Chapter 44: Fate
"No...NO!" the man screaming in agony. He banged his fist against the ground screaming and ripping of the grass from the dirt. "No wait, my power! I will end you...END YOU!" he tried to by pointing at the nun, but nothing happened. "My...my magic? It's...gone...ALL GONE!"
"You, sir, are finished." Hishikawa-sensei said putting his index finger on the man's forehead. His body slowly fell to the the ground in pure shock and didn't move, he was unconscious.
"That's my little guardian man!" Risa smacks his back.
"Ow! You always do that too hard! It will leave a mark! B.P wouldn't do that!" he scolded her as she giggled.
"Too bad she is not here to show me how it's done." she hit him again.
"Holy…" Gou whispers. Then she remembered Bo getting injured so she ran towards a large quarter to see her. "Bo! Are you alright!?" she called out. She dragged her out and softly put her in the grass.
"Matsuoka-chan! Watanabe-chan!" Hishikawa-sensei ran towards them with Risa and the nun following behind. The goons broke the dome wall and ran towards the girls with worried expressions.
"Miss Boboa." the nun said checking her pulse. "She's not dead." she said with her stoic expression.
"Thank god!" Gou cried in relief.
"I know right…" Bo groans in pain as she slowly gets up.
"Hey not so fast!" one of the goons said helping her up. He picks her up and sits her down on the chair.
"Mr. Baba?" she says grabbing her left side.
"Wait, Mr. Baba?" Gou asked. All the goons took off their hats revealing themselves. Mr. Baba and the man from the hotel that he called 'boss' was disguised as goons. There was a man with orange hair with a handsome smile, a man with slicked back black hair, one with lighter hair and a goatee, one with messy hair and glasses, one with long reddish orange hair and another one that almost looks like Haru but with longer and darker hair.
"These guys are Eisuke, Ota, Soryu, Mamoru, Ayase, Inui, and Samejima." Mr. Baba introduces them with a nice smile.
"I can't believe what happened here. You're amazing Koro!" Ota says happily. Risa stalks up to the girls with an irritated look on her face.
"What's wrong, pretty lady?" asked Mr. Baba. Suddenly, Risa covers the girls' eyes with her hands and slams their heads to the ground. She covers their head with glass and opens her eye in the middle and the line across her face appear.
"What are you doing!?" Mr. Baba yelled.
"What I do best…" Risa says with no emotion. After some time she releases them and the girls slowly come up.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Bo groans in pain, rubbing her head.
"Oh I see why…" Risa throws her head back and then looks at the nun. "Really Ran? These girls are the ones that you choose to… I don't understand you anymore."
"What? What is it?" Gou asked with worry.
"You two don't die at all." Risa explains. "It's just white."
"What do you mean?" Gou raises her voice.
"Do NOT answer them, Risa." the nun hissed.
"That's why little princess over there didn't want me to read your future or even meet you. I felt some strange auras from you both, but couldn't understand why. Now I know and oh boy, you two are going to have a ball!" Risa laughed. It seemed like she was in her own little universe as she talks without really looking at anyone.
"What even is it?" Bo shouted.
"Oracle don't!" the nun yelled and used her magic to push Risa into a tree.
"Ouch...damn gods. Think they can do whatever they want…" Risa muttered
"Gods?" Gou whispered.
"Oh yeah the explanation." Risa brushed off the bark and skipped back to where she was. "You see, the little nun here is the goddess of the sea. Girls meet Ran, Ran meet girls."
"She's a goddess!?" the girls say in unison
"Yup! Hey, Ran, when did you get reincarnated? How many times now anyway?" Risa rubbed her chin.
"...I don't know." the nun Ran looked away with her stoic look.
"Risa-chan, don't tease her please." Hishikawa-sensei said.
"Okay, spill everything! How do you know these two!?" Bo yelled at her.
"God, why is everyone so bossy…" Risa sighed. "Okay fine! I've know Hishikawa since we were kids! Until a while ago he was normal until Ran was reincarnated again but still endanger so the top gods decided to chose him as her guardian. You see, guardians are those who are chosen to protect young or reincarnated gods. When times up the get a new God and the cycle continues."
"So Hishikawa-sensei is a guardian that protects a goddess. That answers one, then how do they know what's happening with Gou and I?" Bo asked.
"Of course. They both see your fate." Risa smiled kindly.
"Our fate?"
"Your fate is why they are sticking a close eye on you two. You see, they know way before I do because I have to touch you to be able to see what they see. At first I didn't know why she was so reluctant about me tellng you two your future but I understand now."
"Understand what? What is our fate?" Gou asked. Risa took a long, deep breath.
"From what I saw, I only saw that kind of future only a few times. When was the last time? Buddha?...no Jesus...no Buddha!...no Jesus..." Risa rubs her chin again, trying to remember. "All well! When you are the only reincarnated oracle, you're gonna have to deal with your past lives memories! So anyway, from what I saw, I speculate that...you two are going to become gods." It was slight. Nobody spoke a word after Risa's explanation.
"WHAT!?" the girls screamed at the same time.
"Yeah, you two are chosen to be the next God's of the seas."
"But why?" Gou asked.
"Because this is her last reincarnation. She probably only has a human lifespan left. Isn't that right Ran?" Risa looked at the nun. Ran didn't say anything and still facing the other direction. "When Ran dies for the last time, you two will be next in line and together, rule the oceans."
"But we are only in high school! Why are we chosen to be something like gods!" Bo asked.
"The higher ups and their shitty way of thinking." Risa shrugs.
"But why both of us? What makes us so special?"
"The way you two complement each other so well. You both are in sync. One can't succeed without the other. If one doesn't make it than either of you can't. Right now you think like one but physically, you two are two different people. As time goes by, you two will be one, totally compatible with one another."
"We are chosen to become goddesses because of these powers that we didn't even want and our compatibility with each other?" Gou asked. Risa shrugs not knowing the answer.
"In my opinion, yes." Risa smiled sadly. "What do you think Ran?"
"Of course." she said.
"Then why didn't you tell us!?" Gou shouted at Ran's back.
"It's because you were already off track of becoming my replacements! If we were to interfere, then we would have derail fate entirely! You two are going to be goddesses!" Ran yelled back at the girls. "You two were already trying to find the ones who cursed you, that's already flipping fate! Inference will completely destroy it!"
"So to save your place, you want us to be in despair until you die?" Bo said monotonously. Ran was silent but had a strong state towards Bo.
"Finding the sea witch who cursed you both wasn't part of the plan. When you'll find her, your powers will be gone."
"But we don't want this at all!" Bo yelled.
"Too bad!" Ran yelled back. "Once I die, you two will be taking my place! When I die the oceans will be out of order and since Aegir is so lazy to help me, I have to do everything myself. With your own personal quest, you'll never find her and that's the way it should be!"
"Wait, the one who casts this spell, is a girl?" Gou asked. Ran quickly covered her mouth and turned away.
"You know who did this to us, don't you?" Bo slowly got up from her chair.
"Who is it?" Gou's voice became low and filled with rage. Ran shook her head vigorously. "TELL US!"
"You wouldn't like my answer!" Ran yelled at them.
"Then give us a hint! Please!" Gou begged.
"No, I won't!"
"Wait! Stop! Stop!" Bo shouted. "Let's make a deal then." Ran and Gou looked at Bo with questionable faces. "We can keep our powers,"
"Bo!" Gou yelled.
"Wait, Gou...we can keep our powers and take over your place only when Gou and I have lived out our lives since we don't know when you will die but to be sure, until we lived out our lives, we will take over. In exchange we want to know who did this to Gou. I don't care who cursed me since my family has been cursed for centuries. I want to know who has been terrorizing us, especially Gou. She had enough suffering. You don't have to give us a name. You can tell us something that we can figure out who by ourselves, alright?"
"That's a stupid deal." the man Eisuke muttered.
"I know, but we are desperate." said Bo. "Gou and I have been through enough this year. We've been through so much and it's been hard. Gou had the roughest than I. This is probably the only chance to know who put us in this mess." It was silent again. Ran seemed to be thinking long and hard about this deal.
"Okay, I'll take it." She said.
"Milady…" Hishikawa-sensei whispered sadly.
"It's okay Yamahora, at least I have someone taking my place…" Ran smiled sadly at him, silencing him in the process. "I can only give you hints. You're gonna have to figure out the rest yourself." Ran took a deep breath and then looked at the girls with a strong willed expression. "It's someone that you both know. She knows how all of this works because she has a partner. But she's only doing this because she is trying to obtain love. She is willing to do anything to gain love whenever if it is willingly or by force. That is all I can give you."
"Thank you…" Bo bowed on her hands and knees, crying. "Thank you...that's all I wanted…"
"Me too. It's a start and we both appreciate that you gave us clues to who did this to us. I thank you from the bottom of my heart." Gou follows the suit.
"Just make sure you don't die before me or else it will be a serious problem." said Ran with a blushing face. The three laughed while heartedly causing everyone to smile.
"Oracle, can you fix this mess? It's looks like a storm came through here." Ran asked Risa. Risa jumped with joy and ran to the stand where Ran used her powers to stop the necromancer. "Really? On my pedestal?" Ran asked causing Risa to laugh.
"This will get the job done faster." Risa cracked her knuckles and cracking every bone in her body. Risa then stood straight on the flower and started to sing. It's was a strong opera voice that shivered the spines of both girls. It sounded beautiful but had some sadness mixed in with her voice. As she sang the destruction from the fight began to clean itself up like time was going backward. The pedestal was glowing white and moved in a counterclockwise direction. When everything was put back the way it was it slowed to a stop and Risa's voice began to fade out. "All done!" she smiled cheerfully and then stomped on the pedestal destroying it into pieces.
"That was awesome!" Bo cheered.
"Wait! What about those kids? The ones that were kidnapped?" Gou asked suddenly remembered them.
"I was able to get them over the gate and I told them to run as they can to a nearby police station." Risa explained. "They are completely fine."
"That's good." Gou smiled in relief. "We need to go back home now. We have quite a bit of searching to do, right Bo?"
"Ugh, this is going to be a pain…" Bo sighed and dragged herself to the gate with Gou.
"Thank you very much for all that you've done." both girls said at the same time, bowing to the group.
"Stay in school now! And call me up sometime! My treat!" Risa said waving at them. As the group watched the girls go Risa's happy expression drastically change into a serious face. "You could have just given them her name you know? She's been ducking us for centuries. It's about time to end this misery."
"I know, but there's a regular civilian involved. If they knew what they were up against, they all could die." Ran explained.
"Their dead either way, Ran. In a matter of time, they will figure who and what they really are up against and when it comes you have to be there to protect them." Risa's voice was deep and completely different as if she was a different person.
"I really wish that I didn't have to. Too bad you can't, you seem to like them."
"They both remind me of me when I discovered what I was. Naive, scared, excited, and everything else in between. But because of the inference rule for oracles, I cannot act or else it's my head. Ran, just promise me that you will at least step in when things get out of hand."
The nun didn't say anything. She began to leave without a word and not even looking back. Hishikawa-sensei bowed deeply to the rest and catches up to her. They both disappeared at the end of the street with Risa watching them.
Later that Night…
"Why does he like watching this video over and over again?" a man with shoulder length black hair and glasses mumbled as he picks up a sleeping five year old boy that looks just like him.
"He likes her singing. Don't you?" a woman came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron.
"...Not really." the man said in a strange manner.
"Well Midori and I do. I think this...what was her name? Watanabe something?" she said.
"You already know her name?" the man laughed.
"Well it's in the description. Oh I remember! Watanabe Boboa!" the woman said smiling. The man tensed up and stood completely still.
"What?" his voice wavered.
"Watanabe Boboa from some small fishing town nearby. She's very pretty and has a lovely voice! No wonder that boy in the video likes her." the woman giggled. "What's wrong honey?" she noticed the man's strange behavior.
"It's nothing. How do you know all that?" the man asked.
"Well it's almost Midori's birthday and he seems to enjoy the young lady's voice so I thought I would take him to see her. Plus...she looks like your ex-wife."
"Do not bring her up!" the man yelled making the woman shiver in fear.
"I'm sorry. But for some reason you don't talk about her or mention her as if you and her didn't even happen. Please, honey, it's been seven years. Can't you at least give me a name or what she was like?" the woman begged.
"...a monster." he said shutting the door.
