Mana:That was pretty close,
Y/N.Are you okay?
Mana stood in front of me in AST-like combat armor.
Y/N:None the worse for wear.
Mana:From where I was standing,I don't think that's true.
Kurumi:Excuse me....but we were in the middle of a lovely date,I do find it terribly rude of you to interrupt us like this.
Mana:Give me just a minute, Y/N. This won't take very long.
Mana's shoulder weapons activated and she snapped her finger and the weapon blasted two arrays of lasers.Kurumi jumped in the air to dodge the attack,but the beam changed midair to wherever Mana's finger was pointing.The lasers changed direction and all the lasers converged on Kurumi and struck her as she fell to the ground.Kurumi laid on the floor writhing in pain as Mana stood over her.
Mana Pov
I killed Kurumi as I changed back to my regular clothes.I turned towards Y/N who leaned against a tree and kept his nose covered.
Mana:You seem rather calm that I just killed a Spirit.
Y/N:I think you mean person.
Mana:No I-
Y/N:Person.
Mana:*sigh*It seems you've already heard a few things from Master Sergeant Tobiichi. Well,you should probably pretend this is all a bad dream.Just forget it ever happened.
Y/N:I've already heard that before.She's gonna come back right?
My eyes widened at his statement.He sighed as he leaned his head back and glanced at me.
Y/N:I saw the footage of you killing her a couple days ago?
Mana:How did you.....?
Y/N:Still,you didn't need to kill her.
Mana:Wait,are you mad at me for killing her?
Y/N:Well no but honestly,this day has been tiring.I was trying to have a nice day with Kurumi.
Mana:You don't know who Nightmare really is.No matter how many times she's killed,or how she's killed,this Spirit appears again and kills more people,as if she's on a mission for murder.So I killed her,over and over again.And I will continue to kill her,over and over and over.....
Y/N:Sounds to me like you're playing a losing battle.
Mana:What?!What do you mean?
Y/N:You kill her over and over but you can't seem to kill her for good.You're not healing the cut,you're just slapping a band-aid on it.
Mana:Well sorry that I don't know the ins and outs of how her powers.
Y/N:It's late,i'm going home.Bye Mana.
Y/N walked off as I watched him walk away.
Mana:Damnit!
......
I got picked up by the Fraxinus as Kotori ran up to me.
Kotori:Y/N!We lost contact with you!Are you okay?!
Y/N:I'm fine.Mana intervened.
Kotori:I see....well,i'm glad you're safe.
Y/N:Thanks.
Kotori hugged me which caught me off guard.
Kotori:I was so worried......
Y/N:Don't worry,I don't go down so easily.
I hugged Kotori and petted her head.
Y/N:I'm gonna go the training room.
Kotori:Okay...
.........
I sat in my chair on the bridge until I decided to go check on Y/N to make sure he's alright. He knows how to hide his emotions but i'm guessing something happened down there.I walked over to the door and noticed a bright light.I opened the door and peeked in and saw Y/N.He was currently sitting in the middle of the room moving a ball of arcane energy around in his hands.
........
I played with the ball of magical energy as I heard the door open behind me.Footsteps approached closer as Kotori sat down next to me.
Kotori:Hey,are you okay?
Y/N:Eh.....i'm just stressed by this situation.Too many instances of people intervening.
Kotori slipped her hand into mine making my ball dissipate.She tightened her small grip on my hand and rested her head on my shoulder.
Kotori:You'll find a way.I know you will.
Y/N:........I sure hope so.
.......
I was putting my shoes in my locker when I heard a familiar voice.
Kurumi:Well,good morning,
Y/N.How are you today?
Y/N:I'm fine.How bout you?
Kurumi was about to answer until I saw the trio again.
Ai:You are so dead,dude!
Mai:How dare you show your face around here again?!
Y/N:Uh,I attend the school?
Mei:That is so lame!
I walked over to the trio as they looked at me.
Ai:What?
Y/N:What's your problem with me?
Ai:Well-
Y/N:Can y'all like leave me alone?I don't bother you so can you please not bother me?
Ai:Uh......
Mai:Well uh....I guess we kinda go far......
Mei:That's.......so lame.....
Ai:We'll leave you alone.S-sorry...
Mai:Yeah.....
I smiled at them.
Y/N:Thank you.
The trio left as I let out a very loud relieved sigh.
Kurumi:They must've really pushed you to the edge.
Y/N:You don't know the half of it.
Kurumi:You know,i'm a little surprised.I thought for sure you wouldn't wanna come to school today.After all that crazy drama.
Y/N:Yeah,i'm sorry about yesterday.I'll try to make it up to you.
Kurumi:You say these things but do you really mean them?
I walked up to Kurumi and looked her straight in the eyes.
Y/N:I do.I wanna protect you.I don't want you to be alone anymore.I don't care about how many people you've killed, I care about you,Kurumi.I don't think you should be alone.
Kurumi's burlesque face disappeared as she gave me a face that I haven't seen before.She kept giving me a strange look before going back to her normal face but with a challenging atmosphere.
Kurumi:How very bold of you.
........
The school day started as I stood on the roof and changed into my Spirit form as a spherical dark red field formed under my foot as it began enveloping the school.
Kurumi:Little Y/N...i've made my decision I need to test you.And,see if you are telling me the truth.
.......
Mana brought me to an abandoned warehouse as she threw Y/N's transceiver toward me.
Mana:Ratatoskr,huh?I can't believe you and him are part of that twisted organization.I'm pretty sure it's safe to say that big bro is a part of that organization as well.
Kotori:I'm surprised you found out.Now,what do you want?
Mana:It's about Y/N and Shido.You are negligent at best, how could send them unarmed to go meet with dangerous Spirits?You're a failure as a little sister. So,i'm going to take over that role from now on.
Kotori:Not gonna happen.I'm not gonna let you and that corrupt company Deus Ex Machina take Y/N and Shido away.
Mana:...How did you know?
Kotori:You should stop underestimating me.I know that except Ratatoskr,your little group supplies all the military forces around the world with those Realizers.And you....you're one of the employees who was sent to the AST.
Mana:?!
.......
School ended as I looked out the window.I told Shido to go home without me.
Reine:Kurumi has not been seen leaving school as of yet.Still though,our real problem is whether or not she'll listen to what we have to say.
Y/N:Where's Kotori?
Reine:Something just came up.She'll be back soon,but this time,i'll have to be your navigator.
All of the sudden the air became dark purple and all the remaining student fell to the floor.
Y/N:The hell is this?Reine?
Reine:Analyzing now.
I walked out into the hallway as I looked around the now ominous halls.
Reine:It seems an intense Spirit wave reaction is happening right now at your school.It's coming from Kurumi Tokisaki.
Y/N:Alright so I just need to find her.
Then I heard Kurumi through the school PA system.
Kurumi:Y/N darling,can you hear me?If you need anything at all,feel free to join me on the roof.Something tells me you might want to get here as soon as possible,though...fufufufu....
Y/N:Roof it is then.....
I kicked the ground and I sped down the hall and reached the staircase in about 25 seconds.I walked up the stairs and kicked open the door to the roof as I looked at the floor which was covered in reddish-blue color with the shadow of the barrier field really giving off a creepy sight.
Kurumi:Welcome Y/N~I'm so glad you've come to see me.
Y/N:So,what's your reason for doing this?
Kurumi:Isn't it pretty?My time eating castle?This barrier sucks up the time from anyone who steps on my shadow.
Y/N:Had a feeling your angel had to do something with time.
Kurumi:That's right.What you're looking at is my time.Lovely thing...I suppose you could call it my life span.My angel has such a wonderful power....But unfortunately,it does have that nasty habit of eating up time whenever I use it.So,I have to replenish with other people's time every once in awhile.
Y/N:I see.So that's why.....
Kurumi:I want to see if you're telling the truth.
Y/N:How so?
Kurumi summoned five students all lined up as they looked at me and screamed for me to help them.
Kurumi:If you truly mean what you said you'll let me kill them right now.
Y/N:.......Do it.
Reine:Y/N,you sure about this?
Y/N:It's the only chance we have.
Kurumi giggled and shot the first person as he fell to the floor dead.
Kurumi:One.
Kurumi shot the second person.
Kurumi:Two.
Kurumi shot the third person.
Kurumi:Three.
Kurumi then shot the fourth person.
Kurumi:Four.
Kurumi then pointed her gun at the last student before raising her gun.
Kurumi:You know what?Let's make this more interesting.You kill him.
Y/N:?
Kurumi:If you truly care about me and don't care about what I do then kill him.Or,you can always back out and take back what you said.
Kurumi handed me her pistol as I pointed it at the guy's head as he pleaded for his life.
Shido:Y/N NO!
I turned my head to see Shido and Tohka standing there as Tohka was in her limited Astral Dress.
Shido:Don't let her manipulate you!If we kill people then were no better than the AST!It's not right and you know it!Please don't do it!
Tohka:He's right!Shido save me without the need for violence!We can still save Kurumi but not like this!
Y/N:.........