The setting sun melted into gold, twilight clouds merged like jade, yet where were the people?
Even as dusk approached, the infinitely beautiful sunset painted vast stretches of land in crimson. In the newly restored park atop the high platform, a pink-haired girl and a blue-haired boy lingered, lost in the beauty of the fading light.
“When I last came here, it was with Tohka. Now, only the two of us remain.”
Qianye poked Shido’s cheek with a finger as she spoke.
“Qianye, stop teasing me!”
Shido exclaimed, his voice remarkably like a young girl’s.
Incidentally, Shido was currently dressed in men’s clothing.
The original plan had been a cross-dressing date with Qianye. However, after several twists and turns, his female attire had been soiled during a competition between Qianye and Origami.
Origami’s uniform suffered the same fate. Consequently, Shido had no choice but to revert to his male clothing.
Only Qianye’s Spirit Dress remained pristine, having been crafted from Spirit power and capable of absorbing Shido’s essence to replenish her own spiritual energy.
“Still, it’s quite remarkable how quickly this place was rebuilt. It’s hard to imagine a fierce battle raged here just a few days ago.”
Qianye gazed at the surroundings, now restored to their original, flawless state, and couldn’t help but voice her admiration.
“Yes, that’s likely thanks to the Magician Reconstruction Unit,” Shido said, scratching his head. “Origami mentioned that they’re responsible for rebuilding the ruins left behind after every Spacequake and Spirit battle.”
“That truly is amazing technology. This world’s tech tree seems a bit skewed. Japan, it appears, is far too urbanized.”
Qianye uttered strange words that Shido couldn’t comprehend.
[Shido, it’s time. Qianye’s affection level has reached the point where she can be sealed.]
Kotori’s voice echoed in his earpiece.
“Understood!”
Shido nodded, not having forgotten the true purpose of his date.
That was to seal a Spirit.
“Qianye, I…”
“I know exactly what you’re going to say!”
The moment Shido opened his mouth, Qianye cut him off.
“You want to kiss me, steal my lips, seal my Spirit power, and absorb me into your ever-expanding harem, don’t you?”
“Uh… well…”
Shido found it difficult to refute her. After all, the premise that sealing a Spirit’s power required a kiss seemed, from any angle, designed purely for building a harem.
Even if Shido claimed he had no such intention, Qianye would never believe him.
“Don’t worry! I won’t oppose your harem. On the contrary, I’ll even encourage you and help you expand it. The bigger the harem, the better!”
Qianye chuckled softly as she slowly leaned closer to Shido, placing a slender finger on his lips.
“After all, I like Shido, and everyone else too.”
“Ehh!”
Qianye’s sudden confession made Shido’s face flush crimson, and all his carefully prepared lines vanished from his mind in an instant.
“Hehehe, were you surprised?”
“Qianye, I…”
If Shido’s face had previously been as red as a half-ripe apple, it now resembled a fully ripened cherry, with faint wisps of steam seemingly rising from his head.
[Shido, you’re supposed to be conquering the Spirits, not getting conquered by them!]
Kotori’s rebuke jolted Shido back to reality. He resolved to seal Qianye at this very moment, bringing an end to this particular conquest.
“Qianye, I’m going to…”
“Shido, the abilities of a creature like humanity are truly limited!”
“Hmm?” “This is…”
Shido and the others were utterly bewildered by Qianye’s inexplicable words. Only Kannazuki Kyouhei felt a strange familiarity with the phrase, as if he had heard it somewhere before.
“What I’ve learned in my brief life is that the more cunning humans become, the more they stumble in unforeseen circumstances. One must transcend humanity!”
Qianye paid no mind to the bewildered Shido, continuing her monologue as if to herself.
“What? What are you talking about?”
“I’m throwing away my humanity, Shido!”
Qianye suddenly transformed into her Spirit Dress form. With a fierce cry, she lunged at Shido, tackling him to the ground.
Her tail coiled tightly around his arms and legs, binding him completely.
“Watch closely, Shido. This is something I’ll only show to you.”
Qianye’s heterochromatic eyes were now completely dyed a vibrant pink. Within those rosy irises, a heart-shaped mark imprinted itself deeply into Shido’s mind.
As he stared at the pink heart, Shido felt his mind grow hazy. Unheard-of scenes and unfamiliar voices began to surface in his consciousness.
****
“You good-for-nothing, how dare you show your face here again!”
“You wretched hag, I’m out there toiling away, risking my life to support you and your son, and I come home only to endure your nagging!”
“You good-for-nothing, if I weren’t disciplining your son, how would you have the chance to focus on your work?”
Unfamiliar voices echoed in Shido’s ears. For some reason, these sounds, which seemed to be Chinese, transformed into Japanese that Shido could understand as they reached him.
“Where is this place?”
Shido observed his surroundings with confusion. This was neither the park on the high platform nor his own home, but an entirely unfamiliar location.
[This is where I once lived!]
Qianye’s voice resonated in Shido’s mind.
“Qianye, where are you?”
[Look in a mirror and see for yourself!]
“Look in a mirror?”
Shido did as Qianye instructed. However, what met his gaze was not his own reflection, but that of a boy roughly ten years old.
“Who is this?”
[That’s me!]
“What? But that’s a boy!”
[Why couldn’t I have been a boy once?]
“Uh…”
Qianye’s answer left Shido speechless, unable to retort.
Indeed, Shido knew very little about Spirits. He only knew them as powerful, beautiful girls whom he had the ability to seal. Nowhere had it been stated that they couldn’t have once been boys.
“So, after becoming a Spirit, your gender changed too?”
[Yes. These are my memories from when I was human. I’m only showing them to you, so don’t reveal them to anyone else, understood?]
“I understand.”
[Good!]
As Qianye used cognitive manipulation to immerse Shido in her past experiences, she began to narrate her story.
“I was born into an ordinary family in China. Though I say ordinary, only our financial situation was typical; the family atmosphere was anything but.”
“As far back as I can remember, my parents argued daily over all sorts of trivial matters. They would be arguing when I woke up, arguing after school, and arguing before bed.”
“Eventually, they couldn’t bear it any longer and chose to divorce, remarrying others. However, neither was willing to relinquish custody of me to the other.”
“After a series of disputes, they finally settled on a compromise: I would alternate living at each of their homes.”
“Thus, I technically had four parents.”
“But they were merely parents in name. Neither my biological parents nor my stepparents truly cared much for me. They were more concerned with using me to spite each other.”
“In the end, it was my grandparents and maternal grandparents who took care of me.”
Hearing Qianye recount this, Shido involuntarily clenched his fists.
“Why would anyone have such parents!”
[Who knows?]
Qianye gave a helpless laugh. After all, she had long grown accustomed to such things.
“As a way to escape reality, I spent a long time immersed in the two-dimensional world. In a sense, you could say I was a complete otaku.”
Qianye showed Shido her memories of watching anime, though she had preemptively erased the specific content of the shows. Firstly, she couldn’t spoil anything or let Shido realize she was a ‘paper person.’
Secondly, some of the anime she used for ‘learning’ certainly couldn’t be shown to Shido.
“When I grew up and became an adult, they no longer cared for me. I had to earn money on my own, and I’ve done everything from washing barrels to scrubbing dishes.”
“Because of my poor family environment, my personality became solitary and eccentric, so I didn’t have many friends. I could only entertain myself.”
“However, I did have an aunt who was very kind to me and loved me as her nephew. My cousin was also very close to me, but as we grew older, we gradually lost touch.”
[Shido, do you think my life was truly awful?]
“That’s not true!” Shido retorted loudly.
“Perhaps I don’t have the right to say this, but I must: Qianye, no matter what your identity was before, or what kind of life you lived, I cannot truly comprehend it.”
“However…”
Shido’s tone underwent a significant shift.
“Qianye, you are a girl who deserves happiness, and I will absolutely ensure you find it!”
“…”
Qianye remained silent, but on the Fraxinus’s screens, Qianye’s affection level instantly skyrocketed.
“Ah, ah, ah, no wonder everyone calls you the kind harem protagonist. You truly are kind when it matters!”
In reality, Qianye wiped away the tears at the corners of her eyes and broke into a radiant smile.
“I almost want to hold a grand wedding right now and marry you on the spot!”
“Qianye… no… that’s not what I meant!”
Shido frantically retorted.
“It doesn’t matter. Even if you don’t mean it now, it’s bound to evolve into that eventually.”
Qianye sighed, then continued.
“But, Shido, do you still want to seal me?”
“Of course.”
“However, Shido, being sealed means I’ll lose my powerful Spirit abilities. Yet, the source of my Spirit power will still remain within me.”
“If someone were to target my Sephira Crystal and try to kill me, do you really think that organization behind you—Ratatoskr—could protect me?”
“Uh…”
Shido was momentarily speechless. Although he didn’t know much about Ratatoskr, their personnel seemed highly unreliable.
If someone truly intended to kill Qianye, he wasn’t sure they could be counted on.
“Even if it costs me my life, I will protect Qianye!”
“Shido, don’t sacrifice your life, because life is very important to Shido.”
Qianye uttered a double entendre that Shido didn’t understand, then continued.
“If the great Quetzalcoatl sister decided to host a Spirit Battle Royale, what would you do? Would you shout, ‘This is humanity’s resolve!’ and then fall unconscious into her arms?”
“Qianye, what are you talking about? I don’t understand any of it!”
Shido looked utterly bewildered, though that was hardly surprising. After all, what Qianye was saying wasn’t from *Date A Live*, but rather…
“It’s nothing. I just wanted to tell you one thing…”
Qianye gently kissed Shido’s forehead. Then, she looked up at the sky and ascended into the air.
“This time, I must achieve the perfect ending where everyone is collected and pure!”
“Qianye?”
Shido awoke from the illusion, his eyes snapping open, only to find Qianye no longer beside him.
[Shido, what did you say? Why would Qianye leave when her affection level had completely maxed out?!]
Shido didn’t hear a word Kotori said. He merely searched frantically for Qianye, his efforts futile.
With a soft ‘thump,’ a pink, heart-shaped crystal suddenly dropped from Shido’s forehead.
“This… was left by Qianye?”
Shido clutched the pink crystal, stood up, and looked up at the sky, which was steadily darkening.
He then shouted loudly.
“Qianye!”