Next stop, Kyoto. We’re going there to have fun, but we also need to stay vigilant just in case we bump into those extremists the announcement mentioned last night. That said, even the usually calm and composed Ichika is excited to go to Kyoto to visit all sorts of places.

   ‘We should go to Honnō-ji first. We can’t say that we went to Kyoto without going there.’ Kaoru begins while we’re gathered up inside my room at Nagano’s bunker before we depart.

   ‘Indeed.’ Ichika agrees. ‘After we are done there, we head for the Kiyomizu Temple. And then Kinkaku-ji. And then…’

   I just let them plan the route without butting in. I’ve been to Kyoto during my field trip during middle and high school back at my old world, so I was absolutely sick of it. The only differences this time is that we’re not forced to learn anything, and I’m going there with my beloved girlfriends instead of classmates who couldn’t care less about me.

   We choose to ride Shinkansen to go there instead of making Assaf-sensei drive again. Even with the Shinkansen, it’s still going to take 4 hours to reach there. I can’t imagine how long it would take to go there by car.

   ‘We better buy some bento since it’s going to be a long ride to Kyoto.’ I tell the girls once we reach the Nagano train station and bought the tickets.

   All of them agree with me, so we spent some time in looking around for bento shops.

   ‘Excuse me.’ Kaoru seeks the attention of an employee once she found something that she likes.

   ‘Oh, hello. What would you like?’ the employee asks politely.

   Kaoru points and points and points and points and points some more.

   ‘I want one each, please.’ she requests after pointing at ten types of bentos that they have.

   ‘Um…’

   The employee looks at me with a troubled expression. I nod encouragingly.

   ‘Please don’t worry. She can finish eating all these.’ I assure him.

   ‘Well, if you say so.’

   We pay for them after I also got what I want. Between the two of us, we split the eleven boxes of bentos into two separate bags which consists of five and six boxes respectively. Once everyone got what they want to eat, we head to the train platform and wait for the train to arrive.

   While waiting, I couldn’t help but notice some of the passengers are more than mere passengers. It’s not like I could suddenly read minds or detect mana. Rather, it’s their mannerism of secretly taking in everything they see and not letting anything escape their sight. I don’t know who they are, but I didn’t make a fuss since I don’t sense any evil intention from them.

   Madoka noticed me taking notice of those so-called passengers.

   ‘Don’t worry, all of them work for the government.’ she assures me in a small voice. ‘They’re just blending in as normal passengers under the PM’s orders to find and arrest those religious extremists.’

   ‘That’s very reassuring to hear.’

   We got inside the shinkansen soon after it arrives. The seats inside are in twos on the left and threes on the right. My ticket guides me to the first seat on the left with Sakuya as my neighbour. Everyone else has occupied the rest of the rows and columns behind us.

   Since I got the window seat, I get to enjoy the view while I have my lunch.

   ‘This is getting more and more like a field trip, huh?’ Sakuya asks me while eating her own lunch.

   ‘Yup. Only without the we-have-to-learn-something-while-having-fun nonsense.’ I agree.

   ‘How was your life until you enrolled to the Academy, Akira-kun?’ she asks me next.

   Uh oh. This is one part I couldn’t research about the real Akira since the contact numbers and pictures that he got inside his phone are of only his parents and their work place. The only conclusion I can draw from the limited information is that he’s a loner like me, but I’m not really sure. I had to settle with telling her my school life back in my old world. And believe me, it’s not easy since it was so depressing.

   ‘Well, I didn’t get to make any friend since I was an absolute introvert, so going to school everyday was a huge pain. I was basically forced into a group of strangers who didn’t want me on the field trips during both grade and middle school.’ I recall.

   ‘Did you get into any relationship?’

   ‘Of course not.’

   Sakuya looks at me in surprise. So do Saya and Yui who are sitting right behind us and had been listening to our entire conversation.

   ‘Are you sure?’ Sakuya asks me.

   ‘Is it that surprising?’

   ‘Well, yeah! Have you ever counted the number of girlfriends that you have right now?’ Saya asks me.

   ‘I was sure that you at least had two or three girlfriends before you have us.’ Yui adds.

   ‘Nope. I didn’t have a single girlfriend. Not during my grade school or middle school time.’ I tell them.

   Nor during my high school and college time in my old world for that matter. Yup. I had a sad, sad life.

   ‘I’m pretty sure that you at least made some girls fall in love with you without you realizing it.’ Saya insists.

   I shrug. ‘I won’t deny the possibility, but I can swear to you that I had no romantic or perverted encounters during those times.’

   I just hope Akira is the same, or I won’t know how to react if a girl claims that we know each other and confess to me all of a sudden.

   ‘Perverted encounters?’

   ‘Forget I said that. My point is, you girls are my first group of girlfriends.’

   ‘Don’t get me wrong, Akira-kun. It’s not that we’re berating you for having an ex-girlfriend or two. It’s just that if you do have any, I really think it’s better for them to join us.’

   ‘Sometimes your generosity really scares me, senpai.’

   Sakuya chuckles. ‘I would never agree to be part of a harem if I wasn’t generous, Akira-kun.’

   She leans closer so that she could whisper at my ear.

   ‘Also, it’s because I love you from the bottom of my heart.’

   ‘I really wish you could choose a better place to say that, senpai.’

   ‘And I wish you could at least react a bit to my confession.’ she grumbles while poking my cheek with her index finger.

   ‘Sorry, senpai. It came so suddenly I didn’t know how to react.’

   ‘Oh, don’t bother apologizing. I know you well enough by now that there isn’t much point in teasing you, since you barely react.’

   After four agonizing hours, we finally reach Kyoto.

   ‘Let us go!’ Ichika says in high spirit.

   ‘To Honnō-ji!’ Kaoru continues in equally energetic voice.

   ‘The two of you are sure excited about going there.’ I couldn’t help but notice.

   ‘Of course, aniki! It’s that Honnō-ji, you know?’ Kaoru says excitedly.

   ‘It is a sacred place for any Sengoku Era fans!’ Ichika adds.

   How nostalgic. I used to be excited about going to Honnō-ji just like them. The thing is, all my excitement died down after going there twice in a row. Unless the Honnō-ji of this world has the spirit of Oda Nobunaga residing in it, I can’t get myself to be excited.

   Assaf-sensei claps her hand once to get our attention.

   ‘Now now, girls. You have to calm down.’ she tells them. ‘We have to find a lodging to spend the night first, remember?’

   The two of them gasps and lowers their head in shame.

   ‘My apologies, sensei. I was being too impatient to forget this important task.’ Ichika apologizes.

   ‘We’re really sorry.’ Kaoru continues to say.

   ‘It’s fine. Everyone makes mistake, after all.’

   ‘Wow. I guess you can act like a sensei if you want.’ I tell her.

   ‘I’ll take that as a compliment.’

   The nearest bunker around here isn’t that far. We could reach it after walking for ten minutes. Just as we’re about to reach it, I hear a familiar voice coming from beyond the entrance to the bunker.

   ‘Oh no oh no oh no, why didn’t anyone wake me up?’

   The door opens and out comes Amesaki-senpai. She’s wearing her usual business suit, although it’s a bit creased. Her hair is kind of messy too, as if she just woke up and came down here in a hurry. Our eyes met, and she’s surprised to see us just as we’re surprised to see her.

   ‘Um, hello Amesaki-senpai.’ I greet her.

   She looks at me and gets all flustered. All of a sudden, she’s very conscious of her messy hair.

   ‘G-Good morning Kagenashi-kun and everyone.’ she says to us while combing her hair with a comb she pulled out of thin air.

   ‘What are you doing here, senpai?’ I ask her.

   ‘It’s supposed to be top secret, but I guess I can tell you all. Have you heard that some Christian extremists had been spotted in this area?’

   ‘Yes.’

   ‘This will be quick then. We had been dispatched to watch out for and detain them once we found them.’

   ‘Do you have any idea what are they doing here in the first place?’

   Amesaki-senpai looks around and made sure that she’s not being overheard before she answers.

   ‘According to the information we have received, they are here to look for weaknesses of the Japanese deities.’ she tells us in a soft voice.

   ‘What are they even going to do with that information once they got them?’

   ‘This is just a speculation, but I had a feeling that they are planning to eradicate Them to decrease their competition.’

   ‘So that more people would deflect to Christianity?’

   ‘Exactly.’

   Wow. That’s bad. And insane. They’re actually trying to kill Gods. They’re so devoted to their own God that they don’t mind risking their life and getting divine punishment from other Gods.

   ‘We shall assist you in your search.’ Ichika declares firmly.

   ‘Is that really alright? Don’t you have your own business for coming here?’

   ‘Our personal purpose for coming here can wait. Am I not correct, Akira?’

   ‘Ichika’s right. This is much more urgent. We’ll help out, Amesaki-senpai.’

   ‘Thank you. It’s very reassuring to have you join our cause.’

   ‘Please give us some time since we need to get some rooms.’ Sakuya tells her.

   ‘Of course. I’ll be waiting right here.’

   ‘You wait here with Miu-senpai, Akira-kun. She’ll probably need some company.’ Sakuya tells me all as I was about to head inside.

   ‘Um, sure?’

   I turn to look at Amesaki-senpai who’s flashing a happy smile. She caught me staring and immediately drops it.

   While the two of us are alone, my brain is working on overtime as it tries to think of a conversation topic. I failed to think of any, so I decide to talk to her about the mission.

   ‘So, Amesaki-senpai. We’re supposed to search for those extremists, right?’

   Her face turns serious at the mention of her mission.

   ‘That’s right. We haven’t been able to pinpoint their exact locations, so we had to make do with patrolling the area and look for any suspicious individuals or groups.’

   ‘If that’s the case, won’t your outfit make you stand out?’

   She looks down on her clothing while looking visibly confused.

   ‘Is something wrong with it?’

   ‘It’s not wrong per se, but I don’t think it’ll be easy for you to blend in with the crowd while you’re wearing that.’

   ‘I see. So you’re saying that I should wear something more casual.’

   ‘Yes.’

   ‘Very well then.’

   She then proceeds to unbutton her shirt. I quickly cover up my eyes with my hands.

   ‘What on earth are you doing, Amesaki-senpai?’ I demand a bit too loudly.

   ‘I’m changing of course.’

   ‘We’re outside, remember? And you’re changing in front of a guy!’ I remind her.

   I hear her gasp loudly. ‘You’re right! I’ll go inside and change!’

   ‘Please do.’

   Man, that was so scary. I’ve totally forgotten that Amesaki-senpai is an airhead.

   She soon comes out wearing a red long-sleeved sweater dress with a black leather belt tied at her waist. There’s a red scarf surrounding her neck, while on her legs are a pair of black knee-high boots. I assume she got those things with her teleportation magic.

   ‘Sorry for the wait.’ she tells me while tying up her long hair into a ponytail with a hair tie.

   ‘No worries. We have to wait for the rest of them anyway.’

   I had to look away since she looks way too gorgeous in that outfit of hers. I already have my girlfriends, so I’ll be disrespecting them if I stare at another girl way longer than I have to. Unfortunately, Amesaki-snepai has another idea. She makes me look at her by putting her hands on my cheeks and turn my neck.

   ‘Look at me more.’ she demands while pouting.

   ‘Um, uh, I-I’m sorry.’ I stutter like an idiot.

   She gasps as she realized what she’s doing and let goes of me immediately.

   ‘No, I should be the one to apologize.’ she says to me while blushing furiously.

   The girls chose this moment to come out. Sakuya looks at us one by one. Her and the rest of the girls noticed that Amesaki-senpai has changed her clothes, but none of them asked any questions about it. I also notice that Kuromi isn’t here.

   ‘Did we interrupt on something?’ she asks us.

   ‘Nope. You didn’t.’ I tell her. ‘Is Kuromi waiting inside?’

   ‘Yes. She can’t participate in any battles, after all.’

   ‘Fair enough. Now that all of you are here, let’s go.’

   ‘Let’s split up to make things easier. Akira-kun, please go with Miu-senpai.’ Sakuya tells me.

   ‘What? Why?’

   ‘You’re seriously not going to make her wander around the street all by herself, are you?’

   I look at Amesaki-senpai. I was expecting her to act tough and tells Sakuya that she got this. Instead, she’s looking at me expectantly.

   ‘Okay, fine.’

   Right before we leave, Amesaki-senpai gives each of the girl a friendly smile. However, she looked at Assaf-sensei rather coldly and just gave her a stiff nod. Sensei isn’t fazed at all, and instead smiles and waves at the civil servant.

   ‘So, do we have any plans on finding them, or are we just going to look around randomly?’ I ask Amesaki-senpai once we reach the common street.

   ‘The thing is, we were given their mugshots during the mission briefing. However, I don’t think they kept their look, so we’ll have to settle for searching randomly.’ she replies.

   ‘Understood.’

   After walking for a while at the streets full of old wooden buildings, I notice that more and more people are staring at Amesaki-senpai. They’re either mesmerized or being scared of her. I look at her expression and understood why they were so afraid.

   ‘Um, senpai?’

   ‘Yes?’

   ‘I know we’re on a mission right now, but we’re also supposed to be undercover. Please try your best to act like this is a regular outing.’

   ‘Oh, right. My apologies.’

   Thankfully, her expression has become much softer. Now the passer-by are just being mesmerized by her.

   ‘Can I ask you something rather personal, Kagenashi-kun?’ she asks me after we walked for a while.

   ‘Sure. Please go ahead.’

   ‘All those girls back there. All of them are your girlfriends, right?’

   ‘...Yes. Yes, they are.’

   ‘Don’t worry, I’m not judging you.’ she quickly tells me. ‘It’s just that, even Maria Assaf?’

   I remembered how coldly she looked at Assaf-sensei.

   ‘Do you have a personal grudge against her?’ I ask her.

   ‘Well, it’s nothing personal. It is the infamous Maria Assaf we’re talking about. She had committed all kinds of unspeakable horror for centuries. It’s not just her. Her own cult of the Bone Bridge Builders are equally responsible for terrorizing the innocents.’

   Speaking of the BBB, the members had been surrendering themselves to the authorities by droves ever since they lost their leader Assaf-sensei. I don’t know it’s because they suddenly developed a conscience, or they’re waiting for a chance to get back Assaf-sensei. Either way, it has been reported that more than half of BBB is in custody.

   ‘I know she did a lot of unforgivable things. But she knows what she did was wrong. Can you at least try to give her a second chance?’ I plead.

   She lets out a long sigh. ‘I’ll try my best. For your sake.’

   ‘What does forgiving Assaf-sensei has anything to do with me?’

   ‘Well, even with all her fault, she’s still one of your girlfriend. I don’t want to make things difficult for you in case I ever join-’

   All of a sudden, her face becomes very red, and she covers her mouth with both her hands to stop herself from speaking further.

   ‘Amesaki-senpai? Are you all right?’

   ‘Yes! I’m fine! Let us continue with our search-I mean our casual walk that’s definitely not a date!’

   ‘Um, sure.’

   So far, we found no one suspicious. On one side, it’s good that no trouble is stirring for now. On the other, they might be doing something dreadful without any of us knowing. And Amesaki-senpai starts to have a weird expression. It’s like she’s trying to search for the extremist seriously, but she’s also making sure that she doesn’t look intimidating. Luckily, we happen to pass by a shop that sells Japanese Sweets.

   ‘Do you eat sweets?’ I ask her.

   ‘Yes I do. What’s with the sudden question?’

   ‘Please wait here for a moment.’

   I head inside the shop and got us two dorayakis. I hand one to her.

   ‘Oh, thank you.’ she thanks me as she accepts the sweets.

   She bites into the sweets and shows an expression of absolute joy.

   ‘It’s so sweet and delicious~!’ she says while enjoying the sweets.

   ‘I’m glad that you look less tense now.’

   ‘Oh, so you bought this to calm me down?’

   ‘Yes. I’m sorry for not minding my own business.’

   She shakes her head. ‘It’s fine. I should be the one who should apologize. I’m your senpai, and yet you’re the one who’s being considerate of me.’

   ‘To be honest, I got used to deal with hopeless senpai.’

   She chuckles. ‘Sakuya can be quite a handful, huh?’

   ‘No kidding. But more importantly, please don’t pressure yourself by thinking that you must set a good example for your kouhai or anything similar like that. You’re fine just the way you are.’

   ‘Even if I mess up a lot?’

   ‘If anything ,that makes you cuter. The guys who refused to date you are blind.’

   She lowers her head bashfully, and I realized that I said something I shouldn’t.

   ‘Let’s continue our walk, shall we?’

   She just nods and follows along.

   We soon pass by Yogenin Temple. It’s a Buddhist Temple that had been rebuilt after it got burned down. We were just going to pass it by until I saw two men walking towards us.

   Now, the men themselves don’t really draw attention. Both of them look like tourists from a South East Asia country. They could be Koreans, Thai folks or Chinese. I’m not really sure. All those people look the same to me. Right now, they’re just minding their own businesses and chatting with each other. What really caught my attention are the golden cross hanging from a necklace at their neck.

   We pass by each other, and I walk slowly on purpose and wait for a few seconds. I slowly turn around and see them heading inside the temple.

   Wordlessly, I tap Amesaki-senpai on the shoulder to get her attention. After she turned her neck towards my direction, I nod towards the temple. She didn’t ask a single question and just nods. Together, we head inside the temple as well.