With a good night of sleep, all my doubts and uncertainties were resolved and although everything I discovered yesterday was still somewhat difficult to digest, I felt calmer in that aspect because I could analyze it more calmly, I think it was simply too great of a shock for me to discover something like that... and not just one, but two things almost as impressive.
First, that my friend Monica Riedel is the equivalent of a God.
And second, that my friend who is the equivalent of a God, was in love with me.
Although I think equating the impact of both would be a bit of an exaggeration, but it was somewhat doable for me to see it that way.
With these thoughts I turned in bed a couple times before the alarm rang indicating that I should get up to go to school. Almost reluctantly I got out of bed walking to the kitchen to get some water, today I felt strangely more sleepy than usual, I always usually get up a little before the alarm sounds but today I just felt in a bad mood because I had to get up.
I suddenly had the feeling that something was wrong, while I was drinking water, I had the feeling that something was out of order, not a feeling that I can put correctly in words, is simply feeling that something is not right for some reason. While I was trying to identify the strong sensation that came over me for no apparent reason, I placed the glass halfway with clear liquid on the kitchen counter. In a brief moment the sensation got stronger and something caught my attention, the water in the glass started to move… An earthquake?
A moment later, the tremor became more noticeable, progressively stronger and stronger without stopping, when I was about to leave the house… it stopped abruptly.
—It seems like the tremors stopped... what a strange earthquake...
But in an instant my suspicions of a possible earthquake completely crumbled, rebuilding itself as something totally different, something that had nothing to do with a tremor began to happen... and I know very well what it is, too well even.
“HYAAA HYA HYA HYA HYAA! HUMANS, SURRENDER IN THIS INSTANT OR YOUR PLANET WILL BE COMPLETELY DESTROYED WITHIN THEN NEXT SECONDS!”
That tender laugh… that was the voice of someone I know perfectly well, a shrill sound that echoed in the air making it vibrate probably all over the world. What is she doing now?
Hearing her speak, I went to the door and opened it, going out to the small yard of my house, I looked in all directions but I couldn't see anything until I decided to raise my head and look up.
The face of my friend who until yesterday was a normal high school student was now hovering high in the sky to an unimaginable magnitude, her face could be seen from above towards the horizon so it must be on a ridiculously huge scale right now.
—Monica? —Almost instinctively I blurted out that name without waiting for a response from her.
“THE GODDESS OF YOUR WORLD HAS ARRIVED! IF YOU WANT ME TO LET YOU LIVE, ALL COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD MUST SURRENDER NOW, IF IN THE NEXT MINUTE TO THE LAST COUNTRY OF THE WORLD HAS NOT POSTED THEIR SURRENDER TO ME PUBLICLY, I’LL DESTROY THIS SMALL PLANET WITH ALL ITS INSIGNIFICANT HABITANTS IN IT!"
This is clearly a game for her, it was easy for me to realize that she was not serious, that it was all a simple performance, such a simple performance that if it weren't for having the earth literally in the palm of her hand, she would have been the mockery of the whole world.
Almost as if I'd been in sync with her thoughts, I entered the house and turned on the TV in the living room to watch the news channel. To my surprise I didn’t had to change the channel that was previously in one of crafts, the news was on this channel too, I tried changing the channels but they were all the same. I don’t know exactly how many seconds passed since she ordered the surrender of the countries, but Japan was already announcing it, seconds later the newscast went from being a national to international category in which they began to publicly announce the surrender of all countries, one by one. Various commentators could be seen talking about this issue in absolute panic, all the people on television were in total loss of words, even sobbing from the cameramen could be heard, no journalist, commentator, announcer or staff in general was calm, all were sweating and with terror on their faces, some even cried as they tried to give the surrender announcements, others could not even read clearly stuttering over and over again.
All the small countries and even the most powerful ones announced their surrender, China, North Korea, Russia, even the United States, all of them were fooled by an innocent pink haired high school girl 18 years old. It was somewhat hilarious for me to live this in first person from the perspective of one of the victims without being scared while Monica destroyed the world order and put it at her feet with just a couple sentences.
While I left the extensive plasma screen on, I went up to my room and took my cell phone which right now was suffering from an attack of uncontrollable vibrations due to the countless messages, notifications from everywhere and calls that I was receiving simultaneously, it’s not a strange thing if the poor phone collapsed at any moment. I managed to deactivate the vibrations and the sound of notifications, to only have pop-ups jumping all over the screen of all my social networks and messaging applications. Headlines like "The world is about to be destroyed" or "Every country in the world just showed their resignation letters publicly" were the only things that could be seen updating in real time on news sites or tw***er.
When I looked at my message inbox, I saw several conversations of which, two of them kept receiving messages, obviously from my parents, things like "Are you okay?" "Danny, don't panic, everything will be fine" "Where are you?" "Why don’t you answer?" were ones of the few that I could decipher due to the terrible spelling with which they were written, it was almost impossible to understand, the person who wrote them was surely shaking so terribly that was barely able to hold the phone and write something. I couldn't help but feel somewhat moved to see that my parents were concerned about writing to me when the world could end at any moment, of course, from their perspective alone. I decided to send a message to mom which obviously they both will read.
—"Don’t worry about anything and keep calm, I promise you that everything will be fine."
With the absence of any minimum errors possible at spelling or writing I assured them that my mental state was one of total calm, trying to share some of my calm with them. After sending it, I went back to my inbox where I observed many messages, some from unknown numbers and some from my friends.
Tomoe Kahiko: "Danny, I'm scared, I don't want to die!"
Unknown number: "Wakkun, the truth is that I'm in love with you, I want you to know this since... I don't know what will happen now."
Wow, Hanazawa was right, apparently someone was in love with me, it is true that these kinds of chaotic situations bring out the true nature of people, but I couldn't help but blush a little when I saw that message, I wonder who it was from…
Among some panic messages from other of my friends, there was a specific one that got me into that conversation.
Ozuma Shirogane: "You are watching this, right?"
The message would not have seemed strange or remarkable to me if it had not been for the impeccable writing of it, when I read it carefully, there was some kind of second meaning that disturbed me a bit, for a moment I felt as if he had known that I know something about what is happening. If I take a brief moment to think about this... maybe he recognized Monica and her voice? It would be the most logical thing to think this since I am the one who is closest to her... I think I’ll talk to her about this when everything returns to normal, for now it’s necessary for someone to put an end on this chaos.
Approaching to my closet I took a couple of things from the depths of a hidden box all the way to the back of the closet, something that should not come to light under a conventional circumstance. Going down the stairs, I went straight to the entrance and went out once more to the yard.
“I SEE THAT ALL OF YOU MADE THE WISE CHOICE TO SURRENDER TO ME, THANKS TO THAT, I WILL FORGIVE YOUR LIVES, BUT FROM TODAY EVERYONE WILL SERVE ME… FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIVES…!”
—Stop right there!
The hero who would save this world arrived at the right time to challenge the world-class threat… no, the universal threat.
“HUH?”
Without hope that she could hear my words, it seems that her attention was always focused on me, she was able to hear me despite being at this tremendous distance, I originally didn’t plan for her to put any attention on me, so when it was my turn to respond, I had to think a little more about what to say.
—You wouldn't think that while I was here… I would let your plans go the way you wanted… if that's what you thought, you were totally wrong!
Taking out of my pocket one of the two objects that I had taken a moment ago I placed it in my right eye with the second object, a garment. A black eye patch with a red cross over my right eye and a black cape that covered my pajamas. I never thought I could use these things in such a great way, apparently I still have little remnants of that shy and innocent stage of eight grader syndrome.
Raising my arm up and pointing to the immeasurable creature looming across the sky and horizon, I spat out the most irresponsible words that any human could have ever uttered, as well as the most epic I imagined I could ever say in my life.
—As long as I live, your reign of terror can do whatever with the rest of the universe, but will never be able to put a finger on this planet, if you ever try, I will personally kill you! —Using my voice in the deeper tone that my vocal cords allowed me, I outlined a smile full of confidence.
If this event had occurred even one day before, I surely would had wept and trembled in a corner of the house waiting for my death, but now I knew the amazing secret of my girlfriend, I can afford amazing and great performances like these.
“CAN YOU BE A SURVIVOR OF THAT TRIBE OF ANCIENT HEROES THAT I DESTROYED MORE THAN 100 YEARS AGO?!”
The fluidity with which she followed my game made me a bit lost with the argument that was developing in a matter of seconds, so I hesitated a bit before I could answer her question.
—Y-yes! I am… Raklix Lacnor! With the power of this eye of ethereal demand and my demon sword Obsculixbur, I will avenge my fallen comrades before your fearsome power!
“IT’S GREAT TO HAVE FOUND THE LAST OF THE ANCIENT HEROES ON A PLANET AS DIMINUTE AND INSIGNIFICANT AS THIS ONE, I WILL DESTROY YOU AND TOTALLY END YOUR LINEAGE ONCE AND FOR ALL!”
Despite not having a sword called Obsculixbur, I raised my right hand pretending to be holding one.
Then one of Monica's hands appeared, slowly descending towards the place where I was.
“FAREWELL, RAKLIX!”
When I saw only one of her fingers creating a shadow over the entire city, I calculated that the small part of her body by itself would be bigger than all of Japan, perhaps than an entire continent, she planned to destroy me using only that finger. Then a strong rain shower announced the arrival of the end of the world, when it came down enough to scatter the clouds like foam, I could see large buildings in the distance collapse... Had I made a correct choice of words? Despite knowing the nature of this monstrosity, I began to feel overwhelmed by that single fragment of her body. She got closer and closer until I was about to feel that if I jumped I could touch her.
And then…
I opened my eyes when the alarm that marked the beginning of my school day sounded, was that a dream?
The drowsiness of being recently awoke was what made me doubt the veracity of the events that had just occurred. As I picked up my phone and turned off the alarm that wouldn't stop, I was notified of a message that had just arrived, I tapped it, and the chat of the person I shared some messages with last night was displayed.
Riedel Monica: “That was not a dream at all, Raklix Lacnor, bearer of the Obsculixbur and the eye of the ethereal demand. See you on the way to school my little case of chūnibyō. <3”
I was feeling so ashamed that I felt I could die, I left the phone facing down on the shelf where I first took it and threw myself on the bed covering myself with the sheets while twisting.
—AAAAAAAAAAAAAH, IT CAN’T BE, THIS CAN’T BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
Now I don't feel ready to go to school today, but Monica's house is close to mine and if I refuse to go, she will come to drag me even though she has to take me in pajamas.
***
—Good morning, Rakl...
My hand flew at lightning speed towards the mouth that was about to utter that horrible name.
—Not. Even. A. Word. About. THAT —I emphasized each word, the next one more than the last and retrieved my hand from her mouth.
—It's our secret! —Closing her eyes, she raised her arm to the sky making some kind of victory pose.
This is horrible, no one was supposed to find out about this!
In my second year of middle school I began to suffer from a light case of the popular “eight grade syndrome”, a personality disorder with various developmental pathways, my case was one of the generic ones, a boy who acts delusional of greatness and begins to engross himself in fantasies in which he possesses some kind of powers and invents strange names for any daily matter. Luckily to me, this case of chūnibyō was harmless and fleeting enough to go unnoticed in my school life since I was always ashamed to act that way at school, no one there ever found out about it, even Shirogane. My syndrome did not last more than half a year when at the end of the year I realized how embarrassing it looked like, I decided to leave that like something that never happened, something that only my parents and I know.
But now because of the twists and turns of fate, the girl I'm dating found out this shameful past of mine.
It turns out that when I was involved in such an unreal situation, those old memories came out of a dark corner in my brain in which they were stored and in the heat of the moment I released them without thinking about the consequences, thanks to that now Monica knew about my ridiculously shameful childish behavior, I appreciate that I got over it so quickly compared to much more serious cases, but I want to beat myself up for letting it see the light again. But... I suppose it's fair since she revealed her biggest secret to me, it would be the fairest thing for me to also reveal one or another of mine... even so, it’s still terribly embarrassing.
I was walking with my head down for most of the way to school.
—So... —She told—. What do you think about the destruction of the world?
—Could you tell me how that works? Did that even happened? What I mean is that this morning when I woke up, there was not a trace of what happened.
—I imagined you would ask that, well... it's something rather simple. See, we could say that technically that morning didn’t happened for anyone but us, let's say I did something similar to a trip back in time, in that route I became a giant and threatened to destroy the earth, all governments surrendered, the people panicked and everything corresponding to that situation, when we started our little game and I was about to hit my finger against you, ahem, finger that, by the way, was my little finger, and was the length of all of South America.
—I knew it was bigger than Japan, but that...
—Anyway, a moment before impacting, I took everything back to its previous state before manifesting my enormous presence on earth, so nobody knows that happened, the only ones whose brains were not affected by my reboot were yours and mine.
—So… it’s like that, but… you said that you were incapable of harming someone, right? Well, I would be very worried if you did, but...
—Collateral damage? I am not soooo irresponsible as not to see that someone can panic, someone may prefer to commit suicide out of terror because of me, people with heart problems... etc. I make sure to delete all the negative causality about my actions from all people on earth.
—Negative causality?
—That's right, any action that I perform and is capable of resulting in irreversible damage to an individual, such as death, is nothing more than an irrelevant action in that case, for example, heart attacks due to my influence can’t kill, car accidents caused by me either and any cause of death by my fault is denied, these anomalies turn into things they don’t take into consideration so they believe they're dead as long as my intervention is on course, including direct damage caused by me is harmless to people, in other words, I turn my indirect or indirect impact on humanity and all the species of the world in simple and harmless innocuous events. But if the cause of death occurred at least a millisecond before my intervention or it had nothing to do with me, it will have nothing to do with my protection too, they will die naturally.
—But what if your appearance prevents the cause of death?
—Death is inevitable, Danny, my level of influence is unable to avoid death in the 100% of the cases, if I save someone who was about to die, that person will die at most five minutes later.
—I think I understand your point... the collateral damage and that “fate” thing, it must be very difficult to do...
—In fact, it’s something quite easy, I just have to imagine that no one can die because of me given any minimal connection and that's it.
—You are incredible...
—Do you think so?
Almost as if I had remembered something, my embarrassment left for a moment and I gave her a light blow on top of her head taking advantage of my superior height.
—H-hey!
—I... I just hit the person who was about to end the existence of the entire earth and... And who could destroy the entire universe any day of the week.
—Hmm, did you need that for your ego?
—Probably... —My head went back looking at the floor—. O-on the other hand! You shouldn't laugh at me when you have such a cute world domination laugh!
—Huh? —The girl who was walking next to me stopped abruptly.
—Mm? —When I realized it, I stopped and turned to her.
Her face was totally red, she almost looked like a real tomato.
—I mean, your evil laugher is so bad! Yes! I couldn't believe you are evil at all!
—Y-yeah sure... I have to practice it more... —Like me, she lowered her head and kept walking.
We resumed our way as we were approaching to the school’s campus.
—Seriously... you think it is cute? —Without looking at me, she asked that question in a voice that was too tender.
—C-cute... I would say that even tender... the opposite of someone who is about to take over the world... I can't take you seriously like that.
—Y-you will have your punishment later for hitting my head!
—Hey! What does that mean?
—You will not get away with this… late chūnibyō…
—Not a word about that at school!
—Pfff... of course... —Resisting apparently did nothing but make it difficult for her and ended up dropping a laugh—. Hahahahahahahahahahaha... hahahaha... hahar03;r03;... ha... Of course not, silly... of course I wouldn't say that.
Our eyes met and I found a curious feeling in her eyes that made any regret that I had in my life to ease, the only fact of looking into her eyes was enough to give me encouragement for an entire week.
—Anyway... somehow I find that childish side of you very cute! —With her beautiful smile, her gaze penetrated my soul through our eyes.
—S-s-see you in class!
I could not bear those last words and practically escaped from her running towards our classroom.
—I'm sure I made the right choice with you... Danny, I'm too happy to finally have you by my side...
***
Upon entering the classroom I was greeted by Shirogane among the group of boys near the entrance door.
—Hey Danny.
—Good morning, Shiro.
—What do I see and hear? Did something good happened to you?
—Why do you ask?
I didn't think that today Shirogane would start with his jokes so early but I have to be careful since I don’t know if Monica cares that everyone finds out that there is something between us and although I’m not sure, I suppose that she could just erase everyone's memories about it and pretend nothing happened, but just in case I'd like to keep things normally with her consent anyway.
—You don't usually shorten my name, when you call me "Shiro" it means that something good happened to you recently.
I didn't realize that as soon as I arrived, I was already sticking my ass and giving signals to my insightful friend.
—Ah, it's not...
—Did something good happened to Danny?
—What is it?
—Do you have a new waifu?
—Neh, pretty sure he just got platinum in a game or something.
The whole group started to get on top of me so I decided to remain silent in the face of all their erroneous assumptions, after all they’re nothing more than failed attempts to guess, I don't think anyone coul…
—Could it be that he got a girlfriend? —He fired that lethal bullet, the terrible Sugita.
…COULD FIND OUT.
—W-what!? Of course not!
“DOES WAKKUN HAVE A GIRLFRIEND?!”
That scream was from all the boys in our class, probably being heard down the hall and clearly the ratio that covered that scream allowed the girls to listen.
—When did it happen?
—Is she a cute girl?
—How old is she?
—What kind of girl is she?
—Is she from this school?
Questions like that began to invade me nonstop, one after another. I think now I have an idea of r03;r03;the amount of attention Monica received on our first day of middle school.
At this point, it’s useless for me to keep hiding the fact that I am now dating a girl, but would it be correct for me to just say it like that?
At the moment when these doubts and many more circulated in my head like crazy, Monica entered the room through the other door while whistling a melody that I identified as the opening of my favorite anime. One of the girls who was in the mass accumulation of students above me came out of the circle and approached Monica, taking her arm.
—Did you hear? Wakkun now has a girlfriend! —With that, she approached what appeared to be a beehive of human size.
—Oh yeah, we started dating yesterday.
Wait…
The entire class went completely silent. I think even their brains turned off, so did mine.
—M-Monica?
—Oh Danny, did you already told them that we are a couple? What a thrill!
—… —I gave myself a reflexive face palm.
“UUUUUUWHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!”