We try to act normal so that we don’t get suspected. We passed by a few monks who were either sweeping the floor or taking care of the plants planted around the temple. All of them nods at us politely before continuing with their chores.

   It didn’t take us long to find those tourists. They’re following a monk to head inside the temple.

   ‘Now what?’ Amesaki-senpai asks in frustration.

   ‘Please leave it to me.’

   I take out a spider drone we used during the Yamagata’s party and send it to follow them while controlling it with my phone. Amesaki-senpai keeps watch while I control it so that we didn’t get told off for using an electronic device inside a sacred temple.

   Once it’s in, we soon hear the voice of someone talking. It’s one of the tourists.

   ‘Exactly how many Japanese Gods are out there?’ he’s asking the monk.

   ‘There are a total of eight million of Them.’ the monk answers politely.

   ‘Isn’t the number a bit exaggerated?’

   ‘Not at all. We have a God for pretty much everything. A Goddess of the Sun, a God of War, a God of fertility and many, many more.’

   The two tourists looks at each other while sharing a mocking expression. They’re definitely thinking that the monk is being ridiculous.

   ‘Where we’re from, we only have one God. A one true God.’ another tourist, whom we can safely assume is an extremist along with his partner, tells the monk pompously. ‘As such, we never had the need to build thousands of shrines to worship the same number of Gods.’

   ‘The number of shrines and temples we built are indeed numerous. However, we have never seen it as being bothersome.’

   ‘I would if I were you. Is it not true that your ancestors used to make human sacrifices just to appease some of Them? Only a savage God would demand such a thing from His worshippers.’

   ‘It is true that our relationships with our Gods had a somewhat rocky beginning. However, we have made peace with Them over the years. Now They no longer demand human lives.’

   The first extremist scoffs. ‘There’s no guarantee that they won’t change their mind in the near future. Why, our very own Jesus Christ sacrificed His flesh and blood during the Last Supper so that He will live in each and every one of us.’

   ‘That is very noble of Him.’

   ‘Indeed. Which is why you should abandon your eight million Gods and turn to Christianity instead.’

   ‘My apologies, but I have devoted my entire life to Buddhism. As such, I have no intention to change my religion.’ the monk declines politely.

   The two extremists click their tongue at the same time, but remembered their manners at the last moment.

   ‘No matter.’ the second extremist says. ‘May we ask some more questions regarding your Gods?’

   ‘Certainly. Please ask away.’

   The extremists then ask the monk about the major Gods in Japan, their weaknesses if any, and all sorts of things. Eventually, we had to leave the temple since we’ll be suspected if we hang around for too long while just standing at a spot.

   ‘Seriously, they’re so persistent.’ I comment after they tried to convince the poor monk to change his religion for the umpteenth time.

   ‘No kidding. They’re even worse than the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and that’s saying something.’ Amesaki-senpai says.

   ‘The what?’

   ‘They’re a group of Christians who have different beliefs than regular Christians.’ she explains. ‘To convert more people to their beliefs more effectively, they tend to do door-to-door so that they can share their faiths to non-believers. When I had to rent a house as a cover when I was doing a mission in America, two of them came and knocked on my door. It took me an hour to decline them and make them leave.’

   ‘Desperate bunch, aren’t they?’

   ‘Well, enough about them. Let’s focus on these two.’

   ‘Right.’

   They went on and on for quite some time. By the time they were done, it’s way past lunchtime. The two of us found a restaurant and had a meal there so that we didn’t get hungry. Finally, the extremists thank the monk and leave the temple. I quickly have the drone latch on to the leg of the first extremist who spoke.

   ‘Do you think that everything we learned from that monk will help us in any way?’ he asks his partner once they’re outside.

   ‘Heaven knows. It sounded like pure gibbersi for the most part. Either way, we should head back to our base so that we can report to Hunter-sama.’

   Amesaki-senpai flurrows her eyebrows when she heard that name.

   ‘Do you know him, senpai?’ I ask her.

   ‘Yes. Clark Hunter. He’s known as one of the leaders of the extremist. To think that he would come here himself.’

   There’s a tracking device inside the drone, so we don’t have to follow them to find out where they’re going. While we’re waiting them to stop, I send a message at the LINE group to ask my girlfriends to come to a quiet alley behind the restaurant, while Amesaki-senpai calls her colleague to drop by. Eventually, all of them arrive. As expected, all the civil servants are wearing casual clothes.

   ‘Why didn’t any of you wake me up? I’ve totally overslept, you know.’ Amesaki-senpai grumbles to her twenty colleagues.

   ‘Sorry, Miu.’ one of her female colleagues apologizes. ‘I did want to wake you up, but you looked so exhausted I decided to let you get more sleep. And I’m really surprised. I thought you’ll come out while wearing your suit. Looks like you’re not a scatter-brain for once.’

   Amesaki-senpai looks away guiltily.

   ‘O-O-Of course. I won’t remain an airhead forever, you know?’ she stutters.

   The female colleague suddenly looks closely at the dress Amesaki-senpai is wearing.

   ‘Say, isn’t that the dress you bought last week that you said you’re going to wear when you finally get to go to your first date-’

   Amesaki-senpai lunges at the female colleague and cover her mouth with both her hands.

   ‘Right, that’s enough! No more from that mouth of yours!’ she interrupts while blushing furiously.

   She finally lets go after a few second. The female colleague looks at me.

   ‘Hello there, I’m Motome Nao. I was the vice president of the Academy before I graduated.’ she introduces herself. ‘What’s your name?’

   ‘It’s Kagenashi Akira.’

   Motome-senpai grins when she heard my name and looks at Amesaki-senpai. The former glares at her, as if warning her not to say anything unnecessary.

   Motome-senpai couldn’t stop chuckling. ‘So you’re Kagenashi-kun, huh? That explains a lot of things.’

   ‘Whatever do you mean?’

   ‘I’m sorry. I can’t tell you anymore than this or else Miu here will kill me.’

   She then looks at Sakuya. ‘That said, fancy meeting you here, Sakuya. It’s been a while.’

   ‘Indeed it has, Nao-senpai.’ Sakuya agrees.

   ‘Who succeeded my place as the new vice president?’

   ‘That would be Kurogane Ichika here.’ Sakuya answers while gesturing towards Ichika.

   Ichika bows respectfully at Motome-senpai. ‘It is an honour to finally meet you in person, Motome-senpai.’

   ‘Likewise.’

   While the atmosphere between them is friendly, the atmosphere over here is getting tenser by the second as Amesaki-senpai and Motome-senpai’s colleagues are glaring at Assaf-sensei. My teacher/girlfriend is just staring back impassively.

   ‘Well Akira-kun, I’ll bead back to the bunker and accompany Kuromi since I’m not welcome here.’ she tells me.

   ‘I’m sorry for making you come out in the first place.’

   ‘Don’t be. I had fun taking a stroll around here. Now then, I’ll be excusing myself.’

   The tense atmosphere disappears once Assaf-sensei is gone.

   ‘I’m sorry for my colleagues’ behaviour, Kagenashi-kun.’ Motome-senpai apologizes to me. ‘It’s just that, well, we can’t really forgive her for what she did.’

   ‘It’s okay, Motome-senpai. I know that old grudges die hard.’

   I was about to suggest that we depart until I notice that our group is way too huge. There’s no way we can go anywhere without getting a huge amount of attention.

   ‘I can scout out the place first so that we can discuss on how to raid it.’ Madoka suggests when I point it out. ‘Meanwhile, all of you can just wait here. It’s not like people pass by here anyway.’

   ‘Okay, but be careful. You might be walking into a trap.’ I caution while handing her my phone so that she can look at the location of the drone.

   She smiles confidently. ‘I hope so. It would be too boring if I could spy on them without any trouble.’

   And off she goes. While she’s gone scouting, the rest of us talk about strategy.

   ‘Since we have this many people, some of us should surround the building while the rest of us charge inside.’ I suggest.

   Amesaki-senpai agrees with me. ‘Good point. We can’t have any of them escape, after all.’

   ‘The real problem is, how are we going to divide up the manpower?’ Motome-senpai asks.

   ‘Good question. I guess we need more intel on the enemy for that. And we won’t be getting any until Madoka is back.’

   ‘You know, I’ve always heard that she’s always emotionless, but that smile of hers just now totally shattered any rumors. What happened to her?’ Motome-senpai asks me.

   ‘Um…’

   Before I could think up of an answer that won’t make things awkward, Sakuya answered the question for me.

   ‘Well, you know what they say, Nao-senpai. Love can change someone.’ she says while smiling and looking at me.

   ‘I see. I guess there’s hope for your scatter-brained behaviour, Miu.’

   ‘W-What does that have to do with me?’ Amesaki-senpai asks her old friend with a red face.

   ‘Oh, I wonder.’

   Madoka soon comes back and gives us a full report on what she saw while she was scouting.

   ‘They’re hiding inside a warehouse.’ she begins her reports while handing me back my phone. ‘It’s old and quite weathered down, so it was probably abandoned in the first place. I’ve checked the surrounding area. Not trap, no guards, no nothing.’

   ‘How many extremists are there?’ I ask.

   ‘A total of twelve.’ she replies. ‘Based on their conversation that I listened in to, they have another group hidden somewhere in Nagoya as well, although I couldn’t find out where.’

   ‘We have another group searching for the extremists over there.’ Motome-senpai informs us. ‘Let’s just hope that they have succeeded.’

   ‘Have you managed to find out about their Grades?’ Amesaki-senpai asks.

   In this world, Western priests are given Grades when they join a branch of Church and passed the initiation given. Think of Ranks given to Academy students if you want a reference, only replace alphabets with numbers. The lowest is Zero, and the highest is Seven. From my understanding based on the limited information I obtained by watching the original anime, your Grades are determined by your resolve to serve your God and the ability to fight off temptation. Naturally, the higher your Grade, the more status you have.

   ‘I’ve heard some names, but not all. One of them is Clark Hunter, a Grade Five.’

   A few gasps are heard. I guess he’s pretty famous around here. A Grade Five, huh? That’s the same Grade Albanese has.

   ‘There’s also at least three Grade Four. I’m not sure about the rest as they’re wearing some kind of fake face that even my gadget that I use regularly to identify people isn’t working.’

   ‘That’s another thing we have to watch out for.’ Motome-senpai warns us. ‘We don’t know how yet, but they seem to have access to all kinds of items made from advanced technology to help further their cause.’

   ‘Don’t the same group of people usually shun modern technology and prefer to live in houses made of bricks or something?’ I ask.

   ‘I guess they think that it’s fine if they’re the ones who use them.’

   ‘Bloody hypocrites.’ I grumble.

   ‘In which case, I can’t detect any of the said items other than their fake face.’ Madoka continues. ‘As Motomo-senpai said, we’d best be careful.’

   After she’s done with her report, I tell her about our strategy. She nods in approval.

   ‘Based on the number of the enemy, we probably don’t really need a lot of people to charge in. A group of around ten should be sufficient.’ she adds in. ‘Everyone else can be in charge of surrounding warehouse.’

   ‘Sounds good.’

   I look at Mashiro. ‘Mashiro, I want you to be one of those who wait outside. If anything goes wrong, use your wind magic or Sogdrul to move around and help out.’

   The tiny girl nods. ‘Got it.’

   I turn to Kaoru next.

   ‘Are you sure you want to come with us?’ I ask her. ‘This might be dangerous for someone like you who never went to a battlefield where some of your enemies aren’t humans.’

   ‘Don’t worry about me, aniki! I’ll make sure to take care of myself once we got there!’ she assures me determinedly.

   ‘Okay. If you say so. Just remember to run away if you got scared or feel that you might get overwhelmed, alright? Pride’s nothing compared to losing your life.’

   ‘But-’

   ‘No buts.’ I tell her firmly. ‘You can rest assured that all of us here will do everything we can to keep you safe. Even so, things might get so messy that no one can watch over you. When that time comes, you have to be responsible for your own well-being. No forcing yourself and acting like a hero, okay? I brought you here for a vacation, not a battlefield simulator that can’t be restarted.’

   ‘I understand, aniki.’ she agrees reluctantly.

   ‘Good. And don’t look so gloomy. This babysitting is until you become a full-fledged student of the Academy. After you pass the entrance exam, maybe we could go take on a mission with just the two of us.’

   Her expression brightens up at once. ‘You mean it?’

   ‘Of course. Who knows, maybe you’ll end up protecting me, instead of the other way round. For now, let’s survive this together.’

   ‘I got it, aniki!’ she answers much more cheerfully.

   ‘That’s the spirit.’

   Before we depart, we take out our earpiece and synchronize our channel so that we could hear and call out to each other when necessary. I got another one so that Kaoru can use it to communicate with us as well.

   After making sure that all preparations had been done, it’s time to head to the warehouse.

   The warehouse is located at the outskirt of Kyoto. From the look of things, not many people drops by around here. Which is fortunate for us. We really can’t have innocent people getting caught up in this.

   The team responsible for the frontal attack consists of myself, all my girlfriends who are present except for Mashiro, Amesaki-senpai and Motome-senpai. The colleagues of the two senpais’ along with Mashiro are to surround the warehouse and capture anyone who tries to escape.

   After we got close to the warehouse, those in charge of surrounding it proceeds to do it from multiple directions. Us the attack team wait patiently for ten minutes while they get in position. Once the ten minutes are up, we take out our weapon and charge towards the warehouse.

   Just as we’re around hundred of feet away, multiple angels appear out of thin air and intercept us.

   This is how the Western priests attack their enemies. Each of them are given a small book which contains lots of incantations. One of the incantations is to summon an angel from Heaven to assist them in battles. The strength of the angel summoned is directly corresponding to their summoner’s strength, along with their number the priest is able to summon in one go. In the original anime, I’ve seen Albanese summon Gabriel, one of the archangel when he was challenged by Yuuji. Considering that Hunter is a Grade Five like Albanese, I was expecting to see an angel who look much different from the rest. But nope. All of them look around the same.

   The angels in this world are usually blonde with white wings and own weapons made of silver. They also tend to act elegant and speak elegantly even when doing battle. The ones we’re about to fight, on the other hand, look nothing like that. Their hair are black, and so are their wings. Their weapons are forged with some kind of onyx metal. As for their mannerisms…

   ‘SURRENDER YOUR SOULS TO US!’ one of them screeches at the top of his lungs.

   ‘DEATH AND DESTRUCTION TO YOU ALL!’ another screams while swinging her spiked mace on a chain dangerously.

   ‘NO MERCY! NO SALVATION!’ a third one yells like he’s assuming that everyone here is half-deaf.

   Well, there you have it. They’re as elegant as a group of drunk pirates. I assume that the reason they act, talk and look like this is because they’re fallen angels who got corrupted when their contractors strayed from their paths.

   One thing really bothers me, though. Some of them look stronger than the others, but there isn’t one that looks particularly dangerous like he or she was summoned by a Grade Five priest. I don’t hear any movements from within the warehouse, so they’re not preparing to escape. If so, why is Hunter conserving his strength?

   It would be real nice if Mashiro could just summon Sogdrul and teleports me inside. Unfortunately, he can’t teleport people to a place where Mashiro has never been to or at least able to get a glance before. I guess we have to charge straight in.

   ‘Sakuya-senpai and Yui, the two of you and I are going inside the warehouse! Everyone else, please do your best to cover us!’ I say into the earpiece.

   ‘Got it!’

   With Sakuya and Yui on my both sides, I head straight for the warehouse while ignoring the fallen angels. Everyone managed to get us safely to the entrance of the warehouse, and I kick the mostly rotten wooden door open with my left leg.