Chapter 218

<Takao Itsuki POV>

[It seems like that matter about the President and Elder Sister has spread to people outside the class . ]

[Just as we planned . ]

I, Takao Itsuki is currently inside Elder Sister Hijiri’s room .

The only people in that room were just me and Elder Sister .

Spending time alone with my beloved sister——-

For me, times like this are valuable and irreplaceable .

As long as I’m with Elder Sister, it doesn’t matter where we are or what kind of place it is .

[However, isn’t it a bit much to kiss her in front of everyone…… I mean, you didn’t just end it with an attempt……]

[I thought it would be a good way to keep the rumors from just ending up as mere “rumors” . ]

[……President ended up being extremely flustered, you know?]

It was just for a bit, but it was a rare moment of remorse for Elder Sister Hijiri .

[Indeed…… I may have done something wrong to Sogou-san . I was grateful for her natural reaction though . ]

[Well, if she’s being too conscious in acting, it’ll look fake…… However, you did tell her beforehand that it was originally just a pretense and that she didn’t really have to do it, right……?]

[I just told her that she could “adjust to my actions as she saw fit”…… It seems like I didn’t say it well enough . ]

Yes .

She really doesn’t need to kiss her .

Elder Sister also seemed to think that Ayaka would refuse for some appropriate reason .

However, Ayaka seemed to have thought that she had to kiss her at that moment……

Putting her hand over her mouth, Hijiri looked like she was thinking about something .

[……Hey, Itsuki . ]

[Hmm?]

[I don’t really care who my first kiss was…… but could it be that it was also Sogou-san’s first time kissing someone?]

[From her reaction——– That might be the case……]

Elder Sister softly sighs .

[If that’s the case, I really have to apologize again . I don’t know if she’ll forgive me for this, but I’ll properly apologize later . I know it was an accident, but it was an accident brought on by my lack of explanation . I will take full responsibility for this . ]

[Hmmm, from what I see though…… It looked like President panicked earlier and did it on the spur of the moment……]

[I’m the reason why she “panicked”, so it’s my fault . Especially in this matter…… Well, I didn’t expect that she would panic that much……]

I’m also taking care of Elder Sister even in strange things like this .

[Even so, Elder Sister is really good at manipulating people’s thoughts, aren’t you?]

[I guess I have good prospects in being a future swindler . ]

[……I can seriously imagine Elder Sister making it big working as one, so please don’t joke about it like that . ]

Saying that, I leaned my body on the chair behind me .

Wobbling on my chair, I look up at the ceiling .

[However, the President can be kind of cute too huh…… It looks like the Goddess hates just seeing her though . I seriously hate that goddess . ]

[She’s the type of person that’s obsessed with the past . If someone does something to upset her, she’ll hold on to it for dear life . ]

[Ughuee…… I seriously can’t stand people like that . If I think someone is remorseful about what they did, you should just let bygones be bygones . ]

[——-Well, I don’t think that’s the only thing she was aiming for . ]

[What do you mean? Does that mean that her attitude isn’t just because she doesn’t like President?]

[She must be thinking that it would be easier to manipulate her if she broke her mind . ]

[R- Really? Ughuee…… . ]

[She may have turned some of the Heroes into puppets using this method . It’s really easy to mind-control someone when they’re exhausted both physically and mentally after all . ]

[Mental destruction and brainwashing…… Is she seriously a God……]

Elder Sister calmly lays down her long eyelashes .

[In fact, I’m more surprised by Sogou-san’s resilience . She…… have a much stronger heart than I imagined . Back in our previous world, I didn’t think that she was this strong . At first, I was even planning to give her a helping hand when the opportunity arose . ]

It feels like Elder Sister can see through everything .

However, it seems that there is one aspect that even Elder Sister can’t see through .

There might also surprisingly be another side of our classmates that are different from what she had imagined .

[I was rather surprised at how strong she is in battle . How should I say this, it’s as if the President’s strength was on a different level……? In President’s case, I don’t know if it’s because she’s an S-Rank Hero…… but somehow, it feels like being on a different level is also unrelated……]

[Her presence may one day be the “key” to this battle . ]

Gently placing a finger on her thin lips, a lax smile appeared on Elder Sister’s lips .

[If…… I could make her fall for my seductive techniques, should I really try to make her fall for me now?]

Feeling fascinated from looking at the expression on Elder Sister’s face, I can’t help but gulp .

(——–Elder Sister’s seductive techniques……)

I can’t imagine it at all .

I know that Elder Sister was just joking when she said that .

However, I also feel like she wanted to see it for real .

[……………… . ]

Thinking so to myself, I lightly patted my lower lip with my little finger twice .

Thereupon, Elder Sister also rubbed her own lower lip just like I did .

This is one of the cues we decided on together .

On cue, Elder Sister used her unique skill < Wind > .

This inherent skill has more uses than one might think .

One of such usage is Presence Detection .

It makes it so Elder Sister could sense the presence of people from the faintest flicker of the wind .

The area of effect is also quite wide .

This lets us know if someone is trying to eavesdrop in front of the room .

The signal I gave earlier was to confirm whether or not there was someone eavesdropping .

If I wanted to confirm that information, I would rub my lower lip twice .

After that…

If Elder Sister rubs her upper lip, it means someone is eavesdropping .

On the other hand, if she rubs her lower lip, it means no one is eavesdropping .

Just now——– Elder Sister rubbed her lower lip .

In other words, no one was eavesdropping .

So, there was no need to fake our conversation right now .

The two of us had already done this several times .

Even so, I lowered my voice just in case and asked .

[E- Elder Sister…… What happened with what we talked about before?]

[I think I would need to have a one-on-one talk with the Goddess first . After that, we can make our next move . ]

[You’re going to talk with the Goddess?]

[There’s something I need to find out just to be sure . ]

[……Alright . I don’t have to do anything yet, right?]

[Yes . For the time being, you could just move like usual . ]

[Okay . ]

I hate the Goddess .

At the same time, I felt some strange sense of incomprehensibility from her .

To be honest, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t afraid of her at all .

However, Elder Sister’s presence pushes away all the negative feelings I have .

I’m just dependent on my Elder Sister, not having any initiative at all .

Or that I was seriously a siscon who can’t even express her frustration at her sister’s excellence .

Some people say that about me, who is so attached to my sister .

They can say whatever they want—— It’s a fact that I’m attached to my sister after all .

Sitting properly again, I turned towards my sister again .

Then, I leaned forward a bit and said .

[No matter what happens, I will follow Elder Sister . ]

Thinking that my mindset today is no different from the past, I continued .

[Even if it means making an enemy of that Goddess . ]

[Thanks . I’m glad to have a great sister . ]

[……Hehe . ]

Sogou Ayaka .

She may indeed have strength of another level .

However——– From my point of view, my elder sister, Takao Hijiri, is also someone on another level .

Sogou Ayaka’s combat abilities .

Takao Hijiri’s intellect .

I wonder .

If these two really teamed up——–

I feel like anything is possible .

Speaking of Elder Sister——- She was still silently contemplating something .

A few moments later, she spoke .

[Hey, Itsuki . ]

[Hmm?]

[What do you think Gods are?]

[Ehh?]

[I wonder how much do the people of this world know about the Goddess and the Gods?]

[Hmmm…… . I hadn’t really thought about it……]

[Even if we scoured the books in the closed stacks, there’s nothing in there about the Gods . I’ve asked around the people of this country, but so far, I haven’t found anyone who knows much about the Gods themselves . ]

[Now that you mention it——– To begin with, what is the Goddess?]

There’s something different about that Goddess from the “God” that I know .

At a glance, it can be seen that she has a body just like a human’s and when we talk with her……

She’s different from the image of “God” that I have in mind .

[Perhaps, it might have just been something we preconceived . ]

[Eh?]

[We may have preconceived that there’s only one God . ]

[……Eh? Does that mean…… there might be other Gods out there?]

[At this point, it’s just a possibility . It’s just that……]

With her posture still neat compared to mine who’s always shifting about, Hijiri continued .

[It’s just that there’s so little that’s written about the Gods that it’s making me curious about it instead . ]

[Errr, in short…… The Goddess may have burned and disposed of all the books about the Gods?]

[I can’t say that isn’t possible . Now then, if that were the case…… What possibilities do you think that suggests?]

I thought about it for a bit .

[Hmmm, does that mean…… the Goddess considers the other Gods as hindrances…… . ?]

[Unnn . That’s a very likely possibility . ]

[……However, Elder Sister . If there are other Gods out there, aren’t you wondering what they’re doing now? That Goddess is seriously doing whatever she wants here after all . ]

[It’s possible that ————-, though I’m not entirely sure . ]

(T/N: It’s blank in raws . )

[Eh?]

From my perspective, the current situation seemed to be just what the Goddess wanted .

However, it seems like that isn’t how Hijiri sees it .

[Do you ever find anything odd about the Goddess and this world?]

[……………… . ]

[……………… . ]

[……I- I don’t know . ]

For example, schoolwork is something easy for me .

You just do some preparations and reviews .

As long as you do that, you can easily get a high score on the exams .

I’m not as good as Elder Sister, but I still rank high in our class .

However, I’m not very good at thinking about questions like this compared to Elder Sister Hijiri .

This isn’t something I can just answer with preparations and reviews .

What Elder Sister sees is something I could not .

At times like this, I feel trapped in conflicting emotions .

I feel frustrated at not being able to see the same “scenery” that Elder Sister do .

But at the same time, it makes me feel respect for Elder Sister .

My sister who sees what I could not——— My sister who could see it .

[The Goddess has lived for hundreds of years in this world . ]

[Unnn, she’s a really old hag . ]

[……Anyway . ]

I sullenly apologized .

[I’m sorry . ]

[……Well, that’s one of Itsuki’s charms . ]

At times like this, Hijiri isn’t angry .

Thinking that Elder Sister is going to start explaining, I straightened my posture and tried to look serious .

Elder Sister continues .

[There certainly are other long-lived races, but they seem to have disappeared from the public eye . And then, there’s the Witch of Taboos . ]

[That means that only the Goddess has lived a uselessly long life under the public eye huh . ]

[Yes, that’s as far as I can see . ]

[However…… What’s so “strange” about that?]

[The continent is still divided into several countries and is not unified yet . ]

[Hmmm? And…… What does that mean?]

[Listen here, okay? First of all, the Goddess has powerful pawns: The Heroes from Another World . We know from past records that there are Heroes who have remained in this world after defeating their era’s Root of All Evil . In other words, the Goddess could have used their power to invade other countries . ]

[——–Ah . ]

I see .

That’s right .

Her unusual longevity is an advantage .

Even if there’s an excellent human king out there, they will still eventually die from old age .

Yes——- They’d die before the Goddess do .

In addition, the Heroes from Another World become terrifyingly strong through level ups .

Having pawns like that who are powerful enough to defeat the Root of All Evil……

Wouldn’t it be easy for her to conquer other countries?

[Even if we were cut off from the current situation in this world, it would still feel strange . ]

Elder Sister continued .

[If they are going to work together as one to confront the Root of All Evil, the very idea of a “Holy Alliance” itself is absurd . ]

[Indeed…… Rather than forming a coalition, it would be better if they just become a single country from the start . If the Goddess herself has great power, and the Heroes of the Other World who have become strong in this world also listen to her, then it would be better to just have a single country…… If she wanted to, she could even easily conquer this continent……]

[However, that’s not what happened . ]

[That means……?]

[I can only assume that there is “some reason why it can’t be done” . ]

[A reason why it can’t be done…… Eh? Elder Sister, do you have any idea what that might be?]

[This is just a guess but…… I think Gods have a fixed limit as to how much they could interfere . ]

I listened to what Elder Sister was saying in silence .

She continued .

[For instance…… There might be a system out there that monitors and evaluates her…… Depending on the matter involved, like if the God themselves use their divine power, it could be considered as “interfering too much” and might result as a large minus point for her . However…… if she were to make someone do that other than herself, she won’t lose that much, or something like that . ]

Elder Sister lays down her well-groomed eyelashes .

And as if she was talking to herself, Elder Sister Hijiri mutters the thought to herself .

[Yes…… The Goddess herself can move quite freely, if it serves the purpose of defeating the Root of All Evil…… As for the other things, if she overdo it, she will be caught by this system . Over-interference in the way this world’s nations are organized could also be a problem for that system…… I wonder if that’s why the Goddess took a long time to determine “the line where she can safely move”? The result is the current state of this world……]

In other words…

[Does that mean…… the Goddess surprisingly couldn’t do whatever she wants?]

When I asked her so, Elder Sister showed agreement with her eyes .

[Also—— I think the Goddess probably doesn’t want the other Gods to interfere . If the trigger that causes the interference of other Gods is something like that monitoring and evaluation system……]

With eyes filled with cleverness, Elder Sister Hijiri looked into the void .

[That could possibly be the Goddess’ “weakness” . ]

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