CH 31

“!?”

Kanata turned around involuntarily.

Partly because he heard a popping sound, like a balloon bursting, and partly because his brain had a cruel imagination that said, “No way.”

“… Huh.”

However, contrary to Kanata’s expectations, they were alive and well.

There was nothing strange about them, and except for how time had stopped, they retained the form of a human being, no different from Kanata.

“Oh dear, did you think maybe I killed them?”

“… No.”

“I’m so offended,” she giggled as she called herself a goddess.

Kanata wondered if it was wrong of him to have doubted her even for a moment, but it was natural for him to think of the unexpected if he got told that she would erase them for him.

Although these noble students were not Kanata’s friends but enemies, he never considered taking their lives, even as a joke.

“Don’t worry. Even if I erase them, I can just create new ones.”

“… Ha?”

And the Goddess continued talking in front of Kanata, who was dumbfounded.

“Existence can be created and can be erased at my will. Even if the world gets destroyed, I can re-create a new one.”

“…”

“It’s a hassle to build it again, but it’ll be just fine after that.”

Goddess… No, Kanata doubted if she really was a goddess.

According to lore in the Kingdom, the Goddess is a benevolent woman. The church which Alphana belongs to is dedicated to her.

A deity is supposed to be comforting to one’s heart and soul, a sacred figure.

“… I.”

“What is it?”

As she whispered sweetly, Kanata looked firmly ahead.

It didn’t matter who she was; he couldn’t agree with her.

“I disagree. You are certainly something other than a human being… and you are certainly a terrifying existence if you can stop time in this way. But that doesn’t mean you can just recreate it, you see?”

“… Heh?”

She laughed, amused.

She looked straight into his eyes, waiting for the next words to follow.

While sensing the slightly dangerous passion in his eyes, Kanata spun his words firmly.

“There are plenty of people who don’t like me either or think I’m a bit of a jerk. However, not being liked by everyone is also a way of life, and how you deal with it is a way of life. At least, I don’t think I should get rid of these guys just because I don’t like them.”

“No doubt. You tried to face them in your own way.”

“Well, nine out of ten, it’s going to be more than an argument,” Kanata chuckled.

“… though those around you are quite radical.”

“Eh?”

“It’s nothing. I understand now… you are that kind of person.”

Her slightly terrifying demeanour was gone, and she approached Kanata with a gentle smile.

What’s she doing? Before Kanata could speak up, he got hugged, and his face buried in the Haishin-sama T-shirt covering her ample bosom.

“Don’t worry. What I just said was just a metaphor to see how you would react. I wanted to see what kind of person you are, a man of unlimited magic power.”

“… You really are the goddess?”

“Yes. I am~?”

Kanata nodded confidently, “Indeed, this supreme feeling on my face is the power of the Goddess.”

“… But why is the goddess in this outfit?”

“Oh, well, it’s only natural since I made it. I also decorated my statue as an oracle to those in the church who worship me.”

“What were you doing…”

Apparently, it was the Goddess who put that shirt on her statue.

During his time as Haishin, he has seen a lot of crazy people and has made some crazy acquaintances like Mira, but… it seems that this Goddess is even worse than that.

“As a goddess watching over the world, I really enjoy your work. I’ve been watching you from the very beginning, so I am the very first fan, you see?”

“… Seriously?”

“Yeah. I also remember you weren’t quite passionate back then, and once you even left your listeners alone and went to the restroom.”

“…”

He started calling himself Haishin because he wanted to stream, but, of course, in the beginning, there were not many listeners, and if you asked Kanata back then if he was that motivated, he actually wasn’t.

He thought this was about as good as it got and even went to the restroom during the stream, but apparently, she has known Haishin since really quite early on.

“And… What about this place?”

“What’s done is done because I, as a goddess, am like this.”

“That’s not something you say with confidence!”

Saying that, he lightly tapped the Goddess on her shoulder with his knuckles.

Although he was not that strong, Kanata was nervous, wondering if it was rude to a goddess, no matter how crazy she was.

“S-sorry!”

“That’s the first time I’ve been able to make a tsukkomi like that.”

He was kind of impressed.

But then again, Kanata turned her attention to the Goddess.

Aside from the fact that it looks infinitely more sacred as an atmosphere, the Haishin-sama shirt was the only foreign object.

He was irritated by the man in black and the mask, questioning why he looked so haughty, but Kanata exhaled a sigh, “Oh, this is me.”

“Perhaps, you want this?”

“I don’t.”

He spat out that I didn’t need it because it was his own dark historical figure.

However, as far as Kanata knew, this shirt would get mass-produced to reach the people of the Kingdom and, ultimately, to the listeners in other countries. Kanata clutched his chest, thinking that the price of fame was too great to pay for it.

“Kanata.”

“Uh, yes.”

He looked at her again as she called his name.

“I can’t get in touch with you much, but I’ll be keeping an eye on the world and looking forward to your streaming!”

“It’s a strange pressure when even the Goddess is listening…”

“Don’t worry about me being a goddess or anything. I’m just a listener… and you see, I’m not the only one who’s watching over you, either.”

Kanata nodded and said, “She’s indeed a goddess.”

“Right now, I’m in the process of spreading the word about you to my peers. I’m sure there will be more and more fans of yours!”

… Apparently, there will be more and more listeners.

Then the Goddess waved bye-bye in a lighthearted manner and disappeared, and the time she had stopped around Kanata began to move.

(… What’s seriously going on in this world?)

He muttered in his mind again.

Now, since time would begin to move, there was something that must be dealt with— yes, the noble students who tried to fight Kanata.

Kanata turned to them with a troublesome expression on his face, and… they suddenly turned pale and began to tremble.

“Arghhhhhhhhhhhh!”

“No way… nooooooooooooooo!”

“My body… back to normal… back to normal … ugh… hahahahahahahaha! !!!?”

So they started screaming like madmen.

The obviously insane behaviour caused not just Kanata but also the students in the classroom to turn their eyes to see what was going on.

Eventually, teachers showed up shortly afterwards and took them away.

Kanata was left behind all of a sudden, but… it seems needless to say that the Goddess appears to have planted something in their mind.p

“… She’s seriously scary.”

In a manner of speaking, they returned to the academy a few days later.

Their appearance has remained unchanged, and as nobles, they looked down on the commoners, but never since then have they spoken out or looked at Kanata.

[… I’m kinda tired these days. I’ve been through a lot, a lot!]

She, the Goddess Isla, giggled at the voice coming from the terminal.

She was in a position to watch over the world as a goddess, but she felt it was also her duty to listen to Haishin in this way.

Isla was so captivated by Haishin that she didn’t care what a goddess was or even the world.

“… I wonder if I should prepare a body for descending into the world where Kanata is.”

That would be wonderful, she said.

She still looked as holy as ever, but she was still wearing the same Haishin-sama shirt that ruined everything.

A very beautiful woman came up to her.

“You’re watching him again.”

“Of course. It’s what I live for.”

She said proudly.

Incidentally, the woman who spoke to Isla was also wearing a Haishin-sama T-shirt… apparently, it was too late.

Give up, Kanata. This world is really strange, seriously.

This aside, there was almost no doubt about what Isla said in her conversation with Kanata.

In other words, when she uttered that she could erase and recreate anything, she meant it.

Being a goddess, she has no idea of the human heart, and when Kanata looked back to see what he had been expecting, she panicked and regenerated the noble student, wondering if she had overdone it.