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."