"I remember you previously sealed your power inside Shido's body. So can you seal the power of other Spirits into him too?" Looking at Tohka sitting across from her, Kotori composed herself after all the earlier jealousy before continuing.
"Why don't you let that guy go instead? Isn't that what you've been doing all along?" Tohka stared at her with dead fish eyes.
"We'd like to, but you saw the situation yourself." Saying this, Kotori gave a helpless smile. Thanks to Tohka, the entire ship had witnessed Kurumi's slaughter in real time, so nobody felt remotely at ease with that Spirit.
"What are you afraid of? That woman can't even die." Tohka wasn't making this up—between Kotori's regeneration and her own, that guy probably couldn't die even if she wanted to.
"She may be hard to kill, but a person's mind has its limits. Today, seeing all those corpses, his psyche nearly collapsed." Kotori looked even more helpless. Right now, Shido basically had a trauma response to Kurumi. In the original story, he'd spent time with her, gotten to know her, and Kurumi had shown interest, so they'd been in contact for a while. But this time was different—never mind Kurumi having zero interest in Shido, going near her was simply too dangerous. Plus, thanks to Tohka, his regeneration was now prioritized over Kotori's. Which meant that while he healed, he'd also experience tremendous pain. The damage to his mind could be severe—he might survive physically, but mentally he could break first.
And that wasn't even the main problem. The main problem was that Kurumi had no interest in him whatsoever. Her affection level was abysmally low, so Kotori really didn't dare to have Shido go directly.
"Tsk, that's it? You're chickening out already? Whether I can seal her or not, I honestly don't know. But I'm certain—if you want to seal her, she has to agree." Tohka wasn't lying—she really had no idea. And as for going on some "date" with Kurumi, she wanted nothing to do with it. Those were all just her clones—if you didn't confront the real body, it was meaningless. Even if you somehow succeeded, the clone would be reclaimed immediately. That exact situation had happened several times in the original, and she didn't want to repeat it.
"Well, then… maybe tomorrow I…" Kotori reflexively started to say "date," but then realized Tohka was a girl. Right, Tohka hadn't exactly come out about her orientation. She wasn't like Miku, who was extremely forward, so up to now there hadn't been any "Shiori Itsuka" incidents.
"Forget about your methods. That was just one of her clones. She can't even summon her Angel. Even if you 'capture' her the way you said, it's useless." Tohka wasn't exaggerating—Kurumi reclaiming her clones had happened multiple times in canon. If there were any dates to be had, they had to be with the real body.
"That's fine. How will we know if we don't at least try?" Kotori clearly didn't fully grasp the situation, so she didn't mind Tohka's objections. Instead, she pulled out a screen and held it up to Tohka. The moment Tohka saw what was on it, her mouth twitched.
"You people… You already turned him into a cross-dressing ladykiller. Are you seriously planning to make me a cross-dressing gentleman now?" Staring at the materials in front of her, Tohka didn't know what to say. These lunatics would do anything to "capture" someone. They'd dressed Shido up prettier than a girl last time, and now they'd designed a set for her too. She was pretty sure they were spending their impressive efficiency on all the wrong things.
"Go on, Tohka. This time it's up to you!" Kotori ignored Tohka's dubious expression and called out with boundless enthusiasm.
"Don't tell me you're going to pull out one of those cringey pervert options again. This isn't a damn galgame." The memories of last time still traumatized her—these so-called "support staff" were nothing but professional backstabbers.
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean? We'd never use such outdated methods!" Kotori blushed furiously as she defended herself. Last time, Tohka had verbally annihilated her whole team, and she'd been left speechless. Bringing it up again was more than a little embarrassing. As for that idiotic pervert tactic, they'd abandoned it after the first disastrous attempt. Experience was the only real test of truth, and anything that had failed instantly in the field was no longer considered reliable.
"Tsk, is that so." Tohka didn't bother arguing further and instead examined the plans Kotori had handed her. She'd only skimmed them earlier—now she looked at all the details.
She had to admit, unreliable as they were, these people were ridiculously good at disguises. The design for Shido in the original was top-notch. But then she glanced at Mana sitting to the side. That girl was basically a younger, slightly shorter version of cross-dressing Shido. Aside from her school uniform, she wore her long hair in a slim ponytail that gave her an almost androgynous beauty.
"What do you think? Pretty good design, right? And here—this is your outfit." Seeing Tohka's look of surprise, Kotori didn't wait for her to protest. She cheerfully handed her a garment bag.
"This is…" Tohka unzipped the bag. Inside was the same school uniform Shido had worn. But it didn't stop there—there were plenty of casual clothes too. Though that wasn't the main issue. The real problem was the thick band of cloth included inside. Tohka glanced down at her own well-developed chest. Just looking at it made her feel short of breath. She wasn't the sort to torture herself, and she'd never done this before.
"Forget it. I think I'll find another way. This really isn't a good idea." Even though she knew that with this setup she could fool almost anyone who hadn't seen her before, she also knew not everyone was blind. She definitely didn't believe Kurumi wouldn't see through it. When it came to scheming, she knew she was no match for Kurumi.
She didn't wait for Kotori to respond. She simply took the clothes and left. Even if she wouldn't use them now, there might be a chance later.