Why Can't I Live In a Quiet Peaceful Life?!

Episode 14: Confusion

"I understand now," said Neos, "Brian mind controlled Kaleb to kill the student body president. He also controlled him to forget the events of what happened yesterday so that he wouldn't remember Brian's actions. That way, he could frame Kaleb to be the traitor god. Once we eliminated Kaleb, Brian can go abuse his power without anyone noticing."

"Wait.." said Jak, "So the person who destroyed the tape was Brian? He must've destroyed the tapes when we were meeting up at our table! Detention my ass!"

"So the real culprit and the true traitor god was Brian," gasped Val, "We need to find and stop him."

Styx checked her dashboard, reviewing over the multiple footage caught from her cameras. She found Brian heading out of the school and going down to the gardens down by the neighborhood. Jak, Neos, and Val decided to head there to confront Brian. Jazz and Styx helped Kaleb recover from his injuries.

—

"I knew that Brian guy was trouble from the start," said Jak, "Why else would he show up as the transfer student and beat the both of us up?"

"I'm seriously thinking of blowing him up," replied Neos.

As Val ran with Neos and Jak, she began to think about the things that Brian shared with her. Was that all a fake? A cover up to make sure that he wouldn't be suspected?

Suddenly, a police officer stopped the trio.

"Hey," he asked, "Where are your parents? High school students shouldn't be running around the streets this late."

"We're just late to go to home," smiled Jak, thinking of an excuse like he always does, "Our house is just near this street."

"I won't let you do that."

Suddenly, the police officer took out his pistol and shot Neos in the shoulder. Instantly, Jak changed the material of his hand to steel and uppercut the police officer, knocking him unconscious. Jak then immediately went over to Neos and to recreate his cells.

"What was that?" asked Neos, clutching his shoulder in pain.

"That guy must've been insane," replied Jak, healing Neos' wounds.

Val went over to inspect the police officer. From a glance, it looked like he was normal. However, when she investigated his neck, she noticed something taped to it. It was a fingernail! She removed the tape and recalled Brian's ability. He could control the minds of other people as long as he touched them with his fingernail. The nail clipping was smart for Brian to leave.

Neos finally recovered, "Alright, let's keep going. We should take some shortcuts so we don't run into anyone that might be under Brian's control."

The trio finally arrived at the garden, where it was full of plants of various shapes and sizes. The floors were carefully layered with multiple bricks.

"Keep looking around," said Jak, "Be careful not to—"

Jak instinctively dodged the palm of Neos, which lunged over and touched a plant, making it explode from the roots. Jak immediately created a wall in front of Neos, but it soon exploded, with debris flying everywhere. Val and Jak both hid behind some bushes as Neos exploded more plants in his path.

"Why did Neos do that?" whispered Val.

"We didn't see it," explained Jak, "But Brian must've gotten his hands on him and mind controlled him. But this is good. It means Brian is near."

"We gotta take care of Neos first. If we don't, he could end up making the whole garden explode."

Jak nodded and peeled out of the bush, noticing Neos slowly making his way to their bush, exploding plants in sight. Right when Neos was about to touch a plant, Jak turned Neos' arm into a spaghetti noodle, dangling from his shoulder. Jak then transformed Neos' other hand into an anvil, pulling Neos to the floor and allowing Jak to knee Neos in the face, knocking him down.

"There he is!" yelled Jak as he noticed Brian by a tree on the garden hill, holding a shovel in his hand, digging something.

Jak and Val ran up the hill to try and stop Brian. Jak got there faster and threw a punch at the unsuspecting Brian, who was knocked to the ground.

"Fighting you after what you did to me back on your first day here is going to be so satisfying," smile Jak.

Immediately, Brian jumped from the ground, holding his fists up. Jak threw a punch, but Brian was quick enough to evade it. He threw a couple more fast punches at Jak, who had blocked them. However, Brian maintained his barrage of punches before forcefully stepping on the shovel's spade. This had caused the shovel to jump in the air, allowing Brian to catch it and knock Jak's arms away from his guarding position. Brian went for a second swing, however on impact feathers fell to the ground.

Jak has changed the shovel into a pile of feathers. Jak took this as an opportunity to throw more punches, but Brian leaned back and kicked Jak's legs, causing him to tumble down the hill. Jak stood up, only to find the shovel heading straight at his body, knocking him unconscious. Val went over and checked Jak, who had a minor injury on his chest, and proceeded to go up the hill.

"Back away unless you wanna end up like Jak," warned Brian.

"Wait, Brian," said Val, "You were the traitor god all this time?"

"That's.. not it," he replied, "I knew if I were to explain it would be reasonable that you all will try to kill me, just like what Jak did. Especially for the actions I made. However, I came to this garden to prove my innocence. Can you trust me?"

Val hesitated before saying, "Yes."

Brian went over to the tree and dug up a shoebox. He dusted the dirt off and opened it, revealing a camera. Val remembered that Brian was really interested in photography.

As Brian scrolled through the camera images, he began to explain, "I'm sure you all are aware that I wasn't really in detention. Back when you all were discussing things at the table, I was already in the surveillance room to find myself and Kaleb heading to the janitorial room. However, I have no memory of ever going to the high school at all.

This was evidence that could frame me, so I broke the tape. I knew what I did during that time, so in order to prove my innocence I went over to this garden. I even tried to buy time by mind controlling that police officer and Neos in order for me to dig up this camera. I don't like others finding out my hobby, so I had to bury it."

"What's special about the camera?" asked Val.

Brian pointed at a picture of a flower, specifically on the time and date. It was yesterday, at the time that the murder had occurred in the tapes of the school surveillance system.

"You weren't the culprit," realized Val, "Because you were in the garden taking pictures. If you weren't the culprit, then who was?"

—

With the confusion all cleared up, everyone was proven innocent on the day of the murder. It seemed liked no one was the traitor god within their group. Because of the murder, the school semester had ended early, allowing for an early winter break.

The true culprit and the traitor god has yet to be found.