章 91: Chapter 91
All this time, Cleria remained silent as well. A small stream of tears trailed down her cheeks as she gently rubbed Akeno's back. In this moment, both of them indulged in the comfort of one another, the pain of loss being eased through embracing each other.
But never ever did they imagine, the sudden change of events.
Tswii!
Silence…
"...heh?"
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|DxD|
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"...heh?"
Silence…
Four people were in a room. Two were standing while two were on their knees hugging each other. All of them looked at each other, one duo with confusion and the other with pure disbelief. There was absolute silence with neither side speaking.
Igor did not know how to accurately process this scene. Seeing Akeno and Cleria crying on the ground was not something he even remotely expected to see. The last he checked, Akeno was supposed to be sleeping so he expected to see the little chick fast asleep. It was a fault on his part for making such a hasty teleportation out of embarrassment, but the last thing he expected upon arrival was to stumble into a rather awkward situation.
Shuri on the other hand, was also the same. She expected to atleast have some time to see the sleeping face of the daughter she unfortunately lost memories of. But contrary to expectations, she didn't feel any fear or nervousness.
Rather, she felt a sudden sense of peace when she saw Akeno.
"Ara-"
The moment she spoke, Akeno cut her off.
"Mama!"
Escaping from Cleria's grasp, she rushed towards Shuri and leaped into her embrace. Shuri reflexively held Akeno in a hug, a small smile forming on her face. They looked into each other's eyes, one pair filled with absolute relief and joy while the other held the gentle sprout of tender love.
Holding the little girl who was now crying onto her chest, any apprehensions Shuri had immediately disappeared. She felt a connection to the little girl she was holding in her arms, a strong thread of love stretching from her heart and binding her little lookalike. There was no doubt in her heart.
This was…
"My daughter~."
She nuzzled her chin onto Akeno's head, the overwhelming feeling of the dormant motherly love being awoken in the presence of her child. Unconsciously, tears of happiness fell from her eyes, her fingers gently caressing her daughter's head. Every single doubt disappeared the moment she held her. Memories or no memories, her instincts told her that Akeno was in every shape and form, her daughter. There was no room for doubt, no room for suspicion, and no room for errors. Akeno was her daughter and her mind knew it, her body knew it, and her heart knew it. From the bottom of her soul, amnesiac as she was, she wholeheartedly accepted Akeno as her offspring.
Igor on the other hand looked at the scene with a smile on his face. It satisfied him to see that the family he came to cherish was coming back together. It had only been a few hours, yet the family he had slowly come to love had almost slipped out of his grasp. As someone who lost his own family without even getting the chance to say his goodbyes, the blonde cherished every single tie he had in this world.
Now that Shuri was alive and well and Akeno was safe, only one piece of the puzzle was missing.
[I gotta find the old man soon. Then we'll be complete.]
He didn't know where Baraquiel was, but he no longer held any trace of anger or dissatisfaction at the fallen for his absence. All he wanted was for the family to get back together so that things could go back to the way they were. After three whole years of being separated from them, he wanted to catch up on the latest Dragon Ball movies with the old man and introduce him to the original manga. He wanted to race around the forest with Akeno and maybe show her some tricks. And best of all, he wanted to introduce Shuri to Asia, his dearest little sister that he loved with all of his heart. With the both of them being orphans, he genuinely wished for her to experience the love of a family. As for how the church would feel, it didn't even factor into his mind.
He was content to silently watch until he remembered there was also a fourth person in the room. Turning towards Cleria, he was surprised to see her looking at Shuri like she was a ghost, an entity that shouldn't exist.
Walking over to her, he waved his hand over her face.
"Sister Cleria? Helloooo."
Her eyes seemed to have glazed over, like she had fallen asleep with them open. She was looking straight at the mother and daughter duo who seemed to be lost in their own world, yet her brain could not process the sight before her.
Then like a trap, she snapped her hands towards the blonde and grasped his hands tightly, her arms trembling in the process. Igor was momentarily caught by surprise, the act earning an eyebrow-raise from him.
But Cleria didn't notice because not once did her gaze snap away from Shuri. Her eyes had widened now, almost as if feeling the blonde's sleeves had served to give her the reality check she needed, that this was not an illusion. Fresh tears steamed from her eyes as she looked at Shuri, her heart accepting yet her mind not computing.
She turned to look at the blonde desperately.
"Tell me. Tell me this isn't a dream."
Ruby-red locked on to cerulean-blue, her eyes pleading for everything to be true because what she saw just now completely went against all the knowledge she had. The moment she saw Shuri, she had crucially analysed everything. The Shuri in front of her was not an undead, not an automata, and not a devil or any other race. She was not another entity who took on the form of her bestfriend or some trick of the light.
Cleria knew Shuri very well. Just from the way she stood to the way she spoke, and even the way she felt, she could tell that this Shuri was her bestfriend. But her mind couldn't comprehend, couldn't fathom how it was possible. She had personally SEEN her mangled corpse in the forest. Nothing short of an evil piece would be able to revive her fallen friend. For over ten minutes she had stood in that forest. There was no movement from her corpse or the sudden arrival of another entity. Any and all genuine resurrection methods she knew of would fail to execute after the person had died for more than five minutes since that is when the soul had completely crossed over. Yet her friend stood here in front of her in the flesh, and the only one who could give her the explanations she desperately sought after was the blonde.
Hearing her plead for confirmation, Igor was able to piece together that in the short twenty minutes he had went to Kyoto, Cleria had come to the forest and saw Shuri's corpse. It would explain why her and Akeno were weeping together upon their arrival and why their initial reactions were so out of place.
Now that he thought about it, it was normal for people to come and investigate because of the commotion he caused. An entire forest being destroyed was not something that could be easily hidden. Because he now had a clear state of mind, he realised that his actions may have been a BIT overboard in regards to everything that happened after.
Taking a glance at the reunited mother and daughter, Igor placed two fingers on his forehead before looking at Cleria..
"It's better if we talk somewhere else."
"Wai-"
Tswii!
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|DxD|
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Appearing on the roof of the mansion, the blonde was subjected to the sight of a majestic rooftop garden that bled away to the beautiful view of Kuoh. Ignoring the quite literally, hundreds of red tapes and orange flashing beacons he could see on the ground, the view of the untouched nature was mesmerising, also ignoring the gaping wound in the forest too. With his eyesight, seeing dozens or even hundreds of kilometres into the distance was not a problem if he focused slightly.
For a long time he had lived in Kuoh yet not once had he taken the time to enjoy such a view. With all the training he was up to, his mind was always focused on what regiment he would undertake next. It was only now that he truly, truly felt at peace. With the tranquility that came with the views, Igor found himself momentarily lost before he felt Cleria squeeze his hand.
Turning to look at the impatient silverrette, he rubbed the back of his head with a chuckle before speaking.
"Sorry, Sister Cleria. Yeah, everything wasn't a dream. Aunty was dead, but now she's alive. Awesome, right?"
Cleria frowned before practically hissing at the blonde.
"How???? I saw her body with my own eyes. HOW is she alive?!"
"..."
Igor looked at Cleria with slight confusion. It wasn't that he suspected she was displeased at Shuri's death. He felt no maliciousness in her aura to justify that thought. Rather, he was confused as to why she wanted to know the how's and why's when the result should be enough. Shuri was breathing, her lifeforce was abundant, and her aura was the same as before. That was more than enough for him but apparently, not for the silverrette.
Taking a moment to think on what Amaterasu said, he started explaining.
"Well…aunty WAS dead. I saw and felt that myself too. But it turns out that Amaterasu did something with her soul and brought her back to life."
He spoke with a smile before looking at Cleria for a reaction.
"..."
Cleria waited for the blonde to continue, but he didn't.
"T-that…that's it?"
"Hm? Yeah-oh right. Aunty also lost her memories so don't try to force her to remember anything or anyone, alright? She was pretty nervous about coming here already."
Cleria lowered her head in thought.
"I…see."
She had many questions that she wanted answered. How did he get the help of Shiva? Why did Amaterasu help him? What was that power of his? Could he explain more on how Shuri is alive? But she knew that with how the blonde was, it would be either close to impossible for him to answer, or he would get annoyed at having to answer so many questions.
They weren't familiar with each other enough for her to interrogate him like this. Although the amount of interactions they had could be counted on one hand, including the minutes, Cleria was good enough at reading people that with how simple the blonde was, getting more elaborate answers out of him was close to impossible.
But while she didn't ask questions, the blonde had one of his own.
"Hey, sister. Do you know where the old man is? I've been spreading my senses all over Japan but I haven't found him yet. Is he in Grigori or something?"
"..."
Cleria was not sure how she should answer that question.
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AN
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If you're interested in reading ahead, here's the link: patreon.com/HolyGambler
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