3 weeks later: Spirit morning school rush

It’s morning, and I am moving through the forest like a living current. Running. I am in my spirit form, Ekwansu, a god of incredible speed and agility. White dreadlocks flowing behind me in the wind, lean wiry build carrying my momentum forward. My legs are a blur of motion as I cruise through the rough terrain, with a purple-haired girl riding on my back with her backpack. It is almost time for school, and we are running late.

...

I bullet past a few trees, causing their leaves to flutter in response. “How much time we got left, lil sis?” I ask, my voice deep, cool, and calm as I skip over a few rocks and continue running.

“30 seconds left, J Dawg!” Shiun shouts over my shoulder. “You gotta floor it or we gon’ be late for the assembly!”

“Alright, hold on tight, lil sis.”

I leap towards a nearby tree, then bounce off the second my legs land on the trunk. I launch myself up and towards another tree on the opposite side, then bounce off that one too. I repeat this process a few more times, bouncing off both trees in quick succession as I go higher. Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth. And by the time I reach the top, I leap into the air, briefly push the little girl off me as I transform into Adze, the spirit god of flight, then catch the girl on my back and burst forward.

“Wooohooo!”

Soaring through the clouds, I become velocity. I flap my large wings to maintain my momentum. It’s been three weeks since I got my powers, three weeks since the girl I love risked her life to fight for my freedom from the gods. Now I am not only spared, but also blessed with the abilities of over thirty gods and spirits from my culture. And it was all because of Sakuya. Where would I be without that woman?

Through my spirit-enhanced, glowing red eyes, I sight a school premises a little in the distance ahead of us. Buildings. Staff. Children. Buses. And out in the yard, I see a decent number of kids begin to gather. The assembly is about to start.

“We might be cutting it a little close, lil sis,” I say, my voice having changed and now possessing a rougher quality to it. “We might not make it if I don’t go a little faster. Do you think you can handle more speed?” I twist my bird-like head over my shoulder to see how the little Alba girl is doing. The image I am presented with was ripped straight out of a cartoon.

Her face is being assaulted by the wind. Her hair is thrown back and sputtering in the breeze. Her eyes are squinted, and her teeth are clenched. The cheeks on her face are stretched back, jiggling, and holding on for dear life. I am already moving too fast, but despite this, she lifts her hand up for a thumbs up—keep going. So, I return my gaze to the front and shoot forward.

“Also, remember to do the thing we talked about!” Shiun shouts over the G-force continuously pressing against her face.

“But, wouldn’t it be easier if I just landed normally?!”

“Absolutely not!” she replies. “Release the Jumogun!”

And at her command, I briefly toss her off my back so I can become Ogun, the war god of blood and iron. Then I begin to rapidly lose altitude and fall towards the school premises.

***

It was time for morning assembly, and Miss Mikasa was calling all the children to gather round. Then it happened.

BOOM.

Like a torpedo, something crashed into the school premises some distance away, causing the ground to shake, the buildings to vibrate, and all the children to quickly turn around. Words suddenly caught in Miss Mikasa’s throat when she saw what her pupils were looking at. She was too shocked to move.

A hulking nightmare. That was the only way she could describe it. Tall. Muscular. Lean. And blacker than night itself. Its eyes were glowing yellow circles, and its hair was braided and long. It was the scariest thing she had seen in her life, and she was just about to gather up the children and run to hide in the classrooms. But then...

It waved.

To both her and the children.

Awkwardly, they waved back.

Miss Mikasa was sweating like a maniac and smiling from sheer nervousness, while her pupils were trying to move closer from fascination. Then she heard a little girl’s voice. “Wooooo!” Screaming from pure excitement. It sounded like it was rapidly approaching from above, getting louder as it got closer. But before she could look up, the giant man... thing... held out his arms, and a little purple-haired girl gracefully fell into them a second later.

Miss Mikasa recognized the girl almost immediately.

“Right on time, bro-in-law,” Shiun said as the giant man... thing... carefully dropped her on the ground.

“Hello, teach, fellow classmates,” Shiun said, standing beside the creature and briefly turning to address them. But then the girl turned her attention back to the giant man... thing.

“Aight bro, I got it from here. I’ll see you after school, cool?”

The creature nodded.

Miss Mikasa was speechless. She couldn’t even begin to comprehend the events that were transpiring in front of her that morning. Several seconds later, Shiun walked over to join the rest of her classmates, while the giant man... thing... turned into a giant bird... thing... and simply flew away.

She looked up at the now empty sky.

There was never a boring moment in Yamazawa Village, was there?