Banished Divinity: Learning to be Human

Later that same day, the final class ended with the kind of relieved sigh only university students can produce. I packed my notebook—the one without water damage—and followed Jiyoung and Haejin out of the building.

Human Sera floated beside me, her form flickering in the afternoon sunlight. "Okay, so Jiyoung is the loud one, and Haejin is the one who looks like she's judging everyone. I love them both. Don't mess this up."

"I never mess anything up," I whispered.

"You literally spat water on Minjae this morning."

"That was intentional."

"It was not."

Jiyoung turned around, her ponytail swinging. "Who are you talking to?"

"Myself," I said. "I do that. It's a study technique."

Haejin raised an eyebrow. "You keep getting weirder, Sera."

"Thank you."

"That wasn't a compliment."

"I accepted it as one anyway." I replied proudly.

Jiyoung laughed and threw an arm around my shoulder. "This is why we keep you around. You're like a little alien."

"Celestial being," I corrected.

"Same thing."

Human Sera snorted. "I like her. She has good instincts."

We walked across the main courtyard, past the statue of some old dead professor that pigeons had claimed as their personal throne. That was when Haejin stopped and bent down.

"What's this?" She picked up a colourful piece of paper from the ground. "End-of-year camping trip."

"Camping?" I tilted my head. "What is camping?"

Jiyoung and Haejin both stopped walking. They looked at each other. Then back at me.

"You don't know what camping is?" Jiyoung asked, her voice climbing an octave.

"I know many things. Economics. Marketing. The proper way to summon a fireball, thunderbolt and a hurricane if needed or how to spilt a crying woolbatten without making it cry so we can use its moult for weapons." I paused. "Camping is not among them."

Both Haejin and Jiyoung clearly ignored my statement. By holding up the pamphlet placing it straight at my face. On the front was a picture of a forest, a tent, and a smiling students standing next to a fire.

"Camping is when you go outside. To nature. And you sleep there." Haejin giggled.

"In a tent," Jiyoung added. "On the ground."

I stared at the picture. Then at them. Then back at the picture.

"Let me understand this correctly," I said slowly. "You leave your home. Your warm, dry, safe home. You go into the forest. Where there are bugs."

"Many bugs," Jiyoung confirmed cheerfully.

"You sleep on the ground. In a cloth structure that offers no protection from weather or predators."

"It's called a tent," Haejin said.

"And then," I continued, "you make a fire. For no reason."

"For warmth," Jiyoung said. "And cooking."

"You have kitchens at home."

"The whole point is to not be at home."

I blinked. "Why?"

Jiyoung rolled her eyes "Because… it's fun?"

Human Sera floated down beside me, clutching her ghostly stomach with laughter. "Oh, this is amazing. Ask them about the bathroom situation. Go on. Ask them."

"Where do you use the bathroom?" I asked.

Haejin's face went blank. Jiyoung started whistling.

"There are facilities," Haejin said carefully.

"Define facilities."

"A dig up hole. Sometimes with a tent around it."

I turned to Jiyoung. She nodded solemnly.

"A dig up hole," I repeated. "You dig a hole. In the ground. And you—"

"Okay, moving on!" Jiyoung grabbed the pamphlet back. "The point is, it's a school trip. Three days. Two nights. On Crescent Moon Island. Just off the coast. Professors are going. There's barbecue. It's supposed to be fun."

"Crescent Moon Island," I said. "That sounds almost celestial."

"It's just an island shaped like a crescent moon," Haejin said. "Very romantic. Couples go there."

"I am not a couple."

"Obviously."

Human Sera wiped a tear from her eye. "I miss them so much. They haven't changed at all."

Jiyoung waved the pamphlet in my face. "Look, you sleep in a tent. You roast marshmallows. You sing songs around the fire. You maybe see some wild animals. It's an experience."

"I have experienced many things across multiple dimensions."

"Great! Then you'll love sleeping on the ground."

I examined the pamphlet more closely. "This says 'bathrooms not guaranteed.'"

"Yeah, that's the fun part."

"That is the opposite of fun."

Haejin sighed, rubbing her temples. "Sera. Camping is simple. You go outside. You pretend to enjoy nature. You come back tired and covered in mosquito bites. Then you tell everyone you had a great time."

"Why would you pretend, after getting so many mosquito bites?" I was mortified beyond this point.

"Because that's what people do."

"That is illogical." I sigh.

"So is sleeping on the ground for fun," Jiyoung admitted. "But we're going anyway. You should come."

"I will consider it."

"Consider faster. Deadline is tomorrow."

Before I could respond, a tall figure appeared beside us as if summoned by the forces of chaos itself.

Minjae AKA Gate-Rammer.

He reached over Jiyoung's shoulder and plucked the pamphlet from her hand without asking. "End-of-year camping trip?" He scanned the front. "Crescent Moon Island. Fancy."

Jiyoung glared at him. "Why are you here?"

"Walking. It's a thing people do." He flipped the pamphlet over. "Are you all going?"

Haejin crossed her arms. "Why do you care?"

Minjae didn't answer immediately. His eyes flicked to me for just a moment—a brief, unreadable glance—before he looked back at the pamphlet and shrugged.

"I'm not going," he said.

"Nobody asked," Jiyoung shot back.

"I'm telling you anyway." He stepped forward, pressed the pamphlet flat hard against my chest, and held it there. "You should go, though. Might be good for you."

I looked down at the paper against my chest. Then up at his face. "Excuse me?"

He laughed—that same annoying, almost-evil laugh from the lecture hall. Then he turned and walked away, hands in his pockets, like he hadn't just done something incredibly strange.

"Wait—" I started.

"She is still healing, you asshole!" Jiyoung shouted after him.

Haejin joined in, both of them yelling at the same time: "SHE IS STILL HEALING!"

Minjae didn't stop walking. He just raised one hand in a lazy wave and called back over his shoulder, "She's fine."

I felt something snap inside me. "I am not fine!" I yelled. "I am furious! There is a difference!"

His laughter echoed across the courtyard.

Human Sera appeared beside me, fanning her face with her ghostly hand. "Wow. He really knows how to push your buttons. That's kind of hot."

"I will smite you both."

"You can't smite a ghost."

"I will find a way."

Jiyoung grabbed my arm. "Ignore him. He's weird."

"He pushed a pamphlet into my chest."

"I know. That was weird."

"He said I was fine."

"Also, weird."

Haejin took the pamphlet from my hands. "So, are you going to sign up or not?"

I snatched it from her hands. "Yes, im going. To prove him wrong."

"Prove what wrong?"

"That I'm not fine. I am going to go camping and be very not fine. And then I will show him."

Jiyoung and Haejin exchanged a look.

"That's not how camping works," Haejin said.

"That's not how anything works," Jiyoung added.

"I am a celestial being," I said, folding the pamphlet and stuffing it into my bag. "I do not need your mortal logic."

Human Sera floated in front of me, grinning. "You're going because he told you to, aren't you?"

"No."

"You're going because he said you were fine."

"I am going because I would not enjoy nature and ground-sleeping and holes."

"Sure, you are."

I opened my mouth to argue, but before I could, a voice called out from the main building.

A staff member was jogging toward us, a clipboard in her hand. She stopped a few feet away, slightly out of breath.

"You're needed," she said. "Immediately. The Director's office."

The three of us—four, counting Human Sera—froze.

"Why?" I asked.

The staff member shook her head. "They didn't say. Just that it's urgent. You need to come right now."

Jiyoung squeezed my arm. "What did you do?"

"Nothing," I said.

Haejin looked at the pamphlet in my bag. Then at the staff member. Then back at me. "Maybe it's about the camping trip."

"The Director doesn't call people to their office to discuss camping trips," Jiyoung said. "Wonder what the Director wants you for?"

Human Sera floated closer, her smile fading. "Sera. What if it's about Yuna? What if she went to the Director like she said she would?"

I felt my stomach tighten. "There's only one way to find out. See you later." I waved to Haejin and Jiyoung, who both looked curious and concerned at the same time.

"Text us later," Haejin called out.

I turned and walked toward the main building, my footsteps steady, my spine straight.

Human Sera floated beside me. "Are you scared?"

"No," I said. "I am a celestial being. I do not get scared."

"Your hands are shaking."

"They are trembling with celestial power."

"Sure, they are."

I climbed the steps to the Director's office, pushed open the heavy door, and walked inside.

The door closed behind me with a soft, final click.