I Don’t Want to Be a Heroic Spirit

Kurumi Tokisaki — the spirit who wielded the power of time, and who, after personally taking the lives of over ten thousand people, was branded as the "Worst Spirit."

She corresponded to the third sephira on the Kabbalistic Tree of Life: Binah. Her number was 3, her color black, her associated gem the pearl, her metal lead, and her planetary symbol Saturn — the exalted Mother, the principle of womanhood, the embodiment of a mature woman. Her guardian angel: Zaphkiel.

Melusine knew Kurumi Tokisaki fairly well.

After all... Kurumi was the classic example of a side character more beloved than the heroine herself.

Even before Melusine had ever seen Date A Live, she already knew about Kurumi Tokisaki.

Back when she was still in school, the giant class monitor's wallpaper had been none other than Kurumi.

And besides, Kurumi's ability was easily the trickiest among all the spirits. After all, powers related to time were valuable no matter the world.

Didn't that blond vampire next door call himself invincible just because he could freeze time for a few seconds?

Thus, Melusine was well aware: Kurumi Tokisaki could rewind her personal timeline to heal injuries.

To prevent her from using that ability, Melusine had severed Kurumi's hands and feet in an instant — as long as Kurumi couldn't operate her flintlock guns, she couldn't activate her powers.

And even if, despite her condition, Kurumi somehow could use them...

It didn't matter.

Melusine had absolute confidence in her strength.

"Ara ara... Looks like this little lady really is staring death in the face now..."

Kurumi lay weakly on the ground — but her voice showed not even a hint of fear toward her impending death, and her smile never faded.

Melusine's golden eyes, burning like molten fire, slowly cooled. She stared deeply at Kurumi lying there, then turned silently away.

"...You're not going to kill me?"

"No. Killing you here would be meaningless."

Although Melusine hadn't finished reading the original novels, she knew well enough just how hard it was to kill Kurumi Tokisaki.

Even the Primordial Spirit Mio Takamiya hadn't truly finished her off — Kurumi had pulled off a brilliant comeback right at the brink of death.

Honestly...

If anything, razing this planet to ashes would probably be easier than thoroughly killing Kurumi.

Melusine walked over to the collapsed man, gave him a quick inspection, and found that he had simply fainted from blood loss and overwhelming terror.

"Should I call an ambulance...? But, spirits aren't supposed to be revealed to ordinary people, right? Maybe I should just heal him directly and let him think it was a nightmare? Although, there must be an organization handling the secrecy aspect, right? Would me intervening cause problems?"

Frowning prettily, Melusine hesitated.

When she turned back, Kurumi — who had lost all four limbs — was nowhere to be seen.

Even the bloodstains on the ground had been wiped clean.

"...That was fast."

Of course, Melusine knew it had to be Kurumi's shadow clones.

But she hadn't made any move to stop them.

If Kurumi had tried a sneak attack just now, it would have been a very different story. Melusine would not have held back again.

Fortunately, Kurumi hadn't overestimated herself — Melusine didn't have to struggle with the decision of killing her.

"Come to think of it, in those fanfics I used to read, the protagonists always maxed out Kurumi's affection meter so easily... Why is it that when it's me, we end up enemies instead?"

Melusine tilted her head.

"Hmm... maybe it's just because I'm not very charming?"

Rather than healing the unconscious man or walking away, Melusine simply stood there, murmuring to herself.

...

After a while, the sound of heavy breathing approached — but Melusine had noticed him long before he got close.

"Too slow."

Melusine chastised the boy who was bent over, hands on his knees, gasping for breath.

Drawing in a deep breath, the boy straightened up and wiped his forehead with his sleeve. His eyes flicked between Melusine and the unconscious man at her feet.

"Um..."

"Call an ambulance first," Melusine said coolly, glancing down at the man. "After all, I don't have a phone."

"…Right."

The boy — Itsuka Shidou — fumbled out his phone and made a call.

Barely two minutes later, an ambulance pulled up. Several masked paramedics quickly loaded the unconscious man onto a stretcher.

One of them said something to Shidou, leaving him looking distinctly bewildered.

If I'm remembering correctly, Melusine thought, the nearest hospital is at least half an hour's drive from here, even at top speed...

Did the ambulance just... fly?

"They're not even pretending to make it realistic anymore... Or maybe Kotori and the others have just gotten lazy?"

Melusine muttered under her breath, too low for anyone else to hear.

Maybe they assumed that since she was a spirit, she wouldn't know much about common sense and wouldn't notice.

As the sirens faded into the distance, only Melusine and Itsuka Shidou remained.

"Um..."

Maybe unable to endure the heavy silence — or perhaps prompted by someone — Shidou finally opened his mouth.

"Hello, I'm Itsuka Shidou. May I ask your name? And... what exactly happened here just now?"

"Nothing much. Just a nightmare trying to grab a midnight snack, and that man had the bad luck of being chosen. As for my name... you can call me Lancelot."

Melusine's voice was utterly mechanical, devoid of warmth.

Her entire being radiated a cold aura that warned strangers to keep their distance.

"..."

The smile on Shidou's face stiffened.

He had absolutely no idea how to respond.

"Damn it..."

Aboard the flying battleship Fraxinus, Kotori Itsuka was so angry she almost bit through her lollipop.

"Why is this spirit acting exactly like Origami? Completely unapproachable, like a block of ice!"

"It's mainly because we still know too little about her..." murmured Murasame Reine, the analysis officer, her voice heavy with sleepiness.

"Sending Shidou to approach her with almost zero intel... was reckless."

"But if we don't at least attempt direct contact, we won't be able to gather any data at all," someone else argued.

On the giant main screen in front of them, the live feed showed Shidou's situation — along with streams of professional data.

"That short blade on the spirit's arm... is that her Angel?"

Every spirit possessed two core items:

— the "Astral Dress," the strongest shield.

— and the "Angel," the strongest spear.

For instance, Tohka Yatogami had Sandalphon, Yoshino had Zadkiel, Kurumi Tokisaki had Zafkiel.

Their Angels allowed them to wield their abilities with ease.

Each spirit's Angel took a different form — like Tohka's giant sword, or Kurumi's massive clock.

To those aboard Fraxinus, Melusine's short blade certainly looked like her Angel.

"And that dress she's wearing... is that her Astral Dress?"

"I don't think so. The dress is certainly exquisite, not something modern humans would wear casually — it looks more like stage costume... but compared to other spirits' Astral Dresses, it feels lacking somehow."

"She's an S-class spirit though... Her Astral Dress should at least be on par with Tohka's."

"Agreed."

Opinions flew back and forth across the bridge.

"We can't let the conversation stall like this..."

Kotori frowned, her eyes locked onto the monitor. She grabbed the mic and barked, "Shidou! Find a topic — any topic! Keep the conversation going!"

"But... what should I say?"

"Anything! If you let her go now, we'll lose our chance!"

The roar in his earpiece made Shidou wince visibly.

"Um..."

Shidou's sudden attempt to speak made Melusine glance over.

"You... uh, right. Your outfit — it looks really nice on you."

If nothing else, complimenting her might be safe.

Surely no girl hated being praised, right?

"Hmm... Is that so? Thank you."

Melusine placed a hand lightly over her chest, her lashes lowering.

In her golden eyes, emotions swirled thickly.

This outfit... Aurora gave it to me.

...No. No, I can't think about her anymore. I have Master now. I am Master's Servant. That's enough. That's all I need.

While Melusine argued with herself internally, Shidou suffered on the outside.

"What are you doing, Shidou! Her emotional value just dropped!"

"I-I don't know what went wrong! I just complimented her!"

Shidou looked like he was about to cry.

That trick usually worked like a charm!

"Then, I'll take my leave."

Melusine addressed Shidou flatly. "You should head home too. The streets at night are dangerous."

As Melusine turned to leave, both Shidou and the crew aboard Fraxinus visibly panicked.

"W-Wait!"

"Is there something else?"

Under the gaze of those molten-gold eyes, Itsuka Shidou blurted out without thinking,

"Do you want to... come over to my place? For dinner or something?"

"Hmm... This should be our first time meeting, right?"

Melusine tilted her head slightly.

"Is it really okay to invite a complete stranger — a girl, no less — into your home?"

"...Right."

Shidou immediately wanted to slap himself.

"You damn amoeba! You Siberian cockroach! Could you maybe think before speaking for once?!"

In Fraxinus, Kotori Itsuka all but exploded, covering her headset and gritting her teeth.

"What kind of guy invites a girl he just met to his house?! You want her to think you're some pervert stalking minors?! Great, now you've definitely tanked her affection—"

Kotori cut herself off and looked sharply at the big monitor — only to fall completely silent.

"...Oi, Kawagoe! Has that affection meter... not moved at all?"

"Eh?"

Called out suddenly, Kawagoe Kyouji blinked, then hurriedly responded,

"Yes. From the moment Shidou encountered the Spirit, the affection gauge hasn't budged at all... Huh? Why?"

Fraxinus was equipped with devices that monitored a Spirit's emotional fluctuations and affection level.

Kotori and the others relied on these instruments to provide Shidou with remote support — constantly checking the Spirit's mood during their interactions.

After all, only when a Spirit's affection toward Shidou reached a certain threshold could her powers be sealed.

Normally, when a Spirit first met Shidou, their emotions were in a state of wariness and distrust. Raising their affection required patience and effort.

But this time—

"Why is it already this high?"

That was what stunned Kotori and Kawagoe.

While the reading hadn't yet reached the level required for sealing, the instruments showed that the new Spirit's attitude toward Shidou was already at mild affection — just a step short of trust.

They had assumed the gauge wasn't moving because it was stuck at the baseline...

But that meant from the very first contact, the Spirit had already held such a high level of favor toward him?

Kotori and the others were utterly baffled.

In truth, Melusine — or rather, Fenghuang — had quite a favorable opinion of Itsuka Shidou.

In her eyes, the male protagonists most worthy of a harem were:

#1 Kamijou Touma,

#2 Itsuka Shidou,

#3 Kazuto Kirigaya.

After all, these were protagonists who actually earned their harems through real action.

Sure, Hyoudou Issei had passion — but he was way too obsessed with breasts...

Constantly chanting about "oppai" docked him serious points in Fenghuang's mind.

So in the end, she still preferred Kirito over Issei.

But as for Shidou — Melusine trusted him.

She knew he would never harm her.

The only reason her trust reading was slightly below "full trust" was because she didn't trust the organization behind him — Ratatoskr.

If it were the later-stage Shidou, the situation would be different.

In the future, Shidou would act decisively on his own beliefs rather than following Fraxinus' orders... but for now, he was still too green.

"You're trying to head home, right? If you don't mind... can I walk you there?"

Shidou tried again.

"I mean... I can't just let a girl walk home alone. It's too dangerous."

If something dangerous enough to scare even me appeared, having you there wouldn't make much difference anyway...

Melusine thought to herself, a little exasperated.

"...Fine. If you want to follow me, I don't mind."

Without waiting to see whether Shidou would actually follow, Melusine turned and began to walk away, her decisiveness catching Shidou completely off guard.

He just stood there, stunned—

Until his sister's furious voice blasted through his earpiece.

"What the hell are you standing there for, Shidou?! Go after her, now!"

"O-okay!!"

Stumbling, Itsuka Shidou scrambled to chase after Melusine.

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T/N: heh ntr?