Chapter 11 - Date A New Problems

...

I open my eyes to an unfamiliar white ceiling. Heh, much better than the grey rooms I've known for the past few years.

Sitting up, I look around and see a normal bedroom. Looking down, I notice, I'm still in that hospital gown. Last night really happened, huh? I got rescued by Issei and his friends. Never thought it'd happen, I kinda gave up hope a long time ago.

The door cracks open, revealing Issei in a casual outfit. Shame, that armor of his was pretty cool. "Oh, you're finally awake." He walks closer to me. "How ya feeling?"

"Fine, I guess." I don't really know, though.

"No pain, no exhaustion?"

"No, nothing hurts. And I think I got enough sleep." I wave him off.

"I was more concerned about your body getting whiplash from removing all those machines in you."

"No, I'm fine- wait WHAT?!" What the hell does he mean by that?!

He sighs. "DEM put a bunch of mind-controlling tech in you and I took it all out while you were asleep. I was worried you'd get whiplash from that."

I stay quiet for a long while. "...those bastards." I clench my fists a bit.

"Don't worry, we'll deal with Wescott one day, forget about him for now. Now, you're free from them, I'm sure a lot of people are missing you and your manga."

"Oh..." I had totally forgot about Silver Bullet.

"Well you can worry about that later, c'mon breakfast is ready."

"Okay." I nod and start to get up. It's still a bit tough, but I manage to stand on my own.

"Oh, and I should also should tell you about Mio." He says, while walking away.

Who the hell is Mio?

"Wait, wait, wait. So this Mio woman is turing us into Spirits to have us fall in love with this Shido guy, so he can get some of their powers and Mio can use that as a catalyst to bring back his past self?" Nia tries to reason everything I've just told her.

After the events of last night, we've decided to lay low and rest for a few days. No big fights or anything strenuous, hopefully. And we're starting the day off right, with a simple breakfast, albeit one where I explain Mio's ambitions to Nia.

"Yup. Congrats, you now know the plot of Date A Live." I say theatrically, our plates having been empty for a short while. "Though I forgot to mention the part where Sephira crystals cause their host to have subtle feelings for Shido."

"What?!" "Huh?!" Nia and Natsumi shriek.

"You never mentioned this, Issei-kun." Kurumi says, looking a bit upset.

"It was one of the first things I fixed when I 'hacked' into your angels. Oh and, I hacked into Rasiel while you were asleep and fixed it and some other stuff."

"Oh, thank God." Nia says with a large exhale, as she leans back into her chair.

"Sorry if I scared you all." I apologize. "I didn't want to worry you girls."

"It's fine Issei, you did fix it after all." Natsumi says, relaxing.

"That woman." Kurumi says, a bit pissed off. "She really doesn't care about anyone other than Shinji?"

"I thought we already established this, Kurumi?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. "Shinji clearly never taught the girl empathy."

"Still, to drag everyone into this mess." Nia says, quietly. "Heh, I suppose it makes her a good villain." She points out.

"Yeah. She has motives one could empathize with, after all. I'd want to kill that fucker Wescott if he hurt any one of you, but to fuck over so many people? Not a chance. Not that I blame Mio, she just doesn't really know any better."

I can't really hate her, I suppose she really is a good villain.

"On a lighter note, Nia." I grab her attention.

"Yeah?"

"Wanna go hang out?"

Her eyes widen. "What, like a date?"

"If you want it to be one. I mean, you've been stuck inside for a few years, you deserve a day out."

"Hehehe." Nia chuckles. "You're smooth, boy." I just shrug and smile.

"Hey, if you're taking her on a date, you have to take me on one too!" Natsumi says, standing up and putting her hands on the table.

"Sure. If Nia agrees, I'll take her out today, and you tomorrow. Kurumi can be the next day, if she wants." I say, turning to Kurumi at the last bit.

"I'd like that." The time Spirit agrees.

"S-Sure." The short Spirit says, sitting back down, blushing.

"H-Hang on." Nia says, drawing our attention and... is she blushing? "I still haven't agreed on anything yet."

"Oh come on, Nia." I say getting up. "It's a beautiful day outside." I open the curtains covering the doors to the balcony. The view looking over most of Tengu City. "It's not gonna be to hot today, it's gonna be nice and sunny, not a cloud in the-" I cut myself off as I spot something. Something that really should not be there.

"Issei?" Natsumi asks, concerned.

"What the fuck is that?" I ask quietly, while looking up.

"What is what?" Kurumi asks, as the three girls walk over to me, and look outside.

"You don't see, or at the very least feel, that big-ass ball of Reiryoku floating above the city?"

"All I see is the sky. You aren't going crazy, are you boy?" The grey-haired Spirit asks.

"No it's..." I trail off, coming up with an idea, as I realize what that is. "Touch my hand for a sec."

"Why?" Natsumi asks.

"Just do it." I hold my hand out, as the girls place their hands on top of mine. I flow a bit of my Reiryoku into them. "I gave you all a bit of my energy. Now look up."

"How's that gonna- WHAT THE HELL?!" Nia shouts, guess she sees it.

"WHAT?!" Natsumi too.

"This is...?" Kurumi as well.

"That there is Kerubiel, and it should not be here." I say, all of us looking at the massive, translucent sphere of Reiryoku in the sky.

"Kerubiel?" The green-haired Spirit asks.

"System Kerubiel was created by Mio to judge one with a large amount of Reiryoku, or perhaps multiple Reiryoku sources, obviously Shido. It, along with it's 'host', Mayuri are summoned to judge. Afterwards, Mayuri and Kerubiel will cease to exist. Since it was created with Shido in mind, it probably can't be reactivated." I explain.

"Does Shido-san try to save this Mayuri girl?" Kurumi asks.

"Yeah. She was destined to disappear, but when she wanted to live, Kerubiel got pissed and attacked everyone. Mayuri let Shido seal her, but since she's made purely of Reiryoku, she still disappeared, though a bit of her remains within Shido. The thing is, Kerubiel isn't canon."

"Huh, what is it an OC?" Nia asks.

"No, it only appeared in the Movie, Mayuri Judgement, but not in the light novel." I explain to the girls. "Though, I'm surprised I accidentally activated it."

"How did it activate?" Natsumi asks.

"Well let's see. Firstly, before we went to Neryl Island, I made a copy of Rasiel to check over our intel. Secondly, I used Michael to teleport us there and back. Lastly, when we fought Ellen I made Sandalphon, Camael and Raphael Na'ash, not to metion the dozen Zafkiels. I also made Nahemah and turned it into Parschelev, but I don't think that'd count."

"So Mayuri-san is going to 'judge' you?" Natsumi asks.

"Looks like it."

"You want to save her, don't you?" Kurumi asks.

"You need to ask?" I ask, rhetorically, raising a single eyebrow.

"I suppose not."

"But yeah, I want to save her. Problem is, Kerubiel is gonna be stronger than in the movie."

"How's that?" Nia asks.

"It has the powers of the Spirit's sealed by Shido. It can fire off blasts from Sandalphon, ice from Zadkiel, wind from Raphael, sonic waves from Gabriel, and worst of all, it has Camael's flames, even it's regenerative ones."

"It can regenerate?" Natsumi asks, eyes wide.

"In the movie, Kotori hooked Camael to her airship's cannon, boosting it's power to be far higher than anything a sealed Spirit could output. Kerubiel took it head-on and just fixed itself. They only beat it after the Spirits gave their power to Tohka, who unlocked Shekinah, a second angel. With it and Sandalphon, she managed to kill it before it could regenerate. Of course, Mayuri, having sealed herself, also caused it to weaken.

What I'm worried about far more is this Kerubiel." I say, pointing outside. "It has Camael's flames and regeneration, Raphael's wind, will have some sort of extra knowledge from Rasiel, will be able to warp time due to Zafkiel, and worst of all, it has Michael's power." I look at them all, dead serious for this next part. "When we fight it, if it uses Michael's powers, I want you both to Inverse immediately, neither of you normally can handle that shit."

"You mean that girly key thing you had yesterday?" Nia asks, skeptical.

"That 'girly key thing' can increase gravity, tear open dimensions and cause miniature black holes. Do not underestimate it's power. The three girls are left wide-eyed at this.

Kurumi, recomposes herself first. "I've never heard of that."

"That's because it's wielder, codename Zodiac, is up in space."

"We can survive up there?" Nia asks, shooting close to me with an excited grin on her face.

"Er, maybe? I haven't tried." I say, leaning back. I gently push her back from my face.

"Why is she up there?" The short Spirit asks.

I sigh. "Let me tell you a story. Once, there was a young girl with beautiful golden hair. She was adopted into a loving family, wanting another child. Her older sister loved her hair, causing her to feel the same. One day, when the girl was beginning to mature, she was with her sister and her sister's friend. Somehow, offhandedly, the older sister's friend mentioned that the young girl should get a haircut, the older sister agreeing. The girl ran off crying, feeling nothing but betrayal, thinking her sister loved her friend more than her.

A woman, bathed in silver light approached the girl, offering her power." I see Kurumi's eyes light up in realization. "In her panicked state, she accepted and used her new angel, Michael to seal away memories of all o her family's acquaintances, wanting them to only love her. They understandably got angry, but also afraid of her power. She was unable to handle this, so she sealed their memories of her and then her own emotions.

Now she sits up in space, in a hell of her own creation. Unable to feel loneliness or regret at her actions. She's an emotionless machine wielding an angel that could collapse dimensions in a decently large area, but deep, deep down, she wants to undo her mistake."

I finish my tale. Kurumi looks sad, but also a bit angry, most likely at Mio. Natsumi looks sad as well, most likely empathizing with her loneliness. Nia is...

"Nia, are you okay?" I ask, seeing her tearing up.

"Yeah, I just got something in my eyes, is all." The turns around, to dry her eyes.

"After we deal with Kerubiel, I'm gonna go pay Mukuro a visit up there. Though I doubt she'll come with. For now, we go about our lives as normal. Let's go on those dates and when Mayuri shows up, we deal with Kerubiel."

"That's fine." Natsumi says, blushing. She forgot about the date, huh?

"No problems here, Issei-kun." Kurumi adds.

"Nia, you wanna go on that date today?" I ask the all-knowing Spirit.

She turns around, eyes still a little red. "S-Sure. Just remember, I can only love 2d." She stutters out.

"It's just a date, Nia." I deadpan. "No one said anything about us falling for one another." She just awkwardly chuckles.

"Kurumi, mind picking out some clothes for our new friend?"

She just smiles. "Very well. Follow me, Nia-san." She says, as she walks down the hall.

"Why can't I go like this?" She says, blushing.

"You're still in a hospital nightgown, dammit!" I point out. Her blush goes atomic as she looks down. Guess she forgot. "Now go with her." She silently dashes down the hall after Kurumi. I shake my head while chuckling.

"Nia-san certainly seems fun." Natsumi concludes.

"Yeah. She's still in a bit of a funk, after everything that's happened. I placed a weak Gamer's Mind on her last night, so the memories of the torture won't affect her too much. It's set to fade away gradually as she comes to terms with everything." Natsumi looks up at me, still concerned. "She's a tough girl, she'll pull through. For now, you wanna play some games?"

"What kind?" She asks.

"Fighting games. I used to be really damn good at Mortal Kombat 9, and I kinda want to see if I still have the muscle memory." I say with a grin.

"You're on." She smiles confidently. She's really good at fighting games, after all.

The two of us sit down on the couch and play Mortal Kombat for the rest of the morning.

There's still a lot of problems on the horizon, but I don't really care about that right now. For now, I'll just enjoy life.

AN

Just a simple aftermath chapter, nothing much.

Kerubiel's on the horizon and it's tougher than in the movie, but so are our main characters. And yes, after that, we'll see Mukuro. Just not immediately after.

I do hope I wrote Nia well, though I'm gonna have to write more of her next time as well.

Not much else to say, really.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and look forward to the next!