CH 1.3

The class on the following day was harder to get my head around than usual. Listening to the Japanese history teacher’s chant-like voice, I ran through my thoughts.

There are two questions.

One, was of course, there were too many people who appeared. Normally, there’s one. Even the irregularities have two to three, that’s it.

Yet, that twenty people… to be exact, more than that. I don’t want to criticize other people’s romantic preference, but isn’t that too much?

No, Maybe I should question my power first. Maybe something resembling a bug happened. Is that possible? Given that loss of smell during a cold is possible, perhaps…?

“Nope”

Unfortunately, from birth until now, there has never been something like this. I couldn’t guess in the slightest. Even when I tested with some people in the class, nothing unusual happened.

In short, nothing was wrong with my power.

“But…”

Mentioned in the conversation with Makino two days before, Yuzuki has turned down every confession until now. In fact, it was this rigid wall that had doubled her popularity.

For her to like that many people…

The strangest was one of the faces I saw.

Almost all of those faces were gone before I could memorize. It was unexpected, to begin with. But I recognized one of them: Matsumoto from class five.

Some time ago, he confessed to Yuzuki, and she rejected his confession.

That means Yuzuki rejected Matsumoto even though they both have feelings for each other. Of course, there’s a possibility that she started to like him after rejecting… But that doesn’t seem to add up.

[TN: I’m sorry for this interruption, but please read this at Travis translations to support me, the translator. Other sites are aggressor sites]

“Hmm… What a mystery.”

Is this what you call mysterious beauty? As expected from that level of beauty… Wait, no.

The saving grace was that this mystery has nothing to do with me. It’s her romantic preferences, not my business.

The only problem is how to tell Makino about this. That’s the only question.

But yet…

“That’s all for today. Class rep., bowing ritual.”

At the teacher’s words, the chime rang, marking the end of the school day. After bowing, the class was over.

I quickly left the class, continuing my thoughts.

There’s still one more question:

That is, the look on her face yesterday.

Neither confunfused nor bewildered, just excitement and relief.

Let’s not talk about how that face was also beautiful…

–Why did she make that expression?

“Akashi Io-kun.” My name was suddenly called from the corner of the school gate. The voice was clear and cold, but stringed with amusement.

Before me, Yuzuki stood.

“I finally found you, the Angel of Kuze High,” she declared.

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

The reply was immediate.

I was taken by surprise, no doubt.

But I have already rehearsed what to do in this kind of situation a thousand times over. As long as my identity remains a secret, I can deny it reflexively and naturally.

I don’t know why I was suspected or why I was approached. From where to when, since yesterday, nothing makes sense. Whatever, I’m starting to get tired of this. But I needed to get out of here without an incident first.

Keep your head cool and get through this, Io.

“Stop coming for me with that weird reason, will you? I have something I need to get done, bye.”

“By touching my face, what do you know?”

Silence.

This time, I was completely at loss.

Farewell, my calm self. Even I can see the grimace on my face.

“Wh- what? Don’t–”

“The people I like.”

“–––!”

Cold sweat broke.

“You can tell that by touching?”

…Give me a break.

[TN:Yeah, give this poor man a break]

“I want to ask you something,” said Yuzuki, as if dealing the finishing blow. She turned and walked away briskly.

I gave up and silently followed her.

A short walk East from Kuze High leads to a large park. The park surrounds ruins of a castle, along the promenade lined with cherry blossoms, painting the scene with diluted red.

With Yuzuki on the lead, we walked past a space with large playground equipment. At last, we reached the largest lake in Japan, Lake Biwa. We walked to the grassy knoll by the lake and sat down on a nice boulder we found.

I could see the little kids playing and the old couple on the bench looking at us.

“So… here? We stand out here, really?”

It was a funky sight, with me and Yuzuki facing each other. But despite that, against the dusk sky and the glittering lake, Yuzuki was otherworldly.

“The concern is about anyone listening to our conversation, which these waves had already taken care of.”

“I see…” Yup, her logic did make sense. In the worst possible case, there might be a rumor that I tried to confess to her and got rejected. Which is unrelated to the Angel, so whatever.

“If it starts to get out of control, I’ll take care of it. How about that?” she continued

“Yeah… Well, okay.” I nodded. There’s no need for that, but if she insists. I’ll just nod along here. I’m in a weaker position. No use in worsening.

“Thank you.”

However, the atmosphere is somewhat different from what I thought. I had expected blackmail, but…

“That you came here with me, I take it that you have already accepted it?” Yuzuki was unexpectedly nervous, her expression rather tense.

Hmm, so straight to the point.

Coming to think of it, this is the first time I’m talking to her. She appeared calm and collected, with an air of intellectualism about her. As expected from a top student. Well, she is beauti–, (redacted)

“No, not like that. I’m here for what you have to say, so I can clear your misunderstanding,” I denied.

Half lie, half truth.

That I’m the Angel, and even about my power, I can’t just let her go. Somehow, I need to convince her. But the situation was undeniably unfavorable. You could say that she has a hold on me.

Despite her advantage, she was quite reserved… that’s strange.

“October, last year,” she began.

She said like a detective unveiling the truth behind a horror mystery. No, seriously, it’s too scary.

“Nagao-kun from the ping-pong club confessed to Yamabuki. He was rejected. Remember?” At her words, those days started playing at the back of my mind. Yeah, that rejection was Angel’s– my fault. “Nagao-kun wasn’t into the careful type, nor the flamboyant type of girl. He set his sights on the fashionable, popular Yamabuki. They don’t match in the slightest. She would surely reject him. A daredevil. When someone heard the rumors, these were their thoughts, is that right?”

“Uh-huh.”

Yeah, she’s right.

But Nagao did his best. He believed in my words, and he had the courage to tell Yamabuki how he felt. Being rejected is just the result.

But why this story now?

“‘Only if he believed in the Angel’s word,’ some people joked. ‘If he did that, it would have gone well, what a reckless fellow.’. But I thought–” She looked at me “–That Nagao-kun was able to confess, that was because of the Angel, wasn’t it?”

A chill ran down my spine. How do I refute her?

“From then, I observed Nagao-kun’s surroundings for a while. Were there any changes? How did he contact the Angel? I needed to find out.”

As if someone was tightening their hand around my heart, my breath became shallow, my face a painful grimace.

So this is how culprits in mysteries felt…

Yet her expression doesn’t look like a detective who had cornered the criminal.

“That day, Nagao-kun walked past a boy in the hallway. That boy was in a different class, and with no apparent relationship with him. That person patted Nagao, as if to console him. That person was—”

That was me. Nagao was one of the few people who I, the angel of Kuze High School, exposed my identity to. There was a necessity during the consultation process.

So…I was too relaxed?

No, if there weren’t any suspicions in the first place, that should be seen as a simple joke among the boys, no matter how you look at it.

Besides, he was doing his best.

But anyway, that action caught the eye of Yuzuki, who was looking for the Angel.