-Spiritual Kinship- 2nd half

Chapter 13 - The Rumbling

"Alright then....let's start the construction over here as well."

Syouji said as the crew and Shidou nodded as they took out various decorations for the booth, including a poster of the book's front cover and a tablecloth.

"Uwah, this is amazing. You even created these too?"

"Fufu, well obviously. We're a nameless circle so we have to stand out. It's a good thing popular booths surround this place, at least then we won't have problems getting traffic our way."

"That's my Nakatsugawa!!"

Syouji said with his fist balled up with his eyes shining brightly behind his eyes, while Nakatsugawa's glasses shone brightly as if it was reflecting the light.

Then, Shidou helped set up the poster with the book's front cover.

On it were two teenage boys standing back to back, one with dark blue hair and the other with pale blue hair.

And so, as they continued working for a little while, Shidou noticed some people began to gather around.

Soon, plenty of those people began to line up in front of various circle booths. Especially Nia's circle which had a relatively sizeable number already ready to buy her doujin.

"Eh...? I thought it didn't open for a little longer?"

When Shidou asked that, Nakatsugawa nodded in response while lining up the books in front of him.

"They're all participants like us. If they're here on a circle's ticket, they can get into the hall and line up in front of their favourite circles earlier than usual"

"Eh? Is that alright?"

"Erm...well, it's difficult for me to say, but..." Nakatsugawa gave a vague reply and turned towards the boy who looked identical to Shidou, with slight differences. The main difference was the fact that he had pale blue hair.

That's right. It was his brother Itsuka Syouji who was over there in front of Nia's booth with a beaming smile on his face.

"A-Autograph....Uehehe" Syouji said while smiling like an idiot that as Shidou looked on in exasperation.

"O-Oi Syouji! Don't go associating with the enemy! You can do that after we win!" Shidou shouted as Syouji made a thinking face before nodding.

"Well, I'm only doing it now because I already expect to win." When she heard Syouji say that, Nia threw a glance at him above the frame of her glasses.

"You know, even if you have the same number of copies as me, I'm still Honjou Nia. I have a big reputation. That means the one who was going to sell them faster was decided before we even started."

"Wha...?! No way!" Shidou let out a panicked voice as Syouji smirked.

"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you. I have other ways to win. I have a secret weapon you know? A pawn that can turn into a Queen. A hidden trump card. Isn't that right— Kotori?"

As if waiting for her cue to be called, Kotori came back and crossed her arms while standing next to Syouji who averted his eyes upon seeing her outfit.

"E....Eh? T-This is the secret weapon?" Shidou couldn't help but let out a dumbfounded voice.

The reason was simple. Over there, the Spirits who left with her all came back wearing some kind of cute bunny-girl costumes.

"N-No, this wasn't a part of my plan at all. This was all Kotori's idea, it's not at all my trump card." Syouji said that while blushing.

"Umu! Kotori made us become the salesgirls!"