“In reality, they’re called the ‘angel squads’ since they’re a unit blessed by angels. Every year at the fiscal year’s end, the higher-ups debate whether to officially rename the organization to match its actual nature—endlessly going back and forth, but…”
“That sounds like so much fun!”
“But it seems no one has the courage to change a name that’s been around since the Heian period.”
“So bureaucratic~ I wanna be part of that discussion!”
“Still, their strength is the real deal.”
“You don’t need to worry anymore,” Yanagishita-san says.
“The Holy Grail War is ending. There aren’t many demons who can defeat angels, and not just Captain Shirakawa—all the captains stationed across the country have gathered in Tokyo.”
I recall the scene from the hotel’s top floor, where a group of formidable people had gathered.
A short-haired woman holding guns in both hands.
A man with tattoos on his face, shouldering a massive rifle.
Someone yawning sleepily while cradling a musket.
Another crouched on the floor, playing with dolls.
And several others who clearly weren’t ordinary.
“Madarame-kun, thanks to your rampage at the hotel, the demons really hate you now.”
But there’s nothing to worry about, Yanagishita-san assures me.
“Even if they’re demons, they can’t harm angels. The Onmyo Bureau guarantees your safety.”
That’s how Yanagishita-san explained my situation to me.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT gadgetizedpanda.net
Since they’d guaranteed my safety, I figured when Captain Shirakawa invited me on a date, it was just for protection—not because she actually wanted to go on one.
But—
“Huh? Wha—WHAAAAAT?!”
I couldn’t help but let out a shocked yelp.
Because Captain Shirakawa, with a slightly embarrassed expression, took my hand.
We were inside a large shopping mall.
After deciding to go on a date, Captain Shirakawa had said:
“I kinda wanna try a high school-style date.”
She looked a little shy.
“I never really got to do stuff like this before.”
“Well, in that case—”
After some thought, I took her to a shopping mall with a cinema complex. Together, we watched a hit Japanese film starring a bunch of famous actors.
Captain Shirakawa happily munched on popcorn the whole time. When the credits rolled, she turned to me with a smile and said, “That was fun!” Looking at her like that, I thought—any movie would be fun with her.
When she wasn’t fighting, Captain Shirakawa seemed oddly youthful. I’d heard she was twenty, but being with her felt like hanging out with a classmate.
After the movie, we wandered around the mall, wondering what to do next—when she suddenly grabbed my hand.
“I see,”
she said, nodding.
“So this is how people enjoy their youth.”
My palms were sweating like crazy. But Captain Shirakawa didn’t seem to mind at all, acting completely carefree.
“By the way, Madarame-kun, why do you carry a fishing rod?”
“It’s part of a genius plan!”
I showed her Yurumari-chan and explained my brilliant strategy of using her to fish for Kuromari-chan (who had the Holy Grail stuck to her head).
Hearing this, Captain Shirakawa smirked proudly.
“Madarame-kun, you’re overlooking something. Yurumari-chan and Kuromari-chan don’t get along.”
“Wait, really?”
Apparently, they’re officially set up as rivals. It’s not just their characters—there’s lore behind them.
The anime that aired before was titled “Help Me, Yurumari-chan!”
“Kuromari-chan uses Shadow Power to cause trouble in the human world. Yurumari-chan fights to protect people from that power.”
“I was so focused on the characters, I didn’t pay attention to the story…”
“It’s easy to get distracted by how cute they look.”
“You’re really knowledgeable, Shirakawa-san~”
The moment I said that—
“Right? I’m super smart!”
Captain Shirakawa suddenly brightened up.
“Madarame-kun, you get it!”
In high spirits, she swung our clasped hands back and forth.
Come to think of it, Yanagishita-san had mentioned something.
Captain Shirakawa had been scouted by the Onmyo Bureau at fifteen, and having fought from a young age without much worldly experience, she was surprisingly innocent.
“I know tons of other stuff too! Like, Yurumari-chan—”
Apparently, she loved “Help Me, Yurumari-chan!” and proceeded to dump a wealth of trivia on me.
According to Yanagishita-san, Captain Shirakawa was from the Goto Islands in Nagasaki. When asked about her hometown, she’d say, “Just a slightly more rural city than Tokyo,” which meant she was a little bit of a show-off.
But putting that aside, growing up in that environment and then working at the Onmyo Bureau meant Captain Shirakawa had no cynicism in her, giving her a much younger impression than her age.
In other words—she was a miraculous beauty.
“This is so fun!”
At the mall’s game center, Captain Shirakawa was ecstatic.
“Madarame-kun, get that one for me! That one!”
I won her a bunch of crane game prizes and handed them over.
“Yay~! Yay~!”
Watching her bounce up and down, I thought—She’s so cute.
This is the best.
Before we knew it, evening had fallen. For a high school-style date, this was about the time to head back due to curfew. But—
“Hey, Madarame-kun.”
Captain Shirakawa clung to my arm.
“Let’s do something a little more adult now.”
“Huh? Adult things?”
I thought for a second—
“Wait, WHAAAAAT?!”
—and let out another yelp.
After seeing so much of her unexpectedly childish side, if she suddenly hit me with something mature and exciting, that’d be way too good to be true.
Just as I was thinking that, Shirakawa-san went “Ta-daa!” and pulled something out of her wallet.
“A… credit card?”
“I just got it recently.”
I took a closer look at the shiny card.
“Wait, is this a gold card?!”
“Yep~ I get paid pretty well, you know.”
“Whoa, that’s amazing!”
I’d heard that truly rich people use black cards, not gold ones—but for Captain Shirakawa and me, a gold card was more than enough to get hyped over.
“Let’s go eat something fancy with this!”
Turns out, her idea of “adult things” was just that. She’d apparently been wanting to try a slightly upscale restaurant, so that’s where we went.
“And we’re totally having drinks too!”
“So adult~!!”
There was no dress code, but the tablecloths were pure white, and the place felt intimidatingly high-class.
When the waiter brought a wine bottle and rattled off some long katakana name, Captain Shirakawa nodded solemnly and said, “I see.” After taking a sip, she nodded again. “I see.”
We ate while her cheeks turned faintly pink.
At one point, the chef came over and shaved a huge block of cheese onto our dishes right at the table. Captain Shirakawa’s eyes sparkled the whole time. She really was pure at heart.
“We’ve gained so much experience points,”
she said between dessert and after-dinner coffee.
“Maybe we got a little too adult.”
“I feel like I’ve lapped my peers in life experience.”
“That’s crazy.”
“Way too crazy.”
Captain Shirakawa set down her cup and stared at me.
“What’s wrong?”
“I was just thinking… I really like you, Madarame-kun.”
“Huh?”
“You open doors for me, stand on the lower side of the escalator…”
“I mean, well—”
“You’re such a gentleman.”
Hearing that, I couldn’t help but blush.
“Alright, let’s go.”
Before leaving the restaurant, I helped her into her coat. She smiled at me with a knowing look, then giggled (“Ehehe”) and pressed close. This—
This feels like it’s working!
Captain Shirakawa felt like the ideal girlfriend—the kind of person who’d make you incredibly happy just by being with her. Above all, she was classically adorable in every way.
Maybe my youth is finally beginning.
That premonition of mine was dead-on. After leaving the restaurant, Captain Shirakawa said:
“Madarame-kun, there’s something important I need to talk to you about.”
“……Yeah?”
I swallowed hard. Here it comes.
She stepped in front of me and firmly grasped both my hands.
“……I have a request.”
“What is it?”
For some reason, I was the one getting nervous. Should I react with surprise? Or happiness?—
While I was still deliberating, Captain Shirakawa spoke shyly.
“I really, really want to fight alongside you.”
“Uh, that’s kinda sudden—I-I mean, I’m happy! I’d love to! But, like, there’s this cute junior I know, and Her Majesty is surprisingly jealous despite how she acts, but of course I’d also want to with you, Shirakawa-san, so… how do I put this? Maybe we should start as friends—”
Wait.
“Shirakawa-san, did you just say ‘fight’?”
“Yeah. Madarame-kun, won’t you join the Onmyo Bureau?”
My brain short-circuited. The next moment—
“Paid leave is easy to take there!”
“As she says that, Yanagishita-san steps out from behind a telephone pole. And then—
“A homey group of comrades!”
From the alleyway, a short woman with pink hair also appears. She’s the one who was holding a doll during the captain’s gathering at the hotel.
With Captain Shirakawa at the center, the three of them line up and chant in unison:**
“Join the Onmyo Bureau and work to protect Japan’s peace! Fulfilling work—banzai!”
Hearing that, I scream from the bottom of my heart.
“Dammiiiiit!!”
I shout:
“This is totally a black company’s recruitment tactic, isn’t it?! Using pretty women as bait to reel in clueless young guys. You even went out of your way to bring a pink-haired lady!”
“That’s Hanayama-senpai. She’s the captain of the Third Division and crazy strong,”
Captain Shirakawa explains.
Like I care!
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