"So… now that your little sister is away," Godou found himself directing his attention towards the idol, honestly, he had never expected senpai to know Risette of all people, "how did you do it?"
"Huh?" he didn't know how to respond to that question, mainly because he didn't know what she was asking.
"How did you kill Verethragna?" his mind froze.
He managed to idly note that Erica and Mariya had also frozen at that question.
Had she really just asked what he thought she had?
"Wha?" he tried to get out before she decided to ask again.
"I just asked how you killed Verethragna… I mean seriously… I know Senpai killed a god but I'm having trouble picturing you doing the same," the silence at the table was palpable.
An Idol, someone who literally had a stage with which to tell everyone the truth… actually knew the truth.
"Narukami-san… did you tell Rise-san about this?" Mariya sounded somewhere between confused and disbelieving.
"Of course I did," he was clearly about to continue when the shrine maiden cut him off.
"You told the History Compilation Committee that you wouldn't tell anyone, I can't believe you would actually lie about something like that!" she definitely sounded offended, maybe even hurt, then again, she was the sort to keep her word so it wasn't really that surprising.
However the fact that Narukami-senpai had told the girl about everything was only going to show that the boy wasn't as trustworthy as he originally seemed.
"Firstly, I didn't break any promises," that seemed to earn a glare off the shrine maiden before Erica raised a hand before her.
"Please explain," two words that could change everything.
"Gladly," Senpai seemed more than willing to talk about the supposed slight, "when I spoke with Sayanomiya-san, I told her that I wouldn't tell anyone that didn't already know… and Rise was right there with me when I fought Izanami."
That caused everyone to freeze.
Kujikawa Rise, a nationally known idol, had encountered a goddess?
"Not like I was much use…" she definitely seemed sad at that admission, "when she tried to send you to Yomi, all I could do was scream… I still don't know how you managed to escape but I was just so happy you weren't dead, I could have cried."
"You did," the oldest teen said with a soft smile, upon which the celebrity among them proceeded to blush and look away.
Godou found himself beginning to feel out of place as the two friends interacted… he was certain there was some serious history between them.
Then again, they had apparently faced a deity together so it was clear they would be close.
"Switch topic," Risette said quickly as her face stopped flushing, "so, did you know that I wrote my new album myself?"
Godou found himself caught off guard by the sudden question and was about to ask why she had done it when another voice spoke up.
"What? Really?" he felt his breath hitch, Shizuka was back.
Wait… did that mean that Risette had decided to change the topic because his sister had returned?
"Yep… though my producer did some editing," she seemed to deflate at that.
"Every producer does editing," Narukami-san said with his usual smile adorning his face, "but think about it this way, at least they only edited it instead of rejected it."
"Yeah… I don't know what I would've done if they had rejected it," she admitted with a nervous smile.
"Why would they have rejected it?" Shizuka definitely sounded confused at that.
"Well… it is my first attempt at writing my own songs and I haven't had any training either so I didn't really know what I was doing," that caught him by surprise, not the fact that it was her first time doing it but that she didn't know what she was doing, "in the end I just poured myself into the music and hoped for the best."
"And it really is good," at that statement from Narukami-senpai, everyone found themselves freezing.
"W-wait, how do you know that?" his little sister asked in shocked confusion.
"Senpai got the first recording, even before I sent a copy to an agent," and with that statement Godou found his jaw nearly falling from its hinge.
Narukami-senpai had an original recording of Risette's first attempt at writing an album?!
"And it really is good… I suppose I could let you listen to it at some point if you want," now that was something Godou would admit he would readily look forward to.
After all, Risette was probably one of his favourite idols… probably due to the fact that he liked to imagine it was his sister singing her songs… it really managed to take the sting out of constantly having to weather her onslaught of insults.
"Really?" Shizuka for her part seemed just as excited at the prospect, then again, from what he knew, she looked up to the girl his age so it wasn't really that much of a surprise.
"Yeah," and with his usual kind smile, the oldest teen there was once more making his little sister blush.
Then he noted the blank expression that adorned Risette's face.
"Why do I get the feeling that she is going to be like Chie, Yukiko and Naoto?" That question made Godou blink in confusion.
"What do you mean?" he decided to ask, causing her to grin in response.
"What I mean, is if she'll become another girl he'll friend zone," at that statement he found his face going blank.
He friend zoned three girls?
"There was also Yumi," that simply made her look at him again, "I met her in drama club."
Godou really began to wonder if Senpai was an early reincarnation of his grandfather… a capable cook, a ladies' man and apparently more than willing to friend zone them as well…
That was when his eyes widened and his mind went blank.
He was dealing with a younger version of his grandfather!
Then he took note of his sister's reaction and immediately noticed how she had gone rather pale.
"You didn't mention Marie-chan," that was a statement that made everyone blink.
"I'm not going to lie," it was a sentence that made Godou wonder exactly where the conversation was going.
"… I thought so," Risette seemed resigned to it, "tell me… if you had to choose between us, who would it be?"
Us?
His mind stalled.
From the way this conversation was going it finally clicked in his head.
Senpai didn't simply know Risette.
They most certainly had dated at some point.
But now they couldn't anymore because of her going back to her career as an idol.
The real question as far as he was concerned however was simple…
Who was Marie?
"If I had to choose between you and Marie…" the oldest of the group let out a sigh as he gave his answer, "I would choose neither of you."
That was a statement that seemed to bring a far more depressing atmosphere to the table.
"Why?" the girl who already had a career asked, clearly uncertain of what to think of his answer.
"Because I can't choose between you," it was a simple answer and it was clear that he wasn't exactly happy with the situation but he most certainly wasn't trying to worm his way out of it.
"Well… I don't know what to say," he definitely felt like he shouldn't be there, this was definitely a private conversation and it was clear that things weren't going to be the same between them from that moment onwards.
Shizuka looked scandalized at everything though.
Then again, from what they had just discovered, it definitely sounded like Senpai, the person he had thought was perfect, had been double dating.
"Well… I guess we really should leave it there shouldn't we," huh? Why did she sound so cheerful?
"Rise," Senpai started to speak before getting cut off by the idol.
"Senpai, if it had been anyone else, then I would probably have been mad," that was definitely a strange sentence to use given the circumstances, "and if you had given any other answer, I would've either been hurt or mad… but I know Marie-chan, I know you and… in the end I had a great time with you and… and I'm giving up the chance to be with you to return to show business."
"And then there's the whole fact that we don't know where Marie-chan is now…" the idol definitely seemed concerned at that.
"She'll return when she's ready," the grey haired boy said with a reassuring tone in his voice.
"I know, but… you know, I sometimes worry about her, what with… what happened," it was clear they weren't going to talk about whatever had happened around others but Godou had to admit that he was curious.
Though he decided to keep quiet.
Apparently he wasn't the only person to come to that decision.
Yū had to admit, the day couldn't have really gone any better.
Rise had let him know that she had suspected him of cheating on her with Marie but in the end, didn't hold it against him… on top of that, there was also the fact that he had gotten tickets to Rise's return tour.
The only thing that really made the day anywhere near bad was simple.
He had been forced to think of the girl that had gone missing after Izanami's defeat.
Certainly he knew why she had vanished, he understood why she wasn't there anymore… but he missed her.
He missed her even more than everyone else, because she was one of the people that hadn't been there to see him off.
So he shook his head in an attempt to clear those thoughts from his mind.
She was relearning how to control her power and would return when she was ready.
He would just wait for that time.
Even if it took hundreds, if not thousands of years, he would wait for her.
So until then he would simply have to carry on with his life.
It was when he was passing the table that he noticed it.
A magazine.
It was a simple magazine with a simple cover.
But the cover reminded him of something.
And with that he pulled out his phone and dialled the number.
"Hello, Sayanomiya-san," he spoke down the speaker, "I would like to speak with you about transportation."