"Um, do you know anything about the spirits?" Nia really had been startled by Tohka revealing her true nature. Sure, she normally acted all seductive, but at the end of the day, she was still a woman—how could she possibly compare to Tohka? So, at this point, she decisively changed the topic.
"Spirits? What about them?" Apparently, Tohka was also a little shaken by her own behavior and didn't react right away.
"Do you know that almost all spirits were originally humans? Of course, when it comes to the original spirit, I'm not so sure." When she saw Tohka's blank expression, Nia finally let out a breath of relief—she knew she'd finally found something Tohka didn't know. Although in reality, Tohka's mind had basically shut down just now—she was only agreeing absentmindedly.
"Ah, you mean that." When she heard Nia say this, Tohka immediately came back to her senses. But she didn't want to make it too obvious in case it embarrassed Nia, though she still couldn't help saying, "Yeah, I know. The people around me—Miku and Kurumi—were all human before. And you're the same, right?"
"Looks like you'd already figured it out." Hearing Tohka's answer, Nia didn't dwell on it and instead looked at Tohka seriously and said, "But earlier, I used my angel to investigate your past."
"I tried to look into your history, but what shocked me was that no matter how I searched, I couldn't find any trace of you. This is different from the first spirit—I could still sense a little bit of information when probing her. Even though I felt enormous resistance, I could detect something."
As she spoke, Nia tilted her head, her eyes full of curiosity as she looked at Tohka. "But when I probed your past, there was nothing. I didn't feel any resistance at all, but there was absolutely nothing. It's like...like you didn't exist in this world before. How is that possible?"
She tilted her head again, clearly unable to figure this out no matter how she thought about it.
"Um, well... Ah, hahaha. Don't worry about it. Maybe I'm just a spirit by birth, and don't know anything else." Nia might not understand, but Tohka had a pretty good guess. Able to find it...if she could have found anything, that would be the strange part. She knew very well what her own situation was.
"Anyway, you shouldn't just stay here all the time. Why don't we go out somewhere? You can't keep hiding out in here forever, right?" At this point, Tohka quickly changed the subject again. She had a strong sense that if she didn't intervene, this woman would probably starve herself to death at home. So, she decided it was necessary to drag her out for a bit. Sure, Tohka could be quite the shut-in herself sometimes, but she'd never sunk to this kind of extreme.
"Oh my, little Tohka, are you planning to do something perverted again?" Sure enough, as soon as she heard that, Nia immediately reverted to her usual self, completely forgetting the lesson she'd just learned, and leaned over toward Tohka, pressing her body up against her.
"Hey, hey, what do you think you're doing?" With Nia sticking to her like that, Tohka—who was still in a "dangerously horny" state—was instantly overwhelmed.
"Alright, but it's still a little too soon. After all, I only just escaped from that place. No matter what, I have to catch up on all the anime I missed. Honestly, this world is so full of treacherous people. Two-dimensional girls are still the best." Hearing Tohka's invitation, Nia didn't actually refuse. She couldn't read Tohka's heart, but she could still tell that Tohka wasn't that kind of person. And being around her, she felt like Tohka really did resemble one of her beloved anime heroines. So, she didn't reject the idea outright.
"In that case, I won't bother you anymore. I'll head out now. Here, these are two lunchboxes. I already put them in front of you. If you can't even bring yourself to eat these, you're basically beyond saving—not even human anymore." Knowing that most people hate to be interrupted while binging shows, Tohka put down the lunchboxes and turned to leave. Of course, there was another reason—Kotori, that little troublemaker, had obviously noticed where she was and started messaging her, telling her to come over.
"Yeah, yeah, I got it." Hearing Tohka's words, Nia just waved a hand carelessly. It was clear she genuinely wanted to get back to her anime. She was very grateful that Tohka had rescued her, but that wasn't enough to stir up any deep affection—at least not yet.
...
"What are you doing—and, wait a second, is that...?" Tohka had just jumped out the window and hadn't even landed on the ground before Kotori transported her straight up to the airship. But as soon as she entered the command center, she saw the screen. Shido was talking to a tall green-haired "onee-san." It was obvious he'd already tracked down the person who'd made him the enemy of the entire class. Whether he realized Tohka had fanned the flames behind the scenes was another matter.
"Don't worry about that. It's a newly-appeared spirit—'The Witch.' Shido's handling that. What I'm more concerned with is something else—you actually rescued a spirit." Kotori waved her hand dismissively at the display, then turned to Tohka. "We've compiled all her data. You can take a look."
At that, her deputy (and No. 1 fanboy) Kyouhei Kannazuki handed Tohka a file folder. His efficiency wasn't bad—he'd already prepared the materials so quickly.
"This is..." As Kotori spoke, Tohka opened the folder. Sure enough, inside was exactly what she'd expected—a detailed record of Nia Honjo's situation before she'd been captured.
"Wow, turns out she used to be a manga artist. So, she must be pretty old already. Jeez—spirits really have it good." Looking through the file, Tohka already knew all this, but she couldn't act like she did, or there'd be no way to explain it. So, she forced herself to play dumb a bit.
"Alright, I'll leave that one to you. Seriously—two spirits popping up at the same time. What a headache." Kotori massaged her temples with a sigh.
...
Meanwhile, at the DEM-controlled hospital, Westcott finally regained consciousness. At that moment, he was listening to Ellen's report.