I turned back to Ayumi for a clue on what to do next. To my surprise, her expression was calm. It wasn’t because of the overwhelming, impulsive curiosity that often stopped her from acting. She seemed uncharacteristically deep in thought.

A dark shadow loomed over her. I knew that this conversation had revealed some disturbing pieces of information, but I had a feeling that wasn’t the reason for her woes.

I shook her shoulder to grab her attention. It took her a few moments to notice.

“Oh, Takkun. Sorry, I was just thinking about something.”

“Yeah, I noticed. Ayumi, it’s getting quite late. What do you want to do? Call it quits?”

“Hmm, yeah. You’re right,” she said while looking around, almost as if she just now realized what time it was.

She still seemed quite out of it, even more due to her vague reply. I decided it was about time I got to the bottom of this.

“Shiina, can you let me speak with Ayumi alone for a bit? I promise we won’t run away or anything like that.”

The angel looked at us with wide eyes, but her expression quickly relaxed.

“Okay. Don’t go too far.”

Taking that cue, I grabbed Ayumi’s arm and dragged her to a corner of the park.

Even after being dragged, Ayumi’s mind was still somewhere else. She wouldn’t look up at me and her eyes focused on nothing.

“Hey, Ayumi,” I said in the firmest voice I could muster.

Finally, she seemed to snap out of it. However, her disheveled hair was all over her face, making it difficult to look her in the eyes.

“What’s up with you?”

I had anticipated her reaction would be a swift bounce back to her normal self, but that wasn’t the case. She raised her head, and after moving her bangs out of the way, stared straight into my eyes.

“Takkun, remember our promise from before?”

“Of course. How could I forget? But what’s that got to do with anything?”

Instead of replying to my question, Ayumi shot out one of her own. “Do you mind… if I talk to Shiina about this as well?”

Her eyes were glimmering as if pleading. There was no way I could refuse her.

“I… Hmm… Sure, but what does she—”

My words were cut short by my thoughts.

Wait, don’t tell me…

“You’ll understand soon enough,” she replied to my incomplete question with a rather sad smile.

This time, Ayumi took the lead back to our seats. However, it didn’t take us long to notice Shiina was doing something strange. No matter how I tried to parse her action, I came to the same conclusion: she was praying.

She had her arms crossed in front of her chest with both hands resting on top of her shoulders. She had her eyes closed and her face pointing up at the sky.

“Shiina? Are you praying?” Ayumi asked.

Hearing the girl’s voice, Shiina woke up from her trance. I had expected her to be rather bashful about the whole situation, but her icy expression didn’t change. Almost as if she had prepared herself for this.

“I apologize. Praying is important for us to strengthen our connection with God.”

“Ehh, right. I’m sorry I interrupted you.”

“No need to worry. Now, have you decided what you’re going to do now?”

“Yes,” Ayumi said resolutely as we sat down. “Before coming here, I promised to tell Takeya something after meeting you. But considering what you told us, it’s better if I tell you this too.” She looked straight into Shiina’s eyes. “But I don’t think you’ll like to hear this. I’m sorry if it hurts you.”

The angel looked confused, but she nodded, signifying Ayumi to continue.

A tense silence fell upon us, only cut by the sound of my heartbeat. Ayumi was trying to find the right words for whatever she wanted to tell us, and the tension was almost unbearable.

Eventually, it snapped, all at once.

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“I’ll start with this, Shiina. You’re probably unaware of this, but I’m not exactly what you’d consider a normal human. I’m sorry, but you won’t be able to erase my memories. I know I promised, but it won’t work.”

After hearing Ayumi’s words, Shiina had the first genuine reaction I had ever seen on her. Her body jerked back, her mouth fell agape, and the color drained from her face, catching me off guard.

Eventually, she managed to squeeze out a sentence. “Impossible. I would have known if you were an angel.”

“Wanna try it?” Ayumi cut Shiina’s rambling short, her tone halfway between joking and deadly serious. “Erasing my memories, I mean.”

Following her bold declaration, Ayumi stood up and opened her arms wide, as if to show she was disarmed.

“Wait, Ayumi. Are you sure about this?”

“Yes,” she said, turning to me. “This would be the result either way, so if I’m lying, I’d just be speeding up the process.”

I guess that’s true, but…

Shiina didn’t give me time to talk Ayumi down from her actions.

“Lower your head,” she commanded.

The tiny girl followed and exposed the top of her head to the angel. Without hesitation, Shiina rose from her seat, extended her arm, and rested her hand on Ayumi’s scalp. The two women closed their eyes in unison.

A few seconds elapsed.

Shiina removed her hands from Ayumi. From the slow and uncertain gesture, I knew right away that she had failed.

Feeling the pressure lifted from her head, Ayumi sat down and looked straight into the angel’s eyes.

“So?” Ayumi simply asked.

Shiina took her time to sit down before answering.

“I couldn’t do it. I’m sure I did everything correctly, but I could still read your memories afterward.”

The breath I had been holding was expelled in an almost cathartic way.

That was tense, but what does this mean?

“Gosh. After all these years, I guess it’s good to finally have confirmation that you really are weird,” I quipped.

Ayumi replied only with a weak smile.

“So let me guess. Though, it’s not much of a guess, but rather, a certainty at this point. All this time, you were an angel in disguise, right? And you’re hiding it from Shiina somehow?”

I mean, isn’t that the go-to supernatural answer to everything?

However, I was plain wrong. In my defense, with the clues given to me so far, I couldn’t have figured it out by myself.

“No, not at all,” she replied with conviction. “You’re totally off-mark. I’m categorically, one-hundred percent not an angel. Nothing in either your paradigm or Shiina’s can account for what I am.”

What are you talking about? We were just told what angels are. Are you saying everything Shiina believes in is… wrong?

“Ayumi, you’re being way too obtuse. I still don’t get it.”

I had the feeling she had tremendous difficulty in saying the words she wanted to and was joking around to hide it.

“Okay then. I guess I’ll just come out and say it.”

Ayumi inhaled and exhaled deeply. That breathing routine shifted the tone of the conversation back to its original heaviness.

However, before Ayumi could say a word, before my world could be fully shattered, a male voice pierced the quiet air of the park.

“I’ll have you stop right there, dear Ayumi.”

My mind froze, yet my heart thumped wildly in my chest. Eventually, I turned around and faced the source of the voice.

From the entrance of the park strolled in a tall man with soft, androgynous features and a long ponytail. A pure white, long-sleeved tunic peeked out from beneath his cloak. It was adorned with simple green and gold patterns, reaching down to his ankles.

And somehow, this weirdo cosplayer knew Ayumi.

What kind of company is she keeping that I’m not aware of?

“Archangel Michael! I-I’m so glad you came!” Shiina shouted as she rose from the bench. Her face relaxed as though she had been waiting for him.

Archangel? Who the hell is this guy?

The man responded to my question with an order.

“Why don’t you explain it to humans, little angel?”

“The archangels are our glorious leaders who, through their wisdom, guide us on how best to fulfill our duties.”

“Very well said. School sure did drill the right things in you.”

So this guy is a big shot. But why is he here, and now? This doesn’t sound good.

“An archangel? But how do you know me?” Ayumi asked.

“You don’t know me, but I know you very well, dear Ayumi. Would saying I worked with your parents jog your memory?”

Those words were enough to make the girl gasp for air. “It… it can’t be.” I could almost hear Ayumi’s gears turning during her short pause. “So you’re an archangel, then… I see. Things are falling in place now. But calling yourself Michael, really? Like the Biblical archangel? That’s too on the nose.”

“My, my, such peppiness. You truly do become someone else in this place, don’t you?” He said with scorn. “I prefer when you’re a little bit more… docile.”

Ayumi’s tightened fist trembled and she lost her will to reply. His words stung deep in her heart, but I couldn’t tell exactly why.

This guy is starting to get on my nerves.

“Hey, dude,” I said, standing up, forcing the man to acknowledge my presence for the first time. “I don’t care what your relationship with Ayumi is. That tone isn’t appropriate.”

It looked like my words struck him in a nasty way. Archangel Michael, or whoever he was, took slow steps towards me. “Listen, small fry. I don’t think you’re aware of the pecking order here. I’d be quiet if I were you.”

Ayumi was about to jump in front of me, but I stopped her with my arm. “I don’t care about any of that. There’s no reason to treat Ayumi like this.”

For a few seconds, time seemed to stop. What broke the suffocating silence was a shallow sigh.

“And yet he keeps going. Such a nuisance,” he said, not even addressing me. When he did return his gaze to me, it was filled with deep hate and disgust I’d never seen in my life. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you, mmkay? It’s time to take a nap.”

Without warning, I lost consciousness.

It wasn’t a slow, gentle drift into the slumber of sleep.

It was instantaneous and striking.

A total blackout.