Chapter 110: Reward from Kaede

"You don't have to help me if you don't want to, I won't force you. But I'm worried that the other demi-humans at school might interfere with the club president's aid to me, so could I ask you to help me out occasionally?", Iris shook her head and explained softly.

Vignette and the others were strong enough to ignore her magic, so helping her deal with the other demi-humans at school—who seemed to have noticed something—shouldn't be too difficult.

More importantly, since Gabriel and the others already knew about her and the club president's aid arrangement, it didn't feel right to just let them go.

But seeing Gabriel and Vignette on high alert, she decided not to bring this up now and would wait for a better time.

"This... Are you saying... you want us to stand guard for you?", Vignette swallowed nervously, hesitating as she looked at Iris.

This request was better than asking them to directly participate in the aid process, but helping ensure that Iris and Hachiman's aid went smoothly… That sounded incredibly awkward.

"There's Aegis guarding close by. You just need to keep an eye on other demi-humans from a distance. The vampire who often goes to the library and the mermaid busy with her idol career aren't much of a concern. The main problem is the dragon clan's leader. Recently, we've noticed her lingering near the barrier we set up, though we're not sure why she hasn't shown herself yet," Iris shook her head and patiently explained.

They weren't actually afraid of the dragon clan's leader. Even though she was strong, as long as they didn't want to fight, she couldn't do anything to them. While that dragon leader had a bit of a temper, she wasn't a battle maniac.

What they were worried about was her disrupting their aid with the club president—especially when Aegis was also receiving aid from him at the same time. There would be no one left to keep an eye on the dragon leader in that situation.

"The dragon clan's leader? The only student with dragon blood at school seems to be that petite girl with silver-gray hair... So she's the leader of the dragon clan...", Vignette muttered thoughtfully, realizing who Iris was talking about.

But she still felt hesitant. Even though they wouldn't have to personally take part in the aid, or even be close enough to hear those embarrassing noises, just the idea of standing guard while Hachiman and Iris were engaged in aid…

Why did this sound so bizarre and ridiculous? Was her first real teamwork experience with an angel really going to be something like this...? Did this count as doing something bad or something good...?

"O-Okay! But only on the condition that you and Hachiman don't mess around recklessly anymore. If you need to do it at school, you have to tell us in advance," However, the little angel Gabriel didn't hesitate as much as the demon Vignette. She gritted her teeth and agreed, staring straight at Iris.

She understood Vignette's hesitation. If possible, she didn't want to get involved in this whole aid situation either.

But she had already promised Iris that she would help with their love. If she kept avoiding it, it would be unreasonable.

As this year's top student in Heaven, she had to keep her promises and be an angel of her word.

"Hmm? If I'm asking for your help, of course I'd let you know when we're doing it," Iris blinked in confusion, looking at Gabriel strangely.

"..."

Gabriel fell silent.

She suddenly realized that helping Iris didn't mean she could avoid witnessing their aid. In fact, she might have to stay nearby and keep an eye on them.

Then what was the point of exposing themselves?

Wouldn't it have been better to hide their identities from the start and find excuses to leave whenever Iris and Hachiman were engaged in aid?

"..."

Vignette also realized their awkward situation and fell into silence.

Somehow, Iris had tricked them into agreeing. Weren't they supposed to be stopping her from doing this?

Especially Gabriel—she had just spent all her money moving here to save Hachiman from corruption, and now she found herself safeguarding his and Iris's actions instead.

It felt like all her efforts had been wasted.

"Let's put this topic aside for now. The club president is about to take Kaede's friend home. I'll go see if they need any help."

Iris noticed Gabriel and Vignette's discomfort, but she chose to ignore it. After saying that, she left the hallway with Aegis, smiling as they headed for the living room.

Would the club president be happy to know she got Gabriel and Vignette to help with the aid?

They were strong, had good personalities, and weren't even worried about population decline—ideal aid supporters.

Too bad Gabriel and Vignette weren't interested in the club president. Otherwise, given their personalities, she could have asked them to personally assist her in receiving aid.

Well... The club president was her aid provider, so Gabriel and Vignette were more like aid assistants...

Watching Iris and Aegis disappear around the corner of the living room, Gabriel and Vignette exchanged glances but remained silent.

"...Let's not talk about aid for now. Vignette, let me ask you something—do you have special feelings for Hachiman? Why are you getting close to him?", Gabriel was the first to break the awkward silence. She took a deep breath, set aside her distractions, and looked at Vignette with a serious face.

At first, she moved here to stop Vignette from leading Hachiman astray. Even though Vignette had cleared her name, she was still a demon, so Gabriel had to warn her not to do anything reckless.

"Special feelings? I was assigned to live here by the Underworld. I only met Hachiman after I arrived," Vignette looked confused at Gabriel's serious expression. What special feelings could she possibly have? She just thought Hachiman was a good person.

"You're a demon, and you don't have any thoughts about Hachiman? He has a strong life force and a pure soul. Aren't demons especially fond of leading people like him astray?", Gabriel wasn't fooled by Vignette's innocent act and kept staring at her.

"If you put it that way, aren't you the same? You moved here on purpose—are you trying to lure Hachiman to Heaven?", Vignette's face turned red. How could this angel accuse her without proof?

"I'm an angel. Of course, I should treat good people like Hachiman well," Gabriel argued without hesitation. She had always been good to Hachiman. Even helping Iris with her love was to prevent Hachiman from falling. How could anyone say she was trying to lure him to Heaven?

"That's discrimination! Can't demons treat people well too?", Vignette protested. Not all demons did bad things. Just because she was a demon, did that mean she had to be accused like this?

"..."

"..."

The two locked eyes, glaring at each other.

After a long pause, seeing that Vignette refused to admit to any bad intentions, Gabriel decided to present evidence.

"Then how did your allowance increase? Don't think I don't know—demon interns get their allowance based on the amount of bad deeds they do."

"If you got that much money, doesn't that mean you've done a lot of bad things? Are you saying Hachiman is the only exception?"

"...I don't know. I haven't done anything bad."

Hearing Gabriel bring up her inflated allowance, Vignette suddenly felt guilty.

Gabriel was indeed right. If she looked at it purely from the perspective of living expenses, she had certainly done a lot of bad things; otherwise, her living costs wouldn't have increased so much.

But she really hadn't done anything bad. The worst thing she had done recently, which made her feel a little guilty, was helping Hachiman hide the fact that he was paying rent for Shion.

Could hiding this from Kaede really have such serious consequences?

"Anyway, Vignette, if you're truly a good demon, then honestly help me support Iris and Hachiman's love. But if you try to sabotage them and lure them into corruption, don't blame me for being ruthless," Gabriel stared at Vignette but didn't notice anything unusual on her face. She could only snort, issue a warning, and drop the subject.

Heaven prohibited them from using excessively powerful forces in the human world, so she couldn't do anything to Vignette.

However, the underworld should have similar restrictions. If Vignette wanted to lure Hachiman into corruption, she would have to take action herself. Otherwise, Gabriel wouldn't have specifically moved into the same apartment complex as Vignette to keep an eye on her—she would have just called Raphiel and eliminated the demon already.

"Of course, I won't lure Hachiman into corruption. He and I are good friends. If he likes Iris, I'll do my best to help. Though, I do feel like this kind of support is a little strange...", Seeing that Gabriel had stopped fixating on her demonic identity, Vignette also promised that she wouldn't lay a hand on Hachiman.

Hachiman was such a good person; how could she ever want him to fall into corruption?

If another demon tried to corrupt Hachiman, she would even step in to stop them.

Although... it did feel a little odd for her, a demon, to team up with an angel to protect a human.

"Good friends... Then it's settled. If you dare mess with Hachiman or if I catch you doing anything else bad, I'll definitely come after you," Gabriel looked at Vignette, who was vowing so sincerely. She wasn't entirely convinced, but for now, she had no choice but to believe her.

In any case, now that she had moved in, with her around, it wouldn't be easy for Vignette to do anything bad.

"By the way, Gabriel, since you just moved in, you haven't finished unpacking yet, right? I'll help you clean your room later," Vignette smiled and offered, acting as if she hadn't heard the warning in Gabriel's words.

At this moment, she had already figured things out. She had no ill intentions toward Hachiman, so why worry so much?

Gabriel was Hachiman's good friend, and she was also Hachiman's good friend. Since they both wanted to protect him, shouldn't she and Gabriel also be good friends?

"Uh... No need. Hachiman and I already cleaned it up," Gabriel wasn't quite used to Vignette's sudden kindness. She could only silently raise her guard, 'Is this how Vignette got close to Hachiman? I have to be wary of the sinister intentions hidden beneath this demon's gentle exterior.'

"I see... Hachiman really is a great guy... Then tomorrow, I'll make breakfast for two, and we can eat together. Normally, I eat breakfast at home before meeting up with Hachiman and Kaede to go to school," Hearing that Hachiman had taken care of something she had planned to do, Vignette sighed in admiration before continuing to speak to Gabriel.

"I can make my own breakfast. You don't have to bother," Gabriel shook her head. She had no intention of eating anything made by a demon, 'Who knows if there will be something suspicious in it?'

"You just moved in, so you probably haven't bought any ingredients yet, right? Besides, it looks like you spent all your recently received living expenses on moving here," Vignette smiled as she looked at Gabriel, who had rejected her without hesitation.

"If you don't want to accept my help, we can take turns making breakfast, and we can settle the cost of ingredients later. Or, you could go to Hachiman's place for breakfast instead."

"...Then I'll wake up early tomorrow, come to your room to make breakfast, and we can eat together before heading to Hachiman's house to meet up for school. As for the ingredient costs, I'll pay you back when I get my next allowance next week," After hesitating for a moment, Gabriel chose to have breakfast with Vignette.

Even though she didn't really want to accept a demon's help, especially when she didn't know what ulterior motives Vignette might have, it wasn't good to keep troubling Hachiman. She was an angel, after all, and she should be the one helping Hachiman. She might as well accept Vignette's goodwill for now—this way, she could also keep an eye on her.

If Vignette really did anything bad, Gabriel wouldn't show mercy just because she had accepted a little bit of help.

"It's fine, I'm not in a hurry. I have plenty of living expenses right now. We're all good friends of Hachiman, so helping each other is only natural~", Vignette smiled warmly at Gabriel, who had reluctantly accepted her goodwill.

At this moment, she suddenly understood the joy that Hachiman often felt. He had always treated her this way, hadn't he? It really was quite enjoyable.

———

"I'll leave Makoto-chan to you. You better not have any bad thoughts about her."

Since it was already nighttime and Makoto Usui's home was a train ride away, for safety reasons, Hachiman decided to escort her home. He also planned to stop by the Poiman family's place.

But before he left, Kaede pulled him aside and whispered in his ear.

"Isn't it possible that she might have bad thoughts about me instead?", Hachiman looked at Kaede, speechless. He thought she was going to say something serious, but it turned out to be this.

Did he really seem that desperate? His relationship with Kaede's good friend Makoto Usui wasn't even that close—why would he suddenly make a move on her?

So far, the only ones he had actively pursued were Kaede and Kanade, the twin childhood friends he had grown up with. He never took the initiative with anyone else.

"Makoto-chan wouldn't be interested in you. I'm worried that you won't be able to resist and do something to her instead," Seeing how confident Hachiman was, Kaede couldn't help but warn him in a hushed voice.

Originally, she hadn't been concerned about Hachiman and Makoto developing a relationship. After all, in over a month since the school term started, they had barely interacted beyond meeting at the school gate or occasionally eating together when Kaede invited her along.

But today, she suddenly realized that, despite acting lazy all the time, Hachiman was still a teenage boy full of energy. She had to remind him that Makoto was her good friend—he better not get any ideas just because he couldn't control himself.

Given Makoto's strict and meticulous personality, if she accused Hachiman of harassment, even Kaede might not be able to stop her. And honestly, she wouldn't even feel comfortable trying to defend him.

"If I'm going out of my way to escort your friend home, don't I deserve a reward?", Hachiman glanced at Makoto, who was waiting outside with her back turned to them. Then, he suddenly kissed Kaede on the cheek and continued,

"Don't push your luck! I haven't even settled the score with you for today," Kaede was both embarrassed and angry. From the way Vignette and Gabriel had reacted earlier, she suspected that their little moment in the hallway had been exposed. But since Makoto and the others didn't seem to know, she had been on edge all day.

"Oh, then I guess I'll just make a move on Makoto-chan. I'll tell her it's all your fault—that I harassed her because you didn't satisfy me," Hachiman smirked. He knew exactly how to push Kaede's buttons.

He was too familiar with Kaede and understood her too well. Getting her to directly agree with his opinion was basically impossible—it required "threats" and "force." Hmm... Of course, Kaede wasn't exactly an M; she was just incredibly stubborn about saving face.

Their years of relationship made it impossible for Kaede to reject him, but she also couldn't stand his lazy, passive attitude. This led to her usually acting disdainful toward him, but the moment he became assertive, Kaede would instead go along with it, half resisting yet ultimately obedient.

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