On a Godless Planet:Volume2B Chapter 42

Chapter 42: Crying

–I want to dry your tears.

●

…Wait, that’s where he’s taking this?

I knew it was rude to eavesdrop from behind a rock, but what I heard confused me.

It probably confused Kido-san too.

“Um, wh-what do you mean!?”

“Well! There’s a lot I want to ask you, but I thought it might be too rude to just come out and ask it all! But if you’re open to some questions, then I’m going do all the asking I can ask!”

Yes. It was Sumeragi-kun’s super questioning time.

●

Izumi asked me questions with a bright sparkle in his eyes.

Which was weird given how I looked at the moment...

“Okay! Time for my first question! What kind of god are you!?”

Yes, that was an important question. Because the answer would guide him toward all his other answers.

So I placed a snake-textured hand on my chest to indicate myself.

“I am the Echidna, a monster found in Greek mythology.”

“The Echidna, huh?”

“Oh! I’ve heard of that. It’s in Megami Tensei II! The Echidna was a woman’s head on a snake’s body!”

“Are you sure you aren’t thinking of a Naga?”

“Well, it was a Famicom game, so it was a palette swap of the Naga, a good side Avatar! Incidentally, you were an evil side Vile, which is ranked way higher than a simple monster!”

“Um, I’m not sure I like being called ‘vile’.”

Izumi slapped his own cheek.

“Sorry! Everything I knew on the subject just came flooding out! But you’re right! You’re anything but vile! But, um, what kind of god is the Echidna?”

“I am not exactly a god… To be honest, I am said to have given birth to all the ferocious monsters found in Greek mythology.”

“Eh!? Really? So does that mean you have kids?”

“Th-that is just what the Earth age myths say! It is not the case for this version of me beginning with my virtual manifestation!”

Izumi slapped himself on the other cheek.

“Sorry! Sorry! That’s just a rare background, so I got a little overexcited! But you’re right. So the Echidna is a Greek mythology villain?”

●

Did I count as a villain?

I considered that question.

“There are a few theories as to my origin, but the one thing they agree on is that I am an immortal monster. I have the upper body of a beautiful woman and the lower body of a snake. Echidna means ‘viper woman’.”

And…

“My husband is Typhon, who is depicted as the greatest evil dragon in Greek mythology and as a powerful giant. The myths depict me as birthing countless monsters with Typhon and my son Orthrus and those monsters fought against the Greek gods.”

Heat filled my cheeks as I spoke. These myths existed for me like distant memories, but the version of me since my virtual manifestation was a lot like a different person from that one.

“Typhon is known to have existed as a god of war during the Earth age’s fusion period and now has a reserved manifestation. Orthrus was defeated and now falls under my control, so, um…”

I wanted to make this point very clear.

“I-I am currently single.”

●

…Kido-san! Kido-san! Calm down! You need to calm down! I understand why you can’t, but still!

“Senpai-san, why are you getting all worked up behind that rock?”

●

I felt like someone somewhere was rooting for me.

At any rate, Izumi jotted down what I said on a Revelation Board.

“Thank you so much! Typhon and Orthrus were also in Megami Tensei II! You could even get Orthrus to join your party! You’ve been helping me out and I didn’t even know it!”

“Um, what?”

“Oh, sorry, but can I ask something else?”

“What do you want to know?”

“Well! Now that I know you’re the Echidna, I was wondering what you’re like in the myths! I’m asking as a mythology nerd!”

●

“Since when are you a mythology nerd?”

“Nice job saying that the instant your call went through, Kuwajiri! Anyway, um…”

I could see Senpai-san bowing my way with palms raised. Since she made “go ahead!” and “!” gestures, I went ahead and said what I wanted to the idiot.

“The Echidna is a monster from Greek mythology.”

“I know that. Kido-senpai told me.”

Was it wrong for that to piss me off?

Anyway, I wanted to get this unpleasant business over with quickly.

“I don’t want the basic information! I want details on what she was really like! Detailed details! So detailed I can practically taste it! Y’know, taste it like this: licky, licky, licky. …Oh, Kido-senpai! This is just a metaphor! I’m not actually going to lick you! Actions have no soul of their own!”

I had no idea what that was supposed to mean. The hand on Senpai-san’s forehead suggested she didn’t either. Anyway…

“We first start seeing Echidna in the historical records starting between 700 and 730 BCE. She is mentioned in the Theogony composed by Greek’s Hesiod around that time. Kido-senpai has already explained what it says, right?”

In fact, I had heard her saying that much. But the idiot didn’t know that, so…

“Oh! So Kido-senpai became a part of Greek mythology during the 8th century BCE?”

“Greek mythology itself began as oral tradition during the 15th century BCE. Do you get what I mean? It’s related to ‘that business’. Need I say more?”

I broke the Revelation Board with a finger and looked forward to see Senpai-san bowing toward me.

“That was very well done, Kuwajiri-san. I think you told Sumeragi-kun everything he wanted to know.”

That kind of open praise was a little embarrassing.

“It was nothing. This entire incident began with ‘that business’. …Now it’s up to Kido-senpai to decide what meaning it holds.”

●

Izumi turned toward me after reading his Revelation Board and nodding.

“Next question!”

He went ahead and asked.

“What’s your connection to me?”

●

I breathed in to calm myself. I knew what I had to say.

“We are…upperclassman and underclassman.”

“Liar!”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because you’re lying! Maybe I just don’t remember you, but you worried for me, you protected me, and even though I already have Senpai for my big boobs worship, we all would’ve been in serious trouble without you. So Senpai-”

Izumi slapped himself on both cheeks.

“Arrrgh! Stop talking about Senpai and stay focused! Oh!!”

“A-are you okay?”

“Yeah! Perfectly!”

●

…This is really hard to watch…

“Terraforming lead, why are you holding your head behind that rock?”

●

Izumi tapped his Revelation Board with a finger and spoke to me.

“I’m fine! It’s just that I nearly revved up my Senpai-loving heart when I’m supposed to be talking to you! But I’m fine now! Anyway, there must be more than upperclassman and underclassman for you to do all that stuff for me! I just don’t have that much human charm, so, um, how should I put this? Yeah, I’m just a lot less interesting than I thought I was.”

“Are you feeling poetic all of a sudden?”

“Oh, you could tell!? Thanks! Thanks so much! If I was in my Girlragi form, I’d be reading some kind of morning poem or something, but I’m in my Boyragi form right now! Anyway, I’m glad you responded, but what I’m trying to do is ask why you’re so kind to me!”

I appreciate his honesty. But that aside…

“If you must know…”

It probably was best to tell him this.

●

I crouched behind the rock and listened to Kido-san.

…Wow.

I could hear her.

“Are you ready, Izumi?”

She took a breath.

“Remember when we said I had created human data material based on you? And I left it with the DC as a backup?”

“Yes! I remember! And they tried to make a released manifestation out of it, but that failed, right?”

“Yes, that is correct. But can you guess why that failed? And do you know why you did not fail?”

“No…”

“Well,” said Kido-san. “The process to roll you back – no, I should call it the process to create you as a ‘person’. In that initial phase, the human data material required something else. You could call it a master key.”

That was…

“A pure soul was needed to complete you as a human.”

●

I thought on the words “pure”.

…Mukku and Gachapin.

Yeah, they’re pretty pure. So am I like them? Not bad.

But I had a question. If that was necessary to create me…

“Can that not be duplicated? Haven’t I been created several times over with the rollbacks?”

“It’s hard to describe accurately, but think of it like a screening filter. If anything, it is something you ‘soak in’. That allows it to be used multiple times, but there is only one of it.”

“Only one…I get the feeling that’s what caused all the trouble this time, but I’m not sure I’d want there being a bunch of them.”

“Hee hee. You wouldn’t, would you?”

“No, I wouldn’t,” he said. And…

“But why is there only one?”

“Well,” I began before answering.

“That soul…it used a portion of my soul. Meaning…”

●

“You are my child, Izumi.”

●

I said it.

I said what I had avoided saying thus far.

I could only say it now because I was leaving.

“The thing about humans is that gods cannot create them. When a god tries to create one, the result inevitably ends up with an element of perfection in it. It includes some of that god’s authority, making it a demigod. So when creating a human, you need a being that is not a god but has the power to give birth to anything.”

That was me.

“Greek mythology refers to me as a wicked woman who birthed a thousand monsters, so it is strange that I was the one to ‘birth’ a human’s foundation.”

But it made me happy. I enjoyed it. I was so proud.

In the myths, I was loathed, avoided, and seen as an enemy. The children I gave birth to were all killed to enhance the Greek gods and heroes or they were destroyed by history.

But…

“This one child will be accepted by all and can survive.”

It was impossible to describe how much that meant to me.

So in the DC archive, I researched human history and exchanged opinions with Balancer.

“I had Balancer provide me with a certain authority so I could learn even more of what it meant to be human. That is why I can take on a human form. Yes, the Greek gods can easily transform into animals, but I instead received a divine protection that lets me transform into a human.”

So this was my true form.

But I had literally risked my life to tear away a piece of my soul as a human to give birth to a human.

“Since you are with Shinto, I gave your soul a magatama shape. After it was complete, I felt such deep joy watching it playfully move about in the spell field.”

But in the end, I was still the Echidna.

“Your mother must not be a monster.”

That was the crux of the issue.

●

“You are human and you will live out your life as a human. Everything that happens in your life must come from your humanity, so you must not have been born to a monster.”

A human must not be known as the child of a monster.

But that is what he would be if I stayed with him. So…

“When you chose Senpai-san, I decided to leave once you had forgotten about me. And then this trouble started up…”

But I had made up my mind.

“This is goodbye, Izumi. That way no one can ever accuse you of being part monster.”

So he had to say it.

“You need to say goodbye, Izumi.”

“No!”

●

His voice rang loud.

At first, I didn’t understand what he had said.

“Izumi!”

“No! I won’t do it!”

“But you must! If I stay with you-”

“Mom!”

“–––––”

“Mommy, mama, mother, or whatever you want! Now I get it. Whatever you might say, I know you’re my mom!”

Because…

“We both try to protect the things that matter to us! You’ve noticed, haven’t you!? For whatever reason, I hate it when the people I care about are sad or I can’t convey my feelings to them! I think that’s something I inherited from you!”

So…

“You’re the mom I inherited something so important from, so I don’t want you to go away just because you’re a monster! Whatever you might be and whatever might happen, you’re my mom! And if you say you’re going to leave so no one call me a monster, then I know what I have to say!”

“And what is that?”

“As long as I’m with you, I at least will never call you a monster!”

“–––––”

“If anyone calls you a monster, brings up all that old myth stuff, or says your boobs might be a little too big, I’ll tell them to stop badmouthing my mom!”

“But why?” I asked. “Why would you say that?”

“Because I’m your kid.”

●

…Yes.

Sumeragi-kun was Kido-san’s child. I already knew that.

“My inability to just watch when someone’s in trouble and my wanting to help when someone I care about is sad is something I inherited from you. So if that someone is you, I’ll just have to help you!”

He had saved me in that same way.

●

“Also,” said Izumi, reaching his hand to my cheek.

“Why do you always blank your expression when you talk about saying goodbye?”

And…

“Why are you crying right now?”

Hearing that, I held a hand to my cheek.

“I…”

I was crying.

Yes. I remembered now. Whenever he made me cry, it was…

…When he does for me what I have done for him.

In that case…

“I…!”

“You don’t need to feel bad about who you are! And I won’t feel bad about who I am!”

And…

“If I’m ever born again, I want it to be to you! Because I’m here now because you wanted my soul to exist.”

And what had that led to?

“I’m not lonely and I’m so happy, so…that’s what I want for you too!”

●

When Kido-senpai held her hands to her face and really began weeping, I panicked a little.

But I took her hands and spoke while looking at her tearful face without fear.

“Kido-senpai…to be honest, I really like the way you look right now!”

“Y-you what!? D-don’t be absurd. I-I look like a monster.”

“You sure do! But in Sentai and other tokusatsu, I’ve always loved the female generals of the villain group! Maribaron still holds a special place in my heart!”

“Wait, um, huh?”

Okay, maybe a bad example. I had a tendency to blather on even when the other person knew nothing of the genre. So I slapped my forehead before continuing.

“Sorry! I really want to explain everything starting with Queen Hedrian, but I’ll restrain myself! My point is I think you look really cool in both forms! And…”

And…

“You don’t think that’s your real form, do you!?”

●

I gasped.

“I…!”

“I know all about how Greek mythology remade gods from other places! So maybe you’re written as a villain in Greek mythology, but just like the various theories about the giants, I bet there was a people who the creators of Greek mythology where terrified of! I bet they couldn’t just ignore the god those people worshiped, so they included her in their own myths but reduced her to a villainous monster!”

●

“That’s right,” said Kuwajiri, agreeing with the voice she could hear.

Temanko and Senpai-san nodded too.

“This is ‘that business’ I referred to before. Greek mythology overwrote other myths and brought other myths into their own mythology. So it is possible that is not her original form.”

“Which would mean…”

“Yes,” Kuwajiri replied. “She is not originally from Greek mythology.”

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