Chapter 22.2

Sahoko is master of home cooking while Kaya can make georgeous meals that you could only set your gaze upon in parties.

Though I’m unable to match their skills, I can cook to a certain extent.

Rino, Nao, and Kyouka have zero disposition for cooking.

Shirone is somehow uninterested in cooking. Naturally, I won’t tell them that.

I remember she distributed salty cookies some time ago.

Though she brought it for Reiji, even Reiji couldn’t eat that. That’s just natural since he normally eats Sahoko’s cooking.

It couldn’t be helped, but I heard Shirone gave her cookies to her childhood friend, and I also heard that he ate her dishes with delight.

Was his stomach alright?

Though I’m yet to meet her childhood friend, I heard from Rino that he’s quite handsome himself.

Moreover, it seems that Shirone’s childhood friend had a crush on her. But then, I feel bad for him since the one that Shirone loves might be Reiji.

I wonder where Reiji is right now.

「As for our hero of light, I don’t know what he’s doing right now」

Though a separate bathroom for Reiji was also prepared, it seems he isn’t using it right now.

「Well, it seems he isn’t peeping on us either」

I set a powerful barrier magic to prevent a peeping tom.

Even that Reiji won’t be able to bypass that barrier without being noticed by us.

The problem is the fact that this barrier can’t detect anything outside its range. So, I won’t know anything even if some sort of problem happened. It’s good as long as Reiji isn’t doing anything abnormal.

Now that I think about it, I don’t even know what Diehart or Rena is doing right now.

By the way, where the heck are those two people in question, right now?

I continue immersing myself in water till my shoulders while pondering about such things.

At noon, stalls are lined up next to each other in the main street and so many people are walking around.

Looking at these row of stalls made me reminisce about festivals in Japan.

Though I didn’t attend the festival in recent years, I was always going around with Shirone back in our childhood days.

It’s meaningless to go to a festival without Shirone.

Yup, it’s a man’s romance to go to a festival with a cute girl.

That’s why this situation should be an extremely delightful situation.

There’s a woman walking by my side. This woman can’t be identified due to the deep hood she wearing.

But, I know that she’s beautiful even just with the lower half of her face.

Goddess Rena.

The one who summoned Shirone.

This is the second time I’m meeting her. I wonder why she’s in this place.

Moreover, is she trying to do something to Shirone?

I believe that she has nothing to do with Shirone anymore.

But, I’ve been asked to escort the hero. I’ve been also tasked to search for any person who might be hostile toward the hero.

To be honest, I wasn’t that serious when I received this request. Reiji is powerful to the extent that nothing can threaten them.

On second thoughts, the task of escorting them should be left to the temple knights.

That’s why I’m extremely surprised when I caught a sight of her from the top of the rampart. Though she wore her hood, I knew that she was Rena.

I can’t just let her go after I caught a sight of her.

Because, she is the most dangerous existence for the hero and his party.

Thus, I appeared before her.

But now, I’m stuck and don’t know what should I do after this.

By the way, I want to find her intention for appearing in this kind of place. Naturally, I’ll flee if she’s going to call Reiji.

「You’re surprisingly a coercive person, aren’t you?」

Rena is blaming me a while after we started walking together.

Her comment made me recall our exchange a while ago.

She said that she was sightseeing the festival when I asked her about the reason for her appearance. Naturally, it’s an outright lie. Thus, I forced her to sightsee with me if she really came for sightseeing the festival.

I have no choice but to absolutely force her to go with me as long as she doesn’t tell me about her real purpose. Eh………. Aren’t I just wooing a lady in the middle of an open street?

「I’m not, it’s because I can’t just leave you alone….」

It’s definitely not a lie.

「Hhm, I see」

Rena raises her hood a bit with her hand as if to appraise my intentions.

Her beautiful eyes are staring into mine.

My heart beat is rising just because of that.

「Fine then, I’ll let you to become my escort」

Rena began to walk. I’m following by her side.

I’m sightseeing the festival along with a beautiful girl.

Isn’t this what you call as a date?

「There are so many humans walking around」

Rena said after walking for a while.

「It’s festival after all…. That’s why there are so many people. Please bear with it since everyone has come to enjoy the festival….」

I reply as such to Rena.

「I see」

Rena is a goddess, so she might not have that much patience.

So, I ended up becoming a living shield to prevent others from bumping against Rena.

「Oops」

I pull Rena toward myself. Rena’s back hit my chest.

Though I tried to shield her as much as I could, it can’t be helped since there’s too many people walking so close to each other on the street.

「HEY! !」

Rena shouted angrily.

「Sorry, Rena」

I apologized to Rena.

「No man has ever touch me like that, though」

Rena is implying the gravity of the matter by saying those lines to me.

「Ah, my apologies, Rena. But, you shouldn’t erase those people with your power」

Since there’s so many people, we have no choice but to come to a mutual understanding.

「Well, it’s okay, please release me for now」

Thus, I separate myself from Rena.

「Right. So, I can erase those who aren’t a hindrance, right?」

Rena told me that while pointing at the street stalls.

「No, those things are necessary for a festival….」

In fact, I can’t buy the goods of the street vendor, since it’s expensive. But then, a festival without street vendors is just too lonely.

「Uhn」

Rena replied with a bored expression.

Thus, I continue walking together with this girl who already in a bad mood.

If this was a real date, I might get heartbroken by such a sight.

In the first place, street vendors exist just for the sake of the festival, right?

Though she said that she came for sightseeing the festival, now I know that it isn’t the case. As I thought, sightseeing the festival is just a big fat lie.

Rena suddenly stopped walking.

「What is that?」

When I’m looking at the direction where she is looking at.

There was a flag with Sasaki Rino’s picture pasted on it.

I’m a little surprised by that. To be honest, it’s not something that can be seen by a woman.

「That is… Rino」

I stopped walking a while after Rena.

There are less buyers compared to a while ago.

Rena is peeking at the street vendor beside the flag.

When I try to look at the vendor along with her, I see them selling pictures of Shirone.

It’s the picture of Shirone in today’s costume. What an extremely dangerous picture.

Good job. Though I want to gaze at it for a while longer, I hold myself back in front of Rena.

「Diehart. Are they the worshippers of Rino?」

Rena’s tone is a bit too heavy.

「They’re… In a certain way」

To be honest, even I’m confused how to describe them.

Should I call them chasers of idol?

「And yet, she’s not even a divine being…」

Rena’s attitude was beyond my expectation. Maybe it’s not a trivial matter for a goddess like Rena to see them worshipping someone who isn’t a divine being.

「You also want those pictures right?」

Rena said while pointing to one of the pictures.

The one she pointed at was the picture of Shirone. And for some reason, her voice is filled with killing intent.

To be honest, I want to buy it.

But there’s no way I’ll say ‘Yes I do’ in front of another girl. So, I can only say that in my heart.

I steel my resolve and turn my eyes to not look at that picture. I face Rena who’s standing before me.

This is something that I don’t want her to hear. Though it’s just a false impression acting as her escort, doing something like talking about another woman is wrong.

「No, you’re here with me after all」

I told her so while looking at Rena. Thus, I choose to act indifferent toward the other girls.

「Eh?!」

Rena let out a surprised voice on hearing my words.

Rena raised her hood a bit and took a closer look at my face.

My face is reflected in her eyes. Please don’t look at me with those kind of eyes.

You’re an extremely beautiful woman after all. My head feels like it’s boiling when being stared at like that.

Rena pondered for a while. And then, she nodded as if she noticed something.

「That’s right, that’s only natural, after all. I’m more beautiful than them」

Rena is smiling.

「That’s why, those are just fake goods」

Yeah, yeah, I can only nod at her words. I don’t know what she meant, though.

「Let’s go then, Diehart」

We resumed our touring. Thanks god, she’s a god though.

Even though she seems to have been in a bad mood just sometime ago.

「Ah, come to think of it」

She suddenly stopped and turned around to face me.

「This should be the same posture as that picture, right? 」

「Na!?」

WHY DID Y–! ! !

I’m screaming in my mind. It was the loudest scream in my entire life.

I mean, Rena is taking that posture. Rena breasts are so big to the point that I can see them despite her cloak.

When asked so, I wonder who would have the best posture.

Shirone? Or the royal sister of Reiji? Wrong!! It is the white bunny costume that was worn by Yoshino Saho-….

My thoughts were interrupted at that point.