Being a Goddess is not work for the faint of heart. You kind of do have to love it and most do. I somehow never fell into it. I always knew I was supposed to guide humans to die in sudden, unexplained ways for my Maker but I just never found the opportunity in my first years. Then a few turned to a hundred, and then a thousand. The problem was, living on earth is just so much fun. I could enjoy different foods and experiences and places. The more I procrastinated and experienced earth, the more I realized how unfair it would be to deny a human being the right to live there. I thought it would last forever, if I am being honest. Things just kept getting better and better. Computers, cell-phones, entertainment. It all became so... Good in recent years. That is when reality hit me. The meeting. The assignment. If I could not get a kill in a years time my spark was going to be taken and remade into a goddess that could. I was surprised that was not just the answer for Michelle because by all accounts I was an anomaly. There were many, many goddesses that loved their job.

They all had their own methods. Some were just straight up serial-killers, Assassins, Soldiers on the front line of some war. Others made complex plans and manipulated events to make a death happen. At the turn of the century the truck became a popular one. Figure out where someone is going to be walking and speed down the road towards them once they start to cross. Worked every time and usually created very emotional results. Sometimes they would get hit trying to save someone else and those were considered to be the best deaths. Intent, desire, passions, regret. All those play a big part in the fate of a soul that has been moved, or so I heard. I didn't need a good death, I just needed to prove I could get a kill. It was for that reason that I assumed the hardest part would be to get over my own hangups. If only that were the case.

Kaito Suzuki was a very typical mark to a brief observer. He was out of shape, past his prime at the age of 35 and terminally lonely; never been with a woman, so far as all I could tell. He lived partially off of his parents money and money from the government, making him a leech. Other than the tan from his monitor he would only leave his tiny apartment to go to his dead-end part time job, and that only served to make him enough money to buy the junk food he ate constantly and the figures, video games and anime cards that he worshiped. By all accounts the man should have been on the verge of suicide, if not death by natural causes relatively soon due to bad habits. That is without any intervention whatsoever. To be frank, I thought the man would be so brainwashed by anime, games and light novels that he'd welcome death. Or so I thought.

When I first began actively observing him I sat in wait outside of his apartment complex. It was a three story building that hosted several studio-style apartments. The doors were visible from the street through the gate into the tenant parking lot, so he would not be able to leave without me knowing. After waiting for what felt like an eternity I cursed the idea that he was choosing to be late for work on the first day I began tailing him.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Inconvenient.” I muttered, staring at my watch, then at the messages on my phone. There was one from Michelle featuring a knife emoji and a thumbs-up emoji followed by a 'Rooting for u!' I of course deleted it.

Only a minute had passed when I looked up, having missed him speeding through the opening gate on his bicycle. Kaito was without any transport other than an old, collapsing bike that he had kept from high-school onward. It just contributed to the overall poor image I had of him. That was not important, however. He was getting away. I quickly mounted my own vehicle, a much nicer bike that I had bought on sale at Well-Mart, left the bushes and panted as I raced after him.

“Surprisingly fast...” I muttered to myself in regards to how much ground he had covered so quickly. There was even a bit of dust trailing behind him as he sped down the side of the road. I slowly gained on him however and began to hear.

“Late... Late... Dammit, why did the episode have to run long? Special? Just keep it to 21 minutes, I don't mind a to-be-continued” It was under his breath, but I could hear it meters away due to my advanced hearing. It was good for me. He was upset at being late, which meant he was worried. Kaito was not late often which may contribute to some form of upheaval in his life after. Maybe his boss would fire him, or degrade him. It could trigger something that would help my work along. I sped up until I was about ten feet behind him in the bike lane, then held the same pace. I was not worried about being seen because I wore my disguise. A simple disposable mask, sunglasses, a cap and I was of course dressed in a nondescript blue track-suit. Following close enough behind, I was extremely aware of our surroundings, which is how I could see ahead of time that the sack of lard was about to cross the intersection on a red. It seemed safe, sure, but he was not thinking about or looking for the silent, blocky Texla Cybervan speeding down the cross-street towards the green light that he had. It was the sharpest van in existence with several right angles in places that made little sense.

“Wait!” I called out. It was a miscalculation on my part. Instead of being aware, Kaito continued forward while glancing back over his shoulder with a confused look. He had stopped pedaling, but was instead gliding directly into the path of the oncoming van. I hated how perfect this would be if only I had just done a bit of pre-work beforehand. I did not even have to try to kill the man.

“Fuck fuck fuck!” I stood up on my bike and pedaled like mad. He couldn't die yet, I hadn't done anything to 'move' him. After gaining an incredible amount of speed very fast, much to Kaito's shock, I l pressed the front break of my bike hard, lead with my shoulder and bumped him extremely hard from behind. I felt a unique sense of fulfillment as I saw his bike skid and wobble, throwing him off of it onto the sidewalk. Then the van hit me.