I am in love with gods.
No, no, no, I don't mean that I am fantasizing about getting together with bearded-men in awful robes (ahem, I'm a guy) or swoon-worthy big-breasted women with fickle smiles and scary sexual drives (I'm more into the yamato nadeshiko-types, ah, but that's a talk for another day).
To be more precise, I love what gods represent. Faith. Magic. Hope. Everything that someone mediocre performance-wise, appearance-wise and born in the digital age finds lacking.
I love gods, but I'm not stupid enough to believe they exist. And even if they do, I am not that stupid to approach trouble, because let's face it, powerful people are plenty troublesome as it is, let alone powerful non-humans.
What I mean to say, is that I find mortal concerns foolishly boring, and only god-related stuffs get me a kick.
Ah, if only I knew what was to come several hours from now, I wouldn't have phrased my words this way.
"Mori!"
Ako Tadashi, a classmate of mine, smoothly pulls away the earphone on my left ear before sitting beside me. Rude much? But hey, how much courage did it take him to approach me, let alone touch me, of all people?
"Ohna-sensei said you're on my group," Tadashi forced a smile on his face as reflected on the glass.
I look away from the rushing view of the sea outside the window. Which reminds me, aren't we moving too fast? I hope the bus driver realizes that he's beating the speed limit right now.
He visibly jumps away from me as our eyes meet. "We're gonna have a team meeting after lunch, coz we're so whipping the white and red groups this time!"
Come on, buddy. I know you don't want to team up with me, but seriously, jumping? Don't make it so obvious.
Girls jumping away can somehow be forgiven. But guys? Give yourselves a bit more credibility. It's not like I'm going to eat you alive.
I smile bitterly. "But my injury – "
"Just having you on our side is enough!" he claims.
Benchwarmer? Yay. How fun.
I smile again, nodding, but I internally shake my head 'coz who's gonna believe him? It's not like I'm some sort of lucky charm that brings good luck to those who possess it. I may not be Einstein, but I'm not an airhead.
I wonder how Ohna-sensei bribed Tadashi to be this friendly with me. I'm sure he hates me for flinging him out of the top ten in the last mid-sem evaluation exams.
I'm not sure what's so exciting about this trip, but he buzzes around me with all the whopping rules and bombastic prizes for some measly kiddie games that our teacher cooked up. I zoom back to reality when he finally pats my shoulders like we're the best of buds and moves back to his seat.
I sigh. Finally, peace and quiet.
I return my gaze to the view outside the window, but my mind replays the way Tadashi moves away like his butt is on fire. My uninjured arm return my earphone back to where it belongs, isolating the sounds around me.
But I can no longer find any peace in my mind. Another figure replaces him in my mind, and the way she ran –
WHAM!
Suddenly, my whole body hits the hard cushion in front of me, and I hear screams and shouts around me. The bus swerves from left to right, and bags and students are whipped with the force. The bus stops after flipping to the side, and thankfully, there are no cars behind us or else there will be a pretzel of broken bones and metal chunks. But still, that is better than the entire bus going off the road and falling down a cliff.
A quick scan informs me that around half of my classmates are unconscious. Aside from cuts and bruises, it is highly unlikely for us passengers to have heavy casualties.
Groaning, I blink my eyes and happen to see two odd-looking people in the middle of the road, one wearing white and another wearing blue. Based from their expressions, they are the source of the problem.
Through the now broken glass, I can somehow hear their conversation.
"I told you to dodge, did I not?" says the white-clothed man, who looked slightly older than twenty. "You never listen. Look what happened. How are you going to report this to master?"
His blue-clothed companion, a girl around eighteen, elbows him in the gut. "I stopped the spinning and no one died so stop nagging me."
"I'm not nagging you."
"Yes, you are."
"Blame that man for not immediately stopping this carriage when he saw us."
Seriously? Aren't they gonna start calling 119? They are acting super casual that it's downright freaky, as if they aren't standing in front of a broken bus with crying students inside.
"Considering his reaction speed is immensely inferior to us, he cannot be blamed. The teachings of the Lord Ancestor mentioned this too, that this is merely a world of mortals . . . hmm?" The white-clothed man notices me staring, and a bizarre expression spreads across his face.
The girl follow his line of sight and harrumphs, "We can start our mission by asking this one for information."
All of a sudden, her right hand reaches out in front of me. It is as if the bus is as soft as tofu. The shock that ran through my body cannot be explained as she opens a hole large enough for me to be pulled out. She singlehandedly carries me as if I'm weighing nothing more than a soda can or a bottled water.
But for some reason, I am not so worried about my safety.
Looking at the meter-wide tear on the metal sheet, what her right hand did probably doubles the initial damage dealt to the poor bus.
Oh, they better be rich, for I'm sure the school principal and the insurance company won't let them off easily.