"Wow. Just... wow." The shopkeeper could barely even believe it, "But how can you remember me if the reset happened?"

"...That's what I wanna know." I played along for now, "Actually, I was hoping you could tell me yourself."

Who is this guy? I was going for a walk with my new friend Gale here when this guy suddenly started glaring at me like one would a dead relative back from the grave. He knows me as Magnes... M.G, and he recognized something even I hadn't noticed before—The golden spine along my back. Though I can't exactly say I remember him, nor anything that might've happened before I woke up this morning, I think I could stand to benefit from him if I play my cards right.

"Lady, what's the hold-up?" Gale returned to pick me up once he saw I hadn't followed after him.

"Ah, Gale!" I quickly replied just to keep him from potentially calling me by the wrong name, "You should meet my friend, err..."

Crap! I don't actually know this dude's name! Initials, initials...! Gah, his hands are behind his back, dammit! Ohh, I already outed myself, didn't I?

"Sigh, not gonna work, Magnes." He chuckled, "I told you a thousand times already—I'm the shopkeeper, and that's all you need to know."

...Phew, that was close. Guess even Magnes never found out this guy's name. His secretiveness saved me... Ack, but now I have a different problem!

"Magnes?" Gale tilted his head, "Wasn't it-mgh!"

"Ha-ha! It was, it was!" I nudged him, stomping on his foot to keep him from spilling too much, "It was the name I had in the previous cycle, glad you remembered!"

"...Ah." He realized the moment he saw my expression, "So then, do you two know each other?"

"I see you've already made friends." The shopkeeper smiled at me, "Lemme guess, Sab?"

"N-No." Gale shook his head.

"..."

This is really nerve-wracking! Dammit Gale, all you had to do was say yes and he'd be off our backs! You moron, I should've just shooed you away the moment you came back for me! Ohhh, Selzion almighty, give me the knowledge I need to get through this...!

"Really? Heh, then I can only assume it's GaLi." The shopkeeper chuckled, "We never actually met before, but she kept telling me about you and that other guy."

"Oh!" Gale reacted positively once he heard the same letters as the ones on his hands, "Y-Yep, you got it right!"

Hold the phone, does this guy actually know us from before somehow? It's already crazy enough that he got my initials correct, but then you factor in Gale's too, and things stop becoming mere coincidence after that. Granted, he got Gale's right on the second try, but that's still pretty good. Who else did he mention, Sab was it?

"Magnes!" The shopkeeper slammed the counter at me, making me jump back a bit, "We should discuss..."

"Hey, come on, we don't got all day!" The person standing behind me yelled, "I want my clothes, quit stalling lady!"

"Be patient, this is important!" The shopkeeper slammed the counter again.

"What was that!?" Everyone in the line took offense to that, "You bastard, gimme my clothes! That's your job, innit!?"

"I-It...!" The shopkeeper bit his tongue, "It is, but..."

"Then you better ring us up quick!" They kept yelling.

Nervously, the shopkeeper clammed up pretty quickly after they reminded him of his position. I guess he let slip his true emotions with that first diss, but hastily course-corrected once he realized that might've put his job at risk. With an annoyed mutter, he instructed us to move from the line.

"Come on you two, in here." He pointed behind him, "We can talk while I work, just don't touch anything."

"Will that really be okay?" I asked out of respect.

"Why so meek all of a sudden? Yestercycle you were practically covering for me the moment you set foot inside." He laughed.

Whoa, was I... W-Was Magnes really that much of a spoiled brat? If he let her in, then the least she could do was sit still, geez. Nonetheless, Gale and I were ecstatic to hear we were allowed to stay, so we hopped over the counter and sat down on two of the chairs he brought over from the back. Even though it looks so small from the front, this place is actually super spacious once you enter. Dark Brown lacquered wooden walls and furniture with Red carpets, now that's classy! As for the clothes, they were all down the stairs to allow for more storage. Like a supermarket, you'd go down and pick out clothes from the rows of isles before hopping back up to hand them over to the customers. His legs must be killing him.

"Magnes, how do you still remember everything that happened before the reset?" The shopkeeper asked once more, "You're neither a seraphim nor a shopkeeper yourself, so unless you figured out a third reason...?"

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Damn, guess that's where he got me. No more outs for me, I used them all up just to get this far. It was fun, and I'm sure I found out a fair bit already from him, but there's nothing I could say that'd make him believe me. Damn, I really wanted to find out what he means by all these terms! Reset, cycle, seraphim... I'd ask, but he'd see right through me. If only I could know more without getting found out.

"Uhh, yeah?" Gale raised his arm, "Sorry, before that—Could you just get me up to speed with everything? The two of us just met, so she didn't have time to do it herself. Thanks."

Gale, you're a genius! Right, these two don't know each other, so by asking himself, we can both get caught up to speed without me seeming the slightest bit suspicious! Nice one, Gale! Gold star for you!

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"Mhm..." Gale nodded along as I intently listened in, "Oh? Ahh..."

"So that's why she definitely shouldn't be able to remember me. But she does." The shopkeeper finished the story by bringing us back to the original question, "What we wanna know is how and why that is."

"Uhh..." I blanked again.

"Wait, is it even important?" Gale covered for me just the same, "I mean, sure it's weird, but from what you said we lose our memories every single day, right?"

"Yeah?"

"How long is a day?"

"36 hours?"

"And we've spent how long just with you telling us this?" He reasoned, "Not saying it's wasted time, but we're definitely under a time limit here. If there's any way to reproduce what happened to her, then we should be getting on that ASAP instead of wasting time thinking about the hows and the whys."

"That's..." The shopkeeper and I stared at him in astonishment.

"...What?" He looked back blankly, "Just my two coins."

Actually, should I really be trusting Gale so much? He's already proven how good he is at lying, but I think this is something way more serious by now. At this point I gotta wonder if he even knows I don't actually remember anything, that's just how convincing he sounded. Regardless, now that we know the problem, we really should look into figuring out a solution.

"You mentioned there were two known ways of keeping your memories between cycles." I recalled, "Could you tell us more on those, please?"

"Sure thing. I told you that in order to keep your memories you'd either have to become a seraphim or get a job." He elaborated, "Seraphim differ from regular angels because of that, sure, but also because they have large, golden wings that grant them flight."

"Sick." Gale's Eyebrows shot up.

"But since she doesn't have those, it's obvious she didn't take that route." He continued, "The Gods choose the angels at random when it comes to assigning jobs, so it's most probable that that's what happened. Ah, unless you came across a third option...?"

"N-Nah, not that I know of anyways." I nervously shook my head, "Wait, how does one become a seraphim again?"

"No one knows." He shrugged, "Or rather, only the Gods and those that became seraphim know the trials required for it. Insider information type of deal."

"So it's down to the third option..." Gale pondered, "Then, let's go investigate a bit!"

"Huh?" We both furrowed our brows at him, "Come again?"

"You heard me—If you think she's the only one to stumble across a way to keep her memories, then you've got another thing coming! I am NOT gonna be living my life in Heaven as a goldfish!"

"Hmm... Well, I wish you luck on your travels, then." The shopkeeper turned around to continue his work.

"Nope, you're coming with!" Gale pulled him away from the counter, wrapping his arm around his shoulders, "C'mon~! We need a guy with your kind of knowledge!"

"Then go find a guy with that kind of knowledge!" The shopkeeper tried prying himself free to no avail.

"We already did, bud." Gale kept being rowdy, "It'll be fun, where's your sense of adventure?"

"I got a job??" The shopkeeper shot back annoyedly, "You think I'm just gonna neglect that?"

"....."

"........"

"..."

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"MMMMPH!?!" A silenced shopkeeper tied up to his chair and gagged with some tape Gale found nearby cried out for help, "MMMMM!!!!"

"Sorry, but no was the wrong answer to my question!" Gale smirked as he pushed him along the cloudy streets, "Excuse me, coming through! Man, this chair with wheels is really cool! Why didn't I ever think of that?"

"G-Gale!?" I trailed behind them, "What are you doing!? This is kidnapping!"

"Kids can't get jobs." He reasoned back to me, "He has a job, ergo he's not a kid. Ergo, it's not kidnapping. My hands are clean."

"They're dirty as hell from that bullcrap logic alone!" I shot back, "Geez, stop for a second and think this through!"

"I did think it through." He calmly glanced back, "It's either this or forgetting every single day over and over again forever more."

"A-Ah..."

Seriously, just who is this guy? Gale, he doesn't hesitate, he just does things and they somehow end up being the right choice all along. He does think things through before he does them, at least sometimes, but most of the time he operates on instinct alone. He's willing to bend the rules and even go against the Gods just to figure out how to keep himself alive, in a way. Does this aspect of his make him admirable... or utterly terrifying?

"Coming through! Sorry!" Gale kept speeding through the streets until he hit a guy that refused to move, "Oof!"

"Gale, shopkeep!" I ran up to the crash site, "You guys alright?!"

"Uuuuughh... Wait, no ugh?" Gale looked more confused than hurt, "That didn't hurt at all."

"Mmmm! Mmm!" The shopkeeper, now seated sideways as he was still tied to the chair with tape covering his mouth, started shouting at us like a madman, "Mmm!"

"Dude, quit screaming. You're making me feel guilty." Gale joked before stopping dead in his tracks once he noticed the towering figure cracking its knuckles as it loomed over us, "Uh oh."

"White Monsters!" A man with two golden arms from the shoulders down shouted our ears off, "Back off!"

Smack! With but a single right hook, Gale got sent flying into one of the buildings. Once again, it didn't take long for him to raise a thumbs up to notify that he was safe, but it also didn't stop the crazed assailant from attacking me right after.

"Ha-ha... You wouldn't hurt a lady, would you?" I twiddled my thumbs, "Ghack!"

Grabbing me by the arm before swinging me around himself, he sort of proved me right by merely tossing me away from him. He didn't even toss me that far, 'cause I barely left the floor and didn't even reach the nearest building, much less the one he punched Gale into. No, I got off with a light dizziness and hitting my butt on the soft cloudy floor. I gotta ask though—Did it not hurt because of the floor, or is it the same thing as Gale? Can angels... feel pain?