Chapter 4 - The Trick to the Crane Game is to Pull it in Close (1/?)

The next day arrived.

The utterly normal day was the exact opposite of the day before when Mutsuki had been prepared to die more than once, had nearly cried, had worn out his hips, and had climbed the staircase to adulthood.

His classmates were the same as before. Sakae and Saya were as energetic as ever and Ibekusa Machina arrived at the last second as always. Mutsuki tried to greet her again but once again failed to say anything.

There was only one difference.

"Jiyuuni Ange. Nice to meet you."

A small panic erupted after the morning homeroom.

The transfer student had given the most perfunctory greeting before moving to her assigned seat. That seat was the rearmost one by the window, putting her diagonally back from Mutsuki. He doubted she was doing it intentionally, but she was resting her had on her hand and staring disinterestedly out the window just like Machina in front of her.

She immediately put on a lopsided frown and showed no hint of sociability. Mutsuki was worried she would not be able to get along with the others, but Ange simply turned her back on their classmates' curious looks.

She seemed to have a natural preference for purity, so she had a poor opinion of the Serpent's Eye that could force women into a state of arousal. However, her dislike did not seem isolated to Mutsuki, so her claim of not liking humans may have been true.

But…

"Ohhhhhhhh! You're so cute! I love you! Please marry me!"

"Wa ha! Your red hair is so pretty♡ Is it natural? And your eyes are blue… Are you only half-Japanese?"

"We don't usually get transfer students at this time of year. Where was your old school?"

The fact that she was a beautiful young girl proved surprisingly powerful. As soon as homeroom ended, a tsunami of classmates rushed toward her.

"Hey, make sure you're ready for first period."

Their homeroom teacher, Katsue-sensei, rang vainly through the classroom, but no one was listening.

Ange must not have expected this either.

"Well… It's natural and my eyes are normal. My old school was somewhere far away."

Despite her composed answers, she looked shocked.

Mutsuki breathed a sigh of relief as he watched on from a step away.

They were pretending to be strangers because of the trouble it would cause if their classmates found out they were living together, but she had of course transferred to the school to be his bodyguard. Since she had come for him, he wanted her to get along with the others.

"Jiyuuni-san… I can call you, Ange-chan, right? I'm Kurikara. Kurikara Saya."

The class's female eternal optimist pushed through the crowd of people.

"You can call me Saya. Nice to meet-…"

"Outta the way, jelly-face. If someone like you shows up in front of the nervous transfer student, she'll think you're gonna eat her. Leave this to THE Tomono Sakae, the most reassuring man there is."

"Jelly-face!? How dare you call a girl-… dah wah wah! Don't push!"

The male eternal optimist joined the fray. Saya and Sakae kept pushing each other out of the way and almost climbing onto the desk to get in front. Ange pulled back with a troubled look each time they got closer.

The two of them finally moved in toward her together.

"Nice to meet you, Jiyuuni-san. I'm the class rep, Tomono Sakae. You can remember me as the man who will one day stand at the center of the world."

"Hah. The center of the world? The center of this class is the most you can manage."

"What'd you say!?"

"You heard me! You wanna fight!?"

They really did start fighting.

The classroom's excitement was growing at the arrival of this beautiful transfer student, so no one tried to stop them and some even seemed to egg them on.

Unable to keep up, Ange gave Mutsuki a look that asked "what's their deal?"

The boy could only smile warmly back at her. One could only grow accustomed to those two's energy.

Their classmates continued to cheer and their questions never seemed to end. Even first period was only a brief respite before the next break. And the next. And the lunch break. And afterschool.

The sullen angel-winged transfer student had been confused at first, but she seemed to gradually grow accustomed to the noise.

By the time they left, she was fitting into the class well enough.

Based on her attitude at school and what Micha had said, Ange was apparently not very familiar with human society.

Or with the human world as a whole.

"Wowwwwww!"

Mutsuki had no idea how an angel normally lived her life, but…

"This place is so big!"

She had apparently never seen a shopping mall before.

"Try to be a little quieter. You're embarrassing me."

"Sorry."

"I know how you feel, though, so let's enjoy ourselves on this shopping trip♪"

Her usual risqué outfit was gathering a fair bit of attention, but Micha started walking without shame. Ange followed with her blue eyes sparkling at all the stores lining the walls. Mutsuki walked along behind the both of them.

This was SeeDWalK, the biggest shopping mall near their town, which had pretty much anything one might want to buy. It was sudden, but they were already buying supplies for Mutsuki.

"I'll pay for it all, so choose whatever you want. Ange, if you see anything you want, feel free to buy it. I'll write it all off as a business expense."

Micha showed off a black credit card and grinned proudly. Mutsuki did not know how business expenses worked for angels, but he had a feeling this woman was abusing the system more than anyone else.

"Wow, wow! What's that!? There's a train running through the building!"

The mall was as large as a small theme park and Ange was impressed by just about everything. She was interested in every store, every facility, and even the bathrooms and benches. She was currently getting worked up over a bus to carry children around the building.

He had first met her just about twenty-four hours before, but this was his first time seeing anything other than an angry or sullen look on her face. It was a refreshing experience.

They started by buying things they would not have to lug around with them afterwards. First, they headed to the furniture store on the first floor of the shopping mall's western wing.

"Wowwww."

The girl voiced her amazement yet again when she saw the beds, tables, sofas, etc. filling a space the size of a soccer court.

"Is there any phrase more wonderful than 'business expense'? Maybe I should get a new everything while we're at it♪"

Micha turned her sparkling eyes toward a fashionable white wood dining table with a lace tablecloth, an elegant wooden armchair with no nails or bolts, a tall rack with a mirror covering the entire thing, and other fashionable pieces of furniture. When she spotted a recliner with a built-in cooler for beer, she grabbed the purchase form without even checking the price tag.

And yet their apartment already had a TV, couch, and beds, so Mutsuki had thought it already had the bare necessities.

" 'Please try me out.' Hey… Hey, Mutsuki!"

"Yeah?"

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I hope you guys like it see ya