What Did Gabriel Pay?

"You guys are really going all out."

Shin, who had just walked out of the living room, immediately ran into Gabriel dressed in a maid outfit in the hallway.

Gabriel, wearing the maid outfit, looked quite cute, but her somewhat listless expression gave her a slightly lazy vibe.

Perhaps some people are into that? A pretty but somewhat lazy girl.

"You heard that?"

Shin was a bit surprised. Although he had sensed Gabriel's "aura" nearby while in the living room, he hadn't paid much attention to it since Gabriel was some distance away from the living room.

He hadn't expected Gabriel to be able to hear the conversation in the living room from such a distance.

It seemed that despite her seemingly lazy demeanor, Gabriel's abilities in certain areas were far superior to ordinary people, at least her hearing was exceptional.

"You were being so loud, of course I heard you."

Gabriel pouted in exasperation, then reached out and pressed a finger against Shin's chest, speaking with a serious tone.

"Although I can understand the whole father-daughter play thing... you better not actually lay a hand on an elementary schooler. That would be a huge problem."

"Who would lay a hand on an elementary schooler?"

Shin looked at Gabriel helplessly. This was the second time she had said something like this.

The first time was about Kanna, and this time it was Illya—it wasn't like he had chosen to have two elementary schoolers join them.

One came looking for Tohru, and the other was because Irisviel wanted to see her daughter. What could he do?

"I'm not criticizing your interests."

Gabriel withdrew her finger and spoke to Shin.

"More importantly, I have a question for you... did you notice anything strange happening nearby this morning?"

Clearly, although Gabriel was reluctant about the tasks assigned by Heaven, she still relied on the living allowance provided by Heaven, so she chose to dutifully carry out their missions.

When it came to investigating the strange magical energy nearby, the first person Gabriel thought to ask was Shin.

Although Shin's strange ability called a "Stand" didn't seem to involve magical energy, since he wasn't an ordinary person, he should be able to sense something unusual, right?

"Strange happenings? Not really?"

Shin stroked his chin, carefully recalling the events of the morning.

He had been busy summoning a heroic spirit that morning, so he hadn't noticed anything unusual nearby.

"Can you be more specific?"

"Well... since you're not an ordinary person, I'll just say it outright."

Gabriel thought for a moment, then decided to be straightforward.

"This morning, there was a burst of strange magical energy nearby. Did you sense anything?"

"..."

At this, Shin immediately realized what Gabriel was referring to.

Magical energy? Wasn't that the energy he had released when summoning Illya?

Although his magical energy might differ in nature from others, its manifestation was similar, so it could be detected. As for why Gabriel was suddenly asking him about this... it was probably because Heaven had assigned her a related task.

After all, in Shin's mind, Gabriel, the gaming addict, wouldn't seriously investigate something unless it was on Heaven's orders.

Of course, Shin wasn't going to expose himself.

He thought for a moment and quickly came up with a plan—he could gather all the nearby evil spirits and package them into a mass of magical energy.

Ordinary people couldn't see or deal with the evil spirits in this world, but Shin could.

Handing over the mass of magical energy formed from the evil spirits to Gabriel would not only help her complete Heaven's task but also divert suspicion from himself.

"If it's about magical energy, I might have a lead."

With this in mind, Shin smiled and spoke to Gabriel.

"But I can't just hand it over to you. That thing is quite dangerous for ordinary people."

"I'm not an ordinary person."

Hearing Shin's words, Gabriel stomped her foot, then seemed to realize something and looked at Shin with a wary expression.

"You're not expecting a reward, are you? Let me make this clear—don't even think about the equipment in my account. I absolutely won't trade it!"

This was very much in line with Gabriel's gaming-addict mindset. The first thing she thought of when it came to trading was the equipment and items in her account.

Shin couldn't help but laugh—the strongest equipment in Gabriel's account had been obtained through his own in-game purchases. Why would he covet that stuff?

Seeing Shin's expression, Gabriel immediately realized her worry was unfounded.

She scratched her cheek and thought carefully, but she really couldn't come up with anything she could offer Shin as a reward.

She had already sold the not-so-ordinary First Horn of Apocalypse to Shin, and now Viginette was constantly urging her to buy it back.

"If you can't think of anything to trade, then I can't give it to you."

Seeing Gabriel deep in thought, Shin decided to tease her a bit.

Of course, he was still willing to hand over the prepared mass of magical energy to Gabriel later.

On one hand, Gabriel was already his friend, and giving her the mass of energy to help her complete Heaven's task was, in a way, helping a friend.

On the other hand, he needed Gabriel to take the mass of energy to divert Heaven's attention—if Gabriel couldn't find anything, Heaven might send other angels to investigate.

Although Shin wasn't afraid of anything, he still preferred to avoid unnecessary trouble.

"...Alright, I get it!"

Just as Shin was thinking about what to do next, Gabriel seemed to have finally made up her mind, gritting her teeth as if she had resolved herself.

Shin looked at Gabriel, curious about what she was about to do, when suddenly Gabriel stepped closer, stood on her tiptoes, and leaned in.

A soft sensation touched his lips—this was actually the second time Shin had experienced this today.

He hadn't expected to experience it once with Ikuyo Kita at noon and then again with Gabriel in the evening.

After a moment, Gabriel, her face completely red, took a step back from Shin, then shouted at him in a mix of embarrassment and anger:

"Is this enough!?"

In Gabriel's eyes, Shin's interests seemed to be, aside from gaming, girls.

Although Gabriel had always been confident in herself, actually doing something like this with Shin made her blush furiously.

Shin stood still, then licked his lips:

"That's it?"

"Shin!!!"

Hearing Shin's overly critical remark, Gabriel instantly exploded.

If it weren't for Shin's smiling face, which made it clear he was just teasing, Gabriel might have really punched him.

To be continued…

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