Chapter 6 - Angelic Aroma (1/?)

Mutsuki had known only two things: they had been saved and Ange was injured. That left only one thing to do: escape before any more trouble occurred.

Ange's uniform was ruined, but her Suit could regenerate. After returning her bra and spats to normal, Mutsuki let her wear his shirt. They left the school and took a taxi back to the apartment. He had only needed to call their homeroom teacher to inform her they were leaving early.

Mutsuki had wanted to get back right away, but Ange had been afraid of pursuit and had instructed the taxi to take them around town for about an hour. The morning had been sunny, but dark clouds covered the sky by the time they arrived at the apartment. It looked like some intense evening rain was on its way.

"Yes, yes. We just got back. Can you not come back yet?"

"Sorry, but I'm not even in the human world yet. It'll be another five hours."

"Should I take her to the hospital?"

"Human medicine is meaningless to an angel. But don't worry. Based on what you told me about her damage, the first aid equipment in the apartment should suffice."

Micha normally spent all day lazing around the apartment with a beer in hand, but today of all days, she was out working. Mutsuki had to care for Ange on his own.

Her footing had ben unsteady when they left the academy and she had been unconscious by the time they left the taxi. The most she could do was sweat and gasp for breath. He let her lean on his shoulder to carry her to their apartment on the top floor and he placed her on the living room couch.

"Listen, Mutsuki-kun. Angels can take physical attacks without much trouble, but since the materia makeup of our bodies is based in fire, we're weak to having our heat taken away. If she seems exhausted, that's almost certainly the cause. That Springloaded probably had some Bug Lithography built in and that's turned some of her skin into a radiator."

"?? Um, can you dumb that down a little?"

"Part of her body's been turned into the cause of this. Ange's young and has plenty of energy, so she'll be fine if you can stimulate her metabolism. You know where the aroma oil is, right?"

"Aroma oil? …Oh, yes!"

With his cellphone in one hand, he headed to his own room. He grabbed a bottle of ocher-colored liquid sitting on the bedside table.

She had given him this oil. Its aroma was meant to be calming, but he had barely used it and it was still mostly full.

"Here it is. What do I do with it?"

"That contains the mana that helps purify an angel's astral body. Apply it directly below the skin and it should help her synthesize energy. She was affected by the Serpent's Eye, right? That craving should still be there, so the ether ripple caused by your cells should help too. Use that as a medium."

"Um, can you dumb that down again?"

"What I'm saying is…"

He left his room with the bottle in hand.

"You need to rub it all over her skin with your own hands."

He just about dropped it.

The weather was only getting worse. Rain was starting to sprinkle down and the room had grown awfully dark.

Mutsuki felt oddly guilty about what he was going to do, so he did not feel like brightening the room. Without turning on the lights, he scooped up some aroma oil after having washed his hands with disinfectant and milk soap.

He removed the ribbon that still hung from Ange's neck and applied the oil directly to the back of her neck.

He realized this was his first time touching her. Her skin was incredibly smooth and his oil-covered palm slid frictionlessly across her. Compared to his sisters, her body temperature was higher than normal.

He was not doing anything wrong, but his heart beat painfully loud in his ears.

Her slender neck was the polar opposite of her dignified expression and he diligently slid his fingers toward it like she was a fragile object.

"…Hhoo…ah…"

She did not come to, but her breathing was visibly calming.

Micha had apparently been telling the truth. This aroma oil had the ability to heal angels.

He covered his palm in oil again. The mild amber-colored oil had a pure olive scent and seemed like it would be kind to the girl's warm skin. He thoroughly covered her wrists where she had been bound and then covered the back of her hand, the palm, the elbow, and even the upper arm.

"I don't know how badly she was infected," Micha had said. "So apply it to everywhere the Springloaded touched her."

That meant pretty much her entire body. The only exceptions were the lower legs and feet protected by her socks, the scalp below her hair, and her most precious spot the spats had somehow managed to protect. Everywhere else had been thoroughly tormented by those lewd brushes.

"…"

After applying the oil to everywhere outside her clothing, a troubled expression came to Mutsuki and he returned to her neck once more. He chose the area least likely to cause trouble if he touched it: her face, her throat, her forehead, and her cheeks.

He even covered her small earlobes.

"…"

He naturally received a close up view of the sleeping beauty's face.

(She's…so pretty.)

He passed his fingers over her eyelids and corners of her eyes while making sure not to actually get any in her eyes.

He had lived with her for three weeks now, but he had never gotten such a close up view of her.

Her face had a round egg-like outline. The gentle lines of her cheeks were as smooth as polished marble even without the oil. Applying the lustrous amber-colored oil to her white skin gave it a sticky shine that made this all feel somehow obscene.

"Ange, I'll be removing just the shirt."

He remembered an area he had to worry about, so he reached for the buttons of the shirt he had lent her.

The torn bra and spats would have already regenerated, but each time he spotted her white collarbones or navel, that amateur esthetician's hands just about stopped.

Once he finally removed the whole shirt, he used the roundness of the couch to roll her onto her stomach.

There were occasional points of red in the indentations at the center of her back.