I Became a Spirit in Date A Live and Refused to Date

"No! Deleting such sacred works of art would bring down divine punishment! Besides, I'm going to use them as my wallpaper and profile picture!"

Lingmeng held her phone against her chest and refused without hesitation.

"If you won't do it willingly, Lingmeng, don't blame me for what happens next."

Shiori reached out with his right hand, trying to take her phone by force.

But Lingmeng was a Spirit. She had seen his move coming and stepped back just before his hand touched the phone.

Shiori grabbed nothing but air.

"Want it? Then come and get it, Shiori-chan~"

Lingmeng waved the phone in front of his eyes, her voice teasing.

"Ugh..." Shiori frowned. He didn't look happy, but he couldn't let those photos ruin his reputation. He lunged for the phone again.

"Too slow, too slow. Shiori, you're still way too slow."

Lingmeng wagged a finger and laughed.

Every time Shiori tried to snatch the phone, she dodged him first. There was nothing he could do about her agility. Spirits had their physical abilities maxed out, after all.

"The two guests seem so close."

"They do. I'm jealous."

Watching Lingmeng and Shiori tussle, the maids couldn't help but sigh.

"Here I come!"

After a long struggle, Shiori finally spotted an opening.

"Tsk, tsk. Don't celebrate just yet~"

Even as Shiori's hand closed in on the phone, Lingmeng showed no sign of panic.

She hopped lightly into the air, lifting the phone clear of his grasp. But what happened next belonged in a comedy.

When she jumped, her chest moved into the space the phone had occupied.

Shiori tried to pull his hand back, but it was too late—

His fingers closed around something. It felt incredibly soft, and there was plenty of it.

There was no mistaking it. Shiori had grabbed Lingmeng's breast.

The awkwardness was instant—

"..."

Lingmeng fell silent. So did Shiori. Even the maids who had been watching them went quiet.

"..." After several minutes of silence, Lingmeng spoke first. "Wow~ I had no idea you were so bold, Shiori."

"S-sorry! I didn't mean to!"

Shiori hurriedly let go. Right now, he wanted nothing more than a hole to crawl into.

"Boo-hoo... After what you've done to me, Shiori-chan, I'll never be able to get married. You'll have to take responsibility~"

Lingmeng pretended to wipe tears from the corners of her eyes, putting on a tearful voice.

Just touching your chest won't stop you from getting married, will it? And weren't you a boy before, Lingmeng!? What is even happening right now!? (╯°Д°)╯︵┴┴

Shiori knew she was putting on an act, but common decency still compelled him to comfort her.

"I'm sorry, okay? I really didn't mean it. Please don't cry, Lingmeng????"

Lingmeng didn't listen. More precisely, she pretended not to.

She kept crying, though not a single tear fell, and her face hadn't even turned red.

It was a fearsome maiden's tearful breakdown.

"Ah, all right, all right. I won't make you delete the photos."

Shiori sighed and scratched his head helplessly.

He still wanted them gone, but he couldn't just leave Lingmeng like this. So he gave up on deleting them.

"Yes! Victory for Lingmeng!"

The moment she heard him, Lingmeng sprang back to her usual energetic self and raised her right hand in triumph.

"You..." Shiori looked at her, wanting to say something, but let it go.

Well, I guess I can only ask Lingmeng not to share those photos around.

Shiori grumbled to himself.

"They're both girls, but those two guests make a surprisingly good pair."

Behind them, the maids watched with expressions that seemed to say, "Ah, to be young..."

Chapter 33: Arcade

"Mom, I wanna play~"

"Hey, handsome! Come play~"

"Hi there, cutie~"

Voices like these rang out all around them. There was no special reason for it. This was simply what an arcade sounded like.

After saying goodbye to everyone at the Spirit Maid Café, Lingmeng had brought Shiori straight here to ease the awkwardness.

Playing games and having some fun had to be better than staying at the café, stuck on the fact that Shiori had grabbed her chest.

"Well, shall we play a bit?"

Lingmeng glanced at Shiori beside her.

"Mm..." Shiori went along with it.

Lingmeng led him to the Basketball Arcade Machine. After she fed in a few coins, the barrier holding back the basketballs opened, and balls came pouring out.

"Watch closely, Shiori. Today I'll show you what a real pro can do!"

Lingmeng's expression grew serious. She grabbed a basketball and fired it at the hoop.

Thump! The ball went straight in.

She didn't stop there. She kept shooting, and nearly every ball went in.

Watching Lingmeng launch basketballs almost as fast as bullets with close to perfect accuracy, Shiori couldn't hide his surprise.

Before long, Lingmeng had shot every ball in the machine.

The display showed a perfect score of one hundred and a new high-score marker. To Lingmeng, it was a piece of cake.

"Oh my. I set a new record without even trying."

Lingmeng feigned surprise as she murmured to herself.

A perfect score and a new record, and you call that "without even trying"?

Shiori had no words. Neither a perfect score nor a new record was something anyone achieved by accident.

Even so, he forced a smile.

"I didn't realize you were so good at this, Lingmeng."

"Well, I'm not that good. World-class at best."

Lingmeng casually scratched her head and made a claim anyone else would have taken for bragging.

"Uh... Is that so?" The corner of Shiori's mouth twitched.

He knew Lingmeng was a Spirit and could certainly perform at that level, if not higher. Still, hearing her say it so bluntly made the mood feel strange.

"Anyway, shall we go play something else together?"

"Mm..."

More than an hour passed, and Lingmeng kept upending Shiori's expectations.

They were supposedly playing together, but Lingmeng spent almost the entire time playing while Shiori watched.

During that long stretch of gaming by proxy, Shiori witnessed quite a few things.

Her shots hit their targets every time, and every hit was a headshot.

She drove like the legendary racer of Mount Akina, taking 180-degree hairpin turns.

And her dance steps matched the machine's every move, sometimes even edging ahead of it.

Shiori witnessed all this and more through the incredible plays of Lingmeng, the gaming "pro."

Not only that, she broke the records on almost every game in the arcade.

Lingmeng herself didn't seem to think much of it. She kept saying things like, "There have to be other people who can do this."

Shiori took it as modesty. Anyone hoping to reach her level was dreaming.

(Meanwhile, in a parallel world, a Thunder Spirit wearing a Tokiwadai uniform and Kirito's black coat suddenly sneezed for no apparent reason.

As she wondered why a Spirit like her would sneeze out of nowhere, the game machine she was playing displayed scores almost identical to Lingmeng's—and in some cases, even higher.)

To be honest, Lingmeng hadn't always been this incredible at games. Before, she had been above average at best.

Perhaps it was because she had become a Spirit. Her reflexes, perception, stamina, and other abilities had all improved enormously.

That made games like basketball and shooting, which tested her reaction speed and accuracy, easy for her.

As for video games, her control over the Lightning Element made her sensitive to machines. Combined with her absurd physical abilities, that left her with hardly any trouble there, either.

"Oh, right. I've been the only one playing this whole time, haven't I? Don't you want to play, Shiori?"

Lingmeng seemed to remember that she had come here to play games with him.

"Well... I don't usually play games, so I'm fine just watching you."

Shiori waved a hand as he explained. Between school, cooking, and housework, he rarely had time for games.

"Oh~ Is that so? It's no fun if you don't play."

Lingmeng sounded like a balloon deflating.

"Um..." Seeing her mood drop, Shiori immediately regretted his foolish choice.

His main goal was to grant as many of Lingmeng's wishes as he could and raise her affection for him.

And he had gone and refused her. If Kotori were here, she would probably threaten to release his embarrassing past again.

Just then, an electronic voice rang out.

"Master Luban! IQ two-fifty! Bow before me! Don't forget to bow!"

Lingmeng and Shiori turned toward the sound. It had come from an arcade cabinet a short distance ahead.

On its screen was a comical little character holding a cannon. He looked like a robot and wore his hair in a bun.

Is that...? they both wondered.

The cabinet had caught both their attention.

Shiori recognized the game from middle school. It had been especially popular back then, and he hadn't expected it to get an arcade version.

Lingmeng was interested for a different reason. This arcade game looked remarkably like a five-on-five battle game from her previous life. Even its appearance and name were almost the same.

As for which game it was, the answer should be obvious. It was a knockoff of Honor of Kings—the game in which Lingmeng had crushed Xier Ya several times before Xier Ya got her killed.

A strange wave of nostalgia washed over Shiori and Lingmeng at the same time.

"Hey, Shiori (Lingmeng), let's play this one," they said together.