You call this a love game?

Sakura Kyoko's scream nearly lifted the church roof off. She sprang up from her chair, her knee slamming hard against the corner of the table. She winced in pain but didn't even bother to rub it.

"Girlfriend!?" Her voice trembled as she pointed at Bai Yu. "Aren't priests forbidden from getting married?!"

Bai Yu replied slowly, "I'm not an ordinary priest; the God I believe in is different from yours."

"No, no, that won't do either!" Sakura Kyoko paced anxiously, her ponytail swinging like an angry tail. "The priest looks so serious."

"Where do I look serious?" Bai Yu couldn't help but complain.

Suddenly, Sakura Kyoko lunged at the bedside, slamming her hands onto him, her face almost touching his nose.

"What's that girl's name? Where does she live? Which school does she go to? What are her magical girl abilities?"

"Are you asking such detailed questions because you want to open the box and go fight someone?" Bai Yu leaned back to avoid the spittle she was about to spray.

"No way!" Sakura Kyoko straightened up, crossed her arms, and snorted. "I just... I just wanted to help the priest vet her! What if she's some kind of bad woman!"

"Besides...she's only a first-year middle school student. If Father were to date her, wouldn't he be locked up in jail?"

Sakura Kyoko narrowed her eyes and stared at Shiraha suspiciously. She noticed something was wrong and seriously suspected that he was lying and that there might not even be such a person!

Seeing her puffed-up face, Bai Yu suddenly felt like teasing her. "Her name is Akemi Homura. She has long, straight black hair, but sometimes she wears double braids. Her grades are pretty good. I won't tell you about her abilities yet, but I can say she's very strong, stronger than you. You'll know once you fight her."

After saying that, a sinister smile appeared on his face, as if he desperately wanted Sakura Kyoko to find the other party and have a fight.

However, with each sentence Sakura Kyoko heard, her face darkened, until her entire face was almost scrunched up like a bun.

She counted on her fingers, "Long, straight black hair...good grades...strong fighting ability..."

Isn't this the perfect girlfriend template?!

“However—” Bai Yu changed the subject, “I also know a magical girl who is like an older sister to me, but she is actually younger than me. You two have similar personalities, so you should have a lot in common to talk about.”

Sakura Kyoko instantly perked up, her eyes lighting up immediately.

"What do you mean?"

"The literal meaning." Bai Yu shrugged and explained, "Actually, she doesn't know me yet, and my sister's situation isn't entirely unrelated to this incident, so it can't be considered a complete case."

Sakura Kyoko blinked. The CPU was clearly overloaded. She tilted her head and thought for a long time, but she still didn't understand what was going on. However, the other party didn't know what the situation was either.

Could it be... that the priest is a stalker?!

Sakura Kyoko suddenly took two steps back in alarm. "Father, you should go to the police station and turn yourself in! Doing this is illegal!"

"What did I do?" Bai Yu asked, somewhat bewildered.

Sakura Kyoko swallowed hard, her throat tightening, and nervously explained, "You've only known her, and she's younger than you, yet you treat her like an older sister. That's not just illegal, it's perverted!"

"The priest is a pervert!"

Shiraha couldn't help but bulge veins on his forehead at Sakura Kyoko's inexplicable conclusion, so he simply gave her a very forceful thud on the forehead.

"What are you thinking about all day long?!"

"Then, then explain yourself clearly!"

Seeing that Shiraha was angry, Sakura Kyoko had no choice but to pout and obediently sit back in her chair, kicking the table leg restlessly with her toes.

Bai Yu sighed and could only give a brief explanation of the matter of reincarnation.

Kyoko Sakura listened in a daze the whole time, her mouth agape wide enough to fit an egg.

"So..." she stammered for a moment, "the priest came back from the future?"

"That's understandable."

"What will I be like in the future? Will I be super—amazing?"

Bai Yu looked at her expectant expression, and his lips twitched. "You in the future..."

Sakura Kyoko nervously swallowed.

"Because I ate too many snacks, I gained ten pounds. In the end, I couldn't even walk, and I couldn't lift a gun. I couldn't hunt witches anymore, and then I died."

"Liar!" Sakura Kyoko instantly bristled. "I won't get that fat!"

"You eat three boxes of donuts every day."

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

"He also often sneaks a drink of my coffee."

"..."

Sakura Kyoko suddenly fell silent. She glanced guiltily at the coffee cup on Shiraha's table and quietly moved her bottom a little further away.

Seeing that she didn't speak, Bai Yu narrowed his eyes, "You've already done it?"

"No way!" Sakura Kyoko jumped up and ran towards the door. "I've already eaten breakfast!"

Watching her fleeing figure, Bai Yu couldn't help but laugh out loud, but the smile quickly faded, and he looked out the window at the sky, his eyes becoming deep.

"Time is running out..."

Meanwhile, Sakura Kyoko was in the church's dining hall, receiving free bread with jam and a carton of warm milk from the nuns.

She bit into the bread angrily, each bite forceful, as if venting her hatred on the person she hated.

"Long, straight black hair...good grades...reincarnation..." She would take a big bite of bread with each sentence and chew it hard.

"Hmph! What's so great about it! My gun can even light up!"

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became, and the bread in her hand tasted bland.

"Sigh... my future girlfriend..." The phrase tasted bitter on her tongue.

She stared blankly at the food on her plate. For some reason, the food that she used to find delicious no matter what suddenly lost its appeal.

Bai Yu's words kept replaying in his mind, buzzing like a cassette tape recorder.

"Damn it! What am I thinking?!"

Shaking her head vigorously, Sakura Kyoko briefly cleared her mind of those distracting thoughts, quickly stuffed the food from her plate into her mouth, swallowed the milk with difficulty, and then returned to her post.

After breakfast, it's work time, and her work area is a meditation room or similar space for receiving believers.

But since the church has very few believers and hardly anyone comes, her job is the easiest; she only needs to do some simple cleaning, which is a kind of care from the nuns.

After all, when she first arrived, she was so thin that she was practically just a skeleton. Even the oldest nun couldn't help but feel sorry for her, so she arranged such an easy job for her.

But now it seems to have become an obstacle for her.

She thought she could use work to distract herself from those annoying things, but she finished her work in no time and couldn't even distract herself anymore.

Sakura Kyoko stood at the door of the meditation room, holding a rag, staring blankly at the gleaming floor. She mechanically wrung out the rag, water droplets splashing into the basin, much like the jumbled thoughts in her mind at that moment.

"I was here first..."

She suddenly muttered something, then shook her head violently as if startled by her own words.

The passing nun was so startled by her appearance that she took a half step back. Sakura Kyoko immediately grinned and forced a fake smile, which frightened the other woman so much that she ran away with her Bible in her arms.

"Woo..."

Kyoko Sakura pressed her forehead against the cold door panel; the wood grain against her skin actually helped clear her feverish mind.

"Miss Sakura?" A middle-aged nun passed by carrying a change of tablecloth. "The altar's candlesticks..."

"Okay, okay!" she replied almost instantly, grabbed her cleaning tools, and rushed into the main hall.

As she approached the altar, she inexplicably drew near to the cross placed there. It was the cross that Bai Yu would kiss at the beginning of each Mass as a sign of greeting to the Lord.

After much hesitation, Sakura Kyoko looked at the empty auditorium ahead, then secretly buried her head and slowly approached the cross with a slight pout.

......

"It's over..."

She covered her burning ears and squatted down. The bottle of cleaning solution rolled far out of her apron pocket, and the sound of nuns singing hymns echoed in the distance, reverberating in the empty church.

Sakura Kyoko buried her flushed face in her knees, suddenly wishing that a witch would barge in at that moment, so that she could vent her anger with a spear in a righteous manner.

"Miss Sakura? Are you alright?" The elderly nun stood at the foot of the altar steps, looking at the red figure curled up in a ball with a puzzled expression.

"N-nothing!" Sakura Kyoko immediately stood up, explaining in a panic, "I was looking for... a spider! Yes! I just saw a really big spider!"

The nun looked at the spotless altar with suspicion. "I see... then could you please also check the confessional?"

"Leave it to me!" Sakura Kyoko patted her chest and promised, then hurriedly fled the place again.

At the corner of the corridor, she slammed on the brakes and came to a stop, leaning against the wall and gasping for breath, her heart pounding.

She touched her lips, where the cool touch of the metal cross still lingered.

"What am I doing...?" she said, scratching her hair in frustration.

The confessional door was ajar. Sakura Kyoko pushed it open and went in. The small space still had a faint sandalwood scent, indicating that the nun had cleaned the place earlier.

After checking the cubicle and finding nothing unusual, she glanced at Bai Yu, who was still lying in the courtyard as always, and quietly slipped into the cubicle on the priest's side.

"Ahem." She lowered her voice, mimicking Bai Yu's solemn tone, "Lost lambs..."

She covered her mouth as soon as she said it, her ears burning hot.

This is even more shameful than stealing a kiss from a cross! Kyoko Sakura, are you crazy?

She must be out of her mind, otherwise how could she have gotten herself into such a mess because of a few words from that person?

After quickly composing herself, she put the cleaning tools back in their place and watched the nun and children leave until she and Bai Yu were alone in the courtyard again.

"Why are you standing so far away?" he said without looking up.

Sakura Kyoko slowly moved over and sat on the small stool next to her.

She doesn't really like recliners; they make her feel like she's not there to work, but to relax, even though in reality it doesn't seem to make much of a difference.

The work was so easy that she almost came to the idea that the world was a wonderful place.

"Go to the alley entrance later and see if anyone wants to confess. The conditions are the same as yesterday. If they do, bring them in."

Bai Yu leaned back in his chair, flipping through the book with its slightly antique cover.

"Ok, I see."

Having been given a new task, Sakura Kyoko's mind was no longer blank; she began to think about how to attract more people.

She just didn't want to attract any more people like those from yesterday. Not only did they not seem like good people, but they didn't even say thank you after receiving the things. It was simply outrageous! She didn't want to give the things away to those kinds of guys for nothing.

Sakura Kyoko stood by the telephone pole at the entrance of the alley, listlessly picking up small pebbles.

"Confessions are accompanied by rice... Confessions are accompanied by rice..."

She muttered weakly, the cardboard sign in her hand hanging crookedly. Passersby glanced at her briefly and hurried away, as if they had seen some suspicious person.

"This trick just won't work..."

Sakura Kyoko pursed her lips, tucked the cardboard under her arm, a fine bead of sweat appeared on her forehead, and her red ponytail stuck to the back of her neck, making her feel itchy and uncomfortable.

Although it is already autumn, the power of the late summer heat should not be underestimated.

Yesterday it seemed like she was just lucky, so she found five people to confess to at once. Today, no one came to her at all. Even those who were interested were quickly pulled away by their companions, saying things like they couldn't betray her.

Just as she was considering whether to buy an ice pop, a commotion arose from the depths of the alley.

Several ragged children were rummaging through a trash can for food.

Sakura Kyoko stopped in her tracks; the dirty children reminded her of herself not long ago.

She touched the wages in her pocket, hesitated for a moment, and then turned and walked towards the convenience store.

Ten minutes later, she returned to the alley entrance carrying a bag full of bread.

The children were gone, and only a thin girl remained, squatting in the same spot.

"Hey, this is for you." Sakura Kyoko handed over the bread, her tone curt.

The little girl looked up timidly, her dirty face filled with wariness.

"Here you go!" Sakura Kyoko shoved the bread into her arms. "It's nothing valuable..."

The little girl hugged the bread tightly, then suddenly bowed deeply, "Thank you, sister!"

Sakura Kyoko awkwardly turned her face away. "If you want to thank us... why don't you come to our church? You can get rice if you confess again."

The little girl's eyes lit up. "Really? My mom is sick, and we haven't had rice in ages..."

“Of course it’s true!” Sakura Kyoko puffed out her chest. “Come with me!”