When Ignora stepped into the large room, she never expected it would be occupied. By three people, no less.
“Uh-oh. You came here ahead of us, huh?” she quipped.
“Nngh… G-Gabriel…”
The only people that could’ve gotten ahead of her were Gabriel and his team.
“…Ignora. Can I ask what the heck is going on?”
Gabriel, ignoring Laila’s pain, approached Ignora, a frantic look on his face.
“What’s going on? Just what we’ve always been doing, isn’t it? I had everyone pitch in to help us through a difficult situation.”
“Wait. Wait, Ignora. If you’ve done something like this, then…!”
Raguel was right behind Gabriel. But he was unconscious and stuffed inside a capsule, much like the ones that had once housed the Tree of Sephirot’s roots. Next to him was another capsule, and inside was an old man, clearly a generation or two older than the other angels.
“Why’d you do this to Sandalphon, too…?! He was one of the moderates who supported you to the end! What do you expect to accomplish doing this?! Look! Look at this! After all this… After Da’at finally did what you hoped for…and picked us!”
“…”
Was it Urushihara who reacted silently to Gabriel’s words? Or was it Copyhara?
“Gabriel… What are you talking about?”
Ignora lightly smiled.
“Aghh…!”
Then Laila fell to the floor, groaning. Nobody else paid her any mind.
“Doesn’t our true challenge begin once we’re selected? I’m certain you know what kind of shape Ente Isla is in right now. You’ve seen just how many of the ‘unchosen’ run rampant over that planet. Don’t you? And you, too, Laila.”
Ignora grabbed the hair of Laila, who was crawling on the ground away from her, pulling her up.
“Right, Laila? It was you, wasn’t it?”
“Wh-what… Ah!”
“I had everything set up just fine, and you used me as a front. How very nice of you! Without that, I’m sure this would have been done far sooner… Nobody would’ve had to suffer like this.”
“Ow, owww!”
“You…and maybe Gabriel, and these people…” Ignora flashed an abject, brittle smile as she peered at Laila behind her. “I really didn’t need any of it… All they needed was a little glimpse, but you had to grow the Church into this big thing…and it’s cost us so much. Right?”
“Ah!”
Ignora let go of her hair. She placed a foot on her back, lifting her head high.
“Right, my boy?”
There was no expression on Urushihara’s face as he said:
“Maybe so, Mom.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Hmm?” “Huh?” “Oh?”
“What’s up?”
On the way back from Tokyo Station, as they switched to the Keio Line at Shinjuku, Maou, Emi, and Chiho all let out little yelps of surprise as they looked at their phones. When Laila asked why, the three of them exchanged glances before Maou dared to ask the question:
“Urushihara called you, too?”
“Yeah. It would’ve been right when we left Tokyo Station.”
“He called me then, too. A few times.”
Urushihara’s phone number had called all three of them.
“Yeah, mine, too. Some kinda emergency? Lemme call him back.”
Stopping Laila and Nord for a moment, Maou called Urushihara’s number. Nobody picked up.
“Well, huh. After calling all of us ten minutes ago…”
“Did you get any texts?”
“No. But I’m kinda worried now. This isn’t like him.”
Although even Maou had upgraded to a smartphone by now, Urushihara was still going around with an old-fashioned clamshell phone. Maou had bought it for him, of course, and Urushihara certainly had a number of complaints about not being given a smartphone. But he wasn’t in the habit of reaching out to people in general; as a rule, he and Maou spoke over the phone only for urgent matters. Emi and Chiho had known him long enough to have his number, but they had never talked on the phone. If he was trying to call them, too, that seemed like a real crisis.
“What should we do?”
“We can’t do very much here. Why don’t you call him when we reach Sasazuka?”
“Yeah, that sounds good.”
But neither Emi nor Chiho looked too concerned.
“All right. I’ll text him just in case.”
Maou didn’t have any faster way to physically reach Urushihara, so they stuck to their original plan, boarding the next train bound for Keio-Hachioji. It was midafternoon, so the train car was nearly empty—even the Justina family (with all their luggage) and Suzuno (in her pilgrim’s outfit) had no trouble finding seats.
“Come to think of it,” Suzuno said, “if you were in Kobe, did you visit Rika? How is she faring?”
“Yeah, she’s bursting with energy as much as ever. She said she’d be in Tokyo soon, so you oughtta go out to eat when you’re free, Chiho.”
“That sounds great! I’d love to visit her, too. I’ve never been to Kobe.”
Urushihara was forgotten after they boarded the train, as the conversation turned toward other topics. Once they had reached Akebonobashi, the next station, Maou’s phone started vibrating.
“Damn it, don’t call back just as the train’s about to leave…”
It must have been Urushihara. They didn’t have time for a long chat, though. Maou looked around to ensure the coast was clear then took the call.
“Hey, sorry, I’m on the train. I’ll call back once I’m at Sasazuka.”
“No, wait…!!”
The panic bounced off his ears, but Maou mercilessly ended the call. They were on a train, and the signal was about to drop out anyway.
“Hey, y’know, I’ve never been to Kobe, either. Kobe beef’s supposed to be really good. Didja eat any steak?”
“Mostly I was out sightseeing and visiting Rika’s family house, so all the Kobe beef I tried was in this boxed lunch I bought at the station. But their other Western-style food was really good…”
Once again, Urushihara vanished from the conversation, as Emi discussed all the restaurants in Kobe she’d gotten to try out.
A little while later, once they had reached Sasazuka Station, Maou called Urushihara back.
“Dude, didn’t me calling Emilia and Chiho Sasaki give you any clue how freaked out I am?!”
He’d picked up before the first ring ended.
“I’m at the yakiniku joint by the station! Get over here right now!”
Then he hung up, leaving Maou helplessly looking at his phone.
“What’s with him? What kind of emergency is yakiniku? And also…”
Maou’s eyebrows furrowed as he stuck the phone back in his pocket.
“Since when was he back in Japan?”
Chiho, meanwhile, gave everyone a concerned look.
“Wouldn’t Urushihara have Acieth with him…?”
Suddenly, the words “emergency” and “yakiniku” linked together in their minds.
“…Let’s go.”
Maou, head hung low, began to worry about how much money he had in his wallet.