Part 11: Shrine Visit 1: Anghel

Shrine Visit 1: Anghel


An interesting feature about the shrine visits is that there are two versions of the events: one with the bird pictures we’ve all come to love, and one with unique human character graphics, much like a more typical visual novel.
I will be showing off the humanized art, as I feel that it’s worth showing off the work that was put into making these character graphics.






Isn’t he really Catholic, though? I hadn’t expected to be invited out for something like this!
Maybe it’ll turn out that he lives in the shrine!

That is incorrect, Edel Blau.
Oh, Anghel! Happy New Year!

With no windows around to jump through, Anghel approached me surprisingly quietly.



Silver beings? What are those?

So, they’re not shrinekeepers… How do people usually refer to their job?
…Fishmongery.
Oh! I see!

I see but I can’t imagine Anghel going home every day to a fish store!

We must not let time slip by, Edel Blau.
We must obtain the Legendary Sacred Bow, Holy Slasher, before it falls into the hands of the other side!
But weren’t we going to visit the shrine?

As I asked him this, I saw a look of pain flash across Anghel’s face.
The music stops.

Agh…!

I only need a blade. Let us go, Edel Blau.

Anghel bravely enters the shrine precincts.
I guess I’ll be in for another year of having no idea what Mr. Eccentric Filipino Dove is talking about…




……

Anghel silently rummages around in the shrine office.

What are you looking for?
Did I not tell you? I seek the Legendary Sacred Bow, Holy Slasher.

Sacred bow? Shrines aren’t weapon shops… They probably don’t have anything like that.
Actually, in a shrine office, maybe…

You mean a hamaya?

I’m a person of this world too, Anghel! Just call it that from the start! And maybe next time bring me a dictionary, and have subtitles!

Umm, hamaya… They usually sell them here.

I went to ask the clerk at the shrine gift shop about their stock.

Oh!
They’re sold out, Anghel…
……


No… This cannot be…! The Sacred Bow has fallen into their hands…?

Anghel stands still, looking terribly shocked.
Are hamaya that popular? I don’t think I’ve ever bought anything from a shrine aside from charms and the occasional votive picture.

It’s okay, Anghel! Maybe they’ll be back in stock tomorrow.

I don’t mind. You invited me because you’d be lonely on your own, right?
I’ll come looking for hamaya with you whenever, if you want!

He seems relieved.
So this is what it means to rescue a soul from an eternity of painful solitude!




It was nothing, Anghel! I hope we can find a hamaya for you tomorrow.
…Indeed.
See you tomorrow, then! Bye-bye!
…Wait, Edel Blau.

The music stops.
?

Do you not feel something?
Something? Umm… like, the winter cold…?

A light?

The sky is the same winter sky as always, and the lights from the shop windows don’t look any different. What’s he talking about?

A world is but the light reflected from a fragment of the broken mirror. The fragments write out the destiny of every star in the heavens.
Is your Azure Soul satisfied with the world and the fate you see before you now?
Or perhaps it has been charmed by the fate written by a different shard of the mirror. If that is the case, then I shall…

As so I spent the rest of the day listening to Anghel ramble on about whatever crazy delusions he was having. He certainly knows how to make a conversation interesting!

And so concludes Anghel’s shrine visit event.