A student wearing an overly-neutral face sat by a bench out in the schoolyard. Moving around the school grounds was something he often did for some inexplicable reason. Every time he sat down somewhere, he had the urge to move away after 30-40 minutes of sitting in a spot. That was what made up large amounts of his everyday at school. It was probably because of the sight of teachers he'd stumble upon as they made their rounds around school.

He stood up, gripping his pen extra hard at the sight of a teacher walking through the corridor. It was tiring for him, there was always a sense of hatred brewing under his skin.

Walking through the schoolyard in the front, the students that walked close to him took distance as quickly as they saw him. His slight frown, completely empty eyes, and generally tired appearances, paired with his tone-deaf school uniform meant that the aura he put out was off-putting. No one had the guts or will to walk close to him, even though his presence presented no actual danger to him.

He was skinny, and seemed somewhat distant at times, but that was also part of the reason for the ostracization. Every step he took was without weight and the hands in his pockets were meant to make his existence smaller. He didn't care about the socialization his parents encouraged him to do, neither did he care about the other students that usually avoided him.

They hadn't done anything in particular to him, so there was no ill intent from his side. It was like a separated society, he lived in his world and them in theirs. That was all there was to it in his head.

But the people that tried to break those walls and enforce tasks and rules over his side, those were his mortal enemies. All he wanted was quiet, all he wanted was peace. Although his demand for those things led him to a dark place of vengeance. They were so strong within him and his sense of justice that they occupied his thoughts when he saw them during the breaks. He was able to barely focus during the lessons, but the conviction he'd made of them took priority during the times he didn't need to study.

Walking across the empty schoolyard, he accidentally stumbled into somebody. That wasn't enough to wake up any anger within him, as it happened often. He didn't necessarily care too much about that.

*CRACK*

But as he looked down at the ground when he realized he'd dropped some of the things in his hand, something odd was thrown out of his heart. Like a type of gas that intoxicated one with fumes of hatred, it quickly spread throughout his whole body as he looked down at the unusual shoes of the person before him.

Kaharu Kahari had accidentally bumped into a student at Choukou High, and with his usual ignorance he had just walked forth, accidentally crushing something under his shoe.

The remains of a multi-colored pen could be seen as Kaharu paused for a moment, with a slightly surprised face.

The student looked up at the unconventional face who'd stepped on his pen

- My… Ka-pen…!

This person…

I hate----! -

*SHAAAAAAAAAAAA*

*POOF*

Like that, the person who'd stepped on the pen was wiped away.

In a fraction of a second, he was erased from existence, with nothing at all left behind him to commemorate his existence.

Kaharu Kahari no longer existed on the human plane.

The person who's stood next to him froze up completely in surprise and words were pushed out of him

"Kaharu…!?"

The student with a gray school uniform, black hair that hung from his head unenthusiastically, dead eyes that pointed forward without much care and tired marks that told people of his sleep routines suddenly stood without the person he'd suddenly started hating in front of him.

He was also surprised.

"What just happened…?"

…

Amatsuyu threw his eyes towards the new student hastily as he realized something unwanted

- This is the all-powerful student! -

When he'd heard of the person from Kaharu on the way there, he hadn't known what to expect in terms of power-levels. Amatsuyu wasn't that attached to the spiritual world, he'd only cared about what he could've done with his own powers to fulfill his previous ambitions.

Fear on a level he'd never expected was flown into him from the cold eyes of the student. To think that he'd be strong enough to wipe away Kaharu without even being connected to a shrine was terrifying to him. The Kaharu that had, in Amatsuyu's eyes, liberated him from his power-crazy state of seeking to become a supreme being, the one that had saved him and he held lots of care for was gone. That didn't even have time to settle in his mind as the threat that the student unintentionally posed threw him off-balance.

The student looked down at the ground to see if Kaharu had hidden somewhere on the ground, but it was all empty. Only neatly-placed tiles and patches of grass were seen on the ground.

"What just happened to that guy…?"

In his moment of shock, the student let that slip out of him. Amatsuyu felt more confused than scared as he heard that. The notion meant that the student didn't even know of his own power, which felt odd to Amatsuyu.

To be able to rid a person from the mortal realm like that, was that even allowed? Was that even fair? In a world were gods existed, why did a mortal have capabilities like that? Who allowed that?

Although a lot of negative emotions were staged inside of Amatsuyu, that notion also allowed for a small room of negotiation on Amatsuyu's side. Like trying to siege a whole castle, with a small crack in its defenses, all alone, Amatsuyu aspired to crawl through that small hole to take over.

But there was a problem.

- If I nor him know anything about this power, then how are we even supposed to know the conditions? How are we going to be able to rescue Kaharu? Can we even rescue him?

Is…

Kaharu gone…

forever? -

Like a lightning bolt striking his heart, the realization struck Amatsuyu very suddenly as he stood still with a horrified face on him. His eyes were suddenly empty, with similarities to the person in front of him.

That student looked over at Amatsuyu quietly.

Amatsuyu met his glaze, with a half-smile displayed on him.

He felt hopeless.

Without even an attempt having been made, it felt like it would be futile. What would've Kaharu done in that situation? He would've probably fought until the end in any way, and tried his best to do something. But what point was there to think about what someone who was probably gone would've done? Maybe Amatsuyu would've done the same before, when he was on top of his own world.

But that motivation wasn't really there, ever since he was brought down. For what reason did he work hard for?

Had being defeated made him complacent? Had it made him work less for what he wanted? But what did he even want?

Even if it was for something malicious before, he still had something to work towards and defend. Now he laid empty, he had been stripped of his ambitions. He hadn't noticed in his normal life, but as he needed motivation, he had trouble finding any.

He tightened his eyebrows, and his fists. He didn't feel frustrated, he felt confused.

"Where'd that bastard go? I swear I'll…!"

The voice belonged to Zukiwa who had woken up with a deep anger to find his eternal enemy. Amatsuyu realized as he heard that voice something very important

- I'm being selfish again…!

Just because I lost my desire to try and rescue Kaharu and got tunnel-visioned, that shouldn't mean I give up!

I'm not the only one who needs Kaharu, there are a lot of people who need him. For both good and bad! It's selfish for both me and him to let us run away. Kaharu needs to face his battles and so do I!

Motivation? Who cares about that, all I need is a goal.

And that's to be more selfless.

To fight my battles, with Kaharu, and support each other as allies…!

I can't let him run away! -

Amatsuyu changed his slightly pathetic half-smile of despair to a full-smile of confidence. He flew up from his hunched-over position as he positioned himself with a wide pose and pointed at the student in gray, and said

"Let's figure this out...!"

…

Sitting on a bench in the middle of a cozy shrine, the old man had a somber look on his face. The shrine was doing fine, with an adequate amount of people stopping by to pray and interact and the people working there trying their hardest to keep up the image of the shrine, despite that the old man was disappointed.

As the god of that shrine, one of very few in that area, he had the responsibility of bringing prosperity to the shrine and the neighborhood it was serving. His own life wouldn't be in danger anytime soon, because of it being one of the only shrines in that area that people could visit. But what point was there to living there without anybody beside him on that bench.

- He's gone now…

I suppose that's how it is on this realm after all, so I shouldn't be so disappointed -

The warmth that used to be on the bench was gone, only his own hollow, transparent cold self was placed there at that point.

Isolated from anybody else

…