Walking down a long corridor, Reine is thinking about the situation.

Everything started to get hard to predict in recent months. First, there was the and his actions, which are at least confusing to understand. Then there's Shido's suspicious friend who gave him a Territory as a gift. Now Shido has turned into a girl, and all she got from it was a regular note.

"Who could have done this?" Reine wonders, trying to find an answer.

"Reine, you need to rest," says a worried voice.

"I'm fine, Kotori..." Reine replies, staggering to the side.

"You look even more exhausted since the appeared. I don't remember the last time I saw you standing still in the past few months."

"It's nothing..." Reine, who can no longer foresee how her plans will proceed, can't stop trying to find an answer to these countless things happening.

"And Shido... how is he?" Kotori asks, concerned.

"...Well, I guess... there’s nothing wrong with her body," Reine says, and it’s exactly this fact that makes everything even more complicated. Shido is completely normal except for the gender being reversed. She is now a healthy girl with no problems or complications.

Aside from the fact that Shido still can't accept being a girl, everything about her is perfectly normal.

"Kozue and Hinako went to try to cheer her up... initially, it was Kannazuki who went, but he said something stupid, making things even more complicated," I hear a crack and notice Kotori's lollipop is broken.

"Tsk," I think Kannazuki will have some trouble when he gets back.

"So, how can we fix this?"

"We can't... there aren't even any traces of Reiryoku in Shido's body. For now, we don't know how this happened... whoever did this to Shido could be considered an artist," I notice Kotori giving me a disapproving look.

"...you have to see the data later. Whoever did this really knew what they were doing. It's impossible to say that Shido was ever a man before," I notice her expression getting even more irritated.

"I don’t think it’s time to praise whoever did this, don’t you agree?" she says sarcastically.

"I'm not praising them..." It’s really not a compliment. What was done to Shido changed her physiology and biology, among several other factors, to the level of perfection—more of a confirmation than a real praise.

"Can you fix this if you have time?" she asks, hope in her voice.

"Honestly... I don't think we can fix it even if we had the time," Changing someone's gender to this level isn’t something that can be done with current technology.

"Besides, I wouldn't recommend trying to use a Spirit's power for this."

"Why?"

"Some tests with Reiryoku in Shido's body reacted with the energy being completely eliminated."

"What does that mean?"

"If any Spirit tries to force Shido’s gender to go back to normal... she’ll probably die." The Reiryoku tested was completely eliminated by some unknown energy.

"At least something can be learned from this test."

"Yes, and what would that be?" She asks with little interest in this part.

"Whoever did this to Shido is probably a Spirit."

"...And?" She says as if urging me to continue.

"If we find out who did this, they might be able to reverse it."

She doesn’t show it, but I see a glimmer of hope in her eyes.

"Then we have to do everything possible to find the culprit."

"..." I stay silent for a moment before finding the right time to speak.

"Kotori... you know we’ll have to enroll Shido in school, right?"

"Yes... I know."

In this situation, it's important that Shido continues to go to school because of Tohka. Since Tohka wants to be a student, it’s not good to take her out of school, but we also can’t leave her without Shido. So all that’s left is to enroll Shido in school even in this state.

"But we need to give Shido some time... she needs to adjust first."

"We can't delay it for too long."

"I know, just one week at least so she has time to adjust."

"Sure," I say, stepping away to go where Shido is. "Or should I call her Shiori now?"

Meanwhile, with Shido/Shiori.

"Shiori, look on the bright side," Hinako says to Shiori.

"You said you wanted to help the , now that you're a woman, that’s a real possibility." She has been trying to cheer up Shiori along with Kozue for a while. Although she was reluctant at first about how to refer to Shido, she decided to call her Shiori since the Spirits ended up calling her that.

Shiori isn’t quite sure how to feel about being called a different name now.

Hinako notices that the topic of the has caught Shiori’s attention.

"You said you would do your best to help this Spirit, but since he was dangerous and you were a man, it made it impossible for you to help him. But now that you’re a woman, isn't it a possibility?" Kozue looks at Hinako with mild disapproval for using this kind of topic to cheer someone up but notices Shiori is paying attention, so she says nothing.

This isn’t normally a topic Hinako would discuss, but since the two of them have been trying to cheer up Shiori for a while, and this topic caught her attention, she started talking about it.

"Well... maybe," Shiori finally responds to something after hours.

"Yes, yes, think calmly about it while we try... to fix whatever happened," Kozue, seeing that Shiori responded to this topic, decides to go along with it.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Then someone enters through the door. We all look at her at the same time and see Reine entering.

"Shid... Shiori, here are the results of your tests." Reine was going to call Shido but stopped for a moment as if thinking and called her Shiori.

Shiori, now even Reine is calling her that, feels strange. She used to make mistakes with his name on purpose before.

"What... are the results... am I going back to normal?" Shiori asks with a trembling voice, her gender change has caused a shock to her mind, leaving her mentally fragile.

"...Do you want my honest answer or... the one that would be better for you?" Shiori pauses for a moment, considering this choice.

"I... I... want the honest answer," Shiori hesitates before choosing.

"Shiori... making you go back to normal is... impossible for Ratatoskr." Reine had thought a lot about the answer to give Shiori and decided it was better to be as honest as possible so Shiori could start to adjust.

Even if they found out who did this, they might not be able to reverse it. Reine, who has thought a lot about the matter, believes it is simply impossible to resolve. Whoever did this clearly wasn’t going to fix it even if they were found.

If they were found, because nothing strange was found in Shido’s room, not even the window was touched.

"I understand..." Shiori responds as if something inside her has broken. Tears start forming in her eyes. Shiori, who has been very emotional since discovering what happened to her, can’t control the whirlwind of emotions going through her mind.

"Hick hick..." She cries, half-sobbing while trying to hold back the sound. Her feelings that don’t fit her current body are a chaotic mess.

Hinako, Kozue, and Reine, who didn’t expect this, freeze, not knowing how to console Shiori who is experiencing extreme emotional highs and lows in a very short amount of time.

Trimmm Trimmm.

They hear the sound of a phone ringing.

Shiori, upon hearing the sound, reflexively fumbles with her clothes, picks up, and answers the phone... after this action, her eyes widen upon realizing what she did, answering the phone in this situation.

"Hello, Shido-san, sorry to bother you with a call, but you didn’t come to class today..." says a voice that can be described as beautiful.

"Kuroiwa Aurélio," Reine whispers, recognizing the voice, the person who is also a variable she doesn’t know where it came from.

Shiori freezes, not knowing how to respond, with tears still in her eyes. She answered reflexively and doesn’t know what to say to her best friend in this situation. Still crying, it’s clear she’s unsure what to say while the only sound in the room is her sighs as she tries to hold back her tears.

"..."

"..."

"...hick"

"Shido?... are you crying?" he asks.

"Shido, why aren't you answering? Do you need help? Do you want me to... come over to your house?" The voice on the phone is full of concern.

Everyone in the room doesn’t know what to do. If they speak and Aurélio hears, it will be difficult to explain. But if they say nothing, he will find it odd now that he’s heard Shiori crying.

In this situation, if they put it on silent, Aurélio will notice, making everything even more awkward.

"hick... sniff" And Shiori, who can’t control her crying in this situation, just makes everything harder.

"Shido... could you respond? I know someone is on the line... if you're having problems, you can ask for help," His concerned voice on the phone only makes it harder for Shiori to calm down.

Because she remembers what she lost, now as Shiori, how will she find her best friend, how does she explain this situation?

“...”

“...” Some time passes without anyone saying a word, no one even moves, fearing that any sound would break the silence where all that can be heard are Shiori’s sobs.

“Shido, I don’t know what problem you’re facing right now... but you need to keep your head up and move forward. Try to see your problem from a new perspective... maybe then you’ll find a solution, or turn the problem into something good.”

“I know it’s hard to share your problems with others sometimes, I’ve also had my own issues that I couldn’t talk about.”

“But you are strong, I know you’ll get through this. Just don’t try to carry everything on your own. If you need help, you can count on me for anything,” the tone is like someone who has been through many hardships.

“And you don’t have to hold back your tears... when clouds have too much water, they rain because they can’t hold the weight. So don’t keep your tears in your heart until you can’t bear it anymore.”

“If you need a shoulder to cry on, I’m here. If you need help, you can ask me, and if you just need someone to know you tried, I’ll be that person,” his tone never loses that touch of concern for the person he’s speaking to.

“I’m going to hang up to give you some time to... think a bit... when you’re ready, you can call me. I’ll be waiting.”

“...” Shiori doesn’t respond to what he said.

Tummm

They hear the sound of the phone disconnecting.

Kozue and Hinako are surprised by what Aurélio said, while Reine is thinking about it.

But for Shiori, Aurélio’s voice and what he said was the best comfort she’s had in the past few hours.

“Haaaa, hick... hick buááá” Following Aurélio’s advice, Shiori stops holding back her tears.

Following Aurélio’s advice, she realizes that even after what happened, she still has people who care about her and that she can think about what happened later.

Reine leaves the room while Hinako and Kozue hug Shiori, who now can’t hold back her tears anymore.

For Hinako, Kozue, and Shiori, what Aurélio said is something beautiful, but for Reine, it’s a bit different.

Reine walks down the hallway, replaying the conversation in her mind.

“Wasn’t that almost a declaration? And why didn’t he mention the difference in Shiori’s voice? Even though she was just sobbing, he should have noticed, shouldn’t he?” Reine whispers to herself as she thinks.

‘Does he know something? No, that’s impossible... unless he was the one who did this... am I overthinking?’ Reine thinks, reviewing the conversation multiple times while trying to figure out more.

‘As Kotori said, this boy is very strange, even Ratatoskr couldn’t find much about him’ Kuroiwa Aurélio, he is the second most difficult mystery to appear in recent months.

Meanwhile, with Aurélio.

“HAHAHAHAHAHA” He is laughing like a lunatic inside the barrier he created.

“She was crying hahaha, I really wanted to see that, her face must have been beautiful” He had imagined that Shiori would be confused, so he made a call to try and talk to her, but it turned out better than he expected.

‘Understood, it’s probably related to both a mental and biological issue’ He thinks. Hormone production as well as the functioning of different areas of the body and brain are different between women and men.

Shido’s body changed overnight literally. But his mind stayed the same, this abrupt change created a psychological variation that his mind couldn’t handle.

Naturally, as his mind couldn’t accept his body, it collapsed, creating this extreme fragility in Shiori, making her in a perfect state to deceive.

“I wonder how she is now” He imagines how she could be, while imagining her crying face, which only increases his sadism.

‘Putting that aside, I need to do a few things...’

“Kurumi, I know you’re somewhere around here, I need your help...” Shortly afterward, Kurumi appears from the shadows of the nearby building.

“Ara ara Aurélio-san, you seemed to be having fun. I wonder who you were talking to on the phone... you never stopped smiling while talking, then you started laughing, although you created a barrier so I didn’t hear anything,” she says, starting the conversation with curiosity.

“I didn’t realize I was smiling at first,” I tell her.

“Yes, you had a very sadistic and wild smile hihihi”

“I was talking to Shiori... hahaha it was so good, it’s a pity I couldn’t see her face”

“I see, I can imagine the kind of conversation, so what do you need... and what will you give me in return?”

“Hmm... I need you to find a Spirit that’s sleeping out in space... in return, I’ll give you information that will help you,” I have plans with that girl in space.

“That’s a... complicated request since space is very vast, don’t you think?”

“She’s near the last layer of the earth if that helps,” at least that’s where I think she is.

“I want the information upfront”

“Sure, sure...”

“...If you use Yud Bet on me, I’ll be able to alter history without creating a time loop” I look into Kurumi’s eyes as I speak, this information surprises her.

The reason is quite simple, Shido in the original story was the first to alter history instead of creating a time loop with Yud Bet, even Kurumi couldn’t alter history and was limited by the time loops created by Yud Bet.

But with this information, Kurumi now confirms that there is a way to use Yud Bet without being trapped by a time loop, which could be very useful for her in various situations combined with what I’ll give her when she finds Nia Honjo, it has great value.

“How do you know this without ever experiencing it?” She asks with doubt, but there’s no disbelief in her voice.

“I’ve already given you the information, more than that is beyond your payment to find the Spirit”

“Tsk, stingy” she says with slight playfulness, but she doesn’t doubt the truth of my statement, of course, that doesn’t mean she trusts me, only that she gives due confidence to a business partner.

“Go ahead, you’ll need time to find that Spirit in space”

“Yes, you’re right, so I’ll be going for now, goodbye Aurélio-san hihihi” She says, laughing as she disappears into the shadows.

“...” I plan to fight that girl in space until I kill her, she’s not that important to the plot, so there shouldn’t be any problems. I want to try to awaken the Demon King in the fight, and also attempt to take her Sephira Crystal from her body.

‘Just wait Mukuro, I’ll disturb your sleep a bit’ I think as I start walking home.