Realization: Shido's Feelings (Chapters 3, 4, and Epilogue)

By: MeisterYM

Chapter 3

After gaining some distance from Shido and the festival, Kurumi decided to walk forward with no destination in mind. A few minutes later, she arrived at a tree that looked like it was made of bamboo. On the branches, a vast number of tanzaku were hung, each of them with what seemed like wishes written on them.

Kurumi thought something was strange. When did she know about something like tanzaku?

As she pondered the question, Kurumi noticed that she was scanning the entire bamboo tree from top to bottom as if she was looking for something, perhaps a tanzaku that she had written herself.

But the tanzaku was nowhere to be found on the tree.

As if she had just been crushed by something heavy, Kurumi's eyes started to get teary-eyed again, and so she stood there, holding back her tears as she tried to desperately recall something from a long time ago.

What am I looking for? Kurumi thought to herself. What is it that I wanted to find?

After wiping her eyes, Kurumi started to walk past the tree.

As she was walking, Kurumi could hear a voice call out to her from behind.

"Kurumi!"

Suddenly, Kurumi's left arm was being held by her wrist, and she was pulled in the opposite direction of where she had intended to go. While being forced to turn around, Kurumi's eyes widened as she was recognizing the person who had caught her.

"Shido…san…?" Kurumi said quietly.

"Kurumi. I'm not going to let you walk out on me again. The date isn't over," Shido said while panting.

As Kurumi looked into Shido's eyes, Shido looked back into hers with an intensity that she had never seen before.

"Come on, there's one more place that I want to take you," Shido said.

And together they set out for their next destination, Kurumi obediently following with Shido holding her arm.

Chapter 4

"Kurumi, do you know what day it is today?" Shido asked as he was leading Kurumi while still tugging her arm.

"Mm," Kurumi said while shaking her head, "I feel like I should though. Was it something important that I forgot?"

"Yeah. Today is Tanabata," remarked Shido, "it's the day I went on a second date with you."

"Tana...bata...?" Kurumi repeated slowly.

There was a reason as to why Shido had planned on taking Kurumi on a date today. The fact is that today was indeed Tanabata, and it was also the day that Shido had gone on a date with Kurumi's clone, however, what Kurumi saw back where Shido had found her was the old spot that Kurumi had hung her tanzaku.

After walking at a slow pace for nearly ten minutes, Kurumi could see a tree decorated with lights, lanterns to be more precise. This tree was several times larger than the other tree, and surprisingly there was no one else approaching it.

After arriving at the new tree, Shido stopped walking, causing Kurumi to also stop walking.

"This tree was actually given to me by someone I know from Ratatoskr," Shido explained.

"…Ratatoskr?" Kurumi asked.

"It's the group that's been helping with my dates with other spirits so far," Shido continued, "except today was special. Usually I let them give me advice on how to proceed with the dates."

Shido looked at the tree and admired its height and number of decorations. Kurumi was doing the same.

"The missions didn't always work out as planned though," Shido said, "there was one spirit who I couldn't save."

"One spirit who you couldn't…?" Kurumi tried to ask, but she already knew who Shido was talking about.

As Kurumi said those words, she turned to Shido only to be greeted by the warmest smile she ever saw from him.

"Kurumi," Shido started, "I promised that I'd definitely save you." Shido said, "Look up there."

Shido pointed to a certain area of the tree as he looked at it himself. Kurumi followed the direction of Shido's finger and noticed that he was pointing to the top of the tree. At the top hung two tanzaku. The first tanzaku that Kurumi read was the one that was written by Kurumi's clone. She slowly read the wish that she made last year, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Did I write that?" Kurumi asked.

"Yeah, you did. I made sure that it was hung on a newer tree. One that was higher, so that your wish would have a better chance of being granted," Shido explained.

Next to Kurumi's tanzaku was another one that she didn't recognize. Kurumi had to read the wish twice, three times, and then finally a fourth time before staring back at Shido.

I wish Kurumi would stay here. With me. Forever. –Shido Itsuka

Despite reading the wish multiple times, Kurumi couldn't believe the wish that he had written. The man in front of her was Shido Itsuka. He was the one who saved all the spirits he could. There shouldn't be someone whom he wanted in particular to be with him. Shido was too nice for that. He couldn't just choose a single person. It had to be everyone. With that conclusion in mind, Kurumi tried to play off the wish as a joke.

"My, Shido-san, you sure know how to play with a maiden's heart," Kurumi said with a sad smile, "although I think this kind of teasing is taking things a little too far."

At that moment, Shido knew that he had to take charge.

"This isn't a joke," began Shido, "I'm serious."

Hearing those words, Kurumi could only help but continue to stare at Shido speechlessly. Even with her composure, the feelings that Kurumi had were screaming as if it wanted her to hear more. And so she stared. Listening.

"Last year, I told you that I thought Hikoboshi and Orihime were seeing each other in secret," Shido continued, "if it weren't for them seeing each other in secret, seeing each other once a year would probably kill them."

Shido clenched his fists and stood firmly.

"But even if they could meet in secret, I don't think that would be enough either. I don't want to be able to just see you again. I want to be able to see you whenever I want."

As Kurumi listened to his words, the tears that she was hopelessly holding back began to flow across her cheeks. While crying, Kurumi stared at Shido, as if what he was saying was what she wanted to hear all along. No, it was something that she had wanted to hear from him all along.

"Fortunately for us, we're not Hikoboshi or Orihime. There's nothing keeping us from each other, we're only doing this to ourselves, and I can't take it anymore."

Shido clenched his fists even tighter.

"I'll admit that the first time I saw you kill someone, I truly was scared," Shido confirmed, "but, that doesn't mean that you still can't live a normal life. And more importantly I want you to live a normal life with me."

It was true that Shido had panicked after being touched by Kurumi at the shrine, but he didn't back away out of fear. No, it was something else.

Shido took a step towards Kurumi, and held out his hand.

"Even if you did kill someone, I won't reject you. No matter what you do, I won't give up on you."

The words that Shido boldly stated rang in Kurumi's ears as she stared at his hand with tears still flowing down her cheeks. She was debating with herself as to whether she should reach out for it and grab it this time.

Meanwhile, Shido's heart was pounding. A situation like this had happened before, and repeating the scene that was similar from last time made him incredibly nervous. When Shido was so close to saving Kurumi, her stomach was pierced by a hand, Kurumi's hand. She killed herself just so she couldn't be with Shido. But now he knew. He knew that she was on his side. She was always on his side, and she wanted to be with him more than anything.

"When I was all alone, when Tohka was gone and I had no one else," Shido continued, "you came to help me when not even my sister wanted to. Even though you could've devoured me at any time, you chose not to. Even though you weren't there, you found me anyway."

That's right. Even though Kurumi disappeared, Shido always felt like he was being watched over somehow. When he needed someone the most, Kurumi was there. It made Shido realize that she was always there, in the shadows. In fact, she even knew about the time he was forced to save Miku by cross dressing. He clearly remembered Kurumi chiming his other name.

"Shiori-san~"

Maybe it wasn't always her, maybe it was one of her clones such as the one from last year, but that didn't change the fact that what happened back then was proof. Proof that Kurumi was still a person. Even then.

"I…I…" Kurumi tried to give a reply with a choked voice.

Kurumi was incredibly confused. She was being offered a second chance, and this time she truly wanted it, but there was something that she still wasn't comfortable with. Kurumi slowly reached her hand out until it met halfway between her and Shido's hand.

As if he could sense the reason as to why Kurumi was holding back, Shido grabbed Kurumi's hand, pulled her closer, and hugged her tight.

As Shido hugged Kurumi, loud popping sounds could be heard from behind and above the tree that they were standing in front of. The festival was only a block or two away, and it was located behind this tree. It had decided to launch its fireworks for the night.

"Kurumi…" Shido said, "Today's date was really different for me, and I think I'm starting to realize why."

Normally, the dates that Shido always had with the other spirits were ones where Kotori and the rest of the members of Ratatoskr gave him advice. Everything was provided by Ratatoskr, but today he wanted to pull off the date on his own. The truth was that the tree was only provided by Ratatoskr because Reine-san knew about Shido's intentions. She insisted that he use the tree for the Tanabata festival, and that it would be reserved for them for the night.

"Kurumi…" Shido began.

Shido brought his face to Kurumi's, and looked at her in the eye as she could only return his gaze with a look of surprise.

"I love you."

With the words ringing in Kurumi's ears, Shido brought his face even closer to hers - and kissed her.

As the two kissed, the fireworks that were exploding in the background exploded even louder and with more vibrant colors as if responding to their feelings. Shido and Kurumi maintained their position for minutes, until they finally broke off the kiss and looked at each other, with Shido smiling and Kurumi finally looking as if she was flustered.

Shortly after, they both turned their heads to look at the fireworks, one not letting go of the other.

Epilogue

After admiring the fireworks for a short amount of time, Shido and Kurumi both turned their heads to look back at each other.

Realizing what he had done, Shido's face grew incredibly red while Kurumi's turned even redder.

Trying to once again regain his composure, Shido let go of Kurumi and stood stiffly.

"S-Sorry, I was worried that you were going to disappear again, so I…uh…" Shido stuttered as he tried to find the right words to say.

Unfortunately, Shido couldn't speak properly at the moment due to him being nervous, which made Kurumi laugh. Shido's mouth hung open a little in awe as he listened to her laughter, because this laughter wasn't her usual laughter. No, this was a laughter that was much happier, and more carefree. After hearing Kurumi's laugh for a little longer, Shido eventually started to relax his shoulders, and gave a sigh.

That's right, Kurumi was saved now. She could spend her life with Shido, and they could go on as many dates as they wanted. There wasn't anything that would keep them apart anymore. Kurumi could stay, with Shido. She had nothing to worry about anymore. Of course her laughter would be carefree, but it was still beautiful.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to Shido.

Wait. If I kissed Kurumi, then doesn't that mean…?

As Shido thought about how spirits were saved, Kurumi's dress gave a bright and radiant glow, and eventually started to dissolve. With a slight yelp Kurumi started covering her body. To her surprise, she was actually embarrassed to have Shido look at her like this.

Finding himself panicking, Shido merely turned around and closed his eyes as if that would give Kurumi time to find some clothes.

Sensing his embarrassment, Kurumi couldn't help but first look at Shido with her own look of embarrassment and then laugh again. After the laughter died, Kurumi's chest started to ache, as if she wanted him to hold her again. She stared at Shido for the longest time, until she finally decided to break the silence.

"Hey, Shido-san." said Kurumi.

"W-What is it?" Shido asked quickly.

"Could I borrow your shirt? It seems my spirit powers are sealed right now, so I can't make clothes of my own anymore."

"O-Oh, yeah, sorry about that."

Shido took off the shirt that he was wearing over his undershirt and started to turn around in order to wrap it around Kurumi, but as he turned around from his left, Kurumi grabbed his left arm, turned him around herself until he was facing her, and kissed Shido again. Kurumi then brought her body closer to Shido's and wrapped her arms around his neck without breaking off the kiss. In response, Shido started to hug her back, with his shirt still in one of his hands.

After breaking off from the second kiss, Kurumi leaned her head onto Shido.

"Hey, Shido-san."

"What's wrong?" Shido asked.

"I can really stay with you, right?"

Kurumi moved her head back to look at Shido with worried eyes.

"It's okay, right?"

With a smile, Shido embraced her even tighter.

"Yeah, of course." Shido said with a slight nod.

Kurumi smiled for the longest time as she and Shido continued to stare into each other's eyes, one still not letting go of the other.

A few minutes later, Shido and Kurumi decided to go to Shido's house in order to get her some clothes that were more suitable for her. Tohka and the others would be surprised when they see him home with Kurumi, but he had already made up his mind that he would convince them to let her stay with them, even if it meant begging on his knees.

On their way home, Kurumi was wearing Shido's shirt, and they were carefully walking in the direction of his house while trying not to draw anyone's attention. Fortunately, by the time Shido and Kurumi had decided to go home, it was nearly eleven at night, so there weren't too many people to be wary of.

After reaching halfway to the house, Kurumi had looked as if something was on her mind for the longest time.

"Is something the matter, Kurumi?" Shido asked curiously.

After hearing Shido ask her what was wrong, Kurumi gave a pleasant smile across her face.

"Oh, it's nothing," Kurumi replied, "You'll just have to wait and see on our next date."

Despite seeing her smile countless times in the past, Shido still wasn't used to the fact that Kurumi was able to smile so sincerely. His heart raced a little again, which forced him to look away.

"Hey, Shido-san," Kurumi said as she tried to bring back Shido's attention.

Shido looked back towards Kurumi.

"What's wrong?" Shido asked.

"I love you."

As Kurumi said those words, Shido couldn't help but be even more flustered as he clutched onto his chest and looked away again, but although he was flustered, he was also quite happy, and so was Kurumi. After seeing Shido's reaction, Kurumi gave that wonderful laughter of hers again.

Finally, for after so long, Shido had saved the girl whom he wanted to be with this whole time. He was finally able to stay by her side, knowing that he could see her every day and whenever he wanted to.

End