<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 Hijiris 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 Im with Elder Sister, it doesnt matter where we are or what kind of place it is.

[However, isnt it a bit much to kiss her in front of everyone I mean, you didnt 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 shes being too conscious in acting, itll look fake However, you did tell her beforehand that it was originally just a pretense and that she didnt 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 didnt say it well enough.]

Yes.

She really doesnt 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 dont really care who my first kiss was but could it be that it was also Sogou-sans first time kissing someone?]

[From her reaction That might be the case]

Elder Sister softly sighs.

[If thats the case, I really have to apologize again. I dont know if shell forgive me for this, but Ill 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]

[Im the reason why she panicked, so its my fault. Especially in this matter Well, I didnt expect that she would panic that much]

Im also taking care of Elder Sister even in strange things like this.

[Even so, Elder Sister is really good at manipulating peoples thoughts, arent 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 dont 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.]

[Shes the type of person thats obsessed with the past. If someone does something to upset her, shell hold on to it for dear life.]

[Ughuee I seriously cant stand people like that. If I think someone is remorseful about what they did, you should just let bygones be bygones.]

[-Well, I dont think thats the only thing she was aiming for.]

[What do you mean? Does that mean that her attitude isnt just because she doesnt 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. Its really easy to mind-control someone when theyre 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, Im more surprised by Sogou-sans resilience. She have a much stronger heart than I imagined. Back in our previous world, I didnt 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 cant 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, its as if the Presidents strength was on a different level? In Presidents case, I dont know if its because shes 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 Sisters 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 Sisters face, I cant help but gulp.

(Elder Sisters seductive techniques)

I cant 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.]

[Youre going to talk with the Goddess?]

[Theres something I need to find out just to be sure.]

[Alright. I dont 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 wasnt afraid of her at all.

However, Elder Sisters presence pushes away all the negative feelings I have.

Im just dependent on my Elder Sister, not having any initiative at all.

Or that I was seriously a siscon who cant even express her frustration at her sisters excellence.

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

They can say whatever they want Its a fact that Im 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. Im 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 Ayakas combat abilities.

Takao Hijiris 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 hadnt really thought about it]

[Even if we scoured the books in the closed stacks, theres nothing in there about the Gods. Ive asked around the people of this country, but so far, I havent found anyone who knows much about the Gods themselves.]

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

Theres 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 humans and when we talk with her

Shes 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 theres only one God.]

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

[At this point, its just a possibility. Its just that]

With her posture still neat compared to mine whos always shifting about, Hijiri continued.

[Its just that theres so little thats written about the Gods that its making me curious about it instead.]

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

[I cant say that isnt 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. Thats a very likely possibility.]

[However, Elder Sister. If there are other Gods out there, arent you wondering what theyre doing now? That Goddess is seriously doing whatever she wants here after all.]

[Its possible that -, though Im not entirely sure.]

(T/N: Its blank in raws.)

[Eh?]

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

However, it seems like that isnt how Hijiri sees it.

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

[.]

[.]

[I- I dont 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.

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

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

This isnt 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, shes a really old hag.]

[Anyway.]

I sullenly apologized.

[Im sorry.]

[Well, thats one of Itsukis charms.]

At times like this, Hijiri isnt 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, theres the Witch of Taboos.]

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

[Yes, thats as far as I can see.]

[However Whats 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 eras Root of All Evil. In other words, the Goddess could have used their power to invade other countries.]

[Ah.]

I see.

Thats right.

Her unusual longevity is an advantage.

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

Yes- Theyd 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

Wouldnt 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, thats not what happened.]

[That means?]

[I can only assume that there is some reason why it cant be done.]

[A reason why it cant 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 wont 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 worlds nations are organized could also be a problem for that system I wonder if thats 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 couldnt do whatever she wants?]

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

[Also I think the Goddess probably doesnt 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.]

=================================================================================

<Authors Notes>

And thus, from the , Ill be returning to Toukas point of view and start with Volume 7 (For the time being, Im hoping to update the . by the end of the year).

After the completion of Volume 6, Volume 4 of the light novel and Volumes 1 & 2 of the manga were reprinted. I am very gratified to hear that both the light novel and the manga are doing very well. I would like to express my sincere gratitude again to everyone who purchased them. Thank you very much.

Volume 3 of the manga was released today, December 25 (A few minutes have already passed though), and it mainly describes the battle in Mills Ruins and the story of the Heroes on the Goddess side (Touka and Ayaka are on Volume 3s cover). The Drunken Sword Party and Princess Cattleya (It was a backstory scene though) are visualized and made their entrance, and Touka, Mist, and Ayaka have their own cool scenes Then, theres also a Seras bathing scene. At the end, that guy also made his entrance. I cant wait to see how Touka VS Black Dragon Knights will be portrayed.

Also, the latest chapter has been updated on Comic Gardo. Please take a look at it as well.

I hope everyone will continue to enjoy Volume 7.