Chapter Text
Alright everyone, time for my first serious Date A Live story, before now I've just made a one-shot and a few short stories, but to anyone who's also read "A Dragon's Heavenly Bonds" know, when I get serious with my writing, I can go beyond what I did for any of my stories before them. That's what this Date A Live story will be as well. So to those who've seen my previous DAL stories, I think you'll especially love this one.
Before I begin, I want to let everyone know while I am including some of the revelations from Volume 16 into the story, I had this idea planned since before it came out, so there's a lot that I won't be using from Vol 16, some examples being I have different characters set as the real identities of the First Spirit and Phantom. I have a good feeling that one of my ideas (at least from out of the ones I've read, so I may be wrong) is one that hasn't been used in any DAL fanfic just yet.
Here are some things I want to clarify here at the start, the story will use the first 15 novels, the games, and the movie to make up the story line, however I don't have any translations to Rinne Utopia and Ars Install, so be prepared for an unplanned indefinite hiatus by the time I get to them unless anyone here knows where I can find them, I don't have this issue for the movie and Rio Reincarnation so I'll be good for the two of them. If worst comes to worst, I'll simply put the games in separate stories just so the story can continue if it gets really bad.
Also as the summary mentions, in this story what I mean by a "more effective Ratatoskr" and "less unbeatable DEM" is this. While Ratatoskr isn't really weak and unhelpful in canon, they sometimes tend to feel a bit more like comedy relief and do more bad than good, the anime even seems to only present them like this too. While in the DEM's case, I feel except for Vol 15, the story makes Westcott always seem to have things go his way even if he loses, so I'm going to even things out and actually have things not always go his way. Now with that cleared up, it's time to begin.
P.S: If you see me bringing up anything about a Crossover, or Season 4 for this story, then just ignore it. Those were both ideas that ended up getting cancelled.
Chapter 1, S1:Prologue
Suddenly in some abandoned building all gray and heavily damaged, a brown-haired man wearing a mask and a thin yet powerful armor rushed across the room as he drew an energy sword and prepared to strike against a pink haired girl wearing an empress like outfit, holding a strange tree shaped sword with multiple colored gems on it. The girl rushed forward and shouted as she collided with his energy blade, sparks flying as magical power ricocheted off the walls around them, breaking the structure further.
The man gave a small smirk, jumping as he twirled the blade and changed it into a cannon, and blasted it at the girl, striking her and knocking her back, she's knocked to the wall before cutting the blast apart with her blade. She soon collapses onto her knees a bit, feeling a bit tired and weakened by the attack, but soon regaining her footing.
"You've reached your limit, just give up and let me take what I desire." The masked man said.
The girl simply responded by stabbing her blade into the ground, causing a huge overflow of pink energy that surprised the masked man and knocked him off balance, she took the chance to rush at him and slash him furiously, managing to strike his blade in its cannon form and force him to change it back into a blade as the cannon attachments explode. He smirks, slightly impressed.
"Never, not after I've learned what you intend to do. I won't let you hurt this world or any other one more than you already have!" The girl screamed, staring at him with anger as she recalled what he had already done to her. She would stop this madman, and when she did she could finally leave everything behind, and go back to the life she wanted to live again. The man scowled, hating her ideas of what was 'right' and soon drew a second sword.
The two collided again, and right as the weakened pink girl believed she had found an opening to end it... she gasped as she realized too late she had fallen right into a faint, and the man began his trap as his armor suddenly created energy tethers that held her into the air, locking her movements before he crossed his swords, creating a dangerous surge of power before he shot it at her, striking her hard.
"Fools who spout nonsense like dreams of peace and their pacifistic natures are the one thing I hate, survival of the kindest never will succeed to the survival of the fittest." The man coldly said.
The man soon walked to the girl and slashed her across the abdomen, ripping across her outfit as his sword glowed black, preparing for an apparently fatal stab as he smiled darkly. Everything he had been waiting for, his dream, all of it was going to be realized right now, at least... that's what he expected. The girl realizing she couldn't win decided that if she must fall here... she would make sure that he didn't achieve victory either.
"I'm sorry, please forgive me. I won't be coming home... Shido, Mana." The girl said, soon grabbing her sword and stabbing herself in the chest to the surprise of the man. Suddenly a huge surge of energy spews out of the girl's body, and the man who was directly in front of her screamed as it hit him, overloading and damaging his body from the sheer magnitude of the power that flooded out.
Soon, the girl's body slightly bleeds as it goes limp, her face shedding tears of guilt and sadness as three people filled her last thoughts. Her eyes soon slowly close, and her body slowly fades away in small pink sparkles, after she had disappearing entirely, her sword and the energy she emitted burst apart and sent ten spheres of light flying across the globe.
"NO!" The man shouted as his dream flew further away from him, he tried to reach out to the lights before the energy knocked him further away from the spot the girl one laid upon, knocking him unconscious as he gave a final scream.
It all began 30 years ago, during 2021, the day had begun like any other would on the planet Earth and no one expected any trouble to happen... but then suddenly in a random location within the continents of Europe and Asia, the sky began to swirl without any warning or indication. Then in response, small shards of rock began to rise like something had begun sucking them in. To anyone nearby, it would have simply looked like a mere tornado was forming, but it wasn't.
Every animal nearby began to flee, but it was too late for even a Cheetah had it been in the area, what was coming was the calling of the Grim Reaper's slaughter... no, Earthly Laws would soon no longer matter, even the Grim Reaper would soon be killed as his domain would be ruined and replaced. The swirling began reaching towards the ground like a sharp needle ready to puncture the earth, yet as clear as the air and the sky itself, and soon it reached down like a floating object ready to land.
However, the moment it did... not even claiming the most powerful nuclear weapon had suddenly set off would have been an accurate depiction of what happened. The entire area and beyond was flattened and incinerated like the flames of hell in a dark pink energy form burst further and further, consuming and destroying the mountains, the rivers, and anything else that it touched... and yet it was still not satisfied with its hunger.
The city nearest to the space quake suddenly had all its residents turn as they heard something rumbling near them, only for the winds of dirt and debris yet to be consumed by the explosion reach them, everyone began to scream and try running away in vain. However, the force of this explosion literally threw them and everything within the city into the air, destroying even the smallest of chances for them to get away before the explosion's powerful force swallowed the entire city inside of it.
In only mere seconds after it went off it reached the towns, the cities, the country sides and only mere seconds passed for everyone to look at it, then... the nightmare truly breached the world. To anyone watching from space, an entire black swelling would be seen, but that's all that one would discover as on the surface of the planet... this unearthly force of nature would kill a total of 150 million people!
It was the worst disaster that has ever hit Humanity, and we were sure that was it, or at least all that we'd expect for some time, but we were so very wrong. Continuous occurrences of these explosions followed up, spreading across the entire globe, there was nowhere to run or head, nothing to defend against these quakes. If a quake went off near where you lived, only distance would save you and even then, you might not be left unscathed, even if only emotionally or mentally.
Only after 6 months did the worst end, by the time these quakes had finally slowed down into rare occurrences, it was estimated that Humanity's former population of over 8 billion had become a mere 2 billion, more than 75% of our own kind destroyed by some unknown force. Eventually studies were finally made about these unknown explosions, and studying the original footage captured by satellites it was revealed that these explosions were actually more like earthquakes.
In the damaged ruins of various locations around the world, and certain parts of larger nations, the sight of many surviving families all struggling to survive in the wreckage was seen, even the slightest of loud sounds setting them off as they expected another explosion to end their already near-ruined lives. At the same time in the few surviving facilities throughout the more undamaged locations, everyone who could was working together to hopefully find a way to discover a way to save the remains of Humanity before they were all brought to extinction.
To be more specific, a certain area of space suddenly began to vibrate, distorting the dimensional plane around that area and twisting it until it compressed as a singularity that could no longer shrink and further. After which, all that compressed energy burst apart, becoming like a miniature big bang, as such they were named "Spacequakes". Initially, everyone believed they only brought annihilation, but somehow these Spacequakes after further study were revealed to have touched the planet, drastically changing the world as we knew it.
With further study, it was revealed that within these quakes existed a material that was identical to one best known in fiction: mana, quite literally the world had been touched by magical energy, but not in the same was as stories of magicians or spell casters, nor did there exist spells everyone could cast. With the fact that Humanity could risk extinction if they didn't come together, all existing nations came together and created a united government to give hope to everyone in these dark times.
Very soon, a miracle happened, and the creation of new technology using the very magic the quakes brought led to shelters that could let people survive Spacequakes, with the new technology helping making repairs and recovery of lost items become as easy as casting the very spells in fiction. It wasn't just technology, but Humanity itself gained new potential, a new breed of humans soon emerged from the generations born after the disaster, infused with magical power that graced them with phenomenal physical abilities and skills.
In the new of New Pittsburgh, a boy was walking by when suddenly the scream of a girl entered his ears, the girl trying to catch an important college paper that the wind had taken from her.
"No, please come back!" The girl cried out.
The boy made a fierce determined look as a slight blue aura formed around him, he jumped towards a nearby tree and swung himself into the air, shocking the girl as he managed to grab the paper before landing on part of the opposing building's wall and soon dismounting to the ground. He turned before jumping near her apartment window's ledge.
"Forgive me for intruding, but I believe this is yours?" The boy smiled, handing he paper to her. The girl made a thankful smile as she took it back to her relief.
It had been the worst disaster we had ever known, but in a way, it had freed Humanity from the chains that had been holding it back... at least mostly, even if most have changed for the better there are still few who try to take advantage of others and use them to their ends. Still, with the population having slowly recovered to 3.5 billion, and many advancements in the world, it seemed that things were looking up.
Yet the existence of the Spacequakes, and how they suddenly came to our world? That is a mystery which even today is still without an answer, the last remaining darkness lingering in the world of now... or was it? In the crater of a former space quake zone, an inhabited area known as Tenguu City stood, and no one knew that this city was where the answers to a decades long question would finally begin their revelation, all because of one single action.
This is the story of how that action would change everything, and answer the questions of 30 years ago.
*Date A Live, Season 1 opening theme plays*
(Instrumental)The scene opens up to show Earth from space before the sight of a Spacequake forming appears, then showing the very moment when the original quake first went off follows it, soon continuing with the one seen in space.
A black screen shows a girl with a ponytail covered in a purple silhouette looking forward, then followed by a long haired girl in a white silhouette covering her eyes with a hand as she turned to the side and held herself as if in pain, then a young looking long haired girl in a blue silhouette crouching down and hiding her face with both hands, and then finally a girl in asymmetrical twin tails in a dark red silhouette who turned her back before showing the moon and the earth from further away.
(Heavy instrumental)The words"デート・ア・ライブ- DATE A RE:LIVE"appear on the blackened screen, and a heavy rock beat plays before the colors invert showing a white screen with the same text now black.
(In a town where everyone's looking down, [Dead or Alive].)On a staircase leading to a viewpoint area, Shido Takamiya stood out and looked at the city.
(Where a dry wind blows through.)Tohka Yatogami is standing against a white background, her hair flowing as an unseen wind passed by her, her face moving as the focus zooms in on it.
(My eyes sought for the light, [Dead or Alive].)The backside of Mana Takamiya is seen as she skips through town before she turns to face you, Kotori Itsuka soon stopping by her side giving a similar smile.
(But all they saw was despair!)Origami Tobiichi looks up towards the sunset filled sky, her long hair blowing before her face widens in horror as she holds a hand to her head as she senses something.
(My scream can't reach anyone as I cry and no one hears...)Ripples from the rain are seen as Yoshino stands by a shrine, soon her face being zoomed in as she slightly looks up.
(Someone please stop me with the very hands that I'm searching for!)Kurumi Tokisaki's seen sitting in her school uniform facing away from the camera, suddenly she's zoomed on with her Astral Dress, only to turn as her face shakes in horror with a frown and she covers her left eye, then removing it to reveal a now gold clock as she suddenly gives an insane look.
(Three heavy beats)Soon the sight of the Fraxinus invisible in the air, the DEM ship Arbitel, and a hidden pink silhouette reaching out longingly are seen in succession.
(In this broken world, where I still don't understand my life, what I want to understand most...)A group of DEM wizards fly into view as Tohka standing in a crater holds Sandalphon tight and gives a mighty swing, creating a slash wave at them. At the same time, Origami flies through the incoming fire before using Metatron to fire beams of light at the ones firing at her.
(Is why I'm scared of the kindness, that graciously... touched my heart!)Yoshino while riding on Zadkiel rushes by the DEM wizards as the area around her freezes, followed by Kurumi and her clones rising out from the shadows and firing various time bullets using Zafkiel at everyone unfrozen.
(I wanna know the reason the reason to fill the gaping hole in my heart! So please, fill it with... your love!)Yoshino and soon fight with Origami in a rainy city battlefield as both fired their respective elemental beams, and then Tohka is seen in Kurumi's dimension dodging her bullets before falling into a white void and raising her hands out for Shido to catch them.
(Please give me your answer-)Soon Shido sees Tohka, Origami, Yoshino and Kurumi in their Astral Dresses all stare at him in a wrecked section of the city.
DATE A LIVE!
(Humming instrumental)Reine Murasame and Tamae Okamine are seen in Shido's classroom, followed by Hiroto Tonomachi by the lockers as he puts his shoes on and waves. Ai, Mai and Mii were by a subway train as it passes by.
(Higher pitched humming instrumental)The sight of Tohka and Origami separated by split screens, the Yoshino and Kurumi, before finally Mana and Kotori all go by and finally ending with Shido looking straight forward.
Soon the sights of the Fraxinus crew and Maria grinning widely, Isaac Westcott and Ellen Mathers giving dark looks while Marina scowls, Elliot Woodman giving a serious yet worried look, and finally the sight of the same pink silhouette woman reaching out sadly all went by. Ending with Shido, Tohka, Origami, Yoshino, Kurumi, Mana and Kotori all standing side by side in a line with confident looks and smiles as the music dies down and ends.
"WAKE UP!"
It was April 10th of 2051, and a teenage boy with short blue hair was seen groaning in his sleep, his body resting under the blanket of his bed as a slightly younger teenage girl with long red hair tied in twin tails held by black and white ribbons with crimson tips was dancing on top of him, apparently using it as an attempt to wake him up. He groaned as he tried to ignore it and stay in bed.
'My little sister figure might very well be giving me what could be best described as one of the worst wake up calls ever.' The boy thought to himself.
The girl giggled as she kept continuing her dance, and for all he could, the boy tried to ignore it all he could, but her little wake up dance seemed to know just the right places to hit him with her feet and eventually he couldn't ignore it.
"Kotori... darling little sister of mine?" The boy asked, getting her attention.
"What is it? Darling big bro of mine!?" Kotori asked, giving an innocent smile as if she wasn't doing anything wrong.
[This girl is my good friend and honorary younger sister, Kotori Itsuka. She's currently 14 years old and as of today will be attending Raizen Middle School as a 2nd year student. As you might have guessed by me saying honorary, she's not my actual younger sister, but considering the conditions I live in she might as well be officially considered my sister all but legally. She's a brave little ball of energy though she can easily get scared under the right harmless pranks, and I'm glad that she makes sure that I wake up, the only problem... she does it in very interesting ways.]
"GET OFF ME! This hurts you know!" The boy yelled out, wanting to just keep sleeping. However, he wouldn't get this wish as Kotori suddenly jumps into the air, giving a slight show of her white and pink striped panties to anyone who may have seen through that particular widow by that moment, and then gives him a drop kick to the gut! The boy gasped at the pain while she giggles.
"Sorry, did that hurt? I bet you're awake though." Kotori smiled, however the boy simply gives her a blank stared with his closed eyes and just goes back to sleep... or so Kotori thought as she starts trying to pull him out of bed.
"Hey, don't just go right back to sleep! Wake up! Come on, wake up sleepyhead!" Kotori shouted, still pulling on him.
"Listen to me Kotori... runaway..." The boy said, confusing Kotori.
"I've contracted the mysterious 'tickle hell giving' virus, often called the T-Virus for short."
Kotori suddenly stops pulling and steps back, suddenly feeling frightened.
"What? You've got what!?" Kotori suddenly yelled, her lower eye area becoming shadowed.
"Runaway Kotori, run! While I can still control myself!" The boy moaned, making him sound like he was succumbing to his made-up illness. The lights suddenly dim to Kotori's shock as he suddenly gets up, with his upper face suddenly black, one of his eyes glows white and then he shouts like a monster! Kotori screams in fear before running out of the room and downstairs. The boy's head slowly turns at her, the lights come back on before he makes his face look normal again.
"OK, that's much better. Guess I am awake now."
[Oh crap, I forgot to introduce myself, didn't I? My name's Shido Takamiya, I'm currently 16 years old and like Kotori I'll be starting my first day of a new school year, in my case however I'll be attending Raizen High as a Freshman. Kotori's parents are usually out on business due to their jobs as Engineers for some company that's a sub-division under an even larger one, so I have to watch over her and my actual sister in their place, aside from them waking me up.]
Suddenly a girl with the same hair and eye color as Shido, only difference being her short ponytail the beauty mark underneath her left eye, walked down the stairs and walked into the living room/kitchen area with a smile. However, the smile vanished a bit as she noticed Kotori's hair sticking from part of the couch, showing she was still hiding from Shido's joke.
"I don't wanna go to tickle hell, someone help me." Kotori whimpered, the blue haired girl give a cat smile and slowly crawled over to the couch quickly. Once she did she jumped into view and gave Kotori a jump scare, freaking her out more as she looked to see her and ran to the wall, only to corner herself as Mana chuckles a bit.
"Calm down Kotori, it's only me." The girl said.
"A-are you sure? Is it really you Mana?" Kotori asked, still whimpering a bit. Mana playfully salutes at that.
"Yes, I am much good friend to you. Yes, I am Kotori big sister, Mana Takamiya." Mana said, and soon Kotori calmed down a bit, smiling as she forgot about Shido's made up virus prank.
[And this is my actually little sister, by blood at least, Mana Takamiya. She's 14 just like Kotori is and attends the same school and class year, the only difference is she's three months older. As you've likely just noticed, she's as playful as I am, and is a good big sister figure to Kotori. Usually when a start a joke with Kotori, she makes sure to give it a harmless resolution. Both are my cute little sisters, and I hold both of them dearly.]
Shido soon walked down dressed in his school uniform, smiling at the two as he begins to cook breakfast for the three of them, meanwhile Mana and Kotori were both listening to the news.
"A Spacequake was recorded earlier this morning by the center of Tenguu City. Only slight damage was done and no casualties among the area's residents. As usual, investigations are still failing to determine the case of these quakes." The News reporter stated, Shido briefly turned as he heard what the reported have been saying.
"Again huh, sounded close too." Shido commented.
"It was, it looked like a Class C one too." Mana replied, noticing the small crater it let on TV.
[Spacequakes... even after 30 years since they began, no one has gained any leads on what causes them. Many still remember the "Eurasian Sky Disaster" that began it all, and then there was "Dimension Collapse" that followed. 6 billion people died as across the world without any breaks among the next 6 months, a total of 50 Spacequakes razed destruction while we had no way to defend ourselves. Even after the shelters were made to protect us and casualties only happened if people couldn't make it to one in time after the alarms warned of precautionary signs.]
Shido takes something out of the fridge and holds up bacon or pancake mix, the two sisters point at the bacon and Shido begins cooking it.
[Most of all... survivors of both those events still fear the destruction wrought by the original quake, and worry another quake like that may eventually happen again. Spacequakes come in four classes. C, B, A and S. The Class-C quakes like the one on the news do little damage and often just leave a crater, Class-B quakes usually lead to a noticeable amount of damage, Class-A quakes are the equivalent of biting off a big chunk of a pie compared to Tenguu City... the Class-S quakes however? Those only began appearing around 5 years ago.]
"Hey Kotori, check this out." Mana giggled, and Kotori panics as the former tried to show her a video of the first S-Class quake. Kotori had already been overwhelmed by the T-Virus prank and didn't want to see anything else freak her out at the moment.
[The one thing we know about the quakes is that color seems to define what Class they'll be, but no one knows what color they become until after the quake sets off. The Class-S quakes however are notable for being much darker and menacing in appearance and color. These quakes literally look like they scar a majority of the city, forcing a long period of shelter time for the damage done by them to recover. The fact quakes didn't have this class level is why people worry, if the quakes are getting stronger... is it really inevitable that the Eurasian Sky Disaster could have a repeat of its quake?]
"You know it's weird, but there's been a lot of quakes around Tenguu City lately, haven't there?" Shido noted, it recently seemed like a lot of quakes occurred in the area, especially those of Class-S levels. Kotori puts a Chupa Chups lollipop in her mouth while Mana nods.
"You're telling me, it's like the city's magnetizing them over here." Mana said, trying to let her big brother notice she was making a scared face. Kotori gave a deeper stare at the quake's crater in the news, almost as if she felt something deeper than Shido or Mana did.
"Oh yeah, do you mind if we go to Danny's for lunch big brother?"
"Hmm... I don't see why not, guess we can consider it my congrats party for starting high school." Shido said, Kotori and Mana cheer before giving each other a double high five. Shido was pretty sure they just wanted an excuse to eat the restaurant's deluxe kid's plate they loved having when they went over there.
The three stop near Danny's on the way to school, the diner being located right at the crossroad path between the Raizen Middle and Raizen High.
"We'll be waiting for you here in front of the restaurant after school ends. Don't break your promise, no matter what happens, if it's still possible eat here than we are going inside and eating!" Kotori said, Shido nodded and petted her head.
"Right, I promise. Just don't let something a Spacequake count as 'still possible' at the very least." Shido joked, making Kotori pale a bit as Mana giggles at her expression.
"Be careful on your way to school you too."
As the two sisters were getting their heads pat, a trio of students noticed them as they walked by. The trio was known as Ai, Mai and Mii. Ai was the tallest of the three and had blonde hair tied in a short ponytail, but a lot spikier than mana's was and had yellow eyes. Mai had short brown hair and born eyes, her eyes tended to look partially closed as if something was always on her mind. Mii was the shortest of the three with long blue hair and blue eyes, and she wore glasses that she couldn't see well without.
"Look, it's Shido Itsuka." Ai began.
"You think it's weird that he and his sister are close to that Kotori girl like another sister despite her parents are just their legal guardians?" Mai continued in reply.
"No, not really. They're close enough she's their sister all but legally." Mii finished.
[Those three are fellow freshman at Raizen High known as Ai, Mai and Mii, though I think a few people call them the talkative trio since they usually gossip about things they see or hear. Ai's the unofficial leader who starts the talk, Mai follows up and Mii makes a final comment. Heck, their names sound like "I, My and Me" so that who talkative trio name almost seems fitting... just don't tell them I said that, they'd probably hurt me if they heard that.]
As Shido saw Mana and Kotori head off towards their middle school, he was suddenly grabbed by the hand by a familiar face to him.
"Hey there Shido, what's up?" A black spiky haired boy with a charmer like facial expression asked Shido, making the latter chuckle a bit.
"You ready for the freshman year? I know I am."
[This is Hiroto Tonomachi, he's sorta a friend of mine. He's kinda what we'd call a "vagabond" with how he acts and currently can only get a date via his cell phone's dating sims. He's not a bad person, he just needs to work on how he sends off his aura towards everyone. One example? The talkative trio nearby I think once mentioned about hearing a rumor on how Tonomachi swings both ways, I don't see anything wrong with one's sexual orientation, the only problem was he definitely likes girls and he was a bit slow on trying to clear that up. He's still a good guy if you get to know him though.]
While the two were talking, Ai notices a in the distance who suddenly hides behind a lamppost at the moment she sees Shido. She slowly peaked out, surprised at what she was seeing before she tears up a bit, but ends up just hiding again before she ran off completely.
"Hey, isn't that the new transfer student over there? The one called the super genius?" Ai asked, the other two having noticed after she looked.
"You meant that girl from Tokyo, right? I think it was her." Mai continued.
"Why do you think she just ran off like that? It looked like it was just because she saw Shido." Mii finished, as curious and confused to the sight as her friends. The girl in question continuing running towards the school as she gave off a trouble yet happy and sad expression.
'It can't be, but it really is... it was him!' She thought, not stopping as she kept continuing towards Raizen High.
Soon enough, Shido had made it to Class 2-4 of Raizen High, this would be his homeroom class for the school year. Ai, Mai, Mii and Hiroto all ended up being his classmates. Hiroto got a notice on his phone and opened it up.
"So, who's route is it this time?" Shido asked, pretty sure he was on a dating sim.
"Oh, it's not a normal game this time. This particular app has the girl actually live on the phone." Hiroto said, showing a girl with pink hair that was kinda similar to Kotori with pink hair and eyes in Shido's opinion.
"This dating sim's gonna be a real textbook for-"
"Um... e-excuse me?"
The two turned to see a girl looking at them, her face blushing a bit as if she was hoping she didn't actually have to talk and she could talk with her mind... which wasn't a thing unfortunately. Shido got a good look at her, trying to see if he had seen her once before. She was a young and attractive girl with blue eyes, long white hair that reached down to her waist with three hair-clips on the right part of her front bangs, and she had a slender body with noticeably gift bust size.
"Oh, hit there." Shido introduced, the girl blushing a bit more and fidgeting to his confusion.
"I-If you don't mind me asking... what's your name, and by any chance do you recognize me?" The girl asked, surprising Shido and even Hiroto a bit. This girl knew Shido? Then again... it wasn't like he could blame not knowing if he did, or rather, if he had known her.
"M-My name is Origami Tobiichi... you and I met each other when I lived her 5 years ago. Though I moved away some time after that."
"Oh, that explains things a bit. My name's Shido Takamiya, and I'm sorry about this but... truth is I've lost my memory around that time. All I remember is the Tenguu Fire and original Class-S quake" Shido answered honestly, making Origami's eyes widen slightly before she gave a sad look.
[The Tenguu Fire, it was a nasty natural disaster that happened around 5 years ago. Without any kind of warning, flames suddenly broke out across Tenguu City, mainly in a neighborhood called Nankou. All I remember was seeing myself, Mana and Kotori in a hospital after waking up, the Doctor's said we got hit by a falling plank and likely suffered some short-term memory loss. That's just one time of my memory that's gone, truth is... me and Mana don't remember most of our past, nothing other than our mother leaving someone promising she'd come home as soon as she could... but she never came back. That's when the Itsuka family became our legal guardians.]
"I'm really sorry, but I guess you could tell me about how we knew each other?" Shido asked, wanting to honestly learn part of what he forgotten. Origami blushed shyly when he did, having been caught off guard a bit.
"O-Oh! Yeah, well truth is we had only met about two times. The first was when I had gotten lost when the Tenguu Fire began, and... after that, I was sure I saw you die trying to save my parents' lives from some flaming debris." Origami quietly answered, Shido was surprised not for the act he did, but how little Origami had actually known him. He couldn't blame her though, that one act must have made her really grateful.
"I-I'm sorry that's all, please forgive me for getting your hopes up!"
Origami tried to bow in apology, but somehow only managed to hit her forehead on Shido's desk, making her hold her head in pain.
"Are you OK?" Hiroto asked, honestly surprised by how she managed to do that. Shido took a cloth out of his backpack and lightly rubbed Origami's forehead to her shock, causing her to give a bashful blush.
"It's alright, anyone would likely be thankful to someone who was brave enough to do that. So, are you living here with your parents right now?" Shido asked, however after saying that... Origami looked away, any shyness she had replaced by sadness and regret.
"Oh... oh my god, I'm so sorry about that."
"...No, it's OK. You couldn't have known. I'm gonna take my seat now, see you later Shido." Origami said quietly, taking her seat.
"So that was the transfer student, the so called super genius." Hiroto said to himself.
[I wasn't aware of it at the time, but Origami Tobiichi had been in both the Tenguu Fire and first Class-S quake, while for the latter no one needed to ask her how, having been there meant she failed taken shelter for it, but had luckily been away from the blast zone and survive. However... it seems during the Tenguu Fire, despite I had apparently saved her parents early during it, they ended up being burned to death after she had been separated from them and in trying to reach her walked into the crossfire of a small burst of flame. I felt she needed me as a friend, I was the only familiar face she likely knew since she moved back to Tenguu City.]
Soon everyone's attention was moved to the front of the room as class began and their homeroom teacher came in, alongside her assistant teacher. A lot of the students cheered as they saw who their teacher was.
"Oh heck yeah, it's Tamae!" Hiroto called out, answering for about 90-95% of the whole class.
"It's Ms. Okamine please, now quiet down. I'll be your homeroom teacher this year." Tamae said with a smile, she was a young woman in her late 30s with short slightly curled brown hair and glasses. She soon motioned her hand towards her assistant. "And this is your assistant homeroom teacher."
"I'm Reine Murasame, and I'm excited to be here." Reine introduced, she had what seemed to be a pale blue/purple or silvery hair and her outfit seemed like that of a lab coat over what seemed pajamas and a skirt. Shido noticed she had dark spots under her eyes, implying she didn't get a lot of sleep, or possibly had a condition like narcolepsy... and right as the thought that, she fainted to the class' shock and worry.
[Tamae Okamine, she's 29 years old and she's popular with the freshman classes. Most who begin their year at Raizen High tend to want her as their teacher. The woman aside her, Reine Murasame, has been her assistant teacher since last year. Apparently, she has a case of chronic fatigue and narcolepsy alongside insomnia, so she frequently she tends to randomly faint while in class, provided she's standing for some reason. That's actually all I really know about her, except that she's a widow due to the ring on her necklace and a stitched up bear she's always carrying, but I don't think I'll learn more because I don't wanna pry too far.]
"Sorry about that everyone, I'm just a bit tired." Reine said as she quickly got back up, making the class relieved as she was OK.
'So, this is how my year begins.' Shido thought, looking at Origami one last time before focusing back to the front of the board.
In some strange realm, the sight of a sleeping girl bathed in a dark purple energy was noticed, wearing nothing but a black nightgown of sorts made of some glowing darkness as she laid across an unseen ground or floated in the air. The realm she was in was strange... not of this world.
"..." The girl's sleepless form stayed as it was, but then, all of a sudden... her eyes shot open as the energy bathing her began getting more violent and wild.
Shido began packing up his things as he prepared to meet with Mana and Kotori.
"You going somewhere Shido?" Hiroto asked.
"Yeah, promised I'd meet my little sisters for lunch. They want another deluxe kids plate." Shido said, chuckling a bit at their love of the dish.
"I swear, that's all those two ever want to-" Before Hiroto could finish that sentence, everyone in the school suddenly heard a familiar alarm go off. There was only one alarm that was so familiar to everyone that getting surprised was a natural reaction.
[WARNING! YOU'RE ATTENTION PLEASE, THIS IS NOT A DRILL! THERE HAVE BEEN PRECURSORY SIGNS OF AN IMPENDING SPACEQUAKE IN THE CITY! PLEASE EVACUATE TO YOUR NEAREST SHELTER! I REPEAT!]
"What? Another Spacequake, but there was already one this morning!" Shido gasped, at best a Spacequake tended to happen only once a day, and this was usually most of the time as well. However as of recently they had become a lot more common to the point that there were as many days where multiple quakes.
"Come on, let's get to the school's shelter."
As everyone began heading off to a quake shelter, Shido suddenly noticed Origami collapse to her knees as she held her head.
"Origami, are you alright?" Shido asked, Origami turned to her as her face sweat a bit.
"Yeah, just please go on ahead. I need to go get my medication from the nurse's office quick." Origami whimpered, quickly going in the opposite direction the other students. Shido was worried about her needing medication, but more so about how it happened right as the quake did, enough he didn't notice she wasn't the only one who had also gone somewhere else.
Soon enough Shido began following the other students as they headed to the shelter, meanwhile outside the buildings and various places holding cars and such shifted as they were moved to safety or acted as transfers to the shelters.
"Everyone, remember your three D's! Don't push, don't walk, don't wait around!" A random teacher said, making sure everyone was getting to safety.
As they were, heading to the shelters, Shido took out his phone and began calling Mana to see how she and Kotori were, wanting to make sure they were OK. After it rang for a bit...
"We're sorry, the number you're trying to reach is currently not available."
"What?" Shido gasped, this was the first time they hadn't called him when they were heading to shelter, he was starting to worry. While maybe it was just bad reception he activated their GPS locations... and he gasped as they were in front of Danny's!
"Why are they there? Don't tell me..."
"If it's still possible eat here than we are going inside and eating!" Kotori's voice echoes.
'Kotori, Mana... no!'
Shido suddenly ran off to the surprise of many students and the teacher who tried to call him to come back, but Shido wasn't going to take shelter while his sisters were in danger. He'd rather die before he let anything happen to either of them.
As he ran outside, he noticed the deserted city as he tried to quickly spot Danny's, right now he had to use every second before the quake went off as he couldn't see the rippling in the sky just yet. Warning signs filled the streets as the Spacequake's threat alerted everyone to continue getting to shelter. As he ran, the thought of a scared Kotori having Mana hold her close entered his mind.
"Please... don't let me be too late! Mana, Kotori!" Shido shouted.
At that moment he turned, and suddenly his eyes widened in horror at the sight of the dimensional ripple about to touch the ground from far away, at that moment a dark purple burst of energy shot out. That color meant that this Spacequake... was a Class-S level, Shido could only close his eyes and hold his arms out to cover himself in what may be a vain attempt to survive, the recoil soon flinging him back.
When the dust settled, Shido found himself waking up, he saw the destruction around him as he realized he had been lucky and managed to be outside the blast radius by a very narrow margin. Gasping at this fact, he took his phone to check on his sisters... their phone signals still existed, and that meant they were still alive to his relief.
"They're OK, and I'm alive... of thank god. I still can't believe they risked this though." Shido sighed, feeling like he had just aged 10 years in the last few minutes. Shido soon saw the dust near the epicenter clear up more as the mana leaked around the area, knowing to reach Danny's he had to cross he prepared to continue, but suddenly as he did, he saw the last thing he ever thought he'd see as his eyes widened.
"What the hell?"
(*insert HANTEN Tohka*)
Standing in the epicenter was the silhouette of a person covered in the very dark colored mana that was scattered across the area, as it began to slowly fade from view, soon revealing the sight of a teenage girl around maybe the same age as him. She had very long, dark purple-to-white gradient colored hair tied back with a ribbon that looked like something of an evil dark violet butterfly with point edges, but a large portion of her hair remained untied as well.
Her eyes were a soft pink color with white irises, eyes that Shido had only seen on Kotori before. The outfit she wore was probably the biggest surprise to Shido, it was a dark violet dress attached with black laces and a set of grayish magenta-and-dark pink plated armor which adorned her shoulders and waist. The dress is open at the back and the front, in which exposed most of her skin and a two-layered, knee-length skirt.
'Is that... a girl!?' Shido thought in shock, why was there a person in the epicenter of the Spacequake? There's no way she would have survived, did she somehow survive because she was directly it by it, or was there something else Shido didn't know he wondered. Right now, he was too shaken for his common sense to tell him what he should have really thought based on what he saw.
The girl in question slowly turned to face Shido as he saw her eyes directly meet hers, and in a moment, she held up her finger and fired off a small sphere of mana. Shido narrowly dodged it as it passed over his shoulder and hit the area around him, causing the same energy that made the space quake to burst off at a smaller scale behind him.
"No way..." At that moment, Shido's common sense finally broke in on how she was here... she had caused the Spacequake somehow. In fact, she likely wasn't even a human being at all!
He had little time to continue his thoughts as the girl was suddenly standing in front of him, her eyes glowing brightly and her aura making Shido feel like it had really been night and a monster was staring him down as he aimed another mana sphere forming on her fingers at him.
"I see, so you too?" The girl said, her voice in a deep pitch Shido didn't expect or think fit her. Shido only stared at what she meant, he was already fully clueless about the entire situation, and now he was about to possibly be killed by some alien girl's powers that had been attacking their world for the last three decades. Then right at that moment, the girl's face gained an angrier look and she said the very words that would forever change his life, and the fate of the entire world.
"Are you here to kill me?"
Inverse Tohka has made her appearance, and boy is she pissed off right now. First thing I should clarify is that this isn't the idea I believe only I may have used, I know I've seen it at least twice, one in a pure DAL story and another in a crossover I can't recall the name of right this second. The idea I'm referring to is part of the initial scene, and anyone familiar with a pink haired DAL character should probably realize who it is, and the scene... yeah, I don't think I need to bother hiding it, I kinda made it obvious that she's the First Spirit of this story.
New Timeline Origami is who I'm going with here, but unlike in canon there's no changing of the past, so the reason Origami's like this in this fanfic is very different than before. I think Origami fans will be happy to know that her arc will be MUCH earlier as well, how early I won't reveal so you have something to guess over and look forward too.
Some people might notice the opening scene and the background lore are a bit similar to the opening scene from another light novel series, the Asterisk War. This is the only time you should see anything like that except maybe some characters like Shido showing some strong physical abilities, and that'll mainly only be when he needs to fight.
The reason I chose to have most of Humanity decimated by the Spacequakes? Well... if the first managed to kill 150 million, and from what I saw wasn't even in the best area, then imagine how the more populated parts of the world like China or India would fair, their populations both reach the billions, so imagine how much damage they'd take if they had been hit while lacking and protection as well? Finally, I chose the year to be 2051 because DAL's tech doesn't seem too far ahead in the flashback to our technology now, and the light novels state April 10th is a Monday, which just happens to happen in 2051 according to calendars I checked.
I hope Tohka's arc will excite you, because despite this chapter mostly taking cues from canon, in the next chapter that will go off the rails entirely. How off the rails exactly? Well... I guess I'll tell you all right now for the entire Tohka arc, Shido won't have any help from Ratatoskr, it will literally be only him and Tohka against whatever comes their way, only after Tohka's sealed will Ratatoskr finally show up, so for now both Kotori and Mana are gonna be taking a short break from the story.
Also, I hope you don't mind the insert song. Don't worry though, that's not gonna show up in every chapter. Think of it as a way of showing what "season" the story's currently on, which is currently the first. The choice of lyrics there aren't the official translation (well a few of them are), but what I'd use if I were to do an English cover of the song.
Next time on Chapter 2, see how Shido deals with the mysterious girl before him as more trouble comes, and soon another arrival leads to him having DOUBLE trouble.
