But the Spirit power filling the area around them increased in intensity.
Was this the moment? The brink where Mukuro either came back to this side or turned?
“Mukuro.” He didn’t know if she had really understood what he was trying to tell her. But he was out of time and ideas. He mustered up the last of his strength to nudge her face upward.
“Mm!”
“…”
He touched his lips to hers.
A kiss that tasted of the blood in his mouth. A kiss that was literally too bloody to speak of love.
With a prayer, Shido closed his eyes tightly. And finally, through their touching lips, something warm poured into his body. The familiar sensation of sealing, the Spirit power moving from Mukuro and into him.
At the same time, her Astral Dress and the key-shaped Demon King on her back lost their luster and melted into the air.
“…! Mukuro!”
“Ah… Unh…” Now stark naked, Mukuro leaned against him helplessly.
But Shido had also reached his limit. He was a husk leaning on Mukuro, and so he inevitably crumpled to the ground and fell over onto his back.
“Gaff…?!” he cried out pathetically when the hard earth slammed into the back of his head. Although the scream was more because of his bloody shoulder jostling with the fall.
While the combined first aid techniques of Gabriel, Haniel, and Camael had kept him alive in the short term, he had suffered a serious injury that normally would have been fatal. He could have easily died instantly, in fact. He almost wanted praise for merely writhing in pain.
“…”
Perhaps worn out from crying, or perhaps having spent all her energy, Mukuro started to snore gently on his bloody chest. He looked down at her and let out a huge sigh.
“Mukuro… Thanks for believing in me…” He patted her head absently and let his own head fall back toward the sky.
But for some reason, he had a very bad feeling. Even though he’d finished an impossibly huge task, he couldn’t help but feel like he’d forgotten something important.
A response came in the form of something plummeting straight toward him at incredible speed.
“Wha—?!” he cried out in astonishment, his eyes widening.
Just as the missile was on the verge of slamming into the ground, it decelerated dramatically and landed gently next to his head. A skirt of darkness fluttered in the wind across his field of view. Yes. The missile was…
“Hmph. I thought you might have been something, but there you are on the ground, girl.”
…the inverted Spirit Tohka, fresh from her midair contest with Origami.
“Toh…ka…!” Shido gasped and shifted to protect Mukuro sleeping on his chest. “…Thanks. It’s because of you that I was able to…stop Mukuro…”
“Hmph. I don’t care,” she said, turning hard eyes on him as he looked back at her helplessly. “I’m simply going to destroy the both of you.”
There was no way Mukuro had the power to fight back against Tohka now, not after having her power sealed and passing out. But Shido couldn’t have been said to be in top condition, either.
“Ngh. You’re okay?!” Origami called, landing a few seconds after Tohka a little ways off.
But he could see the brutal damage to her Astral Dress and her CR unit. Even Origami was on the ropes in a fight with an inverted Tohka.
“…”
Tohka glanced at Origami, looked around with a sneer, and finally turned her gaze back on Shido and Mukuro.
He felt dampness on his back. This was, of course, to be expected. That earlier blow had been a mere whim for Tohka. If she had been similarly inspired, she could have killed Shido and, more importantly, Mukuro and Origami.
“Ngh…” As gently as he possibly could, he set Mukuro down on the ground and tried to stand up, gritting his teeth against the dizziness and the pain. He was indeed in the worst possible physical condition. If it were between human and zombie, he would have been more zombie by a narrow margin.
But he was the only one who could bring Tohka back. He roused himself with sheer force of will and stood on his knees.
“Hngh… Unh,” he moaned. “Ah…”
“Hmph.” Tohka looked down at him with icy eyes, then bent over to grab his shirt.
“Nngaaah?!” he shrieked.
“Itsuka!” Origami cried out and moved to attack Tohka.
Perhaps checked by Tohka’s icy glare, she stopped, rooted to the spot. There was a good reason for this. The distance between her and Shido was plain to see. If she made a wrong move, he would be flying with the angels before her lance even touched Tohka.
“…”
Heedless of Shido grimacing in pain, Tohka easily yanked him up. And then she glanced at Mukuro lying on the ground and spoke in a cold voice. “You made a warrior into a child.”
“Ngh…” He felt her eyes piercing him.
Then she sighed and continued sadly. “…I tire of this.”
“Huh?” He couldn’t help but stare in surprise. This attitude was very unlike the inverted Tohka.
This surprise was soon overshadowed by an even bigger shock.
She pulled Shido toward her and, without the slightest hesitation, pressed her lips to his.
“Mmm?!”
“Eeek?!”
Equally surprised, Shido and Origami cried out at the same time.
Tohka showed no signs of being flustered as she released her grip on his shirt.
“…Ow!” He hit the ground hard on his backside. The same jolt of pain shot through him. Even as he grimaced, though, he couldn’t take his eyes off Tohka.
Her Astral Dress flashed and flickered as it turned into particles of shining light, which were blown away by the wind. She looked down at him with the same cool eyes, which somehow contained an air of mystery now. “Don’t…,” she muttered.
“Huh?” He gaped up at her.
“Don’t make ‘Tohka’ too sad,” she said, and crumpled to the ground like a marionette with its strings cut.
“T-Tohka?!” He hurriedly looked over at her lying on the ground.
The hard edges melted away from her face, and a peaceful expression took their place. “Mm… Mwah…,” she said in her sleep. The structure of her face itself was not so different, but the aura radiating from it had returned to that of the Tohka that Shido knew too well.
Breathing a sigh of relief, he rested his head on his upright knees.
“Itsuka, are you all right?!” Origami raced over to him, and he gave her a wan smile, then waved a wobbly hand.
“More or less… Actually, no. Maybe not?”
“R-right! With this injury…” She looked him over in horror. “We need to get you to a medical Realizer right away!”
“Yeah.” He nodded slowly. “I guess. Wonder if Kotori and they have their memories back? And we can’t leave Mukuro and Tohka here naked. Fraxinus needs to—”
There, Shido stopped himself. Actually, he was forced to stop.
Mukuro had abruptly sat up and covered his lips.
“Pfft! M-Mukuro?!” He stared in surprise.
“…Hmm. Carelessness is the enemy, my lord.” Mukuro smiled audaciously, her head wobbling.
“Wh-what on earth…”
“You kissed Tohka.”
“Uh…” His eyebrows shot up. He’d assumed that she had been persuaded by his arguments. She couldn’t actually be saying she wanted to monopolize him—
“Rest assured.” She smiled like she could read his mind. “I am…fine. Whatever you might do, Shido, Muku will no longer be anxious. Whatever else…we are family.” Her cheeks colored as though she were slightly embarrassed.
Seeing this, his own face relaxed into a smile, and he exhaled the breath he’d been holding. “Mukuro…”
“Now, then,” she said, as if to cut him off, and ran a finger across the lips that had only just touched his. She smiled mischievously. “This level of contact is nothing, yes? We are family, after all.”
“…Um.”
…What did “family” mean, exactly? Suddenly, Shido felt a pang of anxiety as to whether he could live up to his promise.