The door burst open, and two girls rushed in.
Souta glanced at them, it was Ayase Shinomiya and Tsugumi.
He wasn't the least bit surprised.
They'd been eavesdropping outside for a while now. He was a god, after all, it was impossible not to notice.
"What are you trying to do to Inori?!"
Tsugumi stepped forward, placing herself protectively in front of Inori.
"Two to three liters of blood is a lethal amount! Are you trying to drain her dry?!"
Souta looked at her and responded calmly:
"I'm a god. I have my own methods. Also… eavesdropping isn't a good habit."
"Wh-Who was eavesdropping?! Ayase-senpai and I just happened to be walking by!"
Tsugumi tried to defend herself.
"Oh? Walking by for several minutes? You girls must have amazing walking speed."
Souta stared at her, then pointed to his eyes.
"Did I forget to mention? I have x-ray vision. Don't lie, little girl."
"Ugh, being a god is so convenient!"
Tsugumi folded her arms and took a few steps back, clearly guarding herself from Souta's gaze.
"Don't worry," Souta assured her. "I'm not interested in… flat ones."
"Hmph." Tsugumi caught his jab at her less-than-curvy figure, but didn't care.
She was only fourteen, she'd grow into Ayase's curves eventually. One day, she'd be just as eye-catching.
"So?" Souta looked at the two of them. "Why'd you follow and hide outside the door?"
"We were worried about Inori. Who knows what you'd do calling her in here alone, you could be some kind of pervert!"
Tsugumi said it bluntly.
"Tsugumi." Ayase gave her a light bop on the head. "Don't say such things."
She then turned to Souta, apologetic:
"Sorry about that. Tsugumi's just like that. I'll scold her later."
Under Souta's gaze, Ayase gave a deep bow and said firmly:
"Thank you for letting me walk again. Truly, thank you."
"So, you two came just to say thanks?"
"Yes." Ayase tugged at Tsugumi's sleeve.
"Tsugumi, don't be stubborn."
"…Fine," Tsugumi muttered, glancing shyly at Souta.
"Th-Thanks for helping Ayase-senpai. I'll admit you're a good god, I guess."
"No need to be so formal." Souta waved it off. "I granted your wishes so you'd help me in return. It's a partnership."
"Please rest assured that I'll do my best to help you build the church!"
Ayase's tone was resolute.
It sounded both like a vow to Souta and a pep talk for herself.
Souta vaguely remembered that Ayase, the wheelchair girl, was a staunch believer in independence, someone who didn't like being helped.
Whenever she owed someone, she'd go out of her way to repay the favor.
He respected that kind of personality.
"By the way," Ayase asked cautiously, "are you really going to draw that much blood from Inori?"
"Yep." Souta nodded. "But don't worry. With my powers, even if I drain her completely, she'll be fine."
"What can Inori's blood even do?" Tsugumi leaned in curiously.
"You don't know?" Souta raised an eyebrow. "Her blood can suppress the virus's side effects. Gai is a virus carrier. He hasn't been vaccinated, but he's fine because Inori's blood keeps it in check. You guys work in the same organization, you've got to know this, right?"
"Gai's infected?!" Ayase was shocked. "That's news to me."
She recalled how Gai would occasionally spend entire nights alone in a room with Inori.
"…So those times were to suppress the virus. I thought he was… well…"
Her cheeks turned red.
She'd misunderstood the situation completely, thinking they had that kind of relationship.
"So," Tsugumi jumped on the key point, "you're using Inori's blood to make a vaccine?"
"Exactly." Souta raised a glowing fingertip.
"As a god, my power is omnipotent. The GHQ vaccine is weak. I plan to develop one that completely neutralizes the virus's side effects."
Creating the vaccine was a win-win for Souta.
If he succeeded, he could freely spread the Apocalypse Virus in other worlds, boosting people's spiritual power.
In other words, mass-producing high-quality believers.
Whether or not they believed in him didn't matter.
He wouldn't force anyone to worship him.
Sure, forcibly infecting people might be morally murky, but if the virus posed no threat and functioned more like a vitamin shot, what's the harm?
People would understand.
He looked at Tsugumi and Ayase.
"I think I mentioned this before, didn't I?"
"But you never said Inori's blood was the key."
Tsugumi thought for a moment and asked:
"Gai mentioned your goal was to spread the virus to strengthen humanity's minds, right?"
"Then why not just… modify the virus?" she suggested. "Remove the side effects and keep the benefits. Then it's not a virus, it's a gene enhancement serum. Isn't that closer to your goal?"
Heh. No wonder she's a genius hacker.
Her loophole-detection skills were top-notch.
And she's exactly my type, this feisty little loli…😈🍆👌💦
Her suggestion aligned perfectly with his usual logic: "If solving the problem is hard, solve you instead."
Why build a counter when you could just remake the thing causing the problem?
"Tsugumi, you're a genius!" Souta praised.
"Hmph." She looked away, flustered. "Flatter me all you want, I'm not happy about it!"
Souta gave her a strange look.
Is she a tsundere or just proud? Hard to tell.
"I've thought about that idea too," Souta said, shaking his head. "But for now, vaccine first. The virus threat plus vaccine relief, the stick and the carrot, are the best tools for growing the church."
Virus modification would come after the church was firmly established.
After all, if infection meant no risk, people would ignore him when he preached.
Better to wait until faith had taken root before introducing such changes.
"You're kinda evil, you know that?" Tsugumi said bluntly.
"You only think that because you're looking at it from a moral high ground." Souta replied calmly. "In truth, if I don't make the vaccine, a lot of people will die. Isn't that worse?"
Tsugumi had no retort. She stayed quiet.
"Wait," Ayase said, "The virus or Eve, really has a consciousness, right? Even if you modify the virus, she won't cooperate with human enhancement, will she?"
"Don't worry." Souta clenched his fist. "Eve's a good girl. She'll understand."
P.S.: Had a mini-vacation. Sorry for the delay! I'm back! Those who are still interested in the story, then I'll start to continue this fic.