Himitsu – Kuro no Chikai

Chapter 1, Part 1 - Apple

Gran Dios Temple, during the Round Table. The sacred place of oracle, closest to God.

The neatly-kept young man, with deep wrinkles formed between his eyebrows, was tapping his fingertips against the table in a repetitive, displeased way.

The archangel meeting that had started a while ago, continued to follow a perfectly parallel line without proceeding at all. Growing tired of feeling that there was no end in sight, he stood up from his seat with a clunk.

“What is it, Archangel Kaito?” Casually asked the old man sitting in a remarkably regal chair at the other end of table. The man called Kaito answered without hiding his irritation.

“I’ve grown bored of this discussion that hasn’t progressed at all since earlier. I have other things to attend to, so please don’t mind me and continue.”

After he’d risen from his seat and said this, a young man with long hair in the adjacent seat tried to calm him.

“Now now, the meeting has only just begun, Lord Kaito, so won’t you stay with us a while long longer? There’s still time before the three o’clock tea.”

With a benevolent face and a gentle smile, the man who had rebuked Kaito, named Gaku, looked up at the giant clock engraved in the ceiling of the temple. The time was two o’clock. There still remained one hour until his important “tea time.”

Being unsuited for the orderly meeting, and after being remonstrated by the leisurely Gaku, Kaito sighed and sat down in his seat once more.

Today’s topic of discussion was the situation of the prolonged war in Heaven.

The Great War of Heaven——

From now, it dated back about five thousand years. When the conflict between angels and demons intensified, there was a fierce battle where roughly half of Heaven was lost. The angels that guarded Heaven were reduced by more than half, and the half of the sacred paradise that was lost fell to the ground. The surviving angels desperately tried to nurture the source of all life, the “Tree of Life,” costing the energy from the circulation of lost souls. Since then, the main battlefield for the battle between angels and demons was moved to the human world, and still continued today. The faith in God from humans serves as the power that supports the entire “world” consisting of Heaven and the human world. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that this power, known as “divine power,” is what forms the world.

On the other hand, the world’s hatred— negative sentiments born from obsolete, empty hearts, becomes the source of “dark power” for demons, and amplifies the power of the Devil, who rules over the demons.

Heaven and Hell seek to expand each of their own forces by controlling such emotions and actions of humans, all in order to prepare for the next direct confrontation, like that of the previous Great War, that would one day come.

Roughly speaking, angels are entrusted with three tasks.

Supporting the circulation of life of the people living in the human world in various ways is Raphael (angels of divine protection).

Caring for the “Tree of Life” that is the source of all life, Gabriel (angels of circulation).

And finally, fighting the demons that oppose Heaven, Michael (the army).

Within these three duties, one is given as a mission. For them, this “mission” is a duty, but also their “life.”

The archangel Kaito, also, left a glorious military record in the battle against demons, and for the sake of that destiny, continued to fight as one of Michael’s angels.

Everyone in the hierarchical system governed in Heaven under the strict laws, lived to fulfill the mission given to them. Kaito was no exception to this. Which was why right now, as part of his job as an archangel in charge of a combat unit, he was reluctantly attending this very dull archangel meeting from early in the morning until whenever it should end. Without hiding his lethargy from this stand-still discussion, Kaito looked out at the peaceful sunlight outside of the window. The reason he’d used earlier to try and escape from the meeting hadn’t been a lie. After the meeting, he had an appointment to meet his partner who had finally returned from the human world. While waiting for him, she was probably comfortably and merrily taking an afternoon nap somewhere.

“In any case, there’s no mistake about the information I’ve required. What threatens the faith towards us, and is spreading darkness little by little among humans … is the demon faith originating from the Velcant Region.”

He listened to what he heard beside him. Demon faith was something that was present all hours of the day and night all over the human world, but it had never been directly dealt with until now.

“Velcant, is it … This is about needing me to go and directly investigate, I assume.”

The Velcant area was a land that the Seventh Unit that Kaito led had under their direct surveillance.

Even in the human world, it was a remarkably glamorous and advanced civilization, and also a region where the nobles and rulers were constantly engaged in a struggle for power.

“However, this time’s gathering seems to be a large-scale plan for them. It would be better if were to take all possible safety measures and create a detailed strategy …”

“Interference is futile. Velcant is under my jurisdiction.”

Interrupting the angel that tried to disagree, Kaito stood up fully from his chair this time.

Pretentious speeches were pointless. All that mattered was presenting the “results” as he usually did.

With superior combat ability and charismatic leadership, Kaito led the strongest armed unit known as the Angels’ Seventh Holy Lance. In fact, the Seventh Unit that Kaito led, known for both their success and talent, consisted of only the very strongest, prided elites from the Heaven Army.

“It’s settled then, Archangel Kaito. You will be given full responsibility of investigating the demon faith in the Velcant Region, as well as subduing all the demons. Everyone, there are no objections to this? However, do not do the impossible.”

With gentle smiles, the elderly archangels concluded the discussion.

The angels’ hierarchical system was strict. Lower-class angels must obey those higher up than them. Rather, the instinct to obey was engraved into their bodies. The greatness of the divine power in Heaven was the absolute guide to all.

The angel that was angry over Kaito taking the credit, clenched their fists in frustration, and glared as him as they spoke.

“Archangel Kaito, allow me to give you a piece of advice.”

Kaito, who had been quick to leave his seat, stopped walking and looked back at the owner of that voice.

“What is it, Luka?”

“You’re only riding on your success right now; this battle cannot be won with the strength of divine power alone. It would be best that you take care not to be deceived by lowly humans.”

The captain of the Sixth Unit that was in charge of protecting of the Valul Region neighboring Velcant, named Luka, then left the room with her long, beautiful pink hair swaying behind her. Luka saw Kaito as a rival in every aspect. Because it was often that he took credit for her achievements, she used every opportunity she could to lash out at him. Being of the same archangel class, they were probably born around the same time, as well. Luka was an extremist, an angel affiliating with the Ira faction. They had a collective thinking of assuming humans as lower life forms made to imitate angels, and that angels “looked after” the humans in the world below. It was a thought that had spread ever since the Great War, in order to strengthen the leadership in Heaven, and their loyalty towards God.

Kaito himself, was also of the Ira faction, and therefore looked down on humans, but most likely not as much as she did. As the days went on, the extremists and conservatives clashed in this way during every major conference. In this kind of state, if the demons’ army were to invade, would things turn out well in the end? That was what every archangel secretly worried about.

Feeling a slight irritation, Kaito left the conference hall.

Flying east from the Conference Tower for about thirty minutes, the Griselle Garden came into view.

There were various kinds of vegetation overgrowing, and the water from the huge fountain in the center flowed to all corners of the garden. It gave the feeling of being embraced by the calm and cheerful mid-afternoon. In the branch of an apple tree growing beside the fountain lay Rin. She had assumed an afternoon nap, which she loved.

“If you sleep in such a place, you’ll fall.”

Hearing a voice from above her, Rin got up with a start.

“Uwaah!”

Not being able to spread her wings in time, she seemed about to fall from the branch, but caught herself with her arm before that happened.

“Are you okay?”

“K-Kaito! Thanks, you saved me!”

“You …. Your way of speaking is the same as always.”

With drowsy eyes and a smile, Rin used her wings to sit back up on the branch.

“Eh ….? But Kaito is Kaito, right?”

“All the rest of the lower-ranking angels call me Archangel Kaito …. the only one that doesn’t is you.”

“Eh—But I was taught that you should address your partner with deep affection by doing away with formalities.”

“…..”

Normally, angels work in pairs. They are assigned “partners” that are of a different rank than themselves. The higher-ranking angel acts as a mentor over the lower-ranking angel, while the lower-ranking angel respects the higher-ranking angel; this is an order that must be followed. In this way, where the rules of the hierarchical society in Heaven are applied, the foundation for the unwavering trust-based relationship amongst angels is formed … This is what is taught to all angels, however ….

This cheerful and innocent girl, Rin, had little interest in these Heavenly laws. Her personality hadn’t changed much from the time she was born, but even today, it was rare for there to be such a nonchalant and freewheeling angel.

Kaito suddenly recalled the sworn friend that had once imparted his knowledge to Rin as her partner—always a cheerful, easygoing young man with jade green eyes, and unconsciously broke into a smile.

“So, how did the archangel meeting go?”

Rin picked two ripe, delicious-looking apples from a tree branch, and asked this while eating both at once.

“The same as always. A waste of my time.”

Kaito answered while biting into his own apple, which Rin had handed to him.

Without being too sweet, it was the perfect ripeness. After chewing another huge mouthful, Rin swallowed loudly.

“Oh oh, the human world was pretty fun!”

Rin had gone to the human world for these two weeks for her training as an angel. And with that, she had been promoted from an angel trainee to a junior angel, and come back after finishing the last of her training.

“There was a lot of delicious food in the human world~ And weird clothes that I’d never seen before~ And also …..”

“I see …. From today onwards, you’re a junior angel, are you?”

“Yep! I’m a fully-fledged ‘angel’ now!”

“A fully-fledged angel wouldn’t need to say something like that.”

“Ohh—Kaito, you meanie. Even though I gave you an apple—“

“…. Why am I a— … Anyway, you merely went and picked this apple without permission from this branch—“

“Ah—okay, okay, I got it already. Sheesh!”

Cutting off Kaito’s words, Rin pouted and turned away. In this situation, wouldn’t I be the one that should be offended? Kaito wondered.

“Ahem. In any case …… That is, congratulations on your promotion.”

“!”

When Rin hurriedly turned around, Kaito—who always made such fastidious expressions—was smiling just slightly, as if embarrassed.

“Thank you, Kaito! I’ll be full of energy from today onwards!”

With an ear-to-ear grin, the girl that was smiling like an imp forgot her earlier bad mood and began preparing for work with gusto atop of the branch.

Whenever he was with Rin, impossible things happened. Things such as Kaito smiling, something that the other angels had probably never seen before. Being so serious, he was calm and collected towards all matters, and showed no interest in interactions with other angels. For such a cold person, this one girl who had become his partner about one thousand years ago had made a considerable influence on him.

As her superior, he had no doubts about her, and they came together as equals. For Kaito, who always kept a distance with the other angels, and lived faithfully solely for the sake of his mission, Rin was an existence that brought him peace and repose.

“Don’t become so full of energy that you fall from the tree again. I’ve never seen any other angel fall from one despite the fact that we have wings.”

As soon as he said this, he lightly spread his wings and soared into the air.

First, they would celebrate at the three o’clock tea, the promotion of his subordinate, who was following him from below while noisily spouting complaints.