Chapter Text
Contrary to popular belief, the creation of the world did not stem from the noble god Fukuzawa alone.
In the beginning, there were two.
Their story was the first story ever told, wound up tightly with partnership and betrayal. It was both of them, Fukuzawa and Mori, who made all life. But, after witnessing Mori’s cruelty towards what he deemed lesser beings, Fukuzawa cast him out from the heavens, banishing him into the core of the Earth. Such an action took a large toll on Fukuzawa, both physical and mental, so the god fell into a deep slumber beside a sapling. When he woke up from the centuries-long nap, the sapling had grown into an enormous tree of light. In front of him was what looked like a giant golden apple. When the god touched the fruit, it peeled back, revealing a small child with wings. This was the first of many angels ‘born’ into existence and was given the name Ranpo.
It has been many centuries since he has been on Earth.
That was Doppo’s first thought as he flew over top the Yokohama sky. Due to his ranking, Doppo normally remains in heaven beside God, helping to look over the angels and other heavenly affairs. However, a recent event had cast a black mark in the holy land, and now some angels were scared to perform their guardian duties on Earth.
Oda Sakunosuke, a low-ranking guardian angel, had been presumably kidnapped by demons or was falling. Well, those were the rumors. The reality was that Oda had not returned to heaven for an entire month. Most angels would come back to heaven daily, which was why this incident was of great concern. Either rumor was disastrous for the entirety of heaven. A kidnapping would surely spark another war between heaven and hell. An angel falling was a rare occurrence, and was always an immense pain cast onto God himself.
That is why Doppo requested this job, for the sake of the peace of mind of heaven and to protect his father. Sending Doppo down to Earth was a serious move, one that could be taken as a sign of war to demons. Even so, he all but begged to be able to search for Oda.
… After all, he was the last angel that Oda made contact with.
Landing on top of a bridge, Doppo surveyed his surroundings. To humans, he was invisible for now. He, as well as every angel, could change their visibility to humans as they please. According to the record-keeping angel, Haruno, Oda was assigned to a curry-shop owner who lived not too far from this area. It was a start to the investigation at least, but it’s not like clues will just pop in out of—
There was the sound of a splash, and Doppo’s turned to see where the sound was coming from. Nobody was around… except for the figure currently submerged underwater. Did... someone jump into the river? Doppo’s gaze went from the person to the sky. Surely, a guardian angel… what if they were too scared to come down? Doppo felt a sinking feeling at the thought, and, throwing aside all common sense, he jumped into the water after the human.
The current wasn’t extreme, so catching up to the drowning human was not difficult. He could see now that it was a man. Doppo wrapped an arm around the man and swam back to the shore, pulling him out of the water entirely. His eyes were closed, and he was covered in what seemed like endless bandages. He wasn’t breathing either, humans are supposed to breathe. Panicking, Doppo made visible a ‘human form’ that blended in with the types of clothes the man was wearing. Then, he got on his knees and went to perform basic CPR, only to be stopped just short of touching the man’s lips by a cough. He immediately backed away to give the human space (and… to wipe off the water and spit covering his glasses). The bandaged man sat up, shaking his head.
“How awful…”
Doppo blinks, “it must have been. You about drowned.”
“I know! And you ruined it!” The man groaned as he pushed back brown hair out of his face.
Doppo almost broke the glasses he was cleaning. Was… the human mad at him for saving his life?! How could he have such low respect for his own life?!
“Oh man,” the human dared to chuckle, “it looks like you’re about to pop a blood vessel.”
Doppo did not know how to respond to this without immediately lecturing him on how valuable every life is. “I have never met someone this ungrateful.”
“Ack!” The man covered his face with one hand, “your words wound me! I am oh so sorry, my shining savior!”
An apology was an apology, at least… “It’s Kunikida to you.”
Kunikida was the name of an author that Doppo had met during his last excursion on Earth. He decided to use the name when dealing with humans, in memory of the man.
“Kunikida…?” The man repeated, trailing off. He wanted a full name.
“... Doppo. Kunikida Doppo,” he had already blown his cover. Secrecy was never his strong suit.
The human seemed to pick up on this and laughed a bit. The laugh seemed odd given the circumstances.
“Shuji Tsushima, suicide enthusiast!” The man introduced himself cheerfully. Doppo gave him a stern look, but even so, his expression did not change.
“Well, I guess I owe you for saving my life,” Shuji started.
“You guess?” Doppo repeated, as his anger continued to rise.
“So I guess we should get dinner together! My treat!” Shuji offered, already standing up.
“... Alright.”
As much as Doppo wanted to turn down his offer and resume his search for Oda, it might be dangerous if he lets this human out of his sight for now. Shuji smiled, turned around and began walking into the city as if his clothes weren’t soaked. Doppo followed after. How terrible could dinner even be?
The restaurant Shuji chose served seafood and sake. While he didn’t need to eat, Doppo had to keep up a human appearance, so he ordered himself a glass of water and some shrimp. On the other hand, Shuji was already on his second bottle of sake and got crab legs.
He was already fantastically drunk.
“Kunikidaaaaa, I wanna go swim with the fishes!” Shuji exclaimed as he rose from his seat, eyes set on the small aquarium on display.
“No, you not. You are going to take a seat and act like a decent human being.” Doppo scolded as he grabbed the neck of Shuji’s shirt and pulled him back into the seat.
The man whined, like an infant, “Kunikida is so rude.”
The chopsticks in Doppo’s other hand break.
“Oh my, Kunikida is so stronggg!” Shuji exclaimed.
“Are you done eating? You need to go to bed.”
“I ammm, buuuuut…”
Doppo waited.
“My wallet slipped out of my pocket when I jumped in the water!”
A.. wallet? Doppo racked his brain trying to remember what a wallet was.
“I have no moneeeeey,” Shuji continued.
Ah, it’s the thing that holds money. Now that he thinks about it, he’s not too sure what money even looks like. Perhaps…
Doppo opens up a satchel tied around his belt, pulling out several pieces of gold and laying them down.
“There, now let’s go.”
Shuji hiccuped, then looked over at the gold. “That’s some funny looking yen…”
Doppo breathed in, then breathed out. He then proceeded to drag the drunk man out of the restaurant. The workers stared on in awe, what the blond-haired man had put down was enough to pay for rent for an entire year.
Doppo all but pulled Shuji back to the small, dingy apartment that the human called a home. The doors were all facing the outside, and the building had seen better days. Shuji’s room was on the second floor. They made it to the front door, and only then did Shuji decide to break the news:
“My keys… Ah, they’re gone toooo,” the man stated.
“How are we supposed to get inside your locked house without any keys?” Doppo demanded, close to losing his temper yet again.
Shuji merely shrugged, then put his hands in his pockets, “I dunno. It’s just another tragic moment in the life of Shuji Tsushima!”
Doppo elected to ignore the other’s rambling. After a few seconds, he had an idea.
“Stay by the door, I’ll take care of it,” he instructed to the thoughtless human before going back down the stairs and jogging over to the other side. One of Shuji’s windows were left open, a true and firm blessing in these trying times. With a flap of his wings, Doppo made it to the window and climbed inside gracefully. That was until he stepped on an empty bottle and tripped face-first into a wall. Groaning, he looked down at the floor to discover it was littered with empty bottles like the sake the man drank earlier. Great. Doppo then exited the bedroom and walked to the front door, unlocking it.
“Wow, Kunikida is amazing!” Shuji claimed before stumbling inside. Almost immediately, the man collapsed on the nearby couch. Now, Doppo felt a bit awkward. Surely, he could leave now, right?
“Doppo must think I’m a mess,” Shuji suddenly blurted out. Doppo is too shocked by the blunt declaration to reply.
“Sake all over the place, penniless, I must look like a charity case,” Shuji continued, undeterred by Doppo’s silence. His voice had taken on a serious tone. “That’s what happens when you have a father who doesn’t want kids.”
“... It must have been rough,” Doppo sympathized. There was no reason for this human to lie, so this must be the painful truth beneath the surface. He was born to a loving father, he could never understand what this human has gone through.
“Oh, it was! Parents who have children just to use them for their benefit deserve a terrible death,” Shuji remarked, his hair now covering his eyes. Doppo couldn’t get a good look at his face between the dark and his position facing away from the angel.
Doppo swallowed hard. He wasn’t the type to deal with these situations. On top of that, he’s an angel, he knows nothing about being human. He cannot possibly give this poor man the help he needs.
“We were never good enough for him, that’s why he just kept having more. There wasn’t anyone we could go to either, the scars he left were always mental,” Shuji continued. As this went on, he sounded less and less like a drunk man, but Doppo didn’t notice.
“I’m sorry, Shuji…” Doppo replied, at a lack of words to say.
“That’s not even the best…” Shuji suddenly went quiet. He had passed out. Likely from the drinking, Doppo surmised.
After that, Doppo couldn’t leave just yet, his heart was too heavy. Thus, he decided to clean up the place while Shuji slept. While cleaning, he thought of a wild idea but expelled it to the back of his mind. After disposing of all of the empty bottles, Doppo stared at Shuji for a few seconds before going to the window. He has to return to heaven, and overall he got nowhere in his small investigation. But, it was worth it, if he could somehow change the course of even one man’s life for the better.
As he took off into the night sky, Doppo knew that he just had to do something about Shuji Tsushima.
When he arrived back in heaven, Doppo traveled to a familiar building he was at not too long ago. It was the library of records, where every single human life and angel assigned to that life are recorded. Names were on the records, but what truly set each human life apart was their soul. Doppo waved kindly to Haruno as he walked inside, then he began transversing the gigantic library. Each human had a book, a book that would sing the story of their entire life. This was one way that guardian angels learned to understand how to best protect their assigned human. Some even used it to remember the humans they had grown fond of.
After hours of searching, Doppo found that the human he had met, named Shuji Tsushima, had no book at all.