"Eh?"
Klein had just applied the Potion to the washroom mirror, turning its surface pitch-black, when he heard a clear cry come from within it.
He then saw Angel's somewhat flustered expression, along with what seemed to be a firelit basement around her.
That voice just now hadn't sounded like hers. Could there have been another woman present?
He raised an eyebrow slightly, but the angle of the image in the mirror was limited, and there was no second person in sight.
"I just finished communicating with another friend."
Angel calmly explained, removing the human-skin Characteristic and revealing her true appearance in the mirror.
A friend... the female friend she had mentioned who gave her the Potion?
Klein nodded in understanding.
With the doubt in his heart dispelled, he looked at Angel's undisguised true face in the mirror and suddenly felt a trace of guilt.
Yesterday, in the guest room of his home, he had ultimately failed to keep their agreement. He had taken advantage of her Fear of Firelight to stop her reckless actions. There had indeed been an element of going along with the current, after all. He had once heard Angel calling his name through the door at Isengard's house... Now that he clearly knew her feelings, how could he possibly, when faced with that situation...
In an instant, their first meeting on Daffodil Street flashed through his mind, as did the little moments they had spent together and worked alongside each other at the Nighthawks' headquarters, her struggle between her feelings and her identity, his unease when inviting her to dinner, his gratitude when gentle hands had stroked him while he was gravely injured, and his remorse at the grave, where he had felt so utterly powerless...
Fortunately, they had met again. Moreover, Angel should have