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"Well, see you all tomorrow. After all the trashing I did earlier, I doubt we'd be seeing any of those DGP guys coming back here any time soon. So I'm going out to take some break out of this place."
"Sure..." Keiwa barely spoke out as the other man already walking out of the room. Neon let out a sigh as well.
"Something wrong?" Keiwa asked as Neon hastily shook her head.
"It's nothing big... but I thought I want to head to my place to take some things, and maybe clean the place a bit."
Keiwa just shrugged at her. "Then go. I'll be fine taking the watch by myself. And like Michi said earlier—"
"B-but—!"
"Also," Keiwa added, "—should there be any sudden change, I'm sure Hareruya-san will give us the heads up. As he usually did."
"Hareruya?" Ace suddenly spoke out as Keiwa and Neon turned to look at him.
"It's a long story, I'll explain later," said Keiwa before turning back to reassure Neon that she could leave as well. After a bit more convincing, the young lady finally left but not before apologising to them many times.
×××
Ace gave him a long look before Keiwa finally relented and told him everything.
"Turns out Hareruya didn't die when Girori set him to detonate with you. And Niram roped him back to help out as staff again." Keiwa sighed. "Since then he's been bidding his time before deciding what he should do. And then you know, all that stuff with Suel happened."
"Because of the many things that happened since, it was hard for Hareruya-san to do anything drastic. But he'd been helping us out in secret throughout the times we tried to save you, before coming out in the open during the last game. Even now he was watching those future people of any shady business."
Ace frowned at him. "But wouldn't doing that pose great danger to him?"
"Hareruya-san wasn't the only one having a change of heart. Niram himself... Neon's father too...and well, things just happened. And you should be aware that we did have a few other allies on our side, barring Kekera and who knows what happened to Beroba after all these times. Like I'm not sure about Beroba, but I could no longer trust Kekera after finding out the things he did behind the scenes to get his 'enjoyment'. Even though that frog still proved to be useful, once in a while when I could get a hold of him."
Ace let out a small snort. "You guys really went through a lot... just to save me."
Keiwa shook his head at the other man. "It's not just because of you. But it's also for this world we lived in."
Keiwa let out a sigh before tapping the futon beside him. "Well Ace, you should be resting again. Even if you finally got out of your comatose state, your body was still so weak." He held out his arm before placing a hand on Ace's forehead.
"I didn't imagine it then. You're still feverish."
Keiwa started to get on his feet before Ace grabbed his arm suddenly.
"K-Keiwa... can you stay with me tonight?"
Keiwa blinked at the other in confusion. "Why—" he started to ask before noticing the pleading look in Ace's eyes. No... he could also sense fear in those eyes. Ace was afraid. Deathly afraid.
Keiwa gently placed a hand on Ace's shoulder. "Ace—" he started to say, "—did you remember anything, from the time you've been sealed inside that giant fox statue?"
Ace shook his head as his grip on Keiwa's other hand tightened. "I can't—but I don't want to be alone here either. I—!"
"It's all right, you don't have to explain anything. I'll tell Tsumuri-san to bring over the medicine instead."
The look of relief on Ace's face was too heartbreaking for Keiwa to see.
×××
Ace woke up with a start to find himself surrounded by darkness. As his eyes started to get used to the dark, he slowly realise that he was still inside his bedroom. But Keiwa was not around!
Forcing down the sudden sense of panic inside his chest, Ace slowly felt his way towards the door. There was still light... so there should still be someone awake outside.
As Ace approached the door, he could see some shadows moving outside. Yet when he opened the door, there was no one standing in front of the door.
Ace walked out into the dining room before he caught a hint of white from the corner of his eyes. He turned to check the area and noticed another room that he never really noticed before. Because somehow this house did get renovated anyway, during a time when he was not around to see it being done.... so some parts of the house were unfamiliar to him.
Was there someone else inside this house right now besides Keiwa and his sister? Was it his mother?
Ace reached out towards the door handle to enter the other room before stopping himself. He thought he heard someone sobbing on the other side of the room. His ears could barely pick up the words...
"I'm sorry... my Ace. Mother was really... really sorry."
×××
Ace turned to head back to his own room to wait for Keiwa to return. But just as he passed by the dining table, a sudden numbing pain assaulted the side of his head.
He hastily held out a hand to find something that he could hold for support, as another jolt of pain hit him. With it, flashes of unfamiliar scenes started to fill his mind's eye... and unknown screams resounded in his ears.
Ace felt himself falling as he thought he heard the sounds of something crashing into pieces...
×××
"Ace? Did something—?" Keiwa stopped himself as he saw the scene in the dining room. Pieces of broken glasses littered the floor in front of him as nearby the table, Ace was curled up in a ball appearing out of it.
Tsumuri also let out a cry when she saw the scene but Keiwa reminded her about the broken glasses.
So after painstakingly checking and sweeping away every tiny piece of glass they could find, Keiwa and Tsumuri rushed over to Ace's side.
"Ace... what's wrong?" Keiwa asked as Ace didn't seem to be able to hear his voice. Keiwa tried calling out to him again before it seemed to work and Ace's eyes started to focus again. But before he could ask his friend what was wrong Ace suddenly grabbed him like a lifeline.
"Ace?" Keiwa asked again as he noticed that Ace's body started shaking very badly. And Ace began to cry suddenly and breathe really hard.
"Please... make it stop..."
Keiwa frantically tried to soothe Ace as best as he could while Tsumuri also tried to help. But Ace still wouldn't calm down.
And then, just as Keiwa was starting to feel at a loss, a flash of white passed his line of sight. He glanced up to see Mitsume standing in front of him.
Mitsume knelt beside the two youngsters before placing a hand over Ace's head. And gradually Ace started to calm down before Keiwa felt Ace's body going limp against him. Perhaps some of the Goddess's powers had returned to Mitsume or maybe she was absorbing it back from her son, but whatever it was it seemed to ease whatever ailment that have haunted Ace's mind.
"I'm sorry... to the both of you," Mitsume finally spoke to him before the three of them carried Ace back to his room.
×××
Keiwa gently lowered Ace onto the futon as Tsumuri tucked a blanket snugly around her 'brother'. Before he could say anything, Mitsume already walked out of the room.
Watching the woman leave without a word, Keiwa felt like the animosity he had against the person dissipating slowly.