Chapter 7: Two Sides of the Same Coin

After the match, everyone from the Kyudo club, including the ace who was just beaten, was bowing down on the floor with their heads on the ground toward Mimi's direction. Pleas of reconsideration were heard from some of the girls.

Mimi, who was now standing together with Angelie and had their hands clasped together, separated herself and faced everyone from the Kyudo club.

"I have enjoyed my time here in the Kyudo club. But as of right now, I am a member of the Help Club." She bowed down to them. After a while, she and the other Help club members along with Sanaka left the shooting hall. As they were walking away from the archery range, cries of regret were heard.

The sky had turned reddish and the stars started to appear. The three girls were walking side by side, with Mimi in the middle.

"So, you were lying about not being good in archery?"

Akuma was walking behind them a few steps. He had his hands behind his head and was looking up.

Mimi stopped walking and turned around to face him.

"Actually, I really was bad at it. I always had this feeling I had to practice archery. So, I joined the Kyudo club during middle school and even my first year in high school. I never got good at it. But when I remembered I was the elven leader, I guess I remembered how to do it. My body was trained well, so I was able do it as I did before."

"You're really into this role-playing thing, huh?"

Sanaka raised her eyebrows. She stood there crossing her arms while she listened to Mimi.

"Unfortunately, this is not role—"

"So, all's well that ends well, right?"

Angelie grabbed Mimi's shoulders with both her hands. She drew her face closer to Mimi's ear, and whispered to her.

"Let's not needlessly confuse her."

Mimi looked at Angelie, and then exhaled.

"I look forward to working with you, Angelie-san."

"Me too, Mimi-san!"

Sanaka averted her gaze from the two girls, and then started to walk toward the school building.

"I'll be going now. I feel like I wasted my time. But you were great, so I guess it was ok."

"See you tomorrow, Sanaka-san!"

Angelie waved at Sanaka even though she couldn't see it.

"We're not out of trouble yet. We still don't have enough members. Make sure you do your job, damn elf."

Akuma walked ahead of the two girls.

---

Angelie and Mimi decided to walk home together until they had to go their separate ways. When they got outside of the school gate, Mimi decided to speak up after the two of them were quiet for a while.

"Why don't you want to explain things to Sanaka-san?"

Angelie looked up at the night sky.

"The lives we lived before we remembered being from Altro Mondo, it was just normal. Right now, the only difference is that we remember things from our past lives. It didn't change who we are drastically, at least that's the case for me."

She then looked at Mimi directly in her eyes.

"I guess I just want to be friends with her without the baggage of knowing unnecessary things about me. I am Fukushuu Angelie, and being the Saint before doesn't matter now."

She smiled at Mimi.

"Also, she feels like she is weird. So, I guess we can just be weirdos together."

"I'm really glad you haven't changed, even being as Angelie. Though, I don't plan on being weird."

They laughed together, and thought that it's something that they were unable to do much during their past lives.

---

The next day, Akuma woke up early. This had been going on for a while now. It began when he decided to start the Help club. After getting dressed in his school uniform, he went downstairs to eat breakfast. His sister was already at the table, eating a slice of loaf bread and some egg rolls.

"Hey, Yuurei. Where's Mom?"

He sat down on the chair across from Yuurei.

"Oh, she went to Dad's office already. He wasn't able to come home last night so she went to bring some clothes and food for him."

"So, we get bread again, huh?"

"She did make these egg rolls, though."

Akuma took a bite from the piece of bread he got for himself.

"How about you, Onii-chan? You've been going to school earlier than usual these past few days."

"It's no big deal."

"Are you sure you're not in some kind of trouble? I mean, you sometimes don't even finish your food! As your beloved sister, I am getting worried… You were already in your rebellious phase the past few years…"

"I appreciate your concern. It's just that I'm doing my preparations to rule over people."

"What, like a demon lord or something?"

Akuma spit out the food that was already in his mouth and coughed profusely.

"Well, uh, I plan to use diplomacy this time."

"This time?"

Yuurei stopped chewing her food and stared at Akuma for a few moments.

"That's—"

She resumed eating as she shrugged her shoulders.

"Anyway, if you're doing something like that, then you're like dad in a way. More of a politician—"

Upon hearing those words, Akuma froze up. Yuurei sensed what happened and reacted immediately.

"I'm sorry, Onii-chan. I know you hate being compared to him…"

"In a way, you're not wrong. I guess I am like him."

She dropped the chopsticks and the eggroll she was holding on the floor.

"There IS something wrong with you!"

---

Once Akuma arrived at school, he met with Angelie and Mimi in front of 2-B's classroom. Angelie looked inside the classroom and saw Sanaka slumped over her desk. She went inside and dragged her outside of the room to where everyone was standing. Their meeting commenced.

"Hey, Angelie-san. Why did you drag me out here? I still want to sleep while I can!"

"Sanaka! We need your cute face since we're distributing fliers right now."

Sanaka blushed at Akuma's compliment. But then she realized something was not right.

"You think you can get away with using me by just calling me cute? Well, if you think I'm cute, I wouldn't argue. But you're just using those terms casually that it's losing its effect somewhat…"

She kept on mumbling incomprehensible words after that. Angelie and Mimi were grinning at the ashamed Sanaka.

They then moved to the entrance of the school building to distribute the fliers. What they didn't expect this morning was that there were also a lot of other clubs trying to recruit members. By the time the students reach the school building entrance, most of them already have many fliers in their hands.

Sanaka was standing with Mimi on one side. On the other side, it was Akuma and Angelie together.

"Why do I have to stand beside you? Damn Saint."

Akuma had his arm straight in front of him while waiting for someone to grab the flier he was holding out.

"I'm just protecting my friends from you, damn Demon Lord. Don't think for one second I enjoy being here right now."

In between her tirade to Akuma, she was greeting students who passed by with a smile and an invitation to join the Help club.

Even before he could answer back to Angelie, someone took the flier from his hand. It was a male student with short, dark purple hair. He was carrying with him a large paper bag on his right hand. He stood for a while in front of Akuma. He held the flier close to his face with his left hand, while his eyes were glancing sideways toward Akuma.

"Are you interested in joining? Don't be shy! We will accept anyone at this point—"

A flying elbow just crashed into the ribs of Akuma.

"Please, ignore him. If you're even just a bit interested, you can at least think about it. We promise it will be fun and fulfilling to be in our club."

Angelie smiled warmly at the male student. The boy blushed slightly and tried to speak, but was abruptly interrupted.

"What the hell was that for, you Fake Saint!"

"Is that how you recruit people? Making them feel like they're just scraps we found? You facetious Demon Lord!"

As sparks were almost visible during their glaring contest, the male student exhaled loudly.

"At this time, I have no intentions to join. Thanks for the invite, though."

The two of them didn't notice. He then smirked, and then left and went inside the school building. After a while, Angelie noticed that the student in front of them was already gone.

"Where did he go? Look at what you did!"

"What I did? You scared him with that elbow attack!"

Angelie covered her gaping mouth with her left hand.

"Oh no, what if I did? I need to explain to him that I will only attack you and will never harm others… Wait up!"

She ran inside the school building to search for the purple haired student.