NOVEL WEB Prologue: Meeting the Whimsical Shrine Maiden Goddess (part 4)
How did it come to this….
“Itsuki-kun, does that mean you want to loo-”
“No! Stop making this about my virginity!”
“Yes. Nii-tan’s virginity is Sayuri’s.”
“Please…..stop…”
The goddess mischievously giggled like she successfully pulled-off a prank.
“Well, since you can joke around like this, it seems you’ve become stable. So Itsuki-kun, how do you feel about your little sister now?”
At this, 2 pairs of eyes focused on me, their heavy gazes weighing on my back.
I tried to reminisce about the memories previously deeply buried in my unconsciousness. The vivid, grotesque figure of Sa…..Sayuri.
A bloodbath, quite literally.
The hollow, abyss-like eyes, compared to her usual warm gaze at me. It was terribly shocking and devastating, as if my heart had stopped beating and ran cold.
Seeing all of that, I wanted to run to her. I wanted to hug her. I wanted to ask if she was alright. I think I tried to resist passing out, but couldn’t. I couldn’t help her.
When I think about this now, I feel like I failed as a big brother at that moment more than before.
And so,
“I’m so sorry Sayuri. I’m really sorry I couldn’t help you. I should’ve just brutally forced myself to run to you. But I passed out. I’m so sorry.”
“Nii-tan! Nii-tan! Nii-tan!”
Sayuri squealed in delight and squeezed her arms around me tighter. It also increased the sensation of her ample bosom against my side. I shouldn’t be thinking about that….
“Aww, how cute, but also boring.”
The goddess slightly sulked and stood up.
“Well, I have had enough of this farce. It was fun. Now, let’s move on to the conclusion. It’s time for Sayuri’s punishment! Muhhahahah”
Why the sudden change to evil goddess? And what does she mean by punishment?
“Oh before I begin, I should formally introduce myself, yes? It might be useful when you want to pray….or curse, for that matter. I am #̸͈̤̽̿̋̏͋͋̕͜#̶̨̲̪͎̗̻̼̫͊͛̿̂͘#̵͚̘̮̤͔͝$̶̧̛̈́͐̍&̴͓̤̪̞͊̎̀͂̂̆̆&̶̦̜̿̋̎́́̿^̴̰̝͖͘%̷̑͜*̴̠̙̼̍̈*̵̯̲͉̞̯͖̖͓̂̃̒͗͊͜^̸̜̪̼̐̍̾^̷̳̫̤̗͓̺̒͆, a goddess. I do not have a particular domain. I hope you treat me well moving forward.”
She gave us a signature customer-service smile.
““What did you say?””
Mine and Sayu’s voices overlapped.
“Fufu, It seems like you two did not comprehend my name. But that is of course, my name is in the speak of gods.”
““Then don’t say it in the first place!””
Again, our voices overlapped. Is Sayu doing this on purpose?
“My, how sibling-like. So adorable. Now, coming back to the point, you two can call me Seryy, Se-chan, Seryy-sama……”
“I think we’ll stick with Seryy-sama.”
“Se-chan is cuter though.”
“Please pick a character and stick to it.”
“That’s boring~ But what comes next is fun. For me.”
“Right……Sayuri’s punishment.”
“Yep yep. Since Sayuri-chan has been a bad girl she has to be punished. Let me just lift the ban on her feelings so I can see her honest reaction.”
“Be on your best behavior Sayuri-chan, or else I’ll make the punishment harsher than it already is,” she playfully said, tapping her forehead three times.”
“Fine….”
Sayuri monotonously replied and took a deep breath.
“Good girl, good girl. There are two options to the punishment you are sentenced to.
First option, I will completely erase any and every obsessive and abnormally strong feelings of love for Itsuki-kun. That means you will love him, but not as much as you do, just like a normal family member. Any memories related to those strong feelings will be perfectly replaced by normal memories accordingly. There are no exceptions, which includes your muscle or procedural memory. Only then you will be allowed to stay by his side.
Second option, you will retain all your memories and feelings, however you will also harbor an extremely strong desire to kill Itsuki-kun. In short, you will become obsessed with killing him. At any moment you see him, you will have an urge to kill him at that moment. Your body will be moving before you know it. And of course you can try to resist the urge, but it is futile. You cannot control your instinct, your unconscious desire. I am sure you would not want to kill him since you love him so so much. You will most likely go insane if you already haven’t.
Now then. Choose, Sayuri Harunomi. Will you forget, or kill?”
The goddess, Seryy-sama, looked at us with a dark interest. Her eyes gleaming with amusement. Her lips curved in a grin. Before I knew it our surroundings had changed to a luxurious throne room with the theme of cloud. The goddess haughtily sat on the colossal glass throne, looking down on us, still wearing the shrine maiden outfit.
Strangely, or should it even be strange, that I felt nothing towards what was happening around me.
I think I should be trembling with fear and crouching down on the floor. Yeah, I definitely should be.
Let’s see how Sayu is doing. She might be scared a lot. I might have to comfort her.
“Sayuri, are you alright?”
“…….”
“Sayu? Sayu, are you okay?”
“………..”
“Huh?”
Suddenly, she vanished from the space she was standing on.
“I warned ‘ya Sayuricchi. Stay put and be a good girl, will ‘ya?”
“……..cough cough guhhh haaahhhh ghuhhh”
Sayuri slammed into the floor, coughing blood.
“Nooghuhhnooo waygh Sayuri is not forgetting or killing……Sayuri can’t and won’t lose.”
“Sure can. I’m a f**king goddess. I sure as hell can do whatever I want with you. So be grateful and respect the kindness I show ‘ya ungrateful b*tch. Now stop ‘ya bitchin’ and fuckin’ take a pick and fuck off. I want to have a chat with Itsuki-kun ‘lone, fufu.”
I ignored Seryy-sama’s yankee talk and ran to Sayuri as she struggled to stand up. I lent her my shoulder and helped her stand.
“Are you okay? Does it hurt a lot? Can you stand?”
“Mhm. Th-thank you Nii-tan. B-but Sayuri can’t stand parting from you or her feelings….y-you saw how Sayuri gets if she stays apart from you for too long, right? Sayuri absolutely hates it. Hates it. Hates it. Hates it. Hates it. Hates it. Hates it. This is unfair. Unfair. Unfair. Unfair. Unfair. Sayuri worked so hard….so hard. But she failed….in the end she failed to save you. It’s Sayuri’s fault you died…..Sayuri ki-killed Nii-tan…..It’s Sayuri’s fault…..killed Nii-tan….b-but she thought everything will be alright once she also died…..how-however th-that that SHITTY GODDESS!!!! She prisoned Sayuri here and told her that Nii-tan is alive and left right after…..Sayuri can’t part with Nii-tan now that she’s with him. It’s Impossible. Sayuri and Nii-tan are inseparable! Inseparable inseparable inseparable inseparable inseparable! Nii-tan needs Sayuri, right? Right? Right? Right? Nii-tan needs Sayuri right?”
Sayuri completely sounded hysterical as she dumped those repeating questions at me, staring with her dilated pupils fixed at mine.
I need to think this through.
I don’t completely understand what she meant by ‘hard work’. I’m guessing it’s all the actions she took to thoroughly manipulate me into becoming her……puppet? That word is not completely correct, but it will have to do for now.
Next, apparently Seryy-sama separated her from me after bringing us here. Not sure if she brought us here together, but it seems like it. That was really cruel, and quite literally.
And lastly, she needs me. From seeing that grotesque figure of my sister and her hysterical behavior now and in the past, I can confirm with 100% confidence that that girl literally needs me to live.
………And I did too.