Seeing Souta nod, Kurumi finally understood the reason for his nervousness.
She smiled softly and spoke in a gentle tone:
"Rokuhara... I'll just call you that from now on. You can just call by my na too."
"You don't have to be afraid of . I won't harm you, and I wasn't blaming you for anything earlier."
"The information you provided through the phone helped a lot. I consider us friends, so you really don't need to be so tense. And that's the truth, you know?"
After a brief pause, she added in a slightly pouty tone:
"But now that you're acting all distant, it makes a little unhappy."
"Miss Kurumi—" Souta started to speak but was imdiately cut off.
"Hmm? What did you just call ?"
Souta sighed and smiled bitterly.
"...Kurumi."
"That's better."
Kurumi's expression softened, satisfied with the change.
Souta hesitated for a mont, then explained:
"It's not that I'm intentionally trying to distance myself from you or that I'm afraid of you."
After thinking for a bit, he continued:
"If you suddenly find yourself face-to-face with soone who can easily kill you—and who doesn't exactly see killing as a big deal—it's natural to feel a bit of fear and want to keep so distance. That's just basic survival instinct. As you can see, I'm just an ordinary human. I can't really control that reaction."
"I see... I should have considered that," Kurumi murmured.
For a brief mont, a shadow passed through her golden eye, as if she was rembering sothing unpleasant.
But she quickly pushed those thoughts aside.
She sighed softly and then spoke with unwavering seriousness:
"I would never harm my friends. Never! No matter what, I need you to trust on this."
She practically gritted her teeth as she said it, as if she was making a solemn vow.
The sudden intensity caught Souta off guard.
Uh... what just happened?
We were talking normally, and now she's suddenly getting all serious?
Why are you yelling?
But then, Souta recalled sothing.
Even though he hadn't finished reading the novel, he had heard people discussing Date A Live's plot before.
And from what he rembered—
Kurumi was a tragic anti-hero.
She had once been deceived by the First Spirit, leading her to kill countless innocent girls.
And in the process... she had accidentally killed her own friend.
Ever since then, she had been desperately trying to change the past to undo her mistakes.
For soone like her, the word "friend" must hold imnse aning.
Perhaps it was because of the sincerity in Kurumi's tone, but Souta lowered his guard slightly.
He slowly took a deep breath and spoke:
"Alright, Kurumi. I promise I'll work on adjusting my mindset when I'm around you."
Then, deciding to lighten the mood, he added with a grin:
"Give it enough ti, and even if you could punch a hole through a planet, I'd still be able to joke around with you."
Hearing that, Kurumi giggled.
Her attitude completely reassured Souta.
It seed that the novel's depiction of her was accurate after all.
Despite being labeled "The Most Evil Spirit," Tokisaki Kurumi was not so mindless, sadistic killer.
Even though she needed vast amounts of ti or life energy to achieve her goal, she never indiscriminately slaughtered people.
She had a moral line she refused to cross—she only killed evil people.
Of course, from a conventional moral standpoint, her actions were still problematic.
But at the sa ti—
Kurumi had an undeniable charismatic appeal.
And as for Souta—
He personally had no issue with Kurumi killing criminals.
After all, he had told her before:
"People who willfully trample over the rules of society shouldn't complain when they're punished by soone outside the system."
That wasn't just sothing he said to humor her—
He genuinely believed it.
And in this regard, their values actually aligned quite well.
"Ara ara, punching a hole through a planet? That's a bit of an exaggeration... A delicate girl like could never do sothing like that."
Kurumi gently brushed her lips with her fingertip, wiping away the last trace of coffee.
The movent was subtly seductive, almost as if she were sending a silent invitation.
"I truly value this friendship," she said, keeping her elegant smile.
"I especially enjoyed chatting with you over the phone, Rokuhara-san. You were always so natural, always joking around with ... even telling dirty jokes from ti to ti."
"Cough—!"
Souta nearly choked on air.
Why would you bring that up!?
Desperate to change the topic, he quickly said:
"Let's just drop this, alright, Kurumi? More importantly, we should get going. Let's head to my world and start our investigation right away."
However, Kurumi shook her head and said:
"Rokuhara-san, don't you think you're being a little impatient? You seem quite interested in my world. Otherwise, you wouldn't keep glancing out the window so often."
Hearing this, Souta froze for a mont.
Was I really that obvious?
Truthfully, he was curious about Tengu City, the setting of Date A Live.
Realizing he had been caught, he simply admitted it:
"Alright, you got . I am interested."
"If you suddenly found out that the world of a story you know so well is actually real, wouldn't you want to explore it too?"
To think that a world he had always believed to be fiction was actually real—
Of course he was curious!
It would be a waste not to explore it.
If he just left right away, he would definitely regret it later.
"I understand how you feel," Kurumi said, glancing out the window at the bustling streets.
"You've been helping all this ti. Now that you're in my world, it would be wrong of , as your friend, not to show you around."
She then turned to face him again, smiling sweetly—
A mix of youthful shyness and mature allure in her expression.
"So... how about we go on a date?"
Souta: "???"
A date...? Are you serious!?!
For a mont, his thoughts ran wild.
But then he quickly realized he was overthinking it.
In Japan, the word "date" didn't necessarily an a romantic outing—
It could simply an going out together as friends.
Even business etings could be called dates.
After coming to this realization, Souta nodded and agreed:
"Then I'll be in your care."
"There's no need to be so formal. Besides... I've always looked forward to spending ti with a friend like this."
With graceful movents, Kurumi stood up from her seat and made a gentle inviting gesture.
And with that, the two of them left the café and stepped onto the busy streets of Tenguu City.
A Date with Tokisaki Kurumi
Kurumi, dressed in a black one-piece dress, walked elegantly beside him.
Her noble, refined aura was undeniable—she carried herself like a true lady of high society.
Combined with her astonishingly beautiful face, it was no surprise that—
She attracted countless stares as they walked down the street.
To be honest, Souta had never seen a girl as stunning as her in his entire life.
Maybe it was because this world was 2D brought to life, but Kurumi's beauty was almost unreal.
And now, such a dream-like girl was walking so closely beside him—
No wonder the n around them were staring daggers at him.
Souta could practically feel their hostility stabbing into his back.
Looking up at the sky, he muttered to himself, as if trying to see sothing beyond the clouds.
Kurumi noticed his behavior and asked:
"What's on your mind?"
Without lowering his gaze, Souta replied:
"I was wondering... if the airship 'Fraxinus' is floating right above us right now."
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