Whelp, back at it again. I've wanted to use this episode ever since I created the idea for this story because of the potential it had. EZ jokes people, I love them, cuz I'm not that funny on my own.

Chapter 9

Glitches

Yuuta P.O.V

I sat down heavily as both Hisoki and I panted, 100% out of breath.

"Holy crap, stop dying already!" Hisoki snapped at me as he whipped his forehead. "Someone is going to notice the FIVE extra times I reset this world's timeline"

"I'm sorry I don't exactly know the rules of how this place kills me!" I snapped back.

"You can't even think of anything magical, you should have figured out gathering more mana than normal would kill you because you spontaneously combusted!" Hisoki put a hand to his forehead. "I was very clear how anything magical will most likely go wrong, kill you, and not even come close to what you wanted it to do"

I sighed. "At least we made it to school on time"

He checked his phone. "Get in there, we got approximately 50 seconds"

"We are on the other side of the building!"

He grabbed my arm. "I'll see if we can get lucky."

He twisted his teleporting ring and a cloud of black smoke rose from our feet.

.

I fell from my ceiling again, down to my bed.

I slapped a hand to my face. It's getting to the point when even I know when he resets us.

I quickly got dressed and found Hisoki waiting for me outside.

We gave each other a nod and ran to school.

Midway, I guess Hisoki was gathering some magical energies of some kind, so for a little while I was running next to him but he was upside down. Like a video game NPC that was glitching out, his feet were moving but it looked like his head was dragging against the ground and he learned how to hack the world or something.

Thankfully, I reloaded my chucks- I mean, I looked away for a bit and when I checked he was running normally.

We slammed into the school building and took our seats. I glanced around the room. Rikka isn't here. Or Nibutani.

"Hey man, long time no see!" A boy exclaimed from behind me, I turned and found my first normal friend, Isshiki.

"Yeah, things have been a little hectic," I said as I scratched the back of my head. A lot had been happening.

He sighed as he took a seat at the desk next to me. "Yeah, I can relate. I got kicked out of the music club"

I couldn't help but smirk at him. "Oh, why is that?"

"Well, Apparently the music club doesn't care about girls as much as they care about music" He explained and a guilty look settled on his face. "I also...kinda broke one of their guitars."

I bit back a laugh, but Hisoki did no such thing. He fell to the ground, practically bawling.

"Hey! It isn't that funny...what's your name again?" Isshiki asked, now looking confused. "Are you new to the class?"

Hisoki gave him a sour look. "No...I've been here since the first day...Last week I bought you lunch because you forgot"

Isshiki slapped a hand to his forehead. "Right! I'm sorry, my bad...you mentioned you had a foreign name...was it...Egyptian?"

Hisoki gave him a deadpan stare. "No...I have a Japanese name...whatever, I guess I won't tell you who could fix that guitar for cheap."

Isshiki perked up as I rose an eyebrow. Does he know someone, or is he referring to himself?

"Woah, no way! I was just going to keep it, maybe use it as a weapon"

I mean, it's not unreasonable just a little silly.

Hisoki waved off every attempt Isshiki tried to make to get who could fix it.

When he gave up, he slumped down in the chair again. "Man..."

"Hisoki is like that sometimes. Sometimes it's best to let him know you can hear and see him, but don't react" I said with a small smile.

"Hisoki, that's his name...Anyway, what is it like in your club? I heard you're the only guy"

I paused for a bit. "Well, I'm not the only guy, but the majority are girls."

"Mind listing them off for me?" Isshiki asked leaning forward a bit.

"Well," I held up a hand and lifted a finger with each name. "Me, Rikka, Nibutani, Dekomori who is a middle schooler, Kumin from the year above us, and Hisoki"

Isshiki's jaw dropped. "What kind of club are you in again?"

A club where we use our magical powers to fight an evil organization to bring magic back to the people, you know, average teenager stuff.

"We kinda role-play a little, in Rikka's little magical world" I explained.

"Oh that sounds like it could be fun," Isshiki said now grinning, "Do you mind if I join?"

Hisoki popped up next to us out of thin air(I can't tell if it was by magical means or if he is just a quiet walker). "Well, you have to have a pretty strong imagination to join, so I think he could"

I glanced at him. "How can you tell?"

He gave a sinister smirk. "He thought getting a guitar alone would be enough to make girls notice him"

I bit back a laugh...and failed. "Pffft- I'm sorry!"

Isshiki slunk down in his chair.

Hisoki patted him on the back. "It's ok, I was only joking. To make it up to you, I'll fix your guitar and have a female friend of mine teach you how to play."

He looked up at the god with hopeful eyes. "Really?"

"Of course, she's single and quite nice" Hisoki assured him.

With that Isshiki left to get his phone to put in the info Hisoki handed him.

"Oh, maybe I should have mentioned she's trans," Hisoki said blankly, nearly making me laugh again. "Then again, she does bring other girls with her to her tutoring session but is a real-life trap"

I nearly died on the spot. I felt bad for him, even when Hisoki was being nice, he still plans something downright evil.

Suddenly I had an idea. "Hey Hisoki, so you know how our magic is wonky now?"

He gave me a skeptical look. "Yeah"

"Is there anything we can do besides huddle into a magically bordered room?" I asked

He paused. "Well...there is one thing for guys like us that could give you a little time to work more magic than you already have" Odd way to phrase it.

"What is it? It might be worth trying right now"

For once he looked a little shy. He held up a hand, cupped it, and moved it up and down in the air.

I stared at it. It seemed familiar but I couldn't pinpoint where I had seen it. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He bit his lip and furrowed his brows a little. "Do I have to say it?"

"Yes, I have no idea what that motion means."

He let out a frustrated groan. "You see-" He pinched his thumb and pointer finger together and took a finger from his other hand and slid it through repeatedly. "You do it to mimic this feeling."

"Just say it"

"Fine! Rub out a good one, jack off, wank all over your 'homework' folder, do the one-handed tango, sin by your lonesome, ejaculate, diddle, choke the chicken, bash the bishop, beat ya meat, flog the dong, fap, whack off, or even play with yourself!" He hissed in a stage whisper to me.

I felt my face heat up. I now realized why that hand motion. I used that motion...occasionally.

A question for him and myself, why does he know so many terms for...that action?

Hisoki took a deep breath to calm his face. "Needless to say, I don't think it would be a good idea to do it now, not with these people around, or at school. I doubt your that desperate"

I shook my head wildly. "Y-your right, it's not worth it, let's just go about our day normally."

Then the teacher came in and Hisoki took his seat...before a golden beam of light shot through the roof and obliterated him, not to mention the new massive hole in the ground.

He'll be fine. I assured myself. Nothing to worry about

.

Hisoki never came back, but I got a text from Rikka saying that she has everyone gathered in the club room.

So as soon as class ended I headed off to the club room.

I slid open the door and Hisoki was duck taped to the floor. "Do..do I even really want to know?"

"Not really. Long story short, my magic hates me right now" He said, managing a small shrug.

"Ah welcome Dark Flame Master, I take it you are managing this cursed evening well?" Rikka asked as I now had my eyes drawn to the girls, all of them were here, dressed in their uniforms but also had a bright green cloth wrapped around their left thighs that I could barely see poking from under their skirts.

"Well, I'm managing. Mainly having Hisoki save me and not using any magic" I said as I scratched the back of my head.

"Have you not done the ritual?" She asked.

"Yeah, it's pretty easy Yuuta. Do you need help or something?" Nibutani asked as she placed her hands on her hips.

Instantly my mind was grabbed by some very naughty images. I shook my head wildly. "N-no I-I'm good"

I do not need the image of Rikka- I mean Nibutani- I mean anyone, assisting me in any kind of way!

"Oh yeah, Yuuta, before you panic and get bricked up, I should mention there is another way that lasts a bit longer but it is easy to lose its effects" Hisoki called out to me nonchalantly.

I turned my burning face to him. "R-really? Why didn't you say so, or do it?"

"Well, I don't have the proper materials to do it. Not to mention you need a bunch of holy elements to get it done, but I can't touch those so no point in collecting them or the correct materials because they are expensive and hard to find" He said.

I sighed.

"You seem quite relieved Dark Flame Master," Rikka said to me, and I blinked. Did she know what I was thinking? No...I had to be imagining the emphasis on that word. "The process can be quite hard, especially to someone new to this side of the world. Would you like some assistance?"

I shook my head. No horny. "Y-yeah, I'd like some help that Hisoki can't provide seeing he is a little tied down at the moment."

Turns out, it was much simpler than I thought it would be as long as Kumin and Nibutani worked together. Two high-powered Exalts made it quicker. They had spent some time working on collecting the items(that's why they weren't at class this morning) and made sure to collect enough for all of us, predicting that Hisoki wouldn't have any of the correct components.

Before long I had a small green scarf-like item that I wrapped around my shoulder, so I could hide it under my sleeve.

Hisoki showed no shame in wrapping it around his neck. That's what I thought until he snapped his fingers and the scarf vanished from my sight.

He cursed. "Damn this is a real damper on my spell usage"

"Right, you mentioned it was fairly easy to break with magic," I said. "About how much can this take?"

"With the relatively high quality of the materials we collected, for us, maybe 30 small spells, each larger spell consuming at least 5 times of a normal spell," Rikka said as she looked up thoughtfully. "As for Hisoki, they may be high quality, but not up to par with his godly energies so he has maybe 4 spells left. And if he tries a bigger spell then we will all perish from the explosion that will come of it"

I paled a little as I sat down at the table in the club room.

"Unless I get lucky and can block off the explosion," Hisoki said with a sigh. "I honestly almost prefer not having a measly 4 guaranteed three spells. I almost want to test my luck...or my stamina"

I tried not to think about his last comment.

"I mean 4 is better than none," Kumin said with a sleepy smile. "I say look on the bright side, if anything happens or you need something you don't have to test your luck."

Hisoki sighed. "True...the main problem is where is the line between small spell and larger spell on my end. My natural magical powers make this difficult. Do I risk creating or destroying matter? This would normally be a pretty big spell for someone, but for me it's easy. Does that mean the spells I can cast go by my perception of them or the general magical idea? Magic in this world has some weird rules"

"So...what now?" Nibutani asked as she took a seat next to me. "We are sitting ducks. After our barriers break Hisoki is the only one able to fight, and that's only half the time and that assuming he doesn't kill us"

"I'd say this situation requires us to lay low for some time until this passes," Rikka said as she took a seat on the other side of me.

Hisoki, Kumin, and Dekomori joined us, Kumin right across from me, Dekomori next to Rikka, and Hisoki sitting at the table next to Kumin.

Before we could say anything, he laid down so we could see his face as he made a pillow with his hands. "Little magic as possible is a must. Not to mention staying within safe zones from any demons that might stumble upon us."

"Is this school a safe place?" I asked as I looked around.

"The security sucks, but it's enough to let us know how bad it is if a demon slips in," Hisoki said with a yawn.

"Hisoki is correct, the barriers guarding the school were modern around a century ago. Demons that are low threats cannot enter but demons that can, and don't feel any pain are high class, as strong as we are or more" Rikka said.

"Though we likely will be able to handle one or two with our numbers" Dekomori added.

"But if the organization knows of Hisoki's presence here, then we can expect a large army that no god alone could beat," Rikka said gravely.

Hisoki let out another yawn. "Stop that. *Yawn* You're scaring the poor boy. That's obviously not true. I mean a god-like me, no. I knew a god that could easily take down armies thanks to his skill before rising to godhood. Not to mention his girlfriend/wife is a genius in terms of architecture and war strategy. Their godly parentage allowed them to reach greatness, in fact, they still are alive, but captured. They took away his water, which healed him and was his main power. So he is chained up in their stronghold somewhere, too valuable to kill. His name isn't used often with 'Never dies' for no reason"

Never dying? This guy sounds intense.

"Who is this you speak of?" Dekomori asked, sounding a little excited.

"Ah, Percy is his first name. He has killed thousands of monsters, several legendary ones at that. One of the nicest and most loyal guys you'll ever meet by the way. But that's not important. An army will come, sure some jacked-up demons might be difficult, but they could just be a pack of demons roaming. The real problem and tell if its the organization is if they have a demonic god with them."

Demonic god? "I thought you were the only one."

Hisoki scoffed. "I said I was the only Demonic god as in part elemental. There are a handful of gods that get a boost from this, not to mention they have enough captives and gods that have joined their side, that they could mass-produce gods if they had enough strong enough fighters"

I hate how every time I try to learn something, Hisoki just gives me another reason to question why anyone thinks we can win.

"That's...worrying," Nibutani said slowly.

"Yeah. We sadly chose quality over quantity" Hisoki said softly. "Nothing of it. We got two magical spears, and I'm inches away from getting a suitable weapon. I also know just the monster too. It's going to be..."

He trailed off and started glancing around. I saw his scarf flicker into existence for a second and his nearly black pupils shift to a bright golden color.

"Rikka, remember that spell I taught you the other day?"

"Yes"

"Time to use it, dual knives please."

Rikka placed her hands together, and her palms glowed purple from between them as her hair lifted slightly. "Capiant Tenebrae Et Teneant Tua Fata!"

She pulled her hands apart and held them open, shadows from the corners of the room and from under the door shot towards her palms and formed a decent sized cacoon around them, before dispersing, leaving a set of matching knives that looked like they were yanked for a mold filled with darkness.

She tossed them to Hisoki who abandoned his lazy position. Now standing, he crouched a little as he twirled the knives around.

A large blood-red magic circle formed on the wall and a red-skinned and clawed hand of a demon shot out of it, but Hisoki had already sliced it and ran through.

A demon head briefly tried to rush in, full of panic but Hisoki's hand shot out after it and crushed its head before pulling the now limp body through the portal. Hisoki stepped out, looking only slightly winded before tossing the knives back to Rikka. He pulled a notepad from his pocket and bit into his finger enough to draw some golden blood, which he used to write something on a sheet of paper from the notepad. Once he finished, he checked over his quick work, tore the page out, and slammed it onto the top of the magic circle. It flashed a single time before vanishing.

"Whoah. Crazy am I right?" He said, sounding a little more merry than normal. He returned to his original position on the table as if he didn't slaughter kami knows how many demons. "As I think I was saying, dealing with them is going to be a piece of cake."

I gulped a little. "Yeah...I think we'll be fine"

Note to self, always lend Hisoki a weapon if he asks.

"How long does this last anyway?" I asked.

"Only God knows," Hisoki said before laughing a little as if he said a funny joke. "Sorry, god humor. Anyway, it pretty much is unpredictable how long it will last. It could be anywhere from one day to a week."

I groaned and banged my head against the table. "We got 30 spells max for each of us, and Hisoki has 3 to spread over any time from a day to a week."

"Well, we could make more" Nibutani offered. "Now that Hisoki has some confirmed magic, we could probably increase our speed in making the scarves."

"Indeed, which was important as long as Hisoki had at least two spells, we could multiply our magic usage," Rikka said with a nod. "That's why I prioritized Hisoki over us, seeing he could quickly bring more magic to the table, so to speak"

Hisoki clapped his hands together and a familiar green mist rose from the ground. Instantly, a pile of green scarves like the ones we were wearing formed on the table.

His scarf flashed into existence twice before dissipating again.

"I had just made them magical to save time," He said. "It took two uses off the one I'm wearing though."

"It is quite alright. You have made enough for each of us to have a fresh set of spells for each day of the week" Rikka said as she smiled a little.

Seven scarves lay on the table in front of me. Crazy to think something so insignificant-looking could be our saving grace.

"Just a warning, these scarves may attract unwanted attention and I sadly don't mean from humans. They have traces of my magic, which makes it a goldmine for any magic-eating monster. They also might suddenly vanish, even if you don't use any magic or use barely any. My creations with the spell reflect on my magic at the time of its creation, my magic is unstable on its own, so they might be too"

I groaned. "You really need to stop getting nerfed"

"It's all for the climax, I can't just blitz us there, no fun in that trial," Hisoki said with a dismissive wave. "So act like normal people for once. Yuuta and Nibutani try to be normal but we all know you guys enjoy this magic stuff more than you want to admit"

I didn't give him a reply. He was right of course. But it was still insulting.

Hisoki looked up, his eyes kinda glossy. "Rikka, they want you in the staff lounge, I recommend going now"

She nodded and I followed after her. When Nibutani gave me an odd look, my excuse was. "She needs a translator, Chuuni flyes over the heads of some of the teachers"

.

"Rikka...How do I put this...correctly." Ms. Nanaste asked herself before clapping her hands. "You see, Rikka, your math scores haven't been favorable. They are bad enough that your teacher came to scold me. He believes that letting you make your club was detrimental to your studies."

"I'm sorry, I'll try better next time," Rikka said with a small bow.

"You're not doing good in your studies?" I asked her as I gave her a confused look.

"It's only math. This world's numerical system is...confusing. I will do my absolute best to achieve a high ranking score on my midterm to revise my teacher's opinion, for nothing will extinguish our movement"

"Is that so? Excellent!" Ms. Nanaste said as she clapped her hands. "But, just in case, if you fail your midterm, your club will be disbanded"

Rikka's visible eye widened.

Ms. Nanaste leaned in a little. "My hands are tied Rikka, if you lose the club I might have to make a report to the organization. That they, how do I say this, missed something important a little while back. As long as he remains affiliated with you, he will be shrugged off, but I have good eyes Rikka, and I can see who he is. The name of the wicked lord protects him from the rules and regulations. So if the club falls, the organization requires to know all of your data, which would make your surge in power suspicious. Not to mention the strange boy with a high power, demonic and elemental origins, that has no records ever existing. I do hope you succeed, the organization has terrorized us enough. I wish you luck"

Rikka gave a curt nod before stiffly rushing out, with me tailing her.

"Rikka, did you know about this?" I asked her.

She shook her head. "I was not aware that the organization had sunk its claws so deep within our education system. We are in grave danger. If Hisoki gets reported, then they will send their best forces, something we could not manage to defeat together. Then we may be taken captive, chuunirzed, or stuck without Hisoki to aid us in our endeavor."

"It's just a little math, it can't be that bad," I said, shrugging it off. Rikka is a smart girl, it shouldn't be too bad to teach her. "We'll help you study."

When we entered the club room, Hisoki already had everyone seated and trying to shake Kumin awake.

"Kumin, please wake up!"

"f-five more minutes"

"I gave you 5 minutes half an hour ago!"

"T-two more"

Hisoki groaned. "Wassup boss and bosset? Lay the news on them"

"We are in danger of losing our club," Rikka said gravely as Kumin woke up and sat at attention.

"Rikka needs to pass her midterms or this club goes goodbye" I explained.

Nibutani paused. "I don't exactly see this as too much of a bad thing. I mean, someone else just has to form the club again afterward if we still want to do this if Rikka fails"

"It's far more tragic than that" Rikka started before Hisoki slammed a hand to the table.

"I got it Rikka" He assured her before giving the girls that weren't there a hard look. "You see, if this club is disbanded, the organization learns everything about us. As far as they care to know, we are a ragtag group of nobodies following a girl that is part of a group with a history of making a fool of themselves. But, our member's data goes straight to the Dark Originatzation. I have nothing in my background, I had to forge my papers to get into this school with you guys, not to mention all the memory-erasing I had to do to slip me into your classes and get all of you in the same homeroom. Long story short, I'm done for and you guys are likely going to be too after that."

Hisoki leaned back slightly. "So what we have to do is make sure Rikka passes her math, which is surprising. Rikka, you are Japanese. Math is breathing for Asians, as racist as that statement is."

"I cannot deny that I still struggle with the confusing nature of the mathematics system, but it is no challenge I shall fail to overcome!" Rikka declared as she took out a math book and instantly started doing the math wrong.

We all took turns trying to help her, Nibutani and I couldn't even though we both had some high math scores. Kumin tried teaching Rikka a trick that involved falling asleep but Rikka can't fall asleep that easily. Dekomori was also extremely good at math for being a middle schooler but Rikka confused her with all of her failed calculations.

Hisoki didn't even seem to be trying to have her learn anything. "Rikka Line A times itself, and Line B times itself would be Line C times itself. From there you can see that Angle B is 61.45"

Rikka looked dizzy. Hisoki had run her through every single math subject known to mankind, and she didn't understand a single bit of his explanations. "Why- why...how did... you square 5993.8564 so easily in your head?"

Hisoki looked surprised. "Well...I mean I've always been pretty good at math so to get better I always went to get teachings from most of history's greatest mathematicians. So now math is pretty much insta-solved by me"

Great, he's like a human calculator. He solves and then gives you no hint on how he did it.

Not to mention all the methods he tried to show her worked, but it left no room for explanations on how. Or why it worked. Then again, these aren't modern teachings where they try to teach you why things work instead of just, here is how you do it. Now do it.

Rikka struggled with her math for around ten more minutes of Dekomori trying to teach her before Rikka hit her head on the table. "This lacks reasoning. Why must I continue to suffer when we have plan B?"

Rikka and Dekomori exchanged a look before dropping to the floor to beg Hisoki. "Oh gracious God, please use your ever so divine and mighty powers to bestow me the strength I need to defeat this mighty foe"

Hisoki paused a bit. For a second I expected him to go, "Very well my subjects, as the fate of our world and our mission for peace rests within the balance of your mighty battle, I shall guide you"

Then place his hands on her head and a golden or green glow covers his hands and transfers over to her head and she'd raise her head with a now glowing pentagram on it while her eyes glowed before she started scribbling how to do time travel and trap us in an infinite time loop(What? It could happen).

Hisoki snorted. "Woman, you didn't forget anything, you just don't know how to do it"

That sounds like Hisa...

"Besides Wisdom, Knowledge, Mathematics, and tests aren't my domains"

Rikka and Dekomori exchanged a look. "Time for plan B, part 2!"

.

The two chuuni girls clapped their twice hands while they prayed at the shine.

"Now we are asking our literal Japanese gods for help" I deadpanned. "If our all-powerful leader can't get a passing grade on a math test, is there any hope for us? Is it too late to surrender?"

Hisoki was the only one that didn't dress more warmly for this occasion. He almost seemed like he was trying to freeze to death out here. Then I reminded myself he is a god, therefore his body can handle more than ours can. "Well, I mean, they could help. Although the real God, as in singular, kinda stepped away from the scenes once other Patrons and Pantheons started making themselves known, he helps out from time to time."

I stared at him. "Wait, so you're telling me that God is real?"

Hisoki scoffed. "Of course he's real. Do you really believe that crap explanation for how humans came to be a thing? If we evolved from monkeys or birds, why are there still monkeys and birds all over the place?"

I paused, even if it was a sort of meme-ish question, it made sense in a way.

"Wait, so how did he come to be? If gods from myths had to be believed in by mortals, and gods like you had to be created by other gods?" Nibutani asked

"That's why he is above us. Not even he knows how he came to be, or how he got the immense power he does." Hisoki said with a shrug. "That is unless the monkeys and stuff thought about the purpose of life, and figured someone like god would rule over it"

Everyone laughed a little until Rikka and Dekomori started fighting.

"Stop that before you get cursed!" I snapped at them

"Nah they're fine," Hisoki said before sitting down on the ground and leaning on the shrine. I bit back another getting cursed comment. He is A) A god B) Cursed already and C) saying it's fine. "The goddess this shrine belongs to is normally super chill. Generally, gods from other pantheons don't interact but she always invited people over to tea or Sake just to chat."

Pantheons...the second time he just threw that word into the conversation. "So...what are pantheons anyway?"

Nibutani stared at me. "Kami, you don't know anything do you?"

Kumin raised her hand in my defense. "I don't know either"

Nibutani sighed before explaining. "Pantheons are worshiping groups. These gods are part of pantheons because of who worshiped them."

"Oh, that's fairly simple...do all gods have one?" I asked

"Yes, if they didn't, you wouldn't know them," NIbutani said as she placed her hands on her hips. "Do you know anything about the gods from mythology?"

"Well I know a few pretty well-known ones and their domains," I said.

"Don't worry Yuuta, I'm an encyclopedia for this kind of stuff" Hisoki assured us. "As long as I can throw out a warning to you when your fighting gods, you'll be fine"

I thought about how we causally defied several basic laws of how the world works, Hisoki claims he was nothing special among the gods. So how deadly and crazy could a fight with one of the stronger gods get?

"So Hisoki, what is your pantheon?" I asked, drawing an elbow from Nibutani.

"Nibutani, it's fine. Gods pantheons are one of their greatest pride and joy" Hisoki said chuckling. "I'm part of 15 different pantheons"

My jaw dropped.

"Yuuta, shut your mouth before a fly goes in there. 15 is the average amount among the higher tier gods, so once again, I'm nothing special."

"So what was the highest?" I asked, my voice a little higher pitched than normal.

"Well...I'm pretty sure the highest number was 53" Hisoki said while rubbing his chin. "I could be wrong, could be 69."

"S-so do pantheons equal power?" I asked

"Well kinda. We all travel around with our regular base power, but if we are in a pinch pantheons provide us with extra backup power."

"So how much would a single pantheon give?" Nibutani asked, now curious.

"Well depends on their offering rates, size, and how willing they are to kiss the ground you ever think to look at"

We all choose to ignore that last part he said. "So what pantheons are you a part of?"

Hisoki paused. "Well, your main pantheon is chosen by who lifted you to become a god. So I'm part of what used to be the main pantheon, which is Modern Magical Society. Each pantheon normally ends with society so keep that in mind when I list them and keep note their names are...rather silly sometimes. I'll have to leave out a couple because they are less...up for discussion with my peers"

"Could you name one so we have a general idea?" I asked, not sure why.

"I'll do you one better," Hisoki said, face still blank. "Virgin Gods that make me want to scream daddy, and Handsome gods to steal your heart"

"Oh," I felt dumb for asking. "S-so what were the more appropriate ones?"

"Well," He started lifting a finger for each one. "OP Gods, All Matter No Matter, Time flys, New Gods around the Mel, God I'd want to be on my side for a zombie attack, Forget-me-nots are bullshit, Who is that guy, Why are we all here, Depression rocks, and Being Bi-Polar sucks."

All of those make sense for him...So two more he isn't willing to share.

"We can't choose who sponsors us," Hisoki said with a dismissive wave. "We can't stop them, nor can we do anything to try and stop them. If I did, the other gods would gang up on me for taking out one of their pantheons"

"Makes sense," Nibutani said.

"Yeah, most gods get touchy whenever someone brings up their power," Hisoki said with a snort. "Without pantheons, I could still curb stomp most of them into oblivion at the same time even if they have their pantheons. Most Pantheons boost your power by only a small amount. If your base power ain't much, there isn't a point in taking on someone with fewer pantheons than you do, because their overall power could still be higher."

The wind blew in my direction and I could hear Rikka more clearly as she rang the bell.

"Please, whoever, don't let me fail"

I smacked myself on the forehead. "At least pick someone"

Hisoki whistled. "As long as it isn't me, I'm not complaining."

Well couldn't you...make the teacher forget the real answers or something, then change some of Rikka's answers to boost her score

I shook my head. The Midterms were in three days, no telling if the Moon's effects will pass by then.

"Oh my...you must be really bad at math then" Kumin said as she started pulling out a pillow. "Rikka, I have a plan that will work!"

She curled up on the floor with a new blanket and pillow. "I will fall asleep thinking about math, and when I wake up I'll have all the answers for you"

Kumin started mumbling, a sign she was about to fall asleep. "I-its been working...since I was little"

Hisoki began to panic. "H-hey Kumin! Don't fall asleep! The goddess this shrine belongs to is a bit of an attention whore-"

He winced when he realized he had said that. "She might get angry if you're not paying some kind of attention to her, it's one of her few rules"

When Kumin didn't respond, Hisoki quickly prayed at the shrine and picked Kumin up in a piggyback position, adjusting her so she could sleep comfortably on his back. "Rikka, time for your plan C please"

.

"So...we have to clean the pool to have them reconsider shutting us down?" Nibutani asked from beside me.

"Yeah, Ms. Nanaste said that if all the club members pitch in with things around the school they might reconsider," I said

Everyone(But Hisoki who had 'gone to use the bathroom') had been equipped with a brush, a hose, and a small section of the nasty pool to clean.

"In my book, searching for the Invibile Boundary Lines constitutes for more than 'stuff'" Dekomori grumbled.

"I understand your frustrations," Rikka said as she kept scrubbing."But you must keep in mind, the world we live in is primarily humans, therefore we must, as they would say, follow their social standards"

"Ah yes, when in Rome," Hisoki's voice cut in as he suddenly landed right in the middle of the pool. "Do as the Romans do"

He had been gone for 15 minutes, I could see the bathrooms from where I'm standing right now. So the fact he came back was a surprise.

"Sorry for flaking on you guys for a bit, I had to pick up some friends," Hisoki said with a small bow.

Two people made their presence known. One was Stag(Human form of course), and the other was a pretty pink-haired girl. Instinctually, I searched her face for a small heart on her cheek but found nothing. Then I noticed her hair was shorter than my old friend's, and her ears were pointed. Like an elf or something.

"Hello chosen ones," Stag said with a polite wave. "I see you are taking on trial tasks to try and assure your safety"

We all gave a wave back.

"Well you guys know Stag but you haven't met the pretty pink-haired one-" Hisoki got cut off by a shoe nailing him in the back of the head.

"Hisoki! I'm older than you! Show a little respect. After all my sister wouldn't have liked you to be that way" She snapped.

Hisoki runner the spot where he got hit. "Chill woman, I thought we were friends"

She scoffed. "If you wanted to be more than associates you should have shown up for my birthday"

"You didn't invite me!" He snapped back

"You still should have shown up! You do that with everyone else!"

"Because they are guys! Do you expect me to show up and a female's house unannounced?! Anyway," He turned to face us again. "This is Thalia Phihice, the younger half-sister of my late master. They share the same father, and both took their mother's maiden names"

"Hello! I'm a smith for the rebellion against the Organization!" She said with an excited wave. "If you guys ever need something forged by someone competent then you should call me rather than that bumbling idiot"

Hisoki didn't respond to her this time.

Nibutani whispered to me. "I think they have history"

"No way!" I whispered back sarcastically.

"I mean a romantic history"

"Oh." I glanced between the two of them. Hisoki with his usual either mischievous or depressed vibes and the semi-bright and snarky vibes of the elf-looking girl. I mean, I could kinda see it.

"So, yeah. I thought I should bring them by" Hisoki motioned for them to also join us in the pool. "They said they'd help out for me"

"I said I'd help out so you don't get discovered" The girl hissed. "I could care less about you, but I do care if the only person capable to train these noobs gets taken along with them"

"Ah, I love you too," Hisoki said with a smirk.

"You two need to try going out on a date again," Stag said while not hiding the amusement in his tone.

Hisoki looked offended. "Why would I try going out with the person that didn't even bother to show up?"

"Not my fault you are cursed," She said looking grossed out. "I'd rather not try it again because someone got emotional about me being affected by his curse like it's my fault"

Nibutani grinned. "I was right!"

The two feuding ex-partners fumed a little before storming off to opposite sides of the pool, if they wanted to be any farther apart, they would be outside the pool.

Stag sighed. "Maybe next time I'll keep that thought to myself. Anyhow, your club is doing rather well is it not? Besides the threat of being taken apart."

"Yes, we have improved substantially since Hisoki began our boosting," Rikka said proudly

Hisoki gave us all a grin. "Rikka, check your readings now"

Rikka peeled off her eye patch and suddenly paled. "I- how? Hisoki...what have...you done?"

"What?" Nibutnai asked. "How much stronger are we since the last time you checked?"

"W-we have all doubled in strength" Rikka gasped drawing shocked looks from everyone.

Stag had forcibly lifted his jaw. "Hisoki! Holy hell man! What have you put them through?"

Hisoki kept a smug grin on his face. "I simply put them through a couple of hours of training the other day"

"Even still, double?!" Thalia exclaimed. "Double is insane Hisoki! I expected maybe a shift upwards by like 50 each of them!"

So...if I recall the last time Rikka checked, that was after we took out the plant monster with Inei.

Rikka's voice rang in my head. "He is far from incorrect. Yuuta you have risen to 125 already, Shinka you have reached 100, Kumin is astonishingly at 175 and Dekomori has risen to 200. Even myself wasn't left out of this sudden power surge, I had shot up to 250"

Wait...so I'm at 250? Already? I'm 1/3 of Rikka's sister.

"Rikka, due to you reaching 500, you should be able to read something on me," Hisoki said as he moved clearly within her view.

She squinted her eyes and shook her head. "Your power is still too far out of my grasp for me to see anything. Although now I see various question marks."

"Right...I forgot, not 500, it's 5000 that a person could start reading gods"

Thalia snuck up behind him and smacked him over the head. "Jerk. No need to tease them."

"What? The hardest people they have fought were the priestess, some of the mutt's lackeys, and a giant plant monster, my bad for forgetting people can be stronger than them"

Kumin raised her hand. "Didn't I nearly beat you with Metalwork?"

"That's different, I was working with 15% of my power until I pulled some of my clones back"

Stag raised an eyebrow. "Hisoki is getting rusty. I remember you trashing everyone in the forest with 10%"

"You guys are just weak," Hisoki said throwing him a grin.

"Wanna bet?" Stag said, dropping his hose and brush. "I'm in my prime old man"

"I'm younger than you, idiot" Hisoki said stepping up to meet him.

Thalia opened her mouth, likely to diss Hisoki again but stopped when one of her ears twitched. "Hisoki...it's finished. Bring the monster by soon."

The two boys separated for a bit. "Alright. Looks like I'm going to be in on some more of the action"

Hisoki raised his palm and his scarf flashed into existence before shattering. The entire pool became coated in a green mist and the clock appeared at the end of his hand, which he twisted clock ways.

The mist cleared, leaving a sparkling clean pool. "There. I fast-forwarded the pool."

"How...does that work, wouldn't it get dirtier?" I asked as I stared at how shiny the pool was now.

"It would be, if we weren't cleaning it," He said, his grin never fading. "Since we were cleaning it, I fast-forwarded the work we were doing and 8 people working on something could make it pretty spotless"

Hisoki's stomach growled loudly. "Sorry, I skipped lunch. I do have to handle one more thing before I eat so you guys are free to do as you please"

Thalia and Stag grabbed one of Hisoki's shoulders before he vanished in a poof of smoke.

"So...does anyone want to go nap in the club room?" Kumin asked as she put her hose and brush away.

"I- think I might take you up on that offer actually," Nibutani said, sounding a little shocked.

"Yeah...I'm feeling a little worn out" I said

"Agreed, we must replenish our bodies before we restock on some much-needed nutrients," Rikka said as well, getting ready to leave.

So we packed up and high-tailed it to our club room, planning on just hanging out like normal people until school was over, heading home, and coming back to school the next day ready for Hisoki to blow our minds one more time.

If you couldn't tell, that's not what's going to happen. Glitchy magic means all kinds of things when you're not even sure what your limits are.