When the kids were safely tucked into bed, my sisters and I headed to the big circus tent in the southern square. It’d already been put up in its entirety, so the massive construct loomed in the darkness and gently fluttered in the breeze.
I made myself known to the guards, who let me in without an issue. The tent was more spacious on the inside than I’d expected. The stage was set, the audience seating was all arranged, and a few performers seemed to be practicing various acrobatics tricks. I watched them for a few moments and was amazed to see one of them do a full spin in midair on a bicycle. I’d never seen anyone do that before.
“Let’s see... Oh, there he is,” Karen said as she pointed over at a part of the stage. There was a muscular-looking man there doing a set of push-ups...with a massive boulder on his back.
H-He’s doing push-ups with just his thumbs?! What the hell?!
There was no doubt about it. He had to be the god of strength. He was wearing the same toga I’d seen him in the first time we’d met.
“Good evening, Strength God.”
“Ah, the Love Goddess.”
The hulking brute of a man spoke without stopping his exercise. He hadn’t even broken a sweat. Slowly, he raised himself upward, shifting the rock off his back and rising to his full height. He was as big as ever, standing over a whopping two meters tall. Even though he was just standing, his muscles were rippling and twitching as if to establish dominance. I personally found it a bit creepy.
“You’re here too, Sword Goddess? Oh, and the newbie.”
“Hey there. Been a while since the wedding,” I said as I subconsciously reached my hand out to shake with him. Though, I quickly reconsidered. Something told me that if he’d grabbed my hand, I’d probably never be able to use it again.
“My, there are some familiar faces here.”
“Ah, the god of theater and goddess of dance. Sorry for butting in like this.”
I turned at the sound of a shrill voice to see a dark-skinned woman and a thin-looking man behind us. The man was pretty tall, though not quite as tall as the god of strength. His hair was blond and sticking up, giving him a kind of punk rock vibe. But he also had a kind of feminine air to him, and compared to the bastion of masculinity right next to us, he came up lacking. He was the god of theater, and didn’t look much different from how he did at the wedding.
The woman had darker skin, shortish black hair, and green eyes that glimmered like jewels. She was the goddess of dance. She wore a piece of cloth like a tube top, as well as puffy white pants that reminded me of clothing from the Middle East. She also had gold and silver bangles around her wrists and ankles.
“Well heeey, Touya darling. How are you?”
“Oh, uh, fine. Hope you guys are well!”
Hm... The god of theater’s definitely similar to Kokuyou. Not that I have a problem with that or anything... Though having him call me darling and stuff is a little funny... He’s supposed to be my higher-up in the god hierarchy, so it’s a little inappropriate, maybe? Well, whatever.
“You seem well, Dance Goddess.”
“...Mmm.”
I couldn’t read her expression at all. It was always so neutral. Still, she didn’t seem to be in a bad mood.
“Touya, darling. ‘Dance Goddess’ won’t do when we’re down here! She’s Prima, dear. And I’m Theatro! And the god of strength over there is Power.”
Prima? Like from Prima Ballerina? I think Prima means best, or something. And Theatro as in theater, I guess... Power’s pretty self-explanatory.
“Don’t just introduce me like that, Theatro. My name isn’t just Power. It’s Full Power.”
“Oh, right...”
I didn’t bother thinking too hard about the god of strength’s naming sense. I imagined giving themselves mortal identities had about as much thought put into it as naming a game character. Part of me was thankful none of them had just keymashed and called themselves fhafshfsafjh or something of the sort.
“So, why’re you guys in the circus?”
“Mmm... Y’can’t eat down here if you don’t got money. We don’t have to eat to live or anything, but we do wanna enjoy our lives. One day, the leader of the troupe showed up and we saw a chance. Now I can flex my muscles, travel the world, and earn a little pocket change along the way! Sweet gig if you ask me.”
But couldn’t a guy as strong as this make it as an adventurer? Or is there a difference between being strong and being able to fight? Or...maybe he just wants an excuse to flex and show off? Yeah, that’s probably it.
“I definitely want to show off, darling. It’s nice to spread our performances around the world and see the smiles on everyone’s faces! Not to mention seeing all kinds of wonderful sights and eating all manner of fascinating meals.”
Prima nodded along with Theatro’s words.
It was true that the nomadic nature of the circus had plenty of perks... But they were gods, so I was sure they could just warp around if they needed it. That’d probably take some of the fun out of traveling, though, and the whole point of them being down here was to have an authentic human experience.
“So what, are you here to meet the troupe leader?”
“Oh, no. No need to do that today. I’m coming to see the performance with my family later, so I figured I’d say hi to you guys beforehand... Felt right to give you some warning, you guys being more experienced than me and all.”
“More experienced? Darling, I daresay you’re more experienced than any of us when it comes to being mortal,” Theatro said as he laughed softly.
Yeah, but I’m still basically a baby god... It’s better to pay respects than not.
“Don’t worry. We’re not gonna cause any trouble. God Almighty gave us pretty strict orders to behave, and we don’t wanna make the other gods lose their chance to come down because of our screwups.”
“Yeah, everyone in the divine realm would be real mad at us if that happened. Gosh, how scary!”
This world was meant to be a vacation spot for the gods, but it hadn’t formally opened yet. The gods down here were basically testing out the idea, and thankfully, they’d been well-behaved so far. They weren’t rushing down too quickly either, which was nice...though that did surprise me. In a lot of Earth mythology, the gods just kind of came down and did whatever they felt like.
“Will the other gods be coming to watch the show?”
“I think they can, you know? But Granny Tokie, the goddess of Space-time, can’t make it. The god of agriculture and the others are coming, you know? Oh, and you should have my ticket!”
“I certainly have, dear. We’ll be sure to put on a good show!” Theatro smiled as he said that and handed a ticket over to Karen.
Damn, I should’ve asked for free tickets too. Would’ve been good to know about this in advance.
“I’d love to call in the god of music, actually. Don’t you think he’d work great with Prima?”
“...Mmm. Could work...”
A collaboration between two gods? I bet it’d come out crazy... Guess I can have Karen ask Sousuke about it later.
“I’d love to have him do the music for my play as well. How fun!”
“...What play, by the way? It’s not gonna be about me, is it? I’ve had my fill of that...” I raised a concern of mine with Theatro. It’d been worrying me for a bit.
“No, darling! Not at all! It’s a story called Royal Court Ruckus. It’ll have laughter, tears, and drama in equal measure! It’s one designed to appeal primarily to younger audiences.”
I’d never heard of that story, but I was just glad to hear it wasn’t related to my adventures at all.
“I hope you and your family enjoy the show when you come to watch! I’ll be sure to put my heart and soul into it!”
“Best of luck...”
Maybe don’t go too hard with it? You’re still a god, so I don’t really want you to go all-out in my country.
I left the tent with a small feeling of relief in my heart, though I still felt rather anxious. I just had to hope the performance would be okay.
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