章 88: Chapter 88

"Damnit, Baraquiel!!!"

She flew forward and grabbed him by the scruff of the clothes.

"WHERE WERE YOU! WHERE WERE YOU WHEN YOUR WIFE AND DAUGHTER WERE…*sniff* *sniff*"

Her eyed widened as disbelief filled them. Her gaze became hollow as she looked at Baraquiel like the biggest scum on earth.

"A-a woman? YOU WERE WITH A WOMAN?!?!"

|DxD|

Cleria couldn't mistake the scent. The smell on Baraquiel was definitely that of a woman. And judging by how strong the scent was, the contact between them wasn't brief. Her eyes were filled with horror and rage at the revelation, his guilty gaze serving to push her anger forward.

But despite how angry she was, she couldn't muster the strength to lash out at him.

"Why…"

Tears were streaming down her face. She knew how much Shuri loved the man and how much he loved her, atleast she thought so.

"Did you have fun? Huh, Baraquiel? Was it fun? While you were out there…F-FORNICATING with a woman, your wife…MY best friend was bleeding to death. I can't even get her corpse, Baraquiel!!!"

Cleria had tried to recover Shuri's corpse, but the killing intent and malevolent energy in the area was so much that with her current strength, it was simply impossible. Even now, she couldn't get the image of Shuri's mangled body out of her head. The sight horrified her to the extent that the first time she saw it, she collapsed to her knees.

If she compared the Shuri she saw to her finely dressed husband who reeked the stench of lilacs, the comparison made her want to lose her mind. But Cleria couldn't even get mad anymore. Everything had taken a massive toll on her body and mind. From having to deal with politics in the Underworld, to almost losing Masaomi and to actually LOSING Shuri, the silverrette wasn't even given a chance to grieve.

As the Overseer of Kuoh, she had to get the city back on its legs and keep the knowledge of the supernatural from the mundane. So much work had been stacked on her shoulders that she was just tired.

She lifted her head, her ruby eyes having dulled due to her grief. They were lifeless, her gaze pained yet dry.

She looked at Baraquiel right in the eye, her question piercing the man in the heart.

"Was everything a joke to you?"

She looked at him tiredly, her eyes silently pleading for a simple answer. Her question stemmed not from logic, but from emotion. Grief-stricken as she was, Cleria could also see the sadness and regret in his eyes. But she wanted to hear it from his mouth, the confirmation that her best friend did not suffer and give birth to a child for a man who never cared about her in the first place.

Ever since they had entered this room, not once had Baraquiel fought back. His head remained lowered in shame, not even trying to refute her words or shift the blame. But he couldn't accept his feelings towards Shuri being questioned.

In the face of Cleria's question, he lifted his head and looked at her with a slightly dark gaze.

"Cleria. Don't question my feelings about Shuri-"

"But you were with another-"

"DAMNIT CLERIA! I LOVED HER! I LOVED SHURI! SHE…"

A single tear escaped his eye, his lips trembling with the pain he was barely suppressing.

"She was the best thing that had ever happened to me. This past decade was more meaningful to me than the past millennium I lived."

His fists clenched, his anger rising at how Cleria dared to question his love for Shuri.

"My feelings for Shuri were NEVER a joke! Do you think it doesn't hurt me?! Do you think that my heart doesn't bleed?! IT DOES, CLERIA! IT DOES! IT…"

A choked sob filled with the pain he was trying to suppress escaped his mouth. His eyes were red from grief and regret. Shuri was his lifeline, his only reason for trying to get so strong. No one knew how much pain he had to go through to evolve his lightning, the amount of times he, the lightning general himself, nearly electrocuted himself to death…and it was all for her and their family.

A small part of him wanted to blame his non-arrival on Alicia. It would be very easy to pin everything on her. His consciousness would be eased since it is a fact that without her intervention, he would've felt the magic notification of the barrier being broken. If it weren't for Alicia, he would've been drinking his coffee and reading the newspaper before he felt a shock to his arms.

But he didn't blame her, because he also agreed to it. She was a human through and through. Pushing her away would've been very easy with his power. There was no drug that was influencing him nor was he being pressured. It was very simple coercion and seduction. A simple spell and he could've put her to sleep.

But he didn't, and it was why he didn't blame her…couldn't blame her. Alicia had no fault in this and he knew it. He was aware of her particular attraction to him for the past few months, meaning that everything she did was just one very terrible coincidence.

Baraquiel knew that if it were not for the sudden malevolent energy he felt from Kuoh, he might've never came back until he received the news of what happened. He was willing to lay with her and it was an irrefutable fact. It was why he did nothing to refute Cleria's claim, because he knew that he would've shared a bed with her. He knew it himself that just as Alicia had said, he liked it and wanted it. To blame his wife's death on her would only serve to erase the little dignity he had left.

But he couldn't accept Cleria's words of claiming his love for Shuri was a joke.

"Shuri was the most important person in my heart. She was the love of my life. But because of me she…"

He knew it, but he couldn't say it. He acknowledged it, but he couldn't verbalise it. He couldn't put it into words that…

"She died because of you, Baraquiel."

He couldn't say it, but Cleria could. Her gaze was dry, her eyes dry from all the tears she released.

"She died…and you are responsible."

"I…yes."

He was aware of it as well as Cleria. Everything that had happened was because of him. If he had not fallen in love with Shuri or impregnated her, none of this would've happened. He failed as a man, a husband, and as a father. His job was to protect his family, and he failed in the most shameful of ways. While he bathed in another woman's warmth, his family was drowned in the cold embrace of death.

The mistakes for his carelessness had manifested in the worst of ways, the result of his inaction finally revealing itself in the most inopportune of times. Nothing could wash away the shame he felt or erase his actions.

And he had no one else to blame but himself.

"I have no way to atone for my mistake-"

"Mistake? Do you think this is just a simple 'whoopsie'-"

"Please, Cleria…"

"..."

Cleria looked into his eyes and she saw that they were red and lifeless, the lifelessness that comes from immense grief, the very eyes that people on the verge of suicide tend to have. As much as she wanted to continue to berate him, to vent out all of her frustrations, anger, and sadness at him, she also realised that he truly did love Shuri, and it hurt him just as much to lose her. And it seemed it hurt him much, much more.

Wiping her eyes, she decided to briefly, just briefly put the past behind. There was truly no point in blaming him any further. What's done has been done and every method she could think of had been tried. Even if she could resurrect Shuri with a peerage piece, her last one was used on Masaomi and none of her peerage were currently high class yet.

So with Shuri truly gone, it was unfortunate, but life had to move on. With Igor having flew off to Kyoto for vengeance, Cleria had to consider the possible retaliation of the Shinto Pantheon. As it stood, she had absolutely no hope that they would win and even more grave, was that she didn't fancy the blonde's chances of survival.

It was sad, but as the Overseer, this was the time for her to use logic instead of emotions.

"What will you do now? Dimori-kun went off to Kyoto and we don't know if he will…return."

Cleria had felt the immense power he amassed. While it was more than enough to suppress or even eliminate the Himejima clan, she was unsure if he could leave the territory of the Shinto after blatantly targeting one of their own like that.

Mimicking Cleria, it seemed Baraquiel had recovered to some extent, but it was very clear he was doing his utmost to keep his emotions in check.

"Nothing will happen to him. He has the protection of Shiva."

Cleria widened her eyes, the news briefly triggering her curiosity. But given the current situation, she neither had the heart nor the will to investigate any further.

"Oh…that's good."

All she could think of was that there wouldn't be another corpse that she needed to bury. It was only morning yet the day felt so long. She had to contact many people, perform large-scale memory wipes, and create alternate reasons as to why every single window shattered and every single appliance suffered from a power surge.

She desperately wanted to rest, but between burying her friend and resolving everything in Kuoh, she couldn't leave yet. There were many people she had to contact with some of them including Yasaka, Azazel, and Diehauser. This scope had stretched beyond what she could handle alone since if this matter was not mitigated or handled correctly, a war with the Shinto Pantheon may possibly erupt.

With the cadre here, it was somewhat convenient since she desperately needed the knowledge and experience of someone who has seen and survived some of the most gruesome wars in history.

"Baraquiel-"

"Does she know?"

"..."

Facing Baraquiel's sudden interruption, it didn't take long for Cleria to realise he was referring to Akeno.

"No. I haven't told her yet."

Left unsaid was that she couldn't. She was not in the right state of mind at the time to comfort the little girl who would desperately need a pillar of support after receiving news of her mother's death. Between dealing with political, economical, social, and emotional issues, it was hard enough maintaining her own state of mind.

As for Baraquiel, a twinge of fear and apprehension gripped him when Cleria told her she hadn't informed Akeno. He remained silent, his indecision threatening to throttle him. He was not there when his family was suffering under duress and now, he had to deliver the news of Shuri's death to Akeno.

"*Sigh*"

There was nothing he could do except bite the bullet.

"Thank you, Cleria."

The cadre then proceeded to walk past her, his steps slow and resigned. Having to inform a child, his own child nonetheless that her own mother had died was not an easy affair. His shoulders were slumped as if another invisible weight had been added on top of them.

But, it was his job as a father. He had failed his family once and the consequences were horrendous. He didn't want to fail them twice. He didn't want to fail the last remaining trace of the love between him and Shuri, his one and only daughter.

Having reached the door, he was about to turn the knob when Cleria spoke with a soft voice.

"She needs you, Baraquiel. She needs you."

"..."

He didn't reply. He simply opened the door and closed it, leaving Cleria alone in her office. As soon as she heard the fallen's steps retreat down the hallway, she released a sigh before walking over to her desk. One of her peerage had left important documents there that needed to be evaluated and signed.

Having rounded her desk, she was about to sit down when she noticed a small, framed picture of her and Shuri smiling in front of the park fountain. Shuri appeared much younger here and she was dressed in a simple brown skirt and white t-shirt. While Cleria appeared very excited, Shuri had a reserved smile on her face with their fingers joined together to form a heart.

That picture, one she always found herself smiling at, now awakened the barely suppressed emotions that she had tried so hard to withhold. Her lips trembled as she took the picture in her hands and looked at it. A fresh stream of tears flowed down her face, her chest heaving up and down as she desperately tried to hold back her woeful sobs. But she couldn't do it. She collapsed on her knees, the picture buried in her chest as she hugged the cherished memento of the first outing with her friend.

Because right on the bottom was written…

S & C

Best Friends Forever

August 7, 1981