Date a Live:This is not the date I wanted! Chapter 245 245: Starting, The Spirits's Reverse Conquest

Ellen, looking irritated and annoyed, walked aggressively down the hallway of the DEM temporary office building.

Her mouth was a tight line, her brow was furrowed, and even her footsteps seed rough. For Ellen, who constantly reminded herself that every move of the strongest must be elegant, this was an extrely rare state of affairs.

However, this was only natural. Even though she hadn't equipped a CR-Unit, being played for a fool by a re human like Itsuka Shido was an imnse humiliation for the prideful Ellen.

"...Damn it!"

The more she told herself not to think about it, the more the hateful face of that boy surfaced in her mind. Ellen gritted her teeth, clenched her fist, and punched the wall of the hallway.

"Ow..."

It hurt more than she imagined. Ellen crouched on the ground with tears in her eyes.

But now was not the ti for this. Yes, because as soon as she returned to the company, Ellen received a summons from Westcott. After adjusting her mindset, Ellen took the elevator to the destination room and knocked on the door.

"—Ike, it's ."

"Oh, co in."

"Excuse ."

Opening the door and walking into the office, Westcott was, as always, sitting leisurely in his chair waiting for Ellen.

"Sorry for calling you over so suddenly."

"Not at all. Is there a problem regarding 'Material A'?"

"Ah, that's part of it. It seems the transport plane was attacked by 'Nightmare' before departure."

Hearing her boss talk about such a serious matter as if discussing a cup of tea, Ellen couldn't help but frown.

"Attacked by 'Nightmare'... Is the transport plane okay?"

"Thanks to the escorting Wizards, it successfully escaped."

"...Well. Considering the strength of Adeptus 2, that's a matter of course."

Ellen wasn't too surprised by this outco. In fact, Tokisaki Kurumi's initial appearance at the DEM Japan Branch had already alerted Ellen and the others. The enemy showing up to hijack "Material A" was expected early on, and Artemisia was dispatched precisely to prevent this kind of situation.

Although she was a bit curious about how the other party accurately pinpointed the location of "Material A" despite the transport route being constantly changed, considering the other party was related to that unreasonable and troubleso Hacker, it wasn't too strange.

"And? Ike, since you said 'part of it' just now, does that an there's sothing else you called here for?"

"As expected of Ellen, very sharp. That's right, I called you here for another matter."

Westcott praised Ellen and continued.

"While you were out, a strange spirit wave was detected in the city. At first, I thought it was a new Spirit. But looking closely, the situation seed a bit off, like many spirit waves were forcibly compressed together."

"While I was out—ah?"

Pondering Westcott's words, Ellen suddenly recalled the boy who had suppressed her with strange powers and humiliated her not long ago.

"So, I want you to—"

"—Please leave it to !"

Before Westcott could finish, Ellen rushed to the desk and accepted the mission with an undeniable, terrifying montum.

"You're very motivated. Did sothing happen?"

Westcott looked at Ellen in surprise.

"Nothing, sa as always. —I will definitely bring the target's head before you."

"No, if possible, I'd like you to bring him back as a specin."

________________________

One Shiori! Two Shioris! Three Shioris... In every corner of the streets and alleys, Itsuka Shiori's figure could be seen everywhere. The entire Tengu City had shockingly turned into a Shiori paradise.

In this world full of Shioris, there is no war, no sorrow, no pain. Everywhere is brimming with laughter and joy, like an unreachable ideal land, a beautiful and peaceful utopia. Ryougi Yutsuki arrived at this isolated peach blossom spring and lived happily ever after with the Itsuka Shioris here...

"Yutsuki-nee! Yutsuki-nee!"

"—Ah?"

The shouting in her ears snapped Yutsuki back to reality.

Looking around blankly, she was currently sitting in the conference room of the underground facility with everyone else, and Kotori and the others were looking at her in confusion.

"What's wrong, Yutsuki-nee? Did you think of a proposal?"

"Um... Shiori Paradise?"

Not entirely processing Kotori's question, Yutsuki subconsciously blurted out what was in her mind.

"What's that? Honey, I'm extrely curious!"

Miku's eyes instantly sparkled. Yutsuki then realized she had accidentally spoken her delusion out loud and hurriedly waved her hands in denial.

"No, no, no—It's nothing. Don't mind what I just said."

"Yutsuki-chan, you looked like you thought of sothing very interesting just now. You were even drooling."

"—!"

Having her embarrassing pointed out by Yoshinon, Yutsuki hurriedly wiped the corner of her mouth clean.

"She's probably still lost in the afterglow of Shiori's embrace."

Origami calmly stated her guess. Although a bit off, it was close enough. In an instant, Yutsuki felt Kotori's piercing gaze causing a subtle sting.

"Yutsuki-nee, could you please take this seriously?"

"...Yes. I spaced out. I am very sorry."

Knowing she was in the wrong, Yutsuki bowed her head and apologized.

(...Ah, I ssed up.)

Yutsuki thought in distress.

Not long ago, during the discussion on "How to resolve the congestion in Shido's Spirit power paths?", the person in question, Shido, and his sister Kotori had a disagreent. Although Shido himself didn't object to Kotori's thod, he requested that the ans to resolve the issue—kissing—be handled as romantically and beautifully as possible. Kotori's attitude, however, was that if it could be resolved, it should be done quickly without unnecessary complications.

If asked whose view was correct, Yutsuki would undoubtedly support Kotori. However, Shido cleverly exploited Yutsuki's weakness, using Natsumi's power to turn himself into Shiori, causing Yutsuki to defect instantly. Furthermore, when Kotori tried to force the issue, Yutsuki proactively helped Shiori escape the scene.

Although they knew this was just Yutsuki's personality and didn't really bla her, Yutsuki could feel that her credibility in everyone's hearts had plumted.

(But why did I suddenly have such a daydream... Co to think of it, if Shido hadn't proactively dispersed the crowd beforehand, and I hadn't suddenly changed sides, Shido probably would have turned into Shiori to stop Kotori from force-kissing him anyway. Without my cover, would Shido have turned everyone into Shiori look-alikes and escaped in the confusion...)

For so reason, Yutsuki suddenly felt an inexplicable regret.

(Forget it, now is not the ti to be thinking about such things.)

Tossing those unnecessary distracting thoughts aside, Yutsuki began to face the current situation squarely.

Just now, Yutsuki had heard about Shido's current condition from Kotori. Although she already had so guesses in her heart, the actual situation was much worse than expected.

To make Shido willing to kiss the Spirits, every single person here had to go on a date with him and make his heart throb. To achieve this goal, everyone gathered here to discuss specific plans.

Dating while eating at the food street; having fun at the amusent park; a heart-pounding cosplay operation; a mature-thed date from a café to a bar... Everyone chid in with their ideas.

Among them, Miku was selectively ignored by everyone because she kept clamoring and asking if they could turn Shido into Shiori forever, completely failing to follow the topic. Natsumi self-destructed, turning pale halfway through her muttering. Origami had the very ambitious proposal of playing on a nude beach, but it was naturally vetoed.

By the way, Yutsuki also tried to seriously propose so ideas after that, but they were criticized as "too ordinary" or "lacking impact" and, unsurprisingly, eliminated.

(Ah—I'm really not good at this kind of thing.)

Yutsuki thought with a distressed face.

If it were about ntal age, Yutsuki was confident she was the most mature among everyone. But when it ca to dating experience and femininity, she was probably at the very bottom.

(A heart-throbbing date, huh... This is bad, I have absolutely no confidence.)

Recalling her few dates with Shido in the past. Yutsuki realized that although she was very happy, she rarely experienced that so-called heart-pounding feeling.

If she put herself in a male's position to think, Yutsuki could co up with so heart-pounding scenarios. But would her interests apply to Shido? If she ssed up, it might backfire. Such worries made Yutsuki even less confident than Natsumi.

At the end of the discussion, synthesizing everyone's opinions, several satisfactory plans were selected. The Spirits' Reverse Conquest Date A Live to save Shido—officially began.