DATE A LIVE: Prelude

Chapter VIII: Diverging Paths

After Mio's appearance in Japan, the series of spacequakes suddenly came to a halt. Isaac's DEM was almost finished with their device, but he still had no actual use for it. When he learned the spacequakes stopped, he was disappointed. He thought to himself that this meant one of two things. First, the Spirit was gone. She left Earth and would be lost to him forever. Second, she's still out there somewhere, but for some reason stopping her streak of destruction.

One day when he was pondering in his office, Ellen came to visit him. It was raining outside as it often does where Isaac lived.

"Isaac, the device is almost complete. I'm making sure the humans meet the deadline you set."
Isaac kept staring out of the window. He could see the city from up where he was, but there wasn't much to see besides rain and buildings.

"What good is a device that can't be used?" said Isaac.

"Huh? What do you mean?" asked Ellen. She was confused, as she thought he would be satisfied.

"The spacequakes have suddenly stopped. If the Spirit was causing them, then this could mean she's gone. For good."

"Hah! Where would it go? Dive straight into the Sun?"

"A being with so much power... Who knows where it can go or what it can do? The point is, we're only taking steps backwards in our efforts to find it."

"What if it's still here, and it just ran out of power or something?"

"I would hope that's the case," said Isaac. He then turned to face Ellen.

"But tell me, how do we find something that moves so fast?" asked Isaac. Ellen smirked.

"If it had to stop for one reason or another, then I'd wager its somewhere in Japan. After all, if it's causing the spacequakes..."

"... Then it would be in the vicinity of the last spacequake it caused. Smart thinking. When we summoned it, it didn't seem in control of what it did. That increases the likelihood of it not leaving the area."

"Yes, I agree, Isaac. But how do we identify the Spirit if we find it? It looked like a human."

"The device can detect high concentrations of mana, right? If we can modify it to function as an analyser of an area, we would eventually find the Spirit as well."

"I'll tell the department to do that. I can feel it, Isaac. The mouse is closing in on the trap," said Ellen while smirking again. Isaac smirked too, although more faintly.

"Yes, yes, it is. The Spirit will be ours."

***

While Isaac and Ellen were basking in their own glory, the same couldn't be said for Elliot and Karen. They were both living a simple routine day-to-day life as employees of Isaac's DEM. Even though Isaac didn't tell them what he was exactly planning, they both knew he intended to find the Spirit and harness its power at any cost.

Elliot wasn't sure which side to stand on, feeling remorse for both Isaac and the Spirit. When he first saw the Spirit, he knew he couldn't ever hurt her, but Isaac was still his old friend. Deep inside he cared for the Spirit, even though he didn't know her at her. He felt conflicted, refusing to face his feelings and emotions. This stopped him from taking any action to change his situation.

Karen was conflicted too, but about her sister and Elliot. It was no secret she and her sister never got along well, especially when it came to how they resolved their problems. Elliot was always there for her however, and she always held him in high regards. First, she considered him her best friend, but then those feelings changed. From feelings concerning a simple friendship to something more. Just like Elliot cared for the Spirit, she cared for him. She wasn't as hostile to her own feelings, but she didn't act on them.

For a long time, she simply followed Elliot so she could be with him, so he wouldn't leave her. She pondered if confessing her feelings to Elliot was something she should do, but the opportunity never seemed right. It didn't help that Elliot himself wasn't reciprocating any of her efforts to open this path that led beyond friendship.

***