Chapter Text
“Ahhh”
The God of Love nuzzled on his sofa as he watched his old fashioned T.V play “The Castle in the Sky” for the millionth time with a bowl of ramen on hand.
“It was a good idea to borrow the sofa from the junkyard.” The God of Love whispered to himself as his body became more lax against the sofa’s cushions. “The shrine definitely needed this, maybe after this I should treat myself and do a shamisen for me.”
Suddenly, the ground starts shaking and holy light starts shining through the shrine windows. Majestic choir singing filled the room, getting higher until…
“Oi, quit the theatertics and just come already you flashing old man!” The God of Love yelled out from the sofa.
FWOOP
Suddenly all of the light, choir singing, and earth shaking left the room as a bald man wearing traditional-looking robes with a long beard, a halo and wings rose out of the floor. So basically, a copy of the God of Love. The only thing that made him look different was the huge muscles that filled God's robes and the cultivating rake he held as a staff .
“Ugh, typical. You clearly don’t have any taste for theater.” The copy God murmured out. “With you loafing around like this, no wonder no one comes to this dump of a shrine. You make it seem like some kind of cheap American attraction”
“Ugh, is that why you came, God of Agriculture? It's just a slow season. Everybody is in school or at work at the moment.” The God of Love said as he shrugged his shoulders. “I mean, I usually get tens no.. hundreds of people coming to my shrine everyday in order to find their soulmate.
The Agriculture God merely rolled his eyes. “I guess every decade I visit you is a slow season for you.”
The God of Love merely shifted eyes away from the God copy as he scratched his beard. “Well.. that is not true. I mean just last season, I helped 100 people meet their soulmate.”
The Agriculture God merely raised an eyebrow to that. “Really, I’m sure you have evidence of such visits, yes?”
The God of Love froze as he heard the question. “Umm, well I was busy at the moment soooo”
CRASH
“It’s the only thing you Gods need to do, what were you actually doing all this time!?!” The Agriculture God screamed out.
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“I bet 1 million yen on Sukisugi-chou.” The disguised God of Love screamed out.
“Sir, this public sports festivals there will be no gambling he-”
“Are you saying Sukisugi-chou is better than my town!?!” The Kiraisugi Town Mayor screamed out. “I’m doubling that!”
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“Don’t I look handsome wearing these glasses, Rentarou-chan.” The God Love said wearing Master Roshi glasses. “Glasses are very exceptional, you know. They bring out the hidden beauty inside peop-”
“Get out of my front yard, before I bring the hose out.” Rentarou said from his window.
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“How did I not get more votes!” The God Love screamed out as he looked over the 100 chapter talley sheet.
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“...I was just being busy being a God.” The God of Love said as he looked away from his copy. “You know, looking over my believers and visitors, just like the old days.”
“Hmm, I do wish we could bring that back with smiting as well.” The Agriculture god mused until he looked towards the God of Love. “Alright God of Love, I’ll give you until the end of the day to give me some reports of your work so I could present it to the higher authorities.”
Suddenly a dark aura surrounded the Agriculture God. “If you don't, your punishment will be so severe that the author of this story wouldn’t be able to describe it.”
The God of Love shivered in fear as the Agriculture God slowly phased through the floor.
“Oh, what am I going to do!?! ” The Love of God screamed out as he clutched his bald head in worry. “Maybe Rentarou will help me?”
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“Rentarou, please help me! I need your help otherwise I might lose my shrine and be in serious danger.” The God of Love begged to an imaginary Rentarou.
Imaginary Rentarou cutely turned his head in confusion as he said, “What kind of background character are you?”
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“No, I can’t think of Rentarou negatively like that. He’ll definitely help me.” The God of Love proclaimed as he glowed brightly in his room as he changed his form.
—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“It’s quite strange to meet you under these circumstances.” Half-Brazilian college student Kaho Eira said as she walked down Ohananomitsu High School with a blue haired bard girl beside her.
“I do not think of it as strange. I think it's fate’s way of uniting us all together, perhaps or perhaps not.” The blue-haired bard girl called Nakaji Uto remarked in a flowery tone.
“Rentarou! Rentarou! Rentarou! Rentarou!” A voice screamed out.
Both girls turned around to see an old man’s head attached to a young boy’s body. He was wearing old Japanese robes and was waving around a notepad. This was the God of Love transformed.
“AHH!” Eira screamed out as she backflipped out of the way.
“EEK!” Uto screamed out in surprise as she immediately made her body hug the hallway’s wall.
“Is that the Sketchag!” Eira screamed out in a fetal position with her eyes and ears closed off from the world.
“..I-I ddon’t think that’s possible!” Uto whimpered out. “I am 88% sure the vice-principal is a woman.”
The old man freak immediately stopped in his tracks. “Wait, you’re Rentarou’s girlfriends are you?”
Eira immediately collected herself as she stood up. “Yes, but who are you? How do you know about Rentarou and his relationship to us?”
“Um, I’m his friend from middle school.” The old man boy said in a sacred manner. “I need his help! I’m Fukuzawa Yukicho.”
“That’s one letter away from plagiarism, I believe!” Eira cried out.
“What does an individual like you need help with?” Uto inquired.
“You see I’m writing a newspaper article on boyfriends and how their girlfriends see them!” said the God of Love. “My deadline is tonight and I really need his help.”
“Oh, well. We could help you.” Eira commented as she scratched her cheek. “We could tell you about Rentarou.”
“I agree. I would be doing myself a disservice as a bard for not bestowing a ballad of my beloved to anyone that lends an ear.” Uto fluently spoke.
“Really!?!” The God of Love cried ecstatically.
“Of course, I mean you seem to be really no threat at all.” Eira said as she flashed a smile at him. “You can easily be taken out with a kick.”
“I concur.” Uto replied with a calm look. “You seem much less cunning than the Vice-principle despite looking just as dreadful.”
“Why me!” The God of Love silently cried out in his head.
“Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!” The God of Love bellowed out as he bowed profusely. “Alright, let's start with you.”
The God of Love points at Kaho Eira. “What’s a moment that you truly cherished your boyfriend with?”
Eira scratched her cheek as she smiled timidly. “Well, it's a long story but let's start at the beginning.”
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One day, I wanted to show Rentarou the dojo that is in my family and one I will inherit in the future.
“Woah, the construction company really put good work into this dojo.” Rentarou called out as he looked over the newly refurbished studio with new stages, mats, weightlifting equipment, and drums.
Rentarou meanwhile was wearing black sweatpants alongside a red sweater for the occasions as he puts his bag down near a bunch of lockers.
“Yeah while I don’t understand dad’s decision for doing it but I have to admit it looks pretty good.” Eira commented as she too put down her near Rentarou’s bag. Eira meanwhile was wearing a white t-shirt along with white pants. “It just gives a lot of extra space for us to practice in.”
Eira and Rentarou walked over to a stage covered in mats as they began stretching with Rentarou doing normal squats and arms stretches while Eira was doing a basic handstand, cartwheels, and side steps.
Rentarou gulped as he watched Eira bending in ways someone with her muscle structure shouldn’t be able to.
THROB!
“I’m so lucky to have such a beautiful and amazing girlfriend!!”
“Are you tired already, Rentarou?” Eira commented as she took notice of Rentarou’s flushed face.
“It’s nothing. I’m ready to keep going.” Rentarou proclaimed as he posed by flexing his arms.
Eira giggled as she grabbed Rentarou and led him to a corner of the dojo filled with foreign instruments and stereos.
“Alright Rentarou, have you been doing what I told you?” Eira asked as she turned towards her boyfriend.
“Uh yeah, I’ve been doing the basics just like you told me. Basic Capoeira kicks, dodges, and acrobatics.” Rentarou said as he looked at the arena they were in. “We’re not fighting each other, are we?”
Eira scratched her cheek. “Sort of, I want to test your skill to see if there are any gaps in your training that we could fill in. Though we are going to do it in a different manner.”
Eira then walked towards a simple stereo and connected her phone to it. The stereo then played vibrant and rhythmic music that is Capoeira music. Both Rentarou and Eira closed their eyes and listened to the first notes of the music, both of them recognizing the instruments in the music such as pandeiro, atabaque, agogô, reco-reco and most importantly berimbau.
“Rentarou..” Rentarou opened his eyes to see his girlfriend, Eira staring back at him bashfully. “While this may be a bit unprofessional, I wish to enact Batizado.”
Rentarou tilted his head pleasantly as he asked, “What’s Batizado? Is it some kind initiation or event?”
Eira timidley nodded. “It’s a ceremonial ‘roda’, or “gathering” some may call it, where new students will get recognized as capoeiristas.”
Eira quickly looked down on the floor. “We don’t have to do it if you want to. Like I said, we’re really doing it in unprofessional standards and you don’t know every…”
Eira cut herself off as Rentarou grabbed her chin and her eyes met his own. “Eira-san, I’ll be glad to do this with you. I’ll follow your lead, just tell me what to do.”
Eira smiled happily as she dragged Rentarou to a padded floor arena as started setting the ceremony up.
“Alright, since we are doing this by ourselves, I need you to follow the rhythm of the music through your own capoeira skills. I will play along with the music as well and try to distract you so that you lose the challenge. This “roda” ends once the music ends.”
Rentarou gulped, flashing back where Eira stopped a car with only a simple kick.
Rentarou then shook his head and stared back towards Eira confidently. “I need to become stronger, so that I can protect everybody alongside Eira-san. But if I want to do that I need to show Eira that I’m strong. I just have to dodge Eira-san’s attacks and keep her at bay with my attacks.”
Both Eira and Rentarou stared each other down as they got to the middle of the padded arena and grabbed each other’s hands before kneeling down, waiting for the music to begin.
Once the first notes started playing, Eira quickly swung her legs towards Rentarou’s feet, only for him to jump back and do cartwheel. Rentarou, following the music’s rhythm, followed up with a high kick that Eira dodged by jumping back.
Eira immediately responded with a front push kick that Rentarou rolled out of the way from before instantly shuffling his feet and twirling to swing his leg to perform a high kick. Eira ducked under the move before pulling out a combination of graceful low kicks, high kicks, and swinging her arms to the rhythm of the music.
Rentarou immediately dodged to the side and got to the edge of a dusty area of the padded arena. Both combatants stared each other down while still moving the beat of the music.
“MY GIRLFRIEND IS SO KYUUUTE! SHE IS SO COOL! SHE IS SO AMAZING! KAWAII! KAWAII! KAWAII! KAWAII! KAWAII! ” Rentarou shook his head and regained focus. “ This is tough, Eira is really experienced in this. I hope all those capoeira videos and idol dance lessons pay off. ”
“It seems Rentarou has gotten stronger physically. ” Eira commented seeing Rentarou keep up with her movements. “ He really is a meta-breaking special coverage unit. I have to ramp things up a bit. ”
Eira dashed and jumped up and performed an axe-kick that Rentarou immediately dodged. However, Eira didn't stop her movement immediately after she performed a roundhouse kick that Rentarou was forced to dodge again.
Rentarou quickly tried to gain the advantage by rolling under one of Eira’s kicks, getting behind her in an instant, but before he could do anything she countered with another roundhouse kick. Rentarou barely dashed back to dodge and tried to gain some more distance from the capoeira artist.
Eira suddenly cartwheeled towards the retreating Rentarou and jumped over him, landing on her hands in front of the Rentarou.
“What the!?!” Rentarou tried to dash to the side only for Eira to split her legs and began spinning by using her hands.
Rentarou immediately then got kicked directly in the cheek and sent backwards onto the dusty area of the padded arena floor, stirring up a lot of dust obscuring the view.
Eira immediately cartwheeled herself back to her feet and looked towards the dust cloud worriedly. “Oh no! Oh no. Oh no. Oh no…. I didn’t go too far did I? I couldn’t have taken Rentarou out on just one-hit.”
Soon the dust settled and it showed Rentarou striking a pose with his knees bent and arms stretched out. “Whew, good thing I was able to bounce off the padded floor and stick the landing
“I’m not going to go down that easy, Eira-san. I’m going to kick it into 2nd gear.” Rentarou yelled out.
Eira responded Rentarou’s statement with a huge smile as she began dancing with the music once again. “Alright, Rentarou! Show me what you got!”
Rentarou immediately dashed forward and Eira responded with a straight kick. Rentarou immediately rolled out of the way of the kick and responded with a low kick that Eira jumped over. Eira immediately tried to attack Rentarou again only for him to dodge and circle around Eira. This repeated many times, and Eira almost broke a sweat during it. “Rentarou’s is trying to tire myself out. Well, that strategy is not going to work on me.”
Suddenly Rentarou got in close, closer than Eira could have expected, and immediately shot his leg towards her. Eira immediately dodged and flexed her powerful core to try to counterattack only for Rentarou to immediately dodged her kick. Rentarou quickly took advantage of her whiffed counterattack and immediately pulled out the same combination of graceful low kicks and high kicks that Eira used on him earlier. Eira grinned as she dodged Rentarou’s attacks in tune with the music.
Eira soon blushed as she caught sight of Rentarou’s determined face with his huge brows tightly knitted together, completely focused on her.
THROB!
“RENTAROU IS SO COOOL! HE IS SO SWEET! HE IS SO AMAZING!! TÃO LEGAL! ” Eira cried out inside her head.
Eira immediately pushed through Rentarou defenses with a simple kick, stopping Rentarou’s movement. Both combatants were filled with adrenaline and the music seemed to mimic their feelings as the intense percussion instruments filled the arena. Both Eira and Rentarou rushed towards each other and looked like they were going to clash, only for suddenly…
FWIP
THUD
Rentarou suddenly lost his footing and immediately face planted on the floor. “Ouch..”
“Rentarou…are you okay?” Eira called out.
Rentarou slowly got up from the floor and tried to walk towards Eira only to immediately trip on a fold of the padded floor and faceplant again. “Yeah, I’m just really tired, I think.”
Eira walked towards Rentarou only to trip on the same spot. “EEK!”
Rentarou immediately twisted his arm around Eira, grabbed a hold of her letting his body take the brunt of the fall instead of her. “Are you alright Eira-san?”
“Yeah.” Eira softly replied as she rested her head on Rentarou’s toned chest. “I can hear his heartbeat.”
The capoeira music from the stereo soon stopped and was replaced with a slow and romantic song.
“It seems that spot needs to be fixed.” Rentarou murmured out as he tenderly stroked Eira’s head. “I’m sorry for ruining Batizado and ending the “roda” so quickly.”
Eira shook her head. “Don’t be, you did an excellent job and you did such a good job being at rhythm with the music for doing this your first time.”
Rentarou blushed. “Thanks, it's just because you are such a good instructor, Eira-san.”
Eira smiled at the compliment as she nestled deeper into her beloved’s chest. “Thanks, though I have to ask, how did you get so strong? What’s your workout routine?”
“I just lifted basic weights and did basic exercise.” Rentarou scratched his cheek with his free arm. “Though I now also do baseball practice with Iku-san, sometimes kendo practice with Kishika-senpai, and yard work with Yamame-chan.”
“Hmm, is that all?” Eira questioned. “Your physique says otherwise. Surely you must have been an athlete in middle school or something.”
Instantly, Eira started hearing Rentarou’s heartbeat quicken and the strong arms holding her started to shake. Eira tried to look up and see Rentarou’s expression only for his hair to cast a shadow over his eyes. The only thing Eira could see from Rentarou was a sad frown.
“Rentarou..” Eira asked cautiously. “Are you okay?”
“W-wa.. What? Oh! Sorry, I was just remembering some bad..times.” Rentarou seemingly snapped out of his funk. “But yeah, I did do a lot of exercise back in middle school but it didn’t…I mean it doesn't matter.”
Eira moved, getting on her knees allowing her to see Rentarou’s eyes. “Are these bad times related to all those rejections Hakari-san, Karane-san, and Shizuka-chan told me about?”
Eira flashbacked to her first encounter with Rentarou as she remembered the intense emotions she felt when confessing to him and receiving love from him. "I couldn't even the handle the thought of getting rejected from Rentarou. It felt like I was going to die on the spot from the feelings alone. To think he went through 100 of them."
Rentarou merely nodded as he grabbed hold of Eira’s hand. “I try not to think about it too much. It’s kinda silly for me to still think about the past.”
Eira shook her head as she gripped Rentarou’s hand. “It's not silly, I couldn't even imagine handling so much heartbreak."
"R-really it's n-nothing..." Rentarou stammred out before he pulled up to Eira's eye level.
"It is not nothing!" Eira passionetly argued. "Rentarou, you are the most excellemnt boy friend in the wolrd to me. I was instantly attacted to the man who wanted to do teh right thing. I fell for the compassionate man that put up with me and my fears. I loved the romantic, attentive, and strong person who accpeted my confession and love. After so many heartbreaks, I wouldn't blame you for being so scared of the world. You could've closed yourself off and never allowed yourself to be vulnerable anymore."
Eira swollowed back the bile that risen up her throat from how the world treated her biyfriend and how it lea to him thinking so lowly of himself. "But you didn't and I am ver so glad that I fell in love with the sweet man that stands before me."
Eira then pressed her lips against Rentarou's own, kissing him causing his eyes to widen in surprise. After a few seconds, Eira separated her lips from Rentarou as she stared at him with adoring eyes. "From the bottom of my heart, Aijou Rentarou, I love you."
Rentarou stared back as he stammered at Eira's beautiful words. "I..am...you...I'm...just..."
Rentarou then took a deep breath as he closed his eyes and opened them up once again as he smiled at Eira. "Thank you Eira-san, I really, really, really, really, really love you too.You have made me really happy as well."
Rentarou then reached oit and patted hs grilfriedn on the head which she happily accepots. "i'm sorry for worrying you..."
"It's alright." Eira reassured with a smile. "I'll be here if you ever need me to ‘kick’ your sad emotions away."
Rentarou returns her smile as grabbed her hand and got one one knee. "Then I'll always be there to help you with at your time of need. I will be there for you to take on your sadness and fear. If you are at a loss, you can come to me. You can rely on me if you face a hopeless situation! I'll be there for anything the world throws at you, so that whatever you do, you don't feel scared."
Eira felt her face to go red at the the declaration that Rentarou made.
"Saying stuff like that is so unfair!" Eira cried out with a soft smile. "That sorta sounds like a wedding vow."
The couple soon kissed once again as they basked in each other's company and comfort.
—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“I don’t remember how long we stayed like that, but it was long enough that we both noticed it started to get dark out. Nevertheless, it’s such a precious memory of mine to see Rentarou to be so strong yet so vulnerable for me.” Eira-san commented finishing her story. “I sometimes wish I could have that strength he has to be that vulnerable.”
“WAAHHH!” The God of Love cried. “Such passion, such emotion, so much love and admiration!”
“I concur.” Uto said, wiping away tears from her eyes. “Thank you, Eira-san for divulging such a personal moment to us.”
“Thank you, Uto-san.” Eira said as she looked down on the floor in a flushed manner.
“That was a heartwarming story but now..” The God of Love said as he wiped away his tears.
The God of Love points at Nakaji Uto. “What’s a moment that you truly cherished your boyfriend with?”