Chapter 2, Part 1 – The Girl in Black

Kingdom of Alphine, Rulen Island. In a place not far from the Claude Cathedral located at the island’s center, was the Cyrinpt Mansion. Built four hundred years ago by the prodigious architect, Tossano, this mansion combined the structural mechanics of planes and isometrics in a sensible balance, known as the prominent style of “Neo Tossano Architecture.” It was carefully decorated down to the last detail, and although an old building, it was reinforced with repairs over the years to remain in good condition. This mansion had a history of being inherited by each new family head of House of Cyrinpt over many generations. In particular, the garden that was made through careful arrangement and calculations was a sight to behold, and naturally, received high praises from the n.o.bles of neighboring countries. Every month, the n.o.bles and aristocrats gathered in this garden for social parties. The Cyrinpt House was a prestigious family that has been around since the founding of Alphine, and Miku was the daughter of their current family head.

It was a peaceful afternoon. Having come back from church, Miku was enjoying an early afternoon tea in the Cyrinpt Mansion’s prized garden.

“Miku! Miku~!”

While drinking Earl Grey, and reading the book she had purchased that morning, she suddenly heard the desperately shouting voice of a girl approaching.

“Miku~! Ah, there you are!”

“….. Why are you in such a hurry, Rin? ….. Oh ….! Fufu …..”

Miku couldn’t help but giggle slightly when she saw Rin’s appearance.

“Miku, you’re so mean~! Hmph …..!”

Rin puffed out her cheeks and faced the other direction. She seemed to be upset about being laughed at.

“It suits you very well. You look like a cute princess.”

“~~~!”

A princess. Just as Miku said, right now, Rin looked like a princess. On her head was a tiara inlaid with diamonds and pearls, and she wore a pale pink dress that looked almost like flower petals sewn together. She had on a light, neat makeup, and her beautiful blonde hair was set in curls. She had the appearance of an adorable princess that had just come out of a fairy tale.

“Lady Rin~~! Where have you gone~? Your makeup isn’t finished yet~~!”

A voice could be heard calling for Rin from the mansion. It was the mansion’s tailor maid, Lily. She was the one solely in charge of “dressing people up.” The princess-like appearance that Rin had now was also something that she had tailored. Gradually, Lily’s voice began to come closer.

At this rate, she would be found …..

Rin dove under the table that Miku was sitting at to hide there. There was just enough s.p.a.ce for one person to fit comfortably.

“You certainly are making a lot of noise …. What’s wrong?”

“Ah, Lady Miku! Did Lady Rin pa.s.s through here ….? We were still in the middle of ‘producing,’ and she suddenly disappeared …..”

“That seems like fun, Lily. …. Hmm, well, we were having tea together a moment ago …. But it seems she’s already gone back inside the mansion.”

“Has she now ….! Thank you very much! Lady Riiiin~~!”

With blue eyes shining with determination, the maid named Lily ran back in the direction of the mansion.

“…….. Is she gone?”

Lifting the tablecloth up, Rin very slowly checked the surroundings, wearing a worried expression on her face. She seemed to be quite overwhelmed by Lily’s “production.”

“Yes. But it might be a good idea to stay out here for the time-being.”

Rin remembered the ridiculously happy look on Lily’s face earlier, and chuckling, her own expression relaxed slightly.

“Sheesh~~ I wish she’d give me a bit of a break ….. This is already the second outfit today.”

Lily was a tailor. In other words, her job was to dress up the people that lived in this mansion. With a natural, exceptional sense for aesthetics and technique, she was boasted as being the best in the kingdom. Her only fault, however, was being much too hard-working. Particularly when she found high-quality “material,” her tailoring craftsmanship would be fired up, and she would not stop until her product was finished to her liking. Currently, after coming across the highest quality material the other day, she was completely engrossed in producing Rin.

Today’s theme was the Princess Series. After changing into the second outfit in the morning, Rin had become thoroughly worn out. In the middle of applying the makeup, Lily had gone off to find more mascara, and Rin had taken the chance to escape. Ever since the night Rin had taken shelter in the mansion, Lily’s enthusiastic “production” had continued, and she soon grew used to life at the Cyrinpt Mansion. According to Lily, Rin was a “diamond gemstone.” If polished, the beautiful shine of her hidden alluring light would be released …. Or so she said.

Normal humans cannot see angels, or feel their presence. Usually, angels will hide their form and voice from humans. In truth, every angel is able to reveal their form at will, but everyone follows the law in Heaven that prohibited unnecessary contact with humans. If her wings were not damaged, and she wasn’t lacking in holy power, Rin was also able to hide her appearance. However, as long Rin was staying at Miku’s mansion, there would be various inconveniences if she was to stay unseen, and they decided that she should make herself visible.

While she was in the mansion, Rin posed as a freewheeling n.o.ble lady that had come from the neighboring Kingdom of Folle. While in Alphine, she had suddenly met Miku and gotten along right away, and for the sake of deepening their friendship, they were currently staying together. That was the story they had made up. The reason they had said she was freewheeling, was a camouflage for not having any practices or education like other n.o.bles. Rin, of course, looked just like humans did, wore human clothes, and hid her wings so that she would not be suspected to be an angel.

“Since coming here, my wounds have mostly healed, though~ But it’s tough being dressed up like a doll every day.”

“Really? I, for one, have a lot of fun seeing Rin in different outfits.”

“I’m an angel, so there isn’t much point to dressing up so much.”

“Oh …. But I think Rin’s pure white outfit to look very fashionable and lovely.”

“Eh ……! I-I guess so ….”

Although Rin had little interest in her outer appearance, she actually felt happy to be complimented like this by Miku. To hide her embarra.s.sment, she started fiddling with her bangs.

“Rin really is so cute.”

“Ehhh~~! That’s not true …..!”

“….. ? Do you dislike being called cute, Rin …? Even though that dress looks so nice on you.”

“It’s … not that I dislike it, but ….”

As soon as she had asked that, Rin began to trail off. Had she touched on a sensitive topic, perhaps? Speaking of which ….

“Rin, you talk in a masculine manner, don’t you? Although you look like a girl, could it be that …. You’re actually a boy?”

Rin, who had sat down in the adjacent chair, suddenly spit out the Earl Grey she was drinking.

“Oh, dear! Are you alright?”

When Rin started coughing, Miku kindly rubbed her back for her. She thought it a just little out of place that an angel would spit out tea.

“Haa, haa …… Miku …. Sometimes I don’t know whether you’re joking or being serious.”

“I don’t joke very much at all.”

“….. I see …. Well, either way. We, angels, don’t have a clear gender like humans do. Well, when it comes to appearance, we choose to look either male or female, like humans do. But I shouldn’t appear to be a male in any way.”

“I see …. So, Rin’s a girl, after all?”

“Hmmm …. I guess I am. …. But, what’s more important than appearance, is the qualities of the soul …..”

Still trying to think of how to properly explain everything, Rin held a scone in each hand. They were self-baked by Miku for teatime. Today, she had made them especially delicious, and was thinking about giving some to her mother when she came home. She was very confident this time …. So surely, her mother would be happy about them, as well ….

She felt a small ache in her chest.

“So, Rin, how are today’s snacks …..? I put in raspberries that I picked fresh from the garden this morning.”

Every day, Miku would make snacks for teatime. She was quite skilled at it, and would even be praised by the mansion’s chef.

“They’re so good!!”

With her mouth full of raspberry scone, Rin smiled with a carefree smile. When she saw that bright smile, her slightly anxiety from earlier was blown away. Rin had a mysterious quality about her. Not because she was an angel, but because her bright smile, that seemed to shine on her surroundings like the sun, would fill you with happiness, as well. The worries and sadness in your heart would be dispelled, as if your “soul” were being healed. Miku wasn’t very sure on how to explain it exactly with just words.

“Oh, Rin ….. It’s inappropriate behavior for a ‘princess’ to be holding scones in both hands, and talking with her mouth full.”

Miku said this to tease her, and sure enough, Rin shouted in reply, “But I’m not a princess~~!” and just as expected, began to choke again on the scones that got stuck in her throat.

Somehow, it felt like she’d found a cute younger sister. Or perhaps, even a younger brother. Tomorrow, she would bake the apple pie that Rin loved, as angels loved apples. When she had made an apple pie the other way, Rin’s eyes had sparkled so brightly, and she had eaten the entire thing by herself in less than four minutes. It all felt nostalgic in some way, and Miku found herself smiling naturally. She remembered, a long time ago, her mother had once baked an apple pie for her father, and he had been so happy while eating it.

Looking up at the sky, she saw dark, grey clouds in the distance. It looked like it was about to rain.

From atop of the bridge that seemed to stretch on endlessly, the crowds of people below could be observed. It was if all the people in the world had been gathered together here.

Between Folle, to the east, and Violente, to the west, there was the Kingdom of Alphine, made prosperous by various forms of commerce. The large marketplace, known as “Glosse Market” was held by the kingdom once a year. Today, as well, many merchants from the east and west had crossed the Belchstein Bridge to come to the Glosse Market. This marketplace, which could even be called a Festival for Merchants, was a place to display a variety of goods from their respective countries, and trade with each other. Both merchants and n.o.blemen partic.i.p.ated in this event.

People had come to promote their goods to well-known n.o.bles, or to observe or buy-out their compet.i.tors, or even to mediate business relations. During the one week period that the Glosse Market was held, Alphine’s economy was multiplied by thirty times of what it usually was.

Looking down at the lively humans in their festive mood, Rin yawned loudly. Today, she had taken a form that was invisible to them, and was floating far up in the sky. While waiting for her friend to finish buying from the shoemaker, Rin was observing humans. It was her first time visiting this world in a while, and because it was the one festival day of the year, it was rather crowded.

It had been one month since she had gotten injured and taken shelter at Miku’s mansion. While living amongst the humans in their world, her wing had made a full recovery. During this time in Heaven, Kaito and the other angels had actually been in an uproar at first. Everyone was worried about Rin, who had not returned, and although they had abandoned their duties and put out a search, because Rin had lost most of her holy power and was living amongst humans, the other angels had not been able to locate her.

Angels normally use the holy energy in their bodies as a way of communication with each other. Therefore, should their holy energy be depleted, they are not be able to do so. In this case, Rin had daringly cut off contact with Heaven, therefore, no matter how hard they searched, they had not been able to pinpoint her exact location.

In addition, all angels have no sense of direction, with no exceptions. Angels recognize things by interpreting the flow of energy or holy power; that is to say, they rely heavily on their six senses. Because of this, their spatial recognition ability is low, and due to having no interest in the terrain and streets of the human world, they do not bother to learn them. This is the reason why, to prevent becoming lost in the human world during missions, it became fundamental for two angels to work together as a pair.

Speaking of which, the hymns sung at churches are sung with holy power for the sake of empowering angels that become lost in the human world, so that they may call for help; this was started by a human that had, by chance, heard a song be used for this purpose.

Once her wings had healed, Rin had been able to fly back to Heaven. She told her direct superior, and partner, Kaito, about how she had expected the injury suffered from the battle with the demon would take time to heal, and because there was a risk that a demon would appear near the church again, she had taken shelter in Miku’s mansion, whom she had happened to meet by chance nearby.

Kaito had lectured his subordinate endlessly for a full week about being missing for a month, and after she had written many letters of apology and reflection statements for breaking the law, he had, somehow or other, come to understand.

Due to Kaito’s exceptional ability to understand and the trust he had built in her—in other words, his angelicness, the matter had pa.s.sed without being severely punished for breaking the law of “contacting a human directly as a junior angel”. Under normal circ.u.mstances, this violation would have led to a demotion from junior angel to a trainee angel, but instead, she had been punished with cleaning the Grandios Temple (the largest building in Heaven) for three months.

Perhaps because she was in good favor of her superior since long before, she was never very strongly reprimanded for a little recklessness. She deeply regretted engaging in contact with a human without permission and had shown remorse for her actions. However, after some time had pa.s.sed, as expected, her adventurous nature won over, and she returned to continuing relations with humans. Her superior, Kaito, had a very strict personality towards himself and his surroundings, but for some reason, he only softened up with Rin. Even when she went to see Miku and Lily between jobs, although he was still cautious, for the most part, he would turn a blind eye.

Even today, when Rin was openly breaking the law and being in direct contact with humans again, he might be pretending not to notice right now.

“Anyway, there sure are a lot of people …..”

This bridge was always crowded with people whenever she came, but today in particular, it was so crowded that there didn’t seem to be any room to walk.

Rin had a day off from work today, and had energetically come to the human world at sunrise. Her purpose, naturally, was to see Miku. Ever since she’d injured her wing in the battle with the demon and stayed with her while it healed, she and Miku got along very well. When they’d first met, there were quite many bewildering things about human values and their living environment, but after spending time with Miku, Lily, and everyone at the Cyrinpt Mansion, she was able to grasp the general idea of what a “human” was like. For the most part, she’s never met many humans before, so living with Miku and everyone had brought surprises every day, and new, fun experiences.

There was quite a gap of difference between what they were taught in Heaven about humans and what humans were actually like, so she thought that perhaps a training course involving contact with actual humans should be included in the promotion program.

To angels, humans were inferior beings. A weak existence. This was why angels were given the mission of overlooking their fragile lifespan. Up until now, she had always believed this, and never doubted this concept. But now, she couldn’t help but feel that there was something a little wrong about it. Surely, this was because she had met Miku. Although she should be a fragile, and inferior existence, every one of Miku’s words made her heart waver. Once you get to know them, humans were very interesting, thought Rin. She wanted to know more and more about humans.

After finishing her shopping at the shoemakers, Miku looked up to see where Rin was in the sky, and jogged over to her. Today, Rin was accompanying Miku with her shopping.

“I’m sorry I’m late …..”

“Are you finished with buying everything?”

Rin lowered herself to Miku’s line of sight as she came running up, and revealed herself, hiding her wings. In this way, she would make herself invisible whenever she wasn’t with Miku, to avoid “recklessly being around humans” as much as possible.

“Yes, quite. The Glosse Market is very crowded this year, and so much fun.”

Miku had brought Rin along, wanting to share the experience of this festival, which happened just once a year. It was especially exciting to see the various items brought to the marketplace on this huge Belchstein Bridge, most of which were rare goods you wouldn’t normally be able to find. Today’s highlight was a traditional, handcrafted item a merchant from a foreign country in the far east had brought, a piece of clothing with an original design, called a kimino. Miku had chosen several different ones to buy as souvenirs for Lily. From clothes to miscellaneous goods, perhaps she had bought just a little too much, as both of her arms were laden with bags.

In a split second, Rin took all of her bags from her.

“Now then, let’s get going,” She said and started walking, with Miku one step behind her.

“Um, Rin! It’s alright, I’ll carry them.”

“Eh?”

“The bags …. You don’t have to carry all of them. I’ll carry some, as well!”

“Ahh, these …..? It’s not much, so it’s fine. They’re not heavy at all.”

Seeming not to mind at all, Rin swung both of her arms easily, despite carrying so many bags.

“….! R-really? But, I thought they were rather heavy …..”

Miku herself, even, thought that she might have bought too much, and tried to take some of the bags from Rin, who had walked ahead, but she wouldn’t allow her to.

“It’s fine, really. More importantly, let’s hurry and go back. I want to eat Miku’s homemade apple pie~”

Rin continued walking with a light step while whistling. Contrary to her appearance, she was rather strong and muscular. Just the other day, when she had been helping Miku remodel her room, Rin had single-handedly moved all the furniture, and very quickly.

From an angel’s point of view, it could simply be said that humans lacked in strength, but when Rin helped out with physical labor like this, Miku always praised her physical strength in an exaggerated manner. The look Miku gave her, which was both grateful and envious, tickled her a bit, and was also very comforting.

After walking for a little while, the bridge’s Rest Square came into view. Usually, it was a relaxing place used for resting, with a fountain in the center and benches, but during the festival, it was bustling with the many stalls and crowds of people. Deciding to take a short break, they stopped walking, and in one corner of the square, there was a place that stood out with how it seemed almost conspicuously crowded. All around it, there were two to three times as many crowds as anywhere else.

“What’s going on ….?”

“Who knows …. Shall we go take a look?”

Pushing past the continuous flow of people to move closer, what they saw was a huge shooting range stall. At first glance, it appeared to be just an original shooting range stall, but upon closer inspection, all of the prizes were gorgeous, breath-taking decorations with rare designs. For one round, there was the usual amount of ten targets, but all the customers were captivated by the splendor of the aligned prizes, and playing all at once. However, not one person had been yet able to hit a single target.

It wasn’t surprising, as the rules for the game were fairly difficult. For one round, the challenger was given ten rounds of ammunition, one for each target. In this huge shooting range, there was a large distance to the targets, and furthermore, the targets were small. It would be exceptionally difficult, even for a gun master. And what was more, it was very costly just for one play, so it wasn’t something that you could try numerous times. In short, it was a “get-rich-quick”-type of set-up.

While watching several people take the challenge, she glanced at the line of prizes. Although there was still much she didn’t understand about human culture, they were certainly all very eye-catching. Nodding as she looked on, Rin then noticed that Miku had her eyes fixed on a single point for some time now. When Rin followed her gaze, she saw a ring with a flower motif. The beautiful, white flower petals looked like they were in the midst of blooming, as if they were the real thing.

“Miku, do you want that?”

Unable to pull her eyes away from the ring, Miku seemed a bit unfocused when she answered.

“Eh? Ah, yes …. It’s very pretty …..”

Miku’s gestures and behavior were fairly mature, but age-wise, she was still a teenage girl, and in terms of trends and fashions, she loved cute things. Looking around once, there were many other women that were staring intently at that ring, just like Miku was.

“Hmm ….”

Without showing much interest in the ring, Rin pulled out some human paper bills from her pocket. During her stay with Miku, she’d studied a bit about the monetary value currency in the human world, but she still didn’t understand it very well. For some reason, these paper bills seemed to have more value than gold or silver coins.

“Hey, how many times do I get with this?”

Rin asked, holding up a bill with many zero’s written on it for the stall keeper to see.

“’ey there! Li’l Miss, are y’gonna have a go?”

“Yeah. Is this enough?”

“Hmm! Yeah, ‘nuff  for one round.”

As he said this, the smiling stall keeper took the money, and pa.s.sed her the gun for shooting the targets.

“Here ya go. It’s a wee bit heavy, so be careful~ ‘though it’s a toy for playin’, if you do hit someone by mistake, they could get hurt. You get one practice shot, and ten for the real deal. Altogether, tha’s ten shots~ The li’l miss is ‘specially cute, so I’ll give ya one extra shot as a service.”

“It’s fine. I’ll just have ten like everyone else.”

“Oh, but with those delicate arms of yours ….”

Bang!

Silencing the stall keeper’s voice, the sound of the toy gun rang out and echoed around the square. The bullet that Rin shot hit the target dead center. At the sudden hit, all the people gathered there began to stir slightly.

Bang! Bang! Bang! —— …….

Two shots, three, four … Without wavering, all the toy bullets that were fired were drawn to the exact center of the targets.

“Ten.”

She hit the last target. Just few seconds before, none of them had a single scratch, but now, all ten targets had been hit with bullets right in the center, and were deeply gouged. All the surrounding onlookers were so stunned by this miraculous act, they had forgotten how to blink. Everyone had their mouths hanging open, frozen on the spot without saying a single world.

“…. Um, I finished.”

Turning around like it was nothing, the stall keeper was frozen with the same smile he had on earlier.

“Heeeey!”

Perhaps because he was incredibly shocked, he didn’t react even with Rin waved her arm in front of his face.

“Rin! That was amazing~!!”

Breaking the silence of the audience, Miku rushed up to Rin and threw her arms around her. Stunned by the sudden embrace, Rin’s cheeks reddened. It made her panic so much that she’d forgotten about how composed she’d been firing the gun earlier.

“Um, Miku …..!”

“Amazing! You’re amazing, Rin!!”

As Miku blushed and looked at Rin with a sparkling and respectful gaze, Rin tried to suppress her throbbing heartbeat, and cast a sideways glance at the prizes. According to the rules, since she’d hit all ten targets, she should be able to receive any prize that she liked.

“Could I have that one?”

She asked the stall keeper, pointing at the beautiful ring with the flower motif that all the women, Miku included, had been staring at with glittering eyes. All around, there were already loud shouts of praise and cheers for Rin.

“….. Yeah, s-sure ….. That was quite a sight, Li’l Miss.”

The stall keeper finally returned to his senses, and although still in a daze, he began to pack up the ring that was the most remarkable of all the prizes. He was surprised about seeing the first prize winner from Glosse Market, and seemed to be re-evaluating the simplicity of the rules. After taking the prize from the stall keeper and while being seen off by the cheers from the onlookers, the two walked towards the entrance to the main island. On the way, she was scouted by a royal guard who had been watching the shooting range challenge, but Rin politely refused.

“Haah …. There sure were a lot of people …”

Pa.s.sing through the gate, they reached the Alphine urban area. The Cyrinpt Mansion was near the center of the island, atop of a small hill. It would take about an hour to go back from here. They decided to take a small break on the bench in the garden of a small church nearby. Once they’d sat down, Rin gently took Miku’s hand.

“Here.”

Rin placed in Miku’s palm the ring she had won as a prize earlier.

“Eh …..? You’re giving it to me?”

Opening her eyes wide, Miku stared intently at the ring in her hand.

“…. Eh!? Didn’t you want this ring? C-could it be that I got the wrong one!?”

“N-no, that’s not it. It’s very cute, and I thought it looked so wonderful, but …. Since Rin was the one who won it, I think you should wear it.”

Miku smiled, took Rin’s hand, and fit the ring on her right ring finger. It seemed to be a little bit too big.

“I can’t! I won this so Miku could have it!”

Rin took off the ring, and just as Miku had done moments before, she took Miku’s hand and fit the ring on her right ring finger. The ring fit perfectly on Miku’s thin and supple finger, as if it had always been there.

“Wow ……. It suits you, just as I thought it would!”

Looking at Miku with the ring on, Rin grinned with both hands clasped loosely behind her head. Compared to the gallant expression she’d had when shooting the targets earlier, her now unfathomably friendly smile made her seem like an entirely different person. The angel that was smiling triumphantly like she’d just pulled off a prank, really didn’t seem to have much interest in the ring itself. Perhaps she should simply presume upon this favor.

“….. Thank you, Rin.”

Miku smiled shyly, feeling a bit tickled somehow, as if she had had something bought for her just because she’d selfishly said she wanted it. It was as if she were a spoiled child. A long time ago, when she was still a little girl, her mother had bought for her a toy she had wanted, in much the same way. When she thought about, she had never taken anyone’s kindness for granted before. She wasn’t good at all with being spoiled like this.

“Thank you …. I’ll … treasure it.”

She gently stroked the beautiful, blooming flower on her right ring finger with her left hand. Rin was smiling beside her, scratching her cheek in slight embarra.s.sment. She decided she’d try depending on her just a little more.

“…..”

She rested her head on the delicate angel’s shoulder and leaned against her. Perhaps because she’d been walking since early in the morning, or because of the peaceful sunlight, her eyelids became naturally heavy and she didn’t have the energy to keep them open anymore. The warmth she felt beside her was of a pure and holy presence.

It was so warm——

The gently smiling face that seemed both shy and a bit embarra.s.sed, slumbering in the comfortable weather, looked just like the smile of an angel.