SRS 50

Mikael’s eyes, which reflected Yohan, shook frantically. He looked bewildered, every muscle in his face moving in confusion, he never expected Yohan to come here.

It was the first time Yohan had seen him like that. At any other time, he might’ve felt satisfied seeing him so shaken, but not now. Even amidst this, the smell of blood emanating from Mikael was growing stronger.

Yohan frowned and approached him.

“Why are you here?”

“……”

“No, before that. What happened to your back?”

Without realizing it, he spoke in an irritated tone. When he’d spent the night searching for him, Yohan had assumed Mikael was somewhere, alone, perched on a tree, gazing at the night sky. He hadn’t imagined he’d been shut away and sick

With each step, the scent of blood thickened, pricking at his nerves until his brows twitched.

Why didn’t he come to me when it got this bad?

A fight was one thing, but treatment was another. Yohan couldn’t believe that even though Mikael knew he was a priest, he had endured alone until his clothes were soaked in blood.

When Yohan approached, his piercing gaze warning of his disapproval, Mikael turned around. He’d been touching what must have been his wounded back, but now he twisted his body so that the bloody shirt was hidden from sight, facing Yohan with his front. Then he started backing away. Yohan was dumbfounded by the sight of his friend, who was dragging himself across the ground, trying to gain some distance.

Why is he retreating like that?

“Why are you avoiding me?”

“…Why are you here?”

“I’ve been looking for you.”

“You found this place?”

Mikael still seemed to not have come to terms with the situation. His face showed a look of incomprehension, and Yohan widened his stride. If he couldn’t accept it, he just needed to force him to face reality.

Since Yohan was walking on his feet while Mikael remained seated, the distance between them closed quickly.

Finally standing right in front of Mikael, Yohan looked down at the dazed student, then moved behind him. Mikael tried to turn around, but Yohan’s hand caught his shoulder first.

Holding Mikael still, Yohan carefully brushed his hand over the blood-soaked shirt.

“……?”

He felt something uneven at his fingertips. Something sharp and irregular was embedded in Mikael’s skin.

Was it inflammation? Or… a curse?

Running through possible explanations, Yohan pulled the shirt aside for a closer look. Startled by the sudden motion, Mikael tried to stop him, but when Yohan was dealing with a patient, he was far more resolute than usual.

He quickly pushed Mikael’s hand away and pulled the collar down. His gaze slid along the student’s nape as the red shirt fell, revealing pale skin nearly as white as his face, covered with crimson blood around the shoulder blades.

“……”

When Yohan finally saw the wound, he fell silent. His golden eyes shook.

“…You.”

He barely moved his stiff lips.

“You’re not human.”

“……”

Mikael’s back was densely covered with pointed, feather-like objects. At first, he was confused, not knowing what they were, but after regaining his composure and examining them closely, he was able to guess their identity.

They were wings.

Torn wings.

To be exact, they looked as if someone had ripped them out on purpose, leaving only the roots jutting from his skin.

Was Mikael a bird-type beastman?

It was shocking, but there wasn’t much time to dwell on it. The damage to the wings was severe, and treatment was the priority.

Yohan placed his hand over the wounded area and released his divine power.

Flash!

A bright light flashed, then vanished in an instant. However, Mikael’s wound remained.

Thinking he might have made a mistake, Yohan tilted his head and tried again. Another flash of light, and still nothing changed. Not even the blood stopped flowing, Yohan frowned.

It wasn’t a mistake.

This meant his divine power wasn’t working on Mikael.

“……”

Yohan lifted his gaze from the wound to Mikael. Since the moment his wings were exposed, Mikael had gone silent, staring only at the floor to avoid his eyes.

Yohan took a quiet breath. There were only two kinds of wounds that divine power couldn’t heal.

One was a wound inflicted by a demon.

In most cases, divine power failed to take effect, though an overwhelming surge of power could sometimes break the curse and heal the injury.

But the other kind couldn’t be healed no matter how great the divine power was, when the wound, the pain running through it, had been bestowed by God.

Yohan knew this firsthand, since the aftereffects of his own divine descent belonged to that category. Pain granted by God could never be erased by any divine power.

He recalled the immense power Mikael had shown back in the commercial district.

Then was that… a descent?

Yohan, who had guessed, soon let out a hollow laugh.

No, it can’t be a descent.

…What are you denying? You already know.

Shaking his head, Yohan’s eyes returned to the torn wings.

The pure white hair, the strange sense of dissonance he’d felt from the student since their first meeting, the blind affection the griffins showed him, and the way he’d taught Yohan how to control divine power.

And above all, the inexplicable holy aura that Yohan sometimes felt from Mikael.

“……”

He wasn’t a beastman. Those weren’t the wings of a bird. As the scattered clues began to align, Yohan’s brows furrowed, and he spoke softly.

“…An angel.”

When he put all the clues together, that was the only possibility that fit Mikael’s race.

If Mikael was an angel, then the divine power he’d shown the previous day, the griffins’ affection toward him, the aura Yohan kept sensing from him, and even his own constant preoccupation with Mikael, all made sense.

It was difficult for a believer not to be drawn to a holy being standing so close.

“Mikael.”

Yohan called the silent student’s name, meeting his eyes. Even though he had learned Mikael’s true identity, there were still too many unresolved questions left between them.

“You owe me an explanation.”

His voice was calm, though it took effort to suppress his surprise. Mikael turned his head away indifferently, staring at something. He was stubbornly refusing to engage.

Yohan had expected that reaction, so he didn’t let himself get pulled into it. Instead, he inhaled, reluctant to take the step he was about to take, and stood up.

Yohan, walking slowly, faced Mikael head-on and slowly crouched down.

His golden eyes fixed on Mikael.

“Mikael. You said if I told you everything, you’d tell me everything too.”

“……”

“That was the rule.”

It was an incredibly cowardly method.

He was choosing to break his own promise, betraying both his honor and his word, but he saw no other way.

That’s how much Yohan wanted to resolve his doubts about him here and now.

Mikael stared at Yohan with a slightly annoyed expression. Yohan glanced at his watch. There were now less than thirty minutes left until 4 a.m.

The conversation was going to be long, but time was short. After a moment of thought, Yohan stood up and reached a hand toward him.

“Let’s move first. This isn’t the place for a long talk. You’ve somewhere you stay when you’re not in class, right? I’d like to go there.”

When Yohan had first come into this place and found Mikael curled up, enduring his pain alone, he had seemed calm, as if he were used to it. It must not have been the first time. So when Yohan spoke as if he had every right to, Mikael looked up at him with dissatisfaction before sighing.

He stood up on his feet, plop, and blood fell to the ground.

“…You’re not planning to attend the zero period?”

“I’m ready to skip every class today if I have to.”

Yohan spoke first, knowing perfectly well that Mikael’s words meant go to class instead. He’d made it impossible to argue. Mikael’s eyes dimmed slightly, and with a resigned look, he picked up his shirt.

“Follow me.”

Yohan quietly followed behind him. With every step Mikael took, small round drops of blood marked the floor. It would’ve been a lie to say it didn’t bother him, so Yohan stared silently at the falling red stains.

If he could’ve healed him, he would have. But he couldn’t, and his inability to do so weighed on him.

They went deeper into the forest, farther than Yohan had ever been. Mikael finally stopped in front of a large tree. He murmured something, and the tree split open down the middle, revealing a hidden path.

So this was it.

Even without explanation, Yohan could tell this was the place Mikael went when he wanted to be alone. He followed him inside the newly revealed path.

“Where is this?”

“A space shaped by magic.”

“…Come to think of it, you’re an angel, but you use magic.”

Since arriving here, Yohan had learned that those who used divine power and those who practiced magic rarely got along.

If divine power was the miracle of God, magic was the miracle of mortals, and their beliefs naturally went against each other’s.

As evidence, Professor Hegel, a great mage, and the angel professor were always busy belittling each other whenever they met. Considering this, Mikael’s use of magic was unusual, and when Yohan asked him about it, the student let out a hollow laugh.

“Do I look like a normal angel to you?”