Chapter 61

Thunder rolls over Eden Academy as Madam Schlag stalks the grounds with her attendant Rahden and his box. A student caught smoking behind a wall crumples to the ground with a Tonitrus Bolt pressed to his forehead, the first casualty of her return.

In Cecile Hall, Henry Henderson chews out his class over rising tardiness and late homework, his gaze landing on Anya. Afterward, Damian needles her, wagering she will be the first student expelled for accumulating eight bolts, while Ewen and Emile vow to sprint through campus in their underwear should Damian ever receive one. The banter dies when Bill Watkins barrels in shouting for everyone to flee. Outside, Schlag has just felled two slovenly upperclassmen with her "Tonitrus Strike," citing sloppy uniforms, crude language, and plotted violence, and she brushes off Henry's gentle suggestion that she is overdoing it by calling him soft. Bill breathlessly explains her legend: fresh from the hospital, she punishes any infraction and is rumored to have driven more than a hundred students out of the school single-handedly, hence the nickname "Old Lady Tonitrus."

Escape proves impossible. Schlag corners Cecile Hall's first-years for a bag inspection, dispensing bolts for contraband snacks and playing cards while Anya reads her mind and discovers, to her horror, that the woman relishes every punishment. The inspection takes a dark turn when a missing handkerchief earns a student a bolt, backed by Schlag's cautionary tale of an honor student mocked as "Mr. Pee Pants" for wiping his hands on his trousers, a humiliation that spiraled into expulsion, antigovernment activity, and arrest by the Secret Police.

Damian realizes he has no handkerchief. He considers begging one from Ewen but cannot bring himself to sacrifice a friend, and his despairing thought that even one bolt would bar him from ever facing his father again alarms Anya, who sees Plan B of Operation Strix crumbling. Believing she packed a spare, she slips Damian her own handkerchief and daydreams about the gratitude of both Desmonds. Damian bluffs past the monogrammed "A" by claiming it stands for his own name, but Anya discovers she has no second handkerchief and takes a Tonitrus Bolt herself. Watching her cry, Damian nearly confesses until Anya, hearing Schlag's intent to double the punishment for trickery, shuts him down. He leaves the inspection mortified at owing her and swears repayment; she simply enjoys their new closeness. At home, Anya proudly reports the progress with Damian, and Loid's delight lasts exactly until he spots the bolt on her chest and faints.

Donna Schlag debuts. The returning disciplinarian and her Tonitrus Bolts immediately terrorize Eden's student body.

The bag inspection. Cecile Hall's first-years are searched for contraband, with even a forgotten handkerchief treated as a punishable offense.

Anya's sacrifice. She hands Damian her handkerchief to protect his standing with his father, taking a Tonitrus Bolt in his place.

Damian's debt. Humbled by the rescue, Damian vows to repay Anya, advancing the friendship at the heart of Operation Strix even as Loid faints over the bolt itself.

Mission 61 runs 27 pages in Volume 9, released on March 7, 2022, with Anya on the cover; Episode 39 of the anime covers the material. The chapter introduces both Donna Schlag and her attendant Rahden.

Tatsuya Endo joked in the fanbook that the entire chapter exists so he could write the phrase "Lady Tonitrus."