Yoshiko was not amused. Surrounded by her mortal classmates, the fallen angel looked around aimlessly. It was an already boring school day when her teacher announced a long book report where they had to work . . . in pairs. This assignment would be 20% of their final grade as it was too important to forgo it. All groups were randomly assigned by drawing a slip of paper with somebody's name in a box. The blue-haired girl bit her nails and waited anxiously for partner, leering at her classmates. When it came her time to draw, she winced and staggered to the front of the room. Yoshiko put her hand in the box, looking the other way as she pulled out a slip of paper.

"Ruby. . . Kurosawa?"

A surprised voice came from the other side of the classroom.

"E-eeh? R-Ruby is Yoshiko-chan's partner?!"

Yoshiko quietly walked back to where Ruby was sitting. She felt relieved that she at least knew her partner, but Ruby was more of Hanamaru's friend. The red-headed girl was also a little timid and shy for Yoshiko's tastes. Even in Aqours, Ruby tended to hang out around her own subunit, Dia, and her best friend rather than Yoshiko.

"I-I hope that Yoshiko-chan and Ruby can work well together."

Ruby broke eye-contact and looked down at the floor, as if it was almost a little painful to talk to Yoshiko. The blue-haired girl was a little flustered for a moment, but then put on a face and struck a pose.

"Don't worry, you'll have the one and only fallen angel as your partner, Ruby-chan. Also, it's Yohane by the way. You can be my little demon."

The red-headed girl's eyes grew large.

"Little demon?! I don't know if onee-chan will let me!"

"Don't worry, don't worry! It'll all be okay, Ruby-chan. Let's just um, go to the library together and pick our topic."

Yoshiko felt herself get hot. She knew already that her would be awkward around Dia's little sister, but she didn't know that Ruby would get scared so easy. Ruby was so sweet that it was almost sickly. The exact opposite of what Yoshiko was. How was this ever going to work?

The two walked into Uranohoshi's library, side-by-side. As soon as she entered the library, the younger girl seemed to be more interested in finding someone to comfort her than literary topics. As soon as she saw Maru, Ruby waved to her friend, getting her attention in the process.

"Wooow! I can't believe Ruby and Yoshiko-chan got paired together, zura!" Hanamaru giggled to herself. "Say, do y'all need any help with findin' books?"

"It's Yohane, Zuramaru! Yohane! And besides! Yohane has power over all of earthy knowledge. She does not need the help of mortals to obtain her desires."

"Oh okay. Well, uh, y'all have fun together, you two!" Hanamaru skipped away nonchalantly.

"Wait! Hanamaru-chan! Don't leave Ruby alone! Wah~"

Yoshiko glared at Hanamaru and then back at Ruby's big green eyes. Ugh! She such a baby. What's so good about Zuramaru when you can have the beautiful Yohane instead?

"C'mon Ruby! When gotta find our book to do the report on! We're already behind everyone else!"

"Eh! Really?! Ruby doesn't want her to get mad at us!"

The pair scanned over shelves and shelves of books. Yoshiko frantically searched for anything relating to the dark arts while Ruby gathered sewing guides. Whenever they would show each other various topic ideas, the other would disagree. It seemed the forever had gone by when they scanned almost the entire library. Finally, as the fallen angel kneeled to look at the bottom row, the red-headed girl eyeballed a book on various traditional Japanese desserts at the very top of the shelf.

"Hey, Yohane-chan! Maybe that would be good for our report! It's about yummy sweets! What do you think?"

"Sweets? Hmm, sounds temptingly sinful. This is perfect for our demonic project. Especially if we make dark chocolate together."

"Y-Yeah! That's great, Yohane-chan! Ruby is excited to work with you! "

Yoshiko couldn't help but chuckle at Ruby's smile. This might actually be a good compromise between the two!

Ruby pulled the library ladder along to reach to the top row. Shaking, she slowly climbed each step one by one. As time passed by, she eventually came as soon as she held the book. She started to tremble, and Yoshiko looked up to see her cute face becoming misty with tears.

"Ruby! Are you okay up there?! Do you want me to do it instead?!"

"I-I can't get down! I'm trapped and I don't what to do!"

The younger girl started to cry while her partner panicked on what to do.

"Don't worry! I'll save you! Just go backwards and don't look down!"

"I can't Yoshiko-chan! I can't!"

Ruby's sobbings became more and more violent as the ladder started to move. Yoshiko felt a flash of anxiety as she seriously thought that her partner was going to fall.

"Hang on!"

The blue-haired girl suddenly grabbed the ladder to where it was still. In a moment of chaos, Ruby was thrown off.

"PIIIIGIIIIII!"

Thromp! Before they knew it, both girls on top of each other for all to see. There was a few seconds of silence before they made opened their eyes and realized what had happened. Ruby leaned forward to make eye contact with Yoshiko. Her hands were near her chest, and their faces were close as if they were about to kiss.

"Owowowow! Ruby are you okay!?"

"W-Wah!" Ruby's face was as red as her hair. She got off of Yoshiko as soon as she could and ran away in tears. Hanamaru heard the noise and started to chase her to comfort her. The fallen angel dusted herself off and stood up. She was worried for the younger girl, but couldn't help but think her baby-soft skin and warm touch. Yoshiko had never been so close to another girl before and was excited and confused at the same time. She rubbed the place where Ruby fell on her, still blushing.

Maybe after she made sure Ruby was okay, this project wouldn't be so bad after all.