With a hand clapped over her cherry-blossom-pink lips, the angel Raphi stood utterly frozen, her mind a tempest of disbelief.
What… what in the celestial realms am I witnessing?
Her classmate, the top-ranking graduate of Angel Academy, Gabriel White—widely hailed as the most promising candidate for Archangel promotion—was currently… sitting on a human boy's lap? And not just sitting, but leaning into his embrace in a posture of profound intimacy?
Had she stayed up too late watching human dramas? Had she absorbed some corrupted data from the strange 'manga' she'd been reading? This had to be a bizarre hallucination!
A soft, flustered voice, clear as a bell yet tinged with unmistakable shyness, floated across the courtyard. "Um… Nozomi, have you… secured the sensation in your muscle memory?"
It was undeniably Gabriel's voice. Raphi shook her head vigorously, her long silver hair swishing. No illusion. That was her best friend, the paragon of angelic virtue.
So… what was happening? Had little Gabriel… fallen for a human male?
"Not quite yet. Just a little longer, please!" Hozuki Nozomi's reply came, his tone layered with shameless seriousness, one hand resting possessively on the soft curve of Gabriel's waist.
This, he thought with a strange mix of affection and calculation, is the pure, earnest Gabriel. The future held the specter of a Gabriel corrupted by online gaming, transformed into a lazy, junk-food-loving NEET angel. If he didn't appreciate her now, he might never get another chance.
Hearing his request, Gabriel could only offer a brilliant, if slightly strained, smile. "Alright. But you must concentrate fully on memorizing the kinesthetic data."
Listening to this exchange, Raphi felt her own cheeks heat up. Ah… little Gabriel has reached that age, hasn't she? Falling in love… and keeping it a secret from her sister, Raphi! How thrilling! A wave of supportive warmth washed over her. You can do it, little Gabriel! I'm rooting for you!
She gave a mental thumbs-up to her bestie, her own eyes widening with intense, scholarly focus. She wasn't just watching; she was studying.
Simultaneously, her celestial database cross-referenced the boy in question. Hozuki Nozomi. Class F. Academic ranking: second in grade. Notable trait: maintains ambiguous relationships with multiple beautiful young women. Colloquial title: 'The Succubus.'
Wait. 'Succubus'?
A cold spike of alarm shot through her supportive glee. Could this boy be a demon incognito, sent to the human world to study? Was her pure-hearted friend being ensnared by some infernal charm?
Worried, Raphi's beautiful eyes suddenly glowed with a soft, divine gold. Celestial Appraisal: Heavenly Eye! A holy magic that allowed angels to perceive the true nature of beings, to see through demonic disguises and malevolent auras. Under its gaze, all evil stood revealed.
She focused the Heavenly Eye upon Hozuki Nozomi.
What she saw made her gasp aloud, hastily muffling the sound with both hands.
"You have to be joking!"
Instead of any demonic taint, a radiant, pure divine light emanated from him. It wasn't just present; it was dense, of a purity and potency that surpassed that of many ranked angels!
"Such concentrated divine power… it's higher-tier than most ordinary angels! Is this human truly… just human? Could he be… a Nephilim? The scion of an Archangel left in the mortal realm?"
But the true shock was yet to come. She observed, with pinpoint clarity, that Hozuki Nozomi's abundant divine energy was gently, passively, flowing into the angelic halo above Gabriel's head. With this infusion, Gabriel's halo grew brighter, its sacred aura subtly but steadily strengthening.
Raphi quickly deactivated her Heavenly Eye, her mind reeling. Relief came first—Gabriel was not bewitched. Then, hot on its heels, a potent wave of envy, followed by a prickling jealousy.
"Little Gabriel… you're something else. You found a veritable fountain of celestial merit and didn't even tell your best friend?" she muttered to herself, a pout forming on her lips. "I need performance points too!"
Since arriving in the human world, Raphi hadn't been as diligent in her good deeds as Gabriel. She'd spent an inordinate amount of time teasing a certain boastful demon named Satania McDowell. Now, seeing her friend so fortuitously discovering a shortcut to Archangel-hood, she felt a fierce, competitive urge stir within her.
…
Back on the bench, Hozuki Nozomi, having thoroughly imprinted the sensation of the angelic maiden's softness and warmth, finally released her with apparent reluctance.
"Alright. I believe I've committed the embrace data to memory. Thank you, Gabriel."
"As long as I was able to assist you, it was my pleasure," Gabriel replied, slipping off his lap and smoothing her skirt. She could feel the tangible progress in her halo's metrics, and it filled her with a quiet, righteous joy. Perhaps her days of endlessly shepherding grandmothers across streets were over!
(The grandmother who had just been helped across, only to be gently guided back to the starting point by a beaming Gabriel: "...What did I do to deserve this?")
"Well then, Hozuki Nozomi, I have other duties to attend to. I shall take my leave. Please remember, if you encounter further troubles, do inform me."
"I will. Thank you again."
He watched as Gabriel walked away, her steps light, a faint, celestial hum barely audible. Hozuki Nozomi let out a soft, contemplative sigh.
Cherish her at this moment.
Soon enough, the internet, convenience store snacks, and online games would claim her. The pure, earnestly helpful angel before him would undergo a… metamorphosis. Opportunities like this would become far rarer. He was, in his own way, preserving a moment in time.
…
Gabriel had just turned a corner in the hallway, her cheerful tune on her lips, when a figure materialized before her in a flash of teleportation magic.
"Little Gabriel! You're not being honest!"
"Wah!" Gabriel jumped, a hand flying to her chest. "V-Vigne! Don't startle me like that! What are you talking about? I am always honest!"
"Hmph hmph hmph! Still playing innocent?" Vigne placed her hands on her hips, her impressive chest heaving with dramatic emphasis. "I saw everything you and Hozuki Nozomi were doing just now!"
Gabriel's eye twitched slightly at the display. She sighed, her shoulders slumping in resignation. "You saw, huh? Well, there's no helping it then." A conspiratorial gleam entered her eyes. "Want to come with me to find Hozuki Nozomi? We can boost our performance metrics together!"
"Huh? How does that work?" Raphi—who had quietly followed—asked, her interest visibly piqued.
"It's simple! By helping Hozuki Nozomi resolve his troubles!" Gabriel gestured enthusiastically toward her own head, where her halo invisibly shone. "Look, Vigne! Can't you sense it? My halo's luminosity has increased! I've discovered that fulfilling his requests yields performance rewards hundreds of times greater than helping elderly humans with pedestrian logistics!"
Seeing the tangible proof and hearing the staggering multiplier, Vigne's eyes widened, shining with newfound ambition and celestial greed.
…
Finally having a moment to himself, Hozuki Nozomi retrieved his phone to contact a certain ice princess.
Hozuki Nozomi: Yukino. The vending machines. Our usual spot.
The reply was not what he hoped for.
Yukino Yukinoshita: I am currently occupied. Yuigahama-san is being… persistent.
A faint frown creased Hozuki Nozomi's brow. Of course. With the Service Club's membership growing, snatching private moments with Yukino was becoming a tactical challenge. But then, who was to blame for his own expansive… appreciation of beauty? He had made his bed, as they say.
He would simply have to create another opportunity. Deciding to see the 'persistence' for himself, he began walking toward the Service Club room.
His path took him past the school's decorative flower beds. There, he spotted a familiar scene: Hayama Hayato, wearing his trademark, perfectly calibrated awkward smile. Standing before him was a girl from another class, her face crimson, fingers nervously twisting the hem of her blazer.
"Hayama-kun, I… I've admired you for a long time. Please… please go out with me!"
A confession. Classic.
Hayama Hayato's internal sigh was almost audible. Dating a schoolmate was not part of his carefully managed image. His true, distant admiration was reserved for a certain Yukinoshita heiress. His response was therefore a masterpiece of gentle letdown.
"I'm truly sorry. My heart already belongs to someone else. I don't plan on dating during my high school years." He offered his warm, inclusive smile—the one that said 'we can still be friends.' "If it's alright, I'd be happy if we could be friends?"
"No! I want to be your girlfriend! You don't have one right now, do you? Can't we… can't we just try?" The girl's voice trembled with desperate hope. She was one of his regular supporters from the soccer field sidelines, and Hayama, ever the gentleman, couldn't bring himself to be harsh.
"I'm sorry, I really do have someone I like. I wouldn't want to cause her any misunderstanding…"
It was at this precise moment that his peripheral vision caught Hozuki Nozomi's approach. A spark of inspiration—or desperation—lit in Hayama's eyes. His smile became genuinely relieved.
"Ah! Hozuki! What a coincidence! Taking a stroll?"
The confessing girl's gaze snapped from Hayama to the newly arrived Hozuki Nozomi. Her eyes took in Hozuki's striking handsomeness, then flicked back to Hayama's suddenly bright, welcoming expression directed at the other boy. A series of connections, fueled by school gossip and her own romantic despair, fired in her mind with catastrophic speed.
Her eyes widened. A soft gasp escaped her. Then, pointing a trembling finger between the two boys, her face crumpled.
"I… I see now! The person Hayama-kun likes… it really is Hozuki Nozomi-kun! Waaah! I understand! I won't… I won't get in your way!"
With a final, heartbroken sob, she turned and fled, leaving a trail of shattered romantic hopes and a stunning new rumor in her wake.
Hozuki Nozomi stared blankly at her retreating back, then slowly turned to look at Hayama Hayato, his expression one of profound bewilderment. "???"
Hayama Hayato could only offer a weak, utterly speechless smile. "Uh…"