Kai pulled his phone out of his pocket as he felt it vibrate. Checking the screen, he saw it was a text from Mion regarding when and where they’d be meeting for today. By now it had been well over a month since that faithful night of the storm, and their so-called “hangouts” together had likewise developed into something more casual, meeting up at best five days a week.

Kai thought, “Well, it’s not like I’ve anything to do, as usual… nobody’s been assigning or summoning me for any kind of fieldwork lately, for reasons I don’t even have to confirm, they’re so obvious…” and instantly began texting a reply.

“Hey Kai, who’s that you’re talking to on the phone?” A familiar voice came from above Kai’s head.

Kai felt his heart almost jump into his throat at this unexpected realization of another’s presence, especially in the middle of doing something he’d vowed to keep for himself. Looking in the direction of the voice, he saw Makoto gradually floating down onto the white misty ground with his wings.

He’d already taken a good enough look at the screen, so Kai knew it was no use trying to hide the phone now. Now his heart feeling like it was repeatedly slamming against his chest, Kai tried to act casual by asking, “Were you following me or something, Makoto?”

“Not like that.” Makoto replied, “Hikasa earlier told me she couldn’t help but notice you’ve been acting a little out of the norm lately. You don’t seem to be around here as much as you typically do, and you don’t even talk to anyone as much either like you always got something on your mind. This kinda worried her, so I thought I might confront you at a good time to see if anything’s up.”

Kai scratched his head. “Was I like that for a while? I didn’t even notice…” He figured all his weird behavior Makoto had said to have seen with Hikasa was from him frequently leaving his sub-faction to see Mion and being wrapped up in his head thinking about whether he was doing a decent job with helping him simply by spending time with him. He did say just by this alone Kai was doing a meaningful deed to him, after all. Though whether this was true, Kai guessed only time would tell.

Makoto briefly glanced back at Kai’s phone and asked, “I see you’ve been texting to someone, so there is indeed something on your mind, yes?” and noticing Kai hiding any nervous expressions to avoid suspicion he added, “Please don’t tell me you’ve been up to something you’re not supposed to with whoever this individual is. You know you can’t sneak past secrets from me.”

This was past the point of no return. There was no denying how good angels as skilled as Makoto or Hikasa were at seeing through people, so he had no choice but to tell the truth from how he first met Mion to getting to know him better by casually meeting with him in the human world.

“And you’ve been doing this for the past month or so?!” Makoto stared at Kai with utter disbelief. “Why didn’t you tell anyone? Didn’t you consider the possible consequences if anything went wrong? That’s why even the most skilled angels were still obligated to consult one or two things with other angels before doing such deeds! And you said you even read previous instances of this from the archives…” taking a moment to shake his head with a sigh, he continued, “Not to mention, how do you even know this random person you met by chance is someone who can be trusted?”

Looking as guilty as a convicted criminal, Kai muttered with his eyes on his shoes, “I’m sorry Makoto, I got no excuses for being this irresponsible, but I also have to let you know it’s not without reason… After my most recent mess-up I was too scared that none of you might let me do anything on my own, and how can I better myself as an angel if I’m not allowed to do anything?”

As Makoto stared more with disbelief at Kai, he added after several seconds of a very uncomfortable silence, “Only now I see how irrational it was of me to think that, I never should have…”

Kai couldn’t finish his sentence from the guilt building up within him feeling like it was clogging up his throat. To finally come face-to-face with his irresponsibility pained his mind as much as the Hellhound had hurt his body, and as he thought about what the repercussions for this could be, regret also built up in him along with guilt. If only fear hadn’t clouded his judgement, then he could have talked something out with the others and all could have been well. Instead, as far as he could see, the text he’d sent Mion would be the last encounter he’d ever have with him after this.

Another uncomfortable moment of silence passed between the two angels. Then Makoto broke it by sighing deeply, which made Kai flinch slightly. This is it, he thought, Makoto will say Inori-sama will hear about this and then he’d most likely be relieved of duty for lord knows how long.

Instead, Kai felt his heart jump into his throat again as something he was least expecting followed. Makoto gently put both hands on his shoulders like a father comforting a scared child and said in an equally gentle tone of voice, “Normally this sort of irresponsibility and recklessness ought to be reported to Inori-sama and then she’d do something about it… but maybe that can wait for now.”

“What…?” Kai weakly asked, finally being able to look up to face Makoto for once.

“I feel like I’m also to blame for this to some extent.” Makoto apologetically said. “Remember after we finished off that Hellhound a month ago and I said you’re not qualified for these kinds of things yet? Maybe me saying that was the reason you were afraid no one would allow you to do anything again. I’m sorry for not being careful with my words, Kai. Despite your flaws, you’re a good angel with good potential, and I don’t want you to forget that.” And followed it with a short friendly hug.

Kai felt as if the clogging up in his throat was suddenly all going down like a broken dam letting all the water out, and in spite of the problem he didn’t feel as bad as he did before. This also must have been noticed by Makoto, because he let go and asked, “Better?” to which Kai nodded.

After huffing a sigh, Makoto’s voice returned to its mildly stern tone as he said, “But this doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. Because as your senpai, I still need to do the right thing regarding this.”

Kai didn’t have any arguments for that, knowing he was guilty as charged. But as he was about to say so, Makoto spoke again, “That said… as your friend, as well as someone partially responsible to some extent, I do want to see for myself how your progress with helping this human’s been going. Then maybe we’ll face the consequences together, or not, depending on what I make of what I see. I know you did what you did with good intentions, so even though you didn’t exactly do it the right way, I’d be lying if I said I want to let my friend be punished for doing his duty as an angel.”

Another great mixture of emotions stirred inside Kai upon hearing this proposal. Nervousness was one of them, at the thought of Makoto passing a verdict on how well he’d been helping Mion like a teacher grading a test paper. The other emotion was hope, at the possibility that maybe both him and Makoto wouldn’t have to face severe consequences for his well-meant wrongdoing.

“So… you won’t report me to Inori-sama?” Kai asked hopefully, to which Makoto repeated, “Depends on what I make of what I see.” Before going on about the details of a plan he had in mind.

* * *

Looking at a tiny round golden device in his hand as he and Makoto made their way to the place where Mion had texted to meet up today, Kai said, “Not really the most morally alright idea to be listening in on others’ conversations under their nose… but who am I to say that when I’ve been doing all this under everyone’s noses this whole time? I won’t object.”

“Touche.” Makoto half-sarcastically smirked, then turned back to his serious tone to say, “Jokes aside, are you confident you’ll be able to act naturally? All I ask of you is to just never mind whatever’s in your ear and simply behave how you always have when you’re with him.”

“Don’t worry about me, it’s him you wanna listen to, not me.” Kai replied casually. “Mion’s got no reason to be pressured to act natural when he doesn’t have a spying spell in his ear.” Then he added shortly after, “Not like it matters even if he was, because with skills like yours, you can tell apart a lie and the truth from a mile away.” As he put the golden device into his ear like a wireless earbud.

“It IS a good skill for an angel to have.” Said Makoto. “You too know demons aren’t the only forces of bad on this plane of existence, so if you do intend to protect mankind you have to be able to tell apart which humans you ought to reach out to and which ones you shouldn’t. For instance, can you imagine if an angel unknowingly reached out to a psychopath, even if they didn’t do any evil?“

Kai nodded, and Makoto spoke again, “Same goes for the other end of the spectrum; if an angel is unwilling to look past a repenting sinner’s past actions and fail to sense their penitence, how will they ever get the second chance they need to cleanse their hands and change for the better?”

Kai nodded again. Angels lending a hand to individual humans had more purpose than just helping those in need – it was also to guide those who genuinely regret their sins towards a better path. No matter how much some showed penitence for what they’ve done, most humans were (albeit understandably, if you asked most angels) not so generous as to offer them a chance at redemption. But as Kai had also read in the archives during his study, the Lord was different, and more merciful; believing those who repented from the bottom of their hearts deserved a second chance, angels were also taught that very belief and thus had a duty to conduct it on such humans.

Makoto then stopped talking when he saw Kai waving towards the distance. It was then Makoto noticed they were near the promised place, as well as that Mion was also already there waiting.

“Well, here it goes.” Said Makoto. “Just tell him I’m your friend that you happened to run into on the way here, that’ll be my cue to just go out of eyeshot.” To which Kai nodded before speaking up to Mion as they came into better earshot of each other. “Hi Mion!”

Mion returned the gesture with a wave, then inevitably asked “Who’s that with you?” at the sight of Makoto, to which Kai responded by saying what he told him to say. Once that was said and done, Makoto told the other two, “I must be on my way, pity I can’t stay.” Before walking out of sight.

Pretending to casually wave after Makoto like he’d never run into him again today, Kai turned back to Mion, who said, “Glad you could come today, because I’ve been wanting to try this place out for quite a while and would’ve liked it if you tagged along.” And pointed at the place they’d stopped in front of, which was a skyscraper towering upwards further than the eye could see from the ground. They took the elevator to one of the top floors of the building, and when the sliding doors opened up at the floor they’d stopped on, Kai could see the reason Mion would want to come here.

They were on an observatory deck consisting of an open area with tables to sit around, where a beautiful city view spread out beyond enormous glass windows surrounding the floor could be seen.

Of course, Kai was no stranger to such gorgeous scenery when he was an angel and could just fly high in the sky to see sights like this. But he wanted to appreciate Mion’s kind gesture to introduce him to a good spectacle, so he pretended to be mesmerized at everything around him. This seemed to be good enough for Mion, who said, “Glad to see you like it.” With a satisfied smile.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

They eventually sat down on one of the tables after grabbing some drinks from the deck’s vending machines, and broke into talk like they always did. Meanwhile somewhere else, Makoto became more alert and put all his focus on what he was about to hear through the spell in Kai’s ear.

“After ages of a life like mine, it’s easy to forget how beautiful the world can actually be.” Said Mion with his gaze on the city view. “It’s moments like this that allow my mind to be at ease and remind me that despite everything life has thrown at me, there can be hope in the days to come.”

There was a brief pause in which Kai tried to think of an appropriate response to that, but then Mion added, “Even better when said moments are shared with the one I owe them to.” Which made Kai blush scarlet. He’d never felt both so flattered and so proud in his life from hearing a compliment.

“I-I’m glad to hear you feel that way.” Was the best Kai could stammer as he tried his best to not lose his composure. Mion noticed and chuckled in a slightly embarrassed manner before saying, “Sorry if I sounded all sappy or something, but I thought I just had to let you of all people know. Recently I’ve been thinking of finally making a move myself to escape from the life I had and onto a better one… something I never so much as considered doing until I met you.”

Kai felt his blush disappear and his mind come back into focus at these last couple of sentences. He leaned forward in his chair and looked into Mion’s eyes with great seriousness, “What do you mean, making a move?” though he had a hunch as to what it meant.

Mion continued, “In the past I used to think there was no escape from the hell I live in. Used to think I’m nothing without the ones I live, and that I don’t have a choice other than this life. But you came along and proved that past self of mine wrong. All you did was just be by my side as… as…” He faltered like he couldn’t find the right words for what he wanted to say next, but Kai thought he knew exactly the word he was struggling to get out of his mouth; “A friend?”

Mion smiled and nodded. “Something I’ve never had my whole life. Someone who could be there for me to show me kindness, support, and help in times of need. Someone who showed me that I’m not nothing on my own, and that I do have a choice. For so long I’ve thought otherwise because of those around me, but thanks to you, I’m no longer unsure or afraid to stand on my own. That’s right Kai, I’m thinking of leaving my so-called ’home’ in search of one of my own, and my own only, where I’ll finally be able to free myself of my previous life’s torment and start a new, better one.”

Now Kai’s state of mind was more complicated than when Makoto had found out about his secret. He felt happy that the person he’d been helping was finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel thanks to his lending hand, but also sad at the prospect of having to leave Mion once he did reach that light. Ever since he’d studied the documents from the archives Kai had always been fully aware he couldn’t stay by Mion’s side forever, but what he’d never taken into consideration was how close he would grow towards Mion during that time, and vice versa. For crying out loud, Mion was even willing to call Kai his friend after all this, and on top of that, Kai himself felt totally fine with it.

Similar to how you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone, it wasn’t until the idea of farewell struck him that Kai realized how close he and Mion had grown through their interactions. After all the things they talked out, all the time they spent, and all the comfort they felt in each other, it was safe to say he too was willing to call Mion as something of a friend. But he wasn’t supposed to, or it’d make things all the more heartbreaking for them when they eventually did have to part forever.

But even with all this stirring in his mind, one look at the hopeful grin on Mion’s face helped Kai clear his mind and focus on what was important right now. “Those aren’t even close to happening around the corner… for now I should be glad to hear Mion’s life is finally showing signs of taking a turn for the better… I should be happy for him, while the future can wait…” He thought.

Also putting up a smile while hoping it would hide any signs of sadness from his face, Kai said, “Congratulations Mion, I too am certain your life can only get better from there on out.”

Mion grinned wider and replied, “Thanks. Thanks so much for everything.” To which Kai said, “Don’t mention it. I too was happy for everything as much as you.”

* * *

“That’s all I needed to hear.” Makoto told Kai as they met again on the roof of the skyscraper where the former had been listening to the latter’s conversation with Mion this whole time. “Good job.”

Kai scratched his head and said, “Come on Makoto, you don’t have to say that to someone who only did what they always do in-“ but Makoto cut him off to say, “No really, you did a good job.” And Kai was slightly surprised and confused to hear the sincerity in his voice. Slowly taking out the tiny golden device from his ear and handing it over, he cautiously asked, “Uh, what do you mean?”

To Kai’s surprise once again, Makoto grinned at him proudly and gave him a pat on the back saying, “Me and my senses could tell from the way Mion spoke to you that you have indeed been doing a good job. Every word he said was true; from you being someone as meaningful to him as he said you are, to him getting the courage and spirit to make his life better for himself.”

Kai nodded and muttered, “Oh, that’s what you meant…” while Makoto continued to praise him, “I’d say you definitely proved yourself to be worthy of your potential through this good deed of yours. And I can only see you getting better from here on out.”

As Kai smiled at Makoto in response, he also added half-jokingly, “And yes, this means both our skins can be safe from Inori-sama, as I won’t have to tell her about any of this.”

Kai smiled some more at Makoto for this as if thanking him for the praise he gave him and/or the confirmation of not having to get into trouble with their superior. But deep down, he didn’t really care about those things right now. In fact, the happiness he was feeling after all this barely had anything to do with him finally achieving his dream of proving himself a worthy angel. All he cared about at the moment was Mion’s future; what awaited him when he finally made it out of the tunnel and reached the light at the end of it. What Kai himself could do for Mion at that point. And last but not least, how they’d have to say goodbye when the time came.

This last thought immediately brought the same sadness from before to a part of Kai’s mind, which must’ve shown on his face to some degree, because Makoto said, “Thinking about when you’ll have to part with him in future?” to which Kai nodded, knowing he couldn’t hide it from him.

“I’ve been there too before…” Makoto said in an understanding voice. He wrapped a single wing around Kai comfortingly like a mentor telling his student not to worry and spoke again, “I guess it’s just inevitable for anyone to get that close to those they try to help out, especially when you DO have to be close to some extent for the deed to be even possible. You don’t do that to someone you don’t have a close enough connection to, after all. But there’s no point in worrying about the unavoidable in advance. When it happens, it’ll happen. And the best anyone can do is to just brace themselves.” There was a slight pause in which Kai just nodded silently in response, and Makoto added, “I promise I’ll be here for you like you were there for Mion when the time comes.”

“Thanks.” Kai muttered. “You really are a great senpai, and I’m grateful for all you do for me.”

Makoto smiled at him again. “I only want what’s best for my kouhai, that’s all.” He then glanced at the sun nearing the horizon and exclaimed, “Well darn, is that the time already? Come on Kai, lets head off home already before the others start worrying over us.” And with that, the two angels took flight from the rooftop and headed back to where they belonged.

* * *

Normally, a demon’s deceiving words wouldn’t have been able to make it past the ears of any angel as skilled as Makoto without getting exposed, especially the words of a lesser demon like Mion. But the reason Makoto had told Kai everything Mion said was true was because, well, they were indeed all true, without a single lie in it. This was further showcased when Mion flew back home to his hell sub-faction and was greeted by his fellow demons in the middle of a conversation.

“Another human soul for my collection.” Daichi was bragging to a few other demons including Miyu, “Broke no sweat. Wish you lot could’ve been there to see the looks on the priests’ faces when I tied a knot out of the possessed human’s spine, they never knew what hit them!” and then he laughed a psychotic laugh like he’d never seen anything so sadistically hilarious.

“Oh good for you!” Miyu laughed back at Daichi. “Meanwhile I successfully took the souls of the priests doing the exorcism along with the possessed human’s as I burned down the whole goddamn house they were all in. Quantity or quality is your choice, but I intend to go for both if I can.” To which another demon who was in on the talk cackled, “A house! Try a building like my next target!”

Daichi scoffed and said, “Does quantity matter? Just so long as I’m making any of the pathetic mortals suffer as much as possible, isn’t that what matters in the end?”

“As long as you’re having fun with your success, suit yourself.” Miyu shrugged, then deliberately raised her voice as she saw Mion walking by out of the corner of her eye, “…unlike a certain brother that I’m inches away from disowning out of embarrassment who’s still yet to succeed on one measly human, and with training wheels on, no less!” before cracking up with the other demons.

“I heard Kurosawa san’s footstool just broke, how about you make yourself useful to him for once?” Daichi hooted after Mion, and the other demon picked up a stool from nearby to throw at him as if going along with Daichi’s insult. Thankfully he dodged it, much to the utter disappointment of the other three, but he had a harder time holding himself back from throwing punches at them as his anger towards them reached well over boiling point. Only after he escaped to the privacy of his room did he feel like he could be anywhere close to the peace he felt whenever he was with Kai.

And speaking of Kai, the more time Mion spent with him, the more he felt he was anywhere but home at his sub-faction, despite him naturally belonging here as a demon. Before he befriended Kai, his sub-faction was still equally a terrible place for him, and yet he was forced to call it home because in his view back then, there was nowhere else he could call that. Only a fool would question whether a demon could live in heaven, and the human world was nothing more than a dartboard that his darts kept missing while the other demons always hit bullseye with every try.

But no more was that the case. Not when Kai, someone from a world Mion could never call home, made him feel more comfort and happiness than his own kind did in the place that was naturally supposed to be his home. No, scratch that; was there any reason he couldn’t call the human world home instead of hell? It wasn’t like the human world made it impossible for his kind to exist there.

Mion sighed as these thoughts swam inside his head. He may have been in denial of it at first, but now he’d rather have Kai as someone close to him than any of his own kind, and that was what further fueled his thoughts of whether he could escape hell to live in the human world instead. Yes, he knew he couldn’t be with Kai forever considering the eternal lifespan of demons. But at the very least settling in the human world meant he could finally be free from the torment of hell. No longer did he have any intention of possessing Kai – or any other human, for that matter - for his own gain. All he ever wanted now was a life in which him and his mind could be at peace; something he never knew as a demon, but did now – and even felt and longed for it – thanks to Kai.

This was what lead Mion to look into the archives of hell during the past week or so in search of any past examples of demons escaping hell to live on their own. Surprisingly enough, he did find such examples, though none of them were anywhere near pleasant.

Turns out there was a whole term coined for any demons separating from their own kind, as well as their faction, to do things on their own; “Going rogue”. Specifically, a demon went rogue when they thought they were too good to simply be part of a much bigger group – or was just sick of it – and decided to separate themselves from the rest to do evil deeds on humanity on their own. This almost always resulted in those demons gaining immense power over time due to them no longer obligated to play by the rules or restrictions of hell sub-factions. One infamous example was when a rogue demon in the mid-1300s grew powerful enough to become the cause of The Black Plague and claimed countless souls for itself, before being found out and stopped by other demons from its own sub-faction.

The part Mion found just as disturbing was the fact that going rogue was considered treason by the laws of hell and therefore any demon that went rogue was to be hunted down and exterminated by their sub-faction with no questions asked. What with demons always having been self-centered beings, it made sense for them to not be able to stand just one of their kind getting all the power they could ever want while the others were left in the dust, hence that very rule.

“This is going to be a difficult one to get around…” Mion thought as he looked through an archive document that he brought to his room to read. Regardless of his intentions, if he ran away from his faction to live on his own somewhere in the human world, it would automatically mean treason. He’d have gone rogue in the eyes of his kind, and they would hunt him down without a doubt.

Mion sighed again and laid back on his bed. This didn’t mean he intended to give up on his attempt to escape this hell, having considered it for too long and too seriously to just throw it away. That said, this was not something he could pull off as casually as controlling a beetle enchanted with dark magic. He’d have to plan everything out very carefully to not get caught forever after leaving.

“Oh, that reminds me…” Mion looked around his room until he found the black beetle he had laying around the place, having stopped carrying it in his pocket at some point during his meetings with Kai. He gestured it over to him and muttered, “Sorry for this little guy, but I guess I won’t be needing you anymore…” before putting it out of use with a stomp of his shoe.

He then went back to lying down on his bed to be lost in thoughts of what his future awaited, his mind just as much of a complicated mix of emotions as Kai’s at the moment.