"It is time to start praying," Kenta said after collecting his thoughts, "but before that, I want to say that I appreciate Aiden for joining us. You didn't have to and yet you wanted to learn a culture different from yours. Several months back, that would be the very last thing I would expect from you. If you don't mind me asking, maybe you could show me your synagogue?" 

"Oh man, you're gonna be disappointed. I have Jewish heritage, yes, but I don't practice Judaism, not anymore. I used to be a devout person back when my mom was still alive, but after her passing, I gradually stopped going to synagogue because it just didn't feel the same to go worshipping without her around, you get me?" Aiden shifted his feet from side to side. "My understanding of Judaism is very mediocre and my dad, well, he's a staunch atheist now so I would come back empty-handed if I pester him with questions about rituals in synagogues. He would just tell me there is no point in teaching me something he no longer believes in." 

"Couldn't you just ask Ezekiel?" Baz interrupted. "Your step-brother is Jewish too, isn't he?" 

"He is, but he has an apathetic outlook on the power of worship. He told me that it is pointless to pray to Elohim/Yahweh when we can just as easily try to solve our problems on our own." 

"I see. He sounds like he has a practical mind, huh?" Kenta nodded politely. "But you yourself are still a believer, yeah? I'm just guessing since you said the reason you stop going to a synagogue is because you have no one you can worship with after you lost your mom." 

"Can I be completely honest with you?" Aiden slightly lowered his voice. "Recently I've started thinking that maybe it doesn't matter what deity I pray to. I just want the comfort of believing someone out there, the universe or the cosmic power or whatever spirit lingers up in space, is listening to me. I know it's silly, but--"

"It's not silly!" Kaoru suddenly butted in. "It is normal to want to feel you're taken care of when everyone else has neglected you. It is normal to hold on to this hope that a powerful entity is secretly looking after you and is doing their best to turn your life around but for unknown reasons has not been very successful in doing their godly duties." 

"Are you insinuating that you believe in the existence of benevolent but inept entities?" Aiden almost broke into laughter but quickly covered his mouth to control himself. "Like, a charitable being or two who try to be useful to humans but end up comically failing?" 

"That's Shintoism in a nutshell, though!" Kenta interceded. "We believe that none of the deities we collectively refer to as Kami-sama are infallible. They are just like us, but magical." 

"So, is being a Shinto essentially just playing Russian roulette?" Aiden blurted out.

"That's... an interesting take!" Baz remarked out of the blue. "To put it simply, Kami-sama is sometimes moody. That's why we leave offerings for them, in hopes of being favored enough by them or lifting their mood so that they bless us instead of being spiteful of us for disturbing them when they're cranky or peckish. I know it makes them sound childish and finicky, but if all it takes for us to be blessed is to leave them some food items then hey, that's not too bad." 

"We are in the shrine of Ebisu-sama, right?" Aiden glanced at the statue of a jovial-looking deity holding a sea bream. "What kind of offerings should we give this god of fortune?" 

"The mythology around Ebisu-sama is that he is especially friendly toward fishermen," Kenta smiled as took his backpack off and pulled out a box of dried seaweed, "so he accepts any food item an average fisherman would a steady supply of. I bring nori with me today."

"Cool!" Aiden smiled back. "By the way, does Akira know we were going to pray for her? If she knows that she is being prayed for but she still intends to cheat during the Mathlympics then that's just downright cruel. With that in mind, do you still want to pray on her behalf, Kenta?" 

"She doesn't have the faintest idea of where I am or what I am doing," Kenta replied, "because for the past few weeks, aside from last night when she came into my room uninvited, she has been rudely cold-shouldering me. I still want to pray for her, though, because there is this part of me that stubbornly refuses to believe she has abandoned all rational thinking." 

"Then pray for her we shall," Baz squeezed Kenta's shoulder, "but we should also mentally prepare ourselves for the possibility that prayers alone might not be enough to turn things around. I'm not saying praying is futile, but we have no way of knowing what the future has in store for us. Kenta, I'm thinking you should alert your uncle about this. He needs to be aware of what your cousin is planning to do. For good measure, you should warn Johan too." 

"I--I don't know, Baz. What if we've been fretting over nothing? What if everything turns out fine and my alerting Lee-sensei and Johan just ends up adding unnecessary stress on them?" 

"Better be safe than sorry!" Aiden huffed. "But I get it. That's a very Kenta thing to worry about. I guess I should take one for the team, then. Since you're hesitant about doing what Baz suggested, then our best bet is on knocking some senses into Ezekiel, and then maybe once he wakes up to how mean Akira has been acting we can convince him to confront her." 

"And if Ezekiel continues to be a doormat despite knowing that shit is hitting the fan, what's our contingency plan? Are we just gonna watch the disintegration of our friendship? " Baz shrugged. 

"If the worse comes to worst," Kenta said with quivering lips, "then I'm going to recite a phrase Johan sometimes chants when he's anxious. I know it's not a mantra but it conveys all the agony a person can feel once they are overtaken by sheer hopelessness after being let down and deserted by something or someone they relied on." 

"What phrase?" his three friends asked in unison. 

"Eli Eli lama sabachtani?" the boy said forlornly. "Although in our case it should be Akira, lama sabachtani?  because it would be very agonizing to be forsaken by someone we once trusted." 

****

True to his words, Aiden set out to find Ezekiel immediately after the prayer session ended and he was safely back on the campus of Mizunotori Boarding School for the Deaf. The blond-haired teen found his step-brother operating the dishwasher in the communal kitchen area, dutifully adhering to the boarding school's schedule of chores. No other students accompanied him. 

"Ez, am I interrupting?" Aiden knocked loudly on a cupboard to get the older boy's attention.

"I'm almost done!" Ezekiel answered amidst the noise the fully-loaded dishwasher made. "What's up? You look like you're about to deliver bad news. Has your dad been troubling you?"

"It's not about my dad," Aiden switched to Pinean sign language, "he hasn't been bothering me and frankly I think he's glad I'm not his financial responsibility for the time being. But I need to ask you about Akira. Ez, she's turning into a bossy person. Actually, describing her as bossy is an understatement. She's toxic. The more she has you wrapped around her little finger, the more she's gonna demand more unreasonable things from you. You gotta dump her, man." 

"I can't." 

"Why not?" Aiden folded his arms and inched closer to Ezekiel until his lips almost touched the hearing aid the deaf boy wore. "She doesn't love you. In fact, she's only throwing that word carelessly to mess with your brain. You don't love her. You fear her. But fear will keep you in a cage. Right now, Akira is a ringmaster and you are a scared lion who needs to learn to roar."  

"Aiden, Akira is scarier than you thought. I-I have a legitimate reason to obey her." 

"She's blackmailing you, isn't she? I have a hunch." Aiden frowned. "Then we gotta blackmail her back. I'm a master blackmailer and I will be at your service." 

"With what kind of threat? We don't have any dirt on her. She's got the upper hand." 

"Everyone has some dirt they're covering up. I just need to snoop around to find out what kind of unsavory stuff the Kinoya family has. The downside is that it might involve Kenta too. Hmm. This is tough, indeed. Ez, is snooping around Akira's bedroom something you can do without raising suspicion? Ah, I guess not. Kenta is the only one who can enter her bedroom without permission, but I bet he wouldn't want to resort to doing sneaky stuff to expose Akira." 

"You're going to hate me," Ezekiel broke down sobbing, "but I... b-but I need to be evil." 

"Evil is a strong word. And you're not evil for planning to break into her room like a burglar." 

"I-I'm not talking about b-being a burg... burglar! It's...something d-despicable." 

"Sorry, Ez, I don't follow."

"Maybe it's better if you don't. You shall see. I just want you to know that... I-I'm not going to enjoy being e-evil. And I give you permission in.. in advance... t-to d-ditch me."

"Ditch you? How? Why? What kind of heinous action could possibly cause friction so disastrous that the damage it does to our brotherhood becomes irreparable?" 

"Once all is said and done," Ezekiel managed to reply in a choked voice, "you're gonna want me to cease and desist communications with you and you won't call me a brother anymore." 

Aiden was about to protest but Ezekiel gestured for him to leave the kitchen. When the slightly younger boy shook his head and firmly stayed put, Ezekiel avoided his inquisitive stare. 

"Stop ignoring me!" Aiden barked in broken Hebrew. "I can't help you if you don't talk to me." 

"By the end of this week, you'd develop nothing but contempt for me," came the reply in fluent Hebrew, "so I'm getting you conditioned to what would become our reality very soon." 

"Why are you speaking in riddles? You're confusing! Ez, what happened to our motto that the blood of the covenant is thicker than the thin water of the womb?"

"Aiden, listen carefully!" Ezekiel switched back to English and looked at the perplexed boy through eyes that glistened with tears. "That motto of ours doesn't apply when one of the members of the covenant is deliberately hurting the other. Aiden, I reckon you're familiar with the Abrahamic story of Cain and Abel. I-I am going to turn into Cain." 

"Nonsense, Ez. There's no way I'm getting slain by someone like you. You're too peaceful. Also, you're behaving super weirdly this afternoon. Why the religious reference?" 

"Because I know religion matters to you. And to answer your question, I'm not talking about slaying you in a literal sense but in a figurative sense and I-I wish things were different." 

"Cain slayed Abel because of envy after his low-quality crops were rejected by God in favor of his twin's fattest livestock," Aiden tried to assemble the pieces of Ezekiel's puzzles, "but what reason do you have to slay me?  The whole crops versus livestock thing happened because Cain wanted the woman who was meant to be Abel's spouse and God's rejection of the crops symbolized that Cain was wrong for coveting something that rightfully belonged to another man. If you're trying to draw parallels by saying you are Cain and I am Abel, then that doesn't make sense. You already have a person you're romantically courting and I am still hella single." 

"What if I told you that you are not  Abel but you're friends with him? And I know you love him. Platonically, but love is still love. If I figuratively slay him, then you would feel like you've been slain too because you would share the pain." 

"Abel in our situation is someone I love in a platonic way..." Aiden summarized Ezekiel's explanation slowly. "A platonic love..." he repeated and suddenly a lightbulb went off in his head and he was overcome with shock. "Ezekiel! Is this a confession of a future crime? You're gonna hurt Kenta by hurting Johan? But why? I know Akira is taunting you but you don't have to be an obedient boyfriend. Also, your attempt at drawing parallels to a religious story needs work. You are not Cain. Akira is the potential Cain. Just like Cain coveted something that belonged to Abel, Akira covets something that belongs to Kenta. Well, technically to Kenta's sweetheart."

"Bingo." 

"Ezie, I'm going to plead one more time. Akira is turning into an awful person, but you don't have to turn into one too. It's not too late to withdraw from the competition. If you submit a formal request for withdrawal by midnight, then Akira would either have to go at it alone or rope another person into being her replacement teammate--which is unlikely, so I'm crossing my fingers that the first scenario is what's gonna happen. Yes, I have memorized the Mathlympic's bylaws. Please withdraw, Ezie. It's Akira's business if she wants to cheat, but you don't need to be like her. You can be the bigger person."  

"Withdrawal is the same as backing out, Aiden. She is threatening to resort to next-level slander, defamation, libel, whatchamacallit, if I withdraw. Do you want to see me being defamed?" 

"I don't, but I'm sure we can find a way to afford to sue her if only--"

"If only money falls from the sky?" Ezekiel asked mockingly. "Dream on." 

"So this is it?" Aiden pressed on. "You're going to go along with her conspiratorial plot?" 

"Being poor is a curse, so yes, this is it. We are cursed!" Ezekiel stormed off out of the kitchen. 

Overwhelmed with a mix of rage and dismay, a disillusioned Aiden began dry heaving. 

***

While the Swenson stepsiblings were debating in the kitchen of Mizunotori Boarding School, Kenta was pacing back and forth in front of his family's koi pond with racing thoughts. 

"I don't want to burden Uncle Lee with even more reasons to be stressed out, but Aiden is right that if Akira won't listen to fellow teenagers she might listen to her father," he said to the lotus floating in the middle of the pond, "and now the question is how to broach the subject in a way that wouldn't make me sound like I am one hundred percent sure Akira has finalized her plans because I honestly don't have all the details and I worry that Uncle Lee would think I am making baseless allegations. Ugh!" he threw himself down on the mulch and moss covering up the ground before staring blankly at the indigo-colored mass of clouds resembling marshmallows.

"Whoever comes up with the idiom that every cloud has a silver lining is a liar," he whispered to himself, "or maybe they had never imagined a place in which clouds have no lining. A place like Indigo Inferno. Wait, the name of our planetary system is diabolical now that I ponder about it. Maybe the humans of the 21st century were into macabre. Or maybe their lives were an inferno, just like my life is turning into. Johan told me an inferno is a blazing fire, but perhaps there is an alternate inferno in which it is an endlessly frostbite-inducing expanse of waterless sea." 

A vibration in his jeans' pocket jolted Kenta out of his rumination. His heart beat faster as he unlocked his phone and realized that the guy he was just talking about left a voicemail. Turning on the transcribing function that processed speech into texts, he hungrily read the transcription.

Evening, hikari! 

I haven't kept you updated on what's happening in my life, so this is me filling you in. You remember my classmate Bethany Mhoirbheinn, don't you, who I have been helping with mathematics? She's a sponge and an astoundingly fast learner. I suspected she didn't actually need a mathematics tutor but was simply looking for an excuse to spend time with me. I didn't ask her about it, though, because I didn't want to sound self-centered. But I digress. 

What I'm trying to tell you is that she became my teammate for Mathlympics and at one point during our usual studying session she said she understood winning the Mathlympic, an achievement that would greatly improve my chance of impressing the Blue Orchid University undergraduate admission office, is my golden ticket to escaping my home life and not having to be separated by timezone differences and distance from the person I cherish the most. She even expressed her desire to meet you. She was definitely looking forward to being friends with you. 

Alas, life threw us a curveball. Mrs. M, who is discriminatory toward dark-skinned men, found out that each time Bethany said she would be arriving home late after school (because of her photography club activities) she actually was hanging out at my apartment. The livid mother coerced the poor girl to withdraw from Mathlympic and even transferred her to a homeschool program so that it would be easier to monitor her 24/7. Bethany's phone and laptop were confiscated too and the very last time I spoke to her was when she cleared out her locker at Bataplai High. She put on a brave face, but I could tell she was utterly crushed. I did not know if my very last words for her were of any consolation to her, but I meant it when I told her I sincerely hope our paths will somehow cross again, even if it has to take decades. 

Oh no, I'm rambling. Sorry, hikari, I'll get to the point. About three or four days after I bid Bethany farewell, I got a letter from the Mathlympic administrative office that, due to the fact that Bethany submitted the withdrawal declaration form way before the official deadline to declare withdrawal, the judges have decreed that I got paired with another student in my city. Long story short, I was randomly assigned to pair up with a student from Northern Black Elm Academy of  Neuroscience. For your information, it is a prestigious preparatory school for teenagers who aspire to become neuroscientists--there are two tracks, one for those who want to study human neurology and one for those who want to study animal neurology. 

Sherlyn Zulfikar belongs to the second track and wants to become a xenobiology major at Blue Orchid University. She is a brilliant girl, kind of like a gender-bent version of you if your area of expertise were animals rather than plants. I can't wait to introduce you to Sherlyn soon.

I miss you and the Mizunotori boys! I miss Akira-chan too, tell her I said hello and that despite the fact that we are vying for the same Award we should always remember that, at the end of the day, we are good friends and should not let an interplanetary showcase of mathematical talent ruin the good friendship we have built. 

Missing you more than you could imagine,

Your teddy 

A sense of dread enveloped Kenta as he realized that Johan's sincere hope about Akira staying good friends no matter who would win or lose the Mathlympic could prove to be premature optimism. He closed his eyes and counted to ten to calm him down, but another emotion overtook him as he recalled how fondly Johan described the animal-loving girl Sherlyn. 

"Dear Ebisu-sama," he said in Pinean sign language, "please forgive my audacity but I need your help again. If my luck has not run out already, please don't let Sherlyn develop a crush on Johan. But if my luck has run out, then at the very least could you tell Jesus to protect Johan? I don't mean any disrespect, but I hope you witnessed how Kaoru excitedly elaborate on their beliefs that it doesn't matter who we pray to as long as we believe in the entity we are addressing our prayer to. I can't say I believe in the miracles Jesus could perform, but I am open to the novel idea that perhaps holy figures of all faiths in the universe can communicate with each other and even work collaboratively. If that's the case, may I be so bold as to ask that you persuade Jesus to watch over Johan? Domo arigatou gozaimasu."