Chapter 6: Dating Spirits is Hard…

POV - Shido

With dozens of laser cannons being aimed at me, my mind started to race to find a way to escape as I panicked.

"Shido, Answer me! We can't see you right now. Our camera was destroyed... You aren't dead, are you?"

What brought me back to reason was Kotori's voice. She was always using a tone a commander would use, but at the end of that sentence, she talked like the little sister I always knew.

I forcibly try to stop shaking and whisper under my breath.

"I'm fine..."

She sighs in relief before starting to ask what the spirit is doing, but I start to feel uneasy. There's no way she would not notice me talking with Kotori, even if I tried to hide it, and with these laser cannons aimed at me, but lucky for me, she seemed to be in her own world thinking about something, so I used this opportunity to explain my thoughts... And her answer made me want to check if she was alright in the head.

"...Whisper to me when she is focused on you; I need to check something."

I couldn't believe it... Wasn't this basically inviting her to know about all of this? My thoughts are a mess, but they get even worse when the spirit focuses on me... If I survive this, I'm definitely making her go without sweets for a month!

"...Kotori, she's looking at me..."

I prepared myself to make some kind of excuse, but the question 'who are you talking with?' never came...

"Stop mumbling to yourself."

... Her voice was beautiful, but it had nearly no emotion to it; it somewhat reminded me of a robot.

But what surprised me is how it seems like she didn't hear me. Yes, I was certainly mumbling pretty quietly, but we are alone in a quiet place, and we aren't that far from one another...

"It doesn't matter. Unknown subject, identify yourself and state your objective."

As her voice commands me, the flying cannons behind her start to light up! Not only that, every word she said carried an authority that made me feel unable to think of what to say... Lucky for me, I was not alone.

"Good, it seems like this is working on her at least. Shido, we have a visual on you, but we can't let the camera get too close, or she'll probably notice. It's time to get this operation going! Follow our lead!"

I wanted to ask her what she meant by that; however, it was still hard to talk with the spirit looking at me. For some reason, the spirit heard me whispering but ignored exactly what I said. Maybe this is part of Ratatoskr's technology? I felt like maybe this could work, and I had a good chance... That's until Kotori started to say some of the 'options' to choose from...

• 1. I am Itsuka Shido. I came to save you! 'Answer normally.'
• 2. I am your soulmate; I came to love you! 'Answer with passion!'
• 3. I am just a lowly human; I came to serve you, Dark Queen! 'Answer trying to become her subordinate'

There are three options: some are normal... Others not so much. It's weird seeing such a simple choice in this kind of scenario, but it also feels somewhat familiar... Wait, isn't this exactly how the dating simulator I played to 'prepare' for this operation worked?

"Alright everyone, let's choose which line Shido should use. You guys have 5 seconds!"

Wait! I'm not the one who makes the decision?! Then what about ALL the sacrifices I made playing that game?!?!

...No, it's fine. They probably know better than me, and it's not like they will choose something outrageous. I mean, what's up with number three? Who would choose this one? Those people might be... Interesting, but they wouldn't do that, right? They wouldn't force me to create another dark history like that, right?

...Please don't...

"Shido we made our decision; go with number 2."

THANK GOD!

...No wait, this is still a rather embarrassing choice, but considering the objective is to date her, I guess there wasn't a way to avoid this.

Clenching my fingers, I look into her eyes and talk, trying to bring out all my emotions in this confession.

"I am your soulmate; I came here to lo-"

My head reflexively moves to the side just before a ray of light passes extremely close to my ear. I touched my cheek where I could clearly feel the heat behind that attack, no pain or the feeling of anything missing... Did I really avoid such an attack?

No... It was a warning.

"Stop joking; next time, Bronya won't miss."

The tension was high, but the way she said that made me uncounciously ask about it.

"...Bronya?"

Her face freezes for a second before she speaks while narrowing her eyes.

"Bronya's name is Bronya. Any complaints?"

"N-n-no! In fact, it's a really cute name!"

G-gaaah, stop with the deadly stare!!! My heart can't deal with so much stress!

"...Shido, are you trying to see if you can get her mood meter into the negatives or what?"

Says the one who stopped giving me instructions... And what is a mood meter anyway?

"We were organizing the information we got from your conversation and decided on the best approach... So, it might seem counterintuitive to our objective, but forget about how you have to date her and talk with that in mind."

So we are stopping the operation? But if it's like this, then... Fear gripped my heart when I thought about the consequences of 'failing', so I whispered back to her.

"...Not try to date her? But you told me it was the only way without having to... Kotori, I don't want to give up on her just yet!"

"Idiot! We are not stopping our plan for you to date her, but from what we gathered, anything love-related is exactly what she hates. That's why you should try to talk with her like a friend would. Right now, this is operation friend to lover!"

...The name of this operation aside, I feel a lot calmer after knowing they won't give up. For better or for worse, I now understand that if I fail, the only way this will end is the AST way... And no matter what, I don't want this to happen!

The power to make cannons aside, she looks just like any other girl. I want to accept her and make sure she can live without fearing for her life all the time.

Looking at her, I'm determined to make sure she is safe.

I will save you!