He watched as Aqua gave a light step that seemed more like a hop as she walked in front of him. Every once in a while, something would pass through her, reminding him that she was nothing more than a memory.
Nothing had changed he was still the same loser that had died back then. No, that wasn't true he had changed.
He wasn't the same person anymore, for a brief moment he looked at his hand and felt the magic that he learned to control, his skills were still there but he did not have any reason to use them.
He glanced back and saw both Meguming and Darkness talking to one another just as they did when they traveled together, but they vanished because they weren't there.
They were nothing more than figures of his imagination.
He stops walking and sits on a knee-high wall that has a small patch of grass in the middle.
"You know for someone that has a second chance you don't look very happy." he heard Aqua say to him.
"And how am I supposed to be happy when I'm here and everyone else is over there." he answers her before blinking and turning to look at Aqua who sits next to him.
She smiles at him with the same smile that she uses whenever she acts like a true goddess and he feels her arms wrap around him when she hugs him.
"You know being a goddess lets me see a lot of people, and unfortunately for me, those people are only around for a few seconds." she stops talking and lets go of him.
"You know how different time works for me, but in countless years you gave me the happiest days of my life." again she stops talking and he feels the warmth of her hand on his.
"Aqua" he tries to say something but stops when he sees the pain in her eyes.
"Kazuma, the gods play a game one that few get to see and even fewer take part in."
"Stay out of it." she warns him before the wind blows and shatters her form as if it were dust, that's carried away by the same wind that broke her.
Kazuma could only stare at the empty spot next to him, and then he lowered his head and looked at the ground, he didn't know how long he sat there.
The sound of students walking past him was what brought him back to reality and forced him to react, so he ran to the same place that he once ran away from.
He ran past a man who was trying to fix the roof of an old building, and past a group of schoolgirls who went to a different school.
He ran past a woman with long blond hair and past several foreigners, whose bodies were covered in muscles.
When he finally made it to his school he found the principal waiting for him.
The man didn't say anything he just shoved a stack of papers into his chest before telling him to leave and not come back.
He could only stare at the principal's back before stepping aside and letting the students pass him. He knew that coming back to school would be a problem and that he would have to repeat the year, but he didn't expect things to be this bad.
With nothing else to do, he looked at the stack of papers and found a small note attached to the front, it was the address of a dojo, and underneath it was the words club activities.
He looked past the note and found that the first page was a handwritten letter that had the principal's name at the end.
"Sato Kazuma, high school is difficult for everyone."
"For some, it's more difficult than others, I have seen many things in my life and unfortunately I know how overwhelming it can be."
'I have seen students injured, bullied until they drop out or commit... I wish I could help you more but this is the best that I can do for you.'
'I don't know what you went through and why it drove you to hide in your room, but this is all of the work that you have missed."
"Complet it and you will gain the points needed to pass, if you are lucky then even if you have to repeat the year you will have gained enough points to be able to transfer to an equally good school."
"If you choose to stay in our school please remember that your teachers are here to help and if they fail, I am here to help."
"You will find a web page that has all of the assignments that I could not print for you, just write what you're looking for and it should pop up."
The bell rings and the last of the students run into the school before the doors close.
kazuma couldn't help but lower his head, but at the same time he couldn't help but smile, he gave one last look at his old school and made his way home, but he stopped halfway and headed to the address written on the note.
He found himself looking at the old building with the broken roof.
"Extra points are extra points." he says to himself before he walks to the door, but just as he's about to neck sees Aqua leaning on the wall next to him.
"Hey." he says to her.
"Hey." she answers back.
"Can you tell me what's going on?" he asks her, but she shakes her head.
"I can't, now that I'm back I can't break the rules anymore." she says to him.
"So what now, are you going to show up whenever I'm about to cross with whoever is involved in that game" he asks her but the door opens and a man wearing a pink karate uniform answers the door.