Chapter 4 - Tactics x Strategy

"Are you insane!?"

"Not at all."

As expected, Ange was mad, but Mutsuki did not care. He focused on his work.

"You…! Hey, Micha! You talk some sense into him!"

"Hmm, is it really that big a deal? Mutsuki-kun has made up his mind. As guardian angels, it's our job to fulfill our bodyguard duties while also respecting his decisions as much as we can."

"Gh…"

"Or, Ange, are you not confident you can protect him?"

"O-of course I am!"

Micha was good. Her thorough knowledge of Ange's personality let her completely cut off any argument.

Mutsuki returned to cleaning up the house he had been living in for two weeks now.

And he was doing so in order to leave it.

"Just to be clear, I intend to keep this place on hand as an emergency hideout, so we'll only take the important stuff with us. We can just buy all the daily necessities again."

"Okay."

"Eh heh heh heh heh. And that means I've gotta buy a whollllllle bunch more beer tomorrow♡"

"Do you really have to fill the entire fridge with alcohol this time?"

"Of course I have to."

Micha puffed her chest out proudly and returned to her alcohol as the boy continued cleaning as usual.

It seemed the drinks were the only thing she was interested in taking with her. She showed no sign of touching anything else in the house.

As she had said, they planned to return here if they ever had to. They were leaving the power and water services active and the large furniture was staying. Not all that much preparation was needed because not even Mutsuki had all that many belongings.

However, that did not mean he could make the move entirely emptyhanded. He was cleaning up the messy kitchen and sorting through some of the smaller items.

"Um, we can take this…and this…"

He was packing some kitchen items and other miscellaneous items in a cardboard box to carry with him. Then came his personal belongings. For him, that meant his clothes, laptop, school supplies, and…

"What's this?"

"Ah, wait. Be careful with that."

Ange snatched up an object wrapped in bubble wrap in the corner of his cardboard box.

She ignored the boy's protests and unwrapped it. She knew little of the human world, but even she recognized the humanoid shape made from angular pieces of plastic.

"Is this what they call a plamodel?"

"Yes. Ah, ah! I said to be careful with it… Honestly."

He somehow managed to get it back.

"Come to think of it, you had some of those displayed in your room."

"Yeah. I like them."

"…"

"What's wrong with that!? Giant robots are the romance of men!"

Ange's reactions were usually a little off, but the cold look in her eyes here was just like a normal girl. Mutsuki escaped that look and returned the model to the box.

"Are you all packed up?" he asked her.

"I am. …And you were the one that said we're moving, so you carry my things."

She still seemed displeased, so she pouted her lips and shoved her own box into his arms. It had seemed light when she held it, but it was surprisingly heavy. He nearly fell forward when he took it.

He glanced inside and mostly found clothes and school supplies just like him, but…

"…Heh heh."

He laughed quietly at the fact that she really was the same as him.

He could see the face of the Lazy Bear body pillow he had given her as a present a while back.

"Fujita Mutsuki is returning to his previous home?"

"Yes. Miss E just contacted us with that information."

A giant white rabbit sat in a large dark space.

An equally giant pocket watch hung from its neck by a leather strap and FeTUS Witches Miss A sat in a corner of that watch that was untouched by the seconds hand.

"Would his previous home be the that apartment that they abandoned because it was destroyed in that Springloaded attack and because both Miss E and that demon named Lucia had discovered its location?"

"Yes."

Her eyes widened at the report from the gently smiling maid.

As the leader of FeTUS, a secret organization that mastered all of mankind's knowledge, she generally acted with the utmost dignity, but at the moment, she looked just like a confused five-year-old girl.

It took her ten whole seconds to regain her aged composure.

"I see. That was clever."

She laughed quietly in her throat.

"With the three groups in a three-way deadlock, the angels protecting him are under a heavy burden. But by actually placing himself in an environment easily targeted by both us and the demons, he has created a situation where no one can lay a finger on him. He is a surprisingly calculating boy."

"It seems he simply wishes to get along with those two."

"Even if so, I am impressed he can take such bold action. If he had been born two hundred years earlier, he might have become a revolutionary."

She closed her eyes in an expression filled with far too much hidden meaning and mixed emotion to be called a smile.

She also hid her twisted mouth behind her small fingers.

"Where is Black Cat?"

"She seems to have given up on approaching the Mutsuki boy inside the school because Miss E and the demon are there. However, we have confirmed that she has prepared a few Springloaded semiconductors, so she is undoubtedly planning to attack the boy. It would be fairly dangerous if she were to encounter him in his private life when only the angels are nearby."

"I see… What a troublesome kitten."

"One other thing."

As Miss A shrugged, the maid straightened her back and raised a finger.

The effect was amplified by facing Miss A who was only 120 cm tall, but the maid was incredibly tall. She was easily over 180 cm, so even when she put on a soft smile…

"When the boy contacted Miss E, he used the phone number he gave to the school…in other words, a standard line. Even if the cellphone he used was prepared by the angels and cannot be traced, the conversation itself is almost guaranteed to have been intercepted. Miss C will know that he is moving."

"Does she know where the apartment is?"

179

"No."

Her voice had an odd intensity to it.

"But if she knows what store they will choose when buying supplies after their move, she will have an opportunity to lay a trap for them."