Aki: chapter 1: Mysteries
Being curious of that woman who had entered our building I wandered around the school after class let out. I walked over by the teachers lounge and heard nothing from it and so I decided to check the offices. On my way there I heard loud voices emanating from a classroom, so I stopped to check it out.
"Why did you come here? Why did you show up after all these years?" A loud male voice shouted from inside the room.
"I found something here I liked, why? Do you have a problem?" I heard an angelic voice ask calmly.
"Yes I do, and if you keep coming I'll reveal your secret." He said.
"Oh, that I'm an angel? And what would that do?" she asked.
I crept closer to the door as they continued to speak.
"It would create a situation that even you could not hold off." He said nastily.
I peered around the corner and saw the girl from before with white wings and a male teacher I had seen once or twice with large demonic bat wings.
"And what about your secret… Demon?" she asked and she saw me peering around the corner and grinned.
I quickly pulled out of the doorway and hid behind a desk in the hall. The two of them presently finished whatever argument they were having and left the 'demon' first and the 'angel' second. The demon stormed off while the angel after waiting for him to vanish walked over to me.
"Hello there, little one." She said to me smiling.
"Who are you?" I asked a little perturbed, a little curious.
"I am the angel Shinnihaku, the 'elder goddess'. I am here to grant you a wish." She said smiling.
"Your name is just like mine! My name is Geishinni, the 'herbal medicine goddess." I said with awe.
"Isn't that nice." She said with true sincerity. "That would mean I would be your superior, in all except herbal or flower medicine."
"But all I am good at is mathematics." I complained.
"I know. That is why I have come to present you a wish, Geishinni sir." She said smiling.
"A wish. One wish? How should one use this 'wish'?" I asked.
"To get what one desires. We could provide you more wealth than you could ever use in a lifetime or we could destroy the world for you. We would never actually go to a customer that wanted to do that but we have the ability, Geishinni sir." She explained.
"How do I know you aren't bluffing?" I asked suspiciously.
"I can not lie." She said plainly.
"Okay, then, do you think I am an admirable person?" I asked.
"Of course I do," she said as if it was obvious.
"See, I knew you could lie." I said as if that proved my point.
"But it's true. I admire your compassion and your kindness towards your classmates and your willingness to share your abilities with your classmates." She said list a number of points in me people disregarded.
"But those just get me taken advantage of. They aren't admirable at all. And I'm not handsome or cute or athletic at all. I hardly have any money and I don't do well in school." I said getting a little angry.
"But these are things that make you unique and thus admirable, Geishinni sir." She said again as if all my complaints were but oil on the surface of pure gold.
"All right I think I have my wish." I said.
"Yes?" she said.
"I want…" I began.
"Go on." She urged.
"…A girl like you…" I continued. "With me always."
Suddenly she began to glow a bright blue and outside I could see dark clouds brewing. Lightening began to hit the ground all over the place as runes appeared around her in a ring. Suddenly a large bolt of lightening hit the school and pierced straight through to Shinnihaku. I jumped back and I saw some of the runes fly out and lock onto me, though once they had I could see them any more. As quickly as he storm had appeared it vanished and Shinnihaku lay there on the ground. I rushed over to her and checked her pulse. It was normal and in a moment she woke up with a worried look on her face.
"Where is a telephone?" she asked me almost immediately.
"I'll show you." I said leading her off towards a payphone.
"Thank you, Geishinni sir." She said as we got there.
She dialed up a number and waited a moment.
"Hello, this is Shinnihaku… yes, concerning that wish that just went through… What! It was a valid wish? …Almighty one!" she said before she was apparently disconnected. "Well your wish has been duly granted."
"It has, that is well… um," I tried to say something but nothing came out.
"Don't worry. Your wish has been granted. I am going to stay by you always." She said smiling.
"That's… good." I said somewhat relieved. "But… what am I going to do about my parents?"
"We'll have to figure something out, won't we?" She said.
"Yes, we will." I agreed. "But it won't be easy."
"It won't be too hard. Not if I use some magic, Geishinni sir." She said simply.
"About that magic stuff…" I began.
"Yes?" she asked.
"You can't just go and use that willy-nilly because there aren't very many who can use that in this world." I said.
"I understand. I will not use magic in plain sight, especially during the day." She promised.
"And another thing," I said.
"Yes?" she asked.
"Can you please not call me 'Geishinni sir'? It is rather uncomfortable." I asked.
"I can not grant you any more wishes." She said plainly.
"I kind of guessed, but I thought I should…" I began mumbling.
"But I will make a special exception for you, Geishinni!" she said with enthusiasm.
"Thank you very much, Shinnihaku!" I cried embracing her.
"It's all right." She said calmingly to me and I slowly let her go.
"Let's go home." I said starting to walk over towards the exit of the building completely unwary of those who watched me from many windows and other more hidden locations. "You'll have to hold onto me as I bike us home, which thankfully isn't far at all."
"You are very kind, Geishinni." She declared again as we were biking home. "And very gentle and very wise for your age."
"Aw, you don't need to complement me so much." I said embarrassed. "You are the angel. You are the perfection many humans aim for and others give up a beyond them."
"But as far as I have observed of humans you are as good as humans get in this day and age." She said plainly as we went up a hill. "That is as good a reason as any to complement you for personal traits."
"But I still am not as good as you are. But thanks any way. I know that you are sincere." I said gratefully. "I've never had anyone complement me for these traits."
"Then you are very welcome." She said smiling as we pulled up to our house.
There wasn't any car in driveway, which I took as odd, for my parents were usually home by this time. I went in side and walked into the living room. Setting my backpack down on a chair and picking up a note from the living room table, I swiftly realized that my parents had gone out.
"Well, my parents aren't home yet." I said before reading the note. "And it doesn't look like they'll be home anytime soon."
"Why might that be? Are they sick or hurt?" Shinnihaku asked worried.
"No, they are just taking another adventure. Apparently this one is in Africa." I answered calmly. "But that means you can stay here without any worries for quite some time."
"That's very nice. So what are we doing about dinner?" she asked me relieved.
"I'll throw something together. I might not look it but I can cook a little." I said grinning as I walked off towards the kitchen.
I set out to making a meal. I checked what we had and found a recipe that used stuff we had. Then I got to work on it, cutting vegetable, sautéing onions, and the like. Shinnihaku wandered around the house exploring so that she knew the layout of the house backwards and forwards.
An hour later I was done with dinner and said, "Shinnihaku, dinner is ready."
"I'll be there in a minute." She called from some corner of the house and came walking.
We sat down to eat and began to dig in. we both ate in near silence, for me it was partially because I was so hungry I wasn't able to say anything. For Shinnihaku, I didn't know, but it looked like she was too amazed with what she had seen to speak. So we ate in silence and enjoyed my meal, which had come out close to the most perfect meal I had ever made. After dinner we went to get Shinnihaku a room set up for her. I wanted her to sleep in the guest room but she insisted on sleeping in my room.
"Why do you want to sleep in my room?" I asked her.
"Well, you see…" she began looking embarrassed.
"You're scared or something?" I asked.
"Um, sort of. It's just that I don't like being alone." She said blushing a bright red.
"Oh, all right. You can sleep in my room." I conceded.
"Thank you, Geishinni! I'm very glad." She said gleefully.
"Don't make so much noise, you might disturb the neighbors." I said a little irritated.
"Okay!" she said and began setting up a small bed in my room.
"Um… since you're here… would you help me study when you are done?" I asked politely.
"Of course. I couldn't just let you study alone when I'm right next to you." She said with a big grin.
"Thanks. That will help me learn this stuff." I said with detest as I looked at English and history.
"Just give me a minute," she said as I sat down to begin on the problems.
I opened up the book and began writing down the problems that I had been assigned today. I had barely figured one out when Shinnihaku sat down beside me to help me study.
"Huh? Why are you doing this like that? This is the way it should really be done."
"Oh, I see."
"You really don't understand this do you?"
"No, I don't have a clue."
And so it went for about two hours as I relearned English and history. It was, by far the most productive time I had ever spent on history or English in my entire life. Then I finished off my math homework and we got ready for bed.
"Goodnight." I said to her as she turned out the light.
"Goodnight." She said and we went to sleep.