Seeing Souta nod, Kurumi finally understood the reason for his nervousness.
She smiled softly and spoke in a gentle tone:
"Rokuhara... I'll just call you that from now on. You can just call me by my name too."
"You don't have to be afraid of me. I won't harm you, and I wasn't blaming you for anything earlier."
"The information you provided through the phone helped me a lot. I consider us friends, so you really don't need to be so tense. And that's the truth, you know?"
After a brief pause, she added in a slightly pouty tone:
"But now that you're acting all distant, it makes me a little unhappy."
"Miss Kurumi—" Souta started to speak but was immediately cut off.
"Hmm? What did you just call me?"
Souta sighed and smiled bitterly.
Kurumi's expression softened, satisfied with the change.
Souta hesitated for a moment, then explained:
"It's not that I'm intentionally trying to distance myself from you or that I'm afraid of you."
After thinking for a bit, he continued:
"If you suddenly find yourself face-to-face with someone who can easily kill you—and who doesn't exactly see killing as a big deal—it's natural to feel a bit of fear and want to keep some distance. That's just basic survival instinct. As you can see, I'm just an ordinary human. I can't really control that reaction."
"I see... I should have considered that," Kurumi murmured.
For a brief moment, a shadow passed through her golden eye, as if she was remembering something unpleasant.
But she quickly pushed those thoughts aside.
She sighed softly and then spoke with unwavering seriousness:
"I would never harm my friends. Never! No matter what, I need you to trust me on this."
She practically gritted her teeth as she said it, as if she was making a solemn vow.
The sudden intensity caught Souta off guard.
Uh... what just happened?
We were talking normally, and now she's suddenly getting all serious?
But then, Souta recalled something.
Even though he hadn't finished reading the novel, he had heard people discussing Date A Live's plot before.
And from what he remembered—
Kurumi was a tragic anti-hero.
She had once been deceived by the First Spirit, leading her to kill countless innocent girls.
And in the process... she had accidentally killed her own friend.
Ever since then, she had been desperately trying to change the past to undo her mistakes.
For someone like her, the word "friend" must hold immense meaning.
Perhaps it was because of the sincerity in Kurumi's tone, but Souta lowered his guard slightly.
He slowly took a deep breath and spoke:
"Alright, Kurumi. I promise I'll work on adjusting my mindset when I'm around you."
Then, deciding to lighten the mood, he added with a grin:
"Give it enough time, and even if you could punch a hole through a planet, I'd still be able to joke around with you."
Hearing that, Kurumi giggled.
Her attitude completely reassured Souta.
It seemed that the novel's depiction of her was accurate after all.
Despite being labeled "The Most Evil Spirit," Tokisaki Kurumi was not some mindless, sadistic killer.
Even though she needed vast amounts of time or life energy to achieve her goal, she never indiscriminately slaughtered people.
She had a moral line she refused to cross—she only killed evil people.
Of course, from a conventional moral standpoint, her actions were still problematic.
But at the same time—
Kurumi had an undeniable charismatic appeal.
He personally had no issue with Kurumi killing criminals.
After all, he had told her before:
"People who willfully trample over the rules of society shouldn't complain when they're punished by someone outside the system."
That wasn't just something he said to humor her—
He genuinely believed it.
And in this regard, their values actually aligned quite well.
"Ara ara, punching a hole through a planet? That's a bit of an exaggeration... A delicate girl like me could never do something like that."
Kurumi gently brushed her lips with her fingertip, wiping away the last trace of coffee.
The movement was subtly seductive, almost as if she were sending a silent invitation.
"I truly value this friendship," she said, keeping her elegant smile.
"I especially enjoyed chatting with you over the phone, Rokuhara-san. You were always so natural, always joking around with me... even telling me dirty jokes from time to time."
Souta nearly choked on air.
Why would you bring that up!?
Desperate to change the topic, he quickly said:
"Let's just drop this, alright, Kurumi? More importantly, we should get going. Let's head to my world and start our investigation right away."
However, Kurumi shook her head and said:
"Rokuhara-san, don't you think you're being a little impatient? You seem quite interested in my world. Otherwise, you wouldn't keep glancing out the window so often."
Hearing this, Souta froze for a moment.
Was I really that obvious?
Truthfully, he was curious about Tengu City, the setting of Date A Live.
Realizing he had been caught, he simply admitted it:
"Alright, you got me. I am interested."
"If you suddenly found out that the world of a story you know so well is actually real, wouldn't you want to explore it too?"
To think that a world he had always believed to be fiction was actually real—
Of course he was curious!
It would be a waste not to explore it.
If he just left right away, he would definitely regret it later.
"I understand how you feel," Kurumi said, glancing out the window at the bustling streets.
"You've been helping me all this time. Now that you're in my world, it would be wrong of me, as your friend, not to show you around."
She then turned to face him again, smiling sweetly—
A mix of youthful shyness and mature allure in her expression.
"So... how about we go on a date?"
A date...? Are you serious!?!
For a moment, his thoughts ran wild.
But then he quickly realized he was overthinking it.
In Japan, the word "date" didn't necessarily mean a romantic outing—
It could simply mean going out together as friends.
Even business meetings could be called dates.
After coming to this realization, Souta nodded and agreed:
"Then I'll be in your care."
"There's no need to be so formal. Besides... I've always looked forward to spending time with a friend ."
With graceful movements, Kurumi stood up from her seat and made a gentle inviting gesture.
And with that, the two of them left the café and stepped onto the busy streets of Tenguu City.
A Date with Tokisaki Kurumi
Kurumi, dressed in a black one-piece dress, walked elegantly beside him.
Her noble, refined aura was undeniable—she carried herself like a true lady of high society.
Combined with her astonishingly beautiful face, it was no surprise that—
She attracted countless stares as they walked down the street.
To be honest, Souta had never seen a girl as stunning as her in his entire life.
Maybe it was because this world was 2D brought to life, but Kurumi's beauty was almost unreal.
And now, such a dream-like girl was walking so closely beside him—
No wonder the men around them were staring daggers at him.
Souta could practically feel their hostility stabbing into his back.
Looking up at the sky, he muttered to himself, as if trying to see something beyond the clouds.
Kurumi noticed his behavior and asked:
"What's on your mind?"
Without lowering his gaze, Souta replied:
"I was wondering... if the airship 'Fraxinus' is floating right above us right now."