58 Epic Fail

"What's wrong big bro?"

Suzuki Aki was slumped in the living room, looking like he had lost the lottery or as if he'd gone bankrupt.

"Is there something wrong at work?"

Ara couldn't help worrying. The two of them had dinner together and was now lazing in the salon, but her brother hadn't really been talking a lot, and Suzuki Aki was a chatterbox, only a sliver less than the chipmunk Kazehaya.

"Ara,"Aki started, sounding really forlorn. "I'm so sorry. Big brother tried hard, but until now, we couldn't find who did that to your car."

AH…

Ara finally understood what was bothering her brother.

"It's okay brother. It's not like we're in a rush."

But instead of reassuring her brother, Aki looked at her with a perplexed expression.

"Ara, don't sound like you don't care. It's a very important thing that we find this person. He's someone I will not allow not to go unpunished."

Ara chuckled. "I know. But I'm just saying that because you were worrying too much. Just relax, and you will see, Koharu will make a move soon and we will be able to find him."

Aki was thoughtful for a while as if absorbing her words.

"How did you know that girl will make a move?" Aki wondered.

After everything that happened, failing on her attempt to murder, her family nearly destroyed, he would be surprised if she would do something so stupid so soon.

"Because she's a self-centered nut job," Ara answered simply. There was no other way to explain her actions.

People would die? Her family's done for? Who cared? For Okada Koharu, nothing else mattered except herself and her wishes.

If Ara would describe her properly, there's only one word that came to mind: insane.

Aki couldn't help but snort in amusement as well. The situation's serious, but hearing Ara call that girl a nut job was so funny and so apt.

"Honestly, I don't want her to go to jail,"Ara said, and Aki frowned. "I want her to be institutionalized instead."

"You'd rather she to go to a mental hospital? Why?"

"Because it's useless to send her directly to jail. She's mental. It's not a good way to punish her," Ara answered honestly. "How can you punish someone who doesn't even realize she's wrong? She will only think that the world bullied her. She will only think she's a victim in all this. Do you want to give someone who almost killed your sister that kind of satisfaction?"

"So you want to institutionalize her so she'd get better?" Aki was amazed, but he still disagreed. "What if she does something really, really dangerous again?"

"Well, if that happens, no need to do anything," Ara retorted with an evil grin. "She'll receive heaven's tribulation on the spot."

"I think you're a bit of a nut job too,"Aki told her disapprovingly, and she laughed.

Ara was serious, however. In another life or death situation, she wouldn't care about righteousness. She would just strike.

"Go to sleep. It's Friday tomorrow, you have school," Aki told her and she obeyed.

She said her goodnight, and she hurriedly went to her room. She did not change into her pajamas however. Instead, she opened her closet to check if there's something she could wear for her "stroll" tonight.

Yep, the mischievous deity's thirst for adventure's so strong today. It was also about time she tested her current powers. She had never checked them since coming here.

Urgh…

Suzuki Ara's the ultimate girl. She almost just had girly clothes except for some jeans and sweaters. The rest of her clothes were dresses.

Disappointed, Ara was about to close the door when she saw a mask on the floor of the boudoir. She picked it up and examined it. It was a mask of a fox god she bought last year when the girls asked her to go to the fireworks festival with them. It was a white mask shaped like a fox with red and gold linings.

Hmmmmnnnn…

She then rummaged again through her shirts and found one black fitting one, and decided it would do. She would just get something better next time, she thought as she changed into it, and paired it with fitting jeans and boots Kou got her last time.

In front of the floor-length mirror, Ara studied herself, tied her shoulder-length hair in a tight bun and wore the mask.

Perfect.

Nobody would recognize her when they saw her outside. She just had to make sure not to pass by where there were surveillance cameras. She would eventually tell Aki about herself, but the time was not yet right. It was best to be discreet.

Like a superhero.

Ara giggled to herself, while thinking she could understand how Spiderman and other superheroes must have felt.

She, however, had nothing noble in mind, unlike those heroes. She just wanted to test her powers. She was actually more of a villain because her aim was to look for living punching bags.

As soon as she's ready, Ara opened her room's window. She's staying on the second floor, but the English style house had very high ceilings, and so the height of her window from the ground was something no ordinary humans could jump out from and remain unscathed.

However, to Ara who's an expert even at scaling down castle walls, this little problem was no trouble at all. A good thing about being able to manipulate lightning and electricity itself was being able to manipulate magnetic fields.

Heh…

With a smug smile, Ara got out of the window. Placing a seal on her hands and feet, electricity built up there like plasma. She was intending to climb down like Spiderman using magnetic fields, but she kind of forgotten something very important.

"Up, up, and away – "

HUH?

Ara fell from the window down to the shrubbery below like a dead weight.

PLOP!

The demigod was sprawled unceremoniously on some poor bushes with some leaves attaching themselves on her hair and clothes.

Urgh…

She had totally forgotten her climbing skills only worked on ferromagnetic things, materials that could be magnetized. Although some rocks did attract magnets because they contained the mineral magnetite, most terrestrial rocks did not attract magnets because they contained little or no metal.

Urgh…

This house used terrestrial rocks for its walls and there was no way she would climb it using the magnetic field unless she amplified her powers, but other things would be attracted and stick to her too.

"Stupid," Ara muttered to herself as she lifted herself up, and brushed the leaves off her. She hadn't even gone out yet, and she had already epically failed.

"Ah, my back, my poor back…"