Name. Age. Profession. Hobbies. Or even answering his previous question. Hell, a simple greeting.

  These are all amazing ways one goes about initiating conversation with another individual.

  Everyone, even children, know that when you first meet someone, you usually start by buttering them up in some way—whether that’s in the form of a half assed compliment or a bland remark about the weather.

  The most common example would be the whole “good morning, evening, and afternoon” shtick. You could be going through the shitiest day and you’d still be expected to cough one of those up.

  But that’s simply the rule. Something that has become so ingrained in our society that everyone develops that habit before they even realize they’re doing it.

  “I will ask you again… what are you?”

  …So why was she different?

  Rather than for his name, or any basic greetings, the first meaningful thing that had come out of her mouth that actually prompted a response from Akuma was something like that.

  It sounded ridiculous just thinking about it.

  First, she suddenly approached him, cut off any chance he had at escaping, and sniffed him. Next, she ranted about strange things. Now, she was seriously expecting a response after asking such an absurd question?!

  “...”

  While Akuma was struggling to keep his composure, his angel companion was grinning devilishly. Akuma ignored it for now. Best not to entertain it while other people were nearby or he’d risk looking crazy.

  “Let’s see here…” Akuma began, maintaining a calm exterior. “Biologically male. I'm 17 years old. A student in the 11th grade, though I’ll be graduating this May. And uhh… What else? …Oh yeah, I’m also pretty good at–”

  “I care nothing for your fun facts, human!” interrupted the foreign girl.

  “Then what the hell are you looking for? Because I can’t think of any other way to answer that ridiculous question.”

  “Do not play dumb with me!”

  For some reason, she thought it was necessary to move in closer while saying that. Their lips were so close that if Akuma puckered his just a little, they’d ever so slightly peck hers.

  Sweat rushed down Akuma’s face. Just what kind of situation did he find himself in this time. Standing so close to a beautiful girl was entirely outside his range of experience.

  Fearing the worst of outcomes, Akuma slipped his hand in between their faces, creating a barrier of meat and bone.

  “Yeah… it was cute the first time, but now I’m gonna need you to back the hell up.”

  Akuma forcibly pushed away the foreigner’s face. However, she fought back with a surprisingly good amount of resistance—especially for a girl. Akuma found that pushing her away completely couldn’t be done. Not unless he wanted to use a dangerous amount of strength. So, for a while, the two were in a deadlock for who would win. Akuma’s need for personal space, or the foreigner's weird obsession with neglecting it.

  “I am very much familiar with your type!” said the foreigner while still resisting Akuma. “You hide and pretend! A con of a person! But you should know that such masks will have no effect on a great general such as I! Now, show me your true self! What! Are! You!?”

  “...Sorry, lady, I’m not sure what you mean by all that,” said Akuma while struggling to keep her at bay.

  Was it possible the two of them had met prior to all this? No, this went beyond a simple reincounter with an old acquaintance. From how casual she was acting, they would’ve had to have been great friends in the past. The kind of bond that could only be forged by childhood friends.

  Except, Akuma was confident that couldn’t have been the case as he had no such companion in his past to speak of. It wasn’t a matter of whether or not he remembered her. His situation wasn’t so cut and dry. Akuma knew with utmost certainty that he couldn’t have had such a friend.

  “I don’t believe we’ve ever met before…” said Akuma. “Could it be that this is your way of asking for directions?”

  Pooling together all the anime he had watched, Akuma surmised that she had to be asking for directions. That’s how it typically went in these situations. At least, that’s how it went in manga. He didn’t have enough personal experience to say for sure.

  “Directions…?” the foreigner repeated, visibly confused.

  Was it the English that addled her, or the nature of the question given the situation? Whatever the case, it was enough to temporarily pause their fierce battle of pull and push.

  With his hand still palming her face, Akuma casually answered, “Yeah, directions…” He peeked over the foreigner’s shoulder and continued. “I uhh… your suitcase there. I just assumed you were travelling. Plus, your accent and all…”

  Akuma rattled his brain, connecting what information he could to give reason to this seemingly ridiculous situation.

  While it was true that he had assumed the foreigner wanted directions because he saw a scene similar to this play out in an anime he watched, there was another, more straightforward reason.

  “I can’t imagine any reason an outsider would be cutting through a town like this one. Except for probably the big festival next week. I hear the ones they throw for the mayor’s birthdays are the craziest. It’s not uncommon for it to attract tourists. They even have special discounts on all the hotels in District-2 the whole week prior. And if I remember correctly, this street leads to the train station… So with all that, I assumed that’s where you were headed.”

  Of course, there was the possibility that the foreigner didn’t care about the festival and was just here for something mundane, like visiting some relatives. But seeing as it was the middle of April—a period in the year where there weren’t any major holidays or reasons to visit, and quite literally a good reason not to visit—Akuma highly doubted that.

  “Tourists like you always take this road to get to the train station because it says so on GPS, but there’s a faster way to get there… If you want, I could give you directions.”

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “……………..”

  The beautiful foreigner remained silent for a long while. Her amethyst eyes looked empty and unknowing as they blinked over and over.

  Before long, her mouth gradually formed a small, cute “o” of understanding.Due to his hand still covering her face, Akuma couldn’t see it, but he could definitely feel the change in her lip’s shape as they slid across the surface of his palm.

  “Oh! Directions!” she said with new clarity as if adding a new word to her dictionary.

  The foreign girl then leaned back, giving Akuma the space he clearly wanted. With that, he was free to stand up straight. Akuma could immediately feel a sense of relief washing over him.

  Up until now, he had been putting a great deal of strain on his right leg and lower back—he had to simultaneously balance himself in an awkward position after being pinned by the foreigner, while also needing to kick against the ground to generate enough strength to push her away. That was another reason he didn’t want to use too much force for their little duel.

  Akuma suspected that those layers of restrictions weren’t brought about by sheer coincidence. If that was the case, then perhaps this girl was more cunning than she appeared.

  In any case, Akuma could breathe easy knowing all that was behind him now.

  With just that one question, the foreigner’s entire attitude seemed to have shifted. Akuma had never been so thankful for watching anime in his life.

  “Thank you for the offer, but I will be quite alright. I have a grand compass with me… Or perhaps the word would be a map…? Oh dear, what was it?”

  “...”

  Her English was always poor, but the difference there was stark. Akuma was almost tempted to correct a few of her words, but he wasn’t sure if doing so would come off as rude or not. It was obvious that she was trying her best. If anything, he should be praising her.

  Anyways, shoddy English aside, what was she talking about now? Compass? Map? Do people still use those kinds of things in the 21st century? Why not a GPS?

  He was nearly about to ask her to elaborate when Akuma noticed she had a stunned expression. Her face slowly turned beet red.

  Following the direction of her gaze, Akuma looked down to find the Pandota in his arms, then back to the foreign girl, then back to the plushie.

  He made the connection instantly.

  To test his suspicion, he held it up closer to the foreign girl. Her face melted like ice cream under a blazing sun. Akuma then pulled the plushie away, and took note of how quickly the longingness appeared in her face. Akuma repeated that several more times, enjoying every bit of it. It was like playing with a squirrel—handing it a delicious nut before taking it and watching its reaction.

  “H–Human! T–That panda animal there! Is it yours?!” Her amethyst eyes sparkled with child-like wonder.

  “Definitely not. It’s for a… ‘friend’...?” Akuma hesitated. “No, that’s not right… Hmm, how should I put this? There’s someone I’m grateful for. They’ve always stuck by my side. So, I got this for them. Though, I’m at a loss for how I should give it to them.”

  “…?” Her head rotated with the curiosity of a kitten. “I fail to see the complication in it. Does one not simply hand off gifts? Or am I missing something?”

  “You’d think it’d be that simple, wouldn’t you…” Akuma huffed. “It’s just… I don’t know. I’m starting to have doubts. Just randomly giving her a gift? What if she thinks I’m a creep, y’know?”

  The foreign girl gave it some serious thought.

  “...I do not!”

  “Right… I guess not…”

  The foreigner laughed sheepishly. For a moment, Akuma thought it was the angel who had laughed at him, but it was the foreigner.

  “W–What are you laughing about? Did I say something wrong?”

  “No, of course not. Apologies, I did not mean any disrespect. You just surprised me, that is all.”

  “I surprised you…?”

  “Well, I should be taking my leave now. I have a train to catch,” she said, skipping over his question entirely. Akuma could sense a slight uneasiness building up behind her words. It was obvious to him that she had picked up on his confusion, but had purposefully chosen not to answer. “Take care then!”

  She waved Akuma goodbye enthusiastically.

  “...”

  Not exactly sure what kinds of words he should use at that moment, Akuma simply waved back. He quietly watched as the very beautiful and somewhat weird foreign girl made her exit.

  She was like a fairy. Like meeting her was somehow a rare phenomenon. If they parted like this, Akuma doubted he’d ever meet her again—or anyone like her for that matter. That’s what Akuma’s gut told him, anyway.

  Still, he wasn’t the type to act on such spontaneous emotions.

  No matter how much his gut told him to stop her from leaving, he would dismiss it and go on about his day.

  However…

  “!”

  The Angel was a different kind of creature. One that defied everything that Akuma stood for. If he were a type A person, then the Angel was an impossible type Z. And for that reason, Akuma felt a nasty, foreboding shiver.

  “Wait, look out!”

  His desperate warning filled the mostly empty park street before he could think. But it was already too late. His fate had been sealed.

  With a wicked grin plastered on its face, the Angel darted past Akuma, flying straight towards the unknowing foreign girl’s turning back—as she had been startled by Akuma’s sudden screech. By the time she had managed to turn all the way around, the angel passed right through her head. The sight was akin to a ghost phasing through a solid object.

  For a long while, it seemed as if nothing had been caused by it. The foreign girl was just standing there in silence, her eyes empty, lost.

  Akuma knew better. He knew not to even hope for such a miracle.

  If Akuma had to say, then the foreigner’s earlier denial of his help was most likely her way of not wanting to be a bother. The courteous thing to do in that situation. After all, it was obvious to anyone that Akuma had only asked the question as a formality.

  Akuma was grateful that she had the intuition to see that.

  But now, that no longer mattered…

  Akuma’s harsh, piercing glare moved to the angel. Like always, it was snickering like a sadist.

  “Shit…” He muttered under a bated breath.

  While the angel lacked the ability to affect the world physically, it possessed a special power that more than made up for it.

  One touch.

  With just a single touch, it could bind a person’s very fate to Akuma forever. Their past, present and future. Everything and anything they may experience was now a part of him. And if the Angel wanted, it could show him those events with a snap of its finger.

  Along with that, came the curse of convenience, as he called it. Basically, some strange force would compel those who were touched by the angel to seek Akuma’s aid. Should he deny that request, or fail in fulfilling it, then a severe punishment awaited him.

  In other words, anyone touched by the angel would become someone Akuma had to save.

  “Apologies again, human, but I have had a change of mind,” said the foreign girl while beginning to approach Akuma.

  An audible gulp could be heard trudging down his throat.

  “Your offer to direct me to the station. I wish for it. Will you show me the way? And if possible… Could you do it personally? My sense of direction is not the greatest you see…”

  The silence that followed was so thick with tension that it nearly flustered the foreign girl—believing she had said something wrong or that her English was broken somewhere in the request.

  She wasn’t at fault here. Her English was solid, and her request was a harmless one. Especially since Akuma himself had offered to help in the first place. So all in all, the foreigner wasn’t the one Akuma was cursing in his head.

  “Absolutely not.”

  The words were right there, on the edge of his tongue. But with so much at stake if he denied her, Akuma couldn’t bring himself to say it. Ultimately, the tension in the air was broken by a resigning sigh from Akuma.

  “Yeah, sure…”