Believers (1)

"Ah, Takeshi! That doll's mine...!"

"Haha! Too bad, Eri, it's mine now!"

The voices of small children fighting could be heard from across the church. Today, the weather is nice, and as usual, the church yard is full of young boys and girls playing together. Considering it's a small, rural community, it could even be said that everyone knows each other here in the church and the village.

"Takeshi, taking others' things is not good!" Suddenly, the feminine voice of the Church's sister could be heard from a far.

"Geh, it's Sister!" Takeshi shouted as he threw away Eri's doll and ran, in fear of getting caught. Eri immediately took the doll back and hugged it.

"Thank you, Sister !" Eri said as she smiled, "Takeshi is so mean!"

The church's sister, smiled as she gave Eri's head a pat, "You're welcome, Eri-chan," she said, "But you have to make sure she doesn't get stolen away again, okay?" glanced at the doll and gave it a pat too.

"Eri will do her best!" Eri replied, and ran towards the other girls in the yard.

"Already busy in the morning, huh, ?"

When she turned around, could see the priest, Karamatsu walking towards her, always with his trusty bible in tow.

"Karamatsu!" replied with a smile.

Indeed, when nobody but the two of them are listening in, they would call each other as would close friends, since they've been together since their childhood. However, when there are other people nearby, they would, of course, maintain professional distance.

"I see the children's playing as usual," Karamatsu chimed, "How peaceful."

"...Indeed, it is,"

As they were having such small talks, someone waved their hand from a far, as he ran towards Karamatsu and .

"Isn't that Todomatsu?"

"Aa, it would seem so," Karamatsu said, "I bet he came to meet you again today."

's cheeks reddened as she lightly punched Karamatsu's arm, "Don't say it as if there's something between us, you stupid Priest,"

Although indeed, the young man Todomatsu, having known both Karamatsu and since childhood, often visited the church just to meet , it sounded... strange, when it's put to words.

Karamatsu let out a hearty laugh, "Getting all red like that, since when did you turn so cute?" he said, "Ah, no, that's wrong. You've always been cute ever since you were born, Karamatsu-girl,"

Ah, there it comes, Karamatsu's "Karamatsu-girl" word.

"Oi~! Sister! Don't ignore me!" Since when did Todomatsu finally reached them didn't know, but right now, he's sulking for sure.

"Todomatsu! I'm sorry, the Priest's being painful again, so I didn't realise you were already here."

Todomatsu glared at Karamatsu, "Geez! You're always so painful, Karamatsu,"

"Wha-what's so painful about me?!" Karamatsu asked loudly, "I don't understand!"

Todomatsu and looked at each other and smiled. Even if you searched the whole world, you wouldn't find this kind of painful, flirting priest anywhere but here.

-

"So, why did you come here, Todomatsu?" Karamatsu asked, leaving the jokes behind. Despite how Todomatsu usually came without any particular purpose in mind, The Priest had an inkling that the feminine young man has something he wanted to say.

Todomatsu's smile suddenly faded as he heard Karamatsu's inquiry. "...About that," he started, "Yes, I have something I wanted to say - to be exact, report, to the church."

and Karamatsu turned quiet, waiting for Todomatsu to continue on.

"Recently, there have been inexplicable deaths around the village," Todomatsu said, "From what I've gathered, ten... eleven people have died ever since the case started... six months ago."

"Eleven people in six months..." whispered, "How cruel..."

Karamatsu looked away, "...Six months... Ichimatsu..."

Todomatsu gasped, and covered her mouth with both of her hands, terrified. "Six months ago... that's along the time when Ichimatsu was banished from the church for his betrayal..." whispered, more so to herself than to anyone else.

Looking thoughtful, Todomatsu murmured, "He was banished for helping the devils, thus betraying the Church, wasn't he..."

The three of them could clearly feel the tense atmosphere building up. Ichimatsu was already banished from the village six months ago; he couldn't be... but... there was nobody else but him who could have done such an intricate crime. Ichimatsu, was, after all, shrewd. Out of all of them, perhaps he was the one with the sharpest mind.

However, the one to break the heavy silence was none other than the kids playing on the yard.

"Sister! Priest! Todo-chan! Let's play together!" Takeshi shouted. It seems that he's made up with Eri, and is now playing with her again. Eri, on the other hand, tugged on 's clothes.

(Todo-chan is a cute nickname one child from the group made. Apparently, Todomatsu's quite satisfied with the nickname, so it kind of stays there.)

"Sister, Priest and Todo-chan looked unhappy so we want to play together to make you happy," Eri said with a smile, "Let's play!"

Karamatsu, Todomatsu, and looked at each other, and then they laughed.

"Yeah, let's play!" said, as she held Eri's hand.

Since we have no leads for now, let's stop overthinking and start moving out tomorrow.