Author Note: Greetings! Before the chapter, I would like to express my gratitude for you readers who decided to stop by!
Important: This story is not exactly an AU. It's more like the DAL games and the Encore OVAs: It can be both AU or canon, it's up to you to decide which. So I'm trying to make this story perfectly capable to fit in canon, but you can think of it as an AU.
The story occurs after the events of Rinne Utopia and possibly Mayuri Judgment (but NOT Ars Install and Rio Reincarnation), and set right after the prologue of volume 14 (during the first day of the new semester). Therefore, beware of spoilers.
This is an updated version of the original Chapter 1, "Arrival of the Goddess", since I'm convinced the original didn't develop the mood enough.
The clock showed 0.00 A.M. The date had moved from 8th January to 9th January.
In a building belonging to the [Deus Ex Machina Industries], within his personal office, the Executive Director Sir Isaac Ray Pelham Westcott sat on his chair with a good mood.
"I said, postpone the attack, Ellen."
In front of his table, his secretary Ellen Mira Mathers, seemed to be confused by his orders.
"Postpone? But the preparations are already complete."
A few hours ago, the director had ordered to prepare a fleet of space battleships to attack a Spirit who wandered above the skies in outer space. She was code-named [Zodiac].
DEM would probably never manage to locate this Spirit, if they didn't secure [Tome of Divine Corruption (Beelzebub)] from the Spirit [Sister] a week ago. But then now, after the preparations were done, Westcott ordered to postpone the departure.
Ellen wasn't one to question orders, but she didn't see any reason for postponing the attack. Especially since, Sister's survival and [Tome of Revelation (Rasiel)]'s existence had heavily restricted Beelzebub's omniscience. That meant they had to immediately capture Zodiac before she left her position.
"May I ask the reason why, Ike?" Ellen asked.
"I found something interesting." Westcott replied cheerfully.
The secretary only raised an eyebrow as the director smirked.
"From Beelzebub? Isn't its function being restricted now?" Ellen questioned, skeptical.
"Indeed it is, but only partially. The interference from Sister won't affect any information unrelated to her. I can still know many things, although not as many as I would like." Westcott explained.
"Then, what do you find out this time?"
"A powerful Spirit will visit our city today."
Ellen was slightly surprised at the news, mostly at Westcott's nonchalance at the matter.
"Spirit? Then we will have to-" Ellen was cut off.
"Now now, no need to be so hasty. This Spirit is important not just for us, but also for [her]." Westcott narrowed his eyes.
The two became silent for a moment. When he said that, that meant-
"You mean... this new Spirit is also one of [her] experiment subjects? How do you know?" Ellen questioned with a bit of disbelief.
"I am unable to decipher anything about this Spirit, even though I can tell that it's coming. Its powers are similar to [that person]." Westcott closed his eyes as he elaborated.
Understanding the explanation, Ellen let out a long sigh as if she was annoyed.
"So it's another one of her pawns? Honestly, I personally dislike the way she is playing her game. Her pawns keep on appearing one after another." Ellen complained.
"You don't like it? I love it. She had proven that beings like Itsuka Shido could exist, so now I am eager to see more of her surprises..." Westcott said cheerfully.
"Well... if that's the case, what should we do then, Ike?"
"Here's your orders."
The white-haired man handed his secretary a document, which she quickly skimmed over.
"Hmm...? Are you sure this is the order, Ike?"
Ellen raised an eyebrow as she read the papers, skeptical. In respond to this, Westcott's smirk grew.
"Of course I am. Isn't it fitting? We should welcome [Ruler] like the queen that she is..."
"Don't forget."
A voice whispered.
It was in the middle of absolute nowhere. It was nothing but an infinite void.
And yet, the voice resonated and echoed, persisting until it couldn't be heard anymore.
It stirred him awake.
"Who...is that?"
He didn't receive an answer. Instead, he heard another request.
"Don't forget about me."
There was a pause. Forgetting... her?
"Promise me, Itsuka Shido."
"...Huh?"
On his bed, the blue-haired boy opened his brown eyes. It was still sleepy, but he forced it open regardless.
The boy, Itsuka Shido, took the phone that was next to his pillow and flipped it open. It was 6.34 A.M, January 9th.
The morning of his first day of the new school term.
As soon as his brain cells were fully awake, memories of his dream immediately resurfaced.
"That dream again..."
Shido had experienced this dream for a long time. But because he had no memory of his childhood, he had no idea when he first had this dream.
One thing he was sure, it didn't came frequently. Perhaps the last time this dream occurred to him was a few years ago. Long before he began his 'quest'.
"Don't forget? I can't even remember my past..."
All of a sudden, Shido felt anger.
Shido was not the type of person who got angry easily. However, anytime he had the dream, he felt pain in his heart.
It was irrational. He couldn't explain why, or how. What's more, he couldn't contain the unreasonable pain within. His anger burst out, even though he had no reason to.
Just as he was about to leave the bed, he heard a knock and a familiar voice on his door.
"Shido? How long are you planning to sleep? Wake up already!"
Shido knew this voice very well. It was his foster sister, Itsuka Kotori.
A redheaded girl whose personality changed between cheerful, adorable 'sister-mode' when she was wearing white ribbons to tie her twin-tails, and harsh, tough and bossy 'commander-mode' when she used black ribbons instead.
Shido had known her well enough to guess that she was wearing black ribbons right now.
"Yeah, yeah... I'm coming.."
He jumped from the bed, and quickly went to his showers.
After a few minutes of showering and changing his clothes, he was ready for another day in school.
As he went down the stairs to the kitchen to prepare breakfast, he saw that the girls in his house were silent in front of the TV in the living room.
"That's unusual,"
From normal perspective, having seven female guests within the house early in the morning was already unusual. But for Shido, who knew these girls very well and lived a life different from any others, the sight of silence coming from them was the unusual thing.
"Um..."
Shido tried to see what the TV might have done to them.
The screen was pure blue.
The Blue Screen of Death.
"What!?"
Shido quickly approached the TV. He blinked, and took one more look at it.
It was reality. The TV was in BSOD.
It was shocking news for him.
"Why? This TV is powered by [Ratatoskr]! Things like this shouldn't be..."
He turned around. He saw the expressions of the watchers.
"Nee, Shido..."
The voice came from a girl who lived by the name Yatogami Tohka.
She was usually lively, but this time, she didn't sound too amused.
"What happened to the TV?"
That's a question Shido would like to ask his sister.
"Wait, Tohka... no, everyone, please wait. I'll take care of this."
"Good luck, Shido."
The robotic voice came from Tobiichi Origami. Since she was the only one who understood how TV worked, she was the only one to wish him a good luck.
Shido quickly went to the kitchen. There, he found Kotori was sitting comfortably before the dining table, waiting for the breakfast.
"Kotori!"
Honestly, Shido didn't want to sound irritated but his voice ruled him to be so.
"What's wrong, Shido?"
Kotori turned her attention to Shido, clearly uncomfortable from the way her big brother called her.
"The TV is wrong. Why is it in BSOD?"
Hearing that, Kotori was silent for a moment. Then she jumped from her seat.
"BSOD!? That's impossible! Are you sure those girls didn't hit it in their fight or something?"
"Err, no, the TV didn't look like it was harmed..."
For Shido, the possibility of losing things he owned to property damage everyday was not low. In fact, with those girls in his house, it was quite high. But, he was sure it was not the case right now.
"Oh well. I'll contact Ratatoskr. Just make the breakfast now." Kotori went up the stairs, returning to her room.
Shido let out a long sigh.
"I hope it's nothing serious..."
As he wore the apron and prepared to cook, Shido remembered about the dream he had again.
He very rarely had that dream, so when he did, it was hard to get it out of his mind.
"That dream... just who...?"
However, he knew that it was a question he couldn't answer.
Trying to remove the dream from his mind, Shido began cooking as he reminisced the events happening in the past months.
"Spirits... beings who cause disasters called Spacequakes whenever they pop out from their home dimensions to our world. As such, the group [Anti-Spirits Team], the AST, hunt them for existing."
Shido was reminded of the sad look on a beautiful face, back when he first met Tohka.
"I'm the only one capable of saving them from that fate, by sealing their powers. And so, my sister's organization Ratatoskr helped me to make those Spirits fall in love with me, so I can kiss them and seal their powers, turning them into ordinary, human girls."
Shido clenched his fists. He knew that being the only one able to do so meant it was entirely his responsibility to save Spirits.
Even if it was forced upon him, it didn't matter as he would have done it with or without orders.
"It seems that, since I keep their powers inside me, I can use their powers, their Angels. However, I was told that the stress of having the powers of 8 Spirits and their 7 Angels seemed to drive me berserk a few months ago."
Shido had no recollection whatsoever on that period. One side of him was curious, another side of him was afraid.
Afraid of what he could have done.
"What should I do now? Can I continue to seal Spirits?"
Shido could feel chill ran down his spine. His hand trembled.
"No, not just that. There's a lot of other things to worry about."
Shido had to bite his tongue to calm down.
"There's still Kurumi, the Spirit who refuses to be saved."
The sight of the corpse of Kurumi's clone, killed by the original Kurumi back then, replayed in his head. It was disgusting. And regrettable.
"Deus Ex Machina Industries, the group that wanted the powers of the Spirits for themselves. Those two, Ellen... Westcott..."
Shido could still feel it. The terrifying stare thrown at him by Inverse Tohka, and the despair exuded by Inverse Origami.
Why would anyone unleash the monstrous form hidden within every Spirit? What sort of thing they would gain?
"Then, there is [Phantom]... the being who created Spirits from humans."
The memory of the enigmatic entity, taking the form of an unknown -yet familiar- girl, during the time travel trip, returned to his mind.
"And also, Nia... she hasn't fully recovered yet."
Shido remembered as he saved the life of the otaku Spirit a week ago.
When one of DEM Wizards took most of her Crystal when she was rampaging in her Inverse form, the process stripped her from most of her powers and would have killed her if Shido didn't save her in time.
"What should I do? These hands... what can they do for them?"
Shido stopped cooking for a moment to take a firm look at his own right hand.
He closed his eyes and kept silent for several moments.
"...Ah, I may not be spacing out like this."
Shido brushed his thoughts aside as he continued his day.
Going out of his house at 7.17 for school, Shido walked with Tohka, Origami, Kaguya, and Yuzuru.
A few things were off about them. Oddly, the dark-haired Spirit and the white-haired Spirit weren't looking forward, but locked at one another. Meanwhile, the twins who were usually noisy were completely silent right now.
Which went against all laws of nature.
"I can't believe that worked..."
During breakfast, Tohka and Origami were about to have another quarrel. But, Kotori had wised up and instead turned it into a competition.
"The one who can keep their mouth shut for the rest of today, except for when Shido allows them to talk, will get a chance for a date with Shido tomorrow!"
Kotori had told them so cheerfully.
Shido was fairly convinced that it wouldn't work to convince the two rivals to be silent. To his surprise, it did. And it worked on other girls, too.
Therefore, as Shido, Tohka, Origami, Kaguya, and Yuzuru walked to the school, no one dared talking.
"Well, calmness like this is fine, but I guess being ordered to be silent all day is too harsh."
He had to be considerate towards the feelings of his girls.
"You guys may talk until we reach the class."
That instant, however, Tohka and Origami immediately began to belittle the other.
"Huh, you looked relieved when Shido allowed us to talk. You can't keep it up anymore, can you?"
Tohka smiled mockingly at Origami. However, the latter didn't even change her expression as she turned to eye the former.
"I wonder. Maybe it was you who was unable to hold back your desire to talk. Seeing as you immediately spoke the moment Shido gave permission, I assume your brain lacks the capacity to control your tongue."
Origami returned the favour with a slight smile.
"What did you say?! You-"
Before she could continue, Shido cut them off before it could escalate.
"All right! All right! Tohka, Origami, keep quiet! Kaguya, Yuzuru, you may continue talking until homeroom teacher comes!"
"But, Shido! Oh, owh..."
Tohka tried to protest, but remembering Kotori's words, she immediately fell silent.
Shido sighed. He was anxious. There were so many things that could go wrong in this contest.
What if they tried to eliminate one another? How would they even do that?
Heck, what if more than one Spirit managed to survive until the end of the contest?
"I really don't want to be trapped in another triple date... Kotori, my little sister, can I believe in you?"
Shido was about let out another sigh, before all of a sudden, something was heard in his ears.
"Eh?"
It was very weak, but, he clearly heard something.
No, wrong. The barely audible sound was continuous.
"What the? What is this?"
Shido stopped in his tracks.
"Hmm? What froze you, Shido?" Kaguya asked.
"Confusion. Shido, why do you stop?" Yuzuru asked.
"Huh?"
Shido turned to the Spirits behind him.
"You guys don't hear anything?"
The four Spirits shook their heads.
Meanwhile, in Shido's ears, the sound was gradually becoming louder and audible.
After a few moments, Shido could finally recognize what was it.
"This is... music?"
The blue-haired boy looked around, trying to find any source. However, there was none.
"...?"
Early in the morning or not, Tenguu City was still a city. Sidewalks began to be crowded, and streets were slowly filled with vehicles. Noisy, but one could almost taste the peacefulness of the busy city.
However, so long as light existed, so would shadows.
"Hump."
A girl clad in blood red and shadow black dress hummed as the sounds from outside made her aware of the time of the day.
The city had awoken.
"So the sun has risen..."
It was the Spirit with code-name [Nightmare], Tokisaki Kurumi.
Her differently colored eyes were focused at herself through a mirror wall.
The room she was in couldn't be said to be in the best condition. There were no furniture, the floor and the walls were dusty, and even the mirror wall Kurumi was using had very long and very visible cracks on its surface.
Yet still, she found the room to be comfortable.
After all, it was inside one of the most ideal hideouts in the city: an abandoned building that was to left to be destroyed.
Thanks to the Spacequakes, whenever a building was scheduled into a low-priority destruction, people would simply left it alone, hoping that the not-so-natural disaster would destroy them, saving the money and time necessary to burn it to the ground.
The perfect place for the Nightmare Spirit to hide.
Although, she couldn't hide from someone.
"...Stop lurking in the shadows and come out. You are not me."
Without turning from the mirror, Kurumi said the words in a calm, yet furious tone, letting her displeasure audible.
Much to her dismay, she was not alone. There was an uninvited guest, and it was not one of [Hers].
"Heh."
The response came from nowhere. The distorted voice was clearly understandable, even though it was barely audible.
Kurumi hated it. She didn't like the feeling the voice gave. It sounded like the devil itself was whispering into her ears.
Then again, considering it was [Phantom], maybe it would fit her to sound like that.
"You seem to be more and more hostile to me every time we meet..."
The voice continued in a lighthearted tone, clearly trying to joke. Yet, Kurumi was not amused.
"There is no reason for me to be kind or polite to you."
The Nightmare Spirit almost scowled. Kurumi really could not enjoy the enigmatic entity's presence, let alone her antics.
"Really? After all the things I've gone and told you? Don't you think I should have earned your fondness?"
Phantom said sarcastically as her figure, distorted and protected with mosaics appeared behind Kurumi.
Kurumi didn't bother to turn around from the broken mirror wall. She didn't want to even acknowledge Phantom's presence.
"I have neither the need nor the patience to deal with you. What brings you here?"
"Is that so. Well, I am only here to tell you something you'll like, time keeper."
The Spirit of Time twitched at the nickname.
In a sense it was fitting - her [Emperor of Time (Zafkiel)] was indeed an Angel that could manipulate time.
That didn't mean Kurumi could appreciate how Phantom worded it.
Noticing her reaction, Phantom made a chuckle. Kurumi could feel her anger was beginning to boil.
Deciding that she wanted Phantom to leave as soon as possible, she spoke.
"Do tell, although I doubt you could bring me any sort of joy."
"That's where you are wrong. I am telling you that your friend will visit you. Soon."
Kurumi widened her eyes as soon as she heard the word 'friend.'
"My friend? Could it be...?"
Kurumi had never told anyone, but she had a partner.
A fellow Spirit, who was working with her from afar.
No one knew about her except for herself, and of course, Phantom who made Spirits from humans.
She was also someone Kurumi had told to stay away from Tenguu City for the time being.
After a moment, Kurumi scowled and threw a glare at Phantom's reflection on the mirror.
Phantom was trying to deceive her.
"Do you think you could fool me? The time is not right. She is not supposed to visit yet."
Kurumi spoke with a controlled anger, raising her tone.
Phantom made a gesture that seemed to be a shrug.
"I never deceived anyone with words."
Phantom replied dismissively.
Kurumi narrowed her eyes.
"Do you think I ever believed in you?"
"You do, at times. Such as when I told you about that man."
Was Phantom talking about Shido? As useful as the information about Shido was, that was not a proof that Kurumi trusted her.
And, her partner would not have a reason to visit early anyway.
"Only after I see an irrefutable evidence. Also, you are in no position to speak about her. You do not know her the way I do."
"Huhu... ha ha ha!"
The enigmatic Spirit let out a distorted laugh that was unclear as it was unpleasant to Kurumi's ears.
Before Kurumi could open her mouth to silence the figure, the Phantom spoke again.
"Oh, I know all of my children, alright."
As soon as Phantom said that, the mosaics covering her figure dissolved like a fog under the light.
It then revealed a girl with short, light pink hair with a tied-up braid, and light brown eyes, clad in Raizen High School sweater and skirt.
It was the exact same method and exact same form Phantom took when she spoke with Shido back then, when Kurumi sent Shido to the past to save Origami.
"Look, I can even use her appearance like this."
In her new appearance – her voice no longer sounded distorted, Phantom smiled cheerfully.
Seeing that through the reflection, Kurumi clenched her fists so hard it became white.
"How dare she?"
Did she think just because Kurumi could not reach her last time, meant that Kurumi would tolerate it now?
"You... I advise you should stop using her appearance like it was your own."
Kurumi's tone was no longer that of annoyance. It was that of a threat.
However, the Phantom was not the slightest bit intimidated.
"Hee hee... sorry, Kurumi."
Phantom made a nervous smile and put on a guilty look as she apologized.
It was fake however, Kurumi knew. That manner of apologizing belonged to someone else.
Someone Kurumi knew very well.
"This woman..."
Kurumi intended to end this encounter without wasting her Spirit mana. Phantom's very presence was enough to darken her mood, but at least she could tolerate that.
However, the Nightmare Spirit was not going to allow Phantom escape unscathed for making fun of her friend.
"I told you..."
Kurumi snapped her neck to Phantom's direction as she drew both her flintlock and musket from her shadow.
"Don't act like her!"
However, just as she was about to attack the Phantom, a faint noise startled her.
"!?"
"...!"
Phantom too appeared to be surprised, and the figure covered in mosaics floated away from her with a few steps' distance.
Kurumi stopped, and her sharpened senses immediately focused on her surroundings.
The Nightmare Spirit expected an ambush, probably by the AST or DEM.
However, there was nothing. The room remained still.
The only ones she could sense were her clones, who were dispatched to observe to watch this place, and Phantom, who was in her eyesight.
But the noise - which was almost ethereal, it reached her ears without any vibration - continued.
Gradually, the noise became louder. At the same time, it became clearer and more audible.
It had... tempo and melody. It was not a mere noise; It was music.
"Wait... could this be!?"
Kurumi widened her eyes in shock.
"This melody... it can't be..."
In disbelief, Kurumi accidentally spoke her mind out loud.
Phantom, clearly recognizing the music as well, gestured in a way that seemed to be a taunting akimbo.
"See? I told you she was coming."
Phantom spoke cheekily with a mocking tone.
Although Kurumi would love to wipe the smile that was no doubt in Phantom's face off, she was too surprised to care about it at this point.
Kurumi listened to the music for a few more moments. Maybe she was hallucinating.
However, the longer she listened, the clearer it became. It was certainly her [music].
"No way, she really came? Why?"
It was not the time yet.
Her friend was early. Way too early.
"Why would she... no."
Kurumi was not going to ask Phantom.
She was going to ask the guest herself.
Kurumi ran past Phantom, who ignored her.
In the darkness of the hallway, Kurumi phased to the floor and into the building itself with her powers. Within her own path of darkness, Kurumi ran forward into the light at the end, almost like a tunnel.
In no time, she emerged from the pavement outside the abandoned building. Kurumi looked around for possible witnesses.
Luckily for her, there was no one except for her, it seemed.
"Good for me."
Kurumi closed her eyes, concentrating on the music.
It was light, calm, and soothing melody.
Being the gothic girl she was, Kurumi was familiar of this kind of play.
A serenade. A musical greeting performed for a lover, friend, or other people to be honored.
Her friend was calling her.
"The music is coming from... there!"
Kurumi used her powers to once again phase into the ground below.
After a while, she surfaced again, this time in a T-junction street.
Kurumi took a deep breath to calm herself down. From this point, there was no need to rush.
Calmly turning right, Kurumi smiled at what she saw.
"There you are... Rinne."
In the middle of an empty area devoid of people, the person Kurumi referred to was eye-catching.
She was clad in a long, purple clock dress. She had a long, light pink hair, with braids reaching her legs. Her head was decorated with a large headdress, and her face was mostly covered by a piece of veil.
On her left hand she held a light purple, metallic Kinnor lyre, and with gentle strums of her right she produced a beautiful serenade.
"Long time no see, Kurumi."
There you go! If there's anything you want to comment, criticize, bash, or point out, don't hesitate to review.
A bit of information: the Kinnor is an ancient Hebrew string-type instrument that... you can call it a hybrid between harps and lyres. It is hand-carried like a lyre, but its strings didn't pass across a soundboard and bridge like a harp. Usually, people refers to it as lyre, so here I just call it Kinnor lyre.
The Kinnor that Rinne possesses has 10 strings, and its purple is lighter than Rinne's own Astral Dress. Its size is slightly larger as Nia's Rasiel when opened (which is a book already larger than typical dictionaries, I estimate).
Thanks for reading!