Date A Live: Red Crown Chaplain

5 - Raven Guard

"You damned Taliah, stop following me! " A boy with black hair, cat ears, and dark red eyes distances himself from Taliah. He was like a child in a tantrum. His arms were stretched down, his hands closed, and his back leaning towards Taliah as he yelled at her.

"Nope. It's fun! (⁀ᗢ⁀)"

Taliah spoke in a pleasant voice.

"What else do you want from me?! I have already done as you requested and tended to the farms! Still, you follow me! Just leave me alone! " Though he sounded annoyed, he unconsciously wanted her to stay.

"I am going to give you so many flowers," Taliah speaks in a kind-hearted manner.

"Stop it! "

"Then we're gonna go out together," she says, casually, with a tender close-eyed smile.

"E-Excuse me?! " He flinched away from Taliah, his face flushed.

"After we spend one or two decades with that, maybe we can finally do the Marriage Ritual!" She exclaimed with enthusiasm as she suddenly hugged the boy.

"Release me! Stop poisoning me by putting butterflies in my heart or-- how-however in the world it is said! "

"No...! I refuse to let you go. You're too huggable!"

"I demand you release me! "

The two go back and forth with their words. Although the boy seemed annoyed with how well he was being treated, Taliah knew the truth. His thoughts don't lie.

He still had his pride and ego, but he knew that deep inside, he really was happy to be alive and to be with Taliah.

"Alright, how about I make you a Magnificent Fish Meal? Would you stop complaining if I cook you that?" Taliah spoke in a sly manner.

"... F--... It is... acceptable..." The boy looked away from her as she stopped embracing him.

"Let's go, then!"

Taliah grabs hold of the boy's hand and leads him to the cooking station.

The boy wanted to argue but his mouth won't say a word.

He was stuck in his mind with these uncertain feelings. He wondered what exactly they could mean.

But he knew one thing was certain, he was liking, enjoying the presence of Taliah the more time he spends with her.

---

[3rd POV]

The brown-eyed boy and the entire crew of the Fraxinus were shaken by this.

Laura had come out of seemingly nowhere but the shadow beneath Kurumi.

She was able to punch through Kurumi's Astral Dress with only mild difficulty.

Shido shouted Kurumi's name as the white-haired crown-bearer in her Astral Dress absorbs the corpse into black ichorous energy through Zealous Gauntlets.

The boy's mouth trembled as this sudden turn of events scarred him further.

Laura: "She was too soft anyway... At least she served a purpose even in death."

She spoke, detached and distant.

Shido: "Laura,... why...?! Why did you do that?!"

Reine: "<<Shin, be careful. Her meters were similar to yesterday's events when she first protected Kurumi.>>"

The tired woman with blue eyes spoke through his earpiece.

Shido: "Does that mean..."

Reine: "<<In theory, she may not be herself right now.>>"