"But you've changed too, Kurumi," Shidou said.
"Indeed," she replied. "The old me would never have confided my weaknesses to anyone."
"You're aware of it, huh?"
"Of course," Kurumi said with a shrug and a smile, prompting a wry grin from Shidou. Her self-awareness was impressive, if not surprising. If only she'd express her kindness more openly, the white-clad girl might've thought. Shidou felt much the same.
"You've changed me so much, Shidou-san. You'll have to take responsibility… perhaps with your body?"
"What're you planning!?" he exclaimed. "And I didn't mean that kind of change!"
"My, my, what did you imagine?"
She was definitely phrasing it to sound suggestive. Her occasional teasing in that direction still caught Shidou off guard, and he let out a groan-like sigh. Meanwhile, Kurumi's poker face hid her own double-edged sword—she was getting better at this game.
"Hehe, you're as pure as ever, Shidou-san," she said.
"Tch, quiet. Want me to turn into some playboy?"
"…I can't quite say."
"I'm not planning to, you know?"
What constituted a "playboy" varied, but imagining Shidou flirting with everyone indiscriminately was easy enough. Kurumi, brushing off his remark, pictured it.
If he flirted with everyone—not just Spirits, not just when needed—she envisioned him charming all.
"…If I saw you like that, I might collapse in jealous tears," she admitted.
"What did you imagine!?"
Shidou tried picturing Kurumi crying over him. The mere thought sent a pang of guilt so intense he felt he might die from it.
"…But you'd be jealous, huh?" he said.
"My, my. Even I get jealous when I think of the man I love," she replied. "What's with that face?"
His flushed face, barely containing joy—or perhaps a smug grin—made her raise a brow.
"No guy wouldn't be thrilled to hear that," he said.
"Men's hearts are complex, aren't they?"
"Are they? I think girls' hearts are trickier."
"When you say it, it somehow feels convincing."
"Haha…"
A dry laugh, perfectly suited to the moment. Living a life where upsetting a girl could spell disaster gave his words unmatched weight. To Shidou, a girl's heart was an enigma no amount of training could unravel.
"Anyway, I'm capable of envy too," Kurumi said. "Otherwise, I wouldn't have reacted to Miku's way of addressing you, even as a joke."
"Y-Yeah…"
He couldn't admit her reaction felt too intense for a joke. The lesson? Never anger Kurumi. Her usual leniency didn't mean he could take her kindness for granted. It felt off, but he'd let it slide.
Then, Kurumi's playful expression shifted to a wistful smile.
"…If only they were people I could resent enough to vent my jealousy on," she said.
"Huh?"
"Everyone is so kind it's almost laughable. I can't trample their feelings with my contradictory emotions."
They'd all been hurt, had wept, yet none had lost their hearts. Each carried something beautiful within. Shidou reached out earnestly, saving them. That was what Kurumi found beautiful—something she couldn't claim, something she had to "undo."
So she'd never direct her jealousy at them or disrupt their dates. Despite her contradictions, Kurumi had lost the cruelty to force her ego. Knowing she'd one day take everything from them, her half-hearted restraint seemed laughable. Yet her pride—her envy of the Spirits—stayed hidden.
If only she could take that kind hand, the girl thought. But she could never take it, the Spirit resolved.
"While thinking this, I'm trying to take you—their precious person—away from them," she said. "Tell me, Shidou-san. I'm a hopeless Spirit, full of contradictions."
"Yeah, you are," he said. "But… I love that kind Kurumi."
He pulled her into an embrace, close enough to feel each other's warmth.
She called her contradictions and jealousy flaws, but Shidou felt them too.
"I'm the same," he said. "Maybe I'd be ten times more jealous thinking of you. Would you hate me for that?"
"No, no," she replied. "No matter what you feel, I love you."
"Then that's enough. Contradictions, jealousy—bring it on. It's proof you're kind… and that we love each other."
Having contradictory thoughts meant she hadn't forgotten how to care for others. What was wrong with that? People lived with contradictions—Shidou knew that the moment he fell for her, driven mad by his love.
"Oh, Shidou-san. I love you, I adore you. I love you so much I might go mad. And yet, I love you."
"I love you. I don't want to give you to anyone, and I won't. Even if we're mad, I love you."
"Pfft, haha! It's absurd, absurd! I had worries, hesitations… but it always ends like this."
Her doubts would never fully resolve. They were hers to bear, alongside her sins, until her journey ended. So, perhaps, this outcome was inevitable.
"But this… feels like a date, doesn't it?" Shidou said.
"Hehe, yes. This is our kind of date."
"Yeah. A date for two hopeless people who love each other too much."
It might not be a carefree date, but it was theirs. A girl who knew her end was coming. A boy who refused to accept it. A warped time woven by their contradictions.
"…Stay with me just a bit longer," she whispered.
He answered by tightening his embrace. Leaning into him, wanting to feel more of his presence, Kurumi closed her eyes and rested against his shoulder.
Their hopelessly warped, maddeningly convoluted, peaceful date… would linger just a little longer.
◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆
"Wha—!"
The glimmer was sudden, fleeting. The golden-haired girl's earring, reacting to spiritual waves, shifted color before the white-clad girl's eyes—into a glossy, beautiful black, reminiscent of her.
"? Something wrong?"
Walking confidently through the night, the golden-haired girl turned, tilting her head at the white-clad girl's small exclamation.
"…No, I must've misseen," she replied. "Don't mind me."
"…Alright."
The golden-haired girl showed no reaction, giving a slightly puzzled look before turning away. Her silence suggested it was a trick of the eye. Even if it wasn't, it wouldn't change her fate.
"…Will you vanish without anyone knowing?" the white-clad girl asked.
"…"
The vague question seemed to reach her. Stopping and turning, her cherry-blossom eyes flickered faintly, or so it seemed.
"I'll vanish," she said. "Decomposing everything that makes me, erasing my existence."
All traces of her—her meaning, her will—would disappear. She'd fulfill her role and fade, unnoticed. She didn't question it. As System Kerub's administrator, that was her design, her purpose. But the white-clad girl couldn't accept it.
"That's unjust," she said.
"Why think that? You know why I was born."
"I know. Your purpose… and the feelings you were born with for him."
"…!"
If she were a mere machine or could hide those feelings, the white-clad girl might've just watched her fade. It would've been a pointless errand, unrelated to Kurumi. But she wasn't. She had a purpose and her own feelings. The white-clad girl saw it in their time together.
"If you fulfill your purpose, you should be free, even briefly. Why not share those feelings? Meet him."
"Even if I did, I'd still vanish. I'd only trouble… Shidou."
"Trouble him all you want! He's a meddling do-gooder who stomps into people's hearts. It'd be a nice jab."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
She let out a laugh, as if the idea was absurd. The white-clad girl crossed her arms, indignant—she'd been trampled by him too, so this "retribution" was justified.
"…Unlike me, you were born with a role. Even when it's done, you have your feelings for Shidou—precious meaning. You've played the thankless role of watching their dates. You deserve some reward."
Born with a role, fulfilling it, only to vanish—it was too unfair, too unjust. It didn't matter if she accepted it. This was the white-clad girl's selfish cry, her heart's protest.
"So just disappearing like this? I won't accept it."
"…Don't tell me you followed me just to say that."
"…Is that bad?"
Watching the "vessel's" judgment was a flimsy excuse. She knew Shidou would pass. She believed in him. What she truly wanted to judge was her.
As someone with a similar yet different origin, she wanted to meet her. That was all.
"You're clumsier and kinder than I thought," the golden-haired girl said.
"…It's not kindness. I just can't forgive what I find unjust. I'll admit I'm clumsy, though. Unlike—"
"Unlike Kurumi, right?"
"…! You—"
Her habit of comparing herself to Kurumi slipped out, and the golden-haired girl's mischievous smile—eerily like Kurumi's—confirmed her suspicion.
"I wondered why you let me stay so easily," the white-clad girl said. "That's why. What kind of logic is that?"
"Who knows? I just have her memories too."
"You sound more and more like Kurumi…"
A blind spot, born from assuming she was made of the six sealed Spirits' energies. Knowing System Kerub's nature, the white-clad girl missed it—she held unsealed Kurumi's memories too. The logic was unclear, but it made things trickier, she thought with a wry smile under her hood.
"One thing, as a parting gift," the golden-haired girl said. "I want to know your 'plan.'"
"That's a phrase villains use when spilling secrets, not you…"
It felt wrong for someone fated to vanish to say it, like a dark joke only fitting for their shared acceptance of erasure.
"Does it matter? It's my choice," she said. "So, about that 'plan' of yours—will you tell me?"
"…"
"You got a taste of being kept in the dark, right? I'm vanishing anyway, so I won't tell. If you don't, I might haunt you from curiosity."
"That's not funny unless it's me you're saying it to."
A grim joke only they, who accepted their end, could share. A hopelessly bleak exchange.
"…My 'plan' isn't exciting," she said. "It might seem obvious or trivial to others."
"Then it's fine for me to hear. I'll decide if it's trivial."
"…Fine."
In a small, fleeting voice, she revealed her "plan" for the first time.
"—"
A whisper that might've been swept away by the wind, but none came. The white-clad girl became the second in the world to know it. Her cherry-blossom eyes widened in surprise, then softened into a gentle smile.
"So… we have to make that wish come true," she said.
"I'll make it happen—no matter the cost."
Absolutely. The white-clad girl would fulfill that "plan," no matter what stood in her way, no matter who she grew to care for or pity. For her vow, she'd gladly cut it all away.
And so, the golden-haired girl, the only one to share her secret—
"…I'm sorry. I can't save you."
"I know. I can't let you."
—She abandoned her without hesitation or doubt.
Understanding the feelings in her "plan," she responded with a fragile smile. She'd likely meet him, following her innate feelings, fulfilling her clumsy kindness. So she said goodbye first, to the girl she'd spent these fleeting days with.
"Farewell. I'll say it now… goodbye, clumsy, kind Spirit. It was short, but being with you… was pretty fun."
"Thank you. Just a few days, but… I had fun too."
A brief moment shared. A few dates observed together. Knowing they'd vanish, neither stopping nor being stopped.
And yet—they smiled, saying it was fun.
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