"Killian...open your eyes."

She leaned in close towards him, to the point where. Even with his eyes closed, Raymond could still feel her presence only an inch away from him.

At the last moment however, right before they made any actual skin-to-skin contact. She immediately pulled away, causing several sounds of complaint to erupt.

A faint pink hue appeared on both of their faces, unnoticeable for anyone who wasn’t extremely close to them and could notice the minute changes in skin tone.

Someone like Thomas of course.

Handing Raymond a bottle of water, he sat next to him. Worriedly asking about his health.

Raymond waved him off, "I’m fine, it’s just a bit hard for me and Ellen to do that ending scene."

It was the ultimate payoff for the entire play after all. The entire story was building up everything just for that one scene, and Raymond and Ellen wanted it to be perfect. Which was why they practiced that scene more times then the rest, without actually kissing each other.

But that was just their excuse they used to trick everyone else, the real reason was their current ongoing game. For Raymond, each time they ran through it again. Was another time Ellen had to take the initiative to approach Raymond and lean in.

Since Raymond was the passive one here, whenever Ellen chickened out. All the blame was put onto her instead!

"It seems like there’s something else going on between you two however?"

"We’re just...playing a game."

"A game? What game?"

Raymond didn’t answer him, quietly staring off into a random patch on the floor.

Having to explain this duel as a game to Thomas suddenly seemed very shameful...

He and Ellen were supposed to be the most mature ones after all, they were the oldest ones and had the most life experience compared to the rest. In their view, Thomas and Zachary and the rest might as well still have been kids. Especially including Thomas, since his age itself was an unsure thing in the first place. He wasn’t sure whether time worked the same in the heavenly realm, and he didn’t know anything about the life cycles of angels.

Admitting to something so childish just didn’t feel right.

Thomas rubbed his chin, trying to deduce what the game they were playing was about. "Is it like seven minutes in heaven? But constantly?"

"How do you even know about seven minutes in heaven?"

"My friends asked me to play it with them."

Raymond didn’t even know why he had asked that question. It had an obvious answer anyways.

He did wonder who the lucky few were that got to do it with Thomas however.

"It’s something like that. But me and Ellen are trying to hide it rather then tell everyone so can you please keep this a secret?"

He nodded, "Of course."

If only everyone in the world could be like Thomas, the world would probably collapse within seconds. But the resulting society would be such a peaceful utopia filled with so much joy and whimsy, that even demons would want to live there.

Some demons already yearned for a peaceful life anyways, like how Audrina’s mother did for Audrina. There was a reason Audrina wasn’t in the demonic realm or on the demonic continent like 99% of her race was.

Finishing his water, Thomas casually picked up his empty bottle before walking away. Because littering was bad, and angels had moral standards.

Almost immediately, replacing Thomas next to him. His enemy reappeared, plopping down next to him.

"Hey."

"...what do you want."

She smiled, her earlier discomposure from the failed moment completely gone. Staring at him without a care in the world.

"Can’t I just check in on my Shadow?"

"Maybe if she wasn’t a coward."

She ignored him, cheerfully swinging her legs back and forth.

"I was just looking out for my Shadow, he might feel a bit uncomfortable since it is his first kiss after all."

"Oh really? Not because the master is a coward?"

Ellen was still cheerfully assuming that he was someone who had never kissed anyone before, and Raymond would have loved to correct her. If only just to see her break composure and win the game.

But it was his own version of an ultimate attack. Charging it up for as long as he could for the day for when he finally unleashed it.

That would be a truly spectacular moment. The kind that made him feel grateful for his perfect memory rather then curse and loathe it.

"Since the master is so merciful, they shall forgive that insolent statement of yours."

"If the master was a merciful one, they wouldn’t have restricted their Shadow’s freedom from joining this play."

Since the two of them were sitting in quite a private spot, with walls and props covering them from all sides. No one could hear or see any of their current child-like behavior. Unless they started approaching them, at which point they would be able to see that they were approaching and pause.

Which was good because their current behavior wasn’t very befitting of them.

She only smiled harder, moving slightly so that she was sitting closer to him.

Promptly resting her head onto his shoulder, she let out a small giggle as she felt his body stiffen like a rock.

"!!!"

As for Raymond, the sudden offense definitely took him by surprise. But with his years of experience, he quickly managed to regain his composure. Besides, this wasn’t the first time Ellen had done something like this.

...but it was unbelievably distracting!

With the way she was leaning on him, he could practically feel every one of her breaths. The soft rising and falling of her shoulders, as well as her soft hair. The weight on his shoulders wasn’t heavy at all, but it was extremely disruptive.

"Someone might see us like this."

"Hmmm...i don’t care."

If Raymond could read minds, he would be able to know that Ellen definitely did care about this.

But knowing Ellen as someone who was shameless and thick-skinned enough to flatter herself to others without feeling any hint of awkwardness. He fully believed her when she said it.

First he tried reasoning with her, "What if they spread rumors?"

"Rumors of us dating? It doesn’t matter."

Then he tried logic, "Is it even comfortable for you?"

"It’s very comfortable actually, your shoulders are a bit bigger then I thought."

Finally, he tried asking politely. "My shoulders are a bit sore. Can you not lean your head on me there?"

"Nope."

A complete refusal with every method he tried.

Oh she was having a lot of fun with this.

She let out another soft giggle, casually playing and twirling with a strand of her hair while Raymond tried to escape. Each attempt being completely shut down by Ellen. Not that he could do much in the first place.

"You know, you’re making it seem like you don’t want me here."

She pouted slightly, letting out a long sigh she was sure Raymond could feel.

"I just think you could be doing better."

Now that managed to make her pause slightly.

Lifting her head off of his shoulder, Ellen calmly turned his head towards her. That way they were both staring directly into each other.

He raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything as Ellen calmly examined his face.

She was quite aware of his striking appearance, and she was especially aware that this wasn’t even his real appearance. Merely him at his younger age.

But it didn’t make his face any less impressive.

Ellen was also very aware of the current male rankings of appearance, Raymond was second while Thomas was first. Meaning a majority had believed that Thomas was more attractive.

But for Ellen, that list was completely false. The number one was obviously Raymond’s, and since Raymond was number one. It meant she already had the best, rather then being able to do better as Raymond had just said.

She gave him a few condescending head pats, "My Shadow is number one in looks for me, and that’s all I need."

With that, she promptly returned to resting her head on his shoulder. Unaware of what she had just done for Raymond’s confidence.

"So you think I’m attractive then?"

Tch.

***

’Why did I agree...’

Audrina stared at the shadows of all the people around her. The bright lights and constant chattering was basically the opposite of everything she liked.

Feeling temptation to just jump into one of the shadows and hide away, a particular image of a chatty white haired boy appeared in her mind.

If she did try to run away, he would just drag her back.

Audrina regretted saying yes when he had asked. Thomas had stated this would be a good chance to improve her acting skills, so she had decided to try out for the sole purpose of doing so.

Only for it to be a trap, she couldn’t feel her acting skills improving at all. Rather, she only received several blank stares and looks of disappointment for her acting.

Something about their gaze made her feel uncomfortable.

Like she had failed their expectations, a mere potential that had failed to realize itself.

For some reason, that made her feel a deep gap in herself.

Retreating to a corner, she witnessed as Ellen and Raymond both quietly rested. With her laying her head on his shoulder.

Ellen was praised for her good acting skills, perhaps she should copy her?

Audrina already emulated human behavior as best as she could when she was out and about. It was one of the key reasons why she also tried to interact with humans as little as she could. Since her perception of human behavior was vastly different from actual human behavior.

Making up her mind to copy Ellen, she quickly changed corners. Searching for the only other white haired male there was.

Finding him surrounded by a group of others, she frowned.

’...nevermind.’

Thomas, feeling a strange gaze on him. Looked into a random direction to his right, finding Audrina gazing intensely at him. Her eyes like a pair of glowing embers.

Glare

Twenty minutes later, when Thomas was finally alone for a brief second. Standing near a few empty seats inside of an empty storeroom.

She jumped out from his blind spot, grabbing his wrist and forcing him to sit down. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"Audrina?"

"Sit."

Once he had sat down, she then proceeded to sit down next to him. Laying her head onto his shoulders.

Except she couldn’t.

Because right when she was about to do so, she remembered a very crucial fact.

Her horns were very sharp, while they stuck out from her forehead and not to the sides like most. The chance of them accidentally cutting Thomas was very high, and she couldn’t risk revealing her identity like that.

With that plan failing, she quickly swapped ideas. Remembering something else she had watched Raymond and Ellen do. All the way back during their first mission.

Holding his collar, she forced his head down. Making it so that he was lying down with her head on her lap.

Thomas felt a bit surprised, half of her face being obscured as he looked up at Audrina.

"What is this about?"

Despite basically being manhandled, he still seemed more surprised rather then actually annoyed or angry.

"Rest."

"..?"

The few times Thomas had touched Audrina, either by holding her wrist or shoulder. He had noticed Audrina’s body had an abnormally low temperature.

But her soft thighs felt a bit warm, with the perfect mix of temperature, thickness and softness to make him feel extremely comfortable right now.

Paired with how often he had to go out, walk, train, club activities. With his extremely busy lifestyle. Thomas often had to use his holy energy just to have the energy to keep going throughout the day, so for him. The current situation actually felt very cozy.

The last piece of the puzzle however, was Audrina. Having secretly filled the room with her dark fog, it caused Thomas to unknowingly inhale it and become drowsy.

In just a matter of seconds, Thomas already closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. Still resting his head on her lap.

Watching his soft and steady breathing, Audrina calmly sat there completely still for the next two hours. Unaware of the chaos she had just caused outside as dozens of people searched for them.

Not that anyone could find them, she had also locked the doors as well.