joy.

“Well, fancy seeing you two here,” said Ago, embarrassed. His situation made him look like a tiny rat who had been caught by a large cat.

“How did you--” started Eva.

“He’s a fool for following you two Lieutenants,” cut off the burly man.

“A holy man like him should learn to stay with his books and songs.”

“Huh!?” exclaimed Ago. The perplexity on his face proved he didn’t know how to take that remark.

“Anyway,” began the man. “If you let my partner and I go without any trouble, and I won’t kill the priest. If you don’t, I’ll snap his pretty neck, here and now.”

“Excuse me, but I’d rather not be called pretty if you’d mind...” butted in Ago.

“Shut up,” replied the man, his teeth gritting together.

“Hmm....” mumbled Ago, who stroked his chin as if he was in deep thought.

“What do you mean, ‘hmm’?” grunted the man.

“Well, you didn’t say please, my highly odiferous friend,” chanted Ago in a teasing manner. His voice was innocent and gentle, even more so than usual.

“Odiferous?”

“My morally troubled man, it means you smell nasty,” noted Ago. He glanced at the stained and rough leather jacket the man wore. “And your attire isn’t complimenting you, either...”

“What the--?!”

“You should probably think of burning that shirt you’re wearing sir, it may cause an airborne plague.”

“That’s enough!!” screeched the scraggly man. He directed his gun at Ago and shot. The bullet flew and grazed his head.

“Ago!!” screamed Eva. Her hands began to glow once more.

“Sister Eva, please stand down,” whispered Ago. He looked at her with blood dripping off his face and gave a cryptic yet gentle smile. “I’ll take it from here.”

“Huh?!” grunted the burly one.

Ago placed his right hand on the burly man’s hairy forearm.

“GAHHH!!!” bellowed the man. His arm began to bleed, and in his shock, he dropped Ago.

“I was hoping to be much kinder today...” whispered Ago, who had landed on his feet. He wiped off a small, bloodstained blade.

“Get them!” shouted the scraggly man to the other five men with him. They rushed towards Ago, Tsubaki, and Eva with different assortments of weaponry.

“Sister, Brother...please stand aside for now,” spoke Ago. “I’ll take care of the situation quickly.”

“But why?” asked Eva, confused and concerned.

“Miss Evangelique, I suggest we listen to him,” replied Tsubaki. “He is our superior, after all.”

“But Ago is a Hitsujikai!” exclaimed Eva. “He’s a part of my team!”

“That is true,” responded Tsubaki. “However, he is also a Lieutenant...Kioku Kitsune’s most powerful Lieutenant, to be more precise.”

Evangelique stood still. Her breath felt as if it had been taken away by the shocking surprise.

Ago was a Hitsujikai, a man who swore to Elohim, the Creator of All Things, to teach and guide in truth and love as according to the Sacrytheola, or Sacred Scriptures. It was his task to evangelize to all lost souls and reflect the mercy of Kaithé, the Divine Savior.

But he was also a Lieutenant, whose tasks often held no gentle outcome.

“He said it’s his conviction,” said Tsubaki. Eva looked at him. “Ago has two callings. On one hand, he is a shepherd. His task is to guide his flock and to protect them from destruction. On the other hand, he is a soldier. He has to leave his sheep in order to preserve other sheep.”

“And sometimes, in order to protect those sheep, you have to fight wolves...” murmured Eva.

She looked at Ago again, who stood still and tall. His adversaries were sprawled on the ground, wounded.

“Finally, it’s done~” sighed Ago, stretching out his arms and yawning.

“D-Did you kill them?” asked Eva, frightened by the surprising side of Ago.

“Of course not,” replied Ago. He looked at the men with hurt eyes. “I just made sure they won’t be able to hurt anyone ever again. We still need to question them about the attack on the tavern, after all.”

He smiled at Eva with his cherubic, princely smile. Evangelique felt a cold chill crawly down her spine.

“Brother Tsubaki, help me tie these men up,” said Ago, taking a strong rope from a leather pack on his side. “Brother Hakujou and Mitsuru-daya are sure to come for them soon.”

“Will do,” replied Tsubaki. He walked over to help Ago apprehend the criminals.

“Evaaaaaa!!!” shouted Yasha. She ran up to Eva and hugged her tightly.

“Where did you go!?” added Althia. Both she and Yasha were very concerned.

“You didn’t get hurt, did you?” asked Cyril, who grasped onto her hands.

“No, no, I’m okay, really...” answered Eva quickly. “Ago may need some attending to, though. Since he got sho--”

“Since my shoes got unable to balance on the snow and I tripped!” butted in Ago. He looked into Eva’s eyes, silently urging her to remain silent about the incident in the alleyway.

“Ah, yes,” replied Eva stiffly. “He had quite a bad fall!”

“Did you now?” asked Augustine.

“It was bad, but I’m sure it was all his clumsiness,” began Eva. “He’s so clumsy, he puts a landing albatross to shame!”

Cyril, Yasha, and Althia chuckled at the remark. Tsubaki, who stood nearby, watched them giggle.

“Oi, that was uncalled for...” pouted Ago. Eva giggled in reply.

Augustine watched as they all laughed, only to soon glance at Ago’s dirtied robes.

In unbelief and an undisclosed resent, he turned to look at Eva, hoping that one of his greatest fear hadn’t become a reality.