The afternoon passed in a blur of mundane classes, punctuated by the terrifying truth that now permeated every moment. The four of them converged towards the dusty cramped haven they called the "Philosophy & Heresies Club".
The air in the clubroom — usually thick with the scent of old paper and lukewarm tea — now felt charged, expectant. Mari sat quietly, sipping from a juice box, her earlier vulnerability now cloaked in a serene composure. Riku was meticulously arranging his pens, a nervous habit, his brow still furrowed in silent computation. Tetsuya felt a buzzing beneath his skin, a sense of having stepped through a hidden door into a larger, more terrifying reality.
Yuria however, seemed to have found a new energy. Her eyes sparkled with a zealous conviction, the kind only a True Believer could possess when faced with direct evidence of the divine. She clapped her hands together, a decisive sound that cut through the quiet tension.
"Alright, everyone!"
Yuria announced, her voice brimming with purpose.
"Since Tetsuya-kun said he wants to 'understand his girlfriend better'..."
She shot a meaningful glance at Mari, who just blinked innocently.
"...I propose our topic for today!"
Yuria beamed, her enthusiasm infectious yet utterly bewildering in the context of their morning revelations.
"We'll discuss Jehovah in the Old Testament! Specifically, the aspect of God as the 'I Am That I Am'! His relationship with His creation! It's perfectly relevant!"
Riku slowly put down his pen, a look of profound disbelief on his face. Tetsuya just stared, his earlier acceptance already straining under the weight of this new philosophical gauntlet.
Mari took another slow sip of her juice box, a faint sigh escaping her. The corners of her lips twitched upward in a small, melancholic smile.
"Here we go again."
Yuria now fully in her element, practically vibrated with excitement. She pulled out a small, well-worn Bible from her bag, its pages marked with countless sticky notes.
"Alright so, Exodus 3:14! When Moses encounters the burning bush, the bush that burns but isn't consumed, and he asks God for His name — God replies 'I Am that I Am'. This isn't just a name, you see! It's an affirmation of self-existent being. No beginning, no end, no dependency. It's the ultimate 'is-ness'!"
She proclaimed, her voice ringing with conviction.
Riku scoffed, leaning back in his chair, his arms crossed. His earlier terror had retreated, replaced by his usual academic skepticism, a defense mechanism against the absurd.
"That's a tautology, Yuria."
He deadpanned, rubbing his temples.
"That's like saying 'a rock is a rock'. Totally redundant. If God really wanted to communicate, don't you think a more... concrete name would be useful?"
Yuria's eyes narrowed, a passionate fire igniting within them.
"Our language is tiny! If you try to pin God down with some simple label, you're shrinking Him! You can't put the Infinite in a neat little word box just so your fragile human brain feels comfy!"
Yuria jabbed a finger at him, then swung it toward Mari like she was calling in divine backup.
"Like, look at Mari-chan! If I called her 'the manifestation of God', that's still wrong! Any word I pick, it all falls short. Right, Mari-chan?"
"Actually, Yuria-chan..."
Mari began.
"Every single thing... every single concept... has that 'Infinite' and 'Unknowable' part within it. Even a simple circle. You can define it, you can draw it, you can measure it. But can you truly understand the infinite points on its circumference? The endless divisions? The perfect roundness itself?"
She looked at each of them in turn, her gaze deep and unsettlingly lucid.
"You can't. Your human brain can't fully grasp even a circle. So to say you can't name God or limit God with an image... is actually a bit silly. You're already doing it with literally everything else. You're trying to grasp the infinite, even in the smallest things."
Mari paused, then her lips curved into a faint, knowing smile.
"Any word you use... it's less than. Any image you make... it's a small glimpse. Because even if you call me a tree, a cat, or a circle... there is still an infinite unknowable depth within that very thing."
Tetsuya swallowed, his mind buzzing with fresh questions.
"Why appear as a burning bush? Why choose something so... small? If you're God, why not lightning? A voice that shakes the earth? Something… fitting?"
Mari tilted her head slightly, like she was amused by the assumption.
"God doesn't have levels, Tetsu. If God needed to appear grand to be God… then He wouldn't really be omnipotent."
Her lips curled into the faintest, almost mischievous smile.
"Thunder, burning bush, or… a high school girl. If He couldn't be the smallest, then He wouldn't be G...YAHHHH!"
Mari shrieked.
"A ROACH!"
Her scream cut off as her right hand began to glow. Ornate golden metal plates materialized from nothing, wrapping around her palm. On the back of the hand, six gemstones pulsed with an inner light, purple, blue, red, orange, green, yellow.
She scrambled onto her chair, brandishing the universe-ending artifact at the tiny insect skittering on the floor. Her face was pale.
Riku's brain short-circuited.
"A violation of physics and copyright law!"
Tetsuya was the quickest to react. He lunged, grabbing an empty plastic container from a discarded lunch box, and managed to trap the offending cockroach under it with a decisive thump.
Just as he secured the bug, the door to the clubroom burst open. Ms. Suzuki stood panting in the doorway, her face etched with alarm. She had clearly heard Mari's unholy scream from down the hall.
"What in the world is going on here?!"
She demanded, surveying the scene — Mari perched on a chair, wearing a glowing gauntlet; Riku looking like he'd seen a ghost; Yuria utterly stunned; and Tetsuya holding a trapped cockroach.
Tetsuya managed to blurt out the first thing that came to mind.
"Ms. Suzuki! We're... uh... practicing for the school festival's cosplay contest! The LEDs are amazing, right?"
Ms. Suzuki stared for a moment longer, her eyes lingering on the gauntlet with a mixture of confusion and begrudging admiration for its craftsmanship.
"Right... Cosplay... Just try to keep the dramatic screaming... to a minimum."
She said, before giving a slight bow and closing the door, leaving the four of them in a stunned silence.
Tetsuya slowly released his breath, his heart still hammering against his ribs. He looked up. Mari was still perched on the chair. She cautiously peered over the edge of the seat.
Mari then seemed to remember the universe-altering weapon she was still wearing. She looked down at her hand, and then at the three faces staring at it with a mixture of terror, awe, and in Riku's case — a curiosity.
"Oh. Right. Here. You were staring the hardest."
She said, slipped the gauntlet off her hand. It remained a solid object of golden metal and pulsing gems, which she then held out to Riku.
Riku took it instinctively. His hands trembled. He knew every stone, every power. He thought of the one place he wanted to be. His room. He clenched his fist slightly.
The blue stone flared with an intense light. The space directly in front of Riku wavered like heat haze rising from asphalt, then it tore. A blue-seamed rift appeared in the fabric of the air itself, widening into a perfect shimmering circle. Through the portal was Riku's own bedroom. They could see his bed, a poster of the periodic table on the wall, and a stack of manga on his desk.
Riku stared at the portal, then at the impossibly glowing gauntlet in his hand, then back at Mari. His eyes were wide with a childlike wonder.
"Can... can I keep it?"
He asked, his voice barely a whisper, a desperate plea for a new ultimate collectible.
Mari simply blinked.
"Sure. If you want."
She shrugged, as if she was offering a piece of candy.
Riku's face lit up. It was the face of a true collector, a boy whose life revolved around accumulating rare and fascinating objects. He quickly slipped the gauntlet off his hand, tossed it towards the shimmering blue portal. The gauntlet landing on his bed, nestled amongst his crumpled blankets.
The portal began to shrink, the blue light receding, the edges stitching themselves back together until the space in front of him was just air again.
"You're not going to... invade a planet or something?"
Tetsuya asked, half-expecting Riku to reveal some megalomaniacal plan.
Riku scoffed, regaining some of his composure now that the immediate threat of universal domination was averted. He adjusted his glasses.
"Pfft, please. This is an scientific artifact, Tetsuya. It needs to be properly cataloged and displayed. What? Did you think I was going to use it for power?"
Tetsuya, though relieved — couldn't help but still feel a surge of protective dread.
"Still... Don't go touching the Power Stone, Riku. You'll turn into a pile of dust."
Tetsuya warned, pointing a finger at the now-closed space where the portal had been.
Mari finally spoke, a faint smile playing on her lips.
"Don't worry, Tetsu. There are safety measures in place."