After receiving the VIP card from Fate-san, we moved up to the Middle Level. It was reasonably lively, but noticeably less crowded than the Lower Level, so getting around seemed like it would be easy enough.
Waiting for us was a single woman... someone I presumed to be the Sky God, Sky-san.
She had semi-short, sky-blue hair and eyes to match. Her build was slender, standing at about 160 centimeters tall. Her outfit had an ethnic flair to it—a pair of patterned trousers and a light top that brought to mind the traditional garb of somewhere like Arabia.
The Sky God looked our way, offered a faint smile, and opened her mouth to speak.
"Welcom—"
"Tre-neesama!"
"—e... to... the..."
However, her greeting was cut off by voices that rang out with truly exquisite timing.
"Ah, Cento, Sien! You finally caught up."
"That's our line!"
"We told you so much beforehand, so why did you get separated immediately!?"
"..."
Having completely missed her chance to greet us while Cento-san and Sien-san rushed over to talk to Tre-san, Sky-san wore a look that was hard to describe. She quickly averted her eyes and retreated to her original spot, where she began busying herself with something that looked like a memo pad.
It was that deeply embarrassing experience where you fail to join a conversation and are left behind. Her cheeks were clearly flushed a faint crimson as she stared down at her notes, her eyes darting away from us. It definitely wasn't my imagination.
Well, it wasn't as if Cento-san and Sien-san had any ill intent; they were likely just that worried about Tre-san. I could only conclude that it was simply a case of terrible timing.
As I watched the three of them—Cento, Sien, and Tre—the conversation eventually seemed to reach a stopping point.
Noticing this, the Sky God quickly tucked away her memo pad and approached us once more, clearing her throat to try again.
"Once again, wel—"
"Heeey, Kai-chan! Sorry, I forgot to tell you something!"
"..."
After her dialogue was cut off yet again, she stood there opening and closing her mouth like a fish out of water before once more averting her gaze.
"...Al-alright, I'm going to do my best! Yes, I just need to get fired up... This is an important job, after all. M-m-maybe I should shout even louder to motivate myself? Okay... Let's do this! Yeah!"
She was so pitiful I could barely watch. She must have been incredibly embarrassed. With a bright red face and teary eyes, she started making excuses to the empty void, addressed to no one in particular, along the lines of, "That wasn't a greeting just now, I was just trying to get myself fired up."
Moreover, since the person who had interrupted this time was Fate-san—who was essentially her superior—she couldn't even complain about it.
Feeling a bit conflicted, I turned my attention to Fate-san as she approached.
"So, Fate-san... what did you forget to tell me?"
"You're going to see Shallow Vernal-sama at 6:00 PM, right, Kai-chan? The Gods of Space-Time want to give you something before that, so they asked if you could come to the Upper Level about fifteen minutes before your appointment."
"Is anywhere in the Upper Level okay?"
"Yeah, you'll know where to go once you get there."
"I understand. Then I'll head there at that time."
"Gotcha! Well, I'm heading back now."
After listening to Fate-san relay her message, I thought I could finally talk to the Sky God. I turned toward her, and... having somehow regained her composure while Fate-san and I were talking, she offered a smile for the third time.
"Ahem, wel—"
"Oh, there they are! Hey! Kaito, Lady Lilia!"
"His Majesty Laguna?"
"..."
And she was cut off for the third time. This time it was Laguna-san. While Lilia-san and the others tilted their heads at his unexpected appearance, I was far more concerned about the Sky God.
"...It's always me... No matter what, it's always me..."
S-Sky God-saaaan! She's crying! She was actually huddled on the ground, hugging her knees and tracing characters in the dirt with her finger!
The timing was just too cruel. Furthermore, the person who had appeared this time was the King of the Human Realm, making him someone hard to ignore given his position.
...For now, I'll listen to what Laguna-san has to say first.
"Laguna-san, why are you here?"
"Well, I heard from Hikari via Hummingbird that Falce had been looked after by you lot. I truly am sorry. I had no intention of leaving her unattended, but there was a bit of trouble. My apologies for the hassle."
"Ah, no, please don't worry about it."
"I shall certainly repay this favor later... I'm afraid I'm quite busy and don't have much time. Sorry for the rush, but I must be off."
"Ah, yes. Take care."
It seemed he really had just come to apologize for the matter with Falce-san. After speaking briefly, Laguna-san gave a light wave and left.
Now then... what should I do about this atmosphere?
It wasn't as if anyone in particular was in the wrong. The Sky God was still a little distance away from us, and the people who interrupted likely just hadn't noticed her.
I've heard that opportunities to see High-ranking Gods are rare, so I suspect that besides Fate-san, the others didn't even realize she was the Sky God.
Truly, the timing was just that bad... but still...
"...Someone like me... someone like me..."
Having suffered through the intense humiliation of being ignored and cut off three times with pinpoint accuracy, the Sky God's mental state had taken massive damage. I was really scratching my head over how to help her recover.
Serious-senpai: "...Good grief. What is this overwhelming aura of uselessness?"
???: "Well, she's apparently quite competent in terms of ability... but there really are people in this world who just can't catch a break because of bad timing."