"No! I'm not going back!" Gabriel protested the moment she heard the word "Heaven." There were no phones, no PCs, no game consoles in Heaven. Sending her back would be worse than letting her fall!
"I'm doing fine in the human world. I don't want to go!"
"This isn't up to your whims," Zelel shot back, hardening.
As the sisters were about to clash even more fiercely, Gabriel, panicking, cast a pleading look at Rei Ao, who had been watching from the sidebig, pitiful eyes that said, "Help me, please."
Catching the signal, Rei Ao's lips curved in a playful smile. He stepped forward, placing himself between the sisters, and spoke calmly: "Zelel-san, since Gabriel wants to stay, let her stay."
Zelel frowned, her gaze at Rei Ao edged with displeasure and scrutiny. "Rei Ao-sama, this is an internal matter of Heavenmy duty as her sister and as a superior angel. Your strength may be great, but isn't it overstepping to interfere in Heaven's affairs?"
Rei Ao's smile didn't falter, but a sudden, imperious note entered itundeniable and sovereign. His teal eyes met Zelel's as he said evenly:
"Overstepping? Perhaps."
He paused, his tone shifting into a matter-of-fact dominance. "But I have two reasons.
"First: as you sensed, my strength is sufficient. Sufficient that the rules I set become a factor to be reckoned with. If I say she can stay, she can stay."
The frank declarationauthority grounded in absolute powermade Zelel's pupils contract. A pressure unlike anything she'd felt before bore down on hermore terrifying even than facing the Dragon Realm's Last Emperor.
And then Rei Ao gave a second reason that left everyone dumbstruckincluding Gabriel in his arms.
He reached out, and before Gabriel could react, he pulled her into a tight embrace. Then, under Zelel's aghast stare, he declared:
"As for the second"
"Gabriel is my girlfriend. Someone who's mineher staying or going is for me to decide."
"!!!"
Silence. Deathly silence.
Zelel stood as if blasted by heavenly thunder, turned entirely to stone. Her blue eyes were round as coins, her flawless features stamped with utter shock, absurdity, and disbelief.
G-girlfriend?
Her hapless little sister and this unfathomable strongest being in the human worldtheir relationship was that?
The quintuplets were completely dumbfounded, mouths wide enough for eggs. In Rei Ao's arms, Gabriel first went stiff, mind blankthen her face flushed scarlet in seconds, the color racing up to her ears. She struggled to push him away, only to be held tighter.
Rei Ao glanced down at the red-faced Gabriel with a slightly wicked smile, then lifted his gaze to meet Zelel's shattering world view.
His voice was firm, brooking no argument. "So, Zelel-sanplease go back. Gabriel will remain in the human worldby my side."
Dominant. Forceful. Not up for debate.
Chapter 1,009: Handsome Senpai with terrible personalities...
Zelel looked at the two of them locked together (though one of them was struggling in vain), and felt once more the vast, unfathomable power rolling off Rei Aopower so great it made even her feel helpless.
For a moment she didn't know how to proceed. Heaven's regulations, an elder sister's dutybefore absolute strength and this completely unforeseen relationship, they suddenly felt pale and powerless.
The Nakano living room sank into another eerie silence, broken only by Gabriel's faint sounds of struggling and Zelel's heavy breathing. For this earnest angel, today's shocks were simply too much.
Rei Ao's earth-shattering "girlfriend" declaration had been like dropping a depth charge into a calm lake; the shockwave left the living room in dead silence for tens of seconds. Zelel stood there, stupefied. Her sky-blue eyes were wider than ever; her perfect features were etched with shock, absurdity, disbeliefand a dazedness born of a worldview violently shaken.
She looked at her sister in Rei Ao's armssquirming, but not truly fighting to break freethen at the black-haired boy whose mild smile masked a tyrannical certainty. The valedictorian of Heaven's finest angel academy was drawing a blank.
Her sister and this inscrutable strongest being of the human world lovers? How was that possible? Gabriel hadn't even been here that long. How could she have formed a relationship like this? And with Rei Ao's strength and standing, why would he take a liking to a sister so lazy her halo "collects dust"?
Questions churned through her mind, and finally condensed into sheer powerlessness. She wanted to rebuke them sternly, to take Gabriel back by force as both sister and superiorbut in the face of Rei Ao's unveiled dominance and unfathomable might, she knew she had no chance. Forcing a clash would only make things worse.
"Gabriel." Zelel's voice was rough, layered with complicated emotion as she fixed her gaze on her sister. "I will report everything truthfully. You had better conduct yourself well."
She looked hard at Rei Ao againwariness, scrutiny, and a trace of resignation in her eyes. "Rei Ao-sama, regarding today, and your relationship with my sister, I will report it to Heaven as it is. In time, beings of a higher rank may come to speak with you."
Rei Ao shrugged, unconcerned. "They're welcome anytime."
Zelel said no more. She gave Gabrielface buried in Rei Ao's chest, ears flaming redone last look. Holy light flickered over her, and her figure faded into the air, vanishing from the room.
She needed to return to Heaven immediatelyto report the emergence of a human-world paramount being and a grand barrier, as well as her sister's unbelievable romance. All of this was far beyond her rank and capacity to handle alone.
With Zelel gone, the invisible pressure in the room lifted at once. The Nakano quintuplets finally dared to breathe deeply. They looked at one another and saw the same confusion and shock reflected back.
The day had been surreal: an angel moving into their home; discovering an angel and a demon as classmates; then Rei Ao's staggering power, mysterious identity, and his relationship with Gabriel. It was stranger than any anime they'd ever watched.
Rei Ao loosened his hold. Gabriel jumped back like a startled rabbit, cheeks flushed, puffing her cheeks at him in angerbut not daring to really blow up. As if nothing had happened, Rei Ao turned to the still-stunned quintuplets. He rubbed his chin, a thoughtful yet teasing smile on his face.
"Come to think of it you learned quite a few weighty secrets today. To be safe, should I" He drew out the words, a "dangerous" glint flashing in his eyes. "Do what Zelel was considering earlierand erase your memories?"
"No!!!"
The quintuplets shrieked in unison, springing up from the sofa. They crowded around him, faces full of fear and pleading.
"Please, Rei Ao-senpaidon't erase our memories!" Itsuki clutched his sleeve, eyes brimming. "We promise we won't tell anyoneabsolutely top secret!" Ichika blurted, and Yotsuba nodded hard. Nino and Miku stayed silent, but their eyes were firm in opposition.
Seeing how intense their reaction was, Rei Ao's stern look collapsed into an irrepressible smile. He waved a hand, amused. "I'm teasing you. Look how scared you got."
"Huh? J-just a joke?" They stared in disbelief; they hadn't expected the cool, mysterious Rei Ao to mess with them like that. Their looks turned ruefulbut they also exhaled in relief, patting their chests, still shaken.
Rei Ao reined in the smile and spoke a bit more seriously. "But you must keep this secret. About meand about Gabriel and Satania's identitiesdon't tell others lightly. In this world, knowing too much beyond common sense isn't necessarily good for ordinary people."
"We understand!" The sisters bobbed their heads like pecking chicks. After all they'd seen, they grasped the gravity of it.
"Good." Rei Ao nodded, satisfied. Then he glanced at the still-pouting Gabriel and at the spectating Satania. "We should go."
Before anyone could react, he merely stirred a thoughtand the three of them vanished from the Nakanos' living room like pencil marks erased by rubber, leaving no trace behind.
~~~
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Chapter 1,010: New Transfer Student! Zelel!
In the spacious living room, the Nakano quintuplets were left staring at one another, as if they'd just woken from a bizarre dream.
After a long while, Yotsuba finally murmured, "He they just disappeared like that?"
"Did everything that happened today really happen?" Itsuki pinched her own cheek; only when it hurt did she confirm it wasn't a dream.
"Angels, demons, a guardian of the human realm" Nino held her forehead, feeling dizzy from the overload of information.
Ichika and Miku traded a look and saw the same incredulity in each other's eyes.
They never imagined that their ordinary life after transferring schools would be completely upended.
Not only had angels and demons appeared around them
even that legendary perfect-score prodigy at school turned out to have such earth-shaking status and power.
It was all just too unbelievable.
They needed time to catch their breath.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the city
Inside the presidential suite of a top luxury hotel, the air rippled.
Rei Ao, Gabriel, and Satania appeared out of thin air.
Gabriel staggered before she steadied herself.
She glanced around at the extravagantly appointed, absurdly spacious roomthen froze at the sight of the oversized bed in the center, draped in velvet.
"W-Where is this?" she asked, a bit lost, looking to Rei Ao. "Weren't you going to take me home?"
Satania also looked around, curiosity piqued; she seemed quite interested in this sort of human luxury.
Rei Ao sauntered over to the bed, then lifted his eyes to the bewildered Gabriel, a mischievous smile tugging at his lipsunconcealed intent with a hint of teasing.
"Take you home? Of course not."
He rose and walked toward her, gaze burning.
"Gab, I just helped you get rid of that troublesome sister of yourstook a big problem off your hands."
"Doesn't that deserve a little reward?"
With that, he reached her and, without asking, took her hand.
Flushed scarlet at both his implication and his touch, Gabriel instinctively tried to pull free, but his grip was firm.
"W-Wait!"
"W-Who said I owe you anything!"
"And that wasn't 'getting rid of her'you even said I was your your"
She couldn't bring herself to say "girlfriend."
Rei Ao ignored her protest. With his other hand, he naturally took hold of Satania, who was still peering around in curiosity.
Only then did Satania catch on. She blinked her red eyes. "Eh? A reward? Master, do I get a share too?"
He looked down at her, his smile deepening. "Of coursewitnesses get a share. And, Satania, you lost that bet when you challenged Gabriel. Isn't it time to make good on it?"
Satania froze. She remembered that, to have Rei Ao act as a witness earlier, she really had promised him a small favor.
She looked at Rei Ao's roguish grin, then at the mortified Gabriel and the luxurious bed; a belated sense of dread crept in, and her cheeks tinged pink.
"W-Wait! What are you going to do?!"
Gabriel began to struggle, but how could she match Rei Ao's strength?
Holding one in each hand, an unmistakably domineering smile on his face, he drew the protesting Gabriel and Satania along.
"Why, to collect my reward and my wager."
Morning sunlight spilled warm patches through the classroom windows.
Rei Ao strolled in at the tail end of the warning bell, unhurried.
As always, his arrival drew some attention, though most had grown used to his singular ways.
"Good morning, Rei Ao." A calm, gentle voice sounded.
By the window, Megumi Kato looked up and greeted him. Beside her, Michiru Hyodo smiled and gave a little wave.
"Morning, Megumi, Michiru."
He reached his seat, his gaze lingering on Megumi with the faintest hint of a smile.
Casually, he asked, "Megumi, how's your sister Hiromi today?"
Megumi's fair cheeks tinted pink. She shot him a sidelong look and, lowering her voice with the faintest hint of a scold, said:
"Thanks to a certain someone, my sister didn't go to work today either. She says she's not feeling well and needs a day of rest."
She phrased it tactfully, but the "not feeling well" and the faintly reproachful look said enough
clearly, Kato Hiromi was still worn out from the previous night's trio time with Rei Ao.
Michiru Hyodo clearly heard the subtext; her face turned bright red as she ducked her head and pretended to straighten the books on her desk.
Catching Megumi's slightly aggrieved glance, Rei Ao showed no hint of apology; if anything, his smile deepened, a touch of mischief in it.
He was about to say more when the bell for the start of class rang.
Their homeroom teacherShizuka Hiratsuka, a young woman in a white lab coat whose crisp air carried a trace of languorentered on the chime.
She clapped her hands to gather everyone's attention.
"All right, class, settle down."
"Before we begin, I have an announcement."
Teacher Hiratsuka swept her gaze around the room, pausing for a heartbeat on Rei Ao.
"Today our class is welcoming a new transfer student. Please give her a warm welcome."
A transfer student?
A small buzz swept through the room. The boys especially craned their necks toward the door.
Under their expectant gazes, the door eased open and a figure stepped in.
The moment they saw the newcomer's face, the classroom fell into an uncanny silencethen exploded into chatter louder than before!
She was a young woman with sun-bright golden hair, combed perfectly back to reveal a smooth, full brow and flawless features.
Her blue eyes were as pure as a glacial lakeclear, yet tinged with an inhuman remoteness.
Even in a fitted school uniform, she radiated a sanctity that felt untouchable.
Her posture was straight, her steps graceful, as if each one had been measured to an ideal.
"Oh?" Rei Ao raised an eyebrow.
The newcomer was none other than the angel who had caused an uproar at the Nakano home last night before leaving with no choiceZelel White!
Chapter 1,011: Status? Deed Done...
"Wow! She's gorgeous!"
"Is she a foreigner? That vibe"
"She feels kind of distant."
The classmates whispered among themselves, everyone stunned by Zelel's striking beauty and singular aura.
Rei Ao arched a brow, a flicker of unsurprised amusement in his eyes.
