This is not the date I wanted.

The uncle looked at Shidou with a puzzled look.

"Who...are you?"

Hearing this, Shidou replied with a wry smile.

"Just an ordinary high school student."

"I'm sorry... please save Aoi."

After nodding heavily to Shidou, the middle-aged man turned around and jumped into the [door].

Uncle Jiang finally left, Shidao breathed a sigh of relief and closed the door.

[Shidou, can you hear me?!]

At this moment, Meng Yue's voice came from the other end of the headset.

"Mengyue, where are you now?"

[I'm on standby not far from you now. I'm glad I can get in touch with you. How's the situation? ]

"Honestly... it's a little bad."

After checking his current situation, Shidou replied with a wry smile.

[It's okay. It's good that you can hold on until now. I will cover your escape from now on. Remember to follow my instructions.]

"Wait a minute Mengyue, before I escape, I need to find someone—"

"Hey hey~ Stop! Stop! Sorry, Miss Cole, can you please pause for a moment."

At this moment, accompanied by a brisk voice, the crazy attacks of the "Nibelcols" outside the spiritual barrier suddenly stopped.

Then, Ai Wulian, equipped with a silver-white CR-Uint, walked out of "Nibelcol".

"...!?"

Shidou's pupils suddenly contracted.

"Hey~ Can you talk to me, big sister? Itsuka Shidou."

Putting the blade against the little girl's neck, Ai Wulian smiled kindly and spoke in a very friendly tone.

PS: When writing this, I can't help but feel very depressed after rereading the original work. Shidao, who survived so many times in the previous volumes, died like dumplings in this volume...

25 BadEnd②

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

"Hey~ Can you talk to me, big sister? Itsuka Shidou."

Placing the blade against the neck of the little girl named Aoi, Ai Wulian spoke in a friendly tone as if she was talking to a good friend.

However, Shidou didn't dare to relax at all when his name was called. On the contrary, he was extremely nervous at this moment. His heart was beating violently at an unimaginable frequency, and his clothes were covered with cold sweat.

"Dream Moon..."

Shidou spoke softly so that only he could hear it.

[Shidao, try to delay the time, I will solve it. ]

The answer coming from the headset was Mengyue's reliable and calm answer, but Shidao still felt a hint of anger in her voice.

Thanks to Mengyue's reply, Shidao calmed down a little. He took a deep breath and answered calmly.

"If you want to talk to me, can you put Aoi down first?"

"Oh? I see, this little girl's name is Aoi."

After hearing what Shidao said, Ai Wulian looked at the little girl who had fainted in her arms, a hint of realization appeared on her face, and then she nodded readily.

"Sure. But if you want me to let her go, you have to agree to one condition, Gokawa Shidao."

Shidou frowned somewhat uneasily at Ai Wulian's unusually straightforward attitude.

"What conditions?"

"Don't worry, I won't ask you to commit suicide. It's something that Shidou-kun can do easily."

Ai Wulian smiled slightly and continued,

"Just ask you to remove the spiritual barrier that has been deployed, and collect the Dawn Sage... and other summoned angels, okay?"

Hearing Ai Wu Lian's words, Shidao couldn't help but look around with his peripheral vision. At this time, hundreds of "Nibelcol" had gathered here, blocking the surroundings like a birdcage. Their murderous eyes wanted to pierce Shidao, staring at him without concealment.

Shidou had no doubt that the moment he released his spiritual barrier and the angels and lost his ability to resist, they would mercilessly cut him into pieces.

"...Can you promise that after I agree to your terms, neither you nor they will attack me?"

"No. Rather, the moment you remove the barrier, you will definitely be killed by Miss Cole and the others."

Ai Wulian answered as a matter of course.

Hearing this, the corners of Shidou's mouth twitched slightly.

"Just to confirm, are you planning to chat with me?"

"Yeah. Aren't we chatting now? Besides, I don't mind chatting with the dead. I've done similar things before."

"Wow..." Shidou couldn't help but shudder, and continued with a dry laugh, "To be honest, I thought you would at least lie to fool me. Do you think I will agree to this?"

"Oh? So you don't care about the child's life or death?"

As she spoke, Ai Wulian lowered her head and applied force little by little on Aoi's tender white neck. A drop of bright red blood flowed from the blade.

"Wait a moment!"

Seeing that Ai Wulian actually took action, Shidao hurriedly called for a stop.

"Oh, you agree?"

Stopping what she was doing, Ai Wulian asked curiously.

"...Before that, can I ask you a question?"

After slowly letting out a sigh of relief, Shidou asked in a slow tone.

"Okay, just ask."

"Why would you take such a young child as a hostage? She has nothing to do with me. She is just an ordinary person."

"Pfft - you really asked a stupid question, Gokawa Shido."

Ai Wulian couldn't help but chuckle, seeming to find Shidao's question very funny.

"It is precisely because she is a child and an ordinary person who has nothing to do with her that she is the most suitable hostage for people like you."

“…How despicable.”

Shidou couldn't help but squeeze out these words.

"Well, I won't deny it." Wu Lian shrugged and pretended to be helpless. "Besides, if possible, my boss and I don't want to do such a shameful thing. We will try to kill you in an inconspicuous way. But there is no other way. Shidao-kun, you are more tenacious than I thought. You have escaped our assassination attempts so many times, so this is the only way."

"What do you mean? Are you still trying to say this is all my fault?"

"Is not it?"

"Well--"

After being asked so confidently by Ai Wulian, Shidao was so angry that he was speechless and his body began to tremble with excitement.

Seeing Shidou getting irritated, Kiriren couldn't help but laugh out loud with satisfaction.

"Well, it is true that wanting to live is human instinct, and not wanting to be killed is also a very normal thought. You are not wrong, you are right, so please rest assured, Gokawa Shidao."

"Safe?"

Shidou was a little unable to make out the context of Kiriren's words, and confusion appeared in his eyes.

"Well, I can assure you that only one of you or this little girl will die. And no matter who dies, I will take responsibility and will not resist being killed by Liang Yi Meng Yue or your family."

"What did you say?"

Hearing Ai Wulian's words, Shidao's eyes widened in disbelief.

To be honest, he couldn't understand, nor did he want to understand the meaning of Wu Lian's words. It was as if he had met an unknown creature that was completely contrary to the common sense he had constructed so far, and his brain instinctively rejected this information.

However, looking at the other person's eyes without the slightest confusion, Shidao's reason told him that this woman was not lying, and if either he or the hostage died, she would choose to die without hesitation.

"Why... do you have to go to this extent..."

"Sigh... the boss may have other purposes, but as for me, I just like Miss Mengyue. It's just that I like her too much, so I have more than just a happy smile. Sadness, pain, anger, despair... all her emotions, everything, I want to know. However, if you want to get something, you have to pay a price. For me, food that I can eat for free without paying is tasteless."

Ai Wulian explained with a smile.

"This……"

"Well, I'm just a pervert. You don't have to force yourself to understand my feelings. It's just a waste of effort."

Seeing Shidao's grim expression, Kiriren kindly comforted him and then said.

"Okay, enough small talk. Sacrifice yourself? Or give up this child? Can you tell me your choice, Gokawa Shido?"

“…Huh, I understand.”

Exhaling slowly, Shidao looked at Kiriren and spoke slowly.

"I—I don't choose any of them!"

[Expand—Haniel (Fake Witch). ]

"This is?"

Wu Lian unexpectedly discovered that the knife in her hand had turned into a toy knife made of plastic at some point.

(Now! Meng Yue!)

Shidou shouted in his heart.

At the same time, a bullet flew over Shidao's head with the sound of breaking wind.

——Ding!

With a crisp sound, the bullet hit Ai Wulian's head accurately. As if affected by the impact of the bullet, Wulian's body fell backwards exaggeratedly.

"Meng Yue?!"

Shidao couldn't help but reveal a surprised look. After all, when performing simulated rescue in the virtual world, Meng Yue usually aimed at the enemy's thighs or shoulders.

【Expand——Michael (The Lord of Seal).】

However, the situation before him did not give Shidou much time to think. Seeing Kiriren let go of Aoi, he hurriedly opened the [door] and wanted to teleport the other party over here.

Aoi's body did not fall into the [Gate] as Shidou had imagined. Instead, a random field flashing with green light appeared on her limbs, fixing her body in mid-air.

Then, with a flash of a knife, the little girl's right leg separated from her body and fell into Shidou's hands through the [door].

“Ah… this, this is…”

Looking at the bloody limb in his hand, Shidao's face suddenly turned ashen.

"Ah... it hurts... it hurts... it was so dangerous, I almost lost consciousness."

Slowly standing up from the ground, Ai Wulian shook his head and sighed with lingering fear.

"Even though I have already concentrated the defense of the random area on my head... this power... CCC? You can even use such a dangerous sniper rifle. You are truly worthy of being Miss Mengyue."

After licking the blood flowing from the wound on his forehead, Wu Lian sighed with admiration.

"You...you...why..."

"Why are you still alive? When facing a dangerous person holding a knife and threatening hostages, snipers usually kill the criminals remotely, but aiming at the shoulder is not enough to kill. The angry criminal may continue to harm the hostages, so we must aim at the head and kill him with one shot. I have performed similar missions with my comrades before, and I know what to do in this situation. Well, no matter what, if Miss Mengyue chose to use the electromagnetic cannon instead of a weapon, I would have died. Of course, this little girl named 'Aoi' would also be affected."

Wu Lian replied with a smile.

"You are so naive, Shidou-kun. I have already equipped the CR-Unit, so I must have more than one weapon on me. Yet you have focused all your attention on the knife that hits this kid's neck. However, it is remarkable that an amateur can do this."

"You guy!"

Shidou couldn't help but grit his teeth.

"Of course, even if you succeed in rescuing the child, it will be meaningless. After all, there are still bombs in the remaining shelters. If the boss wants, he can take the people in the city as hostages at any time."

"……What?"

There was a piece of bad news like a bombshell in front of him, and Shidao's mind went blank.