Complete Private Angel Cake at Closing

[Tenshi]

The last long while had been nothing for Tenshi if not stressful. At first, it was her real life that had smothered her nearly to death in misery, with loved one after loved one lost to this or that time and time again, all the while she had ever long struggled to find her own reason to carry on. Wake, eat, work, sleep, and in between she would find the time to philosophize. Was happiness ever meant to be in her reach?

Terrasphere had answered that question for her, and it had immediately become her paradise. A video game, where she could finally be herself in ways impossible to imagine here on planet earth. A video game, where she met one silly wolf, and even started crushing on him. Sai, the one person she was able to hold onto, and let go of, and see return to her some number of days or weeks later. It was enough for her. It was still her paradise. All until she saw... something peculiar. Something small, that should have been insignificant until she began to read more and more into it.

Even though she wanted to supply a bottomless well of faith towards Sai, there were just too many things, coincidences or otherwise, that kept lining up and making sense to her. Tenshi was no Angelique like she always wanted to be, but in the real world, Christian wasn't a terrible person to be. Self-reliant, self-sufficient, the world only ever required him to get better and better at watching his own back. That was why Tenshi's well of faith in her new Terrasphere-only boyfriend had run dry.

He had no interest in investing what was left to give from his admittedly fragile heart in anyone he wasn't absolutely positive would be there to see the end with him, and Tenshi wanted to change that.

That was why tonight sucked even worse than it already usually did, as a small mass of customers known colloquially as the 'closing rush' swarmed the counter. Impatient people trying to get home, indecisive people who don't seem to understand the definition of the word 'closing', and even regular people who are simply unfortunate enough to need a cake at such a time as five-before-ten-at-night. Every night, Christian had to close alone due to understaffing, and he was so used to it that he was fairly certain having another person would just slow him down. Sure, it would save him the sweat and the soreness, but he was used to it by now, and it was kind of like his daily exercise.

"Order for Sandy!" He called out to a customer waiting at a table.

It was worth mentioning, the place that Christian worked was actually a single department inside of a local grocery store. Each department was almost its own entity though, which had to do with the store's founding history. To keep it short, it used to only be a primary grocer with a supply for fresh dairy. Afterwards, a butcher shop was built into it. After that, produce and bakery were pretty close. Basically, it was one large store made up of many smaller stores that weren't actually stores.

That was the reason the bakery had tables to sit at, instead of a counter with a glass case full of cakes in front of you, and also just more bread and cakes behind you. It was a draw for people to come earlier in the day and get fresh baked goods while being able to sit down and enjoy their time away from work--which befuddled Christian even to this day, as one would think that these people would want to come earlier in the day, not within the last half hour of being open. Whatever, it wasn't the worst thing ever. Not usually, but tonight...

Tonight, Christian's mind was somewhere else, and he could only manage to smile for seconds at a time as he handed people their order--not so much while taking them, but he spoke as politely as he could.

"Sorry, I'm not allowed to give anything out for free."
....
"I mean, we do throw it out if it doesn't get bought, yes."
....
"Yeah, I'm sorry. I don't make the rules, I just have to follow them..."

The same. Old. Conversation. Day in and day out. Yet for the first time ever, this was Christian's paradise. Not because he wanted to be here dealing with some of the most spoiled people in California, but because it kept his mind off of Sai and Angelique. He was far too busy to pay them any mind on nights like these, and nights like these were all he had.

Unless he logged onto Terrasphere again, but he was apprehensive to say the least. That unbearable pain he had endured was beyond terrifying, but if nothing else he could call Cidney. Yeah, after work, he would bike home, call Cidney, and just cozy up in bed. No need to worry about Sai. No need to test his theories tonight.

@Sai

 

[Nobody]

Angel lived a busy life. A really busy life, in fact. And while there were moments of blissful quiet in which she could metaphorically lay back into the world of fantasy, those moments were few and far between, especially when her favorite world of fantasy was an illegal game with a social stigma renowned the world over.

Someone whose entire career relied on public image couldn’t be caught dead with so much as a loose association. It was the sort of thing where even calling someone who admitted to playing a friend could start unfortunate rumors. And so, while it wasn’t impossible to get the VR gear during her grand, cross-country tour, she didn’t want that game or that QR code anywhere where a crazy fan could happen upon it. It was just safer this way, this thought.

All this meant, however, was that she had a brutal schedule of non-stop concerts, merch signings, and even a book reading (what…?). Evidently, her marketing company thought that was important for some reason? Were some people thinking she couldn’t read just because of the whole cutesy theme of her latest album? Jeez. Yet, the whole time, she couldn’t help but think about that one game. And not just the game either, but a kind person she’d met inside…

It didn’t help that she had a but of a jaded opinion about online relationships: how often they dissolved into nothing but a short time apart. This time apart was anything but short: well over a month. She’d done her best to warn her… girlfriend (that was still weird to her), but she still had to wonder if Tenshi would stay into the game at all after so long. No point in worrying about it though… she had singing to do, and happiness to squeeze onto her face.

---

Exhausted would be an understatement. As Angel drove home (and by that, she of course meant the car guy drove for her), she unlocked the gate and headed in, immediately raiding the kitchen. She’d rushed straight home, skipping the restaurants for the sake of avoiding people, only to forget that she’d pretty much emptied the place of what little food she bothered to keep in here (otherwise, it’d just go bad during the tour after all).

So. Darn. Hungry.

Heck, she was so hungry, she felt like Sai. That was how she knew it was bad! Quickly searching on her phone for nearby restaurants, Angel sighed, shaking her head. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, she really just wanted something fast. Maybe it was the hunger, but there might also have been a hunger for that game she wasn’t admitting to. Whatever the reason, she dawned the plainest "street clothes" she had available and headed to the convenience store down the street. Most notably, she wore a white hoodie, which was now pulled over her head. That’d work. Just don’t make eye-contact.

---

"This is food…?" Angel remarked, staring at the cup ramen in her hands. "I wonder if it’s simple to bake…" After a few more seconds, she placed it back on the shelf, not wanting to chance it. Instead, she found her way to the bakery. Now that looked a bit more reasonable: bread dishes and loads of sweets. As she browsed the menu, however, the man at the counter called out a name, prompting someone to stand and grab their order. Well… that was a problem. But then, as long as she paid in cash, it didn’t have to be her legal name, right? So not really a problem.

"Uhm…" Angel finally approached the counter, pulling the hood down as if she was too shy to interact with the world. "I’d like a small cheesesteak, some sweet rolls, and maybe also a chocolate-topped donut. For uhm… Tenshi." She slid three 100-dollar bills across the counter, having clearly not paying any attention to the prices at all. "If this is enough, you can keep the change."


@Tenshi

 

[Tenshi]

It was thankfully not too loud anymore to be able to hear the withdrawn voice ordering in front of him, given that the bulk of the line had been dealt with in an effort to actually close on time. Christian was also used to taking the orders of people who were too meek or anxious to speak properly at the counter. What caught him entirely off guard was the back-to-back combination of being handed three hundred dollars and being given the name 'Tenshi' for the order. It was like when he took the order of someone named Christian, except he couldn't just be like "hey, nice name" or something.

He blinked a couple times and looked down, taking the money for the time being. After all, it would call attention to the girl if he said anything about it, and given his oddly specific past with her, it wasn't difficult to tell exactly who this girl was. This girl wasn't just Angel, or Angelique, or his next-door neighbor. Not at this moment. Right now, she was also as much of a godsend as she usually was a source of self-loathing for him. That was why, with the three hundreds taken and put to the side for later, he quickly fell into a reflexive scheme.

He didn't have a choice. He had to know the truth, and this gave him the opportunity to not rely entirely on Sai's truthful answer later on. Did Sai really have something to do with Angel after all? Did Sai tell her to say that? What did Sai tell her? He had to have something to do with Angelique. There was no more grey to parse through.

Before Angel knew it, Christian had boxed half of her order for her. "All right, Tenshi," he said the name without issue, "here's your two chocolate-dipped, and I'll have the rest for you in a few minutes. Just have a seat for me, please. I'll bring it out when it's done, okay?" He said with a pretty genuine smile. He was smiling again, as the rush and the mania hit him. Could he actually manage to do this?

The next few minutes went by in an instant, wherein he boxed up orders and handed them out with little regard for his own exhaustion levels. Orders for everybody, except one 'Tenshi', who became the only person left waiting for the second half of her order as the bakery cleared out. The store in general was thinning out in population, and other departments began to dim their lights. Christian dimmed the bakery as well, but continued to work for just a moment longer as he boxed up Angel's food. He placed it on the counter, took off his gloves, and went to wash his hands.

Reciprocal to the rush from moments before, washing his hands felt like it took several minutes, when it only took half of one. Maybe a little longer to get those hands perfectly dry. All the while, his heart pounded the inside of his ribs. With nothing left behind the counter to worry about, he picked up the two boxes previously set aside and placed them in a bag, then walked them over to her table.

"Sorry for the wait! I didn't want to give you anything subpar." He was at least being honest when he said that, but his primary concern... "Um, before you leave, Tenshi... Can I... ask you something kind of important?"

@Sai

 

[Nobody]

For a brief moment, Angel was left to wonder if she’d given him enough money. If anything, she expected it to be a little bit overkill for convenience store food. Had it been too overkill? Crap. But before she could probably panic, he got to work and handed her a portion of the order. Good! Food!

"Thank you," she nodded, wandering over to a nearby table and continuing to avoid people. Donuts certainly didn’t make for a healthy dinner, but she was so hungry, she really didn’t care what she ate, just as long as she ate something! And despite her rather gourmet tastes, it wasn’t actually that bad! Very sweet though. Maybe a little too sweet.

As time passed, she’d quickly chomped down the donuts and ended up waiting for a bit as several more orders went through. A suspicious amount, actually. She hadn’t exactly seen how many were waiting before her on account of the hood blocking her view of them as much as it blocked their view of her, but this was almost a dozen orders now that’d gone before her, and there weren’t even that many seats here!

As the other departments started to dim, signaling their closing down for the night, Angel wondered if perhaps she might just leave with a bag of snack food or something. She was really excited to play Terrasphere after such a long absence, and getting stuck for an indefinite time as they lost her order was kind of a bummer…

Standing up, she was about to execute on that very plan, when the man from before stepped up and handed her the rest. Come to think of it, he kinda looked a little familiar…… eh, probably just her imagination. "It’s fine," she insisted with a wave of her hand, turning to leave but getting caught mid-way.

"Ask me something important…?" she echoed, dying inside a little. Those weren’t normal store-goer words. No way. He knew. And suddenly, it made a lot of sense why she was last. What a sneaky guy, pulling something like that…

"… Ooohhh, I didn’t know you spoke Japanese, ahaha~" she forced a smile and a little grin, putting on a bubbly facade that was meant to hide how obviously tired she was. She pulled the hood back just a little, but still kept it up a little, aiming more for only this guy in front of her to see. "Thanks for not calling me out. Did you want an autograph or something?"


@Tenshi

 

[Tenshi]

It was a barrage of reality hailing down on Christian as she made it all too apparent just how little she remembered him. He figured she didn't think much of him back in school, but even as next door neighbors that was a bit... hurtful? Did he actually care if Angel remembered he existed or not? He bit his teeth together for a moment to chase away the tinge of frustration that came from the entire moment as it played out before him.

When she mentioned an autograph, his brow raised for a couple seconds, though he was quick to put his friendly face back on. "Well, no, I already have one, kinda... Plus, you're really busy all the time, right? I wouldn't disregard your feelings just because you're famous. Plus, it'd make getting out of here tonight impossible, heh." He cleared his throat, trying to speak in less of an 'I'm at work' voice and the more androgynous one he often aimed for. "I actually just have a question for you." He could have beat around the bush about it, but not only did he not want to, his heart was pounding out of his chest. The other side of this conversation could have him cross with Angel, but it was Sai who would be to blame, right?

He got right into it. "There's, uh, a dance move you did on the new tour, and I wanted to know who showed it to you. It's- Uh-" Before he could rethink his approach, he painfully realized the box he put himself in. It was fine, though. Angel probably already thought less than nothing of him, she couldn't think much less if he followed through. "Well I'm not really as good as you, but it's the one that's all like..." He shifted his weight around toe to heel and heel to toe as he performed the supposedly stolen pose in question without much thought. It was just the same as when he did it as Tenshi, after all, even if his entire body felt so different.

The way he made the heart with his hands couldn't have been a more accurate imitation, though, with fingers curled perfectly to accent the angle of viewing. Angel's viewing, of course.

While he held the pose a bit longer, he continued his questioning. "Could you tell me who showed it to you?" He moved from the pose and wiped his forehead with the back of his wrist. Man, of course he had to be all sweaty when Angel showed up.

@Sai

 

[Nobody]

"Ahaha, I see," Angel smiled as he clarified. "Alright then, go ahead and ask~"

Questions weren’t exactly a novel concept for her. She had a huge library of 100s of memorized answers to almost any question anyone could think up, and very frequently it all boiled down to some variant of a set of a dozen or so that people especially loved to ask. No doubt she’d just offer a quick answer and be out of here.

… It seemed this time around, it was about one of her dance moves. She couldn’t help but stifle a giggle as he attempted it himself, finding it kind of unexpected and funny that he’d tried it as an explanation. Except… then she thought about it. The move, and the strange way the question was worded. Oh. Crap.

The fact that he’d pointed out one particular move out of all of them, that just so happened to be the one recent one she’d copied from Tenshi… bad news. Angel had made the mistaken assumption that it was a unique pose Tenshi had come up with herself, but this man was wording the question as if he was 100% certain it wasn’t her own creation. Which could only mean one thing…

…Tenshi had copied the move from somewhere else, and this guy recognized the fact. And of course, if he recognized it, others would as well. Her team had okay’d it, and their whole job was to check her on plagiarism and stuff like that, so perhaps it was from a more vague source: still in the clear. Still, she certainly didn’t want to pass as unoriginal. This was bad.

Anyone else not in the business of using their entire life to curate a public image might’ve stuttered, but Angel masterfully avoided the awkwardness, instead buying some time in thought by raising a finger to her cheek and pretending to have to think about what was obviously a simple truth.

"Well, I find inspiration for my dances from all over!" she finally answered in the most vague way possible. The scripted answer. Realizing it wouldn’t be a satisfying one for him (and that they were relatively alone), she lowered her voice and added a bit more. "Although, between you and me, I have a lot of friends that sometimes suggest some moves of their own..."

And then it dawned on her. If he’d recognized the name… and then directly went on to ask… this guy definitely knew who Tenshi was in the real world! And hitting upon tis realization, her facade did crack just a tad, as her eyes widened ever-so-subtly for a brief moment. The only question that remained was: how would she approach it without mentioning the taboo?

… She wouldn’t! Too risky.

"…Anyway, if I‘m remembering right… I think that one came from Kaya. She’s pretty scary, but every now and then, you can get her to relax, and it’s like she’s a completely different person, haha~! Anyway, was there something else you had to ask?"


@Tenshi

 

[Tenshi]

At first, Angel's responses were predictable. Not only predictable, but... disappointing. She finds inspiration from all over, huh? In other words, she really does steal them, and for her to go this long without getting called out on it publicly, she really must be stealing from only the most obscure sources. In other words, people like Tenshi. That begged the question, though. How did her move end up in Angel's repertoire? There was a pretty simple way to corner her in such a line of questioning.

The two possibilities were obvious, but one of them just seemed impossible to him.

Normally, even on a bad day, Christian would never be anything but polite to people. It was just never really worth it to be anything but. Being confrontational was too much work. It would be even now if not for the sordid circumstances currently standing between Tenshi and Sai, and even Angel. The problem with the approach was that he had to not make it known that he played Terrasphere, not to mention he had to confront someone he was a pretty huge fan of. Thankfully the two of them went to school together so he wasn't exactly starstruck by her.

"Hah, I see... So if you get your moves from other people, then you would have to have some sort of dance coach, wouldn't you? Someone whose job it is to teach you your dance moves, and fit them into a fluid chain for the song, right?" He crossed his arms, uncomfortably. He didn't really like grilling Angel like this, but the mystery was driving him nuts. This was likely his one and only chance to get behind to the bottom of things. "I thought you always made your own, though. Did you change that when you graduated, or...?"

Christian seemed pretty bottom-rung to onlookers given that he was a pretty ordinary bakery worker, but the amount of traps and stabs he had placed between every sentence was the work of an argument artisan and nothing less. After all, no matter what Angel answered now, he had another angle to swing from, and even if she tried to peel out and leave, he still had many things he could do.

He didn't want to press Angel like this, he really didn't... Well, maybe Christian didn't, but after everything she'd put up with since the last time she saw Sai... Tenshi did. Tenshi was the one who made sure that Christian's words were juggling knives waiting to rain down on this poor rich girl.

@Sai

 

[Nobody]

Angel realized this was a mistake real fast as the convenience store worker kept speaking. She'd hoped to simply be throwing a bone to a fan, but instead, she found herself bombarded with implied threats and accusations.

So these were the sort of people her managers were always warning about...

"I haven't seen my dance coach in a while," Angel answered, the cutesy act having been dropped slightly for a more serious tone that showed she was all business now. "But I do have a team to help with all the choreography. So I make my suggestions, and then they change things until we reach what you see on screen. It's a whole process, I'm sure there are articles about it that you could look it up online if you're interested."

She shifted her feet, making it plain and clear that she intended to leave soon. "A lot of things change when you start signing contracts. It becomes a little more formal, and lots more people start weighing in on decisions: a fun team effort, but a lot more tiring because of it. Anyway, I traveled quite a lot today, and I'm awfully hungry, so..."

She still trailed off to allow him to object, but her polite prompting for him to continue was now completely missing.


@Tenshi

 

[Tenshi]

He may have felt bad for grilling her like this, but...

No, no buts. Christian really didn't feel as up to it as he had before. Despite the feelings of betrayal and doubt he had first sought to dismiss, despite Tenshi's feelings flaring up inside of him, he just didn't have the sort of anger and pain in his body that the tigress did.

"I mean... If that's what you say, then I believe you. Kaya, huh?..." He closed his eyes for a second. Just a second, only to reopen them without his customer service smile. It was still a smile, but his eyes carried a lot more sadness in them all of a sudden. Maybe that was why he refused to actually look at the idol now. His eyes instead fell on the corner of the room, looking at nothing in particular. "Sorry to keep you, I'm sure you just want to relax while you can." Something he kept in mind about Sai almost constantly, the reason he even played Terrasphere to begin with.

Sai was a busy person in the real world, and so was Angelique, so obviously she would understand the sentiment just as easily as Sai did, whoever he was. "Have a good one!" Customer service was in his voice again, at least.

Even though the baker had been the one to engage the conversation in the first place, he became the one to walk away first. Not to mope or to punctuate the moment, but really just to get back to work instead of pressing the idol harder than he needed to. He had already pushed Angel into the defensive, so it's not like he was going to find some glowing truth all of a sudden now anyways.

@Sai

 

[Nobody]

"Mhm, you too..." Angel nodded back, watching the strange man inquisitively as he wandered off. There was no doubt in her mind he was somehow affiliated with Tenshi. Perhaps he knew her. Perhaps he knew someone who knew her? Perhaps he'd just seen whoever she was doing that dance. Either way, it was a very discomforting experience, getting partially exposed like that, and she wondered just how severely she'd screwed up in using that move.

Her stomach growled.

These were thoughts she could have later. For now, she was hungry, and really wanted to eat the food she'd just bought. Not to mention, finally, she could log on to Terrasphere and relax for a while. It'd been ages, and as uncomfortable as it was to return after such a long hiatus, she really needed the break.

As he wandered off, Angel took out her phone and secretly snapped a pic of the strange man from behind, immediately hiding it by pretending she was taking a call. Angel wandered back to her modest, 4-story dwelling nearby, intending to hire someone to look into this stranger, so she could learn just what kind of person Tenshi was...


@Tenshi