Angels in the Architecture
Part 2: Molto Ritmico
Chapter 20: Amber Light
"Sweetie- where are you going?"
"Taking a walk," Kumiko answered stiffly, not sparing her confused American mom a glance as she stormed toward the door and mashed her feet into her sneakers. Today she wasn't even going to bother sneaking around like a chicken thief with her invisibility.
Her dad looked up from the chives he was mincing on the kitchen counter. He set his knife down, frowning.
"Kumi-hon, did something happen at school today?"
"Not really."
"Anything you want to talk about?"
"I'll be back late-ish."
Kumiko slammed the apartment door shut behind her and dashed down the stairs to the lobby. She darted into the ladies' room, glared at her messy-haired self in the mirror, and watched her reflection melt into thin air until the mirror showed nothing but the tiled wall behind her. She was invisible now, and finally prepared in full.
The amber-eyed girl exited onto the cool nighttime street and stalked past the black car with tinted windows parked near her apartment building, paying no heed to the stupid military men seated inside with unwary binoculars still trained on her bedroom window. They didn't need her attention; Kumiko was long ahead of their game.
Tonight was a dry evening with gentle winds. Perfect for flying. Kumiko had her invisibility system down pat, she had Reina's true address at the church vividly memorized, she had no exams or homework due tomorrow, and the army spies sitting outside her home had no idea she had even left the building. All the pieces had fallen in place for her to come to Reina's aid.
The silvery moon sat basking in a thin layer of clouds overhead. Its soft light shone down on Kumiko as if to express approval of her endeavor, or perhaps to offer its well-wishes.
She glanced one last time at the black car holding whoever was on "Birdwatch Duty" tonight before returning her gaze to the sidewalk. It stretched out before her like an inviting airstrip.
Kumiko unfurled her sprawling amber-gold wings and, with a running start, leapt into the night sky. She tented her feathers to catch the wind, soaring unseen toward Kousaka Reina.
Sometimes Kumiko thought long and hard about different ways to rescue Reina from Taki Noboru. Maybe she'd run away with her best friend to fend for themselves on the streets? Desperate and penniless. But at least they'd be together, and Kumiko could protect Reina with her powers... no, Kumiko's mom and dad would cry their hearts out over her. Besides, that would make it all too easy for the government to cage her up as a specimen for dissection, and what was left as the end result? Reina would be alone and terrified again. Kumiko herself would be more helpless than ever, while the trumpet player would probably end up returning to her stepfather begging for forgiveness.
The other option was for Kumiko to persuade her own parents to adopt Reina. You took me in, can't you take her too? But was that even legally possible if Taki Noboru didn't want to give up his daughter? Probably not. You couldn't go and adopt someone else's lawful child, ne? That would just be kidnapping.
At the moment, fleeing and adoption were the only two serious options Kumiko considered. But she knew there was a third choice... a horrible possibility...
It wouldn't be so difficult. To slip invisibily into the church tonight, and then set the building alight with a snap of her fingers and a rush of blazing fire. Rescue Reina, a damsel in distress in Kumiko's arms, and leave Taki Noboru to perish in the flames... it was entirely and effortlessly feasible, but therein lay the horror of the act.
It alarmed Kumiko to think how easily she could murder Reina's stepfather. Afterward she might repeat to herself for the rest of her life that it was to protect the girl she had a crush on. But she couldn't stand the idea of Taki Noboru's ghost eternally lurking in the shadows of her closet at night, or his burnt corpse appearing behind her reflection whenever she looked in the mirror, or even the mere thought of having that kind of blood on her hands.
My powers can really kill people, she thought, realization settling in. That's the kind of power I have. She had gone from conjuring spheres of light to plotting murder. What was next?
Kumiko suddenly felt very aware of just how truly powerful she could be.
A black crooked tree hunched next to the church rectory. It annoyingly prevented Kumiko from landing upfront on Reina's balcony, so istead she spiraled to the earth beside the back entrance of the church, where Reina had hugged her. Where she'd stood in the rain that night on the narrow pathway and watched the raven-haired girl disappear into the rectories, and where she'd cried while Hashimoto-sensei patted her back.
Evening moths fluttered in the orange light at the gaping maw of the concrete stairwell. Kumiko dropped her invisibility in the cool nightime shadows and shed her wings as she started to climb the stairs; amber feathers crumbled into dust in her wake, bone and sinew flaking away like ash until there was zero trace of her avian limbs.
By the time she'd reached the top Kumiko looked like a normal human once more. But as she peered into the darkened window, she saw that there was no one in the house. Maybe Reina had already gone to bed- but it was too early at night for that. Maybe Taki Noboru had taken her out somewhere, and today's trip had been a waste of time.
Kumiko went back downstairs. With an irritated sigh, she started toward a clear space on the lawn by the church to take off.
Then she realized there was light from within the church, glowing through the stained glass windows.
It couldn't hurt to check.
Distant choir music floated from the church as Kumiko approached the tall wooden doors at the building's entrance. The oaken doors swung open with her gentle push into a darkened lobby preceding the brightly-lit church, glowing blueish-white from fluorescent lights on the ceiling. The harsh blue light stung her sore eyes, which hadn't yet adjusted from the darkness.
Tiptoeing past the carpeted floor of the lobby, the brown-haired girl quietly darted into the church and nervously whisked herself into the nearest row of wooden pews, which were mostly empty except for a couple of people scattered amongst the front pews. It clearly meant that this wasn't a public church service for the masses. Rather, the focus was on the choir in the center before the altar, standing in rows and singing drowsily from hymnals. Tonight was probably a routine rehearsal for the choir.
Accompanying the singers on a small piano was a young priest in a black cassock with black hair and glasses. He played gently but emotionlessly, following the cues of the choir's conductor- a old priest wearing navy blue robes, waving his gnarly hands before the fatigued singers before him.
Kumiko eyed the old conducting priest. That's probably Taki, she thought darkly. Taki had probably long ended his meeting with Hashimoto-sensei, and had come back to conduct his church's choir. This was who that old man must be. He looked like the kind of horrible human being who was behind Reina's suffering at home.
She was staring at him and considering exactly how to approach when the old priest cut off the choir.
"Otsukaresama deshita, everyone," he announced, in a frail but jolly voice. "Let's take a five-minute break."
As the singers mumbled and began to shuffle from their risers, sparse laymen in the pews began to rise and stretch. Maybe Reina was here. Kumiko searched for a brown and gold Kitauji uniform among them, but saw none of those colors.
Then she glimpsed bright amethyst eyes and raven-black hair in a tight ponytail- and let out a gasp.
Reina looked entirely different than her usual appearance at school. She was dressed in pure white robes that practically glowed in the blue fluorescent light. Snowy fabric cinched at her waist accented the trumpet player's elegant figure, while the folds of white cloth that formed her long sleeves hid her delicate hands. A red ribbon held her sleek black hair in a ponytail, and a bright silver crucifix hung from a thin chain around her neck. The entire ensemble lent Reina an air of surreal beauty; she looked like a demure angel, with more grace and divinity than Kumiko could ever hope to emanate, even with her own actual wings.
Reina was stunningly, jaw-droppingly attractive.
Kumiko swallowed and felt her cheeks flushing crimson.
I'm screwed, she thought. And she was, because the sight of Reina dressed like a goddess forced her to admit to herself two facts she had been denying and evading in her mind for the past few months: she was definitely not straight, and she had completely and irreversibly fallen for Kousaka Reina.
Reina gasped too when she realized it was Kumiko sitting in the back of the church. For several seconds they stared at each other: Kumiko enamored by Reina's startling beauty, Reina mortified to see someone so out-of-place in her church.
A split-second later, the shock subsided... and Reina began to angrily storm toward Kumiko, white robes swishing gracefully as she stalked down the center aisle. Kumiko shrank into the pew and patted her flushed cheeks with cold palms, hoping to make the color disappear.
Reina looked furious as she briskly scooted over next to Kumiko in the pew and grabbed the euphonium player's hand from her face.
"What are you doing here?!" she hissed. "You can't be here! How did you even get here?"
Kumiko opened her mouth, then closed it- like a stunned fish- before opening it again and managing a few words:
"Why do you look like that?"
"What do you mean?" snapped Reina.
Kumiko suddenly became aware of how dumb that sounded.
"Why are you wearing that?" she rephrased.
Reina looked confused for a moment. Then she glanced down at her silver crucifix, and the soft white robes, and understood Kumiko's source of confusion.
"I'm an altar girl," she explained more calmly. "We just had Mass. Did your parents drive you here?"
"I..." stammered Kumiko, squirming under Reina's suspicious narrowed eyes, "I s-sort of just-"
"- Reina, who is this?"
Both girls turned. Kumiko saw the young priest who had been playing piano, now looming over them in his black cassock and studying them from behind his glasses. At standing height he was quite tall, taller than her father or Hashimoto-sensei. Around the priest's neck hung the same silver crucifix worn by Reina, whom had inexplicably fallen silent.
"Hi," said Kumiko awkwardly, somehow hoping to use this introduction as a way to speak to the old priest at the front of the church whom was no doubt Reina's stepfather. She stood up to greet the young priest properly. "I'm Oumae Kumiko. I'm... uh, I'm Reina's friend from Kitauji. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu."
She bowed quickly, but the bespectacled priest did not return her gesture.
Kumiko suddenly noticed the coldness in his blue eyes.
"I've heard quite a bit about you, Oumae-san," said the priest softly, wearing a small smile that did nothing to mask his frosty demeanor. "A pleasure to finally meet you. My name is Taki Noboru."
So this was Taki Noboru towering over her right now, his presence poisoning the air around them and casting a shadow in the fluorescent blue light. This was the man who was responsible for the numerous injuries Reina carried on her body, who had forced Reina to forfeit her audition, whose name could always cause Reina's smiles to fade.
Kumiko glared but said nothing. Next to her, Reina looked like she was trying to disappear into her seat.
Taki looked Kumiko up and down with cold blue eyes.
"Unremarkable," he murmured. "So boring. I wonder what she sees in you."
Kumiko narrowed her eyes- but then she realized the implications behind Taki's insults, and turned to Reina with a questioning look. But the trumpet player was staring resolutely at the floor, her cheeks flushed crimson. It was hard to tell if it was from anger or something else.
She returned her attention to Taki and was about to blurt out something offensive and possibly inappropriate when suddenly, the older priest who'd been conducting the choir appeared out of nowhere and butted in with a large smile.
"Ah, Father Taki greeting a new parishioner?" the old man chortled. "Welcome, welcome! I don't believe we've seen you in our church before. Always wonderful to see new faces. Are you religious, young lady? Might you be-"
"No," blurted Kumiko.
There was a brief silence.
It was the first time Kumiko had ever admitted it aloud. Inwardly she apologized to her mom and dad, whom would be devastated if they ever heard that. But she was not a Christian.
More silence.
Then Reina slowly stood up from the pew.
"We have an exam tomorrow," she said quietly. "You need to study."
"What exam?"
"You should leave, Kumiko."
Taki watched the two of them, his expression unreadable. Kumiko ignored him, keeping her eyes only on Reina.
"Then can you show me out?" she asked.
Reina glanced at Taki, as if wordlessly asking permission. Taki made a small gesture to dismiss both of them before turning on his heel, inky-black cassock swishing as he stalked away back toward the piano and regrouping choir members. The older priest raised an eyebrow at Kumiko before turning and following in Taki back toward the altar.
Kumiko swallowed as Reina pushed past her and beckoned her to accompany her out the door.
"Are you mad at me?" she proffered.
Reina said nothing.
The two girls exited the empty church lobby into the nighttime yard, following the path away from the building to the sidewalk connecting the main church to the rectories. Crickets chirped in the cool night air as the two girls headed toward the crooked black tree that had prevented Kumiko from landing earlier. Beneath the jagged branches was a small park bench, cast in the warm glow of the orange streetlamp from the rectory stairs. The soft amber light gave the bench the look of a haven. Above their heads was the tree, a cathedral of golden leaves and black branches shielding them from the stars in the sky, a stark contrast from the cold blue light in the church.
Kumiko sat down on the worn wood with Reina, and felt enveloped in a cocoon of amber in which the outside world was muted.
Reina did not look at Kumiko as she spoke.
"Are you trying to make my life harder?"
"I just wanted to help," said Kumiko pathetically. Now she was wondering why she had come here in the first place if she didn't have a reasonable plan with a degree of usefulness that fell in-between murdering Taki or not doing anything at all.
Reina sighed.
"Father Taki keeps me alive," she said. "Anything you could do to help would only take him away from me. I would die. That's what happens if you try to report. Besides," she added, "I only have two more years of high school. If I can earn a scholarship, I won't need to rely on him anymore. I've handled this for so long, so two more years is nothing."
"What about band camp? He really won't let you go?"
Reina shook her head, her amethyst eyes downcast. But when the raven-haired girl looked up, Kumiko saw that she wore a small smile.
"You really are brave, Kumiko. I guess you really meant it, when you said 'friends should have each others' backs.'"
Despite her worry and anger at Taki Noboru, Kumiko couldn't help but grin.
"Does that make me special enough now?"
"No," snapped Reina, and Kumiko groaned.
Then her eyes widened when Reina suddenly reached up and took Kumiko's chin in her fingers.
"But," said the trumpet player, "you're just special enough for me to do this."
Reina leaned forward- Kumiko gasped in surprise- and felt Reina's soft lips pressing a kiss on her burning cheek, her glossy black hair brushing against Kumiko's ear and tickling as she retreated and then sat awkwardly on the bench as if nothing had happened. Kumiko reached up, heart pounding, and touched her face where Reina had kissed her. She turned and saw Reina tugging down the sleeves of her snowy-white robe and clasping her hands tightly in her lap before looking away, tension written in every line of her body.
Grinning like an idiot, Kumiko scooted closer to Reina until their thighs were just touching. She wasn't sure what to do with her hands either, so she folded them in her lap and looked up at the tree branches above them, smiling weirdly waiting for her blush to fade.
Then Reina said, in a more cross tone, "Hurry up and call your parents so you can leave."
"So I can study for my exam?"
Reina shot her a strange look of pleased annoyance as Kumiko added seriously, "Hai," and reached for her phone.
Even if it had been a stupid decision to fly here tonight, Kumiko was delighted with this outcome. It made everything tonight worth it. The two girls sat awkwardly on the amber-lit bench, relishing each others' company as Kumiko dialed and thought of a reasonable explanation to offer her parents when they picked up.
Neither girl was aware that they were being intently watched.
From the top floor of the church, observing at an open window, Taki Noboru adjusted his glasses and folded his arms.
He stared long and hard at Oumae Kumiko before he turned away, his black cassock swishing in his wake, and retreated into the darkness of the church attic.
Author's Note: I drew art of AltarGirl!Reina and Angel!Kumiko! Here at taki-sensei, tumblr, co m/post/166714766508/altargirlreina-and-wingedkumiko-from-angels-in