"..."
"..."
The noisy checkpoint fell into silence for a moment.
I was looking at her.
She was looking at me.
As if the world had stopped, I could only stare blankly at her face, holding my breath.
Honestly, I had half expected this.
They looked exactly like humans, but they were still gods—unchanging beings who were not consumed by the passage of time.
For them, the difference between now and the original timeline was nothing more than a margin of error.
The same appearance as back then, the same face.
The only difference was that she didn't know me, while I knew her.
I remembered her, but she did not remember me.
"..."
Once I thought that far, my dazed mind finally came back to me.
Right. I was the only one who knew her. To her, I was just a stranger she was seeing for the first time.
There was no need to speak to her and arouse suspicion. As the goddess of chastity, she might think I was trying to flirt with her.
I pulled my hood down tighter and lowered my head. Just as I was worrying that she might see my face and about to speak to get through this situation quickly—
"Orion?"
My heart dropped.
"Orion, what is that?"
"It's a building currently under construction. Once it's finished, they say monsters will fight each other there."
"Orion, what is that food?"
"It's an Orario specialty called Potato Balls."
"I see. Then—"
Orion, Orion, Orion—
The way she kept calling me Orion, like a parent calling for their child, grated on my ears.
Strictly speaking, the problem was the person saying the name.
"How did it come to this?"
Why was I guiding her right now?
The more I thought about my current situation, the more my stomach hurt and my head throbbed.
"-Grr, how dare that bastard do that to Lady Artemis...!"
"-Who is he? Why is Lady Artemis walking with a man!"
"-...Is he even a man? If you listen to his voice, he sounds kind of like a woman..."
"-Come to think of it, his build does look kind of feminine..."
"-Is that really the important part?! What if Lady Artemis gets bewitched by that stick-boned creep!!"
"-Is that a gigolo...? The city is terrifying."
"-Ah, holding hands? How, how indecent!"
The women glaring at me from behind and whispering among themselves, as well as the various hidden gazes watching me, were strangely welcome right now. The moment I became aware of their attention, I could force my thoughts somewhere else.
"Hm, so the boy knows a god! Then this place is fine, so the boy should guide her himself!"
That was how I'd been dragged here without understanding a thing, just moments ago, at Lord Ganesha's words. Normally it would have been a display of his thoughtfulness, but from my perspective it was truly useless meddling.
To think I had to face the goddess I had killed. Was there any punishment more horrifying than this?
"This really feels like I've come to hell."
I had a feeling the thing I'd thought was a joke might not be a joke after all.
Every moment with her felt like my intestines were being torn apart.
Her innocent expression was exactly the same as the memory that had never faded—
"Orion?"
"..."
Every time that voice from back then was played from the lips of the woman before me, I felt as if my chest were being gouged out.
"Why aren't you answering?"
"...Lady Artemis."
"Hm?"
"You and I... we're meeting for the first time today, aren't we?"
But what was most puzzling was this.
The virgin goddess of chastity. According to my goddess, a super-serious anti-romance type.
She was the kind of goddess who supposedly disliked not only romance, but even contact with the opposite sex—so why was she treating me like this?
Was it a god's intuition? Or something else?
Did she know something about me that I didn't?
"No, that's not it."
I denied the pointless thought. That wasn't what I was curious about.
What I was curious about. What I was worried about.
"Does she... know me?"
If she did, how did she know me? How much did she know?
And... did she realize that I was the one who had killed her?
So worried about that, I couldn't even lift my head, and silently answered her calls while serving her.
I had no choice but to do so, even knowing it was all meaningless.
"Hm. Was I being too familiar?"
"...No. I was only wondering because you kept calling me Orion."
"Orion is just a nickname. Since I don't know your real name."
Lady Artemis said that in a slightly grumbling tone, as if she were disappointed that I hadn't told her my name.
Was that the truth, or was it a lie for my sake?
Only she would know.
"If you don't like being called Orion, I'll call you whatever you want."
"...Before that, may I ask why you're taking me around?"
At my words, her leisurely steps came to a stop.
The goddess, who had been looking around here and there with childlike fascination, turned her gaze from the surroundings to me.
Her eyes were frightening, so I lowered my head. I had no confidence I could keep my sanity while looking directly at her.
Guilt welled up inside me. My fist was clenched so tightly that blood was dripping from it, and before I knew it, my breathing had grown rough.
Tears rose in my eyes. I wanted to drop to my knees and beg right now.
I'm sorry I killed you. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you.
But I knew that was just my selfishness, so I held my body in check and forced myself not to act on my own.
So that I would never feel at ease. So that my suffering would never reach her.
"Hmm, why am I taking you with me, you say..."
Her movements suggested she was thinking it over carefully. Her cute gestures and the innocent expression that suited them caused the sound of several women collapsing somewhere in the distance.
I wasn't safe either. The moment I saw her expression, my heart lurched for two different reasons.
"I don't know."
"...Pardon?"
"I just felt like this was the right thing to do when I saw you. There isn't any particular reason."
What... It was absurd, but not incomprehensible.
In the end, it was a god's intuition. Something the denizens of the lower world simply could not defy.
"...Maybe that's a relief."
That she didn't know me.
With a contradictory feeling of disappointment and relief, I let out a breath.
"By the way, are you not going to answer my question?"
"...Question?"
"Have you forgotten...? I asked what you wanted me to call you."
Ah, come to think of it, she had said that.
"I..."
I was about to say, "Please call me Vesta," but stopped myself.
The goddess before me was my goddess's closest friend. There was no way she wouldn't know what the name Vesta meant.
But I didn't think my mind could handle being called Orion either. Still, if she heard the name Vesta, it might arouse some other suspicion...
"...No, maybe not."
I was thinking something foolish. Why had I assumed Lady Artemis and I had known each other for a long time?
Considering what would happen from here on out—and before that, considering my own mental health—the safest thing was to end this meeting here. I had to cut it off cleanly, without leaving any opening.
That was the only way.
"Vesta."
"...!"
"Please call me Vesta."
At those words, a faint glimmer appeared in her eyes.
For some reason, I felt uneasy and looked away. The more I looked at her eyes, the more they seemed to pierce straight through my heart.
"I see."
She nodded as if she understood.
"It's a good name. It's one I like, too."
With that, she nodded once more and started walking again without asking anything else.
"..."
After watching her for a moment, I followed after her.
At any rate, I was her guide right now. I couldn't neglect what I was supposed to do.
Yes, what I was supposed to do. This was something I was doing because I had to.
I couldn't forget that feeling.
"Orion—"
"...I thought I told you my name."
"It's fine. Orion is just a nickname."
Then why had she asked for my name in the first place?
"Besides, that isn't your real name anyway. Allow me at least this nickname."
"...!"
My heart dropped again. I had known it, but was it really not working at all...?
Then again, perhaps it had been arrogant of me to think I could deceive a god. In that sense, Lady Artemis was probably a generous person for letting it slide.
"Welcome, Orion."
As long as I ignored the fact that every time I heard that, my heart felt like it was being torn apart.
Did she know? How deeply every word she said wounded me?
It was a truly kind, truly cruel situation.
And yet, before I knew it, my legs were carrying me toward the woman waving at me.
"That is..."
At the same time, a woman somewhere was trembling as she stared in that direction.
A blue-haired woman looking around with an excited expression. And a boy(?) wearing a familiar hood, following after her as if serving her.
The two of them looked like lovers sneaking off for a secret meeting, and at the same time, the way the man had his face completely hidden made it look like a scandal in the making.
"Th-tha..."
"Oh, Meteria, what's wrong? Is the food not good?"
The voice of the man she loved didn't reach her ears.
So rarely had anger welled up in her that she had reached the point where she couldn't even speak, let alone make a sound of rage.
But there was no doubt that what burned inside her was fury—
"Leaving your sister behind..."
The white-haired woman, Meteria, kindled flames of anger in her blue eyes.
"How dare you cheat on me?!"
At the sight of the man who might one day become her brother-in-law(?) cheating(?), veins bulged on Meteria's forehead.
"Eek...!"
And no one knew that, at that very sight, a pitiful man who had glimpsed the shape of a witch let out a scream.
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