Teil Ein.

Engel helped the tired Lene to stand up.

He wanted to know what was going on with all this, but it was not the correct moment right now.

"You don't seem to have injuries anymore, but are you really okay?" Asked Engel.

"Yeah... I'm just tired." Said Lene as Engel helped her to go upstairs.

"So, where's you house? When you've rested enough, I can walk you." Said Engel while feeling concerned by the black monster. There could be more out there, and even if he was powerless, he could act as a shield while Lene either fights or runs away.

"Ehh... Well... I-I.." She said a little bashful.

Then Engel arrived to his door, and Lene moved her arm.

She pointed towards the next door.

"...... Don't tell me..."

*Nod-Nod*

Totally true.

Lene lives next to Engel.

Engel, bewildered only hung down his head and changed his dorection to Lene's door.

(But... didn't someone else lived next door? And exactly when she moved in?) Questioned Engel in his head as they both got into Lene's apartment.

*Brrrb*

"Something wrong?" Asked Engel as Lene made a strange move.

"No-Nothing...." She said nevously and Engel closed the door.

What Lene felt was a gaze from behind, who belongs to-

"That bitch that bitch that bitch!!! He is my Engel!!! Mine MIne Mine Mine!!!" Shouted Brook behind a elevctric pole in front of Engel's apartment.

Luckily no one heard her.

"Here; water." Said Engel as he put a glass of water in fron of Lene.

"Thank you" She said with a smile.

With such radiant expression, Engel felt his heart throb.

"We-Well... I'll leave then, if there's nothing else to help you with." Said Engel as he walkted towards the exit.

"Sorry but there's something else I want you to help me with." Said Lene while mischeviously smiling.

"Wha-What is it?" Replied Engel.

"A massage." Said Lene as she took off her shoes.

She wore the school uniform of Camellia Academy, and as a plus, she too wore high-knee, black socks.

"Pleasee..." She said while sticking out a little her tongue and gave Engel a wink.

Engel swallowed saliva and walked towards Lene.

(Wha-What am I doing?! Why now of a sudden, her offer feels so convenient and arousing?! WHY am I feeling attracted to those feet?! I-It's not that I find them nice or beautiful or anything!! But why now? Also, I'd have never tought of these things before!!)

True enough, Engel would never have tought lascivously about a girl's feet.

Well, he was refering to the whole leg though.

(Dem' tights!!) He shouted in his mind as he crouched and started to caress Lene's feet.

"He-Here I go then..." He said.

Lene's face became totally red.

Then he started to masage Lene's feet.

"Mmm... MGBH.... Ahhh... M-Mmm...."

(Wh-Why does she react like that?!! And since when the hell am I so good at massages?! I don't reember being this skillful! My hands move on their own!!) Retorted Engel in his mind.

"AHHHH!.. MM.... G-Go on... Yeah... Li-Like that...."

Then he moved his hands to her ankles, then knees, then tights and went down again.

"Mmm... Go-Good... MBG! AHHN!!" She was completely enjoying the massage.

And with this the right leg was done.

"Th-Then... The left now...." Said Engel quite bashful as he started the massage again.

Teil Zwei.

*Bam!*

"Engel? Where were you?" Asked Brunnhildr while in her laptop.

"O-Outside.... My bike was ran over...." Said Engel qith his face really red.

"I see. Well, you know! This girl next door was doing naughty things! I could listen her moans through the walls you know!"

Complained Brunnhildr.

Engel's face went more red.

"R-Really? What a bother then.... I-I'll go to cook the dinner!" Said Engel as he ran away towards the kitchen.

"Weird...." Muttered Brunnhildr as she resumed her activities.

The next day-

"Hi Engel." Said Lene as she waited for him outside his apartment.

"H-Hi...." He said quite bashful.

He understood she was waiting for him.

It was a little awkward because of last night's massage, but now wasn't the moment to be affected by that.

"Sa-"

"You know."

Lene interrupted Engel's words.

"It's better if we discuss this after classes, with everyone." She said as they walked towards the academy.

"Everyone?" Asked Engel.

"Krestin, Izaak, Isold and Shirayuki." Replied Lene.

They remained silent until they met with Krestin in the lockers.

After that everything was just like the day before, except the fencing practice, and then they all met in the roof after classes.

In the roof there was a small garden that some of the students take care of.

It was empty today, as well as all clubs in the academy.

"So, you saw it? The black beast?" Asked Izaak.

"Yeah. What exactly is that? I killed it with the sword that fell from Lene's things and then it became dust." Said Engel quite concerned.

Lene's scythe and sword also vanished like that when she touched them.

"Well, they're called [Asterisk]. They are the residual toughts of dead people that harboured hatred and take form as those black beasts." Explained Krestin.

"Seriously? Woah.... So those beasts kill people with no sense of discrimitation..." Said Engel with a downcasted voice.

"That's right; our mission is to stop them. We've been traveling around the world, as well as other people." Added Shirayuki.

"We were assigned to this place because it's the one with the biggest concentration of hatred." Said Lene.

"The biggest concentration? But this only started recently and there hadn't been that much of victims." Voiced Engel.

"That only demonstrates how well the goverment is working." Added Lene.

Then Engel went pale and gave some steps back...

"?-Oh! You realized..." Said Lene while slightly smiling.

"What?" Asked Izaak while looking at Engel.

"He thought-"Why are they telling me this then? Am I going to be killed?"- Or something along those lines."

Explained Lene.

"Ah, that." Said Krestin who didn't notice either.

"Well, we won't kill you. We swear that we, nor the organization behind us, will kill you."

Declared Lene, to what the others nodded.

They had a strong resolution on their eyes, so Engel was swallowed in their pace and decided to trust them.

"A-Alright. Then, there must be an objective for you to tell me all that, don't you?"

Asked Engel.

"Objective? That's right. We do have one." Said Lene while she looked towards Krestin.

"We want to recruit you, Engel. Help us in our fight against the [Asterisk]." Said Krestin with a voice full of strong will.

Teil Drei.

Engel now was climbing the stairs towards his apartment when-

"Oh my, isn't it Engel?"

There was the landlady of the building.

"Good night, Lilya." He said.

The landlady is a beautiful woman with nice body and golden eyes. She has black hair and wears glasses. Her looks are that of a woman in her 20's, but it seems she's over the 40's.

"Just now I was talking with your sister about the rent." Said Lilya.

"Oh, that. Afterschool I went to take out the money, so here you are." Said Engel as from his bagpack he gave Lilya the money for the month.

"Oh right; Engel, don't you want to give company to this young lady tonight?" Said Lilya with a mature, bewitching expression.

"Sorry. If it were another day I'd be glad, but today I have too much in my mind...." Said Engel while refusing the offer.

Actually, Engel has already gave her company while she drank, but the furhest she went was to the toilet, becaue she ,adly drunk after complaining to him about how there wasn't a good man anywhere and how she wished that Engel were at least 5 years older.

He was glad she tought of him like that, at least as vague feeling. Lilya also had taken Engel's first kiss, but he only tasted the flavor of black lager.

"Is that so? How unfortunate. I hope everything gets solved." She said as she went back to her room.

"Many thanks." Said Engel as he opened the door to his apartment.

(Lene is in patrol now, and the others have rooms in the campus... I have all the time to be alone to think about all this...)

Thought Engel as he left his things in the sofá and went to prepare the dinner. Brunnhildr seemed to be in her room.

Then, just as he was chosing the ingredients for dinner, her sister came from her room, with some company.

"Sis, I'm gonna mak-Oh! Nights, Brookelle."

Said Engel as he prepared the ingredients for pasta.

"Go-Good night..." Said Brook, or Brookelle as Engel calls her, bashfully.

"Sis, you didn't say we had guests..." Glared Engel at Brunnhildr.

"Haa... Well, like this there's no other option than to make my special linguini!"

"Woaah!"

Said Engel while Brunnhildr gave cheers.

(E-Engel's Special Foood!!! Th-This is a rare event!! Glad I asked Brunn to come here today! I'm in heaveeeeeen!!!)

She then strangely grinned while slightly drooling; Engel didn't notice this though.

As he was preparing the frying pan and boiling the linguini, which he changed at the last minute, someone knocked the door.

"?? Who can be-.... Haaa.... Maybe Lilya is already dead drunk now..."

Sighed Engel as he turned off the electric stove. Brunn was now picking the flower and Brookelle was still in her own world.

He opened the door and-

"Le-Lene?!" He exclaimed.

"Hi there!" Said Lene.

She was holding a silver plate in her hands. It seemed to be some kind of salad.

"Wha-What are you doing here?" Asked Engel quite dumbfounded.

"Well... You remember what we told you back there in the roof?" Asked Lene.

"Yeah... That I could think about it. You said that I have some kind of talent but still I can refuse you offert. You won't harm me even if I refuse." Replied Engel.

"That's right! So, if we said that, is enterely the truth." Said Lene with a slight smile.

"And having that clear, I want to say that there's no other objective for me to be here thant to bring you this." She said with a gentle smile and ofering the salad to Engel.

"Oh, then, thank you." Voiced Engel while taking the plate.

"So then, if this is out of all that strange classified thing, you can pass and have dinner with us you know." Said Engel.

He did mind all the thing about the goverment and the [Asterisk], and h0onestly, he had all that weight in his mind that he wanted to just let go, but he just couldn't win with her smile.

(I might just be as crazy as dad is... My mom is crazy as shit but dad says she has a wonderful smile... And they got married... Haa.... It's in the family then...)

Thought Engel as he slightly smiled and turned on the stove again after leavinf the salad on the table.

"Is she alright?" Asked Lene after she got in and closed the door.

She was waving her hand in front of Brook.

"Yeah. She often goes to her own world. Who know why." Said Engel as he prepared the food.

"I might know why..." Muttered Lene but her words were heard by no one.

While the food was being prepared, Engel led Brook to a sofá, which made her more delighted and proceeded to finish the cooking.

He set the table and everything, then called his sister to come down.

And when she arrived-

"................ And who you might be?"

Asked Brunnhildr.

"Oh my? I'm the neighbor and Engel's classmate. Lene. And who are you?"

Asked Lene.

"I'm his sister, Brunnhildr. What are you doing here?" Said Brunnhildr while garing at Lene.

They had been glaring at each other for a while.

"He invited me for dinner. Any problem?" Said Lene.

"No. Not at all...." Replied Brunnhildr.

While Brookelle was still in her own world, there was a clash between classmate and sister.

Teil Vier.

"What is this?" Asked Krestin as they walked in a stone path with Izaak, Isold, Shirayuki and Lene.

Atround them, countless spheres with different colors were floating.

"Don't know." Said Isold as she then steeled her wil, and touched one of the nearby spheres. It was ocher red.

Then as if it were water, it trembled, then in an instant it surrounded everyone and swallowed them inside it.

"Huh? What is this?"

Asked Lene as she looked around.

It was a pitch black cavern with some dripping sounds.

(A dripping sound.... It doesn't feel that humid though.... And neithere there's the sound of a water stream...) Thought Lene while her toughts drifted just a little.

Then their eyes started to get accustomed to the darkness, and they found that several firefly-like insects were flying, shining everywhere.

"Is this... A memory of his?" Asked Lene but no one replied. Then Isold created and orb of light in her hand to get better vision.

They walked for 30 seconds and then-

"Huh?" Voiced Shirayuki. She had stepped in a puddle.

With Isold's help she looked down and-

"Blo-od?"

She said.

Exactly, the puddle was blood-red color.

Then Lene understood where they were and moved Isold's hand towards Shirayuki's side.

And she saw something she wished had never seen.

"Ah-A-Ah....... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Screamed Lene from the bottom of her lungs.

There she saw Engel tied with chains that faintly glowed in red.

He had his lower half destroyed.... Chewed by somehting and his insides were sticking out.

His left arm had all the bone exposed and his throat had been sliced.

Also his lungs were pierced by three short spears.

As if it wasn't enough-

*Twich-Twich*

He was still conscious.

Then-

All the cave was filled with light by some torches in the walls.

"Good morning my little legionare! It's time resume the experiments... I hope you still feel coperative as always!! Ahahahahaha!"

A blond man with a lab-coat laughed as he brought in various tools.

He then took out the spears and killed Engel.

Engel became ashes and then reappeared in the same spot as before.

"Let's continue, my friend." Said the lab-coat man as he resumed his experiments.

Shirayuki started to scream next to Lene who was biting her lips to not to shout.

Izaak har already puked twice and Krestin was crying while spouting curses.

Isold had dug deep her nails in her arms and bit her lips to the point of bleeding, just like Lene.

They could do nothing, and was frustrating... But what hurt more was that....

This had already happend countless of times to Engel.

Because they were inside his memories.

All they could do was to watch until it finished, and accept it, as well as accept the always-smiling and gentle Engel who had aready overcame this.