Chapter 25
'You wouldn't.' he glared at his younger brother.
'Well, that depends on you.' He said and smiled as evilly as he could muster which again, surprised his twin. That did it.
'Alright, I'll tell you what happened but you must promise me to never tell a single soul.'
'Alright, I promised.' He said. Hao sighed. This is going to be a long day…
He stood up and stared at him with such wide eyes that his eyeball was going to pop out of his head any time by now. The others turned and gave the two of them a questioning stare.
'YOU LOST YOUR ME--' Yoh couldn't finish his sentences as his brother clamped his mouth shut with his hand. Hao then quickly pulled him down to his seat.
'You promised not to tell a single soul…' Hao hissed in anger.
'Sorry.' He whispered.
'That's not my point. Look around you…' he whispered.
It was then that Yoh realized that everyone's attention was focused on the two of them. He made gestures at them that seemed to usher them to continue with what they're doing.
'Okay, so you actually lost all your memories after the tournament and you just got it back at around two or three weeks ago?! And after your memories recovered you just went and revived all those you've killed before you went to find Opacho and your other comrades?! But how did you even remained alive after the tournament?! I went all out when I attacked you that time.' Yoh whispered so that no one could hear him.
'Yes you did but I managed to survive thanks to my huge amount of mana. Also, I had received help.'
'You received help?'
'You see Yoh, someone found me and they tend to my injuries. When I awoke I realized that I had no memories of my past so they took me in for their own purposes. After living for a month or so, an incident happened and they sort of…I don't know…turn over a new leaf?'
'But if they took you in for their own purposes does that mean they make you work for them like a…slave?'
'Well, I guess you can call it that…'
Silence...
'Anyway, they taught me how to do almost all kinds of stuffs in an extremely proper way. Plus, their trainings were thousand times harsher than Anna's it was insane. You have to work and train till you drop. That explains why I can do house chores now.' Hao continued as he ignored his brother.
'It sounds…pretty frightening.' Yoh laughed nervously.
'Wait till you experienced it yourself…' Hao told the younger boy.
'But then, you can't use your Spirit of Fire right? How did you manage to get back here then?'
'Am I a suspect under interrogation? As far as I know I have already told you things that had happened after the tournament.'
'Right…sorry...' Yoh scratched the back of his head.
'What about you? What did you do after the tournament?' Hao suddenly changed the subject.
'I just did the usual…training…school… more training…'
'Let me guess…Anna wouldn't let you off the hook?'
'Yes…'
They were about to continue when the Hanagumi suddenly appeared and bowed at them.
'Yoh-sama and Hao-sama, Anna-sama wants to see the both of you.' Kanna said in her usual manner.
Hao turned to his younger brother who just shrugged at him as a reply.
'Where is she?' Yoh asked as the two boys turned their attention to the three girls in front of them.
'She's at the tea room.' Macchi said cheerfully.
'Alright.' Hao said as he stood and walked away.
'Onii-chan, wait for me!' he said as he went to catch up with his brother.
'They're going to Funbari Onsen?' Yoh gave the Itako a questioning stare.
'Yes. The Tao family, the Diethel family, the X-Laws and our family will be all be staying there for a little while longer before returning so you all have better treat them well or else...you'll have me to answer to…' Anna said in her usual cold manner.
They are currently having a meeting where only all the future workers of Funbari Onsen are involved. Anna had previously shoved out Horohoro, Chocolove, Pilica, Jun, and Ren from this room. Right now, only those that are involved were inside the room.
'What about the Patch officials?' Yoh suddenly asked.
'They'll be going back to America. They prefer to stay in touch with the Great Spirits in case anything unusual happened.'
'Oh…'
'Also, from today onwards Hao and the Hanagumi will be working with us in Funbari Onsen.' She turned to the aforementioned and gave them their list of work. Hao's list was unusually longer than the girls as the paper's length had reached the floor and continued rolling. As soon as he got the list he immediately analyzed the list.
'A-Anna, isn't Aniki's list of work a little too…long?'
'Well, since he's the strongest shaman in the world, it shouldn't be a problem. Right Hao?' she purposely asked the boy.
'Sure. Although…' Hao stared at the Itako.
'Although what?' Yoh interrupted.
'Instead of writing such a long list of work, why don't you just tell me I'll have to help everyone with their work?'
Silence engulfed them as the question was left hanging in the air.
'You have to help EVERYONE with their work?!' all those that were in the room exclaimed in surprise.
Yoh snatched the list of work from his brother's hands.
-Help Ryu in the kitchen.
-Help Faust in medication stuff.
-Help the Hanagumi with the house chores.
-Help Yoh with training.
Etc…
Those are some of the tasks written in the list. All of it consists of the word 'help'.
'A-A-Anna, even if Aniki was the strongest shaman in the world that doesn't mean he should help EVERYONE with their work…I mean, he still a human…' Yoh told his fiancee. The Itako gave him a withering glare and the boy cringed in fear.
'It's fine Otouto. It's not like I've never done this before. Plus, I won't be going to school and I'll only be doing most of the task if my assistance is really necessary.' He told his younger brother.
'I guess…' he stared at his brother warily.
'Also, he will be going for training together with you.' Anna continued.
'He's already the strongest shaman in the world. Why does he need to train?'
'To prevent you from slacking and since I could sense your whereabouts easily, she could always ask me to look for you when you slack off.' Hao told the confused boy.
'Plus, I will be increasing your training three times so if he were to be with you he can always carry you home if you were to faint from exhaustion.' Anna continued.
'T-T-THREE TIMES?!' Yoh exclaimed.
SMACK!
'Yes Anna….' stream of tears rolled down his reddened cheek.
'So, when will they be going to Funbari?' Ryu interrupted. Anna turned to him and for a moment she said nothing.
'Tonight…' Anna told them.
Hao slide open the wooden door to his younger brother's room.
'Are you done with the packing?' he asked the younger boy.
'Almost…' he said as he tried to zip his luggage with difficulty. Hao sighed and went to help. Unlike Yoh, he did it with ease.
'There…all done.' Hao said and lifted the luggage off the ground. Yoh grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his head.
'We should get going now. We wouldn't want Anna to get angry for waiting too long.' The older twin said and went out of the room with the luggage in his right hand and a small bag in his left. The other twin followed from behind. As Hao was walking, Yoh suddenly focused his gaze on the bag in the older boy's hand.
'Now that I thought about it, where did that bag come from? Aniki didn't take anything when he came here…' Yoh thought to himself. Somehow it looks so familiar…
'It's the present you gave me yesterday. I haven't got the time to open it so I just kept it in the bag.' Hao answered.
'Oh…' Yoh grinned. He had forgotten that he was the one who gave it to him.
They had already arrived at the gate without knowing and everyone was busy placing their luggage in the car boot. Hao passed the luggage to Ryu who then placed it inside the boot on one of the car. Yoh then forcefully pushed him inside the car and went in after him. Once all of them were ready to go, they set off to Funbari altogether.
The wooden door slid open revealing a woman and a little girl at the age of four to five.
'We're home.' The young girl announced cheerfully and went in followed by her mother.
She went to the hall and saw no one. She exchanged glances with her mother before turning her attention back to the hall. They went to the kitchen and saw no one as well. The girl was about to yell out loudly when she heard a loud 'ITAI!!!'. Apparently, the noise came from the garden. The girl and the mother ran out of the kitchen and saw three people-two of them were adults while the other one was a teenager. The teenage girl has long blond hair which is tied up in French braid style. The older girl has brownish hair tied up in a pigtail at the left side of her head. Meanwhile, the boy had short brownish hair and he was struggling to stand as the girl with brownish hair was lying on top of him.
'You're both done already?' the teenage girl said in a mocking tone as she crossed her hands over her chest.
'Yukino-chan, you're too strict on us...We're not so strong like Yuu-kun…' the girl said childishly despite her elderly figure.
'K-Kaoru, get…off me…you're…heavy…' the boy told the girl with brownish hair.
'Sorry, Shinichi-kun…' she said and removed herself from the boy.
'Training again?' the mother interrupted. All three of them shifted their attention on the mother and the little girl. The girl who went by the name Yukino immediately straightened herself and bowed at the two.
'Welcome back Mistress Sayuri and welcome back Miss Sara. I'm sorry to have not noticed your arrival beforehand. Please forgive me for my impoliteness.' the blond girl said politely. All of them gave her a questioning stare. The woman smiled and went towards the girl. She patted her on the head.
'You don't need to be so polite Yukino-chan, just address us by our names. We're a family now. Have you forgotten?' she said softly.
Yukino's eyes widened as she realized her mistake. She was no longer a servant of the family ever since that incident happened.
'S-Sorry.'
'Well, I guess it can't be helped. You've been serving us for years after all.' Sayuri told her.
'So, did you find him?' Sara suddenly interrupted. All attentions were then focused on the girl. For a moment there was silence.
'No, we didn't. Otou-sama had decided to move on to our next location since we couldn't find him here in Izumo.' Shinichi responded and Kaoru nodded in agreement.
'I see… Well then, where are we going next?' Sayuri asked.
'Funbari.' All three of them answered.