Date A Re:Live
S3 Chapter 53: Shido Countdown, Part 3
By : Tohka_Yatogami
...
Summary
Even a similar story can take it's own path. Shido and Mana are amnesiac siblings living with their friend Kotori, however the past catches up to Shido when he nearly runs into a space quake, and his world changes as one girl asks... "Are you here to kill me?" (Stronger Ratatoskr, weaker DEM, games & movie are canon to story) [Shido/Tohka/Harem]
Here we go everyone, things are about to heat up! Mana's starting us off on the attempts to woo Shido (I apologize for making you do it Mana, forgive me ^^; *chuckles*) while on this beach setting, while at the same time we've got Nia and the Round Table of Ratatoskr up to their own agendas... and Chinami gawking over the situation that the DEM could have used to their advantage if she wasn't too into it.
Oh, and I've gotten a few people who've liked the story idea I mentioned last chapter, so for the few who told me that... thank you for the encouragement ^^ *smiles brightly* Even a small bit of support goes a long way, and you gave me a bit.
I don't think it'll be any surprise when I say this, but... we're at the moment where the heroes are gonna be screwed as a sudden unforeseen event ruins their original plan and forces them to start fighting... *eyes widen* and I just suddenly realized Tohka's arc is the only one where an actual date would have worked if Origami hadn't tried to shoot her, is this how the series plays the "ruining the moment" card to represent the dating aspect?
Oh yeah, I'll say right here I won't be showing everyone's attempts at wooing him, considering the timing they had to prepare compared to Mayuri Judgment where they have plenty of time to prepare their dates and a lot more choices overall, their short time limit and shared space means I wasn't able to think of a scenario for everyone without feeling I used the same one twice which would lessen how it works on Shido.
Don't worry, I'll still mention them, just know if I use line break, some Spirits will be mentioned to have already wooed him in-between. Anyways, let's get this chapter started!
A young Mana cried as a bunch of bullies held up her backpack out of reach, and she could only reach up in vain, unable to use her enhanced physical skills because of their current location being somewhere where it was too dangerous for those who had mana cores to use them.
"What's wrong? Can't grab it, I thought we saw you jumping 20 feet into the air earlier!" The leader bully laughed as he waved it higher.
"Give it back, please!" Mana cried, trying to reach it.
"If you can jump that high then you just need to grab it, come on! You have a mana core right, it's even part of your name!" A lanky bully snickered.
"Yeah, do it cry baby, show us!" A fat bully laughed.
Mana cried more, and stopped jumping to wipe her eyes with her hands, and suddenly the lead bully feels himself lifted into the air, causing him and the other two to see Shido holding him up with an angry look.
"H-Hey, what are you doing-" The lead bully asked before Shido grabbed his arm, twisting it slightly to make him drop Mana's backpack as he screamed in pain.
"There's more to having a Mana core than just athletics, I'd be happy to show you if you wanna keep bullying my sister. Well!?" Shido said with an intense glare.
He dropped the lead bully on the ground, shaking a bit.
"R-Run away, this freak's crazy!" The lead bully whimpered, running off.
"Wait boss!" The fat and lanky bullies shout as they rush after him.
Shido grabs Mana's backpack, and soon walks to her, lightly tapping her forehead with his own. She looks at him, sniffling slightly as his eyes met hers.
"Everything's OK now Mana, those jerks won't bother you anymore." Shido smiled.
Mana however only cried more, surprising her older brother.
"Mana, what's wrong?" Shido asked worriedly.
"I hate this, I'm weak! You're always saving me... I don't want that! I wanna be strong, I wanna get even stronger, I wanna rise up where no one can look down on me! I don't want... to be so pathetic!" Mana screamed as she cried.
Shido looked at Mana sadly.
"Mana..." Shido breathed.
[I wonder how long it was since I said that, and even then... I never became strong like I wanted, my brother was always there to save me. I could never stand up for myself... or even save him. That's still the case even now, it doesn't count when you do it as a team. I want to be able to do it alone, if I alone was the only one who could do it, I want... to stand up tall and proud like my brother, and our father!]
Mana ran off somewhere, and soon found herself by the park area as it began raining, she wiped her eyes and looked up at the raining clouds, a determined expression on her angry looking face... her vow to be strong for the sake of her loved ones.
Shido and Mana looked at each other face to face, the latter ready to start her attempt to woo Shido.
"Alright Mana, let's see you try to woo me." Shido said with a smirk.
"Get ready big brother... because I'm not holding anything back!" Mana declared, giving a serious and focused look on her face as she did.
Mana walks closer to Shido breathing as she readied herself, she still had her arms crossed over her chest, making herself look like she was still self-conscious... however everyone noticed her one hand was by her bikini string.
"No way, she wouldn't." Kotori asked with a gasp.
"I think she is." Rinne answered with wide eyes.
"Hey big brother?" Mana asked.
"Yeah?" Shido asked.
Mana soon pretended to wobble, and after managing to lean forward and get herself 'stable' again... Shido saw her bikini top loosen a bit before it came off, Mana barely covering herself in time.
"EEEH!" Shido exclaimed surprised, his face burning red.
"She flashed him!" Most the guys cheered excitedly.
Mana inhaled and closed her eyes, quickly kissing Shido before turning away, looking blue as she felt mortified by the experience.
She quickly tied her bikini top back on.
'I know I had to... but I can't believe I just kissed my older brother!' Mana thought in horror.
"Someone get me mouth wash!" Mana exclaimed.
Reine marked Mana as succeeding in wooing Shido before she went to get the said mouthwash.
Nia and Raziel both saw the event through the latter's pages, and they both tried to hold back their laughter.
[Not gonna laugh... not gonna laugh... n-not gonna... l-laugh... DANG IT I CAN'T HOLD IT!]
"Me either!" Nia said, her cheeks puffed up.
The two suddenly began laughing heavily.
"It was like one of those odd shipping manga, those things are priceless! I mean priceless!" Nia laughed.
[And that one line, 'someone give me some mouth wash!', I wish we had a camera for that one!]
Nia soon wiped her eyes, managing to relax her laughter a bit.
"Hmm... now that I think of it, they seem to be going really fast? Why is that... something feels off." Nia wondered.
"Why would... wait, could it be? Raziel, show me variables related to the meltdown, and show me all of them. I'll look for the specific details myself." Nia asked.
[Got it.]
Nia soon opened Raziel and got all the details, reading a bit she noticed the Ratatoskr's Round Table and sighed at it. The info on them... it wasn't anything unfamiliar with, and she gripped Raziel tightly as she kept reading.
Soon she found the information on the Dáinsleif.
"Hmm? What's this thing?" Nia wondered aloud.
Kurumi was rubbing Marina's back, the older Arusu sibling starting to dry heave after having just kissed him.
"Just breathe slowly, it should fade soon enough." Kurumi comforted, having just finished her own wooing with Shido.
"That... proves one thing..." Marina replied.
She briefly stopped as she dry heaved again, Maria bringing over some water for her to guzzle down. Marina did so, and breathed a bit.
"Not... every Spirit will... be part of his harem." Marina groaned.
"You want me to put you on one of the beach chairs?" Maria asked.
"Yes please." Marina shakily nodded.
Maria picked Marina up and moved her over to a chair, and soon the Kaguya gave a smirk as her and Yuzuru's turn came up next.
"Be ready Shido, we shall conquer you with our twin team techniques!" Kaguya declared with a toothy grin.
"I normally hate to brag, but... we shall woo you with little effort." Yuzuru claimed, smirking lightly.
Shido chuckled a bit.
"Alright then, let's see you hit me with a double wooing Kaguya, Yuzuru. Show me how true your titles as the Hurricane Children are." Shido smiled.
"Oh, you will! Yuzuru, deploy the ice cream!" Kaguya exclaimed.
Yuzuru nodded and moved the ice cream cone she was hiding behind her all this time.
At that moment, the twins both get near the ice cream cone, and Mayuri went red as she realized what they were gonna do.
"Whoa, you two are bold." Mayuri whispered to herself."
"Prepare yourself, the reverse brain staring the Yamai twins!" Kannazuki exclaimed from the speakers.
Reine looked at Kannazuki oddly when he said that.
"What? We can't name some of their plans?" Kannazuki asked.
"...Never mind." Reine sighed, face palming a bit.
After the initial shock wore off, Kaguya and Yuzuru began licking the ice cream cone at the same time, and Shido tried to look normal at first... but the clear sign of sweat came into everyone's view.
The two noticed this and a glint entered the twins' eyes, they got closer to Shido, almost asking for him to start licking the ice cream as well. Shido suddenly went red, and soon enough, he began to step back.
"OK! You can stop, that was more than wooing, way more than wooing!" Shido said as his face steamed slightly.
"We have succeeded, now to seal the deal." Yuzuru smiled.
The two kissed Shido at the same time, causing steam to leave Shido's ears all at once. Marina who was watching from afar began laughing at him.
"Oh my god Shido, do you see the look on your face!?" Marina laughed, kicking her feet in the air.
Eventually during her laughing fit, Marina soon caused herself to cough, and without anyone noticing it... coughed up poison towards part of the ceiling, hitting the metal beams on part of the roof.
The poison eats away at the one section of support beams, slowly loosening as Yoshino's turn to woo Shido was next, causing the Water Spirit to walk closer to him.
Yoshino made a nervous look as she slightly chewed on part of her hair.
"Is she gonna be OK? No offense, but she looks like she's gonna pass out any second now." Marina asked.
"Yoshino's a little shy and timid, but she's made a lot of progress since we've met her. When we first met her, she was too afraid to talk with people." Maria answered.
"Alright, if you say so." Maria replied.
Yoshino breathed and gets closer to Shido, soon holding out a bottle of sun block.
"Shido... will you please put some sun block on me?" Yoshino said, giving a cute looking face.
Everyone blushed at the sight, while Miku outright squealed from her cuteness.
However, before Shido did anything to agree or disagree to her request... everyone heard the sound of loud creaking.
"Did you all hear that?" Mayuri asked.
"Yeah, something's making that sound." Mana replied.
The creaking continued, and everyone looked confused at where the sound was coming from.
Soon the creaking got worse as everyone looked up... and saw a support beam about to fall.
"What the, that wasn't there a second ago!?" Kotori panicked.
"...Uh oh!" Marina paled.
"Uh oh?" Origami sweated.
"Marina, what happened." Tohka gulped.
"Remember when I coughed? I think I accidentally shot out some of my poison without realizing it, and... well, I think we can guess where it hit?" Marina answered nervously.
Everyone paled at that, and Mayuri assumed her Astral Dress as she tried to use her powers to hold the structure up.
"I've got it! I'll hold it up, just keep watch on-" Mayuri shouted.
Suddenly part of the building's ceiling broke off, and everyone panicked as it headed towards them.
"It's coming too fast!" Shiizaki called out.
"They won't get away fast enough with their current Reiryoku levels!" Minowa added.
"Watch out!" Kannazuki shouted.
At that moment, Shido moved right into the center of the blast area, and put the bottom of his palms together, holding out his hands and pulling back his arms.
The sight of a cyan sphere of Reiryoku formed between them, becoming like a miniature star that began discharging and sparking out as his hands struggled to contain the powerful sphere he was holding.
"[ROARING FLASH BLAST WAAAAAAVE!]"
Shido extended his arms out, and thrust the strong wave beam of Reiryoku towards the falling debris.
The sight of the attack when compared to attacks like the slash waves of Tohka's Sandalphon and the Artelif of Origami's Metatron, this condensed maelstrom of power wasn't inferior in the slightest. It completely pierced through the collapsing debris and the ceiling, lightning up the for a few moments.
Nia who was on the ceiling panted heavily, glad that she saw it coming before it hit her.
[Oh... my god! Did we nearly just die!?]
Nia took a moment to find her voice.
"...Yes, I think we just did." Nia breathed, slumping onto her knees.
Meanwhile from afar, Chinami's eyes twitched at the sight.
"...Yeah, I'm totally not gonna bother with this today. I'm just gonna keep finding the remaining DEM loyalists." Chinami chuckled in fear before she ran off screaming.
"Holy shit!" Miku exclaimed.
"...I-I think my mind j-just broke." Kotori's stuttered, shaking in amazement and fear.
"It was like a small-scale version of my Harmonic Convergence attack!" Rinne exclaimed.
Kurumi soon noticed something by Yoshino, making her eyes widen in worry.
"Uh... Yoshino?" Kurumi stated while pointing at her stomach, hoping the Water Spirit would catch was she just noticed.
Yoshino blinked her eyes several times before looking down, showing the stomach part of her one piece had been torn, leaving her cute belly button to be exposed to the world. Shido sweat dropped a bit.
"Oops, guess some of the debris cut it our my Reiryoku burnt it away, you should change that real quick." Shido apologized.
"No need." Yoshino answered.
Everyone was confused, and soon they saw Yoshino grab her swimsuit, and then start to rip it.
"W-what the!? Yoshino, what are you doing? Please don't say this is going commando!" Rinne screamed.
"I can't look!" Natsumi shouted.
At that moment, Yoshino stripped off her swimsuit completely, but rather than only Yoshino's white skin being exposed to the air... she had a two-piece tube top bikini she had been wearing underneath reveal itself.
Everyone stared in shock while Shido went red and had a light nosebleed.
"You had two on?" Rio asked amazed.
"Yes... it was my back up plan in case the sun block failed." Yoshino admitted, blushing a bit.
Shido mumbled some gibberish.
"Yoshino, I think you did it." Reine said through the speakers.
Yoshino soon walked over, and gave Shido a quick peck before he fell over, giggling like an idiot from the sight and kiss.
"...Yoshino, I think you're more dangerous than you even realize. You're like a Mermaid, no... a Yuki-Onna!" Origami stated.
"Huh?" Yoshino blinked in confusion.
Reine's voice cleared itself from the loud speaker, getting everyone's attention.
"Everyone, it might not be safe to stay in this room anymore. Time for us to switch to the backup room for the remaining seven of you. So, the rest of you go get changed into the outfits we set out for you, and Shido? You go and meet them all there. It's room 7-BXX, you should see it if you keep going right." Reine replied.
"Understood." Everyone said.
After calming themselves down a bit, Raziel brought up the information from where Nia had to suddenly stop and Nia continued reading, soon learning exactly what the Dáinsleif was and its purpose. Making her eyes widen.
"A weapon made to kill a single boy just because he could go berserk? Even more, its production was requested to be cancelled after evidence proved the contrary of him going out of control... those corrupt bastards!" Nia growled.
[They claim to fight for Humanity and yet they'd sacrifice its greatest hope without question? Those hypocrites! I don't like what they're planning either... Nia, how about we mess things up for them?]
Nia already had her pen in hand.
"Oh no need to ask, karma is going to own them because I'll make it so." Nia said with a dark glare.
She wrote in Raziel, and soon enough... the stage was set.
Up in outer space, Mukuro was curled up and floating without doing anything like she usually did, only to suddenly feel something hit her as she turned to see the black and blue satellite that was none other than the Dáinsleif itself.
"...How annoying." Mukuro stated before raising her hand.
Mukuro manifested Michael, and the Dáinsleif was suddenly struck by a dimensional fluctuation that took the shape of spiraling white energy with a keyhole in the middle.
The Dáinsleif's systems suddenly short circuited, and its whole programming was altered, with Michael's power causing the damage to be made in a way that the systems connected to the anti-Shido satellite were locked out of noticing the changes.
Back on Earth, Nia smirked at her handy work.
"Sorry Round Table, but I'm the Imagination Spirit... and you're going to follow how I've imagined my story, not yours." Nia said with her dark look still on her face, chuckling at the thought of the Round Table getting what they deserved.
Back inside the Ratatoskr sub-base, Shido walked into a room with a red carpet that had cream colored walls. There were various lights deployed, tables strewn across the ground, and luxurious ornaments were scattered everywhere. There were also some extras dressed in tuxedos and night dresses scattered about, some playing instruments, serving tables, and flourishing the place with high-social topics. It was basically a giant refined party hall.
"Huh, impressive. Guess I better suit up." Shido chuckled.
Shido channeled Natsumi's powers, changing into Shiori briefly, soon he laughed as his joke to himself before actually getting himself into a tuxedo. After he had done that, a familiar voice called out.
"Shido!" Tohka exclaimed cheerfully.
Shido turned and soon saw the remaining seven Spirits all wearing beautiful formal wear.
Tohka's was a dark purple dress having a ribbon wrapped in the center, with frilly purple sleeves that didn't cover her shoulders and a few white sequins at the bottom, topped with a necklace with white pearls and pink butterfly shaped gems, all with gold lining.
Origami's was a beautiful ivory color with a white rose on her dress' right strap and an ivory one with a very light pink ribbon the left side of her hair which she put into an up-do for the occasion. A necklace of white diamonds around her neck.
Miku had an indigo dress lined with yellow frills, with a white veil wrapped around her below her shoulders. Her usual hair ornament had a huge white lily and yellow ribbon placed in front of it. She had a necklace of pink rose charms with tear shaped gems underneath them.
Kotori had a sleeveless and strapless red dress with black around the top end, multiple layers of frills acting like a skirt near the bottom. Around her neck was a necklace full of red rubies and silver chains linking them. Her usual black ribbon was still wrapped around her hand, but in the shape of a bow.
Rinne's dress was a simply hot pink dress with a pink tank top underneath and pink rose on near her left sleeve, for jewelry she had a pearl necklace and a pair of small oval shaped golden clip on earrings.
Rio's dress was like her mother's, but three layers of triangle flaps and a double layered bottom, a hot pink rose on the right side of her hair and a pink one on her dress' middle right section, a small silver charm around her left wrist.
And finally, Maria had a black dress similar to Rinne's, but without the V-neck opening hers had and a second lighter black layer of sleeves underneath it and a ribbon like Tohka's wrapped around her. It was topped off with a black hairband with crystal sequins lining the middle of it.
Shido whistled at the sights.
"If you had introduced those all at once with a special light show, you might have gotten pretty close to wooing me. An impressive display regardless." Shido replied honestly, kneeling as she took Tohka's hand like a princess.
"U-uh... thank you Shido." Tohka said with a blush.
"Tohka, you're not supposed to let him woo you." Origami reminded her, a sweat drop going down her face.
Tohka blushed in embarrassment, soon backing away slowly.
Origami sighed and grabbed some Coca Cola soda, Kotori walking ahead first as she held out a hand towards Shido.
"Care to offer a beautiful lady a dance?" Kotori asked smoothly.
"Bold declaration Kotori, let's see how you skate across the dance floor." Shido replied, taking her hand.
Kotori snapped with her free hand, and spun around with Shido as the musicians matched her movements with an appropriate song, the music becoming graceful to fit the moment. Shido's eyes widened in surprise as Kotori managed to pull him into a movie-like dance scene.
Kotori was blushing heavily as she danced with Shido, feeling like she was living a fantasy.
"W-well, I'd say I'm impressed Kotori. You've quite a natural at setting the mood." Shido chuckled with a blush.
"A girl's got some secrets to keep after all." Kotori giggled.
Kotori soon closed in and kissed him as the music ended, and she walked back over, glowing a bit as she smiled brightly.
"Way to go girl, you seem pretty happy." Miku giggled.
"Why wouldn't I be?" Kotori giggled.
Origami's face scrunched as she felt the after taste of her soda.
"This soda's a kinda sour... eh, I'll still drink it." Origami shrugged as she took another sip.
Nia suddenly noticed what Origami was drinking, and after looking a bit closer...
"Wait a second, Raziel?" Nia asked.
[Yeah?]
"What the white-haired girl's drinking... that's soda isn't it?" Nia asked worriedly.
[It is, caffeinated soda no less. Though I don't see why you're asking me about... wait, is that soda a caffeinated soda!? Uh oh.]
Nia's face went flat as she stared back at the sight of Origami drinking the soda before looking at Raziel.
"...Raziel, what exactly do you mean by uh oh?" Nia said with sweat trickling down her face.
Maria, Rio and Rinne all give tired looks after having just finished up there turns, and now Miku was up next in their attempts to woo Shido.
"You three doing OK?" Kotori asked.
"Kotori, I think we just discovered why it wasn't the most comfortable thing for Marina to do this. Tell her I owe her whatever her favorite dessert it later on." Rinne said tiredly.
"...Mayuri, get them some punch and stat!" Kotori called out.
Mayuri rushed in with some.
"Here you go." Mayuri said as she handed them each a cup.
"Thank you." Marina thanked.
They all drink it as Miku went up to Shido, soon smiling brightly and blushing as she got near Shido.
"Oh Shido, this is so wonderful. Though it would be more fun if I could do this while you were Shiori. Ooh, no, if you were Shiori in a daring night dress like mine! The thought consumes me so much!" Miku said blushing brighter.
"Well, I think I could do it, but should I really transform? If Shiori wears that, I think Miku will get a nosebleed fountain, right?" Shido asked worriedly.
Miku giggled as she twisted her body in a flirty manner.
"Of course, but even If I am close to death from blood loss, I will not regret anything if that was my last moment! Especially if your dress has a lot of back exposure!" Miku squeed as the thought entered her mind.
Shido imagined the thought, and soon... decided that was a big no-go.
While Miku's eyes were still glowing after having made her passionate speech while her eyes were glowing, Shido pat her head to calm her down.
"Miku, regardless of your reason, even if you have no regrets... I will regret having brought the demise of such a wonderful woman. If Miku really died from something like that, or any of the others did, I might have no choice to follow you while crying." Shido said as he expressed himself with hand movements.
Miku's hands moved to her mouth as she gasped, tearing up slightly.
"Darling... you thought so far for me!" Miku sniffled as one of her tears shined in the light.
'If not a little cheesy...' Mayuri thought.
Miku soon turned to the musicians and held an upside-down pointer finger to them while giving a wink.
"Back me up everyone, I am counting on you all!" Miku said.
The musicians all go gaga at the motions, and responding to Miku's order, the musicians began to play their instruments as females in glamorous outfits who had been standing at the corner of the hall appeared as a stage formed from the wall. A glowing silver stand mike was quickly slid onto the middle of the stage.
After Miku confirmed she had everything she needed, she went up the stage before standing in front of the mike. Instantly, the lights in the hall dim down and a spot light was set on Miku as the jazz music picked up.
"What's she doing?" Tohka asked confused.
"I have... no idea... at all..." Origami said somewhat tiredly.
"Hey, you alright?" Kotori asked.
"Yeah, I... think this jazz music... is just making me sleepy." Origami replied.
Miku moved her body according to the music's rhythm and with the stand mike in her hands-she started singing an instrumental with her sweet voice.
- (* Seiken Tsukai No World Break - Dragon Heart *) -
The tone of music that Miku sang was quite intriguing, no one had heard Miku sing without lyrics before, so this song was totally different from the songs everyone had heard Miku sing as an idol, but the feelings put into it were no different.
Miku soon took the mike off the stand and strode about the stage with a captivating walk style, walking over to a female danger before stroking her. She looked towards Shido as a spot light hit.
"What the!?" Shido said, blushing a bit.
Miku smiled charmingly, she got off the stage in tune with the band and walked towards Shido. The spot light pouring onto Miku and the back dancers moved accordingly with her, once Miku reached Shido, she took his hands and leaded him around.
Shido looked a little surprised by the act as Miku spun him around, and soon Mayuri made a hand signal.
"Deploy the couch!" Nakatsugawa declared.
Suddenly from out of nowhere, a grand sofa comes out of the wall prepared for them. After Miku made Shido sat there, she gently sat on his thighs and while performing a princess carry, she continued singing the song.
"...Anyone feeling this song's starting to get a little saucy?" Rinne asked.
"Maybe a little." Maria replied nervously.
"Huh?" Rio asked confused.
Miku soon got close to Shido, soon tracing her hands in a shape just like a heart, and pointing at Shido like a finger gun, making a gesture as if he shot him in his own. All while slowly saying...
"Darling. I... love... YOU!" Miku exclaimed, winking right after.
Shido suddenly stood up, falling over and making a sound as if he had actually been shot.
"Oh my Miku, you didn't just woo me... you shot me right through the heart." Shido said in amazement.
- (*insert song end*) -
Miku smiled before touching Shido's lips with her finger and then leaving a deep kiss, everyone suddenly blinked as she kept going for a bit. Kotori and Tohka both went red and looked away, Origami was red too for... different reasons.
Rinne blinked before clearing her throat loudly and getting everyone's attention.
"OK, moving on. It's Origami and then Tohka for the grand finale, isn't it?" Rinne asked, looking towards the said Light Spirit.
"Y-yesh... ah'm the next one ahp." Origami slurred.
Everyone suddenly looked at her strangely as Origami wobbled a bit towards Shido. Rinne sweated a bit as she looked at the drink she had.
"Uh... hey sis, can we get an analysis on Origami's drink?" Rinne asked worriedly.
Reine soon had the Ratatoskr mainframe scan the saliva from Origami's cup.
"I'm pretty sure that was soda." Reine said to herself.
"Analysis completed, and... it is soda. I don't get it?" Mikimoto stated confused.
Everyone gave an odd looking face at that.
Kannazuki soon thought for a bit, and soon he suddenly paled as he remembered something the one time during a particularly hot day in June when he took Kurumi and Yoshino out to a diner. Kurumi had a cola where Yoshino had a simply Sprite, and something odd happened with the former.
"You look panicked, what's the problem." Kawagoe asked as he saw Kannazuki's face.
"I thought it might have just been dehydration, but remember when I took Yoshino and Kurumi for drinks during that one day back in Summer? Well... Kurumi's drink was a caffeinated Coca Cola. I may be guessing on a limb, but what if to a Spirit, caffeine mixed with fizz is..." Kannazuki trailed off.
Everyone paled at that.
"She's drunk... ON A SODA!?" Reine exclaimed in shock.
"She's drunk... ON A SODA!?"
Everyone in the room suddenly went white as they saw Origami hiccup after finally reaching Shido. Shido looked just as confused as they did, and tried to hold her steady. Origami giggled a bit before leaning against Shido slightly.
Shido sweated a bit, and soon began walking to the couch with her.
"Maybe you need to sit down for a minute?" Shido suggested.
"Whah do ah need to sit? I... cwant do hwelp it... if I fwailed. Anyway, nwext..." Origami slurred, hiccupping a bit.
Shido looked at Origami worriedly.
Origami blinked a bit, and luckily was still a bit mentally sober to realize something.
"...I think that ah... meeght be... dwunk..." Origami replied in a slurred manner.
"You are drunk!" Rinne shouted.
At that moment, Origami grabbed Shido's face and got close to him.
Shido looked a bit nervous, giving a fearful look, but the moment Origami saw it... she suddenly started crying to everyone's surprise! Her sobbing got worse and worse, making everyone look at her, wondering what being drunk had made her cry over.
"Wha ah you lwooking at me... twhat way Shido? Ah just wanted to hwave a good time with ywou... why ah you lwooking at me like ywou hate me nwow?" Origami sobbed, tears flowing down her cheeks.
"I-I don't hate you Origami, it's just that you're drunk and-" Shido replied.
"Ah'm not dwunk, ha dware you!" Origami screamed while still crying.
"And now she forgot she's drunk..." Tohka said worriedly.
"Oh boy..." Mayuri added.
Origami soon cries again, this time softer. She gives a cute look towards Shido, one that made her eyes sparkle somehow.
Shido saw her make a begging look towards him.
"Uh... what's up Origami, are you-" Shido wondered.
"In the fwirst place... It's also your fwault Shido for being ywourself... why are ywou so cwool? This just... this is..." Origami sniffled.
Shido felt himself blush a bit.
"Origami?" Shido asked.
"...whenever I twhink of Shido, it just feels fwuffy inside of me... but it feels a little painful at the same time... all because..."
Origami soon snuggled up against Shido.
"Shwido... I love... I really love you. I love ywou so much... that I am hwelpless against it!" Origami cried loudly.
Shido blushed a bit before Origami hiccuped and fell forwards, kissing him by complete accident as she fell unconscious on the floor. Rinne walks over to pick her up, soon leaning a cup of water to her mouth.
"Poor girl, who knew soda would do this to her?" Rinne wondered.
"Let's check for caffeine in the future." Mayuri replied.
Nia soon grabbed her pen as she wrote in Raziel.
[Oh boy, what are you thinking of now Nia? I know that face of yours all too well... and it means you've got a crazy idea.]
"Oh, I'm just making sure they have a proving ground. After all... it isn't really proving anything to me if they just breeze through this. So, as a result..." Nia answered.
Soon the pages of Raziel show her words, {Right before Tohka kisses him, change Shido's meltdown being averted by everyone having kissed him into needing to-}
Unfortunately, whatever words were left never got the chance to be red before they vanished.
"My fellow Spirits, show me... show me what you can do with the limited strength you have right now and the ultimate problem against you." Nia smirked darkly.
Raziel gave off unseen worry at what Nia just chose to do.
Tohka grabbed a whole plate of food and ate it in an instant, soon wiping her face with a napkin before giving a determined look.
"OK! Time to bring this to an end, it's my turn now!" Tohka cheered.
"Good luck Tohka, it's all up to you now." Rinne smiled, waving a fan over Origami.
"My head... never touching... cola again..." Origami groaned.
Rinne pats her head.
"Tohka, we've wooed him in a lot of ways, you think you've got something original that will do the trick?" Kotori asked.
"Of course, it's quite simple... Shido and I fell in love when we first met, that's all I need to do!" Tohka smiled.
Everyone blinked at that.
Rinne chuckled a bit, a sweat drop trickling down her face.
"Well... she's not exactly wrong on that." Rinne admitted.
"Tohka, please have another plan just to be safe." Kotori requested.
"OK, OK. I'll make a backup plan." Tohka chuckled nervously.
Tohka grabbed a notebook, and began thinking while making brief pause expressions as she thought, making Rio giggle a bit.
Soon she smiled as she thought up her spare plans.
"Done!" Tohka smiled cheerfully.
"Okay, are you ready Tohka?" Reine asked.
"I'm ready! Leave it to me!" Tohka cheered.
Tohka energetically jogged over to the sofa Shido was sitting on.
...Unfortunately, since she was wearing a dress and shoes that she wasn't used to, her legs got tangled up half-way and caused her fall flat on her face. Everyone sweat dropped at the sight.
"Ow..." Tohka groaned.
"Tohka! Are you okay!?" Origami exclaimed, soon holding her head as her hangover hit her
"Y-yeah... no problem!" Tohka said, shakily getting back on her feet
Tohka soon stood up and got back on her feet, rubbing her face and fixing herself up before she began walking to Shido.
However, Tohka got a waft of a food's aroma in her nose and suddenly looked at the mountain sized feast in the room.
"Ah! Quick, move the food towards Shido, move it!" Kotori exclaimed.
Everyone quickly ran over and tried to get all the food they could, getting Tohka confused as her eyes spun like spirals. She bopped herself in the head before blinking and regaining her senses, all the food moved over near Shido.
Reine face palmed from her location, looking at some of the Fraxinus crew members. Everyone began whistling.
"Seriously, what made any of you think that was a good idea?" Reine sighed.
Tohka soon sat by Shido, and soon used her fork to make a huge ball of spaghetti.
"Open wide Shido." Tohka smiled.
"W-wait... all of that? Tohka, I don't think I can-" Shido answered.
Tohka put the spaghetti in Shido's mouth, who somehow managed to swallow all of it at once without any issues.
Everyone sweat dropped at that.
"I hope that plan isn't win his heart through his stomach." Maria said worried.
"Me too." Mayuri nodded.
"That was really good Tohka." Shido replied, hoping she wouldn't shovel another big bite in.
"Here's another bite Shido, you haven't had much other than a slice of Mana's cake today haven't you?" Tohka asked, smiling as she held a piece of steak to him.
Shido suddenly had his eye twitch.
'I should have eaten more!' Shido said worriedly.
Soon enough, Shido's stomach grumbled loudly, making Tohka giggle a bit as Shido blushed in surprise.
Shido sighed and just let Tohka feed him the food she gathered.
Soon enough, Tohka's stomach growled as well.
"...Oh dear, I should eat too. Wait, that give me an idea!" Tohka asked, soon holding out a piece of bread.
Everyone widened their eyes, smirking a bit as they realized where this was going.
Shido blushed, and Tohka motioned the bread near him, and soon he sighed.
"Alright, looks like you've got me Tohka, you've wooed me in the one way I couldn't guard it from." Shido admitted.
"Yay!" Tohka cheered.
"YES!" Everyone exclaimed.
Tohka put the end of bread in Shido's mouth, and soon quickly devoured it before giving him a kiss. Making Shido blush more before he wobbled a bit... however, something odd happened after.
Or rather, what was odd as nothing happened. Reine looked at the spirit paths and saw no changed.
"...Something's wrong, the paths are changing back to normal. Why? Everyone kissed him, so why wouldn't they-"
Suddenly alarms went off, and everyone looked at them in alarm.
At worse, at that moment... Shido suddenly screamed in pain, feeling his head flare in agony before his cyan Reiryoku manifested as a shaky aura, and then the Reiryoku colors of the Spirits he's sealed flashed alongside them.
S-Shido! Are you okay! What's going on!?" Tohka asked worriedly.
"The pain... it's too much!" Shido exclaimed painfully.
Shido soon gave a distorted scream of pain, and his body started glowing-and caused a strong impact wave that knocked everyone in the room to the walls. Tohka turned her head a bit, Shido's eyes soon lost their light, almost like full animal-like instincts had taken him over.
His outfit changed back to normal, and soon enough... Shido broke through the roof of the building and gave a scream like roar into the sky as he jumped down onto the streets. He continued roaring, and soon enough the act reached the Round Table's attention.
Nia smirked as she knew what was coming next.
"You'll see it any second now, karma paying your treachery in the worst way possible." Nia stated as she stood up and looked at the sky.
Nia had just written something new in Raziel's pages, and that writing was...
Elliot and Karen watched in horror from their location in the base, worried what had just happened.
"No choice, time to pull the trigger." The ugly cat doll replied.
"Wait stop! This just started, you can't-" Elliot ordered desperately.
"Sorry Elliot, but you're too soft. Now someone willing to risk sacrifices will do what this world needs." The ugly cat doll replied.
Soon a sound went off as the system for the Dáinsleif started up.
[Dáinsleif system activated, preparing to fire at target Shido Takamiy-mi-mi-mi-m-m-m-m-m-ERROR! ERROR! ERROR!]
Everyone who heard that was confused.
"What's going on here!?" The drooling dog asked confused.
"Why is it malfunctioning?" The crying mouse said worriedly.
[...Correcting data, preparing to fire at the target of Tenguu City, beginning annihilation now. Removing restrictions and cancelling code.]
"What!? No, abort it, emergency override code Balmung!" The ugly cat doll exclaimed.
Unfortunately, the screens beep and show a giant red 'X' symbol... they couldn't stop it, the Dáinsleif was now a weapon that would slowly destroy Tenguu City if Shido's meltdown didn't take it out first.
The only way to stop it now? Nia's recent writing in Raziel had the only answer, and that answer was...
{...Destroy the Dáinsleif and Shido's meltdown will be undone.}
Serves those Round Table jerks right, the very weapon they made against Elliot's wishes to eliminate Shido? Nia's bent all the rules into her favor just by having it 'accidentally' run into Mukuro who messed it up and made it from an anti-Shido weapon to an anti-Tenguu City weapon. Worse, while she can stop it by just writing for it to explode, Nia's truly pushing the Spirits to prove they're not just helping people out of convenience. Don't misunderstand this, I'm not trying to make Nia evil, I'm hinting towards something else... something with a bit more despair? *giggles* :3
And there you have it, Marina confirmed the harem will be limited to the Sephira Spirits. This is because, with the exception of Rio due to her Shido's daughter, I'd rather have every extracanonical Spirit be in the harem rather than some. Since this story's version of Rinne is Shido and Mana's mom, and Mayuri's planning to be adopted by Reine, the Arusu siblings aren't joining the harem. For an in-story reason, Maria 's experiment mentioned in the previous chapter left her seeing him more as part of the Ratatoskr family, while Marina can't see him that way because were once enemies.
Oh, and the scene with Origami getting drunk on caffeinated soda? That's semi-canon (the soda part, not the caffeine), in the Date A Party manga (and luckily the chapter with this is translated so you can see it), Kurumi gets drunk from drinking a bunch of cola. So at least in Date A Party's universe, spirits can't handle fizz, I mainly did this because in canon, Origami puts in some kind of powder in her drink, since that's from Old Timeline Origami though... yeah, had to think of a different way. Thank you for existing Date A Party, you saved me there.
Next chapter, it's time to save Shido and face off against the threat of the Dáinsleif satellite, and if the scene above with Mana doesn't help give you a clue... she's about to experience something big. So, see you all next time everyone, and until then... stay awesome! ^^
-Spirit Bond Levels & Passive Abilities-
Tohka - 100%, MAX (Form a mana barrier automatically)
Origami - 99% (Teleport Dodging)
Yoshino - 99% (Dampen enemy territories)
Kotori - 99% (Healing from fatal wounds minus losing his head, doesn't work on wounds caused by blunt force)
Kurumi - 99% (Hide in his shadow, and only his)
Rinne - (Summon a weakened copy of Uriel)
Natsumi - 99% (Transform into Shiori)
Kaguya - 96% (Flight)
Yuzuru - 96% (Weight Manipulation)
Miku - 90% (Pain Reliever)
Maria - (Restore dying/withered/dead vegetation and plant life)
Marina - (Remove toxins or other harmful substances, either from a living creature or an object)
Rio - (Creates a soothing aura of Reiryoku to reduce a sealed Spirit's anger)