"She..." We looked on in disbelief through the ice wall, "She actually did it."
Hold on, what? After we told her to try and repeat the method she did last time, she earnestly nodded, sat herself up against the cold icy barrier, closed her Eyes, and... Phased through just like that. Not to sound skeptical or anything, but I really wasn't expecting that to work on the first try... or any other try for that matter. That wall, they hyped it up to be impregnable from every angle and everything, but she just made it look like child's play.
"What're you waving at us so adorably from over there?" I jokingly scolded her, "Stop it, you're supposed to be acting smug, not cute!"
"She can't hear you from there, nor can we her for that matter." Throne sighed.
"Huh?" I tilted my head at him, "I wouldn't be saying it if she could."
Happy as a lamb, Vastoria patiently waited for us to cross over by following the same steps she took to pass through the Shrine's barrier. After a while, she got tired of waving and opted to sit down on the stone steps leading up to the Shrine's entrance. Teetering side to side as she rhythmically clapped her hands together, I swear I could almost hear the little tune she sang to pass the time. This girl, does being the most precious thing in Heaven 2.0 just come naturally to her or something?
"Then, let's not keep her waiting." Throne was the first to try, hitting the cold wall with his back instead of phasing through like she did, "Oof!"
"Eh? It didn't work." I furrowed my Eyebrows.
"Did you open your Eyes by accident?" Sheep immediately began to troubleshoot the cause of the failure.
"Of course not!" Throne fussed, "Tch, the same happened last time. She passed easily, but it was impossible for me."
"Well, you're both seraphim, so there shouldn't be any reason why she could pass and you couldn't..." I thought about it, "Maybe it only accepts girls?"
"No, 'cause that guy was in there with her." Sheep recalled Vastoria's testimony, "Energy or whatever his name was."
"...Sheep, you're next." Throne snapped his fingers, "Come on, quickly now."
"What the...? Why me?" Sheep protested as he got pushed to the wall, "O-Okay, okay! Stop rushing me!"
With a deep breath, Sheep closed his Eyes with his back facing the ice barrier. As he crossed his hands over his chest, he reclined before similarly hitting the wall with all his might. Shame too, he really made it look good. I was totally expecting him to phase through, but instead all he got was the wind knocked out of him.
"Ghack! Guuuhhh....!" He rolled around on the ground for a bit, "Scary! I shouldn't have held my breath, that was totally the wrong call!"
"Hm? Wait, now that I think about it..." I muttered, "Did Vastoria actually hold her breath?"
The two men could only turn to me with bewildered stares as they tried so desperately to recollect her steps. Vastoria sat down with her back facing the wall, closed her Eyes and reclined—But nowhere in there did she stop midway to take a deep breath before taking the plunge. Could that be it? The secret behind passing through the Shrine's barrier?
"Let's see..." It was my turn next, "Sit down, close your Eyes, and... Oof!"
Nope, guess it didn't work after all. I hit my head pretty hard too, I should have probably nestled it forward to avoid the impact... Wait, no, that makes no sense? How do I feel pain in my head when I don't have a golden part there? Opening my Eyes as I got up, a warm celebratory hug came my way without reserve.
"Hooray!" Vastoria praised me, "You did it!"
"E-Eh? Vastoria?" I looked at her with puzzled Eyes, "But how...?"
Ah, I see now. Turning around to where the two boys were, I could now understand what had happened. They were on the other side of the wall, or rather you could more accurately say that I was on the other side. What I hit my head on wasn't the ice wall, but the stone pathway instead. And the reason why I felt pain wasn't because I had gold on the back of my head, but rather because I didn't. It seems the rule of the Shrine—the one that switches your golden and White parts—takes effect the moment you pass through the barrier.
"Then, it really was the case..." I looked down.
"I knew you could do it! W-Wah, sorry!" Vastoria realized how long she had been clinging to me and quickly backed away.
"No no, you can keep going." I reassured her, "You know, in my era, it's rude to stop at just hugging."
"E-Eh!? Migu, you made that up just now!" She blushed.
"That doesn't matter right now." I put my hands out, raring for another round of huggies, "Come on, don't be shy."
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Successfully, I made her overly conscious of me. She was bright Red in the face, twiddling her fingers bashfully as I physically saw her weighing it over in her head. That side of her is irresistible to my Eyes, I just know I made the right choice in teasing her. Ah, but the negative of that is that she now doesn't wanna get too close to me after this. Curse my devilish teasing!
"N-Now all we have to do is wait for them to come over as well!" She turned away, too embarrassed to face me head on, "I'm gonna sit down over there."
"Hm? Oh sure, go ahead." I glanced over at her with a wry smirk, "...Hey, just out of curiosity, are you gonna hug them like you did me when they eventually cross over?"
"Stop teasing me!" She whined, "I'm sorry for getting too excited, okay!?"
"Like I said, I don't mind." I smugly turned back to look at these two idiots banging the back of their heads against the wall, "You're cutest when you're excited."
"Fueh!?" She jolted.
I know I said I'd stop, but I couldn't help it. I had to know... if she only reacted like this with me.
----------------------------------------
***
----------------------------------------
"Clink!" The wall said.
"Dink!" It repeated.
"Clonk." Then it whispered.
No matter how many unique onomatopeias I practically invented for them, the men just could not get this one simple task right. Granted, they were doing everything right, but for whatever reason they just couldn't pass through no matter how hard they tried. Vastoria and I quickly got bored of idly sitting around and waiting for them, so I asked a question I deemed pretty reasonable for the current situation.
"Hey, why don't we head inside-?"
"No." She cut me off, "We'll wait patiently for them until we can all go together. Throne got mad at me last time I did that."
"Last time he got mad because he was being stupid and misinterpreted it as you betraying him." I argued, "Now that they both know we're on the same side, then..."
"I promised him I'd wait." She firmly stood her ground.
Dammit, she's hellbent on waiting for him. The day has been long enough already, so I'm sure we're closing in on bedtime soon enough. According to Vastoria, there weren't any White Monsters around inside the Shrine, but that doesn't necessarily mean they won't be out here as well. For safety reasons, I think it's for the best that we tread on. The boys can just catch up to us when they eventually figure this out.
"...Poke." I touched her cheek suddenly.
"E-Eh?" She turned to me with a puzzled look on her face, "What are you doing?"
"Passing the time." I poked her cheek once more, "You know, I got so used to my body being completely numb, I totally forgot how nice it feels to, well, feel."
"That's true." She giggled at my rather innocent remark, "But why my cheek of all things?"
"It's soft, it's warm, and it's puffy and cute." I kept poking, "The alternative is your tummy, but I assumed you wouldn't like that."
"A-Ah, thank you for being considerate..." She looked down, her ears bright Red.
Well, this is certainly a fun way to kill time. Her reactions are always a treat to witness, and I wouldn't be lying if I said I did want to touch her... Wait, that came out wrong. In any case, she's not telling me to stop, so who am I to cut the fun out?
"Really, head pats now?" She chuckled.
"Everyone loves head pats, but I feel like we stop getting them as much as we grow older." I replied, gently stroking her long, silky hair, "I'll stop if I'm being annoying."
"Mn, no." She closed her Eyes, suddenly lying down on my lap, "It feels nice."
"S-!"
Scooore!!! I did it, she actually lied down on my lap! We might be skipping a few steps in between, but that was definitely on my to-do list with her! I didn't expect her to reciprocate, I was genuinely under the impression that she was just letting me be creepy out of consideration! A-Ah, can't stop petting her now, otherwise she might get up! Come on, don't get flustered now, Maggie! Quickly, keep the flow of the conversation, think of something ASAP!
"...This feels nice." I ultimately opted to share my honest feelings.
"It does." She turned her head to look at my face directly, "Ehe, sorry."
"Is there something funny about my face?" I worried.
"No, not you." She giggled, "I wanted to say something kind of rude, but I stopped myself before I did. That's why I laughed just now."
"You don't have to hide it." I kept petting her gently, "I won't get mad."
"...No." She thought about it, "I couldn't. Those two would seriously get mad if I did."
"It's not like they can hear you." I muttered.
Opening her Eyes wide in astonishment, her cheeks once again lit up as she blessed me with a warm, gentle smile. It was unlike any other smile I've seen in my life, to the point where I could only classify it as something foreign to me. A smile of acceptance. Briefly glancing over at Throne and Sheep to make sure they wouldn't phase through anytime soon, she tilted her head back over to me before saying what was on her mind.
"I wish..." She looked into my Eyes with that same giggly tone, "I wish they took their time, so that we could stay like this as long as possible."
"A-Ah?" I felt my heart skip a beat for the first time in Heaven 2.0, "Vastoria, I..."
No, words just weren't adequate enough to express how I felt in that moment. I was over the moon, no wait, even more ecstatic than that. What do I even say to such words? Is this what they call the perfect mood? I feel like I shouldn't waste the moment and definitely say something, I WANT to say something! But... I feel like whatever I said right now just wouldn't accurately convey just how happy I am to hear those words from her. So...
"M-Mn!" She jolted the moment I put my lips against hers, "Migu..."
"Sorry if I misunderstood." I replied, probably just as, if not Redder in the face than she was, "Right now, I felt so happy, but... If you disliked it, then I'm real sorry. Please pretend like it never happened."
For a while after that, we simply remained like that in silence. I stared at her, expecting an answer, and she stared back, thinking of one. I messed up—I abused the moment to overstep my boundaries. I don't know what came over me, I acted on complete impulse. As I panicked internally, wondering whether or not she and I could ever go back to how things were before this, a gentle and warm hand poked my cheek.
"V-Vastoria...?" I choked up.
She didn't explicitly give me an answer. Instead, she just kept looking into my Eyes with that wholesome smile on her face as her finger kept pressing on my cheek.
"You're right." She finally said something, "Poking your cheek does feel nice."