This is not the date I wanted.

"what?"

"Kyouzou actually knew that DEM would attack Shidou there, so why didn't she choose to avoid it, but instead deliberately jumped into the trap?"

"Well, didn't I explain this before? Even if we avoid it, the enemy with the 'Divine Eclipse Order' will be able to quickly grasp Shidou's movements and make new plans. The information we have worked so hard to obtain will be meaningless. We can only do this."

"I know that...but - is there really no other reason?"

Nanashi mustered up his courage, looked Mengyue in the eyes and asked.

"..."

Meng Yue would not lie to her family. Qi Zui and others knew this very well.

But at the same time, this does not mean that Meng Yue will tell them the truth. Many times, in order not to make everyone feel uneasy, she would hide the key reasons and answer them with some superficial reasons.

But what if we continue to ask?

Nanashi knew. If the reason for keeping it secret was just to make everyone worry, then Mengyue would honestly confess the truth as long as he asked further.

however--

"Yes. But I'm sorry, I can't tell you."

If Meng Yue answered like this, it means that confessing would only make the situation worse.

"No... Mengyue, you don't have to apologize. I'm... sorry for saying something weird."

"Oh my goodness, I'm starting to overthink again. You've been a big help."

Then, as if to cheer up Nana Sin who was in a negative mood, Meng Yue scratched her hair hard and smiled brightly.

"Don't worry, I will never put my family in danger as long as I am here."

Yes, Liang Yi Meng Yue would not lie to her family.

To be more precise, she has been trying hard not to let what she said to her family become lies.

18 Question

==============================

“Thank you all for gathering here.”

At night, in a dimly lit room, Kotori folded her hands in front of her, looked around at everyone present, and after confirming that all the spirits were present except Shidou, she spoke with a serious face.

I don't know why, but at this moment, Kotori has more of a commander's aura than ever before.

"Hey, Bili-chan. The pose of Bili-chan is definitely a tribute to E-Bili-A."

Erya asked in a low voice, touching Mengyue's shoulder.

"Well, maybe she remembered it unconsciously because she saw it before. To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if her next sentence was 'Let me pilot Unit-01'."

Meng Yue shrugged noncommittally.

"I can't believe that Kotori-chan, at such a young age, has the sentiment to appreciate the classics of the last century."

Erya couldn't help but sigh in admiration.

"Alas~~ It's so late at night, and you specially called Liu'er to come here, what does Qinli want to talk about?"

Youyou yawned and Rokuko asked sleepily.

Rokuko's reaction was helpless, it was already eleven o'clock in the middle of the night, the time when good children fell asleep, except for some exceptions, most of the people were like Rokuko, looking drowsy.

"I'm sorry, but this is an emergency and I have no choice but to wake you up."

After apologizing to everyone, Kotori said as she operated the computer at the desk.

"First of all, please take a look at this."

Soon, Mengyue saw various charts appearing on the big screen in the room.

"What is this?"

"Hmm? This is that...what is it?"

"I think I've seen it before... but... I don't quite remember..."

"Is this a system that detects and records the emotional affinity between us and Shidou?"

Seeing that many elves did not understand the meaning of this thing, Mengyue took the lead in speaking to Qinli to confirm.

"Not bad." Kotori nodded and explained, "These past few days, we recorded this while assisting Shidou with his strategy. The favorability and emotional value of Shidou and Kurumi."

Glancing back at the screen behind her, Kotori couldn't help but grit her teeth in annoyance.

"As you can see, after these few dates, Kurumi's favorability towards Shido has increased, but it is very slow; while our stupid brother's favorability has increased significantly, and has basically changed from the initial 'enemy of vigilance' to the level of treating Kurumi as a 'friend'."

Indeed, as Kotori said, comparing the data of Shidou and Kurumi on the screen, Shidou's favorability increases significantly several times faster than Kurumi's.

"Um... Sorry Kotori-chan, I don't really understand what this means."

"Shame on you, Liu Er feels the same way."

Tohka and Rokuko asked with a confused look on their faces.

"To put it simply, if the situation continues like this, the outcome of the match between Shidou and Kurumi will most likely be Shidou's loss."

Meng Yue simply summarized the conclusion to the two of them.

"Well, it's a normal reaction for a teenager. But if it continues like this... it's really not good."

Erya sighed with a wry smile.

Indeed, as Niya said, it is inevitable to be moved by a beauty of Kurumi's level who is teased and pursued with such an active attitude. But the chips thrown in the match between Shidao and Kurumi are not as cheap as a few "Yukichi". If Shidao loses, he will lose his entire life.

Although this data does not necessarily mean that Shidao was defeated, it is indeed disturbing.

"At this rate, Shidou's life will be in danger."

Origami said with a stern face.

"Eh? Will Darling die? I don't want it!"

Miku couldn't help but exclaim.

"Kotori, what can we do to help Shidou?"

Tohka asked Kotori anxiously.

"Well. Like you said, we can't just stand by and watch in silence."

Kotori nodded heavily and began to explain her plan to everyone.

Considering that a plan that is too complicated is prone to mistakes in the details, Kotori's plan is very straightforward and clear.

In order to prevent Shidou from being seduced by Kurumi, the bad woman who is good at playing with men, Shidou must be made immune to the temptations of women before that.

And it just so happens that every elf present is a stunning beauty who is no less beautiful than Kurumi in terms of appearance.

Simply put, it is to let the spirits present seduce Shidao.

"The next date is the day after tomorrow, February 14th, Valentine's Day. So we still have one day to prepare. There are two general plans. One is that we prepare chocolates for Shidao. The other plan is to select the right person and find a way to make Shidao adapt to the kind of mature women who play with men's hearts."

(Kotori-chan, could it be that you watched the entire scene of Shidou and Kurumi and got jealous because of the affectionate scene between them...)

Meng Yue thought with a helpless smile.

Well, although this plan seems like a farce, Kotori's words do make sense. Even if Mengyue successfully prevented DEM's assassination plan against Shidao, if Shidao lost the strategy competition with Kurumi, he would still not be able to escape the fate of death.

By then, Mengyue herself became an accomplice who assisted Kurumi in killing Shidao.

Looking at everyone discussing enthusiastically, Meng Yue sighed and turned her attention back to the favorability analysis chart on the screen.

She saw that among all of Kurumi's data, only her stress value was abnormally high.

——Because I came back from the future through time and space.

(The future?)

———————————————————I am the dividing line for fast-forwarding time————————————————

About three hours later, at one o'clock in the morning in Tiangong City, the lights in the citizens' homes gradually went out, and the city was so dark and deserted at night.

After that, after dealing with Origami, Miku, and Nia who were planning to secretly attack Shidou at night, Kotori and everyone else finally couldn't bear the sleepiness and went back to the house to rest for tomorrow's battle.

However, Meng Yue couldn't sleep peacefully like the others. The reason was very simple.

"Huh, the fifteenth one..."

The lightning accurately pierced his forehead. Looking at "Kebab Neil" turning into light dust and disappearing in front of him, Meng Yue couldn't help but scratch her hair helplessly.

"Really? Fraxinus is supposed to be monitoring this area 24 hours a day from the sky. Why do they always find blind spots in the surveillance cameras and sneak in? Are they ants that can get in anywhere?"

"This is the ability of the 'Divine Eclipse'. As long as the demon king is still in DEM's hands, he can continue to steal your information."

Just then, Kurumi walked out from the shadow under the light.

"Kuang San, how are you doing?"

"Twenty-two. All have been destroyed. At least until tomorrow morning, Mr. Shidao's life will not be in danger..."

Just as she was speaking, Kurumi suddenly seemed to lose her balance and her body began to tilt backwards.

"Kyousan?!"

"No need... I'm fine..."

Seeing this, Meng Yue hurried over to support Kuang San. However, Kuang San reached out his hand to stop Meng Yue, and after shaking for a while, he barely stood firm and did not fall down.

"Are you okay? You look tired."

Meng Yue asked worriedly.

"…I'm sorry…I made Miss Mengyue worried. But I'm fine…"

——You don’t look like everything is alright.

Looking at Kuang San who was obviously trying to show off, Meng Yue did not say this out loud.

Indeed, not only does Kurumi have to date Shidou on the surface to improve his favor, but she also has to deal with DEM's attack together with Mengyue secretly. She is dealing with two completely different things at the same time. To others, it is natural that she is so tired.

But Meng Yue knew that the reason why Kuang San was so exhausted was not only physical, but also mental exhaustion.

I'm afraid that Tokisaki Kurumi has witnessed the death of Gokawa Shido more than once in the future, and in order to change this future, she traveled through time and space, returned to her past, Meng Yue's present, and constantly avoided the fate of Gokawa Shido being killed.

Watching the people you want to save die in front of you again and again, the grief and powerlessness involved is probably something that no one except the person involved can understand.

However, Kurumi has managed to hold on until now with her extraordinary mental strength.

(But, if this continues... can Shidou really be saved?)

Such questions arose in Mengyue's mind.

In the past, when Shidou went back to the past to change history in order to save Origami, the angel of Yumezuki, the Sage of the Dawn, activated a special ability and transferred his memories to the past, to his self in another world line.

If it was true as Kuang San said, that she came from the future to change history, then logically, she should also be able to receive memories from her future self.

Why didn't I receive the memory of the future? Putting aside the possibility that Kuang San deceived herself, the only explanation is that Kuang San's actions did not have a big enough impact on history to change the world line.

In other words, even though Kurumi kept trying to delay the time of Shidao being killed, she did not prevent Shidao's death.

As early as the afternoon, Meng Yue had already understood this, but she did not tell Kuang San about it.

First, because this was just a conclusion drawn by her subjective guess, without any basis to prove it;

Secondly, she didn't want to say something discouraging like "everything we did was in vain" to Kurumi and herself who were trying so hard to save Shidao.

"Kyousan, if I remember correctly, you told me that the reason you wanted to eat Shidou and take away his spiritual power was because you wanted to go back to the past thirty years ago and kill the original spirit, right?"

“…Yes, that’s true.”

Kuang San looked at Meng Yue in surprise, obviously not expecting her to suddenly ask this question. But after hesitating, he nodded and answered.

"As long as the original spirit is killed, all the tragedies that have happened in the world in the past thirty years will disappear, and even the fact that I 'devoured' Shidou will no longer exist."

"So... the reason you want to kill Shidou is actually the same as saving him?"

Hearing Kuang San's answer, Meng Yue's eyes showed a hint of displeasure.

"Well... I'm not 100% sure of success, so I won't deny my desire to kill Shidou-san. If I really kill Shidou-san, in exchange, I will give him everything I have, including my body and spirit."

"Humph……"

Undeterred by the determination shown by Kuang San, Meng Yue looked at Kuang San and raised her own questions.