Tale of Discovery

Chapter 267: Guest in the Night ; Visit to an Abode

"Shido, when are we going on a date again?" Tohka who is lying beside me on my bed asks.

"Soon," I respond, my focus being elsewhere.

"I'm looking forward to eating more delicious food!" she immediately says, making it clear that she's in it for the food and not the aspect of us going out together.

Well, she is free to feel and act however she likes as long as it brings no harm to her and those close by.

"You should sleep soon," I say as I turn around to look her in the eyes.

Seemingly unable to maintain eye contact, Tohka shifts her sight to the ceiling before saying, "I want to, but for some reason, I can't."

Hearing her answer, I let out a small sigh as I begin considering making use of Hypnosis...

---

She's finally asleep.

Knowing that, I proceed to carefully leave the bed while being cautious to not make any sound that could potentially wake her up.

After taking one last glance at the sleeping Tohka, I proceed to use Permeation to pass through the room over to the top of the house.

"Finally," a pleasant voice reaches my ears not even a second later, "Took you a tad bit too long, don't you think so, Shido?"

Looking over at Kurumi who is wearing a red and black dress, I smile wryly and say, "There wasn't much I could do to leave earlier."

"I am aware," she responds, "You were patiently waiting for that girl to fall asleep, were you not?"

Seeing the cold smile on her lips, I chuckle a little awkwardly before shrugging my shoulders and saying, "That's about it."

"Fine then," she says as she turns around, "Shall we get going."

"Where to?" I curiously ask.

"My home, or more accurately, the place in which I'm staying in right now for a short while," she responds before leaping toward the rooftop of another house nearby.

This isn't how I expected things to turn out...

Earlier today, I instructed her to head over to my house at around midnight. The plan was for us to spend a short while discussing the details of our upcoming date.

For her to invite me over to her 'home'... This seems like a trap. But would she do that? Heck, why would she do that?

Pushing such thoughts aside, I proceed to use Flight to dash in the direction that she leaped toward.

"How convenient," Kurumi says as she glances at me once I'm near her while continuing to run at a swift pace and leap from one structure to another.

And so, I subconsciously follow after her while thinking of a few things.

I'm rather curious about where her home is and what it looks like. After all, from what I recall briefly, spirits seemingly 'disappear' from this world and in turn become 'Lost'.

Where do they go? Even they themselves don't know. After all, earlier, while waiting for Tohka to fall asleep, I decided to speak with her a little. Among the few topics we spoke of, this one happened to be one of them.

Tohka claimed that she didn't know anything. All she knew was that she would sometimes just appear somewhere else in the blink of an eye with everything around her destroyed.

Expectedly, this is no longer the case after she was 'sealed' by me. So far, that is.

"We've arrived," a voice suddenly interrupts my thought process, causing me to shift my attention back to reality.

The first thing - no, the person I see is Kurumi who is standing on top of a building that seems like an average workplace for atypical salarymen.

"This way," Kurumi says as she walks toward a door on the rooftop that leads inside the building.

Letting out a small sigh, I float down to the rooftop before walking through the door that Kurumi entered the building through.

As I expected, this building is nothing more than a normal workplace. Why has Kurumi brought me here?

With such a question blaring in my mind, I continue to follow after Kurumi who is gracefully walking through the corridors with seemingly no intentions of pulling off any 'surprise' stunts.

Shortly, we reach a door with a plate attached to the door that states: Administration.

Kurumi stops in her tracks and turns around, just to give me an oddly eerie smirk before turning back around and proceeding to open the door.

With my expectations going awry, I follow Kurumi inside, only to be slightly shocked the next moment by a rather intriguing sight.

Standing beside Kurumi, I observe two men and three women who seem to be in their mid-twenties, apart from one of the two men who seems to be in his early thirties.

What's strange is the fact that they're all tied up with their arms, bound to some chains attached to the ceiling.

All of them have one thing in common Each one of them has a part of their body missing.

"Kurumi," I say in a dubious tone, "These people..."

"They were hopeless humans that required assistance," she explains, "As you can see, they were all in this state, so I've been trying to find a way to gather up enough energy to heal them."

Not expecting such a response, my mind blanks out for a second before I shake my head and say, "So, you're telling me that you've been using them as guinea pigs for their sake?"

Curios about something, I proceed to utilize Paragon's Eyes to inspect the

"That's a rather unbecoming way to put it," she replies, "They're simply trading a short while of their freedom for a chance of reclaiming what was lost or what never existed."

This girl... It seems that she is a very warm-hearted individual. Truly, going through all this effort for people she doesn't know.

Nevertheless, how is she planning to heal them? Are her powers related to healing or something? Well, either that or she has an ability that's specifically for regeneration.

"How long have you been doing this for?" I ask out of sheer curiosity.

"A few days," she responds as the grin on her lips grows, "You seem to not mind this sight much."

"Why would I? You're doing them a favor, after all."

What's a few days' worth of freedom for the 'regeneration' of a limb or eyes that you lost or never had for the rest of your life?

The only thing that Kurumi will get out of this will be a grasp over her powers and potentially something else that I don't know of.

"Very well," Kurumi suddenly says before chuckling merrily, "You've passed the test."

"Test?" I dubiously ask.

"Indeed," she responds, "I had suspected something during our short trip to the park, and it seems that my senses were on point. Anyway, with that done with, how about we take our leave from this room and head to another?"

"Sure," I respond, curious about what else she has to show me.

--

Kurumi and I enter a room that seems to be the lounging area of the building. I hadn't noticed earlier due to the state of my vision, but the building is pitch black right now.

Despite that, I can see 'normally', and that seems to be the case for Kurumi too.

Kurumi proceeds to walk over to a sofa and takes a seat on it before turning her head to face me and say, "Why don't you take a seat as well? We much to converse about."

Nodding my head once, I walk over to the same sofa she is sitting on and directly sit beside her so that our shoulders are touching.

Seemingly pleased with my action, Kurumi's eyes begin to slant as an indication of what seems to be joy while she says, "Your reactions are much better than what I was initially expecting when I brought you over."

"Get to the main point, will you?" I say in a casual tone while smiling brightly.

"I want you," Kurumi immediately says.

I wait for her to finish what she has to say, only to realize a few seconds later that she already did.

"You want me?" I doubtfully ask as I remember what Kurumi sad back in the park - 'I want to eat you.'

What did she mean by that and what is she asking for this time?

Before I can delve too deep into thoughts, I feel a few fingers brushing against my right cheek, causing me to shift my attention back to Kurumi.

Surprisingly, I notice that Kurumi's dress has gotten slightly disoriented and there is an eerie glint in her eyes now as she continues to stare at my face while stroking my cheek.

"Kurumi?" I ask while maintaining my composure.

"Don't worry," she says in a low tone that's almost comparable to whispering before licking her lips and continuing, "I will compensate you equally."

At this moment, the bangs on Kurumi's left eye move to the side, revealing the golden eye with the clock in it that I had seen back in school. The only difference this time is the fact that the clock hands are moving haywire as if the 'clock' has broken.

"You would be fine with that, right, Shido?"