Isekai truck driver

Chapter 24

Despite being in what looked like a massive office building, the rooms on the 64th floor resembled traditional Japanese housing. Kuragi wandered the floor a bit, everything here was clearly meant to be Japanese from the tatami mats to the small tables known as kotatsu, but it wasn't quite right, like someone had done their best to imitate it from memory.
A glowing square appeared on the wall, and James walked through with a rolled up futon under his left arm. " Ah miss Kuragi, have you spoken with master Haku yet?"
" No..... where is he?"
" Just around the corner in room 7, I'll be preparing room 8 for you to stay in, please make yourself comfortable, and if you need anything don't hesitate to ask."
" I did have a couple questions actually, I was kind of curious about your situation, like how and why you came to live here with...."
" Gods?"
" Yea.."
" Well, the short of it is they saved my life, so now I serve master Jasper humbly in order to repay my debt."
" And the long of it?"
" Tis not a pleasant story, and I'm afraid I don't know all the details, mayhaps master Haku or Jasper would be a better person to ask."
" I see, I'll have to ask them then..... Oh, one more thing, would you happen to have some clothes I could borrow?"
" I'll arrange for some to be delivered to your room promptly."
" Thanks."

Kuragi opened the door to room 8, the mess inside was an immediate contrast to the rest of the floor around it. In the center of the mess lying in a futon was Haku, fast asleep. Kuragi walked up to him, " Hey Haku." No response. " WAKE UP YOU LAZY GOD!!" Still nothing. Kuragi got down on her knees next to the futon, a ring of garbage consisting of food wrappers and empty bottles separated her from Haku. Kuragi picked up one of the bottles and looked at the label, to her surprise it wasn't an empty soda bottle, but rather an empty bottle of sleep medication. " Really you dumb god, you must've heard I was coming, why'd you knock yourself out." Kuragi looked at the trash more carefully now, it wasn't just the one bottle, at least a dozen empty bottles of sleep medication surrounded the bed. " What have you gotten yourself into this time." With no regard for the sleeping god, Kuragi lifted him from his sleeping position and began shaking him until he woke up.
" Huh, what, huh?.... Oh, hi Kuragi, long time no see."
" Don't give me that, why were you asleep, it's the middle of the day and they must have told you I'm coming, and what's up with the sleep stuff?"
" There's a very good reason for it I assure you."
" There better be."
" So you see, a couple nights ago I had this crazy prophetic dream, I was a girl, and you were a guy, and this little boy was drinking alcohol and telling me something important about our mission, but I don't remember exactly what he was saying, just that  we have a time limit now, and it's the end of the month."
" So basically, you had a weird dream so you tried to have another one so you could hear what the lawsuit waiting to happen told you about your goal."
" I know it sounds weird, but I asked Jasper, and he said it's entirely possible. He said the head of his corporation only ever appears to people when they are unconscious."
" Well, let's suppose that what you heard from the kid in the dream is true, and that we have 25 days left to defeat the demon lord. To optimize our chances of success I think we should off one more human and prepare to battle with at least a week left."
" That sounds good, do you have any idea who the target is this time?"
" Not really, I'll need more time to think.... But I did have a question for you. James said you might be able to answer it better than he could. I wanted to know the story behind why James is working here, he mentioned Jasper saved his life, but also that there was more that only you and Jasper would know?"
" Oh..... That, I'll tell you, but do try to keep an open mind. It happened awhile ago. Jasper was off saving another world single-handedly, he had wiped out most of the forces threatening the humans of that world, there was just one last stronghold of enemies left. Before he could launch an attack on this last stronghold however, the world got blacklisted, meaning we gods have to leave the world and let whatever happens on it run it's course without any godly interventions. Not long after that one stronghold he left became two, then three, until the world was back in the shape it was in before Jasper had first began there. The humans there were quickly and easily becoming prey to monsters and demons...."
" Why was the world blacklisted?"
" There are a number of reasons a world can be blacklisted, sometimes the threat to the humans agrees to go neutral, other times it isn't in our best interest to interfere. With this world however, the reason was unclear, and Jasper felt guilt for all the people lost to the monsters, he stopped work for a couple decades. That's when I come into the story, seeing him sad makes me sad, so I went to that world. Humanity was almost completely wiped out, and I couldn't do much to save it. So I just did what I could, I scooped up about twenty people of various ages and brought them here. Jasper was really surprised when I showed up on his doorstep with a bunch of humans, but I eventually convinced him to let them stay here. Among those people was a small child named James. He continues to do this on his own now, it helps him feel better about his job.
" I see, so Jasper takes in people and gives them a place to live."
" At first yeah, but he realized some of the people needed to reconnect with society, so he helped them incorporate themselves to your planet. He even offered a lot of them some kind of divine talent or protection. Most of them flourished and lived great lives, you probably even know a few of them, like rob boss for example, Jasper taught him how to paint, or gill bates, Jasper taught him some technological advancements."
" Wow, I think I'm getting an idea of who our next target should be."
" You wouldn't, that's cruel."
" We are on a time limit now remember."