Kingdom of Alphine, Rulen Island. In a place not far from the Claude Cathedral located at the island's center, was the Arnadalr Mansion. Built four hundred years ago by the prodigious architect, Tossano, this mansion combined the structural mechanics of planes and isometrics in a sensible balance, known as the prominent style of "Neo Tossano Architecture." It was carefully decorated down to the last detail, and although an old building, it was reinforced with repairs over the years to remain in good condition. This mansion had a history of being inherited by each new family head of House of Arnadalr over many generations. In particular, the garden that was made through careful arrangement and calculations was a sight to behold, and naturally, received high praises from the nobles of neighboring countries. Every month, the nobles and aristocrats gathered in this garden for social parties. The Arnadalr House was a prestigious family that has been around since the founding of Alphine, and elsa was the daughter of their current family head.

It was a peaceful afternoon. Having come back from church, elsa was enjoying an early afternoon tea in the Arnadalr Mansion's prized garden.

"Elsa! Elsa~!"

While drinking Earl Grey, and reading the book she had purchased that morning, she suddenly heard the desperately shouting voice of a girl approaching.

"Elsa~! Ah, there you are!"

"….. Why are you in such a hurry, Anna? ….. Oh ….! fufu….."

Elsa couldn't help but giggle slightly when she saw Rin's appearance.

"Elsa, you're so mean~! Hmph …..!"

Anna puffed out her cheeks and faced the other direction. She seemed to be upset about being laughed at.

"It suits you very well. You look like a cute princess."

A princess. Just as Elsa said, right now, Anna looked like a princess. On her head was a tiara inlaid with diamonds and pearls, and she wore a pale green dress that looked almost like flower petals sewn together. She had on a light, neat makeup, and her beautiful strawberry-blonde hair was set in curls. She had the appearance of an adorable princess that had just come out of a fairy tale.

"Lady Anna~! Where have you gone~? Your makeup isn't finished yet~~!"

A voice could be heard calling for Anna from the mansion. It was the mansion's tailor maid, Gerda. She was the one solely in charge of "dressing people up." The princess-like appearance that Anna had now was also something that she had tailored. Gradually, Gerda's voice began to come closer.

At this rate, she would be found …..

Anna dove under the table that Elsa was sitting at to hide there. There was just enough space for one person to fit comfortably.

"You certainly are making a lot of noise …. What's wrong?"

"Ah, Lady Elsa! Did Lady Anna pass through here ….? We were still in the middle of 'producing,' and she suddenly disappeared ….."

"That seems like fun, Gerda. …. Hmm, well, we were having tea together a moment ago …. But it seems she's already gone back inside the mansion."

"Has she now ….! Thank you very much! Lady Annna~~!"

With blue eyes shining with determination, the maid named gerda ran back in the direction of the mansion.

"…….. Is she gone?"

Lifting the tablecloth up, Anna very slowly checked the surroundings, wearing a worried expression on her face. She seemed to be quite overwhelmed by Gerda "production."

"Yes. But it might be a good idea to stay out here for the time-being."

Anna remembered the ridiculously happy look on Gerda's ace earlier, and chuckling, her own expression relaxed slightly.

"Sheesh~~ I wish she'd give me a bit of a break ….. This is already the second outfit today."

Gerda was a tailor. In other words, her job was to dress up the people that lived in this mansion. With a natural, exceptional sense for aesthetics and technique, she was boasted as being the best in the kingdom. Her only fault, however, was being much too hard-working. Particularly when she found high-quality "material," her tailoring craftsmanship would be fired up, and she would not stop until her product was finished to her liking. Currently, after coming across the highest quality material the other day, she was completely engrossed in producing Anna.

Today's theme was the Princess Series. After changing into the second outfit in the morning, Anna had become thoroughly worn out. In the middle of applying the makeup, Gerda had gone off to find more mascara, and Anna had taken the chance to escape. Ever since the night Anna had taken shelter in the mansion, Gerda's enthusiastic "production" had continued, and she soon grew used to life at the Arnadalr Mansion. According to Gerda's Anna was a "diamond gemstone." If polished, the beautiful shine of her hidden alluring light would be released …. Or so she said.

Normal humans cannot see angels, or feel their presence. Usually, angels will hide their form and voice from humans. In truth, every angel is able to reveal their form at will, but everyone follows the law in Heaven that prohibited unnecessary contact with humans. If her wings were not damaged, and she wasn't lacking in holy power, Anna was also able to hide her appearance. However, as long Anna was staying at Elsa's mansion, there would be various inconveniences if she was to stay unseen, and they decided that she should make herself visible.

While she was in the mansion, Anna posed as a freewheeling noble lady that had come from the neighboring Kingdom of Folle. While in Alphine, she had suddenly met Elsa and gotten along right away, and for the sake of deepening their friendship, they were currently staying together. That was the story they had made up. The reason they had said she was free wheeling, was a camouflage for not having any practices or education like other nobles. Anna, of course, looked just like humans did, wore human clothes, and hid her wings so that she would not be suspected to be an angel.

"Since coming here, my wounds have mostly healed, though~ But it's tough being dressed up like a doll every day."

"Really? I, for one, have a lot of fun seeing Anna in different outfits."

"I'm an angel, so there isn't much point to dressing up so much."

"Oh …. But I think Anna's pure white outfit to look very fashionable and lovely."

"Eh ……! I-I guess so …."

Although Anna's had little interest in her outer appearance, she actually felt happy to be complimented like this by Elsa. To hide her embarrassment, she started fiddling with her bangs.

"Anna really is so cute."

"Ehhh~~! That's not true …..!"

"….. ? Do you dislike being called cute, Anna …? Even though that dress looks so nice on you."

"It's … not that I dislike it, but …."

As soon as she had asked that, Anna began to trail off. Had she touched on a sensitive topic, perhaps? Speaking of which ….

"Anna, you talk in a masculine manner, don't you? Although you look like a girl, could it be that …. You're actually a boy?"

Anna, who had sat down in the adjacent chair, suddenly spit out the Earl Grey she was drinking.

"Oh, dear! Are you alright?"

When Anna started coughing, Elsa kindly rubbed her back for her. She thought it a just little out of place that an angel would spit out tea.

"Haa, haa ……Elsa…. Sometimes I don't know whether you're joking or being serious."

"I don't joke very much at all."

"….. I see …. Well, either way. We, angels, don't have a clear gender like humans do. Well, when it comes to appearance, we choose to look either male or female, like humans do. But I shouldn't appear to be a male in any way."

"I see …. So, Anna's a girl, after all?"

"Hmmm …. I guess I am. …. But, what's more important than appearance, is the qualities of the soul ….."

Still trying to think of how to properly explain everything, Anna held a scone in each hand. They were self-baked by Elsa for teatime. Today, she had made them especially delicious, and was thinking about giving some to her mother when she came home. She was very confident this time …. So surely, her mother would be happy about them, as well ….

She felt a small ache in her chest.

"So, Anna, how are today's snacks …..? I put in raspberries that I picked fresh from the garden this morning."

Every day, Elsa would make snacks for teatime. She was quite skilled at it, and would even be praised by the mansion's chef.

"They're so good!!"

With her mouth full of raspberry scone, Anna smiled with a carefree smile. When she saw that bright smile, her slightly anxiety from earlier was blown away. Anna had a mysterious quality about her. Not because she was an angel, but because her bright smile, that seemed to shine on her surroundings like the sun, would fill you with happiness, as well. The worries and sadness in your heart would be dispelled, as if your "soul" were being healed. Elsa wasn't very sure on how to explain it exactly with just words.

"Oh, Anna ….. It's inappropriate behavior for a 'princess' to be holding scones in both hands, and talking with her mouth full."

Elsa said this to tease her, and sure enough, Anna shouted in reply, "But I'm not a princess~~!" and just as expected, began to choke again on the scones that got stuck in her throat.

Somehow, it felt like she'd found a cute younger sister. Or perhaps, even a younger brother. Tomorrow, she would bake the apple pie that Anna loved, as angels loved apples. When she had made an apple pie the other way, Anna's eyes had sparkled so brightly, and she had eaten the entire thing by herself in less than four minutes. It all felt nostalgic in some way, and Elsa found herself smiling naturally. She remembered, a long time ago, her mother had once baked an apple pie for her father, and he had been so happy while eating it.

Looking up at the sky, she saw dark, grey clouds in the distance. It looked like it was about to rain.

From atop of the bridge that seemed to stretch on endlessly, the crowds of people below could be observed. It was if all the people in the world had been gathered together here.

Between Folle, to the east, and Violente, to the west, there was the Kingdom of Alphine, made prosperous by various forms of commerce. The large marketplace, known as "Glosse Market" was held by the kingdom once a year. Today, as well, many merchants from the east and west had crossed the Belchstein Bridge to come to the Glosse Market. This marketplace, which could even be called a Festival for Merchants, was a place to display a variety of goods from their respective countries, and trade with each other. Both merchants and noblemen participated in this event.

People had come to promote their goods to well-known nobles, or to observe or buy-out their competitors, or even to mediate business relations. During the one week period that the Glosse Market was held, Alphine's economy was multiplied by thirty times of what it usually was.

Looking down at the lively humans in their festive mood, Anna yawned loudly. Today, she had taken a form that was invisible to them, and was floating far up in the sky. While waiting for her friend to finish buying from the shoemaker, Anna was observing humans. It was her first time visiting this world in a while, and because it was the one festival day of the year, it was rather crowded.

It had been one month since she had gotten injured and taken shelter at Elsa's mansion. While living amongst the humans in their world, her wing had made a full recovery. During this time in Heaven, Kristoff and the other angels had actually been in an uproar at first. Everyone was worried about Anna, who had not returned, and although they had abandoned their duties and put out a search, because Anna had lost most of her holy power and was living amongst humans, the other angels had not been able to locate her.

Angels normally use the holy energy in their bodies as a way of communication with each other. Therefore, should their holy energy be depleted, they are not be able to do so. In this case, Anna had daringly cut off contact with Heaven, therefore, no matter how hard they searched, they had not been able to pinpoint her exact location.

In addition, all angels have no sense of direction, with no exceptions. Angels recognize things by interpreting the flow of energy or holy power; that is to say, they rely heavily on their six senses. Because of this, their spatial recognition ability is low, and due to having no interest in the terrain and streets of the human world, they do not bother to learn them. This is the reason why, to prevent becoming lost in the human world during missions, it became fundamental for two angels to work together as a pair.

Speaking of which, the hymns sung at churches are sung with holy power for the sake of empowering angels that become lost in the human world, so that they may call for help; this was started by a human that had, by chance, heard a song be used for this purpose.

Once her wings had healed, Anna had been able to fly back to Heaven. She told her direct superior, and partner, Kristoff, about how she had expected the injury suffered from the battle with the demon would take time to heal, and because there was a risk that a demon would appear near the church again, she had taken shelter in Elsa's mansion, whom she had happened to meet by chance nearby.

Kristoff had lectured his subordinate endlessly for a full week about being missing for a month, and after she had written many letters of apology and reflection statements for breaking the law, he had, somehow or other, come to understand.

Due to Kristoff's exceptional ability to understand and the trust he had built in her—in other words, his angelicness, the matter had passed without being severely punished for breaking the law of "contacting a human directly as a junior angel". Under normal circumstances, this violation would have led to a demotion from junior angel to a trainee angel, but instead, she had been punished with cleaning the Grandios Temple (the largest building in Heaven) for three months.

Perhaps because she was in good favor of her superior since long before, she was never very strongly reprimanded for a little recklessness. She deeply regretted engaging in contact with a human without permission and had shown remorse for her actions. However, after some time had passed, as expected, her adventurous nature won over, and she returned to continuing relations with humans. Her superior, Kristoff had a very strict personality towards himself and his surroundings, but for some reason, he only softened up with Anna. Even when she went to see Elsa and Gerda between jobs, although he was still cautious, for the most part, he would turn a blind eye.

Even today, when Anna was openly breaking the law and being in direct contact with humans again, he might be pretending not to notice right now.

"Anyway, there sure are a lot of people ….."

This bridge was always crowded with people whenever she came, but today in particular, it was so crowded that there didn't seem to be any room to walk.

Anna had a day off from work today, and had energetically come to the human world at sunrise. Her purpose, naturally, was to see Elsa. Ever since she'd injured her wing in the battle with the demon and stayed with her while it healed, she and Elsa got along very well. When they'd first met, there were quite many bewildering things about human values and their living environment, but after spending time with Elsa, Gerda, and everyone at the Arnadalr Mansion, she was able to grasp the general idea of what a "human" was like. For the most part, she's never met many humans before, so living with Elsa and everyone had brought surprises every day, and new, fun experiences.

There was quite a gap of difference between what they were taught in Heaven about humans and what humans were actually like, so she thought that perhaps a training course involving contact with actual humans should be included in the promotion program.

To angels, humans were inferior beings. A weak existence. This was why angels were given the mission of overlooking their fragile lifespan. Up until now, she had always believed this, and never doubted this concept. But now, she couldn't help but feel that there was something a little wrong about it. Surely, this was because she had met Elsa. Although she should be a fragile, and inferior existence, every one of Elsa's words made her heart waver. Once you get to know them, humans were very interesting, thought Anna. She wanted to know more and more about humans.

After finishing her shopping at the shoemakers, Elsa looked up to see where Anna was in the sky, and jogged over to her. Today, Anna was accompanying Elsa with her shopping.

"I'm sorry I'm late ….."

"Are you finished with buying everything?"

Anna lowered herself to Elsa's line of sight as she came running up, and revealed herself, hiding her wings. In this way, she would make herself invisible whenever she wasn't with Elsa, to avoid "recklessly being around humans" as much as possible.

"Yes, quite. The Glosse Market is very crowded this year, and so much fun."

Elsa had brought Anna along, wanting to share the experience of this festival, which happened just once a year. It was especially exciting to see the various items brought to the marketplace on this huge Belchstein Bridge, most of which were rare goods you wouldn't normally be able to find. Today's highlight was a traditional, handcrafted item a merchant from a foreign country in the far east had brought, a piece of clothing with an original design, called a kimino. Elsa had chosen several different ones to buy as souvenirs for Gerda. From clothes to miscellaneous goods, perhaps she had bought just a little too much, as both of her arms were laden with bags.

In a split second, Anna took all of her bags from her.

"Now then, let's get going," She said and started walking, with Elsa one step behind her.

"Um, Anna! It's alright, I'll carry them."

"Eh?"

"The bags …. You don't have to carry all of them. I'll carry some, as well!"

"Ahh, these …..? It's not much, so it's fine. They're not heavy at all."

Seeming not to mind at all, Anna swung both of her arms easily, despite carrying so many bags.

"….! R-really? But, I thought they were rather heavy ….."

Elsa herself, even, thought that she might have bought too much, and tried to take some of the bags from Anna, who had walked ahead, but she wouldn't allow her to.

"It's fine, really. More importantly, let's hurry and go back. I want to eat Elsa's homemade apple pie~"

Anna continued walking with a light step while whistling. Contrary to her appearance, she was rather strong and muscular. Just the other day, when she had been helping Elsa remodel her room, Anna had single-handedly moved all the furniture, and very quickly.

From an angel's point of view, it could simply be said that humans lacked in strength, but when Anna helped out with physical labor like this, Elsa always praised her physical strength in an exaggerated manner. The look elsa gave her, which was both grateful and envious, tickled her a bit, and was also very comforting.

After walking for a little while, the bridge's Rest Square came into view. Usually, it was a relaxing place used for resting, with a fountain in the center and benches, but during the festival, it was bustling with the many stalls and crowds of people. Deciding to take a short break, they stopped walking, and in one corner of the square, there was a place that stood out with how it seemed almost conspicuously crowded. All around it, there were two to three times as many crowds as anywhere else.

"What's going on ….?"

"Who knows …. Shall we go take a look?"

Pushing past the continuous flow of people to move closer, what they saw was a huge shooting range stall. At first glance, it appeared to be just an original shooting range stall, but upon closer inspection, all of the prizes were gorgeous, breath-taking decorations with rare designs. For one round, there was the usual amount of ten targets, but all the customers were captivated by the splendor of the aligned prizes, and playing all at once. However, not one person had been yet able to hit a single target.

It wasn't surprising, as the rules for the game were fairly difficult. For one round, the challenger was given ten rounds of ammunition, one for each target. In this huge shooting range, there was a large distance to the targets, and furthermore, the targets were small. It would be exceptionally difficult, even for a gun master. And what was more, it was very costly just for one play, so it wasn't something that you could try numerous times. In short, it was a "get-rich-quick"-type of set-up.

While watching several people take the challenge, she glanced at the line of prizes. Although there was still much she didn't understand about human culture, they were certainly all very eye-catching. Nodding as she looked on, Rin then noticed that Elsa had her eyes fixed on a single point for some time now. When Anna followed her gaze, she saw a ring with a flower motif. The beautiful, white flower petals looked like they were in the midst of blooming, as if they were the real thing.

"Elsa, do you want that?"

Unable to pull her eyes away from the ring, Miku seemed a bit unfocused when she answered.

"Eh? Ah, yes …. It's very pretty ….."

Elsa's gestures and behavior were fairly mature, but age-wise, she was Young Woman, and in terms of trends and fashions, she loved cute things. Looking around once, there were many other women that were staring intently at that ring, just like Elsa's was.

"Hmm …."

Without showing much interest in the ring, Anna pulled out some human paper bills from her pocket. During her stay with Elsa, she'd studied a bit about the monetary value currency in the human world, but she still didn't understand it very well. For some reason, these paper bills seemed to have more value than gold or silver coins.

"Hey, how many times do I get with this?"

Anna asked, holding up a bill with many zero's written on it for the stall keeper to see.

"'ey there! Li'l Miss, are y'gonna have a go?"

"Yeah. Is this enough?"

"Hmm! Yeah, 'nuff for one round."

As he said this, the smiling stall keeper took the money, and passed her the gun for shooting the targets.

"Here ya go. It's a wee bit heavy, so be careful~ 'though it's a toy for playin', if you do hit someone by mistake, they could get hurt. You get one practice shot, and ten for the real deal. Altogether, tha's ten shots~ The li'l miss is 'specially cute, so I'll give ya one extra shot as a service."

"It's fine. I'll just have ten like everyone else."

"Oh, but with those delicate arms of yours …."

Bang!

Silencing the stall keeper's voice, the sound of the toy gun rang out and echoed around the square. The bullet that Anna shot hit the target dead center. At the sudden hit, all the people gathered there began to stir slightly.

Bang! Bang! Bang!—— …….

Two shots, three, four … Without wavering, all the toy bullets that were fired were drawn to the exact center of the targets.

"Ten."

She hit the last target. Just few seconds before, none of them had a single scratch, but now, all ten targets had been hit with bullets right in the center, and were deeply gouged. All the surrounding onlookers were so stunned by this miraculous act, they had forgotten how to blink. Everyone had their mouths hanging open, frozen on the spot without saying a single world.

"…. Um, I finished."

Turning around like it was nothing, the stall keeper was frozen with the same smile he had on earlier.

"Heeeey!"

Perhaps because he was incredibly shocked, he didn't react even with Anna waved her arm in front of his face.

"Anna! That wasamazing~!!"

Breaking the silence of the audience, Elsa rushed up to Anna and threw her arms around her. Stunned by the sudden embrace, Anna's cheeks reddened. It made her panic so much that she'd forgotten about how composed she'd been firing the gun earlier.

"Um, Elsa …..!"

"Amazing! You're amazing, Anna!!"

As Elsa blushed and looked at Anna with a sparkling and respectful gaze, Anna tried to suppress her throbbing heartbeat, and cast a sideways glance at the prizes. According to the rules, since she'd hit all ten targets, she should be able to receive any prize that she liked.

"Could I have that one?"

She asked the stall keeper, pointing at the beautiful ring with the flower motif that all the women, Elsa included, had been staring at with glittering eyes. All around, there were already loud shouts of praise and cheers for Anna.

"….. Yeah, s-sure ….. That was quite a sight, Li'l Miss."

The stall keeper finally returned to his senses, and although still in a daze, he began to pack up the ring that was the most remarkable of all the prizes. He was surprised about seeing the first prize winner from Glosse Market, and seemed to be re-evaluating the simplicity of the rules. After taking the prize from the stall keeper and while being seen off by the cheers from the onlookers, the two walked towards the entrance to the main island. On the way, she was scouted by a royal guard who had been watching the shooting range challenge, but Anna politely refused.

"Haah …. There sure were a lot of people …"

Passing through the gate, they reached the Alphine urban area. The Arnadalr Mansion's was near the center of the island, atop of a small hill. It would take about an hour to go back from here. They decided to take a small break on the bench in the garden of a small church nearby. Once they'd sat down, Anna gently took Elsa's hand.

"Here."

Anna placed in Elsa's palm the ring she had won as a prize earlier.

"Eh …..? You're giving it to me?"

Opening her eyes wide, Elsa stared intently at the ring in her hand.

"…. Eh!? Didn't you want this ring? C-could it be that I got the wrong one!?"

"N-no, that's not it. It's very cute, and I thought it looked so wonderful, but …. Since Anna was the one who won it, I think you should wear it."

Elsa smiled, took Anna's hand, and fit the ring on her right ring finger. It seemed to be a little bit too big.

"I can't! I won this so Elsa could have it!"

Anna took off the ring, and just as Elsa had done moments before, she took Elsa's hand and fit the ring on her right ring finger. The ring fit perfectly on Elsa's thin and supple finger, as if it had always been there.

"Wow ……. It suits you, just as I thought it would!"

Looking at Elsa with the ring on, Anna grinned with both hands clasped loosely behind her head. Compared to the gallant expression she'd had when shooting the targets earlier, her now unfathomably friendly smile made her seem like an entirely different person. The angel that was smiling triumphantly like she'd just pulled off a prank, really didn't seem to have much interest in the ring itself. Perhaps she should simply presume upon this favor.

"….. Thank you, Anna."

Elsa smiled shyly, feeling a bit tickled somehow, as if she had had something bought for her just because she'd selfishly said she wanted it. It was as if she were a spoiled child. A long time ago, when she was still a little girl, her mother had bought for her a toy she had wanted, in much the same way. When she thought about, she had never taken anyone's kindness for granted before. She wasn't good at all with being spoiled like this.

"Thank you …. I'll … treasure it."

She gently stroked the beautiful, blooming flower on her right ring finger with her left hand. Anna was smiling beside her, scratching her cheek in slight embarrassment. She decided she'd try depending on her just a little more.

She rested her head on the delicate angel's shoulder and leaned against her. Perhaps because she'd been walking since early in the morning, or because of the peaceful sunlight, her eyelids became naturally heavy and she didn't have the energy to keep them open anymore. The warmth she felt beside her was of a pure and holy presence.

It was so warm——

The gently smiling face that seemed both shy and a bit embarrassed, slumbering in the comfortable weather, looked just like the smile of an angel.