After a chaotic period of appeasement (primarily Shido unilaterally explaining things to Origami, Chinatsu observing coolly, and Aha laughing uncontrollably).
The living room finally restored a semblance of temporary calm.
The four people sat around the small coffee table.
Origami, citing the reason that "she needed to observe Shido up close to see if he was negatively affected," sat right next to Shido on one side of the long sofa.
Meanwhile, Chinatsu, in order to closely monitor the biggest unstable factor—Aha—had no choice but to sit with it on the single sofa and a brought-in chair on the opposite side, forming a subtle confrontation.
Shido had just let out a breath, his butt barely warm on the seat, when Aha, whom he believed was his "friend Koushi," spoke up with a smile that looked suspiciously overly radiant, targeting Shido directly:
"Speaking of which, Shido," Aha (Koushi) lightly nudged the tightly wound Chinatsu next to it with its elbow.
Its tone was full of the pride of "my daughter is growing up," "What do you think of my little sister, Chinatsu?"
"Eh?" Shido was stunned by the sudden question and instinctively looked toward Chinatsu across from him.
Her ice-blue long hair, flawless delicate features, and cool demeanor indeed made her look unrealistically beautiful under the warm yellow living room light.
His cheeks slightly flushed, he stammered in response: "Uh... V-very pretty. And her cooking is amazing too..."
"Right? Right?" Aha slapped its thigh forcefully, as if it had found a kindred spirit, and began "marketing" her like listing family treasures.
"I'm not boasting, but my Chinatsu has tons of advantages! Her looks are beyond reproach, she's highly intelligent, definitely good at studying, and you've seen her cooking skills—she's absolutely wife material! Although her personality is a bit cold, that's called character! And look at that figure..."
It meaningfully scanned Chinatsu with its gaze.
"Koushi (Brother)!" Chinatsu finally couldn't help but hiss, her ice-blue eyes full of warning and shame (half feigned, half genuinely embarrassed by this "marketing").
Internally, she ranted: (Aha, you bastard! What nonsense are you spouting! Who asked you to play matchmaker for me here! And the target is Shido? How could I possibly!)
However, Aha completely ignored her warning, continued smiling at Shido, and dropped the nuclear-level question:
"So, Shido, what do you think... about having my sister as your girlfriend?"
"Pfft—Cough, cough, cough!" Shido immediately choked on his own saliva, coughing violently, his face instantly turning red up to his ears. "Koushi! Don't—don't joke like that!"
Almost simultaneously, two voices of opposition rang out.
"I object." Origami's voice was cold and firm. The grip she had on Shido's arm tightened, and her pale gray eyes fixed sharply on Aha (Koushi), like a protective cub guarding its food.
"Shido's dating partners must undergo strict screening. Currently, she does not possess priority qualifications."
Chinatsu, meanwhile, held her forehead and denied it flatly, in a tone bordering on speechless:
"Impossible, absolutely impossible!" The look she gave Shido was complicated.
(Are you kidding me! I am Koushi! I'm your good buddy who plays games and trades insults with you! Girlfriend? That relationship is way too terrifying!)
Shido himself quickly waved his hands, preparing to laugh it off and gloss over the matter:
"Koushi, stop teasing me. Classmate Hōōin and I have only just met, and how could this possibly..."
Just as he was mid-sentence—
[Zzzzt—... Shido! Can you hear me? Shido!]
After a faint crackle of static, Kotori's anxious voice suddenly cut in and out through his earpiece. Although the signal was still unstable, he could finally make out the words!
[Emergency situation! Don't answer yet! Options have appeared on the Fraxinus! Repeat, do not give a clear response yet!]
Shido immediately swallowed the words he was about to say, his heart filled with both wild joy and lingering fear: (They finally made contact!)
Rewind to the moment Shido stepped into the apartment building and the signal began to suffer severe interference:
The main bridge of the Fraxinus at this moment seemed like a lonely boat in a storm.
The low hum of the originally stable equipment was replaced by harsh alarms, and red indicator lights symbolizing warnings flashed wildly across the bulkheads, casting a strange, ominous glow over the entire space.
On the main screen, the previously clear monitoring feed was now covered in dense static and distorted color blocks; they could only barely make out the blurry outlines of Shido and Chinatsu walking up the stairs.
On Shido's physiological data panel, curves for heart rate and galvanic skin response were violently spiking like an epileptic seizure, emitting an ominous "beep beep" alarm.
The communication channel no longer held clear dialogue, only continuous, sharp white noise that sounded like it could scratch the eardrums.
"What's going on?! Where's the signal?! What happened?!"
Itsuka Kotori suddenly sprang up from the Commander's chair, the skirt of her Commander uniform flaring from the abrupt movement.
Her hands slammed down heavily on the console in front of her with a "bang." She leaned forward, her usually cunning and lively eyes now wide and round, staring fixedly at the static-filled main screen. The precious jewel in her mouth was crushed with a loud "crunch."
Shiizaki's fingers were a blur over the control panel, fine beads of sweat breaking out on her forehead. Her speech was so fast it sounded like she was rattling off a menu:
"Commander report! Detecting high-intensity unknown energy field interference! Coverage area precisely locked onto the target apartment building! Interference source... unable to lock onto specific location! Nature... not Spirit power fluctuation, not Realizer harmonic! Communication signal is completely masked, signal-to-noise ratio is below threshold! Repeat, unable to establish a stable connection with Shido!"
Her voice carried a subtle tremor, clearly indicating she had encountered a situation beyond comprehension.
Kanmoto the analyst stared intently at the completely unanalyzable data stream—a chaotic, tangled mess—on the screen in front of him. His brows were furrowed into a knot, and his eyes behind his glasses were filled with confusion and shock:
"Energy field nature... completely unanalyzable! Database comparison result: zero match! It does not align with the Spirit power patterns of any known Spirit, nor the Realizer device fluctuation modes of the AST or DEM! There is a huge unknown risk! What... what exactly is this thing?!"
Kyohei Kannazuki, for once, did not lapse into his usual perverse ecstasy.
He braced his hands on the console, his body tense, his brow deeply furrowed. His face bore a rare expression, mixing seriousness with a hint of barely suppressed excitement.
"Such powerful and bizarre interference... capable of perfectly shielding the Fraxinus's monitoring... Could there be an 'anomaly' inside the room far exceeding our estimates? Is the unseen 'Koushi' himself the problem?"
"Or has Phoenix-in Chinatsu hidden a true power that we haven't even detected? Commander, the situation is likely more complicated and more... interesting than we imagined!"
He practically whispered the last two words.
Compared to the tension of everyone else, Murasame Reine maintained her usual calm, sleep-deprived appearance, though her heavy dark circles looked even deeper under the red alert lighting.
She tilted her head slightly, seemingly listening intently to the meaningless noise, and spoke in her characteristic, somewhat airy voice:
"...Calm down. Although Shido's vital signs are fluctuating violently, the core indicators have not breached the safety threshold. There is no immediate danger to his life."
"Now... we can only choose to trust his ability to react. Priority: attempt to restore communication as quickly as possible, even if only audio."
Kotori anxiously spit the broken stick of the candy out into the recycling slot, pulled a new lollipop from her pocket, and shoved it fiercely into her mouth. Her voice was slightly muffled by the candy, but the anger and anxiety were clearly discernible:
"Damn it! Everyone, use every method you have, activate all backup channels, maximize power output! I need to hear the sound from inside, at the very least! I can't leave Shido alone in a place like that!"