Falling Together
Chapter 5: The First Horn
Maintaining a straight face can be an important skill. It helps an individual appear as a mature, professional, fully competent, and well-put-together adult, a useful tool for concealing one's embarrassment or interest when it would be inappropriate to reveal either.
Unfortunately for Tapris, it was not a skill she had-in fact, it could be called a weakness of hers. The naïve angel didn't just wear her heart on her sleeve, she backlit it with neon lights and handed out maps to it. Most of the time this wouldn't be much a problem; some even found it endearing.
As Kurona's gaze bore into her, not four inches from her face, Tapris reflected that now was not 'most of the time'.
It was early in the morning, just before the first bell rang, and the angel had sat at her desk before pulling out her notebook. She was diligently reviewing her notes before class began when Kurona had suddenly walked in, plopped down in the chair in front of her, and turned to face the angel-again, 'facing' perhaps not an entirely appropriate description as it typically implies more than four inches of space between the faces in question.
Shifting uncomfortably in her seat and trying to avoid the enigmatic demon's eyes, Tapris tried to maintain a neutral expression and desperately failed. Finally unable to take it anymore, Tapris squeaked out, "Wh-what are you doing, you demon!?"
Seeming to stir from her rapture, Kurona replied, "The date."
Tapris blushed brightly at this comment, shooting straight up in her chair and waving her hands frantically as the red blossomed in her cheeks. "W-what are you talking about!?" she stammered out.
With a slow blink Kurona said, "For the contest."
This reminder eased the angel somewhat as she slid back into her chair, though her blush still burned bright. She coughed softly into her hand in an attempt to regain some degree of her composure before asking, "Um, you mean you want to know how my plans are going...?"
The demon offered a small nod and hum of assent, prompting the angel to reach into her bag as she said, "W-well, they're mostly done, but... I don't know, I'm worried. I feel like it's not enough-like it needs something." She pulled another notebook out onto her desk and opened it up, scrunching her face up in concern. "I don't think it'll be enough to beat Kurumizawa-senpai..." She gaze bored into the desk before her, a shadow falling across her face.
She felt the weight of a hand settling on her shoulder. Looking up, she saw that Kurona had placed it there, her face impassive as ever. Despite this rather expressionless delivery, there was something reassuring about the demon's hand, its warmth and calming pressure. Her blush deepening, Tapris muttered, "it's not as though I want to be comforted by a demon... but I'll still say thank you anyway..."
Looking down, Kurona pointed at the notebook and asked, "Can I look?" She waited for a confused nod from the angel before picking it up skimming through it.
Several moments passed and a feeling of doubt and dread filled Tapris. She shifted uncomfortably in place as her partner reviewed the plans she wrote. Finally, she sheepishly began, "Um, actually..." She trailed off before reaching for the notebook, saying, "maybe just forget that... I'll start over, it wasn't very good..."
To the angel's surprise Kurona actually turned away from her, keeping her back to Tapris and the book out of her reach. For a moment she squealed and demanded that it be returned before falling silent, her ears perking up at the sound of the scratching of a pencil. Finally, the demon turned around and returned the notebook to the angel with a significant glance at a previously blank section. Clearly, she'd added something.
Tapris took the notebook back and read Kurona's additions. At first she was silent, but she quickly began to gush and squee with delight. Looking up from the notebook, she said, "Thank you, Kurona-san! This is wonderful! It's just what we needed to win!" Remembering herself, she quickly stifled her enthusiasm, looking away with a small pout as she added, "b-but it's not as if I'm grateful for your help or think of you as my friend or something like that! And I'm definitely not happy you helped me out or anything!"
An onlooker paying very close attention might have sworn-if they were close enough and knew her well enough-that for just a moment, the totally unfathomable, unflappable demon smiled. But perhaps it was just a trip of the light.
...
"Strawberry, hmmm?"
Gabriel sighed, not even bothering to lift her head from her desk. She knew that it couldn't be Vignette (she was in the bathroom), Satania would've set in with her self-important ramblings already, and Tapris had yet to visit her in class. That meant there was only one person who could be talking to her, and that kind of smugness-the kind Gabriel could already hear in her voice-was something the angel couldn't deal with this morning. A long moment passed before she finally mumbled, "So what?"
She had guessed correctly, for Raphiel pressed herself on Gabriel's desk with a hand covering her mouth and a self-satisfied expression on her face. "Well, doesn't that seem daaangerous, Gab-chan?" She said, a smirk implied in her tone. "Surely you should be more careful with such a powerful magical item as that?"
Finally the failangel raised her head to look at her malicious friend, resting her chin on the desk as she said, "Well, since the candy didn't work the first time, it probably wasn't gonna work the second time, so I figured it wouldn't matter if I gave Vignette a little bit more."
"Mmmhmmm," the sadistic angel replied, "and it didn't have anything with the adorable little guilty look on her face I'm sure she had? Surely it didn't make you want to spoil her or anything, riiight Gab-chan?"
Jerking her face away, Gabriel sulked for a long moment before replying, "...no..."
Raphiel continued to smirk as she said, "Well, anyway, I have some wonderful news!"
"Yeah?" the failangel asked, slowly turning to her unreliable friend with a skeptical eyebrow. "What's that?"
...
"This weekend!?" Gabriel whined. "But I have a raid! And it's way too early, I still have no idea how to deal with Vignette!"
She stood in the hallway, cornered against the wall by Raphiel and Satania. I should've known that following them out here was a bad idea, she thought, glancing back and forth between the pair, her mouth scrunched in a scowl of disgruntlement. It's just what I get, I guess...
With a building chuckle, Satania asked, "What's wrong, Gabriel? It sounds as though you were scared! Surely my great sole rival in evil is not scared of a little date? You aren't so utterly pathetic as that!"
This prompted Gabriel to grit her teeth and utter a small tch, shooting back, "Of course not; I can handle something like a date easy. It's just like a dating sim, right? I'm gonna woo her so hard Vignette won't even try to fight! So, what's the plan?"
...
The angel stalked through the school, vexation tying her eyebrows into a hard knot of tension. Rarely did Satania manage to goad her into anything, and the demon only ever succeeded when she convinced her to do something she already wanted to do. Deciding to ignore the implications-she was only asking Vignette on a date to figure out the truth!-she stalked down the halls, considering the plan Tapris had lain out for her.
Her worries didn't rest on whether or not the idea would work. After all, it wasn't a bad plan on the whole-a bit of a surprise considering its author, though Gabriel would never say that to Tapris's face. No, the idea would work... but what came afterward? If it turned out that Vignette liked her, what would that mean for their relationship?
Despite her somewhat lacking performance in the morals department, Gabriel honestly didn't want to hurt her friend-and if that were the case, wouldn't staying friends be torture on Vignette? Always being with the angel, but never in the way she wanted? For as long as they knew each other?
Honestly, it'd be best if the candy just turned out to be a bust and she didn't actually like me that way. She thought. Then we could go back to the the way we always are, no more awkward lunches or paying attention in class...
She knew that was for the best. So why did it make her feel so bad?
...
"The zoo?" Vignette repeated, excitement coloring her features. "That's great! I've never had a chance to go, and I've always wanted to see what it's like!" She let out a most un-demonic squeal of excitement.
Nodding, Gabriel replied, "yeah, we were all planning on going this weekend. We're gonna meet up at the station around 10 and then head over there together. That alright?"
After taking a brief pause to compose herself, the demon responded with a cheerful, "Yep!"
Something twitched within Gabriel's chest at the sight of her friend's smile-something that was summarily ignored. With an awkward cough she segued into other topics and tried to keep her mind off of the coming week.
...
As she had expected, the week was a difficult one. Her expectations, however, did not account for why it was so difficult.
At first Gabriel thought the week would be a repeat of Monday over and over: an awkward run-in with Vignette in the morning, trying to act like nothing's wrong without giving away how wrong things felt during school, and then walking home with a sense of uncertainty and confusion lingering between them.
To her surprise, this was entirely off base. Gabriel's demon friend spent the week in barely contained excitement, chattering happily away about all of the animals she was hoping to see, and constantly enthusing about the various facts she'd picked up about them. Apparently, the angel's strange behavior was totally lost in the hype. However, putting up with such enthusiasm wasn't exactly one of Gabriel's strong points, and within a few days the constant glow that seemed to emanate from Vignette was starting to wear on her. With the first and final bell of every day the angel urged time to speed them both towards the weekend-even if it meant speeding them towards the trip.
Though it was definitely grating to put up with such incessant cheer, Gabriel was happier than she would admit seeing her friend in such high spirits. However, Gabriel couldn't help but feel a small touch of guilt about her ulterior motives for setting up the date. After all, this zoo thing almost seemed like a dream of Vignette's, and to take advantage of such a pure, innocent obsession seemed... wrong. Of course, 'wrong' tended to be Gabriel's middle name-a far more appropriate moniker than 'white'-and these feelings soon faded.
Finally, when the useless angel thought she could take no more, the weekend finally dragged itself before her.
...
For the first time in months, Gabriel's alarm went off, filling the apartment with its screeching din for a split second. Almost immediately Gabriel's hand clamped onto it, silencing the machine. The morning had arrived.
If asked how they expected the angel to wake up early on a weekend morning, anyone who knew Gabriel would describe a groggy, foul creature fully deserving the title of 'fallen angel' stalking through the apartment for some toast and whatever soft drink she hadn't quite polished off the night previous. Ordinarily such a description would be apt, but this morning was different. She was bright-eyed and fully awake, or as near to it as she ever was, walking through her apartment with a surprising degree of alertness and balance. While it could never be said she wait through anything with aplomb, there was a certain decisiveness and focus in her morning routine today.
As she brushed her teeth with abnormal vigor Gabriel suddenly stopped, blushing slightly at her own enthusiasm and resuming with a much more conservative pace. Ugh, she grumbled internally, if anyone saw that they'd think I was excited for this or something.
Reflecting on this, she quickly glanced back and forth to confirm that a certain sadistic angel hadn't once again gained access to her apartment through questionable means, calming down a bit when she was certain no trace of Raphiel was present. It's not like that, anyway. I'm just trying to get there on time-being late sounds like it would start a date off on the wrong foot-and by the end of the day I should know how Vignette feels about me.
Squaring away the last of her morning duties, she added to herself, whatever those feelings are...
She opened the front door to her apartment and stepped into the blue sunny day.
...
Vignette looked up from a pamphlet in her hands, smiling as she noticed Gabriel approaching. "Morning, Gab!" She enthused, folding up the small paper and turning to her friend. "I was so nervous I could barely sleep at all last night!"
Her eyebrow cocking at this, Gabriel replied, "Really, huh?"
With an enthusiastic nod the demon replied, "Yeah! I only got seven hours!"
For a moment Gabriel wondered if this was actually impressive to Vignette before deciding that yes, it probably was. Shivering at the idea of such a productive, responsible life, the angel said, "...sounds rough."
Nodding excitedly, the demon began to shift in place as she said, "The others should be here soon, right? I can't wait!"
The failangel coughed awkwardly at this, quickly turning away from Vignette as the demon turned to look at her in concern. Before she was able to say anything, both their phones issued small notification tones.
Vignette pulled her phone out from her pocket as Gabriel continued to direct her gaze in the opposite direction. She knew what was coming, and she'd rather not see her friend's face when she found out.
Hearing a small murmur of disappointment, the angel betrayed herself and turned to the demon again. As she took in Vignette's face, her drooping eyebrows, her downturned lips, the soft sadness settling into her features, she immediately regretting doing so.
"Satania AND Raphi both had something happen and can't make it. They said to go without them, but..."
The angel wavered in place, fully aware of what she needed to do now but uncertain how to do it. This was all part of the plan, and she didn't expect to feel quite this bad about it, but now she was being called on to do something she was totally unsure about.
With another look at Vignette's obvious distress, Gabriel let out a small sigh and found her resolve.
"Well, c'mon, the train's coming," she said, suddenly taking the demon's hand, "and we have a zoo to go see."
She refused to turn around-the embarrassment would've totally floored her, leave her unable to go any further-but if she had, she would've noticed the small red blush starting to displace the bleak expression Vignette was holding only moments ago.