Chapter 84: Distant Memories (Lost Family)

It's already 7:30 am, both me and Lucas were tired from flying all the way to Sendai. If you're wondering why we didn't take the train so that we won't be tired; good news for us, I completely forgot that there's no train at 3:00 am, because of course, it doesn't.

"I can't believe we have to fly all the way to Sendai... Seriously, how could you even forget what time the train station closes when you lived here for a long time?" Lucas breathlessly asked. He was laying on the bed that we rented, and was resting from flying like me.

"I completely forgot... Since my mind is occupied with going here immediately, which is why I didn't bother to remember what time the train station closes..." This is more tiring than training at Mt. Levi, I couldn't breathe from exhaustion anymore.

Talya was right when she said that flying is more tiring than running, and the fact that we flew above the sky for 4 hours with only 5 or 6 rest, it's already abnormal that we survived from exhaustion. "For now let's take a quick rest, and we'll head to my apartment."

"Sure let's do that..." Lucas agreed breathlessly.

Looking at it now, I'm really here right now in my hometown. And later I'm gonna go back to the place I was raised at; it's an odd feeling that I couldn't describe, I don't know if I'm happy or not to see the same place I was run over by a truck at.

Also, the real reason we came here is to visit check the urn of my adoptive parents at my apartment, and if they aren't there I'll go to two other places: Homura and Asahi's houses.

And if we have the time, there's also another place that I wanted to visit privately.

Asherah said that there are two people that'll help me fix this inferiority complex that I'm currently suffering from. And I have three guesses who could those two be. First are the two people who took care of me when I was a child; my adoptive parents. Even if they aren't alive anymore my connection with them is, so if I ever got to see their ashes I would be happy. While second are my two best friends: Homura and Asahi, if I could maybe see their faces again together along with Miyu, then I'm gonna be happy. And lastly are two people that I'm not gonna even meet, I'm just gonna reminiscence about being with them, I'm gonna go somewhere far called the Tsukihama Beach since that's where I met the two girls when I was young.

It'd gonna be a long journey for me today I don't know how long it will take me to finish what I came here for, but... I won't give up, I want to be someone who can stand equally with my friends. "It's gonna be a long journey isn't Haruki?" I softly said to myself.

Lucas seems to notice me being gloomy, so he stood up and looked at me with a smile. "You seem rather gloomy today Haruki? Want to tell me about it?"

I was happy that he asked me that, since this feeling that I'm currently holding is too heavy for me to handle by myself, I want to help me carry it. And looking at everyone now, I'm grateful for having great friends like them. "Sure..." I told him with a smile.

***

[Asahi Kishimoto POV]

"Hey brother wake up! You're gonna be late for school!" Miyu was doing her best to wake up Asahi, who was fast asleep on his table, due to studying overnight. "If you won't wake up. I'll tell Ayame how much of a pervert you are and that she would stay away from you!"

"Okay! Okay!" Asahi shouted in agony, having been sleeping on his desk overnight made his back hate him a lot, he was having severe back pain that he couldn't even stand up anymore. "Excuse me Miyu... can you do me a favor and give my back a massage for a bit?"

Miyu let out a deeply disappointed sigh at Asahi. "Seriously! You're so troublesome!" Miyu put her hands on Asahi's back and started massaging his back slowly. "Does it hurt here?" She asked. Her hands were at Asahi's shoulder and were massaging it like an expert.

"Down... It hurts downer... almost near the middle...

"*Sigh*" She went downer to where the pain was and started to massage it to ease Asahi's back. "Before you sleep, you should go to bed and not sleep on your desk, or else this would happen to you again brother."

"Okay... Thanks for the advice Miyu..." The pain on his back has started to disappear, and Asahi was finally starting to ease up his mind; he looked at his reviewers and thinking of a way to pass his quiz.

Due to his worries about failing he threw his paper above and screamed in agony. "I can't do this!" He has started to cry already. For him, he now knew how hard it is to study computer engineering, despite him being obsessed with otaku culture, Asahi was talented at designing video games, particularly at making music for video games.

"Brother jeez! You made a lot of mess!" Miyu was bewildered at Asahi for throwing all of his reviewers above, so she picked it all up. "Seriously, if you stop watching your stupid animes, then you would be concentrating more on school." Miyu picked up all of the papers he threw in orders and put them back at Asahi's desk neatly.

Asahi saw all of the papers back at his table and tried to grab them so that he can throw them again angrily, but Miyu noticed him planning to do it and smacked her hands. "Don't even dare try." She looked at Asahi in anger and threatened him to stop making a mess at his room.

"*Sigh* I guess I'll be absent for today..." Asahi declared. "I guess I'll just tell the teacher that I'm very sick..." Asahi looked at his phone to check what time it is, and he saw a message come up.

The message was from Homura, it said. 'I won't be going to school for today, since Ayame got sick so I'm taking care of her in my parent's stead, so since I know what you're gonna think, you can come and check on her. And my parents are both having a vacation today, and they won't be here for a week'

Asahi immediately looked at what day is today and saw that it was a Friday. 'Then I can just be absent for today, and maybe since me and Homura don't go to weekend courses at all, then we can stay at their house for 3 days.' Thinking of this, Asahi couldn't hold back his joy and started jumping like a gorilla. "You know me very well Homura."

Having been friends with Homura for a long time, they both develop some kind of telepathy system to know what the others were thinking, and that goes the same with Haruki too. "Okay! I've decided, let's go to Homura's house today Miyu because Ayame is sick so I'm really worried about her."

Miyu was excited upon hearing what Asahi said, she asked in joy. "Really? We're gonna go see Ayame?" Her eyes sparkled when she asked that, she was like an excited puppy when she looks at Asahi with those eyes.

Asahi gave Ayame a clear smile and patted her on the head. "Of course! So let's go! Let's stay at their house for about 3 days or so..."

Miyu became happier and started jumping up and down with Asahi, Miyu's only purpose of wanting to go to Homura's house was to be more closer with Ayame, while Asahi's case is far different from Miyu's. Mostly because he'll just use this as a chance to skip going to school.

"My, my. what a wonderful friendship they have, I'm quite envious..." Above one of the houses was Tian Gong, spying at what his prey was doing.

He has been inspecting both Asahi and Homura day by day since he was waiting for Miyu to find a way to use Sun's hair because if he saw Miyu using the hair, he can do something that could bring him and the other Gods an advantage to win against Poseidon.

If Miyu were to use the hair of Sun Wukong properly, then she could be the second female human to have achieved the greatest sin that humankind can offer to the Gods. Like what eve did with the Forbidden Fruit, Tian Gong could use Miyu as a source to make the war more deadly for Poseidon's side. "I can't wait for the outcome..."

***

[Haruki Hotaru POV]

Lucas listened to what I said to him that was bothering me, from everything that has happened with my inferiority complex, meeting the Abrahamic Goddess of Motherhood, and what's the true reason I came here for. I didn't tell him about the story of the Garden of Eden yet, because I want to leave that for Lilith and Baal to answer me first.

I'm truly glad that he listened to everything I've said and complained, and he respected everything I've said, he even scolded me for comparing myself to everyone, which is why I'm happy that he understood what I felt all this time.

If I didn't meet Asherah yesterday, I would've not understood myself even more. It's thanks to her that I'm right here finding someone to solve this feeling of inferiority that I have.

Right now, we are outside my previous apartment, it brought a sense of nostalgia when I saw the outside of the apartment.

Fortunately, Lucas has the skill to make the humans not know who I am, since it could cause a lot of ruckuses if they saw a deadman alive and well.

And thinking about how they would react, I actually want to test it now, but I better not.

"Then let's enter your apartment Haruki."

We opened the door with a key that Lucas made, he told me that he uses this key all the time to open the doors locked women's room back at Hell.

I was weirded out at the start and told him to stop telling me what he has been doing. I'm definitely gonna tell Chizuru about this if we go back home.

Creek... The door opened and let out a loud creak. Everything inside my former apartment felt nostalgic.

A sudden memory came to my mind, it was a memory of both my adoptive parents.

I was still a young child at that memory, a young child so small yet stupid at the same time, it made me happy seeing that sense of nostalgia that brings me back anytime I remember them.

During that time, we first moved here to this apartment; like right now, the apartment was empty, there was no stuff at all, not a single object are at the apartment.

It brought a memory of that day when this apartment was also this empty, and that day when we first moved they brought home a young girl with them, the girl was the same age as me, she has white skin like that of snow, and pink-colored hair like the leaf of cherry blossom.

My mother introduced me to her. "Haruki, this is your second-cousin Aquamarine, she came to stay with us for 3 weeks Haruki, be nice to her okay?"

"It's nice to meet you Haruki." She said shyly. "I hope we can get along we-well..."

All I could describe her was that she fits the idea of an alien, apart from her beauty, Aquamarine is unlike any child I've ever met, it's like she doesn't know anything about human knowledge at all.

She was curious at everything she saw; from the plants and even the animals, despite you can see those things in any other country, it was like she was a princess trapped inside a castle; with no knowledge of the outside world at all.

Aquamarine, the only other family member I've ever met, was the only family member that I met on my adopted family's side; not even her parents I've met before, and my parents were very secretive with their family tree, every time I asked them the questions. "Mom; dad, will I ever meet your families?"

I was curious who their parents are; who their grandparents are; who their brothers and sisters are; who their nieces and nephews are. But they just shrugged it off, they left it blank and kept on telling me that their family is not important right now.

Until to that day, my mother told me. "You've been curious who our families are, so I brought Aquamarine here so that you can get along with her." Aqua and I got along really well, we didn't even fight once while she was at our house, our chemistry was just indescribable until that day it is.

Without noticing it, a week has pass by, and Aquamarine left me without telling goodbye; she just disappeared without my knowing. "Mom; Dad, where's Aqua?" I asked them.

"She went back home Haruki, don't worry." That's what my mother said, but I couldn't believe it, there's no way that she'll leave me with no letter or message.

Years have passed already, and I've forgotten what she looks like. As I grew older, I didn't look for her anymore, I knew that she doesn't want to see me again. Maybe she was weirded out from my manga and anime figurine collection and thought that I was disgusting.

And until that day comes. It was the day I turned 15 years of age, it was that time when the Gods told me they hated me, so what did they give me on my birthday? They gave me a curse that tore my heart to many pieces.

At that time of my birthday. Me, Homura, Asahi, Miyu, and their parents were at our apartment preparing for my birthday party, and my adoptive parents decided to buy my birthday cake together.

Homura's father opened the television to watch the news for a bit and that's when we discovered something that crushed my heart.

The newscaster said. "Today, two couples were found near the parking lot of a nearby bakery murdered, their murder wasn't recorded at the CCTV, hence why the polices are still confused on why and how they were murdered. It is stated like the murderer has no intention to steal any of the couples' belongings, so the polices concluded that the murderer who killed them knows who they are and might have had ill-intention onto them in the first place. The investigators found the IDs of the victims, they were Beryl Mimasaka and his wife Spinel Mimasaka."

"The Gods has forsaken me..."

"Hmmm? Is there a problem Haruki?"

Noticing that the memory I was experiencing has disappeared, I was breathless. "I'm okay..." I replied to him, seeing this exact empty place like before when I was a child made me lose my mind from melancholy.

Remembering my second-cousin Aquamarine, who left me and didn't even come to my parents' day of cremation, and the day of my 15th birthday where I met the demise of my parents.

All in all, my luck is nothing but fake. A concept that was created by other living beings, whilst I was just suffering from my unluckiness, that's why I hated the word luck, it's nothing but a scam that the Gods created.

"Looks like that all of your stuff isn't here, then let's go to your friends' house."

"Sure..." Now that we know that the ashes of my adoptive parents are not here, my only guess is that it would be either on Homura or Asahi's house. "Let's go there at night, there are some things I want to clear out..." By clear out, I mean to forget about that girl again, Aquamarine.

I respected her truly since she was the first-ever family member I've met, but at that time of my parent's death, none of their family members were there, including her.

"Sure..." Lucas smiled at me. "Then to ease up your mind, why don't we go to somewhere you can rest, an onsen perhaps?"