Chapter Twenty: Innocence to Love:

Kyosuke watched Watari bring up Charlotte�s file on the laptop screen. Funny thing, he met them earlier before. Charlotte sat in the lobby waiting when the newly-made shinigami ran inside. He stopped when he found her standing around. Curious, Kyosuke approached her. She looked up when she heard the footsteps.

�Hello,� he said as he gave her a little wave. The woman blinked while looking him up and down.

�Hello,� she said slightly confused. �Are you here for testing too?�

�No, I work here,� he said. �I started today.�

�I see,� she replied. �I�m Charlotte and I�m here with my roommate.� Kyosuke nodded in understanding.

�Alright,� he said.

�Tell me if you feel pain,� Watari said over the microphone.

�Okay,� Charlotte replied. The scientist picked up the knife. Kyosuke kept his eyes on Takashi. He�d never seen an angel in person before. From what he learned, they and demons didn�t have a human form. The very appearance threw him off.

�You look human!� he blurted out when he first saw Takashi. The angel paused in his tracks.

�Yes,� he said, turning to the direction of the voice. Kyosuke covered his mouth quickly. Takashi smiled for a bit.

�Heh,� he said. �I�m impressed you noticed.� Kyosuke gave him a puzzled look.

�Huh?� he asked.

Takashi held Charlotte�s hand through the first cut. Kyosuke had more questions about the pair.

Wait, are they�? The young man then noticed someone next to him. He glanced over to see another shinigami watching Watari�s work. She looked about his age, maybe a year older. Just by looking at her, he guessed that she was foreign. Somehow, Kyosuke couldn�t take his eyes off of her. Her gold earrings drew attention to her cheekbones. The boy ached to say something. Too bad he couldn�t find the right words yet.

Come on, say something!

�Excuse me,� someone spoke up. Kyosuke nearly leapt backwards. The lady shinigami now stared at him. Kyosuke had never seen eyes so blue before in his life. Her face looked so perfect like a Victorian doll. The newbie shinigami started to regains his wits.

�Yes?� he asked in a yelp. The girl blinked at him.

�Are you alright?� she asked. The faint British accent he heard in her voice confirmed his thoughts on her. The newbie quickly nodded.

�Yes!� he said. �Excuse me!� Kyosuke rushed out the door. Cool water from the bathroom faucet helped to calm him down. He took a breath and looked in the mirror. What was that just now? He tried to dig for the answer in his brain. He remembered what his older brother said when he saw the next door neighbor�s niece when he was seven.

�Ah, Kyosuke-kun�s been hit with the thunderbolt,� Sosuke said with a laugh. The younger brother didn�t get it at first. Despite not fully gettin it even now, Kyosuke couldn�t get the girl Shinigami out of his head.

But I just met her and I don�t even know her name. Somehow, that didn�t matter. Her eyes and accent lodged themselves in his mind. Kyosuke shut his eyes. He might have imagined it, but he thought he could hear his heart pounding. This feeling� He opened his eyes with resolve.

�Okay then,� he said to himself. Kyosuke turned and went back to the lab. He found Watari waiting at the doorway for him.

�Welcome back, Kyosuke-kun,� he said. �Ready to join us?� His new assistant blinked at him.

�Who was that in there with me?� he asked. His manager gave him a proud smile.

�She is my other assistant that I told you about on the phone,� he explained. It took the newbie a few seconds to catch up.

�Oh,� he said flatly. The young man briefly remembered Watari calling him just before he left his apartment.

�She transferred from England, didn�t she?� Kyosuke asked.

�That�s right,� Watari said. The younger Shinigami nodded. That confirmed his guess on origin of country.

�What�s her name?� he asked. Watari pressed his hands together and smiled.

�April Roberts,� he beamed.

�A�pr�il Ro�ber�ts,� Kyosuke repeated. He paused as the �thunderbolt� returned. He had a face, voice, and a name.