Inside the hole was a young girl. She was a bit older than Tanuki, but that was hard to tell from the smooth white of her face.
Her eyes were emerald green, a complete contrast to her pink, pigtailed hair and dress, which was followed by a short, white skirt.
The girl had an "oh shit" expression on her face.
Tanuki too was utterly frozen. He knew that bubble of light was following them, though what he didn't know was that said bubble was a human.
"W-Who are you?" He asked with a trembling voice.
The girl rose onto her feet and dusted off her clothes. Then, she sighed loudly, and burst forward with a wide smile.
"Congratulations, Hachiro Tanuki! Your smartness is beyond anything I was expecting! Truly you are the greatest observer in the history of observing!"
"How do you know my name?" Tanuki recoiled.
"What were you waiting for? Did you expect your… Uh… Guardian angel to not know your name?" The girl puffed out her chest.
"Guardian angel?"
"Yes! My name is Paulina Torres la Diablo! I'm your greatest ally!"
Tanuki was surprised by the news. The friendly light was his guardian angel all along?
It's true that his ass got saved twice by the mysterious figure. If she's really to be trusted, this angel could be his greatest ally.
Still, he had some questions before betting his trust.
"May I ask, if you're my guardian angel, why haven't you shown your full form before?"
The girl's eyes widened. It was clear she wasn't expecting the question.
"I'm… Well… My contract says I can't reveal my identity! That's against the heavenly law! Breaking it results in me going to jail and having to repay 200% of my earnings!"
"Are you sure you're an angel? That just sounds like you've been offered a webnovel contract."
"A what?"
"Forget it." Tanuki raised his hand for a handshake. "You already know who I am. Feel free to call me Tanuki! You've helped me out so much already that I'd feel bad not letting you use my real name."
The girl looked at Tanuki's hand. For a short moment, an emotion akin to disgust lit her eyes. Still, the moment passed and she shake Tanuki's hand with a bright smile.
"C-Call me Diablo. That's the nickname I'm most used to."
"Cool!" Tanuki turned to where he climbed from. "Follow me, I'll need your help."
"Huh?" Diablo muttered, but Tanuki didn't hear her as he began to climb down.
He climbed down the rocky stairs with way more recklessness than before. That was only natural, as he felt much safer by the thought of a guardian angel watching his back.
Diablo followed Tanuki. She had small butterfly wings on her back which allowed her to fly.
Small particles of dust followed every flap of her wings. It was magic that made the tiny wings work so well.
"Hey! I saw you can make people fly. Why don't you just follow your friend with one of those weird "parachute" thingies?"
"Because I still have a job to do down here. That's also what I need your help for."
Diablo was confused. She saw them collect the cloud moon and Maduka fly away.
What was that "other job" Tanuki was talking about?
The sun was setting. Tanuki lit a torch as he delved back inside the dark mine. Diablo followed him close, looking behind her back every few meters.
"O-Oy, why are you coming back here?"
"Haven't you heard me the first time? I've got stuff to collect."
As they delved deeper, a mouse ran by them.
"GAHH!" Diablo screamed and latched onto Tanuki.
"Oh, a rodent. How cute."
"CUTE?! That thing nearly scared the shit out of me!"
"You're pretty vulgar for a guardian angel."
"I'm…"
Diablo wanted to say something, but instead, she turned silent and remained so for most of the walk.
Tanuki arrived back at the gigantic crane. He looked around for a lift that could be taken and once he found one that looked comfortably deadly, he stepped onto it.
Diablo followed.
"Hey, this thing looks dangerous!"
"Yup. But I guess it's still better than nothing."
"What are you talking about?! This thing looks like it's going to break at any moment! How can you stay so calm when a drop from this height could kill you?"
Tanuki's face churned into a smug smile.
"I got a guardian angel watching my back. Why should I be afraid of anything? I'm invincible! Hahaha!"
"This guy…" Diablo shook her head as Tanuki pulled on the rope.
A graveyard of destroyed constructions lay under the crane's shadow. Some drones were still emitting light, searching for someone to collect their data as they slowly passed onto the world of electric Valhalla.
Tanuki stopped by a suspiciously large pile. He stabbed the torch into one of the drone's eyes and walked up to the rubble.
He grabbed one of the heavy bodies and threw it aside. Diablo gazed at him in confusion, especially when he turned and silently gazed at her.
"So? Are you going to just stand there?"
"W-Wait, what? You want me to help you trash through that… trash?!"
"Well, your job is to help me, right?"
"Oh, uh, well, would you look at that! My ~guardian angel senses~ are tingling! My… Uh… My ~guardian powers~ must be running low! I need to leave ASAP…"
She turned to fly away, but Tanuki grabbed her by the shoulder. He leaned close and whispered into her ears:
"I thought guardian angels were bound to their guarded's soul, which means they don't need to be fed."
"What? Who told you that crap?"
Tanuki was stubborn. Much worse, he had that same prideful smile on his face which creeped out Diablo.
There was no fighting him. Diablo let out a loud sigh and approached the robots' remains.
"Alright. Let's get this over with."
"Awesome!" Tanuki clapped with excitement.
"I can't believe this guy…"