Literature Club

The angels did not return that day. For the Fallen, their wounds were minor and quickly on the mend... at least when it came to their physical injuries, for which Gadreel was the worst off and still determined to simply walk it off, Sammy offering him directions to the shrine.

The reality of fighting their former brethren, and the loss of one of their number besides, hung over the remaining moments they stayed together as a dark cloud.

But, all the same, the Fallen made agreements on methods to contact each other, to call another meeting somewhere if it was needful, and went their separate ways. Most of them regarded Eita little, and he didn't blame them. At best he was a minor curiosity who had been a minor help, and he wasn't exactly in any place to speak at first. All the same, as the group broke, Sammy took Eita aside.

“Walk with me?” she offered. Eita couldn't find it in him to refuse.

Thus, they headed out, seemingly in no direction in particular.

“I want to thank you,” Sammy said, “and apologize again.”

“You're not the one who hit me in the gut,” Eita said.

“Not for that,” Sammy said, “though maybe I should. I want to apologize that we'll likely be imposing on you again.”

She held up the student ID card that Azalea had given her.

“After all, we're classmates for real now, isn't that right?”

Eita smiled.

“I don't think you should apologize for that,” he said, “not to me, at least.”

At that, Sammy actually laughed a little, but it didn't really seem to lift her spirits.

“Though,” Eita said, “how is that going to work out for you?”

“I can be noticed if I want to be,” Sammy said, “Or at least, not supernaturally forgotten.”

“I don't think you have to worry about the normal part,” Eita said. A new student was always going to turn heads, and a foreigner twice as much.

“Well, that's that,” Sammy said.

“Was that what you wanted to say?” Eita asked.

Sammy shook her head.

“I wanted to ask a favor of you,” she said.

“What's that?”

“I'd like your help,” Sammy said, “I wouldn't have brought you today if I didn't.”

“Sure,” Eita said, “but... is this really something I can do?”

“I have ideas,” Sammy said, “Even if you can't fight angels, though, it's enough if you'll hear me out some times. When I'm with the others, I feel like I have to be a good leader. I didn't quite realize how much I couldn't really talk about like that.”

“Oh?” Eita asked.

Sammy withdrew the silver crystal from her bag.

“My regalia,” she said, “the best weapon we have against other angels.”

She turned it over, and, looking closely, Eita saw there was a deep crack in the crystal.

“It won't last much longer,” Sammy said, “I knew this could happen, and probably would. It's sooner than I'd hoped, though, and once it goes, we're two peas in a pod when it comes to fighting... unless we work something else out.”

“You're sure you shouldn't be sharing this with Penny or Azalea?” Eita asked, trying to use the human names of the Fallen.

“Maybe I should,” she replied, “but I don't feel like I can.”

“Then you can tell me,” Eita said, “Whatever you need to, whenever you need to.”

“Thank you,” Sammy said.

They came to a large street then, stopped at the light the way they were going. The bright afternoon sun shone on Sammy's face, and she almost seemed to have the illusory radiance of something between her ordinary self and the angels.

Then she smiled, a plain and earnest smile.

“See you tomorrow,” she said, and glided unseen over the busy street on gray wings.

Any wistful imaginings Eita had about that “see you tomorrow” were dispelled on Monday morning when not one but two students stood in front of the class, introducing themselves as fresh transfers Sammy Kamio and Penny Kamimoto, much to the shock of the class.

“But,” Yua muttered in the front row.

“Some of you may have seen me here before,” Sammy said, continuing her introduction in sly reply to Yua's confusion, “but until now I was merely auditing classes. I'm pleased to make all your acquaintances properly.”

Either Sammy was better at lying when not put on the spot, or she'd had help.

Eita spent the lunch period with Yua, listening to her tell a family story about an uncle's love of natto that bordered on a comedy routine, and the pleasantries took Eita's mind off the Fallen and his bruised abdomen. Club time, however brought an even greater shock. As usual, Eita walked there with Yua, taking a detour along their way to find a vending machine for a couple of drinks. When they got to the club room, Sammy was already there. As were Penny, Azalea, and Sariel.

Yua opened the door first, and froze when she saw the gathering, nearly dropping her strawberry milk.

“More transfer students?” she asked.

And that was how third-year Azalea Tategami, second-years Sammy and Penny, and first-year Sara Kamishita announced their intent to join the literature club. At first, Yua's confusion seemed to win out over any sort of good news, but then Penny pulled her aside and whispered something to her, after which she was all smiles and happy to take in all the applications they had, offering reading recommendations and literary critique like a real club president. Whatever Penny told her was, unsurprisingly, exactly what she'd wanted to hear in order to ignore the club room being turned into the home base of the Fallen.

All the same, Yua and Eita were the first to leave, set to walk home together per usual, going the same way in the same way they had for years. The thought occurred to Eita that he didn't know what arrangements the Fallen had when school was out of session, but that it would probably be rude to ask, much like how they'd gotten their clothes and the like.

“Talk about a crazy day,” Yua said, “Who'd have thought we'd get four new members! We're practically respectable now!”

Eita smiled.

“Just like you always dreamed, huh?”

“Hm,” Yua said, “I was fine with just the two of us. Well, and the ghosts showing up every blue moon to keep it going. But this is good too.”

Eita looked down.

“Yeah,” he said.

He thought about those peaceful days. They were less than a week behind, but already something about those times felt nostalgic, like it had been forever since it was just him and Yua, reading quietly or just talking about nothing in particular.

“Is something wrong?” Yua asked.

“Oh, um...”

“Actually,” she said, “let me ask a better question. What's wrong, Eita?”

“You think something's up?” Eita asked.

“You've been slow getting up and sitting down all day,” Yua noted, “like you have trouble with just that. And just now, talking about club, you started to look far away, like some kind of old soldier.”

“That's-”

“And there are eight million other tells,” Yua said. “How long have we been like this? When it's you, I think I've got a pretty good instinct by now. You don't have to tell me everything, but, you know, you also don't have to do it all youself.”

Eita reflected that when it came to being nosy, he and Yua seemed to be evenly matched, and it felt different being on the receiving end.

“Okay,” he said, “let me tell you something and ask you a question, then.”

Yua nodded

“First, I bruised myself good in a stupid way yesterday, and I kinda don't want to talk about it but it still smarts.”

“Oh,” Yua said, “Have you taken anything, you know, for pain.”

Eita laughed.

“Geez,” Yua said, “Just because you're a boy doesn't mean you have to tough it out!”

“Anyway,” Eita said, “that question... what would you do if you saw a ghost?”

“That's not that unusual, is it?” Yua replied. “I mean, you've talked about that kind of thing before.”

“Maybe not a ghost,” Eita said, “But something... that wasn't just vague. Something serious, that a normal person's not supposed to see?”

At that, Yua seemed to give the situation some real thought.

“Is it dangerous?”

“Let's say, not directly.”

“Then I think I'd leave it alone,” Yua said.

“And if it needed help?”

“I guess I'd try to help it, if I could do an exorcism or something,” Yua said, “I keep a gohei in my bag after all. What's this really about, though?”

“A story,” Eita said quickly.

“What kind?” Yua asked.

“An online one. Guess I can't get it out of my head.”

“Well,” Yua said, “Send me the link sometime, I'll let you know what I make of it.”

Eita forced a smile.

“I'll do that,” he said, having of course no intent of doing the impossible. But, hopefully, if he could stop acting weird, Yua would let it drop.

The next day, things at school already felt natural. By the end of the week, they felt familiar, Eita felt better, and it was almost enough to forget the plight his new friends were hiding from, an illusion of peace soon to be shattered.