Side Story 2: The World Which He Left Behind (2/2)
“You were able to see me from the start, weren’t you? And once you saw you, you attacked me right away.”
“Ah…… d-don’t come near me……”
“That was your instinct. You instinctively thought I—in other words, your enemy; an angel—was going to come after you.”
With a flutter, I revealed the white wings that I had been hiding until now.
“Stop it… Stop that……!”
“Since you’re a demon, are you afraid of me right now?”
“Wah……! Waaahhh!”
Frightened tears flowed from the boy’s red eyes. I couldn’t blame him. A normal demon wouldn’t even be able to breathe before the holy energy emitted by an archangel such as myself. And for a boy so young, who was seeing an angel for the first time in his life, the damage had to be pretty bad.
“…… Just kidding. Are you alright?”
As if to cancel out the taut atmosphere, I gently patted the boy’s head, who had been holding up beneath the holy energy until the last minute. With a jolt, he looked up at me, his face remaining a terrified one. His eyes showed confusion, and still, slight fear.
“I’m sorry for scaring you. From the start, I had no intention of harming you in any way.”
“…… Eh?”
“Did you know that a while back, a large number of lesser demons appeared near your hideout?”
“Demons……?”
“Ahh~ I guess you weren’t around there then…… Then, you’ve noticed that the scenery around your hideout suddenly changed a while back, right?”
“…… Yeah. I went into town as usual, and…. well, after stealing and splitting it up with everyone, I came back here at night, and I was surprised ‘cause all the dead flowers were suddenly in bloom……”
“Did you notice anything different near your hideout before that day?”
“…… Not really. No one usually goes around there. And since I’m the only one that knows where the hideout is, other than me, you were the first person to find it.”
I stared at his tear-streamed face. He still seemed a bit scared, but I could tell that he wasn’t trying to argue with me. And I could also see from his behavior that he wasn’t lying, either. It would seem that this boy didn’t have any clues for me. Looked like I’d be going back empty-handed on the investigation of the huge occurrence of demons.
“What’s…. going to happen to me?”
“Hm? What d’you mean……?”
“You’re an angel, right……? You said that angels are demons’ enemies, didn’t you….? So……”
“Hm, well let’s see…”
As I looked at him with a grin, I saw his body visibly flinch. It was actually pretty amusing to tease him.
“Well, first off, I’ll take you back to Heaven, and then you’ll be put on trial. The courts in Heaven are very strict. First, a reaaally scary angel that always has wrinkles on his forehead will read out a list of every bad thing that you’ve ever done on earth. He’ll be the one checking exactly just how much you’ve stolen until now. And each time one of your crimes is read aloud, an Arrow of Judgment will pierce straight through your heart—”
“Uwaaaaaaahhh!!”
“Ahahaha….! I’m just joking!”
The boy was shaking with his face distorted in fear. Had I overdone it a little? At this rate, I was going to run out of people who could give me good reactions.
“J-joke……?”
“Right, right. I said so earlier, didn’t I? I don’t intend to do you any harm.”
“……”
“I’m serious. I was just teasing you since your reactions were so funny…… Ah, I’m sorry! Don’t cry, okay?”
“Hn……”
The boy had started to cry again. I had never heard of demons being crybabies, but maybe it was because he was still a young child. Or, was it because…..
“Hey, are you really a demon? Or, could it be that……”
“….. My mom abandoned me… because I was a child of a demon. My mom was a human.”
“……!”
“But….. I don’t care about that. It doesn’t matter whether I’m a demon or a human!”
When I heard this words, I felt something heavy weigh down on my heart.
The doubts that I’d felt until now. The questions that I’m locked away in my heart with a key, where they couldn’t be touched. And now, it was like this boy’s words were breaking them free.
“I’m me….. Not a demon, or a human. If I’m with others that are like me, that were abandoned by their normal, human parents and ended up alone because of the war, I can make friends with them. I’ve always been able to live without eating anything, too. And because of ‘these’, I’ve never gotten caught, no matter how much I’ve stolen.”
Flap—
At his last words, he spread out a pair of small, jet black wings. The robe that we wore on his entire body must have been to hide these wings. Although he was half-human, as well, it seemed that he was born with more demonic features than human. The sorrow that I’d seen in his eyes when I’d first met him must have been because of the origin of his birth.
“Those seem pretty reliable. If you’re able to escape from the old man at the bakery with those, then I might just lose in a match.”
“Eh……?”
“In a race, I mean. Humans do them too, right?”
“…… Yeah.”
“So do angels—competitions to see who can fly the furthest. Are you ready? On your marks… Go!”
Saying this, I burst off into flight. Past the dimly-lit alley, past the town, and the hill. Behind me, the boy with the jet back wings was fighting to catch up. In Heaven, there was no one that could remain within my sights when it came to flight speed, but yet this budding child was able to keep up with my speed. His wing muscles seemed pretty good for being able to escape at the bakery, too.
“The first one to that apple tree on the top of that hill wins……!”
He was gradually picking up speed. Just a little more, and he would overtake me. It was fun. Just as I’d thought, flying was fun.
“Goaaaaaaaaal!”
Pivoting around at the top of the tree, I caught him as he kept flying forward with the momentum. There were very few angels that could keep up with me just a few seconds behind, so I couldn’t help but look forward to the growth of his talent from now on. I carried the boy, still short of breath, until the bottom of the tree.
“That was fun, huh!”
“……”
“Let’s have a rematch sometime.”
“Eh……?”
“Until then, take this.”
“……? Wh-what is this?”
I held out to him a small, cross-shaped earring. However, it wasn’t merely a decoration. It was one of the protective gears that angels used, an object capable of accumulating holy energy temporarily. I explained that it was especially useful for when you were injured during wartime, and was a valuable item for accumulating holy power in Heaven. However, the boy in front of me didn’t seem to quite understand. Well, of course not. Demons had no reason to possess accessories with holy energy, and more than that, it would just be poison to them. For normal demons, that was.
“It’s an amulet.”
“Eh? An amulet……?”
“Yep……. Since you’re half human, it doesn’t hurt even when you’re touched by holy energy, right?”
“…… Yeah.”
“In that case, you should wear that on you. And then, on the off chance that an angel finds you, they won’t know that you’re a demon, as long as you don’t show your wings.”
“……!!”
“The holy energy in that earring will hide your dark energy. Normal demons would suffer damage if they continued to be touched by holy energy, however small, but it seems like you’ll be fine.”
“…… Why…… But, you’re an angel, and demons are angels’ enemies, right? So why are you helping me?”
“You’re the one that told me, right? It doesn’t matter whether you’re a demon or a human. So that’s why I don’t want to fight you.”
“But, angels and demons are……!”
“Among demons, there are even ones that were once angels. They’re called Fallen Angels. You may even meet one of them yourself one day.”
“……!”
“You’re the one that showed me, you know? That even with demons, there are some good ones out there.”
I said this with a smile. The boy’s anxious expression gradually relaxed. And with an expression conflicted between happiness and sadness, tears began to form in his eyes again.
“In a lot of ways, today was pretty productive. The fact that demons are actually crybabies is a valuable piece of information.”
As I teased him again, the boy rushed at me angrily, still crying.
If only for this moment right now, would it be alright if I forgot about the mission my soul held?
To keep the balance of the human world. From the time that humans are born, and until their life ends, it is “our” job to support that cycle. And the ones that hinder that circulation, and try to destroy the world are none other than our enemies, demons.
Angels, humans, and demons—
Appearance-wise, all of them look very similar. Yes, just like this boy before me, both human and a demon, and myself. The only difference lies in the color of our wings and the nature of our spirits. I felt like that was all it really was. Things like righteousness and evil, it’s only that our viewpoints differed, and so perhaps, there does exist a way for us to coexist in peace.
Would there come a day that I would someday find the answer to that?
For now, I would simply continue to live to protect the important people in front of me.
That was how I chose to use my life.