The Red Thread Of Fate

SWORD (02)

Shido had gained some experience with the Spirits, but he was not sure he could do this time. Of course, the training to which his sister Kotori and Reine, the Ratatoskr's Analysis Officer, had undergone him, had helped him to establish a dialogue with Tohka and Yoshino, but what can he do with a Spirit which not even Kotori knew? And then, this Spirit was a male one, which made his experience almost zero.

Shido sighed wearily. It was true that he had sworn to save the spirits, but fate played tricks at times.

[Be careful, Shido,] the voice of Kotori sounded from the headset that Shido carried in the right ear. [it could be a trap.]

Shido observed the old, abandoned warehouse just outside the city, one of the few buildings that had not been renovated after the Spacequake occurred a few years earlier. Its presence had been forgotten by everyone, making it a good hiding place for bad people.

"I have a bad feeling," Shido muttered, feeling uncomfortable.

With extreme caution, Shido entered and was speechless when he saw Kannazuki hanging upside down, tied with a silver chain whose end was shaped like a kunai.

"Hi, Shido-kun!" Kyouhei smiled.

Kyouhei Kannazuki was a blond man in his thirties. Shido found him to be a rather disquieting person who felt unbridled joy in undergoing physical abuse; his masochistic tendency led him to always suggest the choices that almost certainly would lead Shido to his death. In addition, he had a crazy obsession with Kotori, making him a lolicon.

[That idiot...] Kotori said exasperated. [that's why he didn't show up at work today.]

Shido grunted. Although Kannazuki seemed to enjoy the situation, Shido felt pity. He decided to free him, but he was forced to stop when his sense of danger was activated. And luckily, he listened to it because an iron arrow fell down and lodged a few inches from his foot.

Shido looked up and saw the Spirit looking at him with cold eyes.

"Don't move," Yuto pulls an arrow out of the coffin and encounters it in the black bow in his possession, "take another step and the next arrow will pierce your skull."

Shido shuddered when he heard the threat that had just been made to him. That meeting reminded him of the one with Tohka in a certain sense.

"I'm not here to hurt you," Shido raised both hands in a peace sign.

"If you're not here to kill me, then what are you doing here?" Yuto pulled the string of the bow, ready to shoot, "answer and don't lie or you're dead meat"

The moments passed in silence, scaring Yuto. If the Fraxinus crew hadn't given him a good option, Shido would have been killed.

[Tell him you came here to talk,] Kotori suggested.

Shido swallowed nervously. "I came here to talk to you," he said nervously, "about the spacequake you caused."

"Fine. Let's talk," Yuto nodded, "but first of all, give me that earpiece that you have with you"

Shido thought it was best to obey and took it off. He then threw it to Yuto who grabbed the earpiece and destroyed it.

-------------------

Kotori knew that Yuto had the knife on the side of the handle since he had a hostage with him. In addition, he forced Shido to deprive himself of the earpiece, preventing her and the other members of Fraxinus from helping him.

"This spirit is a thought guy," Kotori said frustrated.

Tohka and Yoshino had been troubled in their own way, but the Ratatoskr had enough information about them to plan their moves in advance.