Yoshino's first fight, and it's against Best Girl!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Date A Live.

"Yoshino" Speaking normally

"Yoshinon" Speaking mentally

"Zadkiel" Summoning Astral Dress/Angel or using special skill/ability

Yoshino's POV

The two of us glare at each other in a standstill. Kurumi is one of the strongest spirits on canon, and fighting her this early feels like I'm fighting one of those forced loss battles. But in this scenario, losing will mean death, and I do not plan on dying this early.

I quickly compare our stats using my past knowledge. Kurumi is definitely stronger, with her Strength and Reiryoku being slightly higher than mine, and her Consistency is only 2 points lower. But without Aleph, my Agility beats hers by a bit more than double, which means my main advantage will be my speed.

I take a quick glance around the battlefield. I could probably use those trees as cover.

"Look out, partner!" Yoshinon warns me that Kurumi's about to attack, and I quickly move my body into a run to avoid the gunfire.

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

Kurumi keeps shooting at me, but the trees help block some of the bullets. I leap up onto one of the tree branches, and Kurumi aims at me and shoots me again, but I dodge by jumping into the air and retaliate by forming icicles and firing them at Kurumi, who had her pistol pointed at herself.

"Aleph!" She shoots herself and vanishes in a show of speed, leaving my icicles to strike where she was. Damn, she just used Aleph.

Landing on the ground, I keep my guard up, looking around for where she might be, with Yoshinon being my extra set of eyes. My danger senses flare, telling me something was behind me, but I didn't have enough time to react before I left the barrel of a gun on the back of my head.

"You have a bit more skill than the other Spirits I face." I hear Kurumi say. "However, this is the end of the line for you."

I panic a little since I'm so close to death, but I close my eyes and take a silent breath to calm myself, focusing my Reiryoku into gas. "Sorry, but I don't plan on dying yet." I say, before quickly turning my body into mist.

"What!?" Kurumi obviously didn't expect that as I move the mist to reform some distance behind her. Changing my Reiryoku into liquid, I swing my free arm and release a water slice at Kurumi. She clearly wasn't surprised for long as she dodged my attack. "It seems you've got a few surprises under your sleeve."

I narrow my eyes at Kurumi and send more water slices at Kurumi. She twisted her body to dodge the diagonal slices before jumping over the one fired horizontally, and then comes down for a diving kick, which I dodge by moving back slightly, before ducking under a swing from her musket and then jumping back in a backflip over her her kick. I form ice daggers in my free hand during my backflip, and threw them at Kurumi at the apex of my jump, but she destroys them with pinpoint shots from her rifle as I land.

"You're not half bad, but you'll need to do more than that if you want to beat me." Kurumi says as if taunting me. "Although, I imagine it must be hard to fight with one hand being occupied my a puppet." I grit my teeth at that comment. She's basically saying Yoshinon is holding me back, which makes me a bit angry.

"Well, Yoshinon means, she does have a point." Yoshinon says meekly. "You'd probably fight a lot better with both hands."

"Don't say that, Yoshinon." I immediately tell her, taking my eyes off Kurumi. "I'm not-"

"Look out!" Yoshinon warns me, and I quickly form a dome of ice for protection from Kurumi's bullets.

"Yoshinon, even if you are just a hand puppet, you're more than that to me." I tell her. "You're my friend, and the other half that completes me. I'm not dropping you no matter what."

Yoshinon looks surprised before nodding. "You're right. We're partners, and nothing's gonna separate us!"

I smile. Even though we had only just met, we already have a very strong bond between us.

And that bond... can be made into our weapon.

Kurumi's POV

I keep my guns focused on that dome of ice, waiting for the Spirit to drop it.

If it wasn't for that puppet giving her a warning, the fight would've been over the moment the little girl turned her gaze away from me. Not to mention, I would've had them if not for that mist trick.

Based on what I've seen so far, this Spirit has the ability to manipulate water in all three of its forms. The ice can be used both offensively and defensively, the water seems to be purely offense, and the mist is more for utility. She's also pretty fast, but nothing I can't overcome using my First Bullet.

I'm not sure what other tricks she has up her sleeve, but I have to stay vigilant-

*SHATTER*

Just then, the ice dome shatters and the girl reveals herself, but there was one difference that surprised me.

Gone was the rabbit puppet on her left hand, in its place, she held a white scythe in her right.

Yoshino's POV

"Yoshino, do you trust me?"

"More than anything, partner!"

With an affirming nod between the two of us, I close my eyes and focus my Reiryoku once more, this time channeling Zadkiel's towards my left hand - towards Yoshinon. She glows as a result of this, as if her essence has become mixed into Zadkiel's, and the moment it reaches its peak, I grab Yoshinon and pull her off my hand.

She begins to change as a result of this - her form elongating at both ends.. The glow ends, and Yoshinon's form solidifies into my desired weapon - a white scythe with white outlines on the pole, with a fan of diamond-shaped crystals near the end and another diamond crystal forming the tip. The blade of the scythe was a crystalline blue, with two smaller blades poking out of the other end like a pair of teeth, and finally, at the top of the pole where the blades stick out is a red orb.

To be honest, I always had a thing for scythes. They're very complex and hard to use, but the characters that do use them looked so cool. Soul Eater's Maka Albarn was definitely one of my favorites, and wielding Yoshinon like this, I can't help but feel like the two of us are Maka and Soul.

"Ooh, Yoshinon's loving this new look!" Yoshinon says from the scythe, and I see the red orb flashing as she speaks. "Let's take it for a spin, partner!"

Yes, let's do it.

With a swipe of my new weapon, I shatter the ice dome. Seeing the look of surprise on Kurumi's face, I smirk and clench of now free left hand, converging the shattered ice into icicles and sending them at her. She barely dodges and aims her pistol to shoot at me, but I block her shots with my scythe and charge forward, slashing her across her side as I hear Kurumi grunt and fall to her knees behind me.

"Woo yeah! This feels great!" Yoshinon exclaims excitedly. "Did you see the look on her face!? She really didn't expect that!"

I chuckle, glad that Yoshinon likes her new form. Admittedly, I'm amazed that I was able to pull it off, but I guess that proves how strong our bond is. Looking back at Kurumi, I see her shoot herself and then stand back up. Looks like she used Dalet to heal herself.

"I see. So, your puppet friend is also your weapon." She says as she turns to face me once again. "You're quite the tricky little Spirit. I guess I'll have to get serious then."

"Get ready, partner! It's time for Round 2!"

I steel myself and take a stance. If she wants to keep fighting, I'll have to-

"Kurumi, wait!"

A flash of light appears in between us, and I freeze as I see the last person I would rather meet this early stand before me.

Kurumi, on the other hand, looks surprised. "Mio? What are you doing here?"

Mio Takamiya. The Spirit of Origin, and the one pulling the strings behind the entire plot of Date A Live.

"I sensed you using your Reiryoku and wondered what was going on, and then I sensed another Reiryoku signature and knew you were fighting someone, but I had to hurry here when I realized who you were fighting."

"Wait, you know this girl?"

"Yes. Her name is Yoshino. I met her a week ago, even if she does not remember it. She was dying from an illness her doctors could not cure because they didn't have the funds to do so, so I gave her a second chance in life by making her one of us." A week ago? So this is only a week after Yoshino became a Spirit?

"I see." Kurumi did not look happy hearing I was pretty much left to die. "Well, I'm glad that you decided to save her, but making her an ally of justice? Isn't she a bit young for that?"

"I admit that our duty is dangerous for someone of her age, but you've experienced her skill for yourself. She can make a powerful ally, and I trust that she will make the right choice." The two stared at me, and I could feel the judgement of their gazes. "Anyway, we must make haste. A new Spirit has emerged - a Flame Spirit. We need to stop it before it causes harm."

Kurumi nods. "Right. Lead the way."

I watch as the two leave in the direction of the out-of-control Spirit, leaving me to my thoughts.

"So that's that Mio lady, huh?" Yoshinon asks. "Even Yoshinon could feel how strong she was." 'Strong' does little to justify Mio's power. She created the Spirits in order to revive her lover, Shinji Takamiya, into a god-like being who would stay with her forever, and with her own OP abilities, there was no winning against her in a head-on battle. Not to mention the way she looked at me... There's no way she hasn't realized "Yoshino's" change.

"Wait, did she say that a Flame Spirit just appeared?"

My eyes widen the moment Yoshinon repeats those words, and I now realize what's about to happen.

"Oh no."

Kurumi's POV

Yet another Spirit defeated.

Admittedly, this one proved a bit more difficult, if only due to having just fought that Yoshino girl beforehand, but nothing a few precise shot couldn't handle.

As I was about to leave for Sawa's place and leave Mio to do the usual clean-up, I pause as a thought came to my mind. Perhaps I should introduce Mio to Sawa? I'm sure the two would make good friends.

As I turn around to propose the idea-

"Kurumi!"

I hear a familiar voice and am surprised to see Yoshino running up to me, her rabbit friend back in its puppet form. "Yoshino? What are you doing here?" She stops in front of me and looks up at me. Her face looks panicked. Is something wrong?

"Kurumi, what happened to the Flame Spirit!?" She asks, sounding urgent.

"Oh, did you decide that you wanted to help?" I hum in thought. "I suppose with your abilities you could've made things easier. But, I already killed it, so maybe next time." I give her a kind smile, hoping to ease her worries, but instead, she looks down with a grim look on her face.

"I'm too late." She mutters.

"Is something wrong?" I ask, starting to get worried.

She looks up at me, her face now seeming... apologetic? Why? "Head back and you will see." That's all she tells me. Well, I was gonna head back to invite Mio to Sawa's, so I suppose it works out.

The two of us head back to where I defeated the Flame Spirit. "Mio, I want to ask-" The words died in my throat as I step upon a scene that left me standing in horror.

Where the Flame Spirit had laid dead, there was now a dead human girl in its place. Not only that, but Mio was standing in front of her, turning to face us when I called to her, allowing me to see a red crystal in her hand. I immediately recognized it as a Sephira Crystal, similar to the one that gave me my powers.

But what really horrified me was the human corpse. It was sprawled in a way that I could see her face - a face I knew very well. It was Sawa.

Sawa was the Flame Spirit that I killed.

I killed my best friend.

Oooooh shit.