"Ugh, that was a really dense tutorial…"
I said that while still inside the game, by which I mean reality.
We were inside the stone hut on the rocky land.
Raidou-senpai and the others had been explaining this world and how human politics affected the terraforming.
"Well, we don"t want to give you too much to learn right away, so let"s call it a day!"
We were dismissed, so I really wanted to get right back to the Divine World, run to a 90s bookstore, grab the owner by the collar, and shout,
"Excuse me! Do you have any bunny girl photo alb.u.ms that minors can buy!? A G.o.d said animal stuff is OK!"
But I stopped myself when Senpai spoke to me.
"How about we take a break before heading back? We can discuss our future plans."
"Yesssssssssssssssssssssss! Let"s do that!"
"Huh? I don"t pour much energy into dealing with you. Did you really think you were worth it?"
I had a feeling you weren"t actually the most important if you had to say so yourself, but then I turned toward the…kitchen? Whatever you called it, Senpai was standing there with her back turned and it was unbelievably…how should I put it? Yes, it was unbelievably…
"Hot…"
"Eh?"
I slapped myself for the first time in a while. No, that wasn"t the point. Senpai was undoubtedly hot and her big b.o.o.bs definitely directed my thoughts in that direction, but this was about something else.
…It"s about the gap!
The gap created by something like this existing in reality. That was what made something hot or s.e.xual, and what made something frightening or joyful as well. There was a gap between what you were seeing and what you thought could be real, so it felt like a miracle in and of itself.
That was what made it so unique and valuable. It was beautiful.
And I did not want to impose a category on that quality, so whether you would call it hot or not, I only wanted to say one thing in this case.
"You look really, well, nice."
"U-umm…"
"You"ve got it all wrong, you idiot!"
When Balancer and I argued, she laughed.
I looked over again and saw her at work.
She was making some tea.
"Thank you for putting up with everything today. I will make you some tea."
"Oh, thank you very much! Thank you so much! I"ve never had a girl make me tea before, so can I record a video!?"
"Eh?"
I slapped my own face. And…
"Balancer, how do I record video with my Revelation Board?"
Anyway, I had them teach me how to use the various functions and access the help menu. Hm, I see. I just had to use voice commands for most of it.
"Oh, neat. It can record things on my 90s TV. I think this Revelation Board might be more useful than you, Balancer."
I heard some quiet laughter from Senpai.
But this was my first time seeing a G.o.d make tea.
She hummed a light melody as she worked.
There was a stone structure much like a sink. It looked highly polished, but then she opened the front and pulled out some cups and a kettle.
…Eh?
The sink was stone. It looked polished, but when she casually opened the front, I saw all the proper innards of a sink.
Even though it was all stone.
…Hmm?
A sink was normally made of wood or plastic with a stainless steel frame or some other waterproof material. But every bit of this was stone.
When you saw a gravestone at the stone dealer, you might think its smooth surface was pretty, but the storage box and the thinness of the "panels" here were something else entirely.
Humans could not make this. Even trying it would require a lot of fancy techniques and machines, yet here it was. And…
I had thought the stone hut was simply made of exposed rock, but I realized that was not quite accurate.
I stood up and took a look around.
The walls were monochrome, but it was like they had wallpaper on them. What I had noticed was a "difference" in the walls.
It had looked like the inner walls were shallowly carved down in places, but…
"This is a floral relief."
No matter how long it took me to notice, this was impressive.
The stone hut was a lot like a small apartment, but a floral relief had been added to the kitchen area"s walls.
And when I looked at the floor, I noticed a pattern there as well.
"Is that supposed to be wood flooring?"
I asked about something that was bothering me.
"The far wall juts out a bit in that room, so is there a closet behind it?"
"I was thinking maybe the front of the closet was cut out of the rock…but it looks a lot like a sliding screen, doesn"t it?"
"Does it open? Isn"t it heavy?"
"What do you mean?"
I kept my voice low so Senpai could not hear me while working in the kitchen.
She was waiting for the water to boil while the kettle sat on a plate of hot stone which appeared to act as a stovetop.
This was probably her divine territory. Her water control seemed to be working well because it felt like the humidity had risen.
Then Balancer asked me a question.
Since this was about Senpai, I took it seriously.
…She was able to make water outside earlier…
"Because she made water?"
I heard footsteps while wondering what Balancer meant.
"It"s a little dark, so I will use an illumination Auth Spell."
"Auth Spell?"
She nodded at my question. She was carrying the pot on a tray that looked awfully light for being made of stone.
"That is what we call a systemized version of a G.o.d"s authority. When both G.o.ds and humans can use it, it"s just known as a spell."
"Um, so it"s basically a G.o.d-exclusive spell?"
"They are more pure than the ones humans use. Because it comes directly from the G.o.d."
Meaning…
"G.o.ds can directly control ether, but there is a bit of trick to getting it started. That"s why the more universal ones have been systemized into something we call Authority Spells, or Auth Spells for short."
"I was going to ask why you wouldn"t just call them G.o.d Spells or something, but I guess it would be weird for G.o.ds to specify that their own spells are for G.o.ds."
"Just as the spells used by witches are called magic instead of Witch Spells, G.o.ds use Auth Spells instead of G.o.d Spells. And in Shinto, the G.o.ds have close enough connections to borrow and use another G.o.d"s authority. We call that using a subst.i.tution and it"s honestly really common. Or so I hear."
"So you hear?"
Even as I spoke, I realized what she must have meant.
"Have not that many Shinto G.o.ds joined the game yet?"
"I was asking Senpai, not you, so why are you answering? Do I need to hit you with a white noise attack!? Ksssssshhhhhhhhhhh!"
But anyway.
In that case, would the G.o.ds with authorities we needed manifest(?) when we needed them?
However…
"Then why bother outsourcing to G.o.ds from other mythologies?"
I asked that just as Senpai placed a cup in front of me and another next to me. Then she sat next to me, which really excited me.
"Senpai! I am not worthy of sitting next to you! But more! I want more! Wait, is this your way of saying you want to marry me!? I"ve already done that 27 times in my head!"
"Eh?"
I slapped myself. Oh, no. I really couldn"t lie in the presence of a G.o.d. How was I supposed to navigate the delicate waters of love like this? Although if I had control, I"d chicken out of doing anything at all! Senpai is so great!
Another thought came to me as I looked at her.
…Her b.o.o.bs are resting on the table…
Had I seen this before? I felt like I had. But this was from the side. I rested the side of my head on the table without thinking and I could only marvel at how their shape was transformed by their own weight. Fantastic.
"Um, Sumeragi-kun?"
"Oh! Yesh! Sorry! I got a little too focused!"
But while observing Senpai"s great "power", I realized something else.
…A small job.
So that was it.
"The other G.o.ds are as powerless as you are, aren"t they? So while you can borrow their power for small jobs like making tea, they don"t have enough power for a job as big as the terraforming."
I took a sip of the tea. And…
"Uhyohhhh! d.a.m.n, this is good! What the h.e.l.l!? How can plain black tea be this good!?"
"Senpai! Did you put anything in this!?"
"Eh? Eh? No, I didn"t."
"Th-th-th-th-then did you use special tea leaves!?"
"No, it was just a normal teabag I brought from the Divine World."
"Senpai"s t.i.tbags!? No! Sorry! I felt I had to make that joke and said it way too loudly, but I didn"t mean anything by it! I just really like the tea is all! Anyway, um…hey, inferior screen. How can she bring stuff here from the 90s? I didn"t think it worked like that."
Um, what did that mean?
"Can you explain it using b.o.o.bs?"
"U-um…no."
"Yeah, didn"t think so! Okay, Balancer, you do it."
I wasn"t really expecting them to do it. But to sum up…
"Is it something like a tunnel? Your divine territory is the area ruled by a G.o.d or their mythology and you can bring Divine World stuff there. But can you not do that while outside your divine territory?"
"In my case, this stone hut is my divine territory."
"What does that mean?"
"L-like how I"m hiding my name."
I decided not to ask further about that.
But I did kind of understand this now.
"This tea tastes so good because the teabag was inside Senpai"s coat or skirt pocket when she brought it here. That means it was permeated by the heat of her b.o.o.bs or thigh."
I sniffed it.
"Ahhhh! Senpai"s fragrance! This spot right here contains the body heat of that fetishistic area on the side of her pelvis! It just has to!"
And there was more to it than that.
"When she created that water, she hand-ma.s.saged it from the air, so it"s Senpai Water! I was going to call it Senpai Juice or Senpai Fluid, but no, it has to be Senpai Water! Ahh, I could drink your water forever! It"s so good! I"d like a refill!"
"Oh, yes, here."
I drank it. It was good. I calmed down. I could think clearly. And…
"Did I just say anything weird?"
"Well, I think it was all meant as a compliment."
Wow, was she a G.o.ddess or something? Oh, right, she was. That made sense. Yes. Perfect sense. She seemed a little bothered by it all, but really, who could blame her?
Anyway, I took a breath and looked around the stone hut.
"This is such a relaxing place. Is it because you made it?"
"Is it?"
Yes, what was it about the place? She had put more effort into the walls than I had thought. It was like she had worked hard designing it, or…oh, I know. Yeah, that has to be it.
…She must have been happy she had the power to do all this.
It was based on Western-style rooms, but it all felt handmade.
She had made this after deciding to get to work on the terraforming.
"It"s relaxing because it feels like you"re protecting me here."
I heard a sigh from Senpai where she was seated next to me.
"Um…"
"Yes?"
"Well," she said.
"At first, we really were powerless. Yomoji-san and Shifu-san"s group were a little higher ranked as G.o.ds and I was originally, um…"
"You said you were a G.o.d that only has their name mentioned once, right?"
"Oh, yes. …I"m just on the level of an Earthly G.o.d."
"Umm."
Oh, no. I wasn"t sure what an Earthly G.o.d was. Did it mean she was made of earth? That is, dirt?
…So she"s a dirty girl! Is that it!?
That aside, there was something I had to say.
"I"ll study up on all that, so you don"t have to explain every little thing to me."
"Sorry. Just think of me as only barely qualifying as a G.o.d."
So…
"At first, I existed as a G.o.d, but I couldn"t give others my authority."
"What happened then?"
What did that mean?
"You could only make land out of the area of lava you were directly touching… So you had to do that over and over to earn experience points."
Then what would happen?
"So to safely and stably earn those experience points, you built this stone hut, right?"
I saw Senpai give a small nod.
"My divine rank went up after I made the roof. I still didn"t have my own land, but I could actually have worshipers."
"But," said Senpai with a bitter smile.
"I still couldn"t call you here, Sumeragi-kun. You chose me as your partner, but I couldn"t call you here. Because…"
"Even though you could protect me when I prayed to you, I"d croak the instant I arrived in these extreme conditions, right? I mean, there"s no oxygen and the temperature is super high. I"d die before I could do any praying."
"Yes. So I continued making this place until my rank went up again. Then I finally gained a divine territory, even if it is small."
I knew just how small it was.
…The same area as this stone hut.
This was the same as the mini-shrines found inside a large estate.
The G.o.d enshrined there would protect the home. That was essentially what she had become.
"So then I could call you here and I did so…but then some other stuff happened…"
She smiled.
"I was wondering what you would think when you saw this place. I was afraid you would think it was ugly. I wanted to make it cuter, but I didn"t know how with stone. I kept working at it with that in mind and I was nervous about inviting you inside. So…"
So…
"I was really happy when you complimented me for it."
Because…
"You could tell how hard I worked on it."
She cried.
"Shut up, idiot! Um, well, uhhh!"
This was too much of a surprise. I had made her cry before too, but I was beginning to think she had been putting up with too much stress all on her own.
Did this make her a crybaby G.o.ddess? Oh, but these were happy tears. And in her case, this was a reaction to just how much she had worked on and worried over this.
…Meanwhile, I"m the stress-free type.
If I only I could share this lack of stress with her. But…
"Senpai, um, you might have noticed, but…"
"…Yes?"
She wiped away her tears as she asked that, so I spoke my mind.
"You have and do everything I like or think is nice, so I think you"re going to be crying a lot from now on."
She thought about that for a bit, and…
"Okay."
She finally responded.
"Then you"d better do your best to make me cry a lot more."
I started to promise I would "do my breast", but I managed to stop myself.
Once Senpai stopped crying and smiled at me, I had her serve me a third cup of tea. We decided to return to the 90s in the Divine World once I finished drinking it.
"How in the world does that work?"
"Couldn"t we use that as the real world?"
"They should be back before long."
Shifu heard Raidou"s comment.
They were on an artificial hill west of the school building. It gave them a view of Tachikawa to the east. There was a convenience store on top and the two of them sat on a bench in front of it.
They were on the way back from the bath. Their home and the bathhouse were on opposite sides of the hill.
So on the way back, they had stopped to view the nightscape of Tachikawa and the silent school building.
"This soda is so good!"
"It"s all been so sweet lately, which just felt wrong with the ginger ale, but there are more less sweet options now!"
"So what should we do now? Stop by the supermarket to stock up on meat and then get some sleep?"
"No, let"s visit the arcade. Kido"s hangers-on should be there, so we can tell them what happened today. Also, TJ beat my high score, so I need to get a new one."
"Hmm, we"ve got a lot to do."
"A lot different from our old home."
Once he said that, someone arrived from the direction of the school building.
"Huh? Omokane?"
"Oh, you two. Perfect timing. We"ve had a bit of an emergency, so I"m out looking for witnesses. While I"m at it, I"d like to hear your alibis."
"Huh?" said Shifu while showing her their discount card from the bathhouse.
"So what happened?"
Omokane took a breath before answering. A Revelation Board automatically appeared by her hands to display Scarecrow. After exchanging a few quick messages, she explained.
"Sumeragi-kouhai was. .h.i.t and killed by a dump truck on the road down there."
"Again!?"
Shifu responded without thinking, so she stopped herself from saying more. Omokane quietly nodded.
"He was just starting to become more aware of his situation, so as the current Shinto representative, I wish to investigate what happened and who the culprit is. However…"
"How"s Sumeragi?"
"Based on a witness account - well, someone who heard it - he shouted "visiting the bathhouse with Senpaiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" and then there was a loud crash."
"So this was more Sumeragi-chan giving the dump truck driver a really bad day?"
"That"s the thing. There was no one in the dump truck."
Ohh. Shifu gave a deep nod. This sounds like a pain. But…
"I can already tell Kuwajiri is going to be really mad and go running to Kunigi"s place. Actually, can he even be restarted right away?"
"Oh, Balancer"s scared. They usually don"t use honorifics with us G.o.ds."
"Well, she is the most powerful G.o.d. Heh heh. I would prefer if you all did not cause us too much trouble."
"Hey, don"t blame us for this one."
Shifu"s partner sighed and looked up into the sky.
That was earth"s sky. It was not the same as the real sky outside. Nevertheless, that was the night sky he viewed as he continued.
"Humans die so easily…"
"Yeah. We knew that going in, but it"s hard to get used to."
But anyway.
"I wonder what Sumeragi-chan will be like next time."
…Okay, apparently I died. Or I"m dying, I guess.
What a weird feeling. And come to think of it, I"d died before too.
And that time it had happened in reality.
…But reality wasn"t a game after all!
Then unless that had all been a dream, I had actually died down there. Oh, if I say I died "down there", the quotes make it sound dirty!
My mind was fading. Farewell, reality. Or so I thought, but then I heard some footsteps.
Oh, and I could see the night sky in my fading vision. I knew where this was. It was that road on the school campus. Was Senpai running over? If so…oh, that"s right! Yes, I"ll be able to see her underwear! Nice! That"s definitely how I want to die! But…
"Ehhhhhh!? Wait, wait! What is going on!? Balancer! Get out here right this instant, Balancer! Explain this! Explain this now!! This was not part of the plan!"
The plan? What plan?
"Sumeragi-kun!"
She called out to me.
"Please don"t forget me!"
Okay. I"ll try.