The Holy Light dissipated, and Gabriel lightly blew on her index finger.
Angelic Power possesses a natural suppressive force against Spiritual Bodies; even without using any Divine Arts for amplification, she could crush high-level Evil Spirits.
"So, it turns out you don't actually need to go in for physical combat."
Miko Yotsuya snapped back to her senses.
She thought back to the Evil Spirit in the Convenience Store the day before yesterday, which Gabriel had shattered with a single punch.
"Because I like the feeling of fist-to-flesh; it's a great stress reliever. But if they look truly disgusting, long-range methods have a better effect—they're even more efficient than melee combat."
Without the interference of Evil Spirits, Gabriel reverted to her lazy personality.
"I think the you from just now was cooler. Melee combat is... a bit too horrifying for me," Miko Yotsuya couldn't help but say.
"Just consider it training for your courage. Besides, the expression you make when you're scared is super interesting, Miko. I almost want to take a picture as a souvenir."
"...It's not interesting at all! Please don't develop strange hobbies; please have mercy on me."
Miko Yotsuya pressed her hands together in prayer, begging Gabriel to let her off the hook.
"That depends on your future performance. But are we sure we want to keep standing here chatting?"
Gabriel glanced at the female Students nearby who were intentionally slowing their pace, stealing curious glances at her.
Her and Miko Yotsuya's strange behavior had drawn curiosity.
Suddenly shifting her gaze, Gabriel looked sharply toward a corner hundreds of meters away, where a Twin-tail Loli was staring intently at her.
The moment their eyes met, the latter trembled in fear, guiltily looked away, and turned to run quickly toward the back of the teaching building as if escaping.
Gabriel silently retracted her gaze.
It seemed she had been targeted by a troublesome fellow.
"...This place really isn't suitable. I'll take you to see my homeroom teacher now. From today on, we'll be classmates. Please look after me."
Miko Yotsuya also noticed the stares of others. Just as she was about to lead Gabriel away from this place of gossip, she noticed what the other was looking at.
"Is there something there?"
She looked over curiously but saw nothing.
"Nothing, don't worry about it."
Shaking her head, Gabriel did not tell her about that loli.
Subsequently, under Miko Yotsuya's lead, Gabriel arrived at the faculty office and met a female teacher with a large belly.
It was Miko Yotsuya's homeroom teacher, Arai-sensei.
By the looks of it, she wasn't far from taking her maternity leave.
After delivering Gabriel to her destination, Miko Yotsuya went to her own classroom first.
Inside the office.
"Tenma-kun, it's truly great that you're alright. Yesterday we tried various ways but couldn't contact you or your guardian, which had me worried for a long time."
After Arai-sensei confirmed that there were no issues with Tenma's identity information, the heavy stone pressing on her heart finally lifted.
She had truly been worried that something might have happened to her student.
Fortunately, it was just a false alarm.
"Sorry for making you worry," Gabriel replied politely.
Her gaze lingered on Arai-sensei.
A white, dough-like Spiritual Body was circling Arai-sensei.
It would often affectionately rub against her face, then hover over her bulging abdomen, reluctant to leave.
However, Gabriel felt no malice from it, and Arai-sensei showed no signs of discomfort.
"Can I touch it?"
"Eh?"
Arai-sensei didn't expect Gabriel to make such a request and was somewhat surprised.
Seeing that the request wasn't very excessive, she gently stroked her bulging abdomen with a tender gaze and nodded slightly: "Of course you can, but be gentle with your movements."
This student of hers seemed quite curious and didn't appear to be afraid of strangers.
Gabriel reached out her right hand and gently touched Arai-sensei's abdomen. A trace of golden light flowed from her snow-white fingertips, merging into the fetus inside.
She conveniently placed a Seraphim's Blessing on the unborn child to ensure it would be delivered safely in the future.
Although Arai-sensei couldn't see the golden light, she could directly feel a sudden warmth in her abdomen; even her own spirits were lifted significantly.
"Does Tenma-kun happen to know some massage techniques?" Arai-sensei guessed.
"I know a thing or two."
Gabriel now told lies without even blinking.
Seeing that the timing was right, she released a Guiding Holy Light once more, slowly Guiding the white Spiritual Body into mid-air.
Under the radiance of the gentle Holy Light, the spirit gradually regained a human form. After three seconds, a beautiful, porcelain-like infant appeared in the air.
The infant babbled something to Gabriel while stretching out a chubby little finger to point at Arai-sensei, its eyes full of reluctance.
"Sigh..."
Gabriel sighed softly in her heart.
She understood the relationship between this infant spirit and Arai-sensei.
This was Arai-sensei's first child, which had unfortunately died young and failed to be born into this world.
After death, it turned into a Guardian Spirit, constantly staying by its mother's side and protecting its younger sister so she could be born safely.
But as a Guardian Spirit, it was too weak, almost unable to withstand attacks from an Evil Spirit—completely different from the situation with Miko's father.
Gabriel intended to guide its spirit to The Other World, which is the place of reincarnation where souls should go after death, so it could strive for an early rebirth.
However, the other party was reluctant to leave, and Gabriel didn't want to force it. Finally, she used the Sound Transmission Art to offer a bargain that couldn't be refused.
She would allow it to formally meet its mother one last time in a dream.
Sure enough, under such temptation, the infant spirit hesitated for only a second before agreeing.
"Arai-sensei, you look quite sleepy. Do you need to rest for a bit?"
As Gabriel spoke, Dream Sending was activated.
Arai-sensei suddenly let out a yawn; for some reason, she felt her eyelids become very heavy.
"Mm... I'm so sorry, I really do seem a bit sleepy... I'll have Sakurai-sensei take you to the classroom first."
Arai-sensei suppressed her sleepiness and asked another teacher in the office to lead Gabriel away. She couldn't help but lean against the desk and fell asleep shortly after.
At that moment, the Divine Arts guided the infant's spirit to dive straight into the dreamscape Gabriel had meticulously crafted for them.
Tick, tick, tick...
The hands of the wall clock moved. At some point, hot tears slowly flowed from the corners of Arai-sensei's eyes as she slept on the desk.
...
"The lectures are so simple. As I thought, I shouldn't have come..."
At a seat in the back row by the window, Gabriel propped her chin with one hand and listlessly twirled a ballpoint pen with the other.
She listened to the teacher on the platform explaining knowledge that she understood the moment she heard it.
If she weren't afraid that Miko Yotsuya would go home and tattle to Touko Yotsuya, she would have already been sleeping on her desk.