Date A Mysterious Being

Chapter 35 - Make Up

"Mm..." Natsumi woke up the next morning to a delicious smell wafting through her room.
The source of the aroma soon became clear. Part of the wall had transformed into something like a table, and breakfast had been set out on top of it. Two bread rolls, bacon and eggs, soup and salad. Steam was rising from the soup, and the bacon was still sizzling. She could tell that this was not ready-made, but cooked up somewhere nearby only moments earlier.
It seemed that part of the wall opened and closed for a structure that placed meals inside the room. Lunch and supper the day before had arrived in the same way without Natsumi being aware of it.

"..."
She moved the tray from the wall to the actual table and sniffed the food on the plates warily before tentatively starting to eat.
The umami of the juicy bacon fat and the mild flavor of the eggs mixed in complicated ways in her mouth. Her cheeks started to soften into a smile, but she quickly caught herself and shook her head and the smile away.

"Dammit... Why is it so good...?" Grumbling to herself in vexation, Natsumi scarfed down the breakfast.
As she stuffed a roll loaded with jam into her mouth, she looked around the room where she was locked up once more.
Bed, table, TV. And most everything else needed for daily living. Meals and snacks were also served automatically, so she didn't have to see anyone. In a certain sense, the place was perfect.
But she couldn't stay here forever. She stroked the cut on her stomach and clenched her jaw.
Natsumi had no idea what Lucas, Shidou and Kotori were up to, but it wasn't hard to imagine that it would be bad news for her. They were obviously planning to get revenge one way or another. Maybe they intended to eat her after fattening her up. In which case, she could understand why they would give her such delicious food.

"Well, that's not gonna happen!" she declared to the empty room.
The gash Ellen had inflicted on her was healing nicely. If everything went well, she'd be recovered enough to manifest Haniel in a few more days. When she could do that, the walls of this room would be the same as paper. Literally. She could escape whenever she wanted to then.
There was also the option of getting Lost and fleeing to the parallel world. But on top of the physical toll shifting between worlds took on her, there was also the possibility that she would be yanked right back into this world the instant she returned to the parallel world, so that was an option she'd rather not choose if she could help it. Although the probability of this was very low, if she ran into that Wizard Ellen again when she was pulled back over to this side, she might very well be killed.
At any rate, at the moment, building her strength and healing had to be her top priority. With this in mind, Natsumi shoved the remaining bits of breakfast into her mouth.
She had barely finished the last bite when the door flew open and a group of people marched into the room to surround her.
"Huh...?!" Natsumi let out a cry of bewilderment. She hurriedly looked around and realized that these were all familiar faces.

Shidou and Kotori. And Kurumi, Tohka and Yoshino, whom Natsumi had selected as suspects in her little guessing game.
Kotori went without saying, but Tohka, blessed physically and yet not boastful, and Yoshino, drawing the attention of boys with her timid demeanor, and Kurumi, who was a beauty in her own league, were also the types of girls Natsumi hated.
But that wasn't the issue at the moment. The more important problem facing her was that the group surrounding her was equipped with a burlap sack and rope. Not to mention, the gun held up by Kurumi.

"Wh-what...on earth?!" Natsumi shouted in confusion, and Kotori snapped a finger out at her.
In response, Kurumi shifted her gun to point at Natsumi.

"-?!" Bang! A bullet of mysterious black mass fired off. This bullet- it was the bullet of freezing the targets time, Zayin. She didn't know what was happening. Absolutely nothing happened. She couldn't move, she couldn't even breathe.

"Get her!" Kotori shouted.

"""Roger!""" Shidou, Tohka, and Yoshino jumped into action as one.
A burlap sack came down over Natsumi's head from behind. Kotori's subsequent order led to the rope being wound tightly around her body over top of the bag.