Date A Live - Volume 18 - Chapter 1.2

Fragmentary Chapter/ 2: Friends 

“Fuhufufu……” 

While humming a suitable tone for a song she couldn’t remember the name of, Takamiya Mana passed through the entrance of her house. As she turned through the corridor, the tip of her ponytail made rhythmic swings against her slightly sweaty sailor fuku. 

“—Eh?” 

As Mana passed through the living room, she stopped both her legs and humming. The reason was simple, it was because there a familiar figure in the living room. 

“What are you doing? Mio-san?” 

As Mana asked while slightly tilting her head, the figure heard her voice as she slowly turned around. 

“Mana.” 

While speaking, the charming girl with a face of an angel turned to face Mana. 

Takamiya Mio. A girl who had been living in this household for a while. 

Although she had the same Takamiya surname as Mana, she was not a relative. In fact, she was a mysterious girl (saying it in that manner gives the feeling that a minor crime had been committed) brought home by Mio’s older brother Shinji. Since she did not have a name, for the sake of convenience Shinji had given Mio her name. 

As Mio turned around, Mana saw that there was something hiding behind her. Apparently, it seemed that Mio had spread out a dictionary on the table in order to investigate something. 

Although she had mastered Japanese at an extraordinary rate, there were still a large number of things she did not yet understand. Mana breathed out a small sigh before placing her bamboo sword bag on the sofa and sitting down next to Mio. 

“Do you have something that you don’t understand? If you don’t mind, feel free to consult with Mana.” 

After saying that, she patted her chest with a “don” sound as if saying “leave it to me”. 

Although Mana harbored a bit of distrust towards Mio at first, repeated contact with Mio’s frank and lovely demeanor had Mana act like an older sister (contradiction) to Mio. 

“Really? That’s really…a great help.” 

As Mio said so, she pursed her eyebrows upward like she was troubled over something. 

“Language is difficult. Even though I understand the meaning, the context changes depending on the circumstances and the emotions put in. I intended to grasp the meaning at that time, but now that I think about it I feel uneasy about whether Shin’s words were captured accurately……” 

“Hmm, Nii-sama’s ……wait, what?” 

Hearing that, Mana made an exaggerated twist of her neck. 

“……That, what exactly did he say to you?” 

Although she did not think it was possible for Shinji to do so, but if Mio could not understand it, it could be something obscene in Japanese. While thinking of an act of corruption being undergone, she tightened her grip on the bag of her blade Dor?maru while in cold sweat. 

Immediately afterwards, Mio replied while pointing to a page of the open dictionary. 

“Shin asked me if I want to go on a date.” 

“—Huh?” 

After hearing what Mio had said, Mana’s eyes monetarily flickered as she let out an unexpected voice. 

“D-date……is that so?” 

“Un. But a date means a man and women deciding on a time and place to meet. Or perhaps that isn’t the meaning of a date? Giving the context of what Shin said, I believe it is the former. But I already see Shin every day, so I don’t understand what he meant by a agreeing to establish a meeting time. I thought it was a metaphorical expression or something, but since I already replied, I feel bad about asking Shin again.” 

“…………” 

As Mana remained silent for a while, she then let out a long “Haah……” sigh of relief. 

“……I see, I see, so Nii-sama is actually, haah……” 

Mio gave an incredulous look as Mana laid down on the table in a curious manner. 

“……Mana?” 

“Ah……sorry. There was no way I could have imagined that Nii-sama was going to cause things to progress so quickly.” 

Mana got back up as she scratched her face. 

“Er……well, how should I say this? You certainly have the correct meaning of the word. In short, Nii-sama wants you to go out with him.” 

“Un. But it’s already quite normal for the two of us to go out together. Last time, he showed me around the city.” 

“Well, that’s right. More than that, it’s about the relationship between the two of you. Nii-sama wants you to further his relationship with him……not in friendship but in romance.” 

As Mana finished speaking, Mio placed her hand against her chin in deep thought. 

“Could it be that Shin wants to mate with me?” 

“Ugh……!?” 

As a result of Mio’s excessive straightforwardness, Mana let out a violent cough. 

“What’s wrong, Mana?” 

“No, not that…… if one thinks thoroughly that’s not wrong, but……well, dating is the stage before that, that is to say Nii-sama wants to show his affection to Mio…” 

Mana struggled to explain while with a troubled expression on her face. 

……Although it was a role she brought about on herself, explaining Nii-sama’s romantic feelings to his target was quite tough. Mana thought that Shidou needed to treat her something delicious for this afterwards. 

“—” 

As Mana struggled to find the right words to describe Shinji’s intentions, Mio stared in amazement with her face a little bit flushed. 

“Mio-san?” 

While Mana slightly titled her head in confusion, Mio hesitantly mumbled while speaking. 

“……Sure enough, language is incredible. Even after understanding the meaning, when applied to Shin and me, there is a strange feeling. Like this……fufu, Shin having affections for me. That makes me……feel happy.” 

While speaking, Mio covered her red cheeks with her hands. 

“……Ahhh, really.” 

Seeing such a cute gesture in front of her, even Mana could help but feel a little embarrassed. 

Somehow, the girl in front of herself was just too loveable. Mana hoped that Mio would quickly marry her brother and let Mana call her Ane-sama. 

In her heart, Mana let out a small scream. 

Then, she struck the table while declaring in a loud voice. 

“Okay, so let’s get you ready!” 

“Ready……?” 

“That’s right. This is Nii-sama and Mio-san’s first date. It mustn’t fail. Suggestions and advice about Nii-sama must be prepared in advance……but first, we have to buy Mio-san some new clothes!” 

“Clothes? The ones that we have now should be sufficient. If not, I can always augment it if it isn’t enough.” 

While saying that, Mio twirled her fingertips. 

Yes, Mio had the incredible power to reproduce any clothes that she has ever seen. In fact, the clothes she was wearing right now was a copy made from Mana’s clothes. 

“It’s not the same thing as that! This is a matter of preparation! How could you wear borrowed armor on the battlefield!? I’ve thought about this before, but Mio-san should be wearing cuter clothes!” 

Seeing Mana surge up and draw near in a feverish mindset, Mio felt a bead of sweat drop down from her cheeks in surprise. 

“S-so it’s like that……but, when you say cuteness, what does that look like?” 

“Hmm……” 

Hearing what Mio had said, Mana wrinkled her brow. 

Although Mana herself had strongly advocated, she was not very familiar with fashion. If Mana had this ability, than the clothes that Mio had mimicked would have made her look even cuter. 

While going through her thoughts for a bit, Mana let out a helpless sigh. 

“……It can’t be helped. Although it wasn’t my intention, I need to find some help. Hold on here for a minute.” 

Then, she went up to pick up the telephone handset in the corner of the room. After dialing the number, she waited through the phone call sounds before finally establishing a connection to the other side. 

“—Ah, hello, this is Takamiya. There’s something I wish to discuss with you. 

Yes, actually, I wanted you to tell me the proper way of choosing clothes—” 

After Mana had said that, the phone was unexpectedly disconnected. 

Then, after a few minutes. Dadadadada……the sounds of footsteps approaching grew closer. The large window in the living room was opened as a young girl appeared. 

With hair tied in two bundles and a pair of eyes perched like a cat, it was a friend of Mana who also lived in the neighborhood, Homura Haruko. 

“I’ve heard everything!” 

Haruko excitedly shouted as she kicked off her shoes and ran up to grab Mana’s hands. 

“Mana has finally woken up fashionably! I was seriously a little bit worried that you would only wear school uniforms, jerseys, and kendo clothes. So what style do you want? Do you have time now? We should go to the store immediately—” 

“Please calm down. No one said anything about choosing my clothes.” 

“Eh? That’s not it?” 

After hearing that, Haruko’s eyes widened in surprise as she let out a discouraged sigh. 

“Oh no……I thought that springtime had finally come around for Mana. It’s okay to be stoic, but won’t you be able to find a boyfriend?” 

As Haruko began to say some unwanted aid, Mana crossed her arms together while letting out a small groan. 

“I don’t want to be told that by Haruko. How is your progress going with Tatsuo-sempai?” 

“T-that doesn’t matter right now!” 

Haruko protested while her face was flushed red. Apparently, it was easy to meddle in other people’s love affairs but embarrassing when talking about one’s own. Mana could only shrug her shoulders while pointing towards Mio, who was sitting next to them. 

“Well, leaving that aside, I want you to help choose this person’s clothes, not me.” 

Immediately afterwards, as Haruko’s gaze followed Mana’s instructions, her eyes jolted open as if accompanied by a “Wow!” sound. 

“W-why is this beautiful girl……!? Who on earth is she!?” 

It seemed that Haruko had not noticed Mio up until now. She gave an exaggerated yelp of surprise. 

“This is Takamiya Mio-san, my……uh, she is a distant relative.” 

“Nice to meet you.” 

As if to match Mana’s introduction, Mio lowered her head. 

Haruko, who was shocked by Mio’s spellbound appearance, regained control of the circumstances after a small quiver reached her shoulders. 

“Excuse me! I am Homura Haruko, 14 years old and Mana’s bosom friend.” 

“Bosom friend……” 

“Ahhh, Mio-san, that word is uncommon; you need to worry about it.” 

Mana continued after clearing her throat out with a cough. 

“So, that’s it. I want you to help Mio-san choose her clothes for her date. You are good at this sort of thing.” 

“Rather than say good at, it’s more like I’m best at it. ……Then, for reference, who is the lucky guy who gets to date this beautiful girl?” 

Haruko spoke in a tone one would hear in a foreign movie. Despite feeling that it was troublesome, Mana still replied back. 

“Well, it’s my Nii-sama.” 

“Are you really serious!” 

Haruko spoke with high tension in her voice as she crossed her arms against each other. 

“Okay, I understand. In short, I have to coordinate Mio-san’s outfit to look so stunning that your older brother can’t help but fall madly in love. Hmm, I wonder how I should do this.” 

While talking, Haruko took a lollipop from her pocket and threw it into her mouth. It was a habit of Haruko’s. It’s said that her concentration increases while licking something. 

“So you understand too. Well, my Nii-sama isn’t the type of person to care about someone else’s appearance. But that and this are two separate matters. A girl has to pay attention to the momentum.” 

Although Mio felt some confusion while looking at Mana and Haruko’s very resolute attitudes, she still nodded her head in between saying, “w-well then…please”.