Night time, inside a certain tent.
Ikaros is currently kneeling on top of a rug, she kept rubbing a spot near her chest with a worried look in her eyes. She looked pitiable, it would invoke a protective sense in anyone who saw her. It would be hard to endure the urge to give her a hug and tell her it’s all going to be fine.
Angeloids do not dream and they do not need to sleep. Along with Astrea, both Ikaros and Astrea sat in their own resting spots, quietly passing the night as the world went into the dreamland.
Because of this, Hinagiku and Mikoto would always drag Ikaros and Astrea to spend the night with them inside their room so they wouldn’t feel lonely. Even if, in the end, they would still be watching the girls sleep.
Ikaros and Astrea aren’t particularly bothered by this. They were somewhat upset in the past but they can always sneak into Wu Yan’s room and watch him sleep whenever the loneliness is too much to bear. They would often find themselves watching him sleep until rays of sunlight broke through the windows of his room. The bliss of watching their most important person sleep is an irreplaceable part of their sleepless lives and just as precious.
Maybe this is also part of the reason why Hinagiku and Mikoto would always drag them into their rooms, the girls are probably a bit envious of them.
Whenever Hinagiku and Mikoto fell asleep, Ikaros and Astrea would always sneak back to Wu Yan’s side. Of course, that depended on whether or not Wu Yan is doing the nasty with other girls. For instance, last night, when Wu Yan was engraving his mark on Shokuhou Misaki’s porcelain body, the two angeloids were blushing as they stared in a stunned state, they didn’t have the courage to enter his tent.
They knew that if they entered, they would probably be dragged into a multiple-female-single-male party of the beasts.
The sky is starting to turn even darker and as per usual, Hinagiku and Mikoto tried to drag Ikaros and Hinagiku off for girls’ chat. Astrea followed along while Ikaros, surprisingly, declined their invitations.
This is unprecedented. When Ikaros declined, the two knew something big is going on with Ikaros.
Ikaros isn’t a girl who was adept at hiding her emotions and thoughts.
Inside the dark tent, if one took a closer look, the spot she is currently caressing is faintly glowing…
“Full-body scan revealed no irregularities… Re-testing… Scanning… No irregularities discovered…”
Her eyes flashed with data and other pertinent information in a fashion similar to a digital display. Her mechanic voice escaped her luscious lips, giving everyone an idea of what she’s currently doing…
“Scanning, no irregularities discovered… no irregularities discovered…”
For the nth time, her scan revealed no abnormalities in her body. She finally gave up on scanning her own body and the emerald-green color of her normal state returned to her eyes, replacing the streams of numbers and data flashing in her eyes. She glanced at the slightly glowing part of her chest and she subconsciously tightened her grip on that area.
This unknown phenomenon persisted since the morning and it never stopped. She noticed this and that’s why she turned Hinagiku & co down. She stayed in her own tent to try and figure out what’s going on with herself. However, extensive scans and tests revealed nothing.
She’s mysteriously flashing for some reason and her scans told her this is normal? Pretty sure nobody ever started glowing for no reason, that would be very odd under normal situations.
Ikaros didn’t know what is going on with her body. She only noticed this phenomenon after the death of the Longarm Ape King. She rose to tier 9 and this weird condition kicked in…
“Master…”
This unknown status gave rise to anxiety within Ikaros. Right now, she wants to stay with Wu Yan and be by his side. The sense of safety and comfort he gave her ignored the fact that she’s technically way stronger than Wu Yan.
After thinking about it, she terminated this idea. She didn’t know what is going on but her instinct told her that this isn’t a bad thing so if she informed him then it would only make him worry without any reason.
Ikaros wasn’t aware that when she turned Hinagiku and Mikoto down, she already betrayed her own thoughts.
Outside her tent, Hinagiku, Mikoto, Shokuhou Misaki, Astrea, Kinuhata Saiai, Frenda, and Takitsubou Rikou are gathered outside as they peeked in through a crevice in the tent’s entrance. They also noticed the weird glow on her chest.
“Why is Ikaros-senpai like this?”
Astrea stared with wide eyes, she can’t hide the worry in her tone.
“Is something wrong with her body? Why didn’t she tell us?…”
“Shhh, be quiet, it would be troubling if she heard us…”
Hinagiku nudged Astrea. She’s also very worried like the others regarding the weird phenomenon on Ikaros’ body.
“In the end, are we going to tell that dude about this?”
Frenda stood on her toes. She stared at the weird glow on her chest and she continued.
“With that guy’s understanding of Ikaros’ history and background, he might be able to come up with an explanation, right?”
“Let’s super not do that…”
Kinuhata Saiai rejected her notion.
“Ikaros chose not to say so it would be presumptuous of us to tell on her when the person herself chose to conceal this, wouldn’t it?”
“We can’t just ignore this…”
Mikoto lowered her voice but she still leaked her scratchy tone.
“If something really happened to her, what then?…”
“I think it’s not as bad as it looks…”
Shokuhou Misaki said with her fingers to her chin.
“Ikaros is an Angeloid and she should be clearer than anyone on her own condition. If she’s really in a bad condition, she wouldn’t have dragged her feet until now…”
“Oh, now, I remember!”
Astrea hammered her palm with her other hand.
“Ikaros-senpai has a self-recovery function, she can fix anything wrong after initiating that function!”
The others directed their attention to Astrea. Shokuhou Misaki asked her.
“Self-recovery? I think I heard Yan-kun telling me about this before, she has some sort of ability that can diagnose and fix anything wrong with her…”
“Nn Nn…”
Astrea bobbed her head up and down.
“Ikaros-senpai’s self-recovery has not kicked in yet so that means she’s doing fine!”
Astrea wanted to cheer out loud and they hurriedly shut her yap with their hands, completely sealing her mouth.
“You super idiot! We’re going to get super discovered at this rate!”
Kinuhata Saiai grumbled in annoyance.
“Astrea, are you sure there’s no flaw in that self-recovery function?”
Shokuhou Misaki questioned Astrea.
Astrea shook her head without hesitation, she shook herself free from the girls’ hands.
“Ikaros has no conscious control over this self-recovery function, as long as there’s something wrong with her, it would activate and barring external interference due to extensive damage, it’s impossible for the function go haywire!”
“I see…”
Shokuhou Misaki muttered and she used her starry eyes on Ikaros, staring as if she’s thinking about a lot of stuff until she finally gave up in a helpless manner.
“If that’s the case then we can only wait and see what happens, we will base our actions on further developments, I guess…”
The other ladies looked at each other and they nodded with this suggestion.
