At that moment, the pitch-black halo above Gabriel's head drew every eye in the room.
"Th–this… this is… the aura of corruption?!"
Zelel looked as if she'd been struck by lightning, shock and heartbreak flooding her blue eyes. An angel's halo is the manifestation of an angel's essence. A halo this dim—nearly black—was clearly a sign that the soul had been tainted and was sliding toward fall.
"Gabriel! What… what on earth have you been doing in the human world? How did you end up like this?"
"!!!"
The Nakano quintuplets were stunned, too. They didn't fully grasp what "fall" entailed, but judging from Zelel's end-of-the-world expression—and that pitch-black hue, the exact opposite of the radiant angelic glow they'd imagined—they knew this was very, very bad.
Just as Zelel was about to explode over her sister's supposed fall, Gabriel did something that left everyone slack-jawed.
She clicked her tongue in embarrassment, reached up, and—like taking off a hat—very casually… removed the dull, lightless halo from above her head?!
Under Zelel's and the quintuplets' blank stares, Gabriel held the dusty halo, flipped up the hem of her school jacket, and briskly rubbed it several times…
A miracle.
With each wipe, the dingy gray came off like grime, revealing the dazzling gold beneath. The halo once again shed a soft, pure golden light. Then, as everyone stood petrified, Gabriel casually… put the newly gleaming halo back on her head.
Put it… back on?
"..."
Dead silence fell over the living room. The quintuplets' jaws were about to hit the floor. Everyone's brains seemed to freeze.
A-an angel's halo—can you really just pop it off, wipe it like a lightbulb, and stick it back on?
This was absolutely not the solemn, sacred vibe they'd imagined!!!
Satania was shaking with suppressed laughter on the side. The shock and grief on Zelel's face froze in place, turning into extreme bewilderment—and a furious feeling of being toyed with.
"Ga-bri-el! What is the meaning of this?!"
Under all those stares, Gabriel scratched her cheek and mumbled, eyes drifting, "I… I just haven't been praying or doing maintenance properly. Ran low on energy, got a bad connection, a little dust buildup, that's all. It's not 'corruption'…"
"D-dust… buildup?!"
Zelel could feel her blood pressure spiking. An angelic halo gets "dusty" from laziness? That was the biggest joke in Heaven's history—while also proving just how slack her sister had become down here.
"Whatever the case!" Zelel forced her anger down and said, cuttingly firm, "Your current state is grossly below the standard for an angel. I must take you back to Heaven at once for systematic re-education and purification!"
"No! I'm not going back!" Gabriel protested the moment she heard the word "Heaven." There were no phones, no PCs, no game consoles in Heaven. Sending her back would be worse than letting her fall!
"I'm doing fine in the human world. I don't want to go!"
"This isn't up to your whims," Zelel shot back, hardening.
As the sisters were about to clash even more fiercely, Gabriel, panicking, cast a pleading look at Rei Ao, who had been watching from the side—big, pitiful eyes that said, "Help me, please."
Catching the signal, Rei Ao's lips curved in a playful smile. He stepped forward, placing himself between the sisters, and spoke calmly: "Zelel-san, since Gabriel wants to stay, let her stay."
Zelel frowned, her gaze at Rei Ao edged with displeasure and scrutiny. "Rei Ao-sama, this is an internal matter of Heaven—my duty as her sister and as a superior angel. Your strength may be great, but isn't it overstepping to interfere in Heaven's affairs?"
Rei Ao's smile didn't falter, but a sudden, imperious note entered it—undeniable and sovereign. His teal eyes met Zelel's as he said evenly:
"Overstepping? Perhaps."
He paused, his tone shifting into a matter-of-fact dominance. "But I have two reasons.
"First: as you sensed, my strength is sufficient. Sufficient that the rules I set become a factor to be reckoned with. If I say she can stay, she can stay."
The frank declaration—authority grounded in absolute power—made Zelel's pupils contract. A pressure unlike anything she'd felt before bore down on her—more terrifying even than facing the Dragon Realm's Last Emperor.
And then Rei Ao gave a second reason that left everyone dumbstruck—including Gabriel in his arms.
He reached out, and before Gabriel could react, he pulled her into a tight embrace. Then, under Zelel's aghast stare, he declared:
"As for the second…"
"Gabriel is my girlfriend. Someone who's mine—her staying or going is for me to decide."
"!!!"
Silence. Deathly silence.
Zelel stood as if blasted by heavenly thunder, turned entirely to stone. Her blue eyes were round as coins, her flawless features stamped with utter shock, absurdity, and disbelief.
G-girlfriend?
Her hapless little sister… and this unfathomable strongest being in the human world—their relationship was… that?
The quintuplets were completely dumbfounded, mouths wide enough for eggs. In Rei Ao's arms, Gabriel first went stiff, mind blank—then her face flushed scarlet in seconds, the color racing up to her ears. She struggled to push him away, only to be held tighter.
Rei Ao glanced down at the red-faced Gabriel with a slightly wicked smile, then lifted his gaze to meet Zelel's shattering world view.
His voice was firm, brooking no argument. "So, Zelel-san—please go back. Gabriel will remain in the human world—by my side."
Dominant. Forceful. Not up for debate.