Chapter 348 - 1: Adaptive Power

Chapter 348: Chapter 1: Adaptive Power

"Now that’s what I call a fair trade, missy."

The catfish-like demon slipped into a puddle and vanished. The First Sephira Crystal Yimi had promised it during their previous deal had been transferred to Origami, and the demon had not taken it back.

That unfinished transaction had also given it a foothold for returning to this world. Yet only now had it finally completed its first deal with Origami, at the modest price of every asset she had accumulated up to that point.

That included... GunGun’s little bowl.

Tobiichi Origami was not a patient person. Everything she had done for revenge made that perfectly clear.

The white-haired girl twisted a key. A wind-up dog that had come free with a cake walked across her palm on absurd little legs, then toppled over because her hand was not flat.

This toy, along with her parents’ keepsakes and photographs, was all she had allowed herself to retain.

One month.

She had little patience, yet she had searched for an entire month. Nothing remained except the object that had turned her into a Spirit.

No matter how much the demon’s sinister appearance made her distrust it, a fact did not cease to be a fact.

No. Perhaps it could still be changed.

Origami climbed out of a crater that was not particularly large.

It was almost exactly the same size as the one that little girl had made before. Looking at it now, the child had evidently worked hard to control herself and avoid hurting others.

Over the past month, Origami had learned to restrain the power enough to prevent excessive damage. Still, despite having a whole month, controlling its destructive force had not been the focus of her research.

"Origami..."

Itsuka Shiori’s voice came from behind her. She always managed to appear before a Spirit immediately.

That Astral Dress belonged to Yimi...

Shiori forced a smile. "What happened?"

Origami had withdrawn from school, deleted Shiori’s contact information, and emptied her home.

"Shi... Itsuka Shiori."

Origami spoke her full name, put away the wind-up dog, and met her eyes. "GunGun is dead."

Shiori had already guessed something, but hearing Origami say it herself still made her freeze. Her hands trembled faintly.

"Origami, don’t joke about something like that."

After Origami disappeared, the child vanished too.

Shiori searched Origami’s eyes. They gave away no emotion, and she could find no trace of the joke Origami had played before—though there had been none to find then either.

"Are you... telling the truth?"

How could that happen? That child’s ability was absurdly powerful.

Yimi, of all people, could not possibly have died. Had Origami done it? Her relationship with Tohka and the others had begun to improve, so did she still hate Spirits that much?

"I’ve found the murderer." Origami walked straight toward Shiori and brushed past her.

She had traded every asset she possessed in society for that information.

"Murasame Reine. Stack the characters for ’rain’ and ’command’ in her name vertically, and they form the character for ’zero.’ She is the First Spirit." Origami clenched her fist and said the words that made Shiori’s pupils contract.

That woman had acted suspiciously from beginning to end. She was always losing GunGun, and she had also been the one to lead Origami to the Sephira Crystal.

Reine had hidden herself extraordinarily well. Without the deal with the demon, Origami might not have connected the clues to her even after several more months.

"I will kill her."

For her parents, and for GunGun.

Don’t grab me. Origami said those words silently, with an emotion she herself could not identify.

If Shiori grabbed her here, then perhaps Origami would no longer be able to feel affection even for her.

Maybe Origami wanted to see what Shiori truly felt. She could have flown away at once, yet she continued walking, deliberately giving Shiori a chance to stop her.

And that gentle girl did seize the opportunity, catching Origami’s arm before any distance opened between them.

Shiori knew Origami must be completely disappointed in her at that moment, but Reine was important to her too.

Strictly speaking, Reine was only her support staff and teacher, yet Shiori always felt a motherly warmth from her.

Was it really you? Did you kill that child? She was only a little girl. She didn’t understand anything...

"Itsuka Shiori." Origami’s voice was colder when she said her full name this time.

"It can be changed!" Shiori hurriedly shouted before Origami could say something she did not want to hear.

"Kurumi—yes, you remember Kurumi, don’t you? She can return to the past. If it’s her, she can definitely change everything. Give me one week... No, three days. I’ll change this."

"All right..." The words themselves were ordinary, yet this girl always possessed a strange power that made people want to believe her. This time, it was not merely Shiori’s own charm. If things could still be put right, who would choose revenge after the damage was already done?

...

"I’m sorry. I’m sorry..."

Shiori apologized for her own helplessness.

The result had already played out once.

Even while wearing her eerie, wicked smile, Kurumi had helped Shiori return to that point in time under the pretext of "testing it before I use it myself." Yet Shiori had changed nothing.

* * *

"Meow-meow?"

This time, Yimi had not accidentally teleported to a world she had visited before. Beatrice’s and Junko’s words, along with Asuna and the others’ reluctance to see her go, had taught the little cat something.

She could dress herself now. She had learned to make lots of tasty food, and even knew a little basic arithmetic. She wanted to visit Origami and share everything she had learned.

"System, how long has it been?"

"Host, one full month has passed since your departure."

"One month!" The kitty was stunned.

She had once spent a month in Madoka’s world, so she knew that was a very, very long time.

Hadn’t the System said that time here would not advance according to how long she was away?

"Dumbass System!"

"Host, please do not punish the current administration for the previous administration’s mistakes. Because the System underwent an update and redesign, minor discrepancies inevitably occurred when legacy details were transferred. The issue has been entered into the error log to ensure it will not happen again."

"Additionally, please read the update notes carefully. For example: following the update, the System will no longer provide profanity lessons..."

Yimi ignored it and looked around.

A woman was bound tightly to a chair nearby.

Yimi padded over on all fours and tapped the woman with a paw.

The woman smelled of spirit power, but the little cat no longer needed to eat spirit power to fuse with the Saint’s Corpse.

As she drew closer, a shrill alarm began to blare. To a cat with sensitive hearing, it was even more unbearable than usual.

Annoyed, Yimi raised a paw and brought it down.

A colossal claw mark split the DEM base into several sections. It was a skill of the Adaptive Power she had possessed as the previous world’s final boss.