Saitou-san! Saitou-san! Is it really okay for me to buy any sweets I want?!” The voice of a happy, young boy can be heard.
Guren glances in the direction of the voice. As one would expect, there was a young boy there.
A boy with blond hair, and a fair-skinned, beautiful face. He was likely not Japanese. Or it was possible that he had foreign blood in his veins.
The boy speaks while smiling very happily.
“I wonder what I should buy to make everyone at the orphanage happy~? Hey Saitou-san, even if I buy ice cream, do you think that the Director wouldn't get mad?”
It was then the man named Saitou-san responds,
“I wonder. In that orphanage, is there a fridge...”
“Of course there's one.”
“Then it should be fine. Even the director should allow for sweets.”
“Yay!”
“There now, take this money and go to the supermarket. Will you be alright buying it yourself? Mikaela-kun.”
The boy called Mikaela responds to that question,
“Of course. What age do you think I am? I'm 8!” He smiles.
116.jpg
It was then Guren saw Saitou take out 10,000 yen.
“Eh, this much...” Mikaela exclaims, surprised.
Saitou smiles.
“It's for everyone after all.”
“But, is it really okay, to take 10,000yen...”
“It's fine, it's fine. Now go on.”
“Okay! But if it's going to be that many sweets, it would've been good to have brought Akane-chan with me...”
Having said that, the boy named Mikaela enters the supermarket with sparkling eyes.
And thus,
“........”
Guren watches that with his arms crossed. Once inside, Guren then switches to watch the man called Saitou.
Saitou wore a black suit.
The man who had attacked Guren ten days earlier, had worn the same black suit.
“........”
He and that man had tried to kill each other in that elevator, as they were an assassin from the 'Hyakuya Church'.
“Saitou? Didn't you say to me that your name was Kijima?”
The assassin smiles cordially at that.
“At the orphanage, I go as the kind Saitou-san.”
“Hmm. So then is Kijima your real name?”
“I do not have a real name.”
“To put simply, you're an assassin?”
“Yes.”
“Then, at that orphanage, you like playing the role of Daddy Long-Legs?”
“Haha, that's what it looks like. Well then, knowing that I am such a kind Daddy Long-legs, have you become interested in hearing my story...”
“Nope.”
The assassin laughs at the interruption.
“Even so, please call me Saitou-san while we're here. If Mika-kun overheard, there'd surely be some confusion.” He says.
With that, Guren glances towards the supermarket where the boy named Mikaela had gone.
“And? You guys will use that kid, then what will you do?”
“What do you mean?”
“The Hyakuya Church is famous for their human experimentation. Don't go senile on me now.”
“No no, that is a huge misunderstanding. Even if the Hyakuya Church are demons, they administer the Hyakuya Orphanages as charitable work...”
“Then where did you come from?” Guren asks Saitou.
“Who did that thing to your body? Where did that happen? There's no way you're going to say something like that your parents raised you in good health and with love, riiight?”
“.......”
At that, Saitou stops smiling. He then replies in all seriousness,
“...you're right. It's certainly true that I came from the Hyakuya Orphanage. But I undertook laboratory testing on my own free will, and obtained this body.”
“Huh, so brainwashing.”
And yet, as expected Saitou continued on while Guren stares hardly at him.
“No, I seriously think that the Hyakuya Church wants to guide this country on the right path. While Guren-sama may not be aware of this, if Japan continues down this path, the trumpet of the end will drag us into decay.”
He says such strange things.
Still, Guren smiles and replies,
“Ha, so you've come out with it. The end days, huh? That's a signature move used against newcomers of a religion. If you do not believe, you won't survive the apocalypse? Even we use that kind of talk. So do the Hiiragi House. In the doctrine there's a component that resembles it. And? Using that, did you think you'd be able to solicit me?”
He says that, but Saitou's facial expression does not crumble. As expected, he's serious,
“That is not what I was talking about.”
“Then what is it.”
“In truth... if this continues, a virus will spread via an untouchable forbidden magic, who knows how much it will rampantly spread to, and the people of this world will find no place to live.”
“And, you're saying you guys are protecting us from that?”
“Yes.”
“That's why you are trying to get the sinful people who won't join the Hyakuya church, and therefore die from the virus, to hurry and join?”
But Saitou smiles and shakes his head at that.
“No, as I said, this is not that kind of religious conversation. I do not think that is the kind of conversation to have with you right now.”
“Ah? Then what kind of conversation is it?”
“This is a conversation about war. The one who made the virus is not God, but humans. And these are humans you know very well. The humans named,