At this moment, a beautiful girl was rushing around the venue searching for someone.
Miku was clearly agitated.
After all, who would be in a good mood when their goddess was snatched away?
And Spirits were exactly the type to act on extremes.
Right now, Miku was even considering donning her Astral Dress and summoning her Angel to take control of everyone in the venue through the PA system.
Fortunately, her rationality prevailed.
She knew that doing so would definitely draw unwanted attention.
Besides, she had already used her powers to question several guards and passersby at the exits.
And she had confirmed—the person hadn't left the venue yet.
But...
Where exactly was she?
Miku had already searched the entire venue.
Just as she was trying to figure out which place she hadn't checked, a young girl slowly approached her.
In that instant, Miku's pupils contracted—she jumped back, instinctively distancing herself from the girl.
Yet the girl showed no reaction to Miku's sudden movements.
She simply stared at her, eyes filled with deep hatred and an unwavering resolve.
The girl had short silver hair and wore a school uniform from an unknown school. She had a typical expressionless "three-no" face—no expression, no emotion, no words.
Despite her cute features, she gave off a cold, robotic aura.
"You people followed me here? What are you planning? I didn't even do anything!"
Miku growled, spitting the words out between clenched teeth.
Clearly, she loathed the girl before her—or rather, what the girl represented—with every fiber of her being.
"Spirit. Supernatural entity. Our duty is to eliminate such threats. To protect humanity from the supernatural, from super-science, from forces beyond the ordinary. We take action to ensure humanity's continued existence."
The silver-haired girl spoke coldly.
Miku clenched her fists tightly. She had heard those words before.
These maniacs!
Did they not know where they were now?
This place was nothing like the world they came from—so why were they still chasing her here?
In truth, if this weren't a public place, Miku would've already donned her Astral Dress and crushed this silver-haired, expressionless girl beneath her feet.
The pressure between the two clashed in the air—
It was almost tangible.
The silver-haired girl stared unblinkingly at Miku, clearly on the verge of making a move.
Miku knew full well—these people were a bunch of mad dogs. She was ready to fight at a moment's notice.
But then—
"Hey, you two. Knock it off."
A cold voice cut through the tension.
The pressure between them suddenly vanished.
Both turned their heads to see—
A black-haired 'woman' standing off to the side, her expression dark enough to drip water.
Naturally, this 'woman' was Haruto.
And at this moment, Haruto was genuinely a little angry.
What kind of nonsense was this?
Were they seriously trying to cause a supernatural outbreak here?
If either of them even hinted at ignoring his warning, Haruto would act immediately and initiate forced containment.
A deliberately caused anomaly was absolutely unacceptable.
And if containment began...
Heh.
There would be no talk of human rights.
A contained entity was just that—an object of containment.
Luckily, after his command, the two immediately backed down. Miku quickly walked over and stood protectively in front of Haruto.
But the silver-haired girl was equally unwilling to back down. She came up to Haruto's other side, eyes wary as she watched Miku. She even looked like she wanted to throw her arms around Haruto to protect him.
That stunned Gu Zeyuan.
What were these two trying to do?
Miku was one thing—
She'd fallen under his charm. Her current behavior was understandable.
After all, Tomie's trait wasn't a joke.
But the silver-haired girl? What the hell?
Haruto was sure—he had never seen this girl before.
Yet the more he looked at her, the more familiar she felt.
Haruto frowned.
That familiarity struck deep into his cognition.
But his cognition couldn't be shaken by outside forces.
After all, Haruto's cognition was protected by divine gnosis—even other Supreme Divinities couldn't affect him, only clash with him.
Which meant, this sense of familiarity had to be real—something from within himself. In an instant, he understood.
At some point in the future...
He must have reversed time and formed a connection with this silver-haired girl in the past.
Haruto held the Authority of "World," representing the Supreme Divinity of Time. Which meant, all of Haruto's timelines were unified.
If he wanted, he could know everything from any future timeline.
But Haruto had deliberately sealed that ability.
If he knew the entire future, life would be too boring. It would become a scripted play—no surprises at all.
However, if future Haruto altered the past timeline, then every version of Haruto across time would be affected.
Even if he didn't want to know, the changes would still imprint on him.
Simply put, in a future timeline, Haruto must have gone to the past and met this girl.
That's why the present Haruto felt so deeply familiar with her.
And she probably felt it too.
Not as strongly as Haruto, who bore the Authority of Time, but still—something within her was responding.
Which was why, despite being a first meeting, she was already so concerned about him.
The two girls remained at Haruto's side, still glaring daggers at each other.
They truly wished the other would just drop dead.
Haruto sighed and gave each of them a flick to the forehead.
Immediately, the two girls forgot their standoff and covered their heads, teary-eyed and whimpering.
"Anyway, let's leave this place first. Stop causing a scene—let's find a quiet spot to talk things through."
Haruto said irritably, then grabbed both of them and headed toward the exit of the venue.
Due to their earlier commotion, quite a few people had already started paying attention to the trio.
If anything supernatural were to break out here...
There'd be no end to the PR cleanup afterward.
As Haruto took their hands—
Miku felt her heart flutter in an instant.
She's mad at me! That means she definitely has feelings for me!
Normally cold and aloof like an ice queen, Miku was now captivated by the warmth and firmness of Haruto's grip.
She was even slightly entranced by it.
However, when she glanced to the side, she instantly felt irritated.
Why the hell is this mutt getting to hold hands too!?
Meanwhile, the silver-haired, emotionless girl was completely focused on the hand holding hers.
Even though it was her first time meeting Haruto...
The girl had a strange, inexplicable feeling.
That this person in front of her was someone she could rely on and trust completely.
That she could entrust everything she had to him.
If it were a normal person feeling this way, they'd probably start to think they were going crazy.
Even if they had a good impression of Haruto, this would still be excessive. But this particular girl was the type who always followed her instincts.
She placed absolute faith in her gut feelings—even at the expense of logic.
So even though it was their first meeting, even though she didn't even know his name, she could be completely obedient to him.
Haruto was unaware of what was going through the minds of these two girls.
He brought the two troublesome girls to a nearby café.
Once inside, Haruto gave the staff a subtle glance.
The staff immediately understood and began discreetly clearing the place out. One of them even pressed a button under the counter.
This café was a front for the Foundation.
It could be converted into a temporary containment site at a moment's notice.
Haruto pointed toward a seat deeper inside and motioned for the two girls to sit.
Miku obediently sat on one side and looked at Haruto eagerly.
However, the silver-haired, emotionless girl didn't play fair—she clung to Haruto's arm and pulled him down to sit beside her.
Seeing this, veins popped on Miku's forehead, and she gritted her teeth.
Getting homewrecked by Hoshino Ai was bad enough...
Now I'm getting homewrecked right in front of my face again!?
The expressionless girl didn't back down either—she returned the glare and tightened her hug on Haruto's arm.
With a helpless expression, Haruto tapped on the table and pulled his arm free from her grasp.
"If you two keep this up, I'll have to take... certain measures."
Though the threat sounded light, because it came from Haruto...
Both girls immediately straightened up and sat properly. Seeing this, Haruto returned to his usual demeanor.
"Alright. Let's start with introductions. Preferably complete and honest ones."
Upon hearing that, Miku looked a little troubled.
As a spirit, her identity was a sensitive one—one that could easily make her a target for discrimination by humans.
But if she didn't say it herself, the emotionless girl on the other side might expose her.
Which would only make her seem worse in Haruto's eyes.
Still...
She seems like a normal person—would she even understand what a spirit is?
At that moment, the silver-haired girl spoke up without hesitation,
"Origami Tobiichi. Member of the Global Occult Coalition. Rank: Sergeant."
Hearing this, Haruto narrowed his eyes slightly.
Both her name and the organization… were very intriguing.