Chapter 18: Mountain Hits the Yarn and Possibly Still Alive?!
"Phew~! This outfit is so comfy~ How about it, kid, feeling excited yet~?"
Sitting on her plush sofa at home, wearing a breezy short skirt and crossing her legs clad in black thigh-high socks, Nia leaned lazily against the backrest and teased with a playful tone.
They had already returned from school, and without any outsiders around, she could relax much more naturally. Having just put on the cute and alluring maid outfit she'd bought online, Nia felt she was currently in a "radiantly charming" state—surely the guy should be pretty excited by now, right?
"Not bad. What do you want for dinner? I'll cook for you."
"...Seriously? I went out of my way to wear such adorable clothes just to give you a treat, and this is the reaction I get?"
Seeing his indifferent response, even Nia couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed. She'd mustered up the courage to dress so provocatively in front of a guy, and this was his attitude?? Even if her figure couldn't compare to those other girls, such a bland reaction was just too much!
"Very cute, very cute. I can barely hold back my heart—I'm about to turn into a beast."
"There's zero emotional fluctuation here! Ugh, now you've killed my mood too."
Grumbling irritably, Nia sighed and pouted, turning her attention to her own business and ignoring the boy across from her...
"By the way, kid, what are you planning to do about Kurumi-chan? Are you really going to write out all her past stories? It seems pretty serious... doesn't feel right, does it?"
Just as he was about to leave to prepare dinner, she called out to stop him. Though she acted casual, she was actually quite concerned about what had happened earlier. Tokisaki Kurumi was an annoying woman—always fighting and causing trouble the moment they met—and Nia didn't like her. But deep down, she seemed like a good girl, didn't she? Writing out her past like this... didn't sit well.
"I know. Maybe it's not the best approach, and it might not change the outcome, but it's all I can do... Speaking of which, can your ability alter the future? If I write a different ending, could that change things too~?"
Satoru chuckled, but halfway through, he seemed genuinely curious as he turned the question back to Nia. Of course, he was just asking casually—success was practically impossible. After all, if wishes could come true that easily, she wouldn't be in her current state either.
"Dream on. If we could just rewrite the past whenever we wanted, that'd be invincible. Big sis here can only influence the future, not the past. You're trying to change the fate of Kurumi-chan's friend, right? That's impossible."
Naturally, Nia shot Satoru an exasperated look. Her ability was powerful, yes, but it could only partially alter the immediate future, and each change consumed a corresponding amount of Reiryoku. Bringing the dead back to life? Absolutely out of the question.
"Sigh, as expected. I was hoping we could just bring her friend back to life directly, so we wouldn't have to go looking for that First Spirit."
"Just keep that thought to yourself. Her friend's been dead for years, right? And wasn't she the one who killed her in the first place? There's no changing that."
"Yeah, seems like there's no way around it... Huh? Now that I think about it, after her friend died, they apparently met in the neighboring realm and fused into her Inverse form... Though in the end, it seems she still ended up killing her."
After a moment of contemplation, Satoru also let out a bitter sigh.
In the Date a Bullet spin-off featuring Kurumi, her close friend Sawa Yamauchi did appear—as part of her Inverse form.
But the outcome was still tragic, ending in yet another calamity.
That was why he wanted to give her at least a slightly better ending. After all, the only thing he could do was just that...
"The Inverse form was killed? Normally, an Inverse form is just a manifestation of the Spirit's core—it can't die. Could her friend's soul still be inside it?"
...
...
...
"Are you sure?"
"Uh, if you ask me like that, I can't say for certain. I didn't see it myself. Unless you make Kurumi go Inverse again, that is."
"..."
This seemed like unexpectedly crucial information.
Hearing this, both Satoru and Nia couldn't help but gulp before continuing their analysis.
If that really was the case, then why bother searching for the First Spirit? They could just wake up the Inverse form instead!
"But given how she already seems halfway to being Inverse, making her fully invert probably won't be that simple, right?"
"...No, I know someone—or rather, a Spirit—who can forcibly invert others."
"Eh? Who?"
"...Try searching for a girl named 'Mukuro Hoshimiya.' I might be able to find a solution."