Chapter 15: Chapter 15: Partial Memory
"This is Director Xiao, Minami's partner. He is our school director and an exorcist. He wants to meet you, Kaede," Shoma told Kaede, who was wiping his sweat.
"Hello, Kaede? How are you?" The shortest guy walked towards Kaede and smiled at him. "You look like my favorite partner," he added with sadness in his voice. "Would you like to train with me? Don't worry; I will make you a super duper strong Exorcist. You can trust me," he said, finally giving him a goofy smile.
"Sensei?" Kaede asked permission from his Sensei, which nodded at him in approval.
"Akira has taught you how to strengthen your body, and he told me that you should also be training as exorcists. You are only a few among our students who are shamans and exorcists. Director Xiao here will guide you all the way. If he signs your evaluation card, you will officially become a first-year Ryōshin," Shoma said, tapping his student's shoulder.
"Don't worry about everything, Kaede's Minimi's younger brother; I'll treat you with super duper luxury," the excitement in Xiao's voice made the two smile.
In their mind, the director might have found someone who would lift him up after Minami's death.
"Director, do not spoil him a lot. What if your training with him is over? He will become a spoiled brat," Shoma told his superior.
"No, I'm not like that, Sensei," Kaede said, contradicting Shoma but with a smile on his face.
"Then I'm glad to spoil him more and more," Xiao said before looking at Shoma. "Shall I take him with me?"
After Akira signed Kaede's evaluation card, Xiao took him to his dorm behind the school campus. There, Kaede will train for a year. He doesn't know the exorcist or the combination of exorcist and shaman.
"This will be your temporary home, Kaede," Xiao said excitedly when he hopped off from the car.
Kaede, who was the last one to get off the car, was speechless. The house that Xiao was telling him was his temporary home was a huge mansion with many maids lined up in front of the mansion.
"Welcome back, Master Xiao," the maids greeted him.
"Thank you, ladies," he said and focused his attention on his butler, the man in front of the maids.
"Claude, kindly take my student's thing in his room, please," he said to the young man politely.
"As you wish, my lord," the butler said before bringing the maids with him and walking towards the waiting car.
"You are rich, Director," Kaede said, amazed.
Xiao laughed at his student.
"This is my ancestors' house, Kaede," he said, smiling at him. "Your sister and I wished to live here after our wedding and-"
"W-what?" Kaede's words stop Xiao from finishing what he is about to say.
Xiao smiled at him.
"It was a secret," he told him. "Minami and I planned on retiring and living our life as a normal couple," he said.
"But my sister never told me about that," Kaede told Xiao, which slowed him down since his sister had kept a secret from him.
"And I didn't know she had a younger brother either. And if I had known it, I would have spoiled you rotten and asked her hand to you, too," he said.
Although Xiao is smiling, Kaede can see the sadness in his eyes. Kaede never had a girlfriend, and he doesn't know how painful it was to lose the one you love.
"Did you love my sister?" Kaede asked him curiously.
"Yes, with all my heart," Xiao answered Kaede honestly.
Kaede didn't even know that Minami had a boyfriend. Nevertheless, he felt Xiao's pain.
"How about we go to the dining room so we can eat? We'll talk about Minami after we eat," Xiao tried hard to change the topic. Otherwise, he will end up crying again.
On Kaede's second day in Xiao's mansion, they spend their time inside Xiao's huge library.
"What do you know about Ryōshi High, Kaede? Did Shoma explain everything to you?" Xiao began by asking Kaede, who was attentively listening to him.
"Yes, Director. He told me that Ryōshi high is a school for special and selected humans by the Celestial Axis," he answered.
"Yes, that is correct," Xiao told him. "But the truth about Ryōshin High is that it is a home for the six elders. Have you seen the highest part of this land?"
Kaede nodded at him. How could Kaede not notice this elevated land when he sees this every single day during his training under Akira.
"And in this school, every training that must be learned happens, especially those who aren't aware of what they are, like you," Xiao said. "Teachers like Shoma are assigned to those students. And they choose students depending on their abilities. For example, if you came from a family tree that excelled in Shamanism, then Shoma will assign a rightful trainer for you," he added.
"I was said I came from Rodriguez and that my father is one of the biggest names in Shaman," Kaede told him.
"Yes, yes, yes. Setsuwi Rodriguez was. Believe it or not, he successfully sealed two of the diablos way back during his high school year, according to the school's file," Xiao said proudly.
"Really?" Kaede suddenly felt proud of his father, although he barely remembers his face anymore.
When Xiao mentioned his father, Kaede suddenly remembered what had happened that stormy night.
Kaede remembered someone calling him outside the window while playing with his new toy car. The voice was a male, and he heard him whispering his name. The voice is the same as his father, and because he was just a five-year-old back then, he came out and looked for the source of the voice.
"Come closer, Kaede," he heard the voice say.
"But it is raining, Dad! Where are you?"
"I'm behind the car. Be good and bring me an umbrella," the voice answered him.
Kaede remembered bringing an umbrella behind their car, far from their house.
He was close to the car when his father called him.
"Kaede! Come back here!" his father's voice.
Kaede was about to come back, but suddenly a man leaped out from the car's back and snatched Kaede.
"Good evening, Setsuwi," the man greeted Setsuwi, who widened his eyes when he saw the man holding his child, wrapping his arms around the kid's waist. "This kid smells like a dessert to me, wants me to devour him or come and finish our business," the man told him.
"Alright, alright," Setsuwi said when Mayumi arrived, who was shocked when she saw the man.
"Give my Kaede back, you monster!" Mayumi started to become hysterical when she saw her child as the last man they wanted to see.
"Let's negotiate, and then I will leave this kid alone," the man said, smirking. "Or we do it the hard way. Your choice."
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