Michiru Matsushima remembered she had some unused lottery tickets from the shopping street, so she dragged Jhin back to her dorm, then eagerly hurried to the shopping street for the drawing; the tickets were about to expire.
In the end, Michiru Matsushima used up all her lottery tickets without winning a single prize. The small mountain of losing slips was enough to make her want to cry.
Even the shop owner was sweating bullets. He could swear to the heavens that he hadn't tampered with the lottery box; it wasn't filled with only "losing" tickets. It was just that this little blonde girl had exceptionally bad luck.
Jhin casually bought a few things, used the ticket he received to draw once, and although he only won a pack of tissues, the owner beside them was as excited as if he'd won the grand prize himself, flailing his arms and shouting at the top of his lungs: "Congratulations to this customer for winning the fourth-place prize!"
As Jhin, carrying the tissues, led the crestfallen Michiru Matsushima away from the shopping street, he could still hear the owner's cries of joyous relief.
"He won!"
"He really won! Hahahahaha!"
"I really wasn't cheating, that last customer can prove it for me..."
From then on, a rumor spread through the shopping street about a blonde, twin-tailed girl who nearly emptied the lottery box without winning, suspected of being the human incarnation of the god of misfortune.
...
"It's rare for you to come over today. Haven't you been seeing that girl from the other school lately?"
Gabriel sat cross-legged on her bed, which was strewn with clothes, her cheek resting in her palm. The sunlight streaming in through the opened curtains was so bright she could barely keep her eyes open. The moment she closed them, a wave of sleepiness washed over her, threatening to pull her into the deep sea of dreams.
Jhin subconsciously brushed a hand over his own, no longer swollen, lips, then realized that same hand had just touched a sock Gabriel had worn. Frowning, he went to the bathroom and washed his face again.
By the time he came out, Gabriel was hugging a soft pillow, curled up on the bed and already back in dreamland.
She must have pulled an all-nighter gaming again. In any case, she wouldn't help even if she were awake, so he might as well let her sleep.
It had only been a short while since Jhin had last come to clean for her, yet the place had already turned into a small landfill. The stack of eaten cup noodle containers was probably as tall as an average adult.
The snack bags were countless, but thankfully they didn't take up much space and could all be squeezed into a single garbage bag.
The most numerous items in Gabriel's room were still sodas. There were both bottles and cans, making up about half of all the trash in the room.
These bottles and cans were actually the hardest to deal with. The plastic bottles had to be separated from the aluminum cans, and the labels on the plastic bottles had to be torn off cleanly and thrown into a separate bag for combustible waste.
Jhin put all the trash into plastic bags and placed them together in the entryway. He'd take them out to the collection point later; anything that couldn't be thrown out today would have to wait for its designated collection day.
Jhin straightened up, stretching his sore back from tidying up for so long. He then twisted his stiff neck a couple of times, and hearing a "crack-crack" sound, he instantly felt much more relaxed.
He took a deep breath out of habit and felt as if someone had slammed a garbage can over his head. The complex, pungent odor—like the collected vomit of a drunk person, sealed for a time and then opened—shot up his nostrils like two chopsticks, going straight to his brain.
The main thing was, it was somehow mixed with Gabriel's unique scent. It was like smelling a guy's shoes after a workout—the first whiff is weird, the second is still weird, but it's just so intoxicating.
Shaking the strange thoughts from his head, Jhin continued his cleaning work. By the time Gabriel was woken up by her own empty stomach, it was already late in the morning.
She rubbed her drowsy eyes. The room before her was completely transformed; if you told her Jhin had hired someone to renovate it, she would have believed you.
As expected of my best friend, he even did my laundry for me.
Gabriel joyfully raised her hands, for once wanting to praise God for letting her meet Jhin, but her smile froze halfway.
Wait? Laundry???
The last remnants of sleepiness vanished from her mind. Gabriel jumped up and flung the covers off the bed. Her unwashed clothes weren't there. A jolt of panic shot through her.
Her bare feet made sharp, hurried 'pat-pat-pat' sounds on the wooden floor as she rushed to the bathroom to check the washing machine. It was also empty. Her heart sank even further.
No way!
Gabriel dragged her legs as if they were tied with hundred-pound sandbags, taking heavy steps. Praying to God with a piety she had never felt before, she slowly approached the door to the balcony, which she had ignored but had been open all along.
Perhaps God didn't heed the prayer of this "fallen angel," or perhaps he had sent down a punishment. The very scene Gabriel dreaded most appeared starkly before her eyes, shattering the last shred of hope in her heart.
The midday sun was particularly harsh. Clothes, washed clean of stains and wafting the scent of detergent, were hung neatly on the clothes rack. Jhin was wearing an apron that Gabriel had rarely used since her fall, dotted with a few water stains, looking like he had just finished the washing.
A pair of white, lace-fringed panties was clutched in Jhin's hand. He was just about to clip Gabriel's panties onto the circular hanger when he heard the commotion inside and stopped to look back.
The panties in Jhin's hand were like a giant sledgehammer, swung with thunderous force, crashing down on Gabriel's head. Her legs went weak, and she barely managed to prop herself up against the doorframe to keep from collapsing to the floor.
Why did I forget to put away my clothes! Gabriel roared inwardly, questioning herself.
In the past, whenever Jhin helped her clean her room, she had always consciously put her clothes away to wash herself later. But this time, because she had gamed all night and Jhin had arrived early, she couldn't fight off the sleepiness and had completely forgotten about the laundry.
It's all this damn game's fault!
The thought flashed through her mind, followed by an endless sense of shame that filled her heart, making her want to pull out the trumpet that heralds the world's end and blow it with all her might. But then she realized she couldn't save Jhin from that cataclysm.
Clicking her tongue in annoyance, Gabriel could only try to convince herself.
Jhin is my best friend, something like this doesn't matter...
Having successfully hypnotized herself, Gabriel quickly accepted the situation. The moment she thought about how she could now use the saved time to play games, she immediately felt like she had come out on top.
Haha, I'm such a genius!
"Gabriel, you're finally awake." Jhin's smile was like a refreshing spring breeze to Gabriel, making her feel quite invigorated—though it would have been even better if he would put down the pure, girlish panties in his hand.
"Well, I guess I should thank you," Gabriel decided to ignore what was in Jhin's hand. "I'm hungry."
"Alright, I'll make food after I hang the laundry."
"Doesn't that angel of yours need to eat?"
"Nymph went out today. Said she was going to observe the local life forms." Jhin had given Nymph maximum freedom, provided she didn't affect the world. She had recently developed an interest in human society thanks to soap operas and had left early with her Stealth and Anti-Cognition System activated.
Besides, Universal Angels didn't need to eat. She wouldn't even touch food unless it was cooked by Jhin; she was extremely picky.
After finishing her meal, Gabriel seemed to remember something and pulled an A4 sheet of paper from her desk. "Since you're here, answer some questions and help me with this survey."
"What kind of survey?"
"A survey on the preferences of men living alone."
___
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