nebulancer

Summary – “You say that you are a friend of my eternal rival, Miss Hijiri Kurisu~!?”

“YeeeEEEeek!?”

Hina’s chest thrums with excitement towards her debut in working as a Goddess candidate. In front of her appears the mad scientist-type of Goddess, Okuri Ramune (CV: Yoshioka Misaki), who views Hina’s best friend Kurisu to be her rival!

“You called me a test subject! You called me your test subject just now, right!?”

It’s a story where you can hear many of Hina-chan’s adorable shrieks! Never give up!

1. Drama – "It Seems I Have a Connection with These Types of People"

Hina: Uuh... I’m getting nervous now. It’s been one year since I entered the Goddess Institute and finished my preparatory training.

Even though it’s just as support, I’m finally going to make my debut in the workplace!

I have to study thoroughly under the tutelage of my Goddess!

I wonder what type of person’s the Goddess I’m going to be meeting now...?

Maybe it’s someone dignified, beautiful, and charismatic, like Yuki-senpai? Or maybe, like Ai-senpai, one of the relaxing types?

Maybe even like Chisa-chan, someone bubbly and fun? Or perhaps even someone like Wakaba-chan, who’s energetic and active!

I wonder what kind of person she is...? I’d be happy if I could get along with her even outside of work!

Past this door... is the Goddess I’ll be supporting! All right...!

Momosaki Hina, second year of the Goddess Institute, has arrived for my face-to-face meeting!

I’ll be excusing myself.

...? Huh? Huh, huh, huh?

Th-there’s no one here...!

Huh? ...Huh? This is weird! Did I maybe get the wrong time?

No, no... It’s supposed to be today at 3 P.M. This is the right room... right?

Umm, and I haven’t gotten a notification that they’ve changed it, either...

Ah! Maybe I should call the executive office to make sure—

[KA-BOOM!]

Hina: Uh-HYOOEEAHHHH!

Okuri: “Sorry, didja wait? Sorry to keep ya waiting! Your Goddess, at your serviiiiice~! ☆”

Hina: HYEEEUUUHH!

Okuri: “Hey there! You’re my test subj—

...Er, forget you heard that! Support girl?

You’re spooked a nice amount. Nice, nice~♪”

Hina: You called me a test subject! You called me your test subject just now, right!?

Okuri: “Ahahaha! Don’t worry about the little things!~”

Hina: The thing bothering me is pretty big! Namely, the huge hole in the wall behind you!

Okuri: “Oh? Just like Housagi-chan, despite being scared, you’re the type of person to make sure the common sense retorts are nice and snappy!

How nice. With every passing second, you’re even more ☆ my ☆ type ☆”

Hina: Um... Um...! Do Goddesses typically have a mechanical body like the type you’d see in movies and such?

This is the first time I’ve met one, so...!

Okuri: “Eh? Ahh! Sorry, sorry. This is a power suit used for work.

I’ve got a normal person’s body on the inside~!

I thought I was gonna be a bit late, so I rode this to get here in a rush!”

Hina: Haah... A power suit... for work...?

Okuri: “Put simply, I guess it’s a robot I can wear in place of work clothes?

To tell the truth, it’s something I invented myself! ✨

When I wear this, I’ll be able to undertake ambitious and daring activities here and there!

My speed increases by 100x, my power increases by 100x, and even my defense is increased by 100x!

As you see here, it’s an extraordinary product that can even bust holes in a wall that’s this thick!”

Hina: Hweh? A-ah, I see. This gaping hole wasn’t an accident. You planned it in advance, did you?

Okuri: “Nope! This is... an accident.”

[The wind whistles emptily...]

Okuri: Phew~ Tea after a long, long lecture really seeps into the body~

Hina: It really... does seep into the body.

Okuri: Oh, oh? Are you exhausted? Little miss Goddess assistant, that’s not very youthful of you!

Hina: I had youth. At least, until just now. Until I got dragged into the long, long lecture, I genuinely was bursting to the seams with dreams and hopes.

Okuri: Uh—Uh, oops~? Ahahaha! It’s my fault~? So~rry ☆

Hina: Why are you so casual about this!?

Okuri: Nice retort, nice retort~!

All right, instead of looking down, let’s keep our heads up! And let’s keep the momentum going! Let’s chat on and on!

Hina: S-sure... Ahem. Introducing myself again, I’m a Goddess candidate by the name of Momosaki Hina. I’ve completed a year of preparation training and with this occasion, I’ve been chosen to be your support.

Okuri: Ah, thanks for the polite introduction.

Then I should do that, too. I’m your Goddess~☆ The name’s Okuri Ramune. Nice to meetcha! Di-ding~☆

Hina: Fweh... Um... You really... are... a Goddess... are you...?

Okuri: She’s doubting me!? This girl’s doubting me!

But don’t worry! Worry not! I won’t get upset~ Because you wanna know why? It’s because people tell me that a lot!

Hina: Yeah, I’d expect as much!

Okuri: But it’s real, I’m real. I’m the genuine article, for realsies. I’m an authentic Goddess~

Despite my looks, I work with intense, super-devoted dedication to my job as a current Goddess, and I’m in the middle of my fifth year working as one!

Hina: Fifth year... Wow, you’re a veteran, aren’t you?

Okuri: Mmhmm. But up until now, I haven’t had someone to support me.

Up until now, I’ve been doing experimental research on the side of my regular duties, but that research’s gotten more large-scale.

I’ve been thinking that I want someone to help support me~, so I got an assistant assigned to me.

Hina: Experiments... support...! Urk—

These words are way too familiar...! And I’m way too unsettled about this...

Okuri: I asked the executive office for a fresh-faced kid who’s resilient, able to keep her cool in the face of adversity, but...

Hmm, hmm. You’re more of a pipsqueak than I expected, but I guess, Hina-kun, you’re more resilient than you look on the surface?

Hina: I-I knew it! More unsettling words have popped out of her mouth~!

I-I think I am resilient... For Momosaki Hina, “Never give up!” is my motto.

Um, but, if possible, I’d prefer it if I’m not put through something that makes me put it into action~ I guess?

Aha... Ahahahaha...

Okuri: No, no! I can tell. I know you can handle it! ✨

Hina: Handle what, exactly!? I’m not going to be your test subject, got it!?

Okuri: Ahaha! No, I mean, you’ll be able to deal with lots of stuff that isn’t that. Because being resilient is a strength in itself.

Mmhmm. Looks like you’re a fine Goddess candidate, Hina-kun.

Hina: Eh? Ahh... Y-you’re... complimenting me, are you?

Okuri: Yeah, it’s a compliment! It’s extremely high praise ☆

I love girls with moxie!

Hina: Ah... Thank you... very much.

Okuri: So, please do accompany my experiments...!

Hina: Sure, if you’d have me!

...Is something I’m definitely not going to be saying, all right!?

Okuri: TCH!

Hina: She clicked her tongue at me!

Okuri: Oh, come on! Just a little bit? You’re such a cheapskate!

Hina: She’s sulking at me!

Hah... This back-and-forth is sort of familiar to me...

Okuri: Eh, really?

Hina: *chuckles* Yes! One of my precious friends loves experimenting and inventing, too.

For a long time now, I’ve been her... assistant? Er, I’ve gotten dragged into the trouble...? I’ve been a victim? Anyway, I’ve been doing that.

So I felt it to be a familiar sensation. I’ve been dealing with her like this before, too.

Okuri: Ooh! Someone who loves experimenting and inventing? Sounds nice!

That kid sounds like she’s got promise!

Hina: Ufufu. If she heard that, she’d probably go, “Well, obviously!”

She’s incredibly smart. Her name’s Hijiri Kurisu-chan.

[clatter.]

Okuri: ...H-Hi... jiri... Ku... risu...?

Hina: Fweh?

Okuri: Hijiri Kurisu... you said!?

Hina: Yeek!

Okuri: You say that you are a friend of my eternal rival, Miss Hijiri Kurisu~!?

Hina: YeeeEEEeek!?

2. Drama – "With the Invention- and Experiment-Loving Friend"

Hina: And that’s how my first-time meeting with my Goddess ended...

Kurisu: Huh, sounds like a pretty impactful first meeting.

Anyway, good job getting through that.

Hina: Yeahhhhh, for SURE!

Kurisu: That response tells me you’ve been keeping something bottled up till now.

But, huh. Okuri Ramune...? Hmm, hmm.

I guess I have heard that name before, now that you mention it...

Hina: It seemed to me that she knew you very well. She even called you her eternal rival.

Kurisu: That sorta thing happens from time to time.

When my theses get posted on magazines or the Internet, there are people out there who I don’t even know but are totally worked up, having their comments posted with the mindset that they’re my rivals.

Hina: Hwoeh...

Kurisu: I know I’m including myself in this, but people who obsess over researching, experimenting, or inventing are, well... sorta... Y’know.

They, like, make a beeline for victory... and hate losing.

Hina: Pretty convincing, coming from you!

Kurisu: Shush it. But that becomes part of our motivation, so it’s not always a bad thing.

At least, I’m pretty sure that’s the case.

Hina: You’re just... pretty sure about it, huh...

Aside from being a Goddess candidate, Kurisu-chan, you’re living in one incredible world.

Kurisu: Experiments, research, and inventions are a hobby that are also my lifetime career. Basically, my reason to live.

The process of chasing after something I desire in the unknown is like one’s expedition planned out on a tabletop!

It’s just so exciting, it thrills me so much, and I just can’t stop~!

Hina: Wow...

Kurisu: Well! As for this genius, Hijiri Kurisu-sama, I don’t let it stop at the simple category of just being my hobby!

I plan on using my developed technology and my theses as part of my work as a Goddess in the future—...

...Ah.

Hina: Ah?

Kurisu: It came at me outta nowhere. I’ve remembered!

Hina: Eh? Remembered what?

Kurisu: About Okuri Ramune!

She’s a constant frequenter of the magazines that I have my theses posted in.

That’s why I remembered her.

If memory serves me right, she’s the type to dabble in robot development and mechanical engineering.

Hina: Definitely that! I’m pretty sure that’s the case!

She said she developed her own power suit!

Kurisu: Ooh. That Okuri Ramune was a current Goddess...

Hina: Huh? It’s not written in her profile or anything?

Kurisu: I don’t think it was, at least when I checked it.

Not a single word of her personal career was written on her profile page. It just says her name.

It’s just like mine, so I remembered it pretty well.

If I wanted to look her up, I bet her career would pop up right away, but I didn’t have much interest in her until now. So I’d never looked her up.

But suddenly, my interest in her’s skyrocketed!

Hina: Ah... Because she’s a current Goddess and a researcher? An inventor, too, right?

The same type of Goddess you’re aspiring to be!

Kurisu: Exactly! Maybe I should look over her theses the next chance I get~

Hina: That’s amazing...

Kurisu: What is?

Hina: Kurisu-chan and Okuri-san both. You two have something you’d do aside from your work as a Goddess.

It takes everything out of someone like me by just aiming to be a Goddess already. My head’s all full of the stuff~

Kurisu: ...You say some weird things sometimes, don’t you?

You’re you, Hina.

Hina: Huh?

Kurisu: Goddesses refer to necessary people who have the duty of guiding Earthlings’ spiritual energy in a good direction to help maintain the survival of our world.

But the way each one does that isn’t set in stone.

If there are Goddesses who run around putting effort into building comfortable cities, there are also Goddesses who work as actresses on Earth, making great progress in all sorts of movies or stage plays.

If there are Goddesses who do their best dispelling negativity... evil feelings in person, there will be those who form medical care teams to provide treatment to warring regions.

There isn’t just one way they do things. That’s why there are all sorts of Goddesses out there, y’know?

For example, I bet there are types out there like Okuri Ramune or me.

That’s why there are types of them who do their absolute best and search for what they’re capable of, just like you, Hina.

There’s not one correct answer! There’s no need for us to all do the same thing, so there’s no reason for us to compare ourselves to each other and feel down about it.

Hina. You’re fine the way you are. I’m sure of it.

Hina: Kurisu-chan...

Kurisu: Hey, Hina? What kind of Goddess do you want to be? Don’t you think you have a pretty good, concrete image of what you wanna be now?

Hina: What kind of... Goddess I want to be...

...Hmm...

...

...Now that I think about it, they asked us the same question during the final selection exam that decided my graduation and my entry into the Goddess Institute.

“What kind of Goddess do you want to be?”

And also during that time, I thought things through with all I had... but I couldn’t really come up with a definite answer to it.

“I think I’m studying in order to decide that.” I said that during the exam, too.

Kurisu: You answered with a statement that’s basically equivalent to not answering the question. I’m surprised you actually passed.

Hina: I know, right...? I think so too.

Honestly? During the exam, I had an answer prepared that did serve as a response... but when they actually asked me during the real deal, my head turned totally blank.

I went, “Is that really my own answer? Isn’t that an answer I made up just to pass the exam?” That thought... flashed across my mind.

Kurisu: *sighs* You’re honest to a fault. I, personally, don’t think it’s a bad thing that you had an answer prepared in order to just pass the exam.

Even if all of it wasn’t in your own words, the thing that general society at large considers to be correct should be the model answer.

It’s a good thing to remember, isn’t it? You should’ve said the answer that you boldly prepared beforehand.

Hina: Ufufu. I guess so. Your responses to me always make me feel refreshed.

Kurisu: Well, in that case, your responses to me are always fuzzy and ambiguous.

Hina: Haah... You’re totally right...

I’m... a lost cause, aren’t I? No matter what I do, I’m always hesitating...

Kurisu: But your worries and your internal conflict are something that I sorta get. People can’t help but want to cheer you on.

That’s why you passed the exam.

I’m sure of it.

Hina: Eh...?

Kurisu: Just about everyone deals with their own pent-up gloom. There’re even the little details that they go out of their way to purposely avoid.

Hina, you’re doing your absolute best to face them head-on.

You’re not running away. You’re trying to create your own, proper answer to it.

I think your strength is that your earnestness is conveyed to everyone around you.

Hina: Kurisu-chan...

Kurisu: I’m also interested in seeing what kind of Goddess you’ll end up being!

Hina: Really? You... really think so?

Kurisu: I do, I do!

When I imagine that the universe’s first crybaby Goddess is gonna be on the scene...! I just can’t take my eyes off of you!

Hina: I-I don’t really think I’m that much of a crybaby!

Kurisu: Oh, really?

You’ve got the vibe that you’re always a split-second away from sobbing, “Fwehhh~”

Hina: Just about anyone would turn out that way when they’re wrapped up in the huge explosions that people like Kurisu-chan and Okuri-san cause!

All things considered, I have a higher resistance to explosions than the normal people out there!

Okuri-san even complimented me for that.

Kurisu: I get the feeling that’s not where you’re supposed to puff out your flat chest in pride about, Hina.

Hina: I’m not flat! I have a bigger chest than you, Kurisu-chan!

Kurisu: GUGH! To my vexation, this sort of conversation’s become commonplace, hasn’t it...!?

Hina: It sure has. *giggles*

Kurisu: *giggles*

Hina: Hey, Kurisu-chan? Hope you’ll keep watching over me.

So that I can become a Goddess who’s very much me, through and through. So that, one day, I’ll be able to remain confident as I say, “I’m Momosaki Hina, a Goddess!”

I’ll do my very best to make it happen!

Kurisu: Heh! I’ll take my time watching over you. Do your absolute best, would you, Hina?

Hina: Yeah!

Momosaki Hina will do her best!