Monoe's POV

Not too long ago, Poniko offered me and Monoko to go along to the local church with her someday, and that Monoko would teleport us there, as she finally fully mastered her teleporting skills recently. Of course, we said yes, because the idea of being in a church especially sounded interesting to me.

Today, it truly happened. Monoko and I teleported to Poniko's house first, and next up, we teleported to church. Not that I or Monoko have ever been there for whatever reason to name or anything. In the past, we occasionally walked across it, but Poniko is a regular visitor, as she's religious, of course.

The three of us made sure that we were dressed as formally as possible (our best dress and a formal hat), because in this church, no-one is allowed to enter while dressed informal or shabby.

One good thing about this church is that people are allowed to enter freely, no matter how often they pay a visit.

"You guys know how it goes in a church, right?" Poniko said. "The pastor reads a little something from the bible, and afterwards, we have to sing a hymn. The hymn that's being sung changes every week, and I always have a bookmark in my songbook, so today, we'll be singing…" She opened her book at where the bookmark had been placed. "…ah, this one. Once the time for singing comes, I'll show you guys the text as well, 'kay?"

Monoko and I nodded in understanding.

I looked around, and saw that we were the first three people in the church, aside of the pastor, who was preparing his lecture for today. He opened the bible where the bookmark had been placed, and silently revised some key lines, or so it seemed.

The windows were made out of stained glass, and contained some interesting works of art in the way of religion.

Not much later, other visitors came in slowly, as the church's bell had started ringing. One of those groups of visitors consisted of the Toriningen named Lila and her parents and siblings.

"I never knew she was religious, too…!" Monoko whispered to me.

"Neither did I" I replied, "but now that we do, we should keep in mind to watch our language whenever she's around, okay?"

Monoko nodded.

In the meantime, the organist started playing a melody as well, probably to give all of the others an idea of what today's service would be like.

It took quite a while, but around 10 a.m., everyone (or so it seemed) was present, and the pastor started his lecture.

I listened to the fullest, because it sounded like an interesting story being told, and normally, I read a lot for myself. The story regarded the garden of Eden, about which I've read before in the past.

Minus the occasional coughing that could be heard, and the pastor reading from the bible, it was completely quiet.

I looked at Monoko, and she seemed to find the situation quite unsettling.

"He kind of sounds like a robot to me…" she whispered in my ear, "and that especially doesn't help with the fact that it's extremely cold in here. It kind of gives off a gloomy feel, to be honest."

"It's okay, sis" I whispered back, "to be honest, I kind of feel annoyed, too. See Lila's little brother? He's coughing the whole time, and he probably doesn't know how to blow his nose either… hecking gross."

Some time later, we heard some snickering coming from the row behind us.

Poniko turned towards that person, and pressed a finger against her lips, finding it rude that he was laughing during something important.

The whole snickering part eventually caused some chaos around the others (minus me, Monoko and Poniko, of course), much to the pastor's dismay.

"Ladies and gentlemen" he said, "I was just reading a serious part, so hereby, I remind you to not laugh or anything. Thank you very much."

And yet, another coughing fit from Lila's younger brother, in respond of which their father finally got him a paper tissue to blow his beyond-runny nose.

"Finally" Poniko murmured, "that string of green was already starting to terrify me."

"Tell me about it" I replied quietly. "Colds are quite terrifying, too…"

Poniko chuckled quietly, and the two of us continued listening. (Monoko didn't pay attention to any of us during this mini-convo.)

Some more time passed by, in which we had to sing the closing hymn.

Everyone stood up, so Monoko and I followed along with them, and Poniko opened her hymn book again, to show us the lyrics to the one we were about to sing.

A few seconds after the organist started playing once again, everyone started singing, and even though Monoko and I didn't know the lyrics and the melody too well, we sang along anyway, but phonetically.

"Wait a minute" Monoko said, some time later, "this hymn kinda sounds like rock and/or roll to me…"

I thought back about the earlier seconds of the song, and then listened to the present seconds.

"You're right" I said, "how could this possibly be a hymn?"

During the last few seconds of the song, the organist played the last few notes before passing out from exhaustion, while the song itself didn't last for too long.

The pastor left the stage (or whatever it's called where one holds their speech) and guided all of the visitors of the church back to the entrance.

"What did you think of your first time in church?" Poniko asked me and Monoko.

"It was pretty interesting" I said, "I should probably go here more often, if you'd like."

"Ditto" Monoko said, "but to be honest… Lila and her family should really sit somewhere else next time. When the little brother has a cold like his current one, that is."

"Ah, yes, I thought the exact same, Monoko."

Monoko then made a gesture for the three of us to hold hands so we could escort Poniko back home using teleportation, of which she approved.

"Thank you very much. If any of you wants to go to church again, you can always tell me!"

Monoko and I said goodbye to Poniko, and teleported back home afterwards.

Ever since this first visit to the church for me, I indeed went there with Poniko more often. And Monoko never really minded about teleporting us there, because eventually, she started to show interest in going more often as well.

A/N: the event of this chapter was partly inspired by that same scene from the first episode of Mr. Bean once again, but also by the first scene from an episode of The Simpsons named 'Bart Sells His Soul', hence the fact that there are hints referencing the fact that they're actually singing 'In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida' by Iron Butterfly as the closing hymn. Also, Lila's younger brother is based on the character Zill from The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker, hence the fact that he purposedly has a runny nose the whole time... when he's cold, at least, unlike Zill himself. :p tl;dr what even is my imagination anymore XD