Chapter 7 - Date A Day Out

...

So...

bored.

It's been three days since I met Natsumi, and in that time she's gotten along with Kurumi and I quite well. Ha, you should've seen the look on her face when she first ate my food. Priceless. She also has a real knack for video games, destroying both of us, especially at fighting games. Still, she's quite happy now. It's nice seeing that girl smile and laugh. She really deserves it.

With Natsumi moving in, there aren't anymore empty rooms in Kurumi's apartment, so either we'll need to find a new place sometime, or I can just make more rooms with Helel. Ah, Helel. What would I do without you? As I think this, I feel Helel's crystal pulse with joy.

That is, if any Spirits end up moving in. Kurumi and I have grown a bit closer as well. Not that close, you damn perverts. Yeah, that's right, I'm talking to you all, fourth wall be damned!

However, this brings me to my current predicament. I'm bored. Very bored. Don't get me wrong, hanging out with the girls has been fun, but we've pretty much just stayed inside, playing games and such. So, this morning, I've been thinking up a solution. Something that'd be fun for all of us. The solution?

"An amusement park?" Kurumi asks, confused by my sudden inquiry.

"Yeah, the old one got destroyed when Natsumi showed up, so I wanna know if there are any other ones nearby."

"You're in luck, then. There are two parks in Tengu."

"Seriously?!" I exclaim, to which Kurumi nods. "Alright then, I'mma go get Natsumi. We've been inside for long enough, it's time for a day out!"

"Whoa!" The green-haired Spirit exclaims, eyes shining in awe. I feel as excited as her, having never been to an amusement park. Kurumi surely feels the same way. We made our way into the park, only to be greeted by this sight. Many people wandering around, visiting the many stalls and attractions here. There's a lot here, a rollercoaster, merry-go-round, dunk tank, and that's just things I can see easily!

"Either if you girls ever been to one of these?"

"No." "Nope."

"Neither have I. Well then." I say, turning to the girls. "Let's go explore!"

"No way!" "Oh, c'mon, it'll be fine!"

I and the shorter Spirit argue with one another as I try to coerce her to ride the rollercoaster.

"Natsumi, you can fly, can't you?"

"Yeah?"

"Then why are you so scared of this?"

"It's different!"

"How?!"

"It just is!"

This is going nowhere. "Fine then. What do you want, in exchange for going on the rollercoaster with us?" She stills for a moment, thinking.

"I want you to make me some cake later."

"That's all?" I ask, a brow raised. "Consider it done, now let's go!" Natsumi follows Kurumi and I onto the rollercoaster, the poor girl shaking in suspense.

"There's nothing to worry about, Natsumi-chan." Kurumi reassures the smaller Spirit. As we enter our seats, I place a hand on her shoulder. She looks to me as I say "It'll be okay. Trust me."

"O-Okay..." she says, quietly.

I pat a vomiting Natsumi on the back right after the ride is over. "Ara, it looks like it was too much for her~"

" *sigh* Not now, Kurumi."

She merely smiles. "Oh, alright."

"You okay, Natsu?" I ask concerned.

"Y-Yeah, I think I'm fine now."

"Good. Now, hold still for a sec." I wave my hand over her.

"That felt weird. What was that?"

"I used Helel to clean the vomit out of your mouth." There really isn't anything I can do with Helel, is there?

"Wha? You can do that?!" The short spirit asks.

"What part of 'powered by imagination' didn't you get?" I ask, raising one eyebrow.

"Ufufu~ you really think outside of the box, Issei-kun." Kurumi says, a smile on her face.

"Natural talent." A small laugh escapes my lips after I say that. "Now c'mon you two, let's go see some more stuff!"

A few hours of exploring and I feel like we still haven't seen everything in this place. While walking, Natsumi stops.

"Hmm? What are you looking at?" Her face is glued to a poster on the wall of a small building. It's an ad for a puppet show, happening in the park, at 4. "Puppet show, eh?" I say looking down at her. "You wanna see it?"

"Wha?" The green haired girl grows a blush on her face. "O-Of course not!" That's clearly a lie, I can practically feel my eyes rolling.

I look down at my watch. "It's 3:45 now. You interested, Kurumi?"

"I suppose. There might be cat puppets." The older Spirit says, happily.

"It's settled then."

"Huh?!" Natsumi lets out a squeal.

"C'mon Natsu-chan, the puppets await!" I say, beginning to walk towards the show.

"Ufufu, oh Issei-kun." Kurumi says, shaking her head with a smile.

"H-Hey, wait up!" Natsumi shouts, running after us.

The puppet show ended not long after it began. Oddly enough, it was a story about the ugly duckling. Didn't know this story got to over here. I saw Kurumi's eyes practically light up when a cat puppet appeared. I swear, that girl might be a killer, but damn can she be cute. Natsumi too, was invested in the show. I caught her eyes glued to the puppets, particularly a bird puppet.

The host of the show, an older man, with graying hairs, steps up onto the stage and addresses the crowd. "Thank you all for watching the show. The puppets used today are quite old and we've already acquired replacements. Because of this, we're giving away the puppets for anyone who wants them behind the stage. We only ask no one takes more than 1." Children in the crowd cheer and begins going towards the stage's back.

"Either of you want any of 'em?" I ask the girls.

"Hmm. That cat puppet looked rather well taken care of. I wouldn't mind taking it." Kurumi says, standing up.

"What about you Natsumi?" I ask the shorter girl, while I stand up.

"Hmph. Why would I want a puppet?"

"I saw how your eyes lit up when the bird was up there." I say, leveling a glare at her.

"!!" Natsumi stiffens. "Oh fine!" She says, standing up finally. "Let's go get that bird!"

" *sigh* Honestly, you need to be more honest, Natsu-chan." She sputters at this, making Kurumi and I chuckle.

Our trio of Spirits walk towards the back of the stage. The old man from before is handing the puppets out to the kids with a kind smile on his face. The three of us get in line. It slowly shrinks until we get to the old man.

Natsumi walks up the to box. "And which one would you like young miss?" The old man asks.

"Erm. The bird one." The short girl says quietly.

"Sure, here you go." He says handing her the bird. As she grasps it, she lets out a small gasp, perhaps of joy and hugs the bird to her chest with both hands.

"Could I have that cute cat one, please?" Kurumi asks, walking up to the man.

"Of course." He hands the cat to her, which he hugs as well. "I can see those puppets are going to a good home." He says, with a gently smile on his face. I can only smile at the two girls nodding at the man's guess.

"Excuse me." A voice says, behind us. I turn my head to look at the speaker.

'Oh shit.'

That thought sums the situation up entirely. Standing there is a beautiful girl, with long, light purple hair and grayish eyes. She wears a short, purple dress and a pink jacket over it, only slightly hiding her ample 'assets'. She also has brown shoes complete with a yellow flower clip on then both, a third rests in her hair.

In front of me is none other than Miku Izayoi. And considering the fact I can feel Reiryoku coming from her, she's already become a Spirit. Of course! It's October, 6 months until April, Miku supposedly became a Spirit 6 months before canon.

This cannot end well.

"Could you give me those puppets?" She asks the old man sweetly. Odd she'd even ask nicely, what with her hating men and all.

"Hey!" "Don't skip!" "What are you doing, girl?" People in the line behind us shout, clearly upset at her.

The idol turns to the people and says"Hush.", Reiryoku lacing the very sound of her voice.

"!!" "?" "?!" The three of us simultaneously tense at the feeling.

The people's eyes widen before they begin speaking again. "Of course, Onne-sama." "We're sorry."

Fuck, seeing this in the anime made me sick, but to see it here is just... I can't even put it into words. Awful. It's awful. Just another reason to be pissed at Mio, I suppose.

"Young lady, there was a line. You really shouldn't skip like that." The old man gently admonishes Miku.

"I said give me those puppets, you stupid man." Again she uses Gabriel to mind control the guy.

'And there it is.'

"Of course Onee-sama." The old man begins to hand the box to her-

"Ahem." A sound interrupts the moment, one coming from Kurumi, of all people. O-hoho! This is gonna be good.

"Hmm? Oh my! Aren't you cute!" She says, while getting closer to Kurumi. Doing this, she also pushes me out of the way.

'Well fuck you too.'

"Why thank you." Kurumi says while holding a hand to her face. Natsumi just stands there, dumbfounded. "You're quite cute as well." Miku's eyes notice the cat puppet in the other girl's hand.

"Oh and that puppets is quite cute as well! Give it to me, would you." She says, not asks.

"This? No thank you, I quite like it."

"I said give me the puppet." Her Reiryoku washes over Kurumi, unlike the people who absorbed it. The red eyed Spirit's eyes narrow.

"Well, aren't you rude?" At this, Miku seems shocked her powers didn't word. Instead of trying again, she simply reaches for the puppet.

"I said give it." Before she can grab it though.

click*

She has Zafkiel's barrel pressed against her skull.

Kurumi's eye narrows with contempt. "I said no." Miku's eyes widen and are steps back, in fright.

"Why?! Why isn't my voice working?!"

"Oh it is." I say, drawing her attention. "Your Gabriel just doesn't work on those who have lots of Reiryoku in them, it gets repelled instead of absorbed." I step closer to her. "Word to the wise, don't try controlling Spirits."

"Spirits?! How could a stupid man like you become a Spirit?!"

"Oh my~" I say in a Kurumi-like tone, placing a hand over my mouth. "Do you talk to all of your fans like that, Yoimachi-san?"

Her eyes widen even once again. "How do you know that name?" Her voice is now no longer shaky and loud, but instead cold as ice.

"How else? I found your music some time ago, and liked it. Which is pretty odd, since I more prefer rock and metal over pop. But, I don't deny, you made good music." She's glaring at me so hard now, it's like she's trying to make my head explode. "I heard about that whole scandal, and I think it was just bullshit."

"Huh?" Her eyes widen then narrow. "What do you mean?"

"I mean it seemed fake, none of it seemed very plausible. People only listened to the higher-up's story and not yours, which made me less skeptical."

She mills over my words as silence appears. No one says anything. Only the chatter of people in the distance can be heard.

"Anyways, you seem to be doing alright, so I'm glad to see that." I say to her with a smile. "But," I remove that smile and glare at her. "You shouldn't go around controlling people."

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean? Humans are nothing but cattle, meant to worship me!" She says with a haughty tone of voice, a smile plastered on her face. "Besides, why should I listen to anything a worthless guy like you has to say?"

"No clue. You don't have to listen to me, but-" I stare her dead in the eyes as I say this. "Remember that humans are capable of great good and great evil in equal measure. Don't give up on we humans just because you've seen the worst of what we can do. We can be better."

"Hmph. 'We' humans? You talk as if you are one." She says, condescendingly.

"We all are." This drops her smirk. "All of we Spirits, except the first, were and still are human. As are you, so don't throw that away, Yoimachi-san."

We both stare at one another, neither backing down to their beliefs. One, believing humans are incapable of good; One believing humans are capable of good and evil. My eyes meet her grayish ones for what seems like hours.

"Hmph." She turns away with a huff. "I didn't want the stupid puppet anyways."

She begins to walk off, but I speak up. "Yoimachi-san!" She turns and looks at me one more time. "Give what I said here some though, would you? Try to see the good humans can do, instead of focusing on the bad."

Instead of responding, she merely walks away. Looking around I see the people in line and the old man have snapped out of their trance. Turning to the girls I say, "Come on." The three of us begin walking away.

"So," Natsumi begins. "She was a Spirit, too?"

"Yes, her name is Izayoi Miku, holder of Gabriel."

"Ara? I thought you called her Yoimachi-san?"

"I did. She used to be an idol, before her manager wanted something 'not safe for work' from her." Kurumi, realized immediately, scrunches her face in disgust. "So she ran, and the higher-ups made a story up about her, ruining her. Shame too, she made some good music."

"Wait, didn't you say you came to this world a week or so ago?" The green haired Spirit asks.

"Yeah, I sort of binged her music. It was pretty good. Anyways,if all of that wasn't bad enough, she also lost her singing voice, plunging her into despair. Then Mio showed up and gave her a Sephira Crystal, turning her into a Spirit."

No one speaks for a moment. "We Spirits have had it pretty rough, haven't we?" Kurumi asks, quietly.

"Yeah." I say simply, as we finally leave the park. "That's why I wanna help you guys. You've all suffered too much, and deserve a good life. So that's what I'm gonna do, give you all a good life."

"Ufufu~ you really are special, Issei-kun..."

"...yeah, you really are nice, Issei."

"Heh." I let out a small chuckle at their praise. "Thanks you two. Now, c'mon, I'm hungry. I'm thinkin' tacos. You two ever had tacos?" They shake their heads negative. "Oh, then you're gonna love this!"

Late that evening I slip into bed, rain pouring outside. After the ate a thunderstorm passed though, lighting crackling amongst the dark sky. After we returned, Kurumi placed the cat puppet on a shelf in her room, as did Natsumi with her bird.

"Hello, Issei-kun~" Kurumi says, stepping into my room, clad in a white nightgown. She's been sleeping in my bed every night since our date, and I couldn't be happier. She slips into bed, clinging to my body as though I was a body pillow, her soft hair brushing against my skin.

"Are you uncomfortable, Issei-kun?" She asks me.

"I don't think I've ever been more comfortable, Kurumin~"

"Ufufu~ you're sweet."

The two of us lay in bed, slowly drifting off to sleep, comfortable in each other's embrace.

BOOM "AAH!"

A large crack of thunder makes us both jump, as does Natsumi's startled scream. A moment later, the door to my room opens, revealing Natsumi, clad in pajamas, both green. Her body, trembling in fright.

"H-Hey, can I s-sleep with you two tonight?" She says, shakily.

Kurumi and I glance at one another, before I turn back to Natsumi and say "It's fine with me." Kurumi nods in agreement. Natsumi climbs into bed, to my right side, since Kurumi is to my left. She begins to lay on her back, until-

BOOM

Another big crack of thunder makes her jump and hold onto me for dear life. I pat her mop of green hair, reassuringly. "It's okay Natsu-chan. You're gonna be fine." She lets out a small sound, perhaps in embarrassment, as her tiny body tightens it's hold around mine.

I chuckle. "Good night, you two."

"Good night."

"Nihht." Natsumi says, muffled due to her face being pressed against my body. I merely smile and wrap my arms around the two girls as the sound of rain lulls us to sleep.

Seeing Miku today made my memories of the Spirit's backstories come back in full force. Some Spirits have had it rough, some really rough, but one is suffering more than most. More than even Kurumi. But, I'll save my plans for tomorrow. Yeah...

Tomorrow seems like a good day to go to war. I wonder how England is this time of year?

AN

I made a large change to the conversation in Chapter 2 and made a small correction in Chapter 4 before I released this one. Please go back and read them. Thanks to Bakuganman for the review, giving me the idea to change the stuff in Chapter 2.

Edit: 7-4-2022: Credited Bakuganman in the AN

And yes, I know Miku became a Spirit 6 months before Shido met her, which would be in April. I, however, wanted her to become a Spirit 6 months before canon instead, so here she is. I hope I portrayed Miku well, it was certainly interesting to write her.

Next time is the beginning of the planning phase for a prison break. Though, hopefully I'll throw you all a few curveballs here and there.

This chapter was a bit shorter than the last, but I hope you all enjoyed it, and look forward to the next one!