I couldn"t really see the night sky.
…Hm?
Based on what I remembered from last time, I had been sitting down and looking up at the night sky.
But things were different now.
I was lying down. There was a soft pillow-like sensation below my head.
And I saw two objects above me that were round from the center on down and out to the left and right.
This had to be what it felt like to look up at some giant b.o.o.bs and shout "They"re so biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig!!"
"They"re so biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig!"
Seriously.
This was the perfect angle for looking up at some giant b.o.o.bs.
If anyone saw a drawing of this, they"d say it looked fake, but when you saw it photographed, it was exactly the same.
While stunned by their great size, I quickly took over a hundred mental snapshots until I heard a confused voice.
"Eh!? Eh!?"
Oh, no. They"d noticed. But how? Regardless, I had to hurry up with the snapshots.
These were the real deal. A pair of giant b.o.o.bs was right there. Wow.
G.o.d, looks like you weren"t kidding when you said "ask and it shall be given unto you". But am I really worthy? Am I? Am I really!? On second thought, I don"t care!
…Actually, what"s going on here!?
I was most likely receiving a lap pillow attack from some busty person. Oh, no. This attack was super effective against a certain part of people with certain interests. And super effective it was. Ohh, this was not good at all. Not even a bit.
"Um, uh, did you wake up?"
"No, I"m asleep! Fast asleep! Leave me like this!"
"You are awake, aren"t you!? Aren"t you!?"
Just as the person asked for confirmation, she also moved to confirm it.
She leaned down to peer at me and I think we all know what that means: those giant things dropped down toward me.
…Ohh…
I was being crushed, sandwiched, squished, squashed, and smushified.
This was it. I was accepting my death already. I mean, suffocating like this would be way better than dying of old age. No growing old for me! And with a cause of death like "suffocated below some giant b.o.o.bs", everyone would be so jealous when they saw my gravestone.
"Um."
Then the pressure left and someone grabbed my head from either side.
It was all over. I felt like my life was over. That was how great a loss it was. Everything felt so empty now… It was as much a shock as being handed the exact birthday present you wanted and then being told it was for someone else.
But my boring life was not over yet. I was lifted up and turned around.
"Um, uh."
I now saw who was speaking to me.
It was the uppercla.s.sman next door.
I hadn"t expected someone I knew.
Oh, c.r.a.p.
I really hadn"t expected this. How was I supposed to look her in the eye tomorrow?
Calm down, me.
I might have made a scene and trembled a little too much while she squished me, but that didn"t mean I had lost all social standing.
No, that sounds hopeless actually.
So let"s aim lower. My first priority should probably be making sure she doesn"t call the cops.
I noticed she was blushing and refusing to look me in the eye, so I looked at her and…
"Nice…"
"Eh?"
"Um, nothing! Never mind!"
I decided to keep talking to avoid an awkward silence. I started with the first thing that popped into my mind.
"Your body temperature"s a little high!"
"Eh?"
I slapped myself on the cheek.
…Calm down!
This was not the time to talk about how it had felt. I needed to calm down. So for now…
"Senpai…I can call you that, right?"
"Oh, yes. That would be best."
…Wow, that"s super formal and distant…
But it was far better than being sent straight to the police. Nothing wrong with a formal distance!
So to further take the conversation away from me shouting "They"re so biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig!!", I said something else.
"Um, Senpai?"
"Yes, what is it?"
I had a question.
"Why are you here?"
I was sure I"d screwed up.
If you think of that as one of the dialogue options, then it was the #2 option. Not the super bad one, but the bad one that still leaves an opportunity to reach the true ending. The brief look on her face made that pretty obvious.
Then she spoke.
"Um."
She thought for a moment.
"Advanced players are supposed to help out new players."
That made sense to me. I felt like it connected back to everything else I had heard during the day.
"A lot of people told me I had already chosen a G.o.d as a partner."
"Yes, that"s what this means."
Umm.
…But I don"t know who she is.
How did the system work in this case? I could only think of one option.
"What does this mean?"
"Eh?"
"I"m just guessing here, but I was just clicking on all sorts of stuff when I started the game, so I think I might have accidentally gotten you involved like that."
That was all I could imagine.
"There was probably a popup asking if I wanted help from a more advanced player and I clicked on it without really reading it and that"s how I ended choosing you to help me out."
"Hmm…"
She tilted her head a little. Oh, her b.o.o.bs stay a lot more horizontal than I expected. No, wait, now they"re bending! Excellent… This is it! This is exactly what I wanted!
She definitely noticed me staring, so I looked away and pretended I had been in the middle of viewing my surroundings.
"Um."
"Yes?"
She responded without criticizing me, so she had to be a bodhisattva or something.
But there was one thing I was curious about. It connected back to what the Library Committee Head had said.
"Do you play a G.o.d character too?"
She thought about his question.
…How should I explain this?
But she did not need to lie or hide the truth. And since they would likely be working together for a long while…
…Wow…
She was reminded just how incredible a thing they were starting here. However…
"That is true, yes. That"s the standard for our generation."
"Oh."
That must have solved a mystery for him because he nodded several times.
"I had thought it was weird that everyone I met happened to play a G.o.d character, but I get it now."
"You do?"
"The human character option was a recent addition to the system, right?"
"Oh."
Now it was her turn to understand. That interpretation was not exactly wrong, so…
"That"s right. Yes. Sorry for not explaining properly."
"No, it"s my fault for starting the game before learning about it."
…Yes.
That was true, but saying it would not accomplish anything. So…
"Let"s do our best working together, okay?"
"Oh, but…"
He seemed to have a question. She paused so he could ask it and ask it he did.
"According to the Library Committee Head, the G.o.d I chose as my partner is the most powerful one. So are you the most powerful one?"
I saw Senpai raise her right hand.
She looked away from me and one of those things appeared by her empty hand.
And by one of those things, I mean one of those multi-window things.
Omokane saw a Revelation Board appear next to her.
She had just opened the menu at a family restaurant on campus. Scarecrow and an undercla.s.sman girl sat across from her. The undercla.s.sman in a black shirt tilted her head, but Scarecrow spoke up.
"Omokane-san, you have a divine call."
"Yes, I know. It seems to be from his partner."
She could make a good guess what it was about, so she decided to answer.
"What is this about? Ha ha ha."
"Y-you"re laughing, aren"t you!? And Omokane-san! Why would you call me the most powerful!? Unlike the rest of you, I"m an outsider and my level is super low!"
"Send that energy his way. And you"re only so low level because of your shut-in tendencies. Level up and gain the strength you"re supposed to have."
"You know it isn"t that easy…"
"Whatever you say, I am praying for your happiness. Let"s hope it works out this time."
I saw Senpai shatter the glowing window with a flick.
She sighed, but she managed to calm down before turning back my way.
"Just so you know…"
"Oh, yes. What is it?"
"I am not the most powerful or anything like that. And even if I am one of the Shinto G.o.d characters, I"m an outsider."
"An outsider?"
She had to think for a moment when I asked that.
…Oh, whoops.
That term had a bit of a negative sound to it, so maybe it was cruel to make her explain it. If I lost too many points with her, the police option became a very real possibility once more. So…
"Oh, you don"t have to explain if you don"t want to. I know you"re nothing like that."
I tried that, but…
"Hmm…"
We seemed to be looking at this differently. And…
"You know how there are a bunch of different G.o.ds in the legends?"
"Well…"
I felt bad, but I really didn"t. Maybe I needed to go to the library tomorrow. But she continued while lowering her shoulders a little.
"There are the main G.o.ds that cause all sorts of trouble, but there are also G.o.ds who have no name and are talked about like background characters."
"And you"re one of those?"
"No, I do have a name, but you could say that"s all I have…"
Oh, I understood now.
It was a game.
There was always a clear division between the people who were good at it and the people who weren"t. The same went for people who understood the trick to winning and the people who didn"t.
If you were good, you would get stronger. If you were not good, you did not get weaker, but you did take longer to get stronger.
However…
…What if how good you were at the game determined what cla.s.s of G.o.d you got?
Raidou-senpai and the others were probably the kind of G.o.d you got to be if you played the game obsessively.
But what about the players who didn"t?
I decided to a.s.sume the answer sat right in front of me. In other words…
"Senpai, did you get a G.o.d like that…or inherit their name, I guess you could say?"
"I"ve heard there isn"t much difference in the base specs, though."
"In that case."
I asked a question.
"Could I ask what your name is?"
"Eh? Oh…no, you can"t."
She hesitated a fair bit, but that was her answer.
Oh, I messed up.
And this time, it was a subconscious mistake.
I hadn"t actually decided whether I wanted to ask her real name or the name of the G.o.d she played.
I had just wanted to confirm who she was.
That was probably why she had said no. And even if that wasn"t why…
"In Shinto, a name represents the very essence of a being…so I think I would have an easier time telling you when we"re both stronger."
"You mean…?"
"Even a G.o.d like me has powers. And those powers can be borrowed or stolen through my name. If I told you now and someone overheard, it could hinder us both later on. So if I am to reveal my name, I want it to be after we"re strong enough to prevent someone from stealing my powers even if they overhear."
That was really simple. And in that case…
"Then I"ll just call you Senpai."
"Yes, that"s for the best."
I was okay with that, but I still had a question.
"But in that case, why did the Library Committee Head call you the most powerful?"
"Yes…that"s a good question…"
She was annoyed with Omokane-san yet again, but then she realized he was looking at her.
He was staring at her chest. And…
"The most powerful…"
"Eh?"
When she said that, he gasped and looked her in the eye.
"Um, I think I kind of understand how you"re the most powerful."
"But, um, well."
"No, no! You don"t have to say anything! I get that it"s hard to say those things yourself! But nothing is more worthy of my worship, so don"t worry! Let"s just leave it at that!"
They left it at that.
But even if he was okay with this, something about it bothered her.
"Hey, Sumeragi-kun?"
She knew it was not fair, but she still asked.
"It"s a little late now, but are you sure you want me as a partner?"
What a silly question.
Of course I wanted her! She was the busty girl next door! And even after what happened, she hadn"t called the cops! That was unthinkable! So I couldn"t even think of choosing anyone else!
But if I said all that out loud, I was pretty sure she would call the cops after all.
Also, I was fairly certain she wasn"t asking about that. No, not just fairly certain! Absolutely certain! Don"t a.s.sume everyone in the world is the same as me. Nicely said, me. Okay, who"s next!?
"Um, what do you mean, Senpai?"
"Well, you see."
She asked a question.
"You have only just started, so I think you can still ask for someone else. So…"
So…
"Are you sure you want a low-level partner with an outsider name?"
Oh, so that was it.
I realized that Senpai didn"t understand one important fact. She was of worthy of my worship, but aside from that…
"You came to me and that too was a choice."
She would be using up her resources helping out a stupid undercla.s.sman who didn"t know how to play the game.
"But you still decided to come to me and that makes you the best G.o.d for me."
How else could I view it? If she had come to me knowing what it meant, then we had to respect each other"s decisions. That was what it meant to be equals with a common goal. I could trust in that no matter what happened.
But if I chose someone else while focused only on their powers, I would be submitting to those powers. When they wielded their powers, I would be forced to accept it.
Senpai was not that strong. She had said so herself. But she had also said something else.
"When we"re both stronger. That can be our "agreement"."
All of a sudden, she started crying.
…Waaaaaaait!!
I didn"t understand. What was this? Was she under a bunch of caste pressure from being weak and an outsider, so my words of liberation happened to stir up her emotions!? Was that it!?
But making a good-looking and busty neighbor cry was a first for me. It felt a lot like having an opponent use my discard tile to complete a yak.u.man with 8 dora tiles.
"U-u-u-u-um-um-um-um, S-S-Senpaiii?"
My voice cracked toward the end, but she only shook her head with her hands over her face.
…Thanks to basic human anatomy, her elbows are repeatedly squeezing and releasing her b.o.o.bs…
No. Nooo. This was not worshipping time. My brain"s mult.i.tasking had to make concern the main task. Snapshots had to be a subtask! Bad brain.
And while I tried to figure out how to calm her, I heard something from far behind me.
"He made her cryyyyy!!"
I recognized the voice.
"Kh!?"
I struck a pose and turned around, but there was no one there. Dammit, was that group spying on us!? What kind of awful person made a habit of peeping? It didn"t count when I did it!
"Shifu-senpai! You can"t react so loudly!"
"Yeah, but I really didn"t expect him to make her cry like that."
"Honestly, I"m glad she didn"t just blab her name all of a sudden. Y"know, since I have a skill in place that pa.s.sively picks up an opponent"s name so I can avoid surprise attacks."
"Can"t let your guard down for a second with them, huh?"
Once I sighed, Senpai stopped crying. Or rather, she started laugh-crying instead of cry-crying.
"They probably came to watch because they were worried. …Still, I"m glad I didn"t say my name."
"Yeah."
She was really cautious about that. The Library Committee Head had said the people in the Shinto group were my "ultimate allies", but Senpai was still cautious with me.
I felt like I could trust her, so…
"Senpai."
I held out my hand while she sat there.
"Let"s go do this together."
She answered by grabbing my hand.
"Yes, let"s."
Then I realized something.
…This is the first time a girl has held my hand…
d.a.m.n. I wasn"t gonna wash that hand again no matter how much it started to smell. I swore to myself I wouldn"t. However…
All of a sudden, several windows appeared around Senpai and then shattered like blossoming flowers.
…W-wahh!"
She panicked because she was worried her name was displayed somewhere. However…
…I-I"m fine!
It said "7th + 3rd" in the name field, but that was okay. That could fit a lot of G.o.ds.
Her rank had just increased. She had a low level, but it was kind of amazing for her rank to go up. Even if it had only happened because they had promised to maintain their connection.
That was a lot like leveling up through an event, but…
"Incredible…"
"Eh? What is?"
She was a little bothered by how he was not letting go of her hand, but that aside, she had to explain what just happened.
"Sumeragi-kun, my "rank" as a G.o.d went up because we established a connection between us."
He tilted his head and stopped moving, so she realized she needed to explain further.
"Umm."
Where was she supposed to start? But before she could find an answer…
A Revelation Board appeared displaying a simple face drawn with straight lines.
…Oh.
Balancer had finally appeared. She was honestly a little annoyed with that, but…
"This is the management."
"What"s this about?"
He sounded confused, but she decided it might be best to leave this to Balancer.
"I"m sure there"s still a lot you don"t understand, but we will explain all of that."
"Oh, so it"s exposition time."
Exactly.