I wanna go back to bed~, but instead I'm standing here puffing my chest out for this guy in the middle of his living room. Ugh, what the hell, can't he trace the damned directions any faster?
"Okay, that ought to be enough." He tossed his pen away, ripping the paper off the clipboard before haphazardly pushing it onto me, "Here, you're in charge of directions. You were precise enough to follow the wrong map, so I assume you know what you're doing."
"Would it kill you to be a little less rude?" I complained.
"Yeah, it would." He glared back, "A random-ass broad is about to waste my entire cycle just so she could prove a hunch correct."
Ah, when he puts it like that, I guess he is kind of justified. Still, have at least the decency to hide those annoyed feelings away, would ya'?
"...Thanks for the map." I pouted, turning back to leave the house by myself, "Since I wouldn't wanna bother you and your cycle or whatever, I think I'll just go by myself."
"Hm."
With a loud flutter of wings erupting from the shoddy, small house, he zoomed through the air with his wings, capturing me within an instant. Before I knew it, I was soaring high above the air, with me holding the map, and him giving me a princess carry. Dammit, I said I'm gonna be doing this alone!
"Let me go!" I thrashed around in his arms, "You said you didn't wanna help me, right!?"
"I never said that, I just said it's a pain." He kept looking forward, "Still, sometimes in life you have to do things that get annoying. In fact, my time here has mostly been just that."
"...How long have you been here?" I asked, "I just woke up today, but-"
"You didn't." He interrupted, "No one did. We've all been here since day one... Only difference is you don't remember."
I feel like this is turning out to be something way more serious than I first anticipated. To begin with, he just decided on his own basically to help this random girl that's pestering him. Even his own identity is a mystery in and of itself. His wings, for example, and the fact that he seems to be somehow more experienced than I am, despite me being one of the first three people in Heaven 2.0...
"By the look on your face, I'll assume you don't get where I'm going with this." He sighed, "Every day repeats itself endlessly here. Sure, you're experiencing your first day, but to us seraphim, countless "first days" passed by before this one."
"The days... repeat?" I glanced up at his face.
"All angels lose their memories of the previous day, so that's why you feel like you just woke up a couple hours ago." He continued, "We seraphim are the exception, since we retain our memories. Plus we get these nifty wings that are just all the rave these days."
"So is that it?" I chuckled faintly, "You were just born in a better position than us common folk?"
"Wrong, I worked hard and earned it." He grunted, "Something you don't seem to be capable of doing, having to resort to using other people for your own benefits."
"Ack, that's it!" I struggled to escape his grasp, "I'm dropping down and walking the rest of the way!"
"Hm? Okey-doke." He simply let go.
"Wait, you're supposed to argue baaaaack~"
What a jerk! Ah, but I was kind of asking for it... Oops. A-Ahem, as I was seemingly falling to my doom down below, a bunch of other thoughts occupied my headspace. Nothing made sense at all. From the very start, actually. Like, who was it that wrote that map on my chest? And where does it lead to? This guy, I think he has more to do with what I'm searching for than meets the Eye. Right, I didn't even catch his name? Wait, what's my name?
"Ugh, I just wanna go back to sleep..." I muttered as I was mere moments away from hitting the ground, "Dying in three, two, one... zer-WHOA!"
"Right, sorry, but I kinda need the map." The seraphim flapped his wings smugly, having saved me by a hair's breadth as he picked me up by the pits like one would a disgruntled cat, "You didn't... drop it, did you?"
"Of course I didn't!" I hissed, "And don't drop me like that next time! I thought I was about to die, dammit!"
"No one dies in Heaven 2.0." He revealed nonchalantly, "And we only feel pain in the gilded parts."
"Eh? W-Why are you telling me all this?" I asked honestly.
"Because, you just might be the key to solving this mystery." He smirked, "Brace yourself, we're landing."
I was skeptical about that warning, given we were still hundreds of meters off the ground, but that was before I noticed the giant floating island we were fast approaching. Upon making it over the island, this guy just let me go a second time, though unlike last time, he didn't pick me up in the last moment. Weirdly enough, what he said earlier wasn't a lie either—I was dazed, but my body retained no damage.
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"Hey! Got a package for ya'!" He loudly called out to the owner of the estate, "Come out here, I think you'll find it to be quite interesting!"
"Who could have climbed up all the way here...?" A lady opened the front door before standing there in pure shock, "M-Mi...!?"
"Looks like we got the right address." The guy lifted me back up on my feet before brushing off any dust particles that may have stuck to me, "Then, fellow seraphim—Please do reintroduce yourself to this little angel girl. She was just DYING to see you again."
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"I-I don't understand, how is..." The lady turned to him, "How is she, an angel, back here!?"
"Oh, that one's easy. I flew her here." He smugly replied.
"And you are?" She raised an Eyebrow.
"Also simple. I'm The Dethroned." He proudly announced.
"...You seriously went with such a name?" She sighed.
"I'd like to hear your name." He retorted, "Can't be any better than-"
"Vastoria." She blankly replied.
"...Yet your initials are F.O?" He pointed at her hands.
"Who cares about that!?" She hastily hid them away.
Ah, so that's what these letters stand for. People here actually choose their names based on them, I see. The Dethroned, he must've gotten than from D.T... How overly edgy, I expected something more regular. As for mine, hmm...
"M.G, huh?" I inspected them, "Migu."
"Hm?" Vastoria turned her head at that one before giggling to herself.
"It's not that bad..." I sulked.
"Don't nameshame, Vastoria F.O." The Dethroned advised.
"Huh? N-No, I'm not making fun of you, just...!" She burst out laughing before revealing, "That name, you introduced yourself to me as Migu last time as well!"
"So we have met before." I looked down, "Sorry about this, Vastoria, but I'm gonna need to ask you about some things."
"Of course, in fact, I'm happy to oblige." She smiled, "To tell you the truth, I... I didn't think we'd ever see each other again."
She...? Wait, am I misunderstanding something here? Does she have the hots for me? Why is she saying that with such a warm, cuddly smile on? Is she just a bubbly person from the start, or could it be that we've shared a more intimate relationship before? N-Nah, I'm just imagining things, come on!
"Ah, but first, let's go inside for now." Vastoria invited us, "I don't like keeping my guests on their feet."
Entering the spacious abode, I had immediately realized the difference in style between hers and The Dethroned's house. They were both seraphim, but one's house was shoddy and on the verge of falling apart, meanwhile the others was a mansion on a floating island. You couldn't get more contrast than that. I guess it really does just boil down to being whatever you wished your dream house to be like as a human. Regardless, we were seated in the living room, with tea and biscuits being served in just a few minutes.
"Food?" The Dethroned inspected them with a great deal of suspicion, "Where'd you get these?"
"From my pantry?" She raised an innocent Eyebrow, "It seems no matter how many times I take some out, whenever I open the pantry, a new pack shows up."
"That's incredible! Neverending biscuits!" I excitedly bounced on my seat, "Ah, right! Onto the questions!"
"Before that, you are a seraphim as well, right?" Vastoria turned to The Dethroned, "Mister...?"
"The Dethroned." He replied without skipping a beat.
"Can we please shorten it?" She begged, "It's way too long to say in casual speech.
"You're gonna shorten my name?" He got offended, "Fine, but don't make it something dumb."
"How about The?" I suggested.
The Dethroned didn't even reply to that one, nor give a snarky retort. He just craned his head back at me with a dumbfounded look that said "Really? You're being serious?"
"How about instead of it being the nickname, we omit it?" Vastoria raised a point, "Just Dethroned."
"But then we lose the ominous aspect!" I rejected it.
"That's... actually what I was about to say." The Dethroned agreed, "Just way less childish."
"Whose side are you on!?" I fumed.
Listing off all sorts of nicknames to give to him, it took us a long while, but we eventually settled on one we all could agree with. It had this air of mystery and ominousness without being too long. Precisely, it's none other than...!
"Throne." He nodded, "Well, it loses its original meaning completely, but I can get used to it."
"Throne it is!" Vastoria clapped happily, "D.T. Throne! Wait, D. Throne! Haha, Dethrone!"
After smiling and laughing at her own joke for a bit longer than was necessary, she eventually composed herself enough to get back to business. She knew me from before, and I intend to find out just why exactly I was led back to her.
"Right, the person who wrote all over your chest..." She revealed, "Was none other than you, Migu."
"Me?" I furrowed my brows.
"In hindsight, that much was obvious." Throne smirked, "Only a childish soul would make such poorly drawn doodles."
"Grrr...!" I growled at him, but before I could attack, I was stopped by Vastoria.
"Migu, you must have wanted to save your progress somehow." She continued, "I imagine you learned a lot of valuable info you just couldn't let slide, so in drawing the map to me, someone who knows you from last cycle and has the memories of our conversation, you've essentially accomplished just that—A checkpoint of sorts."
Checkpoint, I see! I really am smart, aren't I? Praise me more!
"That being said, our next goal is to restore her progress for this save to full." Throne reasoned, "Tell us everything that happened last cycle between you two, and don't skip a single detail. We could possibly uncover something helpful with this."
"Everything?" Vastoria glanced at me, then hastily averted her gaze with a bright Red face, "D-Do I have to?"
Oi, what the hell happened?
"I wanna know how many crumbs fell on the floor back then." Throne kept pressing her for answers, "I wanna know each and every conversation word for word, got it?"
"Gulp, o-okay..." She whimpered.
Thus, for the next hour or so, she had blessed us with the story of yesterday-err, well, last cycle. To begin with, apparently I didn't come alone that time, but rather with another guy named Sab. Then, she explained how a seraphim's perks are earned, and then... O-Oh, oh my!
"Y-You get the gist." Steam was coming out of her head by this point, "I don't need to go too much into detail, right? It's quite embarrassing."
"Nah." I glanced at Throne so as to reaffirm it's okay, "You heard the man, word for word!"
"Uuuu~"