On a Godless Planet:Volume2A Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Opa-Opa

–The instinct is to imagine what is hidden before searching for it.

●

I was pretty sure I was dreaming.

…I mean, I haven’t woken up yet.

I was still dozing in the gap between waking up and sleeping longer when I heard a voice.

“Wake up, Izumi.”

I didn’t recognize the voice.

But it still sounded strangely familiar. And…

…That’s a busty voice!

How did I know that? But wait! I was normal. There was nothing wrong with me.

Besides, there was a logic to my statement. Honest. Just think about it. To be busty means to have big boobs. Those would apply a certain amount of pressure to the body, which would place an extra burden on your breathing.

That meant there was a distinctive trait found in the voices of people with big boobs.

As a big boobs worshiper, I could detect that kind of thing. I mean it. If that were Senpai calling me, I would have run over and…

“Oh, yes! What do you want, Senpai!? Anyway, can I worship you from below!? Not for anything lewd, of course! I just like that angle! Yes! My actions naturally bring me downwards, just like a flowing river! Oh, that’s some nice bustiness, Senpai! Feel free to step on me! …Ahh! The weight of your boobs is reaching my brain through your heel! My brain!”

Wow, what a pervert! Not even I would go that far. I mean, how am I supposed to see her boobs if she’s stepping on my face? Talk about getting your priorities backwards. You need to stop at simply worshiping her from below.

But what was this busty voice? I didn’t recognize it.

Then again, maybe I did recognize it a little…? Wait, now I’m sounding like some unpopular guy! Okay, I admit it! I’m unpopular! During middle school, the girls in my class compared me to a screeching monkey! So I did some slow-motion banana eating in front of them at lunch, but did that satisfy them!? No! They ran away, so I chased after them and they started to cry and then I was called to the faculty room.

“It was all a misunderstanding, Sensei! They called me a monkey, so I thought I would give them what they wanted and did some slow-motion banana eating in front of them! Like this! I did the slow-tempo Chiquita just like this! Do you have any idea how hard that is to do? You can only breathe through your nose and I ended up breathing pretty heavily, so when they ran away in tears, I decided I would chase them to the pits of hell if I had to.”

The teacher told me to go home, which is just baffling, right? But, um, when you think about it…

“That memory was invented by Balancer, so I can blame all this on that screen!”

The bastard!

Wow, I got off topic.

So anyway. I heard a busty voice.

“Breakfast is ready, so you need to wake up.”

Oh, okay, I obediently thought. This wasn’t quite like my obedience to Senpai. With her, it was a natural thing stemming from my faith in her, but this was just a natural thing.

“Wait, that’s the same thing!”

Whatever. There was probably a difference. So I got up.

●

I awoke with a start.

I felt like I just had an awfully obedient dream. Or rather…

“I died!!”

I had a feeling I had died. But anyway, I caught my breath while just sitting in bed in a t-shirt and boxers with the morning sun shining on me.

I checked the digital clock on the same shelf as the TV next to the bed and saw it was 08:03 of 8/13/1990. That didn’t quite match… I felt like it had matched a lot until recently, but this also seemed normal enough.

But that aside…

“What is this?”

The TV was on.

A black game system – a Mega Drive – sat in front of it and the screen was showing…

“Rastan Saga 2!”

That’s weird, I thought.

“I don’t remember buying that!”

●

A game I didn’t remember buying was in standby waiting to be played.

What did that mean?

“Let’s list out the possibilities!”

1: I shoplifted the game, got it all set up to play, and then lost my memories.

2: Someone snuck in and set up the game while I was asleep.

3: I shoplifted the game to play it, but I lost my memories and then someone snuck in and set it up.

“Wait, it’s none of those!!”

What even was #1? I don’t shoplift!

“I still have money from my part-time work in Ishikawa, so it wouldn’t be that.”

So was it #2? But…

“Someone snuck in while I was asleep! That’s terrifying!!”

Curious, I dashed over to the door to check.

“It’s unlocked!”

I felt some ball-shriveling terror at my crotch. Like something was squeezing them!

So I quickly locked the door and checked in the closet and under the bed. I wouldn’t want some weird stalker woman after me! But wait. If there was a stalker woman hiding in here, hadn’t I set up the perfect crime for her by locking the door?

But if I tried a “Okay, I’ve opened the front door, so get on out! Pretty please?”, she wasn’t just going to leave. Not when she had gone to the trouble of hiding.

But wait. Locking up was what mattered. Not the stalker woman. That should be obvious. Also…

“The balcony!”

I opened the window and nearly melted in the summer morning sun, proving that I belonged to the darkness. But once I stepped out onto the balcony, I realized…

“There’re signs of someone being up on the railing!”

Was this for real!?

●

“Wait! Think carefully!”

I could think through this logically. Yes, I could trace the criminal’s actions.

“While I was asleep, they snuck in through the balcony, inserted Rastan Saga 2 into the Mega Drive, turned it on, unlocked the front door, and left!”

Wow. Logic had explained it all. Except for one major question.

“Why would they do that!?”

Did they want me to play Rastan Saga 2? Was that it? Has to be, right?

●

I had agreed to meet up with Balancer, so I applied my brakes at the convenience store near the apartment building.

Balancer’s screen appeared immediately, like they had been waiting.

<Oh, the ape appears to have woken. He is worried about the security of his room.>

“Security!? Did something happen!? He doesn’t have a weird stalker after him, does he!? Did some awful person try to break into his room!?”

<Did you lose your memory by any chance? Or were you recently reborn?>

I grabbed the screen and shook quite vigorously.

“Stalking and breaking in are crimes. A god keeping an eye on things and visiting her worshiper are holy acts.”

<Then are you willing to do that while the ape is there next time?>

“…”

“I-I wouldn’t have done it while he was away if I could do that!”

Oh, now that is quite the look.

Anyway, there was something I had to ask.

“How much of Sumeragi-kun’s memory is gone?”

●

Balancer thought for a moment.

<The thing is, the ape actually has a better memory than your average person.>

“Are you referring to actual apes!?”

Balancer considered that. It wasn’t often that a question forced such a clever AI to think so hard. And their ultimate conclusion was…

<I wasn’t sure what you meant by that at first, but after some thought, I see the issue. I meant the human ape in this case.>

She grabbed and shook Balancer.

“Stop trying to speak using nothing but power words!”

<I couldn’t agree more. By the way, I have a mirror mode that lets you use me like a hand mirror. Care to try it?>

“No, thanks, I finished doing my makeup before I left my apartment.”

Balancer could tell all the more how badly they were failing to communicate here.

She had mistakenly thought his mention of “the ape” was a reference to apes in general. Not the fake ape. Balancer invented that term and corrected their previous statement. So to put it more accurately…

<The ape actually has a better memory than your average ape.>

She grabbed and shook Balancer.

“Use your words more accurately. Is that clear?”

<Y-yes. More accurately, you say?>

Balancer understood and restated the problem area.

<So about the evolved ape’s memory…>

She grabbed and shook Balancer.

“That is technically better, but do it again and I will not be happy with you.”

<You are surprisingly good at controlling your emotions.>

“Because I have so much practice suppressing them!”

The phrase “what a pain” came to mind, but Balancer chose not to voice it. They concluded now was not the time to provoke her. But…

<When the human rolls back, he retains more than 70% of his memory. That means he loses a little more than 20%.>

“Can’t you do something about that?”

<There is actually room to reduce that further.>

●

<First of all,> said Balancer. <When the human rolls back, he is rolled back to a backup made each day. The backups are currently made at precisely midnight. So if he needs to roll back after that, he rolls back to the previous midnight.>

And…

<He also loses about 20% of his memories, but various adjustments and research are underway concerning that.>

“Someone’s researching it?”

<Yes, Kuwajiri is.>

“…”

“What has Kuwajiri-san said?”

●

“It adds to my workload when that idiot dies, but if he loses too many memories, he could end up making the same mistakes again and we have to tell him the same things over and over again. Which, to sum up, is a pain in the ass.”

●

“…”

“Isn’t it great how honest Kuwajiri-san is?”

<Is that what you really think?>

“I-it is! Why would I complain when she ends up wanting the same thing I do!?”

But something still bothered her. If Kuwajiri was researching this…

“Are Sumeragi-kun’s memories protected?”

<That isn’t possible. The memory loss during the rollback process occurs in the more sparsely defined memories spread evenly across his memories as a whole. But…>

But…

<Since we know only the sparsely defined memories are at risk, we can help determine what memories those are.>

“For example?”

<Let’s see. For example, humans dream when they sleep. They reconstruct their memories while dreaming, but it also defines which memories are sparsely or densely defined. Thus, we can compress certain memories into densely defined memories and let the others be taken by the rollback.>

“U-umm?”

<The important memories are shrunk down so they can avoid being lost in the rollback.>

“…”

“I-I think I kind of get it!”

<It would be great if you do. The human’s lifestyle does not lead to memorable memories being made all the time. He creates a lot of unimportant memories, like when he’s traveling, eating, or just doing nothing at all. We let those remain the sparsely defined memories to ensure the important memories are not.>

<Also,> continued Balancer. <If possible, we have considered strengthening the human. That is, giving him a stronger ether structure and density on the assumption that he will be rolled back.>

“Is that even possible?”

<You gods have stronger ether structures and densities. And you retain almost all your memories if you do rollback. There is barely any need for a backup with you. You had a high density to begin with, you can mutually supplement any missing parts, and you’re mostly formed from the phase, so the phase and mold you create basically functions as a backup.>

“So what happens if you make Sumeragi-kun like us?”

<It would increase the likelihood of the human ceasing to be human. According to the god who created his original form, it was practically a miracle she managed to create a human at all.>

The lifespan god groaned in thought. And…

“Is there anything I can do?”

●

A good question, thought Balancer.

Whenever you encountered a problem, it was important to search for a solution. But that would not change the current situation. Because that solution was already changing the situation.

But if she wanted to know if there was anything to do as an individual, that was a different story.

…That has a chance of improving the situation in some way.

It could also make things worse, but the lifespan god had asked Balancer.

Balancer was a clever AI and a clever AI would not hint at anything detrimental. So…

<The most important thing is to give the human a more densely-packed life.>

●

Balancer thought about what a densely-packed life would mean in this case. For Sumeragi, that would mean…

…A daily life he finds highly fulfilling.

●

I thought about what a densely-packed life would mean in this case. For Sumeragi-kun, that would mean…

…A daily life full of big boobs!?

●

“Okay, yes! I understand! I’ll do what I can without breaking the law!!”

Good, thought Balancer. At least she seems to understand now.

You can tell I am clever by looking at the gods I have made. She was starting to worry me recently, but I must have been imagining that.

And with that, Balancer had had one last thing to say.

<Try to keep that densely-packed life going for as long as possible. Then, even if he does lose some of his memories, the holes can be filled in from other areas.>

“Y-you want me to keep that life going…for as long as possible?”

<Yes, just make sure each new day is very memorable.>

“Very memorable!?”

The lifespan god held a palm out toward Balancer.

●

“Shifu-san! Shifu-san! What are some memorable things I can do with my boobs!?”

“Okay, that is quite a question to spring on me out of the blue, but how about you try coming back to your senses? I know that might be hard for you, but can you at least try?”

“B-but Balancer told me I have to spend a long time doing memorable big boobs stuff with Sumeragi-kun to increase the density of his life for the rollbacks!”

“I swear that AI has been bugging out sometimes lately.”

●

Balancer saw the lifespan god tilt her head and turn toward them.

“I-I’ll do the best I can without breaking the law! Is there anything else I need to do!?”

That’s a little concerning, but probably only because I am such an excellent AI. Now, was there anything in what I told her that could be misinterpreted? No. I don’t see how. So I can keep going without worrying.

<Yes, it is important that you don’t break the law. Anyway, this is about the relationship between you and the human as god and worshiper. So…>

So…

<When the human’s faith in you grows, you should probably find some way of rewarding him.>

The lifespan god got a sudden nosebleed.

●

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

I tried to resist, but my body overpowered my mind a little there.

<What was that about!? What has come over you!?>

“W-well, I think I just have too much iron since I’ve had so many opportunities to eat meat lately, so when all this mental stimulation started squeeze-squeeze-squeezing at my mind, my blood pressure went up-up-up and then the blood went squirt-squirt-squirt!”

I had no idea what I was even saying anymore.

But I did search for a handkerchief. But when I checked my uniform’s pocket…

“H-huh? It’s gone?”

<What did you do with your uniform yesterday?>

“I was in my casual clothes when I back-dived into Shifu-san, so I put those in my closet and sent them for cleaning. And then…”

<When you use the closet phase space to send something for cleaning, anything in the pockets is removed and stacked up separately. So it must be in your closet right now.>

I nodded in understanding, which sent more blood dripping out.

“Ahhhhhhhhh!”

<C’mon, you need to inhale! Inhale! Sniff it back up.>

“Um, I may be a low-level god, but I still have my pride as a goddess.”

<Do proud goddesses often get explosive nosebleeds out of the blue!?>

“I-it’s a healthy reaction to your fave!”

Balancer suddenly opened a new Revelation Board. And before I could ask what it was about…

<The ape is about to leave his room. What’s your plan?>

●

Oh, no.

“I-I can still make it if I run! There’s plenty of time!”

<Hold on.>

Balancer stopped me. I looked over to see why and that screen had activated the mirror mode they had mentioned before.

<How would you describe yourself right now?>

“Soaked in my own blood!”

I ended up saying it with a smile, but that effort caused more than a bit more to come out… That too was a way of praising my fave.

<You aren’t finding a weird excuse for this, are you?>

“O-of course not! Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to run!”

<But, um, I don’t see how you arrive on time if you stop by your room to change first.>

“Th-then what am I supposed to do!?”

Both our gazes dropped to my right hand.

The From Chubu bag I held contained…

“The big boobies t-shirt.”

<Why not buy a handkerchief at that convenience store and change in the bathroom?>

“Th-that’s it! You really are a clever AI!”

I was pretty sure the store’s clerk automaton glared at me, but I decided to ignore it.

●

I decided it was about time I left for school.

I still didn’t remember when I had bought Rastan Saga 2, but based on the contents of my wallet, I had bought it yesterday. And if I was missing a memory, it could only mean one thing.

“A backroll!”

Or was it a rollback? Whatever.

So I needed to do whatever I could to try and remember what had happened. I got a good idea of my recent plans by checking my notes.

“Can it be!? This says I went to the river with Senpai yesterday!”

We went to Fussa Minami Park. I had a receipt from a shop there in my wallet. And if we really did go there…

“I don’t remember seeing Senpai in her swimsuit! Could there be any worse memory loss!?”

My god…wait, that’s Senpai. At least I still remembered that.

But this was devastating. If Senpai and I played at the river, we definitely had some splashy fun. And I had to consider the other upperclassmen and Kuwajiri as well!

But based on the times given on my receipts, I had bought something after heading back here with Senpai. That was probably when I bought Rastan Saga 2 as well. But…

“Why did I rollback after that?”

And was this enough to explain away my suspicions that someone had snuck into my room?

●

I thought about this instead of going to school.

“Okay,” I told myself, standing in front of the video game zone by the window.

“I went shopping, worshipped Senpai’s boobs, and bought Rastan 2. Then I played it.

Right. That much sounded right. And…

“There are two possible reasons my door wasn’t locked.”

• I didn’t lock up and died in my room.

• I didn’t lock up and died outside.

“Man, what an idiot!”

Wait, that’s me!

And both options were sorely lacking in Senpai worship. That wouldn’t do at all.

So I thought some more about what must have happened last night.

“It must’ve been more like this!”

• I didn’t lock up, worshipped Senpai’s boobs, and died in my room.

• I didn’t lock up, worshipped Senpai’s boobs, and died outside.

That was more like it.

In the former case, either I had an accident or there was an intruder.

The evidence on the balcony railing suggested an intruder.

So the intruder entered my room through the window.

“And they saw me prostrating toward Senpai’s room!”

I had tried that directly on the floor once but stopped when I nearly broke the floor, which would have meant calling the landlord. I had a mat laid out now and most of my pay from Ishikawa had gone to that. But…

“I bet it’d scare you to climb in through the window and find someone prostrating on a mat with Rastan Saga 2 ready to play.”

Maybe I couldn’t blame them for impulsively attacking me.

I didn’t want anyone to find out how I worshipped. After all, worship wasn’t for showing off. It was meant to prove how strong the feelings inside you are. So no matter how much effort you put into them, you’re supposed to keep them secret instead of showing them off.

I couldn’t help but prostrate myself thrice. A pretty good start for the day. I considered shaping the mat like Senpai’s boobs, but maybe the mat would transform into that shape if I worshiped on it a thousand times. Then it would be a holy artifact. My god…

But I still had a question. There were signs of an intruder on the balcony railing, but…

“Not on the floor.”

That meant the intruder had reached the railing and gone no further.

Why?

“Did they see me prostrating inside after climbing up to the railing!? The bastard had better not have spread that story around!”

Oh, no. What if they started telling the underground business gatherings in Tachikawa that…

“Hey, I started sneaking into this apartment the other day, but once I was on the railing, I saw this idiot inside prostrating on a mat laid out on the floor and shouting, ‘Ohhhhhhhhhhhh! Senpaiiiiiiiii!”

My way of worship could be at risk. But…

“Does that mean my Senpai worship doubles as a security system!?”

I prostrated thrice in thanks. But…

“I still don’t know why I died!”

The mystery was only growing.

●

Whatever, I decided, giving up on the question.

I had at least eliminated the possibility of dying in my room. There was no sign of a struggle here and, if someone did try to attack me in my sleep, I’ve been getting to bed after midnight cause I’ve been playing so many games. And the rollback’s backup happens at midnight, so…

“I returned home, but before getting to bed, I went back out and died.”

Knowing that was enough. If I died outside, there was probably a witness. With any luck, Senpai or one of the others was nearby when it happened. So my best course of action was…

“I need to go to school!”

Raidou-senpai and the others should be there by now.

So it was time to leave. But should I buy some lunch first?

While considering that question…

“I can invite Senpai to join me!”

●

What a great idea! What a fabulous idea! What a stupendous idea!

Before, I had always met Senpai in front of my room, but never anything more than that. It sucked that I didn’t remember how our splashy fun had gone yesterday, but this felt like the first time I had invited her anywhere and it seemed like a good – or even great! – idea.

Okay, I thought as I somewhat hurriedly put my shoes on at the entranceway and left my room. And…

“Yipe!?”

Senpai was right there.

●

I looked at Senpai.

She looked a little different from normal.

She normally wore a new-style uniform inner suit, a top, and a skirt.

But today…

“U-um, Sumeragi…-kun?”

She was wearing a t-shirt that said “big boobies” and she definitely wasn’t wearing a bra.

●

Sumeragi-kun suddenly prostrated in the corridor.

“Thank you so much! Thank you so much! This is the luckiest day of my life! Seeing Senpai in a braless t-shirt first thing in the morning makes me so happy I think I must just die of joy!”

Level up Revelation Boards opened around me at an unprecedented pace. But…

“W-wait, Sumeragi-kun? Calm down.”

“Done. I’m the calmest guy alive.”

“Th-that was fast! Anyway, um, can you stand up first?”

“Of course!” he said, starting to get up. But he immediately got back down again.

“Ahhhhhh! I can’t! I can’t, Senpai! Your braless t-shirt is stimulating my faith so hard my faith organ – oh, I decided the other day that’s located near my spleen – is throbbing more than ever before! Ohhhh, I can hear it throbbing!”

I had no idea what he was talking about, but it seemed like a very Sumeragi-kun thing to say.

At any rate, I could tell this outfit wasn’t going to work. It seemed like it was somehow so good it wouldn’t work? I wasn’t sure how that made sense, but I felt a need to cover up with my hands. And…

“Um, Sumeragi-kun? I’ve covered up with my hands, so you can look up now.”

“Eh?” he said, raising his head. But he immediately re-prostrated himself so hard I could hear the solid thud.

“Covering them!? With your hands!? I want to prostrate so hard I sink deep underground!”

Is that how it works?

Interlude

“I-I decided to change, so are we headed to school to meet with the club now?”

“Yes, that was the right decision, Senpai! Your braless t-shirt was like a weapon of jiggly destruction! Definitely not something you should be bringing to school!”

“Yeah, yeah. We’re about to play some Wizball to pass the time, so hurry on over.”

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