Early morning.
Just past 7 am.
Sakura Apartments, Room 303.
Dressed in her school uniform, Mahiru Shiina bowed deeply to the people on the sofa.
"In any case, thank you all for yesterday's emergency rescue!"
As she spoke, Mahiru Shiina straightened her posture and took out small boxes of biscuits from the bag she was carrying:
"A little gift, please accept it."
"Wow!!"
Tohka Yatogami's face lit up at the sight of the biscuits, eagerly taking them while patting her chest:
"Feel free to call me anytime there's food involved!"
Nia Honjo immediately accepted the biscuits with a smile and remarked:
"Homemade biscuits? These should make great snacks while drawing manga."
Mukuro Hoshimiya took the biscuits hesitantly, sniffed them, and then broke into a delighted expression:
"So fragrant~"
Seeing all three satisfied with the gift, Mahiru finally let out a sigh of relief:
"I'm so glad you like them."
Originally, she had wanted to give something nicer and more tailored to their preferences, but upon returning home last night, Mahiru discovered that Echidna had withdrawn the funds for the perfect performance of a happy family from her savings.
In other words, the parents' clothes, ingredients, and furniture in Mahiru's rented home yesterday had all been paid for with her own money.
Thanks to that, Mahiru was now bankrupt.
Apart from a pile of ingredients at home, she only had 1,200 yen left—barely enough for a bowl of ramen.
To make matters worse, her parents had just come out of the ICU and were still unconscious in the critical care unit at Kamijo Hospital.
After consulting Yukinoshita, who managed personnel in the Familia, Mahiru learned she could request an advance on her salary. However, the funds were still at the garrison, making it impossible to cover the gift-giving session just now.
Fortunately, the recipients seemed pleased, which eased Mahiru's worries.
Glancing at the two remaining boxes of biscuits in her bag, Mahiru couldn't help but ask curiously:
"Um, where are Director Luo Shu, Senior Sharon, and Senior Emilia?"
"I think they were resting at home yesterday, too?"
"If you mean Emilia, she took Puck to visit Echidna," Nia replied, waving her hand before smirking mischievously.
"Though I suspect it's more about gloating."
"Huh?" Mahiru was taken aback for a moment before asking, "Do Senior Emilia and Echidna have some kind of grudge?"
"Not exactly a deep grudge," Nia said, opening the gift box and nibbling on a biscuit. "But yesterday, Echidna's Class was completely disrupted by Emilia's Demigod ascension ritual."
"In other words, unless Echidna abandons her current Class and chooses a new one to develop, she's effectively a useless person with only an empty Class title!"
"Of course, even if she starts over, Echidna would first have to discard her current Class and cleanse all her strength."
"But only a Seraph Rank powerhouse could perform such a reset."
"Well, in this world, only Luo Shu can do that."
At this point, Nia grinned wickedly:
"Now we just wait for Echidna to surrender and beg for mercy—maybe even lick Luo Shu's feet!!"
"You must be looking forward to that, little Mahiru."
"No, I'm not looking forward to it in the slightest," Mahiru sighed, her expression resigned.
Why on earth would she want to see Echidna licking Luo Shu's feet?
"And what about Senior Sharon?" Mahiru Shiina then asked about Sharon's whereabouts.
Upon hearing this, Nia Honjo's expression immediately became quite peculiar:
"Sharon?"
"She's probably happily receiving Luo Shu's punishment right now."
"After all, what happened yesterday could be considered her dereliction of duty."
"Happily receiving punishment?" Mahiru was stunned. Could these two phrases even be used together?
Was Senior Nia Honjo giving her a reading comprehension test?
Seeing Mahiru's lack of understanding, Nia Honjo grinned mischievously:
"Oh? It seems you don't understand, Mahiru. Even a newborn would know about this."
"A newborn? Are you talking about me?" Tohka Yatogami dumped all the biscuits into her mouth, chewing loudly while mumbling: "But I think I actually do know!"
"When I woke up this morning, I saw Sharon-nee running into Luo Shu's room, pulling down his trousers, and then... then they closed the door and wouldn't let me watch..."
Hearing this, Mahiru's face twitched, and she couldn't help but glance at the tightly shut door nearby.
Behind that door was Luo Shu's room.
Which meant Senior Sharon and Director Luo Shu were currently...
Mahiru's face instantly turned red, and she shook her head frantically:
"In that case, Senior Tohka, could you please deliver these two packets of biscuits to Director Luo Shu and Senior Sharon for me?"
"Um, classes are about to start, so I'll take my leave now!!"
Watching Mahiru flee in panic, Nia Honjo couldn't help but chuckle before summoning Raziel and linking it to the Divine Pantheon Reconstruction System to check Mahiru's awakening status.
[One-Winged Angel (Hero Rank Top Tier Class - Incomplete)]
[Symbolising 'incomplete life', a young holy angel whose wings were broken from birth. Depending on the angel's inner inclinations, transforms into a guardian angel who 'guides families towards happiness and fulfilment'.]
[Ritual: Make one hundred unfortunate families genuinely feel happiness and fulfilment again (Incomplete).]
Looking at Raziel's contents, Nia Honjo couldn't help but mutter:
"A Top Tier Class capable of mastering concepts like 'family', 'fortune', 'emotions' and 'fertility'?"
"Feels like if anyone wants children in the future, they just need to pray to Mahiru... What would that make her? A child-giving angel? Hestia Mahiru? Kannon Mahiru?"
Nia Honjo shook her head with a complicated expression before closing Raziel:
"Well, it's too early to think about that. Although Mahiru has this excellent Class, her ritual isn't complete yet."
As she spoke, Nia Honjo glanced at Luo Shu's room before remarking with a strange expression:
"But speaking of which, with Luo Shu's stamina, an 'unhappy' family life would be impossible, right?"
Just as Nia Honjo was silently criticising Luo Shu's endurance...
Inside the room,
Luo Shu received a text message from Megumi Kato.
The brief message made him raise his eyebrows:
[Miss Reverie Metherlence has woken up.]