Date a Live:Date Under The Moon Chapter 268 268: Let’s Draw Manga

Five minutes later.

Nia hung up the phone. Everyone sat around the round table, and all of them looked at Mikoto with expressions that were either worried or grave.

"Are you okay, Mikoto?"

Natsumi asked uneasily.

Mikoto had accepted Nia's request. That ant the girl's secret might really be drawn into a manga by Nia—and published in the extrely popular manga weekly, BLAST.

"Sorry, Mikoto. I didn't expect you to get dragged into this too."

Kotori said apologetically.

She knew that Mikoto had a little secret, and she also knew that Mikoto did not want that secret to be known by others.

She had not expected the girl to use that secret as a wager in order to help Shido capture Nia.

For Ratatoskr, whose greatest mission was the happiness of Spirits, this could be called sowhat negligent.

"I'm fine, Natsumi."

Mikoto gently shook her head, then looked at Kotori and smiled.

"You too, Kotori. Rather than apologizing, as long as we win, it'll be fine, right?"

"Th-that's true."

Hearing Mikoto's words, Kotori finally realized that what she had said earlier really did not suit her black ribbon self.

Rather than feeling guilty over Mikoto's sacrifice, what mattered most right now was how to beat Nia.

In other words, as long as they beat Nia, Mikoto's secret would be protected.

"In that case, let's begin. First, what we need to determine is—everyone's drawing skill."

Kotori looked at everyone and said seriously.

"Haa…"

On the other side, Nia lay on the bed in her apartnt and sighed.

By the ti she ca back to herself, she had already unconsciously made things difficult for Mikoto.

Mikoto's secret was sothing she had learned when investigating Mikoto's eting with Shido.

The omniscient Angel had told Nia every conversation Shido and Mikoto had, until…

_______________

"What the heck? Isn't this just amazing?!"

When she learned Mikoto's secret, she was so excited that she spilled beer all over herself.

Drawing a girl and then insisting she was actually a boy—Nia felt that a plot like that was simply too wonderful. Even if it was not for the sake of making things hard for Mikoto, that kind of plot was extrely suitable to draw into manga, and it could greatly move her "maiden heart."

That was why during the Akihabara date, she had hurriedly called Mikoto over.

However, this ti, she had used that little secret as a bargaining chip to threaten Mikoto.

Actually, the girl's request was very simple:

"If Nia finds our manga interesting, could you please use that Angel to investigate the bonds between Shido and all of us?"

Nia understood what Mikoto was thinking.

No matter how hard Mikoto and the others tried to draw a manga, with such limited ti and pages, it was impossible to draw a manga that could make Nia fall in love with Shido. At most, it could reach the level of "fairly interesting."

But Rasiel was different.

The omniscient Angel could fully show everything about everyone to Nia.

And that was also what Mikoto hoped for—the strongest "manga book" in the world, of which only one copy existed.

If Nia were not still angry at Shido and the others, then for her, who possessed Rasiel, this would be nothing more than a small effort.

However…

(Was it because I knew Miko-chan went to BLAST to investigate ? Or because she said exactly what I was thinking?)

That was right.

Nia had never used Rasiel to investigate Takajo.

She was afraid she would beco disappointed in soone again because of it.

Thinking carefully, if she did not have Rasiel, Nia would definitely have been a much more ordinary Spirit.

However, at so point, a certain curiosity had welled up inside her heart.

How exactly had she, as a Spirit, been born?

Driven by that curiosity, she used Rasiel.

As a result, after learning the truth, Nia nearly vomited out the contents of her stomach.

Along with that, a poison called distrust began growing deep inside her heart.

Nia used her Angel to investigate everyone around her, her friends, and even the clerks at the shops she often visited.

The more she investigated, the more she trusted no one.

Unfortunately, in order to live in society, interaction with other people was unavoidable.

And so, Nia put on a mask and treated everyone around her like NPCs. That way, she did not need to trust anyone, and she could still live well.

(Ah, I understand. So that's what it was?)

As she recalled all of that, Nia also understood why she had made things so hard for Mikoto after hearing her request.

It must have been because the girl's words contained this aning—

The bonds between Shido and the Spirits are pure, flawless, and beautiful, just like 2D.

"Don't joke around."

Nia rolled over and muttered in dissatisfaction.

There was no way such bonds existed.

That was an existence Honjou Nia absolutely denied.

The real world was filthy. The relationships between those Spirits and Shido should have been like a palace drama, full of deception, sches, and backstabbing.

But…

If there was even the tiniest possibility…

If there really was friendship, family love, or romantic love that pure and flawless…

Thinking that, Nia unconsciously reached out her hand.

As long as she touched Rasiel, she would surely know everything.

(I should stop after all.)

But the instant she was about to touch Rasiel, Nia lowered her hand in disappointnt.

She was afraid that the omniscient Angel would once again tell her just how cruel the world was, and just how dark reality was.

"Ara, even though you have such a convenient Angel, you won't use it yourself?"

At that mont, an unfamiliar voice appeared inside Nia's room.

"Who?"

Along with Nia's voice, a shadow spread out from the corner. A girl wearing a red and black Astral Dress slowly erged from the shadows.

The one who appeared before Nia was Kurumi.

The girl had been searching for Nia, searching for this Spirit who possessed an omniscient Angel—for the sake of fulfilling her long cherished wish.

After an exchange so tense it almost froze the air, the Spirit of Ti impatiently got to the main topic.

"…Please tell —the cause and reason the Origin Spirit appeared thirty years ago, the exact coordinates and ti of that appearance, that Spirit's abilities, and the thod to kill them."

______________

On the other side, inside Ratatoskr's underground facility, the Spirits each handed the manga they had drawn to Kotori.

Mikoto was not good at drawing.

Even if she could read Tsukuyomi's mories, leaving aside whether the goddess could draw manga or not, just from a ti perspective, even if reading mories was like a cheat-level crash course, it was still too slow.

After all, the deadline was two days later, on December 31.

But it was fine.

In comparison, the Yamai sisters had gone through countless rounds of competitions and were skilled in many things. Origami could do almost anything except capture Shido through normal thods. And Shido himself had drawing skills from his dark history in middle school.

Among everyone present, at least four people could draw.

Not to ntion…

In the end, they also discovered a dark horse nad Natsumi.

Perhaps because she had once imitated a manga artist, Natsumi's drawing skills could almost be called professional level.

And so, the main artists were decided.

As for the remaining people, they would be responsible for thinking up the plot and working hard to co up with an interesting story.

The division of labor was completed.

After that ca the insane battlefield of the final two days before the deadline.

However…

(This still isn't enough.)

Mikoto furrowed her brows slightly and thought uneasily.