Gods and where they belong

The boy’s name was Ikehara Yuusuke. At the age of seventeen, he was often thought to be the tallest in his high school. While he was in fact not, he was far easier to notice than the rest. The young man had a wild temper; often getting involved in fights. He was a great student nonetheless, a rather unusual combination.

Three days after he got involved in the fight that almost cost his life, Yuusuke finally woke up.

During this period, miss Asahi was happy with Akihiko staying in to take care of Yuusuke; it was rare for him to stay for a meal, leave alone spend some time with her. Her husband had passed away years ago, and ever since her only source of income was the rent Akihiko insisted to overpay for.

Yuusuke opened his eyes to see the teacher taking notes. He neither knew their content not where he was, or anything else for that matter, and his confusion was only interrupted by a growing headache.

“Good morning, Ikehara, my name is Akihiko, I tea...”

“You’re the maths teacher, aren’t you?” Yuusuke interrupted. “What happened?”

Annoyed, Akihiko gave him a sinister smile, “I was hoping you could answer my questions first.”

Yuusuke apologised—to the teacher’s surprise—and sat in silence, ready to fill him in.

“First things first, what were you doing there?”

“I was going back home, a bunch of guys ran into me, and… I’m not sure what happened next.” He looked Akihiko in the eyes, hoping the latter could tell him more than he knew.

Akihiko closed the notebook he was filling and stood up, “Let’s go down, breakfast is ready.”

Yuusuke, while expected to resist, simply followed in silence, and at that point, Akihiko learned not to try and foresee the boy’s actions. They descended from the attic and sat down for a meal.

As one might expect, there was an awkward long-lasting silence, one that fell not for the lack of questions but rather other things… many other things: the right wording, setting, privacy…

Yuusuke finished his bowl in an instant—his was the appetite of a man who was starved for days. Asahi rushed to get him a refill, and he used her absence to ask Akihiko, “Hey, that night…”

Akihiko put his bowl down in anticipation.

“I barely remember anything but…,” he paused. “There was a child, and someone else… What was all of that about?”

The teacher stood up and collected his bag, he asked Yuusuke to follow him as he wrote “Thank you for the meal” on a piece of paper and left it on the table. By the time the landlady came back, all she found was that message.

“Where do you live?” asked Akihiko while walking, Yuusuke following in silence answering questions as needed. He was more collected and polite than Akihiko had expected, which turned out to be just a false assumption from the teacher’s side of things.

The two took the longest path to Yuusuke’s house despite him living with his grandparents, who must have been filled with worry. On their way, Akihiko explained that he chose to take this long path because he sought to tell him a story, the same old story about a sad old god thing, about a curious human child, and about magic.

But just like there were unanswered questions, there was a sequel.

“… They bowed and offered their loyalty.”

***

Decades passed and humans used their newfound magic to thrive; to conquer their enemies and build their civilisations. But IT remained sad and lonely. Their loyalty was his, so was their fear, but never their love. And like a bottomless pit, IT who just discovered the feeling of being offered loyalty grew a much bigger desire of love.

The once-a-baby human who taught IT to share grew to become a man, he wielded magic with finesse unprecedented amongst his kind, and he lent his god counselling on humans and their affairs.

Because he was closest to IT, he knew what IT wanted the most—more than love and loyalty, IT wanted death.

But not all humans knew that, and within a handful of years, there were among their troupes those who feared IT so much that they believed that it would be better sealed away. That gods only belong in fairy tales, never to live with humans. Soon enough, they were able to master ITs magic well enough to keep it sealed, and IT remains so even now as we speak.

***

Troubled by the sheer number of things to take in, Yuusuke remained silent, not sure what to believe, how much of the story was a fairy tale and how much is reality.

“Something is not right.” Said Akihiko as he accelerated. Yuusuke matched his pace.

He put on his white cloak that hid his face and eventually started running towards the boy’s house. As they approached their destination, they could see smoke rising from the area, feel the smell of burning wood and dust get stronger, even hear the siren of the fire truck. At which point Yuusuke cared no longer about matching Akihiko nor understanding the situation, he only ran in that direction as fast as he could.

He took a long sigh of relief when he saw the house set on fire was not his. Some might call it selfishness to be so relived about others’ misery, and he would not deny such accusations. Anyway, he was not fully relived until he could see his family safe and sound.

Yuusuke approached the door of his house and pushed the handle, “Weird,” he thought, “It’s open.” He slowly opened the door and set foot in the house, all while calling his grandparents repeatedly.

He went upstairs thinking they couldn’t hear him due to the noise outside. He heard the door close after him and assumed it was Akihiko who’d finally caught up. There were not many rooms upstairs—just two doors in total. Yuusuke slowly grabbed the handle of the one closest to the staircase, his hand shivering as he touched the cold metal. His body urged him to close his eyes and leave, to run away and scream for help. Every bit of animalistic instinct he had knew he wouldn’t like what he was about to see.

Before his will could weaken and push him away, a hand colder than the summery air, the chilly sweat and tears running through the boy’s skin and the strangely freezing door handle led Yuusuke’s to open the door. A whisper echoed in his ear like a lullaby, “Go on, you’ll be fine.”

The door opened and the scene cause Yuusuke’s breath to go wild. His best efforts to remain calm were all in vain, for before his eyes laid a sight of unspeakable horror.

Two figures of what once was all his family, headless.