V4Ch8: Yellow Truth

Reading Settings

Translator: Soafp

---

It was a shocking revelation.

Hearing that she had spread the rumor herself, I was left speechless for a moment. Then, I voiced the thought that had surfaced in my mind.

“…Did you spread the rumor to quit being the Goddess because you were sick of the guys who only liked you for that title?”

If I had to guess the reason she spread the rumor herself, the first possibility that came to mind was that she found the role of “Goddess” to be too much of a hassle.

Gods are popular.

Ridiculously popular. They’re constantly in the spotlight, admired and adored by many students.

According to what I heard from Renji, the current male God, ever since he became a God, the number of love confessions he received skyrocketed.

Aoyama, the current Goddess, told me the same—ever since becoming the Goddess, the number of people approaching her doubled. Naturally, that also meant more confessions.

And that makes sense.

Being chosen as a God is basically the same as being recognized as the most attractive boy or girl in school. If someone's confident in themselves, they'd go for it. It's easy to understand why people would want someone that popular as a boyfriend or girlfriend. Some probably confessed even knowing they'd be rejected—just hoping for a miracle.

The divine title system at Tenka Academy is famous, and apparently, even students from other schools approach them.

On top of that, Kikka Nee-san was the only Goddess at the time.

She was likely way more popular than Aoyama, whose popularity was divided among the current “Four Goddesses.” Kikka Nee-san probably got tons of confessions and had her fair share of troublesome situations.

That much was easy to imagine.

Maybe she just got fed up with it. If she spread a rumor that she had a boyfriend, her popularity would drop, and she'd be dethroned from her position as Goddess.

She didn't deny or confirm the rumor because confirming it would've meant lying. And she didn't want to lie. But denying it would mean continuing as the Goddess. So she chose silence.

That would all make perfect sense.

“You’re… pretty close to the truth.”

“…Close?”

“It's true, things got a lot more complicated after I became the Goddess. Especially since I got chosen in my first year, some upperclassmen were super persistent.”

Apparently, Nee-san had been pestered by upperclassmen after being selected as the Goddess in her first year. That must've been a real pain to deal with.

“Um, so… what's the real reason?”

“It has to do with my older brother.”

“…Huh?”

I tilted my head in confusion.

“Wait, didn't you always say you were an only child?”

If I remembered correctly, she didn't have any siblings.

“I told you my mom remarried, right?”

“Oh—wait, you mean—”

“Yeah. My stepdad had a son from his previous marriage.”

So that happened with her, too.

“Same here. My mom remarried, and I got a little sister.”

“…Your little sister—is she Shion Nijitani from first year?”

“You know her?”

“Of course. She was one of the Goddess candidates during the sports festival. When I heard your last name, I thought there might be a connection. She’s really energetic, and the atmosphere around the Purple team was great, so I kept an eye on her.”

Shion led the Purple team during the sports festival, so it wasn't strange that Nee-san knew about her.

Still, this wasn’t the time to talk about Shion, so I put that aside for now.

“You two are close in age—that must be nice. You can go to school together, right?”

“Wasn't it like that for you?”

“My brother is way older than me. We were ten years apart. When our parents got married, I was in high school, and he was already working.”

“…That's quite an age gap.”

When my mom remarried, I ended up with a little sister who was just a year younger than me, but step-siblings aren't always close in age. In fact, maybe being close in age is the exception.

“So what does your stepbrother have to do with spreading the rumor?”

“He has everything to do with it. Because my big brother was—”

Nee-san paused.

“—an incredibly amazing guy!”

“…Huh?”

“He treated me like a real little sister and doted on me. He was handsome, tall, and worked for a top-tier company that everyone knows. He knew tons of trendy places. I grew up in the countryside and didn't know anything, but he took me out and showed me the world. He was the kind of dependable, big-city guy I totally admired.”

Then she went on and on, singing praises about her stepbrother.

Let me summarize.

Her stepbrother was ten years older. Handsome. Kind. Like a real-life prince. He graduated from a prestigious university and got a job at a top-level company. Though he already lived alone by the time of the remarriage, he often visited to check on Kikka , his new little sister. She, in turn, found every excuse to visit his place.

…It was obvious she fell for him.

She never explicitly said it, but I was certain—she had fallen for him. Her face lit up in a way I had never seen before when she talked about him.

“But… he had a girlfriend.”

“Ah…”

“Of course he did. I mean, come on. He was handsome, had a great job, a good personality—no way someone like that wouldn't have a girlfriend.”

Yeah, a guy that perfect wouldn’t stay single for long.

“I didn't give up. I decided on my own that his girlfriend was my rival and worked hard so I wouldn't lose. I learned to dress up, worked on self-improvement… Spreading that rumor was part of it too.”

“Eh?”

“You were right about me not wanting to be the goddess anymore. But the reason was different. When you become the goddess, you really get a lot of attention. One day, a boy who wanted to confess his love to me came all the way to my house. My brother saw that and totally misunderstood.”

She must've been approached by some weirdo.

And her brother happened to see it, leading to a misunderstanding. That's probably why she wanted to step down from being the goddess—to avoid more situations like that.

“But if that's the case, couldn't you have just told a teacher and declined the position?”

“Well, you know… doesn't it sound better to have a rumor that I had an older boyfriend?”

She said it with a blush, looking embarrassed.

“Why's that?”

“Sho-chan, you're so dense. It made me feel like I was actually dating him.”

Ah… so that's why the rumor was that she had an older boyfriend.

I was surprised to learn she had feelings for her stepbrother, but now was the time to return the favor.

“Alright. Then I'll help you with your love—”

“You don't need to help. There's no point anymore.”

She cut me off before I could finish.

“…No point?”

“The person I saw as my rival ended up becoming my sister.”

“…!”

In other words, her brother married that woman.

“When I actually met her, she turned out to be such a good person. Totally the type of woman who could win over my brother. I didn't stand a chance.”

I couldn't say a word.

“…I never intended to tell anyone this story. But now that I've said it out loud, I feel a little better. Maybe I just wanted someone to listen.”

She stared off into the distance, as if lost in memories.

From the side, she looked incredibly mature. It was hard to believe we were only a year apart.

After a moment, she looked back at me.

“Come to think of it, Sho-chan's become quite a handsome guy.”

“Eh?”

“You're nothing like how you were back then.”

She reached out her hand with a grown-up expression.

I couldn't move.

But something about that hand reaching toward me felt off. The person standing before me didn't feel like the sister I used to like—she seemed like someone else.

“…!”

—Slap!—

Just as her hand was about to touch my cheek, another hand—emerging from a blind spot—knocked hers away.

“Could you not try to seduce Sho-chan with those tainted eyes?”

The one who smacked her hand away was Yuuhi Akazawa, who had somehow appeared beside me.

Why was Akazawa here?

And why did she call me that?

My head was spinning from the suddenness of it all.

But things were about to get even more chaotic. I heard footsteps approaching from the hallway.

They grew closer, and then—

“Hey! We're not done talking yet!”

A girl stormed into the classroom, her voice raised in frustration.

When I turned around, my eyes met hers. She looked like a younger version of Akazawa, someone I'd always treated like a little sister.

“Huh!? Shota-nii!?”

“…Momoka…”

With the sudden appearance of the Akazawa sisters, my brain completely froze.