1 Chapter 1 | God, Retired

Life is already complicated enough for most people. Balancing work, school, relationships, and generally trying to keep one's self alive is already hard enough for most. Then there is Hoji Takami, a helplessly average twenty-something, who can hardly keep himself together, let alone balancing work and having a girlfriend. The hustle of life after college has proved too much for him, but somehow he finds a way, except today. Today is going to be a bad day.

The alarm had been going off for two minutes already, and Hoji was finally stirring from his bed to turn it off.

"It's too early for me to be up," he slammed his hand on the alarm and checked the time.

It was already 9:32 A.M.

"Oh no, I'm late!"

He kicked out of bed and rushed to his bathroom, checking himself in the mirror. He was still haggard from the night before, drinks with his friends last night still fresh on his face.

He made a noise in disgust and pulled his eyelids down, inspecting his eyes, "Jeez, Hoji, she's going to kill you."

It was Kamei's birthday, and he had less than 30 minutes to get dressed and travel across town to meet her for breakfast. He used some eye drops to clear his red eyes and ran his hand through his hair a few times, trying to fix it. His hair fell to the side still, and he sighed, continuing to freshen himself up and slid to his living room. He picked up his jacket and fought with it and the door as he tried to leave while putting it on.

"I can take the train if I hurry," he said to himself, finally getting his jacket on, "But I still have to make it to Momos in time."

Momos was the name of Kamei's favorite breakfast cafe. He was treating her since it had been a while since they found time to be together now that Hoji had started working full-time. It also didn't help that he had been spending a lot of time trying to fit in with the guys from work, winding up at bars more often than not late at night.

He parked his bike and hustled his way up the stairs to the metro train, running into a woman. She turned to face him, her hair was a fiery red, with dark brown eyes that almost looked like amber to match. She was about his height and seemed like she was a model of some sort. She clicked her tongue at him and turned away, the tapping of her heels echoing as she continued back down the platform.

The train came into the station, there was a buzz, and the doors opened. Everyone on the platform began to shuffle into the train. Hoji being managed his way through the crowd of people and stuffed himself onto the train, determined to be on time. Time was passing by so quickly, even though he was trying to hurry, 15 minutes had already passed.

"Why did I have to go drinking last night," he murmured to himself and paused, "Oh no. Her present..."

His face twisted into a frustrating mess, and he hung his head. He was indeed a terrible boyfriend. All the rushing this morning, he had left her gift on his desk, having spent the better half of the night trying to wrap it drunkenly. He sighed and pulled his phone out, checking for a place around the station he was getting out at for any ideas for a replacement gift he could pick up before heading to Momos.

"Flowers," he thought, "She definitely would love flowers."

The train came to a halt, the buzzer sounded, and the doors opened. The crowd of people filed out of the train, Hoji being the last person to get off and hurried toward the corner stall downstairs. There was an assortment of flowers, different bouquet sizes, and a variety of flowers.

He made all kinds of faces, studying the flowers, "Which flower did she like again? I know she told me what it was once, but there are so many kinds. Who needs this many flowers to choose from!"

A small bundle of Lillies caught his eye, and he picked them up, looking them over for a moment.

"Girl's like Lillies, right?" he asked aloud.

A small older lady peered her head over the stall edge, "Those are beautiful flowers, young man."

Hoji lifted his head and held them up in view more, "Do you think this would be a nice birthday gift?"

The lady thought for a moment and gave a small smile, nodding. He handed her the money for the bouquet and left, coming to a stop in front of the cafe. He stood outside for a moment, looking around for his girlfriend, but she wasn't anywhere, and he gave a heavy sigh of relief.

"I made it on time," he said, finally feeling like he could breathe.

Just then, the door opened, and he could sense someone standing behind him, "What took you so long."

He turned around and saw Kamei standing behind him with her arms folded, "H-Hey! I'm sorry I got held up by the train, but I got here as soon as I could."

She sighed and held up her phone, pointing at the time, "We were supposed to be here at nine, Hoji."

He froze for a moment and dropped his head a little, "I had thought it was supposed to be 10, I'm sorry. I got you these though, Happy Birthday!" He held out the Lillies to her, and she looked at them and then back at him.

"Lillies?" She said.

"Yes?" he replied, unsure of how she was feeling.

She took them carefully from his hand and looked at them over, the bright orange and yellow colors mixed in with a few white ones to accent the bouquet.

"You're forgiven," she said sweetly and hugged him, "I'm glad you remembered."

Hoji laughed uneasily and hugged her back, following her inside the cafe. She had quickly changed her mood after receiving the flower, and they enjoyed an excellent breakfast together. He told her about how work was going, and she explained all the things her friends had planned. A few moments later, they left the cafe with Kamei hugging on Hoji's arm.

Their relationship wasn't perfect, Hoji in particular, found it difficult having enough time to balance a relationship and life. Things were becoming increasingly more difficult as he had to move across town to be closer to work after college, while Kamei was still hard at work with one more year left. Kamei was patient, though. She understood he was at least trying, and that's all she could want from him. They had been childhood friends and began dating in college. So for Kamei, she couldn't ask for a better boyfriend, maybe being on time and not having to ask for simple things would be nice, but she cared for him all the same.

They parted ways a little after, having gone to the bookstore to pick up her new textbooks for her classes starting next week. Hoji walked over to a bench to take a moment after the chaos that was his morning. Kamei having left with her friends as they met up with her and Hoji after the bookstore. As he was beginning to relax, he noticed the woman he had run into earlier, walking across the square. She looked like she was searching for someone, turning people around now and then turning her head up toward them, realizing it wasn't who she had been looking for.

"What is that woman doing," he said aloud.

A man dressed in all white with a black-tie sat down next to him and unbuttoned his jacket and leaned back on the bench. He looked over at Hoji and then at the woman causing a scene in front of them.

"She's looking for me," the man said calmly.

Hoji, not having noticed him sitting down next to him, jumped a little, "Where did you come from?"

The man laughed and shook his head, "I've been trying to avoid her for the better part of a millennium it feels," he sighed, adjusted his hat, "Death herself, looking for me, but I'm tired of dealing with her."

Hoji laughed nervously, unsure of how to make sense of anything the man was saying. He began to stand up, needing to head back home and check on work e-mails before it got too late into the afternoon.

"Hey, if you met God, what would you say to him?" the man asked, stopping Hoji from leaving.

He turned around, confused a little, wondering why someone would ask such a random question like that.

"Why did he make life so complicated?" he said, unsure why he answered that so earnestly.

The man lifted his hat brim to look at the Hoji more clearly and leaned back on the bench more, "Yeah, I don't have an answer for that one, sorry, kid." He held out his hand to shake Hoji's and nodded at him.

He rolled his eyes at the man and turned back around, making his way toward the crosswalk. He felt a tap on his shoulders and spun around. Face to face with the woman from the train station again.

"Oh, you," she said, "...Hey, have you seen a man about your height, wearing all white?"

Hoji pointed toward the bench, but the man was gone. She looked at the bench and then back at Hoji and sighed, "How is one man so hard to find, I get that he's God, but he owed me."

He made a face as she spoke, turning around and crossing the street and brought his hand up to scratch his nose, but realized he had been holding onto a business card the entire time.

"I hereby leave Earth and all the power that be to you," he read aloud, staring at the card, wondering when he had even picked it up. He turned it over and read more, "I am tired of being chased by Mao and her games. I am leaving my position to you. Good Luck, Kid."

He was utterly puzzled as far as what the card was even trying to say, and he dropped it. Before the card could hit the ground, it faded into dust, and he squinted. Rubbing his eyes, he looked at the ground again, but there was nothing. He crossed the street uneasy as he wasn't sure his mind was playing tricks on him or if it was still the alcohol from last night.

Making his way to the train station, he pulled out his phone while he waited for it come, and began texting Kamei,

'Hey, heading home now. Ran into some odd people back at the square, so be careful when you guys leave for dinner. I really enjoyed breakfast and sorry again I was late, enjoy the rest of your night. Happy Birthday!'

He hit send and got onto the train, having avoided an actual trainwreck with his girlfriend. Sitting down on an open seat, he began fiddling with his phone, going over news that had happened over the week, he noticed a strange app on his phone.

"Divinity App?" he said quietly, looking up to see if anyone was nearby, "Is this some mobile game I had signed up for that came out today?"

He opened the app, and it began to load, the screen turned white, and an interface slowly faded in. At the top of the screen, there was a little emoji spinning, still indicating that the app was loading. He sat patiently, waiting for the app to open entirely, and the buzzer rang as the train had stopped at the station. Startled, he stood up, closing the screen on his phone and putting it in his pocket.

Looking at the time on the clock at the station, he hustled to his bike as it was already getting a little late, and he still had some work he needed to go over. Riding as quickly as he could home, he locked up his bike and headed up the stairs to his apartment. There was a small package in front of his door. He hadn't ordered anything recently but picked it up anyway, looking at the name it was addressed to.

"God..." he said, looking over the label, "Divinity Express?"

Rolling his eyes, believing it to be some prank he was mistakenly being made apart of, he placed the package in front of his neighbor's door and headed into his apartment. Throwing his keys on his dining table, the slide and were stopped by a box. He paused, looking at the box on his table, heading back toward the door and looking outside at his neighbor's door. The package was gone. Looking at the box on his table, he ran over to it and picked it up. It was the same box.

"What the hell?"

He placed it down, and his phone chimed. Fishing it out of his pocket, he opened the screen, remembering he had been looking at the app on his phone. It finished loading, and next to where the emoji had been spinning, his name was there now, underneath it read, 'Occupation: God'. He dropped his phone and sat down.

"Is this a dream?" he asked himself, pinching his arm, "Did I just get so drunk last night, I'm still lying in bed dreaming?"

Before he could pick up the phone, there was a knock on his door. He paused and stood up, leaving his phone on the ground, and made his way to his door, looking through the peephole. It was the woman from earlier; only she was dressed differently and wearing more relaxed clothes. He opened the door, and her face lit up.

"Hi!" she exclaimed, much friendlier than she had been earlier, "I'm Mao!"