On a Godless Planet:Volume1B Chapter 41
Final Chapter: Family Games[edit]
–Instead of going one way or the other, we can make the decision here.
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The summers here sure are hot, thought Ki.
“It’s so humid.”
They had not really moved here, but they had a new residence.
It was on the first floor of an apartment building to the north of Showa Memorial Park in Tachikawa, Tokyo. They had chosen it because she had wanted some actual dirt ground nearby, so the woods of Showa Memorial Park were right across the street from the apartment.
It was a pretty nice place.
“But reality is so different. The humidity and sun hit you so different than in our virtual manifestation.”
“It has been a rapid change to our environment.”
“Moving to the Shinto Divine World is pretty incredible, but doing this after only 3 days is also quite something.”
The two of them were preparing a lunch party on the yard. It had started with one of the moving-in gifts Shamhat had bought them.
“Don’t you like this kind of thing?”
She had bought them an outdoor table set.
The Shinto group would be stopping by today for lunch – or really an afternoon meal – and then they would have a quick meeting about what to do about the terraforming in the future.
They had not made any progress on that since the last time. Balancer was preserving things there and the planet’s spirits still showed no sign of making another move, but…
<You first need to determine the planet’s rotation and revolution. Once the planet is set in motion, the planetary spirits will have to deal with that, splitting up their forces.>
And since they could discuss that without being in the real world, they were going to do it here.
“Hey! Where do we get in from!?”
A familiar voice called from the direction of the Showa Memorial Park and Ki turned around to see the others there.
There was a fence between the yard and the road. For now, the adjacent room was empty, so…
“Come in through the side. We’re getting everything ready.”
“I brought an extra portable stove. And be warned – we brought nothing but meat.”
“I’m tired of laaaamb, so I only brought chiiiicken.”
“I bought some bananas as a joke.”
But we need vegetables to go with all the meat, thought Ki, but two more spoke up while smiling.
“I brought some lightly pickled vegetables and some sliced pineapple since it’s good for the digestion. That should help some.”
“Your homemade pickled vegetables!? Yes! I bet you massaged them by hand while making all sorts of cute grunts of effort! And when slicing the pineapple, you said ‘nhh, this is really hard’, didn’t you!? Ahh! What an amazing day! I’ll eat pork and beef for my meat, but I’m also chowing down on the pickled vegetables and the fruit!”
“Um, Sumeragi-kun? With lightly pickled vegetables, you only stick them in a container full of the pickling juice, so you don’t have to massage them.”
“What!? You were shoving them in with a utensil? How bold! I’ve gotta get some of that stuff in my mouth right now!”
That seemed like a lot of white noise, but it must have been working because level-up alerts kept appearing around Iwanaga- no, around Senpai-san. Meanwhile, someone else stepped out from the Mesopotamian room.
“What is wrong with you!? I can’t find any snacks in here at all! Where are they!?”
“Don’t barge into our room and rummage around!”
●
“How have things been since then?”
Once the cooking began, Kidou-san called out to me while I watched everyone cooking so much meat on skewers. But…
“How have, um, what things been?”
“The Released Manifestation.”
“Oh, that. I can’t seem to do it here. It seems I’m actually restricted to my own ‘divine territory’ when I do it, so it would be nice if there was a weaker version of it. Also…”
I looked over at Sumeragi-kun. He was currently eating a banana next to Raidou-san and Shifu-san who were inviting Bilgamesh-san to join the game club.
<An ape with a banana…>
I chose not think about that too much. And at the same time…
“We are only data entities, not truly gods, so it wears us out when we use the Released Manifestation. We might later find a way to use Sumeragi-kun’s worship to establish a more stable system for accomplishing it.”
“You are surprisingly analytical, Senpai-san.”
“S-surprisingly?”
“Yeah, it is a surprise,” said Kidou-san. “We heard everything you two said in the stone hut and you sounded a lot more emotional and like you’re usually suppressing a lot, so you should probably find a way of letting off some steam from time to time.”
I followed Kidou-san’s gaze as she said that and saw Eshita-san there. She was laughing while cracking open a can of beer with Yomoji-san and munching on some sliced garlic cooked on the grill. It was a worrying sight.
“But you don’t have to be quite that careless.”
“I did hear she reached an agreement with the DC as our inspector.”
“Your superior apparently pulled some strings too. Shamash has said she ‘personally sent us’ here, so we don’t have to be so careful anymore.”
Kidou-san looked up into the sky, sighed, and took a swig from a nearby can of ginger ale.
“When it all works out this well, I feel silly for worrying so much over the past few days.”
“That’s just how it is.”
It had been the same for me. I had been alone for so long, but…
“You only have a chance to feel silly because you put so much thought into it. If not for that, I think you would have thoughtlessly wasted the help you were given. And if that happened…”
I explained how I felt now.
“You wouldn’t be able to celebrate just how happy you are now.”
“That is true. I’m not going to say unhappiness is necessary, but worrying does deepen your happiness and teach you how important it is. Or I hope it does, anyway.”
Kidou-san smiled and turned toward her partner.
“Bil, they’re from the game club, right? How about we join?”
“Why?”
That is quite the response, I thought but held my tongue. Kidou-san responded like she had expected that question.
“It’s okay to just have fun sometimes. I know a lot happened and a lot is probably still going to happen, but I think all of this was necessary to give us a life here.”
“Very well. Then let’s do that.”
After that, Shifu-san placed a cloth bag on an empty table.
“Okay! I brought Bausack from the clubroom today! I have enough for three sets, so we can all play! And this is way more fun when you’ve been drinking enough to get buzzed!”
“Bausack?”
“Simply put, it’s a game where you work together to build a tower out of wooden blocks. The standard rules are known as Tower of Babel.”
“Oh? Does it require a lot of careful setup?”
“I see. As a warning, I am a very skilled builder.”
“That’s interesting. We didn’t have any city crafting gods. But if you’re good at physical stuff, video games can actually be a lot of fun. So let’s play, 5th Generation.”
Bilgamesh accepted the challenge with a smile and Kidou-san sighed.
They probably hadn’t been able to relax like this for a long time.
And just then…
“Whoaaaaa!? What the hell!? I ate a banana and it turned me into a girl!”
“Eh? Eh? What now, Sumeragi-kun?”
“I’m female Sumeragi right now! As proof, I’ve got boobs! Give em a feel and you’ll see they’re real!”
I did and they were.
“Wow, it’s true! Um, but how?”
“Kuwajiri-chan?”
“During the previous rollback, I predicted Sumeragi had a good chance of gaining a lengthened lifespan and surpassing humanity, so I added in a setting that changes his sex when he eats a banana. It should be convenient if something like last time happens again.”
“Waiiiiiiiiiiit! Don’t just make me more than human without even asking first! But this means I can eat a banana and take a bath with Senpai, so thanks! Thank you so much!!”
“You’re welcome. FYI, American Chiquita bananas will make you transform instantly while Filipino bananas will only do it at night.”
“I don’t need all these complicated rules!”
At least everything was exciting. It had been a while. I may not have been in such high spirits since I was living with my father and thought I was getting married the next day. But…
“Sumeragi-kun?”
“Yes! What is it, Senpai!?”
“Y-you’re already back to normal?”
“Yeah! I sensed danger since this uniform was tight in the chest and I felt a draft below! So, um, what is it!?”
“Well,” I said with a smile. “Thank you for putting me in such high spirits again.”
“Sure! I don’t know what you mean, but don’t worry! I can raise my own spirits in a split second and you’re my god, so it’s only fitting for you to be higher than me! And when I praise you from below, I can get all excited about how huuuuuuuuuuuge you are!”
I had no idea what he meant, but…
“I don’t know what you mean, but I don’t have to worry, do I?”
Everyone gave me a worried look for some reason.
-I’m so happy
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