The Unknown God at First High

Chapter 18: The Unfinished Revenge

On a particular morning in a particular day in February, Maya Yotsuba was sitting down on a bench, overlooking a lake on her property. Dragonflies were buzzing, birds chirping, and fishes were occasionally creating ripples in the water. Overall, it was an extremely peaceful, February morning. Without looking to her right, she spoke to a man standing next to her.

Maya: "Look at this. Isn't it just serenity incarnate? Ah, it's so beautiful, don't you think?"

The man to her right had a black suit, white dress shirt, and black tie on. His hair was black, maybe too black to be called black. His shades, too, were possibly more black than an endless abyss. Of course, seeing his eyes behind those sunglasses would be impossible. Everything about this man, from the way he was dressed to the way he stood radiated Bodyguard. He took a deep breath before speaking, almost as if he was trying to smell this "beauty" she spoke of.

Bodyguard: "Although it is incomparable to the beauty of yourself, I can agree that, yes, it is beautiful."

Maya: "Fufu, thank you. But, you know, it's also kind of frustrating. We live in such a world like this, with such beauty and peace, but, at the same time, we live in a world of endless pain and suffering. Isn't it upsetting?"

Bodyguard: "An unfortunate reality. Sometimes I wonder whether or not this world deserves to be destroyed."

Maya: "Hmm, maybe not the world. However, I think we can both agree that our enemies should."

Bodyguard: "Of course, madam. Your enemies are my enemies, after all. If they show themselves and come for you, I will do everything in my power to trample them."

Maya: "Oh, that reminds me. Actually, I have some interesting information for you."

Bodyguard: "For me?"

Maya: "Yes. You know, it goes both ways. Your enemies are also my enemies." For the first time since they started talking, they looked at each other. "An undercover agent has gathered something I think you should look at."

She handed him a blue folder, and he opened it, hesitantly. After flipping through some of the documents, Maya heard her bodyguard choke on his words.

Bodyguard: "T-This is true?"

Maya: "It's almost 100% certain."

Bodyguard: "I thought it was just the Japanese branch." He let out a sigh. "I guess when you have ants in your house, you can't get off easily just by killing their workers huh?"

Maya: "It would seem so. An assassination of the Queen would probably be the only way."

Bodyguard: "Well, in this case, it would be 'King'."

Maya: "So? What do you plan to do?"

Bodyguard: "Ah, this is pretty embarrassing though. I already told her that I finished it. It won't do to go back on my word. I guess I'll just have to find this King and decapitate him."

Maya: "On another note, isn't this fun?" 

Maya smiled at her bodyguard. Well, a smile is still a smile, and progress is still progress; so the bodyguard wasn't upset about the nearly deformed "smile". Rather, he thought it adorable, that Maya Yotsuba was beginning to genuinely show happiness again.

Bodyguard: "It is. Reminds me of the first time we met."

Maya: "You were so young back then. I was astonished being saved by such a cute little boy."

Bodyguard: "Oh, was I cute back then?"

Maya: "Actually, you were terrifying, I thought I had finally met my end after all that pain and suffering."

Ryuga: "Truly, a fated encounter. We are two broken puzzle pieces that fit perfectly together."

He smiled back at her, as best as he could. Their smiles radiated happiness, but it was only evident to the both of them. Anyone else would think they were scowling at each other.

Far away, 3,716 meters, to be exact, another man smiled. He held his breath, lowered his heart rate, and started counting in his head, all the while still smiling. This man tightly squeezed his index finger. At that moment, the air split. A small lump of lead pushed through the wind, traveling at an astonishing speed.

???: "One."

The man started counting before his finger fully squeezed.

???: "Two."

Maya let out a cute giggle.

???: "Three."

A pedestrian looked up, quizzical, as he heard a loud noise.

???: "Four."

The lead object continued true on its course, unwavering.

???: "Five."

The bodyguard also chuckled a small amount.

???: "Six."

Birds heard the whistle.

???: "Seven."

Insects heard the crackle.

???: "Eight."

The clouds, scared, ran away.

???: "Nine."

All was peaceful, all was good.

???: "Ten."

The man's smile twisted upward.

???: "Eleven."

Red mist exploded from Maya's head, as the bullet penetrated her skull, brain, and buried itself in the ground below.

At least, that's what should have happened.

???: "Huh?"

The sniper looked confused. No blood, no slumped body, just the bodyguard holding out his hand, near Maya's head.

Maya: "Hmm?"

Bodyguard: "Oh, nothing. A bug tried to land on you, so I squashed it."

Maya: "My, thank you for protecting me."

Then they heard it, the telltale sound of a gunshot. A noise so uncommon even a monkey could understand it as such. Still, though, neither Maya nor the bodyguard's smile changed.

Maya: "What a loud bug."

Bodyguard: "Worry not, it is taken care of."

When he opened his hand, dust slipped through, spilling onto the ground. Above the sniper, the clouds darkened and started to rumble. The man looked up to find only the tower he was perched on was being covered by a cloud as grey as the lead he just wasted.

???: "N-No way! Impossible! He's not human!!"

Electricity swam within the cloud, then, finally, it broke through the shallow film. 

???: "AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!"

The man's scream was drowned out by the roaring of the thunder that came not even a second after the lighting struck. 

As brain matter turned to mush inside the skull, the charred body emitted a terribly foul-smelling scent.

Maya: "Thank you, my savior!"

Author's Note: WOOAAH! THAT CHAPTER WAS EXACTLY 1000 WORDS!! Why am I so happy about that? Well, oh well. As long as I'm happy, isn't it fine? Oh, right, I guess I should actually talk about what I wanted to say now. So yes, yes, I know this was a short chapter, but I wanted to let you all know that I was working on it and formulating ideas. So... please don't be mad, okay? Well, it's not like I'd care either way. Oops... Did I say that out loud? Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. But seriously, who's that mysterious bodyguard guy? Although I don't think I fooled anyone, haha. Did I scare you? Did you really think best girl Maya was about to die? Pssshh. Nah. Well, not yet, at least. Ooh spooky right? Will she die? Hmm, I'm not sure. After all, no one is immortal... No one. No matter how powerful of a magician they are. Moving on, I should wrap this note up. Please comment whether or not you liked this chapter, it was actually super fun to write! I was really stressed, but when I sat down and started writing, all the negative feelings just kind of disappeared. Okay okay! I shouldn't say anymore before I bore you anymore! See you on the other side~~~~