Despite having a part-time job at a bookstore, I had long since embraced the technological revolution and did all my reading on my tablet. Physical books take up too much space and are too inconvenient to travel around with.

As for why I even worked part-time, it was because I desperately needed the money to buy games and whatnot. And between all the terrible options, this one was the least bad. It paid well, it was close to my house, and its location in a failing shopping district meant we barely got any customers. In fact, the elderly owners had wanted to expand the store’s offerings to halt that downward tendency—which is why I’d been hired as the store’s expert on light novels, manga and comics. Still, I didn’t feel my presence made much of a difference on the number of customers coming in. It wasn’t exactly a good situation for the owners, but at least it meant I could spend most of the time reading in peace.

As usual, Ayumi and I stopped by our houses on the way to the bookstore. She brought her laptop with her, saying she was going to use it for research, whatever that meant. Regardless, it was a godsend since she would be quiet for once.

As soon as I switched places with the female co-owner, Ayumi plopped herself on a stool and monopolized the only source of heat in the store—a small heater nestled under the counter. She sat there for a couple of hours, tapping away at her computer and making the occasional odd squeal.

However, I knew such an occurrence was merely a metastable period, bound by the laws of the universe to return to the most stable ground state sooner or later. That shift was triggered when Ayumi closed her laptop with an unreasonable amount of force.

Hey, what did that poor laptop ever do to you?

“Ahhhhhh, man. There isn’t any new info around,” she groaned, spreading her arms over the counter. They stretched out so far that her wrists began peeking out from under her jacket’s sleeves. The way it embraced her petite frame was kinda cute.

I wasn’t going to simply ignore her in this situation, so I turned off the tablet and gave her my full attention.

“Not to doubt you or anything, but are you sure you weren’t browsing auction sites for some old trinkets again?”

She looked up at me, still spread over the counter, trying her very best to not move. “No! I really was researching this time. All these false leads were starting to annoy me, so I thought maybe we were missing some crucial information. But there’s nothing about angels I don’t already know or any theories I haven’t read.”

As much as it pained me to admit, Ayumi was probably the world’s greatest expert on angels. No one else could dedicate that much time to something so silly, after all.

I’m sure she can’t put that in her CV.

She straightened her back and looked at me with her green puppy dog eyes. “What do you think, Takkun? What am I doing wrong?”

I once again said the same thing; it was an automatic response now. “I don’t believe these angels even exist. So naturally, all the reports are fake.”

So stop bothering me.

That last part was left unsaid.

Ayumi sighed heavily. “I know that. But… yeah, think of this as a thought experiment. You like those, right?” She smirked mischievously. “Instead of thinking if angels exist, let’s think about how they could exist.”

I figured she wouldn’t let me go so easily, so I decided to entertain her. “Well, if angels do exist, then it’ll be almost impossible to find any concrete evidence of them. They are ephemeral light creatures. People faint when they see them and the places where they supposedly appear are undisturbed. We don’t even have any photos of them, right?”

Ayumi saw how serious I was, and nodded enthusiastically, further messing up her already disheveled hair.

“Uh-huh, that’s another conundrum with angel research. There are no convincing photos or videos of them, only eye-witness reports.”

“All we know for sure is that there has been a surge of reports as of late. Maybe we shouldn’t focus on the angel sightings themselves, but rather on the reason they are appearing more often.”

“A reason, huh?”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Watching Ayumi fall deep into thought, I, too, decided to use my noggin for a bit. I took off my glasses and thought back to the field trip we had yesterday.

Was it really just a coincidence?

The various reports of supernatural incidents danced around my mind. The curse, the strange lighting, the disturbances to electronics…

And then an idea hit me.

“Hey, Ayumi. I think I know why there are no photos of angels.”

“Wait, really?!” She said as she stood up in excitement.

“You can’t take any photos of angels if all your electronic devices don’t work,” I said with a smirk, adjusting my glasses menacingly.

“Wait, are you saying that angels caused all those disturbances? But that doesn’t make any sense. No one fainted in that mansion before yesterday, and we certainly didn’t see an angel while we were there. The timing—”

“No, Ayumi. It’s the other way around. Angels aren’t causing supernatural incidents—they are attracted by them. Specifically, the ones that involve electronic disturbances. And because of that, no one can take a picture of them.”

Ayumi’s eyes lit up like Christmas lights. From my experience, that spark is never a good sign.

“Oh, you might be onto something! I’ve seen a lot more of these incidents being talked about recently, but I haven’t paid much attention to them. If I dig a bit deeper, I might be able to find a connection there!”

Ayumi’s delighted face also filled me with delight. I couldn’t help it. Her smile and disposition was that contagious. Even if the idea turned out to be a fluke, it would keep her busy for a few days at least.

While we were bubbling in happiness for entirely different reasons, the bell by the door rang. A customer entered the store.

I recognized her long, black ponytail, and my best cashier smile came out instinctively. “Welcome!”

Despite being a freeloader at the store, Ayumi felt the need to welcome all customers, if only to hide the fact that she was a freeloader. This time, though, the only sound she emitted was a high-pitched shriek as she grabbed my sleeve.

“Ick!”

Inevitably, the customer’s gaze shifted focus to the girl gripping my arm. Seeing the woman looking at her, Ayumi shrank to herself, embarrassed.

The woman ignored the strange reaction and addressed me with sharp eyes. After a slight pause, she uttered a curt “Good afternoon.”

After a greeting that sounded more like a threat, she fled deep into the store.

“T-Takkun,” Ayumi spoke in a whisper, her voice trembling. “W-Who’s that woman? She looks so scary!”

“You’ve never met Shiina, huh? She might look scary at first glance, but… I guess she never stops being scary, but she’s not a bad person.”

“Do you know her from somewhere?” Ayumi inquired.

“I don’t know her. She’s just a regular at the store.”

Ayumi had a look on her face that said, “I don’t believe you.”

“Wait, wait, just a regular? Does this store even have regulars? And why do you know her name?”

“It’s because she ordered a book a few weeks ago and had to leave her name. I haven’t spoken to her at all other than that.”

“Well if that’s all it is...” She wasn’t convinced. “I wonder why she comes to such an obscure, overpriced store though. She’s gonna scare away other customers.”

Hey, what’s up with the harsh language? Please never say that to the owners.

“But still, she’s such a beauty,” she said, leaning over the counter sneakily observing the woman with swift glances. “Her chest is a bit on the small side though.” Look at the pot calling the kettle black. “On the other hand, her hair is impeccable. She must be super meticulous with her routine. Man, if not for those eyes…”

How exactly is any of that relevant to the conversation?

That said, I couldn’t disagree with Ayumi about Shiina’s appearance. Surely she’d catch Daichi’s attention if he ever laid eyes on her.

“This is just my opinion, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to set your sights on her. Even if you ignore those ruby-red predator eyes, I bet she has some weird kinks.”

“Ayumi, I wouldn’t go after her even if I was interested. What sort of clerk goes after their customers?”

“I mean, it’s not wrong to pick up girls in a bookstore. Not that you have the guts to do it anyway.”

I feel like this is a trap I shouldn’t respond to.

Shiina took a few minutes looking around the store, with Ayumi peering at her. Eventually, she returned to the counter with a book in hand. Like all the other books she had purchased before, it was a sappy romance novel. Her taste in books certainly clashed with her cold aura.

Apart from a few glances from Ayumi, who tried her best to not embarrass herself further, our interaction at the counter was normal; she paid for the book and left without looking back.

“Finally, she’s gone! I feel like I lost some years of my life back then,” Ayumi commented after hearing the door close. “Now that she’s gone, we can return to our secret discussion. We need to keep these things classified.”

Are you sure you simply don’t want to be seen as a lunatic?

“I believe your suggestion from earlier is worth investigating. You still have some time left on your shift, right? I’ll see what I can dig up in the meantime.”

Ayumi’s bubbling happiness was so contagious that I couldn’t help but look forward to whatever she found out myself. There was a small glimmer of hope that maybe something about this mess made sense.

Little did I know this would be my last period of peace for a very long, long time.