Sierra Pendrago is 19 years old. She is white skinned. She has long, yellow hair that reaches her back, but she has tied it into a side ponytail on her left. Her bangs are short, and they show a bit of her forehead. She has a pair of perfect blue eyes, and her face looks very neutral with a flat expression. She wears a black tank top layered by an off shoulder white top, a pair of long detached sleeves that only leave her shoulders bare, with a white ribbon on the top of both sleeves and black trims on both ends, a pair of white gloves, a black skirt that reaches her knees with two pairs of white buttons as decorations near the top and a big white trim on the bottom edge, a pair of high socks that almost cover her kneecaps with three black stripes on the top, and a pair of black short heeled shoes. She is 165cm and weighs around 48kg. Her bust size is B-cup.
“Lu-chan.”
Sierra walks over towards Lukia, who’s sitting on the ground. She crouches to check on her condition.
“SI-CHAN!! *pant pant* So, it’s really you! You’re the one invited to this tournament? *pant pant* What took you so long? And why didn’t you inform me? *pant pant* We could’ve come here together.”
“I apologize, Lu-chan. I had some assignments from Miyu-chan. Sorry for my delay. And you know my Faith power and speed don’t exactly belong in the same sentence.”
“Eh? Can’t you move the speed of the rock that you float on to go faster? *pant pant*”
“Hmm. . . I’ll try it next time.”
“EH? You’re someone in the Ten Commandments of God, Si-chan! *pant pant* This kinda stuff should be very obvious to you!”
“I apologize, Lu-chan.”
“*Sigh* Nevermind that! I don’t mean to *pant pant* belittle you at all.”
“Lu-chan, why are you so out of breath?”
Lukia points her finger at Mari.
“I got my ass beat *pant pant* by that girl over there.”
*!*
Sierra was a bit taken aback by Lukia’s statement. She stands up and turns to Mari.
“Mari-chan, you’ve defeated Lukia-chan? Wow, that’s a huge accomplishment. Especially, because the last time we met, about a year ago, you were a Non-Believer.”
*!!!*
Everyone in the stadium was in complete shock over Sierra’s statement.
“A-Are you kidding me? I’ve had this Faith power for 20 years, and I couldn’t even touch her?” said Revon with a defeated expression.
“She’s a new Believer? H-How strong is she truly?” said Selam.
“Hmm, youngsters these days are insane. Bahahahahaha!!” said Arthur.
“Grrrrrrr!! I’ve been a Believer since I was a four-year-old kid!! GAAAAAHHHHHH!!! THIS IS SO FRUSTRATING!!!” said Ardina as she made her hair into a mess with her own hands in frustration.
“Hm? Wait a minute, now that I think about it, she didn’t really defeat me, but I did lose a tug of war even with my Leviathan so. . .”
“Eh? You used Leviathan, Lu-chan? In a dense city full of people like this one?”
“Y-Yeah I did. . .”
“Well, good luck explaining your case to Miyu-chan.”
. . . . .
Lukia suddenly crawls and hugs Sierra’s legs.
“PLEASE HELP ME, SI-CHAN!! I DON’T WANNA BE LECTURED BY MIYU-CHAN!! SHE’S SCARY!!! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!”
Lukia is almost crying, begging Sierra to help her.
“Lu-chan, I apologize. I am also afraid of Miyu-chan. You’re on your own this time.”
“EEEEEEEEHHHHHHH?? SI-CHAN!! PLEASE HELP ME!!! YOU’RE MY BEST FRIEND!! FRIENDS DON’T LEAVE EACH OTHER IN HARD TIMES!!”
“Lu-chan, this is not ‘hard times’, more like a consequence of your own action. I apologize once again.”
“WEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! SI-CHAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNN!!!”
Lukia is now full-on crying with tears and snot coming out of her eyes and nose.
“Lu-chan, that is nasty. . .”
*GRAAAAHHHKKKK*
Sierra suddenly raises the ground and traps Lukia inside.
“WEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHH!!! SI-CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNN!!!”
“Please cry inside there for a bit, Lu-chan.”
Sierra turns towards Mari.
“I am going to talk to Mari-chan for a while. . .”
*BA-THUMP BA-THUMP BA-THUMP*
Mari’s heart beats louder hearing Sierra’s words, as she also walks closer to her.
“Mari-chan, you’re amazing. You can go toe to toe against Lukia. That’s not a feat everybody can just have, you know?”
*BAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMM*
*!*
Sierra stops. Mari punches the ground with her Vein Armor activated and cracks the ground in a large radius.
*pant pant pant*
“DON’T YOU DARE ACTING LIKE MY FRIEND NOW!! HOW ARE YOU STILL ACTING LIKE WE’RE SOME LONG LOST FRIENDS THAT HAVEN’T MET EACH OTHER IN YEARS? YOU BETRAYED ME, YOU TRAITOR!!”
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“. . .”
Sierra utters no words. Seeing this, Mari summons her giant scythe, and its blade burns in green flame. She jumps towards Sierra with a very hateful expression on her face.
*!!!*
When she swings her giant scythe towards her neck, she sees that Sierra has a very hurtful expression on her face, and she also closes her eyes, as if she’s accepting whatever happens to her.
*GRAHK*
*!*
Suddenly, Lukia interferes. She appeared in front of Sierra and created a giant shark head to bite and hold Mari’s scythe in place.
“So, you can still move, huh?”
“Says you!”
*CTANG*
*ZRRRSSHHHH*
Mari pulls back her scythe, and the force alone breaks the giant shark's head into drops of water. They both land on the ground facing each other.
*pant pant pant*
“I am really forcing myself. I couldn’t even make a proper, strong shark head. . .” said Lukia with heavy breathing.
*pant pant pant*
Mari is also breathing heavily. Both of their physical conditions are way past the point for them to keep fighting.
“Lu-chan, how did you break free from my trap?”
“I can’t just stay still when my best friend didn’t respond to a deadly attack! What were you thinking, Si-chan?”
“. . . Lu-chan, please step aside.”
Sierra gently pushes Lukia’s shoulder as she walks next to her. Lukia had no choice but to obey her.
“Mari-chan. . .”
*!!!*
In front of everyone, Sierra, the 8th Strongest Believer in the world, kneels and bows down on the ground with her forehead touching the dirt below. She is in a perfect prostrating position that Japanese people usually do to beg for forgiveness.
“I apologize for everything.”
“. . . .”
“I don’t expect you to forgive me. You are free to do what you want with me. I will not object to anything that you decide for me. I don’t have anything I can say or do to make up for what I have done. I only wanted you to know, I sincerely regret everything that I have done.”
“. . . .”
Mari’s face is in complete distress. She has toughened herself up exactly for this moment, to face Sierra and to kill her with all of her might. And yet the 8th Strongest Believer in the world is bowing down to her, without any killing intent, nor any intention to defend herself against any harm that might come her way. She is completely full of openings.
Under the heavy stress and confusion, Mari’s mind travelled back to the past. To a memory that is both very precious and traumatizing to her.
.
.
.
My name is Kobayashi Mari. I am Japanese. I live in Saitama City, Japan. I am a 3rd-year high school student at one of the schools in the city. I am currently 16 years old. One of the most obvious things about me is that I don’t have any friends.
*RING RING RING*
The school bell signalling recess just rang. Some students in my class left either in pairs or in groups, but some do stay, and they are still in pairs or in groups. I was the only one alone.
“Heh!”
I stood up from my seat and put my hand on my face.
“They’re avoiding me because they know how dangerous my powers are! Smart move! They’ll be incinerated if they get too close to me! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!”
I speak and laugh on my own. Some of the students in the class look towards me. Some feel pity towards me, and some just don’t really care, as they have gotten used to seeing me act this way.
“I shall make my way to my hideout and regain my lost powers during tribulations!”
I declare my departure from the class. I took my lunchbox with me. Quickly, some students who stay in the class gather together and talk about me behind my back, both male and female.
“Kobayashi-san is at it again!”
“Yeah, I feel so bad for her! Why isn’t anyone befriending her?”
“Huh? Why don’t you do it then?”
“Eh? Me? I don’t think I can understand anything that comes out of her mouth. . .”
“Yeah, I don’t wanna sound rude, but she genuinely speaks some gibberish that nobody else understands.”
“Yeah, there was this one time when I tried to get close to her, and she just randomly spoke stuff I have no clue about! Like, I’m talking stuff that has nothing to do with real life!”
“And all the stuff about her ‘powers’! As far as I recall, she has always been a Non-Believer, right?”
“Yeah, she is. Not to mention, what’s the point of living life as if you’re a Believer when you’re not? Why fool yourself that way? I genuinely have no idea what the goal is there.”
“Has she always been that way since she was little?”
“I have no idea. . .”
“You know what, guys! I feel really really bad talking behind her back. I mean, it’s not like she’s a bad person or anything!”
“Y-Yeah, that’s true. We never saw her make any trouble in the past. The most she got was being scolded because she was shouting in the hallway, even then, that was after school, if I am not mistaken.”
“Should all of us try harder at getting close to her?”
“Eeeeehhhhh?” said everyone at the same time.
“But, what should we do if she starts talking weird again?”
“Hmm. . .”
Everyone suddenly thinks to themselves, until about 2 minutes later, one guy screams and surprises everyone.
“I GOT IT!!”
*!!*
“YOOOO!!! DON’T SCREAM LIKE THAT!! MY HEART ALMOST EXPLODED!!”
“*pant pant* For real. . .”
“Please don’t do that ever again, my guy!”
“S-Sorry, guys! But I’ve been watching some anime that has characters with a similar type to Kobayashi-san!”
“Eh? Anime? That’s your source?”
“Heh? Don’t believe me? She is called a ‘Chuunibyou’, or more globally known as eighth-grade syndrome, where teenagers often act like they’re the chosen ones that has been bestowed special powers that nobody but themselves can see. Or at least that’s what they see themselves as. They often ignored reality because something bad happened to them in the past, so this is some form of a way to cope with it.”
“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHH???” Everyone shouted at the same time yet again.
“That is horrible! Let’s all go to her!!”
“Right now?”
“Of course!! It’s time to stop feeling bad just by looking at her! We have to act!”
“Y-Yeah, now that we know that’s what she’s been doing, I feel like I can understand her better!!”
“Alright, everyone, let’s go!”
“YOOOOOO!!!”
Everyone stands up, but then someone shouts and stops them.
“WAIIIIITTTTTT!!!”
*!!!*
Everyone was shocked yet again by a sudden shout.
“PLEASE STOP DOING THAAAAAAAAATTTT!!!”
“SORRY!! SORRY!! But remember, we still have no idea how to talk to her when she starts speaking weird!”
“Oh, right, right! I forgot to tell you, try to translate all of her weird words into everyday, mundane stuff! Most teenagers with eighth-grade syndrome tend to use their own weird words to describe the most normal things in life!”
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!! So that’s what it is!!”
“Yaaayy!! Now that we know, let’s go approach her!!”
“But where is she?”
“Probably on the staircase heading towards the rooftop! I’ve seen her there quite a few times before.”
“Alright, guys, let’s go!!”
“YYEEEEAAAAHHH!!!”
The students who chose to have lunch in the class had ganged up together to search for me, and there were seven of them. They have reached the staircase in no time.
“Hmm, is she there?”
“I don’t know!”
“Let’s just all walk up the stairs to approach her, okay?”
“Yeah! But, guys! Please don’t be too noisy! Most people with eighth-grade syndrome tend to be very shy around a lot of people! Let’s walk quietly until we see her, so we don’t scare her off! There’s a possibility that she might run away!”
“Eeeh? Is that so? Well then! Everyone, let’s approach her carefully!”
“Yeeeee. . .” said everyone quietly.
“This feels like hunting a newly discovered creature in a humid forest. . .”
“Oi, don’t treat our classmate as an animal!”
“R-Right, sorry!”
Everyone quickly and quietly made their way up the stairs. When they reached halfway, they turned around to go up the rest of the stairs, but then they saw me sitting on the very top.
*!!!*
*sobs sobs*
I was crying silently, alone with my lunchbox sitting on my thighs. I was wiping my tears that never stopped dropping with my hands.
*sobs sobs*
But then I opened my eyes.
*!!!*
I quickly wipe my tears in a hurry. I immediately stood up and put my hand on my face, covering most of it, leaving only my eyes through the gaps between my fingers.
“Ha-HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! WELL DONE FOLKS!!! GOOD JOB OF TRACKING ME DOWN TO MY HIDEOUT!! I PURPOSELY LOWERED MY ENERGY SIGNAL TO TRAP ANY LOST SOULS SO THAT I COULD DEFEAT IT AND GAIN EXPERIENCE TO LEVEL UP!!”
*THUD*
When I stood up, my lunchbox fell down the stairs and my food spilled everywhere.
“AAAAAHHH!!! MY ENERGY SUPPLEMENT!!!”
I pushed out my open palm downward in panic.
*!*
But then I retracted my hand and crossed my arms in front of my chest.
“W-WHAT’S YOUR DEAL, DEAR LOST SOULS??”
A girl in the front of the group walks up one thread higher and smiles at me.
“Kobayashi-san!!”
“. . .y-yes?”
And then everyone stretches out their open hand forward and utters the same sentences together.
“Let’s be friends!!”
. . . . .
It took me a second to process what I just heard, and then my eyes got teary again as I looked at everyone’s bright smiles. At that moment, the smiles of everyone became a core memory in my life that I could never forget.
