This is a direct sequel to my fanfic, The 30th I: Phantom of Infinity.

Disclaimer: I do not own Date a Live and it's characters.


"Alright. That settles the papers," a woman said, causing Yoshino to look up in anticipation.

"Yes. Thank you," another woman responded.

"Come along, Yoshino-chan. Let's introduce you to your sister," a man, seemingly the second woman's husband, said to the young girl.

"Y-yes!"


The 30th II: Eden of Ornaments
Act 2: Fragile Heart
Chapter 5 - "Runaway Girl"


A new mother, a new father, and an older sister. Yoshino for sure was hesitant. They seemed like good people. However, what she was hesitating for was leaving behind her late family. Not this one, but her real ones. She only had her mother, but she lost that too.

She couldn't. Not so soon.

But she knew that Nagisa would've wanted her to be happy. She didn't want her mother's efforts to keep her smiling go to waste.

And now, it was time.

"M-my name is Yoshino Himekawa. I hope we can get along!"

She did it again.

"I-I meant—"

"I-it's alright, Yoshino. Just introduce yourself to the class again—with the right surname this time. Take it slow, alright?" the teacher said reassuringly after noticing her mistake.

"Yes…" Yoshino steeled herself, and took a deep breath. "My name is Yoshino T-tokisaki. It's nice to meet you all!"

Silence fell.

"I hope I didn't screw up. Kurumi-neesan practiced with me every day for this…"

"Do you know Tokisaki-senpai?" a student spoke out.

"Y-yes, Kurumi-neesan is my step sister…" Yoshino responded.

"Wah! Amazing!" "Senpai's little sister!" "Must be a nice family…" Many students said simultaneously, overwhelming Yoshino a little.

"Now, now, let's all calm down. Yoshino is still new, so let's be nice to her, okay?" the teacher said in an attempt to keep the class from making Yoshino uncomfortable.

The murmuring students gradually fell silent, but still had cheerful smiles on their faces.

All but one.

"Tsk. Show-off," a green-haired girl muttered silently, enough so no one could hear her.

"Yoshino, you can sit next to Natsumi," the teacher said to Yoshino, gesturing to the empty seat next to the green-haired girl, who looked neutral, unlike all the other students.

Yoshino promptly walked over, a mixed look of anticipation and nervousness on her face, and sat down on the empty seat.

"I-I'm Yoshino," she said to her seatmate.

"Natsumi Kyouno," the girl responded with an indifferent look.

Yoshino smiled at this. The girl looked cold, but Yoshino felt like she and Natsumi would be great friends during her time in school. Maybe her stepsister can give her a few tips? Countless thoughts ran through her mind, feeling excited with the new environment.

"I'll do my best, mom!" she thought, looking back on her late mother's wishes.

However, Yoshino failed to see the suffering her seatmate secretly bore.


"What kind of food do you like?"

"Ha?"

Natsumi looked dumbfounded at the blue-haired girl's sudden question.

"S-sorry, did I say something wrong?" Yoshino quickly apologized seeing the complicated look on her classmate's face.

"... anything served hot, I guess," Natsumi quietly answered but loud enough for Yoshino to hear.

"I see," Yoshino replied. "What about hobbies? What do you like to do?"

"..."

"Is something wrong?"

"... why do you talk to me?"

"Pardon?"

"Look, you're the girl who instantly got popular in class because of her older sister, adopted or otherwise. Why do you have time to waste on someone ugly like me?"

This time, Yoshino was left dumbfounded. She turned her face away and smiled.

"I don't think you're ugly," she said.

"What the hell are you saying?" Natsumi asked with a cold but gentle tone.

"You're not like the others. You didn't see me as 'Tokisaki-senpai's little sister'. You just saw me as another classmate. Although your attitude came off a little cold… I'd love to be friends with you!"

Natsumi had a look of surprise, but responded with her usual cold attitude.

"Do what you want. "

Yoshino beamed at this.

"Then it's settled," Yoshino said, holding one of Natsumi's hands, to which the latter blushed lightly. "Let's be friends, Natsumi-chan!"

"Y-yes…"W

"What are you doing?" Yoshino said as she looked over her new friend's shoulder.

"Just… writing. That's all," Natsumi responded.

"Writing?"

"Just a pastime I like to do…"

"Your handwriting is really nice."

Yoshino didn't exactly understand what Natsumi was writing, but she didn't press any further, and left it at that comment.

"Is that so?"


It was lunch break.

The students sat in different places. Some sat in the classroom, eating happily with their friends. Some enjoyed the school cafeteria. Some took advantage of the privacy on the school rooftop, usually male-female pairings. They eat together away from the others.

Some preferred eating alone, sitting in the corner of the classroom where no one was present, or being the only one at a table in the cafeteria.

Yoshino wandered around. Countless people walked up to her, offering to eat lunch with the girl. This was likely due to the fact that her step sister, Kurumi Tokisaki, was one of the most popular people in the school, coming from a rich family and donned indescribable beauty.

But she wasn't having any of that. She wanted to eat with one person in particular.

… but that person was nowhere in sight.

That said, Yoshino gave up, and sat down to eat alone.

Strangely, she heard the teacher's voice outside, quite frantic as she spoke. Yoshino thought this wasn't a big deal, so she chose to ignore it.


Lunch period.

In everyone else's eyes, this was merely a break.

To pass time—eating with others, their friends, and maybe on occasion, their partners.

A getaway from the stress and difficulties in studying, which can sometimes prove not to be so fun.

But for one girl, it was heaven.

It was her only hope.

It's not an exaggeration to say…

… that her life depended on it.

Compared to what people eat at the comfort of their homes, or wherever they stay, school food was usually never as good.

But to her, it was the only real food she can ever have.

And that girl—Natsumi Kyouno, couldn't have it any other way.

At least, for now.

But her hope was right there, a seat away.

She has yet to realize it.

And now, her choice…

… is to leave it all behind.


After the lunch period, Yoshino went back to her seat before classes resumed.

But something was off.

Or rather, something was… missing.

The seat to her right was empty.

Lunch period was over, and there were no students in the cafeteria.

She noticed the teacher was late. This, in itself, was quite unusual. She was a very competent teacher, and wouldn't be late unless it was very important.

And her suspicions were correct. Yoshino sees the teacher walk into the classroom, a worried look on her face as she holds a phone in her hand.

"Class, have any of you seen Natsumi around? She isn't at home, and we can't find her anywhere here," the teacher asked, trying to control the panicked look on her face.

"Natsumi? Who's that?" "Nope, haven't seen her." "The green-haired girl?" "Couldn't care less." the students replied at once. Yoshino gritted her teeth at some of them.

"I-I see…" the teacher said softly. "B-but don't worry, everyone! I'm sure Natsumi will come back!"

"Yeah okay." "That's fine." "I doubt it." "Whatever."

Yoshino stayed silent.

She recalled what she heard earlier:

"Please reconsider! She is a student just like everyone else! And she's your child!"

"Do I sound like I give a damn? I'm only letting her attend school so she can be useful and not let my husband do all the work! If she wants to leave, then so be it! Maybe she won't be such a burden!"

"B-but M-ms. Ky— hello?"

Yoshino didn't hear any names, so she couldn't look into it any further.

But now, the dots were connecting.

The phone call, the cold student who disappeared during lunch break…

Natsumi Kyouno, ran away from everything.

And her parents didn't care. Not at all.

Yoshino then took notice of the folded piece of paper in her school bag. She took it out and unfolded it. Her eyes widened as she recognized that very same handwriting.

"Don't look for me."


Next: Confrontation


AN: I know. This took way too long.

Rest assured, the next chapter won't take a full month. I needed a break, and I did burn through my sleep schedule writing the 13-part prequel to this, then proceeded to aim way too high with a 30-part sequel.

I planned a lot of between-arc breaks, but my mindset compels me to finish this story and not abandon it.

Also, please fix the document system it's so bugged, especially on the app. I had to type it all out in google docs so it won't have any errors writing the draft but importing it as a document was a tedious process. Ugh.

Although the lack of reviews/favorites/follows don't exactly motivate me, it's quite normal since Date a Live fanfics don't get a lot of attention. I'm fine writing for the sake of creativity.

Oh, and another thing to note (possibly spoilers ahead).

There's going to be a second pairing developing alongside Shinji x Mio. Try to guess :) Might make a side fanfic focusing on them.

That said, thank you for waiting, if anyone is still there.