Chapter 22

"It's not your fault, just an unexpected situation, it's okay? Next time I'll make up for this mistake, now I need to go," I say to Shiori while using Spatial Reversal to create a rift to the basement.

I quickly enter it, run through the hallway to the room where the barrier is, and see:

The room is destroyed, my barrier has been broken, and Mukuro's body along with the Sephira crystal have disappeared.

I punch a hole in the nearby wall.

"Damn... who did this?" Someone invaded my basement and stole my things.

The first person who comes to mind is Kurumi, but I soon discard this idea. Besides the fact that she doesn't want any trouble with me, the way the things in the room were destroyed is not something that can be done with Zafkiel.

"..." The fact that Mukuro's body is gone is not a problem, although I wanted to analyze it, I can do that with another Spirit, but the Sephira crystal is something irretrievable, and the fact that Mukuro's crystal contained her soul.

Now it's impossible to predict what will happen if someone tries to use it.

"At least I know it requires compatibility to use the Sephira..." So I know that for now, whoever stole it can't use it.

"...Reine... Was it her? At the end of season 4, it was revealed that she was Phantom, but I don't know what her abilities are," my mind whirls trying to find the culprit.

"I know Phantom is the one distributing Sephiras, maybe she found out I took Mukuro's and wanted to get it back? Or was it someone else?" This search for a culprit leads nowhere in my mind.

"Maybe Kurumi could help..." I think of Kurumi and her ability.

"No... better not," I give up on the idea soon after, although Kurumi can see the past of this room, I can't know how much she saw, I don't want her to know too much.

If she knows that I can take the Sephira from a Spirit, I may have problems with her. She will probably be inclined to one of two hypotheses. Either she'll betray me so I can't steal the Sephira from her, or she'll try to use me against the Original Spirit.

And neither of those two options pleases me, although I think she'll choose to use me rather than betray me.

"Tsk" The concept of the soul has not been explored in Date a Live, so I have no way to say what will happen to Mukuro and her Sephira.

"I don't understand... why would someone steal the body?" Although I can understand why they would steal the Sephira, Mukuro's body has nothing too special, the Spirits are not that different from humans.

So for most, the body of a Spirit is useless.

"It can't have been Isaac Westcott... it's not his style of play, and he wouldn't have broken the room like this" When I felt my barrier disappearing, I could only feel rage, so I wanted to go back immediately to catch the culprit.

But the culprit is not in the perimeter of the entire neighborhood, with me searching for him, I would have seen anything suspicious.

"Clearly it wasn't a human, there's no way to do this with a Realizer" Although my barrier didn't have a focus on resistance, it would have withstood Tohka's attacks to a certain extent.

But the barrier was broken with a single blow.

"It was a Spirit, and the only option... but which one, I don't know anyone who can do... this," The state of the room is at least terrible, the holes in the room are not something that can be done with any weapon I've seen.

And also the walls of this basement are incredibly resistant, so this destruction only gets more complicated.

"Is it a Spirit I don't know? Maybe someone like Kurumi who can hide without any problems, so she'll show up in the future?" This is a great hypothesis since there's a lot I don't know.

"Doesn't matter... I can try to find out by talking to Nia Honjo when I find her, and I'll kill whoever robbed me."

"I just hope I don't have any trouble for having lost something as important as a Sephira with a person's soul," I start walking through the basement to the elevator, although the barrier room was destroyed, the rest of the basement is normal.

I make a call to Lars, to ask him to reinforce my basement, make a few more rooms, and fix the destroyed room.

After this conversation, I'll go to sleep to calm my mind, no matter how calm I seem, I'm irritated by the fact that I was robbed and can't do anything.

The next day.

I get ready to go to school, take a shower, have breakfast, and leave.

Arriving at school, I enter and go to the classroom to wait.

"Good morning, Shiori," I greet Shiori, who has arrived.

"Good morning, Aurélio-kun," we chat in the classroom while the teacher hasn't arrived yet.

"Good morning, students..." Tamae seems tired and irritated, which I judge to be the failure of her date.

She starts the class, until the moment of the break arrives.

"Students, wait a moment, I have an announcement."

"Our class has just won an all-expenses-paid trip to a paradisiacal island, it will happen in 3 days and was sponsored by the God Ex Machina industry," she says with a smile.

"DEM..." I murmur, I don't know if I'm happy with the news, it means we're going to the island with the Yamai sisters, which means Ellen and Isaac have started to act.

The real problem is... who is the target? I know they know about me, and I notice that this trip happened earlier than in the anime, so maybe Shiori is the target, but there's a possibility that I'm the target.

Neither of them is good, Ellen... I don't know how strong she really is, but I know she's apparently the strongest human.

But it doesn't matter, even if she's the strongest human, she's still human.

"Aurélio-kun, what do you think?" Shiori asks with a smile.

"About the trip?"

"Yes"

"... Maybe it'll be fun..." I don't expect much from it, honestly, the Yamai Sisters are not a threat, their ability is weak, I can handle them easily compared to Mukuro, and unlike Mukuro, they have feelings, so if I take one hostage, the other will surrender.

I just need to be careful with Ellen and Isaac, that guy is unpredictable, and I don't even know what his real goal is.

"Well, if there's one thing I can enjoy, it's seeing the beautiful Shiori in a bikini," I say, smiling at her, to which she reacts by blushing.

"!!!" I wonder if the Yamai sisters will be on the island since we're going earlier than in the anime.

Tohka is saying things in the background, but they're irrelevant, so I never hear anything she says.

"Now you can go," Tamae says after completing the announcement.

Shiori and I are walking through the hallway now, Shiori is going to the rooftop, while I'm going to the cafeteria, it's routine for me to buy lunch and have lunch with Shiori on the rooftop, so she doesn't even say anything about it. I go to the cafeteria, the line is long, so I ended up taking a while.

After buying, I start walking to the rooftop.

On the way, I end up bumping into someone while lost in thought.

"Sorry, I wasn't..." I notice who I bumped into. 'Ellen' she's wearing a secretary outfit with sunglasses and a camera around her neck.

"As I was saying, it was my fault, I wasn't paying attention," I apologize while extending my hand to help her up.

"... No problem," she looks at me in a strange way, I see excitement in her gaze, though she disguises it with a calm facade.

'She knows...' I wonder how much she wants to find me, since she breaks the slight perception change I have over her.

"Is there a problem?" she asks.

I remember an episode where Shido, when overloaded with Reiryoku, flirts with Ellen. I decide to do something similar, just for the moment.

She accepts my hand to get up.

However, when she grabs it, I pull her into a hug.

"!!!"

"No... I just found you very beautiful, so I was admiring you a little," I flirt with her a bit.

"Your beautiful purple eyes captivated me," I tell her, causing her to blush while trying to find words to speak.

"If you'd allow me, I'd love to have a more... intimate moment with you, fair lady."

"Let me go, you-you," She stammers a bit while getting redder and redder.

"Your beauty could make me end up falling in love with you..."

"I said let me go," Now she seems a bit angry.

"Of course, although I'd like to observe your beauty more closely," I say, releasing her while calmly walking back to the rooftop.

"Hahaha," I laugh softly so she doesn't hear as I go to the rooftop.

Arriving at the rooftop, I notice Shiori looking a bit down and sad.

"Is something wrong, Shiori?" I ask, handing her the lunch.

"N-No, I was just..." Her gaze is hesitant as she looks at me.

"Shiori, if you have any problems, you can tell me, we're friends."

"It's just that... do you know that woman?" Shiori asks hesitantly.

"Who?" I ask about who she's talking about, while I see her eyes slightly reddened.

Was she crying?

"The one you were talking to a little while ago..."I don't understand where Shiori wants to get.

"... No... are you referring to the woman I accidentally bumped into?"I'm starting to understand.

"Y-Yes"

I don't know if she really cried, but I decide to continue the questions.

"... You weren't waiting for me here?"

"W-Well I was... but you were taking a while, so I went to see if you needed help..." She becomes increasingly hesitant to continue.

'Ah... this would be... jealousy?' I think calmly about how I can use this to my advantage.

"Well, I've never seen her in my life..., but she's beautiful, don't you think?" I ask Shiori.

"Y-yes, she is..."

"Do you think if I invited her on a date, she'd agree?"

"!?? But you said you didn't know her..."

"I don't, but I thought she was beautiful, so I thought, why not? If you don't take the opportunities life gives you, they won't come back to you later," Shiori seems discouraged and confused, not really understanding what she's feeling.

"Th-Then do you like her?" she asks hesitantly.

"... No, I don't like her," Shiori seems relieved for a moment, while I hold back the urge to put a smile on my face.

"... So... why... do you want a date with her?"

"Because she's beautiful?" Actually, I don't care about this date as if I was really going to invite that woman out.

"But I'm also... I mean... so you're just going to ask her out?"she was going to say something else, but notices something and changes the question.

'I'm also beautiful... hahaha, I'm sure that's what she was going to say' I'd rather take Shiori on a date than Ellen, but it's great to see Shiori like this.

"No... it was just an example... just a joke... I think Shiori is much more beautiful," Shiori blushes while looking away.

'It's better to stop here anyway' I think as I change the subject.

"Leaving that aside, shall we have lunch before it gets cold?" She nods affirmatively.

"Shiori..."

"Yes? Any questions?"

"Since we're going to an island, I want to see the beautiful Shiori in various types of bikinis, I'm sure you'll look gorgeous," Shiori doesn't know yet that there will be a beach, so I'll make a request.

"I'd like you to bring several types if possible, I think we can take some wonderful photos," She gets embarrassed and just nods.

"I-I'll bring..." It was great to see Shiori jealous of Ellen, it made it easier for her to accept this request, now Shiori's mentality is getting closer and closer to that of a girl.

I'm looking forward to the day I can make Shiori mine, when that day comes, I'll be even more powerful.

Shiori's POV Change:

I've been waiting for Aurélio for a while, but he's taking longer today.

"I think... I'll go look for him... yes, maybe he needs help, it's not just because I'm anxious because he's not here," I get up and head for the stairs.

I walk through the hallways, and when I turn the corner slightly, I see Aurélio, he seems distracted as he walks.

A blonde woman comes out of a room and ends up colliding with him.

'I'll go help' As I was going to help, I hear him speak.

"No... I just found you very beautiful, so I was admiring you a little," he says in a flirtatious tone to the blonde woman.

I feel a strange pang in my heart when I hear this, and see him hugging her, I go back to the corner and try to listen carefully.

"Your beautiful purple eyes captivated me"

"If you'd allow me, I'd love to have a more... intimate moment with you, fair lady"

When I hear this, I feel sad, my heart hurts, and I feel a weight on my chest, as if I'm carrying a stone. Tears threaten to fall from my eyes.

"Why?" I murmur. I don't understand why I reacted this way.

"Your beauty could make me end up falling in love with you..." then I hear this phrase.

At that moment, it's as if my heart is breaking, I don't understand why it hurts so much to hear him say he could fall in love with that woman. The tears that threatened to fall now run down my face.

I step back and run to the rooftop, I put my hand over my face to wipe away the tears.

"I don't understand, I don't understand why I'm crying... Aurélio-kun is my friend, I should be happy if he falls in love with someone," Even though I know this, I can't stop feeling this pain in my heart.

"What is this feeling..." I've never felt anything like this in my life, after becoming a girl, my feelings have been a mess, and I've at least been able to improve a little after my conversation with Aurélio over the phone.

But this new feeling is suffocating, I feel like I can't breathe properly and my chest hurts.

"Even if he falls in love, he's still my best friend... he wouldn't abandon me, would he?" I ask no one, not expecting confirmation.

I wipe my tears with my sleeves.

"Aurélio-kun must be arriving soon," I don't want to worry him with my problems, so I fix my face that was messy from the tears.

He arrives and asks if I have any problems while handing me the lunch.

"N-No, I was just..." I deny having any problems while avoiding looking at him.

"Shiori, if you have any problems, you can tell me, we're friends," he says, his voice soft and gentle.

I have the impulse to ask, even though it has nothing to do with me.

"It's just that... do you know that woman?" I don't understand why I want to know this, why I feel tempted to invade Aurélio's privacy.

"Who?" He doesn't seem sure who I'm talking about.

"The one you were talking to a little while ago..."

"... No... are you referring to the woman I accidentally bumped into?" he speaks.

"Y-Yes" I confirm

"... You weren't waiting for me here?"

"W-Well I was... but you were taking a while, so I went to see if you needed help..." It's not like I was trying to follow you, I just wanted to see you. I justify in my head while denying with words.

"Well, I've never seen her in my life..., but she's beautiful, don't you think?" When he calls her beautiful, the pain in my heart intensifies.

"Y-yes, she is..." I can't deny it, although this fact saddens me for some reason.

"Do you think if I invited her on a date, she'd agree?"

"!?? But you said you didn't know her..." I feel a slight desperation when he talks about inviting her on a date.

'Why, why am I like this... why can't I just be happy for him?' I think about how selfish I'm being.

"I don't know her, but I thought she was beautiful, so I thought, why not? If you don't take the opportunities life gives you, they won't come back to you later."

I feel my hopelessness growing, I wonder if I'm throwing my opportunities away.

'but I don't even know what I want' My confused heart that doesn't know what it wants is just hurting me.

"Th-Then do you like her?" I ask, but deep down I hope he denies it.

"... No, I don't like her"

I feel immediate relief at the answer, while the pain in my heart lessens a bit.

"... So... why... do you want a date with her?" I feel doubtful about the why.

"Because she's beautiful?"

'But I'm also beautiful...' when I realize this, I start to put my thoughts into words.

"But I'm also... I mean... so you're just going to ask her out?" I try to shift the focus from what I said earlier.

'what am I thinking, why was I going to say that?'

"No... it was just an example... just a joke... I think Shiori is much more beautiful"

When he says it was just a joke, I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my heart, while I feel embarrassed by the compliment.

"Leaving that aside, shall we have lunch before it gets cold?"

I nod my head since I'm too embarrassed to look at him, I can't believe the kind of question I was asking, while I'm confused about my feelings. We hope that at some point I'll understand these confused feelings.