A group of female students was in the school’s exercise field. Hera was among them, disguised with a smile on her face.
“At last,” she thought. “After this long process, I can finally get my revenge!”
Soon, a muscled man walked out of the school building. He had a thick, red beard and a warm smile on his face. Hera got suspicious right away. This man looked an awful lot like Thor.
One female student said, “That’s our new teacher. Isn’t he a foreigner?”
“Yeah,” another replied. “He’s from Iceland.”
“Iceland? Either that’s a massive coincidence that he’s from Scandinavia or he’s Thor in disguise. What would Thor be doing here?” Hera wondered.
The man spoke with a deep voice, “Hello, class, my name is Thursday. I’ll be directing your exercises. First, we’ll play with our balls. To be specific, it’s time for dodgeball.”
He pulled out a ball, “Allow me to demonstrate.”
Thursday pulled back his arm and launched the ball into the air with incredible speed. The class paled when they realized he aimed at a window; however, he missed the window and hit a metal post instead. This caused the ball to bounce off, fly back, and slam into his face.
“Okay, that’s what not to do,” he stated. “Mizuki! Come over here.”
“Mamoru Mizuki.” Hera did so. “Reporting.”
“I don’t think you’re ready for dodgeball teams yet, so we’re going with single combat, the drengr thing,” Thursday said.
Yuko raised her hand, “Excuse me, what’s drengr?”
“It means badass,” he replied. “Now, you’re up against Mizuki.”
The two of them entered the ball court. Thursday stood off to the side. There were several dodgeballs on the ground. Hera decided to hold back, not wanting to blow her cover; though, she had no intention of losing to a mortal. Then she picked up a ball and realized something.
“I see what you’re doing, Thor. These balls are far too heavy for a schoolgirl to use. You’re trying to get me to expose myself! Well, I won’t fall for this!”
She started struggling, “This is really heavy. How am I supposed to use it?”
“Figure it out yourself,” Thursday scoffed. “Begin!”
Yuko picked up one of the balls without any effort, shocking both Hera and Thursday. She threw it so fast that Hera didn’t dare react or she’d reveal her true identity. The ball hit her, bounced off her face into a concrete wall, and then flew into Thursday’s groin.
“Dammit. Why did this happen again?” he groaned as he cringed in pain.
Hera couldn’t think of any times when Thor was hit in the groin, and she doubted that even Zeus punching him there would do much.
“Hang on, this all makes sense! Getting hit by balls, getting hit in the balls, his whole non-Thor like attitude,” dread realization flowed through her. “Thor’s pretending to be an idiot to throw me off! Or maybe not an idiot, but the sort of person whose plans constantly backfire on them. Thor’s a lot more clever than I thought.”
“We’re taking a break while I recover,” Thursday moved aside.
The goddess’ eyes went right to Yuko. Anger flashed through her at losing to a mortal. Then a smile crossed her face.
“I have you figured out, daughter of Zeus! Your strength is beyond that of a mortal of your age.”
Hera walked over to her, “That was a great match! You’re really strong.”
“Thanks,” the girl’s voice lacked emotion.
“That’s our Yuko,” a female student said. “She’s the pride of the school.”
Another nodded, “She can do anything and make it look easy!”
“That’s amazing!” Hera exclaimed as she plotted all the ways she could ruin Yuko’s life.
Crowds of students rushed out of their classrooms as the final bell rang. Yuko was among them, except she moved with a controlled stride. She stopped when she passed one classroom. Hideyoshi was still inside, working on his laptop.
Yuko said without emotion, “I thought you’d be one of the first people out of school.”
“I don’t have anything to do now that I’m out of the clubs,” Hideyoshi replied. “And I don’t need to do any extra studying, so I might as well stay here and play a video game.”
Yuko asked, “Wouldn’t you rather play games at home?”
“My parents don’t approve of them,” he answered. “And I still have to live up to their expectations. I can do that by getting good grades, so I don’t have much to worry about as long as I keep my hobbies a secret.”
“Is playing video games worth staying alone in a classroom after school?” she wondered.
Hideyoshi said, “It is to me. I want to live my life the way I want to, and not the way other people want me to.”
“Don’t you care about what other people think?”
“I do. It’s why I’m grateful to you for coming in. I can do what I want without disappointing anyone. Now, I have a question. Are you doing so good just because other people want you to?”
“That’s part of it but not all. I want to be excellent, to reach my full potential at everything I do,” Yuko explained. “I don’t even care if I’m the best at what I do, as long as I’m the best I can be.”
“Then what would you do if someone came along who might be better than you?” Hideyoshi asked.
She answered, “I would crush them.”
“I hope I never have to go up against you in anything,” he said. “Given how I’m the second best in the school. Well, I won’t be for long now that I’m free. I don’t have to kill myself studying anymore, and I can settle with just really good grades instead of almost perfect.”
“You’re useless,” Yuko told him.
Hideyoshi replied, “Hey! I already told you I’d help you with something if you need it!”
“I’ll never need it. You don’t want to be excellent, just good enough. I can never accept someone who’s just good enough,” she stated.
He narrowed his eyes, “Don’t underestimate me. I want to be the best mythological audiobook narrator I can be, and I’ll be more than good enough here. I’m not slacking off, I’m just not wearing myself out.”
“But you aren’t doing your best,” Yuko’s voice was ice. “You’re giving up second place as well as first. I thought I could get along with you, but I can’t.”
She turned to leave. As she did, a banana peel materialized under her. Yuko slipped on it and fell backwards. Hideyoshi jumped to grab her and keep her from falling, but she turned midair and Hideyoshi ended up grabbing her breast.
“I’m so sorry!” he dropped her right away and she fell face first on the floor.
Hideyoshi exclaimed, “I’m even more sorry!”
Yuko’s muffled voice called out from the ground, “It’s alright. You were trying to help me and I’m the one who turned. It was an accident.”
She stood up and took a deep breath before walking out of the room.
Hera cursed from behind a set of lockers nearby.
“Dammit! Why didn’t my master plan of making her fall down and having a guy grab her breasts work? Yuko should have punched him through a ceiling and caused him to be her enemy or something.”
Then she realized something else, “Why did I think it would work? It’s pretty obvious that it was an accident and that boy didn’t have any bad intentions. Well, just you wait, Yuko! My next attack won’t be based around an easily resolvable accident!”
Ved'ma Story 