Kamijou heard the sound of water.
What confused him was that the sound was coming from his own mouth.
His parachute had gotten caught in the wind and he had ended up in the middle of a river. He couldn't feel the bottom below his feet. He wasn't great at swimming, but he wasn't particularly bad at it either. However, with his clothes soaked and with the giant parachute wrapped around him, he wasn't floating very well.
There was no sign that Tsuchimikado had landed nearby. But since he was sinking into the water, having been separated from Tsuchimikado was the least of his worries.
He had no idea how deep the water was.
It was possible it wasn't very deep at all, but it was definitely enough for Kamijou to drown in given how disoriented he was. The water wasn't doing anything except making him panic.
He began paddling the water with his arms at a rate 2 or 3 times slower than his racing thoughts.
His arms were shaking terribly.
The shaking was due to his muscles being tired, the water robbing his body of heat, and the fear that he would never get his head out of the water. All of this put together made him feel like something was restraining his movements.
(Oh, shit.)
The air he had stored in his mouth came spilling out.
He could see the light of the sun shining on the surface above his head.
The dancing light threw his sense of distance out of whack.
(Come to think of it, this happened to me once before when I was thrown from the ice ship in Chioggia…)
As Kamijou stared at the surface, he saw what looked like an odd revolving lantern coming down towards him.
The surface burst open with a large number of bubbles.
(…!!)
Before Kamijou could be surprised, a slender hand reached out from the white curtain of air.
Just as he realized someone must have dived into the water, the white hand grabbed his wrist.
He was then pulled up by a strong force.
Kamijou's body was oddly limp as he was pulled towards the surface as if by a rope.
It didn't even take 10 seconds for his face to breach the surface and meet the air.
He heard a loud splash.
He had a hard time breathing in the oxygen he had been wishing for so badly.
The muscles moving his throat and lungs weren't working properly.
"A-are you okay!?"
He heard a girl's voice nearby.
The parachute continued to act as a weight pulling Kamijou's body down. The girl raised her voice as she supported both their weights.
"I'm going to head for the bank. Just stay limp like that!!"
When they got near the riverside…or rather a shallower portion of the river, Kamijou managed to sit down. Due to his clothes and the parachute absorbing so much water, he felt very heavy. And the cord for the parachute had gotten all tangled up as he had struggled in the water making it nothing more than a hindrance.
"I-Is this how it works?"
The girl stretched out her slender hand.
Kamijou heard a loud clicking noise and found he was finally free of the parachute.
He then slowly stood up from the portion of the river he was in that was no deeper than a puddle.
He looked up and saw the sun high in the sky, so it had to be just past noon. But there was no one else around except for Kamijou and the girl. Perhaps people were staying indoors out of fear of the demonstrations and riots.
He looked around.
There was an arch-shaped stone bridge nearby, but it was partially destroyed and only went partway out over the river.
The girl may have jumped into the water from there.
Kamijou then turned towards the girl who had saved him.
He was supposed to be in France, but the girl was Japanese.
She looked about the same age as Kamijou.
She had shoulder-length black hair and double eyelids. She was wearing a pink tank top and white knee-length pants. She had an overall slender silhouette.
"Did you swallow any water…?"
The girl looking at him worriedly looked familiar.
He was pretty sure she was…
"Cough. Itsuwa of the Amakusas?"
"Ah, yes. Nice to see you again."
Itsuwa cutely bowed her head.
But she was supposed to be living in London along with the rest of the Amakusas. She wouldn't be in France for no reason.
(Why is Itsuwa here? …Actually, there's only one reason why she would be here.)
"Hey, Itsuwa. Were you called here by Tsuchimikado?"
"Um…Who is Tsuchimikado-san?"
Betraying Kamijou's expectations, Itsuwa cocked her head to the side in confusion.
"Cough. Huh, that's not it?" Kamijou clearly hadn't expected that. "I mean, surely you're here because the Roman Catholic Church is using the C-Document to cause the demonstrations and protests around the world, right?"
"H-how do you know about that!?"
Itsuwa brought her hand to her mouth in surprise.
"I-it's true that we were investigating the C-Document, but how do you know about the lead it took us so long to find!? I suppose it should be expected of the one who defeated the Priestess in a single blow!!"
Her eyes were sparkling for some reason, but Kamijou had no recollection of any such event due to his lost memories. It actually kind of scared him.
(What the hell did I do to Kanzaki?)
"Um, well, uh…Why did you come floating down on a parachute all of a sudden? Are things okay at your school in Japan?"
Kamijou was faced with an even more basic question.
He scratched at his hair that was wet with dirty river water as he answered.
"I came here with Tsuchimikado in order to put a stop to the C-Document. Did the Anglican Church not inform you of Tsuchimikado's actions?"
"We were investigating the leylines and other magical properties of the land in France on a request from the Anglican Church."
"I see."
Kamijou wasn't really paying attention. But then he blinked.
"We?"
"Yes," Itsuwa said and gave a small nod. "The 52 combat-ready members of the Amakusa-style Church. We're all going around to the major cities in France. I was in charge of Avignon, but then you came falling from the sky…"
"…I see. So this is Avignon."
He had been dragged along and dropped from the plane by Tsuchimikado, so he had had no idea where he was. When he thought about it, he was really lucky he had run into a Japanese person he knew.
And since Tsuchimikado had been taking him to Avignon, it was highly likely the Roman Catholic Church had the C-Document here.
That meant this was an enemy base.
And Kamijou had fallen right in the middle of it.
"Hey, Itsuwa. Tsuchimikado had said the C-Document could only be used at the Vatican."
"Th-that's true."
"Then why were you investigating France and not Italy? I asked him, but I was thrown out of the plane before he could answer."
Itsuwa must have thought that last part was some kind of joke she didn't get, because she gave a bit of a forced smile.
And then Itsuwa remembered something.
"U-um… Can I go get my bag before I answer that?"
"Your bag?"
"I left it on top of the bridge. I-I'm a little worried it might get stolen."
She must be referring to the half-destroyed arch-shaped bridge that was nearby.
Apparently, she really had jumped from the bridge.
"I see. Oh, and thanks. I really would have been in trouble if you hadn't saved me."
"N-no, no! It was nothing, really!!"
Itsuwa shook her head back and forth at an amazing speed and waved her hands in front of her face as she said that. Small droplets of water flew from her fingertips.
Seeing that, Kamijou asked her a question.
"Oh, one more thing, Itsuwa. Do you have a change of clothes in your bag?"
"Eh? W-well, the Amakusa-style Church does specialize in secrecy."
She was confused by Kamijou's sudden question, but a bit of pride could be seen in her expression as she gave that explanation.
"Most of my luggage is at the hotel, but I do have a change of clothes with me in order to tail someone or to get away. I haven't had to use it so far, though."
"I see. Good."
"?"
Itsuwa still didn't understand what he was talking about.
But Kamijou was reluctant to directly tell her.
So he moved his gaze from Itsuwa to the blue sky and pointed at what he was talking about.
"…"
Itsuwa followed Kamijou's finger with her eyes and saw what he was pointing at.
Her chest.
More specifically, at her pink tank top that had gone see-through and was sticking to her from being wet and thus was causing her full silhouette to be visible.