“What happened to the mall?”
“FeTUS is cleaning up there, so it would be
difficult for me to act.”
“I see.”
With a cellphone in hand, Micha boarded the
elevator and hit the button for the top floor. A convenience store bag full of
beer dangled from her elbow.
“They’re better at manipulating information
than us, so you should probably just leave.”
“Yes, I already have.”
She was receiving a report on the cleanup
of the mall and highway caught in the chaos.
“What about Black Cat?” she asked. “Do you
know anything about her?”
“No. I thought I could manage given her
injury, but she managed to escape my pursuit.”
“I see. …Well, that doesn’t matter. We have
some information at least.” Her tone of voice dropped. “She set up an accurate
ambush, so she had to have had information on Mutsuki-kun and Ange. She almost
certainly-…”
“Yes, I believe she has already contacted
Fujita Mutsuki-kun in his personal life. …She most likely has some connection
to him at school.”
“Agreed. …I just hope it isn’t one of his
friends.”
“I will look into it immediately.”
“Please do.”
She let out a quiet sigh.
With a ding, the elevator door opened. The
top floor of the high-rise apartment building was always exposed to powerful
winds and it was chilly now that the sun had gone down.
“Micha. Try not to view this too
optimistically. Now that FeTUS has become a threat, the higher ups are hinting
that they might use Metatron if it comes to it.”
“…”
Micha narrowed her eyes in the cold wind.
She always acted the cheerful young woman
around Mutsuki, so she would never have let him see this expression.
“By the way…how is Ange doing?”
Her conversational partner must have picked
up on her mood because their tone of voice quickly changed.
It changed from a deep tone to a light one.
The androgynous voice was an elegant boy’s soprano just as high as Micha’s alto
which was a little deep for a woman.
“I haven’t seen my adorable little sister
in a while. And I’d also like to meet the legendary Adam…Fujita Mutsuki-kun.”
“…”
Her expression was not noticeable over the
phone, but Micha was clearly displeased.
“I’ll think about it. More importantly,
continue your investigation of Black Cat.”
“Will do♪”
Mutsuki had been attacked at the shopping
mall, chased along the highway, and ultimately captured by Black Cat.
But what had happened after that? His
memories of everything afterwards were gone. He could only scratch at his head
in confusion.
By the time he had come to, Micha had
already rescued him and he was on the way home in a taxi. Micha had smiled
bitterly and avoided giving him a straight answer and Ange had only kicked him
without saying a word, so he had never learned what had happened.
Regardless, they had managed to escape, so
he decided to find satisfaction in that.
They had returned to their original
apartment rather than the rundown house. They ended up moving that day, just as
planned. They had no TV or anything like that since their shopping trip had
been interrupted, but it at least had the bare minimum of furniture like tables
and beds. The miscellaneous items they had arranged to have delivered had
arrived, so they could spend a night there without issue.
They had no time to make dinner, so they
ended up buying a few ready-made things at the supermarket.
“Okay, it’s all done.”
They had grilled chicken skewers, fried
pork skewers, fried chicken, salad, gobo rolls, chicken stew, and the oden that
Micha had bought.
They did not have a microwave, but they
heated it all over the portable stove they had.
Ready-made dishes had become quite
convenient. The supermarket had even sold cooked rice, so they could put
together a decent meal even without a rice cooker.
They bought enough for five, divided each
dish into five bowls, and prepared five pairs of chopsticks.
“Here, Ibekusa-san and Lucia-kun.”
“…” (Nod)
“Thanks. Wa ha❤ Mine’s the same as Mutsuki-kun’s!”
He handed two bowls to the other two
sitting around the table. Machina and Lucia were sitting amiably next to each
other.
He did not know exactly why, but they too
had been in the taxi when he had woken. They had apparently helped rescue him
from Black Cat.
Since they were there, he had invited them
to dinner. That would also help build their friendship.
“Sorry it’s all ready-made.”
“Don’t be. I’m just glad I can eat dinner
with you♪”
“Not a problem.”
They both entered the angels’ residence
without much issue.
Micha showed no real caution as she sat at
the head of the table.
“You both helped us out today, so feel free
to go nuts♪”
In fact, she seemed in a good mood. She was
already making up for the alcohol she had worked off in her battle against the
Springloaded and her fire extinguisher shower.
Mutsuki breathed a sigh of relief that the
two guests and Micha did not have a problem.
“Ange, it’s ready.”
Then he called to his other roommate who
was leaning against the wall a short distance away.
“…”
She remained sullen and refused to leave
the corner.
She was the greatest enemy to his plan to
make friends out of all three classmates. She had decided Machina and Lucia
were enemies, so she refused to approach them.
(What am I supposed to do about this?)
The boy let out a sigh, which was becoming
a habit these days.
The past month had taught him all too well
that she was not honest enough to simply be persuaded, but ignoring the problem
would strain the atmosphere of the gathering.
He tried to think of some way to draw her
over, but…
“Leave her alone, Mutsuki-kun.”
Lucia elbowed him.
“She probably doesn’t want to sit down. I
bet it hurts if she does.”
“Eh?”
“Th-that is not why I’m over here, you idiot!”
Mutsuki did not understand, but Ange
herself flared up.
“Oh? It isn’t? Well, I just assumed that
was the case after taking that thick thing in there.”
“Uuh… It’s true it throbs when I sit down,
but that’s not the point! I have no intention of getting along with a human and
a demon!”
“I could turn your cushion into a
Springloaded and transform it into a shape with negligible pressure on the
center. Should I?”
“I don’t need your help! …Kwah…”
Simply yelling caused her to grimace, go a
little bowlegged, and rub at her hip. (Or was it her butt?)
“??”
Mutsuki had no idea what they were talking about and could not join in.
However, this ticked him off a little.
Treating him that way was one thing, but he could not let her treat Lucia and
Machina like that when they were trying to be nice.
“Ange.”
He approached.
“…Wh-what?”
“Come here.”
He forcibly tugged on her hand.
“Wait! …Nnahn.”
She came with him surprisingly easily. And
as soon as the force of the first step reached her hips, he thought he heard a
somehow sweet moan.
He then forced her to sit on her cushion.
“Let’s eat together, okay?”
She seemed a little bit tearful, but he put
on a powerful tone because did not want to lose this opportunity.
“Uuh~~”
Her eyebrows drooped weakly for once as she
looked up at the boy. When her heels dug into her butt, she fidgeted restlessly
and finally moved her legs out from under herself.
“F-fine…then.”
She nodded with flushed cheeks.
Mutsuki was glad. His smile returned, he
removed his apron, and he took his seat next to her. She seemed uncomfortable
and like she wanted to keep her distance, but she could not drag her butt away
and ended up staying put.
“Now, then. That seems to have settled
that.”
Micha took the initiative and clapped her
hands.
Ange still did not look satisfied, but the
rest of the students repeated after the woman.
“Let’s eat!”
“Let’s eat!”
“Oh, right.”
As they began eating their food, Mutsuki
brought a fist to his palm.
The other four watched as he stood up and
returned to the kitchen.
“I completely forget about this last dish.”
“What is it?”
“Our meal wasn’t the healthiest with only
ready-made stuff.”
He lifted the lid of the pot on the stove,
releasing a unique aroma that stimulated the hunger of anyone Japanese.
“So I made some miso soup.”
He prepared another five bowls and poured
some in.
Machina was expressionless, Lucia’s eyes
were sparkling, and Micha was grinning like usual.
Ange alone had gone pale.
“…You ‘made’ it?”
“Yeah♪”
He carried the tray over and passed out the
bowls.
“I even get to eat Mutsuki-kun’s cooking?
Uuh~❤ I couldn’t be happier~❤”
“Fried tofu, seaweed, onion. Perfectly
normal ingredients.”
“Beer and miso soup go surprisingly well
together~”
“…”
Three of them accepted the bowls quite
normally while Ange remained silent.
“Since everyone’s here, I worked extra hard
on it. Now, dig in.”
“Ha ha♪ Don’t mind if I do❤”
“Thank you.”
“Here goes.”
“…”
The five of them all took a sip.
“…”
“…”
“…”
“What do you think?”
“Gbhahh!”
Ange erupted at the full table.
“Wah wah wah. Ange, you got it on the other
food.”
“Don’t blame me! …Cough, cough! Pant, pant.
Y-you really did work extra hard on this one, didn’t you?”
“Huh? You didn’t like this one either?”
“Of course not! You didn’t figure that out
when I went ‘gbhahh’!?”
She grabbed a dishcloth and wiped off her
mouth…as well as her tongue.
Worried about what the others thought,
Mutsuki turned to them.
Micha was drinking it along with her beer
like usual, but…
“…” (Wobble)
“Wah! Lucia-kun?”
“That was a close one… I nearly came.”
Lucia almost fell over, but he managed to
grab the table and stay upright.
“Was it not any good? You don’t have to
drink the rest.”
“N-no, it’s fine. I’ll eat or drink
whatever you make for me. I’m a bit of an M.”
He gave a bittersweet smile while breathing
heavily. His smile was covered in sweat and tears, so it contained a
masochistic beauty that made it even more adorable than usual.
“…”
“Ibekusa?”
Machina seemed to have frozen in time with
the bowl at her lips, so Ange peered worriedly over at her, forgetting about
the whole enemies issue.
“…”
“You can cough it up if you want.”
“…”
Machina remained frozen for about half a
minute.
Finally, she set down the half-emptied bowl
with her usual expressionless look.
“Noh a prohlehm.”
“Your tongue’s gone numb! Just cough it
back up! It’s dangerous!”
“Huh? You too, Ibekusa-san? That’s
strange.”
Since everyone but Micha was having
trouble, the boy took a sip of his own cooking.
He could have sworn he had added some
well-matched secret ingredients on top of the standard ingredients to flavor
the dashi and miso.
“What the hell do you think you’re feeding
us!? Are you trying to kill us!? Was this supposed to wipe out everyone
targeting you and protecting you in one fell swoop!?”
“O-of course not. Hmm. How could this have
happened? It’s full of nutrients.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s the reason right
there!”
Ange shouted angrily at him while Machina
and Lucia were still frozen from the shock of this new experience.
“…”
All the while, Micha watched over them all.
“Uuh… It’s sweet. This is miso soup, but it
has a sweet aftertaste…”
“Are you okay, Ange?”
“Of course not! Honestly… The Springloaded
and Black Cat were bad enough, but you’ve done the most damage today!”
“Th-that’s going too far.”
“No, it isn’t! Today alone, both my
entrance and exit were-…gh! I-I can feel it…just by shouting.”
“Hm? Why are you holding your butt? Were
you hurt?”
“Eeeee! Waaaaah! Don’t stare at my butt,
you pervert!”
“I’m just worried you might be hurt. Where
does it hurt? Your hips? Should I rub them?”
“Gyaaaaah! Don’t touch me! Don’t touch me!
Don’t come up behind me, you butt devil!”
“C’mon. Being called that kind of hurts, so
please stop. And that was a few days ago now.”
“It was today!”
“What?”
“What a pain. And she looked so happy after
taking it up the ass too.”
“Satowaaaa! I-I-I did not look happy!”
“Yeah, you did. Hey, Ibekusa. Wasn’t this
angel’s face practically melting when we rescued her?”
“I-Ibekusa! Tell him it wasn’t! It wasn’t,
right!?”
“I do recall the look on your face when we
pulled you away from Fujita-kun, but I lack the lexical knowledge to determine
whether ‘practically melting’ would be an appropriate description or not.”
“See! It wasn’t!”
“But I do recall you saying ‘don’t take it
out’.”
“Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
“Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! That
settles it~♪”
“Hm? What in the world are you three
talking about?”
“Heh heh♡”
Micha took another drink of her beer.
you are the best ever man. This is a great Christmas gift
ReplyDeleteThanks for finishing this so fast. Can't wait to see what's in store for the characters in volume 3. If the the illustrations of the volume are anything to go by it's gonna be great.
ReplyDeletegreatly thanks for 2-nd vollume
ReplyDeleteThxs for the chapter.
ReplyDelete