Haruto pulled the door open wide, and standing out in the hallway just as he had anticipated were three distinctly recognizable figures.
The short-haired girl at the front of the group jumped slightly in surprise, blinking in bewilderment at the sight of an unfamiliar young man answering Gabriel's door.
She quickly tugged on Raphiel's sleeve, whispering nervously.
"Raphiel, didn't you say this was Gab-chan's apartment? Did we accidentally come to the wrong floor?"
"No, this is definitely Gabriel's home,"
Raphiel replied smoothly, a knowing, highly amused glint flashing in her eyes as she looked up.
"Though... I have to wonder why Haruto-kun is the one opening the door."
"Wait, you actually know him?" Vignette asked, dumbfounded.
Haruto offered a relaxed, easygoing smile and stepped back slightly to make room.
"I'm Haruto. I actually just moved into the building a few days ago, and it turns out Gabriel—or Tenma, as I usually call her—is living right next door to me."
He offered a brief, polite explanation before gesturing inside. "Gabriel asked me to help her with something just now. Please, come on in."
"Ah, thank you!" Vignette walked across the threshold, immediately bowing slightly out of sheer politeness.
"Hello, Haruto-kun. I'm Vignette April Tsukinose, a second-year student at the academy."
She then turned, pointing toward the red-haired girl standing beside her who was staring blankly at Haruto with wide eyes.
"And this is Satanichia McDowell Kurumizawa. She and I... well, we come from the same hometown."
Haruto's eyes lit up with recognition. "Ah, Kurumizawa-san. I believe we ran into each other the other morning."
"It was you—!!"
Satanichia suddenly shrieked, bouncing backward in an excited frenzy as her brain finally connected the dots.
She stared at him with absolute reverence.
No wonder he looked so familiar—he was the mysterious hero who had bravely fended off that terrifying, ferocious "beast".
(Which was actually just a small, harmless dog.)
And even generously gifted her a bag of melon-flavored chips!
"Haruto, right?!"
Satanichia puffed out her chest, thrusting a finger forward in grand, dramatic fashion.
"Quickly, swear your loyalty and become my first human servant! With your help, I, the great Satanichia, will surely conquer the human realm and become the most powerful demon of all!"
"Huh?!"
Vignette instantly panicked, her face draining of color at Satanichia's painfully open declaration of her demonic heritage.
Something that was supposed to be a closely guarded secret from ordinary humans.
Desperate to salvage the situation, Vignette flailed her arms, hastily trying to cover it up.
"O-Oh, Haruto-kun, please don't mind her! Satanichia is just... um, she's going through a severe case of chuunibyou, that's all!"
Haruto chuckled softly at the chaotic display, leaning casually against the doorframe.
"It seems you aren't really cut out for lying, Vignette."
He then shifted his gaze toward Raphiel, a knowing smile playing on his lips.
"Tell me, Shiraha-san, is this kind of... eccentric behavior common among demons down in the underworld?"
Raphiel's eyes sparkled with mischievous delight as she watched Vignette sweat.
She shook her head with a light laugh.
"Oh, goodness no. It's actually quite rare. Satanichia is very... uniquely gifted in her own special way."
"Eh?"
Vignette blinked, completely thrown off by the casual use of words like "underworld" and "demons" coming from a supposedly normal human.
She spun around to glare at Raphiel, then looked back at Satanichia with a deeply questioning expression.
"Wait a minute... you knew all along, Satania? And you didn't even think to tell me?!"
"Uh..."
Satanichia froze, her arrogant grin instantly melting into a look of absolute, unadulterated bewilderment.
She had absolutely no idea what anyone was talking about.
However, realizing she was cornered...
Heh, heh, heh!
Satanichia rapidly recovered, slapping on a wildly overconfident expression as she puffed her chest out even further.
"O-Of course I knew from the very beginning! What kind of demon master do you take me for? After all, I am a future S-class elite! I can easily see through trivial human disguises in a single glance!"
Raphiel, entirely unable to resist poking the bear further, clapped her hands together with a sickeningly sweet, sarcastic smile.
"Ooh, Satania, you're just so amazing~ I'm shaking in my boots."
Haruto couldn't help but feel a tiny twinge of sympathy for Satanichia, who was still blissfully unaware that Raphiel was running circles around her, treating her like a cheap source of afternoon entertainment.
"Ah, speaking of which... where is Gabriel anyway?"
Vignette asked, glancing around the living room and noticing the glaring absence of their resident gamer.
"Right," Haruto said, turning toward the hallway and raising his voice slightly.
"Tenma, your friends are here. You can come out now."
A frantic flurry of thumping footsteps echoed from behind the closed bedroom door, followed by Gabriel stumbling out into the living room, her golden hair looking like a bird's nest and her clothes haphazardly thrown on.
"Hmm?" Raphiel tilted her head, her sharp eyes immediately locking onto the glowing ring floating above the other girl's head.
"My, Gabriel... your halo looks a bit dim today, doesn't it?"
"D-Dim?!"
Gabriel panicked, her face flushing bright red.
Without missing a beat, she reached up, snatched the glowing ring right off her head, gave it a vigorous, frantic wipe against the hem of her wrinkled shirt, and slammed it back into place.
Instantly, the ring flared back to life, shining with a blinding, pristine heavenly light.
Watching the seamless display, Haruto had to forcefully bite the inside of his cheek to keep from bursting into laughter, mentally applading Gabriel's top-tier improvisational skills.
You could clean a divine symbol of holiness simply by treating it like a dusty car windshield.
Classic Gabriel, he thought, shaking his head in amusement.
"Ha, ha, ha... you must have just imagined it, Raphiel," Gabriel deflected quickly, her voice dripping with nervous sweat as she desperately tried to change the subject.
"There was just a tiny speck of dust on it, that's all! Anyway... have you guys all properly introduced yourselves yet?"
"Yes, we've already covered the basics," Vignette replied with a sigh of relief, glad to move past the halo incident.
She turned to Haruto, offering a polite bow.
"We were officially assigned to monitor you, Haruto-kun... though it's purely for observation, I promise we aren't trying to cause any trouble or spy on your personal life. I hope you don't mind."
Haruto offered an easy, reassuring wave of his hand.
"Don't worry about it. Shiraha-san and Tenma already filled me in on the details a while ago. As long as you aren't plotting some bizarre world-domination scheme, I couldn't care less."
•
[Raphiel]
•
*****
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