Chapter 40: Spirits vs Shido Pt 2: Shido's Truth

I don't own Date a Live or the characters in it. Anything I use is property of the owner. Other references will also appear. I take no ownership of these references and I'm thrilled to use them.

RECAP: Hey everybody this is the narrator. I figured I'd do the intro since I owe you guys an apology for what happened with this story. I was able to get away with releasing chapters so often before because I had a backlog of chapters because I was really into Date a live and stuff was flowing. I really haven't been able to do so recently and that's why it took so long. I'm not gonna make you wait as long as you did last time around for the next one. So my bad and let's get back to the show.

(Miku)

The Shido that was with Miku smiled as the idol finally made her way to the stage but with a newfound confidence that didn't exist before. "So Miku are you ready to sing for me" the Shido said with a smile. Clearly she knew what the point of her challenge was.

"No because I don't need to." Miku smiled.

"Oh!" Shido replied with an amused expression on his face.

"Because I realized what you were trying to do for me. You wanted me to realize that I didn't really know you and that our relationship can grow if I'm able to get to know the real you." Miku smiled.

Shido smiled since Miku hit the mark. He did enjoy sex with Miku, no doubt about it. However he felt that he and Miku didn't know anything about each other outside of that. "Exactly. So would you like your key" Shido smirked as he reached into his pocket and revealed Miku's key a blue one ironically.

"Nope, because if I'm right you're with your girlfriend having sex until the others get done and I don't' wanna watch that. How about I get to know the real Shido, well sort of." Miku smiled.

"Sounds good" Shido's clone smiled as they sat down and finally spoke about something other than how good the other felt during sex. Though the clone of Shido's did activate the lock for Miku's key.

(Kurumi)

Ever since she gained her powers, Kurumi had been frustrated on many separate occasions. Most of them were dealing with the scumbags of the world that made up most of her kills that Mana had hunted her for. However for the first time in a long time a normal person was the reason that she was annoyed. "This… sucks" Kurumi huffed as she slowly made her way back to where Shido was waiting. She was genuinely exhausted for the first time in a while and it drove her nuts.

"Welcome back Kurumi" the Shido clone with her smiled as he looked at the clearly tired girl.

"What was the point of these challenges Shido? All I've done is walk around and waste time." Kurumi growled. She was well aware of the fact that the AST was waiting until he was worn out and they would attack the moment an opening arrived.

"Honestly Kurumi I just wanted you to have a little fun" the Shido said with a calm smile.

"FUN! What do you mean FUN!?" Kurumi yelled losing her patience but Shido walked up to her and smiled cupping her face with his right hand.

"Your powers are great but the burden they placed on you is one that I wouldn't wish on anybody. So I figured you could sue a break" Shido said whimsically.

"What do you know about my burden" Kurumi yelled clearly angry by the response.

The Shido looked at Kurumi and frowned, "I know that because of everything that happened, you hated people. That lies became something you couldn't tolerate."

"So what!" Kurumi yelled trying to desperately stop Shido from doing what he was doing.

"So as a result you began to adopt a dark persona that would combat that. You may have killed thousands before we met but I'd wager all of them were people who deserved to die for being criminals or scumbags." Shido said calmly hiding the sadness he clearly felt.

"Stop" Kurumi cried. Shido was getting too close to the truth and she couldn't accept that.

"We both know you could've killed Mana easily thanks to your unique powers. But you let her kill you because it was you punishing yourself for your own lies. The pain you felt from killing was relieved when you or should I say the clone you died."

"Stop!" Kurumi pleaded since Shido was getting to her yet again. Nobody had ever been able to figure her out including Mana but Shido had done so and this wasn't the first time.

"You allowed yourself to be evil and Mana to kill you because you couldn't live otherwise. Because you were afraid of trusting people again because somebody in your life betrayed you" Shido said once again and Kurumi broke.

"That's enough Shido. I get it. I'll open up and try to have genuine fun." Kurumi said spitefully.

"Good and you passed my test. Now it's time for you to move forward" Shido smiled before moving Kurumi's hair to the side and kissing her forehead right above the clock that signified her power. Once that was done he placed a red key around her neck and vanished.

"Geez you're an idiot" Kurumi smiled realizing what Shido was planning. As she left the room she wondered what the other girls were doing.

(Yoshino and Natsumi)

"Sorry you fail." the Shido clone with them smiled as Yoshino showed the latest painting. It was a beautiful piece of Shido and the girls sitting together in his living room but it wasn't enough to charm Shido.

"How is that possible" Natsumi growled. This was the third painting they had failed and each of them seemed to involve Shido and the girls.

"Because you've yet to paint something that charmed me."

"Then what's going to charm you." Natsumi yelled. It was hopeless but she had no other choice. They'd been at it for close to thirty minutes and they wanted to pass.

"That's easy, you." the clone Shido smiled.

"Huh" Natsumi said in confusion since that made no sense.

"I wanted a photo of Yoshino" Shido smiled.

"But I'm not charming" Yoshino said bashfully.

Shido frowned since Yoshino had her own issues, "Yoshino you are very charming. You may not be as curvy as Miku or as fun loving as the Yamai but everyone has their own charm. I paired you with Natsumi because I know that with a power like yours there must be insecurities."

"How did you know what my power was?" Natsumi growled.

"You've forgotten that I have access to the tree that gave you your powers in the first place. The point is that I wanted you to appreciate the charms that you do have. Don't try to be someone else. Just try to be you." the clone Shido smiled before tossing her a light blue key.

"Okay" Yoshino replied.

"I'm waiting in my homeroom Yoshino and it's time to face the challenges we have coming up together." the clone Shido smiled

"Okay" Yoshino smiled as she and Natsumi left. From the communication with the others the only one left was Tohka who would easily win her challenge.

(Tohka)

"This is all yummy Shido" Tohka smiled as she finished eating the five course meal that Shido cooked for her.

"Thanks Tohka and I'm glad you enjoyed it." Shido smiled as he tossed Tohka the final key before disappearing.

"That was easy" Tohka smiled as she took the key and left to go see the real Shido. The tests were over and it was time to deal with D.E.M. The pillar was to ensure that D.E.M didn't get in their way and with the tests over it was time to fight.

(Shido and Origami)

"You're finally done Origami" Shido smirked as he sent one final load into his girlfriend's pussy. The girl were finished their test and Shido was now waiting for all of them to arrive.

"Finally" Origami huffed never expecting to have this much trouble keeping up with Shido. In a weird way the pair's rutting was a reminder for Origami of why she had allowed the Spirits to join Shido's bed.

"Hey I wanted to remind you where you stood." Shido smiled as he gave Origami a few minutes to get dressed before the other spirit's arrived.

(Scene Skip)

It took ten more minutes for the other spirits to arrive in Shido's classroom and a smiling Shido sat at the teacher's desk with a smile on his face, "So are you finished your little game Shido." Kotori frowned.

"Yes and I'm glad that all of you managed to pass." Shido smirked.

"What was that all about Shido?" Kaguya asked calmly.

"Confirmation. Why did you make us do all of that?" Yuzuru continued.

Shido owed it to the girls to explain and he did just that, "This little game had two parts. The first was to help you girls with what I believed were your weaknesses."

"I see" Kotori replied. Her questions with Shido were insane but the more she thought about it, she realized that Shido was being asked to do things against his nature and without understanding that she couldn't do anything.

"For me and Yoshino it was confidence." Natsumi spoke up.

"In my case it was the over-reliance on my powers and my rigid personality" Kurumi added.

"Correct and Correct." Shido confirmed.

"But my test was simply to charm you with my regular voice. There's no weakness there."

"That brings me to the second part of the test. The second part of the test was a way for me to work on our bond." Shido revealed.

"Our bond?" Tohka said in confusion.

"Simply put I wanted to spend time with you girls. I mean honestly we're either fighting off a bad guy or having lots of sex and I haven't gotten to know you girls at all. It was a way to spend some regular time with you even as clones and I plan to do more of that with my real body in the next few weeks."

"Next time go with a method that doesn't cause so much trouble." C.C smiled as she appeared from the floor, Kurumi style.

Shido smiled since he wondered where the green haired woman was the whole time, "So I take it you've been watching D.E.M's progress." Shido smirked.

"Wait what!" Kotori gasped not aware that her old enemies were nearby.

"I disabled the electrical equipment around the area because I wanted D.E.M to think that any attempt to approach from afar would fail unless I was distracted, thus allowing me to have our little game. They were always going to attack me since their attempt to drug me was the catalyst for my powers stabilizing."

"I see" Kotori sweatdropped since that reckless style was very much like Shido.

"So why not just flash your powers again and stop them." Miku wondered. That would be the easiest way to do so.

"Because that would be boring and I want to test out my new powers." Shido smirked before snapping his fingers. The girls heard a large rumbling and the pillar that Shido created vanished.

"You do realize that now they're going to come at you at full force." Kurumi deadpanned.

"That's the point" Shido smiled looking forward to the challenge of seeing what D.E.M could do

"Shido dear, you are an idiot." Kurumi teased hoping to get a rise out of the now calm Shido.

"Maybe so" Shido replied before vanishing in a burst of speed.

"What the" Kurumi gasped before she felt Shido's arms wrap around her body.

"But I'm your idiot" Shido continued as he kissed Kurumi on the cheek.

"Fast" Kaguya gasped.

"Okay, so you'll be fine." Kotori groaned.

"Uh huh. So why don't you girls go back to the ship that I'm sure is just outside of the range of my pillar's power and if you think I'm having trouble, join me then." Shido smiled.

"No way." Kaguya said fiercely.

"Unapproved. We fight together." Yuzuru added.

Shido was a bit disappointed but he was also pleased, "Do all of you feel this way." Shido wondered as he looked at his girls.

The girls looked at one another and the answer was clear, "Yes we do Shido" Miku smiled.

Shido was thrilled with the girls response and knew exactly what to say, "Then let's do it girls" Shido said happily.

"Yeah" the girls cheered before throwing a single hand into the air. It was time for a counter attack.

(Scene Skip)

A smiling Shido stood just outside of the school waiting for Ellen and the rest of D.E.M's force to arrive in his new astral dress, "What will you do Ellen." Shido wondered. The rest of the girls were hidden by one of Shido's new skills and the ambush would be on, the moment Ellen showed herself.

"Here they come, Shido." Kotori said nervously as Shido looked up and about 40 Bandersnatch and Ellen appeared from the sky and came down on Shido.

"It's been a while Ellen." Shido chuckled as he waved nonchalantly towards his familiar foe.

"Hello Shido. So are we going to do this the easy way, or the hard way?" Ellen said with a very cold expression.

Shido chuckled since this was a good chance to tease his current foe, "You must really miss Tonomachi if you're trying to fight me again."

"Why you!" Ellen growled remembering her disgrace during their first meeting.

"Why me what? My powers got you good last time and what makes you think this will be any different"

Ellen frowned since he had a point, "True but this time you're not at full power. I imagine those girls of yours weakened you quite a bit." Ellen taunted but when she saw Shido smile, she realized something was wrong.

"Oh poor Ellen. You have no idea how wrong you are." Shido smiled as he snapped his fingers once again. In a flash all of the spirits besides C.C appeared in their astral dresses along with Mana and Origami who were suited up and ready to go thanks to Ratatoskr providing some backup.

"What the!" Ellen gasped.

Shido smiled savagely as he looked Ellen straight in the face, "So Ellen, are you gonna leave like a good little girl or is this going to get rough." Shido taunted as he stood up ready to face D.E.M once again.

"You'll" Ellen started to say before her com link activated. "What is it…I see… alright… very well….understood." Ellen frowned as she stopped the link.

"Don't tell me" Shido pouted well aware of what was going on.

"That's right. I'm going to have to get going. Ike has decided to let you live for another few days." Ellen taunted.

"Let us live she says" Natsumi scoffed.

"Chuckle. She's the one who will lose." Yuzuru added.

"Let's finish her now Shido." Kotori suggested.

Shido was definitely game for that but if she was going to leave, he was going to allow it. "Just get lost Ellen." Shido huffed.

"Until next time." Ellen said coldly before flying away with the rest of the Bandersnatch. It was an anti-climactic end to a wild day but for everyone involved it was probably for the best.

"Now let's go home everyone" Shido said nonchalantly.

"I hate you sometimes bro" Kotori groaned as she got rid of her astral dress with the others not far behind.

"I missed you to sis" Shido smirked. Things were back to normal and Shido wouldn't have it any other way.

That's it for Chapter 40 and yeah I took way to long on this one guys. Really sorry and I promise it won't happen again. Next chapter things have calmed down for Shido until he learns that the next spirit is out of this world.