Chapter 001: A Sinister Deal

11:00AM Friday Morning, October 19th 2012.

*Tap...Tap...Tap*

A heavy sigh can be heard from the back of the class as Shou stares coldly at the tile floor beneath his feet under his desk. Suddenly he feels an extreme sense of dread in his own mind.

He quickly lifts his head up glancing around the classroom like a mad man as an onslaught of thoughts invade his mind. "Look at Shou...Look at Shou, why did he sigh? Huh? What a weird ass kid that one is...! Of course..." Shou began shaking a bit in his chair while while his eyes dart back and forth between his classmates as he began to unknowingly mutter his own self deprecative thoughts at such a volume that the girl sitting next to him caught wind of it as she listened in.

Shou began grinding his teeth in a seemingly unprovoked anger, "SHOU...Shou, look at him, he just looks so damn weird, just..." His voice begins to rise, as he still hasnt come to realize hes speaking his thoughts out loud, "SHOU...SHOU DAMN IT SHO-"

(Tap...)

The light gentle tap on his shoulder snaps the boy back to his senses as he turns his head.

"H-huh...?"

A feminine voice soothes Shou's ears as he looks her dead in the eyes, her beautiful long blonde hair with that odd pink hue to it, her eyes the color of an azure flame ready to burn all that stands before it down. He stares at her like hes witnessing heaven on Earth, while she looks back at him with complete worry.

"Hey Shou! Is uhm...is everything okay? You were shaking a bit and saying something, I was worried a little for ya' yknow?"

Shou's usually gloomy expression then lights up like the sun as his skin goes from its usually pale tone to a faded pink that floods the entirety of his face as if a paint bucket spilled onto a canvas.

"Oh! Hi! You...well, you uhm...you're gonna...what I mean to say is thank you!"

Its very evident, Shou does not speak to women. At all.

The girl stares back at him in pure confusion, "What are you thanking me for dude? I'm just checking up on you, seemed to me like someone was goin' a little looooneeey~"

Shou calms down as he begins to think.

"DAMN IT! YOU BLEW YOUR FIRST CHANCE TALKING WITH A GIRL ALREADY?! YOUR A THIRD YEAR YOU CAN DO THIS!"

A sharp inhale is heard as his skin color returns to normal...mostly that is.

"My names Shou! What's yours? Tell me! Tell me now!"

The girl giggles a bit, "Oooh, assertive huh? And what big guy? What if I dont tell you my name? What then?" This response leaves Shou utterly speechless as he begins to think to himself.

"DAMN I DIDN'T THINK I'D GET THIS FAR! CALM DOWN SHOU THINK!" He then spots both her student ID and a recovery all in one.

"Tch...I'm just messin' with ya, I knew your name all along...Lillie."

Shou's face looks like he won the lottery as he begins yet another one of his mental monologues. "DAMN IM GOOD! I bet I looked so cool-" Its then cut short as she blurts out her physical words disrupting the ones in his head.

"Shou I saw you look at my ID, y'made it a bit obvious y'know." She says this as she makes a sort of playful pouting face at Shou to show shes only messing with him as she pinches his cheek and laughs.

Soon after the this the two of them begin to grow closer and become friends all in the span of a single class period.

(RIIIIIIIING!!!!) All of the students begin standing up and grabbing their things.

Shou's neck practically snaps upward as hes startled by the lunch bell. "Wha-"

He's interrupted once more, "Hey Shou! Wanna eat lunch together with me? I'll share mines with you so y'dont have to pay for your own! Mom packs alot of food for me anyways and its not like I'm starving or anything! I'll even get you something to drink, theres a vending machine right below us on the first floor yeah?"

Shou dawns an ear to ear grin which makes her giggle as he speaks up, "OF COURSE LILLIE! Heh, I would love to have lunch with you!"

Lillie chuckles at his weird eagerness to eat with her.

"Alright then, just go sit where you usually are, I'll go grab you something to drink so you dont have to worry about a thing, m'kaaaay...?" She leans her head over to Shou as he reluctantly nods.

"Thanks buddy!" She exclaims as she runs off to the vending machine downstairs.

(Later at the lunch table, its been nearly 10 minutes and Lillie still hasn't shown)

Shou rests his face on his hand as he pouts, "Man...did I seriously get stood up? On a SCHOOL LUNCH DATE?! God I'm the biggest loser ever! No..."

(Thump Thump...Thump Thump...)

Shou's heart begins to beat faster, he feels as if its attempting to rip itself out of his chest, ever since Shou was a boy its been evident he's had some sixth sense for when something was horribly off in any given situation, whether its a gift or a curse is decided by if he acts upon these impulses, however this time he had no need to act, its almost like his body got up on its own and began carrying Shou over to where Lillie said she'd be.

"Somethings wrong...something is HORRIBLY wrong...why the hell am I sweating, WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING?!"

Shou then charges down the hallway regardless of any camera's or faculty that may see him as he rams the door clean open nearly breaking it from its hinges as he rushed to the first floor vending machine.

As he arrives there he hears the voice of Lillie, and shes crying...this accompanied by a masculine voice talking to her with a repremanding sharp tone, like that of a humanized cobra. The voice is coming from a tall boy standing at around 6'4 (193 cm)

(SLAM!)

"DAMN IT LILLIE, WHY? Why...why do you INSIST on messing with MY feelings like this? HUH?! ANSWER ME DAMN IT!"

Shou feels his body run cold as he begins to shake, except this time its genuine fear. A traumatic response.

Lillie begins to speak through her tears, "I told you, j-just go the hell away! I don't wanna see you ever again! I can't be with you! Not with someone who just so willingly hurts me, be it emotional...or physical..."

As Shou hears this he gets the feeling of every fiber in his body revulsing back as if attempting to burst everything including his soul out of his body through his spine as his fists clench in pure anger. Shou begins to shake even more as he stands just behind the nearby wall tearing up.

The masculine voice speaks once more, "Well if I'm not gonna be your boyfriend again, then I have no reason to not hit you...come here you no good leeching bitch..."

He begins to step closer and closer as he hears Lillie's cries become more frantic, until she eventually yelps out in desperation. "S-someone! Get him away from me! I...p-please someone help me..."

A memory from Shou's childhood floods his mind, another feminine voice, yelling out for help as a masculine figure much visibly stronger than Shou walked ever closer toward them, before a loud snapping sound echoed through his mind, and as Shou returned to reality he hears a loud smack that echoes through the entire hallway before Lillie falls over and leans against the vending machine for support to ease her pain.

Shou then goes into a blind rage as he begins to grit his teeth and step around the corner.

"Not again...." Tears well up and begin flowing from his eyes like a waterfall, "NOT AGAIN, NOT AGAIN!" Shou then puts everything he has and swings at the back of the taller boy's head "NOT AGAIN! NOT AGAIN! NOT AGAIN! NRGHAAA...NOT AGAIN!" Shou begins blindly and wildly swinging landing shot after shot on the boy's face, each connection of his fist feeling like a pistol before Shou exshausts a great deal of his stamina forcing him to take a breather.

Many people heard Shou's maniacal yelling and came running and circle the two boys as a red headed girl who happened to be Lillie's best friend comes and helps Lillie up.

Lillie glances at the bloodied face of her ex before looking at Shou, that same awkward boy now defending her like his life depended on it...

"S-Shou calm down!"

Suddenly Lillies Ex-Boyfriend recovers from the staggered state Shou put him in before he picks Shou up and with intense anger brings Shou up into the air in his arms, before body slamming him, Shou's head impacts the ground as a loud pop and snap is heard, before blood pools around his head, screaming is the last thing Shou hears, not just from Lillie, but from the mass of ongoing bystanders watching everything unfold.

And then...everything was black.

until it wasnt.

Shou then wakes up completely unharmed in a very shallow inch deep pool of water, the sky is red, the ground is de-saturated and in the distance he sees a building

(Tap...Tap...Tap) He inches ever closer...

(Cr-Creaaaaak...)

Shou steps inside and as soon as his feet make contact a bright warm light turns on and theres...something sitting at a desk, something Shou's mind cant comprehend, like...at all. His surroundings now look like that of a Supreme Court or some building where people are brought for judgement, but black and gray with reddish tints to everything, the surrounding area feels quite inviting.

Shou looks around before suddenly he hears loud carnival like music blaring behind him as large attractions and gift shops alike drop from the sky around him like hes in some whimsical cartoon world when a loud sound can be heard from the desk and he looks at the strange entity.

A scratchy yet goofy sounding voice emanates throughout the room. "HEY HEY HEY! LOOK WHO WE HAVE HERE! HEY BUDDY!"

Shou quickly turns around to his bewilderment of the creature's voice alone.

"HELLO SHOU! OH MY GOODNESS! CAN I CALL YOU SHO-SHO? PLEASE? Pretty please...with a cherry on top, and sprinkles! OOH AND CHOCOLATE SYRUP-"

Shou makes a face of visible disdain, "Shut up already...I cant even see you! Also hell no! You cannot call me an embarassing name like Sho-Sho-"

The voice speaks up blurting over Shou's speech, "WONDERFUL! SHO-SHO IT IS! HELLO MY LITTLE SHO-SHO! Also let me fix that sight problem of yours, humans these days I swear...I'll make myself something you can comprehend a bit better..."

The black mass of incomprehensible shape slowly warps into something that looks like a jester of sorts, but also oddly enough a clown.

"Here we are! LOOK SHO-SHO! IM LIKE YOU! A CLOWN AND A JOKE! YOU CAN COMPREHEND THAT WELL CANT YOU!?"

Shou then becomes insulted as he speaks, "BASTARD! WHO THE HELL'RE YOU CALLIN' A JOKE HUH?!"

The being then becomes a bit more formal.

"My apologies Sho-Sho...but allow me to introduce myself, I am the Grand Counselor and welcome to The Dead Man's Plaza! AND YOU my good man, are quite frankly...how do I say this- oh yes! Here we are! DEAD!"

Shou's heart drops after hearing this.

"D-Dead...?"

The Grand Counselor begins to speak giving Shou further input.

"You my sweet boy, are exactly the… 10 trillion 165 billionth, 175 millionth, 275 thousandth, 705th visitor here to The Dead Man's PUH-PUH-PUHLAZAAAAA!"

Shou glance curiously at the counselor.

"S-so does that mean I can get ressurec-"

The counselor responds firmly.

"No."

"Absolutely no resurrection on my watch you little cheater."

Shou puts his head down as he sighs, "D'aww…man! I just wanted to-"

"To protect Lillie?" The Grand Counselor says as he butts into Shou's thought cutting it short

"I've been watching you for quite some time Shou my boy, and let me tell you I've never seen someone more MISERABLE than you are! It's astonishing really! I'm impressed."

"Which is why I've come to offer you an accord on my behalf."

Shou looks up at the Counselor, "An a-accord? Tell me more…"

The Grand Couselor then pulls out a little drawing he made with crayon and holds it up to Shou, "ALRIGHTY THEN! So basically here's the deal- I'm only allowed to do this once every 1.5 trillion years, and I've chosen YOU! So here's the plan, I give you a little piece of my power, and you reshape the world to be just how you LIKE IT! Sound cool?"

Shou's eyes widen, "So basically I'm gonna be God? There has to be a catch…"

The Counselor then chuckles before making a mock intimidating voice, "Of course there's a catch silly! Nothing in this realm is free."

The Grand Counselor clears his throat.

"Ahem, after your finished creating your ideal world, your godhood will return to ME. Got it? Now as for the guidelines of creating your new world everything is basically game however you are unable to…"

"1. Strip people of their free will, so I suggest you be careful not to make things too chaotic, because people can do whatever they want no matter what…"

"2. You cannot kill or revive anyone back into the world!"

The Grand Counselor then gets a visibly annoyed look that dawns on his face.

"Your third and final rule is don't make the world a damn snoozefest like the last guy did, like seriously what the HELL was he thinking?! 9-5's?! MATH AS A WHOLE WAS JUST UGH, WHY WOULD YOU ADD THAT?!"

Shou then thinks on this offer.

"Y'know what, I agree! I want to make a world where I can protect people I love, protect the women close to me, and my friends all the same, yeah that's my kinda world, gimme that power boss!"

The Grand counselor laughs, "So it shall be…mind you that you must have the thought of your ideal world in mind and your additions, because this effect is instantaneous and permanent, got it?"

Shou begins scrunching his nose.

"HNNNGH…D'okay…I got it! Do it now!"

Shou feels a strange energy course through him, but not just him, everything, for but a moment Shou IS everything and everything is Shou, he then wakes back up on the ground a moment later.

"And just like that, YOUR DONE BUDDY! I can't wait to watch the previews of the new systems you put in place man! I'm so EXCITED WHOOOOO!"

The grand counselor clears his throat, "Also…memories made in the plaza, stay in the plaza, now GET OUTTA HERE!" A large black fist with a clown nose on each nuckle collides with Shou's head as he wakes up in a hospital bed with multiple people around him crying as his mom hugs him tight. Sho doesn't have a single memory of the Dead Man's Plaza…

"SHOU! My baby…y-you're okay…oh my goodness honey...you're actually okay..."

She pauses and sniffles a bit before wiping her tears and speaking once again to Shou, "Also just a while before you woke up, maybe half an hour ago or so there's been an uproar and increasing amount of people who can do these weird insane things! Look!"

His mom presses the power button with the hospital TV flickering on, as there's a man being interviewed as he's handed a glass vase, to which he soon after unhinges his jaw like a snake emitting extreme heat from the back of his throat as he melts it and swallows it whole on live television, soon after the TV cuts to a man slowly gliding along the road sitting one leg crossed over the other as he levitates and sips his coffee.

Shou's mouth drops before he wipes his eyes and speaks with baited breath.

"Oh man…this is gonna change my life forever won't it…"

"What the hell happened?"