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

"Lingmeng, can we check out the Oni house? It looks like it's pretty cheap today."

Shiori suggested it because, as the household cook, he had almost no resistance to words like "discount" and "half price."

"Uh... Shiori, are you sure you want to go?"

Lingmeng didn't sound eager. The moment she heard "Oni house," her body had instinctively recoiled.

Embarrassing as it was to admit, Lingmeng had been terrified of Oni and monsters since she was little.

She hadn't always been that way. Everything changed when, as a child, she foolishly spent an entire night alone in the dark reading a collection of Junji Ito's works.

Even after becoming a spirit, Lingmeng still carried that trauma.

"Yeah. But if you don't want to, we can skip it."

"It's not that I don't want to... If you really want to see it, Shiori, I'll go with you..."

Lingmeng still looked reluctant, but she agreed to go with Shiori.

"Then let's go. The Oni house looks pretty close."

Completely oblivious to Lingmeng's expression, Shiori took her hand and headed toward the Oni house marked on the map...

Timid as a Mouse

"Hello. Two tickets, please—for me and her."

At the haunted house ticket counter, Shiori spoke to a young woman dressed as a Halloween pumpkin.

"Heh heh heh. That'll be two thousand yen."

The Front Desk woman answered in a strange voice.

"Here you go." Shiori handed her two thousand yen in cash, then led Lingmeng straight inside.

As soon as they entered the Oni house, the light around them began to fade. The walls were covered in cobwebs, cracks, moss, and vines.

Their only light came from lamps hanging on the walls, their faint blue flames giving the place an eerie feel.

"Hey... Shiori... I know you're scared, right? If you are... I suppose I could take you back outside..."

Lingmeng's voice trembled, fear creeping into her words.

No monsters had appeared yet, but she already regretted coming in.

"I'm not really scared. The setting and the monsters here are all made by people. Once you remember that, there's nothing to be afraid of."

Shiori spoke calmly, without a trace of fear. Then he added awkwardly:

"Lingmeng... could you loosen your grip a little? It's hard to walk like this..."

He looked at Lingmeng, who was clinging to him like a raccoon to a tree trunk, with a complicated expression.

"N-no! A frail little girl like you is bound to catch the eye of some scary monster. So if I hold on to you... you'll be safer..."

Lingmeng delivered her argument with righteous conviction, then tightened her grip as though afraid Shiori might escape.

Shiori had no words for her utterly unconvincing excuse.

Hey, which one of us is the frail little girl? I'm a man. If anything, you're the little girl!

"Lingmeng..."

"Wh-what is it?"

Lingmeng looked up at Shiori with the expression of a frightened little squirrel.

"Could it be that you're scared?" Shiori asked with a faint smile, hitting the nail on the head.

"!!!"

Like someone whose lie had just been exposed, Lingmeng tried to sound composed.

"Of course not... I'm a spirit. How could a mighty spirit like me be afraid of something like this...?"

"Oh? Is that so?"

As if he'd discovered something amusing, Shiori leaned close to Lingmeng's ear and whispered in an especially sinister voice.

"You look delicious, Lingmeng... Can I have a bite!?"

"Aaaah... Nooooo!"

Lingmeng let go of Shiori and stumbled back against the wall, staring at him with helpless, frightened eyes.

"Haha, I'm kidding. It's just me, Shiori."

Seeing Lingmeng like that, Shiori waved a hand and laughed, looking oddly pleased with himself.

Come to think of it, Shiori often pretended to be possessed by an Oni to scare Kotori at home, too—though only when his little sister was in her white-ribbon mode.

"Really...?" Lingmeng asked, still half doubtful.

"Really. Look, it's the genuine article." Shiori rubbed his cheeks, deliberately putting on a cutesy act.

"Thank goodness... You scared me half to death."

As though a great battle had finally ended, Lingmeng put a hand to her chest and breathed a sigh of relief.

Seeing a side of Lingmeng so different from her usual scatterbrained self gave Shiori a strange sense of novelty.

"So you have a girly side too, Lingmeng? It's unexpectedly cute!"

Shido smiled with narrowed eyes as he said it. The contrast between Lingmeng now and her usual self was just too striking.

"Girly? I used to be a tough guy! How can you call me girly? Not even you get to say that, Shiori-chan!"

Lingmeng puffed out her cheeks, turned her head away, and spoke in a huff.

"I'm not talking to you anymore. It's just an Oni house, right? I'll walk through it by myself and show you!"

With that, Lingmeng marched straight ahead.

"Wait, Lingmeng... I was only joking!"

Realizing he might have taken things too far, Shiori immediately apologized. But Lingmeng ignored him and kept walking.

Ahh, Lingmeng's ignoring me. I've really messed up now! ≥﹏≤

Just as Shiori was thinking that, something suddenly dropped from the ceiling above Lingmeng.

"What's this?" Lingmeng caught it on reflex and muttered in confusion.

Curious, she brought it closer to her eyes to see what it was. Then—

"Aaaaaah... Oh my god! It's a human head!"

The instant she recognized what she was holding, Lingmeng threw it to the floor without thinking, sprinted back to Shiori, and hugged him.

"Sh-Shiori, that thing was a human head... It's so scary. Don't leave me here and run off by yourself... (?д?; )"

Lingmeng hid in Shiori's arms, sniffling as though terrified he might leave her.

"A human head?"

Shiori frowned and looked at the thing on the floor. Just as Lingmeng had said, it was a woman's head with disheveled hair. But...

Shiori gently held Lingmeng and patted her head.

"Don't cry, Lingmeng. I won't leave you and run away. Look, it's only a prop."

"Huh?" Lingmeng stared blankly at Shiori, then turned her gaze back to the head.

On closer inspection, she realized the so-called human head was just an ordinary plastic prop. The lighting had only made it look convincing.

An awkward silence fell—

"Ahem! Of course I knew that. I just wanted to see how you'd react, Shiori."

Lingmeng straightened her expression before offering that explanation under Shiori's teasing smile.

"You're not making a very convincing case."

Shiori glanced at Lingmeng's arms, which were still wrapped around him, and answered with a strained smile.

"Uh... That was an accident. Just an accident..."

Lingmeng let go, her face full of embarrassment, and tried to play it cool.

"Anyway, let's hurry through this awful place and leave! You'd better not run away without me!"

"All right, all right. Don't worry, Lingmeng." Shiori looked at her with determination. "No matter what happens next, I'll protect you."

"Hmph! You'd better keep your word."

Lingmeng folded her arms, turned her face away, and continued walking.

"Maybe choosing the Oni house was the right call..."

Shiori watched Lingmeng ahead of him, scratched his cheek with a wry smile, and followed...

Monster Hunter Lingmeng

A young man and a young woman walked along a dim path. They were Lingmeng and Shiori.

Determined to act brave, Lingmeng had recklessly insisted on leading the way, while Shiori followed behind her.

"Hmph. Oni houses aren't such a big deal after all, are they?"

After walking for a while without seeing any monsters, Lingmeng grew increasingly cocky.

Behind her, Shiori clapped his hands and played along.

"That's Lingmeng for you. You've adjusted already?"

"Of course! I'm the strongest spirit!" Lingmeng flashed a dashing smile.

But before she could finish showing off, a dark figure suddenly dropped from above—

"I'm going to... suck your blood!"

A vampire in a black cape appeared before them. He opened his mouth, baring terrifying fangs.

He spoke in a raspy voice, and several black bats flew out from beneath his cape.

"Aaaaaah... I'm gonna die! Bats! Aaaaaah!" The instant the vampire appeared, Lingmeng's bravado crumbled. She looked as though she'd seen an Oni and screamed with her hands against her cheeks.

"You two had better stand nice and still, or I'll—"

Seeing how frightened Lingmeng was, the vampire tried to pile on more threats. Instead, a small fist came flying at him.

Smack!

The vampire flew from in front of Lingmeng into a distant wall and passed out on the spot. The person who had punched him was none other than Lingmeng.

Lingmeng remained frozen in her punching stance. Looking at the unconscious vampire, she sank to her knees as though her legs had given out.

"Aah... Th-that was scary..." Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes, and her voice came out weak.

"Lingmeng, wasn't that a bit much...? He was just an ordinary person in costume."

Shiori looked worriedly at the unconscious vampire. Perhaps it was his imagination, but he thought he saw something like a soul drifting out of the man's mouth.

"H-he shouldn't have scared me like that. Hmph, serves him right!"

Lingmeng turned her face away in a huff.

"Hey, scaring people is an Oni's job. It's a haunted house."

Shiori stared at Lingmeng, speechless, the corner of his mouth twitching.

Ignoring Shiori, Lingmeng was just about to catch her breath when something suddenly flew into her face.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak..."

That's right. The thing that had flown into Lingmeng's face was one of the bats from before...

"Aaaaaah..."