บท 7: An Unexpected Meeting With Phantom

Bright light pierced Shido's eyes as he slowly opened them, groaning from the lingering disorientation.

'What happened…?' he wondered, trying to focus.

What he saw next was bewildering.

A vast expanse of white, stretching endlessly in all directions, devoid of landmarks or sound, like a void untouched by time.

"You're awake"

He instinctively turned his head at the faint sound of a strange voice that seemed hard to identify.

His gaze shifted toward the source, only to land on an hazy silhouette.

A figure shaped like a girl, painted in flickering mosaics of sky blue, soft pink, and shimmering white.

'No way…'

His heart nearly jump out of his chest at her sight.

"Phantom..." he muttered, his voice a mix of disbelief and elation.

Even though the figure's features remained hidden, her surprise was still noticeable to him.

He didn't think he would meet her so soon, and the thought sent his emotions into a storm of conflicting reactions.

"Oh, you know me?" she asked, a playful lilt in her voice, though there was an undertone of curiosity.

Her calm response only deepened the knot forming in Shido's chest.

"If you know about me... then you must also know about the Spirits, correct?"

Shido decided not to answer but it looks like she didn't mind his silence at all.

Phantom tilted her head slightly and chuckled softly. "Still, I must admit, I'm surprised you've managed to enter your Inner World in your current state, Itsuka Shido-kun."

Her words sent a ripple of unease through him as the implication of his situation became clear.

He was inside his own consciousness, within a realm crafted by his very mind.

Instinctively, he attempted to Scan her with the system, but the results only deepened the mystery.

Her name, level, and abilities were entirely obscured, marked with ominous question marks.

Ding!

[Scan Activated]

Target Status:

Name: ???

Level: ???

Skill: ???

Threat Level: ???

[Error: Insufficient System Authority for Full Analysis]

Shido was astonished since he didn't think that Scan could fail. But thinking it more carefully, Phantom wasn't just any entity, she was one of the most powerful spirit. Coupled with his current low level, he was just an insignificant person before someone like her.

This wasn't a failure of the system, it was a harsh reminder of the gulf in power between them.

As his unease grew, Phantom's form shimmered, her silhouette morphing until she stood before him as a young girl with light pink hair, wearing Raizen High's summer uniform.

The sudden transformation struck him like a bolt. "That appearance..." he murmured, he smiled wryly thinking why Phantom transformed into that appearance.

Before he could piece his thoughts together, Phantom flashed him a sly smile, as if enjoying his confusion.

"This isn't my true appearance," she said gently.

"I can't show you what I truly look like yet"

Her coy smile was at odds with Shido's wariness. Her cryptic answers leaves him no closer to understanding her intentions.

Gathering his composure, Shido look at her with a sharp gaze.

"Do you know who I am?" he asked firmly. His question was met with a disarming softness in her expression.

"I do" she replied simply, her voice laced with an inexplicable affection.

"I know you very well." Her tone was so warm and familiar.

It unsettled Shido in ways he could not explain. It wasn't disgust that stirred within him but a sense of unease, a recognition of her gaze, equal parts familiarity and tenderness, as though she were staring at both a lover and a cherished child.

He let out a heavy sigh, pushing away his discomfort and reflecting on the events that occurred on Date A Live.

The tragedies orchestrated by Wescott, Shinji's untimely death, and Mio's descent into madness.

Still, he silently acknowledged that those very tragedies were the catalyst for the Spirits existence.

Waking himself back to the present, Shido look Phantom with a curiosity.

"Why did you enter my mind?" he asked, his voice tense but steady.

He knew, deep down, that she meant him no harm, but her presence in this realm of his consciousness alarmed him as she might discover that he wasn't the original Shido.

Phantom didn't seem fazed by his cautious tone, instead, her gaze turned pensive, and her playful demeanor softened.

"I mean no harm so you don't need to be that cautious around me"

"I just noticed something... unusual about the current you"

"I was curious and decided to observe, but I never expected that you can enter your consciousness, leading to this meeting." Her smile returned, faint but genuine.

"Still, I'm glad this happened. You're... more interesting than I imagined."

Shido frowned, unsure how to respond to her ambiguous statement, but before he could press further, an unexpected phenomenon seized their attention.

A faint glow pulsed near Phantom's chest, its intensity growing until a floating gem emerged.

A crystalline fragment that shimmered with prismatic light, radiating an otherworldly aura.

"Sephira Crystal!"

Shido and Phantom exclaimed in unison, their voices a blend of shock and recognition.

Shido's heart raced as he stared at the gem, its beauty mesmerizing and its presence unmistakable. The raw power emanating from the crystal sent chills down his spine.

Phantom, however, appeared even more surprised, but not by the crystal itself. The real shock came from the fact that Shido knew what the Sephira Crystal was. Knowledge of Spirits was one thing, but the Sephira Crystal was an entirely different matter, its existence was far more secret as only a few people should know of the crystal.

Shido was only an ordinary human after all.

Phantom's expression darkened with contemplation as she silently observed Shido. Her true thoughts, however, remained hidden as her gaze lingered on him with an interest that was both curious and unreadable.

Meanwhile, Shido's chest tightened painfully, an uneasy storm of emotions churning inside him. He couldn't explain it, but a part of him was drawn to the floating crystal with an intensity he couldn't ignore.

There was something about it, a deep, familiar attraction, like it held some pivotal key to his very being.

The chaos within him felt both overwhelming and profound, as if the crystal had awakened something inside him that he couldn't comprehend.

As if to answer his unspoken longing, the Sephira Crystal began to move.

It floated toward him, its glow growing ever brighter. Phantom, watching from the sidelines, made no move to stop it. Her expression remained unchanged, but there was something in her gaze, a hidden curiosity, as she waited to see what would unfold.

Shido's hand moved on its own, reaching for the crystal as though compelled by some unseen force.

The moment his fingers brushed against its surface, an overwhelming surge of energy coursed through his body, flooding every nerve with searing heat and blinding light.

The crystal dissolved into pure energy and was absorbed into him, disappearing without a trace. The white expanse of his Inner World quaked violently, fissures of black and white light splitting across the ground like spiderwebs.