Luna Is a Very Cute Angel
Tania looked down in silence at Elysia lying on the hospital bed.
Her injuries must have been severe — she had already gone two full days without regaining consciousness.
What on earth had she been doing while Elysia ended up like this?
It wasn't really Tania's fault that Elysia had been hurt, but the guilt seized her all the same.
She hadn't put her under surveillance because she knew Elysia would hate it… but maybe she should have been watching after all.
If she had assigned people to keep constant watch, Elysia never would have gotten hurt like this.
The doctor said her life wasn't in danger — but if Elysia never opened her eyes again, then she…
"Ely…"
Without meaning to, Tania murmured the nickname, her hands clenching tight.
She still couldn't quite bring herself to take Elysia's hand, so the innocent blanket got crumpled instead.
Looking at Elysia sleeping even in a situation like this and finding herself thinking she was beautiful — Tania felt utterly pathetic.
But even as she thought herself pathetic, she couldn't deny that Elysia was still beautiful.
Moonlight hair spilled out to either side rather than pinned beneath her, so she wouldn't be uncomfortable lying down. Eyes gently closed against skin white as polished jade. Eyelashes so long they drew gasps of admiration, the same moonlight color as her hair. A straight nose, and captivating pale-pink lips that called cherry blossoms to mind — parted just enough to show white teeth and a cute little tongue. The curve of her chest rising above the white blanket, and both hands resting lightly on her stomach.
Looking at her like this, one couldn't help but think of a forest princess cursed into a long, deep sleep.
Most stories of that kind of curse said it could be broken by a kiss filled with true love…
When Tania glared at the woman sitting across from her, the woman tilted her head as if to ask what the problem was.
"What."
She couldn't try it — not with Adele sitting opposite her, looking down at Elysia just the same.
"…Nothing."
Tania let out a long sigh and turned her head back toward Elysia.
While Elysia had been struggling and getting hurt, she herself had been spending leisurely time without even knowing about it.
She hated herself so much for that that the anger rose up and cursed her out loud.
"I'm such a piece of shit…"
From across the bed, Adele — quietly reading a book — answered without so much as glancing over.
"You're a piece of shit."
"You bastard."
"I agree with you and you still freak out."
"You're supposed to deny it at times like that."
"Even if I denied it, you'd just start self-flagellating again."
"…Then just stay quiet."
Unable to find a comeback, Tania muttered it timidly — and Adele finally looked up from her book, smiling faintly at her.
"You're a piece of shit."
"…You bitch."
A brief silence settled between them.
"Mmngh…"
Elysia seemed to be finally regaining consciousness. She slowly opened her eyes.
Tania and Adele, who had been glaring at each other, both shot to their feet and called her name at once.
"Ely! Are you with us?"
"Elysia!"
With hazy eyes, Elysia went mmngh? and looked back and forth between the two faces shoved close to hers, then slowly opened her mouth.
"Tania… Adele… did you know…?"
An ant speaking would probably have been louder — but the two of them deployed superhuman abilities and caught every word precisely.
"Know what?"
"Actually, Luna is… a really cute angel with black wings…"
Having said that, she grinned like an idiot — hehe — and closed her eyes again.
"……"
"……"
Inside the VIP private room, only the quiet sound of the once-again-sleeping Elysia's breathing filled the air.
At the same time.
In a hospital room a little ways away in the same hospital, a teacher and student faced each other.
Strictly speaking, since one of them was blind, saying they were facing each other wasn't quite accurate…
Cecilia was the first to quietly open her mouth.
"Luna."
"Yes."
"……"
But Cecilia couldn't bring herself to speak rashly.
It was true that the two of them were teacher and student — but she also knew full well who the student before her really was.
Cecilia closed her mouth and briefly recalled what had happened two days ago.
To be precise, she had only seen it by borrowing the vision of the man named Hwang Daegil beside her — but the landscape that had unfolded there was horrific.
A feast of blue and red crystal flowers filling the mountain. Sharp crystal thorns that had sprouted everywhere glittered in the moonlight.
A man swinging a massive sword and laughing madly.
"Hahahahahahaha!"
And a pure-white woman who had somehow begun to dance, her bright-red dress fluttering.
Elysia.
Seeing that, Cecilia's lips moved as she called her name.
The blood pouring from her side mixed with her tears and transformed into a beautiful dress.
Crack.
Every time she took a step, countless flowers grew in the places she had passed.
Slash!
Every time she swung her arm, sharp thorns sprouted in dense clusters.
The dagger in her hand had been coated in red crystal and grown longer.
Elysia danced with that sword. Cecilia thought she looked like she was dancing.
Barefoot, she crushed the red crystal flowers as she spun round and round, or hopped lightly in place. The crystal flowers she stepped on vanished and became red puddles.
Each time, a gale whipped up, and crystals large and small — some too tiny even to see — tore everything apart.
A woman in a dress red as blood, her eyes gleaming with a light deeper than blood itself.
In that moment, Cecilia saw it clearly through Hwang Daegil's vision.
Those eyes, red enough to make one's skin crawl, were empty.
"Haha."
But she was definitely smiling.
Crack. Crystals grew without rest.
Clang! Crystals shattered — under the greatsword the man swung with a laugh.
The man was like a spoiler at Elysia's performance. A spoiler who barged into Elysia's cruel yet incomparably beautiful performance — one that swallowed every corpse present — and ruined it.
He smashed the crystals Elysia had created and charged at her like a beast, over and over.
Were they evenly matched?
The man could no longer wound Elysia. Elysia, likewise, couldn't wound the man.
But because Elysia was already severely injured, the fight didn't last long.
Elysia lost consciousness again and collapsed on the spot.
And just when it seemed everything was over, Luna came flying from somewhere, gray wings beating, and settled softly beside Elysia — with Rina and a woman named Yeris tucked under her arms.
Rina, who had landed safely with Luna's help, ran to the fallen Elysia, while Yeris, who'd been dumped on the ground, went "Oof!" as she rolled across the floor before scrambling to her feet.
"……"
Then Luna, who had been silently looking at the injured Elysia, and the man began to fight.
The man charged swinging his sword wildly, and Luna subdued him with dozens of blades that grew from her back.
The result was Luna's overwhelming victory… but she couldn't stop him from escaping.
She later heard that the man had been the boss of Mudwell. A powerhouse at Level 7, no less.
That Luna was Level 8 was something Cecilia already knew as her teacher — but she couldn't forget how Luna had looked then.
The way she had crushed a man overwhelmingly stronger than herself with even more overwhelming force.
Just how strong was she?
Maybe Cecilia was afraid.
Luna had the power to kill Cecilia easily right now, and the ability to quietly bury it even more easily.
But that was exactly why she couldn't not ask.
Why she had been there.
"You… why were you there two days ago."
"Before that."
Cecilia, who had been gathering her courage to speak, flinched as her words were cut off mid-sentence.
Had something not sat well with her? Cecilia swallowed hard and waited for Luna's words.
But… what Luna said was so different from what Cecilia had imagined that it was almost absurd.
"Um… who were you, again?"
"……"
A student asking her own homeroom teacher who she was. And from that question, genuine apology was flowing.
Cecilia's tension dissolved all at once, and she let out a deep sigh.
So she really only comes to the Academy to see Elysia…
She knew full well that Luna rarely showed up at the Academy. And that on the days she did come, she just slept in Elysia's arms the whole time.
Still, she'd thought Luna would at least know her homeroom teacher's face…
"…I'm your and Elysia's homeroom teacher."
"Ah."
The reaction was underwhelming.
Maybe because the tension had drained away. Her mind started working better than before.
This kid Luna… was she actually just kind of airheaded?
Come to think of it, someone who was the boss of the Mors Family had absolutely no reason to attend the Academy.
If her goal was to destroy the Academy, she wouldn't just sleep every time she came. And if she'd meant to kill Cecilia, she would have done it long ago.
The fact that she'd come all the way to the hospital room just because some person she didn't even properly know asked if she could come showed that Luna wasn't a bad kid.
Killing people every now and then — well, everyone did that occasionally.
Realizing she'd been far too tense, Cecilia let out another long sigh.