The Goddess had not slept much that night. She had been pondering what do to about her Master, when a terrifying thought had crossed her mind and sunk its talons into her.

“What if, in the circumstance that I were to let my Master know about these strange feelings welling up inside of me...those feelings change? What if I lose this new feeling, something I’ve never felt before, and my heart goes back to how it was with all the countless men who came to our island back then, entranced by nothing more than our beauty? Back to feeling...nothing? If I end up hurting my Master like that...”

“Would it be better for me to simply conceal these feelings, for both our sakes? Or would that only make these feelings disappear faster, if I don’t act upon them?”

Thanks to these thoughts, she lay awake much of the night, unable to calm her mind down enough to rest. And in the morning, when she awoke, to her slight annoyance, Euryale, who she shared a room with, had already gone off somewhere.

“I (Euryale) must have already left to spend the day with that big oa...oxman, I suppose. Well, at least with him, I can rest assured she’s fine.”

However, this meant that the Goddess could not ask her for advice for her dilemma. She wondered for a moment to see if there was anyone else she knew well enough to trust with a matter of such import, but she could think of none save for one. The Goddess didn’t interact with many people outside of her family, after all, and she knew there were quite a few who would avoid talking to her so early in the morning thanks to her reputation.

Thus, the Goddess decided that she was finally ready to ask for advice from the one person she had been avoiding being with alone lately very much, their relationship something she was acutely aware her Master had sworn her to change: the big sister she may have wronged over the years. She, at least, would be easy to find, and not off who knows where like Euryale.

And so, the Goddess set off for the library, to find her bookworm giant of a sister.

And long it did not take for her to find who she was looking for. Curled up in one of the many cosy armchairs of the library was Medusa, with her attention focused solely on a thick book in her arms.

“Ah, Medusa, there you are.”

Medusa jumped up in her armchair in surprise, shocked out of her reading by a voice she knew all too well. The Goddess admitted to feeling a slight sense of satisfaction at managing to surprise her giant sister like that again, though quickly reprimanded herself for nearly slipping back to old habits. Meanwhile, Medusa quickly took up the same role of subservient little sister she had played for a long while now.

“E-Elder sister! Was there...something you needed?”

However, Medusa’s sister’s response was something quite different from what Medusa would have expected.

“I...I need your advice on something, Medusa.”

Taken aback by words she never expected to hear come out of her sister’s mouth with such sincerity, Medusa momentarily blinked in surprise, before closing her book, laying it on the table near her chair, and turning back to her sister.

“Advice? What could I give that you would come to me, elder sister?”

The Goddess momentarily looked just slightly embarrassed and slightly averted her eyes, before replying:

“Matters of...romance.”

“Ah, I see.” A subtle smile appeared for a brief moment on Medusa’s face.

“Hypothetically speaking, Medusa, if someone wanted to confess feelings that they believed to be love, to someone they know has similar feelings for them in return...but were terrified that if they confessed, something would...change in their relationship, and for the worse...that those feelings in their heart would change shape...if someone was in such a situation, what should that person do?”

“Hypothetically speaking, elder sister?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm…I think they should confess, after all.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. It sounds like that person and the person they wish to confess to do indeed share similar feelings. And, in such a case, the chance that those feelings would change is, I believe, very low. And, if that person were to leave things as they are, would they not regret it if that decision ended up changing things after a while anyway? If, say, this other person were to meet someone new, and begin to harbour such feelings for that new person? I would say that person would regret it far less if they confess, than if they let the chance slip them by.”

“I see. And your opinion would be the same, even if those feelings might be a once-in-a-lifetime event, and never come back if lost? Even if they’re something that precious?”

“In that case...yes, I should think it would be the same. As humans seem to have written quite a lot over time “nothing ventured, nothing gained”. Particularly “if you don’t speak, you don’t advance” seems to be quite apt for this indeed hypothetical situation. Was any of this of use, elder sister?”

“I see. I...thank you for your advice, Medusa. This may have helped a little, at least.”

The Goddess turns to leave, wondering how she might go about doing this, when Medusa calls out from her chair behind her:

“Good luck, elder sister!”

The Goddess turns back to look at her giant sister, and shoots her a glare that seems to say “you knew all along, did you?” However, the Goddess remembers her promise, and pays this no further heed, as she turns to leave once again, subtly smiling at her sister as she does so. And Medusa feels a chill rush down her spine for a brief instant before fading away, as she also subtly smiles at her elder sister, and waits to her the news of how it went.

……………………………………………………….

The Goddess finds her Master in hallways leading away from Da Vinci’s shop, talking to the Shielder girl as they make their way, carrying something. As the Goddess gets closer, she begins to hear a snippet of conversation…

“...So I was thinking, how could I have forgotten to give her these as a present after she arrived in my Chaldea? She’s pretty nice, and really pretty, and everything, so I really don’t know how it slipped my mind..”

“Well, you are often really busy, Senpai, so don’t blame yourself for it.”

“Oh well, if I go over there and give these to her myself, maybe she’ll still forgive me for it!”

The snippets made the Goddess momentarily reel in terror. Was she already too late? Had Medusa been right all along, and her hesitation cost her everything? Her heart grew cold and hard at the thought, and she found it hard to breathe for a moment, her head swimming with thoughts of her Master showing affection to some new Servant. And suddenly, without meaning to, she was standing in the middle of the hallway, in one of the busier parts of Chaldea, with her Master and her kouhai in front of her, and proclaimed:

“Master!”

At this, instantly recognising her voice, her Master spun around to face her, with her face lighting up with something that seemed like joy. But before she could say anything, the Goddess continued:

“I LOVE YOU!”

Before her head could catch up with what she was doing, she had already said the thing most on her mind. The thing she hadn’t quite dared to admit to herself just yet. And yet...she had just declared it in front of half of Chaldea. The Goddess shot a few sword-like glances at a few select people at her audience on instinct, before she realized...she had also just used her NP.

Thankfully, most of her audience was female, and with the exception of one or two men who barely survived the instant death trigger with their guts skills, nobody was very hurt, even if all eyes in the room had been squarely on her in that instant.

She quickly looked back to her Master for a reaction, and saw…

No Effect, Charm, Defence Down

The Goddess breathed a quick sigh of relief. However…that was not all.

Special Charm (Master)

A slight lump formed in the Goddess’ throat.

(Near) Instant Death (Master)

She noticed the “NP upgrade complete” indicator next to her NP information, and it dawned on her. Her confession, and the resulting feelings in her Master’s heart were too much for her Master.

Her Master seemed fine for an instant, but the next, she was bleeding from various locations, including, but certainly not limited to, her nose. And the next moment, she was passed out on the floor, still bleeding slightly.

“Nurse!” The diligent kouhai called, as the Goddess watched on in horror, her mind reeling at what had just happened.

Luckily, the Nurse of Steel had been just a corridor away by chance, and was right there.

“I see, I see. An emergence situation, this is. Quickly, we’re carrying her to my office, Mashu! Use this towel to try and keep the bleeding to a minimum! She’s lost a lot of blood, we can’t have her lose more!”

As they ran towards the Nurse’s office, the Nurse began mumbling to herself: “Ah yes, if we amputate here, perhaps. Or rather here, maybe? If I do that, then...”

And so they were gone. The Goddess stood there, still, trying to take it all in. After all that thinking, in the end, without thinking at all, she had gone and done something irreversible. However…

…………………………………………………………………………………………

The Goddess had sat by her Master’s bedside all the while through the recovery, which, thankfully, had been short thanks to the efforts of the Nurse and the Shielder’s quick thinking. And so, as her Master woke up, too, did she wake up to the sight of the Goddess watching over her.

“Stheno, you were...”

“Yes, I was, you idiot human. The Nurse tells me there was nothing wrong with you more than the loss of blood, thankfully. How dare you make me worry like that?!”

“Ah, sorry, sorry. I couldn’t help it...”

“Seriously. In front of everyone, too, collapsing like that...what a hero of humanity you are, Master.”

“Ehehe.”

The Goddess still sat there, looking now slightly more annoyed than before, but quite clearly relieved beyond belief, and with just a hint of uncharacteristic sheer happiness shining through her demeanour, just a tiny bit.

“Ah, by the way, Stheno...about what you said back then...”

“Yes, Master-who-nearly-got-herself-killed-by-getting-too-excited?”

Her Master, laying in her sick-bed, blushed intensely at the title and averted her eyes from the Goddess' gaze.

“...Could you repeat that last part of what you said then? Pretty please?”

“Oh, human, would you like a forehead flick? Is that what you want?”, replied the Goddess, clearly annoyed now, but with just the hint of a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.