Yuto walked over to Hestia.
Even though she heard him approaching, she didn't lift her head.
Her face remained pressed against the table, as if she had buried it there.
Her arm hung limply, and her hair lay listlessly across the surface.
Yuto sighed softly and gently patted the Virgin Goddess on the shoulder.
"Hestia," he called.
Only then did the goddess raise her head to look at him.
Her eyes were vacant and lifeless, her entire face looking as if all hope had been drained from it.
"Kamisaka..." A deep, drawn-out voice emerged from her lips.
Her tone was despondent.
Yuto felt a twinge of amusement, but he knew that if he laughed now, she would definitely explode.
"Didn't we agree to stay calm and wait for Sakura? Why are you so listless now?" Yuto soothed her.
Hestia looked into his eyes, her nose twitching as if she were about to burst into tears.
"We've been waiting for so long... Why hasn't Sakura come yet?" Her voice sounded like a little girl's, her whiny tone tinged with sadness.
Hearing this, Yuto couldn't help but sigh.
'It's been less than ten minutes... Can't she endure even this short amount of time?'
"Hestia, it's been less than ten minutes since you came in," Yuto told her bluntly, despite the harsh truth.
The moment she heard the time, the goddess went into a state of despair.-!
Thud!
Her head slammed onto the table in front of her.
Given her divine body, Yuto wasn't worried about whether her head was hurt.
He was more concerned about the table!
"Why does it feel like years have passed?" Hestia murmured, her voice muffled.
"It's because you've been so worried about Sakura," Yuto replied, feeling helpless.
'Is this the weirdness of a god who's lived for billions of years?'
"Oh..." Hestia sighed softly, drawing out the sound.
Yuto shook his head.
He realized that Hestia wouldn't recover until Sakura arrived.
He was powerless to help.
"Hestia, put away the gift for Sakura for now. There'll be plenty of time to bring it out when she comes," he suggested, glancing once more at the pendant in her hand.
It was noble and beautiful, radiating a natural aura of sanctity.
Hestia lifted her head at his words, her eyes flickering with sudden understanding.
As if remembering something, she obediently put the gift away.
Seeing that he had fulfilled Tohru's request, Yuto decided it was time to leave, allowing Hestia some solitude.
After offering a few more concerned words, he stepped away.
She remained slumped over the table, dejected.
The only way to break this state was to wait for Sakura to arrive.
Yuto returned to Tohru and Quetzalcoatl.
He chuckled softly and nodded slightly at Tohru.
"Feeling better now?" he asked. He didn't expect Hestia's gift to affect the dragon.
"Yes, much better," Tohru replied gratefully.
"That's good," Yuto nodded.
"I'm a bit surprised that the little girl turned out to be Hestia," Quetzalcoatl remarked, her narrowed eyes widening slightly.
Her heterochromatic pupils shimmered like mysterious, twirling stars.
Yuto nodded in agreement.
He had also been initially surprised by Hestia's appearance. It was hard to imagine that the gods humans sang praises about and revered could actually be like this.
Although he knew Hestia was a god from another world, seeing her like this inevitably made him doubt the nature of the gods in his own world.
He had even questioned it himself.
'If this world has gods, could they be nothing like the majestic deities humans imagine? What if... it's a little girl?!'
"Ah—" Yuto sighed with a resigned smile.
"Speaking of which, Quetzalcoatl, you must have met our world's Hestia before, right?" Tohru looked at Quetzalcoatl with curiosity, while Yuto also seemed puzzled.
"Yes, I saw her once at a Divine Banquet. But since we belonged to different factions, I didn't approach her." Quetzalcoatl tapped her lips thoughtfully, her reminiscing stirring something in Tohru's demeanor.
Hearing this, Yuto became even more confused.
He had assumed that, as Tohru's friend, Quetzalcoatl would also view the gods as mortal enemies, just like Tohru.
But now it seemed... Quetzalcoatl actually had a good relationship with the gods?
"But she really is a dignified goddess, someone you'd find hard to approach," Quetzalcoatl said wistfully.
Meeting Hestia from another world today had left her moved and surprised.
"Does Quetzalcoatl have a good relationship with the gods?" Yuto asked, looking at Tohru with confusion.
Tohru was momentarily bewildered, but quickly understood. "Huh? Me? We're not particularly close, it's just that I'm also a god, you know?"
Quetzalcoatl chuckled, her world-class chest heaving with the movement.
"Right, Quetzalcoatl is the Feathered Serpent God," Tohru explained to Yuto. "She used to be the guardian deity of humans too."
Yuto finally grasped the true nature of the perpetually smiling dragon girl before him.
Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent God, was a deity of immense renown in world mythology.
He had never imagined that her true identity would be so.... lofty.
As his surprise subsided, he recalled his earlier thoughts.
Hestia, slumped over the table, seemed even less mature than Shoko.
Quetzalcoatl, on the other hand, appeared perpetually dazed, as if she could easily be tricked.
Both deities from different worlds seemed so... unreliable.
'Could this mean that so-called gods... were actually... mostly just... problem children?'
...
It was already night.
The darkness was so thick it felt like an impenetrable layer of ink.
The stars that should have filled the sky were obscured by layers of clouds.
Even the brightest moon emitted only a faint, hazy glow, as if on the verge of extinguishing.
Fuyuki City had been shrouded in gloom for several nights in a row.
The Matou Family estate.
The ancient mansion was unusually quiet tonight. In the darkness, the faint light emanating from the estate resembled a dying beast lying in wait.
Those feeble rays were the beast's last vestiges of life, as fragile as a candle flame flickering in the wind.
In the dimly lit corridor, a deformed old man with a cane shuffled forward. Traces of something crawling across the back of his skull were faintly visible.
His facial features were twisted into a grotesque mask, as if they had crawled straight from hell.
A cruel, expectant smile bloomed on his face.
His eyes, their pupils indiscernible in the gloom, appeared black in the dimly lit corridor.
Tap... tap... tap...
The cane tapped lightly against the floor.
Woooo...
The wind outside intensified, its howling carrying the mournful whispers of malevolent spirits, murmuring unspeakable secrets.
Matou Zouken stopped before a door.
He reached out and grasped the doorknob. In the dim candlelight, the smile on his lips grew sinister and triumphant.
Click—
His withered hand twisted slightly.
The sound of the doorknob turning echoed like a hammer blow against the suffocating silence, striking directly at the heart.
Creak...
Matou Zouken pushed the door open.
When he saw the frightened little girl in the room, the corners of his mouth twitched upward involuntarily.
His eyes locked onto the figure before him, a genuine joy radiating from his gaze.
'Perfect... perfect... perfect... Hmph hmph hmph hmph... Hehehe...'
Matou Zouken couldn't help but laugh, like a demon baring its fangs.
Half his face remained hidden in shadow, while the other half was illuminated by the dim candlelight, the muscles twitching unnaturally.
"Sakura, it's time."
His smiling words carried no warmth whatsoever, instead radiating coldness and dread.
Sakura's heart pounded wildly.
The little girl pressed herself fearfully against the bed behind her, her small body trembling with terror.
She bit her lip, her starry eyes filled with panic and horror.
'Don't be afraid—don't be afraid—don't be afraid—' Sakura kept reassuring herself inwardly. 'It's just a Magic Circuit transfer. It'll be okay... it'll be okay....'
Once it was done, she wanted to visit Hestia at the small restaurant.
They had made plans the previous day.
She also wanted to taste Yuto's cooking again. And after tonight, Sakura planned to find her sister tomorrow... no, not her sister anymore.
She should call her Rin now.
Then she would visit her mother and father...
The little girl kept encouraging herself in her heart. Forcing herself to stand up straight, she agreed to Matou Zouken's request.
"Yes, I understand, Grandpa." Her voice trembled slightly.
The moment she agreed, the wind outside intensified.
Even the candlelight inside flickered violently. In the sky, a brilliant bolt of lightning erupted from the thick clouds, as if trying to pierce the darkening heavens.
But the fleeting flash of light was futile.
Startled by the thunder, Sakura instinctively turned her head.
In the pitch-black night, she couldn't see anything.
'It's going to rain...'
"Hehehe... Is it going to rain? How wonderful... Sakura, let's go." Matou Zouken turned his back and began walking forward, step by step, leaning on his cane.
After a moment's hesitation, Sakura slowly followed him.
The two walked through the dimly lit corridors.
Sakura walked cautiously, her heart pounding, yet she couldn't help but glance around.
The little girl wondered why the Matou residence was so dark.
"Grandpa, does the Magic Circuit transfer take long?" Sakura asked timidly.
"Does Sakura have something to do later?" Matou Zouken replied calmly without turning around.
"No, I was just curious..." Sakura still didn't want to tell the man she called "Grandpa" about the restaurant.
She had a feeling she shouldn't let him know about it.
"I see. Hehe, Sakura doesn't need to worry. The Magic Circuit transfer is very quick, and there won't be any pain at all." As he spoke, Matou Zouken glanced back at Sakura.
The smile in his eyes sent an instinctive chill down Sakura's spine.
An inexplicable voice began to echo in her mind, warning her not to proceed any further.
The little girl pressed her hand tightly against her chest.
'Is that the goddess sister's voice?' she wondered, her confusion growing.
Unconsciously, she stopped walking.
Matou Zouken, who was ahead of her, also halted and turned back to look at her.
"Sakura, what's wrong?"
"...Nothing..."
"If nothing's wrong, let's keep moving. We need to hurry."
"Okay."
Sakura took a deep breath, knowing she had no choice but to continue following Matou Zouken.
Neither Sakura nor Matou Zouken noticed something behind them.
The candle flames on the walls flared violently, as if agitated.
After walking down the corridor and passing through several doors, Sakura followed Matou Zouken to an underground door.
"Are... we doing it in here?" Sakura asked, clutching her arms defensively across her chest, her instincts screaming for caution.
"That's right. Come in with me."
Matou Zouken opened the door and stepped inside.
Eerie green flames flickered, illuminating a spiraling stone staircase.
As Sakura descended deeper, she began to hear a strange, grating sound, like something rubbing against something else.
When they reached a high platform, Matou Zouken stopped, and Sakura, who had been following behind, also halted.
"Sakura, we've arrived," Matou Zouken said, turning his head with a cruel smile.
Sakura was so horrified by the sight below the platform that she nearly lost her balance.
The little girl's face was pale with terror and panic.
Chittering, rustling, squirming...
A cacophony of noises rose from beneath the platform.
Insects—countless insects!
Like a living sea of insect!
They crawled over each other's bodies with abandon, leaving trails of viscous slime in their wake.
Their writhing forms were terrifying and disgusting.
"Here! Here! Sakura, jump down!"
Sakura stared at Matou Zouken, her eyes wide with disbelief and terror.
"Jump down." Matou Zouken's smile had vanished, his face now twisted into a terrifying, demonic face.
"Grandpa..."
"Jump!" Matou Zouken barked coldly, his body already positioned behind Sakura.
As he finished speaking, he began to stalk toward the little girl, step by step.
With each step he took forward, Sakura retreated one step backward, her figure drawing closer and closer to the edge.