Tetsuya lay on his bed, the ceiling a blank canvas for his spiraling thoughts. The mundane reality of his bedroom. The stack of philosophy books on his desk, the poster of a niche indie band on his wall.
His phone buzzed. It was Mari.
[Mari]: Are you home?
[Tetsuya]: Yeah. Just thinking.
He hesitated, his thumb hovering over the screen. A cold question solidified in his mind.
[Tetsuya]: This might sound like a weird question, but your parents? You mention them sometimes, but I've never met them.
The three dots indicating Mari was typing appeared instantly, then vanished. Then appeared again. She seemed to be hesitating.
[Mari]: They don't exist. I just manifested the necessary paperwork to enroll in school. It made things simpler.
Tetsuya stared at the words. He read them again. And again.
[Mari]: You're overthinking again, aren't you? I can tell. Can I come over?
His heart hammered against his ribs. The thought of her walking through the normal physical world to get to his house was suddenly unbearable.
[Tetsuya]: Yeah. Okay...
[Mari]: I'll be right there.
A soft ethereal hum began to fill his room. Then, in the center of his door — a shimmering rift began to tear open. A portal framed by pure pulsating golden light. The light was warm like bottled starlight.
From the golden shimmering void, Mari stepped out. She was wearing a capybara-printed pajama set, looking utterly incongruous and yet perfectly at home as she emerged from the holy luminescence. The portal rippled for a moment, then winked out of existence, leaving only the door behind.
She looked at him, a faint blush on her cheeks.
"This might be... less creepy than just appearing from nowhere."
"It's fine..."
Tetsuya waved a hand vaguely towards the empty spot on his bed.
"Totally less unsettling than sudden omnipresence."
Mari walked over and sat down beside him on the bed, her presence radiating a familiar warmth that strangely contrasted with the cosmic chill in his bones.
She turned to face him fully, her expression serious. The light from his desk lamp glinted in her deep brown eyes.
"Are you really okay, Tetsu? I know you're... you're a philosopher. And I know sometimes, you overthink things so much, even more than someone with social anxiety."
She asked, her voice filled with a genuine concern.
She reached out, her hand gently resting on his arm.
"I don't want to break you, Tetsu."
The silence hung heavy between them, punctuated only by the distant hum of the city. Tetsuya stared at her, as Mari.
...
Tetsuya closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. When he opened them, the terror was still there, a lingering tremor beneath his skin. But something else had joined it — a profound, humbling acceptance.
"No, you're not breaking me, Mari."
He said, his voice stronger now.
He shifted, turning fully to face her, taking her hand in both of his.
"If... if the Absolute chose to live as Mari, as a human..."
He squeezed her hand gently, meeting her gaze.
"Then for me to demand it be anything else, for me to refuse to accept you as you are... that would be the ultimate intellectual arrogance."
"You chose to be human, Mari. Then I will choose to love you as one."
He concluded, a quiet, almost sacred promise in his voice.
"והקמתי את בריתי ביני ובינך"
She whispered, her voice soft yet resonant with the weight of an unspoken eternity.
Tetsuya's eyebrows furrowed, a faint frown creasing his forehead. His mind however simply registered: "Bible quote."
He sighed, shaking his head.
"Mari..."
He said, a small exasperated smile playing on his lips. He reached out and gently pinched her cheek.
"Can you... like... not quote the Bible every five minutes? Especially when Yuria-chan isn't around? I barely understand half of what you're implying."
Mari froze. Her eyes snapped wide open, and for a terrifying moment — The eyes flared with a golden light. A low resonant hum began to fill the room, deepening into a guttural growl that vibrated through the floorboards. The air crackled, charged with an immense energy.
Above them, the ceiling of Tetsuya's room began to ripple. The paint bubbled, then peeled back like old skin. The plaster itself seemed to melt away — revealing the architecture of Heaven itself.
And directly above their heads — Living pillars of light and shadow began to coalesce, their forms were too other for human comprehension. Great feathered wings, four on each figure, unfurled like sails woven from pure light, extending across the entire room. Each wing was covered in countless eyes that blinked in unison. They held aloft flaming swords, dripping with molten light.
"B-L-A-S-P-H-E-M-Y!"
Her voice reverberating with the authority of primordial power, each syllable a hammer blow to reality.
Her eyes burning with an ancient furious light, stared directly into his soul. For a single second, Tetsuya was looking directly into the wrath of The Absolute. Any other human would have instantly disintegrated; or at least crumpled into a fetal position, sobbing.
But Tetsuya merely blinked. His mind simply processed this as "Mari's dramatic flair". His face remained stubbornly, utterly unimpressed.
The overwhelming aura of divine wrath vanished, replaced by a look of something akin to exasperated disbelief, tinged with a endearing pout.
"Fine... But the punishment is a mental breakdown... of oxytocin overflow."
She huffed, her voice returning to its normal pitch, though still with a hint of playful menace.
Before Tetsuya could even process the bizarre threat, Mari leaned in. A warm pressure bloomed on his cheek.
As her lips touched his skin, a strange warmth began to spread through Tetsuya's entire being. His heart swelled, his mind felt light, exquisitely happy.
Mari pulled back, a soft smile playing on her lips.
Tetsuya's eyes stared at Mari. This feeling — it was intoxicating and utterly alien.
"Mari... Are you... are you hacking my brain? I'm feeling... something really weird. This isn't... This isn't normal human happiness."
He whispered, his voice thick with wonder.
Mari's lips slowly flattened into a pout. Her eyebrows knitted together. She pulled back from him, a delicate flush spreading across her cheeks.
"Ugh, Tetsu! I already told you I wouldn't force you to believe! And you're just... it's just a kiss!"
She huffed, a sound remarkably similar to any annoyed human girlfriend.
She crossed her arms over her capybara pajamas, her pout deepening.
"Is it really that weird to feel good after your girlfriend kisses you for the first time?"
...
The night deepened, a comfortable silence settling between them. Tetsuya and Mari lay side-by-side on his bed, the aftermath of the cosmic outburst now just a faint, lingering hum in the air. The faint glow of his desk lamp cast soft shadows on the ceiling.
Tetsuya turned his head on the pillow, looking at Mari. She lay on her back, staring up at the ceiling, her hands clasped loosely over her stomach.
"Hey, Mari?" Earlier... when you did that... did your 'God part' actually get angry?"
He began, his voice quiet.
Mari sighed. She didn't look at him.
"Do you believe that The Absolute would be so petty as to feel offended by a human's judgment?"
She finally turned her head, her deep eyes meeting his.
"That, Tetsu — is projecting your own human ego onto the infinite... And I'm not some kind of leaky heavenly reactor either!"