The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten, Vol. 1 (light novel), page 1
Copyright
The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten, Vol. 1
Saekisan
TRANSLATION BY NICOLE WILDER * COVER ART BY HANEKOTO
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
OTONARI NO TENSHISAMA NI ITSUNOMANIKA DAMENINGEN NI SARETEITA KEN Vol. 1
Copyright © 2019 Saekisan
Cover Illustration © 2019 Hanekoto
All rights reserved.
Original Japanese edition published in 2019 by SB Creative Corp.
This English edition is published by arrangement with SB Creative Corp., Tokyo in care of Tuttle-Mori Agency, Inc., Tokyo.
English translation © 2020 by Yen Press, LLC
Yen Press, LLC supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.
The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact the publisher. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Saekisan, author. | Hanekoto, illustrator. | Wilder, Nicole, translator.
Title: The angel next door spoils me rotten / Saekisan ; illustration by Hanekoto ; translation by Nicole Wilder.
Other titles: Otonari no tenshi-sama ni Itsu no ma ni ka dame ningen ni sareteita ken. English
Description: First Yen On edition. | New York : Yen On, 2020–
Identifiers: LCCN 2020043583 | ISBN 9781975319236 (v. 1 ; trade paperback)
Subjects: CYAC: Love—Fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.1.S2413 An 2020 | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020043583
ISBNs: 978-1-9753-1923-6 (paperback)
978-1-9753-1924-3 (ebook)
E3-20201112-JV-NF-ORI
Contents
Cover
Insert
Title Page
Copyright
Chapter 1: Meeting an Angel
Chapter 2: A Cold—and Being Nursed by an Angel
Chapter 3: The Angel’s Generosity
Chapter 4: A Chance Encounter
Chapter 5: The Angel and the Great Cleaning Campaign
Chapter 6: A Visit from a Friend
Chapter 7: The Angel’s Injury and a Show of Gratitude
Chapter 8: The First Meal Together
Chapter 9: The Angel’s Birthday
Chapter 10: Mother Invades
Chapter 11: A Reward for the Angel
Chapter 12: Cooking Classes with the Angel
Chapter 13: Christmas with Everyone
Chapter 14: Christmas for Two
Afterword
Special Bonus Short Story: A Power Outage, Anxiety, and Warmth
Yen Newsletter
“…What’re you doing?”
The first time Amane Fujimiya spoke to Mahiru Shiina was when he caught sight of her sitting on a swing in the park, in the middle of the pouring rain.
This was Amane’s first year as a high school student. He’d recently begun living alone in a nearby apartment building. Little did he know when he first moved in that his next-door neighbor was a veritable angel on Earth.
Of course, calling her an angel was just a figure of speech, but Mahiru Shiina was such a beautiful, sweet girl that the comparison seemed entirely fitting.
Her straight, well-groomed, flaxen hair was always silky smooth and lustrous. The girl’s pale, milky-white skin was always soft, as if it had never been anything less than perfect. From her shapely nose and large eyes rimmed with long eyelashes to her delicate, dewy pink lips, every part of her looked like it had been sculpted by the practiced hand of a true master.
Amane went to the same high school as Mahiru and was in the same grade, so he’d heard plenty about her. Mostly, people talked about her beauty or how she was accomplished in both academics and sports.
As it happened, Mahiru always got the top score on exams and was a real ace in gym class, too. Amane was in a different class, so he didn’t know all the details, but if the rumors were anything to judge by, Mahiru was some kind of superhuman being.
Truly, she seemed without a flaw—attractive in face and figure and an excellent student. Perhaps most surprising was that she wasn’t the least bit stuck-up about it. With her quiet, modest personality, it was no wonder she was so popular.
Living next door to such a beautiful girl would’ve gotten most boys practically salivating at the mere thought. Amane, however, didn’t intend to make a fuss over her or try to get too close.
He certainly wouldn’t deny that Mahiru Shiina was beautiful, but she had never been more than a neighbor to him. There hadn’t really been any opportunities for them to talk, and not once did he consider approaching her himself.
If they did somehow become involved in some fashion, it would definitely make a lot of other boys jealous, and that’d be trouble. Amane knew it was better to remain amicable next-door neighbors and avoid the wrath of her other admirers.
It was possible to appreciate a charming girl without falling in love with her, after all. Amane recognized that Mahiru was the kind of girl best cherished from afar and had contented himself with existing in her life as only her neighbor.
Thus, when Amane caught sight of her looking lost in thought and alone in the pouring rain without an umbrella, he couldn’t help but stop and stare, wondering what she might be doing.
The downpour was heavy enough to send most everyone else scurrying home, but there she was, sitting all by herself on a swing in the park between their school and their apartment building.
What is she doing in the rain? Amane wondered.
Everything was gloomy beneath the darkened sky, and the rain, relentless since that morning, only made it even more difficult to see. Mahiru’s conspicuous flaxen hair and her school uniform made it impossible to miss her, however, even veiled by the dismal weather.
Amane did not know why she was sitting there without an umbrella, letting herself get soaked. Mahiru didn’t appear to be waiting for someone, nor did she seem at all concerned by the rain. As far as Amane could tell, Mahiru was simply staring off into the distance.
Her face was tilted slightly upward, and though she was always pale, her complexion appeared downright pallid. If she wasn’t careful, she was sure to catch a cold, but even so, Mahiru sat there quietly, not making any move to head home.
If she’s content to sit there, it probably isn’t my place to interfere, Amane thought as he made his way quickly past the park. He took one last look and could see that Mahiru’s face was screwed up as if she might cry.
Amane scratched his head nervously. He wasn’t really looking to make any kind of connection with her or anything, but it seemed wrong to him to ignore another person who was making such a pained expression.
“…What’re you doing?”
When he called out to her in the bluntest voice possible, trying to convey that he was not a threat, she tossed her long hair, now heavy with water, and looked at him.
Mahiru’s face was as lovely as ever.
Even wet with rain, its radiance was not dulled. In fact, every droplet only seemed to enhance her elegant features. One could say she was dripping with beauty.
She stared at him with large, striking eyes.
Mahiru must have been vaguely aware of Amane as her next-door neighbor because they occasionally passed each other in the morning. However, the look in her caramel-colored eyes revealed that she was slightly guarded—someone she had never really spoken with had suddenly called out to her.
“Fujimiya? May I help you?”
Amane was rather shocked that Mahiru had remembered his name, but at the same time, he also figured that this level of familiarity most likely wouldn’t cause her to drop her guard. It was only to be expected that Mahiru would raise her defenses when confronted by a stranger, even if he wasn’t entirely unknown.
She probably didn’t want much to do with the opposite sex. It certainly seemed like she received plenty of romantic advances from the boys at school, regardless of what year they were in. Would anyone have blamed Mahiru for suspecting Amane of harboring an ulterior motive?
“I don’t really need anything. I was just wondering why you were sitting in a place like this, all alone in the rain.”
“Oh, you were? I’m grateful for your concern, but I’m here simply because I want to be. Don’t worry about me.”
There was no edge of suspicion in Mahiru’s soft, listless voice, but it was also clear that she had no intention
All right, suit yourself.
It was clear that there was something going on with her, but she didn’t seem to want Amane to get involved, and he wasn’t particularly inclined to pursue the matter any further.
Amane had only approached her on a whim. He’d simply been curious about her situation; that was all. It wasn’t really his concern. If this was what she wanted to be doing, then that was just fine by him.
Amane sensed the evanescent beauty regarding him with some suspicion. He was sure that Mahiru was wondering why he’d even bothered speaking to her at all.
“Ah, I see,” he offered in reply.
Pressing the issue wouldn’t get him anywhere, so Amane decided to withdraw. There was no shared history between them, and perhaps that was for the best. The decision to leave her alone was an easy one.
Even with a very good reason to depart, Amane still didn’t think it seemed right to abandon her—and thoroughly soaked to boot.
“You’ll catch a cold, so take this and go home. No need to bother giving it back.”
Deciding this would be the one and only time he meddled, Amane offered Mahiru his own umbrella. After all, he didn’t want her to get sick or anything.
Amane handed over the umbrella—or to put it more accurately, he gave her little choice but to accept. Without giving Mahiru a chance to reply, he turned away and took off. As he left the scene, Amane heard Mahiru calling to him.
Whatever she was trying to say was too quiet and became drowned out by the rain. Amane didn’t stop or turn around until the park was well behind him.
He had cared enough about the girl possibly catching a cold to foist his umbrella on her, so he didn’t feel that guilty about the fact that he had originally intended to ignore her altogether.
At any rate, Mahiru had refused his attempt to start a conversation, and Amane didn’t intend to get any closer to her, either. After all, they had no connection to each other beyond this.
Amane assured himself along those lines as he made his way home.
“Amane, your sniffling’s annoying.”
“You’re annoying.”
The next day, it was Amane who’d ended up with the cold.
As his classmate and good friend Itsuki Akazawa had pointed out, Amane had been trying and failing to snort everything back up his nose. Trying to exhale only resulted in a terrible, wet, burbling sound.
Amane wasn’t sure whether it was because his nose was stuffed up or as a result of the cold itself, but a throbbing pain was spreading across the back of his head. He had taken some over-the-counter medicine, but it wasn’t making a dent in his symptoms at all. Truly, Amane was a sad sight. His congested face twisted in nasal distress as he became well acquainted with a tissue.
Itsuki looked at him, not with concern but exasperation.
“You were just fine yesterday, dude.”
“I got caught in the rain.”
“Aw, chin up. Wait, didn’t you have an umbrella yesterday?”
“…I gave it to someone.”
Naturally, there was no way that Amane could openly admit at school that he’d given it to Mahiru, so he kept things vague.
Incidentally, he’d caught a glimpse of Mahiru earlier that day. She’d looked rather well, not ill at all. Amane couldn’t help but laugh. Things had gotten completely flipped around. It was his own fault—he’d neglected to warm up in the bath when he’d gotten home.
“Don’cha think you were being a little too nice, lending out your umbrella when it was pouring like that?”
“Not really. Even if I did, no point complaining about it now.”
“And who did you give it to anyway? Who was worth catching a cold?”
“…A, uh, a lost little kid?”
Can’t really call her a kid with that body, though… Well, that and the fact that we’re the same age. Although, her face did look kinda lost…
Something clicked when Amane thought of the unusual encounter that way. Her expression had been exactly that of a lost little kid searching for their parent.
“Well, what a kind and upstanding gentleman you are!” Itsuki laughed, unaware of the feelings bubbling up in Amane’s chest as he recalled his meeting with Mahiru the day before. “But you know, even if you let someone borrow your umbrella or whatever, I bet your real problem was that you got lazy and didn’t warm up afterward. That’s why you’re dying.”
“…How do you know that?” Amane shot back.
“Well, you don’t exactly take good care of yourself. That much was obvious the moment I saw your place. That’s why you got sick, dumbass.”
Amane couldn’t really argue with Itsuki’s friendly ribbing. It was true that he didn’t have the most wholesome lifestyle. To elaborate, he was bad at keeping things tidy, and his room was always a total mess. What’s more, he subsisted on a diet of convenience-store meals and nutritional supplements. The only time he had a decent meal was when he went out to eat once in a blue moon. Itsuki often grew frustrated with him, asking him how he could live like that.
Knowing his friend kept such habits, Itsuki was not at all surprised that Amane had caught a cold overnight.
“You oughtta go straight home today and rest up. Tomorrow’s Saturday, so focus on getting better,” Itsuki advised.
“I will…,” Amane replied.
“If only you had a nice girl to nurse you back to health like I do.” Itsuki’s lips curled up at his slight boast.
“Shut up. I don’t need to hear that from a guy who’s already got a girlfriend.” Amane slapped away the box of tissues in front of him with the back of his hand, intensely irritated.
As the day wore on, Amane’s condition continued to deteriorate.
The headache and runny nose were soon accompanied by throat pain and a fatigue that permeated his body. Though he single-mindedly hurried home after school, his body seemed to be losing its battle against the disease, and his pace was agonizingly slow.
Eventually, he reached the lobby of his apartment building and forced his heavy legs to move him into the elevator, where he leaned against the wall. His breathing was rougher than usual, and he felt hot.
Somehow, Amane had been able to endure it while he was at school, but he’d let his guard down now that home was in sight, and his condition had suddenly taken a turn for the worse. Even the peculiar floating sensation of riding in the elevator, normally not a concern, was now a source of dull agony.
When the elevator eventually stopped on Amane’s floor, he staggered out on leaden feet and began to shuffle toward his apartment. Almost immediately, he was confronted by a sight that caused him to seize up, however.
Right there in front of him was the girl he had not expected to speak to again, her shimmery flaxen hair fluttering in the breeze. Her lovely features were full of life, her complexion vibrant and glowing.
Even though she had definitely seemed the more likely candidate to catch a cold, she was healthy as could be. The benefits of her self-care were on vivid display.
In her hands, Mahiru was gripping the umbrella that Amane had forced on her the day before, neatly folded and closed.
She must have come to return it, even though I told her she didn’t have to, Amane reasoned.
“…Really, you don’t need to give it back,” he said aloud.
“It’s only natural to return something you borrowed…” Mahiru hesitated as soon as she got a good look at Amane’s face. “Um. You have a fever, don’t you…?”
“…It’s got nothing to do with you.”
Amane frowned. This was perhaps the worst possible time to run into Mahiru—and all over a stupid umbrella, too. It was the kind of thing that shouldn’t have been worth the trouble of returning. Mahiru was smart, however, and was sure to quickly figure out how Amane had caught a cold.
“But you only became sick because you loaned me your umbrella…”
“That’s totally unrelated. Besides, I loaned it to you on a whim.”
“It most certainly is related! The fact is that you caught a cold because I was out there in the rain.”
“I said it’s fine, really. It’s not something you need to worry about.”
From Amane’s perspective, he had done her the favor for his own self-satisfaction, and he didn’t want her fussing over him now.
However, Mahiru didn’t seem likely to just leave him be. Anxiety was written across her graceful features.
