A palace stood over and beyond the world, atop a mountain that could see the entire planet without being part of it. Pillars of marble held it up as numerous painted statues decorated the palace’s halls. Countless men, armored in bronze lined with Kevlar, guarded the mountain’s massive slopes.
There was the sound of thunder as a beat-up pickup truck rolled into the palace’s parking lot. It was riding on its rims with the rubber having been burnt off. A man with a grey beard and cloudy eyes stumbled out of it. Another man with red hair and biceps the size of bull shoulders carrying a hammer rolled out of the other side.
“Okay,” the first one groaned. “That’s the last time Dionysus is our designated driver.”
The other said, “My pickup truck…dammit, I got the dwarves to make it for me. What are they going to say now?”
“I don’t see what the problem is,” Dionysus lolled his head out the window. “I actually parked it this time.”
A woman with black hair and a crown on her head stormed out of the palace, “Zeus! Did you cheat on me while you were out drinking?”
“Come on, Hera!” the gray-bearded man jumped up. “I promise that I didn’t cheat on your.”
“You keep saying that, but that just means you’re getting better at hiding it,” she retorted.
The guy with the hammer spoke, “I can’t blame you for thinking that with Zeus’ track record; however, I can vouch for him. He didn’t cheat on you.”
That assuaged her fears.
“Well, you’re not known for lying, Thor. Zeus, you’re telling the truth that you didn’t cheat on me?”
“Yes, I haven’t cheated on you in 14 years,” he confirmed.
Thor slapped his forehead as Hera’s face turned red.
“Aha!” she said. “That means you cheated on me 15 years ago!”
“Hera, it’s alright,” Zeus assured her.
“How is you cheating on me alright?”
“I didn’t turn into an animal to do it that time.”
Thor groaned, “How did you Olympians ever get anyone to worship you?”
“I’m going to find whatever spawn you produced and make them pay,” Hera told her husband.
Zeus said, “Good luck. You’ll never be able to find my son.”
“A son?” Dionysus was confused. “I thought you said you had a daughter.”
Hera nodded, “And where is this daughter?”
“She’s…”
Zeus slammed his hands over Dionysus’ mouth before he could continue.
“Now, now,” Zeus said. “Let’s not be hasty. Hera, what can I do to…”
Ares popped his head out of the back of the truck, “She’s in Karuizawa, Japan.”
“The fuck, Ares?” Zeus asked.
“That’s for not letting me go to any wars since WW2,” he answered.
“Why you little…”
Dionysus poked his father’s shoulder and pointed. Zeus looked. Hera was gone.
Thor said, “Well, guess you’ve got to save your daughter now.”
“Nah, I don’t think so,” he shook his head. “I don’t want to argue with Hera. Besides, I can sleep around while she’s distracted.”
“This sort of thing is why your children always end up in these messes. Well, if you won’t do something, I will.”
Not wanting to get in his wrecked pickup truck, Thor raised his hammer and summoned a small cart pulled by two goats. He put on a pointed hat and sat down in it. The goats pulled the cart at a snail’s pace.
“Huh,” Thor said. “My goats must have not gotten any exercise lately. This is going to take a while.”
Oda Hideyoshi had a very unfortunate name. His surname came from his ancestor, Oda Nobunaga, one of the most brutal warlords in Japan. Being big fans of history, his parents chose his forename after Nobunaga’s successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, another of the most brutal warlords.
Still, he was a very talented youth. Throughout his middle school career, Hideyoshi excelled at grades, sports, and all else. The entire school had its eye on him. This continued into high school. One day, that changed.
A girl named Sanda Yuko transferred into the school. She got perfect marks, was so good at sports that even the boys had trouble against her, and eclipsed Hideyoshi in every way. Even more than that, Yuko made it look easy. The school’s eyes turned from him to her.
Hideyoshi had to say something. He found Yuko walking home from school alone and stepped out in front of her. Yuko’s face was a blank slate, not showing any emotion.
“You’re Sanda Yuko,” he said.
She replied, “I am. Are you here to ask me out?”
“No. My name is Oda Hideyoshi. Until you came along, I was the best student in the school.”
“I’ve heard of you.” Although she didn’t express it, worry filled Yuko.
“There’s something I have to tell you.” Hideyoshi grabbed her hands with tears in his eyes. “Thank you so much! No one expects me to be the best anymore! All that pressure’s gone!”
Her sole reaction was to tilt her head and say, “What?”
He released her hands, “I can’t thank you enough for this! Now that no one looks up to me, I can spend my time watching anime and pursuing my passion.”
“What’s your passion?” Yuko asked.
“I’m going to learn all I can about mythology! My dream is to narrate mythical story audiobooks.”
“So, this is what freedom looks like,” she said without emotion. “I’m not impressed.”
“You don’t have to be impressed. Live your life the way you like, and I’ll live mine the way I like,” Hideyoshi replied.
A slight smile creased Yuko’s face; though, there was still no emotion in her voice, “Thank you for disagreeing civilly with me.”
“No problem, and I really am grateful. If there’s anything you need me to do, just ask,” he said.
“I won’t need anything, so live the life you want to live. Just be realistic.”
“Hey, I’m not the sort of guy who’d do something without a fallback plan,” Hideyoshi told her. “In case my audiobook career doesn’t go well, I’ll study something else too. I should get going now.”
He waved with vigor while Yuko waved very little.
A chill went down her spine. She got the feeling that something was wrong, but couldn’t point to what.
Hera looked down at the high school from a cloud. A sadistic smile grew on her face.
She said, “So, this is the school she goes to? The first thing I need to do is figure out which child this girl is.”
The goddess moved down from the cloud and transformed. Where there was once a statuesque adult woman, there was now a teenage girl. Hera opened a purse she didn’t have on her before and looked through various identification cards.
“There we go. Now, I can infiltrate this school and make that girl pay for being born of my husband’s adultery!”
Hera stepped forward, opening the door and finding that no one was inside.
“What the…hang on, what time is it?” she looked at the sun. “Dammit! School’s already over! I forgot that Olympus is in a different time zone than Japan! Well, just you wait, girl, when school starts tomorrow, I’ll talk to the principal and sign up for classes. The next day, I’ll do what I need to to mix myself in with the student populace. But the day after that, I’ll make you pay!”
Ved'ma Story 