I Became a Spirit in Date A Live, but I Refuse to Date

"Kotori, let me explain! This is a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!"

Shido waved his hands frantically, looking mortified.

Kotori ignored his explanation. She grabbed his right hand and, without another word, threw him over her shoulder.

"Ow, ow, ow... Didn't I tell you it was a misunderstanding?" Shido rubbed his lower back.

"Wow, you siblings really are close," Lingmeng exclaimed.

"How did you get that from this, Lingmeng?" Shido asked, speechless. Though he and Kotori really were close.

"Oh, right, Kotori, where's Tohka?" Shido asked hurriedly as a thought struck him. He still wanted to know why Kotori had brought Lingmeng here too, but Tohka's situation mattered more right now.

"Ah, I almost forgot what we came here for. Tohka thinks AST killed you, so she's planning to kill them."

Kotori pointed at the large screen. It showed Tohka swinging her Greatsword and splitting the ground apart as she fought AST.

The battle was completely one-sided. AST wouldn't last much longer.

"She's completely out of control. Looks like she can't forgive them for killing Shido."

Kotori shrugged.

"Then what am I supposed to do? And why wasn't I hurt when I got shot? Why did you bring Lingmeng here too?"

"Are you a child? Ask one question at a time." Kotori smiled, her eyes narrowing. "Anyway, we don't want anyone getting hurt because of a spirit, so..."

"So?" Shido looked utterly confused.

"So go save the princess, our dear prince."

"But how am I supposed to do that?"

"There's only one way to save a cursed princess, isn't there?" Kotori puckered her lips around her lollipop. "Use the method we taught you."

Looks like I shouldn't step in after all?

Lingmeng listened to Shido and Kotori's conversation. It seemed they already had a way to handle this.

"All right! Move the Fraxinus toward the battle! Get us within one meter of the target!"

"Yes!" several crew members who appeared to be at the helm answered in unison. A moment later, Shido and Lingmeng felt the Fraxinus vibrate.

"Commander, everything's ready!"

"Good." Kotori turned to Shido. "Get going."

"...Okay."

Two crew members led Shido away.

"Um... little girl, could you explain why you brought me here?" Lingmeng asked timidly.

"Miss Lingmeng, could I answer that in a moment? Tohka's situation is more important right now."

"Uh... all right." Lingmeng smiled awkwardly and turned with Kotori to watch the large screen.

"Aaaaaaah!" Tohka swung her Greatsword at Origami. By now, virtually every AST member except Origami had lost the ability to fight.

Origami struggled to protect herself with a barrier formed by her Territory. Every one of Tohka's attacks was difficult to block, and her body was nearly at its limit.

"Yah!" Tohka swung again.

Crack! Origami's Territory finally shattered.

Is this the end? Mom, Dad, Shido... wait for me. I'll be with you soon.

Origami sank to her knees, as though she had given up resisting.

"Origami..." Ryouko, lying in the distance, struggled to call her name. It was no use. No one could stop Tohka now.

"This is the final blow." Tohka raised her Greatsword and roared, "Die!"

She brought it down toward Origami. Just as everyone thought it was over, a scream rang out.

"Tohkaaaaaaaaa!"

"That voice... Shido!"

Tohka spun around at the familiar voice. Shido was falling from high above without any protection.

Kotori, you bastard! Shido cursed inwardly. He clearly remembered what the crew had told him before throwing him out: "The commander said you don't need any protection. Just shout to get Tohka's attention."

"Tohka, help!" Shido shouted again.

"Shido!" At the sight of him, Tohka abandoned Origami and flew straight to him, catching him in her arms.

"Shido, is it really you?"

"I think so?"

Seeing tears streaming down Tohka's face, Shido scratched his cheek and answered awkwardly.

Just then, Sandalphon in Tohka's hand began to glow black.

"Tohka... what's that...?"

"Oh no! Last Sword has stored up too much energy. If I don't release it, something terrible will happen!"

Tohka looked toward Origami.

"No! I won't let you do that!"

Realizing what Tohka intended, Shido hurried to stop her.

"Then what should I do?"

"Uh... actually, I have another way."

"What is it? Tell me!"

Shido hesitated for a moment, then finally spoke.

"Tohka... would you kiss me?"

"Kiss? What's that?"

"It's when... our lips touch..."

Before Shido could finish, Tohka pressed her lips against his without hesitation.

"!!!" Shido's eyes flew wide with surprise.

At that moment, Sandalphon began to dissolve, and Tohka's Astral Dress gradually vanished. The two of them drifted down to the ground.

"T-Tohka, I didn't mean to!" Shido said in a panic when he saw her completely naked.

Tohka held him tightly and said shyly, "Idiot, don't move... people will see."

"...Okay."

"Hey, Shido."

"What is it?"

"Will you still go on dates with me?"

Shido nodded without hesitation. "Yeah! As many as you want."

"Great!" Tohka broke into a delighted smile.

Lingmeng stared at everything happening on the large screen. Her brain had completely shut down.

Wait, what? They just kissed, and Tohka lost her powers? That's ridiculous!

Lingmeng stared in disbelief. Shido had solved the problem, but the way he had done it was absurd.

"Hurry and retrieve Shido and Tohka. We'll have trouble if AST finds them like this."

"Yes, Commander!"

Kotori gave the order, and the crew answered in unison.

"Um... shouldn't you explain what the hell just happened?"

Lingmeng looked utterly exasperated.

"Ah, now that the problem's solved, of course I can, Miss Lingmeng."

Kotori looked at her with narrowed eyes and gave her an enigmatic smile...

Afterword

"Hello, everyone. I'm the author of this book, Diandao Zhongsheng. Before I knew it, I'd finished the first volume. What did you all think?

I started writing this book on a whim a little over a month ago, but I actually came up with the idea for it years ago.

Honestly, I never expected it to do so much better than I imagined. My earlier books barely had any readers.

I thought this one wouldn't do much better, but the response has actually been pretty good, at least in my opinion. That makes me especially happy.

I want to thank everyone reading this. Your support gives me the motivation to keep updating. Thank you so much! Bows deeply.

As for updates, I'm a sixteen-year-old student, so school keeps me pretty busy. Still, I'll do my best to update as much as I can. At the very least, I'll keep updating until school starts again, so please bear with me...

One more important thing: if everything goes as I expect, the next volume will probably focus on Lingmeng.

I've spent the past few days thinking about how to write Lingmeng's volume and make it interesting. But I'm clueless about romance and can't think of anything that really stands out.

So I'd like to ask for your opinions. If there are any developments you'd like to see, tell me in the comments. I'll try to work them in.

So please don't be shy, dear readers. If you have an idea, say it! (?^o^?)?

That's it for my afterword. Before I go, I want to thank everyone who's stayed with me along the way once again. See you in the next volume!"

The Strongest Spirit? Me?

"I'll get straight to the point. We're an organization called Ratatoskr, and you're aboard our airship, the Fraxinus.

Unlike AST, we believe in communicating peacefully with spirits so they can live in harmony with the rest of the world.

Shido is our secret weapon. He has the power to seal spirits, and you've seen for yourself what he has to do to make that happen.

He goes on dates with a spirit, raises her affection for him to a certain level, then kisses her to complete the seal. A sealed spirit no longer causes Spacequakes and can live peacefully in this world like an ordinary person."

Kotori explained all this seriously. Lingmeng's mouth twitched.

"Uh... I think I get it. Basically, he finds a spirit, dates her, makes her blush, steals her first kiss, and adds her to his harem?"

"..." Kotori opened her mouth, then stopped. Lingmeng hadn't really gotten anything wrong.

Kotori sighed helplessly. "Well, I suppose you could put it that way."

Come on, how could such a ridiculous power exist? And even if it does, what kind of weirdo gave it to Shido?

Lingmeng complained silently, her expression darkening. The moment she finished, Reine, down below, suddenly sneezed for no apparent reason.

"Ah-choo!"

"Reine, did you catch a cold?"

Kotori looked over in concern when she heard Reine sneeze.

"...I'm fine. I might have gotten chilled because I didn't sleep well last night."

"I see. Make sure you get some rest when you go back."

"...Mm."

Kotori turned back to Lingmeng.

"Um... I more or less understand the situation, but why go to all this trouble to tell an ordinary person like me?"

Lingmeng gave an awkward smile as a bead of cold sweat ran down her forehead.

Kotori merely narrowed her eyes and gave her a cryptic smile.

"Are you still going to keep pretending, Miss Lingmeng? No, under the circumstances, I should call you Element Maker, shouldn't I?"