Volume 1, Chapter 3: Women’s Dorm of the Anglican Church. Russian_Roulette.

Part 1

Morning came 9 hours later in London than in Academy City.

With soft sunbeams and the chirping of the birds coming in the window, Kanzaki Kaori stood dumbfounded in the changing room of the women’s dorm.

In front of her was a state-of-the-art Academy City fully automated washing machine.

“I told you...Just because the box said it could wash an entire futon doesn’t mean it’s true.”

Because it had been getting colder lately, Kanzaki was wearing a jacket that came down to her navel in addition to her usual T-shirt and one-legged jeans. The jacket had its right arm completely cut off, so her shoulder was visible.

“The way this washing machine works is always giving us trouble...”

There was a sound of an object falling to the ground. It came from Shichiten Shichitou sliding down from where it was leaning against the wall. However, Kanzaki didn’t even notice.

October 3rd was her day to do the wash, but this had all been caused by Agnese Sanctis saying she might as well stick the futon in there too, wrapping the thick futon up tightly, and throwing it in the washing machine.

The fully AI-run appliance seemed like it was about to start spewing black smoke because it was emitting a worrying low rumbling moan as it rattled back and forth.

“...”

Speaking of Agnese, she looked like she was half-in-tears and had her back pressed to the changing room wall as she tried to keep as far from the washing machine as she could. She looked like someone who had been driven into a corner and she was trembling enough to give the washing machine a run for its money. Because Agnese’s shaking looked like it could whip cream, Kanzaki wasn’t sure if she should berate her or not.

That was when Orsola Aquinas came in.

The large-breasted nun’s smiling face was all that could be seen because she was covered from head to toe by her black nun’s habit.

“It’s time for breakfast.”

“It’s too soon!! Can’t you give a little thought to the flow of things so far!?”

“Oh. But I would think that having breakfast at the same time as usual would be the natural flow of things. In fact, isn’t the washing machine the only irregular aspect?”

Kanzaki fell silent.

When she thought about it, Orsola was right.

While her attention was pointed elsewhere, Agnese sang out “B-b-b-breakfast. Breakfast!” and ran out of the changing room.

Kanzaki sighed, scratched her black-ponytailed head, picked her katana up from the ground, and headed for the dining hall. Orsola must have been tired, because her body swayed left and right as she smiled and walked down the hallway.

“Oh, right. Kanzaki-san.”

“What is it?”

“What was that package that came addressed to you the other day? I’m pretty sure it was from Tsuchimikado-san in Japan.”

Kanzaki’s shoulders jumped in surprise.

She messed with her bangs using her thumb and forefinger as she spoke.

“O-oh, it wasn’t really anything. I didn’t feel it was anything worth mentioning.”

“I see. The label had ‘Fallen Angel Maid Set’ written on it in large letters, so everyone found it to be rather disturbing. But it wasn’t anything to worry about?”

“N-no!! Not at all!!”

Kanzaki shook her head back and forth as she trembled at a high speed.

Orsola either didn’t notice how Kanzaki was acting or her thought pattern had gone forward or backwards to somewhere else.

“By the way, doesn’t that long katana get in the way?”

“F-for me, one with a little weight to it is easier to wield.”

“My, my. And I thought its length had some religious meaning.”

“Oh, it does have a meaning from Japanese legend.”

Kanzaki was relieved that the subject had finally changed and she continued speaking while walking down the corridor with Orsola.

“The only reason there are a lot of religious katana is that the ruling classes of Japan held katana and other types of swords in high esteem. If they had held axes to that same esteem, there would be a lot more axes. It’s the same as how in some areas the people are proud of their fish and vegetables and in others it’s their kitchen knives and pots. It all depends on what people in that area find most important.”

She ran her fingertips along Shichiten Shichitou’s hilt.

“In Shinto, everything is based on the theory of the 8 million. In other words, it is thought that gods reside in everything and therefore anything can become a magical tool. The Amakusa church often uses this idea by creating spells out of the objects at hand. But because a different god resided in each object, a single object cannot be used for various different kinds of spells.”

“Yawn...I am quite sleepy.”

“!! You asked the question and you aren’t even paying attention!?”

Kanzaki yelled in amazement, but Orsola merely rubbed her eyes and quickly headed into the dining hall.

Left behind, Kanzaki’s shoulders drooped as she entered the dining hall as well.

It was a large room.

Originally, only about 70 people used it, but the recent arrival of the former Agnese forces had added another 250 to that. The fact that there had been room for them was a good indicator of how much space there was.

There was no set time for Necessarius activities, so the nuns ate their meals at different times. Because of this, the dining hall almost never filled up.

But...

“I can’t believe that whenever Orsola is in charge of the meal, every seat is full. Talk about only caring about yourself.”

Kanzaki reached her table while still in amazement.

Agnese, Orsola, Lucia, and Angelene were sitting nearby. Seeing Lucia with her pointed eyes pulling on Angelene’s cheek, Kanzaki guessed that the small girl with a bent back must have snuck some food before the meal.

“Bh-bhut I only want to ask Sister Orsola for her secret.”

“Her secret? Don’t be ridiculous.”

“But I want to know how to get big breasts.”

(...What are they talking about?) Kanzaki thought as she covered her face with her hands in exasperation.

Meanwhile, Lucia and Angelene continued their argument.

“Sister Angelene. A nun does not need breasts. A nun is supposed to cut herself off from every kind of desire and breasts only bring the danger of tempting men. It is Sister Orsola and I who have the fault here.”

“Wah! You say all that, but still declare yourself as having large breasts!? I won’t let you draw the line as cruelly as that! And someone like you who complains about her breasts getting bigger even though you’d thought they’d stopped growing and saying they hurt wouldn’t understand how I feeghaah!?”

As Angelene was speaking, Lucia’s face had turned red and she pushed down on Angelene’s braided blonde head as hard as she could. As they struggled, the knives and forks on the table rattled.

Kanzaki gave them a warning as she watched on in utter amazement.

“Angelene. And you too, Lucia. It’s time for the pre-meal prayer. Quit making such a racket.”

But Angelene wasn’t listening.

She looked at an area a little bit below Kanzaki’s face.

“And the point goes to Japanese food!!”

“Enough with this sacrilegious conversation, Sister Angelene! And you, Kanzaki Kaori. If you’re a nun, put those filthy things away!!”

“They aren’t like this to draw attention to them!!”

Kanzaki shouted in return without thinking, but the humble (in both mind and body) nuns averted their gaze and clicked their tongues lightly.

And in that strained atmosphere, they prayed and started breakfast.

Nothing particular was made for breakfast in the women’s dorm. The day before, cards indicating what people wanted for breakfast the next day were counted and then a single type of meal was made all at once in a giant pot.

But Orsola was skilled enough to make a number of meals all at once. She couldn’t make hundreds of meals on her own, so a few dozen other nuns would help her. However, Orsola knew the recipes to a large number of foods and she was good at accurately instructing others.

So in front of Kanzaki was white rice and miso soup, in front of Agnese and Lucia was pasta, and in front of Angelene was French food.

Kanzaki muttered “itadakimasu”, picked up her chopsticks, and spoke.

“Really, what’s with that washing machine? First it took all the color out of the obi to my yukata and today it broke so easily. Academy City didn’t send us a washing machine that would eliminate the spiritual effects equipped on our clothes, did they?”

“Ah. Ah ha ha. Let’s focus on our food. Okay?” Agnese tried to change the subject with an overly dry smile.

Meanwhile, the tall Lucia and the bent-backed Angelene were speaking.

“Uheh? Sister Lucia, that much will hold you until lunch? The pasta only covers half your plate.”

“Sister Angelene, you are taking too much food. What kind of menu is that? A nun does not need chocolate drink or ice cream with her breakfast. If you maintain a spirit of moderation and are thankful for the food with discipline and faith, a single plate of noodles will fill you up. You could even say that I am being blessed with too much.”

“Hehh... Well, if you don’t need all that, I’ll eat it for you.”

“!? Stop entwining my pasta around your fork, Sister Angelene!!”

As the large and small nun combo struggled, Kanzaki removed the bones from her grilled fish and sighed. From the way they had just been talking about breasts, it was hard to believe that those two had been pointing weapons and asking for their deaths while calling them heretics just a few weeks before.

(It seems one’s assessment of people can change given a chance...)

Kanzaki finished removing the bones from her grilled fish in an oddly solemn mood, popped open a small container and pulled out an umeboshi. No artificial dyes must have been used in it because it was more of a beige than a red.

And...

When Kanzaki looked up, Lucia and Angelene were looking wide-eyed in her direction.

“Wh-what?”

Kanzaki was taken aback and the two nuns whispered to each other.

“(...Sister Angelene. The Asian is about to eat something I’ve never seen before. Is that the ‘umeboshi’ from the country of the samurai I’ve heard about?)”

“(...I bet it’s necessary for an Amakusa spell. I’ve heard they have something called a ‘hinomaru bento’ there. It has something to do with imitating their flag.)”

“(...Does eating their flag have some kind of religious meaning? This could be our chance to learn about what peculiar direction Amakusa spells have taken.)”

Kanzaki couldn’t decide whether to correct their misunderstanding or not, and Agnese nudged her shoulder.

Looking over, Kanzaki saw that Agnese’s eyes were fixed on her umeboshi.

“What does that taste like? Can I try one?”

“S-sure. I don’t mind... Wait, on your pasta!?”

Kanzaki was shocked to see Agnese put the umeboshi on top of her pasta that was cream-colored as she had already put white sauce on it. As Agnese mixed it around, the pasta turned to a light pink color.

Kanzaki’s face paled as she saw that, but surprisingly enough Agnese smiled in enjoyment when she took a bite.

“Hm, this is quite fresh. It has a refreshing flavor.”

“Really, really!?” said Lucia and Angelene in excitement. But Kanzaki was the most surprised. Japanese-style pasta with soy sauce or mentaiko was one thing, but she doubted cream sauce with an umeboshi in it was actually good.

Orsola hadn’t been getting into the conversation very much and she had had her head tilted to the side for a while by that point. With a completely happy-looking expression she muttered something about wondering how many meters long her pasta was as she continued to spin her fork around in thin air. She was probably asleep. Kanzaki tilted her head to the side in puzzlement at the fact that Orsola had been able to make food this good while in a state like that.

And then...

“K-Kanzaki-san! Me, too! Me, too!! I want to try an umeboshi, too!!”

Angelene was yelling while leaning forward on the table. Looking down, Kanzaki saw that her main dish was a soft croissant. Kanzaki was about to ask her what exactly she was going to put the umeboshi on, but she suddenly stopped.

(No, I can’t give her the preconception that an umeboshi is eaten on top of something. She’s open to new things like Agnese. Once she has tasted an umeboshi, she should make her way to true Japanese food with no problem.)

“S-sure. I have plenty, so if you want to try one, go ahead.”

She consented humbly, but Kanzaki had actually dried them in the sun herself on the roof of the women’s dorm because she wasn’t satisfied with the commercial ones. Because she had been worried about not getting enough sunlight with London’s frequently changing weather, she had made a plastic greenhouse for them and had gone back and forth on whether she should just use magical light or if they had to be completely sun dried. The fact that people were praising them made her extremely happy on the inside, but she made sure she was a true Yamato Nadeshiko by hiding that feeling behind a calm fa?ade.

Kanzaki took an umeboshi out of the container with her chopsticks and put it on a small plate. Angelene took it with a cheer.

Kanzaki examined Angelene’s face to see how she would react to it.

“You put an umeboshi on something to eat it, right? I can actually be a bit weak to fruit pastes like jam and marmalade, though.”

“Hah?” Kanzaki said as her eyes turned to dots.

She had a feeling there was a grand misunderstanding going in here, but she didn’t do anything in regards to those fears.

“This isn’t the same thing as an Eastern sweet, right? I think those are called ‘wagashi’. I’ve been interested in them for a while.”

Angelene popped the umeboshi into her mouth without any caution at all.

And directly afterwards...

Her eyes turned to X’s, her lips puckered up, and she fell backwards in her chair.

She abandoned her meal and ran from the dining hall screaming something.

An umeboshi full of the history and techniques of the Amakusa church was nothing like commercial ones.

Part 2

Once breakfast was over, it was back to battling the washing machine.

“Owner’s manual – check. A screwdriver and other tools – check. The warranty card just in case... Eh? The support center is in Japan? That means it’ll be at the international rate!”

Kanzaki was right at the line between being determined to finish and deciding to give up as she trudged along a hallway in the women’s dorm.

That was when one of the doors along the hallway suddenly opened.

Sherry Cromwell came out looking sleep deprived and scratching her disheveled hair. Her blonde hair looked like a lion’s mane and her light brown skin made her look wild. The sun had already risen high into the sky, but she was still wearing a black negligee.

She was holding a chisel and hammer for sculpting in her hands.

“...Oh, Kanzaki. Is there any breakfast left?”

“I see you got so absorbed in sculpting that you forgot what time it was again. There’s no breakfast left, but Orsola’s in charge of the food, so if you clasp your hands and beg I’m sure she’ll make you something.”

As she spoke, Kanzaki looked over Sherry’s shoulders and into her room.

Sherry had rented out two rooms in the dorm. One to sleep in and one to work in. There were plenty of people that rented out multiple rooms to help manage their spiritual items, but renting a room for something that was no more than a hobby was quite rare.

Sherry’s room was labeled as the “Sculpture Room”, but there were no sculptures in it. There were only piles of the shattered pieces of former sculptures in the four corners of the room.

Except for a statue of a small boy in the center of the room.

It was a life-size marble statue with “Ellis” carved into its pedestal.

“That one was a failure, too.” Sherry muttered when she saw where Kanzaki was looking. “Even though it’s a failure I can’t bear looking at, I just can’t bring myself to destroy it.”

Sherry was almost speaking to herself and Kanzaki only knew that Ellis was the name of the golem Sherry used. Because of this, Kanzaki asked a simple question.

“So that isn’t the name of the spell you use?”

“...When I was naming it, that was all that came to mind.” Sherry responded sulkily. “I was creating a puppet to protect me and when I got to the stage where I had to give it a name, his was the one that came to mind first. I’m aware it makes it look like I’m clinging on to regret.”

Sherry chucked the sculpting tools she was holding into the room, locked the door, and headed for the dining hall without saying another word. Kanzaki didn’t know the details, but Sherry’s back looked somehow smaller than usual.

(Well, asking further wouldn’t accomplish anything. Sticking my head into other people’s business doesn’t necessarily lead to the path of salvation.) Kanzaki was the bearer of the magic name meaning “reach out the hand of salvation to those with none” so she was itching to do something, but she forced herself to remain silent.

“O-oh, there you are, Kanzaki-san...”

Now Angelene was half-running toward her. She had gotten up and left halfway through breakfast, but now she was holding what almost looked like a tube of toothpaste in her hand for some reason. It most likely contained ganache.

“What is it, Angelene? Where have you been? Oh, I think your breakfast was already cleared from the table.”

“Kh... N-no, that doesn’t matter. I don’t mind. That just means lunch will taste even better.”

“Then, how about you try another umeboshi at lunch. This time you can actually put it on rice and...”

“No thank you!! I’m not going to have any more of that devil’s food you call an umeboshi! It messed up my mouth and not even drinking hot milk made it go away! That’s why I’m eating chocolate now!! All my admiration for Japan was destroyed in an instant!”

Hearing that disheartened Kanzaki Kaori, but she gracefully controlled her emotions like a true Yamato Nadeshiko so there was no outward change. Or so she thought. In reality, her shoulders drooped.

“Well, I won’t force you to try... So, what did you want me for?”

“O-oh, that’s right. Um, well, I’m not actually the one that wants you...”

“Oh, were you asked to pass a message along to me? Is it from Agnese?”

“N-no. It isn’t a message. You’re needed as a representative of the dorm... Um, um, and it isn’t from Sister Agnese.”

“Lucia then?”

“Um, well, it isn’t from Sisters Lucia or Orsola. Nor is it from Sisters Catarina or Agata. In fact, it isn’t from anyone in the dorm.”

“???”

(This is the Anglican Church’s women’s dorm, but there’s someone else here?)

Kanzaki tilted her head to the side in confusion.

“Umm, I think she said she was...” Angelene tilted her head to the side a bit, too. “Oh, right. Sasha. It was Sasha Kreutzev.”

Part 3

Sasha Kreutzev.

She was an official member of the unit of the Russian Orthodox Church that specialized in magical combat, “Annihilatus”. They specialized in the annihilation of non-human things that “shouldn’t be”. To do so, they would not hesitate to use magic that had been completely banned ever since Rasputin’s corruption of the government. It wasn’t rare for them to destroy everything in the area their target appeared in leaving no remains behind and making major changes to the terrain. Because of this, there were currently limitations in place on entry to the country by people from certain nations that wished to protect the cultural properties there.

One of their magicians would not be quite as strong as a magician from the Anglican Church’s Necessarius in a one-on-one battle, but by equipping herself with saws and hammers and other British-made spiritual tools of torture, Sasha compensated for that. She looked like a short blonde girl, but with the 7 tools around her waist, she was an almighty magician who could deal with any kind of situation by changing her tactics accordingly. She had great value as an agent of her organization due to her ideal level of skill.

Kanzaki had seen a different side of her on the coast of Japan, but it was best to think of that as a different “her”.

Sasha Kreutzev was an agent of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Why was she in London and why was she at the women’s dorm of the Anglican Church?

It was unlikely she was sightseeing or had gotten lost.

The Roman Catholic Church and Academy City were in an explosive situation, so Kanzaki could naturally sense a political scent to Sasha’s visit.

She could have been there for a negotiation, to discuss something, to try to work out a deal, or even to give a warning.

As Angelene brought her to the dorm entrance, Kanzaki braced herself.

“My first answer: I am lost.”

“Ehhh!?” Kanzaki yelled out without thinking.

Seeing Kanzaki’s astonished face, Sasha nodded slightly.

“My second answer: Thank you for the excellent reaction.”

historical

“You were kidding!?”

Kanzaki didn’t remember Sasha Kreutzev being the kind of person who made jokes, but then she remembered that that was a different “her”.

“My third answer: As I am sure you have guessed, I have come here as an envoy of the Russian Orthodox Church. But I would like to add that this is not a formal meeting on the part of my church. As I will be expressing my personal feelings, this is no more than an unofficial conversation.”

It seemed this wasn’t a clear display of hostility from the Russian Orthodox Church.

Kanzaki let her guard down slightly.

“I see... Well, I doubt you want to stand the whole time we talk, so come on in.”

“My fourth answer: Thank you for-...”

Sasha’s words cut off suddenly.

When Kanzaki turned around to look at her, Sasha was moving her right hand behind her.

It looked like her fingertips were shaking unnaturally.

“My first question: There are magical defense on this facility, are there not?”

“No... There is some bait here meant to lure in anyone within England who wishes to bring unrest, so those kinds of defenses are purposefully left off.”

“My second question: Then are there other magical operations occurring within this facility?”

“Well...” Kanzaki thought for a second. “Now that you mention it, some of the people in the dorm cast storage spells to protect their spiritual items. But I wouldn’t think very much magical power would seep out to here from that.”

Kanzaki wondered if this had anything to do with Sasha’s trembling fingers.

Meanwhile, Sasha nodded slightly as if to show she understood.

“...My fifth answer: It is nothing. Let us go to somewhere where we can talk.”

She brought her small hand to her chest and breathed deeply before looking forward again. Kanzaki may have been mistaken before, because her fingertips looked the same as ever.

Kanzaki moved to the side as if to show Sasha the way and wondered where she should take her. This was the women’s dorm so there weren’t any areas for taking visitors. But since Sasha was a special envoy of the Russian Orthodox Church, she couldn’t exactly take her to a private area like her own room.

It seemed the dining hall was the only option.

“But why are you here? There are representatives of the Anglican Church at St. George’s Cathedral.”

“My sixth answer: Vasilisa...That is, a superior of mine whose personality I would rather not discuss, is headed there. She has entered England for a conference there and I have entered as her aide.”

Kanzaki, Angelene, and Sasha walked down the hallway to the dining hall.

“Then your being here makes even less sense. If you’re the aide, you should be by the Russian representative’s side during the conference.”

“My seventh answer: There are various circumstances on the Russian side. It may sound rude to you on the British side, but I personally feel my being here is more important.”

“...”

Given the unstable state of the world, a Russian magician wouldn’t have been able to get into England easily, so Sasha had used the conference as a means to get in.

This seemed suspicious, so Kanzaki brought her guard back up.

“(...U-um, Kanzaki-san.)”

Angelene was tugging on Kanzaki’s pants.

“What is it, Angelene?”

“(...Do you know her? And...she has a fairly unique way of dressing.)”

Sasha Kreutzev’s shoulders gave a large twitch.

She was wearing only a revealing straitjacket-like collection of black belts as innerwear with a red cloak over it.

“Shh!” Kanzaki said as she held her index finger to her mouth.

“(...There are different cultures out there. That outfit must have an important meaning in the Russian Orthodox Church.)”

“(...E-ehh? Really? It just looks like something a weird middle-aged man you run into on a deserted street at night would be wearing...)”

“(...Angelene! Don’t say that. You’d get mad if someone mocked the way you expressed your faith, wouldn’t you!?)”

Sasha was trembling slightly, but she never reached the explosion point. There were only fragments of sentences occasionally escaping her lips such as “I’m not dressed like this because I want to be...”, “The Russian Orthodox Church isn’t a collection of perverts...”, and “I will kill Vasilisa....”.

As this was going on, they reached the dining hall.

Breakfast was over, but a number of people – mostly former Roman Catholic nuns – were sitting at the tables chatting. They had no set time they had to get to work, so when they were on standby they did nothing else.

“Hm?”

Sherry turned to look at the three who had entered while stuffing her mouth full of a ham and lettuce sandwich Orsola had made with whatever food she could find (Orsola really must have been tired because the contents of the sandwich were sticking out from the bread).

“Someone’s wearing a swimsuit and it isn’t even summer.”

A vein showed up on Sasha’s temple. She must have been overly shocked by having someone wearing an extremely revealing negligee say that. She muttered “I will kill Vasilisa. I will kill Vasilisa. I will kill Vasilisa.” under her breath in a frightening way.

Kanzaki put her index finger to her mouth to keep Sherry from saying anything else and spoke.

“U-umm. This is Sasha Kreutzev. She is an agent of the Russian Orthodox Church and she’s come here to have an unofficial discussion.”

Everyone in the dining hall was listening to Kanzaki with the possible exception of Orsola. She was so tired she was walking to and fro between the tables while holding a fancy tea set on a tray and wobbling back and forth.

In her place, Agnese who was holding some playing cards responded. Across the table fr-->>

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