V3Ch8: Colorless Best Friend

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Translator: Soafp

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“The events you’ll be participating in have been decided, and it really feels like the sports festival is about to begin.”

Mahiro said as he talked to me while packing up his things to go home.

In the second semester at Tenka Academy, there are various events. The first one is the sports festival, held in late September.

Today, a week before the sports festival, each student's event participation was finalized.

“Yeah, it’s my first sports festival here at Tenka, so I’m extra excited.”

“It’s going to be exciting, especially this year.”

“…Why is that?”

“Because the candidates for the Goddess have been narrowed down quite nicely. If it's like last year, the school will divide the teams by color, using the top candidates as the banner. With the way things are going, it's bound to be even more exciting than last year.”

I tilted my head, not understanding.

“The Goddess candidates make things more exciting?”

“I’ll explain when we get closer to the sports festival.”

“Don't be so mysterious… Wait, you said the candidates have been narrowed down?”

“Shota, you're really out of touch with the school news, aren't you? You don't read the school paper, do you?”

That's true, I don't.

I picked it up once when I first transferred here, but they had a feature on the ‘Four Goddesses,' and I lost interest after that.

“As the cultural festival approaches, the newspaper club does a feature on the Goddess candidates. They've been taking polls from the students on who they plan to vote for in the Tenka Contest. The results just came out recently.”

Hmm, I see.

Apparently, the Tenka Contest is when the voting takes place on the day of the event, but many students have already decided who they'll vote for. You can tell who the strong candidates are even now.

It's like elections—sometimes, you can tell who the front runner is even before voting begins. Or in idol popularity contests, you can often predict the top rankings before they happen.

“The Four Goddesses are probably the strong contenders, right?”

“That's what you'd think… but this year is shaping up to be an even closer race.”

“A close race?”

“Remember how the current Goddesses were the first-ever to win together at the same time? It looks like the votes are going to be split up a lot again this year. There are strong candidates among both the upperclassmen and the lowerclassmen, so people are saying this might be the hardest-to-predict Tenka Contest in history.”

Since there are multiple Goddesses, it was already going to be a close competition, and now even more strong candidates have entered the fray.

“Huh, it must be tough compared to the Gods, who are pretty much guaranteed to win.”

“Hey, don't act like it's none of your business. You're part of the white faction, remember? Plus, your little sister is a strong contender too.”

“…Seriously?”

“According to the newspaper club's research, that seems to be the case. It looks like a group of students supporting her has been growing recently, especially among the first-years.”

I couldn't help but feel proud of Shion.

As her older brother, it makes me feel proud. But at the same time, I'm worried that the current Goddesses might take notice and give her a hard time.

“Maybe the first-years just don't want to lose to the upperclassmen. I hear a lot of the students who enrolled because they admired the current Goddesses are starting to switch their support. The other strong first-year is Akazawa's sister, who's already pretty well-known.”

I see, it's that ‘don't lose to the upperclassmen' spirit.

I can understand that. If someone from your grade becomes a Goddess, it feels good, like a source of pride.

“And you can't underestimate the upperclassmen either.”

“Are you talking about a former Goddess?”

“Yep. She's still incredibly popular. If the votes are split, she could make a comeback.”

So, we've got candidates from both the lowerclassmen and upperclassmen. If the votes get divided, it really could go to anyone.

Half a month has passed since I declared my support for the white faction.

I'm still part of the white faction, but things have been quiet since then, with no more recruitment efforts from the Goddesses.

“Well, we'll just have to wait and see.”

“The cultural festival is still a long way off.”

“Something might happen by then.”

“Oh? Like what?”

“Maybe someone will drop out, or maybe one of the candidates will get a boyfriend. You know, stuff like that.”

It's not impossible. High schoolers could easily get a boyfriend or girlfriend. If one of the candidates did, their supporters might drop off significantly.

The conversation paused, and Mahiro slung his bag over his shoulder.

“Well, I'm heading home. I got a new weapon in my game that I want to try out. It's supposed to be really strong, and I need to practice for the upcoming tournament.”

“Good luck. See you tomorrow.”

“…Wait, Shota, aren't you heading home?”

“I have something to take care of today.”

“Got it. Well, see you tomorrow.”

Mahiros figure disappeared from my view.

With my conversation partner gone, I grabbed my bag, stood up, and started walking toward a certain place.

I arrived at a classroom I had deliberately avoided until now.

Most of the students had already left for the day. I spent some time waiting in the hallway, and once I confirmed that the room was empty, I stepped inside.

There was no one around, but one desk still had a bag left on it.

“…Now, all that's left is to wait.”

All I had to do was wait for the owner of the bag—Renji Inuyama—to return from the Divine Council.

Students chosen as the male and female gods must attend the Divine Council, which is held monthly. At today's meeting, they were supposed to decide on the representatives for the sports festival, such as the athletes who would give the pledge and the presenters.

Normally, both the male and female gods would attend the Divine Council, but due to some tension, it had recently become more of an exclusive meeting for the goddesses.

However, Renji was attending today’s meeting because he had been repeatedly absent and was finally warned by the school administration. It seemed he had no choice but to participate.

By the way, I had heard all of this from Shirase.

“…Two years, huh.”

That day, after hearing what Renji and Momoka discussed, my perspective changed.

I had no intention of contacting Renji before.

The reason was simple—I didn't have the face to see him. After leaving behind only a letter and transferring schools as if I were running away, I had abandoned my best friend. I had fled, leaving him to deal with the fallout of the goddess' wrath. Knowing that my actions had caused the clash with her made me even more reluctant to face him.

But after hearing that conversation, my thinking shifted.

It turned out Renji had been worrying about me more than I realized. Not only that, but he even felt that he had betrayed me.

I couldn’t allow myself to continue being so inconsiderate.

I had decided to confess everything to Renji, to my best friend.

“Besides, it'd be better to confess before things get exposed.”

Next week was the sports festival.

I was chosen to be the anchor for the class relay. I'd probably stand out quite a bit.

Renji, who still cared so much about me, might recognize me from a distance. It might just be a wish, but I felt certain that he would realize it was me as soon as he saw me. I had a strong belief that he'd know right away.

I didn't want him to be mad at me later for not telling him the truth from the start. So, it was better to get everything out in the open from the beginning.

I had resolved myself.

And yet, despite my resolve, I hadn't been able to find the right moment until today.

The reason was simple: Renji was incredibly popular.

As expected of the male god, he was always surrounded by people. He had tons of friends, and the female students were constantly looking for chances to get closer to him.

There weren't many people at this school who knew about my past, but I couldn't predict where leaks might come from. I wanted to make sure we had a private conversation.

When I went to his house, I found that his family had moved out of their old apartment. Asking a teacher for information would've been futile, so I hadn't had any opportunity until now.

Today was my last chance to meet him before the sports festival. If I waited in his classroom after the council meeting, I'd be able to catch him alone.

“…I have to apologize properly.”

Murmuring this to myself, I waited in silence for Renji.

I wasn't sure how much time had passed.

As the light streaming through the windows began to take on a warm orange hue, I heard footsteps approaching from the hallway. They grew closer, slowly, until the door to the classroom opened.

“…”

“…”

Renji and I locked eyes.

He was as striking as ever, exuding a special aura that made him look like the protagonist of the world.

At first, he looked at me quizzically, but then, as if realizing something, his eyes widened, and a smile spread across his face.