A Saiyan's Journey

Walking down the street while casually dealing with evil spirits—it was naturally Shin. The blurry shadow that Vignette and Gabriel saw was his Stand, "Blackbird," behind him.

"Every morning after leaving the house, a few new evil spirits appear on the streets. It's just like respawning mobs in a game."

Shin looked at the shattered evil spirit with exasperation. On his way to school, these spirits appeared almost daily, annoying him to no end.

Unfortunately, even if "Blackbird" devoured these evil spirits, there was no benefit to be gained. Otherwise, they could have been a stable source for power upgrades.

"Come to think of it, this area seems to be where Gabriel's apartment is located... I never realized that an angel lived here when passing by every day."

Shin glanced around. Last night, he had sent "Blackbird" through the internet to Gabriel's room, which was how he learned her address.

Gabriel's apartment was actually along Shin's route to school, though she wasn't a student at the private Hoshizaki Academy. Otherwise, Shin might have noticed her by now.

Shin vaguely remembered there being another high school on the other side of town. However, he couldn't recall its name, only that Akagi once mentioned plans for an exchange event with that school.

Gabriel was probably from that school.

It made sense. If Gabriel were a student at Hoshizaki Academy, there wouldn't be so many evil spirits on campus. Miko Yotsuya likely wouldn't be having such a hard time.

After all, no matter how addicted Gabriel was to online games, she was still an angel with angelic powers. She wouldn't just let evil spirits run amok on campus... right?

Thinking about it, Shin wasn't so sure. Considering Gabriel's messy room, she might genuinely not care about the evil spirits wandering everywhere.

"Hey... hey, you there! Wait up!"

While Shin was lost in thought and walking forward, a girl's voice suddenly called out from behind.

Shin stopped and turned around, only to see two familiar faces—or rather, people he recognized from works in his previous life.

Standing before him were Vignette and Gabriel, with the latter being pulled along by the former.

Vignette's rushed pull seemed to have worsened Gabriel's already poor complexion, leaving her pale and visibly exhausted.

"Is there something you need?"

Shin looked at them, surprised that they had called out to him. While he knew who they were, they had no prior interaction.

Although he had secretly confirmed Gabriel's identity with "Blackbird" the previous night, he ensured that it wouldn't be noticed by her.

Could it be that they saw him taking out an evil spirit earlier?

That seemed possible. Perhaps they had never seen a human with such abilities.

After all, this world was largely a slice-of-life world, and angels and demons probably didn't know what a "Stand user" was.

"Uh…"

Vignette hesitated when Shin asked. She had instinctively called out after seeing him deal with the evil spirit but realized she didn't know how to start the conversation.

Should she ask if he was an angel or demon? That didn't seem right. Even if he were, they wouldn't use such a strange power to eliminate evil spirits.

Although they only saw a shadowy figure, it seemed like an invisible entity was throwing punches behind him.

That definitely wasn't the ability of an angel or demon!

If she bluntly asked him whether he was an angel or demon, it might expose her and Gabriel's identities.

Fortunately, while Vignette was momentarily frozen, Gabriel, who had been dragged down the stairs, seemed to realize something.

Her expression lit up with sudden clarity as she pointed at Shin and exclaimed:

"Wait a second! That thing behind you... its aura... were you the one spying on me last night!?"

Vignette had rattled Gabriel earlier with a remark about never playing online games again, prompting Gabriel to think more deeply about the aura she had felt the previous night.

Now, seeing the shadowy figure behind Shin, its aura matched perfectly with what she had sensed before.

If this had been the high-EQ Gabriel of the past, she wouldn't have blurted this out in public.

But the current Gabriel, thick-skinned and lacking emotional intelligence, pointed at Shin without hesitation.

Luckily, there weren't many people around. The few passing office workers or students merely glanced curiously before moving on.

Such was life in high-pressure Japan—most people were too preoccupied with their own issues to bother with others' trivial matters.

"What!?"

Hearing Gabriel's accusation, Vignette instantly became tense. She raised her arms protectively, standing like a mother hen shielding her chick.

"What's going on!?"

It seemed Vignette now viewed Shin as a potential threat. After all, "spying" wasn't exactly a compliment.

Shin glanced at Gabriel, surprised she could remember "Blackbird's" aura.

Her claim wasn't wrong. Shin's actions the previous night did count as spying—although it was driven purely by curiosity about the "Healing Angel."

"Well… you could say that. But we're technically acquainted," Shin said, shrugging as he addressed Gabriel.

"Right? 'Healing Angel

"Ah! You're that 'Zuke'!?"

Gabriel's eyes lit up at the mention of her online gaming ID. She instantly guessed Shin's identity.

Among her close online gaming friends, only "Zuke" was a male high school student, so it didn't take long for her to figure it out.

While Shin and Gabriel seemed to hit it off immediately, Vignette was completely baffled.

What did "Healing Angel" and "Zuke" mean? Were they secret codes?

Why had these two gone from acting like strangers to seeming so familiar after exchanging "codes"? Even the spying incident seemed to have been forgotten. Were they really that close?

As someone disinterested in online gaming, Vignette couldn't understand the instant camaraderie of online friends meeting offline.

To be continued…

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