Date a phantom (Date a live fanfic)

Chapter 7: 30 years ago

Hikaru stood outside, a wide grin spreading across her face as she waited for Shido.

"It's such a great feeling when you do something smart," she thought, feeling proud of herself.

"The fact that I was right about my theory...Man, I am a genius!"

Hikaru's theory about Ratatoskr's method for determining someone's amount of mana had turned out to be correct.

"They use a weak wave of mana in the person they want to analyze," she explained.

"That amount of mana can't be felt if you're not paying close attention to them.

They send those waves to the chosen one, and at the moment of impact, the body of that person will reject those foreign mana waves.

After that, they collect the mana that got impacted in the process, analyze the resistance that makes the waves impact, and with simple arithmetic,

they get the approximate value of the volume.

All I did was control the amount of mana that resists those waves."

"Just like how bats locate their prey by sound," she added, looking up at the sky.

"When did it become so cloudy? Man, can't I enjoy the sunlight?" she complained. "I just hope it's not going to rain."

Meanwhile, Shido was trying to get Tohka's attention.

"Tohka, wait!" he shouted, approaching her.

"What do you want? Why aren't you with that girl?" she asked, tears in her eyes.

"I don't understand, Tohka. what Was that for?" Shido asked, his tone warm and gentle.

"You said that going on a date is about a girl and boy going to the same place. A date is between two people who love each other. You have Tohka, but you're already going with another girl."

"Date? That's not right, Tohka. I'm just helping her find a library. I'm just guiding her," he explained.

"Really?" Tohka tilted her head to look at his eyes.

"Yes, so you don't have to worry," Shido reassured her with a smile.

"So you still love Tohka?" she asked, her voice shaking slightly.

Shido blushed for a moment, hesitant to answer. "Yes, I love you," he finally admitted.

"Yay! Thanks, Shido! Don't forget to get me my kinako bread, okay?" Tohka exclaimed, running off to her room in joy.

"Okay," Shido replied, watching her go with a smile on his face. Then he left to meet Hikaru.

As Shido approached Hikaru, she asked, 

"You take your time, huh? Is everything alright?"

"Yes, everything is okay. Sorry to make you wait," Shido responded.

"Nah, it's okay. Let's go anyway. I don't want to waste more time."

"Okay"

As they walked, Hikaru noticed that Shido wasn't wearing the strange device in his ear.

"You're missing something in your ear," she said.

Shido took a moment to understand what she said. "Oh, that. I don't need it right now," he said.

"Oh? And what is it for?" Hikaru asked.

Shido hesitated in answering. "Well..."

"You don't have to answer if you don't want," she said, lowering her head.