This is not the date I wanted.

But, can she kill Gokawa Shidao now?

[…You seem to be troubled? ]

(——!?)

Suddenly, a voice other than the clone's was heard in the darkness, causing Kurumi to hold her breath.

It was impossible to tell whether it was old or young, male or female, and the voice was blurred as if it had been processed by a transformation device. But it was also a voice that Kurumi had heard before.

Summoning her clone instantly, Kuang San raised both guns and pointed them in the direction of the sound.

It was an unrecognizable figure, just like its voice, it was clearly standing right in front of her, but Kuang San could not see the other person's appearance clearly, as if there was a rough gauze window, or a mosaic.

"…Phantom."

Kuang San read out the other person's name in a deep voice.

[…Oh, I don’t think I’m very popular. I’m only here to give advice.]

"Hmm - suggestions? That's a funny joke."

Kuang San couldn't help but sneer with disdain.

[Hmm...are you kidding? I think my advice is helpful to you. Didn't I also tell you about Gokawa Shido's existence? ]

Phantom said puzzledly.

"You just want to use me to achieve your own goals. You really haven't changed at all, Takamiya Mio!!"

After hearing what Kurumi said, "Phantom" was silent for a moment and then said.

[…Ha. I don’t know who you mistook me for, but since you hate me, I’d better leave tactfully.]

"Don't try to escape!"

Following Kuang San's order, the clones pulled the triggers at the same time, and countless bullets pierced through the darkness and attacked the "Phantom".

In order to avoid the bullets of the clones, "Phantom" flew into the sky. And as if waiting for this moment, Kuang San pulled the trigger of "Ke Ke Di".

"Zaphkiel (Emperor of Moments)——Zayin (Seven Bullets)!!"

The trajectory of the shot met the path of the "phantom" as it ascended at one point. In this way, under the cover of darkness, the pitch-black bullet accurately hit the induced "phantom".

Just like that, under the power of the "Seventh Bullet" that stops time, the "Phantom" was fixed in mid-air.

"'us'!"

The next moment, Kurumi's "clones" surrounded the phantom from all sides and shot at her frantically.

The sound of gunfire rang out like a rainstorm. If it were any other elf, it would have become a speechless corpse by now. But Kuang San saw a figure separated from the mosaic of "phantom" as if shedding a shell, and landed on the roof of the building.

She was a woman in her twenties with her hair tied up.

She had a pale face like a patient, with deep dark circles under her eyes. In the pocket of her shirt was a teddy bear doll that had been patched many times.

"Long time no see, Mio. No—or is it better to call you this now?"

Pointing the gun at the other party, Kuang San said coldly.

"Murasame Reine."

"...I was careless. I should have thought of this possibility when I knew you were working with Meng Yue."

With a light sigh, Lingyin looked up and spoke to Kuang San in a tone like an old friend.

"…Long time no see, Kurumi."

"Ah-ah-finally! I finally found you!"

The moment she heard this, Kuang San roared from the depths of her throat, and the spiritual power in her body began to boil with anger.

As if frightened by Kuang San's terrifying murderous aura, Ling Yin frowned slightly, took a step back and prepared to retreat.

However, Kuang San got ahead of him. The black shadow silently circled around her feet, and countless "hands" stretched out from the black shadow, strangling her limbs and neck, making her an immobile target.

"People like you! People like you—don't deserve even hell!"

Aiming "Ke Ke Di" at Ling Yin's eyebrows, Kuang San said hatefully.

but--

[Holding on to revenge won't change anything, you should know that better than me.]

[…Even if you succeed…Kyousan, you will not be able to be redeemed. ]

Yugetsu and Shidou's words echoed in her ears, and Kurumi couldn't help but twist her body.

--boom!

"…Why don't you kill me?"

Looking at the gun muzzle with smoke coming out of it on the floor in front of her, Ling Yin asked in confusion.

"Humph, if it was so easy to kill you... I wouldn't have come to this point today... Anyway, you just wanted to fake your death so that I could let my guard down."

After taking a few quick breaths, Kurumi's anger gradually subsided and she spoke calmly.

"...You don't want to kill me?"

After thinking for a moment, Ling Yin changed the way she asked the question.

"I do! Of course I do. If I could, I would cut you into pieces right now. But - if this was thirty years ago, it would be fine. Killing you now... is just pure revenge."

Kuang San gritted her teeth and struggled in her heart for a long time before she put down the gun in her hand and let the clone leave Ling Yin.

"In order to achieve my goal, I have killed more than 10,000 people... Although they are not good people, most of them are not guilty of capital crimes... In other words, I am a sinner just like you. Villains cannot punish villains. Your opponent... is not me."

"Yeah……"

After a simple response, Ling Yin fell into silence, and no one knew what she was thinking about.

"Okay, I've said everything I wanted to say. Next, if you want to leave, I won't stop you. Of course, if you think I know too much and want to kill me, I don't mind continuing to fight."

"last question……"

After hearing Kuang San's order to leave, Ling Yin raised her head and asked Kuang San with a little curiosity,

"Tokisaki Kurumi...what did you see in the future?"

"No comment!"

Kuang San said with a cold face.

"..."

Perhaps knowing that further questioning would not yield an answer, Ling Yin turned around wordlessly and left the building.

Only after confirming that the other party had left did Kuang San finally breathe a sigh of relief, with bitterness written all over her face.

"Hey... 'we'... Have I changed? Become weak."

In response to Kurumi's questions, answers from the clones came one after another from the shadows.

——Well, if you want to say it has changed, it has definitely changed.

——If it were the “us” in the past, even if we knew we couldn’t win or kill, we would definitely continue to fight at the risk of our lives.

——But, whether it has become weaker or not, it is hard for me to judge.

"I see." Kuang San sighed, closed her eyes, and after thinking for a long time, she spoke,

"I'm sorry, 'we'... Maybe from now on, I will throw away everything I have accumulated over the past decade. If you are dissatisfied, please hate me as much as you want."

Hearing what Kuang San said, the "Kuang San"s couldn't help but burst into laughter.

——Hehe, what are you talking about, me?

——Haven’t we already given the answer to this question a long time ago?

——We are you, the you of the past.

——You are our accumulation and also our future destination.

——Therefore, every choice and every decision of yours, whether it is sacrifice or escape, we will gladly accept it.

"That's it...thank you."

Hearing the answer from the "clone", Kuang San showed a little relief on her face.

Crossing the fence, Kuang San sat on the outside of the railing, feeling the cool breeze blowing across her body while looking at the night view of Tiangong City.

Looking at the quiet night scene, some emotion emerged in Kuang San's eyes.

In the future, she had seen the city turn into a sea of ​​fire, or an ice city, or be reduced to ruins by a hurricane, twisted and deformed like a piece of plasticine, or simply turned into a pit with nothing left.

But in this countless destroyed future, she has also seen a world where humans live just as they do now, like a miracle, in an ordinary and peaceful world.

"Well - this is a rare opportunity. Let me enjoy the chocolate made by Mr. Shidou."

After stretching vigorously, Kurumi took out Shidou's chocolate and opened the package with great anticipation.

It's a mature flavor of honey-soaked orange peel and dark chocolate, with a slightly bitter taste.

Putting the chocolate in her mouth, the perfect combination of sweetness and bitterness made Kuang San smile happily.

It was as if her heart was filled. With every bite, she could clearly feel the passion in it. Just like Shidao said, this was Valentine's Day chocolate that he made with Kurumi in mind and completely for her.

"It's delicious. As expected of Mr. Shidou... I am completely defeated by this girl."

Kuang San said convinced.

— Tick.

However, at the same time, tears flowed uncontrollably from Kurumi's eyes and dripped onto the chocolate.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry... Sawa... I... couldn't save you..."

(Kyousan Reset End)

postscript

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

Hello everyone, I am very nervous on the chess field.

Ah, time has passed in the blink of an eye, and it is already September. How was your summer vacation? I have to go to training every day and find time to write at night. My life is even busier than when I was in school, haha ​​(bitter smile)——

Originally, the postscript of this volume was planned to be summarized by Mengyue and Shidao through reading (in the form of Fraxinus's letter), but unfortunately I don't have the energy to do so, so I'll just simply pick out a few keywords and complain about them.

————————————Partner of Justice——————————————

When I read the volume about Kurumi's comeback, my first thought was - this guy Lao Ju is really a one-month fan.

Who else could have come up with this? A spoiled high school JK, who is just as young as Emiya, has such a lofty ambition to maintain world peace and become a partner of justice. I absolutely don't believe that Tachibana didn't refer to a certain red-clothed man.

To be honest, I was really afraid that Kuang San would suddenly shout out "Unlimited Control". That scene would definitely be...tsk tsk.

Then, I can confidently assert that in the world view of Date A Live, there is definitely no Urobuchi, otherwise, if Kurumi had only watched a few episodes of Puella Magi Madoka Magica, she would not have reached the point where she is today.

I think it is very dangerous to let children think that there is no darkness in the world. ——BY Gen Urobuchi

Well, Urobuchi is indeed Urobuchi, what he said is really great. (Applause)

————————————Shidao has grown up——————————————

I was actually quite happy to hear that. After all, in this novel about marriage, while creating a lovable heroine, the readers also need to feel that the hero is worthy of the heroine's love. If you can say that, it means that my efforts have not been in vain.

Well, the growth of Gokawa Shido is also something I started thinking about after finishing Volume 9. After all, since a large part of the content of the date is Shido's strategy to conquer the newly appeared elves, the story is strictly speaking a unit drama. Although there is a main line, its presence is relatively weak. The main reason is that the protagonist Shido has changed very little (here I mainly complain about the Rokuko volume).

My idea is that at first Shidou's personality is the same as in the original, but after each event and every encounter with a spirit, Shidou's attitude and thoughts will change a little bit, and then slowly accumulate, you will find out how much Shidou has changed compared to the original Shidou and after meeting Mengyue.

——————————————The world line has changed——————————————

I saw this comment in the last chapter of this volume, the part where Kurumi gave up fighting Mio, but I can tell you with certainty that the direction of the world line was different from the original long before this part.

Although readers who have read the original may feel that the volume about Kurumi that I wrote is much darker and bloodier than the original, in fact, in the original work, Shidao died 204 times before Kurumi discovered the true identity of "Mio", and this time, when Mio met Kurumi, Shidao died a total of 143 times.

Well, it doesn't really explain anything, and it doesn't compare anything. I just want to say that the so-called world line change does not necessarily mean that the protagonist does something very important at a certain point in time, and then the world line suddenly jumps. It can also be a long-term process, seemingly at the same time and place, the same thing happens, resulting in the same result, but other people have a certain change of concept because of Meng Yue's action, and finally make a completely different choice at a certain point in the future.

It’s like Meng Yue influenced Shidou, Tohka, Origami... and now it has influenced Kurumi.

Of course, in this process, Mengyue was also influenced by other people.

——————————————Please turn the pages manually to watch Mengyue swimming————————

……