A Change of Heart

After what felt like an eternity—no, not an eternity, just five long, exhausting days—Yuto finally stumbled out of the shopping mall, with his clothes completely soaked in green blood.

He slowly walked toward their red Land Cruiser in front of the mall.

Bruno was already there, leaning casually against the car, unwrapping a chocolate bar.

“Ahh… Yuto-boy,” Bruno smiled cheerfully, raising his hand for a high-five.

Yuto ignored him completely and got into the passenger seat...

“…he kept me hanging,” Bruno muttered to himself.

A moment later, he entered the car, started the engine, and pulled back onto the highway...

“So,” Bruno said, glancing at Yuto through his rearview mirror. “Did my method work? Did you activate your authority? Get yourself an angelic weapon?”

Yuto didn’t answer him. Instead, he nonchalantly raised his left hand... golden light wrapped around his arm, forming his angelic gauntlet.

"WOW, that's awesome.Yuto-boy." Bruno's eyes lit up in excitement...

“…You never told me yours,” Yuto said...

“Oh, me?” Bruno chuckled. “I use a spear.”

“Hm.”

Then, soon after their brief conversation, they entered the park again and stopped in front of the gate.

“Testing, testing. This is Divine Officer Bruno speaking. I’m back. Can you open the gates for me?”

Seconds later, the gates opened. Bruno drove in and stopped in the middle of the park’s grassy field.
Immediately, the ground beneath them opened up, and a lift carried their vehicle underground.

Slowly as they descended, Yuto could no longer see the sunlight or any form of light from above. Only when the lift finally stopped did he find himself in a massive, well-lit room filled with vehicles.

“Bruno, how many times have I told you not to come down through the lift? It’s meant for the vehicles!” a female voice echoed throughout the room.

“Sorry, Chisa,” Bruno stepped out of the red Land Cruiser and bowed his head...

Yuto followed, climbing down slowly, and then finally he got a good look at the person speaking—brown hair neatly tied back, glasses perched on her nose... the typical serious type.
She stared at him for a moment, noticing the blood that covered his entire body...

Then she let out a loud sigh. “Bruno, move it.”

“Eh… you forgive me? I mean, I’m happy, but usually it doesn’t end with words,” he stammered.

She sighed again, pinching her nose. “I don’t want your stupidity holding anyone back. Take him to clean up.”

“Oh,” Bruno grinned, rubbing the back of his neck. “Yes, ma’am… I mean, yes, Chisa.”

Then he turned around, "Yuto-boy, let's go freshen up. I mean, we deserve a proper bath… after everything we’ve been through."

Yuto looked at him with an unserious eye. "We've been through?"

"Haha."

Bruno laughed awkwardly...
Then, the both of them exited the room and started walking down the hallway together, moving at a steady and consistent pace until they reached the bathroom...

Bruno rushed inside, barely waiting for Yuto to move aside. He practically shoved him out of the way before quickly taking off his clothes, then stepped fully into the bathroom. Without hesitation, he sank into the bathtub, letting out a long sigh of satisfaction.

"Ahhh… shit."

He leaned back, letting the warm water cover him, closing his eyes for a brief moment of relief, still chuckling softly to himself at how frazzled Yuto looked standing at the edge of the door.

"You're not going to want to use the bathtub, are you?" Bruno asked, with his eyes on him.

"No," Yuto answered nonchalantly.

Slowly, he took off his clothes and stared at the nearby mirror, noticing that all the injuries he had gotten from fighting the piglets had healed up...

Then he stepped into the running shower, looking downward, watching the green blood fall from his body and flow down the bathroom drain.

"God." 

Minutes later, both of them came out of the bathroom.

Immediately, Yuto’s stomach loudly rumbled... He had been fighting nonstop for the past five days without eating anything, though thanks to his angelic authority, he could go a long time before feeling hungry...

Bruno then tapped him on the shoulder.“ Yuto-boy, feeling hungry? Well, you’ve earned it. Come on, let’s go eat.”

Then they started walking down the hallway until they reached a pair of medium-sized doors... Bruno pushed them open, and Yuto’s eyes widened...

"Mama, feed me ice cream!" a small child shouted, running toward her mother.

"Oni-chan!" another child called out, holding onto her brother's hand.

"Babe, I love you!" a young woman said, laughing, while hugging her boyfriend.

There were normal people inside, going about their lives—women, children, casual everyday people.

While frozen, Bruno tapped him on the shoulder again..."What? Is something wrong?""No, it's just that I didn't know you guys deal with people," Yuto responded...

"People? What?" Bruno narrowed his eyebrows.

"I meant casual people who don't have angelic radiation or authority," Yuto clarified his statement.
Bruno blinked for a moment, then gave a small, amused smile. "Huh… I see. That surprises you, huh? Yuto-boy, we deal with everyone—old, young, man, woman. It doesn’t matter if you have angelic authority or not. We help whenever we can. I mean, we’re all in this apocalypse mess together."

Yuto looked around at the happy, ordinary faces and couldn't hold back his smile...Seeing them satisfied made him glad that not everyone had suffered the way he had.

"Come on, grab a plate. Let’s eat."

"Okay," he replied.

While Bruno and Yuto were eating, the angelic symbol on Bruno’s right hand started glowing, projecting a holographic image of Chihiro.

"Captain Chihiro!" he shouted, almost choking on his food.

"I heard that you and Yuto are back."

"Yes, Captain," he responded.

"Good, now come to the hall, we need to talk."

"Okay, " he replied before the hologram faded...

He quickly finished his food... "Yuto-boy, let’s go."

Yuto nodded and stood up immediately, leaving his Curry Stew unfinished...

Minutes later, Yuto and Bruno entered the Division X hall.    

“Yuto-kun!” Hana ran forward and hugged him, pushing him a step back... 

“How has my baby brother been?” she smiled, rubbing her cheeks on his chest.

"Baby brother..." Yuto whispered to himself, surprised at the comment.

“Hana, let go! You’re heavy,” Bruno said, laughing.

That word brought out Hana’s dead eyes. “Do you want to die, Bruno?”Immediately, she summoned her angelic weapon—a kusarigama.

Yuto’s eyes widened. “Cool.”

Hana froze mid-step and turned toward him. “Yuto-kun, you like my angelic weapon, right? Hehehe…” She ran and hugged him again.

“Hana, let go of him!” Chihiro shouted from across the hall.

“No!” Hana replied stubbornly...

“You’ve been too playful,” Chihiro continued talking. “Remember, we’re here to discuss the plan for Monday’s raid.”

“Ha, okay, fine,” Hana sighed, reluctantly letting go of Yuto.

Then Chihiro turned to Bruno. “You two came back earlier than expected. Is something wrong? Is Yuto bad at learning?”

“No, Captain Chihiro,” Bruno answered. “It’s quite the opposite.”

“Really…?”

“Yes. Yuto, show her your angelic weapon.”

Yuto raised his hands, and the golden gauntlet appeared.

“Wow! Congrats, Yuto-kun!” Hana clapped, jumped up and down like a kid.

“Congratulations!” Himari playfully punched his shoulder.

“Hmm,” Chihiro smiled. “Summoning your angelic weapon in five days is impressi—”

“No, Captain Chihiro,” Bruno interrupted her. “He actually summoned it the day we left.”

“What?!” everyone shouted except Bruno.

“On day one!” Himari added, shouting louder than anyone else.

Chihiro’s eyes widened, but she cleared her throat. “Enough… It’s okay. Yuto, that’s amazing. But we have other things to discuss.”

“Boo,” Hana pouted.

“Himari, get the marker board,” Chihiro said, ignoring Hana’s protest.
Himari moved at once and brought it over.

Chihiro took the marker, stepped forward, and faced the board.

“The division captains have reached a decision,” she began explaining. “Division X will be the first to move.”
Everyone kept looking.

“Our initial approach will be infiltration,” she continued. “We will enter the Central Tokyo military base disguised as ordinary civilians seeking refuge.”

She drew a rough layout of the base as she spoke.

“Once inside, our objective is to disrupt their internal systems and open the back gate. That will allow the rest of the divisions to enter without resistance.”

Bruno crossed his arms. “And if things go wrong?”

Chihiro didn’t hesitate. “If the plan fails and we’re exposed, we switch to force.”

“We fight our way through and open the gate ourselves.” Sigh.

Then Chihiro waved her hand...Several bags suddenly dropped out of thin air, landing neatly on the floor in front of them...

Yuto’s eyes widened... No matter how many times he saw a display of angelic authority, it still amazed him every time.

Chihiro gestured toward the bags. “Inside are the clothes we’ll be wearing.”

She paused for a moment, then continued, “They’ve been blessed by Akira-sama herself.”

Hana leaned forward. “Blessed how?”

“They suppress angelic radiation,” Chihiro explained. “As long as you’re wearing them, the military’s divine squad won’t be able to detect you.”

Yuto stared at the bags, deep in thought.

“This mission,” Chihiro clapped twice, bringing him back to his senses... “will decide everything—our months of preparation, every resource we’ve gathered, and most importantly, the survival of humanity itself. The more the zombies are exposed to angelic radiation, the stronger the anomalies become, and the harder our fight will be.”

She paused, letting the weight of her words sink in. “So… may the blessings of Akira-sama be with us. I’ll see you all on Monday.”

Chihiro turned and began walking toward the exit.

“My little Chihiro-chan is so cool!” Hana shouted, rushing forward and grabbing her around the waist.

“Hana, stop it,” Chihiro said, trying to maintain her composure.

“Call me Nee-chan,” Hana teased, her smile widening.

“Ah… it was such a nice speech,” Bruno muttered, slapping his forehead with his left hand.