Chapter 18: Make a child cry.

“Ugh… that hurts…”

Lee Hyejin, who had fallen to the ground, slowly got up.

When she lifted her top to check her aching side, she found that her side was slightly torn by a piece of building debris that had flown from somewhere.

It wasn’t a serious injury, but at least some hemostasis was needed.

She quickly took off her jacket and pressed it against her side as an emergency measure, looking around.

Then, she felt that the atmosphere around them had become very subtle in a short time.

The chaotic atmosphere that had just been present was now unbelievably quiet.

Moreover, they were all looking up at the sky.

‘What is it…?’

Lee Hyejin felt curious and naturally followed the people, looking up at the sky.

She wondered if a UFO had appeared.

However, what appeared in her eyes was not a UFO.

It was a gigantic rock floating in the sky.

Oh my god! It was a meteor.

‘No, what on earth is this…!’

Lee Hyejin was startled and instinctively gaped.

It felt like she had never been this surprised in her life.

‘Sh-Should I run away? Or….’

Naturally, her mind was instantly filled with confusion.

Because of that, she fell into a panic, froze like a statue, and couldn’t do anything.

Ache.

Just then, a stabbing pain in her side.

It instantly brought her back to her senses.

Of course, even so, there was nothing she could really do in the current situation.

She couldn’t stop a falling meteor or run away from it.

‘To die without even getting married…’

She felt a sense of futility and exhaled a small, deep breath to calm the pain in her body.

At the same time, she slowly looked around again…

“… Huh?”

Only now did she belatedly notice the unusual atmosphere.

She discovered the Angel floating in the air, feeling completely different from what she knew.

Crunch— Crunch—

I continuously compressed the giant stone that contained the American Angel.

A sensation as if something inside the stone was pushing back kept coming through.

But it was meaningless.

I just needed to use more strength than it did.

Crunch!

Finally, the stone that had appeared to be tens of meters large shrank to a few meters.

I intended to completely crush it into a small ball, like a steel marble.

Then, for some reason, questions and thoughts suddenly entered my mind.

‘… Why?’

Why bother?

Do I have a reason to move for others?

Can’t I just sleep and forget everything?

I’m tired, should I just quit everything?

These thoughts came endlessly.

‘…… What is this…?’

They were clearly thoughts I had just had myself.

Yet, paradoxically, these were clearly not my thoughts.

I quickly shook my head, trying to erase the thoughts that filled my mind.

Squeeze—

At that moment, the force pushing from inside the stone amplified even more strongly.

The reason was that I had lost focus for a moment and the strength I was applying had decreased.

So I tried to concentrate on the stone again, and…

“A-Angel!”

Suddenly, Lee Hyejin’s voice was heard.

“… Huh?”

I flinched, my eyes wide, and quickly turned my head.

There was Lee Hyejin, with a slightly pale complexion.

She was pressing something against her side, looking up at me.

“I-I thought you were dead…”

At that sight, I involuntarily mumbled softly.

I felt a stinging sensation, as if I had been hit in the back of the head.

“Huh…? Me, perhaps?”

Then Lee Hyejin also replied with a voice full of bewilderment.

Well, it was understandable for her to be dumbfounded, having been told she was dead when she was perfectly fine.

Thud!

Anyway, I roughly threw the stone to the ground and landed.

Then I quickly ran towards Lee Hyejin.

“A-Are you alive…?”

I asked again, just in case, having arrived quickly as the distance wasn’t far.

Lee Hyejin, with beads of cold sweat on her forehead, smiled faintly and placed her hand on my head.

“Of course~! Humans don’t die that easily, you know!”

Stroke, stroke.

I felt her stroking my head.

The warmth that remained confirmed she was definitely alive.

I naturally accepted her touch with a sense of relief.

That was when it happened.

Crack— Bang!

The stone ball I had thrown shattered and scattered.

It was the sound of the American Angel regaining her freedom.

‘… Ah.’

Only then did I remember what I had forgotten and quickly shifted my gaze there.

It was fortunate that Lee Hyejin was fine, but the situation was not yet over.

The strange ability that made the entire space disappear when she was confined in the stone ball had briefly stopped.

No one knew when it would start again.

Whoosh—

The American Angel’s silhouette became visible from the billowy dust cloud.

It was an extremely tense, volatile moment.

I swallowed hard and stared intently at it.

But as the dust cloud obscuring my vision cleared, what I saw was…

“… Huh?”

It was quite different from what I had expected.

Because there, the American Angel was standing perfectly on two feet.

And, unsuitably, tears were streaming down her face.

“Sniff.”

“Oh…”

At that sight, I stared blankly with a foolish expression.

I had no idea how to react or what to do in this completely unexpected situation.

‘Why, why is she crying…? Is it because I attacked her…?’

Even if she was an angel, her appearance was merely that of a child, about 14 years old.

Thinking that such a child was crying because I hit her made me feel incredibly strange.

Of course, since I had committed such a great wrong, I had no regrets.

Nevertheless, it was impossible to avoid feeling complicated.

Flustered, I rolled my eyes this way and that, then subtly glanced at Lee Hyejin.

She too was staring at the girl, incredibly flustered.

“W-Wouldn’t it be better to go and comfort her first…?”

Lee Hyejin, feeling my gaze, met my eyes with a bewildered expression and spoke.

‘Comfort her….’

Me?

What on earth should I say…?

To ask me, who couldn’t even properly lead a normal conversation, to comfort a crying girl…

This was definitely too harsh a request.

But then again, the one who made her cry couldn’t just ignore the situation either.

Eventually, I timidly shuffled forward, and then,

Slide—

The American Angel was seen raising her head and staring intently at me.

From her hazy eyes, tears were still streaming endlessly, as if a faucet had been turned on.

‘Sh-She can cry like that too, huh….’

It was a sight that somehow made me feel a great deal of guilt and pity.

Having arrived right in front of her in an instant, I received her intense gaze and was lost in thought for a long time, wondering what to say.

And what I finally said was…

“A-Are you okay?”

It was a somewhat strange form of comfort, unbelievable coming from the person who had made the girl cry.

Thanks to that, the stream of tears from the American Angel’s eyes grew a little thicker.

‘I-Is this not it…?’

As I was greatly flustered by that sight, the American Angel spoke.

“Why, why… only me… hic… do you bother…”

Again, her words felt quite different from the image she had shown so far.

Feeling bewildered by it, I nonetheless responded calmly.

“I didn’t bother you…. But honestly, you started it, didn’t you…?”

“Waaah…”

Oh.

The American Angel’s crying intensified at my words.

But it seemed best to clearly address what was wrong.

Hadn’t a huge number of people almost gotten hurt today?

There was no guarantee anywhere that this wouldn’t happen again.

So, since I had already made her cry, I decided to just tell her more clearly what she did wrong.

Though the nuance felt a little strange… anyway, it was for that girl.

“You shouldn’t use strange abilities on people so carelessly…. What if someone gets hurt?”

“……”

“Can’t you share food a little bit? You can eat as much as you want anyway…”

“……”

“Um… wouldn’t it be better if you spoke a little more kindly, if possible?”

I subtly inserted words that had nothing to do with the current situation.

The American Angel’s unstoppable tears.

Suddenly, the Japanese Angel approached from behind and said,

“Hmph! Serves you right, idiot.”

To that, I immediately retorted,

“… Be quiet. You shouldn’t do that next to her.”

Perhaps it was because I always said only good things to her?

At that, the Japanese Angel flustered and stammered.

“… Wh-Why!? She’s the one who did something wrong!”

“You were the one who snatched the food first, Japanese Angel!”

“Japanese Angel…? Why, why aren’t you calling me ‘unnie’…?”

“Unnie my foot…. I’m not playing with you anymore. Don’t come to Korea from now on.”

“Huh…? Uh-huh…? Wh-Why…?”

The Japanese Angel grabbed my hand with surprised eyes.

I coldly shook it off.

“… Hic.”

Then, this time, tears began to well up in the Japanese Angel’s eyes.

‘… Huh?’

Wh-What kind of situation is this…?

I never thought the Japanese Angel would cry…?

Naturally, I was greatly flustered by that sight, and meanwhile, the American Angel’s muttering could be heard from beside me.

“Hic… it’s so dark… I’m scared…”

This time, the Japanese Angel’s whimpering.

“Too mean… sob…”

No, I had made two children cry.

‘Th-This makes me feel like I’m the bad person…’

Standing between them, I somehow felt like crying too.