"Then let's begin, our date. I am definitely going to make you—fall for ."
"Oh?"
Seeing Shido so full of montum, Kurumi felt a bit surprised. But she quickly regained her smile.
"Hehe~ Is that so? Then I will be looking forward to it, Shido-san."
...
Standing on the school rooftop, Yutsuki watched through the wire fence as Shido and Kurumi gradually walked further away.
"It's started."
Yutsuki sighed softly, her expression slightly complicated.
Ever since Kurumi had appeared, almost every single day, she had gone on dates with Shido under the guise of a competition.
Although those past few dates hadn't yielded a definitive result, they were undoubtedly preparations for Valentine's Day. If nothing unexpected happened, Kurumi likely planned to completely conquer Shido in one fell swoop today.
Shido probably had the exact sa plan in mind.
In all fairness, she naturally hoped Shido would win. Otherwise, she wouldn't have given him such an embarrassing photo, nor would she have dangled the promise of wearing that maid outfit again just to boost his fighting spirit.
After all, winning this competition was one thing, but if he lost, the price he would have to pay was simply too massive.
But at the sa ti, a part of Yutsuki's heart didn't want Kurumi to fail either.
In the short five days they had cooperated to fend off DEM's attacks, she had seen many sides of Kurumi that she never showed to anyone else.
Every single prophecy she brought ant ti had been reversed, and every single ti regression ant she had failed in the future.
The remorse born from failure.
The anger bred from powerlessness.
The brave front put up to hide her sheer exhaustion.
In front of Shido, she acted like a radical ascetic. To achieve her goal, she placed a massive shackle on her own emotions. Pretending to feel no sorrow or pain, she flawlessly played the role of the most alluring woman a man could dream of.
But in front of Yutsuki, she was like a survivor trapped in a desperate situation. The bridge behind her was constantly collapsing, forcing her to run forward without a mont's rest. A single mont of slacking off would send her plumting into the abyss.
(Going back thirty years into the past to kill the Origin Spirit... huh.)
Yutsuki couldn't help but recall the goal Kurumi was so firmly clinging to. Although she had questioned Kurumi about it the other night, the reality was that if Kurumi truly succeeded in changing history, the fact that Shido was "eaten" by her would also cease to exist.
"...Forget it. Thinking about this won't help."
Yutsuki let out a long breath. At the end of the day, the ones who would truly decide the outco weren't her, but Kurumi and Shido, who were currently on their date.
"But thinking about it now... 'The first one to fall in love loses.' This competition is seriously ridiculous."
Yutsuki roasted with a bizarre expression.
Setting aside the fact that, in Yutsuki's eyes, the rules of this competition were full of vague loopholes—like what the exact criteria for falling in love were, the final ti limit, or what would happen in the special case where neither of them ever fell for the other—the very premise of the competition was full of contradictions.
In the past, when Shido conquered Spirits, he only needed to raise their affection and make them fall in love with him.
But this ti, both sides not only had to find ways to raise the other's affection, but they also had to constantly make sure they didn't fall in love themselves.
What did that even an? It was basically the sa as a scumbag chasing soone and openly saying, "I want to hook up with you, but I don't want to actually like you."
You only want soone to like you because you like them.
If you don't open your heart, you can't expect others to open theirs for you.
Honestly, in Yutsuki's eyes, the Kurumi up until yesterday never seriously intended to win.
After all, a person who truly wanted to win would absolutely never declare right at the start of the match that "falling in love ans death", nor would they fight so desperately for soone they were planning to kill.
"Well then... I should put in so effort too, and help clean up the DEM pests."
———————
At this mont, Kurumi was walking leisurely down the street, her hand held tightly by Shido.
Honestly, before the date began, Kurumi hadn't expected Shido to take the initiative and hold her hand so boldly.
(Shido-san's hand... is really big.)
Kurumi couldn't help but sigh in admiration. Feeling the warmth enveloping her palm, and looking at the slightly nervous but incredibly gentle boy beside her, Kurumi felt a profound sense of peace.
And so, after walking for about ten minutes, the boy and girl entered a comrcial building near Tengu Station.
"We're here, Kurumi."
Walking up to a specific storefront, Shido stopped in his tracks.
"Hm?"
Kurumi looked up curiously.
At the start of the date, as if testing Shido, Kurumi had confessed she had a place she wanted to go, but deliberately kept the exact location a secret so Shido would have to guess it himself.
And this was the answer Shido had arrived at.
"A lingerie shop..."
Looking at the dazzling array of won's lingerie displayed in the window, the corners of Kurumi's mouth curled up, and she asked with a wicked grin.
"Fufufu... I see. Does Shido-san want to see what I look like wearing lingerie?"
Hearing Kurumi's teasing, Shido frantically waved his hands in denial.
"Eh? No, no! I an—while it's true I kinda want to see it, that's not the reason I ca here... Eh? The reason... I just felt like this was the place."
Seeing Shido get entirely flustered over a single joke, Kurumi couldn't help but laugh happily.
"Correct."
"Eh?"
Giving Shido that answer, Kurumi looked back at the store, a hint of nostalgia surfacing in her eyes.
This was exactly the place where she—or more accurately, the 'her' from the past who had fallen in love with Itsuka Shido—had gone on her very first date with him.
"This is indeed the place I wanted to co to—or rather, one of them. I am so happy Shido-san still rembers coming here with ''."
"..."
Seeing Shido fall silent, Kurumi continued, a touch of loneliness in her voice.
"Actually, I have always been curious. That '' who fell for Shido-san and chose to leave... what exactly was she thinking and feeling on that day, in this very place?"
"Kurumi, you..."
Seeing Shido hesitate to speak, Kurumi replied with a wry smile.
"...Although they were just immature children, they were still ''."
(No, that's not quite right.)
Kurumi thought helplessly in her heart.
(Even now, I am still just an immature child...)
"...Thank goodness. So my guess about retracing that date route was spot on."
Just then, as if to dispel the sowhat lancholic atmosphere, Shido spoke up with a triumphant look.
"I am the man who conquered 'you' once before, after all. So let retrace the route from that day, and fill your mind entirely with once again."
Saying that, Shido took Kurumi's hand and confidently marched into the lingerie shop.
"Shido-san..."
Giving Shido a look caught between laughing and crying, Kurumi obediently followed him inside.
A little while later, Kurumi took the lingerie Shido picked out and walked into the fitting room.
(Hm... Does Shido-san like this style of underwear?)
Looking at the pure white cotton bra in her hands, Kurumi felt sowhat surprised. After all, during their first date, he had picked out a highly revealing, pure black silk set for "her."
(Well... he probably picked sothing less revealing on purpose. Shido-san is quite cautious.)
Despite her thoughts, Kurumi readily took off her school uniform and underwear, changing into this innocent-looking set.
(Mhm... Not bad at all.)
Looking at herself in the fitting room mirror, Kurumi nodded in satisfaction.
Perhaps due to the contrast with her usual image, the Kurumi in the mirror looked pure yet alluring, delicate and moving while still retaining her captivating charm.
(I wonder how Shido-san will react when he sees this?)
Carrying a hint of curiosity, Kurumi pulled open the curtain.
Exactly as Kurumi expected, the mont he saw her, Shido's cheeks flushed completely red, and he was too stunned to speak.
"How is it... Shido-san?"
Kurumi asked softly, carrying a mix of shyness and secret delight.
"...Yutsuki... maid... garters..."
Hm?
Under Kurumi's confused gaze, Shido snapped back to his senses. He suddenly clutched his school uniform pocket, his lips moving slightly as if muttering a mantra to himself.
Then, the shyness and lust in Shido's eyes gradually faded, leaving only pure, flawless admiration.
"Beautiful! It's absolutely beautiful! This lingerie suits you perfectly. Honestly, it fits you so well it's almost dangerous."
"Mhm... Then I will choose this one."
Although she was quite happy to be praised like that, Shido's earlier reaction inexplicably bothered her.
After putting her clothes back on, Kurumi walked up to Shido and handed him a piece of black cloth.
"Shido-san. Please hold this."
"Hm? What is this?"
Taking the cloth Kurumi handed him, Shido noticed it still carried a faint trace of body heat. He asked in confusion.
"The panties I just took off."
Kurumi answered with a sweet smile.
"—!?"
Hit with this overly explosive piece of information, Shido's body instantly went rigid, his brain completely short circuiting.
"You left yourself wide open~"
Taking advantage of this exact mont, Kurumi's hand deftly slipped into Shido's uniform pocket and pulled out his smartphone.
"Ku-Kurumi?!"
"Fufu~ I am sorry, Shido-san. I was just wondering what kind of lucky charm you were keeping in there."
Seeing Shido panic, Kurumi smiled and offered a half-hearted apology. At the sa ti, her fingers swiped across the screen a few tis, unlocking Shido's phone.
"How do you know my phone password?!"
"I 'accidentally' saw it when Shido-san was using his phone at school."
Opening the photo gallery, Kurumi froze for a second upon seeing the picture inside, before a highly aningful smile spread across her face.
"Hehe~ I see. No wonder Shido-san was acting so aggressively during our date. So you received such a precious 'Valentine's Day gift' from Yutsuki-san."
"U-Um..."
Hearing Kurumi's words, a drop of cold sweat rolled down Shido's forehead.
"This will not do, Shido-san. You say you want to fill my mind entirely with you, yet you are thinking about another woman while on a date with . That is terrible behavior. Therefore—"
Feigning a disappointed sigh, Kurumi spoke in an icy tone.
"...Therefore?"
"I am going to delete all these photos."
"..."
"Pfft— Hahaha!"
Seeing Shido's expression morph into utter, world ending despair, Kurumi couldn't maintain her cold facade any longer. She clutched her stomach and burst into laughter.
"I am joking! It is just a joke! I am trying to conquer Shido-san, so why would I do sothing so detestable? Here, returning it to its rightful owner."
Taking the phone back from Kurumi and confirming the photos were safe and sound, Shido let out a massive sigh of relief.
"Sorry, Kurumi."
"Do not worry about it, Shido-san. It was my fault for looking through your phone without permission."
Kurumi smiled and shook her head, telling him not to mind.
Seeing Kurumi act so forgiving, Shido couldn't help but feel a bit weirded out.
"Um... are you not angry?"
Hearing Shido's question, Kurumi replied with a wry smile,
"Well, if Shido-san had a photo of soone else in there, I might have been a tiny bit angry. But seeing Shido-san holding onto Yutsuki-san's photo... honestly... I was actually very happy."
(After all, the favors I owe her are simply too many to count.)
"Eh? Why is that?"
"My, you will just have to guess that for yourself, Shido-san."
Looking at the bewildered Shido, Kurumi stuck her tongue out playfully and gave a wicked reply.
User Comments
0 comments from readers