Two thousand meters below Megutono Academywas the lowest level of FeTUS Headquarters, aka the Garden.
The indoor s.p.a.ce was set to appear like abeautiful 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 theap.r.o.n dress she so loved. Machina was still wearing her school uniform. Miss Bwas also wearing her uniform and her upper body was sprawled out on the table.
“Sigh…”
Ren had bandages here and there thanks toher several-hour-long battle with strongest angel and she breathed a deep sigh.
The maid laughed while pouring warm waterin five cups and heating them.
“You’ve really done it now. Miss A is veryupset that you demanded a duel with that cute angel who had decided not tointerfere.”
“Hmph. I cannot allow anyone to look down on my pride. I cannot back off when Iam insulted.”
“But you had the wrong person, didn’t you?”
“…Yes.”
She sounded dejected.
“And I also hear you got angry over yourb.o.o.bs. Honestly, b.o.o.b size is no more than a number.”
“Shut up, Miss D! You can only say thatbecause yours are big! You don’t know how I feel!”
“Hee hee. I think small has itsadvantages.”
“Positive. When they are too big, they areheavy.”
The maid and Machina comforted hertogether.
The maid’s mounds were an appropriate sizefor 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 cupsgave off steam.
“Oh, right. Speaking of b.r.e.a.s.t.s, haven’tyours 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 cuterthis time.”
“…Normal ones are fine.”
“No, no. You’re a girl, so you have to wearcute 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 Machinasimply looked confused.
The one coffee went to Ren and the three ofthem began their teatime.
“Miss D, why do you insist on choosingother people’s clothes like that? You coordinate all of Miss E’s underwear andcasual clothing, don’t you?”
Ren stirred her coffee with a gold spoon.
“Because choosing clothes is fun. And MissE won’t put any effort into how she looks, so I have to choose for her.”
“I do understand the feeling, but can’t youjust choose clothing for yourself?”
“…The thing about being a woman taller than190cm is that you can’t choose. Finding any clothes at all that fit you is achallenge.”
“S-sorry.”
She did not really think she had toapologize, but she sensed something indescribable that led her to do so.
Once her coffee had cooled a bit, she tooka sip.
“…Ugh.”
And she grimaced.
Machina looked curious as she took a sip oftea.
“Do you not use milk or sugar?”
“N-no. Not since a bit ago.”
With that, she took another sip of coffeewith a blatantly displeased look on her face.
Machina tilted her head and the maid laughed.
“Before, she gave Fujita Mutsuki-kun someblack coffee to tease him, but the boy just drank it like it was normal. Shecan’t afford to let a younger boy outdo her, so she’s been familiarizing hertongue with the bitter flavor.”
“Y-you didn’t have to explain it.”
“You also kept complaining how bitter thatbitter melon castella was, but since it came from him, you ate every lastbite.”
“Shut up.”
She glared at Makoto who kept saying toomuch and Machina who was putting sugar in her tea like normal. Meanwhile, shemanaged to finish her cup of coffee. Even if it was black, it was fortunately alot 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 wasMiss C still in her teacher’s clothes.
The other was Miss A whose usual youngfeatures had grown quite stern.
Ren had known Miss A would be angry, so sheset down her cup and shrank down in her chair.
But Miss Alice Arc shook her head to saythey would talk later.
Once all five of them were seated, thesurrounding scenery changed. The image of the field had even reproduced thewind and sunny aroma, but all of that vanished and they were surrounded bydarkness and a metallic scent.
Realizing something was different fromnormal, the other four straightened up.
“We have completed the genetic a.n.a.lysis ofthe 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 backfrom the DNA base only introduces a margin of error of 0.0001%, so we can statewith confidence that these cells belong to the same person.”
The other three focused on Machina.
“The womb of Eve, the perfect woman, hasbeen 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 faceand 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 inhis twenties.
But that sense of youth had less to do withhis body and more to do with what seemed to emanate from him.
He gave off an intensity that was anythingbut aged. It was like he had maintained the greed, arrogance, and almightysense of an adolescent even in his old age. He gave off a sinister ambition.
Another man sat in a study seat. He was thepolar opposite: a small and fat man. His frame was wide and his presence wasalmost frail.
The aura from the two of them could nothave been more different, but their faces looked a lot alike.
The youthful but elderly man was contrastedby the small man whose skin was that of a man in his twenties, even if hisframe was not. They were apparently father and son.
Two young girls stood next to the smallman: Riselle and Enju.
“Miss Arc is certainly persistent. Does sheseriously think she can save humanity?”
The small man gave a servile smile.
“My teacher never would compromise once shemade up her mind.”
Riselle giggled happily and Enju lookeddisinterested while both of them leaned against the man’s lap.
“Regardless, she undoubtedly intends tocontaminate Lady Lilith’s heart.”
Unlike that lazy-looking trio, the largeman spoke with anger in his voice and then looked back. Realizing lazinesswould not be allowed, the trio straightened their backs.
“She must be eliminated. Find whatinformation you can on the Holy Grail. Once we hold Adam, we can use thatinformation to threaten Miss A.”
“Sure thing.”
His son did not sound very motivated, butthe two girls stood up. They both got to work.
The man anxiously gnashed hiscigarette-stained teeth.
“I cannot stand her… Do you intend to defyLady Lilith’s heart even if it means leaving this world…?”
He groaned out the words with the blood vesselsbulging out at his temple.
“Curse that previous Eve… Curse Lucya.”
“Mutsuki-kun knows of Lucya?”
Micha’s big bike was in the parking lot tothe apartment building where the two angels and Mutsuki lived.
Few people showed up there at this hour, soit 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 informationwith heaven.
“He has spoken the name a few times.”
“Where did he hear about her? I never toldhim.”
“I do not know. I cannot find any trace ofhim 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 shewas straddling and she rested her elbow on the handlebars. “Do memories of aprevious life really just show up like that? I could understand if it was somekind of formative experience that really left a mark in your memories, butsomeone’s name?”
“It would not normally be possible, but forhim? Maybe.”
“It certainly is convenient being Adam. Iguess it isn’t called the original Fruit of Knowledge for nothing.”
“What should we do, Micha? This isn’tentirely unrelated to you.”
“Let’s leave it be for now. It isn’tharming anything. And this should make a good barometer for seeing how far hisFruit of Knowledge has awoken.”
She sounded indifferent and she pulled a plasticbag from the luggage carrier installed next to the clutch pedal. It was from anearby convenience store and it contained beer as usual.
“So the Adolescent Adam will eventuallygrow up, huh? I’m not sure if that makes me happy or sad.”
She got down from the motorcycle andstarted toward the elevator to say the report was over.
“More importantly, you need to look intohow Kagari Enju’s body was stolen.”
She looked back just once with an unusuallyharsh look for her.
“I don’t want Ange to see a demon made fromher original body.”
“…I understand.”
The angel young man’s tone was similarlydark.
Permanent Name: Kagari Enju had aspirituality and battle sense not often seen in recent years.
Her soul had been reborn as the angel namedJiyuuni Ange, but it turned out her body had been reborn as a demon.
She had the same battle sense as Ange, shehad a demonic body, and she could even use FeTUS technology. She was clearlythe most formidable foe they had faced…
But beyond that…
“That body came from my precious littlesister. I cannot allow this mockery to continue. I swear to you I will trackher down and punish her appropriately.”
“Make sure you do.”
The two older angels who watched over Angewere mostly driven by pure anger over having the cute younger angel’s previouslife defiled.
Rapha left and Micha rode the elevator upto their room.
Mutsuki and Ange would still be up and shesensed someone in the living room when she opened the door.
She prepared to say she was back, but thenshe saw her expression in the entranceway mirror.
It was tense from a mixture of variousforms of mental weariness.
She could not show them that face when shewas supposed to help those two feel at ease. She slapped her cheeks and put ona smile.
“I’m back~♪”
She energetically threw the living roomdoor open.
“Wah, M-Micha-san.”
Mutsuki was alone. He seemed to befidgeting in front of the TV.
“You’re back already? Um, I thought youwere going to be out late again.”
“I finished what I was doing, so I probablywon’t be playing around with my bike for a while. Well, I’ll ride it some forfun, 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 hisface, so he was blatantly panicked and glancing worriedly toward his room.
Wondering what this was about, Micha tiltedher head and followed his gaze toward his room.
“Mutsuki… Are you ready…hwah!”
Just then, the door opened and Ange pokedher head out.
Micha did not get a good look since Angeimmediately slammed the door shut, but the boy and girl were clearly fl.u.s.tered.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 onsome new clothes. So she wanted to see what I thought of them…and, um…”
Mutsuki frantically tried to come up withan excuse, but it was a blatant lie. It was true that Ange had been wearingsome unfamiliar clothes in the brief glimpse Micha had caught, but she wouldnot have to change in his room if she was only showing off her clothes. Notunless she was planning to remove those clothes in his room soon thereafter.
Micha’s grin must have told Mutsuki sheunderstood everything, so he blushed and hung his head.
He was shy and the angel could not behonest with herself, but it seemed they were actually planning to share a bedtonight.
Micha smiled bitterly as she realized shereally had been intruding this time.
“By the way, what are the new clothes?’
“Oh, uh…”
“And! With that!”
Sakae energetically pounded on theteacher’s desk.
He was back to his usual cheerful self andthe cla.s.s was smiling.
In fact, all the boys and girls weregrinning. Not only had they solved all the recent difficulties, but now theycould see what they had been hoping to see.
Mutsuki had already seen it last night, buthe also felt his expression loosening. Even though he had been warned on theway to school that, “laugh and I’ll kill you”.
“After all our troubles, we’ve found ourlead for the play. Someone finally volunteered yesterday. This was the kind ofBurning☆Friendship that just couldn’t ignore ourplight. School really is all about love, bravery, and friendship…”
“Shut up! Just let us see her already!!”
Sakae was so excited he ended up stretchingout the introduction, so Saya snapped back at him while so excited she wasbreathing heavily.
The others booed him too, so apparently noneof them could stand to wait.
Sakae smiled bitterly and signaledKatsue-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! Allowme to introduce our dear friend who will be representing our cla.s.s:Jiyuuniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaange!!”
He began a professional wrestling style ofmic performance and the cla.s.sroom’s door slid open
There was no on there, but Subaru was onthe lookout and mercilessly pushed on someone’s back.
“Wah.”
Ange stumbled in.
Her red hair trailed elegantly behind her. Theflared skirt and the lace and frills on her clothes fluttered. The black glimmercaught everyone’s eye.
She even wore the backpack, so she reallydid look as innocent as a six-year-old girl dressed up for her first day atschool. And that was joined by the girl’s own mature atmosphere.
The cla.s.sroom instantly quieted down as ifthey had been splashed with cold water.
They were all focused on Ange who shrankdown.
“Eek!?”
The entire cla.s.s pulled out their cellphones.
“Wh-what, wait, what are you all doing?”
The cla.s.sroom was filled with theelectronic sounds meant to mimic cameras.
The girl was simply confused. She knew littleabout the human world and it may have been for the best that she was unfamiliarwith the camera function of cellphones.
“Hmph. I would’ve looked better in it.”
“Ah ha ha. That’s right. You would’ve beencute too, Lucia-kun.”
Lucia apparently could not accept it becausethose 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 inyour eyes is scaring me… Why are you getting so close!?”
“Shut up! Just let me hug you! Hug youtight!”
“Wah! Saya, hey…abhbhbhbh.”
Saya could not hold back any longer andleaped over to the angel girl.
Then the others got up. The girls wanted totouch her as if her cuteness would rub off on them. The boys were not satisfiedwith photos and pulled out a video camera used by the broadcast club.
“Um, wait, Saya. Hey, Kazuko, Yura, don’ttouch me there.”
Ange was crushed by the crowd. …And itseemed more of the girls than just Saya were comfortable enjoying some rather risquécontact with her.
That human-hating angel was being deeplyinfluenced by the human world.
Mutsuki happily watched it play out.
He had to work with the Student Councillater. He had promised to join Ren, but he was glad he had asked to have sometime for homeroom today.
“Honestly…”
Ange had given up and just let them do whatthey wanted, but at the end, she glanced toward Mutsuki.
There she saw him smiling.
And she gave him her usual lopsided frown.