Kamiya’s spirit looks…well, I’m not trying to be disrespectful to the dead or anything, but she’s kind of disturbing to look at.

As Toyama had described, both of Kamiya’s eyes had been slashed in half. Blood are constantly dripping out of them, her already blood-covered uniform got even more tainted by the crimson liquid. Some blood have found their way to the floor, and they’re slowly forming a puddle at her feet.

I sneak a glance at Yui. Miraculously, she looks very calm…or she passed out while standing.

‘Um, Kiryuu?’ I whisper to her.

‘Yes, Kagenashi-kun?’ she whispers back.

Oh, so she didn’t pass out.

‘Do you want to try to talk to her?’

‘Yes, I do.’

Yui steps forward and raises both her hands to prove to Kamiya that she’s unarmed.

‘Um, Kiryuu? I don’t think Kamiya can see.’

‘Oh, right. You’re Kamiya Eri-san, right? My name is Kiryuu Yui. I’m here to-’

‘Give me your eyeballs.’ Kamiya interrupts Yui.

‘Kamiya-san, please listen-’

‘GIVE ME YOUR EYEBALLS!’

With this eardrum-bursting shriek, the glass of the nearby windows shatter,its pieces flying straight towards Yui and I. I immediately take out Gáe Bulg and blast those shards away with a wave.

‘Kiryuu, I’ll deal with this! You concentrate on talking to her!’ I tell Yui.

‘Got it!’

While I’m busy with flying glass, Yui is trying to make Kamiya to pass on.

‘Kamiya-san, please listen!’

‘GIVE ME YOUR EYEBALLS! GIVE ME YOUR EYEBALLS!’

The more Kamiya screams, the more glass crack and fly towards us. While I'm still busy, I hear some rumblings in nearby classrooms.

A moment later, the doors of those classrooms slide open, and the tables and chairs inside the classrooms fly out.

‘Oh boy…’

This is getting out of hand, so I decide to use another of Gáe Bulg’s ability: the power to summon warriors dwelling in the deep sea.

After some training, I could summon up to six of them, and I can even ask them to bring weapons that I deem fit for the situation. Here, no attacking is required, so I mentally ask them to bring shields, then I slam my spear at the floor.

At once, six fish-headed warriors wearing an assortment of armors covered in algae and seaweeds appear. As per my request, all of them are holding large shields that are made of ship parts.

‘Protect the girl and I from all these flying objects!’ I order them.

They nod and take up formations around us. Every time something comes flying at us, they raise up their shields and deflect it. I also do my part, although a spear isn’t as efficient as a shield.

Meanwhile, Yui isn’t doing so well at calming down Kamiya. The spirit’s keep repeating the sentence like a broken recorder in a loud voice. She’s so loud I doubt she can hear a single word that Yui is saying.

‘Kamiya-san, you have to pass on! You can’t keep staying here-’

‘GIVE ME YOUR EYEBALLS! GIVE ME YOUR EYEBALLS! GIVE ME YOUR EYEBALLS!’

Suddenly, I sense someone behind us. When I turn around, I see a grey-haired man that’s wearing a black priest’s robe and a cross on his neck coming up from the stairs.

Adelberto Albanese.

Drat. What’s he doing here? Was he passing by and sensed spiritual activity in here? If he interferes, Yui’s determination to do this alone will be for naught.

Just when I was about to ask him to not interfere, I stop hearing both Kamiya’s inhuman shriek and Yui’s voice. I turn around and find that Yui is hugging Kamiya.

‘It must have been very tough for you. Dying a horrible like that and getting turned into an evil spirit…’

Kamiya was struggling insanely at first, but she gradually stays still.

‘I know it’s sad, but you’re already dead. There’s no need for you to linger in this world. Please, rest in peace.’

Kamiya starts to sob.

‘I..I’m sorry for trying to hurt you…’ she says between sobs and chokes.

‘It’s okay…it’s okay… We know you didn’t mean it…’ Yui soothes.

Albanese is just a few feet away from the two of them. Before he could get any closer, I stand in front of him. Surprisingly, he just looks at me and doesn’t try anything.

‘Am I really allowed to move on?’ Kamiya asks.

‘Of course. Go to the light. Find peace.’

Kamiya lightly pushes Yui away. Her eyes suddenly become normal, and the blood on her uniform are gone. Her expression is very calm, even though she was prepared to murder us just a moment ago.

‘Thank you. And goodbye.’

At that, she disappears. Even the blood on the floor are gone.

Yui lets out a sigh of relief. ‘I did it. I did it, Kagena-’

She turns around with a happy expression and sees Albanese. He stares back with an impassive face.

‘As you can see, sir priest, the spirit has passed on peacefully. We thank you for coming here, but your service is not required.’ I tell him as politely as possible.

‘So it would seem. However, the clothes of the young miss are tainted with blood. If you so wish, I could give you a ride to the church I currently reside in so that it may be washed.’

I look at Yui. She nods at me.

‘We would gladly take up on your offer, sir priest.’

‘Very well. Let us depart, then.’

Before we leave, I dismissed those deep sea warriors. They disappear by turning into foams. After that, Yui and I go to the security room and tell the guards what had happened. They are very grateful, and couldn’t stop thanking us.

Albanese brings us to a black car. He unlocks it by pushing a button on his key and goes inside the driver’s seat. Both Yui and I sits at the back.

At first, he was driving in silence. He eventually opens his mouth.

‘My name is Adelberto Albanese. I am one of the Inquisitors who serves the Pope.’

‘I am Kagenashi Akira, a student from the Royal Blade Academy.’ I introduce myself.

‘As for me, my name is Kiryuu Yui, also a student of the Royal Blade Academy.’

‘Yes, I know those uniforms anywhere. The two of you are the students of that blasted Morufuji.’

‘You know the principal, sir?’

‘Yes. We used to be drinking buddies, back when we were young.’

Yui and I look at each other. I’m not sure we heard what he just said correctly.

‘There is no need to look so surprised. Every one of us will go through the phase of being an outcast of the society. The only difference is whether one will abandon that phase, and when.’

He looks at Yui with he rear-view mirror. ‘And I know of your father too, young miss of the Kiryuu family.’

‘But, I don’t recall of ever meeting you, sir.’

‘Oh, we have never met.’ Albanese assures her. ‘It’s just that ever since you were born, your father would constantly send me photos of you. The last photo he sent me was three days old. I could recognize you the moment I saw you.’

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‘...’ Yui lowers her head in embarrassment, too ashamed to speak.

Unlike the other students, Yui got special permission to stay at the temple which doubles as her house. It’s probably the reason Yui’s father Kiryuu Genjirou will always have fresh photos of his daughter.

Yup, all the fathers in this anime are doting. We have Principal Morifuji who’s strict on the outside but still doting on the inside (a tsundere, if you will), and then we have Head Priest Kiryuu who’s straight up doting. Don’t even get me started on Ichika’s father.

And the relationship between Principal Morifuji and High Priest Kiryuu explains all the leniency the principal had towards Yui. This is refreshing to know, since Yui and Sakuya never brought it up whenever they’re together in the anime.

The church was a ten-minutes-long drive from the school. I said church, but it’s nothing like the one of those ancient buildings you see in overseas. If there isn’t a huge cross at the top, I would have mistaken it for a three storeys apartment building.

We go inside. A priest and a priestess of Japan lineage come out and greet us, although they look kind of surprised that Albanese brought visitors. Albanese tells the priestess to bring Yui inside so that her uniform could be washed. The priestess complies without a single question.

While waiting, Albanese brings me to a place that looks like a conference room with a large and long rectangle table and lots of chairs. I sit down on one of the chairs, and Albanese sits down right opposite me. The priest who greeted us outside serves us tea, and then leaves after being dismissed by Albanese.

Silence. More awkward silence.

Oh man. This is so awkward. I gotta find something to talk about. But what topic should I have a conversation with with an easily-offended religious fanatic? Before I could decide, Albanese took the first initiative.

‘You seem uneasy around me.’ he observes.

‘Uh, well…I’ve heard rumors of how you…ah, dislike…people like us.’ I took me a while to form this sentence so as not to offend him.

‘Ah, those rumors. Yes, it is true that I despise those who use magic, which is akin to selling their souls to the Devil. However, you young ones are mere…students. The fault lies not in you, but those that educate you.’

I’ve a feeling that he was about to say something much more unpleasant before he paused, like pawns or puppets, but restrained himself at the last moment.

‘Albanese-san, all of us joined the Academy because we chose to do good with our powers. We are not controlled or being brainwashed, so please refrain yourself from insulting us or our educators.’ I look him in the eyes and say firmly.

He looks at me quietly for a while. Surprisingly, he smiles.

‘I believe it was six days ago. Morifuji and I met each other by chance when the both of us were shopping for groceries.’

I can’t in my feeble life ever imagine the scene where the two of them are walking around inside a supermarket while pushing shopping carts, but pointing that out would be rude, so I kept quiet.

‘Our relationship has somewhat gone sour when we chose paths that conflict with each others’ ideals, but we are not so distant to ignore each other on sight, so we had a little chat.’

‘And I was somehow brought up?’ I take a guess at where this conversation is going.

‘Correct. Morufuji mentioned that his daughter gave an A Rank Regalia to a C Rank student. Naturally, he was not happy with her decision. However, he saw how you led the students during the raid to purge the vampires and realized that his daughter did the right thing. He said he was extremely proud of you. Looking at you now, I can see why.’

I try my utmost best to hold back my tears. My parents back in the real world never said so expressly, but I could tell that they were never proud of me. They would rather spoil my younger sister who’s much more talented. I was pretty much invisible to my classmates and my teachers. I was never bullied, but never acknowledged either.

After all I’ve experienced in the real world, to think that an anime character of all people said that he’s proud of me. I’m simply overwhelmed with emotions.

‘But he said that lately he has mixed feeling towards you, mainly because his daughter is quite attached to you. He was thinking of transferring you to another branch, but did not do so for fear of being hated by his daughter.’

And all the emotions I had immediately became one of fear.

At this moment, Yui comes in. Her uniform’s being washed, so she has to wear a priestess’s robe. She looks absolutely stunning in it.

‘What’s wrong, Kagenashi-kun?’ Yui asks me when she sees me staring at her.

‘I have a sudden urge to pray to you.’

‘Please don’t.’

Yui takes a seat beside me. She was served tea as well, which she took a few sips. I didn’t touch mine. Did I mentioned that I’m a water or iced chocolate person?

‘Thank you for your hospitality, sir.’ Yui tells Albanese.

‘You are welcome. Feel free to make yourself at home until your uniform is cleaned and dried.’ Albanese says while standing up.

‘Where are you going, sir?’ I ask curiously.

‘Back to my office. I am pretty sure you two younglings would prefer to be left alone than having a boring middle-aged man around.’

‘Um, sir? Could you stay for my sake? My father would never let me hear the end of it if he ever finds out that I’ve been alone with a boy.’ Yui pleads.

‘ Ah yes. Your father is that Genjirou who could not wait for you to get married so that he could talk to his son-in-law about how cute you are.’

‘Please don’t remind me.’

After getting pleaded by Yui, Albanese stayed with us. To pass the time, Yui asks him to tell us about his younger days with Principal Morifuji and High Priest Kiryuu. He’s pretty reluctant to talk about his past with Principal Morifuji, although he has no problem reminiscing his times with High Priest Kiryuu.

‘Whenever Morifuji and I had a fight, Genjirou was the one who stopped us. You could say he’s the reason the two of us didn’t kill each other.’

‘Was the relationship between you and Principal Morifuji that bad?’ I couldn’t help but ask.

‘Oh no, we used to get along quite well before everything went south. It’s just that we are always influenced by alcohol and became very violent. Genjirou’s solution was always the same: cooling our heads by dunking us at the nearest river. Here is my advise to you, never drink too much alcohol.’

Albanese shares a few more stories with us before Yui’s uniform is finally ready. She excuses herself to get dressed inside an empty room, and returns the robe to the priestess.

Albanese is more than willing to give us a ride, but we declined. We prefer to walk our way back to where we stay.

‘Once again, thank you for the hospitality, Albanese-san.’ Yui thanks him before we leave.

‘Think nothing of it. You could come visit me again if you ever feel like it.’

‘Yes, we will keep that in mind.’

Ordinarily, it’s dangerous for a pair of high school students to be outside when it’s late, but the two of us are more than capable of handling most things that might come at us.

‘Thank you for today, Kagenashi-kun.’ Yui tells me.

‘It was nothing. I did promised you that I would come with you, didn’t I?’

‘You could have refused.’

‘And let you deal with Kamiya-san’s spirit alone? Not a chance.’

‘It’s more than helping me to deal with her. Back in the arcade, your words made me realized that I can’t keep on being a coward if I want to protect people.’

‘Maybe I could have worded it better.’ I say to her apologetically.

‘No, it’s alright. My other friends would be never as direct as you, and I needed someone to be honest with me, or I’ll never grow.’

When we are about to reach Yui’s house, we decide to part ways. Things would get complicated if someone from Yui’s family sees us together, especially Yui’s father.

‘Yui, is that you?’

We look at the direction where the voice comes from. There, a middle-aged man that’s wearing a Japanese priest’s robe and long pants. In one of his hand, he is holding a plastic bag.

‘F-Father?’

Yup. He’s Yui’s father Kiryuu Genjirou. So much for not wanting to be seen.

‘ Father, my apologies for taking my time to come back.’ Yui bows deeply at her father.

‘No worries. You did informed me that your return will be late. More importantly,’ he suddenly looks at me. ‘Who is this?’

Uh oh.

‘He’s Kagenashi Akira-kun, my classmate. Kagenashi-kun, this is my father Kiryuu Genjirou. He’s also the High Priest of the temple.’ Yui introduces us.

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

He shows me a friendly smile. ‘Nice to meet you too. I hope my daughter didn’t cause you any trouble.’

‘Not at all, sir.’

‘This daughter of mine is a very nice girl, but she tends to try too hard.’ he says while stroking Yui’s head.

Yui puffs up her cheeks. ‘Father, could you not treat me like a child?’

‘See? She’s an absolute angel. If only I could get enough petitions to build her a temple so that she could be worshiped-’

‘Father? Didn’t you gave up on that?’

‘Give up? NEVER! Japan, nay, the world needs to know how cute you are! Young man, you understand too, right?’

‘Well, it’s true that she’s very cute-’

‘Kagenashi-kun?’ Yui’s face is bright red now.

‘But I do think building a temple is a tad too far. Besides, don’t you already have a temple?’

‘Nonsense! Nothing is too far or too much for the perfect deity that is my daughter! As for the temple, it already houses quite a few deities. Are you saying that Yui has to share worshipers?’

Yui suddenly takes out her phone. High Priest Kiryuu’s face immediately goes pale.

‘Yui? What are you doing with that?’ High Priest Kiryuu demands.

‘To call mother of course.’ she tells him with a sweet smile. ‘I’m sure she’s delighted to know that you still haven’t give up on your plan.’

‘Wait, Yui! There’s no need for her to know!’

‘Oh, but there is. You need to learn you lesson, father.’ Yui starts to tap on her phone.

‘All right! I’m sorry! I’ll give up on the plan! So please! Don’t tell Yuuko!’ High Priest Kiryuu is practically begging on his knees now.

‘...Alright, but this is your last chance father. Any more of that outburst and mother will hear of it.’ Yui keeps her phone.

‘Yes, of course!’ High Priest Kiryuu gets up and wipe some sweat off his forehead.

‘Is it always like this at your house, Kiryuu?’ I ask Yui.

Yui sighs. ‘Pretty much. I’m sorry that you had to see that, Kagenashi-kun.’

‘No worries. It’s very lively, if anything.’

‘You think so too, young man?’ High Priest Kiryuu walks to me and puts his arm around my shoulders. ‘How would you like to be part of the family?’

‘You mean you’re adopting me?’

‘No! I meant as Yui’s husband-’

‘Mother? Yes, father is trying to recruit someone to be my future husband again. ...We’re right outside our house. Please come immediately.’ Yui’s phone is back to her hand in a flash.

‘Yui? You promised not to tell!’

‘I only promised not to tell mother about your plan to build me a temple. I didn’t say anything about your quest to search for a son-in-law.’

‘But, Yuuko’s going to kill me!’

‘Like I said, you need to learn your lesson.’

‘Well, I guess I better stay out of your family affair. See you tomorrow, Kiryuu.’

‘Yes. See you tomorrow, Kagenashi-kun.’

‘Wait, young man! Don’t abandon me!’

It was quite late when I finally got back to my room. The girls in my harem did not come today for dinner, as I already told them that I will be very late.

While I’m busy cooking my dinner, I couldn’t get my mind off Albanese’s behaviour.

In the anime, he’s the very definition of a religious fanatic. Look how he broke Miyako-san. I’ve prevented that, but it still showed his character. He was always seen travelling around the world giving speeches about the greatness of God, and anyone who doesn’t worship Him will burn in Hell when they die. You know, the typical fear-mongering done by zealots.

Just now, he was nothing like that. He was more like a strict but caring older relative that you can confide in.

What’s going on? Was one of the sides an act? If so, why didn’t he act the same towards everyone?

I quickly finish my dinner and boot up my PC. I look up videos about his speeches on the Internet. There are more than hundreds of them.

I choose a few of them and watch them for a while. All of the videos show Albanese being the Albanese in the anime: overly-religious, borderline hysteric, extremely bias towards anyone who’s not a Christian.

And then, I noticed something weird. It was very minor, so I had to rewatch the particular video to make sure of it.

This video was two weeks ago, and it was filmed at somewhere in New York. In this video, Albanese is giving his speech while speaking and acting like a lunatic. However, his eyes are acting completely different from the rest of his body.

They look very sad and pained, like he’s being forced to do this. I look at other videos. He had the same look in his eyes.

Was he threatened to do all these speeches? If so, why? And who asked him to? Man, I thought watching the anime itself was enough to clear all the hurdles, guess it wasn’t the case at all.