acknowledge your defeat?”
Shido felt Mukuro’s shoulders jump up slightly through the hands he had on them.
“I don’t mind,” Tohka continued. “The contest with you is secondary. You may stand by and watch as I make the boy yield to me.”
“…! Do not…speak such jests!” Mukuro stared daggers and took one slow step after another.
“H-hey, Mukuro?” Shido said anxiously. “You don’t have to force yourself, you know?”
“…Not an issue. I will not release you to that girl.” Even as her face paled, Mukuro moved forward with a firm resolve that would brook no argument.
Shido and Origami exchanged worried looks, but Mukuro seemed unstoppable at this point. They trailed after Tohka alongside her.
They entered the bottom of the tower, bought tickets, got in the elevator, and rode up to the observation deck. Mukuro remained pale the whole time.
What on earth was going on with her?
Before too long, the elevator arrived at their destination. Shido tugged on Mukuro’s hand now that her lighthearted step had become quite heavy as they stepped out of the elevator.
The observation deck was quite large—a glass-enclosed space expanding outward to surround the large elevator. In the center, he could see a souvenir shop, a small café, and even a simple shrine dedicated to a deity of romantic fulfillment. It may have been an observation deck, but it apparently wasn’t simply a place for enjoying the view.
“Ho-ho,” Tohka said quietly, and walked toward the window with the view of the city spreading out below. Origami hurried after her.
Mukuro, in contrast, was gradually growing more withdrawn and subdued.
“You okay?” he asked.
“…Mm. Fine.” She nodded exaggeratedly, deliberately stood taller, and began to walk.
It appeared to be nothing more than empty posturing to Shido.
“Are you afraid of heights?” he asked worriedly. He would have thought acrophobia was not something that afflicted a Spirit who’d spent who knew how long drifting through space, but her heart had been locked up then. Whether the current Mukuro would feel fear of such things was another matter altogether.
She slowly shook her head. “…No. But…while I do not know why, I feel a dislike of this place.”
“A dislike?” he said. “Have you maybe been here before, Mukuro?”
“…! …I know not.” Her shoulders twitched. “I have no memory of it.”
“You don’t…?”
Tohka whirled around from where she was plastered to the window. “I see. It does appear different from when flying through the sky. Hmph.” She turned toward Shido and Mukuro. “Shall we continue? We are still fighting to see who can first take the lips of that boy.”
“Uh. Um, Tohka,” Origami said nervously. “I’m sure you know this, but like I explained before—”
“I understand,” Tohka interrupted. “I must simply cajole him and leave his limbs intact.”
“You don’t understand at all?!” Origami shrieked.
“A joke. Come, key Spirit. I will smash you and your pride to dust,” Tohka said boldly, and used both hands to make the newly learned heart shape. She seemed to have mistaken this for some kind of fighting pose.
“…Acceptable.” Mukuro took a staggering step forward. “There is no space for the likes of thee between Muku and her lord—” She abruptly doubled over, clutching her stomach as though she were overcome by dizziness or nausea.
“M-Mukuro?!”
“Mukuro? Sweetie?!”
Shido and Origami bolted to Mukuro’s side as the tourists around them chattered.
✦ ✦ ✦
“You’re okay, Mukuro,” Origami said, rubbing her back in the girls’ washroom.
“…Mm,” Mukuro replied lifelessly. Although her head was still pounding and she was assaulted by a nausea akin to an iron ball being dropped onto her stomach every few seconds, she was feeling somewhat better. She straightened up and took several deep breaths.
She herself didn’t understand her strong aversion to this place.
“Have you maybe been here before, Mukuro?”
Shido’s earlier question popped up in her mind.
Mukuro’s memories were still locked, which meant she couldn’t remember much of her past. Perhaps she had visited this place once, and something awful had happened.
Naturally, Michael’s power was absolute, but when Shido had unlocked her heart, it might have caused a tear in her memories. She couldn’t say for sure that it wasn’t simply a body memory she was reacting to.
If she used Michael to unlock her memory, perhaps she could learn what was causing this and how to deal with—
“…”
When she held up her right hand to manifest her Angel, she could only swallow hard. For some reason, she was checked by an intense feeling of rejection. She couldn’t help but feel that if she opened those memories, it could very well destroy her heart. And this anxious dread turned into a powerful sense of taboo, paralyzing Mukuro’s hand.
“…Mukuro?” Origami said, perhaps sensing this dread.
Mukuro took another deep breath. “…What?”
“Uh. Um. Just wondering if you’re okay.”
“No issue… I return to my lord.” Mukuro stood up and staggered away.
“Oh. Okay…” Origami trailed after her with a concerned air.
“…”
Mukuro remembered the feeling of Origami rubbing her back and stopped her feet momentarily.
“…You are called Origami?” she demanded.
“Uh-huh.”
“With locked memories, you are a kinder girl than the one in black.”
“Huh?” Origami said, surprised. “Uh. Um. Thanks…I think?”
“…Mm.” Mukuro snorted faintly and left the washroom, still not facing Origami.