OLN: I Don't Understand You God

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Shizune
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OLN: I Don't Understand You God

Post by Shizune »

Title: I Don't Understand You God

or "Ore wa Anata ni Kami ni Kami o Rikai Shite Inai", to be shortened as either OreKami or Rikai Shinai.


Genre: Harem, Romance, Comedy (think Date a Live)


Summary: viewtopic.php?f=24&t=10863, originally supposed to be titled as Sky of Ice.



Chapter 1 focuses on a background of Jin's ordinary life. It is divided into four parts.



Part 1
Spoiler! :
February 29, 2036. That was the day thought to be the end of the world, the Apocalypse. It had been predicted by the Mayans, the Shintoists, the Christians, Buddhists, Taoists and nearly every religion and/or occult out there, with some bit of twist from each version of course.

But of all these accounts, this was considered the most true. It had been predicted as early as 2014, that the next time February 29 falls on a Friday, that would be the last day of the earth. Tomorrow, the world will end, and all humanity will be wiped out. Mountains will crumble. The skies will roar. Blah blah blah.

I suppose it’s no longer surprising after the great fail of 2012, but the grand majority right now are rather calm, choosing to believe a miscalculation in the cryptics’ part, and that the long-awaited end-of-the-world will be postponed for another day, while the faithful few are either panicking themselves to death, or in the midst of desperate measures, to stock on food, or to hide underground, whatever means necessary to survive the unexpected.

“Jin. Get off the computer, you’ll be late for school,” called my sister from downstairs.

“Mmmm,” I groaned to tell Setsuno I heard her.

Ultimate001: i heard someone finally discoverd a way to get past the rosseau fac2ry.

JinX: No way

Ultimate001: its ture. Apparently 2 coloblockles w chains of chaos can gang up on the juggernaut

Ultimate001: it dies without getting a chance to stand up

I thought for a moment.


JinX: Dude that’s obviously a bluff

JinX: they’d run out of mana before they even get half its HP

Annhielator: wanna test the theory out? :v

Cakemix_Panda: if were still alive by tomorrow that is

Cakemix_Panda: XDDD

JinX: What do you mn??

Cakemix_Panda: DUDE! THE APOCALYPSE! YOU LIVN A CAVE OR SOMTHNG???

ShimaKaz: yeah, every1 keeps going on about the apocalyps 2morrow

I’M _Rainbow: i woudnt b laughng f I were u

I’M _Rainbow: mom said th apocalps is as real as t gets

I closed my eyes shut and stretched. This whole “apocalypse” business had been the great talk of even the internet world that I couldn’t play a decent game since I woke up at 4:00. I didn’t mind if it was just my parents but it’s really a pain in the butt when the gossip started taking over even the digital world. It’s a shame all the great players live overseas. Japan could really use one.

JinX: Guys can we pleas get to the game

IPTU: LOL bad boyz aint fraid o no death

IPTDNOOB: LOL YOLO

Cakemix_Panda: #TOLOTH

Annhielator: what is this? Thy only liveth oneth?????


A sharp tap on the head told me my sister had already come inside my room. I didn’t notice her on account of my earphones.

“You’re still wearing an apron,” I remarked as she opened up the curtains. “You upskirted the curtains,” I remarked casually.

“Breakfast is ready; I kept calling you for five minutes. And for the love of God, please clean your room.”

“What’s the point? It’s just gonna get dirty again.”

“Yeah but atleast exert some effort. This is your room.”

“I already told you. Taking my lifestyle into account, this room would plummet from a newly clean state to a record low in an average of five days, three if you’re
not here.”

She stared at me with crossed arms and a raised brow.

“But that’s not to say cleanliness regresses linearly. It’s a bit closer to a negative logarithmic curve, deviation of up to 25% with 2 degrees of freedom. You see Dear Sister, assuming I go by your suggestion and cleaned my room today, from a datum 100% ‘clean’ state, it would return to 45% and 55% in just a matter of 104 hours and 39 minutes, and that doesn’t even include all the concerned factors yet.

“I already showed you the report last month, where I took the cleanliness of the room on a week per week basis, weekends not included. Should you need it for reference, the paper is in drawer E, second, “Room Cleanliness Digression as Observed from a Steady-State Semester, with School Life as Main Parameter.

“What conclusion did I make from that? Well based from studies of my past room cleaning skills and behaviorals, the most efficient course of action would be to wait for my room to get really really dirty, and then just clean it in one go. It saves effort, saves time, and may even save my allowance as opposed to cleaning it every week. I’m sure we both don’t want any of our precious time wasted, wouldn’t you agree?”

“What’s there to agree about!” she said hitting me with the ladle. “I always end up cleaning your room.”

“That’s because you never listen to anything I say,” I cried, massaging the lump on my head. “Like I said, cleaning it only twice a year saves the most effort, time and money. Trust me, my research methods are credible.”

“It’s amazing how you’re so lazy yet still have the energy to create all these case studies,” she said drilling her knuckles on my forehead. “Why can’t you atleast direct some of that enthusiasm to things that really matter?”

“A lazy person is smart. He finds creative ways to get to the result faster and easier. I’m not lazy because I’m smart. It’s precisely because I am lazy that I am smart.”

“You know what, forget this,” she sighed. “I’ll just clean this pigsty later. C’mon, the toast is getting cold.”


My older sister. Setsuno Shinozaki.

E-cup.

It’s been two months since I moved into her apartment. It was a lot closer to school, and she gets 50% of the allowance I get from Mom and Dad. It’s not a parent’s fault to spoil the youngest child, but I don’t necessarily hate my sister, so this is to make up for all the unequal treatment between us. Sort of…

I guess technically I bribed her into letting me live with her, or taking that from another viewpoint she’s milking me out of my money (no, I’m pretty sure she’s not that type of person) but hey, if I’m being milked of my own free will, and she’s being bribed willingly, then it’s not really bribing and milking now, is it?

Actually, the real reason why I wanted to move here is that both our parents are complete idiots. When the news of the projected ‹‹Apocalypse›› surfaced, they chugged it down like an infant overdosing on colostrum.

They’re what you’d consider the Avant-garde followers, still going on about their daily lives and jobs, but that’s just on the outside as far as appearances are concerned. Deep down when it’s just between the family members they’d be praying and repenting to high heavens, as though all that nonsense would actually save the world from destruction.

My sister is fortunately, more level-headed than my parents, so I moved here for some peace and quiet, on the pretense of worrying about my academic duties.

This morning’s breakfast was the usual.

Toast.

Bacon and eggs.

Cheese.

Orange juice.

I understand she’s already preoccupied with a lot of things, but I wish she’d prepare rice more often. I’d be understating it if I said her rice is good. Her ‹‹Pineapple Fried Rice›› is God. It’s almost enough to make me fall in love with my own sister.

We ate breakfast with barely exchanging any comments. We still don’t understand each other that much. We weren’t by far close to begin with, mainly because of the huge age gap between us and that we pretty much don’t have anything in common but our parents, but living in this apartment has atleast slowly mended the broken relationship that was once ours.

I know I don’t say it, no matter how many times she handles the bills, or cleans my room, or leaves my dinner when I’m not able to come home early and she has to leave for the night, I can’t ever be honest in front of her, but from the bottom of my heart, I’m grateful for having her as a sister.


Part 2
Spoiler! :
If there’s an explanation for the end of the world, ‹‹God›› would probably be the first thing that pops up in anyone’s mind. It is the work of ‹‹God››. It is the word of ‹‹God››. The ‹‹Apocalypse›› is the decision of ‹‹God››. It is judgment, for all the sins that humankind has committed, and ‹‹God›› is no more exacting his verdict on everyone than cats are scratching walls to sharpen their claws.

That’s a rather condescending way of looking at things, if not outright disgraceful. I won’t, I repeat, I won’t deny the existence of ‹‹God››. I have always believed in the presence of higher beings.

‹‹Spirits››.

‹‹Ghosts››.

‹‹Angels››…

Whatever terms humans have cropped up with time and time.

But on the other hand, I also believe humans are low beings.

Sure, we are not mere animals. We’ve evolved far from our “supposedly” primate ancestors. We have gained intelligence far beyond any other animal has out there.
We have concepts of morality, emotions, philosophical questions on the meaning of life; we’ve even come to understood the concept of ‹‹God››. Yet, what many fail to realize is that it’s exactly because there is ‹‹God›› that we are low.

We always view ‹‹God›› as all-powerful.

All-present.

All.

Ask a kid what ‹‹God›› is and chances are the answer would be Santa Claus. ‹‹God›› is all-knowing. ‹‹God›› sees you, and always knows who’s been bad and good.

But in addition, ‹‹God›› himself is never bad. Always he is good. Always. Itsumo. Even when we don’t know the purpose of ‹‹God’s›› actions, we deem it as rightful. Why is there pain in the world. Why is there inequality. Why is there death. ‹‹God›› is not stupid. We’re stupid. We just have no choice but to believe ‹‹God›› has a just and righteous answer, because that’s the very definition of ‹‹God›› to begin with, and that’s where this all comes to.

‹‹God›› can destroy the world whenever he wants and we would never question him even once. He has that discretion.

‹‹God››, being the ultimate creator of the universe, has the sole right to end it, anytime, anyway, be it on a whim or for a greater purpose, and perhaps it’s exactly for this purpose that I’ve come to hate ‹‹God›› so much.

Let’s get one thing straight. I believe only in ‹‹God’s›› existence, not in ‹‹God’s›› authority.

I don’t believe the universe is fair when it created humans as humans, and created ‹‹God›› as ‹‹God››. All should be equal. No one entity should be able to look down on others, or to destroy anyone’s world on a whim, because if it was the case otherwise, then the higher being would become conceited, and the lower beings would have no choice but to submit.

I know it’s hard to imagine ‹‹God›› as being conceited. He’s ‹‹God›› after all! Again as I already said, he’s kind, he’s generous, he’s righteous all the time. He’s probably smart and handsome and all other good things as well. He’s everything, everytime.

He’s the ‹‹All››, the ‹‹One››, the ‹‹Universe››, the ‹‹Self››, and even went out of his way to teach the ‹‹Homunculus in a Flask›› a hard brutal lesson on humility. But trust me: that’s not the case in real life. And I’m not just talking about if Kobasen became ‹‹God›› here.

Let me give you an example. Have you ever looked down a line of ants and imagined what it would be like if you killed one? You are capable of killing one, of course. The question is: would you.

Theoretically, the world timeline diverges into two paths here, one where you killed the ants, and another where they lived safely. Needless to say, time splits and you determine which between these two possibilities will occur.

You have that power. You are a higher being, and the ants are lower beings. You have the option, to kill them with just a fingertip.
Now how does it feel like to be a high being. Feels good doesn’t it? It makes you feel important, like you’re a crucial parameter in the construction of the universe. It would just start out as one ant, and then a colony, eventually transpiring into bigger things with bigger impacts.

‹‹Butterfly Effect››.

This is a common theme in time travel movies, a phenomenon where changing something in a timeline, no matter how small, can propagate on and on until it drastically changes everything. The name is taken for how the flapping of a small butterfly’s wings can ultimately induce a tornado. Simply put, by entropy, small things bring unpredictable changes. It always does. That’s why Okabe Rintarou was an idiot for not realizing things are going to go horribly wrong the moment he met Moeka. Anyway.

Now then, reconsider that you are not the highest being in the universe. There is an even higher one, watching you, discerning the decision you’ll make whether you kill the ant or not.

Between these two future possibilities, you are no longer in control of the universe. Sure, you’re still the one responsible for your actions. But that’s it. You kill the ant, ‹‹God›› does the rest. You’re no longer in control of anything else.

The future becomes blurred. You don’t know the results anymore. You can’t judge if the ‹‹Butterfly Effect›› is getting stronger or you are just playing mindlessly into someone else’s plans. You’re now, at best a proxy and at worst a mindless instrument, that will determine for ‹‹God›› what happens in the future. If it’s good, you pass. If it’s bad, the blame will naturally fall on you even if it wasn’t entirely your fault.


It’s ‹‹God’s›› fault.


But ‹‹God›› is never at fault.


Therefore…

It’s your fault. It’s your fault no matter what.



That’s quite the different story now, is it? When it was just you, either way was fine. But now that there’s ‹‹God››, killing or not killing the ant is almost like a heavy responsibility, a burden even. If you killed the ant and it started a fire, you’re to blame. Even if say you didn’t kill the ant, but that decision brought about the destruction of the universe, then everyone only has you to blame.

‹‹God›› is immune to judgment, so the blame falls onto you, without you knowing any better. ‹‹God’s›› pressure is weighing down on you the same way a teacher looks down on students answer sheets during a big test.

That’s what it means to be a low being. It’s not so much as a question of free will. Will we still pull through with our own decisions? Without taking fear of ‹‹God›› into account?

‹‹God›› hasn’t even made a move yet, but despite this, he’s already exuding enough pressure to cloud your choice. ‹‹God›› exudes so much pressure we can’t help but worship him. That’s the worst part.

Just as much as you can kill the ants, ‹‹God›› can easily kill you any moment. He breathes down on us, walking on the streets and entering buildings, as though we are tiny insects frolicking on the ground.

That might even be an understatement! We could just be germs in the air to him. He might not be watching us because the difference in power is so great we’re not of interest to him anymore. That would explain why he’s not physically in this world right now, ruling over everything. He thinks we’re worthless trash, so worthless it’s not even worth ruling us, or destroying us, or even bothering with us at all.

As Komachi said, you can’t even imagine the things that would happen, if God were to move a fingertip.

How is ‹‹God›› not conceited after that? It’s clearly a fluke. The higher being gets conceited, and the lower being submits. ‹‹God››, being the highest of them all, would therefore be the most conceited of all. That’s how it goes, and that’s how everyone is a fool.

Everyone is a fool, for spending every day going to church, worshipping ‹‹God››. It astonishes me how people could stomach such things so nonchalantly.

It’s obvious enough why we worship ‹‹God››. Because we are at the mercy of ‹‹God››, but little do you realize that to worship ‹‹God›› is to acknowledge defeat, to accept fully that we are, far, far, far lower than ‹‹God››. Why everyone is so busy worshipping ‹‹God›› when they can hate him instead, I’ll never know.
Does it satisfy them so much to play by someone else’s rules? Like a puppet-bound string?

Is it the fear perhaps? But isn’t that all the more reason for us to fight off our fears and challenge ‹‹God›› face on? To confront him face to face?

I’ve tried again and again to tell this to people, but I really don’t have that much of an influence, most people take me for a joke, I’d be too lazy to explain if the argument will just get nowhere, and my sister would make me mop the second floor before she engages me in a serious conversation.

I hate ‹‹God››.

I’d defy ‹‹God›› if I knew the first step how.

If ‹‹God›› created me not knowing I would come to hate him, then ‹‹God›› is a fool. And if ‹‹God›› had half the brains we all have come to believe, then he’d destroy all of humanity before we destroy him.

Hey, that’s not such a bad idea. Maybe that’s why the ‹‹Apocalypse›› is happening tomorrow. ‹‹God›› finally came to his senses and realized that we would eventually find a way to rise into the hierarchy of beings. Maybe one day we’d be able to surpass ‹‹God››. So right now he’s being careful and making the most logical move, the so-called ‹‹Apocalypse››.

Just kidding. I’m pretty confident that’s not what ‹‹God›› would do.

Why? Because I’m not as much of an idiot as the average man. Don’t ever lump me in with you normals. ‹‹God›› is a higher being, and if there’s one thing inherent in all high beings, it’s pride. It’s the same with politics, with presidents and bosses, with every single consciousness in power.

‹‹God›› created humans.

If he destroys us just because of some lame reason, then it’d be the same as admitting he made a mistake, the mistake of creating humans in the first place. Who cares if 99% of the population still worship him, still think he’s right even as the world crumbles? If so much as one person realizes that ‹‹God›› regretted a mistake, it would change everything.

‹‹God›› must not show any weakness to humans. ‹‹God›› has his ego to protect. That’s why, ‹‹God’s›› pride would prevent himself from doing so.
And so, please never treat me like I’m an ordinary person. I want to achieve the position of ‹‹God››. To do that, I need to imagine what it should be like, what I need to be
in the shoes of ‹‹God››.

If I need as much pride as there are stars in the universe, then so be it. I’ll gather up my pride and look down on humans the same way ‹‹God›› looks down on them. Maybe then, I’ll come to realize a bit of the something that ‹‹God›› is keeping secret.

I stopped by a rustling of the bushes, just as a familiar skirt was protruding from the thicket. I need not see the face to know who’s behind that belongs to. How often do you see this on your way to school, and the day before the ‹‹Apocalypse›› no less? Maybe I’ll unravel the secret of this first before moving onto something bigger.

“Oi, prez,” I called out. “You’re underwear’s showing.”

And sure enough, a girl with shoulder-length pink hair shot up and took a reflexive glance at her back, then realizing that contrary her skirt was perfectly intact, she went on to look up at my face, pouting more than she had ever pouted in her life.

“Mind telling me what you were doing?” I asked, though it was not so much as a question of what anymore, but who.

She shifted her glasses, which she probably thought was cool but wasn’t.

“Nothing,” she said proudly.

I knelt down on the bush beside her, took a view of the other side and as it turns out, that nothing was a pair of baseball players walking down the far end of the street.

“Honestly, why does your imagination have to be so committed first thing in the morning?”

“I- I have no idea what you’re talking about!” she flustered in a denial-‘til-death manner.

“Is that so? Then let’s see, ummm…


Are you sure?

Don’t worry. No one will see us here.


“Oi! I haven’t even gotten to the lewd part and your nose is already bleeding!”

“Eheheh...”

Chifuyu snapped out of her reverie and began to wipe her nose with her sleeve.

“Hey use a handkerchief. Are you a kid or something? Here…”

I took out a hankie and covered her nose with it.

“Anks,” she chuckled, scratching the back of her head.

Chifuyu Kawazaki. President of the Game Creation Club. Compulsive fujoshi (likes boy x boy romantic pairings). Needless to say, she’s a hentai no sane person should ever associate himself with, and I’m not just saying this because she’s wearing a kunoichi ninja outfit under her uniform, or the fact that eight grader syndrome has her fully convinced she has 10,000 secret jutsu scrolls hidden somewhere in her memory. I’m only acquaintances with her since, as I have no friends, I really can’t be picky who I associate myself with.

“Hey, you’ve got something on your face, Jin,” Chifuyu said gesturing at my left cheek. As soon as she touched it, a sudden jolt of pain seared across my face. It seems I had a small wound, though I oddly hadn’t noticed it until now.

“You didn’t get into another fight again, did you? If you need help, I shall let you borrow the 54th hidden Kawazaki seal of luck!”

“I wouldn’t get just one scratch if I was on a fight, now would I?” I asked, wondering what kind of sink her brain drains down to everyday. “And stop it with the ninja nonsense already. That doesn’t exist.”

“Ah mou~”

It felt weird. I don’t recall anything happening this morning. I didn’t fall on the bathtub. As far as I remember, when I checked myself in the mirror before leaving the apartment, I’m pretty sure there was no wound on any visible part of my skin, plus I should have felt this m*****f***** sting like hell the moment I washed my face. It’ almost a wonder how I got this.

Well, small things like this shouldn’t be bothered with. One scratch is not gonna kill me, and I’d have no right to call myself a former delinquent if I’m worrying myself over something this trivial.

“Should we get going? If we waste any more time here we’ll be late for school.”

She nodded silenty.

“Anything wrong?” I asked once we resumed our walk. “Is it a bad day for Virgos again?”

She shook her head. “Fufufu, as if such a thing could even hope to happen. I’ll have you know Virgos have the best of luck today.”

“Ja, what is it then?”
“It’s just that… Don’t you think it’s a bit lonely that most of the houses here are now deserted?”

“Yea…”

As I have already mentioned, it’s the day before the ‘supposed’ ‹‹Apocalypse››. This road for example, normally has morning traffic of around 4 students for every 10 meters. I should know. It’s one of the most preferred routes for walking to school, perfect for trying to avoid somebody (lol). Right now however, it looks like the measure’s even less than 0.5.

Needless to say, all the people who believed that nonsense of the ‹‹Apocalypse›› drove out to find a safer place than this town. Where such a place exists I can only guess. Anyway, only about 30% of the original population currently remains, and because most of the believers left, it’s now the perfect place for a non-believer to chill in.

Well I say that, but the counts migrating inside are still rather small, so the town is still majorly deserted. In fact, I’d say all the new strangers are only making this place feel more desolate.

Funny how this town easily became a town of skeptics in a record night, though I realized the atmosphere had gotten quite heavy since the mention of the migration. It’s no surprise. Chifuyu is the typical genki girl who derives power from cheerful stuff. The thing about girls like her is that they’d get really depressed when shown something depressing.

“If you want something to cheer you up, we could practically break into every home down this block and make a fortune out of all the left furniture,” I suggested.

“You shouldn’t do that, Jin,” she scolded.

“I know, I know. It was a joke, geez…”

“I’m sure ‹‹God›› would not end the world tomorrow, and when everyone comes to realize that, they’ll all come back to this town. All the kids will be here, and all the empty blinds would be raised again, and I’m sure they’d never know what came over them, to leave this town in the first place.”

She said that with such a dreamy expression I almost agreed for a second, but I know those traitors are nothing but worthless scum. Their loyalty lies all over the place. If I were ‹‹God›› of this town and people knowingly left for their own safety, then the only penalty for that should be never being allowed back inside again.

True loyalty is something humans lack. Loyalty to a president, loyalty to a certain artist; times change, and people all the more. That’s probably why we’re lower than ‹‹Angels››. ‹‹Angels›› are always loyal.

They were not meant to change…





…so they could never betray ‹‹God››.


Part 3
Spoiler! :
“Yo,” a striking, black-haired girl greeted us as we came. She had a fierce face, with dark violet eyes and fair complexion. “What’s that wound on your face?”

“Nevermind that, this isn’t even your class. What are you doing here, Arashi?”

“I’m a ‹‹Delinquent››. Does that answer your question?”

So she says, and it has a bit of truth in it. Arashi has had a fair share of the delinquent life, I can testify, but right now her sphere of influence is far greater than I could have ever hoped to imagine five years ago. She’s now the president of the student council body, and you could say she’s slowly fitting back into the world of ordinary students.

Still though, she still has traces of her former delinquent ways, more like a coping mechanism or a form of denial actually, and mind you, her version of a delinquent
is getting shallower and shallower every day.

“Uhhh, no. Delinquents don’t go to school, that’s what they do, not barge into someone else’s classes.”

Her face contorted, to that of someone who just got called by the teacher but doesn’t know the answer.

“That’s… well…”

Her eyes scanned the floor, as her shoulders continuously shifted in a seesaw manner, and when she wasn’t able to give me an answer, pushed me into the wall. She ran past, opened the window and jumped out, her miniskirt revealing a flash of pink undergarments, screaming “Jin you idioooooot!!” as she fell away.

“Woah~” Chifuyu whistled. “How does she jump out just like that, and from the third floor nonetheless. As expected of the great Hanzo clan’s Arashi-dono…”

I didn’t bother checking out the window to see if she was okay. Past experiences have told me that she’s a monster compared to normal humans. She’s survived far worse actually.

“Honestly. I know you’re a delinquent and all, but that’s no reason to make a girl cry.”

“Chifuyu, the same goes for you too,” I retorted. “Get out of here already.”

“You know, if there’s a reason you still don’t have a girlfriend you’re pretty much staring at it now~”

“I don’t need a girlfriend,” I stressed, sandwiching her head on my knuckles.

“Why don’t you try saying that in front of Minako’s face then?” she taunted, breaking free.

“Why you little!”

“Haha! I hit a soft spot, didn’t I? Meeting at 4 o’clock this afternoon!!” she yelled as she stalked out of the room. “Make sure to tell Kannazuki and Rize as well!!!”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

“Looks like you’ve got it rough too, eh?”

I turned around. Sitting right behind me was a fine boy with foreign type blond hair that goes into a dark shade of brown as it goes down. He had electric blue eyes, and skin so fair you could mistake it for cotton. He was leaning enjoyably on his desk, his head resting on an arm, like a playful noble inviting his wingman for a cocktail drink.

I went over to my seat and propped my bag, opening the new volume of Denpa Kyoushi without a glance.

“Don’t you have something to say?”

“Not really.”

“Is that so? I’m pretty sure Prez just told you to pass a message for me~”

“If you were listening in on the conversation then there’s really no need to tell you now, is there?”

“Ouch,” he said innocently. “Ja, shouldn’t you tell Rize the news then?”

“You do it.”

“C’mon. You know she’s not too fond of me.”

“Isn’t that just your excuse for things?”

He stood up, as though taking a dare he was given, went over and stood in front of Rize. I closed my manga for a moment to watch.
Rize was also the non-Japanese type: light blue hair, soft, pink eyes and cerulean glasses to go with it. She was in the middle of reading our textbook, and did not spare him any attention in the slightest bit.

“Yo, Rize,” he greeted. “Chifuyu just came and told us ther’ll be a meeting 4 o’clock this afternoon. Same venue.”

There was no response whatsoever.

“We’ll be expecting you then. Ja ne!”

He returned shortly after that, a wide smile on his face as though to tell me I told you so.

“Fine, fine!” I surrendered. “Mattaku…”

I shifted from my seat.

“Hey Rize, we have a meeting later this afternoon.”

She slowly looked up at me, then looked down.

“I heard,” she nodded, before burying her face deep in the book.

“Must be nice to be you. I’m really stumped how you’re the only one who can make her say anything in response.”

“Well first off, I try not to approach her like a hentai creep.”

“I see,” he said amazed, though that was obviously filled with either sarcasm or outright ignorance. “Man, you really are something to be able to hit on Rize. I bet you’d
be able to pick up any girl that comes your way, without even breaking a sweat.”

“Oi, that was 120% sarcasm right there, wasn’t it?”

“Of course nooot, why would you say that~”

“Are you even for real? Me, hitting on girls? I’d rule Bosnia first before that ever happens.”

He stared at me intently, then after a few moments, broke into a teasing smile.

“What?”

“Being loyal to Minako again today?”

I nearly gagged on thin air. ‘Wha- Wha-”

“Awww, you’re actually cute when you blush.”

“Shut up!”

“Hey speaking of which, there she goes now,” he gestured oblivious to what I said.

Minako. Friendly. Kind. Shy. She’s the yamato nadeshiko of the class, the perfect example of a mountain princess. She’s grown, and in more ways than one, since the last time we hung out together. Back when I still wasn’t a delinquent, that is.

She had waist length blond hair, soft blue eyes, and a whole load of cherry related accessories. Cherry umbrella. Cherry hairclip. Cherry earrings. Cherry necklet. I’m guessing even cherry lipstick. She always was fond of those things. Even when we were little, she always had dibs on all the cherries, be it cake or ice cream.

“Hey Jin, I’m only teasing you okay? It’s kinda creepy when you space out like that.”

“Silence. How many times do I have to tell you, I don’t have a thing for anyone.”

Well, that was only partly true. I did like Minako at some point, back when we were still kids, but certain circumstances like ours aren’t meant to blend or even touch. You see, she’s the type of student to finish her homework the day before, go to class early so she can clean it before the lesson starts, and head various activities related to the school.

She’s liked by almost everyone, boys and girls, and add to beauty and brains, she’s fairly well to do as well. I, on the other hand, well… let’s just say, I don’t even have the right to lick her feet.

Our teacher soon came after that, so everyone returned to their respective seats. Little did we know what surprise awaited us. She was carrying a huge stack of paper, probably about half her height.

“Okay class, get your pens out. We’ll have our surprise end-of-term long exam right now.”

“WHAT!” the whole class chorused.

I was surprised too, though I kind of already felt something bad was going to happen. The ‹‹Apocalypse›› is not about burning mountains and freezing storms. For us students, the day Ms. Tokiwada told us we’d be having the final exam, when we’ve barely covered a tenth of the topics for the semester, that death flag was ‹‹Apocalypse›› enough.

“What’s the big deal?” she asked with a generous smile. It doesn’t take a Tokuchi to know that under that smile is a whole world of hurt. She’s probably even delusional right now, given her unkempt hair and creasy uniform. “Since it’s the end of the world tomorrow, we might as well get this over with right now.”

“Have you gone mad?”

“No, Isshiki, I am perfectly fine, thank you,” Miss Tokiwada said, accidentally dropping our exam papers all over the floor. She clearly had too much coffee to start the day.

Our teacher, Miss Tokiwada, Christmas cake over thirty, was generally a kind and smart person. Today though, her cognitive skills may not be as sharp as they were, and it’s not that hard to guess what’s causing her paranoia. She’d be one of those you call ‘believers’ of the ‹‹Apocalypse››, the only reason she’s not able to leave town is probably by orders of the principal or not enough money. Either way, she’s agitated she won’t be able to fulfill any of her lifelong dreams if the world ends tomorrow (which it won’t), and who to take it out better on than us, right?

I expected blood to come out gushing everywhere the moment this was mentioned, but surprisingly though, the class didn’t put up much of a fight. I’m not sure if they had a previous discussion in preparation for this, (I wouldn’t know, I’m not the social type), but their line of thought probably goes:

Let’s take a shot at this gamble. In the event that the apocalypse does not come tomorrow, we’d practically have the rest of the term free to ourselves,


…although that’s a too optimistic way of looking at things if you ask me. Best case scenario if we’re still alive tomorrow is we’ll go on with our class as usual; worst case scenario is that we’d fail the exam and be given twice as much work until new year. I stand firm that ‹‹God›› won’t end the world tomorrow, but between that and suffering twice the schoolwork, it’d be kinder if ‹‹God›› ended the world tomorrow then.


Part 4
Spoiler! :
“Crap. I forgot my bento.”

“You weft your bento at home?” Kannazuki munched.

*Gulp. “Hmmm… That’s quite the unusual mistake, even for you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Eh?” he grimaced, pressing nearer and nearer to my face. “You don’t know? You really don’t know??”

“Wipe that smirk off your face. It’s creepy.”

He sat back down.

“Ma~ no use stating the obvious. Would you like half of mine?”

“Thanks, but no thanks. I’m heading to the cafeteria.”

“Ah~ While you’re at it, could you get me a juice box?”

I raised my hand to let him know I heard.

“Thanks.”

The hallway seemed a bit more spacious today, now that it wasn’t half as crowded as it usually would’ve been on a normal school day. Lines of 20 people should have formed by now, but much like how the streets were on our way to school, the lack of people made the sight look just plain sad.

Well, if there’s one silver lining to this cloud, it’s that when I reached the cafeteria there was no queue to wait for. I normally hate going here, it’s messy, it’s noisy, it’s too bustling with crowds… Come to think of it, when was the last time I came here? I rarely forget my bento, so I guess I didn’t have much of an opportunity.

I skimmed the list of items for something that looked good. Since I’ve barely been here before, it was hard to judge the food just from the names. ‹‹God›› has to pick out the bad and the good of peoples everyday, and yet I can’t even pick out which of these items is edible.

‹‹God’s›› work must be tough.

In the end, I decided I’d go for a simple yakisoba pan. I was about to order when a sharp tug at the back of my shirt forced me to stop and turn around. Coughing, I scanned the room for the perpetrator, but I didn’t see anyone.

“Down here.”

I glanced at the source of the voice, and found a short expressionless girl staring up at me. She had light eyes as blue as the sky, her skin white as the clouds, and her hair dyed in a sunset combination of yellow and red, a butterfly hair accessory to top off her ponytail.

It was hard to believe she was human. It’s like watching a captivating landscape scenery, personified into a doll-like form. She seemed familiar, yet I’m sure I had never laid eyes on anyone that beautiful before. I’d gladly quit chasing God if humans can be this beautiful.

The more I looked at her, the more I realized I haven’t seen her before. She does wear the school uniform, albeit rather messily. The sleeve buttons were undone, so was her collar, which ended up showing a considerable part of her cleavage as I looked down.

“Are you thinking of lewd thoughts about me right now?”

I snapped to my senses.

“Ermm, sorry, but I’m not into little kids.”

She glanced down, “Is that so?” and I saw a tiny paper bag held between her pristine hands. “You’re into older women?”

“No. That’s not necessarily the case either, and if you don’t mind, it feels uncomfortable to have a stranger I just met telling me what kind of women I’m into.”

Without still showing the slightest of emotions, she tilted her head.



“But you are into your older sister, are you not?”




I nearly choked on my own breath. “Wha- What are you talking about!”

“Tuesday, January 22nd. 6 o’clock in the morning you complimented her hair when she was having a bad day at work. After she thanked you warmly you shut yourself in your room and lay for an hour without moving. February 10th, Sunday, you agreed to let her use the shower first and even prepared her bath. February 14th, you sabotaged the chocolates she was trying to make, on account of the boys she might possibly give them to. Feburary 23rd, you brought her lingerie to the washer, but still did not sniff anythi-”

“HEY! This is practically sexual harassment you know! And don’t say anything that might be misconstructed!!! ONE, I wasn’t moving in my bed probably because I was asleep, TWO, putting the salt in the chocolate was an accident, and THREE I’m pretty sure it’s perfectly fine for a brother to prepare his sister’s bath!”

She tilted her head. “I’m afraid I don’t see the difference.”

I almost tore my hair in frustration. “How the hell did you even know all that???”

Crap. Who the hell is this girl? She seems far beyond a stalker, those details are way too exact to be the workings of a simple stalker. A spy perhaps? Was she watching me 24/7? Or is she just a proxy and someone is feeding her intel from the shadows? I may be reading too much manga as of late.

In any case, something tells me no good could possibly arise if I associate myself with her. While she doesn’t seem entirely dangerous, she’s creeping me out. I have to get away from her as quickly as possible.

“Would you…” she started again.

I took a deep breath and readied myself.

“Would you like to eat some of my fries?”

That was not the cut I was expecting. I raised my brow. “Excuse me?”

She raised the paper bag in front of her, and still, in a doll-like voice, “Would you like some?”

I hardly had any idea what she could possibly mean. Why in the world is a total stranger asking me to eat fries? Are those really fries? They weren’t poisoned, were they? No, I’m pretty sure I haven’t done anything to anyone that would warrant them to murder me.

My guts are telling me not to eat jack squat, but then again, if she’ll leave me alone after I eat those fries… On the other hand, she’ll probably have one more demand after that, and then another, and so on. I can’t take her up on every request like that.

“Do I just eat the fries?” I asked carefully.

She nodded.

“I don’t have to do anything else after that?”

She nodded again.

“You’ll leave me alone?”

*Nod.

I don’t know her and she doesn’t know me, or rather, it seems like she knows almost everything about me, (and at this point I don’t wanna know how), but I guess if she’ll leave me after I it, then so be eat. No, got that mixed up.

“Fine,” I said, “I’ll eat those.”

Her expression seemed to lighten up. Not that she was happy. She was still practically emotionless, like those famous archetypes you find in anime, especially in opposite twin sisters where the genki girl is extremely cheerful while the robotic one barely has any emotions.

I can sort of understand the appeal of that. Showing no emotions reduces a character’s flexibility, and usually all the other characters she communicates with will have trouble deciphering her true emotions. Even if there is someone, preferably the main character, who understands every bit of what she’s saying, it generally causes him great difficulty trying to relay it to others.

As it stands, the emotionless character is always the center of attraction, (with characters constantly trying to find a way to get closer to her and failing), while not entirely being attractive in of itself. However, the real magic happens when that emotionless character do, for once, succeed in finding emotions.

That moment when the robotic-android-cyborg-alien-ghost-and-other-things girl finally gets accustomed to human feelings, shines brightly as a one-of-a-kind moment, whether it be because of her own free will, or a magic curse was lifted, or what of it. Having a seemingly cold-hearted character show compassion, only after a long and restless journey of non-emotions, amplifies the drama in that instant a hundred fold.

Yuzuru, Nagato, Shiina, to name only a few. The list goes on forever actually. Even stronger is when these characters are given full emotions on a non-canon part of the show. I’m not a fan of happy smiles, but even episodes of that can throw me off my socks.

Case in point, Eucliwood Hellscythe of Kore wa Zombie Desu ka. Not the shit parts. I’m talking about Of the Dead. The mini clips at the end of every episode, with mini ‘Eucliwoods’ running around and doing everything they want in meek, waifu voices, creates a great contrast with the silent and wordless Eucliwood from the real show.

Another very good example here would be Raven from Teen Titans. In the actual show she’s mean, anti-social, and doesn’t care much about what happens around her. In Teen Titans Go, well, she still doesn’t care about a lot of things, but this time she’s small! Aand add to the fact that she plays with little ponies when no one’s looking, it stretches her appeal beyond the limits.

Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that, emotionless characters are like diamonds. Their emotions are like rare items, but not in a bad way, that only makes the time they do shine all the more dazzling. I believe that’s what I saw in her when I agreed to eat her fries. She showed a little bit of emotion, and a little bit of appeal, in contrast to being completely unfazed just a second ago.

Too bad stalkers looking for you to eat their lunch really doesn’t produce the kind of appeal you’d expect. I just ended up having a sick feeling in my stomach and wanted to get it over with as soon as possible.

I walked over to her, and relieved her of the paper bag.

“Are you a second year?” I asked as I rummaged through the contents.

She shook her head.

“A freshman then? You don’t look like you know much about this school yet.”

Once more, she shook her head. I’m feeling something rough and messily shaped.

“Do you like fries?”

She shook her head.

“Good, because I’d be totally pissed if you said you liked fries while not knowing what they are in the first place!!” I yelled, taking out the contents and handing it just an inch from her face.

She stared, cross-eyed, at the lump in front of her nose, then looked up at me in the same expression, “what do you mean?”

“This,” I explained, like a professor teaching the basics of chemistry, “is a potato. A raw one!”

She inclined her head, as though not understanding the point I’m making. “Do you not like it?”

I almost dropped the potato in amazement. How? Just, what kind of prank is this girl trying to pull off? It’s even too ridiculous to be considered a prank. I calmed myself, put the potato back in its bag, and then handed it back to her.

“Sorry, but I’m not going to eat a raw potato. Goodbye.”

I turned around, convinced that really might a prank, a pitiful last prank done as a celebration to the end of the world, but just as I was preparing to walk away, she tugged at my clothes again.

“How many times do I have to tell you, I-”

My sentence was cut short. It’s just like before. Her expression right now is not showing anything, physically, but under that I’m feeling an overwhelming abundance
of something. It’s like her soul was burning with passion behind window eyes.




“Please don’t go, God” she voiced out. “You’re my only hope.”
Shizune
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Re: OLN: I Don't Understand You God

Post by Shizune »

I Don't Understand You God
Original English Light Novel

Chapter 2


Half-finished Artist's Rendition

Part 1 of 2
Spoiler! :
“Excuse me?” I said, but not before the breaking of a long pause of silence, for the girl who had just addressed me as ‘God’ without flinching continued as though expecting me to make sense of her statement. “What did you just call me?”

“God.”

“God?”

“Yes,” she replied unfazed, eyes slightly twinkling.

“Okay. Just what exactly do you mean by that,” I sighedtrying hard to keep my voice straight.

“I believeaddressing you as God is not inappropriate for this context, God.”

“Stop calling me God. You know, just because my name is Jin, doesn’t mean I’m god, got that?”

“God?”

“Not God!!”

Pathetic. I always imagined the first one who’d call me God would be an incredibly beautiful chick, whom after being saved from the clutches of evil, and after laying witness to my awesomeness, would declare her everlasting loyalty to me for all time to come, and me, wounded and weakened yet still standing on my last legs, would bless her a consecration befitting my royal follower.

I didn’t think it’d be from a messily dressed freshman who’s trying to make me eat a potato. The waifu element is the only thing that actually fits right now, but everything else is a big fat miss.

“Would you like to eat the fries now, God?”

“You’re still going on about that?”

“The whole fate of humanity rests on you eating these fries.”

“How.”

“I cannot explain. You would not understand.”

“You don’t say…”

“If you are not going to eat, then you leave me no choice but to use force.”

“Heh~ Are you sure about that? You think you can take me on?”

I may be a delinquent, but I’m lazy first and a delinquent only second. Because I try not to finish fights with as little energy as possible, my defensive skills have completely skyrocketed for the past years. In fact, I’ve even earned a little nickname for me already, The Walking Sloth. I can have three people attack me simultaneously and none of them would even lay a finger.

It only takes 1 kilogram of force to deflect an oncoming punch of 10 kilograms. That’s my principle. When defending, speed is more important than force, and I doubt any normal person has the speed to outmatch my reflexes, let alone a girl of ramp-model stature.

She closed her eyes and coughed in a business-like tone, “I shall not leave your side until you agree to eat.”

Is this perhaps a mental attack?

“So you say, but what if I try and run away? Do you really think you can catch me on a foot race?”

“Of course. My speed is exceptional. Would you like a demonstration?”

“No.”

“Please check your pockets.”

“You weren’t even listening.”

I rummaged through my jeans, and sure enough, something that shouln’t be there, was there, something rough and lumpy.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” I yelled out in disbelief as I took out a potato out of my own pocket. “How did you-”

“I sneakily put it in when you turned around earlier,” she said placing a sideways V of index and middle finger beside her eye.

“That has nothing to do with speed then! That was nothing more than a sneak attack.”

“If you insist on not eating the fries-”

“They’re not even fries!”

“-Shall I interest you in a free lunch then?”

“You mean, like, your treat?”

“Hai-”

“Are you sure? I’ll order the most expensive item you know? And I won’t feel bad about it no matter how much you pester me the next morning.”

“If we do not fulfill thisthen there will be no next morning. Preventing a worst case disaster is top priority-”

“Yea yeah yeah spare me the details.”

“I wouldn’t worry about the cost if I were you. Case in point, I found this wallet conveniently lying on the ground just a while ago.”

“Hey that’s my wallet!!”

I tried to snatch it but contrary to her appearance, she has excellent kinesthetic skills. In fact, she was too quick it didn’t seem quite human for a second. I tried with all my might to get it back but didn’t even lay a finger.I was out of breath before I knew it.

She continued to stare at me as I huffed and panted for air.

“Does me watching the sight of you sweat and pant desperately only turn you on even more? Hentai.”

“LIKE HELL I AM! Give me back my wallet!!”

“I can let you borrow 1000 yen, but that’ll have an interest of 5000% by the time you pay it back tomorrow (assuming we successfully prevent the apocalypse).”

“What kind of a rip-off interest is that???”

“Here, I’ll even give you a bonus and make it 2000.”

She took out the bills and placed them neatly between her cleavage. She then proceeded to stare at me as though it’s my turn to roll a die.

“What?”

“Do you want them more plump than this?”

She started embracing herself, prominently by the upper torso such that her chest swelled and tightened.The next thing I knew she had grabbed a hold of me and was pressing the front of her body against mine.

“What are you doing??? St- Stop it!”
I’ve never been more thankful there’s no one around to see this.

“You want me to keep going? I can make them the same size as your sister’s.”

“Shut up!”

“Your ears are getting red.”

“Stop it with the sexual harassment I say!”

By a lucky margin I tipped the wallet out of her hand, though not in a direction I’d like, and it took me only a moment too late to realize what mistake I had done. The cafeteria was situated on the second floor, and as you’ve probably already guessed, I took an unknowing leap of faith by chasing after my wallet as it fell out the window.

The wind blew gently over my face as I plummeted headfirst into the ground.I felt free as a bird, almost as if I was freed from these shackles called life.Memories of my condescending life flashed one after another before me. Sorry, Mom and Dad.
I didn’t respect you.

I landed square on a thicket of rose bush. I always thought the rose garden was the school’s most refined aesthetic. Never have I regretted that more than now.

I rose out of the bush, thorn-covered and bleeding in several places. My clothes weren’t looking any better than me, and just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, a tiny shadow on the spot where I stood directly over slowly and gradually widened.

With a bad feeling, I looked up, and saw polka dotted panties crashing down. The blow probably knocked me out for a few seconds, but when I opened my eyes, someone’s crotch is resting over my face.

“You again!”

“I’ll follow you for the rest of my life, God,” the blonde-haired girl said without bothering to cover up her lingerie.

“I told you I’m not God. And get off me why don’t you. You’re heavier than you look.”

“How mean,” she moaned, but instead of moving over, she only shifted around and turned to face me. Now I was lying face up and she was sitting on my stomach, her hands on my chest.

“Oi…” I stuttered, leaning back just as she started moving her face closer towards me. “What kind of ecchi rom-com do you think this is?”

“If you won’t eat with me, then this is the only choice.” She continued to lean ever closer to me. “Close your eyes.”

The distance between us shrank faster than the seconds lengthened. My heart began to pace, as her lips drew closer and closer to mine. She smelled surprisingly nice. I felt light-headed, covered in sweat, only one thought came to my mind now.

This was probably a dream.

That’s right. A dream. And a highly messed up one at that. After all, no girl would senselessly go after me like this in real life. Well to be fair this has never happened inside any of my dreams too.

I probably did something regretful today, and my subconscious is trying to tell me something pretty deep. I found my own hands caressing the back of her head and urging her forward, closer to me. If this was a dream, then I wanna finish this atleast before I wake up.

“Nugh!”

I looked up. Arashi, who looked like she was in the middle of eating yakisoba bread, stood there gawking down at us in utter shock.

“Jin… Wh-… W- w-”

And that’s when I came to my senses. The weight of my back resting on the ground, the scent of lemon-based perfume, the blood rushing through my head, chirping birds, and the most detailed view of clouds in the vastness. This is no dream. Everything is as real as it gets.

“I can explain” was what I tried to say, but my throat was too dry to utter a single word. Left with no choice, I stood up with all my might and ran as quickly as my legs carried me.

“Jin wait! What were you doing? Don’t leave me! JIN YOU IDIOOOTT!!!”

I looked back. Sure enough, the girl with the paperbag was hot on my trail again.

“Just leave me alone dammit!!”

“All of this would be over if you just eat the fries.”

She continued to follow me wherever I dragged her. The library, the school clinic, even the boy’s bathroom. It took nearly all lunch break. I was running outside the first floor walkway when I came across two familiar faces.

“Shiinaaa!!” I called out.

She was a lightbrown-haired, peaceful girl with a peaceful smile, eating bento peacefully on a stone bench, but the moment she saw me her face immediately wore an expression of great disgust.

“What.”

“Jin, what happened to you?” yelled a Minako who was just finishing lunch. “You’re covered in scratches. You’re a mess.”

“I dunno… Doesn’t he always look like a filthy useless rag?”

“You have to help me,” I panted trying to ignore the dig at my appearance, “a girl’s been after me all lunch break and-”

“Would you like to go for takoyaki next time, Minako?”

“Hey don’t ignore me!!”

“Ugh. It seems a filthy roach had just wandered into our school, Onee-sama.”

“Now, now, why don’t we give Jin a chance and listen to what he has to say.”

Shiina looked like she’d drag me to hell any moment.I also don’t have much time left to delve into the details.

*Ahem.

“Some crazy chick is currently after me. I need you to get her off my back.”

Shiina stared at me with the most pitying look a girl can give.

“What a poor, poor sorry man, Onee-sama. He’s completely lost the ability to distinguish 2D from reality.”

“I didn’t make this up! There really is someone chasing after me dammit.”

Minako was considering her thoughts. “Fine. I’ll help you.”

“EH?”

“Really?”

“B- B-But Onee-sama,…”

“However,” she continued. “I won’t be doing it for free.”

Payment? Minako asking payment in return? This was completely unlike her, plus since this is the first time she asked me this, I have absolutelyno idea what to expect. Shiina is looking like she’d accept no less than my life and soul as sacrifice.

I don’t have time to think. I can hear footsteps drawing closer already. Knowing Minako, I’m sure it won’t be something that heavy. Worst she could do is tell me is run five blocks downtown to buy a cherry-flavored ice cream.

“Fine, one favor. Just take care of her, will you?”

“Leave it to us.”

I hid behind the nearby bushes.

“Are you sure about this, Onee-sama?”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. I’ll give you a little something for helping too.”

Shiina looked like she just won the lottery. She hugged Minako in the most heartfelt embrace you’d find, or atleast that’s only what it looks like ona first glance. Really she’s just burying herself in her chest, and Minako, being the airhead she is, doesn’t realize jack squat.

"Here she comes.”

Just as I thought, she approached those two, almost as if she can smell which places I’ve been to. A few seconds later, she turned around and ran out the front gate. I waited for the signal to come out.

“You saved me,” I sighed.

“It was nothing,” Minako said, looking pleased with herself, while Shiina was on the other hand being awfully quiet.

“You too,” I said to her. “Thanks.”

“I- I didn’t do it for you…Don’t get too full of yourself you brainless rag!”

“Hai hai~”

“Now then,” Minako started.

“Yeah. About your payment. Would you like a massage? Or perhaps a footrub?”

“As if she’d want that, you sick hentai!”

“Nothing of that sort, Jin. It would be more than enough if you could come to the rooftop this afternoon.”

“Eh? Why?”

“Do you have other business today?”

“No no it’s definitely not like that, it’s just… Are you sure that’s all you need from me?”

“Mm,” she nodded.

“I understand. Rooftop at 5:00 then.”

“And would you please come alone?”

“Eh?” Shiina and I chorused.

“Is it no good?”

No, it wasn’t good, (Shiina looked like she’s ready to ambush and/or me the moment I’m alone), but when she makes a face
that cute it’s really hard to refuse.

“Okay,” I sighed.

“Yokatta~ Then, see you later Jin. Come on, Shiina.”

And with two very different glances at me, the pair left for their afternoon class.

I ran through everything that happened in my head. It’s been years since I last properly talked to Minako. You could say we practically killed off all connections. What reason could she possibly have asking me to go to the rooftop? Only one thing crossed my mind today.

Is she going to confess her love for me?

“No way” was what I thought initially, but as I recounted every moment, every last detail of how she acted today, the way she talked, the way she blushed, doubts grew only into suspicions.

Minako and I were classmates. I could’ve gone with her to the classroom, (and risk angering Shiina even more). However, rather than head for class, I just stood there rooted to the spot, baffled, thinking, that somewhere along the line, I agreed to something I shouldn’t have.


Part 2 of 2
Spoiler! :
I didn’t go back to class that afternoon. Since it was the day before the ‹‹Apocalypse››, the lesson’s probably gonna be crap anyway, but more importantly, I was pondering the meaning behind Minako’s words.

She’s a beautiful girl. She has excellent grades, her family’s well-to-do, she’s perfect in nearly every way. It’s not an exaggeration if I said every boy she meets falls in love with her, (nor is it if I said they’ll receive death threats from an unknown brown-haired girl the next day), but there’s a particular reason I can’t be with her.

What is love?

The Greeks had a version of this. It I said in ancient mythology that humans once had four legs, four arms and two heads. Then as punishment, the Gods separated them into two parts, each with two legs, two arms, and one head, the exact half of the original.

As punishment, each human is now incomplete. That’s why they try their best to fill in their missing parts, to find the other half that originally belonged to them. That’s why people love.

It’s a pretty romantic point of view, but put in another way, that would mean that as we are now, we’re not even humans. We’re just half of humans, ‹‹Human 0.5›› if you will. What I originally thought of as a lowly creature, we’re all just half the worth of that.

Can you even stand the thought?

‹‹God›› does not love. ‹‹God›› is a perfect being, one of the prerequisites for which is that he does not require the assistance of another being. ‹‹God›› is alone, but also perfect in that sense.

I want to reach the level of ‹‹God››. That being said, I must refrain from engaging in any illicit activities with the other gender. I won’t ever accept that I’m a ‹‹Human 0.5››. I’m perfect the way I am. If anything, I’m higner than all of you. My advanced philosophical thinking is enough to advance me into a ‹‹Human 2.0››.

That’s why, no matter what happens, I must not give in to my emotions. That’s why I can’t fall in love with Minako. That’s what I’m telling myself, but the truth is, I’m just running away from the truth.

I just don’t want myself tainting her reputation in any way. Friendless, shut-in, and a delinquent. What would people think if they saw me hanging out with her.

I heaved a sigh. Life is strange.

Kannazuki doesn’t sit anywhere near the window so even if I’m high up in a tree right now, I can’t see him even if I wanted to.Minako and Rize were also on the far back, but somehow visible nevertheless. And of course, on the classroom window below, Chifuyu was sending me something in morse, Arashi was sleeping, and Shiina was probably focusing all mental energy on making me fall.

“Senpai~”

I looked down. Two identical looking girls were watching me by the foot of the tree.Their hair this time was brown.

“Ugh, you guys again. What do you want this time?”

“Oh we just thought we’d hunt for a scoop before the world ends,” the one on the left said jovially.

“And what better source of news than the lowest problem student in the student, right?”

“Ah mou senpai, you’re always spot on when it comes to things like this.”

“Sou~ sou~. Are you a mind reader or something?”

“The fact that I’m correct aside, there are other things you can focus on besides my every wrongdoing, you know.”

“We can’t help it.”

“Nothing’s more interesting than a misdeed related to senpai.”

“Isn’t that just your personal opinion? And wait, why are you making it sound like everything I do is a crime?”

“Isn’t it?”

“You once used maple syrup to glue screenplay props because you were too lazy to look for actual glue.”

“Of course, everything fell apart when it was actually put on stage.”

“You flushed all your failing exam papers down the toilet in one go, causing malfunction and a massive flood on the whole of the second floor.”

“You broke the school’s only projector on the first day of school.”

“Aaand you once got caught breaking into the teacher’s office in an attempt to steal (and possibly leak) exam key answers.”

In my defense, regardless of air temperature and humidity, maple syrup should have been enough to support that, had the main lead not only been to rough with the materials; an ordinary, well-working toilet should have been able to handle that much, it’s the school’s budget allocation that’s in the wrong; I didn’t know which rooms are which, and that ceiling projector was broken right from the start. I was the one trying to fix it when the janitorcame all of a sudden and the chair I was standing on fell over. I grabbed onto the projector and took it down with me.

“And about that last part, I surely wouldn’t leak the answers to anyone else unless I was getting paid. What kind of an idiot am I to give people something of that value without getting anything in return?
“Plus, the teachers’ll get a wind of that and all that’ll accomplish is shift the exam to another day. The only way that’d be a plausible choice is if I want to prevent the exam altogether.”

“Woah…”

“Senpai’s head is broken…”

“Ne~ ne~, let’s do that again.”

“Good idea! We still hadn’t done that. Let’s do that, Senpai!”

“Ahh now? Sounds like a pain in the neck.”

“Mou, c’mon senpaiii.”

“I was relaxing here pretty quietly before you two went and bothered me you know.”

“How would you feel if the world ended tomorrow and we die knowing you didn’t fulfill our last request?”

“You know, all that apocalypse thing is justbaloney occult people made up, right?”

“Well yeah, but that is that, and this is this.”

“Just do it already senpai!”

“Yeah do it!”

“Do it!”

“Do it!”

“Do it!”

“Argh fine I’ll do it I’ll do it!”

The Hamasaki twins then high-fived.

“Mattaku, what a hassle you two are…”

“Teehee~”

The pair then locked elbows and proceeded to walk in a continuous circle, all the while staring up at me, and I at them. I watched them for a good long minute as they did so. “Stop,” I said eventually, to which they complied.

“You’re Aria,” I pointed at the one nearer to me, “and you’re Airi,” I said to the other. They glanced at each other, before shouting a unison of “Correct!”

“Honestly, how do you do it senpai?”

“Yeah. Not even Mom and Dad could tell us apart. We even have the same voice.”

“I have my methods.”

“Do you secretly sneak in during the night and smell the difference between our underwear, Senpai?”

“That’s not funny even for a joke, Airi. Anyway, aren’t you supposed to be searching for news right now?”

“Oh right, how could we forget.”

“Must be tough being in the newspaper club.”

“You have no idea, Senpai.”

“But then again, all he does is laze around, so of course he has no idea. Maybe he barely even understands what work means.”

“Why you little…”

“Well the failed apocalypse is sure to be a hit headliner, so all we need is a few more auxiliary news items and the next issue’s all set.”

“Would you break the anatomy model in the science room for us again, Senpai?”

“Uh, wut?”

“Hmm?”

I stared hard into their endearing eyes.

“Excuse me. What do you mean, I broke the anatomy model.”

“Don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten, Senpai.”

“It’s only been three days.”

“If you want, here’s a draft for the news article. Maybe it’ll help you remember.”

The tossed me newsprint, which I caught and opened abruptly. Inside was a short clip about a pursuit concerning how a mysteriousstudent suddenly ran over the anatomy model and jumped out the window afterwards.

“Oi. There’s not even one word here that suggests this incident is connected to me.”

“Oh it was you, Senpai.”

“We saw you.”

“We just couldn’t get a picture because you were so fast.”

“You were gone before we even knew what happened.”

“It seems you were even chasing someone.”

“If this is a prank, stop it you two. I’m not good with these things.”

“We’re telling the truth!”

“Wha?...”

The longer they talked, the more I was convinced they were genuinely telling the truth.

Strange. That doesn’t make any sense. I’m pretty sure I did nothing of the sort, not in the last three days or ever.
Maybe it was a misunderstanding. But then again, this is the ace of the newspaper club we’re talking about. Aria and Airi wouldn’t mistake someone for me just as I wouldn’t mistake them for each other.

*Ototo

*Ototo

“What the-”

“Woah. Senpai, you set your sister’s voice as your ringtone?”

“No, believe me, this is-”

“Hentai.”

“Rusai!”

“Well then, guess we’ll leave you to your business alone.”

“Sore ja~”

“Wait-”

As they left, questions raced past each other in my head. When exactly did I set onee-san’s voice as my ringtone? I don’t recall having done that either, just as much as that thing with the science room. There’s definitely something strange going on here. What in the world is happening to me.

I took a look. It was from Setsu-nee.



I’m gonna drop by the supermarket later.
Sorry you left your bento this morning.
Anyway, what would you like for dinner?

---

Tempura
---

“Ah there you are.”

I looked down.

“Guh!”

“You had me looking everywhere for you God.”

Needless to say it was her again, the chuunibyou girl bent on saving the world with a potato.

“God, what are you doing up there?”

“Running away from you obviously.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re delusional.”

“I’m not delusional. Now come down here so we can start the ceremony.”

“No thanks.”

“Don’t make me use my powers on you.”

“Stop being delusional!”

“I’m not delusional. Ah mou.I guess I really have to use my powers to get you down.”

“Ah sou. And what, pray tell, would these powers of yours be?”

She smiled at me, and I immediately realized it wasn’t an ordinary smile. The continuum of space-time seemed to pause for that moment. I don’t know what feeling it stirred up inside me, but it was a warm, passionate smile, one that almost felt as if it was a part of my memory.

That’s right, it felt so familiar.I had seen her smile before, even though this was the first time I met her. I know it sounds stupid. I’m even doubting my own sanity right now. All I know is that I’ve never seen her before, but I had seen that smile countless times already.

The wound on my face, the anatomy model, my ringtone, there were a lot of things I suddenly couldn’t remember, but this one, I can.


Only vaguely.
Shizune
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Re: OLN: I Don't Understand You God

Post by Shizune »

Chapter Three:

The Mysteries of the Game Creation Club


Spoiler! :
Once the sun started setting, I made my way towards the game creation clubroom. Damn Chifuyu. I could’ve skipped classes and gotten home a lot earlier today. As aforementioned, that girl is currently the president, as well as the one who founded the club in the first place. I’d usually skip going there on a normal day, since it takes too much effort to still climb two floors and the people there don’t do anything productive anyway, but when Chifuyu instigates a compulsory summon like she did this morning there’s not much I can do to refuse. The punishments she gives me are always unreasonable.

If I had to pick between going to the meeting and finishing another 5 hours of homoge with Chifuyu, I’d gladly pick the former. Still, I know it’s been a long time since the club last had a meeting, but give me a break, there’s really no reason to hold one now that the world’s on its last legs is there. Not to mention it’s probably just gonna be about recruiting more members (if the world doesn’t end) and/or having a teacher agree to be our advisor.

Yes, as of this moment we don’t have a club advisor. Nor is our member count sufficient for the club to remain official. It’s stated in the student council rules, article two dash three: a club shall only be recognized if it has a minimum of seven members. I’m actually the last to join among us, the game creation club doesn’t attract a lot of attention as it already is, but it appears Chifuyu’s always been down on members since the beginning.

Incidentally that means there’s no Game Creation Club, since it hasn’t even been founded yet. Now you might think that’s strange. How can there be no Game Creation Club, when we’re right here flesh and bone? What are we, then?

Well, that’s a little hard to explain, but just take my word for it that, as I stood before the laden wooden door that was our room and knocked, I knew full well the real reason why the club isn’t attracting any members. It can’t.

“Haiii~” came a cottony voice.

I turned the knob. Inside were two girls sitting between the opposite sides of a table. One was Rize, the silent, timid girl this morning, her shiny glasses and light blue hair unmistakable. Yet... the other one also possessed an alluringly bluish tint, one that, you might say, was unnaturally the far more beautiful of the two.

This wasn’t the first time I’ve seen her. In fact, I’ve seen her many times, every morning during class. She had a small, thin body, one you’d expect from a cover model of sort. Her short neck-length hair, unlike Rize’s, was a strong electric blue with soft, purplish highlights that caressed the tips. Her lips were of a pale pink, light but soft, one that you can’t help but feel drawn to. A fresh white flower rested on her right ear, complementing the blueness of her hair like a sun in the sky.
She caught sight of me as I entered, and placed one thousand yen onto the table.

“I’ll raise in celebration of Jin’s arrival.”

Rize glanced at me, then called.

“So, what’s this supposed to be,” I said, grabbing a chair and sitting on it backwards.

They seemed to be playing a variation of poker, though it became obvious to me this was no ordinary Texas hold’em the moment Kannazuki wore a bracelet when he lost. The same happened when he lost the next round.

“So are you supposed to wear something for every hand you lose?”

“That’s right,” he said cheerfully. “We’re actually playing our original version of strip poker: everytime Rize loses she takes something off, everytime I lose I wear it.”

“Ah is that so. But from the looks of it, Rize hasn’t lost a single hand yet.”

“I made him wear Shiina’s props from the drama club as a substitute,” she answered.

“Dou? Does this not look wonderful on me Jin?”

“No.”

“Aw c’mon. I even learned how to tie a bra for the first time in my life.”

“Don’t tell me-”

“Yup,” he said rubbing up the lump on his chest.

“She’s gonna kill you afterwards you know.”

“It doesn’t seem to bother him,” Rize commented as Kannazuki kept on massaging his torso. “Wanna play?”

“I dunno. I’m really not into cosplaying at the moment...”

“Haaa~?” Kannazuki prodded slamming a fist on the table.

“Don’t get too close to me looking like that, it feels weird.”

“Oh you don’t have to worry your little head about cross-dressing gentle lamb, Rize’s just gonna lose on purpose anyway.”

“And what makes you say that.”

“Jin! It’s strip poker! She’ll lose, and as per the rules of the game, strip and let you do all sorts of ecchi ecch- ugh!”

“On second thought, let me savor beating this idiot one-on-one.”

“Uhh, hai...”

Rize. She has absolutely poor social skills, the worst of all the people in the world. Though I guess being with club members has put her more at ease communicating with people, she still has trouble talking to people she doesn’t know. Case in point, when it comes to the games she specializes in, it’s the ones that don’t require relaying a message. Things like shiritori (connect words) are just not her field.

On the other hand, Kannazuki. He’s a fool in more senses than one, and I feel someday this happy-go-lucky attitude of his will really get him into trouble. He’s a pretty erratic character, so much so that I can hardly imagine how we even became friends in the first place. It’s like God just went out of his way to piece random character traits together and the result was this Frankenstein of a Kannazuki. His cross-dressing facet aside, it would not look it in the surface but he’s actually one big masochist.

Not only that, he’s also one very unfortunate guy. Literally. It’s like a magnet for bad luck whenever he’s around. Bad things keep happening, no matter how small. That’s why I never walk to school with him even though we go the same route. I fear for my own safety far too much to do so. Plus he’s a masochist, so he’s already fine with how his life is.

As you may have already guessed, he doesn’t do well on games where luck plays a roll (pun intended). Trust me, he’s horrible at those. But he does somehow pass at not-so-luck-oriented thinking games, such as chess and Othello.

[Knock]

[Knock]

I wheeled over. Shiina, who had always liked poker, whose face lit up at the first sight of cards on the table, immediately cast an ill look the moment she spotted me.

“Hi?” I said uncertainly.

“Don’t talk to me.”

“Nandedayo..”

She grabbed a chair and dropped her bag without saying a word. I could hear Kannazuki and Rize whispering on weird speculations already.

“Are you still mad about what happened this morning?”

“Hmph.”

“I know. How ‘bout you join us for a game of poker?”

“No, I think I’ll just make tea. For everyone except you.”

“Ho man Jin, what did you do today?”

“Is that... Kannazuki? Why are you wearing my dress...”

“It’s a dare I got. Nothing big.”

“Ah sou.. Maa, just make sure not to dirty it up or anything.”

“Sure thing.”

He sat down merrily beside me. “Let’s see how long it takes her to figure out.”

“You have a death wish, you know..”

And so, we three changed course into a gruelling battle of Chinese checkers. My base was about to be raided simultaneously when a second knock on the door sounded. It was Arashi, carrying a muddy baseball bat and bleeding all over.

Now Arashi is quite the black sheep among the game creation club members. She used to be more of a troublemaker just like me. She didn’t even go to Saizen High originally, but rather the other co-ed school far off across town. Koufuku, was it?

Anyway, I once sort of saved her from a group of gangly men hitting on her. I remember it clearly. The market was all out of mutton, so Setsuno had me sent downtown to buy convenience store food. It was a bit into the late afternoon, and just as it was getting dark, in an alley I came across a little girl surrounded by five men or so. Don’t get me wrong; I wasn’t much of a hero back then. I only live by the principle that no one in the world has the right to harm a lady. I’m still a delinquent.

So I went and beat the crap out of every last chap I saw within ten feet of her.


Big mistake.



I wouldn’t have guessed, the poor blokes whom I thought hitting on her were actually her subordinates, and she’s actually the leader of a hard-headed biker gang in their neighbourhood. She told me that afterwards as though I did a number on her property, and after expecting me to apologize, which I no doubt didn’t (I was trying to do a good deed, lol why would I do that), she beat the living daylights out of me.

Needless to say, I couldn’t possibly raise a hand to an innocent schoolgirl like her, no matter how much she looked the opposite, so I just took the head of the blow straight on. It would have been good if it had ended there, but she’s a lot more stubborn than she seems.

She followed me wherever I went, from house to school, ambushing me in the least expected times and then hammering me ‘til my bones give, to the point where everyone already thought we were classmates because she’d come out of the bushes to hunt me every morning. She even forgot all about her own gang in her attempts to pummel me down.

That continued on for about a good three months. I thought I was gonna die by the end of it. It was actually Chifuyu who managed to stop the whole thing and introduced her to computer gaming. Of course, Chifuyu’s game stash is full of nothing but gay sims and homoges, but Arashi showed profound talent and interest in the virtual world. You could almost say video gaming is her sixth sense.

She quickly took on a steep improvement in the world of online gaming after that and, distracted from the daily routine of beating me up, became a genuine member of Saizen’s Game Creation Club, changing schools in the blink of an eye like it was nothing.

Even until now her barbaric tendencies never fail to amaze me. I know full well how she excels in sports, and that she used to be more of a rabble-rouser than you’d think a schoolgirl to be, yet, as I stared at her offhandedly battered figure, I still found myself prey to ask the enticing question:

“Arashi. Why are you covered in wounds.”

She was chewing something, walked over to me and blew a large gum bubble which ended in a small pop, “you’re not looking pretty good yourself there so what’s it to you.”

“Hah?”

I just noticed then that I was also in pretty bad shape. Must’ve been from when I fell into the rose bushes earlier this morning. Damn it’s all that potato chick’s fault.

“Fight?”

“No.”

“Got caught spying on the girls’ bathroom?”

“Definitely not.”

“Poker? What are you guys wagering?”

“No bets. It’s just a normal game.”

“De? Kannazuki, is that you?”

“Yup.”

“What’s with the dress?”

“Strip Poker.”

“I see. (wait what exactly did you see there) Keep up the good work.”

“Aye.”

I may have forgotten to stress this out, but as far as Kannazuki’s masochistic and Arashi’s sadistic tendencies go, I fear one day the entire game creation club will serve jail time for underage explicit action.

“Anyway, shouldn’t we treat Arashi’s wounds before it gets infected? We have a first aid kit installed in the drawers.”

“No need. My immune system isn’t so weak as to collapse only from mere germs. I’m perfectly fine. See? See? Hahahahaha”

“You’re just scared of disinfectant aren’t you?”

“Wha- Who me? Of course not! Why would you ever-”

“Come on, Arashi. It’ll only sting a little. You can’t call yourself a former leader of a gang if a little disinfectant is all it takes to scare you.”

“Ge... Get away from me Jin!”

“Your wounds have to be cleansed before it’s too late. How long have you been like that anyway?”

“This is none of your business. Get away I said!”

“I’m doing this for your own good.”

“Y- You just want to stroke my body all over. Hentai!”

“Wha-!”

“Only using disinfectant as a pretense! Fondle my body in weird places!”

“Why are you using gratuitous English now?”

“Sick hentai.”

“Skeev.”

“Hentai-san.”

“Why are you guys encouraging her???”

“Well it’s not entirely false,” Kannazuki soothed, “aand she’s not entirely wrong.”

I raised a brow. “What do you mean?”

“Come now, Jin. Surely even you’re not that dense?”

“Hmmm?”

*Sigh* “Mattaku. Do we really have to spell out for you?”

“Dude if you have something to say just say it.”

Kannazuki, Rize and Shiina. All three of them raised their index finger and pointed at me at the same time.

“Siscon.”

“Who the hell is!”

“Don’t worry, Jin. We all knew right from the start. The cat’s been out of the bag for a pretty long time now.”

“It was plain as day.”

“Obvious as a billboard.”

“But we won’t judge you just because of your creepy incestuous tendencies, ne?”

“I- I wouldn’t go after my own sister!! What is it with everyone! Just who do you take me for???”

“And a sweater fetish.”

“Isn’t it more of a choker fetish?”

“Ah, Setsuno-chan does wear a lovely choker doesn’t she...”

“Oi, are you even listening? Do I really look like I’m into older women?”

“Older women? What are you talking about?”

“Hmmm?”

“Wut?”

“...”

“.....”

“Crap, Arashi got away!”

“Haha she’s probably telling on Chifuyu right now.”

“Dammit Kannazuki! You did this on purpose, didn’t you? All that nonsense was nothing but a plot to get Chifuyu to punish me again!!”

“Let’s hope you get kicked out of the club so I never see your face again,” Shiina sneered.

“Why do you hate me so much,” I reiterated.

“That must be just your imagination. I don’t hate you. I just never want to see your unsightly face again.”

“You haven’t even served me tea yet, all you did was give me an empty cup.”

And speaking of things that are empty, you’re probably wondering right now how would a band of completely unrelated people have come together into a single club. Kannazuki’s an idiot, Shiina hates me, Rize’s sole purpose is to join punchlines...

Yes, our character sketches are all over the place. We have nothing in common whatsoever, and it’s hard to think Chifuyu convinced five random people into forming a gaming club. It would have made sense if we were all hardcore gamers, like Arashi turned out, but I for one am not even that interested in games at all. Rize has absolutely horrid social skills, you wouldn’t think she’s capable of being in a club at all.

Then there’s Shiina, who hates me down to the core with every fiber of her being. And let’s not forget Kannazuki, the vice-president who never takes anything seriously and only comes to the club as if it was a sideline he was amusing himself with (not that our president took anything seriously either).

And surely enough, with a timely arrival, the pink-haired president burst through the door and greeted us with a cheery welcome. With someone like her, it’s no wonder the club hasn’t done anything productive since.

Well, you’ll find out sooner or later, so I might as well spill the beans here and now.

This isn’t a club. Chifuyu just begged the headmaster and the teachers and all other staff personnel to recognize us as a club, but in reality we are far from any school-based organization. So why have we gathered, you ask?

You know how nearly every school in Japan has their own Seven Mysteries? They are traditionally horror stories and strange phenomena that students have witnessed inside school grounds. The piano that plays all by itself. The anatomy model that runs around in the middle of night. The mirror where ghosts from the other side peek.

Whether simply rumors or true, all sorts of paranormal activity plague the so-called seven mysteries. Each one different for each school, the only thing is the similarity being that there are seven of them. Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but there’s one unique exception to this, and that’s the Six Mysteries of Saizen High.

That’s right!


Six!



Me. Kannazuki. Chifuyu. Rize. Arashi. Shiina. We ourselves are the mysteries of the school, and how we became mysteries is really a matter of simplest hocus pocus.

The Game Creation Club is not a gathering for gamers and game enthusiasts. No.



It’s a collection of all the people who have scored a record negative in an exam.



You read right! A negative score. We are the chosen ones who have achieved the impossible feat. You’d think a zero is the lowerst possible score anyone can get. Because it’s a zero, right? WRONG! You’d get a zero from practically doing nothing, but we’re the ones who’ve managed to take it one step further.

In other words, this “Game Creation Club” is nothing but a collection of the worst trouble children in the entire school body. This is the reason why we can’t go around asking students to join us, or why not even one of the guidance teachers have managed to put up with us for longer than a week. We’re the lowest of the low. The stupidest of the stupidest. The students who can’t give one thought into their studies.

Still, getting a score lower than zero is no ordinary feat. I don’t know how the others managed it, but they did. Rize, Shiina, Kannazuki, Chifuyu and Arashi, each and every one of them did something otherworldly to merit themselves a negative score. It’s an incredibly pathetic feat, but so pathetic that it’s almost like an accomplishment on its own. We’re like the world record breakers of having a low exam score, and we even have our own clubroom (though that’s pretty much a detention ward to keep us for guidance monitoring).

To add, as per Chifuyu’s decree, we’re supposed to keep the details secret from each other. We’ll never know which one amongst us got the lowest score, but it’s better that way. Now that there’s no going back, it’s like a bittersweet trophy for us, in and of itself. A secret menu, if you will. Even for the teachers it’s taboo to talk about anything related to the incident, and so, no one in the school knows of the details except a few select people. That wall of secrecy is what keeps everyone guessing.

Hence, the Six Mysteries of Saizen High are how the six of us failed an exam so badly that we ended up right where we are right now.

Not a bad mystery for a school with little reputation, right? It’s fresh and enigmatic, though, once you get to know these guys it’s really not that hard to figure out. If I had to guess, Arashi might’ve beaten up a teacher for scoring her a zero, which lessened her score even further, and Chifuyu probably doodled weird homo shit on her test paper or something.

For Shiina it’d be either she was caught handing Minako cheat answers, or if Minako was kind enough to not let that happen, maybe she tried copying Minako’s answers so that they’d have the “same”. That woman’s so crazy obsessed with Minako day in and day out, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was something along those lines that happened.
Rize is a natural airhead when it comes to Math, she has no capacity to learn, and I wouldn’t be surprised anymore if Kannazuki’s bad luck matrix went full power and got him all the wrong answers. Still, that should only get them a zero at worst. They’d still need to do something drastic to lower it out beyond that.

“Oi, Jin. Hey I’m talking to you.” Chifuyu was poking my left cheek with the end of what seemed like a weirdly-shaped homoge giveaway prize. I don’t think I even wanna know what it is. “Mouuu, what were you spacing out for?”

“Nothing. Just explaining something to the imaginary readers inside my head.”

“Ma, that aside, yoshi! Let’s start our first ever Game Creation Club’s meeting for the month of February!!”

Rounds of clapping from the rest of us.

“Man, we haven’t met with complete attendance in ages. I missed you all so much!! Also, we’ll have to decide what Jin’s punishment will be later.”

“Oi. What’s this punishment I hear? This isn’t about Arashi refusing to have her wounds cleaned, is it?”

“Tsk tsk. Damedayoo Jin. You should know better than to force a girl to coerce in your twisted erotic fantasies.”

“Wha-”

“So! Our first agenda for today: how to get a club advisor!”

I raised my hand. “Yes, Jin!”

“Regarding the news that the world will end tomorrow, shouldn’t we just not bother with it at all?”

Everyone stared at me with dubious looks.

“What? There’s no point to it if we all die tomorrow, right?”

“Ara ara~ Are we really still gonna pull through this route, Jin? Weren’t you telling me just this morning that the world definitely wouldn’t end?”

I crossed my arms and slumped back in my seat. “Of course it’s not,” I whispered to myself. “I’m just saying that in consideration of saving effort.”

“Awww, I love it when you go tsun and then dere dere like that.”

“’Rusee.”

“Won’t you feel any sad about what would happen if we are disbanded?”

“I dunno. Never really thought about it.”

Chifuyu’s puffy eyes swelled up in tearlets. “Are you... *Sniff..... saying you won’t miss me... and my punishments... *Sniff..... one bit???”

“Stop crying! Why are you even taking this out on me anyway? Why don’t you ask everyone else.”

“I’ll miss this club!” Arashi started. “Especially all the good times we shared! Definitely! All the games I won by a landslide and trashed your asses.. And. And... *Sniff..... I... I promise I won’t forget you all...”

Oi, we’re not dead yet. Not dead.

She doesn’t think this is a funeral, right?

“I guess I’ll kinda miss having a quiet place all to myself,” Shiina said lazily.

Well despite all the downs, that may be one good thing about this. If I want a place to rest I can go to the clubroom as an alternative to climbing up a tree.

“I’ll miss seeing Chifuyu, Arashi and Shiina on a regular basis,” Kannazuki suggested. “They don’t look much like it but they’re actually the top three girls I know of who have the highest potential to be a top (dominatrix).”

“Eetoo... top??”

Shiina seems to be having trouble comprehending what he said.

“How about you Rize-san,” Kannazuki prompted. “Would you not feel sorry if the club were to be disbanded?”

“Or would you carry on with your school life like nothing happened.”

She shifted her glasses, the glare from the sunset hiding her eyes as she sat thinking, “Jin and Kannazuki would get sad if the club disbanded, so no.”

“Wait, me? Are you sure it’s not you who’ll get sad?”

She turned to me. “I guess there’s no helping it. If you insist, we’ll get the club through this, so you two won’t be sad anymore.”

“There’s really no need to go all tsun for this, you know.”

“Well, now that we’ve heard everyone’s thoughts, let’s get back to the topic at hand. Since it’s a given that the whole world won’t go kapop by tomorrow, what do we do to keep the club from being disbanded? Kannazuki.”

“Why don’t we ask Mr. Seto from the social sciences department. Since he’s had some bit of experience in guidance counselling, I’m sure he won’t mind handling us for the year.”

“Well that’s not bad and all, nice wig by the way, but didn’t Jin bump into him last time, revealing that his hair was just a toupe to cover his balding head?”

“Sorry I’m such a downer then.”

“How about Mrs. Izuhara?” Shiina suggested.

“I don’t think she’d be too fond of us after that falling water balloons incident.”

“Looks like Ms. Tokiwadai really was our last and only bet. Too bad she decided to leave us.”

“It’s Jin’s fault!” Chifuyu retorted.

“N- No it’s not! It was Arashi who put baking soda beside the soap!”

“Hey!! Don’t blame me just because you couldn’t tell apart one label from another!”

“Now now, there’s no use crying over spilled milk, right?”

“Back off, Kannazuki. You had a pretty handy job in this as well.”

“Yea. If you hadn’t closed the vacuum mix none of this would’ve happened!”


*knock


We all stopped our bickering to focus at the door. There had undoubtedly been a small knock earlier, though it was too faint to tell if there was someone outside. We waited, but a second knock did not come.

Then a flash of blond hair walked past. My heart sank. I completely forgot I was supposed to meet Minako today at 5:00 PM. I glanced at my wristwatch. 5:06. That’s definitely her outside. There’s no mistaking it. She’s probably checking on me right now to see why I’m late.

I quickly explained to Chifuyu that I remembered I had something really important to do. I had a lot of trouble explaining since I can’t tell her that it was simply to meet Minako, but Shiina seemed to have caught on and was glaring maliciously at me the whole time.

Chifuyu agreed, at the expense that I am to be subject for a penalty punishment for the next club meeting, which I gladly took. Though, Chifuyu seemed more upset that I accepted the punishment rather than chose to stay. Whatever that punishment’ll be I’ll have to worry about it later, if the world survives that is.

“You’re late, Jin.”

That was always characteristic of Minako. Even though she has every right to be mad at me right now, it still sounded like she was worried something happened.

“Eeto... Wh- Why are you staring at me like that?”

Minako, you really are a saint. Quite unlike Chifuyu, who always punishes me for every little thing I do in the club, Arashi who always beats me up, Shiina who sees me like an insect, and Rize, who looks at me without words. I could almost break out in tears.

Of course, there’s no way I could tell her that.



“Nevermind. Shall we get going?”

“Mmm,” she nodded.
Shizune
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Re: OLN: I Don't Understand You God

Post by Shizune »

OreKami
Chapter Four

(Three Parts)



Part 1
Spoiler! :
“The breeze is nice, isn’t it?” Minako prompted.

“Yeah. Whenever I was late for Constance’s class and didn’t want to stand by the hallway, I’d always head straight here to relax.”

“Mou, that’s so like you. And I bet you weren’t even more than five minutes late then, you just didn’t want to go to class altogether.”

“Of course I wouldn’t,” I yawned stretching out. “I’m not like you. There’s nothing in it for me to keep a clean record. By the way, are you sure you wanted to call me out today? You don’t look so good.”

“I’m fine, I’m fine.”

“Really? You look awfully red. If you’re feeling feverish we can just talk again some other day.”

“I said I’m okay, didn’t I? It really doesn’t suit you to worry about others.”

She smiled as she leaned enjoying the mild gales on the rooftop railing. As we sat gazing into the setting sun, I can’t help but feel a wave of nostalgia take over my body. Back when we were kids we used to go to the beach a lot. Minako always liked the sunset back then, especially the one you see as the sun that dips on the mountains beyond sea. We’d cool off from the breeze just as the waters changed colors.

When was the last time we ever spent time like this. It’s amazing how well she acts as though everything was still the same between us, I already can’t help feeling a bit estranged and left out. I know I distanced myself from her, for both of our own goods, but still, some small part of me wanted to regret that decision. As I watched her golden hair flutter and blend with the sky, I was filled with the urge to come back to that time, when we were still so close to each other.

“You’re sister’s pretty, isn’t she?”

This again. Is Setsuno’s popularity really more than I take it granted for?

“How’s she doing?”

“Fine, I guess,” I said offhandedly. “It’s not like we’re that close, really. The only relationship we have at home is how she cleans the house and how I dirty it back again.”

“Are you sure you wouldn’t want to deepen that relationship anymore,” she chuckled, “atleast before the world ends?”

“Mmmm, not really... I don’t get why everybody is so hyped up about this Apocalypse thing, it sounds like random bull and there’s very little scientific evidence to support the claim.”

“Hmmm, that maybe so, but you know... Humans have what you’d call a sense of caution. We can’t gauge risk on the probability that it might happen. Even if you say there is only a 0.001% chance that something bad will happen, if it’s something really bad and devastating, we can’t help but feel in danger.”

“True. You can’t calm your instincts with numbers.”

“So either way, even if the chance that the world would end tomorrow is 0%, people can’t calm their qualms until the storm has passed. It’s human nature to worry only about the possibility of a disaster, not its probability.”

“So in the end, is the lesson here I should clean my own room atleast this once before the world ends?”

She turned to me with beckoning eyes. Where she was going with this, I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like it.

“You know, Jin... I’ve been meaning to ask you for a while...”

I raised my eyebrows. She stood there against the wind, my eyes transfixed at how her hair blended with the afternoon. It might have been just the reflection from the sunset, but I could’ve sworn her face went redder by the second.

“I... I...”

I waited for a whole minute, during which Minako didn’t utter a single word but just stood frozen like a worrying mother.

“What is it? If you have something to say just say it.”

“Eh??? Ummm, eeto... The thing is.....”

She took a deep breath.

“I... I.....”

“Hmmm?”

She clenched her fists.

“Love you!”

It was just as I dreaded. A pebble dropped, cicadas, the sound of something breaking, crows disappearing into the afternoon wind.


Part 2
Spoiler! :
The next thing I knew, my legs were sloppily carrying me down the third floor corridor, to the Game Creation clubroom where everyone else was. The meeting could have been well over though, I wouldn’t care. In fact I wished everyone there had already gone off.

My prayers were in vain, though I was still somewhat happy to see Chifuyu and Rize packing up.

“Ara ara~, I thought you weren’t gonna come back anymore,” Chifuyu clamoured.

“Yea... Well.... stuff happened...”

“Where were you,” Rize asked.

“Nowhere. I was just dwaddling around.”

She narrowed her eyes scrutinizingly. The afternoon sun lit a glare through her glasses, one I’d consider bright enough to burn my eyes. “Ah sou?” Rize said, though it was clear she did not believe a word I said.

I hated that. The thing about women is that you can’t hide one thing from them. They always sense at the slightest details when someone is hiding something. I suppose that comes from her being the silent type. She talks to people so little of the time that she doesn’t rely on mere words anymore, but on body language and small subconscious details to read people.

Fortunately Chifuyu, who is the opposite of Rize and can rant on nonsensical things for hours, doesn’t seem to read on eye movements or voice intonations and the like. I think she barely even noticed something was wrong with me, and continued on like nothing was wrong.

“You won’t believe this,” Chifuyu laughed, “Kannazuki was wearing Shiina’s costume down to the undergarments, ahhaha! She beat him up so badly afterwards.”

“Ah sou?” I answered reluctantly, my own lack of energy surprising even myself. “He must have enjoyed it then.”

“Satte,” she breathed after her wild fit of laughter, “where do you guys wanna stop by before going home? I’m in the mood for ice cream.”

“Anywhere’s fine...”, I guess.

So we stopped by an ice cream parlor just around the corner where our paths intersect. Chifuyu is always prepared for this, she has a complete database of all the routes we take when we go home so afterclub activities are a common routine among us. There are detailed guides for each possible combination of who goes with whom.

If Arashi and I are with them, we go to the arcade, since she lives far off. If she’s not, but Shiina and Kannazuki are both present, we go to the fast food chain downtown. If one of the two is not there, we either go to a manga cafe or the park, manga booth if Shiina, park if Kannazuki. We still go to the manga cafe if Arashi is present but there’s only three of us, with me and Chifuyu.

If Kannazuki, Shiina and Arashi are all absent, and only the three of us left are present, we usually go for crepes. The exception is this one time Chifuyu decided to go for an ice cream parlor.

I don’t know what they do when I’m the one who’s gone, but so far, that’s pretty much the algorithm I know of.

“Hey Jinnn~”

I found my left cheek being pinched painfully by Chifuyu. “I’m asking you, what flavour do you want?”

“Hmmm, I unno... guess I’ll have some Minago (Minako + Mango).”

“... Uhhh, some what?”

“Crap! I- I meant the blond flav-... The- The yellow one!”

“Haii... Jin, you’re being awfully weird today. What’s wrong?”

“Nandemone.”

She shifted her face close to mine. “What’s wrong?”

“I said it’s nothing.”

“You can tell me, you know.”

“You’re too close.”

She stepped back, kept staring at me in a weird way, and finally said, “There really is something wrong today, isn’t there? Normally you’d go what’s it to you if there’s something wrong with me, it’s my life. Ne, Rize?”

Rize nodded, then stared at me too. I averted their gazes.

No way am I gonna tell them Minako confessed to me today, and most certainly no way am I telling them that I rejected her. I still can’t believe I even did. Most of
me felt relieved that I let it pass without answering her yes, but a small part of me strongly regretted that very decision.

I don’t believe in love. As far back as I can remember I’ve never believed so. I saw love as a form of weakness, rather than strength. Exactly why may be harder to explain. The Greeks had a version of this.

Once upon a time, humans lived in completely different bodies than the ones we have today. Each person had two pairs of hands, four feet, two heads and a heart. They were complete beings in that way, and lived a happy, peaceful life. That is, until the Gods cast a punishment and severed each being into two halves, each now having a head, two arms, a pair of feet, but half a heart.

Being only a shell of their former selves, they spend their entire lives searching for their lost half. That is how love was born.

It sounds like something that only came out of a myth, but it does, however, present an interesting facet. If you love someone, and I mean the romantic type that often leads to marriage, it’s like you’re accepting for a fact that you yourself are incomplete, that you need someone else’s assistance to get through life.

That’s the very definition of a lowly being!!

Imagine yourself in the hierarchy of beings, a step above animals, but flights below God. Individually as we are, we are already, by tons and tons lower than God it’s almost sickening. Would you think God needs some other noname’s face to help him with his life? Does he need anyone’s help with anything at all? Is “omnipotent” not the very definition of God??? If so, then he wouldn’t need anyone now, would he?

He’d do everything himself. It’s because he can do anything that he won’t bother sharing the work with someone else. God’s just powerful that way, and in the hierarchy of beings, going solo would be a very clear status indicator. The more independent one entity is, the more powerful it becomes.

So what does that make of us humans? Are we weak? Well we’re weak, but falling in love only makes us weaker. That means accepting fully the fact that you’re incomplete as you are. It’s like you’re only half a human, a Human 0.5. That’s worse than calling yourself trash.

I, for one, would not be content with being a Human 0.5. In fact, I am an evolved version, a Human 2.0, because unlike every other moron on this planet, I doubt, and that makes me more of a sentient being than any other man can hope to be. I question my ideals, rather than blindly going with the flow. Those who go with the flow without resistance are no better than mob characters in an RPG.

So the bottom-line is, a high being would not rely on anyone else’s help. A high being is capable of things. I’d do anything to keep myself from descending to the levels of humans, even if it means crushing Minako’s heart.

Truly, I am grateful, from the bottom of my heart, that she had feelings for someone as completely different from her as me, but I must not let my own feelings get in the way of my philosophy.
People say there’s no one on earth who can’t love. If my love for Minako can burn a thousand watts, then my envy for God would burn a million. That’s what makes me Jin, that’s what makes me, me.

“Here,” Chifuyu said bluntly, shoving the Mango ice cream on my lap. “A sidenote, Jin. If all you’re gonna do is think about other girls, then maybe you shouldn’t have taken us here in the first place.”

“Need I remind you it was an airhead named Chifuyu who decided to take me here,” I replied, accepting the cone. Then I noticed Rize hadn’t touched hers yet.
“What’s wrong?”

“... Too cold.”

“Eeto, cold. Don’t tell me... is this your first time eating an ice cream?”

She nodded hesitantly, hiding behind the tip of the frosted cream.

“Why did you take us here, if Rize’s never even heard of ice cream before??? (I’ve heard of it) and I don’t even like mango, why did you give me this.”
Figures. Rize’s so much of a silent dandere, I wouldn’t be surprised if she had no childhood, let alone recognize what an ice cream was, eat one, or worst of all, have anyone to share it with at all.

“Well sorry then! maybe next time I ask you where you wanna go you’d not want to space out!”

Ugh, I completely forgot. Rize’s not on close terms enough with Chifuyu to actually talk to her, (even though we three walk home together often) so giving her an answer was up to me.

“Sorry there,” I apologized to Rize. “I guess I really am out of it today.”

She handed out her java chocochip to me.

“Eh? What’s this?”

“The top...”

“What?”

“If you eat some of the top... it might make it easier for me to eat...”

“Eh!” Chifuyu and I chorused.

“Th- T- T- That’s nan indirect kiss, r- right?” I stuttered.

“Damedayoo, Rizeee, you shouldn’t bother Jin with such selfish desires...”

“B- but-”

“Ah ah ah~ You’re a grown girl~ You need to be able to eat ice cream by yourself right now~ Here, I’ll give y-, I mean, let you have a taste of my triple vanilla surprise.”

“No, I...”

“Come on~ No need to be shy Rize.”

“E... eeee-”

I didn’t even want to watch what happened next, but needless to say, the way she treats everyone, Chifuyu is the worst leader one can hope to have.

Part 3
Spoiler! :
The way home had been an entire buzz. I still can’t believe I rejected Minako, but honestly, what was I supposed to do? Going out with her would go against all of my principles. Not only that, who knows how much of my allowance would get cut off if Setsuno got wind of that? And then I’d have to take Minako on dates, piling on even more expenses, and the thing I’d been dreading most, what would people say if Minako’s grades suddenly dropped and I was to blame?

No, the current stasis is fine. It was already fine, us leading completely separate lives, having left each other’s circle of influence when I began treading this lonely path of mine, but now that I rejected Minako’s confession, things won’t stay the same for long. Things are bound to change, for the worse if nothing else.

“Yo. I cleaned your room,” greeted Setsuno. “Try to make it stay clean for more than three days this time.”

“Ah, thanks.”

Most likely owing to the fact that I don’t usually show gratitude for anything, Setsuno grabbed me by the collar and placed her forehead on mine, to check if I’m sick. I had no time to retort on her idea of humor though. Time is short, and I have only tonight to simulate how today’s events would affect our lives.

Since it was a confession, we can safely assume that no one else but the two of us know of what has transpired that afternoon (that’s because I’d be dead by now if Shiina ever got wind of that). That doesn’t mean though, that it’s gonna remain a secret forever.

If there’s anything I’ve learned observing people, it’s that they rely too much on spontaneous bursts of emotion and throw away the opportunity of a well-thought out conversation. In short, people don’t think, and act and speak only on what they feel like doing, and this manner of socializing is prone to a lot of errors.

Sure, I know I’m the only one who probably spends so much time rehearsing conversations before they happen, but atleast that prepares me for all the necessary twists and turns, especially the most unexpected ones. Because on an average 95% of the time people don’t think beforehand, their routinely words and actions are easily susceptible to change once something out of their comfort zone happens. Fear. Anxiety. Sadness. They become inconsistent at the mere thought of such. A rejection is never easy to hide.

In the first place, raising a confession is easier said than done. There’s no guarantee of success, too many things can go wrong, you don’t get second chances and do-overs, and there’s no specific parameter to determining a proper method of approach, so you never know if what you’re doing is right until you actually do it. Unless you’re me, of course.

But normal people aren’t me, are they? Instead of concrete information, they merely rely on something called ‘courage’ and ‘faith’ to come to a decision. In the face of the unknown, working up the courage to confess is a heavy move, and it takes a lot of courage to reveal your honest emotions to someone else.

That is already mentally draining as it is, but becomes ten times worse if you’re rejected in your confession. You already knew there was a risk, that the chance was slim, you sacrifice the effort to actually present something, and just as you start to feel relieved that the worst is over, that the deed is done, when you thought you oughtta give yourself a medal for such an accomplishment, everything you’ve built up is shot down before your very eyes.

That’s not easy for anyone to take. The psychological rebound is so strong it will leave you almost dysfunctional for days on end. You can’t eat. Your eye twitches. You talk differently. There are more than 50 symptoms to this, (which I’ve studied intensively during my time being friendless) with quite uncanny variations for each person, and the worst part is people around you will pick them up like rock candy on the slightest onset.

I can still hide these things if I try, (not that I have that many people to hide from, the only friends I have are those in the Game Creation Club), but it’s a completely different story for Minako. She has more friends than I could count, and one of them is bound to pick up on changes in Minako’s behaviour. She can’t hide so much as a bunny ear, let alone this. That being said, I’ll have to talk to her again on Monday, but what should I tell her.

Well, let’s see the approaches to this.


One, I can take back everything I said and accept her proposal, although even for me, I’d consider that a very chicken move. I know she won’t shoot me down, in fact she might even be delighted beyond words, but I’d be going against everything I stand for, and aside from keeping Minako from being depressed, it doesn’t do much of anything else.

If I wanted to preserve our friendship as well as rid her of her troubles, I could say we didn’t meet on Friday, and that the person she met up with was probably my identical twin brother.

*Stare

Nah, Minako’s gullible but she’s not stupid enough to fall for that. If I wanted something that’ll work, I could cover up the after-effects of one stress by introducing an even bigger stress. Right now, that rejection is probably the only thing running through Minako’s mind, but if I were to do something more unexpected than that, say if I run around campus naked, that would surely take her mind off of things.

“You have something on your mind, right?”

I snapped out of my reverie, Setsuno was staring at me with a curious, worried look. I guess it was pretty unusual, that she had already finished her tempura don while I had barely touched mine, almost as though I found something terribly wrong with her cooking, and trust me, there’s never anything wrong with her cooking.

“Did something happen at school?” she prompted. “You didn’t get into another fight, did you?”

“Honestly, why is that the one conclusion everyone always comes to first.”

“Oh I dunno. Maybe because you’re in scratches all over right now?”

“I just fell off a bush. It’s not like I asked you to take care of me or anything.”

“Well if it wasn’t a fight what is it then?”

“What is what?”

“What happened today?”

“Nothing.”

“Come on, little brother. You can tell big sis about anything, she won’t laugh.”

“It’s nothing.”

“She didn’t laugh once when she used to bathe you when you were little right?”

“I said it’s nothing didn’t I???”

She continued to eye me suspiciously. I kept my mouth shut until she gave up. Or atleast I thought she had given up.

“Well, whatever it is, I’m sure you’ll find a solution eventually, just like you always do.”

“Thanks.”

“Speaking of figuring out answers,” she continued casually, “would you care to enlighten me on a particularly troubling dilemma of mine.”

“What is it?”

That was the key to Pandora’s Box. I shouldn’t have said that. I could have just dodged the question by humbling that I wasn’t smart; and the more that was reaffirmed with each second, as she took out magazine covers I have already seen so often.

“I found these while I was cleaning under your bed earlier,” she smiled crudely, fanning out the covers of women in lewd poses like a hand of cards. “Would you care to explain how these came to our vicinity?”

I don’t know which was worse, the fact that they all contained models in dominatrix gears (it’s just the issue that came out that month, don’t you start comparing me to Kannazuki), or that the ones Setsuno was holding out were of the models closely resembling her, especially the way her hair fashions into a birdtail behind her head.
I took a gulp and heaved my ‘courage’ and ‘faith’.

“Oh Dear Sister-”

“Don’t talk like that.”

“Okay,” I sighed. “I admit wasting my money on porn mags may be a bad decision in hindsight, but c’mon Setsu-nee! You can search the whole world for a boy who has no interest in porn models and I bet Nonomi’s handcuffs you won’t find one!”

“Is Konomi, ummm, the one with the same hair color as me?”

“Ah no, that right there’s Ayase. Nonomi’s the blonde that looks just like you.”

She raised a brow. “Ah, so she does…”

“Yea. So you see, Setsu-nee, I’m a growing boy. Having porn mags under my bed really isn’t-”

“I don’t mind you buying porn at your age, but why are they all with birdtails?” she asked fiddling the back of her head. “Maybe I really should change my hairstyle now-”

“No!”

“...”

“.....”

“What?” she replied startled.

“Erm. uh... I mean, There’s really no need/reason for you to change your hairstyle you know? I mean, there’s really no meaning between the lines here. It’s all
coincidence they look like you.”

She was eyeing me suspiciously for the tenth time.

“C’mon nee-san! Do I really look like someone who’d have a thing for his own sister?”

“No,” she replied, cautiously, while carefully setting down the mags on the table as though it was a bomb that might go off if handled roughly. Or rather, the way she was holding it with two fingers only at the barest corner tip, she probably saw it as more of a dirty underwear that needed to be disposed of forever. “I guess not…”

“As unconvincing as it was, does that mean... I mean... What I’m trying to say is-.. you wouldn’t happen to-”

“Too late. These are the only existing ones left. I already sent the rest of them to the burner.”

“You WHAT!”

“Don’t worry, Ototo. I made sure to read every last bit of detail before disposing of them properly, so I can get a clear idea as to how twisted your mind is right now.

Especially that thing you seem to be into, denial of-”

“Okay okay, I get the idea! Just tell me what will it take for you to spare those few that are left.”

“Tell me what happened today.”

“I’m so sorry but that is the one thing I cannot do.”

“Suit yourself then,” she said, taking out a matchbox from under. “Guess these friends of yours will just have to say bye bye for now-”

“No!”

“...”

“.....”

“.....”

“Speak.”

“Fine… You win…”

Lose the magazines vs tell the truth. I’m sure you’d agree it’s no contest.

She lowered the matchbox, as well as the magazines, on the table. I began telling her about what happened today, about how Minako came to me with an unexpected request, how it led to a confession, and how I rejected her crudely without a second thought. Setsuno probably thought that was a stupid thing to do. She pursed her lips and closed her eyes many many times while I told the story.

She didn’t say anything after I had finished though, and I’m atleast thankful for that one sparkle of kindness. She probably thought I was the lowest of the low at that moment, but since I myself regretted it more than anyone else, maybe she didn’t feel the need to drive the point any harder into my head.

She just ended with the question “You used to be friends, right?”, which I nodded wordlessly to, before she turned her back and took the gathered dishes away.
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