Tales of Future Gods - Silver Heaven Academy Arc [Vol. 1]

Chapter 2: A Tale of a Future God

A boy of about 13 was sitting alone on a swing in a small park in the middle of the city. He was wearing a black, long-sleeved hoodie and black, loose pants. Waving a pen in one hand, he was staring at the notebook in his lap.

For a moment, he would write on that notebook, then he put the back tip of the pen in his mouth and erase it after thinking about something, roll the paper into a ball after tearing it, and throw it away. He did this again and again, mumbling in a low voice,

"No, that's not correct either."

When we saw the boy's strange behaviour, me and Aaliyah were also surprised. We could not understand what he was doing. I then picked up a paper ball that was in front of my feet and tossed it in my hand while standing in front of him and said,

"Dude, I don't know what you're up to, but in America it's considered a bad habit littering in a public park."

As soon as I said this, the boy turned his attention away from his notebook and towards me. I was still tossing the paper ball in my hand and staring at him. While Aaliyah stood beside me, holding one end of my blue jacket with her small, soft hands.

When he saw me standing in front of him and looked around, he was startled for a moment when he saw the paper balls scattered around him. But when he realised his mistake, he bowed his head in shame. Then he rose from his seat and picked up his litter, saying in a low voice,

"Sorry. But this's also a bad habit in Japan, and there's a heavy penalty for it. I just wanted to..."

"No problem. Come on, I will help you pick them up too," I said, bending down and starting to pick up the paper balls one by one. When Aaliyah saw me, she also started to help us pick up the scattered paper balls in the park.

In no time at all, we had collected all the paper balls and threw them into the dustbin. Afterwards, the boy thanked us for our help and apologized for making such a mess. Then he returned to his seat on the swing. Aaliyah and I also sat on the nearby swing and looked at him.

I saw that he had written something in his notebook, and since many of the pages were torn, the notebook was only half the size it originally was. When I saw the plight of his notebook, I asked out of curiosity,

"Why is this notebook so messed up? What have you done with it? And what are you doing here alone in this park? Where are all your friends?"

"They all went to their relatives for the summer vacation. By the way, who are you and where are you from? I've never seen you here before. It looks like you're a foreigner. Because blonde hair is not common in Japan," the boy asked, looking at me in response to my question. I, who was happily swinging on my swing, stopped it after slowing it down and said,

"My name is Endymion, Endymion Tennyson. But you can also call me Andy. And this is my little sister, Aaliyah. We're from Chicago and we're here at my grandma's house for summer vacation."

"My name is Shin Takamoto and I live near here. You said you came here to visit your grandma, right? That's why I was wondering how you can speak Japanese so well even though you're a foreigner. Is your mom Japanese?" He asked. I smiled at his question, nodded and said,