Vol 1 Chapter 5 (1/2)

Adolescent Adam: Chapter 5 - Skirmish between Heaven, Earth, and hell

“And you knohat, onii-tama? Yesterday, I washed the dishes”

“You did? You’re such a good girl, Mutsulad”

“Eh heh heh She was really happy♪”

Mutsuki called his fa, but it was more to cheer himself up than for their sake He held the receiver between his cheek and shoulder and listened to the events of his littlest sister’s previous day as he squinted fro in

At the top floor of the high-rise aparts were still cool even with summer so close He doubted they would need an air conditioner and he left theopen as he made his way to the kitchen

He needed to fix breakfast He soaked six slices of bread in syrup and cooked the pan

His other little sister, Chiaki, took over the phone back home

“How are things there?” he asked her “Is everyone the same as always?”

“Pretty much …Oh, but onee-chan insists she doesn’t have any classes and so she doesn’t have to get up today”

“How many Chu-His did she have yesterday?”

“She quit after two”

“She has classes Go wake her up”

“Roger What about you? Anything new?”

It was 7:15 AM, time to wake up the “family” here, so he knocked on his roommates’ doors

“Ugh, I drank too much yesterday”

Micha trudged out looking ill When she noticed he was on the phone, she poked his shoulder with her chin to say “good ” and then collapsed into the recliner she loved so much

The living rooh before, but it had been mostly cleaned up

“Not really We’re doing fine”

“I see”

“Talk to you again to happens”

“Okay”

He set down the receiver

The food would be just about cooked, so he returned to the kitchen and grabbed the strawberry jae juice He moved the French toast to separate plates and took one to Micha

“Ugh…”

“Here’s your juice Or would you prefer water?”

“Bee-”

“Not happening Here, have soe juice”

“Boo”

As he responded to what sounded like some kind of code, he held out a cup filled to the brirabbed the carton fro it down

He had no choice but to use the cup for Ange’s breakfast and prepare another drink for himself

He heard a loud belch behind him, but as she was a woman, he pretended not to hear it

“Ahh, I’ in this heat doesn’t seem to help at all But

it would be too cold if I left the air conditioning on”

“It certainly was a little hard to sleep last night”

“My back hurrrts Mutsuki-kun, give e later”

“You’ve had e parlor?”

“I like it when you grope ood when other people do it”

“F-fine…”

He wished she would not say anything that suggestive first thing in theHe had so roo a tank top and hot pants that left her midriff exposed Especially when the tank top material was so thin he was pretty sure he could see her nipples

“Ange! It’s e”

In search of help, he went to wake his other roommate

“It’s so hot… I hate the human world”

The door opened to reveal a girl in cute paja look on her face

She was not as scantily clad as Micha, so the heat was even worse for her The scent of sweat scattered from her as she left When she saw the water in his hand, she swiped it, ele breath, and continued on to the bathroom

“Don’t you dare peep!”

“I won’t”

She drove her point home and then closed the door

It had been three weeks since he had seen her naked, so he could only sigh at his rooe

But he se’s room’s open door and saw the Lazy Bear body pillow on her bed

Three weeks had passed since Fujita Mutsuki had started living away from his family

He had a drea in soe seained the wonderful opportunity to study a foreign language on an everyday basis by living with the bilingual Micha and Ange!

He had no idea how n, she knew a lot about the languages of the hu documents They had easily convinced his parents to let him live away from home

His older sister and Chiaki had not looked happy and it had taken a full five days to convince Mutsu, but here he was

He had been worried about the Fujita fas without their alarood job in his stead He would call everyat seven, but someone was always already up by that ti up early on her own so she could speak with her “onii-tama” on the phone

His new life with Ange and Micha had begun

“…”

It was not a bad life

In fact, it tended toward being fun

He had no coh up it scared him a bit, but the vieas pretty, the apartment was spacious, and the equipment was excellent It was even conveniently located in a familiar area

He was getting along with his rooh

Micha could be a little (using an extreeeeeenerous definition of “little”) e was still prickly, but she was not a bad girl

Making breakfast had fallen to hi care of ninety percent of the housework, including cooking everup afterwards He was not particularly happy about that, but there was no helping it

On his third day, he had cleaned up the hellishroom:

“Wow You really are used to this You’re a great cleaner”

“I…suppose”

“Can you do other housework?”

“I…suppose”

“Then froe of every last bit of housework♪”

“I…what?”

That hen he came to curse the fact that he was a natural yes- anyone asked of him

On the other hand, he had no real proble up and he did want to do so him stay here for free

He had moved here because of the den of either one

He did not regrethere

Ange was fitting in pretty well at school

“Hah!!”

She spun through the air like she had wings slicing through the wind She tied her red hair back in a ponytail during PE and it glittered beautifully like a flame

She landed on thea centimeter

“Ohhhhhhhhhh!”

A cheer filled the entire gy box for a PE class with boys and girls together

“Wo many flips was that!? How many was it!?”

Saya and then the rest of the girls raised their voices and ran over to her Fortunately, no one was all that faymnastics, so they had not noticed their classmate had just shattered a world record

(You can’t do that, Ange)

Mutsuki orried about howout She was probably only using a fraction of her athletic ability, but five flips was taking it too far

“Well, that’s just how it’s going to be”

Ange did not see hair and stepped off theher chest out proudly

Thanks to incidents like that, Ange was known around the school as a “sirl

She was pretty well liked She herself still had a poor impression of humans and could often come off as cold, but everyone allowed it because she was cute

Also…

“W-wood…y-yoo lik…s-sum…kof…ee?”

While her athletic abilities were superhu but And that had a certain charm to it

“Okay, Miss Jiyuuni That’s enough”

“Gh…”

Ange clenched her teeth in frustration as their exasperated English teacher ordered her to sit down

Despite being an elite angel when it came to PE, she was more like this everywhere else

According to her:

“Shut up! The languages, chemical formulas, and mathematical theory in heaven are co japanese in such a short time frame!”

At any rate, this helped Ange’s arrogance not seereeable

She did not irls had a habit of gathering around her She did not see for friends

She had really become a member of the class

On another note, it had becoe lived together

“Gh!? Mutsuki!”

During the midday lunch break, she kicked her chair back and approached him

“What is it?”

He tilted his head and she held an adorable pink lunch box in front of hireen blob in one corner

“You added your oist to the lunch again, didn’t you!?”

“Y-yeah It’s a cold Salisbury steak reens and seaweed Did you not like it?”

“It’s disgusting! It looks like Salisbury steak, but it’s bitter and stinks of seaweed!”

“That’s strange I thought I’d done a good job on that one …It’s full of nutrients, you know?”

“I’ to h!”

Soered in her h to make her choke Mutsuki was not sure what to say, but…

“The couple is at it again”

“Fujita-kun’s had fifteen straight losses, hasn’t he? Keep at it!”

Sakae always ate lunch with Mutsuki and Saya would eat at Ange’s desk, so those two classmates started the usual conversation

“W-we are not a couple!”

Ange was short tempered in the first place, so whenever someone teased her, she would shout back with her face the same color as her hair

Mutsuki tended to grow silent, so whenever she got angry, he would take a figurative step back and let it happen When another classive him a sympathetic look, so he could only smile bitterly back

“Hey, husband Quit ignoring your wife She’s pretty angry”

“I’m not her husband How many times do I have to tell you she’s just a relative?”

He kept his tone as cal his cheek with a fist Both Sakae and Saya cackled in delight

The ether was a familial relationshi+p, so that story had worked its way into the class over the past three weeks At first, there had been ruether, but now only their close friends teased the to doubt that they were just relatives

“F-fine then!”

Everyone was laughing and Ange seery one, so she stopped co the Salisbury steak

Mutsukiin disguise that the class knew they lived together because now he did not have to fix two separate menus

“What did you even cook that ry? You said it was a Salisbury steak reens and seaweed?”

“Yeah You kno they make Salisbury steaks with one or the other? Well, I ether”

Mutsuki had a knack for all kinds of housework, but he especially liked cooking

Back with his family, his mother and older sister had only let his, and salad), so he had a lot more chances to cook lunch and dinner now That meant he could try out a lot more dishes

“Want to try some?”

Sakae was peering into his lunch, so he held out a slice of the item in question

“!!!”

Sakae leaned as far back as he could and vigorously shook his head

Mutsuki was confused because this boy had a habit of asking for a bite whenever he was eating soinal creations, people had a tendency of sweating a lot and declining

“But it’s really good”

He took a bite himself

“It takes a generous heart to accept so like that You are a virtuous person, my friend”

After Sakae muttered that, the smell of the seaweed and meat must have reached him because he pulled his chair back

“Whoops Sorry, Ibekusa”

His elbow hit the neighboring desk where Ibekusa Machina was eating

“…”

The desk shook, but the girl showed no reaction as she continued to eat

Her desk was located between Mutsuki’s and Ange’s, so she alroup She was physically close by, but she was as hard to speak to as always

No one said a word about her unique lunch: a single red apple

The way she choe She did not actually open her h the skin

The class was already used to this scene

It happened every day She always had a single apple for lunch

Saya had once asked about it when it caught her interest:

“Hey, hey, Ibekusa-san Is an apple enough for you?”

“It is nutritionally adequate”

“But aren’t you still hungry? Are you on a diet?”

“Negative”

“Do you like them?”

“Positive”

That was all

With her figure, she certainly did not need to go on a diet, so everyone had concluded she was just a light eater

“…”

Mutsuki’s eyes wandered in her direction and he found himself entranced by her

When her cherry blossoainst the round apple skin, they bent so softly around the apple’s contours

That kiss between scarlet and pink looked so oddly seductive that the boy’s heart started racing

Machina bit off a piece and thoroughly chewed it Her eyes were still half-closed and he still questioned whether she felt emotions at all

Even the nor seemed out of place for such a doll-like person It felt like he atching so mysterious

Taking the bite had dirtied her lips with soue and carelessly licked it off

“What are you staring at?”

“! Wh-what do you mean?

When Sakae moved into his field of vision, Mutsuki looked away in shock

“You were looking at Ibekusa, weren’t you? Your wife’s right over there, so don’t cheat on her, okay?”

“I was not! U at Ibekusa-san”

Sakae was teasing hie earlier, but Mutsuki panicked and shook his head since he really did have a crush on her

His intense reaction was as good as adh to think so rationally about it

In search of an excuse, he looked back toward Machina and thebeyond her

“Th-the clock I was looking at the clock tower because I wanted to knohat time it-…”

But when he pointed out the …

It had been a casual action, but as soon as Mutsuki’s eyes reached the top of the clock tower, his face grew pale Ange noticed the sa backwards

“Huh? What’s going on?”

Sakae and Saya both looked over at the clock tower in confusion, but by then “he” had hidden behind theon

He ale and Mutsuki

“Let’s go”

“S-sure”

They left their half-eaten lunches behind and ran from the classroonored it They descended the stairs to the first floor, put on their outdoor shoes, and stepped outside It was a sunny day, but the wind on their cheeks was so cold they thought it was going to rain

They had practiced for this moment quite a bit in the past three weeks

Mutsuki did not want to get anyone else involved in the confusion surrounding hi the human world with unnecessary chaos

Once an ene an empty place

Luckily, the enemy had chosen somewhere empty for them The area was known as a place of rest, but it was not very well-maintained, half of the laas overtaken by weeds, and the overgrown plants acted as a natural fence that kept most students away

The two of them ran to the base of the clock tower

“Ha ha♪”

The boy sitting on thedown easily juht

“I’m so happy you came to see me, Mutsuki-kun”

The deave a serous

“I’ to accept your invitation Especially when it means I can dispose of an awful brat”

Ange stepped forward, pulled a pendant from below her shi+rt, reht

The silver color swelled out in her s Lucia’s way

The angel easily swung a blade thicker than she was, but the demon boy was entirely unfazed He did wink at Mutsuki with a cute sh

“Sorry I couldn’t co a way to deal with that troubleso”

He defenselessly turned his back and faced the entrance to the hexagonal clock tower He reached for the door labelled “no students allowed” It was not locked, so it creaked open and he left behind a provocative laugh as he entered

“Wait!”

This was clearly a trap – Lucia had pretty e did not hesitate to follow him inside

“Ah…”

Faced with an enemy for the first time in three weeks, Mutsuki tensed up and failed to stop his reckless bodyguard

According to Micha, this boy naroups after the Serpent’s Eye, he was from the one that controlled that thick, black water Memories of the three-week-old fear sent a chill down his spine

“W-wait!”

But he forced his shaking knees to follow the two of them

As the “no students allowed” sign would suggest, this was Mutsuki’s first time in the tower

Inside, he foundfrom the small s

Fortunately, Ange had stopped just after entering There was no sign of Lucia, but…

“Stop, Mutsuki-kun Don’t get any closer It’s dangerous”

Mutsuki heard the demon boy’s voice as soon as he set foot inside, so he had to be there somewhere

The tower had only been designed to hold the clock at the top, so the twenty meter wide space was e up the wall There were, however, sixteen coluside them

Mutsuki knew nothing of co about this place

“Over there!”

Darkness dully glistened between two colue flipped her sword around to deflect the tip and she tried to charge behind the columns

“…!?”

But just before she did, her sword struck the countless stone columns and wooden support beams

With her et The scythe slithered between the colueted her wide-open body She twisted her torso at the last second and avoided having her heart skewered, but…

“Vah…!”

Lucia appeared from a different direction and kneed her in the cheek

Her spine bent like a spring to lessen the ie and her short form wobbled on her feet The boy instantly pulled his hand back and aimed the tip of the scythe toward her chest

“Gh…”

“Ange!”

Mutsuki shouted without thinking That silver blade glistened a disturbing aht and it was about to reach his roommate’s heart

He could feel the blood rushi+ng from his face as he watched

“Suit – Adamah!”

The tip dug into her shi+rt a bit, but then it stopped

“…”

Lucia realized he could not stab here because there was so incredibly hard below her shi+rt, so he swept the blade to the side instead At the sae kicked off a column and moved away

It was a blink-and-you-e fell to her knees

Was “the way to deal with that troublesoel” this place itself? The space filled with so e and her large sword On the other hand, Lucia’s curved scythe allowed hiles

“What are you going to do now? You can retreat if you want But only if you’re fine with leaving Mutsuki-kun behind”

The boy calmly sat in a place protected by the many columns and support beams

“Tch”

The girl twisted her face where she had been kicked and held the front of her blazer uniform

Her clothes had been cleanly sliced from her chest down to the top of her skirt, but she fortunately did not seeonally across her cute belly, but that was all Her chest was unhurt despite the direct hit

Just like Micha’s underwear, Ange’s sports bra and spats were known as a Suit They were arels When it hardened, it was impossible to pierce However…

“Shouldn’t you be retreating? I ai spot that time, but I’ll penetrate you next time”

Lucia gave a challenging s on his shoulder

And he had a point Ange was safe since the boy had happened to target her heart, but what if he lopped off her head or sliced through the abdomen next time?

“Ange…”

Mutsuki pleaded her to leave even as he trembled in fear

But instead of nodding, the girl flipped her long hair back and stabbed her sword into the floor

“Mutsuki, close your eyes”

“Eh?”

“Don’t ‘eh’ me Close them, you pervert”

She made her usual lopsided frown and he finally realized her underas visible Part of hirew embarrassed when he actually focused on her state of dress It was too round

The girl sighed

“Plus, you wouldn’t want to see this”

She grabbed her sword in both hands

“A living creature is about to be ripped to shreds”

“What!?”

“Prominence – Loop!”

Drawn by Lucia’s shout of surprise, Mutsuki also looked to see why she sounded so confident

She split her giant sword in two like a pair of scissors, giving her two long blades

The sense of weight reed swords were clearly quite sharp

Also, these were the weapons of an angel that fought with fire A blue flah the portion that had supported the center of the blade back in its original forh for Mutsuki to kno dangerous it was

“Ange of the Double Flame”

“—————”

“So that’s where the name comes from!”

“Ahhhhhhhh!”

Lucia was dued toward him with a weapon in each hand

“Tch”

Even split in half, it had h power to overwhel just one of the to break

And by that time, the other blade was already on its way down