On a Godless Planet:Volume2B Chapter 29
Chapter 29: Dangerous Seed[edit]
–The bigger the mistake, the more likely I’ll accidentally make it.
●
The next morning, Senpai-chan fixed us a Japanese-style breakfast of miso soup, rice, and grilled fish, but a noticeable mood had settled in over everyone.
…Wow, that’s heavy.
There was a reason for this mood: last night.
Shifu had heard a commotion from the shower room, and…
“Wait, what? Sumeragi-chan was attacked by the water monster and now he’s being taken in by the Oume Police Department?”
Senpai-chan went with him and kept in touch via divine transmission.
But the main point came from…
“Kuwajiri-san has already seen it, but this is part of my ‘circumstances’. I cannot tell you what this is about, but I am willing to take questions.”
That was when it got “heavy”.
●
I knew I had screwed up.
…I-I did it again! And this one isn’t going away so easily!!
I thought I had lightened the mood between us while we were talking last night. Plus, I gave some information on our circumstances and established a line between what they could know about and what they couldn’t.
…But people’s feelings aren’t that easy to control.
●
I thought back to last night.
…I decided I could let Douhai-san take care of things in front of the shower room.
That was when I heard the police siren. Kuwajiri-san made a clapping gesture so only I could see and then pointed to Izumi and the police car lights. She had to mean…
“You want to hand Izumi over to the police?”
“I want to keep him away from here. I imagine the coming discussion will be easier with that idi- with Sumeragi absent.”
I more or less agreed. My only concern was…
“Oh! Then I’ll accompany Sumeragi-kun to the police station as his bondsman!”
I looked to Douhai-san who was attaching charms all over the shower room.
“When you put that many on, doesn’t it look more like a cursed shower?”
“Th-this many is just right! This way if any evil shows up here, it’ll be schlurped up right away! So everything will be fine! When you use it, all your impurities will be automatically schlurped up! Schlurp schlurp schlurp!!”
I had no idea what she was talking about. But anyway…
“Kuwajiri-san and I will clean up here, so you go with Izumi. But first…you should probably put some clothes on.”
“What!? But Senpai going to the police station in her swimsuit would be amazing! Oh, but it would probably be criminally great, so maybe you’re right! I’ll just worship her in my imagination on this one, so thanks in advance for accompanying me, Senpai!”
Was he turning himself in? What other interpretation was there?
●
As the Oume Police Department car took the idiot away, he leaned out from the back window.
“Yahoo! I’ll be back!! I am so gonna be back!!”
“I have just one response to that: Die!”
“Is this a reference to something?”
“He was referencing T2. I was referencing Die Hard.”
After that, Kuwajiri worked with Kido to clean up. They did a thorough search to make sure the water monster hadn’t recovered or if any piece of her remained, but…
“She must have gone back through the pipes.”
“Do you think her appearance during the day was to move toward the water intake?”
Kuwajiri only now started hearing the cicadas, which were quite annoying. Were all the lights responsible for them being so loud at night? Their cries seemed to carry a lot further than during the evening.
Meanwhile, Kido considered the issue at hand.
“If she has moved, it could be a slight problem. The river spirits did not warn us of this sort of movement.”
“Good point.” Kuwajiri nodded and activated a divine transmission. “Shifu-senpai, I have decided Kido-senpai is not an enemy.”
“Oh, what’s this about?”
“Well, if she was behind this attack, she wouldn’t have needed time to consider the implications of the water monster’s movement. While it could have been an act, she strikes me as the type who couldn’t act to save her life.”
“D-do you have to say it like that!?”
“To be fair, you can’t even lie to yourself.”
“Well…”
“When you should lie, you can’t bring yourself to do it and end up saying nothing. And we all know who it is you’re staying silent for.”
“Although I get the feeling he isn’t aware what you’re doing for him.”
“You just had to ruin it at the end, didn’t you!?”
And from there, they held a meeting around their riverside campfire.
●
What an odd meeting, thought Bilgamesh.
He couldn’t quite say this was an unfamiliar era, but it was part of what he considered the future.
He was in some unfamiliar mountains seated around a fire with gods he could no longer call unfamiliar.
Everyone was in their casual clothes after taking a shower. And…
“The water monster is clearly targeting the human.”
“To get ahead of the inevitable question, I cannot tell you why that is.”
“Can you tell us why you can’t tell us that? Knowing that can make a big difference.”
“To be honest, I am only working off of speculation there.”
“It’s all speculation and you still can’t tell us?”
“It musssst be speculation she’s verrrry certain of.”
“It is,” confirmed Kido. She held up her hands emerging from her black shirt’s sleeves.
“Knowing my speculation would give you a good idea of what is happening, but knowing that would get Izumi involved. It is a troublesome problem.”
“How troublesome are we talking about here?”
“It would greatly increase Olympus mythology’s influence on the DC.”
“And would that be a lot of trouble or something?”
“You know,” said Ki, glaring at Eshtar. “This stuff is what you got yourself involved in the other day. If you don’t think that’s trouble, would you like to pick a fight with Senpai-san?”
“Huh? I can pick a fight with any minor god I want. Have you forgotten what happens back home when I get mad?”
“Senpai-san? Are you at the police station? Eshtar has something to tell you.”
“Oh? Go ahead, Eshita-san. What did you want?”
“Eh!? Oh, um, today has been such an auspicious day and you have my utmost gratitude for my continued longevity, but could you enlighten me as to how the human is faring!?”
“I’m not sure what you’re even trying to say, but Sumeragi-kun is doing well. He is having fun speaking with the police interrogator, who is a local god.”
●
“Huh!? And why is me being naked a crime!? Public indecency!? Do you know how hurtful it is to be called a living misdemeanor!? Besides, what about me are you calling indecent!? Is it too long!? Too girthy!? Where do you draw the line!? Give me a ruler and I’ll measure it out for you! Oh, but you’ll need that 30cm ruler for this! H-hey, I am not bluffing! I’m the real deal! J-just wait a second, okay? I’ve gotta give my imagination a workout first! Goooooooo imagination! Yes, yes, yes, let’s gooooo!!”
●
“is he a demon?”
“He is the worst.”
“If only he wasn’t so loud about it.”
“Quite the variety of opinions here.”
●
“Anyway,” said Raidou. “If you’ll tell us what you can, it would make things easier for us.”
“Easier how?”
“Most likely, the Olympus inspectors will have sniffed us out here by tomorrow. That’s what Shitaharu’s arrival was about, wasn’t it?”
The Shinto knowledge god ultimately nodded to confirm his suspicion.
“The Olympus inspectors apparently sent a divine transmission to Omokane-senpai’s group. They apparently said they were searching for us.”
“Then why aren’t they here yet?”
“Omokane-senpai told them the Chuo Line goes to west Tokyo.”
“Oh, so they fell for the trap awaiting anyone going west of Tachikawa for the first time.”
“Hm? What trap is this?”
Raidou went ahead and explained.
“So if you take the Chuo Line to head due west from Tachikawa, you get zapped!?”
“Not sure everyone will know what you mean by that…but anyway, those Olympus gods aren’t stupid, so they’ll actually check the transit map tomorrow. My guess is they’ll be here by tomorrow afternoon. Isn’t that why our negotiator is gathering information and keeping secrets?”
“It is. I apologize, but since Mr. V’s Roman mythology falls under Olympus mythology, he could end up taking their side. So as a negotiator, I cannot reveal too much here. In that sense, while I would like for Kido-senpai to reveal her secrets, I understand why she wouldn’t.”
In other words…
“You do not want to turn the human into a political bargaining chip or create a situation that could harm him, correct?”
“Yes, I am involved in a certain matter relating to the Shinto terraforming that is separate from the terraforming itself. From that position, I want to avoid involving Izumi in the political conflict between the gods.”
A hand went up.
“Our Norse group and Senpai-san are familiar with that matter. Are you opposed to us revealing what we know to the Mesopotamians, Neptune, and the Shinto knowledge god?”
“You mean Tenma-chan and Mr. V don’t know?”
“I do not. And I believe it would be valuable if I did.”
“I also don’t know.”
I see, thought Raidou. It was good that Kido hadn’t told Mr. V. That meant she wasn’t leaking information to gods uninvolved with the terraforming. So…
“If we tell you, it means you’re on our side. That’s a divine promise, okay?”
After a pause, Mr. V nodded.
“I am prepared.”
“Eh!? Wait! Does that mean I’ll be on your side too!?”
“You already are on our side as an inspector!”
“I would like to hear this to ensure we are all on the same page at the very least. So what is this about?”
Bilgamesh’s question was directed at Kido, who sighed before responding.
“The terraforming mainly involves two things. The first is the terraforming itself. The second is the creation and preservation of the human.”
“And,” she added.
“The base form of a human is what you could call a soul. In that material state, it is not yet determined who they will be and they cannot even be categorized by sex yet. I am the one who created that base form.”
●
“Wait, you mean…?”
Ki chose her words carefully.
“You created the human?”
“Yes. But only as a material. You two were created by the gods, but you are also half-god and half-man. But I created him as a human.”
“Can you really do that? If a god was involved, wouldn’t that god’s influence be seen in some part of him?”
“Like how the Deee Aiiii Wyyyy humans I made had really loooong lifespans.”
The questioning voices continued, but Kido remained silent.
“––––”
That wordless response led Ki to a realization.
…Is there some kind of trick to it?
Kido could create the foundation for a human with no divine elements included.
Ki didn’t know how that was possible, but if she wasn’t going to explain…
“Explaining that would be a problem for the human, wouldn’t it?”
“Tooru and I have known her long enough to more or less know the answer. Because we know what god she is.”
“Please do not reveal that information. If you more or less know the answer, then you must understand what a great obstacle that knowledge would be for Izumi.”
“Is it that bad?”
“Ohh.”
After a bit, Shifu nodded a few times. When she spoke, it sounded like she was trying to convince herself.
“To be honest, I think that depends a lot on Sumeragi-chan, but I do understand your concerns, Kido-chan. So I’ll keep quiet.”
“But,” Shifu finally added.
“Kido-chan? You say it would be a problem for Sumeragi-chan if you revealed your identity, but what about for you?”
“What do you mean, for me?”
“I mean won’t it hurt you too if this is a problem for Sumeragi-chan? So this isn’t just about being a problem for him – you don’t want to hurt yourself either.”
“…”
Kido fell silent. But this wasn’t a lack of response used to avoid giving an answer.
After taking a few breaths, she lowered her gaze just once. And after seeming to realize something…
“You are correct,” she said. “I want to end this cleanly. I never do know what Izumi is thinking, but if I must say goodbye to him, I want him to think of me as no more than a friendly upperclassman. Because…’
She smiled a little.
“I don’t think I could bear it otherwise.”
●
Ki responded on reflex.
“I will support you.”
The reasoning could come later. She came from the wild, so even after learning to live as a person, her instincts, which weren’t quite emotions either, always kicked in first.
That was what happened here.
“I will support that feeling.”
That goddess was an idiot. The deck was stacked against her and she was trying to avoid as much harm as she could, yet she still prioritized someone else, leaving very little room left for herself.
She could have just run away.
There was no need to face this head on.
So saying nothing and leaving once it was all over really was the only option left for her.
“There was once an idiot who couldn’t bring himself to run away and tried to fight his fated death. It all began with his inability to accept his partner’s death.”
He could have just run away.
There had been no need to face it head on.
But…
“In the end, that idiot realized he couldn’t escape his death and despaired, so he went out into the wild and ultimately died.”
But…
“I couldn’t be more proud of that despair.”
“Proud of it? Why?”
“Because that idiot despaired but didn’t run away.”
“Of course he didn’t. Accepting despair is more palatable than running away.”
Ki’s partner spoke quietly and viewed the campfire burning between him and the foolish goddess.
“Kido Abinae. I hope you must never accept despair. And to that end, I too will support your silence.”
●
Tenma nodded deeply at the upperclassmen’s exchange, but then realized something.
…Wait, wait, wait! I want her to tell us everything to make my job easier!
Especially Kido’s identity.
Her boss had cruelly kept her in the dark regarding that, so she didn’t know the answer. Yes. Her boss was the problem here. Specifically, Omokane. She had to be relishing the fact that Tenma was struggling here.
She was the kind of boss who loved knowing the upcoming negotiation with the Olympus gods would be a challenge due to Tenma’s lack of knowledge.
…She’s hitting me with the 3Hs.
By which I mean, hardship, harm, and harshness. You could add humiliation and make the 4Hs even. That thought showed just how challenging her situation was.
But she also understood the meaning of the current conversation.
Gods surpassed human knowledge and existed above human law. If their circumstances were all part of their myths, then their actions were all based on those myths. So…
“We have to rely on our imaginations to determine Kido-senpai’s identity.”
That settled that for now. So…
“Setting that aside, there is one thing I must ask you about, Kido-senpai.”
“What is that?”
“Oh,” someone said. The Norse knowledge god raised her hand to Tenma’s right.
“I would like to ask about that too. It concerns when Kido-senpai fought off the water monster earlier. It was only a small portion of her body, but she definitely transformed.”
●
“Whaaaat’s wrong with traaaansforming?”
I immediately replied to Yomoji.
“This didn’t fit the category of a real manifestation.”
“It didn’t? Actually, what does and doesn’t fit there?”
It was apparently Chip Star time for her. She tilted the tube of chips to let the stack of chips slide toward the top and then she tilted it back so the chips slid back to the bottom. She was probably just fidgeting with them.
“A real manifestation is when we leave the virtual manifestation world, which is like a data world, and emerge into this real world with an actual body, right?”
“Right. In human terms, we are ‘incarnated’. Although we are technically very dense data entities, so we don’t actually have physical flesh.”
But…
“We exist with our own mold. That mold is made strong so we can continue living even without anyone worshiping us. That is known as an internal mold. Using outside worship to live is known as an external mold. And if that mold is destroyed, we will lose data and density, our existence will grow distorted, and we could even be destroyed.”
“Get to the point.”
“Fine. My point is, we can’t ordinarily change form because that would mean destroying our mold. But Kido-senpai is different. That was not a growth or deterioration of her real manifestation – she changed into something else.”
I continued from there.
“We only know of one god capable of that. Only Senpai-san, Iwanaga-hime, managed that by gaining an external mold from the human’s worship and achieving her released manifestation.”
●
“Hold on,” said Eshita, raising her hand.
She stuck the Chip Star tube between some nearby stones.
“But that thunder god can go boom and our Bilgamesh can summon massive equipment.”
“They are only summoning their divine equipment, so they are not altering their real manifestation mold.”
Then, thought Eshita. Um, what was I going to say? There was something I wanted to throw in her face.
…Oh, yeah. That.
She had learned of this from the reports and saw it for herself the other day.
“What about how the thunder god’s wife can change her identity? You know, that double divinity thing. Doesn’t this just mean that Kido has something like that too?”
“The bodies we receive through our real manifestations are not divine forms created by human worship. They are forms capable of surviving without human worship. That means we generally look identical to the humans of this era. A double divinity does not change that rule.”
Meaning…
“With no one worshiping us in this divine world, we couldn’t survive in a divine form created by human worship. Shifu-senpai’s double divinity follows that rule, so both her forms look human.”
“Wait, really!?”
“Our true divine forms are too costly to maintain, aren’t they?”
“Yes.” The Norse knowledge god nodded. “In reality – well, this technically isn’t reality, but in reality or in a divine world that allows us to freely travel to and from reality – our real manifestation forms must be ‘realistic’. That leaves no room for imagination. We must be something that is feasible as the evolution of an Earth life form. If…”
If…
“If something does go beyond that, then it shouldn’t exist here in ‘reality’. It would need to be constantly altering the laws of this world, which would mean consuming a lot of power. And the more powerful the god, the greater the burden would be, so they could use up all their power and be destroyed.”
“Yeah, that’s why we generally don’t let our true authority out and either have it apply only to ourselves or turn it into an instant Auth Spell or divine protection. We can only express our power for brief periods of time and then we need to eat or rest to recover. If we don’t, we still seem ‘superhuman’ since we do still have divine power, but our strength is far less than what it should be.”
“That is why we can boost our power by summoning our equipment. Would that be the correct tactical view?”
“It would.”
Eshita realized something while that athletic pair exchanged a nod.
“Hold on. Wait. We’re all being nerfed like that? But that monotheistic god used a hell of a lot of power.”
“When I can go allll out, I can create eeeeverything in the uuuuniverse in just six days.”
“A meteor strike or creating a world as far as the eye can see is small potatoes compared to Yomoji-chan’s full power.”
“…”
“Eh!? Then why do I still have to wear clothes!? I’m being double nerfed. How is that fair!? I call foul! Foul!”
“It’s best for everyone when you behave, so this is perfect really.”
“Huh!? But my lawless rampages are half my charm! And the other half is my illogical outbursts! That’s what everyone wants from Esthar!”
<The stories about you generally do leave me thinking “Why would she do that?”. Did it make more sense to the people at the time?>
“I am so sorry.”
“Yeah, apologize! Apologize for your misdeeds!!”
“He’s apologizing for you!!”
●
“Anyway, we can use our power to an extent. But without worshipers, that power must remain internal and it is not unlimited. So we created these molds so we could exist without using a form or powerful divine protection that requires constant power usage.”
<I handled each of your cases individually, including several direct interviews. Generally speaking, I used a simplified version of your virtual manifestation form.>
“Yeah, but I feel like mine ended up a lot wilder.”
<But it is still quite subdued compared to Iwanaga-hime’s released manifestation.>
●
Kido hadn’t seen that.
…Senpai-san’s released manifestation?
She was curious, so she raised her hand.
“Um, may I ask something?”
“Hm? Go for it, Kido-chan.”
“I was never told that Senpai-san is Iwanaga-hime or about that…released manifestation? Should you really be mentioning all that in front of me?”
The others exchanged a glance in response to her question.
And eventually…
“Oops.”
●
“It’s not my fault!”
“This one actually isn’t, but I feel like it would be easiest to blame you anyway.”
“Ha ha! Because I’m so virtuous, right!?”
“I am so, so sorry.”
“Don’t go for the big reactions quite yet. You’ll want to save those for later.”
“Damn, we screwed that up. Where did we go wrong on this one anyway?”
<I ran a search of my audio records. I have discovered someone mentioned Iwanaga-hime’s name in Kido’s presence during the terraforming the other day.>
“Who was that stupid?”
“Can you tell us who it was?”
<I might as well. I will replay the relevant statement.>
●
“B-but my name is Iwanaga-hime, which has a voiced consonant.”
●
“…”
<Do you see now who was “that stupid”, Kuwajiri?>
“…”
Kuwajiri silently prostrated herself, so Shifu photographed it and sent it to Senpai-chan with an otherwise blank divine transmission.
●
“Eh? Eh? Shifu-san? What’s this about? Why is Kuwajiri-san prostrating herself again? Did she do something wrong?”
“You have my deepest and most heartfelt apologies for my many and repeated mistakes.”
“I’ll fill you in later, but can you just forgive her for now?”
“Oh!? Oh!? What, is Kuwajiri prostrating!? And after you called me a dung beetle! What’s this make you!? A prostration beetle! You’re a lowly prostration beetle!!'”
“That idiot!!”
“This is kind of awkward. I’m Shinto and I haven’t had to prostrate even once, but here she is demonstrating perfect form yet again.”
“What are you, a prostration sommelier?”
●
“So she did it herself! Not much we can do about that.”
I agreed with Shifu-san’s flabbergasted comment.
“That’s how I knew Douhai-san is Iwanaga-hime. From that, I could make a good guess what her authority is too. As for the released manifestation thing, I assume that was some kind of divine expression that happened as a result of Izumi’s worship.”
“Yeah, if we say you had already predicted it, it makes my screw-up less important. And since you’re on our side, we’re all in the same boat even if you do find out. You see, this is tied up with Senpai-chan’s private life.”
“I feel like she’s gone a little crazy in that regard lately.
“Enough of that,” said Shifu-san. “I’ll give you a quick overview of what happened, okay?”
●
She told me.
“So Izumi’s worship caused Douhai-san to deify…which we are calling a released manifestation?”
Mr. V made a few exclamations of surprise during the explanation, but it made a fair amount of sense to me. Eshita-san made a few exclamations of her own. It was the same thing each time.
“It wasn’t my fault!”
But from what I heard, it did sound like it was her fault.
At any rate, some things made more sense now.
“You all have such awe for Douhai-san because Izumi’s worship allowed her to achieve that released manifestation, don’t you?”
It had changed her appearance, but it had probably brought her very existence beyond the limits of reality as well.
She became something that shouldn’t be.
“She became different on a fundamental level. That is what all gods are meant to be.”
If so…
“Shifu-senpai’s double divinity lets her change her hair color, but her second real manifestation isn’t all that different from her main one. She can maintain that form without human worship and Balancer helps manage it. And Balancer’s management ensures she follows the same standards as everyone else. That means neither of her forms can be too far removed from a human one.
“But with the support of the human’s worship, Senpai-san appeared as a further boosted version of her virtual manifestation form.”
“Then what did my earlier form look like to you?”
“I can only call it an inhuman form.”
She provided an honest response.
“Kido-senpai, that was not a double divinity form, was it? Then what was it?”
●
When Kuwajiri-san finished questioning me, she nodded and someone else spoke up instead.
“What kind of transformation was it?”
“Her arm went all squishy, a lot like the water monster.”
“Can you draw a diagram?”
“…I can try.”
Kuwajiri-san used her finger to draw out a diagram on a Revelation Board.
“Like this.”
She was a terrible artist.
●
“I’m sorry, but…which way is up on this diagram?”
“This is the arm and this is the hand, right!? Right!?”
“Hey, what matters is that we focus on our strengths.”
“So this is what it feels like to want to die.”
“Hey! You tried your best, Kuwajiri-chan! That’s worth something! Great job!”
“I am truly sorry.”
●
Kido-chan spoke up with an “anyway” vibe.
“I cannot tell you what that transformation was. Because if I did, it would get you involved.”
“Us?”
Tooru tilted his head.
“We’re the trouble busters. We’re working with Shinto, but our job is to deal with these kinds of problems. Kido, I understand you want to keep your identity a secret because you don’t want to bring any trouble to Sumeragi, but would getting us involved really be so much trouble for us?”
“I know you are powerful, but…this matter is already over.”
“It’s over? What do you mean?”
“Well,” said Kido-chan, loosely crossing her arms and pausing to select her words. “While you were witnessing Douhai-san’s released manifestation, I had a reason to be in Kobe, engaging in a mild conflict against the Olympus gods.”
“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. The inspectors aren’t here to repay you for that, are they?”
“No, they are not. I crushed the root of that incident back in Kobe.”
“You crushed it?”
That led to another question.
“Then what’s the problem with getting us involved? And then why are you working with Mr. V to deal with Salacia?”
“You answered your own questions, Shifu-san.”
Shifu thought about that.
Looking back on what she had said…
“So you dealt with the incident in Kansai and now Salacia is the last remnant of that?”
“Like I said, the Salacia matter could increase the Olympus gods’ standing on the DC. I already crushed their plot back at their headquarters and I am cleaning up the last piece here. And…”
“This afternoon, we promised to provide support in the Salacia matter but to not intervene.”
“Correct. This incident is already over. And Mr. V here is necessary to deal with Salacia. But now that he is on ‘our side’, the Olympus gods cannot settle the matter on their own. If you intervened as trouble busters, you could reignite the already dying flames. Please try to understand.”
●
…I can’t believe this.
They were at an impasse. They weren’t making any progress.
Kido-chan and Mr. V knew what was going on and the rest of them didn’t.
But if Kido-chan was correct, then forcibly intervening could indeed get the “ignorant” Shinto gods involved and reignite the flames Kido-chan had extinguished.
“Not knowing does make this harder for you, but the Olympus gods cannot make their plot known either. Even if they do demand a discussion, they cannot touch on the most crucial points, which leaves us plenty of ways of sidestepping them. And if we can resolve the Salacia issue…”
Kido-chan sighed and showed us something: her right arm.
It seemed to have melted and lost its shape. The fingers resembled snake tails and the basic coloration was black. Patterns resembling scales or muscle fibers drew out black lines.
“The water monster?”
While Bil-chan asked that, Kido-chan returned her arm to normal.
“I am glad Izumi didn’t have to see that. This way he won’t think of me as a monster.”
“Kido-chaaaan…”
“Now I have shown you, so will be my accomplice in this lie?”
She stood up.
“I am tired. I will be going to bed early, so please take care of the rest.”
●
All of that happened last night.
Afterwards, Sumeragi-chan and Senpai-chan returned and Sumeragi-chan was taken to the boys tent. As for Senpai-chan…
“Kido-chan seems to have a lot on her mind, but can you try to act like nothing’s changed? Treating her differently would probably be the worst thing right now.”
After that, the first night of the camping trip went by with very little talking.
●
…It’s so quiet.
Thanks to last night.
Shifu and Raidou went to draw water. Ki and Bilgamesh were doing morning stretches as part of their personal training regimen.
The underclassmen were taking some kind of records and the monotheistic god was playing with the river spirits.
Mr. V was fishing, but everyone seemed kind of quiet. Esthar was sleeping. Which meant she was quiet for once.
But the center of all the silence was Kido. She was waiting for breakfast and using a Revelation Board to check on some local information provided by a local god.
Meanwhile, Senpai-san was making breakfast while seemingly talking more than usual. But…
…That’s only making everyone else’s silence stand out more!
●
…I’ve really done it, haven’t I!?”
Last night was meant to achieve a consensus with the others and put her mind at ease. She had drawn a clear line between them and her. The idea had been for her to withdraw from them early so they could talk amongst themselves. But…
…They weren’t supposed to say next to nothing and then go to bed!!
It had completely backfired.
“Kido-san, do you prefer ham and eggs or grilled salmon? You can also go with both, or go with grilled ham. I also bought some corned beef because Shifu-san said it was standard camping fare, so I could cook some of that too.”
“Hey, Senpai-chan? This looks a lot like corned beef, but it’s actually new corn meat.”
“I-is there a difference?”
<New corn meat contains horse meat, so the Mesopotamians couldn’t eat it.>
“Oh, no.”
“Well, we don’t mind. Put it between two slices of bread with mayonnaise and its pretty good.”
“S-sorry about that. So what will you have, Kido-san?”
Singling Kido out like that really caused her to stand out from the rest.
What can I do about this? she wondered.
“W-well.”
Ahh! Why am I stumbling over my words!?
“Do you have any coffee?”
Senpai-san’s face froze over. And immediately…
“I-I’ll go buy some!!”
“Oh, um.”
Just as she was going to say “you don’t have to do that”, a voice burst from the boys tent behind her.
“Good morrrrrrning, Okutama! Good morrrrrning, Okie-tama! It’s your favorite big boobs worshiper – Sumeragi Izumi! Oh, good morning, Senpai! I love how big your boobs are first thing in the morning! They’re the best! The silhouette they form with the rising sun behind them is breathtakingly beautiful, so please let me make a mental recording of it! Yes, stand right there and breathe in…and out! Yes, perfect! Thank you so much! Oh, thanks for lending me your coat last night, Kido-senpai! It touched and rubbed against my P-sensor some when I closed the front, so I’ll clean it before returning it! Hey, Balancer! Make sure you wash the part that touched my you-know-what extra good! And by hand! So anyway, what’s going on this morning!?”
He took a breath.
“Are we having a swimsuit party in the river!?”
Maybe he could be a little less his usual self?
Interlude[edit]
“I hate to rain on your parade, but the swimming won’t be until this afternoon.”
“This afternoon!? That’s fine! I’ll build up my excitement playing games until then!”
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