Now, Itsuwa was a girl with a peaceful and honest personality.
Even with Kamijou directly pointing out the issue, she made no eccentric actions such as slapping him, biting his head, frying him with a billion volts of electricity, or anything else. Her face merely turned bright red and she gave a strained laugh. She merely said, "Ah. Ah ha ha. Sorry about showing you that. Ah ha ha ha ha," and crossed her arms to hide her chest and jogged off towards the stone bridge the bag with her change of clothes was on.
She was smiling, but there was a hint of tears in her eyes. It felt like a quite sensible and adult reaction.
"Hmm…"
For some reason, Kamijou was left feeling really awkward about the whole thing.
He stared off into the distance wishing she had at least screamed or something.
Ten minutes later, Itsuwa was back wearing different clothes leaving Kamijou wondering where exactly she had changed. She was dry now, but she must have still smelled of river water, because he could tell she had put on some perfume.
"S-sorry for keeping you."
Itsuwa had a large bag over her shoulder.
She was wearing a pale ice cream-like green blouse and dark brown pants short enough to leave her calves visible. The blouse was made of material so thin it almost made you think you would be able to see through it if the sun was shining on it. The shirt wasn't held closed by buttons; it was instead tied just above the navel.
That shirt was all she was wearing on her upper body.
"…Itsuwa-san?"
"I-I had no choice! I only had it to put on over the tank top to make it look like a different outfit! So please don't say anything!!"
It seemed she was telling the truth, because on closer inspection the blouse didn't even have buttons. Tying the front was the only way of keeping it closed.
She must have known that she was pushing it with that outfit, because she curled up a bit to avoid Kamijou's silent gaze.
But she was stuck in this situation because she had jumped into the river to save him.
Kamijou used all the limited resources of his brain to try and find something to say.
"Well, with the way Kanzaki dresses, this is okay, right?"
"The Priestess doesn't dress sluttily like this!!"
Itsuwa went all out denying that Kanzaki dressed inappropriately, but then realized again that she was dressed "sluttily" herself and her entire face turned red.
(Well, with the way Kanzaki acts like she could party all night, it works. The way Itsuwa is getting all embarrassed, trying to hide herself, and fidgeting around, it makes her stand out even more.)
"I don't really know who Tsuchimikado-san is, but, if you're here to retrieve the C-Document, maybe we should work together until you can meet up with him."
Itsuwa may have wanted to quickly move the subject away from her outfit, because she kind of forced the topic to their job.
Since Kamijou didn't know a lick of French and had no passport, he couldn't exactly go back to Japan on his own, so he was hoping things would work out the way Itsuwa had suggested.
"W-well, it'd be a huge help to me if we could do that."
"Okay, first let's find somewhere to sit. We can discuss some things."
Kamijou was about to agree, but then he looked down and saw what he looked like.
"I'm soaking wet… I'd like to at least get this mud off."
Itsuwa's back straightened suddenly after hearing Kamijou's casual comment.
She hurriedly rummaged through her bag.
"W-w-well…I-I have a wet towel you could…"
Before she could finish, a towel was draped over Kamijou's head.
He turned around in surprise and saw a white man walking with a large dog. The man didn't even turn around and waved a hand while saying something in an annoyed fashion that must have meant something along the lines of "You can keep it."
"…Ah. There are some nice people here. Why do French people have a cool way of doing every little thing? …Hm? Itsuwa, why did you just stiffen up like that?"
"N-no reason..."
Itsuwa's shoulders drooped. Kamijou tilted his head in puzzlement as he wiped the mud from his face and clothes with the towel.
"Oh, right. They're having those demonstrations and riots here, right? Do they have inspections? You see, I don't have my passport with me."
"They have plenty of inspections, but at most they'll check your belongings. I don't think they'll ask you for your passport. And I can trick the inspector using magic."
Itsuwa readjusted her bag's shoulder strap as she mumbled something about a hot towel working better than a regular one.
Avignon.
The old town of that city in southern France was surrounded by about 4 kilometers of castle walls. There were a large number of buildings crammed into that limited space. In the city's golden age, it was hugely influential on the entire culture of Europe. Partially because of that, it was still one of the leading tourist spots in France.
"…Hmm. So you were investigating Avignon for the C-Document? I understand that much, but…" Kamijou asked for an explanation from Itsuwa while they walked through an arched castle gate leading inside the large stone walls and to the old walled town of Avignon.
They entered a plaza-like area and Kamijou saw what looked like an open café. The sign on the side of the road for the café had something written in French (at least Kamijou thought it was. He wasn't sure.) and English. It must have been a café for tourists because it had a lot of things to help accommodate people who were here for the first time.
Itsuwa brought Kamijou away from the plaza and into a small pathway. Kamijou assumed there must be a hole-in-the-wall place Itsuwa knew about.
"I know you said we were going somewhere we could sit down, but…"
"Y-yes?"
"Why Drory Coffee? I mean, I know it's a foreign company, so it isn't surprising that they have them in France, but this is exactly like the Japanese chain. Couldn't we go to a store that's more…y'know, the kind of little known place that was started by some old couple or something?"
"W-well, there are places like that, but…"
Itsuwa sounded apologetic.
"Um…Places like that have mostly local people in them, so Japanese people like us would stand out more. It's much safer to be at a chain that lots of Japanese tourists go to…"
"Nnn…" Kamijou moaned.
He kind of agreed with her, but then he realized something else.
"…Wait a second, Itsuwa. I'm still pretty dirty."
He had been given a towel back at the river, but he couldn't get everything off with that. He was mostly dry now, but the mud wasn't going anywhere.
"If I go in a store like this, won't I get kicked out as soon as they see me?"
"You'll be fine." Itsuwa responded casually. "The way things are now, you're fine."
Kamijou figured out what she meant as soon as he stepped into the store.
The layout of the store was exactly the same as the ones in Japan.
The walls facing the road were covered in glass and in front of the glass there was a long table with seats lined up in front of it. The center of the floor had booth seats for four and the counter where you ordered was all the way in the back. Kamijou couldn't read French, but from the "no smoking" marks on placards placed around the store, the entire store must have been a "no smoking" area.
The only differences from Japan were about the people inside.
Obviously, the people were French instead of Japanese.
There had been no one around where he had landed after parachuting in, but the store was packed. They may have been afraid of the demonstrations and riots, but they still had to go out to make a living. People were only going to the places they had to which concentrated the streams of people to specific areas.
And there was another difference.
The majority of the customers had disheveled hair and clothing, were covered in mud, and had bandages wrapped around their limbs. Everyone from the strongest adult to the smallest child at the very least had bruises on their faces. You would have been hard pressed to find someone who was unscathed.
"So this is what the results of the demonstrations and protests are…"
Kamijou sighed as he spoke.
So far, Academy City and the Roman Catholic Church had been showing their opposition for each other, but no full-blown military actions had been taken. However, this had caused a change that was having a real effect on the world nonetheless. Even though no one had wanted this horrible change.
"We have to do something about this as soon as possible," Itsuwa said in a quiet voice.
"…I know. And we're here to figure out how to do that," Kamijou responded.
This was no time to leisurely eat some food, but Itsuwa pointed out that they would stand out if they sat down without ordering anything. Kamijou agreed because he would have felt awkward having a discussion while the workers glared at him, and he headed for the counter.
Of course, the young woman standing behind the register was French.
(Now then…)
"I-Itsuwa-san. Since I'm in France, do I have to speak French?"
"What?"
"I'm wondering if there's any chance some French people might understand English."
"Well, I think most people in the EU would understand English. Unlike an island nation like Japan, the sense of nationality here is a little bit weaker. See, that customer over there is German. Oh, and that one's Italian. Since they have to speak with people from a lot of different countries, most employees dealing with customers at chain stores have to know more than just French."
"I-I see!!" Kamijou was suddenly filled with motivation.
The time had come to show the fruits of his labors with the "English Training Made Easy" app on his phone.
He had actually been a bit discouraged because he had been stuck at practice level 4, but this was no time to worry about that. He walked purposefully towards the counter and spoke before the worker could ask him for his order.
"Coffee and sandwich, please!!"
His pronunciation was quite bad, but the woman nodded.
(Sh-she understood me!!)
But just as Kamijou was celebrating his English skills, the woman said something in a foreign language that must have meant, "That will be 7 euros".
Kamijou freaked out.
They didn't take yen.
"Wh-what do I do…!!"
Kamijou's expression made it look like he had been struck by lightning, but Itsuwa handed him a euro bill.
(Okay, I need to pay her back for that. …Wait, how many yen is a Euro?)
As Kamijou was wondering that, Itsuwa spoke to the worker.
"U-um, I would like an espresso, a black ham sandwich, and some healthy vegetable sticks."
The French worker nodded again showing she had understood and Kamijou yelled in shock.
"Ehh, Japanese!? I could have used Japanese!?"
When he looked closer at the workers, he noticed that they had a bunch of small flag-shaped badges on their shoulders. They most likely indicated what languages they could understand.
This made Kamijou really doubt his English ability. It was possible she only understood his pronunciation because she knew Japanese.
Kamijou was fairly disheartened as he took his tray and went ahead to find a table. Itsuwa came a bit later.
Itsuwa first put her tray on the table and then put the bag hanging from her shoulder down by her feet.
Kamijou could hear a heavy metallic clank come from the bag.
"…?"
He looked towards the bag.
When he did, Itsuwa's face went red and she shook her hands in front of her face.
"D-don't worry about that."
"Yeah, but…"
He was about to continue when Itsuwa spoke while barely moving her lips.
"(…Um, I have a weapon in there.)"
"Hah?"
"(…The grip is split into 5 parts. When I need to use it, I can connect the attachments making a single spear. I know adding in the joints makes the spear less strong, but this way I can carry it around with me.)"
(Come to think of it, I did see her swinging around a huge spear in Chioggia.)
"By the way, have you been able to contact that Tsuchimikado person yet?"
"No."
Kamijou took his phone out of his pocket.
"…We got split up during our descent and I can't contact him. I'm able to make calls, but it seems his phone is off or he's out of range of an antenna. …Well, knowing him, he should be fine no matter what happens."
He tried calling again, but there was no sign of it connecting to Tsuchimikado's phone.
(This is a tough phone. I fell in that river and it's perfectly fine.)
Kamijou put the phone back in his pocket.
Kamijou was thinking of having a strategy discussion with Itsuwa while eating his sandwich, but he noticed he didn't have any napkins on his tray.
"Ah, what now? I wanted to wipe my hands off before I ate…"
For some reason, Itsuwa's eyes sparkled after hearing his complaint.
"I-i-i-i-in that case, I can…"
Her face turned bright red and she started rummaging through the bag at her feet, but then a female worker who was coming by said something in French that sounded like an apology and plopped down a pile of napkins.
Itsuwa froze in shock while for some reason holding out a personal wet towel.
Once he had wiped his hands off with the napkins, Kamijou decided to get down to business.
"So, you said before that you're here investigating around Avignon…Huh? What is it, Itsuwa?"
"N-nothing…"
She seemed to have lost all energy like a house plant that had been left by the window too long during the summer.
Kamijou started again.
"So you've been searching around Avignon, right? So why are you searching France instead of the Vatican? Did you find anything suspicious?"
"Y-yes," Itsuwa nodded. "I was actually planning to gather some more information and then contact the rest of the Amakusas spread out around France."
"So you found what you're looking for?" Kamijou asked for confirmation and Itsuwa didn't deny it.
"Do you know of the building called the Palace of the Popes?"
"?"
"It's the largest Roman Catholic facility in Avignon. Or rather, the city of Avignon was built around it."
"The Popes…" Kamijou muttered.
(By "pope" does it mean "The Pope" pope?)
"Hm? But wouldn't the Palace of the Popes be in the Vatican? That name makes it sound really important."
"Well…" Itsuwa began.
It seemed she was having trouble figuring out what to say.
"There are some complicated circumstances surrounding the city of Avignon."
"Complicated circumstances?"
"At the end of the 13th century, there was a dispute between the Roman Catholic Pope and the French king. And the winner of that dispute was the French king. He gained the right to order around the Pope at the time. One of his orders was for the Pope to leave his headquarters and come live in France."
"That started what is known as the Avignon Papacy," added Itsuwa.
"And the Pope's headquarters was the Vatican?"
"N-no. At the time, it was known as the Papal State."
"Apparently, the French wanted to control the Pope in order to use the various privileges and benefits the Roman Catholic Church had. Avignon was chosen as the place to imprison the Pope. And the palace the Pope was imprisoned in was named the Palace of the Popes."
"Imprisoned, huh?"
"For the 68 years of the Avignon Papacy, there were multiple Popes and they all had to act as Pope from here."
Itsuwa chewed on a vegetable stick.
"But there are many things the Pope had to do that could only be done in the Papal State. Things like the investiture of Cardinals and various ecumenical council meetings could be carried out by a representative. But things that had to be done within the Papal State, in buildings within the Papal State, or with certain spiritual items in the Papal State couldn't be done from Avignon in the same way."
"Doing so would have been akin to creating an entirely new Papal State," explained Itsuwa. "So the Roman Catholic Church needed to set up a certain trick."
"A trick?"
"They couldn't create the same devices in Avignon that they had in the Papal State, but by creating a magical pipeline to Avignon, they could control the devices in the Papal State long distance."
"…So it was like connecting a computer so it could access a major server?"
"When the Pope moved back from France at the end of the Avignon Papacy, the pipeline was supposed to have been severed, but from the looks of the patterns of the magical pulsation in the ground in this area, there must have either been a facility left connected where they could use the C-Document or they may have reconnected the severed pipeline."
"Hm…" Kamijou nodded.
He thought about what he had just been told and then spoke.
"…Have you checked inside the Palace of the Popes?"
"N-no."
Itsuwa shrank down in her seat and shook her head.
"I'm just supposed to investigate… Once I have enough information, I'm supposed to contact the Substitute Pope so that a large team can gather and break in at once."
Apparently, Tatemiya Saiji, the Substitute Pope, had a "special spiritual item" that was passed down by the Amakusas, but it seemed that Itsuwa thought that acting alone wasn't a very good idea when dealing with an object that affected the entire world.
(…Come to think of it, that makes Tsuchimikado and my actions pretty irregular, doesn't it?)
"Since Tsuchimikado came here, he must have determined that Avignon seemed suspicious from some other source of information. Which means it's highly likely that you're right about the Roman Catholic Church using the C-Document in the Palace of the Popes."
But then Kamijou had another thought.
"The C-Document is property of the Roman Catholic Church, right?"
"Y-yes."
"So why does it have to be used in the Papal State?…or now it's the Vatican, I guess. I can't really think of any reason they can't just take it away from their headquarters. And just because they can control devices at the Vatican from Avignon doesn't mean there's magic that can only be activated in Avignon, right?"
"Well, there are multiple theories regarding that…"
Itsuwa thought for a second and then continued speaking.
"It probably takes a long time to get approval to use the C-Document. The 141 Cardinals at the top of the Roman Catholic Church must all be in agreement about it. The Pope has a lot of power within the church, but he can't use the C-Document on his decision alone. I think that's why it hasn't been used very often until now."
"There are conflicts between factions within the Roman Catholic Church and that rule prevents the C-Document from being used during one of those conflicts."
"According to some information I heard, they don't need all of the Cardinals' approval to control something via Avignon because the method is so irregular. But at the same time, since they are not activating it directly at the Vatican, preparations have to be made in Avignon causing the activation to not be instantaneous like usual. And that means that if we stop the C-Document now, we may be able to stop the chaos spreading throughout the world completely."
"But either way you have to investigate the Palace of the Popes, huh…"
"I-I just need a bit more information to have enough to get everyone to move. I think we'll be ready to infiltrate the Palace in a few more days."
This war was between science and magic, but Itsuwa and the other Amakusas seemed to be fighting to stop the Roman Catholic Church.
The Anglican Church probably didn't like that the Roman Catholic Church was holding the reins of the magic side. On the other hand, they didn't like to create direct trouble for themselves. She had said it was the "Amakusas" not the "Anglican Church". In other words, the Anglican Church was using the Amakusas to stop the C-Document and, if the Amakusas were to fail, they would insist that it was just a small faction acting out of their control.
"…"
Kamijou was separated from Tsuchimikado.
He felt like working with Itsuwa in her plan to infiltrate the Palace of the Popes was a better plan than heading there now on his own.
That meant he had to help Itsuwa gather the information she needed.
"Itsuwa, is there anything I can help with?"
"Eh?"
"You said you wouldn't be infiltrating the Palace for a few days, but we need to get this done as soon as possible."
"Th-that's true. In that case…"
Itsuwa seemed at a loss as how to answer Kamijou's question.
But she never got a chance to answer.
There was a loud crash as all of the windows facing the street shattered simultaneously.
It wasn't due to thrown stones. Nor was it due to being hit by bats or metal pipes.
It was due to human hands.
Hundreds of hands pushed against the glass at once and the pressure shattered the glass. Many screams erupted from within the store and a crushing horde of people flooded inside. It was like a scene from a zombie movie.
Kamijou quickly realized what had caused this clearly unusual scene.
"A riot!?"
"Th-this way!!"
Itsuwa grabbed her bag from the ground, grabbed Kamijou's arm with her other hand, and started running. She wasn't headed for the main exit; she was headed for the emergency exit. During that time, hundreds of people stormed inside and the store was suddenly too full to move properly like in a packed train.
"They're Japanese!"
"Are they from Academy City!?"
"Crush them. Don't hesitate. They're the enemy!!"
Kamijou couldn't understand French, but he got the gist of what they were saying from the nuances their emotions gave their voices. A multitude of hands reached for his back, but before they could reach him, he managed to get out of the open metal emergency door in what was almost a roll.
He turned to look behind him.
He heard many screams from within the store coming from some women and small children inside. But before he could go back inside to help them, Itsuwa kicked the emergency door closed.
"Itsuwa!!"
"Their actions aren't enough to kill someone. There were just too many of them. The great number of rioters did nothing more than restrict their own movements. As long as they don't all fall over like dominoes, there shouldn't even be any major injuries."
"That's not the issue here!! We need to at least help the children so that-!!"
"This same thing…!!" Itsuwa yelled cutting Kamijou off. "This same thing is happening all over the world. If we went back into that wave of people, what could we realistically do? We're here to destroy the source of all this as soon as we can, right?"
"…Damn it."
"If we can stop the C-Document, this rioting will stop. If we get caught up in the rioting, we'll do nothing more than restrict our own movements. And then there will be no one left to stop it."
(The Roman Catholic Church is causing these riots and Academy City is doing nothing to stop them.)
"…Fuck!!" Kamijou swore and then gnashed his teeth.
(And the only ones suffering are the people caught up in the middle of it all! I can't just ignore this. I'm stopping this here. I need to put a stop to this messed-up shit as soon as I can!!)
Kamijou and Itsuwa ran through a back street that had tall walls rising up on either side.
Kamijou could hear a throaty man's voice yelling. The sound of shattering glass rang in his ears. He could hear high-pitched crying. And he could even hear an explosion from gas or gasoline being lit.
He had no idea what exactly the riots were targeting.
They could be targeting chains of Japanese-owned companies or maybe they were attacking hotels that Japanese sightseers often stayed in. Whatever it was, they had lost sight of their original goal and were now flooding the streets causing mayhem.
"Itsuwa, how far are we going to run!?"
"I'd like to find an area where we won't be overrun by people for now, but…"
She cut off midsentence.
They could see another group of rioters down the street.
(Damn, they have good timing…)
Then Kamijou's shoulders shuddered as he had a troubling thought.
"Hey, Itsuwa. You've been investigating here for a while, right? Did you ever get caught up in a riot like this in that time?"
"Eh? N-no. The Amakusa Church specializes in blending into the environment after all. Normally, I would leave as soon as I noticed any sign of a riot coming…"
"…So I was right."
Itsuwa's words confirmed what he had been thinking.
"Their timing is too good."
"What do you mean…?"
"If the enemy controlling the C-Document is here in Avignon along with us, they may have seen me parachute in. And even if they didn't see me directly, they probably detected an Academy City supersonic passenger plane drop something above the city. This reaction makes sense if the ones using the C-Document are on their guard."
"You don't mean…"
"This riot is their method of intercepting us!!"
As Kamijou yelled, the mass of people blocking the path drew closer.
The Palace of the Popes was in Avignon's old city which was a small city surrounded by old castle walls. Because they continued cramming more and more buildings into the limited space, the roads were so small it was hard to even get a car through them. And since those paths were surrounded by buildings of over 10 meters in height, it created quite a feeling of claustrophobia.
And these small roads were blocked by waves of people at various points.
The people taking part in the riot seemed to even be injuring themselves.
Kamijou thought for a second and then resigned himself to what had to be done.
Unless they forced their way through the mountains of people ahead that was marching in the opposite direction, they would never make it to the Palace of the Popes. And taking a different path wasn't going to solve that problem. The longer they put it off, the more everyone would be injured.
"Let's go, Itsuwa."
"Eh…?"
"We don't have time to wait for a chance to contact Tsuchimikado. And the Amakusas can't be here right away, right? So we have no choice but to force our way through those people and head for the Palace of the Popes. If the enemy knows we're here, they may not stay here for long. Even if they flee back to the Vatican, they may continue to use the C-Document. Letting them bring the C-Document back to their headquarters can only be a bad thing. I'm a complete amateur at this kind of thing and even I can figure that much out. We need to destroy it here and now!!"
Itsuwa hesitated slightly, but finally nodded in Kamijou's direction.
She had decided that they didn't have time to wait for the Amakusas spread out throughout France to gather here.
As they spoke, hundreds of rioters drew near down the small road.
It was a solid wall made up of humans like the inside of a crowded train.
"…Stay crouched down as we go through," said Itsuwa quietly as she looked at the rioters. "If our heads stick up above the crowd, we could easily become targets. We're less likely to be spotted if we hide behind all the people around us. Even if this riot is the enemy's way of stopping us, they don't have any precise control over it."
"Got it," said Kamijou as he felt strangely nervous. "Here we go."
As he said that, Kamijou and Itsuwa ran straight toward the rioters.
The rioters were as tightly packed as a wall, but they managed to cram themselves into their midst. There were just too many people to run. They could barely walk and at first they could only make it a few meters.
Someone screamed and hit Kamijou's head.
He managed to move forward, but fat fingers grabbed his shirt.
He continued forward recklessly. He bit at the arm grabbing him, shoved his shoulders against the wall of people, and walked forward with people still clinging to him. He felt fingernails pierce his side and blood oozed out. He could smell the body odor of men who had been worked into a frenzy. The screaming exploding in his ear and the pressure of people pushing into him from every direction gradually ate away at his consciousness.
(Damn it…)
Kamijou's legs started to weaken.
He was losing the power to move forward.
(Damn it…!!)
Just when he felt like he was going to be swallowed up by a mass of disgust, the wall of people suddenly thinned out.
Now that the air was not made up of the exhalations of others, he breathed in the fresh oxygen deeply.
"A-are you all right!?" Itsuwa asked from nearby.
There was a drop of blood running down from her temple. Apparently, she hadn't been able to get through the mass of people unscathed either. She did have her spear in her bag, but she must not have wanted to swing it around here.
Kamijou started running out of the crowd of people while breathing heavily. His feet were wobbling and he felt a little shaky. He had to pay attention so he didn't bump into the stone walls on the sides of the small road.
"…I-Itsuwa. Where is the Palace of the Popes?"
"It's up ahead. That's its roof you can see over there. …We have to get through there next."
Kamijou slowly looked over in the direction Itsuwa was pointing.
What he saw there was a large riot that made the one they had just gotten through look like nothing in comparison.