DISCLAIMER: I don't own Shaman King. Else I probably would've been able to do something more awesome for Manta's birthday.

Here's a short oneshot for Manta's birthday. It's probably not that good. I wanted to do something for him since last week, but I couldn't think of anything, plus I've been very busy the past few days. Well, here's something for him, and I did include him in my last dA pic. However well or not this is written, Happy Birthday, Manta! We should have cake sometime :D

Fate vs. Chance

Manta sat as his desk in cram school, casting furtive glances to both his watch and the clock mounted on the wall above the door. The train heading back towards his house was supposed to leave in fifteen minutes. If the class didn't adjourn soon, he might have to walk the whole way home…and that would take forever, especially on his short little stubby legs.

"…many scholars are in debate over whether Romeo and Juliet is a play that is truly reliant on fate, or if the final outcome arrives by mere chance," the teacher said, a copy of the play in his hand. On the board, written in English, was the prologue for the famed tragedy. He circled the phrase "star-crossed lovers." "Shakespeare…"

Normally, Manta would have been paying better attention. But when was a play about suicidal kids - ahem, "star-crossed lovers" - going to help him in life? He didn't need to read it - either in English, as they were now, or in a Japanese translation - to know the storyline. The storyline was everywhere. And it wasn't like Manta - or anyone he knew - was ever going to have to court or attempt to run away with a princess or heiress or whatever Juliet was. (He had already deemed Juliet insane.) Perhaps Manta was the heir to the Oyamada Corporation, but it was highly unlikely that he would ever be involved in any kind of adventure, the whole play thing aside.

Despite his anxiety over being late for his train, a bit of sadness gathered in his chest. He'd been feeling a whole lot more lately that he didn't have any choices in his life. He had to study hard to eventually take over his father's company, not because he necessarily wanted to (though he did love his dictionary). There had never been any other option for him, so even if he knew a way to wiggle out of his father's plan for him, he had no idea what he wanted to do with his life. A lot of people didn't know what they wanted to do, he knew, but he felt especially lost and confused.

"…your assignment will be to write a two-page essay on 'Fate versus Chance' in Romeo and Juliet," the teacher said, snapping Manta out of his thoughts. Quickly, he wrote down the assignment in his planner as the teacher finished, "And I would like this handed in by Friday. Off you go."

Manta quickly stuffed his books and papers into his backpack and made to rush out the door. All the other students had the same want to leave as soon as possible, so he had to wait for a few of them to leave the room, lest he get stepped on. As soon as the opportunity presented itself, he ducked outside the room and hurried down the hallway, darting out the front door and emerging into the night air.

"What's the hurry, Oyamada?" one of his classmates asked as he passed. The boy was big and reminded Manta of a legendary golem. "Got somewhere to be?"

Manta was already panting. "Gotta hurry home," he gasped, turning a corner and rushing down the sidewalk. It wasn't that late yet, but the street was already deserted. No one else in his class had to go home this way or go on the train he did.

He checked his watch and saw that the train would leave in seven minutes. "Darn it, why did cram school have to run late? Now I'm gonna miss the last train!" He grumbled to himself, looking back up. He stopped short, noticing a small chained gate blocking the way into the cemetery. A sign tied to the gate read "NO TRESPASSING."

Quickly, he worked to lift his small body up and over the gate. I'll cut through here, he thought to himself, the gate rattling underneath him. He noticed the numerous headstones, most of them cracked in some way. It's creepy, but I have to risk it…

"Hey! What's your hurry?"

Manta gave a start at the voice. Quickly, he dropped to the ground in the cemetery and looked to where the voice had come from. Up on the small jut of land, connected to the cemetery's shrine by a bridge, was the demon Amidamaru's headstone. Perched upon the stone sat a boy about Manta's age; he had brown hair and wore a pair of orange headphones. His body was slightly hunched, suggesting laziness, as he stared up at the starry sky.

"Weird…," Manta murmured, unnerved at the presence of this strange boy. What's he doing out here in the middle of the night? Didn't he know he was in a cemetery? Who would want to hang out with a bunch of headstones and that creepy feeling that surrounded them?

…What if he's a…a ghost?

Manta's watch beeped, and he yelped. "I don't have time for this! I'll miss my favorite show!" As fast as his little legs would allow, he hurried up the shrine steps and rushed toward the other end of the cemetery.

"I said, what's your hurry?" the boy asked, causing Manta to stop short. "There's a sky filled with beautiful stars. Wanna stargaze with us?"

Manta turned to him apprehensively. "Stargaze? What's the point of that? And you don't say 'us' when you're referring to yourself…." Weirdo…. I'd better get out of here.

The boy hopped off the headstone. "But I meant with all of us, the whole cemetery!"

Manta had never seen them before in his entire life, but suddenly, there they all were: every single spirit in the cemetery surrounded the boy on the hill. Nearly-transparent, unearthly, creepy ghosts.

He didn't even hear what the boy said next. Manta merely screamed and ran.

()()()()()()

As the years went by, Manta would never forget that day, nor those early days when he was just starting to befriend Asakura Yoh. As time went on, he'd figure out his goals and what he really wanted to do. But for a long time, and for the foreseeable future, his Best Place - as Ryu would put it - would to be at Yoh's side.

Call it what you will: fate, chance, or whatever, but meeting Yoh that day - clichéd as the phrase was - changed his life. Was there really such a thing as fate or chance, anyway? Things happened as they happened, for that Manta was certain.

But to this day, Manta could never remember what he wrote for that silly cram school assignment. Did such a thing matter? There were far more important things.