Rino Sonogami

"Mm—!"

Qian Huanyue woke from the pain. It had come too suddenly, too violently, making her head twitch slightly where it was buried in the pillow.

If she had been human, sweat might have already crawled down her back and soaked through her clothes.

But even though she was not human, she was still completely unprepared when the pain she had suppressed for so long came rushing back all at once.

Almost instinctively—

"[Featherheal Sovereign]." Qian Huanyue spoke the name of an Angel she had no memory of, yet somehow found strangely familiar.

An Angel appeared behind her. Pure white, radiant feathers drifted down, covering the surface of the pain before swiftly seeping in like melting snow, soothing that tearing agony bit by bit.

Qian Huanyue let out a soft breath. She blinked, feeling that if she were any more pathetic, humiliating tears might fall from her eyes.

How embarrassing.

Thinking that, she slowly loosened her grip on the bedsheet. Her knuckles had turned white from exertion, leaving deep wrinkles in the fabric.

She glanced at it—if she had used just a little more strength, the fabric might have torn outright under that absurd force.

Then, when she faced Kurumi, she would have no choice but to absentmindedly make up an explanation.

After calming down, she smoothed out the sheet, her fingertips brushing over the creases and pressing them flat one by one—

Then she noticed something was wrong.

There was a plump... pink thing under the blanket?

She froze. Her gaze fell upon that raised lump in the bedding. A small length of pink hair was exposed, spread softly beside the pillow. That tiny body was completely buried beneath the blanket, with only those strands of hair showing as she breathed evenly, rising and falling with each breath.

The