novelAnd Onto the Cultural Festival
| ← Ch.61 | Ch.63 → |
Two thousand meters below Megutono Academy was the lowest level of FeTUS Headquarters, aka the Garden.
The indoor space was set to appear like a beautiful field, a five-person table meant for the Witches sat at the center, and three seats were currently filled.
Miss D, the tall maid, had changed into the apron dress she so loved. Machina was still wearing her school uniform. Miss B was also wearing her uniform and her upper body was sprawled out on the table.
"Sigh..."
Ren had bandages here and there thanks to her several-hour-long battle with strongest angel and she breathed a deep sigh.
The maid laughed while pouring warm water in five cups and heating them.
"You've really done it now. Miss A is very upset that you demanded a duel with that cute angel who had decided not to interfere."
"Hmph. I cannot allow anyone to look down on my pride. I cannot back off when I am insulted."
"But you had the wrong person, didn't you?"
She sounded dejected.
"And I also hear you got angry over your boobs. Honestly, boob size is no more than a number."
"Shut up, Miss D! You can only say that because yours are big! You don't know how I feel!"
"Hee hee. I think small has its advantages."
"Positive. When they are too big, they are heavy."
The maid and Machina comforted her together.
The maid's mounds were an appropriate size for her great height, but Machina's size did not suit her slim frame at all. When they jiggled, it only depressed Ren further.
As Miss D heated them, three of the cups gave off steam.
"Oh, right. Speaking of breasts, haven't yours gotten bigger again, Miss E? Do your bras still fit?"
"Hm...they're a little tight, I think."
"Understood? I'll buy you some new ones. I'll make sure they're a loooot cuter this time."
"...Normal ones are fine."
"No, no. You're a girl, so you have to wear cute things."
"? Understood."
She prepared two teas and one coffee.
"Bigger...again."
"? What is it?"
"No, it's nothing."
Ren stared at her in shock and Machina simply looked confused.
The one coffee went to Ren and the three of them began their teatime.
"Miss D, why do you insist on choosing other people's clothes like that? You coordinate all of Miss E's underwear and casual clothing, don't you?"
Ren stirred her coffee with a gold spoon.
"Because choosing clothes is fun. And Miss E won't put any effort into how she looks, so I have to choose for her."
"I do understand the feeling, but can't you just choose clothing for yourself?"
"...The thing about being a woman taller than 190cm is that you can't choose. Finding any clothes at all that fit you is a challenge."
"S-sorry."
She did not really think she had to apologize, but she sensed something indescribable that led her to do so.
Once her coffee had cooled a bit, she took a sip.
"...Ugh."
And she grimaced.
Machina looked curious as she took a sip of tea.
"Do you not use milk or sugar?"
"N-no. Not since a bit ago."
With that, she took another sip of coffee with a blatantly displeased look on her face.
Machina tilted her head and the maid laughed.
"Before, she gave Fujita Mutsuki-kun some black coffee to tease him, but the boy just drank it like it was normal. She can't afford to let a younger boy outdo her, so she's been familiarizing her tongue with the bitter flavor."
"Y-you didn't have to explain it."
"You also kept complaining how bitter that bitter melon castella was, but since it came from him, you ate every last bite."
"Shut up."
She glared at Makoto who kept saying too much and Machina who was putting sugar in her tea like normal. Meanwhile, she managed to finish her cup of coffee. Even if it was black, it was fortunately a lot less bitter and astringent than the canned kind she would drink with him (while mentally fighting it all the while).
Then the remaining two arrived. One was Miss C still in her teacher's clothes.
The other was Miss A whose usual young features had grown quite stern.
Ren had known Miss A would be angry, so she set down her cup and shrank down in her chair.
But Miss Alice Arc shook her head to say they would talk later.
Once all five of them were seated, the surrounding scenery changed. The image of the field had even reproduced the wind and sunny aroma, but all of that vanished and they were surrounded by darkness and a metallic scent.
Realizing something was different from normal, the other four straightened up.
"We have completed the genetic analysis of the change detected in Miss E's breast milk...that is, her mammary gland cells."
Miss Alice looked straight at Machina.
"It was a 99. 9999% match. Calculating back from the DNA base only introduces a margin of error of 0. 0001%, so we can state with confidence that these cells belong to the same person."
The other three focused on Machina.
"The womb of Eve, the perfect woman, has been formed within Miss E's body."
"..."
"The Holy Grail is complete."
"So the Holy Grail is complete..."
A man sat in a gloomy study.
He was a large and muscular man. His face and the rest of his skin were very wrinkly and his hair had some gray mixed in, giving him an elderly appearance, but his body itself was as young as a man in his twenties.
But that sense of youth had less to do with his body and more to do with what seemed to emanate from him.
He gave off an intensity that was anything but aged. It was like he had maintained the greed, arrogance, and almighty sense of an adolescent even in his old age. He gave off a sinister ambition.
Another man sat in a study seat. He was the polar opposite: a small and fat man. His frame was wide and his presence was almost frail.
The aura from the two of them could not have been more different, but their faces looked a lot alike.
The youthful but elderly man was contrasted by the small man whose skin was that of a man in his twenties, even if his frame was not. They were apparently father and son.
Two young girls stood next to the small man: Riselle and Enju.
"Miss Arc is certainly persistent. Does she seriously think she can save humanity?"
The small man gave a servile smile.
"My teacher never would compromise once she made up her mind."
Riselle giggled happily and Enju looked disinterested while both of them leaned against the man's lap.
"Regardless, she undoubtedly intends to contaminate Lady Lilith's heart."
Unlike that lazy-looking trio, the large man spoke with anger in his voice and then looked back. Realizing laziness would not be allowed, the trio straightened their backs.
"She must be eliminated. Find what information you can on the Holy Grail. Once we hold Adam, we can use that information to threaten Miss A."
"Sure thing."
His son did not sound very motivated, but the two girls stood up. They both got to work.
The man anxiously gnashed his cigarette-stained teeth.
"I cannot stand her... Do you intend to defy Lady Lilith's heart even if it means leaving this world...?"
He groaned out the words with the blood vessels bulging out at his temple.
"Curse that previous Eve... Curse Lucya."
"Mutsuki-kun knows of Lucya?"
Micha's big bike was in the parking lot to the apartment building where the two angels and Mutsuki lived.
Few people showed up there at this hour, so it was a good place for a secret discussion. Micha, one of Mutsuki's guardians, would often speak here with Rapha, the aide who helped her exchange information with heaven.
"He has spoken the name a few times."
"Where did he hear about her? I never told him."
"I do not know. I cannot find any trace of him acquiring the information somewhere and he just suddenly started saying it. Almost like he saw her in a dream."
"Sigh~" Micha leaned on the motorcycle she was straddling and she rested her elbow on the handlebars."Do memories of a previous life really just show up like that? I could understand if it was some kind of formative experience that really left a mark in your memories, but someone's name?"
"It would not normally be possible, but for him? Maybe."
"It certainly is convenient being Adam. I guess it isn't called the original Fruit of Knowledge for nothing."
"What should we do, Micha? This isn't entirely unrelated to you."
"Let's leave it be for now. It isn't harming anything. And this should make a good barometer for seeing how far his Fruit of Knowledge has awoken."
She sounded indifferent and she pulled a plastic bag from the luggage carrier installed next to the clutch pedal. It was from a nearby convenience store and it contained beer as usual.
"So the Adolescent Adam will eventually grow up, huh? I'm not sure if that makes me happy or sad."
She got down from the motorcycle and started toward the elevator to say the report was over.
"More importantly, you need to look into how Kagari Enju's body was stolen."
She looked back just once with an unusually harsh look for her.
"I don't want Ange to see a demon made from her original body."
"...I understand."
The angel young man's tone was similarly dark.
Permanent Name: Kagari Enju had a spirituality and battle sense not often seen in recent years.
Her soul had been reborn as the angel named Jiyuuni Ange, but it turned out her body had been reborn as a demon.
She had the same battle sense as Ange, she had a demonic body, and she could even use FeTUS technology. She was clearly the most formidable foe they had faced...
But beyond that...
"That body came from my precious little sister. I cannot allow this mockery to continue. I swear to you I will track her down and punish her appropriately."
"Make sure you do."
The two older angels who watched over Ange were mostly driven by pure anger over having the cute younger angel's previous life defiled.
Rapha left and Micha rode the elevator up to their room.
Mutsuki and Ange would still be up and she sensed someone in the living room when she opened the door.
She prepared to say she was back, but then she saw her expression in the entranceway mirror.
It was tense from a mixture of various forms of mental weariness.
She could not show them that face when she was supposed to help those two feel at ease. She slapped her cheeks and put on a smile.
"I'm back~?"
She energetically threw the living room door open.
"Wah, M-Micha-san."
Mutsuki was alone. He seemed to be fidgeting in front of the TV.
"You're back already? Um, I thought you were going to be out late again."
"I finished what I was doing, so I probably won't be playing around with my bike for a while. Well, I'll ride it some for fun, but I won't be riding all night long anymore....Is something the matter?"
"N-no, not really."
That boy could not keep how he felt off his face, so he was blatantly panicked and glancing worriedly toward his room.
Wondering what this was about, Micha tilted her head and followed his gaze toward his room.
"Mutsuki... Are you ready...hwah!"
Just then, the door opened and Ange poked her head out.
Micha did not get a good look since Ange immediately slammed the door shut, but the boy and girl were clearly flustered. And Micha was clever enough to put two and two together here.
"Ohhh?" She grinned toward Mutsuki."I see, I see. So that's what's going on. Was I intruding?"
"No! U-um, clothes! Ange, is, uh, trying on some new clothes. So she wanted to see what I thought of them...and, um..."
Mutsuki frantically tried to come up with an excuse, but it was a blatant lie. It was true that Ange had been wearing some unfamiliar clothes in the brief glimpse Micha had caught, but she would not have to change in his room if she was only showing off her clothes. Not unless she was planning to remove those clothes in his room soon thereafter.
Micha's grin must have told Mutsuki she understood everything, so he blushed and hung his head.
He was shy and the angel could not be honest with herself, but it seemed they were actually planning to share a bed tonight.
Micha smiled bitterly as she realized she really had been intruding this time.
"By the way, what are the new clothes?'
"Oh, uh..."
"And! With that!"
Sakae energetically pounded on the teacher's desk.
He was back to his usual cheerful self and the class was smiling.
In fact, all the boys and girls were grinning. Not only had they solved all the recent difficulties, but now they could see what they had been hoping to see.
Mutsuki had already seen it last night, but he also felt his expression loosening. Even though he had been warned on the way to school that, "laugh and I'll kill you".
"After all our troubles, we've found our lead for the play. Someone finally volunteered yesterday. This was the kind of Burning☆Friendship that just couldn't ignore our plight. School really is all about love, bravery, and friendship..."
"Shut up! Just let us see her already!!"
Sakae was so excited he ended up stretching out the introduction, so Saya snapped back at him while so excited she was breathing heavily.
The others booed him too, so apparently none of them could stand to wait.
Sakae smiled bitterly and signaled Katsue-sensei out in the hall. Subaru nodded while struggling not to laugh, which would have ruined her usual strict image.
"Okay, it's time for that first look! Allow me to introduce our dear friend who will be representing our class: Jiyuuniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaange!!"
He began a professional wrestling style of mic performance and the classroom's door slid open
There was no on there, but Subaru was on the lookout and mercilessly pushed on someone's back.
"Wah."
Ange stumbled in.
Her red hair trailed elegantly behind her. The flared skirt and the lace and frills on her clothes fluttered. The black glimmer caught everyone's eye.
She even wore the backpack, so she really did look as innocent as a six-year-old girl dressed up for her first day at school. And that was joined by the girl's own mature atmosphere.
The classroom instantly quieted down as if they had been splashed with cold water.
They were all focused on Ange who shrank down.
"Eek!?"
The entire class pulled out their cellphones.
"Wh-what, wait, what are you all doing?"
The classroom was filled with the electronic sounds meant to mimic cameras.
The girl was simply confused. She knew little about the human world and it may have been for the best that she was unfamiliar with the camera function of cellphones.
"Hmph. I would've looked better in it."
"Ah ha ha. That's right. You would've been cute too, Lucia-kun."
Lucia apparently could not accept it because those looks of envy had been on him a few days before.
"...The size seems about right."
"It's perfect. Thanks, Ibekusa-san."
Machina had apparently tailored it just right, so she looked happy even though she did not pull out a camera.
"Wait...what is all this?"
"It's nothing! Ohhhhh, you're so cute, Ange-chan!"
"Huh? Wah, wah, wah, wah, wah! The look in your eyes is scaring me... Why are you getting so close!?"
"Shut up! Just let me hug you! Hug you tight!"
"Wah! Saya, hey...abhbhbhbh."
Saya could not hold back any longer and leaped over to the angel girl.
Then the others got up. The girls wanted to touch her as if her cuteness would rub off on them. The boys were not satisfied with photos and pulled out a video camera used by the broadcast club.
"Um, wait, Saya. Hey, Kazuko, Yura, don't touch me there."
Ange was crushed by the crowd....And it seemed more of the girls than just Saya were comfortable enjoying some rather risqué contact with her.
That human-hating angel was being deeply influenced by the human world.He had to work with the Student Council later. He had promised to join Ren, but he was glad he had asked to have some time for homeroom today.
"Honestly..."
Ange had given up and just let them do what they wanted, but at the end, she glanced toward Mutsuki.
There she saw him smiling.
And she gave him her usual lopsided frown.
| ← Ch. 61 | Ch. 63 → |