"Hmm... Shiho?"
Akemi, who had slept soundly, opened her eyes to find her sister's face very close to hers.
"Good morning, Sis."
Shiho, lying on her side on the bed, raised a hand in greeting.
Her mind, still foggy from sleep, cleared instantly.
"Shiho! Why are you here?"
"What do you think?"
Shiho rolled her eyes.
"Yesterday, you said you were going to Lord God to help with your promotion, and then you never came back. When I saw you hadn't returned by early morning, I was worried something had gone wrong with your advancement."
"But what I saw was you, sleeping in the God's arms. You looked like you were sleeping even more soundly than him."
Oh, so that's how it was... Akemi recalled what happened yesterday, and with her sister's explanation, she roughly grasped the situation.
Once her mind fully cleared, Akemi remembered what Ren had said to her yesterday, and she wanted to share it with her sister.
"Shiho, did you know? Lord God said..."
"That he won't let go of us... right?"
"Eh? You, you knew?"
Akemi was stunned when her sister finished her sentence for her.
"Sis, I came in this morning and saw you sleeping in his arms. Do you think Lord God wouldn't say anything to me?"
Shiho sighed. At this point, she clearly understood that her sister still treated her like a child.
"I also told Lord God that what we truly need is his desire and possessiveness. Only then can we stay by his side with peace of mind."
She sat up and hugged her still somewhat dazed sister.
"This is also the best reason for us to remain by his side."
"From now on, neither of us will be abandoned by him."
"...Mm."
At that moment, Akemi also felt relieved. The sense of belonging brought by that promise filled her with happiness.
"Hmm... Akemi and Shiho really had such worries all along."
Sonoko had a slightly odd expression, but in this situation, she couldn't bring herself to smile.
"Because they were saved unilaterally by Ren, they've always wanted more reasons to stay by his side. But since he never gave them any response, they were constantly uneasy."
Ran also now understood why the sisters were always so quiet. It turned out that they had been silently carrying this fear the whole time.
"Well~ For someone who's been saved, Ren never asked them to do anything. So it's natural they'd worry about being cast aside."
Kaguya could fully relate to their concerns.
The reason Ren saved those two back then was simply because he wanted to change something, not because he had any ulterior motives.
But for someone who had been saved, it was inevitable that they'd fear being abandoned. Eventually, they would want to prove their value to Ren and hope to become useful.
"I just hope they don't feel the need to work so hard to be useful."
Kaguya sighed softly.
If possible, she truly wished those sisters wouldn't have to bear such thoughts.
Sonoko also deeply agreed with that.
Only two months had passed, and the number of girls surrounding Ren was steadily increasing. The diary that served as a matchmaker was playing a major role in this development.
Still, she honestly hoped the diary would show a little restraint, and not work so hard to boost Ren's popularity with the opposite sex.
Meanwhile, Ren, who was at the center of the conversation, looked a little awkward.
My original intentions really were pure.
Even though he wanted to say that, the outcome was very different from what he had imagined.
"After all, Ren is special."
Ran didn't feel conflicted about it. She had already known this was inevitable.
After Sonoko and Kaguya, she herself had fallen too. At that moment, she understood more girls would gravitate toward Ren, and there was no avoiding it.
"Akemi and Shiho's situation also came from their anxiety."
"For them, I don't think Ren did anything wrong. It's just that, as the ones involved, they're not as simple as Ren thought."
Kaguya and Sonoko exchanged glances, both agreeing with Ran's perspective.
The sisters, who had once been pulled from the abyss, would obviously never want to fall back in. Now that they had a chance to truly escape, it was only natural they'd cling to that opportunity.
Though the diary gave them some security and a connection to Ren, to girls who had just escaped the abyss, that still felt insufficient.
As for Ren himself, he had already sat silently to the side.
At this point, he really didn't know how to continue the conversation.
Chika, who had been watching quietly, smiled and smoothly shifted the topic.
"By the way, the investigation into Akira Kurusu and Shido Masayoshi that I asked my mother to conduct has already been completed."
"That fast?"
Everyone's attention shifted.
"Actually, my mom already looked into them the same night. She just didn't send the results over since we were still on our ski resort vacation."
Chika explained briefly, then began relaying the findings.
"Akira Kurusu's situation is simple. He's also a first-year high school student living in a small city, just like Ren. Because he has a distinct name and features similar to Ren's, he stood out from the many people with the same name."
"Not just his appearance, but even his personality and the impression he gives are very similar to Ren. He's the type of person with a weak presence, and he wears glasses like Ren too. He usually doesn't attract much attention."
"As for Shido Masayoshi, he's a regional councilor. In politics, he presents himself as very radical and ambitious, but in practice, he mostly speaks in empty platitudes. His so-called radicalism is unrealistic, and within the councilor circles, he isn't taken seriously."
"Because he's good at saying the right things but lacks real execution ability, his actual competence doesn't match his rhetoric. He's just average among councilors."
Boasting and empty talk were standard skills for ordinary politicians. Shido Masayoshi was exactly the kind who could talk well but couldn't deliver results.
It was precisely because of his smooth talking that he managed to get elected as a regional councilor.
But aiming for a higher office would clearly be difficult for him.
(To be continued.)