"Damn it—how did you get out? I don't remember you being able to do this before. Don't tell me I..." Seeing the girl in front of her who looked almost exactly like herself, Tohka's brain couldn't quite process it for a moment.
"Tch, does your expression really have to be so dramatic?" Disdainfully glancing at Tohka, the Inverse Tohka was clearly displeased with her reaction. "Did you forget back in New York when we actually fought face to face? Back then you forced yourself out—so why can't it be my turn now?"
"Mm, that's true..." Hearing the inverse self say this, Tohka froze briefly. Back then she'd messed around so much she had forced herself out, so thinking about it, it made sense the inverse her could come out too. But very quickly, Tohka noticed a problem with this other version of herself—she felt incredibly weak. Forget spirit energy—she couldn't even sense the slightest trace of spiritual power from her. In other words, this inverse self was basically an ordinary person right now.
"Mm, you noticed." Seeing the look on Tohka's face, the Inverse Tohka nodded knowingly before she spoke. "Since I didn't come out to fight this time, there was no need to bring all that power. This way I can stay out much longer. If I came in full strength, I'd be lucky to last three minutes."
"Three minutes? What, are you an Ultraman or something?" Muttering a silent complaint, Tohka stopped overthinking it. After all, she was the main body, and if she'd been able to pop out, the inverse her had no reason she couldn't do the same. Plus, it was obvious this time she was much more limited.
"Alright—so you know this place better. Where should we go?" No matter what Tohka thought, Inverse Tohka had no intention of wasting time. This opportunity was limited, and she couldn't wait any longer.
"Yawn—fine, let's go out. No—better yet, I'll take you somewhere to eat. Oh—and can you please not wear that spirit armor out? The second you walk around in that, there'll be a public panic." This wasn't Tohka exaggerating—her inverse self was still wearing the same armor. Even though it wasn't as revealing as in the original story, a beautiful girl in full plate armor strolling around was not exactly normal.
"My, my, what a hassle." At Tohka's words, Inverse Tohka didn't waste breath—she simply dispelled her gear. And then...
"You—you—you—you're not wearing anything?! Is this comfortable for you? Do you want to be surrounded by gawkers and arrested by the police?" Inverse Tohka was very obedient about dismissing her spirit dress, but the problem was that she ended up completely naked. Tohka, seeing a body identical to her own, almost coughed up blood on the spot. She nearly had a nosebleed too.
"Mm?" Seeing Tohka's reaction, Inverse Tohka's eyes glimmered with a flash of mischief. She slowly stepped over to Tohka, and before Tohka could even process it, she pressed right up against her. One hand slipped around her neck, the other lifted her chin. "My, my—who knew. Original, you're actually reacting to your own body. Heh-heh, what a little beast, aren't you. Did you forget? Like this I barely have any spirit power—I can't even construct clothing...."
"Pffft!" At this point Tohka couldn't hold it in any longer—she spat out a mouthful of blood, gave a blissful smile, and promptly passed out.
"Hey—HEY! Don't pass out on me! Wake up! How are we supposed to go out like this?!" Seeing Tohka faint with a bloody nose, Inverse Tohka was completely dumbfounded. What had started as a moment of mischief had turned into a disaster—she hadn't expected Tohka to just faint. Damn it—Tohka was the main body, she couldn't stray too far from her. She definitely couldn't carry an unconscious Tohka around in public—what was she supposed to do now?
So, she hurried over to Tohka's wardrobe, grabbed a set of clothes, and put them on herself. Since they were the same person, everything fit perfectly.
Then, without hesitation, she hoisted Tohka over her shoulder and carried her into the bathroom. She set her down on the toilet, filled a basin of cold water, and dumped it over Tohka's head.
"Huff...huff... What the hell are you doing? Trying to kill me?!" Tohka, half-awake, was suddenly jolted fully alert by the freezing water. She opened her eyes to see Inverse Tohka standing there with an empty basin, while she herself was soaked from head to toe. She didn't need to guess what had just happened—she could only roar in frustration. This had to be the most insane morning she'd ever experienced. Her inverse self was just too crude.
"Let's go out. Hurry up—stop wasting time." With a blank stare, Inverse Tohka began urging her again. She couldn't wait to go have a feast.
"Couldn't you have just shaken me awake? Did you have to do this?!" With dead-fish eyes, Tohka wanted to pry her other self's skull open to see if it was filled with soybean paste. Was this really the best idea she could come up with? Did she not realize that now Tohka herself couldn't go out either? Her thin sleepwear was plastered to her body—and since she'd gone to bed without underwear, she looked...no, she looked even more indecent than Inverse Tohka just had. Wet clothes "play" was something she could barely stand to see herself.
"Tch, hurry up." Inverse Tohka gave her an impatient look but knew she had to give Tohka time to get changed, so she went back out to the other room. She crossed her legs irritably and waited, while Tohka had no choice but to shuffle to her bedroom, grab dry clothes, and start getting herself ready.
"Crap...what if someone sees the other me? What am I going to do?" While she washed and changed, Tohka suddenly realized—if someone she knew saw her twin, how was she going to explain? Maybe she could bluff strangers, but Muramura Reine definitely wouldn't be fooled. That woman had divided her power up into little pieces—she understood Tohka's nature far too well.
"Forget it. Whatever—am I really scared of her? Besides, that woman's been weakened a lot. If it came down to a fight, it's not like I have no chance." Unable to figure it out, Tohka decided not to think about it. As long as she hadn't disrupted any plans, Reine probably wouldn't take action against her. As for the rest—whatever. Worst case, she'd just play dumb.
"My, my, you're so slow. I can't wait anymore—let's go!" As soon as Tohka finished, Inverse Tohka ignored her still-dripping hair and dragged her outside.
"Hey, hey—slow down! My hair—ugh, forget it. Whatever you say today." Tohka had been about to protest, but seeing Inverse Tohka's eager face, she could only sigh in resignation. After all, going out with a cute girl—even if she looked exactly like herself—wasn't so bad.
"Hi, Tohka—wait—why are there two Tohkas?!" The moment the door opened, they were greeted by Shido Itsuka, who'd already developed the habit of coming to get her each morning because of his little sister. But today, the words he always greeted her with stopped short in his throat. Because he was staring at one Tohka dragging another Tohka out the door. He rubbed his eyes, then smacked himself in the face—and when the pain confirmed he wasn't dreaming, he completely froze up. He had no way to make sense of what he was seeing.
"Mm—it's you." Inverse Tohka didn't bother acknowledging the boy she'd met the day before. She just continued pulling Tohka along to leave. But Tohka, seeing Shido's bewilderment, couldn't help shouting back: "Oh—hey—help me call in sick. I'm not going to class today. The reason? Just say...I got dragged away by a black cat. Yeah—just like that."
"Hey—come on—that's not even remotely believable! You're way too big for a black cat to drag you anywhere!" Shido reflexively retorted.
"I'm not a black cat. So—where are we going next?" This time, a second voice nearly identical to Tohka's chimed in.
"Shido—come upstairs. Kotori's not here, so Kannazuki and I will be in charge of command for now. We'll explain everything when you get here." At that moment, Shido's earpiece came alive with Muramura Reine's voice.
"Understood." Hearing that, Shido let out a huge sigh of relief. He was on the verge of losing it—dealing with one Tohka was already hard enough. Now there were two—and something told him this second Tohka wasn't simple at all.
But before he could react, his vision blurred, and he vanished. When he reappeared, he was in the familiar transport chamber. Without wasting time, he ran straight for the command room.
"You're here, Shido." As soon as he stepped in, he saw Muramura Reine waiting for him. The whole control center was tense—everyone staring at the monitors.
"What's going on? Why are you all like this? And why are there two Tohkas? Who is that other one?!" Seeing the atmosphere, Shido was spooked. His sister's crisis wasn't even resolved yet—now this? Wasn't it supposed to be one spirit at a time? Why were they suddenly coming out in pairs?
"Calm down, Shido. That Tohka—you actually saw her yesterday." Reine explained calmly, though she couldn't hide her astonishment either. She knew Tohka's inverse state had an independent personality, but she hadn't expected it to have a separate body too.
"Wait—you mean that form from yesterday?" Shido froze. He suddenly remembered the Tohka who'd nearly crushed everyone. He'd assumed it was just one of her states—but now it seemed like that wasn't the case.
"Yes. This morning, we detected a faint spiritual signature at Tohka's apartment. It was very similar to hers, but not exactly the same—in fact, it matched the one you saw yesterday. We didn't expect this development." This time, Kyouhei Kannazuki explained as well, eyes fixed on a data table. "But from what we can see, this new Tohka doesn't have the immense power she showed yesterday. And you'll notice—even when she appeared, the sealed spirit power in your body didn't react."
"So—what do we do? Do we have to...court her too?" Hearing that, Shido automatically thought of the strategy these people always had in mind.
"No—based on our data, the two Tohkas already have a very high affinity for each other. And since this new one barely has any spirit energy, we can assume she can't stay materialized long—or perhaps she's in a sealed state herself. For today, let's just observe. As long as they don't trigger a spatial quake, it's fine." Reine shook her head, signaling for him to be patient. The situation was too unprecedented to rush to conclusions.
The people upstairs had no idea that meanwhile, the two Tohkas were standing in front of a buffet restaurant.
"Mm—so that label on the door—wasn't that you? What's going on here?" They'd wandered around a bit before Inverse Tohka dragged Tohka to a place she recognized. She hadn't said anything, but Inverse Tohka pulled her to the entrance, where there were two signs on display. Other people might not recognize them, but she knew perfectly well—both signs were of her.
"Whatever. Let's just eat here today. I'm hungry anyway."