Chapter 77 Volume 4 Chapter 10: Infiltration
Tenguu Plaza, the venue of the Tenou Festival, was a large exhibition hall located in the center of Tenguu City.
The areas used for the festival were mainly Halls No.1 through No.4 in the eastern block.
“Kotori? Where’s Miku?”
To be safe, Itsuka Shidou—no, Itsuka Shiori—lowered her voice as she spoke into the earpiece.
Right now, she was hiding behind some equipment piled in the corner of Hall No.1, watching her surroundings.
Although she had managed to slip away earlier from Tohka and Origami’s clinginess using the excuse of “going to the restroom,” Origami kept following her relentlessly. Shiori had been forced to spend more time than planned just to shake her off.
“Ah, found her—uh….”
Kotori’s voice in the earpiece sounded a bit strange.
“What’s wrong?”
“N-nothing… Miku is in Hall No.1, at the booth set up by Rindouji Girls’ Academy for the Tenou Festival; but…”
“But what?”
Shiori tapped the earpiece in confusion.
Immediately afterward, Kotori’s voice—nearly breaking into a rampage—burst through the earpiece:
“AAAAAAAH!! Why is Tenqi Sanluo still right next to her?! AAAAAH!!!”
“Uh—wait, Tenqi-san?!”
Shiori had to pull the earpiece away to protect her eardrums from the explosive volume, but the moment she processed the words, she realized something was very wrong.
“Y-yeah… We thought that since she didn’t cause trouble here in the past two months, she’d stop interfering with the spirit-dating missions… but… heh.”
It seemed Tenqi Sanluo had left quite a psychological scar on Kotori. Her voice dropped to a gloomy, broken tone as she trailed off.
“Um, Kotori, this might not be the best time, but…”
Shiori kept her voice extremely low as she glanced around nervously.
“But what? Is there anything worse than Tenqi Sanluo inserting herself into a spirit-dating mission?!”
“Uh, actually… yes…”
Shidou scratched his cheek. Kotori responded with a confused “Huh?”
“For example… if Tenqi-san had shown up right beside me just now and overheard everything you said… and then, if she happened to be in a bad mood, followed the signal up to the airship…”
Kotori instantly fell silent at Shiori’s warning. She angrily threw the Double Crunchy lollipop she had been chewing aside.
And—perhaps Shiori was imagining it—but she thought she heard the faint moan of some pervert enjoying the chaos in the background.
“So Kotori, please calm down. It doesn’t seem like Izayoi Miku will be easy to capture anyway…”
“…Mm, I got it.”
After a few deep breaths, Kotori’s voice returned to normal.
“So, Shidou, go ahead.”
“Okay…”
Shiori jumped out from behind the equipment, making sure not to be seen by anyone—or by Origami—as she headed toward Hall No.1.
Finding Miku was easy.
At the very back of the hall stood a group of girls in indigo sailor uniforms—and Miku stood right at the center.
Next to her, wearing an exasperated expression, was the girl with blood-red eyes Shiori had met earlier—Tenqi Sanluo.
“Together with other students… well, that makes sense.”
If she barged in now, she might get chased away by those potential rabid fans.
And if Tenqi Sanluo discovered Shidou’s true identity, who knew whether she would expose him on the spot given her behavior these last few days?
If that happened, Shidou might as well be served up on the spot.
At the very least… she needed to wait until Izayoi Miku was alone.
Just then, Shiori noticed Tenqi Sanluo’s gaze sweeping in her direction.
“Not good! Shidou, hide! Don’t let Tenqi Sanluo notice you!”
But Shiori didn’t even need Kotori’s warning—she had already ducked into the most concealed spot available.
She did not want all her effort to go to waste.
From Kotori’s perspective, Tenqi Sanluo simply cast a casual glance toward where Shidou was hiding, then shifted her attention back to Izayoi Miku.
“…Alright, Shidou, she probably didn’t notice you.”
Shidou didn’t relax. She cautiously poked her head out and observed the scene.
Once she confirmed Tenqi Sanluo wasn’t paying attention, she repositioned herself and continued her surveillance.
“That was close…”
Shiori let out a long exhale and patted her soft chest.
Feeling the soft sensation under her hand, she abruptly remembered she was currently in female form, and her cheeks flushed red.
“Shidou, what are you blushing for?! Do you like yourself as a girl that much?!”
“N-no, that’s not it—anyway, we should just wait for Miku to be alone, right?”
“Mm, exactly. Looks like we’ll need the help of our Ratatoskr staff—”
Kotori suddenly stopped mid-sentence.
Because Tenqi Sanluo leaned toward Miku and whispered two short sentences into her ear, then turned and left.
After Tenqi Sanluo disappeared from sight, Miku also left the group and walked in another direction.
“This is a heaven-sent chance! Miku is alone—and Tenqi isn’t with her! Shidou, hurry!”
“Mm… Kotori, I’m not sure.”
Unexpectedly, Shiori hesitated.
“Shidou! What are you still worrying about?!”
“I’m thinking… what if Tenqi-san already noticed me earlier, but just pretended she didn’t? What if she made an excuse to leave and is planning to jump out when I’m alone with Miku to ruin the operation?”
“..B3-0IX〓H7 (Nine) W-…mn…”
A strange silence filled the airship.
It seemed they also felt Shidou’s suspicion wasn’t unfounded.
They’d already gotten a grasp on Tenqi Sanluo’s personality—an amusement-seeking, violence-loving chaos gremlin. Combined with her overwhelming strength, Shidou’s theory wasn’t absurd at all; in fact, the database supported the possibility.
“…I understand what you’re thinking, Shidou.”
After a pause, Kotori spoke again.
“But no matter what, we can’t control what Tenqi Sanluo does. This is a good opportunity—if we don’t take advantage of it now, we might never get this close to the Diva again.”
Reine added softly from the side:
“…Based on my assessment, since Tenqi Sanluo wants to watch the chaos unfold, even if she intends to expose you, she won’t do it this early. That would be boring for her. She’d wait until Miku has strong trust and affection for you—then she’d expose you.”
“…Ah.”
Shidou understood immediately.
“Reine is right. So go, Shidou. Be brave!”
“Okay… I understand.”
Shidou reminded herself not to mess up at this crucial moment and stepped forward, following Miku closely.
After several minutes of tailing her, Miku didn’t enter the nearest restroom. Instead, she walked out of Hall No.1 toward the central stage area in the middle of the plaza.
From there, she passed through the audience seats, pushed past a tape reading “Non-staff prohibited,” and entered the backstage area.
…
“Itsuka Shidou?”
Truth be told, Shidou’s stealth skills still needed a lot of work. The moment cross-dressing Shidou approached to keep watch on them, Tenqi Sanluo sensed her.
In her previous life, she had often been stared at with malicious intent. Because of that, she possessed a keen sense for anyone watching her.
As expected, this Shidou still hadn’t given up and wanted to capture Izayoi Miku.
Earlier, during their tea party conversation, the blank spot in Tenqi Sanluo’s mind labeled “yuri” had gradually been filled in.
Naturally, she also understood why, at first meeting, Miku held such high affection for her but despised Shidou.
Thinking back to Miku touching her here and there earlier, Tenqi trembled slightly, as if her body had somehow been tainted.
But what was with this Shidou anyway? Even she could tell from talking to Miku that Miku disliked men. Didn’t the Ratatoskr behind Shidou know this?
With that thought, Tenqi Sanluo simply made an excuse to use the restroom and left.
If Shidou wanted to seek death, she wasn’t going to stop her.
In fact, letting Izayoi Miku twist Shidou’s head off might be amusing.
And perhaps she could use the opportunity to flush out the mysterious presence who kept protecting Shidou from the shadows.
“Itsuka Shidou… you’d better show me just how many secrets you’re still hiding.”
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