So I managed to finish the chapter today and I hope you will like it.
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"Everyone is downcast in this city（Dead or Alive)
where a dry wind blows through
My eyes sought for the light （Dead or Alive）
But all they saw was despair"
I sang to myself while waiting with Shido on the train station for his first date to start.
There is also this weird small statute of a dog holding his right paw up on a small pedestal, and I can't shake off this feeling that I should be feeling sad about it.
"You're the one who stopped me from turning them down afterward!" If I didn't know that Kotori is speaking into the boy's ear all the time I would think him crazy, but it still boggles my mind that no one has noticed that.
Speaking of Shido, for his dates he decided to wear a white unbuttoned short-sleeved Dress shirt with a grey T-shirt beneath and dark pants.
Meanwhile, I decided to leave my 'Alucard' getup and choose instead of it a red hoodie and black pants, simply because it would allow me to interact either Shido or Tohka. I still kept my sunglasses though, I'm not risking the possibility of them seeing me as something else than human.
I also have a small paper bag with that's filled up with kinako bread in case of a hungry Tohka emergency.
"Shido!" Comes an excited yell to my and Shido's right and as we look at the girl that's running towards the boy, and we were both left stunned by her beauty.
Tohka wore jean shorts, a cute pink short dress with frills and her normally dark ribbon was replaced by one that was snow white.
"T-Tohka..." Shido barely managed to stammer out as he looked upon the beautiful young girl in front of him.
Shido, you lucky bastard, I'm starting to be envious a little now!
"Those clothes look great on you. You look really cute." Tohka blinks, and then her face turns all red and I swear I saw steam come out of her ears.
"Whoa...Anyway, let's go!" She swiftly turns around in embarrassment."Come on!"
And as Shido speeds up to keep up with Tohka, I just stand there and smirk.
You're no Shiro Emiya buddy, but you will get there eventually.
I walk behind the pair and try to remember how exactly this event has played out. Oh, they're going to the aquarium, so after that Shido will go to meet with Kurumi and go to a lingerie shop with her and after that, he should go eat in a restaurant with Origami.
As tempting it is to mess with either of them, I think I'm gonna go with a simple plan for now.
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I sighed after checking the time on my wristwatch and it was almost 20 minutes since Shido left Tohka in the tunnel of the aquarium and she already lost all interest in the fishes that were swimming around.
And she's getting stressed by the fact that Shido has not come back yet from his 'stomach ache' excuse.
Though soon after he left I felt a small burst of Mana not far from here and then I remembered that Ratatoskr had teleportation technology/magic on board of their ship so that was most likely them grabbing Shido and throwing him to Kurumi.
And I also noticed their small flying cameras that are spread around this place and probably keep an eye on the girls and Shido, so I decide to go around the corner where no one will see me and I drop my concealment.
Now, let's buy some extra time for Shido and keep Tohka calm, after that, I'm just gonna follow Kurumi.
"Goodmorning Tohka-san," I say as I approach the girl with a gentle smile on my lips."It's nice to meet you again."
The girl almost jumps at that and turns around to face me, and I can see that she's confused and doesn't recognize me but then she looks at the bag with kinako bread I'm holding and I swear I saw a lightbulb switching on above her head.
"Al!" Good to know that she connects me with free food I guess? "But, what are you doing here?"
She even tilts her head to the side as she asked me that... and shes looking utterly adorable.
"Ah, you see I just wanted to go shopping and visit a few places in the city and..."I pretend to look around and then focus back on her."Where is your boyfriend Tohka-san?"
"Boy...friend?" She looks confused for a moment and then her face turns red." I-I a-and S-S-Shido...we'ere?"
I chuckle a bit at her reaction." Ah, I'm sorry Tohka-san, I didn't expect you to react like that to my small tease, my apologies." Then I take a look at her clothes."It's just you're dressed so pretty and I assumed you're on a date with Shido-san."
And now she's steaming from her ears, this is so easy I'm actually starting to feel bad for teasing her like that.
"P-Pretty?" She turns her back on me and I hear the distinct sound of her palms hitting her cheeks, after that she turns back around and is noticeably calmer but has a sad expression on her face now."Y-Yeah, I'm here with Shido but his tummy was hurting him so he said he has to go to the restroom...but he hasn't come back yet."
The reason he's not back yet dear Tohka is that he has two other girls to run to, but I ain't gonna say that to you or else you will most likely blow this whole place up.
"I see now," I say as I reach into the bag and pull out a smaller kinako bread and hold it up in front of her." Here, I'm sure Shido will make this up to you, so until he's back you can have this."
This time Tohka didn't even hesitate for a moment and took the offered snack with a look of pure joy on her face as she immediately took a bite.
Heh, I wonder what Kotori is thinking right now about my actions? Maybe I should give them an official home visit later, bring some ice cream and a copy of the 'Godfather'?
I had to stifle my chuckle at that, I wonder if Kotori would make a connection between me and the tragedy that befell her hidden sweet stash. I then checked my watch and decided that I have bought enough time for Shido.
"Say, Tohka-san would you like my help in finding Shido-san? I don't think he's in trouble but maybe he got lost on his way back to you." I say to the girl and give her the most honest smile I can muster.
"A-Ah, thank you Al-san!" I think I surprised her a bit with that judging by her shocked expression that's luckily quickly replaced by a smile and did her ribbon just wiggle a bit there? Huh, guess I should drop of cate ears and a note next time I sneak into Shido's home, I bet he will be grateful for that.
Now, if memory serves me well, right now Shido should be eating in a restaurant with Origami so I kinda know where to go.
On our way there Tohka was quite talkative even though I'm a stranger but the fact that Yoshino must have shared her opinions about me with her probably eased her to the idea of accepting my help. Also the kinako bread I was giving her, huh. She's like a guinea pig.
I am not surprised though that she mostly talked about Shido, about how kind and understanding he is to her.
"Well, I don't want to tease you Tohka-san but it seems that you really are in lov-"
"Tohka!" My tease is abruptly cut off by a yell from behind us, and as we both turn we see Shido running towards us.
"Shido! Are you alright?" I hope he will explain this whole situation to her later, I'm sure shell understands after a few angry pouts.
"Y-yeah I'm fine Tohka and..." Hey, he finally noticed me." Al-san! H-How, I mean why are you here?"
"Hello Shido-san, as you might have noticed, "I show off the bag that was now half-empty thanks to a certain girl." I was out for a little bit of shopping and sightseeing because I heard there was some event or holiday happening and-
GROWL
I and Shido look to a now blushing Tohka clutching her stomach and... I am impressed at her capacity.
"Well, I'm gonna go now, until we meet next time and have fun on your 'dates' Shido-san." I say to the boy as I decide to part ways with them and chuckle a bit after seeing Shido's eyes widen at the mention of his 'dates'.
Now I should try to hide somewhere and turn my Concealment back on and then...oh, its Yoshino with those three girls again.
She sees me and with a beaming smile weaves her hand at me and even Yoshinon waves too, so the only thing I can do is to return the greeting with a wave and smile of my own but before she can even think of approaching me shes hugged by the girls that must have noticed her smile and get overloaded by her cuteness.
I swear cuteness is a weapon in on itself and Yoshino is the most skilled wielder of it around here.
Okay, focus and back to business, where is Kurumi right now? She was buying lingerie so she should be around...there?
And there she is, and...wow shes actually looking cute in that pure black lolita dress.
Just gotta stick with her till she and Shido get to the park.
This can't take too long, right?
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Four hours.
FOUR.HOURS.
And Shido has been running around all this time leaving Kurumi with me for who knows how long. Well to be fair to the guy, he doesn't know I'm tailing him the whole week.
Wonder if Origami will ever ask me how to teach her that Concealment trick.
"Sorry Kurumi, I need to use the restroom!" And off he goes again, but this time I'm following him.
Why?
Because I know what will happen next, and I don't know if I will be able to hold myself off and not expose my nature to the world.
Its cowardly, and I know it, but I'm feeling strangely apathetic towards the four idiots that were tormenting a small kitten. Then again I don't know if I were to hold back either.
The best thing to do is to stick around Shido now and make sure the Kurumi clone decides to follow canon and play with her 'food' long enough for Shido's sister Mana to come around and smack the clone around a bit.
And it turns out that Shido needed to go to the restroom for real this time, I guess he reached his limit but still I'm impressed. I'll send him a chocolate medal or something after things calm down a bit.
And then I sensed the thing that was Kurumi's Mana.
I fell from it hunger, lust, blood, and...sorrow?
Huh, didn't expect to sense that last one.
And then I see Shido bolt past me as he runs back to Kurumi unaware of what's waiting for him there. But I know, not only because it follows the script so far but because of the smell.
Blood.
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"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!"
Shido did not take well to the sight that greeted him when he went into the woods and found the small clearing.
And he also falls on his knees, I hope he won't puke now.
Kinda normal to be honest, I mean seeing trees bathed in blood and then to see a giant pool of it with a shoe that still got a foot in it would get a reaction terrified reaction out of any normal person.
And my lack of a reaction to this should be worrying, but then again I am not fully human anymore and have already seen what Kurumi is capable of doing. Still, the stench of blood is really annoying me right now.
"Ara?" And guess who just noticed you, you dummy."Shido-san, you're already here?"
Kurumi was standing a little further of the bloodbath her hand was holding the shorter musket that was aimed at the last surviving guy that had a simple shooting target painted in his naked chest...with the blood of his friends.
"H-Help m-"The guy's plea for help was cut short by Kurumi who shot him five times, each shot blowing fist-sized holes in his chest.
At least...he died quickly?
Somethings wrong though, shouldn't it take her longer to kill him? She's one for monologuing so why did she cut it short with that guy?
Without warning the hands shoot out from her shadow and they get a hold of Shido's legs, making sure the boy won't escape.
"What is this?!" Shido yells out in fear and confusion because he knows he's at her mercy right now. He doesn't need to know that I'm just behind him in case Mana comes too late.
"Ah.Ah. I messed! I messed up!" Girl, you're messed up, and approaching him like that doesn't help your image." I would've liked to enjoy our date a bit longer, but there isn't much that can be done about that now."
She was now bent over him and grabbed his face when she was saying the last part, but I noticed it. While she was walking towards him her eyes were scanning the surroundings looking for something or someone.
She's trying to lure me out in the open. This is why she didn't bother talking much and went straight after Shido, she wants to be sure if I'm watching him.
And just because she's correct doesn't mean she's right.
Because instead of going for the kill on Shido, shes purposefully stalling and waiting for me to jump in. I mean, she even started to do the whole evil laughter and lip licking now.
"She is pretty clever I give her that, but she doesn't know..." I mutter under my breath as a smirk starts to form on my lips.
And at that moment I step to the side as I see a field of pure Mana fly towards the girl knocking her into the air and then proceeds to slam her around some more before ultimately sending her into a tree.
"Wha..." Shido just stares at this in shock, after all from his perspective Kurumi was just hit by nothing and thrown off him.
"Are you okay, Nii-sama?" Shido's' sister Mana slowly walks up and stands between him and Kurumi. And... is she really 13 or 14? Maybe it's just her blue and white battlesuits that showing her feminine features well.
"...that siblings stick up for one another." I finish my earlier sentence.
Sadly none could hear my definitely awesome talk, so i high-fived myself.
"Ara,ara. don't you think you're being rude buy interrupting my date with Shido-san?" Kurumi got up from under the tree and walked back to the clearing, her voice as smug as her face.
"We'll talk later Nii-sama. This will be over soon."I see little Mana is a bit prideful here, she speaks about killing Kurumi as if it was nothing more than peeling potatoes.
Mana snaps her fingers and the small shoulder cannons she has fired multiple triple beams that she directed at Kurumi which she tried to dodge in the air, but Mana simply redirects them with her finger and they hit Kurumi in the stomach.
I sigh and look away from it, I don't need to see any more blood.
So I decide to leave them here, nothing for me to be gained by standing around but then I notice a small golden furball hiding behind a tree.
The kitten cant notices me so i kneel in front of it and reach for it, but before that can happen I notice that it is looking back into the clearing. As I follow its sight I notice that it looks to bleeding out Kurumi.
"I promise you little one, she fine" I speak to the kitten after I touched its tiny head and it looked at me, no fear in its tiny blue eyes. Did it see and understand me?
Ah, I'm kind of a nature spirit of course.
"Stop! Don't kill her!" I hear Shido yell out behind me and I know it's over for that clone.
I'm just gonna need a cold shower to forget about all the blood today.
Though I did handle It better then I had hoped for.
Odd.
