Chapter 3

About half an hour after walking, Shido and Kurumi ended up walking in a park near Tenguu Qwinted.

Kurumi had a look of disappointment on her face.

"What's wrong Kurumi?"

Shido noticed Kurumi's sad expression.

"…no…it's nothing…"

Shido continued looking at Kurumi, wondering what could be bothering her. He began to notice his lack of courtesy and suddenly cursed himself for it.

"Ah…sorry…do you want to go somewhere else?"

The park that Shido and Kurumi were wandering in was the same one they had gone to when they had their first date, but it was also around here where he had witnessed Kurumi unleash her dark side as a spirit by killing people. It was such an ugly scene that Shido began to fear Kurumi.

"No, I'm alright. But…"

Kurumi looked at Shido with a worried expression.

"Are you fine with this, Shido-san?"

Kurumi knew that what she had done was unacceptable. There would be no way to redeem herself, but she also knew that she had to make up for her past behavior anyway. Fortunately, Shido was able to see past her cold self, which was what allowed her to be with him now. She had accepted the fact that she may never be forgiven and decided to move forward, but she wasn't sure if Shido could forget the trauma that she had etched into his memories.

Understanding what Kurumi meant now, Shido moved to stand in front of Kurumi and brought his face closer to hers until they were only inches apart. His behavior caused Kurumi to look at him in the eyes. They showed no form of fear or regret. Instead they were gentle. Very gentle.

"I told you, didn't I? No matter what you do, I won't give up on you."

Kurumi continued to stare into Shido's eyes with a pitiful look.

"I still mean that. Even now."

The weather had gotten colder after Shido and Kurumi had left the karaoke room. It was so cold that one could see their breath if they exhaled enough, thus Kurumi's breathing had become slightly heavier from being so close to Shido.

The two of them were so close that it may have looked like Shido was going for a kiss if someone was watching. Kurumi seemed to have been thinking of the same outcome.

The new mood suddenly made Shido want to actually give Kurumi a kiss. Both of them began to slowly lean their faces closer, shortening the gap between them, when suddenly…

Shido felt an extremely cold sensation at the back of his head, causing him to yelp and turn away from Kurumi. Looking behind him, he spotted two girls standing several feet behind him.

"Hehe, making moves on a girl this late at night? Shido, you dog."

"Surveillance. Shido is rather bold today."

The girls approached Shido and Kurumi. One of them had a friendly smile on her face. Her eyes were blue, and her orange hair was tied into two long portions.

The other person accompanying the girl had an identical appearance, except her hair was tied into three portions, and her eyes were half-closed, making her seem as if she were bored.

"Kaguya. Yuzuru."

"Good evening."

Kurumi greeted the two girls with a nod.

"I see you two are as lively as always."

The more expressive looking girl smirked.

"Look who's talking."

Shido gave a smirk of his own.

Kaguya Yamai was actually half of a spirit that was named Yamai. Her other half was her twin sister standing next to her, Yuzuru Yamai.

As siblings, the Yamai twins were incredibly close, yet they were also very competitive. In the past they had many challenges in order to see who would gain dominance over the other so that they could revive themselves as the original Yamai, however, the result of the former spirit returning would cause the defeated twin to disappear. Shido became involved with one of their challenges, and after finding out the truth, he had decided to seal their powers so that the both of them could live.

"Question. What brings you two out here?"

Yuzuru spoke in a somewhat monotone voice.

"No reason, we were just walking around."

Kurumi was the one who responded.

"Oh?"

Kaguya exclaimed her doubt.

"That looked more than just walking around."

Kaguya nudged Shido with her elbow.

"You two should have gotten a room instead."

"If I was going to do that then I wouldn't be here."

Shido made a face that said that he didn't want to argue.

"That's good. Remember, you still belong to us."

"Confirm. Shido is still Kaguya and Yuzuru's property."

Kaguya heaved a sigh. Her breath could be seen, rising into the air and dissipating shortly after.

"Unfortunately we have to share him with our kin over there."

Kaguya gestured to Kurumi with her thumb.

Yuzuru leaned towards Kurumi with her hands held together.

"Plea. Kurumi, please let us have the rest of Shido."

"Hmm, what should I do?"

Kurumi brought her finger to her chin to show that she was pondering Yuzuru's suggestion.

"What's with that reaction!?"

Shido would have been heartbroken by now if he didn't know that Kurumi was teasing him.

Kaguya snickered.

"Even Kurumi knows how hopeless it is to be with you."

"Unfortunately I can't do that."

Kurumi responded firmly.

"Ah, we got rejected."

"That's because you're misunderstanding, Kaguya-san, Yuzuru-san."

"Eh?"

Kaguya and Yuzuru looked at Kurumi with surprise.

"Shido-san belongs to me."

Shido stared at Kurumi blankly.

"But I also belong to Shido-san."

Kurumi was now pointing her finger in the air.

"So technically, I belong to you too."

"Ah, I see."

Kaguya hit the palm of her hand with her other fist.

"That means we already own the rest of Shido."

"Enlightenment. I didn't consider that."

"Then this is perfect."

Kaguya grabbed Shido's wrist as Yuzuru grabbed Kurumi's.

"What's perfect?"

The sudden act from the Yamai twins surprised Shido and Kurumi.

"We'll have you participate in one of our challenges."

"Eh? You're still doing those?"

Kaguya grinned.

"Of course. It just so happens to be snowing today."

"Decree. Since you two belong to us, you will join us in our snowball fight."

"Snowball fight? It only started snowing recently."

"My, that sounds like fun."

Disregarding Shido's reasoning, Kurumi was going along with the Yamai twins' offer. The dejected look that she was giving earlier had vanished, causing Shido to have a change of heart.

"Alright, alright, we'll join you in your snowball fight."

"Excellent. Then follow us."

The Yamai twins began walking further into the park, pulling the couple along with them.

Arriving at a broad field, Shido could see several piles of snow being formed into what seemed like forts.

There were other people around who Shido didn't recognize. They all seemed as though they were involved in the snowball fight.

"Did you invite all of these people?"

"Deny. We did not invite them."

"They were the ones leading the snowball fight, so we were planning on joining them."

"Why do you need us for this?"

"No reason. You two said that you were just walking around, weren't you?"

"That's true."

Shido surrendered to Kaguya's point.

By the time Shido and the others joined the group of people, they had split into teams. However…

Kaguya stood on one side of the field with Shido…

And Yuzuru stood on the other side of the field with Kurumi…

"Alright, Shido, as my property, I order you to not hold back on your girlfriend."

"No, I think she'd have a harder time holding back on me."

Shido tried to remind Kaguya that Kurumi was also a powerful spirit and that he was technically still human.

"We'll toughen you up."

"Right…"

Kaguya wasn't going to return to her senses anytime soon.

One of the people who had joined the snowball fight had a whistle. The moment he blew it, snowballs began flying towards and away from Shido.

There were no rules in the snowball fight other than the fact that no one was allowed to pack anything dangerous inside the snowballs.

There were also no time limits or rounds that the group followed.

Everyone merely wanted to play with the snow, and so some of them kept getting hit with snowballs repeatedly, never being knocked out of the game.

Shido had even gotten hit in the face a few times. The last one was from Kurumi.

Smiling, Shido began to chase Kurumi, not paying attention to all of the other people throwing snowballs. He got hit in areas such as the back of his head, his left leg, and so on. Regardless, he continued to chase Kurumi. She occasionally threw snowballs back, and Shido would return them.

As Shido chased Kurumi, he realized that he was catching up to her. Suddenly, she decided to change direction and made a sharp left, running behind a snow fort.

Shido decided to also turn, but stopped immediately afterwards. The moment he had turned, Kurumi and Yuzuru were standing with a few other people, all of them holding snowballs in their hands. As they prepared to throw, Shido turned around and made a tactical retreat.

After running for a while, Shido looked behind him to see if anyone was following him. The moment he turned his head, a cold sensation exploded across the left side of his face. He wiped some snow off and saw that Kurumi was the only one chasing him. A smile visible across her face.

Kurumi's team had been intercepted by Shido's, and both sides were having an all-out confrontation.

Shido noticed that he was smiling along with Kurumi. She was catching up to him. In fact, she was so close now that she could just barely grab him if she were to reach out for him.

Suddenly, Shido could see that Kurumi was losing her balance. She made a yelp as she suddenly fell forward.

Shido's body moved on instinct. He immediately stopped running, spun around, and took a few steps forward. He held out his arms to catch Kurumi from falling, but she had already past his hands and hit him square in the chest harder than he thought.

The two of them ended up falling down together, with Shido lying flat on the snowy ground and Kurumi lying on top of him. They stared at each other blankly. Neither of them were hurt, but there was now snow on their heads. Despite how cold it was, they didn't pay attention to the sensation that came from it. Instead, they were both laughing. They were having so much fun that they thought they were acting like children without a care in the world.

Eventually the laughter faded, and Shido and Kurumi continued to stare tenderly at each other. They began to slowly bring their faces closer to each other.

Suddenly, Shido saw a large amount of snow explode at the back of Kurumi's head. Kurumi yelped and turned around to look for the person who had ruined the mood. Kaguya stood several feet behind her, tossing and catching a snowball in the air with her right hand.

"No dirty scenes on the battlefield!"

Kaguya threw her other snowball.

Kurumi covered her head and laughed as the snowball hit her softly in the back. She immediately got off of Shido and began to run away as she continued laughing.

Kaguya stood with a smug expression on her face, but her moment of victory was shortly lived, as a snowball flew directly to the back of her head.

"Complaint. That was a cheap shot, Kaguya."

"All's fair in love and war, my dear sister, Yuzuru!"

Kaguya formed another snowball at an unbelievably fast speed and was prepared to return fire at Yuzuru, but another snowball had hit the back of her head when she turned to face her twin. She looked back to see Shido laughing. His right arm was extended as if he had just thrown something.

"Shido! What's the big idea!?"

"All's fair in love and war, right?"

"T-Traitor!"

Yuzuru tried to stifle a laugh of her own.

"Hey, Yuzuru, don't just laugh! Help me!"

Kaguya was now outnumbered thanks to Shido's treason, so she thought that asking her sister for help would be something that could turn the tables.

As Yuzuru continued to hold in her laughter, a snowball suddenly hit her square in the face. She wiped the snow away and looked in the direction the snowball had come from.

Kurumi could be seen laughing as she hid most of herself behind a snow fort.

"Shock. I was also just betrayed."

"Hey, Yuzuru. Shall we?"

"Agree. Let's establish a truce."

Yuzuru moved forward to stand next to Kaguya, both of them facing Shido and Kurumi. Shido was still lying on the ground.

"Uh-oh."

The Yamai twins were strong when they competed against each other, but they were even stronger when they worked as a team.

Shido knew that he was now in immense danger. He thought that he was feeling heat coming from the aura that the twins in front of him were emitting.

Shido immediately stood up and ran over to where Kurumi was hiding. He crouched next to her after reaching the fort.

"It seems the situation has changed."

"Ah, it's hard going against them when they're a team."

"What should we do?"

"Isn't that obvious?"

Shido held a snowball in his right hand. Kurumi showed one that she was holding in her own. They nodded at each other and ran to opposite ends of the snow fort, ready to face their opponents.

Shido and the others were walking along a path in the park, each of their heads covered with snow.

"That wasn't half bad, Kurumi."

Kaguya praised Kurumi for her display in the battlefield.

"I'm grateful for the flattery, Kaguya-san."

"Astonished. I was surprised that you didn't run away, Shido."

"Thanks for that."

Shido responded with a hint of sarcasm.

Kaguya and Kurumi laughed at Yuzuru's tease.

The Yamai twins continued walking with Shido and Kurumi out of the park and all the way to the shopping district.

They decided to stop at a nearby coffee shop.

Meanwhile it had stopped snowing.

After warming up with some hot chocolate, Shido and Kurumi were now facing the Yamai twins in front of the coffee shop that they had decided to stop at.

"Well, that was quite fun. Let's do it again sometime."

Kaguya gave a friendly smile and held both hands on her hips, though no one knew what she was being proud of.

"Yeah, I had a lot of fun too."

Shido couldn't help but give a smirk of his own at Kaguya's behavior.

"Approve. Yuzuru also had fun."

"That makes four of us."

The four of them laughed again, amused that they all felt the same way.

"Well, we've got somewhere to be, so we'll be on our way."

Kaguya turned while waving to Shido and Kurumi.

"Request. Please take care of yourselves."

"Yeah, take care, you two."

Yuzuru looked at Kaguya, who was now completely turned away from the pair standing behind her.

"Hey, Shido."

"Hm?"

Shido stared at Kaguya, not knowing what expression she had on her face.

"Thanks for finding a way to keep Yuzuru here."

The display of gratitude caught Shido off guard.

Kurumi looked at Yuzuru, and they both smiled.

There was a moment of silence.

"Later."

Kaguya began to walk forward, leaving Shido and Kurumi behind.

Yuzuru gave a nod and caught up with her sister.

Shido waved for as long as he could.

"Do you still want to walk around?"

After losing sight of the Yamai twins, Shido and Kurumi were trying to decide what they should do next.

"As much as I'd like to…"

Kurumi looked at a clock nearby. It was now midnight.

"Ah, it's really late. Should we stop here then?"

After a pause, Kurumi gave a nod. A look of disappointment could be seen on her face.

"Do you not want to go home?"

Kurumi shook her head.

"No, that's not it…it's just that…I wish that our date would last a little longer…"

Understanding how Kurumi felt, Shido had walked towards her and began petting her head.

"There's no hurry."

Kurumi looked at Shido blankly.

"We can walk for a little longer and then head home. Does that sound good?"

Kurumi beamed, knowing that she and Shido both still wanted to spend time with each other. She clung onto his right arm happily while giving an enthusiastic consent.

"Yes."

With Kurumi clinging onto her boyfriend's arm, the two of them resume their date, transitioning from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day.