Sun shining down on quiet places

Yang Ji Hye

All of a sudden, that veil of sunshine fell over her again and brought everything to silence. Ji Hye couldn't stop the sigh of relief that passed through her lips, even though she had the vague understanding what she was doing was wrong and just downright creepy. But she couldn't help it. The silence was like a drug that she was becoming dependent on. It was different from the brief moments of safety that she received from Lysander's healing. No, this, this was a pure and simple peace.

The source of it was obvious, a tall European boy with brown hair that seemed golden in the light that emitted from within him. He looked like a star fallen down from heaven and the calm that haloed around him across the spiritual planes seemed to be confirmation of something absolutely divine.

Ji Hye wasn't used to that. What she was used to were demons screaming at her to tear people's hearts out and eat it, not a silent moment in a little more than half a decade.

And it didn't hurt her, not even when she stared straight into the brightest parts of the light. That was the part she didn't understand. Having been chained to so many darker beings, she had thought her soul would have been tainted by all of them. She didn't understand it. But that didn't mean she wasn't grateful.

She didn't know the boy's name, having only ever seen him from a distance. What she did know, however, was the fact that nobody else seemed to notice the weight -was that even the right word? Probably not- of his presence. It spilled all around him, all the time. He might not have been aware of it himself.

Sometimes Ji Hye felt like that calm was driving her crazier than the chains ever did. It was so easy to fall into this pattern of brushing against the edge of halo, reasoning it away as a detour she needed to take or a moment that she needed for rest. And then the halo would move and she would be lulled into moving with it as the noise began to start again.

I think this is called stalking? she thought to herself nervously. But it was so hard to pull away from that feeling of peace. Just a little longer. After this, I'll stop. It just isn't right.

Ji Hye was, in her own opinion, a bad arguer.

Yang Ji Hye

Ji Hye covered a squeak of surprise with her hand as the boy called out to her. He saw me all of those times! she thought in horror. Oh, oh no, no, no. What do I do? She could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks and ducked her head down in shame. Since coming to the Academy, it seemed like she was doing that a lot now.And he's coming closer! Should I run away? she worried. But that's weird, isn't it? But this is, too, I think!

Imouto chose that time to become visible, the little white spirit tilting its mushroom hat back to watch the boy as he approached. Ohh, it's pretty! it said delightedly. Ji-chan, Ji-chan! It pointed in childish excitement.

"I know, I know, Imouto," Ji Hye muttered to it, voice muffled by her palm. "Oh, okay, no, don't that, please!" she said, feeling anxious as Imouto teetered to the boy.

Ji-chan, it's okay! Imouto said as it waved at her. Come on! It's not bad!

"No, no, no, this is a bad idea," she whispered. "We should just go."

Now, Ji Hye, you know that wouldn't be right. Oppa manifested itself by her side, taking the smoky form of a short, elderly Asian man bent over a cane. You do owe him an explanation for why you've been following him all this time. I know have a good reason for it but he surely doesn't.

As a general rule of thumb, it was probably wise to listen to the empathetic spirit who could sense the pure of heart. "Yes, Oppa," Ji Hye said shyly.

Don't worry so much, it told her in a grandfatherly way. You've stood up to worse than teenage boys. You'll be fine.

"I'm not so sure about that," she said. Standing up? More like cowering in terror. She shivered as she felt her stomach lurch. Kind of like that, yes.

Imouto giggled and now the boy was standing right in front of her, light spilling right out of him onto everything in eyesight. At that moment, Ji Hye finally understood what people spoke of when they got onto the topic of heaven and paradise. It must have looked something like this.

It's alright, she heard Oppa say. Just say it as it is and it'll be alright.

"The -the light is hard to miss," Ji Hye began, since the boy was expecting an answer and the option of running away had been pushed off the table. "It's, um, very bright. Not that there's anything wrong with that!" she said hastily, stuttering. "It's quite nice, actually!" And because there it seemed like the right thing to do, she bowed. "I'm sorry!"

Yang Ji Hye

See now? Oppa said soothingly. It's alright. Nobody that heavily seeped in positive divine presence could be cruel at heart.

Ji Hye wanted to nod but Eric -Oh. Oh, I know his name now. That's good?- was there and giving her a funny sort of look. It didn't seem to be a I think you're a crazy person so I'll humor you a little out of pity one, though. It was looked more baffled than anything else. Ever since coming to this place, she had been getting much more of that and much less of the other. It was...nice?

"Um, it's just all around you," Ji Hye said about the light as Eric towered over her. Imouto was now freely playing in the halo, chasing faint spherical globs of presence that formed and evaporated in a cycle only seconds long. She watched it for a while before pulling herself back into reality.

"Oh! I'm Yang Ji Hye," she said, flushing as she realized she had never introduced herself. "But, ah" -best to move off the topic as fast as possible- "yes, I can't point it out exactly. The light's just there. It's maybe. um." She squinted, made an approximation in her head, and gestured from one end of the courtyard to the other. "I think that's about the radius of it. You might be pushing it, though."

She paused, shuddering a little as the cloud of presence pulsed gently. She had just been getting used to the feeling of standing inside of it but now the force of the calm was washing over her again and making her skin feel tingly.

Imouto stopped what it was doing for a moment and cooed before getting right back to its game. From beside her, Oppa seemed to grow and glow.

Ji Hye sighed softly, feeling unusually content. "Usually it's only with holymen," she muttered, almost to herself. "And never this big."

Yang Ji Hye

“Yang Ji Hye... Or just Ji Hye, right? I like your name.” She was sure that if she wasn't already blushing, she would have started to then. As it was, Ji Hye was almost certain that her face looked like a tomato by that point. Strangely, however, she didn't find it as much as an embarrassment as she normally would have, and chalked that fact up to the presence around them.

If I could bottle this up and take it away with me, I would, she sighed.

“Wait, holy men? Like priests?” The look on Eric's face had turned to outright shock after she had mentioned that. But after a moment, it gave away to an expression of pure triumph. “Oh man, I know!" he said, and then it was Ji Hye's turn to be shocked. "I'm an angel, sort of. There's an angel inside me. You can see it?”

"A, an angel?" Ji Hye stuttered, staring wide eyed back into the center of the halo. She had seen angels before but only the minor ones, individual guardian angels whose presences were merely clouds of light instead of outright beams or stars of it. They usually felt a little like Hitori did on its good days. Whatever was in Eric, whatever he was, was obviously far more than just that.

Ah, one of the Catholic ones! Oppa bowed deeply for a few moments. Much higher than the third sphere, too, it seems. Imouto knows, see?

The mushroom capped spirit was running circles around them in joy. I knew it, I knew it, I knew it! Imouto, Ji Hye remembered, had originally been the household spirit for a Japanese Catholic family which had gained a guardian angel sometime in its history. It made sense that it would be able to recognize them.

“Can you tell me more about the light?" Eric asked her excitedly. "Like, does it have any features?”

"Um," Ji Hye started uncertainly, looking a little off the center of the halo now. "I could try. Greater spirits don't normally like to be looked -oh." Peace crashed back down over her and the light surrounding Eric shifted.

For all the time that Ji Hye had noticed it, the halo had been centered directly on Eric's body. Now, the core seemed to phase out slightly to his upper right, only just off center. She blinked as a shape began to form, vague at first before quickly developing blurred features. It wasn't humanoid as she had been expecting. Instead, it seemed to be kind of like an astrolabe -just two wheels.

Giant wheels, Ji Hye amended hastily, looking all around. And on the rims of the wheels, there were hundreds of fiery spots that seemed to be eyes. She wasn't sure how she knew that. One moment, it seemed like the spirit was right in front of her and small enough to be seen entirely. The next, it's shape was suddenly taking up the entire expanse of the halo Ji Hye had earlier marked out. The borders of its light had now been pushed to a distance that she couldn't approximate.

Ophanim! Imouto skipped around to get a better look. Ji-chan, it's a really powerful angel!

I have to admit, my knowledge of the hierarchy is rather faint, Oppa said, looking a little wary now. But isn't that supposed to be up in heaven right now?

Only four of them, Imouto corrected cheerfully. Sometimes other angels get promoted up, but then don't have anywhere to go so they come down here! That's what I heard!

"Ah." Ji Hye regained her voice. "It's really big," she told Eric slowly, aware that it sounded completely lame. But she felt the need to stress that fact. "The entire area I pointed to seems to be it."

It was hiding earlier, Imouto added. All those other times you saw it, it was drawing its light inwards.

"And it was holding back its light, so, um, now the area is even bigger," Ji Hye said, passing on the message. "It's two giant wheels nested inside of each other. Shiny gold, I think. It's hard to describe it, there's so much light but it still looks kind of solid. There's lots of these, uh, spots on the outside. Like, fireballs? I think those are its eyes."

She stared around them anxiously. "There might be more details. I just can't tell. It's keeping itself a little blurry, or maybe Dark Sight just isn't strong enough to see all of it."

Yang Ji Hye

"Um!" Ji Hye felt the effect of the ophanim's presence on her immediately snap at Eric's suggestion. Because she couldn't possibly get any more flushed than she already was, she thought that she maybe could feel herself go in the opposite direction and pale. Oh, that's interesting! she babbled in her mind as she hid behind her hand in embarrassment. Why do I feel so cold all of a sudden?

Eric had this massive grin on his face that made her a little nervous what with the obvious pleasure and pride behind it. But she figured that it seemed off to her just because, well. Being half raised by mostly bloodthirsty -literally in some cases- spirits didn't exactly constitute towards a happy childhood. She couldn't fault him for being content. That would only be spiteful.

The calm of the ophanim started to settle back on her and Ji Hye rocked on her heels a little in indecisiveness. "It, it would be nice," she stuttered in response to his offer. "But-"

How exactly was she supposed to say this? It had been so easy with Lysander, probably because he was something of a kindred soul that she had been looking for so desperately. Around him, she could feel like they were on about the same level -they weren't of course, and she was glad for that because she wouldn't have wished her demons on anybody else in the world. With Eric, however, it was a whole different matter. The leap from higher angels to fallen gods was an ugly splattering mess.

And yes, it was nice being around Eric. But that was because of the ophanim inside of him. She didn't know anything else about him except that and his name. You make the voices around me quiet. What kind of basis was that for a friendship? Part of her kept nagging at the rest, trying to find a fault. And maybe it succeeded but for the most part, Ji Hye didn't want to care. It wasn't quite the same as not caring at all.

"My powers work oddly," she said, tongue and thoughts fumbling. She bowed hastily as she felt the flush coming back and began to frantically explain. "I'm sorry! It's not, I would really like to. But. I don't have spirits in me. They're more around and most of them aren't nice but being around you makes them quiet and I'm not sure what you'll think about that but it's okay, I'd still like to be friends anyways and I think I'm rambling now so I'll stop, I'm sorry!" She bowed again since that seemed like the right thing to do.