Re:Chapter 3 - Date A Imagination

...

After showing me my new room, Kurumi and I spoke with one another in the living room. She even brewed some tea, which I tried.

I've always drank sweet tea at a cold temperature, so it was surprising to find I liked hot tea.

I also told her who I was and my powers.

I wasn't anyone special before, just a regular guy from Louisiana who went to bed and woke up in a crater.

"I am curious though, what can your angel do, Issei-kun?" Kurumi inquired.

"I think it's based on imagination. When I fought the AST, I made a copy of another angel, Sandalphon. After that I made a copy of a sword from a video game. My guess is that I can make things with imagination. As for what I can and cannot make, I'll have to test my limits." I explain. "That oughta be fun." I add, eliciting a giggle from Kurumi.

"Ufufu~ Interesting... say, Issei-kun?" She asks.

"Yeah, Kurumi?"

"Are you hungry?" She asks.

"Hungry? Heh, I haven't even thought of food after everything that's happened today." I say with a chuckle. "I guess I could eat. What do you usually do, cook or eat out?"

She puts a finger to her chin for a moment. "Either or, why?"

" 'Cause I've got an idea." I can practically feel my grin.

Upon standing up, Issei-kun's Reiryoku engulfed himself for just a moment, before he walked over to the kitchen.

He opened the cabinets, looking at the pots and pans, as well as the food kept within. He began taking things out with graceful moves as he began to cook.

I suppose I shouldn't interrupt his work.

Sitting down at the dining room table, I watch him cook as I think over today.

It was an ordinary day, at least until one of my clones observed a new Spirit, one donning a full suit of armor.

It wasn't very surprising to see a Spirit fend off the AST, most of us could so it. What was surprising was him summoning another Spirit's angel in his hand, Princess' to be exact. The he summoned another sword and fought the AST. His fighting was rough and clearly done on instinct, not skill. Soon, he had enough and summoned a key of sorts. Judging by it's Reiryoku output, it had to be another angel.

What truly surprised me was him being a male. All the Spirits until now were female, what changed in Mio's mind to do such a thing?

He also knows much more than a normal Spirit should. Far too much.

He knows of this 'canon' timeline, as he called it. That means he knows some of the future. Of course, this isn't set in stone as he wasn't in that timeline, so his presence will change future events. As for the past...

I wonder how much he knows about me...

He said he knew about what happened with Mio and I, does he know about everything else I've done?

Probably not, why would he trust a murderer such as I?

Still, he seems like a genuinely good person. That just makes me more suspicious of him.

Mio was nice too.

Until she wasn't.

Hmm... I suppose I'll just have to see how things play out. It's not like that's anything new.

I am the one who plays the role of observer, after all.

"Issei-kun! I didn't know you could cook such tasty food!" Kurumi exclaimed, happily consuming the curry and rice I made. After taking one bite, she became incredibly elated.

"That's the thing, Kurumi, I can't cook anything but instant ramen. I used my angel for this." I say in between bites. Damn this curry is good!

"Then how did you-?" She begins to ask.

"I imagined having the cooking knowledge of a certain protagonist with E-Rank luck. Throughout the series, he's shown as an amazing cook. Everyone who eats his food practically melts in ecstasy as they eat it." I explain. "Though not to the extent of that other series... I'd rather not blow people's clothes off with my food."

"Clothes? Ahaha!" Kurumi laughs, not giggles or chuckles, genuinely laughs at that.

"Oh believe me, that series was bat-shit insane." I say, cracking a smile.

Really, giving myself Emiya Shirou's cooking knowledge would've been enough, but since I REALLY wanted to impress Kurumi, I gave myself EMIYA's cooking knowledge too. If Shirou was that good of a cook at 17, then how good was he when he died and became EMIYA? What else did he learn at Chaldea or any other time he was summoned? Most likely, a lot.

"Still, that's quite smart of you." Kurumi praises.

"Heh, thanks."

After we ate what was probably the best food either of us have eaten, I washed the dishes while Kurumi watched tv in the living room.

As I did this mundane task, it gave me plenty of time to think about the world I'm in now. Kurumi's still killing people to steal their time in order to use Yud Bet to go back in time 30 years and kill Mio.

I still have no idea why she can't just get Reiryoku, or spirit energy, from her angel, like all the other Spirits. Furthermore, why does her angel sap her own life force to use its power instead of using Reiryoku? Mio forced Sephira Crystals into humans to 'refine' them, but maybe she didn't really have full access to their inner workings. Maybe she messed up with Zafkiel? Did she fuck up other things with the other angels?

...that gives me an idea. After finishing up washing the dishes, I return to the living room.

"Done already?" She asks me with a smile.

"Yeah, it wasn't much. Though, I did have an idea while I was washing dishes." I say with a grin.

"Oh? And what's that?" The time Spirit asks.

"Well, you know how Mio refined the Sephira Crystals, right?" I ask.

Kurumi loses her smile and becomes quite serious. "Yes?"

"All the other spirits get Reiryoku from their angels to power their abilities. The Sephira Crystals work like a battery, constantly giving you energy. Zafkiel, however doesn't give you any, instead you have to take it from others. Thinking on it, Mio most likely couldn't do specific things with the crystals, she was only focused on making them compatible with humans, so she didn't, or maybe couldn't fix it." I begin to ramble.

"So... you know about that too?" She asks.

"You mean all the killing and your plan to off Mio? Yeah." I say with a shrug. "I understand why you're doing this, but I hate the idea of you havin' to kill people."

"Where are you going with this, Issei?" She says. No 'kun' with my name?

"I'm gonna hack into Zafkiel."

"..."

"..."

The two of us look at each other in tense silence for a long while.

"How?" She asks, slowly.

"Imagine it, obviously. Remember, my powers run off what I think up." I say. "Kurumi, I... I don't want you to have to kill anyone else."

"But-" she starts before I cut her off.

"I know, I know, but you shouldn't have had to kill anyone in the first place. Not the people you've stolen time from... and not your friend." I say.

"..." she looks down as I mention Sawa. It's still a sore spot for her, even over two decades later.

"Don't get me wrong, Mio's done a lot of bad shit, but I know she isn't evil. You going back in time and killing her or doing anything for that matter could make a worse timeline than the one we're in now. That, of course, doesn't excuse everything she's done." I explain. "Hell, me being here could cause a worse timeline, I don't know. But seeing as how I've got all this knowledge about you, Spirits and a bunch of other stuff, I should at least use these powers of mine to try and fix the shit that cunt Isaac Wescott has caused."

"Wescott? You know what he's done?" She asks.

"Do I know?" I scoff. "Maybe not all of it, but I know he summoned Mio here in the first place." Kurumi's eye widens at that bit of info. "If you see this timeline I'm aware of as a story, Mio isn't the final boss, Wescott is."

"I see. I suppose I should've expected you to know about my plan." The worst Spirit says, a bit sullen.

"Yeah, well... It's a hell of a burden you've put yourself through, making yourself out to be a villain. So, I'm gonna fix Zafkiel so you don't have to kill anymore. Also, I'll make it so your lifespan isn't tied to using it's abilities." I say.

"Issei..." She looks up at me sadly. "Why are you doing all this for someone like me?"

"Don't say that shit, Kurumi. You're an amazing person, why the hell wouldn't I help you?"

"..." Her eye widens in surprise at my declaration.

"You could've kicked my ass to the curb after we talked earlier, but you let me stay and everything." I say. "If you really were a bad person, you'd be killing good people, not just bad ones, to fuel your powers. Sure, goin' back in time to kill Mio for what she's done is a bit selfish, but aren't we all?"

I walk to her, bend down and pull the bangs covering her face to behind her ears. I grip her shoulders and stare her dead in her heterochromatic eyes. "Kurumi."

She averts her gaze. "Look at me."

She looks at me reluctantly.

"You are a good person." I say, with a tone of finality.

"...!" Her eyes widen considerably as she lets out a soft gasp. Someone had to tell her.

"You can't keep making yourself suffer like this, dammit." I say.

"Issei..." She says, tears welling up in her eyes as she makes a small smile. "...go ahead."

I nod, letting go of her shoulders. "Just sit still. I hope this'll work."

Just imagine the crystal. Imagine a connection with it... oh? Oh! I feel something in her chest. I think I made the connection. Now then, imagine computer code, but for an angel. I need to access last your code.

Suddenly, I feel a pull from the other side. C'mon dammit! I'm trying to help your host, work with me here!

"...!"

"Ara?"

The pulling ceases and before me appears a large, flat circle. It resembles a shield, comprised of many small, red rings. Each ring has many symbols inside, just as red as the rings themselves. The symbols are... familiar.

"What... What IS this?" Kurumi asks, in awe.

"...I think it's Zafkiel's code?" I guess. "Hang on... this... this is the angelic alphabet." I say, looking at the symbols.

"Angelic alphabet?" She asks.

"Yeah, a certain game series I played, as well as another series which was a spin-off to it, had this language around the magic and in many other places. It was the language of the angels, or Watchers, which appear near the end of the game and are the main antagonists. Or rather, their queen is." Ah, good 'ol Drakengard. Never thought it'd help me here.

I quickly use my angel to give myself knowledge of the language and begin looking at the code.

"Okay, time to get to work." I say, popping my knuckles with a grin. "You might wanna keep watching the tv, this might take a while.

Sometime later, I finally found what was wrong with her angel not giving her energy.

"Fucking hell, Mio. If I see her, I'm gonna punch her in the face." I curse.

"Ara? I haven't heard you so angry before Issei-kun." Kurumi says, adding the honorific to my name again.

"I found the problem and it's made me really fucking angry." I curse, as I begin to explain. "Mio did an amazing job refining these crystals. Just about everything runs smoothly except this. It's like she turned regular, basic code into a modern video game just by implanting the code into different computers over and over again, without even looking at the code. Of course, this would leave problems, and this is a fucking severe one. See this symbol here?" I point to a symbol that looks like a vertical line with a small dot on top. "This symbol could mean 'u' 'v', or 'w'. It may seem minor, but this is causing your problems."

"How so?" She seems genuinely intrigued by this.

"Angels are like batteries. They produce energy and send it to the Sephira Crystal. The crystal then turns it into Reiryoku and sends it to the Spirit. The Spirit can use the Reiryoku to manifest their angel and use its abilities. The angel produces energy constantly at a certain pace, and Zafkiel is, in fact, producing energy, specifically, time energy. The energy should be sent to the crystal, turned into Reiryoku and sent to your body. But for you? This one symbol." I seethe. "This one fucking symbol is blocking everything. It's preventing your crystal from sending Reiryoku to you, causing you to need time energy, your own time energy, instead of Reiryoku to power your abilities. Plus, since you can't make Reiryoku, you need pure time energy instead and have to take it from an external source and add it to your own.

This one symbol. If it was the one for 'I' or 'j' instead..." The symbol turns into another one, a triangle with dots on all 3 corners. Kurumi visible jolts as it changes. "...you will get energy from Zafkiel like your were supposed to."

The black haired girl tenses up and her visible eye widens in surprise. "Y-You're right. I feel energy coming from Zafkiel. It's never done this before."

"Well it should've." I growl. "One letter, one FUCKING letter off and you wouldn't have had to kill anyone. You just could've waited a while, building up energy and gone back in time and killed Mio ages ago."

"How long will it take?" She asks.

"In about a year you should have enough energy to use Yud Bet to go back in time 30 years for about... an hour or so before it wears off." I explain. "As much as I don't want you to mess with the timeline, if you really wanna kill her, just wait another year."

Honestly, this really pisses me off. Kurumi wouldn't have had to do so many terrible things all because of one damn letter. The world is a cruel bitch.

I wave my hand and disconnect with to Zafkiel, causing the code to disappear as I sigh. "Sorry 'bout that, but now, you won't have to kill anymore."

Kurumi's eye becomes filled with a new emotion... hope.

I'm really shocked when she stands up and hugs me. "Thank you, Issei. Thank you." she says in a small, shaky voice.

I smile as I return the hug. "Anytime, Kurumi. You've had a hard enough life, it's time someone made it easier."

As I hug the beautiful, broken girl, I make another promise to myself.

I'm gonna help the Spirits, all of them.

Even Mio.

None of them have deserved the hardships the world has forced upon them.

I have these crazy powers, so I'll use them to do something good.

The girls in canon got pretty happy endings, so why can't I get them to have an even happier ending?

AN

Rewrite Number 3! A bunch more to go...

A section with Kurumi's thoughts was added, hopefully y'all like it.

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