Chapter 2: The Girl in Black (1) (1/2)

Kingdom of Alphine, Rulen Island. In a place not far from the Claude Cathedral located at the island’s center, was the Cyrinpt Mansion. Built four hundred years ago by the prodigious architect, Tossano, this mansion combined the structural mechanics of planes and isometrics in a sensible balance, known as the prominent style of “Neo Tossano Architecture.” It was carefully decorated down to the last detail, and although an old building, it was reinforced with repairs over the years to remain in good condition. This mansion had a history of being inherited by each new family head of House of Cyrinpt over many generations. In particular, the garden that was made through careful arrangement and calculations was a sight to behold, and naturally, received high praises from the nobles of neighboring countries. Every month, the nobles and aristocrats gathered in this garden for social parties. The Cyrinpt House was a prestigious family that has been around since the founding of Alphine, and Miku was the daughter of their current family head.

It was a peaceful afternoon. Having come back from church, Miku was enjoying an early afternoon tea in the Cyrinpt Mansion’s prized garden.

“Miku! Miku~!”

While drinking Earl Grey, and reading the book she had purchased that morning, she suddenly heard the desperately shouting voice of a girl approaching.

“Miku~! Ah, there you are!”

“….. Why are you in such a hurry, Rin? ….. Oh ….! Fufu …..”

Miku couldn’t help but giggle slightly when she saw Rin’s appearance.

“Miku, you’re so mean~! Hmph …..!”

Rin puffed out her cheeks and faced the other direction. She seemed to be upset about being laughed at.

“It suits you very well. You look like a cute princess.”

“~~~!”

A princess. Just as Miku said, right now, Rin looked like a princess. On her head was a tiara inlaid with diamonds and pearls, and she wore a pale pink dress that looked almost like flower petals sewn together. She had on a light, neat makeup, and her beautiful blonde hair was set in curls. She had the appearance of an adorable princess that had just come out of a fairy tale.

“Lady Rin~~! Where have you gone~? Your makeup isn’t finished yet~~!”

A voice could be heard calling for Rin from the mansion. It was the mansion’s tailor maid, Lily. She was the one solely in charge of “dressing people up.” The princess-like appearance that Rin had now was also something that she had tailored. Gradually, Lily’s voice began to come closer.

At this rate, she would be found …..

Rin dove under the table that Miku was sitting at to hide there. There was just enough space for one person to fit comfortably.

“You certainly are making a lot of noise …. What’s wrong?”

“Ah, Lady Miku! Did Lady Rin pass through here ….? We were still in the middle of ‘producing,’ and she suddenly disappeared …..”

“That seems like fun, Lily. …. Hmm, well, we were having tea together a moment ago …. But it seems she’s already gone back inside the mansion.”

“Has she now ….! Thank you very much! Lady Riiiin~~!”

With blue eyes shining with determination, the maid named Lily ran back in the direction of the mansion.

“…….. Is she gone?”

Lifting the tablecloth up, Rin very slowly checked the surroundings, wearing a worried expression on her face. She seemed to be quite overwhelmed by Lily’s “production.”

“Yes. But it might be a good idea to stay out here for the time-being.”

Rin remembered the ridiculously happy look on Lily’s face earlier, and chuckling, her own expression relaxed slightly.

“Sheesh~~ I wish she’d give me a bit of a break ….. This is already the second outfit today.”

Lily was a tailor. In other words, her job was to dress up the people that lived in this mansion. With a natural, exceptional sense for aesthetics and technique, she was boasted as being the best in the kingdom. Her only fault, however, was being much too hard-working. Particularly when she found high-quality “material,” her tailoring craftsmanship would be fired up, and she would not stop until her product was finished to her liking. Currently, after coming across the highest quality material the other day, she was completely engrossed in producing Rin.

Today’s theme was the Princess Series. After changing into the second outfit in the morning, Rin had become thoroughly worn out. In the middle of applying the makeup, Lily had gone off to find more mascara, and Rin had taken the chance to escape. Ever since the night Rin had taken shelter in the mansion, Lily’s enthusiastic “production” had continued, and she soon grew used to life at the Cyrinpt Mansion. According to Lily, Rin was a “diamond gemstone.” If polished, the beautiful shine of her hidden alluring light would be released …. Or so she said.

Normal humans cannot see angels, or feel their presence. Usually, angels will hide their form and voice from humans. In truth, every angel is able to reveal their form at will, but everyone follows the law in Heaven that prohibited unnecessary contact with humans. If her wings were not damaged, and she wasn’t lacking in holy power, Rin was also able to hide her appearance. However, as long Rin was staying at Miku’s mansion, there would be various inconveniences if she was to stay unseen, and they decided that she should make herself visible.

While she was in the mansion, Rin posed as a freewheeling noble lady that had come from the neighboring Kingdom of Folle. While in Alphine, she had suddenly met Miku and gotten along right away, and for the sake of deepening their friendship, they were currently staying together. That was the story they had made up. The reason they had said she was freewheeling, was a camouflage for not having any practices or education like other nobles. Rin, of course, looked just like humans did, wore human clothes, and hid her wings so that she would not be suspected to be an angel.

“Since coming here, my wounds have mostly healed, though~ But it’s tough being dressed up like a doll every day.”

“Really? I, for one, have a lot of fun seeing Rin in different outfits.”

“I’m an angel, so there isn’t much point to dressing up so much.”

“Oh …. But I think Rin’s pure white outfit to look very fashionable and lovely.”

“Eh ……! I-I guess so ….”

Although Rin had little interest in her outer appearance, she actually felt happy to be complimented like this by Miku. To hide her embarrassment, she started fiddling with her bangs.

“Rin really is so cute.”

“Ehhh~~! That’s not true …..!”

“….. ? Do you dislike being called cute, Rin …? Even though that dress looks so nice on you.”

“It’s … not that I dislike it, but ….”

As soon as she had asked that, Rin began to trail off. Had she touched on a sensitive topic, perhaps? Speaking of which ….

“Rin, you talk in a masculine manner, don’t you? Although you look like a girl, could it be that …. You’re actually a boy?”

Rin, who had sat down in the adjacent chair, suddenly spit out the Earl Grey she was drinking.

“Oh, dear! Are you alright?”

When Rin started coughing, Miku kindly rubbed her back for her. She thought it a just little out of place that an angel would spit out tea.

“Haa, haa …… Miku …. Sometimes I don’t know whether you’re joking or being serious.”

“I don’t joke very much at all.”

“….. I see …. Well, either way. We, angels, don’t have a clear gender like humans do. Well, when it comes to appearance, we choose to look either male or female, like humans do. But I shouldn’t appear to be a male in any way.”

“I see …. So, Rin’s a girl, after all?”

“Hmmm …. I guess I am. …. But, what’s more important than appearance, is the qualities of the soul …..”

Still trying to think of how to properly explain everything, Rin held a scone in each hand. They were self-baked by Miku for teatime. Today, she had made them especially delicious, and was thinking about giving some to her mother when she came home. She was very confident this time …. So surely, her mother would be happy about them, as well ….

She felt a small ache in her chest.

“So, Rin, how are today’s snacks …..? I put in raspberries that I picked fresh from the garden this morning.”

Every day, Miku would make snacks for teatime. She was quite skilled at it, and would even be praised by the mansion’s chef.

“They’re so good!!”

With her mouth full of raspberry scone, Rin smiled with a carefree smile. When she saw that bright smile, her slightly anxiety from earlier was blown away. Rin had a mysterious quality about her. Not because she was an angel, but because her bright smile, that seemed to shine on her surroundings like the sun, would fill you with happiness, as well. The worries and sadness in your heart would be dispelled, as if your “soul” were being healed. Miku wasn’t very sure on how to explain it exactly with just words.

“Oh, Rin ….. It’s inappropriate behavior for a ‘princess’ to be holding scones in both hands, and talking with her mouth full.”

Miku said this to tease her, and sure enough, Rin shouted in reply, “But I’m not a princess~~!” and just as expected, began to choke again on the scones that got stuck in her throat.

Somehow, it felt like she’d found a cute younger sister. Or perhaps, even a younger brother. Tomorrow, she would bake the apple pie that Rin loved, as angels loved apples. When she had made an apple pie the other way, Rin’s eyes had sparkled so brightly, and she had eaten the entire thing by herself in less than four minutes. It all felt nostalgic in some way, and Miku found herself smiling naturally. She remembered, a long time ago, her mother had once baked an apple pie for her father, and he had been so happy while eating it.

Looking up at the sky, she saw dark, grey clouds in the distance. It looked like it was about to rain.

* * *

From atop of the bridge that seemed to stretch on endlessly, the crowds of people below could be observed. It was if all the people in the world had been gathered together here.

Between Folle, to the east, and Violente, to the west, there was the Kingdom of Alphine, made prosperous by various forms of commerce. The large marketplace, known as “Glosse Market” was held by the kingdom once a year. Today, as well, many merchants from the east and west had crossed the Belchstein Bridge to come to the Glosse Market. This marketplace, which could even be called a Festival for Merchants, was a place to display a variety of goods from their respective countries, and trade with each other. Both merchants and noblemen participated in this event.

People had come to promote their goods to well-known nobles, or to observe or buy-out their competitors, or even to mediate business relations. During the one week period that the Glosse Market was held, Alphine’s economy was multiplied by thirty times of what it usually was.

Looking down at the lively humans in their festive mood, Rin yawned loudly. Today, she had taken a form that was invisible to them, and was floating far up in the sky. While waiting for her friend to finish buying from the shoemaker, Rin was observing humans. It was her first time visiting this world in a while, and because it was the one festival day of the year, it was rather crowded.

It had been one month since she had gotten injured and taken shelter at Miku’s mansion. While living amongst the humans in their world, her wing had made a full recovery. During this time in Heaven, Kaito and the other angels had actually been in an uproar at first. Everyone was worried about Rin, who had not returned, and although they had abandoned their duties and put out a search, because Rin had lost most of her holy power and was living amongst humans, the other angels had not been able to locate her.

Angels normally use the holy energy in their bodies as a way of communication with each other. Therefore, should their holy energy be depleted, they are not be able to do so. In this case, Rin had daringly cut off contact with Heaven, therefore, no matter how hard they searched, they had not been able to pinpoint her exact location.

In addition, all angels have no sense of direction, with no exceptions. Angels recognize things by interpreting the flow of energy or holy power; that is to say, they rely heavily on their six senses. Because of this, their spatial recognition ability is low, and due to having no interest in the terrain and streets of the human world, they do not bother to learn them. This is the reason why, to prevent becoming lost in the human world during missions, it became fundamental for two angels to work together as a pair.

Speaking of which, the hymns sung at churches are sung with holy power for the sake of empowering angels that become lost in the human world, so that they may call for help; this was started by a human that had, by chance, heard a song be used for this purpose.

Once her wings had healed, Rin had been able to fly back to Heaven. She told her direct superior, and partner, Kaito, about how she had expected the injury suffered from the battle with the demon would take time to heal, and because there was a risk that a demon would appear near the church again, she had taken shelter in Miku’s mansion, whom she had happened to meet by chance nearby.

Kaito had lectured his subordinate endlessly for a full week about being missing for a month, and after she had written many letters of apology and reflection statements for breaking the law, he had, somehow or other, come to understand.

Due to Kaito’s exceptional ability to understand and the trust he had built in her—in other words, his angelicness, the matter had passed without being severely punished for breaking the law of “contacting a human directly as a junior angel”. Under normal circumstances, this violation would have led to a demotion from junior angel to a trainee angel, but instead, she had been punished with cleaning the Grandios Temple (the largest building in Heaven) for three months.

Perhaps because she was in good favor of her superior since long before, she was never very strongly reprimanded for a little recklessness. She deeply regretted engaging in contact with a human without permission and had shown remorse for her actions. However, after some time had passed, as expected, her adventurous nature won over, and she returned to continuing relations with humans. Her superior, Kaito, had a very strict personality towards himself and his surroundings, but for some reason, he only softened up with Rin. Even when she went to see Miku and Lily between jobs, although he was still cautious, for the most part, he would turn a blind eye.

Even today, when Rin was openly breaking the law and being in direct contact with humans again, he might be pretending not to notice right now.

“Anyway, there sure are a lot of people …..”

This bridge was always crowded with people whenever she came, but today in particular, it was so crowded that there didn’t seem to be any room to walk.

Rin had a day off from work today, and had energetically come to the human world at sunrise. Her purpose, naturally, was to see Miku. Ever since she’d injured her wing in the battle with the demon and stayed with her while it healed, she and Miku got along very well. When they’d first met, there were quite many bewildering things about human values and their living environment, but after spending time with Miku, Lily, and everyone at the Cyrinpt Mansion, she was able to grasp the general idea of what a “human” was like. For the most part, she’s never met many humans before, so living with Miku and everyone had brought surprises every day, and new, fun experiences.

There was quite a gap of difference between what they were taught in Heaven about humans and what humans were actually like, so she thought that perhaps a training course involving contact with actual humans should be included in the promotion program.

To angels, humans were inferior beings. A weak existence. This was why angels were given the mission of overlooking their fragile lifespan. Up until now, she had always believed this, and never doubted this concept. But now, she couldn’t help but feel that there was something a little wrong about it. Surely, this was because she had met Miku. Although she should be a fragile, and inferior existence, every one of Miku’s words made her heart waver. Once you get to know them, humans were very interesting, thought Rin. She wanted to know more and more about humans.

After finishing her shopping at the shoemakers, Miku looked up to see where Rin was in the sky, and jogged over to her. Today, Rin was accompanying Miku with her shopping.