Date A Live

A large helicopter rested outside the facility, its rotors still beneath the open sky. In a flash of light, Shido and the Spirits were beamed aboard the ship.

The bridge around them was familiar in purpose, but not in appearance. The layout was cleaner, wider, and more advanced than the Fraxinus Shido remembered. The consoles looked newer, the displays sharper, and the whole command deck had the polished feel of a ship built after every weakness in the old model had been corrected.

Tohka looked around the bridge with wide-eyed curiosity.

"Is this the Fraxinus's bridge?"

Shido blinked, still taking in the unfamiliar layout.

"Huh, it seems different than I remember."

Kotori stepped forward with clear satisfaction.

"Yep, it's a new model with upgraded everything. She's Fraxinus Excelsior! Space is a cakewalk for her. Hello Fraxinus, how goes it?"

A blue holographic AI interface materialized in the center of the room, its light spreading softly across the bridge.

"Welcome Kotori. It's a pleasure to see you."

Shido stared at the hologram, caught off guard.

"Uh..."

Maria turned her attention toward him.

"It's rude to gape, Shido. You know better. Were I a spirit, my happiness would decrease."

Kotori explained before Shido could get more confused.

"It's still Fraxinus's AI. But we've made some upgrades recently that allow it to converse."

Maria continued calmly.

"My call sign is Maria. It's a pleasure to work with you again, Shido."

Shido recovered enough to answer politely.

"Likewise. It's a pleasure working with you."

Kotori returned to the practical matter.

"Well then. About how long until we're ready to depart, Maria?"

Maria answered without delay.

"I estimate approximately 90 minutes. I am honored to be working with each of you again and look forward to our missions together. I've restored everyone's customizations, but please confirm them individually."

The crew responded at once.

"Roger!"

Maria continued, still composed.

"Also, I must ask that you please limit personal goods brought on the bridge. You do not need straw dolls or your silly anime figures."

One crew member, holding a voodoo doll, reacted with instant offense.

"No way! You never complained before! What accounts for the sudden change?!"

Maria replied bluntly.

"You seem to forget that I couldn't speak before. Also, please refrain from personal calls. Especially those to ex-wives, and shall I say... ladies of the night? Furthermore, cameras are to be used for work purposes only, not to spy on past lovers."

Kotori looked over the bridge crew, unimpressed.

"For real? I'm highly disappointed to find out you all were using Fraxinus for such seedy purposes."

The crew immediately broke into denial.

"I wasn't!"

"Us either!"

"We would never!"

Maria moved on as if the subject had been settled.

"Now then, Kotori. An on-base visitor is requesting an in-person meeting."

Kotori focused again.

"Who is it?"

Maria answered.

"It's Chairman Elliot Woodman."

Kotori's reaction sharpened.

"The Chairman?"

Tohka looked toward Shido.

"Shido, do you know him?"

Shido searched his memory, but the name did not connect.

"I mean, no, the name isn't ringing any bells."

The meeting room inside Ratatoskr headquarters was not arranged like a command center. It looked more like a formal lounge, wide, quiet, and deliberately plain. Pale walls surrounded a large square of blue carpet, with several dark couches placed around a low rectangular table. A small planter sat in the center, the only decoration in a room that otherwise felt too clean and too controlled.

Shido sat with the Spirits gathered around him rather than lined up like a briefing squad. Kotori was nearby, her posture sharper than the relaxed furniture around her. Tohka sat close, watching the entrance with open curiosity. Yoshino held Yoshinon carefully in her lap. Kaguya and Yuzuru sat together, the twins quiet for once as they waited. Miku sat with her attention tilted toward Shido even while trying to follow the situation. Natsumi kept herself slightly apart, guarded and suspicious of the formal atmosphere. Origami sat upright, eyes moving over the room’s doors, cameras, and security layout. Nia waited with unusual focus, her usual teasing looseness subdued.

The atmosphere was not hostile, but it was heavy with expectation. This was not a normal briefing, and Kotori’s reaction to the name “Chairman” had made that clear. Whoever Elliot Baldwin Woodman was, he was not simply another Ratatoskr officer.

The door opened, and Elliot Baldwin Woodman entered in a wheelchair, pushed by his assistant, Karen.

"Hello. It's been a while."

Shido recognized him almost immediately.

"Oh, it's you!"

Tohka remembered him in her own way.

"I remember now. You're the guy who asked for directions."

Woodman accepted the identification with good humor.

"You're correct. That was me indeed. Lest I remain 'directions guy,' I'll introduce myself. My name is Elliot Baldwin Woodman."

Tohka turned toward Kotori.

"Kotori, you called him the Chairman?"

Kotori explained his position clearly.

"Yes, the Chairman of Ratatoskr's round table. The people responsible for making all the big decisions. He's its head and founder."

Woodman looked to Shido, his tone sincere.

"Well, Shido Itsuka. You have my thanks. I am incredibly grateful to you for saving so many spirits."

Shido was quick to deflect the praise.

"Oh, no. I owe you thanks. I mean, without Ratatoskr, I'd have gotten nowhere."

Nia leaned forward before the room could become too comfortable. Her expression had none of its usual teasing looseness. She looked directly at Woodman, and the question she brought with her cut through the formality of the room.

"I have a few questions for you. First off... Mr. Elliot Baldwin Woodman. Sorry, that is what you said your name was, right? Tell me something then... as one of DEM's founding members, what's behind your newfound motivation to save spirits? When thirty years ago, you were the one who manifested them in the first place!"

Shido froze at the implication.

"You're saying they... manifested spirits?"

Nia confirmed it without softening the accusation.

"I sure am. And if these people hadn't manifested spirits or created DEM, we wouldn't have had to go through all that unnecessary pain and suffering. So I want to know... what exactly are you plotting now?"

The room went still.

Tohka’s expression tightened with confusion. Yoshino held Yoshinon closer. Kaguya and Yuzuru focused on Woodman without their usual rhythm. Miku’s smile faded. Natsumi looked more guarded than before. Origami’s eyes sharpened the moment DEM was named.

Woodman did not deny it. Instead, he gave a small laugh, as if he had expected the truth to surface eventually.

"Hah, oh, I see. You're the one who had the power to look up anything you wanted to know about anyone you wished, aren't you? It's no surprise that you would have been compelled to look into me long ago. I never intended to hide anything from you. Yes, it is true that I founded DEM along with Isaac Westcott and Ellen Mathers. Back then, our motivation was simple. We hoped to utilize the power of spirits. But that was before I had the opportunity to lay eyes on the spirit of origin. Once I did, I was changed forever. I left control of DEM with Karen Mathers, whom you see behind me. She was of the same mind as me about DEM and the rest of it."

Origami caught onto the name immediately.

"Wait, Mathers?"

Woodman continued.

"That's right. She is Ellen Mathers' little sister. Though Ellen looks more like the younger of the two siblings. In any case... from that point on, I dedicated my life to the protection of spirits... despite the knowledge that it would make Ike and Ellen my enemies."

Shido looked at him, trying to understand the full weight of that turn.

"So then... what exactly happened?"

Woodman's answer was simple.

"What happened? Love did, my friend. The moment I first laid eyes on the spirit of origin, she stole my heart away... and I could no longer proceed as before. That's why I can't stand seeing other spirits like her in pain. I am forever changed. As silly as it might seem to you, that is the real reason."

The confession left the room quieter than before.

It was not a tactical explanation. It was not an excuse built out of politics, regret, or strategy. It was strange, personal, and almost too simple for the amount of suffering surrounding it. But Shido did not laugh.

He listened to Woodman’s answer and found no mockery in it. If anything, the honesty seemed to relieve him.

"I don't think it's silly at all. To be honest, sir... I'm relieved. I'm glad Ratatoskr was founded by someone like you."

Woodman softened at the response.

"Well, that's kind... Sorry, but would it be possible for me to get a better look at your face?"

Shido hesitated, then allowed it.

"Uh... sure, why not?"

Woodman studied him closely. The longer he looked, the more the room seemed to still around the recognition in his eyes.

"It's incredible... you do look just like him... exactly as I remember."

Shido followed Reine through the narrow metallic corridor, still trying to sort through everything that had happened before he lost consciousness. The room he had awakened in had resembled a school infirmary, complete with white curtains and rows of simple beds, but the exposed wiring, unfamiliar equipment, and Reine's explanation had made one thing clear: he was nowhere near Raizen High School. According to her, the place was called Fraxinus, and there was someone aboard who could answer his questions better than she could.

Reine staggered along ahead of him with the same exhausted lack of balance she had shown in the medical office. Eventually she stopped before a large door with a small electronic panel beside it. A soft beep sounded, and the door slid open.

"It's here."

Shido stepped through after her and stopped almost immediately.

The chamber beyond looked like the command bridge of a warship. The upper floor spread outward in a broad semicircle, with a large captain's chair positioned near the center, while gently sloping stairs descended to a lower level packed with crew members and complicated consoles. The room itself was dim, illuminated mostly by the monitors scattered throughout it, giving the entire place the atmosphere of something Shido would have expected to see in a science-fiction movie rather than somewhere above Tenguu City.

"...What is this place?"

Reine continued inside as though there were nothing remarkable about it.

"I brought him."

A tall young man standing beside the captain's chair turned toward them. He had wavy hair, refined features, and an almost excessively polite manner as he bowed toward Shido.

"Hello. I'm Vice Commander Kannazuki Kyouhei. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Shido awkwardly returned the gesture.

"Uh... yeah. Nice to meet you."

For a moment, Shido assumed Kannazuki was the person Reine had brought him to see. Instead, Kannazuki straightened and turned toward the captain's chair, which was facing away from them.

"Commander. Analysis Officer Murasame has returned."

A small groan came from the chair.

Then it slowly rotated.

Shido stared.

Sitting there was a young girl wearing a crimson military-style uniform over her shoulders. Her long hair was tied into twin tails with two large black ribbons, and a Chupa Chups rested casually in her mouth. Her small frame and round eyes were painfully familiar, but the calm authority in her posture was nothing like the little sister Shido had eaten breakfast with that morning.

"Welcome. Welcome to Ratatoskr."

Shido's face went blank.

"...Kotori?"

There was no reasonable alternative. The ribbons were different, the uniform was completely absurd, and even the way she carried herself had changed, but that was unmistakably Itsuka Kotori.

Kotori looked down at him from the command chair without the slightest embarrassment.

"What? Did you forget your own little sister's face, Shido?"

Shido's confusion immediately gave way to relief.

"Kotori! You were safe?"

Kotori raised an eyebrow.

"You ran into a spacequake area and got yourself knocked unconscious, and you're asking whether I'm safe?"

Shido hesitated. Hearing his sister speak to him without calling him Onii-chan was almost as unsettling as seeing her seated in command of what appeared to be a military airship. He pinched his cheek once, confirmed that it hurt, and slowly rubbed the back of his head.

"Okay... I'm completely lost. Where are we? Who are all these people? What happened to that girl? Why was Origami flying around in some kind of mechanical armor? And why are you apparently their commander?"

Kotori held up one hand before he could continue.

"Calm down. Ask everything at once and I can't answer anything properly."

She motioned toward the large displays around the bridge. Images appeared across them, showing the black-haired girl Shido had encountered earlier and the armored women who had attacked her.

"The girl you met is what we call a Spirit."

Shido looked toward the screen. Even seeing her only as an image brought back the expression she had worn when she asked whether he had come to kill her.

"...A Spirit?"

"And the people fighting her belong to the AST—the Anti-Spirit Team."

Shido's attention shifted immediately to one of the figures.

"Origami..."

So he had not imagined that either.

Before he could ask anything else, another thought struck him. Shido quickly pulled out his phone and checked the screen, remembering exactly why he had ignored the evacuation order in the first place.

"Wait a second. Kotori, what happened to the restaurant? Your GPS showed you standing right in front of it!"

Kotori stared at him for a moment before understanding dawned on her face.

"...So that's why you went running outside during a spacequake warning."

"What else was I supposed to think? We promised to meet there!"

"How stupid do you think I am?"

Shido opened his mouth, then stopped himself.

Kotori narrowed her eyes.

"You were about to answer that."

"No."

"You absolutely were."

Shido quickly looked away.

Kotori sighed and leaned back into the command chair.

"Anyway, your misunderstanding is simple. We're technically in front of the restaurant right now."

Shido slowly looked back at her.

"...What?"

Kotori glanced toward the crew.

"Remove the filter."

The bridge changed instantly.

The darkness surrounding the command deck seemed to disappear, replaced by brilliant blue sky. Clouds stretched far below them, and through the open view Shido could barely make out the city beneath. For several seconds he could do nothing except stare at the impossible sight surrounding the ship.

"Wh-What the hell...?"

"The outside view."

Shido turned toward Kotori.

"Outside?"

"We're about fifteen thousand meters above Tenguu City."

His expression froze.

Kotori crossed her arms with obvious satisfaction.

"And by coincidence, we're positioned roughly above the restaurant where we were supposed to meet."

Shido looked from the sky to Kotori, then around the enormous bridge again.

"So this place is..."

"Fraxinus."

Kotori gave him a small, proud smile.

"An airship."

Shido stared at her.

Then at Kannazuki.

Then at Reine, who looked as though she might fall asleep standing up.

Then back at Kotori.

"...What kind of secret life have you been living?"

Kotori ignored the question and gestured toward the screen displaying the AST.

"Back to the explanation. Their job is simple. When a Spirit appears, the AST responds."

Shido's expression became more serious.

"Responds how?"

"They eliminate the Spirit."

The casual way Kotori said it made Shido's stomach tighten.

"...Eliminate?"

"Kill them."

Shido looked back toward the black-haired girl.

The answer suddenly gave new meaning to what she had said before. The resignation in her voice, the hostility she had shown toward anyone who approached her, even that lonely expression—it all fit together far too easily.

"But the spacequake wasn't something she deliberately caused, right?"

"As far as we know, the initial spacequake isn't necessarily caused by the Spirit's intentions."

"Then why kill her?"

Kotori rested her chin against one hand.

"Because intent doesn't make them harmless. Spirits possess enough power to cause enormous destruction simply by appearing, and battles involving them can make that damage even worse. From humanity's perspective, removing that danger is the straightforward solution."

Shido frowned. He understood what Kotori was saying, but the image in his mind refused to disappear.

"Someone who just wanted to destroy things wouldn't have looked like that."

Kotori watched him carefully.

"You met her for a few minutes, she nearly killed you, and you're already defending her?"

"I'm not saying she's harmless."

"Then what are you saying?"

Shido fell silent. He had no plan and no argument strong enough to erase the danger Kotori had described. All he had was the memory of the girl standing alone in the ruins, expecting every person who approached her to be another enemy.

Finally, he answered.

"...That somebody should actually talk to her first."

The bridge became quiet.

Shido kept his eyes on the Spirit displayed across the monitor.

"If nobody has ever tried talking to her, then how can anyone know what she actually wants?"

For a moment, Kotori said nothing.

Then the corner of her mouth lifted.

It was the expression of someone who had just heard exactly what she had been waiting for.

"I see."

Shido glanced toward her.

"What?"

Kotori spread her arms slightly, indicating the bridge around them—the crew at their stations, Kannazuki beside her, Reine nearby, and Fraxinus itself surrounding all of them.

"Then we'll help you."

Shido blinked.

"...Huh?"

"That is what Ratatoskr is here for."

Kotori settled back into the command chair, looking directly at her brother.

"If the AST's answer to a Spirit is to destroy her, then ours is different."

Shido waited.

Kotori smiled.

"We're going to make contact with her."

The central stage of Tengu Square had stopped resembling a concert hall several minutes ago. Nearly a thousand spectators remained packed throughout the enormous interior, but the ordinary noise of a festival audience had disappeared with Gabriel’s first song. Girls from half a dozen schools stood or moved beneath the stage lights with the same unnatural purpose, while the silver pipes of Miku’s Angel towered over the stage like an organ built for a cathedral much larger than the building containing it.

Shido had already tried shouting sense into the three Spirits standing between Tohka and Miku. It had accomplished nothing.

“Stop! Yoshino! Kaguya, Yuzuru too! Snap out of it!”

Yoshino looked toward him from Zadkiel’s back with genuine confusion rather than the empty stare of a puppet. “What are you saying, Shido-san? Why are you and Tohka-san being so mean to Onee-sama?”

Yoshinon bobbed beside her. “Yeah! You two are the ones being awful here. Looks like a little scolding isn’t going to be enough!”

Kaguya held her lance across her body with the same proud bearing she always did. “Kuku... it seems Shido has been driven to some truly capricious behavior, Yuzuru.”

“Surprise. Yuzuru wonders whether Shido has a conscience at all.”

That was the problem. They remembered him. They remembered Tohka. Their personalities, habits, even the way they argued with him were still intact. Gabriel had done something far more useful to Miku than hollowing them out. Somewhere inside every judgment Yoshino, Kaguya, and Yuzuru made, Miku had simply been placed above everyone else.

Miku herself remained on the stage behind them, still dressed in Shaddai El Chai with one hand near Gabriel’s circular keyboard of light. Her earlier hysterical reaction to discovering what was underneath Shiori’s maid uniform had settled into a much colder anger. Every glance she sent toward the catwalk carried the same offended disbelief, as though Shido’s continued existence after deceiving her were itself another insult.

The rest of the situation offered no escape. Fraxinus had stopped being an option when Kotori answered Shido’s request for extraction by cheerfully telling him to die for defying Miku. The audience had begun working its way toward the upper levels from backstage, and below them Yoshino and the Yamais made approaching Gabriel effectively impossible.

Tohka tightened both hands around Sandalphon.

She had escaped Miku’s control through sheer accident. The monitors she had kept plugged into both ears after the performance had prevented Gabriel’s sound from reaching her properly, leaving her as the only Spirit in the building still fighting beside Shido. She looked once toward him, then down toward Miku.

“Shido, stay here.”

“Tohka, wait—”

The catwalk railing buckled beneath her foot.

Tohka launched herself from it with Sandalphon already raised, crossing the open space above the hall in a single burst. Her shout carried all the way to the stage as she brought the great sword down toward Miku.

Yoshino moved first. Ice erupted between them fast enough to catch Sandalphon against a translucent wall, fractures racing across its surface from the impact. Before Tohka could force the blade through, wind converged from both sides. Kaguya and Yuzuru struck together, and the combined pressure tore Tohka away from the ice and hurled her bodily through the outer wall of the stage building.

“Tohka!”

Concrete and paneling burst outward with her. Shido reached the railing just in time to see fragments of the wall disappear into the darkness outside, but Tohka herself was already gone from view.

For several seconds there was nothing.

Then something struck metal overhead.

Shido looked up. So did Miku.

A second impact rang through the ceiling, followed by a sharp line splitting across the panels directly above Gabriel. The cut widened into a cross, and Tohka dropped through it with Sandalphon aimed straight down.

Miku’s eyes widened. “What—”

Yoshino and the Yamais turned too late.

Tohka fell past them and drove Sandalphon into Gabriel. The tip bit into one of the enormous metal pipes with a shriek of tearing material before Miku recoiled beneath it.

Her surprise lasted less than a second.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

Miku’s voice exploded through the enclosed hall.

The sound hit at point-blank range with enough force to turn the air itself into a weapon. Tohka was ripped away from Gabriel and thrown across the interior, striking the wall beside Shido hard enough to shake the catwalk beneath his feet.

“Tohka!”

He hurried to her while she coughed against the floor, one hand gripping Sandalphon’s hilt as she forced herself upright with the sword serving as a support. Across the hall, Miku stared at the gouge Tohka had carved into Gabriel before slowly lifting her eyes toward them.

“That was dangerous.” Her voice had returned to its soft, polished sweetness, but none of the warmth had. “Unfortunately, it was also useless.”

Footsteps sounded behind Shido before he could answer. Several girls had reached the catwalk entrance from the backstage stairs and were already filing through, followed by more shapes packed into the passage behind them. They moved slowly because there was barely enough room, not because any of them were reconsidering what Miku wanted.

Shido looked back toward the stage. Yoshino was readying Zadkiel again. Kaguya and Yuzuru had recovered their positions above Miku. Tohka could barely stand after taking Miku’s voice directly, and there was nowhere along the catwalk that did not eventually lead back into the controlled audience.

Then the light above the stage changed.

Someone was descending through the cross-shaped hole Tohka had cut into the ceiling.

For one instant Shido thought Fraxinus had somehow recovered quickly enough to send help. That impression disappeared as soon as the figure dropped beneath the broken panels and the stage lighting caught silver mechanical armor instead of Ratatoskr equipment.

Pale blonde hair floated around the woman’s shoulders inside the artificial gravity of her Territory.

Shido knew that face.

Tohka did too. Her exhaustion vanished beneath immediate alarm as she dragged Sandalphon back into a fighting stance.

Ellen Mira Mathers barely acknowledged either reaction. Her eyes swept once across the hall, taking in the wrecked stage, Gabriel, Miku, the controlled Spirits and the mass of spectators with the detached appraisal of someone arriving late to a problem that belonged to other people.

“Bailey and the others failed after all,” she said quietly. “Well... that was within expectations.”

Her gaze settled on Tohka first.

Then it shifted to the person standing beside her.

The pause was small, but unmistakable.

Shido’s body was producing exactly the reading Ellen expected. What her eyes found instead was a girl in a maid uniform, complete with makeup and the remnants of the Shiori disguise.

Ellen regarded the contradiction for another moment before apparently deciding it did not matter.

“Target Yatogami Tohka confirmed.” Her eyes narrowed slightly on Shido. “And... a female student producing Itsuka Shido’s readings.”

Miku’s attention shifted toward the newcomer for the first time.

Ellen did not return it.

“I will now commence capture.”

Then she flew straight toward Shido and Tohka.