15,000 ters above the ground, aboard the airship Fraxinus.
Itsuka Kotori continuously rolled a Chupa Chups lollipop around in her mouth while monitoring the progress of Shido and Kurumi's date.
On the bridge's main screen, Kurumi and Shido had already left the lingerie shop and were walking hand-in-hand toward their next destination.
According to Maria and Marina's affection sensors, Kurumi's numbers were significantly higher than before.
"Hmph... This is going much smoother than expected."
Kotori remarked, sounding sowhat surprised.
When Kurumi found Yutsuki-nee's photo in Shido's phone, Kotori had assud Kurumi's affection for Shido would drop, or she would use the opportunity to give Shido a hard ti and make unreasonable demands. But surprisingly, not only did Kurumi not hold a grudge, but she also brushed the whole thing off as a joke.
Honestly, Kotori had already started brainstorming lines to help Shido smooth things over.
(But still... judging by Shido's panicked reaction, exactly what kind of photo of Yutsuki-nee was he hiding in there?)
A sliver of curiosity inevitably surfaced in Kotori's heart, but considering their priorities, she decided to investigate that later.
"How should I put this... Having things suddenly go this smoothly at this point actually makes a bit uneasy."
'President' Mikimoto comnted with a complicated expression.
"When you're at a host club, a woman who is highly skilled at teasing n suddenly acting affectionate is rarely a good sign."
'Deep love' Minowa offered her own perspective.
"Is that so? I think Shido-kun's persistent and sincere attitude finally moved Kurumi. Isn't there a saying, 'Sincerity can split open the hardest stone'? I believe that as long as he never gives up, his feelings will eventually be rewarded."
"No, Shido's situation is completely different from yours..."
Mikimoto roasted her, utterly speechless.
"Well, while it's great that things are progressing smoothly, the opponent is Kurumi after all. It's better not to let our guard down."
Responding to her subordinates's doubts, Kotori thought for a mont before ordering,
"Maria, please pull up all the affection and emotional value data from the dates Shido and Kurumi have had over the past few days."
[Understood. Compilation complete.]
Maria's brisk response quickly sounded from the speakers.
"This is really..."
Looking at the report Maria submitted, the corner of Kotori's eye twitched slightly.
If you only looked at a specific point in ti, Kurumi's numbers seed relatively normal. But when an entire day's worth of numbers were compiled into a line graph, it looked incredibly bizarre.
Anywhere from ten to fifty tis a day, Kurumi's values representing emotions like anger would suddenly spike without any warning, only to rapidly calm back down within less than a minute.
And as the frequency of these spikes increased, the magnitude of Kurumi's anger fluctuations was constantly shrinking. Conversely, her stress levels were steadily rising.
"What exactly does this an? Was she really angered by Shido that many tis during their dates?"
Kotori couldn't help but furrow her brows.
Honestly, even she felt it was weird saying that out loud. In her eyes, while Shido's performance hadn't been perfect, it definitely wasn't bad enough to make soone constantly furious. Furthermore, during the dates themselves, Kurumi never outwardly displayed any of those negative emotions.
"Kotori... this specific tifra is a bit different..."
Right then, Reine's voice suddenly drew everyone's attention. She adjusted the data's tifra to yesterday morning and explained.
"From this point onward, Kurumi's stress levels suddenly dropped significantly... Although they are still above normal, they stabilized, and those sudden emotional spikes from before disappeared completely..."
"This tifra... it's right before we ran into Kurumi yesterday."
Kotori said. If she rembered correctly, they had bumped into Kurumi at the chocolate ingredient shop around that ti, and then made chocolate together. As far as Kotori could tell, Kurumi had acted completely normal.
"Reine, what does this change signify?"
"...Honestly, I am not entirely sure either... If I had to guess, it is a state where the core problem has not been solved, but a certain kind of hesitation has vanished..."
After hesitating for a mont, Reine answered uncertainly.
(Ah... I don't get this at all.)
Why did Kurumi's emotions fluctuate so many tis? And why did they suddenly stabilize yesterday? At the end of the day, why did Kurumi proactively ask Shido out on these dates?
Unable to reach a conclusion no matter how hard she thought about it, Kotori sighed in frustration and pressed the communication button for Shido's earpiece.
"...Shido, can you hear ? I have so additional intel for you..."
If Kotori had to judge based solely on her own perspective, she would probably conclude that Kurumi had developed so kind of ntal illness. But that was obviously not the correct answer.
Perhaps the only people who could truly understand the aning behind Kurumi's bizarre emotional shifts were Shido and Yutsuki.
—————————
Ti marched forward relentlessly. As the sun moved across the sky, the clear blue heavens were dyed golden-orange, then transitioned into a dusky grey, and finally settled into the deep black of night.
Just as Shido had said at the beginning, he took Kurumi along the exact sa paths they took on their first date, walked the exact sa route, ate at the exact sa restaurant—and finally, they stopped at the park where that first date had ended.
"My, this brings back mories."
Strolling along the empty pathway, letting the cool streetlights wash over her face, Kurumi looked at the park at night and smiled.
Suddenly, Kurumi stepped over the pathway's low fence and walked onto a grassy clearing between the trees.
"Shido-san, do you still rember? This place."
"Yeah... I rember it. If possible, I really didn't want to recall it."
Shido sighed helplessly.
On that day, due to various unavoidable circumstances, Shido was forced to date Kurumi, Tohka, and Origami all at the exact sa ti—a triple date.
Because of that, he frequently had to make excuses to step away from Kurumi during the date.
And it was right here that the solitary Kurumi ran into a group of punks torturing a cat, and proceeded to slaughter every single one of them.
Then, that 'Kurumi' was brutally dismbered by Mana, who arrived on the scene shortly after.
Although the area had been cleaned up completely, leaving no traces behind, the grueso scene Shido had witnessed that day could only be described as hell on earth.
"But it definitely left a deep impression."
Honestly, even now, Shido still occasionally recalled it in his nightmares.
"Hehe."
To Shido's reaction, Kurumi rely smiled without saying a word.
Gazing at the place that held so many mories, Kurumi gently closed her eyes, falling into a brief silence.
"...Kurumi?"
Shido called her na in confusion. But Kurumi quickly opened her eyes, her usual smile returning to her face.
"Alright, let us continue our date. Shido-san."
Surprisingly, Kurumi took the initiative to grab Shido's hand, pulling him back onto the paved walkway.
(Just now, Kurumi was...)
Shido couldn't help but dwell on Kurumi's montary silence.
"Shido-san."
Right then, Kurumi suddenly stopped walking and turned to face Shido.
"Happy Valentine's Day. Please accept this small token of my feelings."
Saying that, Kurumi pulled an exquisitely small gift box from her bag and handed it to Shido.
"Oh? Thank you..."
Not expecting Kurumi to give him chocolate at this exact mont, Shido fumbled slightly but accepted it with gratitude.
"Can I open it?"
"Of course."
With Kurumi's permission, Shido carefully unwrapped the box. Inside were many differently colored and shaped cat chocolates.
"They're really cute."
Complinting them instinctively, Shido picked up a piece of chocolate and popped it into his mouth. Soon, a relaxed smile appeared on his face.
"Ahaha, this is really delicious. As expected of Kurumi."
"...Well, I suppose it did not work."
However, watching Shido's reaction, Kurumi seed inexplicably disappointed.
"Kurumi?"
"Haha, what a miscalculation. I originally planned to have Shido-san get the cold shoulder from Yutsuki-san first, and then give my chocolate to a heartbroken Shido-san."
Kurumi replied with a bitter smile.
Hearing Kurumi's words, Shido froze for a long mont before finally understanding.
"...So when you tricked into going to find her, you already knew Yutsuki hadn't prepared any chocolate?"
"Well, although I feel a bit sorry toward Yutsuki-san, it was a tactic to increase my chances of winning. Though I ended up shooting myself in the foot."
Kurumi said with a hint of self mockery.
"Honestly, when I saw how fired up you were, Shido-san, I knew this chocolate wouldn't be able to surpass Yutsuki-san's gift, nor would it be enough to win your heart. But in the end, I still wanted to give it to you. Because—"
Kurumi looked at Shido, showing a remarkably gentle smile.
"Thank you, Shido-san. It has been a very long ti since I experienced such a peaceful, happy date like today."
"...Hey, don't exaggerate so much. Kurumi."
Shido gently took Kurumi's slender hand and spoke in a gentlemanly tone.
"The date isn't over yet. The fun part is just getting started."
"Hm?"
Under Kurumi's curious gaze, Shido led her to a nearby park bench and had her sit down. He then took a few steps back, standing on the deserted pathway, and gave Kurumi a slight bow.
"Then, for tonight only: Itsuka Shido's Magical Kitchen—is now open!"
Declaring this with a cheerful tone, dazzling, multicolored lights materialized around Shido. Imdiately after, an open-air kitchen fully stocked with cooking utensils appeared out of thin air right before Kurumi's eyes.
Kurumi widened her eyes in astonishnt.
"Ratziel."
[Received—Partial Manifestation—Michael—Gabriel.]
Following Shido's summons, the ingredients needed to make chocolate fell onto his prep table from a door. At the sa ti, an upbeat, cheerful lody began playing in the background. (TL:ugh...maybe I should just use portal instead of door....but I don't want to fix the old chapter, so door it is)
Like a dancer, Shido moved in perfect rhythm with the music, beginning to craft his chocolate.
Chopping the chocolate, tempering it to lt it down, flavoring, molding, setting, decorating, packaging—each mundane and simple step was infused with a touch of theatrical flair under Shido's performance-like cooking style, making it incredibly pleasing to watch.
Gradually, Kurumi began bobbing her shoulders cheerfully, matching Shido's rhythm.
Before they knew it, an hour had passed. The open air kitchen dissolved into particles of Spirit light and vanished, leaving only Shido walking toward her holding a beautifully wrapped gift box.
"Kurumi, Happy Valentine's Day."
Saying that, Shido presented the chocolate in his hands to Kurumi.
"...Shido-san, Valentine's Day is a holiday where girls give chocolate to boys."
Kurumi said with a wry smile.
"Well, while boys usually give return gifts on White Day, there's no rule saying a guy can't give chocolate on Valentine's Day."
"That sounds like an excuse, Shido-san."
"Well, I did only think of it this afternoon."
Shido blinked playfully and said.
"So, Kurumi-san. Will you accept it? This Valentine's Day chocolate made exclusively for you."
"That is playing dirty, Shido-san... Girls have absolutely zero resistance to lines like 'exclusively for you'."
Sighing helplessly, Kurumi blushed and accepted the chocolate Shido offered her.
"Oh? Did you fall for because of that?"
"Unfortunately, no. While Shido-san certainly gave an unexpected surprise, you are still a bit short of conquering . I will not surrender that easily."
Holding the chocolate Shido gave her close to her chest, Kurumi took a deep breath, smiled, and shook her head.
"Is that so? That's a sha."
Hearing Kurumi say this, Shido shrugged regretfully.
"Kurumi."
"Yes, Shido-san."
"I want to know you. Why did you beco a Spirit? Why do you want my Spirit power? And why did you set up this competition with ? Your thoughts, your wishes, your resolve—I want to know all of it."
Shido looked straight into Kurumi's eyes, speaking with absolute seriousness.
"So, will you tell ? The reason you want to defeat the Origin Spirit—and the truth about the ti loops you've experienced over the past few days."
Original Author's PS: In the original novel, Shido and Kurumi simply exchanged chocolates directly here, but when I was writing, I accidentally forgot about that, so I changed it to an on the spot live cooking performance. (Sorry)
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