Chapter 3: The Angel Squad
After several days in the hospital, I was discharged by the end of the year.
On New Year’s Eve, I set up a kotatsu at the British shop, and Her Majesty and I watched Kōhaku Uta Gassen while eating mikan (mandarin oranges). Midway through, Hana-chan joined us, and we all listened to the temple bells, lined up for first shrine visit, then came back to eat New Year’s soba.
Starting New Year’s Day, by Her Majesty’s orders, I was immediately roped into the first sales of the year. True to her café-hopping habits, she coveted limited-edition tumblers and bargain drink tickets from various stores’ grab-bag. I ended up standing in every long line for her.
Other than those outings, it was mostly a lazy New Year’s. We lounged in our winter coat, stuck under the kotatsu, and binged New Year’s specials.
Then, on the fourth—after the kotatsu was packed away and the world started moving again—
Her Majesty, back in her usual Western-style clothes from the winter coat, sat on the sofa fiddling with a fishing rod.
“A fishing rod?”
When I asked, Her Majesty answered with a straight face:
“I’m planning to use this to catch a plushie.”
“Kuromari-chan?”
There was a backstory to this.
At the Roppongi hotel, we had defeated Kenji.
But we’d let the Holy Grail slip away.
Apparently, the Grail had the power to transform people and immortals. First, one of Kenji’s demon underlings, who’d been ordered to guard it, tried to take it for himself during our fight.
That demon wasn’t particularly strong—some wandering immortal hunter took him out.
The real problem came after. That immortal hunter then holed up in his own house with the Grail. Even when higher-ups from the Immortal Hunters’ Association showed up, he refused to hand it over.
Eventually, a swarm of hunters surrounded the place and managed to reclaim it. But then, the hunters on-site started fighting over it themselves.
Rabbi filled me in on the details.
“I mean, if a hundred million yen were right in front of you, anyone’s morals would crumble~”
As for what happened next—none of the immortal hunters ended up with the Grail.
Amid the chaos, Kuromari-chan had toddled away unnoticed.
And even now, Kuromari-chan remains uncaught, wandering aimlessly around Tokyo.
Sightings are frequent, clips pop up on social media, and the “living Kuromari-chan” has gained a cult following.
Among young women, “Kuromari-chan Search Teams” have even formed.
In other words—we had to find and secure Kuromari-chan before anyone else. And the method Her Majesty chose was—
“Fishing.”
In the British shop’s living room, Her Majesty swung the fishing rod.
“Fiiishing~?”
“We’re gonna fish up Kuromari-chan.”
At the end of the fishing line dangled an adorable white-and-pink plushie.
This was—
“Yurumari-chan.”
Her Majesty grinned.
“I heard Kuromari-chan was originally sold as a set with this one, right?”
“Yep, yep. Pretty sure Yurumari-chan was the main character.”
Kuromari-chan had first been marketed as a duo—Yurumari-chan (white and pink as her theme colors) and Kuromari-chan (black and purple).
There was even an anime adaptation, if I remembered right.
“Kuromari-chan, wandering the city alone. Some nights, she feels lonely. Now, what would she do if she spotted her partner, Yurumari-chan?”
“Probably hug her on sight.”
“And that’s when we reel her in.”
“Your Majesty—”
I stared at her.
“That’s some next-level genius.”
“Right?”
She puffed out her chest proudly.
“There’s one for you too, Madarame.”
She handed me a fishing rod.
“They say experienced anglers increase their odds by carrying multiple rods.”
“Exactly.”
And so, armed with fishing rods, we set out from the British shop. To maximize our chances, we split up—Her Majesty headed to Shinagawa, where there’s an aquarium (“Might as well see the seals while I’m at it”),
while I, craving taiyaki, made for Ningyōchō.
The result? Me, sitting under a storefront awning in Ningyōchō on a red folding chair, munching taiyaki while dangling Yurumari-chan from a fishing line toward the street.
“Fishing’s all about patience…”
I rigged the rod with a bell and waited for a bite.
Boredom led to eating dango. Then tea. One cup became two, two became three—and about an hour in,
the bell jingled.
“Got one!”
I chugged my tea, stuffed a dango in my mouth, and grabbed the rod. The pull was insane. This was a big catch.
“WOOOOOOH! I got Kuromari-chaaaaaan!”
I yanked hard—only to remember I was on dry land. I checked the line and—
A scary-looking guy with piercings all over his eyelids and nose was gripping Yurumari-chan.
“Hand over the Holy Grail.”
His pitch-black eyes marked him as a demon. Oops. Wrong catch.
“Uh, your intel’s outdated~ I don’t have it~ That footage? Just some shapeshifter posing as me~ Her Majesty’s not here either, so like, come back tomorrow~”
Ignoring me, the demon lunged.
“Wait, seriously! Not now, bad timing—”
As I scrambled back—
The man’s eyes rolled up, and he collapsed.
Behind him stood a woman holding a sword.
“Hey there, Madarame-kun.”
She raised a hand.
“You doing okay?”
“Yep. Captain Shirakawa looks well too.”
She was the one who’d saved us on the hotel’s top floor—
crashing through stained glass like an angel. She’d called an ambulance for my gut wound and even visited me in the hospital.
When I explained the City Hall explosion was a shapeshifting demon’s doing, she had the footage analyzed and got my warrant revoked. The next day, national news declared the video fake, clearing my name.
Public reaction? “A high schooler wasn’t the culprit? Lame.”
“People are so fickle,”
Captain Shirakawa had laughed.
A proper, dignified beauty with a hint of childishness in her features.
She’d recently turned twenty.
And now, here she was—meeting me, fishing rod in hand, on a Ningyōchō afternoon.
“What brings you here today?”
She sat on my folding chair and popped a half-eaten dango into her mouth.
“Well—”
Cheeks puffed with dango, she grinned mischievously.
“I thought I’d take Madarame-kun on a date.”
“Wha—me?!”
I couldn’t hide my shock.
If Her Majesty was a “mysterious beauty,” Captain Shirakawa was straight-up gorgeous—
the kind of big-sister vibe that makes you want to obey her every word.
A date? Hell yes. But if I eagerly agreed… I’d feel guilty toward Her Majesty.
The two were polar opposites—Her Majesty in black coats, Shirakawa in white.
I’d sworn loyalty to Her Majesty (or at least, she thought so). So was it okay to date her contrast?
Then there was Hana-chan.
I’m not that dense. I’ve been keeping things vague, but our Christmas date made her feelings clear.
Being partners with Her Majesty and having something with Hana-chan—then happily accepting Shirakawa’s invite? Not cool.
I usually play dumb, but I care about both Her Majesty and Hana-chan. Sure, I’ve joked about obeying pretty women, but Shirakawa’s flawless beauty doesn’t mean I’d just—
“Madarame-kun…”
Her slender brows furrowed sadly.
“You won’t go out with me?”
“I WILL!!”
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT gadgetizedpanda.net
During my hospital stay, I’d learned a lot.
As Her Majesty once said, Japan does have a government agency for regulating immortals—the Onmyō Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which Captain Shirakawa had named at the hotel.
Onmyō Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs or in short Onmyo Bureau is an institution established during the Ritsuryō system of the Heian period—and it seems to have continued unofficially all this time. The one who told me about this wasn’t Captain Shirakawa, but rather a woman named Haruka Yanagishita, the vice-captain serving under him in his unit.
Yanagishita has a tear mole under her eye, giving her a slightly tragic impression. Maybe because of her position as vice-captain, she also carries an air of someone trying to stay in the shadows.
When Captain Shirakawa came to visit me in the hospital, she accompanied him and took the time to explain everything to me—since I had no idea what was going on.
“Captain Shirakawa is the genius type. Explaining things to people… well, that’s just not how his mind works.”
After Shirakawa left to buy me ice cream from the hospital shop, Yanagishita and I were alone in the room. That’s when she told me about the organization they belonged to.
“The Onmyo Bureau… even Abe no Seimei was once part of it, you know?”
“Whoa—”
Then I frowned.
“But Captain Shirakawa said ‘in the name of Archangel Michael’…?”
“The organization’s name and role trace back to Abe no Seimei’s work, but onmyō teaching itself faded out.”
Now, it seems everyone has been granted special powers through the protection of angels and is tasked with keeping the immortal in check.
“Angels and demons are on completely different levels. To put it neutrally, you could say they’re both higher-dimensional beings, I guess.”
Demons have their true bodies in hell and possess human hosts to act in this world.
Angels have their true bodies in heaven and cooperate with humans to carry out their tasks.
The two sides are apparently locked in a proxy war of good and evil in the human world.
“The power of angels, who work in cooperation with humans, is exceptionally strong. After all, force isn’t as effective as working together hand in hand.”
Naturally, the nation’s executive branch chooses the strongest power available.
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