Date A Mysterious Being

Chapter 23 - A Siege of Two

"Wha..." Shidou couldn't even cry out as his eyes grew wide in surprise and confusion. He simply stared at this strange sight.
The girl was so gorgeous, a shiver ran up his spine.

Her jet-black hair was tied back in asymmetrical braids. A dress the color of blood and shadow coiled around her slender body. But her most unusual feature was undoubtedly her eyes. Two different colors set in her beautiful face. A close look revealed the face of a clock in her left eye, complete with hands that marked the passage of time with a steady tic-tic-tic.

"Tokisaki?!" Shidou squeezed the girl's name out of his throat.

She was his classmate, Lucas' best friend and the one of the most powerful beings he knew. But her appearance alone wasn't everything surprising. Usually, Kurumi always accompanies Lucas. But this time, she was alone. Guessing something happened, Shidou asked straight up. "...What happened to Lucas..?"

"....He's..." Kurumi definitely felt like it was a burden, but she couldn't hide that information to Shidou. "He's in very poor condition and is recovering for now."

"Wha-?!"

A few hours earlier in Tenguu Square, the venue for the Tenou Festival, They had faced off against Izayoi Miku, a Spirit who controlled sound and voice. Through her Angel Gabriel, Miku had gained total control over Yoshino, Kaguya, Yuzuru, and all the spectators in the venue.

On top of that, Kotori and her crew had also turned on him, after hearing a certain sound through the speakers, no doubt. And right when things seemed like they couldn't get any worse, DEM Wizard Ellen burst onto the scene, obliterated Lucas and made off with Tohka.

Although Shidou had just barely made it out in one piece and managed to hide himself in an abandoned building on the outskirts of town, there was nothing he could actually do about the situation except pound his fists against the floor in frustration over his own helplessness.

"Tokisaki.. Tohka. Tohka is-!"

"I know. That's why I am here. As I said, I'm here to help you, Shidou-san." Kurumi explained, stretching out her right hand to Shidou, who was still laying with his butt on the ground. Shidou took Kurumi's arm, and got up to his feet. It was true that Shidou alone would absolutely not be enough to rescue Tohka, seal Miku and release everyone from her control. And they haven't even touched upon that Wizard who abducted Tohka in the first place. That woman is trouble. She's far too much for any regular human being to contend with. Even for Lucas. Shidou knew exactly that.

"I understand. Thank you."

"Now then. Shall we get started? There is no time for dallying. Some say haste makes waste, but that just means we need to wrap this up before that happens."

"Yeah." Shidou nodded. "So what should I do? I'll do whatever it takes to save Tohka."

"Unfortunately, I can't do anything about that yet. We are still confirming Tohka's location. In the mean time, shouldn't we take care of someone else?"

He quickly guessed what she was getting at. With a heavy sigh, he said, "Miku?"

"Yes." Kurumi nodded. The main reason Shidou was hiding in an abandoned building on the outskirts of town was none other than the fact that he was under attack by the Spirit Izayoi Miku.
Using voice and sound to control people, Miku had amassed a terrifying number of troops, and her army left no stone unturned in their search for Shidou. To make him pay for betraying her.

Shidou grew grim when he was reminded of this.

"Well then, how about we take care of her first? Slowly but surely, she is expanding the area under her control. If this keeps up, we may even be interrupted before we can mount our rescue of Tohka."