In the evening, the kitchen of the Itsuka Family was filled with the appetizing aroma of dinner.
Shido, wearing an apron, was focused on stir-frying the dishes in the pan, preparing dinner for the big-eating Spirit who was currently enjoying a hot bath, her singing faintly audible.
Itsuka Kotori, dressed in casual clothes but with the black ribbon signifying "commander mode" tied in her hair, walked into the kitchen with a serious expression.
Gone was her usual laziness or playfulness; in its place was the stern and grave demeanor of the Fraxinus Commander.
"Shido." Kotori's voice lacked its usual lightheartedness, carrying a heavy weight.
Shido paused his stir-frying, turned to see Kotori's expression, and immediately understood that something serious was happening. Sensing the change in atmosphere, he quickly turned down the stove.
"What's wrong, Kotori? Is it... about Tohka, or..."
Kotori didn't beat around the bush, cutting straight to the point, her voice lowered to ensure Tohka in the bathroom wouldn't hear: "Shido, there's a new discovery regarding Chinatsu—or rather, Heavenly Judgment."
Shido's heart immediately tightened: "Is it... a follow-up to last night's night market incident?"
"More than that." Kotori shook her head, her eyes sharp. "We checked the city's surveillance system for this morning and caught sight of Koushi Hōoin's movements."
"Koushi?"
Shido was a bit surprised.
"He called in sick today, saying he wasn't feeling well."
"I know." Kotori nodded, her gaze sharp. "That's precisely the problem. Surveillance shows that early this morning, shortly after dawn, Koushi rushed out of his house."
"—First, he ran frantically around his residence, then he went to the vicinity of last night's incident at the night market, where he stayed for a while, seemingly eavesdropping on conversations between the police and stall owners."
She took out a portable terminal and pulled up several processed surveillance footage clips, showing them to Shido.
In the footage, Koushi could be seen rushing out of his house early in the morning, looking panicked, even almost bumping into a neighbor. He ran all the way, and his final stopping point was none other than the vicinity of the night market where the bloody incident occurred last night!
Although the surveillance couldn't record sound, it clearly showed him mingling in the crowd, intently eavesdropping on the conversations between the police and the stall owners, his expression gradually changing from anxious to shocked and... fearful?
Afterward, he ran frantically through the nearby streets like a headless chicken, seemingly searching desperately for something.
"This..."
Shido looked at his friend's unusual behavior in the surveillance footage, frowning deeply.
"Koushi... why would he go there? And why is he so panicked?"
"That's the crux of the matter!"
Kotori tapped the terminal screen with her fingertip, her tone filled with deep suspicion.
"Late last night, the sub-personality codenamed Heavenly Judgment carried out that massacre at the night market. Early this morning, Koushi, who should have been completely unaware of this and whose memories of Chinatsu had been erased, exhibited highly relevant abnormal behavior related to the incident—he went to the scene, eavesdropped on information, and was urgently searching for something."
As Shido listened to Kotori's description, he pictured Koushi's face, usually a bit lazy and playful, now showing an expression of extreme anxiety, searching everywhere.
This completely contradicted his reason for taking leave, "not feeling well"!
"You mean..."
Shido seemed to grasp something, yet found it hard to believe.
"Koushi... he ran out early this morning to look for... Chinatsu? Or that sub-personality?"
"That's the most logical inference."
Kotori crossed her arms, her black hair ribbon making her appear exceptionally calm and imposing. She looked up, meeting Shido's confused eyes.
"The timing is too coincidental. The Heavenly Judgment sub-personality just caused a horrifying incident at the night market last night, and early this morning, Koushi, as her 'brother,' displayed such abnormal behavior—anxiously rushing to the vicinity of the incident, then searching around like a headless chicken."
Shido also realized the gravity of the situation.
"But... Koushi's memories of Chinatsu, weren't they already... by Chinatsu herself..."
"That's the biggest mystery!"
Kotori interrupted him, her brows tightly furrowed.
"According to our previous Understanding and Koushi's past behavior, she should have severed all ties with Koushi and erased his related memories. So, what is the root cause of Koushi's current reaction?"
"If he truly 'doesn't remember,' why would he react so strongly to an incident related to Chinatsu—even if he might not know it was specifically Chinatsu's doing? This almost instinctive worry and search seems more like a... bond that transcends memory?"
She stared at Shido, analyzing word by word: "Are these two things truly just a coincidence? Or is there a deeper connection between them that we are not yet aware of?"
She tapped the kitchen counter lightly with her finger, making soft thudding sounds: "We previously assumed that the'sibling' relationship Chinatsu forged was merely a disguise. But now, it seems it might not be that simple."
"Is there some unknown, deep-seated link between them that cannot be easily erased? Like a kind of telepathy only found between twins?"
"Or is Chinatsu's 'memory erasure' itself flawed, or... does Koushi harbor secrets that even we don't know about?"
Kotori's gaze became incredibly serious: "Shido, we must re-evaluate Koushi Hōoin. The role he plays in this entire incident might be far more important and complex than we imagined."
"Just as a momentous event involving Chinatsu occurred, Koushi immediately exhibited corresponding abnormal behavior that cannot be explained by common sense."
"It's hard not to connect the two. He might not just be an innocent, memory-lost brother caught up in this. He and the Heavenly Judgment Herrscher likely have a continuous and close connection far beyond what we imagined."
She looked at Shido, her tone cautionary: "You must be more cautious when interacting with him. Especially now, with Chinatsu or her sub-personality in an unstable state, any abnormal behavior from Koushi could portend a new storm."
As Shido listened to Kotori's analysis, watching his friend's anxious running figure in the surveillance footage, his mood became incredibly heavy.
The dishes in the pot sizzled, and Tohka's singing in the bathroom remained cheerful, but the atmosphere in the kitchen grew solemn due to this conversation about Koushi.
He had originally thought that Koushi had escaped that tragedy and returned to his normal daily life.
But now, it seemed the threads of fate still tightly entwined him, binding him closely to that "sister" with destructive power.
(Koushi... how much do you really know? And what are you searching for?)
As Shido listened to Kotori's analysis, his mood grew increasingly heavy. He recalled all his previous interactions with Koushi and Chinatsu, that natural sense of closeness... If behind all this, there truly lay a mysterious link that even Koushi himself might not be aware of... (Koushi... how many secrets are there between you and your "sister" that we don't know about?)
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