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Everything happened with the kind of coincidence you'd expect from a high school girl rushing out of the door with a piece of toast in her mouth and a satchel on her shoulder, only to be instantly trucked to another world.
Hanakain Reiji hadn't trucked anyone to another world, but the sight of the blonde girl's attire made it hard for him not to suspect that he had crossed into one.
Completely different from the tight, high-slit nun habits designed to grab attention in modern anime—which look holy but are actually extremely erotic—this was truly... a very standard, fundamentalist nun's habit.
It was very loose, very modest, and completely concealed her figure.
In Hanakain Reiji's opinion, the habit was a bit too thick for this weather.
Are cosplayers this dedicated these days?
Ah, no, this is not the time to be thinking about this...
Realizing his thoughts were wandering too much, Hanakain Reiji snapped back, bent down, and offered his hand to the blonde nun sitting on the ground.
"Hello, are you alright?"
"N-No, I'm fine... Um, I'm sorry..."
Quite unexpectedly, despite having the striking blonde hair typical of a Westerner, the blonde nun spoke in perfectly standard Japanese. Her voice was clear and crisp, tinged with a slight shyness.
It was only then that Hanakain Reiji clearly saw that this so-called blonde nun was actually just a girl about sixteen or seventeen years old. Her beautiful, emerald green eyes were slightly downturned at the corners, giving her a very frail and meek impression.
"Let me help you up."
Grasping the soft hand that the little blonde nun instinctively extended, Hanakain Reiji easily helped her up from the ground, and simultaneously handed over the headscarf he had picked up from the ground.
"Here."
"Thank you..."
The nun politely and softly voiced her gratitude, taking the headscarf with both hands.
The white headscarf had picked up a bit of dust when it fell during the collision, but the nun only lightly brushed the dust off with her hands before carefully placing the scarf back on her head. Then, she flashed a gentle smile and bowed slightly.
"I apologize; I was walking too quickly just now. I am the new nun at the nearby church. My name is Asia Argento. You can just call me Asia. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, too. My name is Hanakain Reiji."
Hanakain Reiji curiously sized up the blonde nun. He didn't expect her to be a genuine nun rather than a cosplay enthusiast.
But that name... Asia Argento...
Two minutes later, the two, who had met by accident, walked side-by-side down the sidewalk, chatting as they went.
"Asia, are you a foreigner?"
"Yes, I am. My hometown is in Northern Europe. I only arrived in Japan this morning, and I'm currently on my way to report to the church."
"You came all the way from Northern Europe, huh..."
Hanakain Reiji made a noncommittal response to that answer.
After all, the girl's eye color, hair color, and name already spoke for themselves.
But Northern Europe and Japan are practically half a globe apart. Traveling so far just to spread the gospel—are nuns this hardcore now?
As the young man continued muttering to himself, Asia, noticing the prolonged silence, instinctively asked a follow-up question.
"Has Hanakain-san been to Northern Europe before?"
"Oh? No, I haven't..."
Hanakain Reiji shook his head.
"I'm just a little curious as to why Miss Asia would travel all the way from Northern Europe to Japan to be a nun. Logically speaking, because of the influence of the Tang Dynasty in ancient China, Buddhism is still more popular here in Japan. In contrast, there aren't many people who worship God... Or is it that the churches in Northern Europe have too many staff and the job pressure is too high, so they had to transfer people to remote locations?"
"It's... it's not like that..."
Hearing unfamiliar terms like "job pressure," the innocent little nun, who didn't understand any of that, was momentarily startled and quickly waved her hands.
But then, her voice rapidly became small, and her head dropped, staring at the tips of her feet as they continuously alternated while walking.
"Well, there are just various reasons..."
I see.
Hanakain Reiji wasn't the typical dense, wooden male protagonist of a Japanese light novel. Although his statements were often straight as steel, he was essentially quite perceptive.
Putting everything else aside, the fact that she was from Northern Europe yet traveled half the globe to become a nun in Japan, combined with her evasiveness when mentioning the reason for coming, was enough to suggest there was certainly something suspicious going on.
Although the specific situation was unclear, since the other person didn't want to elaborate, Hanakain Reiji wasn't going to press her.
It was normal for everyone to have their little secrets.
"By the way, Hanakain-san, are you heading to school dressed like this?"
Asia actively changed the topic, seemingly feeling that the previous conversation couldn't continue.
"Mhm, my school is just down this road."
Hanakain Reiji raised his chin toward the traffic light intersection ahead that ran East-West.
Like many other places in Japan, there are usually high schools, junior high schools, and so on located near residential areas. For example, like the Teitan Five-Piece Set in Beika Town, which covers everything from kindergarten to university.
Similarly, Kuoh Academy had a junior high and elementary division in the surrounding area, besides the high school. So, children heading to school were visible all along the road, walking with students older or younger than themselves, satchels on their backs.
Hanakain Reiji then turned to the north, pointing his lips toward the white church built on a slope several streets away.
"That should be the church you're looking for. There's only one church in this area. Just turn left at the next intersection and keep going."
"Oh, I see it! Thank you, Hanakain-san!"
Just for being given simple directions, the nun's face broke into a genuinely joyful smile.
Hanakain Reiji shrugged, indicating it was nothing, and said, "Alright, then we'll part ways at that intersection ahead..."
Before his words were finished, a bang suddenly echoed from the sidewalk behind them, followed by the sound of a child loudly wailing.
??
Hanakain Reiji instinctively turned back in confusion and immediately understood the situation.
It was a child wearing the Kuoh Elementary uniform. He was probably playing around on the sidewalk, bouncing between the low railing separating the pedestrian and bicycle lanes, and accidentally tripped. Now he was sitting on the ground, crying loudly from the pain of the fall.
Honestly, this was nothing serious. It was just a scraped knee and a little blood. Even if they were slow getting him to the hospital, the bleeding would stop on its own. The loud crying wasn't so much from pain as it was from shock.
But Asia stopped. After stopping and clearly assessing the situation, she quickly jogged back. Bending down next to the fallen boy, she examined the wound on his knee.
Then, she stretched out both hands from within the wide nun's habit, covering the boy's knee wound without touching it. A faint green light emanated from her palms, accompanied by soft whispering.
"No more pain, no more pain. Be strong, little one."
As if by magic, the wound on the boy's knee quickly stopped bleeding and shrunk under the spreading green light, finally healing completely.
I wonder, Miss Nun, can you cast Apocrypha?
Hanakain Reiji thought to himself.
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