A/N: Hello again, my readers! Before I start, let me thoroughly apologize for being late on updating!

I have no excuses. To make up for it, around this weekend, I'll redeem myself by posting new, updated version of the early chapters!

I am convinced that the early chapters are... somewhat lacking compared to the later ones, especially since I didn't specify exactly when this story is happening in-between volume 13 and 14.

So, they will be updated, with more words and more events, but the plot points will stay roughly the same so the later chapters aren't affected. I will add a few new plot points such as Rinne's primary weapon and more foreshadowing, but overall you don't need to re-read the early chapters to continue.

That's it, I guess. Enjoy this Chapter 8: "Prelude to the Date"

The moon that was hidden behind the clouds finally revealed itself in its crescent form, painting the night sky.

Normally, Kurumi and Rinne would love this scenery. A cemetery bathed in the moonlight night, decorated with lonely tombstones, and a wide grin on the sky.

Not in their current mood, though.

"Did I instill that much fear into you... or you just don't want to see me like that again, Kurumi...?"

There was not much things that could make Kurumi pause.

The anguished voice of her partner was one of them.

"...I really said it, didn't I?"

As partners, Kurumi and Rinne knew about each other very well. Perhaps, they knew each other better than they did anyone else.

So, Kurumi knew that mentioning Rinne's Inversion was going to hurt her.

But as much as she hated to see her partner upset, Kurumi didn't feel wrong at all.

"Rinne needed to be taught... what 'self-preservation' meant."

With that in mind, she turned around once more, staring her partner down.

"You never learn, do you?"

Kurumi didn't answer the question and asked back.

"W-what?"

Rinne didn't seem to understand. It seemed bluntness was necessary.

"You think that I fear Inverse Spirits because of you. You are right about that."

A flinch, it was almost as if Rinne was physically struck by those words.

Kurumi bit her lip. She didn't want to say that, even if they both were aware of that fact.

However, it was a necessity.

"But despite what you might think, I don't hate you for that, Rinne."

Far from it. Kurumi could never hate Rinne for it.

"If anything, that day convinced me... that I refuse to see you suffer in despair. Not if I can do something about it."

"..."

Kurumi was neither trying to sound sincere or exaggerate. It was the simple truth.

Rinne was not expecting the heartfelt statement. That much was clear from the stunned expression.

That was good. Kurumi was not about to give any chance to argue back.

Step by step, Kurumi approached Rinne.

"And you know what? I'm not the only one who don't want to see you risking yourself. There's that man you are destined with..."

"W, what about him?"

Rinne became flustered, at the way Kurumi mentioned Shido. Seeing this however, Kurumi only narrowed her eyes at her friend.

"Rinne... you know what I'm talking about. Don't try to dodge it."

Kurumi threw an accusing stare, prompting Rinne to look away.

The reason why Rinne was so adamant on this, on going through the risk of Inversion.

Rinne's objective was to find out the truth behind her connection with Shido.

It was not something which the Second Spirit Honjou Nia, with [Rasiel] and its omniscience, could answer. Kurumi knew this because she had used [Zafkiel]'s [Hei] (Fifth Bullet) to see glimpses of the future.

It was an ability which was normally very straining to the mind, as there were countless visions of the future, but when used in tandem with Rinne's [Cassiel], the 'possibilities' could be more easily calculated and mapped out.

In those visions, Kurumi could only see disappointment in Rinne's face. Thus, there was no point in asking Nia about that, and letting the Second Spirit know about Rinne's existence. This was why Kurumi had Rinne wait until after Nia was sealed by Shido.

Rinne decided they would find the answers themselves, using a combination technique of their Angels - [Labyrinth of Fate and Time], which, Kurumi must admit, could uncover things which even Rasiel couldn't answer...

But, for that, they need Shido in person. Rinne wanted him to willingly help them, and while a few months ago Kurumi would have just forced him to, now she could agree to that sentiment.

Seeing as Nia unexpectedly lost her powers, Rinne accelerated the scheduled plan by setting up a date with Shido to get him to trust her. All had been going well so far... until an unexpected problem presented itself, which was Shido's mental trauma.

That would endanger Rinne or Kurumi if they tried to read his memory. But without reading Shido's memories, it was impossible to use Labyrinth of Fate and Time - and if they couldn't do that, then the whole thing was pointless.

Rinne surely knew what that meant. The plan was basically ruined.

As if on cue, Kurumi noticed Rinne's fists clenching.

"No, not yet... It's not over yet! I can still-"

"Face it, partner. Shido-san won't agree to you if he knew the risk, and I don't think you are immoral enough to just ignore his, as well as my disapproval."

Kurumi calmly, and coldly cut her off with a simple statement.

The irony wasn't lost here. Kurumi, a murderer, was stopping and reprimanding Rinne, for being immoral.

If they weren't close friends, Rinne would certainly take offense to that.

Hearing this however, Rinne's eyes looked like life itself was drained out of it.

"Then what should I do? I don't want to give up on this, Kurumi... I don't..."

Kurumi curved her lips.

"Don't worry, Rinne."

It was still salvageable.

"I never said you should give up. I only said you shouldn't risk yourself."

Rinne raised an eyebrow.

"What are you trying to imply?"

"I have another plan."

Hearing the confident statement, Rinne's expression brightened a bit, but only a little.

"For the sake of your clarity, I shall elaborate."

Kurumi opened her hand, as an olden-style, flintlock pistol flung itself out of her shadow into her hand.

Seeing this, her partner let out a sigh.

"Really? You are using [Yod] just to explain things to me?"

"It's much faster than explaining, you know."

"When did you prepare for this?"

"It doesn't need preparation. I came up with it a few minutes ago, as we were talking."

"Eh? Are you sure it's that simple?"

Worry suddenly colored the Ruler's expression. Kurumi flashed her a grin.

"Why don't you see it for yourself?"

Kurumi turned around and shot the bullet through her own chest.

It passed harmlessly, and struck Rinne's body, transferring Kurumi's recent memories.

"Wha...?"

Rinne gasped. Kurumi turned again, only to find her partner positively shocked. As if frozen in place, Rinne's eyes widened so much, the pupils practically dilated.

A chuckle escaped Kurumi's lips.

"It's too quick to give up, Rin-

However, her words were cut off, as without any warning, Kurumi felt her entire body pulled into a hug.

"Wha...!?"

Kurumi only managed to gasp as Rinne's hands linked behind her back, their heads next to each other.

"W-wait, what are you...!?"

"It's magnificent, Kurumi!"

Rinne happily squealed while pulling her closer.

Frantically, Kurumi struggled - she grabbed Rinne's waist in an effort push the hugger away.

Unfortunately, it didn't work. Rinne was the stronger Spirit.

Worse, Rinne seemed to take that as a sign of compliance, and hugged tighter.

"I always thought that you are smart, but not this much!"

Kurumi's body was practically squeezed now.

"Calm down- I need to get her to free me!"

She forced herself to speak.

"Thank you for that," Kurumi winced, "but why are you doing this!?"

"Thank you so much!" Rinne ignored her question. "For a moment there I thought I was hopeless! I don't know what would I do if you weren't here!"

"I suppose I'll appreciate that, but I would appreciate it more if you let me go!"

Finally snapping out of it, Rinne let out an 'oh' and let go. Kurumi immediately took a few steps back, wary.

"Next time, you should warn me... your grip strength is ridiculous..."

Kurumi checked her body whether she broke anything.

Hopefully not, she didn't want to use [Dalet] (Fourth Bullet) on something like this.

For a moment, Rinne opened her mouth as if to speak - but she took a deep breath first, visibly calming herself down.

"I'm sorry. But I mean it, Kurumi."

"You mean you are seriously trying to kill me? Oh, I appreciate that."

It was meant to be a sarcastic insult, but Rinne just laughed. Kurumi rolled her eyes at that.

"No, I mean thank you for this solution you gave me. This is..."

A sniffle. Kurumi's eyes grew wide. Rinne's eyes were already wet with fresh tears.

"...No, you already know how much this means for me."

It was said with such a wide smile, Kurumi felt like she didn't deserve it.

Even so, it was Rinne who gave it. She had to return the gesture.

"Don't mention it."

Somewhere within Ratatoskr's secret base, a certain blue-haired boy was squirming restlessly on his bed, at the corner of his room.

Even though he was clad in his pajamas, it was a tough night... er, technically morning since it was already one hour past midnight, for Shido to sleep.

Probably because he spent most of the night unconscious, his body probably had gotten the rest it needed. That should be a good thing, since it left him with more free time. But now he didn't have anything to fill in it.

Shido would like to spend more time with Rio, but Reine had to perform more checks on her because of her materializing a piano, something that was neither her Astral Dress or Angel, an ability previous Spirits never displayed. Shido couldn't disturb them.

The others were probably sleeping at their apartment, so the Itsuka household would be empty at this hour, and he still had much time left before he had to return to prepare breakfast.

However, the biggest obstacle between him and sleeping now was his own mind. He couldn't stop thinking about what happened yesterday.

Meeting Rinne. Stalking her and Kurumi. Losing consciousness due to an image of Rinne killing him. Greeted by a girl that was, for all intents and purposes, his own daughter. Shido couldn't stop thinking about it, at all.

"What should I do...?"

However, suddenly, he heard a voice.

"Shido?"

A voice from outside the door called.

Shido jumped at the call. He knew who was talking.

"Kotori?"

"Oh, you are still awake?"

As the redheaded girl entered the room, black ribbons on, and still clad in her uniform from earlier, Shido sat up from his position in bed.

"Yeah, I can't sleep."

Kotori then grabbed a chair, dragged it next to Shido's bed, before sitting on it.

Understanding that she wanted to talk, Shido continued.

"What about you? Are you done with the date plan?"

"I am done. All that's left is the execution."

"I see..."

Shido stopped for a moment, before deciding to change the subject.

"So, what do you want to talk about?"

Kotori twitched. Seemed that he caught her off-guard.

"So you can be perceptive sometimes, huh?"

"Well, I AM your brother."

The little sister chuckled, before continuing.

"I guess I'll start with this: Shido, how are you feeling?"

"I'm fine, I guess."

"Are you sure? You passed out because of a serious mental trauma, you know."

"At the very least I don't feel unhealthy, so I'll stick to my statement."

Kotori took a hard look at Shido's face, as if she was studying his expression.

Shido became uncomfortable, and averted his gaze.

"No. You are most assuredly not fine. At the very least you are worried about something right now."

Shido smiled. He couldn't lie to Kotori, alright.

He decided to be honest.

"No, really. I'm not feeling down, just... confused."

"Finally you are being honest... you should have just said it, you idiot."

"Sorry."

"Humph."

As Kotori crossed her arms while huffing, Shido bowed his head to show that he was indeed sorry.

"But well... no one can blame you for being confused right now."

"I suppose..." Shido stared to his bed.

The two of them stopped for a moment, before the redhead broke the silence.

"Shido?"

"Yes?"

Kotori took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry for yesterday."

"Eh?"

Shido uttered dumbfoundedly, prompting her to sigh.

"Yesterday evening I did many things I shouldn't have, didn't I? I yelled at you, I pinned you, and I... said something without thinking. So, I apologize, Shido."

Shido turned his gaze at Kotori, who blushed out of embarrassment and looked away.

Of course, Shido knew what Kotori meant. The argument they had yesterday.

Honestly, most of it didn't bother Shido at all. He made Kotori worried, so taking the brunt of her wrath was the least he could do to make amends.

But one question disturbed Shido to no end.

"Are you in love with her?" with 'her' referring to Sonogami Rinne.

The unexpected question had caught him off-guard that time, but honestly, even now, Shido wasn't sure what to answer that.

"Ah, don't think too much about it. You were worried about me, and I would probably do the same to you if our position were swapped." Shido replied quickly.

Kotori raised an eyebrow, noticing something.

"You don't mind about it?"

"Yeah."

"Even though what I did could be considered abuse?"

"Abuse is your regular treatment of me, Kotori."

Shido tried to joke, trying to lighten the mood. Kotori however ignored it, and glared more closely at him.

"Even about the part where I accused you of being in love?"

It was Shido's turn to twitch.

"...I am as good as a book in front of her, am I?"

Shido sighed, before he returned Kotori's gaze.

"You are unbelievably sharp, Kotori."

"I AM your sister, after all. So you are troubled about it, aren't you?"

"...Yes."

As Shido admitted that, Kotori crossed her arms once more, this time deep in thought.

Shido noticed that the girl looked like she wanted to say something, but didn't know how to. Shido could tell through her eyes.

At that, Shido only waited. Kotori should continue at her own pace.

Which she did, a few moments later.

"Shido, yesterday you said that when you were with Ruler, you felt something, didn't you?"

"Err, yeah, 'something'."

As Kotori questioned, Shido emphasized his last word, as he clearly didn't understand about it.

Regardless, Kotori pressed.

"What do you think it is?"

"I don't really know..."

Kotori stared into Shido's eyes, trying to search for any answers.

However, Shido was fully honest this time. Seeing that, Kotori continued.

"The Ruler you met in that school yesterday evening, she wasn't in her Astral Dress, was she?"

"Um, yeah. She wasn't."

"I see. Then, when you were stalking her last night, before you passed out, what do you feel?"

Shido suddenly felt chill ran down his spine. The image of Ruler killing him returned.

He was certainly terrified. Rinne didn't even feel like the same person in her Astral Dress.

"I... I feel afraid, I guess."

"As I thought..."

Kotori's response took Shido's attention.

"Eh? As you thought? How do you know?"

"You know, you are not the only one who felt it."

"I'm not the only one? What do you mean?"

"Well, you are not the only one who felt dread seeing the Ruler. Origami reported that she felt it, too."

"Origami?"

"Maybe others also felt it, but they didn't say. And to be honest, me too. I can't even stand seeing Ruler's photo for a minute."

As Kotori confessed about that, Shido was surprised. He didn't think Rinne could cause such an effect on anyone else.

"You can't? Is it that bad?"

Kotori frowned at his question.

"Says the person who passed out the moment she revealed her face."

"Uhh..."

Shido was utterly silenced by Kotori's sharp reply.

"Well... you are right... but you don't need to say it like that, right?"

As Kotori replied at Shido's ironic statement, she sighed.

Shido clearly didn't notice that she was very worried.

"He hasn't realized it... has he?"

It seemed that Kotori had to be blunt with him.

"Shido, are you sure you will go to the date today?"

"Huh?"

As Kotori finally asked the question, Shido merely raised an eyebrow.

"Why asking? Haven't we decided on this yesterday?"

"I decided to accept yesterday because I didn't know how dangerous this Spirit actually is. But now-"

Shido suddenly raised his hand, cutting Kotori off.

"You think, she is too dangerous, is that what you are saying?"

He followed it up with a question, his tone and expression serious.

Taken aback by his brother's change in tone, Kotori only managed to utter a single word.

"...Yes."

"Kotori... I think I said I'm not going to pass on any chance to save a Spirit."

Kotori knew her brother would say that. That was exactly the thing she dreaded.

"But she is very dangerous! Don't you understand?"

Shido's determination didn't waver on his eyes. Seeing this, Kotori clenched her fists to hold back her feelings.

"She can somehow affect your psyche, even though you are protected by the powers of 8 Spirits! Not even Nia when she went Inverse could do that! What if she..."

Kotori stopped herself, her eyes wide. She realized what she almost said.

...Was actually brainwashing you into this.

That was what Kotori almost said. She wanted to say it, but she was afraid. What if Shido wasn't?

Shido seemed to understand, and fortunately for her, he ignored it.

"I guess... but that only matters if she intended to harm me."

"She did try! Have you forgotten last night already?"

As Kotori brought back that topic, her brother paused, clearly recalling something.

However, that didn't stop him for long.

"That's not necessarily her doing, and even if it was, I still don't think she intended to."

"How could she unintentionally strike fear in our hearts, and knocked you out cold!?"

"I don't know, but I still think that's the case. Just like what I said about Kurumi... if Sonogami Rinne wanted to harm me in any way, she would have done it when I was alone with her at that school."

"That's..."

Kotori hesitated. That point indeed made sense, it was a wasted opportunity for them if they truly intended to harm him.

Her hesitation gave Shido a chance to continue.

"Besides, I made a promise with her. I will meet her today, after school, for a date."

"You-"

"And you made a promise to help me. I will not let you go back on your word."

Shido's eyes were locked firmly on hers.

It's like it was saying, 'go ahead, try and change my mind.'

Seeing that, Kotori faltered.

"...Has 'self-preservation' ever crossed your mind?"

"It has crossed my mind, many times. It's just that 'saving others' is roughly on the same level of priority in my mind, Kotori."

"You lied. 'Others' are clearly on the higher priority."

"I did say, 'roughly'."

"Normal people usually prioritize themselves over others."

"I don't think anyone who can seal powers with a kiss can be called normal."

Kotori let out a long, defeated sigh at that argument. It was one of the most ridiculous sentences she ever heard.

What was worse that, Shido was right.

When she couldn't even come up with a comeback, Kotori knew she couldn't change her brother's mind.

But she was also relieved.

A brainwashed Shido could never talk back like that.

"I believe in you, Oni-chan. I have faith in you."

"...Then our conversation is over. Have it your way, Oni-chan."

"Thank you, Kotori."

Kotori put on a wry smile stood up from the chair, ready to leave. Shido smiled in return.

"Thank you, Kotori. I'll make sure I won't betray your trust in me."

All of a sudden however, the room's door was opened and a plum-haired girl entered where they were, startling the siblings.

"Papa?"

"Rio?"

Shido was surprised. How did Rio get here? Had Reine-san finished yet?

"What are you doing here? Reine-san is done with you?"

"Yes! Now Papa and Rio can be together!"

As Rio bounced up and down in cheer, the Itsuka siblings turned to each other.

"Well, I'll see you later. Shido."

"Yeah. See you later."

Shido watched as Kotori left the room and closed the door, not noticing that Rio crawled to his bed.

When Shido turned his attention back to the room, Rio was right beside him, her face inches away from Shido's.

"Eh!? Rio?!"

"Papa, let's do something fun!"

"Err, I guess. But you don't want to sleep, Rio?"

"Papa doesn't sleep, so Rio won't!"

"I see..."

Shido thought back on his priorities. Absolutely nothing to do right now.

"Well, I have four hours before I have to return back home for breakfast."

Shido smiled, and patted 'his daughter' on the head.

"Then let's play, Rio."

And, that's it! Leave your thoughts in the reviews!

Honestly, I don't feel quite satisified with this chapter. Just state it in the reviews if you feel the same way, I WILL fix it.

Nonetheless... thank you for following "Alternate Reincarnation" so far!