…Must not exist.
For the sake of our path.
For the sake of our duty.
Such an arrogant existence…
Such a filthy voice…
…Must not exist.
Wait for an opportunity?
Come up with a plan?
Gather our forces?
Think of the situation?
What foolish thoughts.
That thing is just a mixed blood ‘mikoshi’.
When she’s been shred into mere pieces of flesh, she won’t have any influence left.
There are plenty of other ‘mikoshi’.
But she must disappear.
For hers is the voice of the devil that will impede our grand order.
After the 3 o’clock snack time, the excitement of the children from their favorite big sister and their new playmate calmed down.
The Sister left their care to another staff member, then she went to pray alone before the chapel altar. However, she wasn’t really praying and was just organizing her thoughts.
She didn’t have a reverent attitude toward god, but she believed that god wouldn’t expect much from an unconventional nun such as herself in the first place.
While many considered her a fine nun due to her attitude towards the children and her strong sense of responsibility, as well as her gentle and smiling demeanor, in truth, she was casual about her faith.
“…”
She pretended to pray because she wanted to be alone. Monica’s revelation had just been too shocking.
Someone was out to kill Monica. They discussed that briefly, and in the end, even the Sister couldn’t help but acknowledge that something might actually happen at the concert tomorrow.
Up to now, the troubles Monica had brought up could broadly be divided into two categories. The world of music and entertainment had its share of worries, complaints, jealousy, and anger, and the Sister was more than happy to be her outlet in that regard. That was one category.
But there was another category, and it concerned her safety. She had many names, “The Songstress of Dimensions,” “The Modern Muse,” “The Soul-Stirring Voice,” “The goddess Connecting Two Worlds…” All grand titles that could put a smile on the Sister’s face.
And while Monica agreed that her singing voice was beautiful, she found such titles exaggerated. Yet the fact remained that she had garnered the kind of recognition that justified such names. In other words, Monica had many supporters and fans, but that also meant she had many enemies.
Past incidents in the entertainment industry have also proven that excessive admiration could spiral out of control. Moreover, Monica was a mixed-race child born between Earthlings and Garestonians; which is why, whether she wanted it or not, she was treated as a symbol of the interaction between the two worlds. And for those unwelcoming of that, she was a nuisance.
People who envied and resented Monica’s popularity and success.
People who harbored excessive feelings for Monica.
People who despised Monica’s mixed heritage.
Such people have been haunting her since her debut, but their hostility only served to motivate her further. Of course, the support from her talent agency’s security played a significant role as well. Moreover, the Sister would lend help through her old connections to investigate or destroy those with sinister intentions or those that couldn’t be dealt with easily.
Every organization had departments or personnel that they kept away from the public. That was true even for the world’s largest religious organization. The sister who was a part of that helped Monica as a small prank.
She did think that it wasn’t very adult like of her, or that it was cowardly of her, but she convinced herself by reasoning that she saw the kids here, even those that left, as her own children.
Monica likely came to her whenever she had a problem because she’d noticed something. She has always had a keen intuition. However, she didn’t ask anything, and neither did the Sister clarify. Their relationship just quietly continued like that as though there was a mutual understanding between them.
But Monica said that this time would be different.
This time it wasn’t just jealousy, excessive admiration, or a protest against the interaction of the two worlds. Something completely different was out to get her. While the evidence was sparse, and there have only been a few incidents, the Sister knew how sharp Monica’s intuition was, and she found this matter deeply unsettling.
In the first place, though only a few incidents have occurred, one such incident that occurred recently was quite alarming. Monica visited an amusement park for an event, only for a bomb to be planted near the location she was set to appear.
The bomb had been discreetly defused by experts who’d noticed the situation. However, they had to get rough with the park just to be able to find out that that happened. Moreover, it was even accidental, merely a byproduct of their attempt to find out the identity of the person in the costume who had been rude to Monica.
To this day, that incident has yet to be publicized, making the whole thing reek of suspicion. More importantly, while it was only one incident, Monica had essentially just narrowly escaped an assassination attempt.
Yesterday, a threatening message was delivered to her
─If you retire now and promise never to appear on stage again, then we’ll be nice and let you off.
─Otherwise, you shall become the bloodstained princess during your concert the day after tomorrow.
Monica felt that the threatening letter was different this time. This time the sender was seriously planning to kill her. Yet not only did she have no plans of retiring, she didn’t even plan to stop the concert. The Sister wasn’t sure whether to praise her for that or rebuke her.
──Because Sister, I don’t think this guy is planning to stop even if I retired.
──In that case, I might as well just sing until the end.
It was curious it it was because of her competitiveness, her rebellious nature, or her pride as a singer, but Monica refused to back down.
Instead, she looked at the Sister with a gaze that seemed to say she would defy fate with her singing. The Sister couldn’t say anything in response. She had thought that she would continue to support her just as before, but her contact gave her just one response, ‘The scripture has been closed.’
That was a coded message that meant they were unable to act due to external factors. In other words, the culprit this time had somehow found out that she had been protecting Monica from the shadows, and they exerted pressure on her religious organization.
──Just who is trying to kill that child!?
She was already old, so she knew that going herself was just a losing gamble. But was she supposed to use such excuses to abandon her daughter again?
“─────How prayerful of you, Sister.”
A voice quietly interrupted her from behind, and she hurriedly turned to it. Waiting for her from behind was the boy who had been standing there for who knew how long while holding hands with some children. Had she been that engrossed in her own thoughts? Or did he completely erase his presence?
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