The god of having three bones looked at the ground in a depressed state, it fit his role as a god. But even though his attention was pointed clearly at the ground, the silhouette of Kaharu Kahari didn't escape his view as it blew past him, making his head get drawn up towards the main shrine.

As Kaharu blasted through the main area again, Tsukino looked at him again with an entirely cryptic face. But she didn't bother to ask him anything at that time.

Maybe that was because it was a pain, or maybe it was because an expression of excitement was clearly shown on Kaharu as he blasted through the area with a small fox she wasn't able to see, and she didn't want to disrupt the journey of such an energetic guy.

Either way, she wasn't the one to start an interaction with Kaharu. That turned out to be the head-priest, who'd missed Kaharu's previous shenanigan due to cleaning duties in his own house. As he stared at the reckless Kaharu, he was somewhat reminded of his previous self. He'd decided to go easy on Kaharu and not call his parents, that was because Kaharu in many ways resembled his younger self. A thirst for justice, edged corners in his social life, confusion, Those were in a sense the reason he stood there that day. But he also knew that many who walked the path of delinquency fell into a hole of depravity so deep, that recovering was immensely difficult. Maybe that was why he wanted to take it easy with Kaharu, to at least have one outlet of authority taken off his shoulders. That was how he wanted to justify it to himself, although he wondered if that would truly help Kaharu or not. He shrugged as he thought about it, even though he would give a small helping hand to him through trying to avoid calling his parents and getting him in trouble, that didn't mean that the effort to reform Kaharu with better morals would stop.

He shouted out into the entire plaza, with a playful tone

"HEY, KAHARU! Get back to work! What're you sprinting around for, you bastard!?"

Kaharu turned around slightly as he raised his hand and said

"Shut up, old man! I'm doing important work already!"

The feeling of coldness stopped Kaharu in his tracks immediately, his shoes making a sliding mark in the ground as he slid forth. With a thought of – I'll fix that later – circulating his head, he approached the forest with wide arms.

His arms remained stretched to his horizontal limits until he got stuck between two trees, as he thought

- Powers, here I come…! -

He patted Puri on its head as he went into the forest, the fox god was unable to follow him into it.

As bushes and twigs were pushed out of the way, Kaharu eventually found a small spot that was virtually empty, surrounded by trees around it. A strange thing caught Kaharu's eyes as he approached the bald spot of the forest. Like an aging man suddenly getting bald spots on his head, the forest also seemed very stubborn with its placing. The bushes and twigs got harder and harder to push around, mostly ending up getting snapped in half by an increasingly frustrated Kaharu, feeling his heat get turned up again.

But he reached the start of the empty spot, confidently tramping on the grass that resided underneath him. As his eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness of the sun, he noticed something at the end towards the spot.

Like an explorer from ancient history, out in the wild scouting for animals, Kaharu felt like he'd discovered something new. A being never seen before.

Even calling it a being was hard, as it was, in essence, a collection of energy tied together in the vague shape of a human being. Without a visible face, it slowly turned around. The only thing Kaharu recognized were, what looked like, human feet peacefully residing on that grass.

As the collection of blue energy seemed to stare at Kaharu, he decided to speak. Even though he was slightly stunned at the revelation of something so different, he didn't really care too much. No human-looking body, or not. They were still gods.

They were the creatures that were able to conquer that flame, as he'd experienced earlier. Not like the other animals, not even daring to near it. Despite disliking it severely, he had a respect for them. Kaharu reasoned to himself that there would be a time, once he had his powers, that his flames would grow larger than life. Not even being in the palms of other Gods.

Then he'd be happy, then he'd be the strongest, then he'd be left to do what he wanted. That had to be the case, there was no alternative for Kaharu.

Kaharu said

"So, what do you wa--"

"Shut up"

Kaharu's ironic verbal defeat had been delivered with a very synthetic, electric voice. He stood equally confused as his defeated enemies had been after that line was delivered to them. Kaharu smiled bitterly as he tried to reach the collection of energy again, saying

"Haha, I just want to he---"

"Leave me alone, I don't wish to speak with anybody."

The second defeat put Kaharu down on his knees, as he looked ahead in pain. That cold feeling that was so prevalent grew even stronger after the line, the warmth could barely even be felt.

It was then that Kaharu realized his own hopeless optimism. He'd been in an unusually good mood that day, as a result of him supposedly becoming a god and getting powers. His confidence had been raised to high levels, as a result of the easy victory over the previous god and request from the three-boned geezer. Because that was all it was about in the end to Kaharu at that moment, victory or defeat. There was no room for an actual interaction or exchange for him, it was all about the results.

Despite being a minor thing in the grand scheme of things, his two-time defeat after the slight sense that maybe hope was there for him knocked his mood down several levels.

His demeanor suddenly went quiet, with a shadow drawing over his face as he stared blankly.

He drew his eyes towards the spot on the collection of energy where the eyes would usually sit, as a replacement showed up in his imagination. Without thinking properly, his emotions bloomed inside of him like fire flower, increasing his powers.

The scene suddenly felt a lot more heated as Kaharu said

"I reach my hand out, and not only once do you turn it away. But twice! Say, are you really trying to play with fire? In a forest like this? That's irresponsible, isn't it?"

Kaharu tied his hand into a fist, with enough strength to almost harm his own skin. Without thinking straight, Kaharu looked forth and rushed towards the collection of energy. He didn't care anymore.

The collection of energy flinched a little bit as Kaharu neared it, but it also felt a strange feeling. Despite the situation being negative with a person rushing toward it with violent intentions, there was something special about it. It'd been a long time since anyone showed that much emotion directed at it. It may not have been a very good feeling, but it was refreshing.

Not thinking straight, Kaharu failed to remember his previous attempt at disrupting a god's life. As the punch reached the collection of energy, his fate was already sealed.

Having stopped right at the bolts of energy, his punch had reached rock-solid material that was impenetrable again. With only a second of time being spared for looking at the collection of energy, Kaharu soon felt the lighting of pain strike him again as he instantly fell to the ground.

In an event that should've riled him up more, Kaharu actually calmed down a little bit as the pain subsided. Maybe he had no psychological choice but to do that, since the pain was one of the toughest he'd experienced. But he leaned over the ground with his knees and elbows making contact with the grass residing there.

The collection of energy quietly sat down on a small rock as it seemed to look over at Kaharu's leaned-over body.

Kaharu himself was not in the best mood he'd been in, the vacuum his vanishing optimism had left got filled up with the opposite, pessimism.

But just as Kaharu's mind turned to the darker, the collection of energy adjusted its feet as it felt something for Kaharu. A feeling that had been triggered by the amount of emotion felt for it, but supported by the relief and even happiness the collection of energy had felt when Kaharu stubbornly decided to do his work near that forest despite the foreign feeling. When Kaharu had challenged the forest by continuing to work there.

Maybe it'd been selfish as well, but the unwillingness to interact remained slightly.

With the same electronic, synthetic voice, only with a quieter and more melancholic tone to it, the collection of energy said

"Have you ever worried about being forgotten...?"

Kaharu quickly lifted his head to the peaceful being in front of him, who stared at the yellowing sky. Without letting an answer come from Kaharu, the god continued

"You've seen those statues by the shrine, right?

They are, in a sense, a gauge of our lives. A key instrument to our existence.

I think you've already figured this out… but I'm the one that's broken."

Kaharu couldn't tell if the feeling had gotten warmer or colder, there was only confusion to be had as Kaharu tried to feel and think. The collection of energy looked at its fake hands, and said

"Someone, probably a bored teenager, destroyed it a couple of years ago. We gods live on believers, without them we're nothing. And with this shrine being unpopular already, that destruction brought my image with it. No one knows or remembers me.

That's why I look like this. If a god loses its ability to project their appearance for a long time, they die.

I'm at that point."

What looked like a tear dropped down from the collection of energy's potential cheek, but even that looked like a simple drop of energy. There was nothing genuine regarding it, except for its creator.

The collection of energy put their arms by their potential knees and said

"I don't want to be forgotten!

I don't want to be left alone!

I don't want to leave this plane of existence, without having influenced and guided someone!

I'm supposed to be a god, yet I'm so powerless! I can't make people believe in me, I can't make people remember me!

All I can do is sit here in obscurity as I watch my uselessness bloom like a flower: a gentle flower that'll carry me to the skies and beyond this realm. A beautiful flower that'll obscure my hopes and dreams!

I can't… do anything!"

Kaharu sat quietly as he looked at the collection of energy, that also held the title of god. He couldn't relate to what it was saying, he'd never had that thought. Nor had he ever been in that type of situation.

But he understood.

He understood the pains and feelings of a god, whose problems sounded strangely familiar for something that was supposed to be so out-of-reach. Kaharu had thrown away his feelings of pessimism as he stood up suddenly, drawing the attention of that collection. There was no time for him to sit and think about himself. He didn't want to do that, those issues were insignificant to him at that moment. Like he'd gotten a mission straight from god, Kaharu put on a serious face and asked

"How much?"

The god looked up and made the noise

"eh?"

Kaharu elaborated

"Time..."

The collection of energy replied with an indirect answer

"I don't know, a couple of days maybe. But why are yo---"

"Perfect."

As Kaharu Kahari turned around and started walking towards the shrine again, he waved his hand and said

"Sorry to have barged in on you..."

…