Day 12: Angels Above

Amatsuka Uto woke up the sound of her alarm, which a soft ringing. She didn't need much to wake up and she didn't want to wake up the neighbors with a loud alarm. "Good morning," she said with a smile on her face as she looked out the window. Ever since the war on heaven three years ago, the state of heaven has improved. She stood up, stretching and yawning cutely as she changed out of her nightgown and into her standard dress. The first thing she did every day was check the mail, as the mailmen in heaven delivered mail at the crack of dawn. She walked down the hallway and opened the door. Along from receiving the normal promotional mail, there was a yellow letter, the sticker of a very familiar dog sealing the letter.

"Ame!" Uto chirped as she picked up the mail. She softly set it down on her kitchen table and channeled out of her body, causing the yellow letter to float up, the sticker gently unsticking itself as Uto poured herself a glass of milk. She plucked the letter from the air and examined the contents. There was a note and what looked like an orange pamphlet.

"Hey Uto,

My friend opened up a fast food joint recently and I wanted you to come join us! I attached a pamphlet with this note. I wanted to scrub off the pentagram, but apparently, it's a teleportation spell to the KFP. I hope to see you soon!

Your sister,

Amelia Watson"

Uto heaved a sigh as she looked at the pamphlet. "At least my schedule's free today."

-

"Jeez, my head," Ryan rubbed his head as he sat up. "What the hell happened yesterday?"

Ryan sighed as he stood up, noticing a note on his nightstand. He picked it up and started to read.

"You passed out drunk last night, so I had to bring you here. I honestly can't believe you were hanging out with other girls behind my back. We're going to be having words tonight.

-Hoshimachi Suisei"

Ryan groaned, rolling his eyes. He could worry about the threats on his life later. For now, he had to get to work.

-

"Morning Tenchou," Ryan said as he walked into the restaurant, his throbbing headache refusing to ease up.

"So, apparently your definition of 'seeing someone' is to get piss drunk and pass out in a bar, huh?" Kiara looked at Ryan with an intimidating glare.

"I mean last time I had anywhere close to a counselor, it was Roboco-san," Ryan rubbed the back of his head.

"Really?" Kiara rubbed her chin. "I don't remember her offering to do that to anyone."

"Oh really?" Ryan mentally bonked himself for opening his big mouth. "I might have dreamt that. It was my first time drinking alcohol."

"Fair enough," Kiara said. "Now go get changed. We have work to do."

-

Amelia leaned on one of the walls of the alley, her arms crossed. Suddenly, a white flash of white appeared. "Hey sis," Amelia waved, not even looking away from the flash of light.

"Ame-tan!" Uto tackled her sister in a hug. If Amelia wasn't leaning on the wall, she would have fallen off. "How have you been?"

"I've been alright," Amelia asked. "Gura moved in with me a couple weeks ago and I'm really happy now."

"Ah, that must be nice," Uto nodded her head, smiling.

"So, I heard you started streaming," Amelia said. "How was that?"

"I've… had my ups and downs," Uto said, visibly uncomfortable. "Anyways, you said you wanted to go to a restaurant?"

"Yeah," Amelia started to walk. "Follow me."

-

"Tenchou…" Kiara shuddered as Ryan opened the break room door, a downright scary look on his face. "Did you ground pound Calli in the break room?"

"H-how did you know…?" Kiara looked around nervously, beads of sweat dripping down her forehead.

"You broke the table in half," Ryan said in a calm voice, but if looks can kill, Kiara would be in the Phoenix Dimension by now.

"Uh… we were being passionate…?" Kiara tilted her head, praying that Ryan would just forgive her.

Before Ryan could say anything, the doors flew open. "What's up?!" Ame exclaimed as she walked in. "Am I… interrupting something?"

"No, you're fine," Ryan heaved a sigh. "What's up, Ame?"

"Since when did I say you were allowed to call me that?" Amelia narrowed her eyes.

"Can I?" Ryan tilted his head.

"Sure, it's not like I care," Amelia sighed.

"Is this the place you wanted me to come?" A vaguely familiar angel showed up behind Amelia, smiling softly with her arms in front of her. "Hello. My name is Amatsuka Uto."

"Hello," Ryan smiled back genuinely. He wasn't sure why he wasn't able to give his customer service smile, but he knew something about Uto just made him smile. "My name is Ryan Shade. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Now, before Tenchou decides to pull a funny little prank, I'll go make your orders," Ryan said. "The usual for you, right? Uto, what would you like?"

"Did you just read my mind?" Kiara asked, but Ryan ignored her comment.

"How do you know my usual?" Amelia asked.

"You're British," Ryan deadpanned. "You want tea and mild chicken wings."

"I've never been labeled like this, but you're completely right," Amelia said, a shocked expression on her face.

"I'll have the same," Uto nodded.

'-100 hp! Critical Hit!' Ryan winced, putting a hand over his chest in a pained expression. "I'll be badck in a second."

"Are you alright?" Kiara asked, a concerned expression on her face.

"Yeah," Ryan gave his boss a reassuring smile. "It's just a condition. Nothing I can't deal with."

"If you insist," Kiara said. "Though mark my words, I'm going to get Roboco-san and Choco-sensei someday to get it check out."

"Whatever you say," Ryan sighed, entering the back room.

"Sorry I haven't been checking in recently," Nux's voice caused Ryan to jump as he started to boil water.

'Matsuri on high you scared me,' Ryan sighed, turning on the fryer. 'What's up?'

"Just wanted to see how you were doing," Nux said. "Aloe and Storm were really happy that she could stop by the other day."

'I figured,' Ryan said, dumping the chicken in. 'Things have been going smoothly on my end. What's going on over there?'

"Things have been going decently," Nux said. "Dealing with the void was easier than I expected. I expect they will make a move soon."

'Well, it doesn't have that much time to make one,' Ryan said. 'Is it aware?'

"Nope," Nux replied. "It doesn't have to know either."

'Alright,' Ryan. 'Be sure to stay outside of dimension so the time shift doesn't affect you.'

"Whatever you say, chief," Nux said. At that moment, reality shifted. Ryan stumbled a bit. He knew exactly what was going on. He sighed. There was nothing he could do now.

"Food's ready," Ryan said as he walked out of the back room. Ryan shook his head when he saw a stone wedged in the floor. He casually stepped over it, serving the two their food.

"Ame, please don't use that to make pranks," Ryan scolded, bonking the detective on the head.

"How do you know about that…" Amelia looked at Ryan, shocked.

"Know about what?" Kiara asked as both her and Uto gave Amelia a confused look.

"It's our secret," Ryan said before turning to Amelia. "Give it a couple days. I don't know if I can reveal it yet."

"Whatever," Amelia sighed. She wanted to press more, but she knew how much of a taboo study time travel was. "It's nothing."

"Sorry Tenchou," Ryan said. "I'll explain it to you in a couple days."

"It's fine," Kiara said, forcing a smile. "I know you're not a bad person."

"Thanks, Tenchou," Ryan smiled. "You know you're my best friend, right?"

"Really?!" Kiara's eyes lit up as she attempted to tackle Ryan into a hug.

"I'm not sure Calli would appreciate that," Ryan said.

"Thanks for not giving me salt, by the way," Amelia said. "You're a better person that someone I know."

"You have to admit, it was funny!" Kiara turned to Amelia.

"It really wasn't," Ryan sighed. "So, Uto. How's heaven?"

"Ah, heaven is pretty nice," Uto smiled wistfully. "It really is a nice place. How did you know I lived there?"

"Didn't you tell me?" Ryan asked, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

"I don't remember doing it," Uto rubbed her chin. "But if you did, then I must have told you at some time."

"Anyways, I wanted to get Uto to Bar: ROBEL as well before she goes back to heaven," Amelia said. "I guess we should go now."

"Ame-tan, I'm not sure if I should dri-,"

"Nonsense!" Amelia tugged on Uto's arm as she headed for the door. "It'll be fun."

"Ah!" Uto yelped as she was dragged off by Ame.

"So, you started handing out pamphlets?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah!" Kiara chirped. "I wonder where they'll end up."

-

Reina Hardgore smiled in satisfaction as she finished her summoning circle. "Now for the soul," she muttered to herself. She closed her eyes and none other than the Author's soul appeared in front of her. "Alright, let's do this."

Author-sama's soul floated down into the center of the circle before phasing through the ground. As Reina started to chant, the circle started to glow. With a flash of purple light, a bunch of magical energy was expelled, sending Reina flying back.

"Wah!" A female voice was heard through the smoke. As the smoke dispelled, none other than Ninomae Ina'nis revealed herself. "Who summoned me?"

"Ina?!" Reina walked up the girl who was about her size. "Oh Matsuri, I'm such a huge fan!"

"Oh, are you Reina Hardgore?" Ina tilted her head. "I heard you were the next big witch in the abyss after I went to the surface."

"Am I really that popular?" Reina tilted her head. "Anyways, how is the surface? Are you able to get a lot of souls there?"

"Why don't you find out?" Ina summoned an orange pamphlet and gave it to Reina. "My friend wanted me to give out these pamphlets, so I might as well give one to you."

"I see," Reina said. "I hope to go there someday."

"I hope to see you there," Ina said. "Now, I was in the middle of a stream, so I must get going."

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Reina bowed. "It was an honor meeting you, though!"

"It was nice meeting you too, Reina," with a smile, Ina vanished.

-

Ryan smiled as he opened the door to his apartment. He had a pretty good day, despite a couple slip ups, but it's not like any of it matter anyways. His time before going back into the past was short. "If I'm going to be honest, I'm going to miss all of this," Ryan said as he walked in. "Whatever. I need to do what I need to do."

"What are you going to miss?" A silky sweet voice was heard from behind Ryan, causing his entire spine to shudder.

"N-nothing," Ryan turned around to see Suisei holding a rusted axe with both hands, a smile on her face.

"You're right. It doesn't matter," Ryan took a step back as Suisei's bangs covered her eyes. "We still need to talk about how you passed out in a bar with two ladies."

"You know, I never intended for that to happen," Ryan said, holding his hands up in surrender. "It was a total accident."

"Doesn't matter~," Suisei slowly started walking towards Ryan. "You did it, and how you have to deal with the punishment."

"Uh oh," Ryan turned around, running for his room. When he turned the doorknob, his face paled when he realized the door was locked.

"I did the liberty of locking all the doors before you came back from work," Suisei said as Ryan put his back to the door, looking for an escape. "Now, let's talk."