It was another normal day. All my girls are busy with their own stuff, so I went to shop for ingredients all by myself at the supermarket. On my way back, I pass by a busy street like I usually do.

   However, unlike the usual day, the street are not filled with all kinds of pedestrians, each of them with their own destination. When I got there, the place is full of knights and yakuzas.

   It was at least easy to tell who’s who, since the knights are all wearing shiny armors and wield swords and shields, and the yakuzas are all wearing an assortment of clothing and uses all sorts of weapons ranging from spiked baseball bats to scimitars and even guns.

   I decide to keep walking, since the two groups are fighting at quite a distance away from me. Besides, it would be a pain to turn back and find an alternate route to go back to my dorm. While I’m walking, I notice something odd.

   The knights are constantly looking around, even though their enemy is right in front of them. Sure, the knights are much more skilled than the yakuzas when it comes to fighting, but that’s no reason to look away and risk your life.

   Unless they’re looking for someone or something that they need to find that their superiors deem more important. Depending on who or what it is, I might have to step in as a representative of the Academy.

   That said, there’s no way I can walk up to one of those knights and ask them. I would just be ignored or chased away. The yakuzas may or may not know, and it would be just as pointless to approach them. In the end, I decide to just leave them alone, unless I happen to stumble across the person/object.

   While I’m passing by an alley, I hear some voices.

   ‘...have to run way!’ a male voice says.

   ‘That’s right! You at least must survive!’ another male voice says.

   ‘But, I can’t just leave you guys here!’ this time, it’s the voice of a female.

   Curiosity got the better of me, so I go inside the valley. There, I see two yakuzas talking to a girl.

   Unlike the rest of the ruffians out there, these two are dressed up in suits and ties, so they must hold a high position inside their organization. Both of them are equipped with guntos.

   As for the girl, she’s dressed up like a typical Japanese high school delinquent: black oversized jacket, black baggy jeans and a pair of wooden sandals. In addition, there’s a kodachi strapped to her waist.

   One of the yakuzas hear me entering the alley and turns around. He glares at me angrily through his sunglasses.

   ‘Beat it, kid!’

   That got the other two’s reaction. The other yakuza is also glaring at me, while the girl tries to calm them down.

   ‘W-wait! I’m sure he doesn’t mean any harm!’

   The girl looks at me and bows repeatedly. ‘I’m really sorry about this! We’ll be leaving soon!’

   ‘Young boss, why are you bowing?’

   ‘That’s right! There’s no need for you to be polite!’

   ‘But-’

   ‘Are you guys in trouble?’ I couldn’t help but ask.

   ‘What’s it to you?’ the first guy asks.

   I shrug and prepare to turn around and leave. ‘None. Please continue with whatever you’re doing.’

   ‘Wait a minute!’ the second yakuza says. ‘Aniki, I recognize his uniform! He’s a student from that Royal Blade Academy place!’

   ‘What? That true?’ the first yakuza asks me.

   ‘Um, that’s right.’

   ‘That’s different, then! I need to ask you for a favor!’

   ‘Which is?’

   He gently pushes the girl forward. ‘I need you to escort Young Boss here back to our HQ!’

   ‘Sure. I can do that.’

   ‘For real? Thanks a bunch!’

   And so, the girl and I leave the alley through the opposite direction where I came from. Her underlings are staying behind to stall any pursuers.

   While she’s guiding me to her HQ, she introduces herself.

   ‘My name is Ueyama Kaoru. ’

   ‘I’m Kagenashi Akira.’

   ‘Thank you for your help, Kagenashi-san, even though you have no obligation to help me.’

   ‘It’s fine. More importantly, why are the knights looking for you?’

   ‘I wish I could tell you, but my father told me not to tell my secret to anyone unless I got his permission.’

   ‘I guess I’ll ask him then. For now, let’s concentrate on getting you back.’

   ‘Yes.’

   I seriously wonder what sort of secret is she hiding. From the way the knights are openly attacking the yakuzas just to search for her, it’s definitely something big.

   There’s also something that’s been bothering me. Her pronouns are boku instead of watashi. I’m guessing that growing up as the future head of a yakuza gang will influence you in some way, but this isn’t adding up. Then again, now’s not the time for this.

   The knights are searching for Ueyama in groups, and we almost run into them a few times. I’m just glad that they’re stupid enough to be loud while they’re searching for her. That makes hiding from them so much easier. Speaking of hiding, I’m surprised that Ueyama can walk around silently while wearing wooden sandals. Usually, those things can make enough noise to wake the dead.

   Eventually, we manage to reach the HQ without getting caught by the knights.

   The place where Ueyama and the yakuzas call the HQ is quite an impressive building with five storeys, concrete walls, metal gates and lots of guards. The yakuzas who were on guard duty were very relieved to see Ueyama. At the same time, they look like they’ll try to exterminate me at the drop of a hat.

   ‘Wait, don’t hurt him!’ Ueyama says. ‘He’s the reason I could come back safely!’

   ‘...If you say so, Young Boss.’ one of them says grudgingly.

   ‘Thank you.’ she turns and looks at me. ‘Let’s go meet my father, Kagenashi-san.’

   ‘Right.’

   Ueyama brings me inside the building and to a huge hall with tatami mats. This is probably the place where the yakuzas have their meals, considering the fact that its size could easily contain more than hundreds of people.

   At the end of the hall a thin man with the longest beard I’ve ever seen is sitting cross-legged on top of a cushion. It’s so long with it almost reaches his waist. As for his clothing, he’s wearing a black hakama and a pair of gray hakama pants.

   He watches us approach him with calm eyes. However, I could feel his intensity all the way from here. No wonder he’s the leader of a yakuza gang.

   ‘Father, this is Kagenashi Akira-san. He’s a student from the Royal Blade Academy. If it wasn’t for him, I might not have make it back. Kagenashi-san, this is my father Ueyama Gojyuurou, the 37th head of the Ueyama Group.’

   I bow at him. ‘Nice to meet you, sir.’

   ‘Likewise.’ he gestures towards the mat. ‘Do sit. And no need to bother with manners, just make yourself at home.’

   ‘Thank you, sir.’

   Since the man of the house gave his permission, I sit down cross-legged just like he is. As for his daughter, she’s sitting down seiza-style.

   Ueyama-san dogezas to me all of a sudden. ‘I thank you for bringing my son back to me.’

   ‘It was nothing, sir. I-’

  ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................…Hmm? What did he just said?

   ‘Pardon me, sir. You mentioned a son just now. Just who were you referring to?’

   ‘I’m talking about Kaoru, of course.’

   I turn to gape at the person in question. She-erm, He looks extremely feminine for a guy. Small and thin body frame, a girlish face, sparkly eyes, alluring lips, black and slightly curly hair that reaches until his neck, and soft and high-pitched voice that you would never thought it belongs to a guy.

   He laughs sheepishly. ‘I’m the very definition of a girl, aren’t I? Except that I’m a boy.’

   Now it’s my turn to do a dogeza.

   ‘I’m really sorry! I really am! I was being so rude!’

   ‘It’s fine! Really! I already got used to it, anyway!’

   ‘There’s no need to apologize, Kagenashi-dono.’ Ueyama-san tells me. ‘We all make mistakes.’

   ‘My father’s right, Kagenashi-san. So please, lift up your head.’

   Seeing that Kaoru (I call him by his first name to avoid confusion) is really not mad, I got up and sit cross-legged once more.

   ‘Now then, allow me to thank you once more for assisting Kaoru with his escape.’ Ueyama-san says. ‘If it wasn’t for you, my son might have been captured by those knights.’

   ‘If I may, sir? Why are the knights targeting your daugh-I mean your son? I tried to ask him just now, but he said that he needs your permission to tell me.’

   ‘Ah, that. My apologies. Kaoru was born with a rather special power, you see. The power itself is benevolent, but it could be misused if some shady characters got hold of him. Which is why I expressly forbid him to use it, or even tell someone that he has it.’

   ‘So, you’re saying that only the people you trust are allowed to know of it.’

   ‘That’s right. Even within my own gang, only a handful of my subordinates know the secret.’

   ‘I think we can trust him, father.’ Kaoru tells his father.

   ‘Indeed. I don’t sense any malicious intent from him. Very well. Show him, Kaoru.’

   ‘Yes, father.’

   Kaoru unsheathes his kodachi and cuts his finger with it. Crimson blood immediately starts flowing. He closes his eyes, perhaps to concentrate. And then, something unbelievable happened.

   The wound closed up by itself. 

   ‘Was that…healing magic of some sort?’ I ask.

   ‘Yes. I have the power to heal wounds if I concentrate for a bit ever since I was small.’

   Oh boy, this is a big secret, indeed.

   The thing is, there’s no such thing as healing magic in this world. Those injured have to receive treatment the traditional way, i.e., by using bandages and stuff.

   ‘When did you first discovered that you have this power?’

   ‘When I was seven. I fell down and hurt my knee. While I was crying, the wound healed by itself mysteriously.’

   ‘I was there when it happened.’ Ueyama-san adds. ‘Needless to say, I was pretty hysteric. After I’ve calmed down, I reasoned that maybe it wasn’t Kaoru who healed the wound, but a mysterious deity of some sort who was watching over him.’

   ‘How did you made sure that it was your son?’

   Kaoru was the one who answered my question. ‘We waited until I’m older, then I used a needle to prick my finger. I waited and waited, but nothing happened. Only when I wished for it to heal, then the wound finally closed up.’

   ‘I see. And how did those knights found out you have this power?’

   He looks a bit ashamed at that. ‘Well, I saw a heavily-wounded knight at a riverside one day. He looked like he was about to die, so I used my power on him. After he was patched up, he insists that I’m the “second Christ” and I should join the Church or the Order to make full use of my power. Naturally, I refused, and wanted him to keep my power a secret. You saw how well that turned out.’

   ‘Wow, talk about biting the hand that fed you.’

   Ueyama-san couldn’t agree more. ‘Indeed. Thanks to that ungrateful scumbag, we had been pestered by those tin men for weeks.’

   ‘And they just decided to attack your son in broad daylight?’

   ‘Actually, we were the ones who gave them an excuse to mobilize a large squad. My boys were having a territorial fight with our rivals the Hidari Group. The knights were alerted to the fight and came over.’

   Now that he mentions it, back at the street, I thought it was weird when I saw some yakuzas fighting each other as well as the knights.

   Kaoru starts sobbing. ‘W-What do I do? It’s all my fault! If people got killed for this, I would never forgive myself!’

   Oh man. He looks so pitiful I have an extremely strong urge to hug him. Calm down, me. He’s a guy. He’s a male. He’s the same sex as you are.

   My urge to protect him aside, this is rather odd. There’s no way Albanese would allow this kind of thing to happen. Doesn’t he know about it?

   Also, this part wasn’t brought up in the original anime, which is why I didn’t know that Kaoru is a guy.

   ‘Just calm down, Ueyama. I’m sure everything will be alright.’ I assure him.

   ‘Um, won’t you call me Kaoru?’

   ‘Huh? But we’re not really cl-’

   His eyes are getting even more misty.

   ‘All right, all right! Don’t cry, K-K-Kaoru!’

   This is ridiculous. I wasn’t nervous at all when I call my girls by their first names, so why is calling a guy by his first name making me so nervous? I’m just glad Ichika isn’t here, or she would definitely pay me back in full.

   He smiles brightly after hearing me calling his first name. That smile is so bright it could rival Yui’s.

   ‘Kagenashi-dono, I hate to be pessimistic, but can we really believe that?’

   ‘Of course you can. I’ll try to do something about it.’

   Kaoru grabs both my hands with his, his face inchs from mine. ‘You will?’

   ‘Yes! Yes! Now let’s keep some distance between us, shall we?’

   ‘Oh, I’m sorry.’ he apologizes and let go.

   ‘For now, I’ll speak to an Inquisitor that I’m well acquainted with. In the meantime, you should avoid going outside, Kaoru.’

   Kaoru nods. ‘I understand.’

   ‘Is that wise, Kagenashi-dono?’ Ueyama-san asks me. ‘That Inquisitor you mentioned might be in cahoots with the rest of them.’

   ‘No need to worry, sir. He’s trustworthy.’ I assure him.

   ‘Hmm, if you say so…’

   ‘Well then, I’ll be taking my leave.’

   Ueyama-san nods. ‘I hope I’ll be hearing some good new from you.’

   ‘Good bye, Kagenashi-san.’ Kaoru says while waving his hand in a girlish way.

   Would you stop being so cute? How many times do I have to remind myself that you’re a guy?

   ‘Yeah. See you.’

   After I leave the building, I posted a text on my LINE group to tell my girls that my return will be late, since something came up. All of them replied that they’re fine with waiting for me, except for Yui, who’s having dinner with her parents tonight.

   ‘I’m sorry that I can’t be there tonight.’ Yui

   ‘It’s fine. Like I said before, you should spend time with your family too.’ me

   ‘Just take your time with your errand, Kagenashi-kun. In the meantime, I’ll be marinating myself with syrup so that I could be the ultimate dessert.’ Assaf-sensei

   ‘Don’t forget about your big sister~’ Sakuya

   ‘...Ichika, please make sure those two don’t cause trouble while I’m gone.’ me

   ‘Got it.’ Ichika

   Assaf-sensei and Sakuya then wrote lots of messages to object, but I just ignored all of them.

   I head to the Church that Albanese and Sara stays at. When I got there, I was greeted by Sara.

   ‘Good evening, Kagenashi-san. Are you here to see my father?’

   ‘That’s right. May I speak with him? It’s kind of urgent.’

   ‘Of course.’

   She brings me into the conference room where Albanese and I had our first proper conversation. She then goes out again to bring Albanese. A few minutes later, the Inquisitor is here, with Sara standing right behind him.

   ‘Well, then. I’ll be taking my leave.’ Sara tells me.

   ‘Yeah. Thanks, Sara.’

   Sara closes the door behind her, and her father sits down opposite me.

   ‘It’s been a while, Kagenashi-kun. Sara told me that you have something urgent to tell me.’

   ‘Yes, sir. Before that, is there a guarantee that we won’t be overheard?’

   ‘You want to be that cautious? Just give me a moment.’

   He stands up and goes next to the door, which has a red button right below the switches used to turn on or turn off the lights. He reaches out his finger and pushes the red button.

   He goes back to his seat. ‘There. Now, every single electronic devices inside this room will be disabled, and no electromagnetic waves can reach here.’

   I take out my phone to confirm. There are indeed no signals here.

   ‘Um, why do you have a signal jammer inside a church?’

   Albanese smiles mysteriously at my question. ‘Let’s just say that even us have the need to talk about unmentionable things at times.’

   I decide to leave it at that.

   ‘Anyway, shall we get down to business?’ he asks.

   ‘Ah. Yes.’

   I then told him everything that had happened and everything that I found out, including Kaoru’s power. When I was done, Albanese was quite confused.

   ‘But, I’ve never received reports from the Order that they found someone with healing power. Naturally, no one told the knights to apprehend him.’

   ‘Does that mean the Order was acting on their own?’

   ‘We can’t rule out the possibility. If so, they have a lot to answer for.’

   ‘Seriously, what are they thinking? Are they trying to start their own Church or something?’

   ‘I sure hope not. There are already enough denominations to cause a huge headache. If one more appears, and they are using a boy with the so-called power of the Christ as a puppet to push their agenda, Christianity itself might crumble over the war to fight over him.’

   ‘Let’s say the knights are really planning to start a rebellion. Are their numbers enough to start one?’

   ‘Oh, you have no idea. After the mass necromancy incident, the Pope have given them more leeway to get more recruits so that we could handle a similar incident with higher efficiency. Looks like His Excellency’s decision was a huge mistake.’

   …Oh. So it’s my fault that Kaoru is being targeted.

   I mean, if this incident didn’t take place in the original anime, then that means it has happened because I messed with the timeline where the Church has become very weak due to mass resignation of its members, including the knights. Now, they were barely weakened after the mass necromancy and even got strengthened, thus giving them funny ideas when they found Kaoru.

   ‘The Pope will be having a conference after 3 days. I will make sure to attend and question the leaders of the Order myself.’ Albanese promises.

   ‘Please do.’

   Now that the matter’s basically taken care of, I thank Albanese for the trouble and left the Church.

   After I got back, the girls welcome me back. For some reason, Sakuya and Assaf-sensei are wearing bathrobes. Their hairs are kind of wet, so the two of them had apparently taken a bath.

   I look at Ichika. She gives me a “don’t ask” look.

   I hand the bag I was holding all these time to Ichika. Yes, I always had it. Just because I never said anything it doesn’t mean that it’s gone.

   ‘Ichika, can you handle the dinner tonight? I got a sexuality crisis, if that’s even a term.’

   She raises her eyebrow while taking the bag. ‘A what?’

   ‘Before I explain, can I have a lap pillow or something? Anything that requires body contact.’

   Sakuya and Assaf-sensei proceed to take off their bathrobe.

   ‘Anything that’s wholesome!’ I quickly add.

   The two of them put on their bathrobe again while looking disappointed.

   While I’m getting a lap pillow from Assaf-sensei while Sakuya, Mashiro and Madoka are taking turns to give me a hug, I told them everything that had happened.

   When I told them that Kaoru turned out to be a guy, Sakuya put her hand on my shoulder.

   ‘It’s okay to be bisexual, Akira-kun.’ she says to me.

   ‘No it’s not! I prefer to be straight!’ I shout.

   ‘Don’t worry, Akira. Mashiro will still love you even though you’re in love with a boy.’ Mashiro tells me.

   ‘You’re kind of missing the point here, Mashiro.’

   Madoka shrugs. ‘If there’s a hole, there’s a way.’

   ‘Madoka, don’t be so vulgar!’

   ‘That said, I’m kind of interested in meeting him. Does he look that much like a girl?’ Assaf-sensei asks curiously.

   ‘You have no idea, sensei. Why do you think I need assurance that I still like girls?’

   I then continue with my story. By the time I’m done, the atmosphere got very serious.

   ‘Oh my, I hope they’re not going to start a war.’ Assaf-sensei says.

   ‘Let’s just believe in Albanese-san.’

   And on that serious note, we have our dinner. After the usual cleanup, the girls head back to their respective rooms, leaving only me in my own room.

   I told the girls to believe in Albanese, but I can’t shake the feeling that something might go wrong. 3 days is way too long, after all.