‘So, how are we getting the spider drone inside? Are we going to rent a room and sneak into the floor the suspects are staying?’ I ask Madoka.

Madoka puts her hand on her mouth while looking horrified.

‘Akira, were you thinking of doing dirty things with me this whole time? We’re on a mission, you know? Be more serious.’

‘I don’t know how you got to that conclusion, but you’re the one who should get your mind out of the gutter.’

She suddenly looks offended. She’s also puffing up her cheeks.

‘Are you saying that you don’t want to do it with me? Am I that unattractive?’ she demands.

‘Are you still trying to find a character that fits you?’

‘Yup. That was my pain in the behind girlfriend act. How was it?’

‘It’s terrible.’

‘A shame. Guess that’s not for me either. All jokes aside, we don’t have to waste money just to sneak inside. Besides, the data I got showed that this hotel is booked full. There’s no way we would be given one. Any ideas?’

I could tell that she has one, but she wants me to think by my own first before telling me. I try to come up with an idea of my own while I finish eating my food. Just as I was done filling my stomach, I manage to think of something. I waste no time in telling Madoka.

‘Not bad.’ she tells me after hearing it. ‘It’s not something I would do, but we could do it your way. The floor those people are staying at is the tenth floor, by the way.’

‘Got it. What’s your plan, now that you mention it?’

‘Sneak inside through the vent, get close enough to one of the rooms and send in the drone.’

‘Into the vent? How are you going to do that?’

She shows me a retractable grappling hook.

‘In the middle of the day?’

She presses the watch she’s wearing on her wrist. Immediately, she disappears into thin air. Oh, I remember this gadget. Yuuji somehow stole it from her and tried to sneak into the girl’s changing room during Season 3. This thing is so advanced it can even cloak the thing you’re holding like the extended wire and the claws of the grappling hook.

‘Fair enough. There’s one more problem though. I’m scared of heights.’

‘I know. I wanted to suggest this method anyway if you couldn’t come up with an idea, but you did. Such a wasted opportunity.’

‘Well thank the sky for my quick thinking.’

As per my plan, we head inside the hotel and head straight for the receptionist counter.

‘Welcome to our hotel. How may I help you?’ the female employee sitting behind the counter asks us politely.

‘Good afternoon. The thing is, our grandmother is coming over to visit us all the way from Hokkaido next month. The two of us had been checking out different hotels so that she could enjoy her stay comfortably.’ I tell her.

‘I see. Not to be rude, but why isn’t she staying over at your house?’

‘The thing is, she had always dreamt of staying at one of the hotels in the city. She, well, she’s getting quite old now, so we always do our best to humor her.’

‘That’s very nice of you. Please follow me. I shall give you two a tour around the hotel.’

The employee gets up from her seat and leaves the counter. We follow her from behind for the tour that we don’t really need.

She brings us to all sorts of facilities in this hotel such as a restaurant, a massage parlor, and a lounge. We listen patiently as she explains the services available in each facility.

‘Would you like to take a look at the rooms as well?’ she asks us after the tour of the facilities had been concluded.

‘Yes, please. And if it’s not too much trouble, is it okay if we check out one at the tenth floor?’

‘Oh, does your grandmother like tall places?’

‘Yes. She just loves them. She made it clear that she’s not going to stay at a room that’s lower than ten floors.’

‘That won’t be any problem. We just have exactly one empty room left on that floor. I can bring you to that one.’

‘Are every other rooms occupied?’

‘Yes. We had a large group of tourists who checked in a few days ago from Taiwan. Strangely enough, majority of them aren’t Taiwanese.’

Madoka and I look at each other when the receptionist wasn’t looking. There’s a possibility that we hit the jackpot.

We head to the tenth floor by escalator. The moment we get out, Madoka tosses something small and shiny at the floor.

‘Pardon me. I have to make a call, so please go ahead.’ she tells the receptionist.

‘Understood.’

And so, I was given a tour of the room. I ask some question about their room service and emergency hotline just to make the act more convincing. I also took some pictures of the room after getting the receptionist’s permission. As we come out, Madoka is already waiting for us outside the room.

‘How was the room?’ she asks me.

‘It looks nice. Still up to grandma, though.’

I turn to the receptionist. ‘Thank you for the tour. I hope our grandmother will choose to stay here.’

She bows at us professionally. ‘We humbly await your return.’

As we go down to the lobby by using an escalator, Madoka shakes her head at me. Seriously?

‘Are you sure they’re not the extremists?’ I ask her once we left the hotel.

‘I’m absolutely positive. For starters, they’re not even in their rooms. I’ve looked through the luggage bags they brought. Most of them are filled with souvenirs from other prefectures and Okinawa. Nothing suspicious are in them at all.’

‘So they’re just genuine tourists from Taiwan who came here by a tour package or something?’

‘That seems to be the case.’

‘Dang it. I so thought this was the place after the receptionist described them.’

‘It can’t be helped. This kind of thing happen sometimes. Now we have to hope that the others found them.’

As a matter of fact, Yui and Saya managed to find them. They sent their location to the rest of us. It’s a hotel that’s at least thirty minutes journey from here. The good news is it’s right next to a train station. We found the nearest train station and use the train to get there.

When the two of us left the exit, most of the girls are already here. Sakuya and Amesaki-senpai aren’t here yet, though. Maybe it’s because they can’t find a place to park their car.

‘Are you really sure you found them, girls?’ I ask Yui and Saya while we wait for them.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

‘Yes. We send the drones to listen in to their conversations. They mentioned a lot of things like corrupting the Japanese Gods and other terrifying things.’ Yui answers.

‘Looks like your theory was correct after all, Akira-kun.’ Saya says to me.

‘Honestly, I prefer to be wrong.’

‘It does not matter what their plan is, Akira. We are going to stop them nonetheless.’ Ichika tells me.

‘Yeah. I guess you’re right.’

Five minutes later, Amesaki-senpai and Sakuya are finally here.

‘We’re sorry for being late. There was a minor traffic congestion along the way.’ Amesaki-senpai apologizes.

‘It’s fine, senpai. We didn’t wait that long, anyway.’ I tell her.

‘So, what’s the plan? We can’t just charge in and fight them with all the innocent people inside, right?’ Saya asks us.

‘I was thinking of asking the hotel’s staff for cooperation. We tell them that there are a group of dangerous individuals staying at their hotel, so we need them to trigger the fire alarm to smoke them out. The normal guests will be taken to the real evacuation spot, while the extremists will be taken to a closed space where Mashiro’s gecko Destroyer will be waiting to put them to sleep.’ I tell everyone here about my plan.

‘What if they refuse to leave their rooms?’ Amesaki-senpai asks.

‘They might do that?’ I ask back in surprise.

‘We’ve been receiving reports that some of them rather get burned to death then running away should a fire occurs at the location they were at.’

‘Ironic, isn’t it? That was how they used to burn witches during the Middle Ages.’

‘Incidentally, it’s known that they hated to be compared to witches just because they don’t mind getting burned to death.’ Madoka tells me.

‘Interesting.’

‘It’s not only in case of fire. They’re also known to refuse blood transfusions and CPR.’ Amesaki-senpai continues.

‘Please wait a minute. I’m pretty sure they won’t be conscious should they require the last two things you mentioned. How are they refusing them?’

‘They slit their throat or commit other self-harm to end their own life once they regain consciousness.’

‘ Seriously? Why? Is it another one of their twisted beliefs?’

‘Indeed it is. They’re in the opinion that they shouldn’t avoid death as it means that they can finally be where their God is. As such, they rather die than be saved.’

‘After all the crazy things they did, do they still expect to be brought up to Heaven?’

Amesaki-senpai shrugs. ‘They’re so self-righteous that they never considered what they’re doing is betraying the very teaching they were given.’

I shake my head in disgust. I don’t know whether I should call these religious fanatics dedicated or simply out of their mind. Doesn’t matter. We need a Plan B just in case.

‘If they refuse to leave their rooms, I guess Mashiro has to go to the floors where they’re at and summon the Destroyer directly into their room so that it can breath out the sleeping gas.’

‘What if they’re on high alert and anticipated an attack on them?’ Sakuya asks me.

‘I’m worried about that too. If they’re being cautious, not only it’s difficult to avoid a direct confrontation, we might ended up wrecking the place.’

‘The government can provide compensation to this hotel if it’s necessary.’ Amesaki-senpai informs us. ‘However, I also agree that we should avoid pointless destruction of private property if we can help it.’

At this moment, a police car with the siren on top turned on passes by us. It’s been the seventh one ever since Madoka and I got out of the station. I guess this is the best they could do since they can’t announce to the general public that a terrorist group is hiding somewhere in this city. If they do, it’s going to cause a major panic.

‘That reminds me. We cannot ask them to ease up the patrol in order to lure out the extremists since it is too obvious.’ Ichika states out even more problem.

I lower my head and think hard and fast. There must be something that can be done without raising a false fire alarm or going near their rooms knowing that they’re wary of attacks.

‘How about we lie to them that they’ll be a seminar for Christianity tonight?’ I suggest. ‘Seeing how they’re so very dedicated to their religion, they might fall for it.’

‘Sounds like a plan.’ Madoka approves.

‘Alright then. Let’s go for this plan.’

We head inside the hotel and requested to speak with the person with the highest authority at the hotel. Thankfully, he wasn’t very busy at the time, so he could put down his work and listen to what we had to say. To increase our credibility, Amesaki-senpai showed his her identification card as a civil servant, while the rest of us showed him our student ID to proof that we’re from the Royal Blade Academy.

‘So, we actually allowed a group of religious extremists to stay at our hotel?’ he asks us in horror after we explained the situation to him.

‘I’m afraid so.’ I tell him.

He starts to freak out big time. ‘I swear, none of us knew! We scanned their passports and nothing came out! We thought they were just normal tourists!’

‘Please calm down. None of us here are accusing you of harboring them. We told you about them because we need you help on luring them out.’

He lets out a sigh of relief. ‘We’ll do everything that we can to assist you.’

‘Thank you. Here’s what we came up with.’

He listens patiently to our plan right down to the minor details.

‘...Understood. I’ll have it arranged at once. Thankfully, small as this hotel is, we still have a function room that can be used here. It’s quite spacious, so all of you can ambush them there. Now, which rooms are they staying at again?’

Madoka told him.

‘I’ll have one of my staff send invitations to those rooms right now.’

‘Thank you.’

‘And I won’t ask how on earth did you find out which rooms they were staying at.’

‘Much obliged.’

‘Would you like to take a short rest before the fake seminar starts?’ he asks us before he goes to get one of his employees. ‘We still have some empty rooms left.’

‘Do you have an empty room with a double bed?’ Sakuya asks him.

‘I believe we do. And it’s the last one too.’

‘We’ll take that room along with some rooms with a single bed, please.’

‘Certainly.’

It didn’t take the manager long to get us the key cards to the rooms. He specifically told Sakuya which one opens the door of the room with the double bed. After that, he excused himself since he needs to tell his employees on what to do.

Sakuya made sure that he’s way out of earshot before starting to hand out the keys.

‘Here you go, Miu-senpai.’ she hands the key to the double bed room to Amesaki-senpai.

‘Wait! Why are you giving this to me? Shouldn’t one of you girls have it instead?’

‘It’s fine, senpai. Just spend some more alone time with Akira-kun.’

I stare at her in surprise.

‘Who, me?’

‘Who else?’

‘Well, if Amesaki-senpai doesn’t mind.’

‘I don’t mind at all! No need to worry about me!’ Amesaki-senpai tells me a little too eagerly.

Before we head to our respective rooms, we take a look at the function room. It has rows and rows of tables and chairs inside with a giant white screen at the front. It’s like we’re inside a classroom.

‘The moment they come inside this room, all the doors got to be closed immediately to prevent them from leaving.’ I begin.

‘And to make sure that they can’t force their way out by using their angels, I can form a barrier at the entire room.’ Yui continues.

‘By the way, who’s in charge of closing the doors? And who will remain in this room?’ Saya asks.

‘Mashiro has to summon the gecko Destroyer. Naturally, she has to head inside here first.’ Mashiro says.

‘Well, a number of people has to act like they’re attending this fake seminar in order for this trap to look more believable. And we need someone to dress up like a pastor too.’ I say to Saya.

‘We can count on my colleagues for those parts. After all, it’s more convincing to use adults as fake actors, and we can’t involve innocent civilians in case a fight breaks out.’ Amesaki-senpai tells me.

Now that the general plan’s been decided, we should get some rest while we can. It’s two in the afternoon right now. The seminar’s supposed to start at eight, and we’re to come back here at seven. That gives us five hours of break time.

‘Shall we go, Kagenashi-kun?’ Amesaki-senpai asks me nervously.

Her nervousness even got me, and now I’m nervous as well even though I have no reason to.

‘Of course, Amesaki-senpai.’

‘Have fun, you two.’ Sakuya tells us while smiling mischievously.

The two of us didn’t say a single word while we’re going up to the third floor where our temporary room is. It’s not a suite room, so there’s no fancy furnitures and decorations, but I guess it’s a standard room for two person. We take off our shoes and walk towards the bed.

‘Um, I’ll go take a shower.’ Amesaki-senpai tells me while still being nervous.

‘Do you genuinely need one, or were you doing it after getting misinformed?’ I ask her to clarify.

‘Doesn’t one take a shower whenever he or she is inside a hotel room with another of opposite sex?’

‘Right. You got misinformed, senpai. We’re just taking a short break. We’re not doing the things adults do.’

She tilts her head. ‘Which is what, exactly?’

‘Where did you even heard that information from?’ I ask in an attempt to change the uncomfortable topic.

‘From Nao.’

‘Well please stop blindly follow whatever nonsense what Motome-senpai tells you.’

‘Are you saying that she lied to me?’

‘I’m pretty sure that she was just messing with you. For now, let us just lie down on the bed.’

‘Alright.’

So here we are, just two people about to ambush a group of religious fanatics who’re living just a few floors above us, just staring at the ceiling and doing nothing.

‘I wonder if this is what it feels like to look at the sky on starry nights?’ I ask out loud.

My random thought got a giggle out of Amesaki-senpai. She points her index finger at the ceiling.

‘That’s the Altair. And that’s the Vega.’

‘Which one is Deneb?’ I ask just to play along.

‘I’m not sure. It could be that one.’ she says while pointing at the opposite direction she was pointing seconds ago. ‘I’m not really good at stars, you see.’

I point at a random spot of the ceiling. ‘I’m pretty sure you know that one.’

‘Which one is it?’

‘The sun.’

Another giggle from her.

‘Isn’t now nighttime?’ she asks me.

‘The sun’s still there regardless the hour, is it not?’

‘I suppose. Oh look, it’s Saturn.’

‘Strange. Isn’t it supposed to be smaller than the sun?’

‘Maybe it’s because of some weird angle. I mean, the moon’s almost the same size as the sun.’

‘Doesn’t it mean that it’s about to clash with Earth?’

‘I guess we’re doomed then.’

The two of us giggle at the same time.

‘Want to know a secret of mine?’ she asks me.

‘I’m all ears.’

‘The exchanges we had just now were exactly the type of thoughts I had whenever I was invited to stargazing back at my student days. Even though I have next to zero knowledge on stars.’

‘Must be pretty tough to be famous.’

‘It kind of is. I mean, I do love being around people, and the stars are very pretty, but still.’

We then spent the rest of our break time on exchanging secret and having a stargazing simulation. You’d be surprised at how much nonsense we were able to come up with without thinking of them beforehand.