3 / Roman
On my way home from work, I got caught by an angel.
Not the Angel at home, but an actual angel within the A-ray branch.
"You're not very sociable lately. Rejecting an invitation from a pretty person like me, you must be an impotent."
She said that as she pushed me into a bar and offering a glass of alcohol. ...It's true I haven't spoke to her for about a half a year.
While we were having some casual conversation, a bunch of hecklers butted in. They say the angel should accompany the A-rays instead of that human. I thought so too, but she shut them up by a glare.
"I'm sorry, were you offended?"
"Yeah, I don't feel good about it, but they're right. Why do you care about someone like me. Don't the A-rays find a love partner in order to produce stronger species? I won't be able to create strong children."
"It doesn't hurt for an exception, does it? Besides, our outside appearance matters more for us. There's not many species that are close to the angels, and you're my type. There's no problem."
She said that as she drank the purple fizz in her glass.
Her appearance was a real angel. Her wings weren't used for flying, but used as a dish to collect the heavy particles in the surroundings. The angel species were able to fly without wings. Originally being the protectors of the A-ray called the Six Sisters, the angels were considered to have an equal fighting power as the Knights who carried the Demonic Sword.
In other words, they can perform a destructive activity as a nuclear bomb on their own.
As we drank more alcohol and more or less of our true characters were shown, she asked a weird question.
"Hey, why do you use a gun?"
"Humans can't use Gin like you A-rays, you know. Our strength is limited as well, so it's natural we have to rely on weapons. What other practical firearms are there other than a gun?"
"Hmm. That means humans aren't made to fight. But why do you still fight?"
"...Let's see. If I recall correctly, my family was killed when I was small. That's when I dug up a gun and practiced shooting so I can take revenge."
"Oh, typical."
Yeah, it's typical, I tried to laugh, but I couldn't. I never succeeded in trying to make a forced smile.
"But doesn't a family mean they were of the same species? I never heard of any humans living around here."
"I haven't told you, have I. I was originally born in West Land. The other side of the great rift."
"West Land... You mean the continent that got wiped out by the Black Aristoteles-----?"
Surprised, she fell silent. When West Land was completely scorched, I was a kid of only 12 or 13.
An old story from almost 7 years ago.
"By the way, do you still do that job?"
"I do. There isn't any other job opportunity for a halfwit like me. I don't want to be kept under a protection as rare species either. ...What, are you still complaining? They are different from you. Don't be so concerned, it's silly."
"I am concerned. I don't mind others to do it, but it makes me angry to think that you out of all people are killing angels everyday. Hey. Why do you hunt angels?"
--------That is because I am twisted.
"-------It's my job, I can't help it. "
I said that without looking at her eyes. She gave me a cold look, seeing through my lie.
"You're right. You've quit thinking. That's why you don't feel any pain. But, on the other hand, you don't feel any happiness either. You never have fun by recalling the past either. Your life must be like the machine you use. That's why you need to rely on something simple like logical reasoning in order to motivate yourself.
The angel said that with a discontent expression. But what's so wrong with being a machine. A theory that higher life forms having emotions was a real fantasy.
"What's wrong with you today? You seem to be very picky"
"No kidding. It's because you won't talk to me"
"A drunken angel isn't very appealing."
"What do you mean. I may look like this, but I'm very popular in my home town."
Answering, yeah yeah, I sipped on my glass. I was suppose to restrain myself tonight, but I'm passing out before her.
The angel asked me her last question.
"Hey, why do you fight?"
That's because I don't want to die.
"Then, why don't you want to die?"
Probably because I want to live.
"Why do you want to live?"
That's obvious.
Because, I never got to experience anything good.
"...Is that so. Needing logical reason in order to live, you're an underdeveloped life form."
Saying that, she left first.
But how can I help it. Because the human race kept on living by their instinct, the world died once. Having to rely on pessimistic reasoning is the only punishment given to the humans who were left behind.
4 / After Images
Slipping through the busy streets of the city, I returned to my room.
The Angel was stubbornly still there.
It's winter soon. The temperature would break the critical freezing point and the city would soon literally freeze.
But I didn't think of passing my second winter in this city.
"There's a lot of commotion in the city lately."
The Angel said that as she looked down from the window.
The large window, larger than the Angel, looked like a window of a church that I once saw in a picture book.
The Angel with blond hair and bright white wings bent over with a sad face. Behind her, the city and two World Trees were blurry like a mirage.
...Everything was inside a world in steel color. Only this Angel was pretty as if it was a nightmare.
The Angel looked down at the distant ground.
The city was packed with people who were trying to leave.
"Um. What is everyone doing?"
"They are moving out all together. The neighboring area was destroyed by a three thousand meter Aristoteles. Calculating its progressing route, they said it will pass through this city in three days."
"Above, me?"
"Above us. It might collide with the World Tree. Either way, everything in its path is destroyed. It's obvious why people are running away"
"Oh, so that's why everyone's so desperate"
The Angel said that as she looked down vacantly.
Glancing at the Angel who's just standing there, I started packing my belongings. I pushed winter equipments and clothing, personal air maker, and several guns into my bag. I decided to leave everything else behind.
"Are you going too?"
"Yeah, because I don't want to die. But not right away. I'll go out on my own after the commotion down there dies down."
The Angle sadly lowered her eyes. Because she was always happy for no reason, just that made her look really lonely.
"...This may be the last time, so let me you ask you a question. What were you after all?"
The Angel made a sigh without any seriousness.
I can only make out that she wasn't the existing species of angels.
That's why----- I wanted to know the truth, at least in the end.
A plain reply of the Angel.
"What everyone calls the Aristoteles"
You didn't know? The Angel looked at me like that.
Aristoteles. A thing that suddenly appeared on this planet and became an enemy of all living things. An unpredictable enemy where not only was there no method of communication, their biological structure as a living thing was unclear.
And that was, at a little city like this, in a room of a deserted tower, shaped like an angel, and playing a guitar? What kind of joke was that? ...No living things on this planet was able to stand up against this life form, what a punishment by God.
"Really? You?"
"Oh no, the thing at the base of this city to be exact. What I was, was shot down and fell to this place. It was an instant death. Trees grew and people started living on top of that."
The Angel goes on. This planet has no longer any power to raise life. That's why greens wouldn't grow, but if it was on top of another life instead of the earth, they would.
"I'm normally not that kind of thing, but I ended up like this. What everyone calls the World Trees are the wings of what used to be me. ...umm in other words, feathers of the wings. The falling feathers took shape of what I used to look like. I was originally that kind of invading life form. It's not the angels that were originally on this planet."
"But you're still shaped like an angel"
"Because I am everyone's fantasy. The body of what I used to be died already, but it seems something like the mind was still alive. But a concept of a mind never existed to me. The species of this planet have a wonderful ability to form a shape out of knowledge. Using everyone as a model, I formed a shape out of my knowledge that I had but never used.
The reason I'm shaped like an angel is because it's the closest image of the shape of what I used to be. That's how I was able to communicate with everyone by creating the same thought circuit. I was able to become myself by taking form of the imaginary angel."
The Angel detached herself from a thing called Aristoteles by becoming an illusion. She was able to acknowledge herself for the first time by becoming something not herself.
....She's already noone, but a manifestation of an angel that the people imagined on their own.
"Are you, happy?"
The Angel happily replied, yes.
Only an illusion stood here.
"-----I see, an angel can only live within an imagination."
I happened to recall the definition of an angel.
That it had wings, an halo, being really beautiful, and then, it's only an illusion-----
After all, a thing that brings you hope, can only be an fantasy.
When I thought about that, the angel sadly replied, you're right.
-------------------------------
"I wish I was a real angel"
With an appearance that looked more like an angel than an actual angel, she said something like that.
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Originally Posted by willyvereb
