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 façade.
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.