DATE AN ANGEL: Sandalphon Descend (Vol. 1)

Epilogue

It was early morning on Sunday, the last day of the intense week in which Shido and Kenji met Tohka, a Spirit. As Sun broke dawn over Tengu city, Shido got woken up by its first rays. He yawned and stretched his hands.

"What a nice sleep... Oh!" he said as he noticed Tohka still leaning on him.

He gently put her head under a blanket and walked down to the kitchen to make them breakfast. However, someone was already there. Kotori, who turned around to look at Shido.

"There you are. I must say, you're doing exceptionally good. If by exceptionally good I meant as in how slow you manage to do what I told you to do."

"Ah—Is this about the whole kissing thing? Yeah, I, uh..." said Shido nervously, scratching his head.

"Never mind that. I'm only asking because Tohka's spiritual power could become unstable, which it surprisingly isn't since you started spending time with her. But more importantly, that the AST will eventually detect her."

He sighed and shook his head.

"I know that, but if I force it, it won't work, right? There just isn't a moment where it feels right."

"On that I'm no authority, but I told you we stand behind you already. And sometimes, you must make the first move. That doesn't have to mean you force something. Worry not, I have the perfect plan in mind on how to give you the perfect opportunity, something you might also enjoy," she said with a smirk.

"R-Really? What would that be?" asked Shido, curious.

"Credit where it's due, this actually comes from your friend, Tonomachi. He said you should "throw her a badass birthday party." Normally this would be a one out of 365 opportunity, but since you named her after the date, how about we declare April the tenth her birthday and throw her a little-late, but still, a birthday party?"

"Tonomachi gave you that idea? Well, Tohka did say she knew nothing of her "birthday." It's not that bad of an idea, I guess."

"Come on, Shido. I can see it all over your face. You think it's a great idea," she teased.

"Fine, I do! But I didn't even come up with it when I should have..."

"And we didn't come up with other things that you have. Nobody said you needed to be a perfect knight in shining armour. And however great the idea is, you're the one who must make it actually great in practice."

She's right. If this is to work, I need to give it my all.

"Okay. So, how do we do this?"

Kotori grinned, pleased to hear his response, and see his determination.

"In short: you take Tohka out of the house for a bit before noon, come back at noon and everything will be prepared, with you having the honours. Got that?"

"Yeah, even though that's a really chopped down explanation."

"That's why I specified "in short," but first I want to consult this with you: who do we invite?"

That's right. A birthday party cannot only be us two or three. But who?

"Did you think about it already?" he asked, unsure.

"I have an estimated list prepared. Me, Reine Murasame, Kyouhei Kannazuki, Kyouji Kawagoe, Munechika Nakatsugawa, Masaomi Mikimoto, Hinako Shiizaki, Kozue Minowa, and your two friends: Kenji Miyagawa and Hiroto Tonomachi. Thoughts?"

S-She even said their full names. But two people seem off...

"Miyagawa and Tonomachi? Kenji does know about Tohka, I guess, but not about the others. And why would we pull Tonomachi into this?"