Sanda Yuko’s eyes were fixed on a book in the library. Hera walked up to her in her disguise and sat down on the table.
She said, “There you are, Yuko! I was looking for you!”
“Why?” Yuko asked.
Hera answered, “Well, I wanted to do some more sports with you.”
“Can that wait, Mamoru? I need to study.”
“Is that all you do?” the goddess wondered.
“Almost all,” Yuko said without emotion. “If I’m going to be at my full potential, I can’t do anything other than study and exercise.”
“Do you now?” an idea started to form in Hera’s head.
She nodded, “Yes. I have no free time, but free time is useless. No one has it as adults anyway, so I might as well get used to it.”
“People come to talk to you all the time,” the goddess pointed out. “Hell, I’m doing it right now.”
Yuko replied, “Yes, it’s annoying. Go away.”
Hera said, “Hey, that’s a bit harsh. I can show you a place where you could study without anyone bothering you.”
“No. That’s suspicious. Go away,” she remembered Hideyoshi’s warning. “I don’t believe that a goddess is after me, but that doesn’t mean that someone else isn’t.”
“Oh, don’t you value the lives of your classmates?” the goddess smirked.
“I’m calling the police,” Yuko pulled out her cellphone.
“Oh, come on!” Hera objected. “Demigods aren’t supposed to call the police!”
“Demigod?”
Yuko’s expression contained dull surprise.
“Yes!” the goddess was tired of the façade. “Now, face your first challenge! Come on out, beast of Japan, amanojaku!”
A man appeared. His body was red to the core, claws at the end of his fingers, and there was a horn growing out of his head.
“Now, show me what this daughter of Zeus can do!” Hera waved her arm in a dramatic fashion.
Yuko bolted, making her way to the library door. Hera was shocked.
She shouted, “No, no! You’re not supposed to run! Get back here and face this horrifying monster that could disembowel you with a single strike!”
“Where did that guy come from?” another student noticed.
A girl said, “He’s creepy. What’s with his weird getup?”
“Hey, shouldn’t they be running too?” the amanojaku wondered.
“They should,” Hera was confused. “I mean, a daughter of Zeus ran from you.”
Several students walked over.
“That’s some awesome cosplay,” one stated. “Can we get a picture of you?”
Another added, “We’re big fans of horror. What are you supposed to be, an oni?”
“I’m not an oni, I’m an amanojaku!” the creature’s eye twitched.
“There’s no need to get so defensive. Your cosplay’s great.”
“This is wasting time. Go after Yuko,” Hera pointed.
The amanojaku ran as fast as he could into the halls. He looked around and…Yuko was nowhere in sight.
“It’s big brain time,” he said. “If Yuko isn’t this hallway, she has to be in one of the rooms. So, I’m going to barge in every one of them and find her!”
Ten minutes later, the amanojaku was handcuffed and being forced into a police vehicle.
One officer was on his radio, “We got the guy. He’s really creepy. It’s no wonder five people called us here.”
Hera’s telepathic voice entered the yokai’s head, “What are you doing? Why are you letting the police catch you?”
“Hey, I don’t have any supernatural powers! These claws can’t even beat a guy with a sword, and these guys have guns!”
“No, we haven’t found his accomplice,” the cop spoke into his radio. “A student suddenly showing up without parents or anything, just some records…I wonder how she pulled that off.”
“Boss, you should probably get out of here. They’re on to you,” the amanojaku called out.
“Why should I?” Hera scoffed. “I’m a goddess. I could brush off a tank blast to the face. Why should I worry about police?”
“Don’t you have to worry about other gods? They’d probably notice if you fucked up a bunch of cops, and you were pretty worried that that Thor guy’s in the school.”
“Shit. You’re right. I’ve got to get out of here.”
Yuko breathed a sigh of relief in the police station.
The police officer in front of her said, “You don’t have to worry. We’ll get those two.”
“Excuse me,” a man wearing a suit stepped into the room. “We’d like a word with you, officer.”
He asked, “Just who are you?”
This newcomer pulled out an insignia that was on hanafuda paper. The officer turned pale.
“Shit. This is out of our pay grade,” he stated.
“What do you mean?” Yuko’s voice had no emotion.
“You won’t have to worry about that guy anymore or his boss when these guys find her,” the officer assured her before muttering. “If the onmyoji are here, then we didn’t just catch some creepy guy.”
“Onmyoji, what does he mean by that?” she wondered before realizing something. “That woman called me a demigod, and she summoned a monster. Hideyoshi was telling the truth, and I alienated him. After what I said, he won’t help me. I need to handle this on my own.”
Then she realized something else.
“Why am I thinking that? He knows how ridiculous what he said was. I should speak to him, talk things out like reasonable people.”
Cool evening air hit Hideyoshi as he walked to his home. Yuko stepped out in front of him.
He said, “A lot of people have been stepping in front of other people.
“Yes,” her voice was ice and her face had a blank expression. “I’m sorry.”
“If you’re going to be sorry, you should actually look like it,” Hideyoshi stated.
Yuko pulled back her cheeks into a frown, “I’m sorry. Is that better?”
“No, it isn’t. Go back to showing no emotion,” he groaned.
She stopped pulling her cheeks, “Also, you aren’t useless. I’m saying that now because I’d probably forget otherwise.”
“Dammit,” Hideyoshi said. “Are you really that stupid?”
“I’m not stupid. I just forget things I don’t need to remember,” Yuko replied.
“That doesn’t help your case. So, why are you apologizing to me?”
“Because you’re right,” she admitted. “Hera came after me. I called the police on her, but I don’t think that was a good idea.”
Hideyoshi replied, “You’re damn right it wasn’t! Dammit, Hera’s relentless. She’ll come after you no matter what.”
Yuko asked, “Can you help me? You know about mythology.”
“Why can’t you just learn about mythology?” he wondered.
“No. To reach my full potential at everything I do, I ignore everything that I don’t do. If it isn’t something I need to know, I learn nothing about it. I don’t have the time to.”
“I don’t want to piss off a goddess,” Hideyoshi sighed. “But after you admitted something like that, there’s no way I can abandon you.”
“What should we do first?” Yuko said.
He replied, “I’ll need to think about that. If Hera’s mad at you, you don’t have many options. But you always have a few.”
“Alright. I’m staying at your place.”
“What?” Hideyoshi stepped back. “No damn way!”
She stated without emotion, “I don’t want to put my family in danger.”
“But that’ll put my family in danger!” he pointed out.
“Oh, right. Sorry,” Yuko was stoic. “I should have thought about that.”
“Good grief. That’s it. I’ll only help you on one condition.”
“What is that?” she asked.
Hideyoshi answered, “That you keep calling me useless. I won’t feel right calling you an idiot if you don’t.”
“I can do that,” a slight smile crossed Yuko’s face as she realized she hadn’t gone too far with him.
Ved'ma Story 