Reincarnated as Itsuka Shido: Collecting Spirits as Lovers

Tengu City, Fraxinus

The control room's main door slide open with a quiet hiss as Shido and Reine stepped inside. The room was bustling with activity, operators at their stations, holographic screens displaying real-time data, and Kotori seated at the Commander's chair with a lollipop in her hand.

As soon as Shido entered, several heads turned toward him.

Ignoring the stares, Shido exhaled and looked straight at Kotori, wondering what she would say. 

In truth, Shido felt a little awkward seeing Kotori again so soon. It is not that he was not aware of the turmoil happening inside her head, but Shido chose to keep quiet for now. 

"Kotori, I brought him." Reine said before she walked to her seat and started to work. 

"Good work." Kotori nodded her head and looked at Shido who was brought in the Fraxinus.

Despite trying hard to conceal the expression on her face, Kotori couldn't help but reveal a hint of redness on her cheeks. The image of her kissing Shido boldly in the morning resurfaced on her mind causing her to have a reaction.

"What are you looking at?!" Kotori shouted angrily at Shido trying to hide her embarrassment. Her crimson eyes glared directly at him making him reveal a wry smile at her tsundere action.

Seeing that Shido wasn't faced with her intimidation Kotori resorted to violence. She looked to her left and saw the perfect person to release her frustration. Without hesitation, she delivered a powerful kick, sending the unfortunate soul flying through the air before they crashed face-first onto the floor.

"Gwah!" 

Shido was speechless by Kotori's action before looking at that thing that almost couldn't be recognized. Meanwhile, the members of Ratatoskr didn't even bat an eye at the spectacle, continuing their work as if this were just another ordinary day.

Kannazuki who was kicked to the floor looks so miserable. His face was beaten up and his clothes were in a mess. Yet, he didn't look angry at all, instead, he began panting heavily and started to wriggle on the floor like a weird worm.

"Ah~ Commander's kick~ More~ Kick me more~"

Kotori who was unhappy with Shido earlier finally looked satisfied as he watched Shido's creeped expression. A smug smile played on her lips as she gave a satisfied nod, pleased with the results. Then, with a swift snap of her fingers, the control room doors slid open once again.

Two burly men in black uniforms and dark sunglasses entered the room, effortlessly hauling up the panting Kannazuki. Shido watched this bizarre scene unfold with a strange expression. If he didn't already know he was in an anime world, he might have seriously believed he had been reincarnated into Men in Black.

"Take him away." Kotori ordered coldly.

"Commander! Have mercy! Not the internment camp! Anywhere but there!"

Kannazuki noticed that he was being lifted up by men in black, this caused his face to instantly change. Instantly, he burst into exaggerated wails, pleading desperately for Kotori to spare him from whatever torment awaited.

Kotori was unfazed with his pleading and casually gave another order. "Ah, also, make him dig a hole for an entire day. Once he's done, have him fill it back up… then repeat the process for a week."

She ordered her men to do as she instructed and punish Kannazuki without clear reasons. Yet, Kannazuki didn't look dissatisfied at all, he even had a big creepy grin on his face after hearing Kotori's words. After Kotori was done with her orders the men in black dragged Kannazuki away who looked so happy.

Shido, watching the entire scene unfold, could only sigh. "Yeah… I should've seen that coming."

"Now... Where were we?" Kotori had now recovered from her earlier embarrassment with the help of Kannazuki's Masochist personality. It caused Shido to divert his attention from her making her feel that the pressure on her had been lifted.

As the bizarre scene wrapped up, they were back on track.

"Right, we're in the middle of discussing how to save another spirit." Kotori returned to her normally cold and composed Commander Mode.

She then pointed her lollipop on the screen showing the crater that was formed due to the Spatial Quake.

Shido also glanced at the holographic screen in front of them, noting the damage.

"It's pretty small this time." 

"Well, it's Hermit so this the size of Spatial Quake is reasonable." Reine commented on the side while moving her fingers fast across the keyboard as she inputted data.

"Hermit, huh?" Shido stared at the screen in deep thought, it displayed a girl with an overly sized green rabbit theme raincoat with a puppet in her hand. She was surrounded by a great amount of yellowish-green Reiryoku.

"It's the name of the Spirit that has appeared this time. She's also known for being docile." Kotori explained calmly, her eyes still fixed on the screen.

"Um, I don't know whether I should say this but... I actually met her before." Shido said awkwardly while glancing at Kotori.

"What did you say?" Kotori was dumbfounded by Shido's words, she couldn't help but feel annoyed that this brother of hers didn't say anything when he met a spirit.

Shido laughs awkwardly. "I accidentally saw her when I was taking shelter from the rain at the shrine."

"There was no disruption of her main spirit wave numbers at that time." Reine chimed in while inputting data on her screen.

"It's the same as it was for Shadow and Nightmare." Kotori placed a hand on her chin as she thought deeply.

"Shadow?" Shido blinked his eyes in confusion. He had never heard that name before and couldn't help but ask Kotori for clarification.

"Oh, right, I forgot to tell you." Kotori slapped her forehead in realization. "I completely missed that detail." She sighed, looking at her brother.

"Shadow is the male Spirit that fought Nightmare before, remember him?" 

As Kotori said those words, Shido felt his lips twitch uncontrollably. 

"Who the heck came up with that overly cringe name?!"