Once Upon the Meddling Gods

"The game's over, boy, you're already beginning to remember."

Godly was how he'd been classified by mankind, gnarly his voice resonated unto the mind. Show Fukurokuju, said as the god of wisdom and longevity, being assertive of his words. When they indiscriminately charge anyone to talk to them, they're choosing to speak.

Well, it's only one person─but you've heard of common sense.

Sigh.

As simple as the classic German fairytale, our biopic follows the same character structure. A protagonist for a set of seven entities. She has seven dwarfs, I have seven gods. I suppose it's the only similarity in the telltale aside from the existence of a magic mirror.

For my case, there should be seven shadows aboard the mystic sailing ship, Takarabune.

Entities called seven lucky gods, and worshiped by those in the Human Side. Benten, Ebisu, Daikoku, Bishamon, Jurojin, Hotei, and Fukurokuju─I'll pretend you know them as well. There were only six of them present─the vicarious deity of warfare Bishamon's hide nor hair couldn't be seen.

As if I wanted to see his stern face.

Having their boat seemingly occupy space in our small classroom serves enough irritation.

Yeah, I'll let them invade everyone's space.

I ignored Fukurokuju.

Not completely as I came into a conversation with myself.

No use in hiding what I remember, and I've to use them as a basis for what I would do when the lull foregoes for chaos.

Gremlin plowed the snow and afterwards, I was talking crap with her. Snow fell in the middle of summer and time has stopped. I called it the Snow Globe: we were there in an incessant babbler, wearing clothes too thin as if the cold didn't exist at all.

I created a safe space which she subtly destroyed.

And now─I'm about to be killed.

For the last iteration I'd make in the narrative, I had an odd dream alongside a child and we were locked inside a timeless capsule.

Dreams were never weird phenomena.

Looking back, I may not have discarded what the dream presented but I was prepared to let it vaporize into the clouds. Forever lost as only what it was. Never an extension of the tangible truth, and most certainly not someone contained in flesh and consciousness.

Yet, the same gremlin stood and introduced herself in front of the classroom.

"Hello, uh, Nayami Ayanami…" Her eyes shifted high and low, circumstances  "It's my name."

From an open perspective, her introduction merited only what's standard, awkwardly ebullient for a newcomer.

"I came from Kyoto. Miomeikan High School. So, I am not a Mage."

Awkward, but not until she mucked what's been probably rehearsed.

Bated breath was embellished from our homeroom teacher's nostrils: cuing disappointment from an underhanded approach to rebellion. I don't know how such nervousness occurred, as all I could make of it was its painfully lighthearted nature. Until the misconstrued act which judged her immediate despair hidden under a facade.

Unfortunate how she destroyed everything in seconds.

Water trickled from her forehead─intermingling with that highly nervous tone.

Her guise, the feeling of dread, the crowd felt the dread, and what could only be left is an existential awkwardness between the class and her.

Main concern in the line─the watchful Mind Club.

Schadenfreude, as frightening as Snow White's personal lens had focused on the matter, there's never a dull moment. I'd like to give myself a leeway over incoming excursions. I don't care what the problem has in stores for everyone else.

Pointlessness takes precedence.

Nothing ever comes exquisite to people who take everything serious into utter seriousness.

So, let's look at the problem from a different interpretation.

On occasions like this, I'd like to spend my sweet time basking in the beauty of my newly assigned classmate.

If being human is her sin, I'd forgive her.

She might be one of those uncalled for people one can easily be forgiven for war crimes. I mean, she's in the fluffy department, accentuating her brown hair to her petite frame. Physically, Miss Ayanami's someone you can find in a cute music anime. She plays the guitar, and likes bread on a certain pathological range.

First impressions really are powerful.

Boy oh boy, I'm being forced to see her in an image created out of sheer delusion and sloppy judgment.

And here I have Azusa Koguma for a sweet girlfriend.

She straightened her back, ending her brief introduction.

Then there came inevitable whispers to shroud the classroom─the buzz that my inhuman inspection couldn't possibly stop.

Obviously, because I was passive to begin with and in addition, I didn't have the slightest intention in being shocked by a puny affair.

Huff a sigh, then listen.

"Not a mage, like, a true human? Since when did the border open and we're accepting people, especially transfer students?"

"What he said! More than one taboo is being broken here, and I'm too confused about what to do with the information."

"Yeah! Are you sure you're telling us the truth?"

"You know, maybe she's a sorcerer? Mind Club aside, we all had encounters with sorcerers before."

Everyone exchanged looks, suddenly bugged by the supposition.

Mentality has united: as the group happened to strongly connect, it took everyone to a creepy vacation to hell and back.

Exactly, hellbent to the show of terror from another universe unto her deviant character.

She flinched, caught by surprise from the uncouth, zealous questions judging her racial status.

I can support her dread as some endangered entity.

Uniqueness withheld in her presence, attention being poured won't be stopped. Peril is already guaranteed to knock at her door─and whether it is inescapable or not relies wholly from probability theory. Rubbing insult to the injury, the chances of her survival were slim.

I've seen the situation before.

Hence, someone drenched in cold sweat is simply a common occurrence.

Cast aside and unanswered, I can only vouch an influx of curiosity weaving out and about.

She stood upright, retaining her position and pressed in her imaginary hotseat─her thoughts spiraled in convolution. In contrast to her pretty face, and forced upbeat entrance, what I read was the anxiety hell I could never feel in my life for even once.

How lucky for her, withholding something I didn't have.

For a person I've seen before but will meet for the first time, the dilemma splits into a duality of issues I wouldn't want to take care of.

So, the earliest solution is to act even before the first spark of trouble is agitated.

Mindset was plausibly positive.

Also, I learned why I've lost memories.

As I led the event, Nayami Ayanami and I looked at each other.

I smiled, barely considering her circumstances, she averted her eyes.

However, time froze before she could completely fulfill the nervous action.

"How about an excerpt from 6th of July, 2012?"

I looked at Fukurokuju, and asked the incessant question I'd like to be void of meaning now.

Everyone smirked at the proposal, yet zealous to conduct their analysis as I pulled the memory thread out of my mind. A thread of plasma was plucked, thereby crystallized as an information for their use. I couldn't care enough if it contained Snow White's moment from childhood.

So what if I'm beginning to remember?

I'm able to forget what I've regained, then I just have to reverse the spell. Besides, I shouldn't know what's been going on. I'd have to break some synapses, by hook or by crook. Else, the world will disappear as I know it.

A ritual bringing one useless memory thread to oblivion was cast.

Since all of the seven fortune deities gathered there, exacting them what they wanted would only be optimal.

If anything, we haven't seen each other in years so I'd be distressed if I don't make use of their talents.

Just like the time I became their kin.

"Heed thy call and accept a humble offer."

Clock ticked, time broke itself into a shift in reality as soon as the ritual expired.

Nothing happened at all.

"Uh, no, I'm so sorry!" Nayami Ayanami continued on her speech, now panicking over some reason cast off by our spider instruction.

Low her bow went, as though eager to perform her most apologetic kowtow. Heart thumping loudly, breathing erratically to the dilation of her pupils. 

Lastly, she reintroduced herself, "I wield Level 5 Black Magic…And my main elements are fire and wind!"