The voice is fading…"-and by dividing these three numbers, you'll end up with-" Fading… "-which gives you four equal to y, but before that you must-" Fading away…

My eyelids could no longer resist the temptation of relaxation. The teacher's natural audio felt like a soothing lullaby sucking out my energy and weakening my desire to stay awake. My head succumbs to my now snuggling arms. The last of my fire gets snuffed out. My body and mind are laid to rest, but before I had the privilege to fully immerse myself in my dreams, I felt a sharp poke stir my forearm.

"Mm?" Tachibana's disapproving stare, along with the teacher's expectant eyes, sent my nerves flying.

"Well?" The teacher impatiently asks.

"Ugh… Uh…"

"Twenty four." Tachibana whispers.

"Twenty four."

"...Good, now let's move on to the next one."

I breathe out with relief. "Thanks, my bad."

"Hm."

I wasn't able to get much sleep last night. My mind was too occupied pondering on what I was gonna do, but good news, I was able to come to a decision, so I guess staying up was worth it. I was unsure whether to ask Tachiana to lend me the Angel Player manual or teach me how to use the program, but considering what it's capable of, I highly doubt she would just give it to me or show me how it works. Since she's the student council president, the responsibility is on her to maintain the peace, and if Angel Player fell into the wrong hands, it could cause problems, at least that's what I think she might think. Besides, she could also get wary of me if she rejects my request, which might make it even harder for me to get my hands on that manual. Yeah, too much risk involved. The third option was to just steal it from her, though that's easier said than done, cause who knows where she keeps the thing or how well she guards it. My best guess is her room, although that might be too obvious, but I can't think of any other place to start…

Fine, I'll start with her room, and if it's not there maybe I'll check the library, but first, I gotta know where her room is. I'll feel like a complete creeper, but I'm gonna have to follow her after classes…

After the day was basically over, I trailed behind Tachibana entering the girl's dorm. My heart and lungs were ripping out of my chest after I somehow made it inside without being noticed. I hid through every little corner I could find, being careful of my steps and assuring I wasn't making enough noise to be noticed. Eventually, I see her stop at one of the doors which I assume was her room. I get confirmation when I see her enter.

And that's as far as I'll go for today, time to turn back. I somehow also successfully sneak out without alerting anyone or making too much noise. I guess I'm sneaker than I thought, though I don't wanna push my skills any further than that.

The morning sun rises to reset the clock. The moment of truth was here. Tachibana will most likely be too busy attending classes or dealing with student council affairs, so during that time, I'll take the opportunity to sneak into her room and hopefully find the manual.

When I get to the girl's dorm, I find the hallways empty. The diligence in this school is almost impossible to fathom. In the wake of my arrival at Tachibana's room, I turned the knob and gave the door a good thrust, expecting some sort of security system or crazy magic to vaporize me. To my shock, not only was the door unlocked, but the room looked perfectly ordinary.

I flip a switch to reveal the room's contents. What I saw was a mirror placed next to the lightswitch, a rug which was held down by a small, pink bed on the side, above it was a picture frame. A cabinet was laid to the other side of the room, but most importantly, there was a bookshelf neighboring the cabinet sitting on top of a desk with a computer. This seems almost too perfect, and too obvious. She probably hid the thing somewhere less conspicuous, but meh, I'll search for it here anyway.

I rummaged through the stack of books and after some minimal searching, I had found it. A manual titled, "Angel Player." A mix of amazement and relief overcame me. This was way easier than I thought, I really couldn't believe it. Without delay, I carefully fled the scene and went straight for the computer room near the school library. I pushed the power button on a computer I figured wouldn't get used much and initiated my rigorous journey into learning this program.

A long time passes, and I hear the last ringing, meaning my time is up. During the few hours I had to freely mess with the device, I managed to only install the program. I came to find out the manual was written in a different language. It's gonna take longer than I thought to use Angel Player with some level of skill. In addition to that, I can't just waltz in here and expect no one to notice what I'm doing. I'm gonna have to take some drastic measures…

I resumed my work on the program until the sun went down. When I felt it was late enough for me to not run into any students, I proceeded with what I wanted to do. I grip the cords on the computer and jank them clean. I then lift the heavy box with as much strength as I could muster, trying my hardest not to make a sound. I wobbly sneak my way out of the library and into the outside. I was tripping over myself fighting cold gusts of wind so strong I thought God himself was trying to punish me for what I was doing. On top of that, I was on the lookout for any students with sleeping issues. Thankfully the NPCs weren't programmed to such intricate detail. When I shoved the fat piece of technology onto my room, I felt my heart decelerate. I can't believe fate let me get away with that.

And now, it was time to come up with a new strategy. If I go missing too often, Tachibana will get suspicious, but if I only do it once a week on any random day during school hours, and all day on Sundays, I could hopefully give myself ample time to learn the program properly.

My plan worked for a few weeks, and so far my unusual change in behavior hasn't alerted Tachibana yet, plus Iwasawa and Hisako were on a strict schedule for rehearsals, so we couldn't hang out as much, meaning my absences weren't gonna be a big deal in the meantime. During that time, I work out how to operate the program and make sense of some of the code. I've been too afraid to actually execute what I type, especially since it's something that can affect my body. Who knows what might happen if I accidentally input something incorrectly.

On one particular day after classes. "Hey, wait a second." I turn to see Tachibana's nonchalant face.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Have you been feeling well?"

"Huh? Yeah, I've been fine, why…?"

"It's just… I noticed you've been absent some days, and I wanted to know if there was anything wrong."

"Oh, I-I, uh, sometimes get overwhelmed with the amount of lessons and work we have to do, so I sometimes take days off to kinda reset, you know. Sorry for skipping…"

"It's fine, you don't have to push yourself, I was just wondering… Well, I'll leave you be."

"Thanks for worrying about me."

"Hm. If there's anything bothering you, just let me know."

"I will, thanks." She withdraws from the room.

That's a sign telling me to pick up the pace, I don't think I can keep this up for much longer, Tachibana seems sharp, I'm sure I'll get busted. Thereafter again, I chose the next day as my off day and stayed in my room. I tossed my fears aside and settled on finally executing the code. I boot up the computer and start right away.

Okay, maybe I'll start by inputting a code to create a simple cube since I don't know what this will do yet. Better be safe than sorry. My fingers bear down on the computer keys with more force than necessary. I highlight the code and press execute… but nothing happens.

Arg, you mean to tell me I've been doing something wrong this entire time!? Damn it! My body gives out in defeat as I let my back and head fall onto the chair like a ragdoll. Suddenly, I get startled by a sparkling light illuminating my pitch-black room as I come down to smash the floor from fright. My eyes widen like a peacock's tail when I witness a cube materialize in front of me.

Yes, it works! I pick up the fruit of my labor and hold it up to make myself sure of its existence, and surely enough, it was. Man, this thing is amazing. Excellent, all that's left to do is execute the skill I made so I can use it. Once again, I highlight the code to execute it. My palms slipped all over the mouse as I searched for the command to implement it.

And go…! Oh, nothing flashy happened. I guess I'll have to activate it if I want to confirm whether my operation was triumphant or not, but I can't do it here, too much stuff in the way, and I don't wanna risk accidentally breaking something. Plus, assuming my measurements are accurate, this thing's gonna be huge.

The sky was painted with stars by the time I stepped outside, a perfect time to test questionable experiments. I placed myself between a spacious spot with some trees where I felt there was enough space and privacy for me to perform.

Alright, here goes…"Motion Skill: White Wings."

Something crawls inside my back, some sort of comforting heat. An almost blinding radiance glows like solar rays and turns everything white. The shining leisurely dissipates to reveal clean, white feathers with massive size and length. The pair of wings bend and slash the air as I struggle to control them. I don't really know how to describe this feeling, it's as if the wings were a part of me, like I've grown a new pair of limbs.

Slowly, but surely, I get accustomed to their strain and size, like a baby taking its first steps. The weight on my feet steadily lessens. My heart beats in fear and excitement as I get higher. The wind sways violently the more I ascend, blasting leaves and tree branches like a hurricane. Then I get higher, and higher, and higher, and I allow my wings to take my body away.

"wooooooohooooooo!" A chilling breeze brushes against my eyes and cheeks. Barely audible flaps fiddle with my hearing. I feel free, so alive, and so… exhausted. My breathing gets rough, irregular and heavy. Sensations of soreness and tiredness deplete my wings of movement, until finally, they give out.

"Aaaaaaaaah!" The winds that once caressed my face instantly grew into a vigorous torrent. My fear overtakes my excitement glaring down at the colossal distance between me and the ground below. I helplessly flailed my arms as I swiftly plummeted to my demise, and before I could fully comprehend my situation, my lights went out.

I awoke in a cold sweat. My muscles were shaken by the dreadful memories of last night. I was so distressed I didn't even notice what time it was, it was daytime. I couldn't believe I was still here after suffering such a devastating blow. I suppose you can't really die twice, though you can absolutely get the oxygen knocked out of you for a few hours if you experience something with enough deadliness.

After settling myself down, I took some time to briefly go over everything that went wrong. To start, the wings work like a muscle, meaning the amount of time I can fly will depend on my stamina. The wings were designed with ten times the length and five times the height of my arms in order to lift and support my body, but because of that, it'll put a tremendous amount of strain and stress on me. I'll need to train to get used to them if I wanna stay up for more than two minutes. However, my body will always have a limit, so to make sure I don't involuntarily dive towards dirt again, I'll need to create a skill capable of levitating me or at least keep me afloat whenever my wings surrender to fatigue.

A loud ringing pierced my ears, telling me class was about to begin. I better attend so I don't concern Tachibana again. Fortunately for me, it was a Saturday, meaning I had all day tomorrow to work on this new invention of mine. Following a barrage of boring lectures, I immediately went straight to my room, determined to make my idea a reality.

Sunday night hits. During the time I had available, I was competent enough to successfully program yet another skill. Now for the testing phase. There and then, I execute the command, bringing forth a new ability. Just like last time, I made an effort to hide myself from everyone and took flight. About one minute passes, and I sense my wings getting sore. It was time to call out the name.

"Motion Skill: Hovering Halo."

A brilliant gleam shutters my vision as I feel my body getting lighter and lighter, until I'm forced to come to a halt. I find myself floating and flowing with the air around me as if I were a balloon softly swaying across the sky. I let myself relax to ease the pressure in my arms.

Hovering Halo, a skill that eliminates gravity within a certain parameter, very useful for chilling in mid air. Design wise I thought hey, why not keep up the angel theme.

Glancing below me, it looked as if I've risen significantly higher than last time. I need to know if there's a limit to how much space the sky has. Sensing my wings getting better, I resume with my trip. The whooshing of feathers along with my desperate gasps were all I could make out by this point. I decided to strive for another minute before taking another break. And so I flap farther at top, and farther, and farther, up until…

"Aaaarg!" I shut my eyes.

Every side of me contorted and distorted into a dream like hallucination. I feel myself shot up and land on something hard and stiff. The gentle breeze on my skin turned cold and restless. Opening my eyes to the site before me, it appeared like I was back at the school, though something didn't feel right. For starters, I don't remember the greenery being this… dried up. Not to mention the quietness, even at night you could still hear some bustling near the dorms.

A faint sight of the school captures my attention. I strolled closer to the area and checked to see if there was anything else out of the ordinary. The number of nearly dead trees diminished as I walked forward, clearing an easier path and painting a much more dreadful picture of the construction that laid before me. My nerves skyrocket when I look at what the building really was. Crooked structures with rusted metal bend and screech with each passing wind, weeds and ivy puncture the broken holes left by neglect and abandonment. The premises themselves looked extremely old, like they were made in the sixteen hundreds. My foot gets startled by something hard and noisy, that's when I notice all the trash and junk scattered in every direction of the place. Antique clocks, school supplies, old, worn-out desks, among other things.

This is weird… What is this? It feels like I'm in the middle of nowhere, and going by the vibes of this place, it also seems to be completely desolate. My instincts were yelling at me to flee, but It'd be even more stupid to blindly go into the woods. Yeah, no way I'm going in there by myself… Dammit, I don't know how to get back, I went into this way too recklessly. I should've accounted for this type of situation, and now I'm gonna pay for my mistake. Welp, might as well start saving my stamina before I have to run away from whatever spooky monster busts out of that door. I deactivated my skills and sat on the stiff grass while signing.

I gotta tell Tachibana and the others about this. Spiritless, I brush the dirt and grass searching for stuff to take with me as evidence of this world's existence in case some sort of miracle happens to occur that'll get me out of this conundrum. I don't have a camera or anything similar with me, so I'll just have to settle with bits and pieces of random trash I could fit in my pocket. I made sure to stay as far away from the building as possible, and only picked up things within a reasonably safe radius.

"Hm?"

My uniform tightens, getting absorbed towards the ground as if the floor itself was a vacuum. The suction gets stronger and stronger as I struggle to maintain my balance until I feel some sort of force pulling my entire body down.

"Aaaah-"

A sensation similar to that of quicksand engulfs my entire being, sinking me further than the earth. My reality contorted and waggled like aggressive tidal waves. Every side of me fractures then comes together like puzzle pieces as a grand blue atmosphere with numerous clouds appear out of thin air. My feet felt weightless, my uniform rattled fiercely, and there was nothing holding me still. I was plummeting.

I activate my wing skill and adjust my arms and legs to level myself. I exhaled a relieved breath and observed my surroundings. Looking down, I quickly recognize the layouts of the trees and roads.

I'm back! I somehow made it back! I feel my thigh rub against something. As I look down at my pocket, I witness the junk I picked up shoot up at an astronomical speed and disappear into a skewed, invisible vortex. I briskly pin my pockets to stop the sudden eruption. That was weird… I executed my descent without any worries of someone noticing me since it was still relatively dark.

Who should I talk to about this? If I tell Tachibana, she'll find out I stole the Angel Player manual from her room and get angry with me. I really can't imagine what it's like to get on her bad side. I'll hold off on telling her anything for now. I should probably inform Iwasawa and Hisako, though then the whole battlefront will get involved. It's still too anxious for me to even make eye contact with those guys. Maybe talking with their leader one on one might be best, the problem is getting her alone with me. If she's constantly surrounded by all those people, I don't think I even stand a chance at sitting next to her at a lunch table. Arg, it's way too late to be coming up with a plan, I'll leave my thoughts for tomorrow.

For the next day, I elected to explore the school in the hopes of finding Yuri with little to no success. In time, I decided to go up to the school's roof thinking I could give myself a wider visual range. The sun was already dimming with yellow rays by the time I got there. I use my hand as shades and attentively observe, hoping to find her. I scavenged as far as my eyes could take me. My pupils turned at a snail's pace, leaving no space for doubt. My endeavors resulted in nothing, and I alleviate my eyes. That's when I noticed someone's face staring at me like I was crazy.

"Eeerm!"

"Ah! I'm very sorry. I scared you, didn't I? It's just that you looked really out of it so I got curious about what you were doing."

"No, it's fine."

A purple haired girl with a light green bow appears before me. Her emerald green eyes emanated a sense of liveliness and confidence, her stance felt mighty and assured, and her presence howled like a menacing wolf. "Are you Yuri?"

"Huh? Yeah, I'm Yuri." Going to the roof was a good decision.

"I was looking for you actually. I wanted to talk to you about something, do you have time?"

"...Uh, sure. What'd you wanna talk about?"

"This might be a lot to unload on you."

"Go ahead." Her expression is that of a lost puppy.

"...You know about Tachibana's- the president's, weird superpowers right? I've seen you fight with her before."

"...That's right." She studies me for a second before coming to some sort of conclusion, "She calls them skills. Those powers of hers are something of an oddity in this world. She's most likely an angel or some sort of servant of God."

"Really? I don't buy that. You know where she gets her powers from?"

"Yeah, this strange program, Angel Player. I don't really know how it works, but it's utterly impressive how something like that exists."

"No kidding, but I don't think it's that out of the ordinary considering this place's basically a virtual reality."

"That's a funny way to put it. I guess you're not wrong."

"Not exactly what I'd imagined heaven to be like…" I take out one of the objects I picked up from that other world, a small, antique clock. "Tachibana actually used a manual to learn the program. I stole it from her room."

"What? A manual? And you stole it?"

"Yeah, and thanks to that, I was able to get the hang of some of the basics of Angel Player. I even managed to create two skills from it."

"...Are you for real?" Her eyes widened, "That's… impressive. And you didn't get caught?"

"Not yet thankfully."

"An Angel Player manual…"

"Check this out." I hold out the clock. "Have you ever seen anything like this around here? It's an extremely old model, most likely from the sixteen hundreds." Bewildered, she inspects it for a bit. "You're probably not gonna believe me, but I got this from another world."

"Huh? Another world?"

"Look." I let go of the clock. The object shoots upwards in a straight line at a rapid speed until it hits the peak of the sky and fades into distortion. Yuri's visage is left with slight awe and amazement. I reckon she's used to bizarre stuff at this point.

"Another world exists up there. You can reach it by phasing out of the sky. Think about it, whoever created this place only made what was necessary. The only things that exist here are the school and its students, meaning if you go high enough, you can basically clip out of the sky, you know, like a videogame. That's why you saw that clock go into something weird and disappear. It essentially went out of bounds so to speak.

"...But… how did that thing fly just now?"

"I uh, think maybe because it was something that didn't belong here, so perhaps the other world just absorbed it or this one took it out, it could be that they were made to structurally keep each other out, that's my theory anyway. It also happened to me when I went into that other world, the ground just kinda swallowed me." I gave her some time to process what I've told her.

"Okay, let me gather everything you've said. So you stole this Angel Player manual, gave yourself two abilities and with them, found another world in the sky?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much what happened." She gets immersed in her own thinking.

"And to prove I'm not full of it… Motion Skill: White Wings." Both sides of me glow and open up to reveal two giant white wings, the wind submits to its massive weight and strength.

"Aaag!" She gets alarmed and steps back.

"Sorry! Um, t-this is what I used to get to that other world."

"...Your skills might be on par with Angel's."

"Wha?" I depower myself. "You mean Tachibana, you call her Angel?"

"Yes, I think it's an appropriate name given her nature and authority."

"I never thought of her that way."

"Hmmm… Okay, how about we do this. If you can take me there, to that world, or at least prove to me that it exists, then I'll completely believe everything you've told me, deal?"

"I mean, you'd have no reason to doubt me by that point, but sure, I can do that easily."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, though it's gonna be rough trying to get you there."

"Heh, you don't need to worry about me. I'll do whatever it takes."

"Okay then. How does later tonight sound? We don't wanna get caught by Tachibana. The road around the forest should be good."

"Yes, you're right, we should stay clear of her if we wanna avoid any unnecessary trouble. Sounds good to me."

"Roger."

"Until then." She starts to withdraw. "Oh I forgot, what's your name?"

"It's Goto."

"Alright Goto, we'll be teammates from now on, so I'll be looking forward to what we can accomplish together."

"Heh, same here. Oh but uh, Yuri's your first name, right? What's your full name? I don't wanna get too casual if it's gonna make you uncomfortable."

A giddy laughter bursts out of her vocals. "Sheesh, so well mannered! It's Nakamura Yuri, but you can just call me Yuri if you want, I don't mind."

"Ah, okay. Then I'll see you later tonight, Yuri."

"Yes, I'll see you later!" She takes her leave. Yuri turned out to be surprisingly chill and easy to talk to, I was stressing over nothing. I'm sure the rest of the battlefront is just as cool if she's their leader.

Later that night, I went straight to our meeting spot expecting to be the one arriving early. When I finally got there however, I found myself in the presence of Yuri and two other battlefront guys. One was sitting on top of a rock with a halberd on his hand and shoulder, the other was speaking with her about something I couldn't quite make out. Their conversation draws to a close once they pick up on my presence. The guy with the halberd gets noticeably on guard.

"Is this an ambush?"

"Don't be silly. They're just here for support."

"Yeah, we're here to make sure you don't try anything funny." The Halberd guy points his weapon at me. Very intimidating to say the least.

"Are you sure we can trust this guy? He seems super shady. For all we know he could just be some regular NPC trying to mess with us." The blue haired guy whispered.

"Don't worry, he's legit. You'll believe once you see." She walks up to me. "Right, are you ready?"

"Yeah, I'll activate it now."

"Alright, you two step back!"

"Uh, okay?"

"Huh?" The halberd guy listens and gets up.

"Motion Skill: White Wings." Two large wings soon spawn out of my shoulder blades after a blazing brightness illuminates the dark forest. My attention briefly gets drawn to Yuri's erratically moving skirt. I embarrassingly tried to avert my gaze before realizing she was wearing shorts underneath.

"Damn… You weren't kidding. This stuff's for real." I've seemed to impress the blue haired guy.

"Yeah, this guy is definitely dangerous." The halberd guy still seemed cautious of me.

"Alrighty then!" Yuri circles around me and stops on my back.

"Fly up a little."

"Sure." I ascend just above her head. The two boys were still mesmerized by my unnatural parts. I feel Yuri grabbing me firmly around my ankles.

"Okay, I'm ready!"

"...Maybe you should've brought a safety harness or something."

"It'll be fine! I have a strong grip, you know!"

"I mean if you're so sure."

"You can't be serious. Are you really gonna fly all the way up there?" The blue haired guy asks with concern in his voice.

"What's the issue?"

"What's the issue!? You-" The blue haired boy signs. "...Just be careful, man."

"Hey, if Yurippe says it's okay, then there's nothing to worry about. I trust her judgment." The halberd guy enthusiastically declared.

"I guess, but this is still totally nuts."

"Urg, quit complaining! You'll never get anywhere if you get scared of every little thing!"

"Fine, it's your call Yurippe. Just make sure you return in one piece, okay?"

"Hah, who do you think you're talking to?"

"Are you ready?" I stretch my wings upwards.

"Yeah, let's go!" My wings blow away leafs and dust with a formidable vigor as Yuri and I rise up higher than the trees that once towered over us.

"Aaaaak!"

"How are you doing?"

"F-Fine! I'm fine! Keep going!" Now soaring through the clouds, I make out Yuri's struggle to maintain her hold on me, feeling her grip get tighter and more desperate.

"Motion Skill: Hovering Halo."

"Eh?" We ride in the air.

"Let's take a break."

"We're floating."

"Yeah, it's my other skill. When I activate it, the energy emanating from it eliminates gravity within a certain range."

"Not bad!"

"You can let go for now."

"...I'm not gonna fall, right?" Doubt and suspicion are written all over her.

"You won't, trust me. The range should cover you too." She hesitantly loosens her clutch and faintly lets out a gasp after fully letting go. Her sign of relief let me know she hadn't fallen off.

"Aaaaah geez, I've never experienced this much intensity before."

"Hahahah, me neither."

"But goodness, look at how far up we are, I can practically measure the entire school on my pinkie!"

"It's sort of terrifying looking down."

"Really? I think it's kinda cool."

"Heh, I half-agree." We enjoy the view for a short while, admiring its vastness and tranquility.

"Wanna keep going? We're almost there."

"Yeah, I'm game!" We get into our original positions and resume our journey for the other world. Picking up speed, we brace ourselves for what's to come.

"This is it! Are you ready!?"

"Yeah!" Entering the bizarre workings of the sky's crest, our bodies reshaped and deformed in unspeakable ways before we set foot on drained grass and empty dirt. The place was just as I left it, with saddened clouds and desiccated trees. Yuri explores the environment in disbelief, producing barely audible crackling sounds after every stomp.

"...You weren't kidding… another world really does exist… all the way up here…"

"I couldn't believe it myself, It's honestly so nutty." Yuri wanders off in route towards the abandoned building. "H-Hey, wait up!" We prevent our moving feet from getting any closer to the structure once we see its terrifying nature in its entirety, torn, unkept and left for dead.

"…Another School!? Here!?"

"Oh right, I forgot to mention that."

"And… It's so old looking."

"watch your step."

"Huh?" I raise attention to all the rubble and garbage lying around.

"Unreal…" Her head keeps turning, "The school looks abandoned. Maybe there's still people inside."

"Who knows, I never went in."

"Yeah, It'd be too dangerous with you alone or even the two of us."

"What do you wanna do?"

"…This place's existence is definite proof."

"Huh? Proof of what?"

"That we can reach God."

"...Heh, yeah, that's what I figured too. It's the whole reason why I created these skills."

"You must've had a devastating life for you to do all this…"

"A-Ah, no, to be honest, my life was pretty mundane and forgettable, I just did it cause I was a little curious…"

"A little curious? You know, most people's curiosity don't take them this far."

"You think I'm weird?"

"No, I actually admire that kind of determination, even for something as small as wanting to know more." Her gaze became earnest and driven. "...At last, we found our chance." She signals towards the darkened sky. "All of this got me thinking… there must be other ones, you know, other worlds we can travel to. If we can manage to arrive at the peak, at the source, then maybe we can finally…" She tenses up. "Goto, can I ask for your assistance? With your knowledge and skills, we can definitely succeed, make it farther than we've ever had." She gets closer. "Are you down to collab?"

Her courteousness caught me off guard. "You don't have to be so professional… But, yeah, we can work together. I was gonna ask for your help anyway."

"I'm very glad to hear that." She extends her hand. " Welcome to the team, Goto."

I firmly grasp her inviting grip. "Thanks, I'll do what I can."

"Let's discuss this with the others, but aaah… how did you get back again?"

"About that, I think I know why I got absorbed."

"Oh?" I deactivated my skill. Following that, a growing suction starts to tug at my uniform. I then reactivated my power, which seemed to put an end to the suction.

"See, it's my uniform."

"Your uniform? I don't understand…"

"Remember how I told you that the two worlds take in and out things that don't belong and or belong to them? Well, since my uniform's originally from our world, it'll get taken out, or our world will suck it in, I'm still not sure which one happens. It could be one or the other, or it could be both."

"Wait, then how come it's not trying to kick me out?"

"I believe it's only for certain things, things that were specifically created for each world. It's like they have some sort of connection. You made your uniform yourself right? Well, since it's not an item that's neither strictly part of the school nor this place, they'll leave it be."

"Oh, I get it. So basically foreign objects such as your skills would be unaffected."

"Exactly, that's why I stopped getting dragged the moment I reactivated them."

"Fascinating…"

"But um, changing the subject, we should probably get going. I don't think it's a good idea to stay here too long by ourselves."

"Yes, you're right, we should take the utmost caution when navigating this place… But ah… How are we gonna do it this time?"

"Um… Oh, here!" I offer her my hands.

"Mm, alright." She seizes them and compacts them with a squeeze. After readying up, I depower myself, and we both let ourselves drop into the abyss of madness. By now, I was used to the vomiting-inducing trip, though I couldn't exactly discern how well Yuri was taking it. Entering the next atmosphere, I switch on my wings and let myself glide through the sky without hurry.

"It's all so bizarre, I wonder why that world even exists…" Yuri reflects on her experience.

"...I don't know. It had a way older school than ours, maybe that other world precedes this one."

"That is possible… "

"Eh, we'll know for sure eventually."

"Yeah…"

"Oh, I forgot to ask, what are we gonna bring with us?"

"I haven't really thought about it yet. Since we're unsure on how long we'll have to go for, food and supplies will be a necessity."

"What about weapons? We need something to defend ourselves. Although, just bringing plain, old guns won't do it."

"What do you suggest?"

"We'll need weapons strong enough to compete with God, right? Well, there's only one way to acquire them."

"...Angel Player, huh."

"What do you say?"

"...Using the same weaponry as Angel…"

"Uh? You got a code against it or something?"

"...I guess you could say that. We vowed to never take any handouts from God. We wanted to fight against them with our own power… but then again…"

"We won't make it far with just regular weapons, that's for sure."

"No other choice. Protecting my comrades will always be my priority."

"Glad we agree."

"And also, about your uniform, I'm sure it's difficult to maintain your skill active for prolonged periods of time. How about I make you a battlefront uniform? Then you won't have to worry about getting sucked up."

"Sure! That'd be really helpful! Though, how would we get back?"

"Hum… Eh, I'll think of something."

Some time goes by with the breeze caressing our bodies until we ultimately touch down on the ground in the same spot we rose from. "Hey, you guys okay?" The blue haired guy turns up.

"Yep, no problems here." Yuri reassures him.

"So what happened?" The halberd guy also turns up.

"We may or may not have discovered a way to get to God."

"What!? Are you serious!?" The blue haired guy asks, astonished.

"You're amazing Yurippe!" The Halberd dude exclaims.

"Goto here wasn't lying, another world really does exist. We theorized it to be an earlier creation of God. There was a school set up in a similar way to ours, but with much older construction. There must be other earlier worlds we can trespass, and if we can manage to reach the oldest one, then maybe-"

"God will appear…" The blue haired boy finishes her sentence.

"Hm, but that's a maybe, we don't know for sure."

"Still, it's amazing." He steps in my direction, "Goto, right? Sorry for my bad manners earlier, I'm Hideki Hinata. I really gotta thank you for telling us about this. I know we acted kinda cold, but you're always welcome to join us."

"Thanks." We shake hands.

"He's already in, so no need to worry about that." Yuri says proudly.

"Though about that, Tachibana is kinda keeping a close eye on me, so I'll have to keep it on the down low."

"Ah, I see. Yes, you're right, you should be careful."

"So what's the plan?" Hinata turns to Yuri.

"I'll call everyone over for a meeting and inform them about what we found, then we'll discuss what to do next." Yuri turns to face me. "In the principal's office on the third floor at the end of the hall, okay Goto?"

"Got it."

"Roger!" The halberd dude follows. He still never bothered to introduce himself… Meh, whatever.

"Bright and early for our meeting tomorrow, alright?"

"Why not do it right now and have ourselves a sleepover or something." Hinata comments.

"Jippy, sounds like a blast, let's do it…" Yuri sarcastically replies in a lazy voice.

"Ah wait, Yuri, the password, so Goto doesn't get blasted."

"Oh right, I forgot. Goto, our password for entry is "No God, No Buddha, No Angels," memorize it."

"I will, cause if I don't, I'll get quote unquote 'blasted', right?"

"We implemented a security measure in case Angel gets the urge to infiltrate our base, but no worries, it's a manual trap. Though you absolutely must announce the password, got it? Never, under any circumstances, knock."

"Yes, ma'am…"

"Good!"

Hinata yawns. "...I'm getting sleepy, so I'll be heading out. See you guys tomorrow."

"That's fine. Goodnight, everyone!" Yuri pulls out too. The halberd guy glared at me one last time before retiring for the night as well… Seriously, what is up with this dude…