"Hachiman-kun, do you know why this is happening? Why did Raphiel take one look at you, run away, and even shove us toward you?"
She had just fallen when she immediately came to her senses and tried to get up, only to realize that the three of them were all pressed against Hachiman in a very ungraceful position.
No, not pressed, but stuck to him.
Like the opposite poles of magnets, the moment they touched, they clung tightly together.
It was fine if they didn't move, just sticking together didn't feel that strange, but if they did move, they'd probably start to feel the "interaction force" through their clothes, just like Chifuyu earlier.
"If I said that Raphiel is actually a fallen angel hiding in the human world, doing as she pleases, and that I was entrusted by the Chief Angel of Heaven to bring her back to receive punishment by flogging, would you believe me?"
Hachiman looked at Setsuna Ogiso, who was trying her hardest to stay calm despite her flushed red ears. He turned his head to shake off her chestnut twin-tails that were hanging in his face, thought for a bit, and decided to be honest, exposing Raphiel's identity so they could join him in subjugating that mischievous angel together.
"...", Setsuna Ogiso.
"...", Tsukimi Chifuyu.
"...", Furuhashi Fumino.
'Angel? Fallen angel? Heaven?'
Now not only were there otherworldly elf princesses, there were even fallen angels from heaven showing up?
"Really, it's her. She used angelic power just now to make you guys hold me down."
Hikigaya looked at the three girls lying on top of him, all silent and staring at him with suspicious eyes. Honestly, he couldn't blame them for not believing him.
If he didn't already know who Raphiel and the others really were, he wouldn't have believed it either.
Other worlds were one thing, angels were another.
Information about other worlds appearing in public just meant that this world wasn't populated only by humans.
Most ordinary people never actually saw demi-humans in their daily lives, so other worlds didn't feel real to them. Their only impression was that "the mermaid diva Elio sings really well" and "the elf princess Iris is super cute."
But the appearance of angels meant that the world's largest and most widespread religion was real.
Of course, angels didn't necessarily match religious descriptions, and neither did demons.
Still, whether Ogiso and the others believed it or not didn't matter much. The real issue was that the current situation was pretty troublesome.
Raphiel, unlike Gabriel and Vignette, wasn't following the rules, she'd actually used her powers to make Ogiso and Chifuyu pin him down.
Come to think of it, this was the second time his "Auto Ultra Instinct" had activated.
The first was when Kitagawa Marin and Ijichi Nijika tried to sneak up on him from behind to scare him, and he instinctively grabbed their weak points.
That time, they were clearly in the wrong for trying to jump-scare him, and since they were all friends, they quietly agreed to pretend it never happened.
The second time was now, Ogiso and Chifuyu got flung at him by Raphiel's power.
Since they weren't girls he interacted with often, their scent was unfamiliar. When they suddenly flew at him at high speed, his body reflexively treated them as attackers and reacted to their weak points.
He'd realized it in time and held back before hurting them. But he hadn't managed to dodge, which let Raphiel escape successfully.
Now only Ogiso, Furuhashi, and Chifuyu were left in a tangled heap with him on the ground, unable to separate from one another.
Honestly, he thought "Autonomous Ultra Instinct" was a really strong passive skill, it let him react instantly to danger, attacking or defending without thought, and he could pull back in time once he realized it wasn't a real threat.
But since he didn't get into actual battles often, it had become more like a special edition of the skill. The only two times it had triggered, he'd ended up grabbing… the wrong things. And both times, it involved two girls.
Yeah… since Furuhashi hadn't come flying at him as forcefully, he'd only caught Ogiso and Chifuyu; Furuhashi had just been sandwiched between them, lying on his chest, unable to move.
Though Furuhashi probably wouldn't call that "lucky."
"Hikigaya-kun, stop making up stories! Hurry and get up, someone's coming!"
Pinned between Ogiso and Chifuyu and suffering unspeakable humiliation, Furuhashi could feel the malice of the universe. She didn't believe a word about angels or fallen angels.
If Hikigaya was really here to arrest Raphiel for divine punishment, why would he get caught so easily by a few human girls?
But she didn't have time to think about that now, because she could already hear voices and footsteps getting closer.
Ogiso and the others had just finished running laps; the other students had stopped to rest too. They'd come over to the vending machines for drinks, and of course, there were other PE students who'd want one too.
Once someone came over, they'd see this ridiculous scene of the three girls pressed up against Hikigaya.
How could they possibly explain that? Even if they could, what would the disciplinary committee think if they saw?
The Service Club's president, Hachiman, was already on the committee's blacklist, they couldn't afford to make it worse by "committing crimes in broad daylight".
Realizing that, both the bear-brained Tsukimi Chifuyu and the desperate-to-stay-calm Setsuna Ogiso panicked and started struggling just like Furuhashi to get up.
But angelic power wasn't something you could break by struggling, it had even caught Hikigaya off guard.
Seeing how terrified the girls were of being seen, they all forced themselves up together. Hikigaya, unable to free his hands, arched his back and helped lift them as they awkwardly rose from the ground.
But once they were standing, it only made things worse. Their posture, clinging to each other, was even more conspicuous.
And now some students were already walking this way, they had no time to hide.
"Don't worry, I can use invisibility magic. They can't see us."
Seeing their despairing, dignity-lost expressions, Hikigaya tried to reassure them.
No doubt Raphiel had known about his invisibility spell. That's why she dared pull this stunt. She hadn't really meant to embarrass them.
Though Raphiel probably hadn't expected his Ultra Instinct to react instantly to her "human missile attack" and even counterattack.
So instead of just tripping him up, Ogiso and Chifuyu had ended up stuck to him in this embarrassing position, a real "sacrifice" of Raphiel's doing.
"Invisibility magic?"
"They really can't see us?"
"Then… Raphiel really is an angel?"
Furuhashi, Ogiso, and Chifuyu all froze, staring in disbelief as a few laughing students walked right past them, not noticing a thing. They all exhaled in relief at once.
As long as no one could see them, that was enough.
If anyone had seen them stuck to Hikigaya like this, no one would've believed their side of the story.
"I told you, didn't I? I came to capture Raphiel. Of course I've got some tricks. Otherwise, why would she run away the moment she saw me?"
Hikigaya continued, "Anyway, believe it or not, that's up to you. You can always ask Raphiel yourself later, you're friends, right? As long as you don't spread it around, she'll probably tell you."
Now, two more of Raphiel's friends, Ogiso and Chifuyu, had been dragged into this. They could join Gabriel and Vignette to teach that prank-loving angel a lesson and make her taste the same shame they once did.
"Ugh…"
"Friends…"
Ogiso and Chifuyu exchanged awkward looks at Hikigaya's words.
Even if they didn't quite believe him, at this point they had to.
After all, their "friend" Raphiel had already run off, after shoving them at him, no less.
Chifuyu was just too flustered to think clearly, overwhelmed by embarrassment.
But Ogiso, who'd been ostracized by friends back in middle school, couldn't help wondering if Raphiel ever truly saw her as a friend at all.
"Hikigaya-kun… I just want to know, how long do we have to stay like this? We're not going to be stuck forever, right?", Furuhashi's voice was weak and desperate as she stared straight into his eyes.
Ogiso and Chifuyu were Raphiel's friends; they could later demand an explanation and maybe some compensation.
But her?
She'd only come along to guide Hikigaya here, how had she ended up like this?
Pinned tightly between two girls, faces squished against hers, she was about to cry.
Compared to Ogiso and Chifuyu, she hadn't been "attacked" by Hikigaya's reflexes, which was technically lucky.
But why did she have to be stuck in the middle, and like this?
They could at least move their heads a bit. She couldn't move at all.
Ogiso and Chifuyu were suffering mild physical damage, but Furuhashi was enduring pure psychological torture.
"..."
Under Furuhashi's tearful, accusing gaze, even Ogiso couldn't stay lost in thought anymore. The blush that had just faded returned full force to her pale face.
If they moved too much, Hikigaya's hands might shift, letting them "feel" those reaction forces through their clothes.
But Furuhashi, she was suffering both mental and physical attacks at once.
"Ahem! Don't worry, Raphiel just wanted you to stall me for a bit. I can already feel her magic weakening, you'll be free soon."
Seeing poor, misty-eyed Furuhashi looking like she'd taken "true damage," Hikigaya hurried to comfort her.
Well… even though he hadn't touched any of her weak points, she was lying against his chest, almost like she was napping there.
From experience, he estimated Furuhashi was probably just slightly bigger than Elio, the mermaid idol known for being the tiniest and cutest.
Hmm… maybe he should invite Furuhashi to join the Service Club. She and Yukinoshita Yukino would probably get along great.
"How soon is 'soon,' exactly?"
Furuhashi looked up hopefully at his reassurance. Ogiso and Chifuyu also turned to him, all trying their hardest not to think about how awkward their position really was.
But honestly, it was extremely awkward.
Ogiso and Chifuyu were pressed against him from both sides, each of his hands gripping one of them, while Furuhashi was sandwiched between them, leaning against his front.
They couldn't pull apart, so even though their hands and legs were free, they didn't dare move, worried they'd accidentally bump his hands or slap Furuhashi's face.
Even if they stayed perfectly still, they were still touching, close enough to see each other blink, to watch lips tremble, even to feel each other's breath if they exhaled.
If not for Hikigaya's invisibility magic, the whole class would've gathered around to gawk by now.
"Well… best case, until the end of class. Worst case, after school. Raphiel's just hiding from me, once she's sure I can't find her, the spell should fade."
Hikigaya tested the slowly weakening attraction between him and the two girls, uncertain.
Raphiel might be a rule-breaking angel, but her power was still divine. Asking Iris and the others for help wouldn't work.
He briefly thought of asking Lala, she was a genius inventor, maybe she could help, but then again, her inventions always had side effects.
By the time she fixed them, who knew how long it'd take? Better to just wait it out.
Raphiel loved to watch others suffer, but she was still an angel, she wouldn't go too far.
Originally, the girls were supposed to fall behind him to slow him down, not like this. Raphiel hadn't expected him to react so fast, grabbing both Ogiso and Chifuyu's weak points instead.
He figured the spell probably affected their clothes, not their bodies. If they just changed out of their PE uniforms, it would likely break.
But since he barely knew Ogiso or Chifuyu, and had met Furuhashi less than thirty minutes ago, he couldn't exactly say that out loud. They definitely wouldn't change in front of him.
Hmm… Chifuyu, that big-hearted, simple-minded girl, might be convinced under enough embarrassment. But Ogiso and Furuhashi? No way they'd never fall for that kind of setup.
"Between class ending and after school… that's a huge gap! We'll be stuck like this until then?"
Furuhashi groaned weakly.
They weren't that different in height, but since Ogiso and Chifuyu were standing upright, her face was being squished between them.
Meaning, she wasn't standing fully, more like half-crouched. It was not a comfortable position.
If she had to hold it until class ended… her legs would probably give out before then.
"Then should we go back to lying down and wait it out?"
Hikigaya looked down at poor Furuhashi with sympathy.
Yeah, she was definitely the most miserable one here, hit by both physical and mental damage. Raphiel was definitely getting punished for this next time.
Though, knowing Raphiel, she'd just laugh it off again. Maybe next time, he should bring Gabriel and Vignette along for backup.