~Oliver's POV~

The night was short—but it was filled with fun and games, so I wasn't that mad.

The next day, though....

"Oliver!"

I shifted slightly in bed. The voice sounded vaguely familiar, but I was too tired to pay attention to it. "Urgh.... Five more minutes...."

There was a slight pause, but the voice persisted anyway. "Oliver! I've found you! Get up!"

A sharp pain was all I felt from my stomach and I shot up. "Ow! H-hey!" Looking around, there was no one.

But then....

A head popped in front of me, grinning. "Oliver! I'm so glad you're okay!"

A...a woman?!

"Uwah?!" I flinched away and ended up falling out of the bed. "W-who are you?! W-what?!"

The woman moved aside and sat cross-legged on my bed. She looked around Kuro's age....

What the hell?

"Oh, you don't remember me?" She pouted childishly. "It's Ann, sweetie! I'm your mom, you know?"

I blinked. "Wh...at?"

"Did you really not get it?" The lady—Ann, apparently—pressed a fingertip confusedly to her lip. "Well, I gave birth to you, silly!"

"H-huh?! Hell no! N-no way! Kuro!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, scrambling to my feet to rush downstairs, but the door opened faster than my arm and I was met with hard wood to the forehead.

"Ah, Oliver?!" Kuro gasped and frantically helped me up. "A-are you okay?! I'm so sorry!"

I groaned in pain, warily touching the now-swollen red skin on my forehead. "Goddamnit.... Kuro, get this lady out of my room!" I pointed to Ann, who only sat there innocently with a smile that matched.

Kuro turned her head to where my bed was and paused, then turned back to me. "Er, I think the door might've hit you a little too hard, Ollie. C'mon, sit down. I'll get you some ice." She helped me over to my bed, to where I was greeted with Ann's arms wrapping around my chin.

I gagged. "Wh—Kuro! She's right here!" Pulling away from her grip, I sat up and pointed a finger straight to the curly-haired woman.

Kuro furrowed her eyebrows together in concern. "Oliver, there's no one there.... I'll get you some medicine too...." She sighed and left the room without another word, shutting the door.

"She can't see me, you know." Ann smiled, humming softly. She snapped her fingers and two large bird-like wings sprouted from her body. "I'm an angel, after all." She pulled me up and hugged me tighter than Kuro had ever. "Oh, your father will be so happy to see you!"

I gasped for air. "W-what?!" I pulled away and frantically asked the questions that piled up in my mind with each new thing discovered. "A-angel?! T-that's just one...one hell of a cosplay! You're some...some kind of spy, right?! What do you want with me?!"

Ann sighed. "Jeez, you really don't get it yet, huh?" She pulled me up and we both stood in front of each other; she was clearly taller due to her age difference.

She held my hands gently and led me to the windowsill, where she climbed up and spread those wings even wider.

There's...no way we'd actually fly, right?

"H-hey! I won't go with you!" I jerked my hand away—or so I thought.

She didn't let go, instead only pulling me up as a burst of wind carried us into the air and sent multiple items inside my room falling.

I shrieked, clinging onto her tightly. She seemed to be enjoying my fear; the houses got farther and farther away until I couldn't see them anymore past the clouds. It was getting harder to breathe, and suddenly there was no sound.

We had stopped moving.

Ann set me down on what seemed to be a cloud, but I still...didn't believe it.

This has to be a dream made up by my obsession with existence and that boy Len.... Or is he even real?

It's just a dream, after all....

"Welcome toooo: Heaven!" Ann raised her hands up, laughing like a child. "All your worries will be washed away! We'll get you a new set of wings, Angel-In-Training Oliver!"

I looked around; everything was white. So pure white. There was shining gold too, mixed with the sky's light blue color. It was beautiful, but....

Was any of it real? I doubt it.

"T-this is...? W-what?" I stood shakily—the ground wasn't exactly firm and I had never been up so high before, so of course I was afraid.

Ann twirled around happily. "Oh, I'm so glad! We can finally be a real family again!"

I almost choked on literally nothing. She was...definitely not my mom. This is a dream.

I stumbled forward and Ann gasped, quickly catching me. "Oh, that's right! Come on, I'll take you home now." She led me once more through what looked like a town made of clouds and snow.

It really was beautiful; too bad it was all fake anyway.

We reached a house, if you could call it that, at what seemed to be the far end of the town and she opened the door to let me in.

"Oh, Ann!" A man's voice came from inside and he headed down, only to look extremely shocked. "Y-you...."

I blinked and looked away quickly. "Uh...."

"Oliver!"

There was no time to protest before the man's arms swung around me just as tightly as Ann's had. I was going to suffocate, wasn't I?

"Al, let the boy go!" Ann scolded, placing her hands on her hips. "He's turning blue!"

The man known as Al gasped and let go of me quickly. I inhaled sharply to catch my breath.

"Forgive me, Oliver, I'm just so happy to finally see you again! We were so worried...." Al nodded solemnly and turned to Ann. "Dear, to be honest, I didn't think you could do it."

"Oh, how dare you!"

The two started to bicker back and forth for a while and I stepped back a bit to think things over. Then, an idea appeared.

"U-um, excuse me!" I spoke up, pointing a finger. "Is there someone here named Len...?"

That moment, both of their eyes seemed to dim of whatever light they had previously.

Ann spoke first, cautiously.

"Oliver...how do you know that name...?"