A date with a Spirit... and her puppet. Seven days to thaw a frozen heart.
Shidou Itsuka has sealed the powers of Spirits before—but never one quite like Yoshino Himekawa. Shy to the point of silence, the gentle Spirit speaks only through Yoshinon, the irreverent rabbit puppet on her left hand. And Yoshinon? She's not impressed.
With a localized rain cloud parked stubbornly over Tengu City and the forecast calling for seven straight days of downpour, Shidou has one week to win over both the gi
Date A Live IF: A Do-Over Date With Yoshino - A forecast for rain, and you're telling me to go on a date with a puppet?
That dream again.
Shidou Itsuka woke to the dim morning air. A chill crept through his chest, slow and cold. The dream was always the same. His younger self, clutching his mother's hand in the crowded station. But her hand slipped free, and her back grew smaller and smaller. No matter how he screamed, no sound came out. No matter how he ran, his legs wouldn't move. Only the tide of people, swallowing him whole.
"...Again."
Shidou stared at the ceiling and murmured softly. He'd thought he hadn't had it in years, yet these past few days it came every night. Like a small thorn lodged deep in his chest—a discomfort that wouldn't come loose.
(I'm afraid of being abandoned.)
He admitted it, there in his heart. Most of the time he tried not to think about it. But dreams don't lie. No matter how he buried it, night always brought that day's feeling back.
Shidou slowly sat up. The clock read six-thirty. Thin light seeped through the gap in the curtains.
Brushing a hand through his messy black hair, he climbed out of bed. Gentle brown eyes, slightly downturned at the corners, met his reflection. A small piercing glinted on his left ear—the matching one he shared with Kotori.
In the kitchen, he pulled tofu and miso from the fridge. Knife in hand, he chopped the green onion. Ton, ton, ton—the light rhythm echoed through the quiet house.
(This is calming.)
He was good at housework. With his parents away so often, he'd picked up cooking and cleaning on his own. Just him and his stepsister Kotori, the two of them. Making breakfast was always his job.
He filled a pot with water and set it on the stove. As his hands moved, his thoughts drifted.
(I've faced so many Spirits by now.)
Tohka, Origami, Kotori, Kurumi, Miku. All of them Spirits in the form of human girls. When their emotions run high, their spirit power goes out of control and triggers a Spacequake—a catastrophe. The first Spacequake in the world struck about thirty years ago, here in Tengu City, killing roughly a hundred and fifty people. Ever since, Spirits had been humanity's threat, the face of fear itself.
But Shidou knew. They weren't just monsters. They cried, they laughed, they got angry, they fell in love—ordinary girls, all of them.
The secret organization he belonged to, Ratatoskr, didn't exist to eliminate Spirits by force. Its purpose was to resolve things through dialogue. Their base sat fifty meters beneath Tengu City, and Kotori was its commander.
And Shidou had been entrusted with the role of "Spirit negotiator." Date a Spirit, open her heart, seal her power with a kiss. A special duty only a handful of people in the world could perform.
(Seal with a kiss, huh...)
No matter how many times he did it, he never got used to it. Or rather, he didn't want to. Shidou was a high schooler with zero romantic experience. Every date he panicked, got chewed out by Kotori, and got dragged around by the Spirits themselves.
But there was no one else who could do it. His constitution was unique—he could absorb a Spirit's power and make it his own. Which meant it had to be him.
The miso soup began to bubble. He lowered the heat and stirred in the miso. A savory aroma filled the kitchen.
Then came the sound of footsteps racing down the stairs.
"Big bro! Mornin'!"
He turned to find a girl with red twin-tails swaying behind her. White ribbons on either side of her head, big ruby eyes sparkling. Fourteen years old, tiny at just under five feet, still in her pajamas and beaming ear to ear.
Kotori Itsuka. His stepsister—and the commander of Ratatoskr.
"Morning, Kotori. You're up early."
At his words, Kotori nodded happily.
"Today's the start of the new operation, right? I was so excited I woke right up!"
She plopped down at the table, swinging her legs as she watched him fix breakfast. This was her so-called "little sister mode." When the white ribbons were in, she was bright, innocent, and hopelessly attached to her big brother.
But swap them for black ribbons and she changed completely. Sharp-tongued and cool—the commander of Ratatoskr. That gap had thrown Shidou off more times than he could count.
When they finished eating, Kotori set her dishes in the sink and looked at him, serious.
"Big bro, hang on a second."
With that, she dashed upstairs. When she came back, the white ribbons were gone. Black ribbons now adorned her twin-tails.
Her expression had changed too—from that innocent smile to the cool, narrow-eyed face of a commander. She straightened her back, crossed her arms, and stood looking down at him.
"Shidou. I'll brief you on the operation. Sit."
"R-right."
He sat obediently. When Kotori was in commander mode, the smart move was never to resist.
She pulled a Chupa Chups from her pocket, tore off the wrapper, and popped it in her mouth. The sweet scent of strawberry drifted through the air.
"Our target this time is the second Spirit, Hermit. One of the oldest identified individuals. Real name: Yoshino Himekawa. She looks like a girl of thirteen or fourteen. Light blue hair, sapphire eyes. And on her left hand, she wears a rabbit puppet."
"A puppet?"
Shidou tilted his head. A Spirit with a puppet?
"Yes. And that puppet is the biggest obstacle in this operation. Yoshino is extremely shy—she can't speak properly without it. But the puppet, Yoshinon, is quite the handful."
Kotori grinned around her Chupa Chups.
"Shidou, this time you're going to date Yoshino. But if you don't get along with her Yoshinon, you fail."
"...Huh?"
A dumb sound slipped out of him.
"Didn't you hear me? Get along with Yoshinon. The puppet."
"No, I heard you. I just don't get it. Get along with a puppet—what does that even mean?"
Shidou clutched his head. A date was one thing, but get along with a puppet? Was this a date? Or a puppet show?
Kotori planted a hand on her hip and sighed in exasperation.
"Yoshino can only communicate with others through her puppet, Yoshinon. In other words, if Yoshinon doesn't take a liking to you, Yoshino won't open up either. Understand?"
"...I understand. I understand, but what exactly am I supposed to do to get along with a puppet?"
"Who knows? Isn't that where a negotiator shows his skill?"
Kotori smiled wickedly. Shidou slumped.
(Damn it, another impossible order.)
He cursed inwardly. But complaining wouldn't help. This was his job.
"The operation runs seven days. Tomorrow you'll meet Yoshino for the first time in front of the Tengu City Library. I'll send the schedule to your terminal later. Got it, Shidou?"
"...Yeah."
His reply came out heavy.
Chupa Chups still in her mouth, Kotori headed for the door. She turned back and gave him a cold look.
"If you fail, the city gets frozen over. When Yoshino's emotions destabilize, her power spills out as rain and ice. Left alone, all of Tengu City could end up buried under ice. Go in prepared."
With that, she was gone.
Left alone, Shidou leaned on the sink and let out a deep sigh.
"A date with a Spirit and her puppet... The bar's way too high."
He washed his face with cold water. The chill cleared his head, just a little.
(Yoshino, huh.)
He looked out the window. The sky was clear—a gorgeous, cloudless blue.
But one corner of the western sky was strangely dark. As if a rain cloud hung there alone—an unnatural patch of weather.
Shidou pulled out his phone and opened the weather app.
"...What the hell is this?"
The screen showed Tengu City's weekly forecast. Rain, every day for the next seven days. A precipitation chance of ninety percent or higher each day. And the rain cloud was staying put, right over Tengu City, and nowhere else.
A cold feeling ran down his spine.
(A localized rain cloud, parked over this city?)
No ordinary weather phenomenon could do that. But Shidou had a suspicion. A Spirit's power could sometimes even bend the weather. Especially a Spirit who commanded water and ice.
(Yoshino... are you already in this city?)
He stared hard at that dark corner of the sky.
That night, Tengu City's weather observation network recorded an abnormal precipitation pattern. The rain cloud barely moved above the city, pouring rain on the same spot without end. Ratatoskr's own sensors, too, had detected a faint spirit-power reaction.
But Shidou wouldn't learn that fact until later.
For now, only that eerie rain cloud in the western sky announced—quietly, but with certainty—that something was drawing near this city.
Shidou closed the curtains and thought about tomorrow's date.
(Get along with a puppet, huh.)
His sigh dissolved into the quiet room.
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