Date A Live: A Spirit Awakens

Chapter 4

Aika was running through the city; the streets were mostly empty, but when she did run past someone, she would notice them looking at her. "THEY KNOW!" Deep down, she knew that it was impossible for them to know, but she wasn't in her right mind. She was ignoring the world around her; she didn't hear the blaring alarm or the ringing from her phone; she just wanted to get somewhere safe, somewhere alone. She continued to run, trying to get to her apartment, although she had no idea if she was even following the right path. Suddenly, there was no ground under her feet; she was falling face-first into a hole in the middle of the road.

A blue-haired girl was standing in the middle of a small crater. She was wearing a simple white dress, ending just above the knees, with a large green raincoat over the top. The raincoat had golden wave patterns along the bottom and the hood, as well as large rabbit ears hanging from the top. The girl's hood was up, and she was wearing matching green rain boots as well as a white rabbit puppet on her hand, which happened to be wearing an eye patch. She watched as a purple-haired girl, Himari Aika, crashed beside her into the crater. Aika looked up at the blue-haired girl, who was looking down at her curiously. Aika had fear in her eyes, scrambling backwards while holding eye contact with the girl.

"NO, NO, NO! STOP LOOKING AT ME! STOP! STOP! STOP! STOP! STOP!"

She squeezed her eyes shut, not seeing the purple lighting surrounding her, but she could feel something building up—an energy. A ball of pure darkness expanded from her heart, destroying the city even further as it traveled. It doesn't evaporate it; more like a shock wave from an explosion.

Ai was running through the city, constantly trying to call Aika's phone, but she wouldn't pick up. She had seen the space quake earlier; it hadn't been very large, so she wasn't in danger at the time, but now she certainly was. The top of the space quake was appearing above the buildings, and she could see it rapidly approaching from the front. She quickly dove into an alleyway as the space quake approached. The first sign it hit was a deafening boom, followed by the world shaking. The sudden noise caused Ai to clench her eyes shut and cover her ears; her ears were ringing, and she could feel something warm against her hands. She slowly opened her eyes and took her hands away from her ears. Everything was covered in shadows; she was inside the space quake, and she couldn't hear anything over the ringing noise. She sat on the concrete for a moment, leaning against a cracked building and looking up at the black sheet blanketing the sky, waiting for the ringing to subside. As she sat there, the sky eventually dissipated, gradually breaking apart and disappearing as if simply smoke in the wind. She stood up, her legs shaking, and the ringing, while less than before, was still a constant tiny whine in her ears.

"Aika, please be okay..."

"Something's up with Himari-san."

"What do you mean, Shido?"

"She looks panicked, I'm not entirely sure though..."

"Hmm, let's wait before sending you down then. If she's not all there right now, you could get seriously hurt."

Shido and Kotori were in the Fraxinus' command center watching the two spirits that had just appeared: Hermit, the girl with the blue hair and green raincoat, and Himari Aika, recently given the spirit name Samurai.

"Why was Hermit's space quake so small?"

"We're not certain; whenever she appears, the space quake is always small, and she tends to avoid fighting as much as possible, very rarely attacking the AST, even when they attack her."

"So she's peaceful?"

"Compared to other spirits, yes. You shouldn't face any danger talking to her."