Disclaimer: I own nothing except for my OCs and the plots.
Warning: Slight AU, appearances of new OCs, mentions of violent and rape.
A/N: I back, after more than a year! I won't be surprise that most of the readers of "The First Snowfall of Winter" has given up on waiting for updates at all. Which I apologize. Reality life sucks, but we still have to study, work and study even more that hobbies could turn into a luxury.
But here I am, with a new chapter for those faithful readers who still patiently waiting for my updates, which I would like to express my sincerest apology and gratitude.
This fiction won't be in hiatus, but updates will still be irregular, due to circumstances in real life.
I hope this chapter rouses your expectation again. Constructive criticisms are welcomed. Feel free to PM me if you are confused with the flow of this chapter.
And a kind reminder, the revised chapters of "The First Snowfall of Winter" will eventually be posted under the new title of "The Deity". If you still looking forward to this story, it will be safe to follow that as well to safe from confusion in the future. I would hate to be accused of plagiarism with my own work.
That's enough for the A/N for now, everyone enjoy!
Third day after the appearances of Kanzaki and Kansugi, Lindow was assigned to embark on an easy mission along with the rookies with the usual additional task of providing guidance like he did for countless times in the past.
However, aside from the lack of favourably to perform predator mode, those two barely needed any guidance from the all-time veteran at all. In fact, they could be even better than him. It was as though the two had their own fair share of experiences in cutting down the bloodthirsty aragami.
Every stroke of their attack was clean, decisive and refined without any unnecessary movement to leave careless opening for the wrathful beasts to tackle on. Lindow was more than impressed. Not to mentioned that he felt like he was the one who was being guided instead of the other way around as he watched the twins each cut down the last two Gboro-Gboros, landing fatal blows on the weak spot.
Lindow finally snapped out of it after he caught sight of the two stood before the fallen preys, faces painted with trouble as they were trying their best to perform the predator mode to extract the cores of Gboro-Gboros like he had instructed before the mission. It was not anywhere near successful at all, as the predator mode formed from their God Arcs were unusually deformed. It was as if Lindow's eyes were playing tricks on him, he could've sworn that their God Arcs were definitely screeching and withering, as though they were suffering from immense pain, stuck in between heeding their handlers' demand yet in the same time, wanted nothing more than to break free from their holders; shaking furiously as the twins strengthen their grips on the God Arcs before the weapons could fall off from their grasps.
It looked dangerous and unsettling, yet it doesn't seem like it the God Arcs was trying to devour the holders either. Both twins was equally as disturbed as they had not expected such violent spasm from the God Arcs, they exchanged knowing glances, and out of silent agreement, they simultaneously dropped their quivering God Arcs onto the ground. Soon enough, everything stopped. The disfigured predator modes was gone, and the God Arcs was back to their original forms, quietly laying on the ground where their owners dropped them like nothing happened.
Never in the 26 years old raven haired man's life as a God Eater had ever witness such occurrence. It was something beyond his comprehension as he was no expert in the makings of God Arcs like Licca or Doctor Sakaki. But the Tsubaki did mentioned that their compatibility rates with their God Arcs was unnervingly unstable, so he decided to just leave it at that.
Shrugged off unnecessary thoughts, Lindow approached them with a huge grin of acknowledgements and proceed to extract the cores in their stead, "A little rocky start on the predator mode, but overall, I have nothing to comment on your skills!" he complimented, "Heck, you guys even made me feel like I'm the one who's the newbie here!"
"You're overpraising us. " Kansugi replied sheepishly at Lindow's passionate praising as the latter moved to extract the last core, "We just did as you instructed."
"C'mon, stop being so modest! Even veterans could learn a thing or few from rookies!" Lindow slung his God Arc on his shoulder once the extraction of cores were done, turn to make his way towards the pickup spot, "But damn, we sure completed the mission way earlier than estimated. If I had not knew better, I would have thought I'm actually working with two fellow veterans." He said casually, but forcefully paused on mid-step as an unfamiliar memory flashed through his mind.
"Damn, you made me feel like I'm the rookie here, Rookie." Lindow whistled as he slung his God Arc on his shoulder with his still normal right hand at the time, casting a side glance at the rookie who was a head and a half shorter.
"You are overpraising me." The blurred figure responded, "I was able to do well since you are a good instructor. And I am sure there are lots of other God Eaters out there could do much better than I did."
"C'mon, stop being such a prude! I seriously doubt that I, or anyone for that matter, could pull off half of those clean moves you just did out there!" Lindow praised the rookie proudly. Instructing rookies had never been so interesting and at ease, "I would seriously doubt that you were lying about never fought a single aragami in your life before this if not for Big Sis insisted that you are from a normal family. Actually, I still have doubts."
"I'm not sure if I should be honoured or worried about your doubts on me."
The respond he got was awkward.
There was not lies in his words when he confessed his doubts of her background, but at that time, he trusted that she has no ill intention.
After all, everyone has their own story behind what was written on paper or spoken words.
The stroll into the memory lane lasted for only seconds. By the time he snapped out of it, he could no longer remember what he just saw in that fragment of forgotten memory.
What was that all about?
Déjà vu?
"Lindow?" Kansugi carefully tapped on his shoulder to gain his attention, which he did, "Yea?" Lindow respond awkwardly, eyes still rather distant from seconds worth of mind strolling. With the Gboro-Gboros dissolving into bits at the background, the twins was already standing before him with God Arcs in hands, staring at him in wonders.
"You seem rather… lost?" Kansugi asked with uncertainty, yet oddly affirmative. His older counterpart, Kanzaki merely stared at the raven expressionlessly, but his eyes weren't cold and uncaring.
Feeling a little embarrassed to be worried by the two rookies who was around his age, Lindow sheepishly scratches the side of his head, and left hand reached for the pack of cigarettes in his pocket, "Nah, it's just… You two sort of remind me of someone, yet I couldn't remember who it was, not to mention the person's gender." He stated honestly, paused to light his cigarette and puffed. "My memory is kinda messing with me lately, it could've been somewhat a side-effect from the aragami transformation I went through lately." Lindow concluded before he did a small whine as he started walking again towards the pick-up point with the twins following suit, "Ahh, I really don't want to be cooped in the lab to be 'check-up' again. It really suck as Hannibal's punch to be monitored like a lab rat. Now I finally understand for real the birth of grumpy Soma."
Lindow's grumbling went on and on as the twins voicelessly keeping up behind him in moderate pace, keeping some distance so that the mumbling God Eater could not overheard their whispering conversation.
Shifting himself closer to his counterpart, Kansugi voiced his concern, "How was your wounds?" Neither of them was injured by the aragami, but the wounds was definitely few days old. Five days old to be exact.
"They won't be a hindrance to my mobility, but I might need a re-stitch done once we heads back to our room." Kanzaki responded with his brows slightly furrowed. It was true that it would not affect his reflexes, but the dull aches from his bruises and gashes under his clothes was hard to ignore. Same applied to Kansugi.
"I might need the same." Kansugi sighed, placing his hand on the right side of his abdomen, trying to sooth the stinging pain caused by the split gash. He could only hope the blood won't seep through his uniform and caught Lindow's attention. It would be a pain to come up an excuse.
"Hey, you two over there! Pick up your pace or else things would turn ugly if the both of you got lost!"
It's almost impossible to get lost when there's basically one giant path for you to walk. With that thought in mind, Kanzaki blankly stared at the raven-haired God Eater.
I highly doubt that even a directionally challenged person could get lost here… Unless they are suicidal enough to jump into the tornadoes to end their pitiful misery? One of Kansugi's brow twitched at his own lame monologue and gave an equally blank gaze at the man as Kanzaki did.
Taken aback by the frowns he was getting and unaware of the sarcastic remarks targeted at him in the twins' mind, Lindow could only paused, "…What?" muttered with his shortened cigarette lined loosely between his lips.
And the only responds he get was the whooshing sound of the strong wind in the middle of the Wailing Plain accompanied by the sound of their approaching ride.
Seriously though, was it possible to even get lost in a large circle?
Never, and he dare swore at the bloody jaws of a Dyaus Pita that, he of all people would actually went to the house of knowledge of all-time called the library. Much less found himself standing in the section where all the books regarding the Gods and myths all over the world were stored.
Given the loss of faith in divine beings above, this section was isolated at the most unnoticeable corner of the library collecting dust, serving as the evidence of obvious intentional negligence on the janitor's part.
What the hell am I even doing here? I hate places like this. Despite his thoughts, his hand was already reaching towards one of the dust-coated book. His lips pressed thin at the sight of the few traditional characters branded on the forest green hard-covered book after a few ginger dusting with his hand.
Japanese Mythology Encyclopaedia.
Finding it troublesome to walk to the reading area, he casually sat down on the floor with his back leaning against one of the bookshelves and flipped open the book to skim at the table of contents before reading.
No words could describe the mixed feeling that he felt each and every moment he flipped through pages after pages and had utterly no idea what he was looking for. But the names of countless deity, spirits, and demons on the worn-out paper had struck him with immense nostalgia. Soma found himself getting anxious as nothing written in the book leaves an impact and that soon led to dejection and disappointment.
To think that I would feel so messed up inside over a written myth in papers, I must've going insane. He thought bitterly and flipped to another page with less vigour. Then, he finally spotted a few bolded names that caught his interest.
Oni (鬼), variously translated as demons, devils, ogres or trolls. They are said to be ferocious demons, bringers of disaster, spreaders of disease, and punishers of the damned in Hell, crush and destroy humans solely for enjoyment.
However, despite the brutal deeds they had committed, their eventually lost some of their wickedness in later years, and gained reputation as protector against evil.
"Hiss…" Soma winced at the sudden tightness he felt in his head as numerous scenes that were contradicted to the world he was in welled from deep within…
He was surrounded by healthy greenery, breathing in fresh unpolluted air with the soothing sound of the flowing river stream along with chirping birds. It would've been peacefully perfect if it weren't for the rebellious, fiery red haired fellow who looked around in his late teen standing before him with patches of blood dampen the upperparts of his maroon kimono.
"'Why hurting human when no one's ordering me to' you say?" snorted the guy, narrowed his golden hued eyes with hint of scornfully, "Funny question coming from a human who killed his own kind more than he could count."
The guy's words stung, but it was true. He pressed his lips into a thin line before he gave a weak retort, "I killed because I was ordered to."
"In that case, I am born to." The red haired ogre huffed arrogantly, "My clan was created to punish the humans. So do I really need anyone's consent to lay a finger on them?"
Before he could respond, a voice cut in, "That part may be true, Seika. But your ancestors was honourable to only punish sinners, not intentionally harming innocent human for amusement like your kind does in this era. Don't sully the name of those from your grandfather's time to justify your twisted logic."
The red haired guy, Seika, growled towards the source of voice, "Would you ever, ever, stay out of my case?! Ever since you showed up, nothing goes my way anymore!"
"Ah, that's my intention." The voice responded calmly with amusement.
"I had never hated someone with this intensity. I wish that you could the hurry up and die so that I could be free from your binding!" Seika cursed venomously.
"Chikage said the same thing, but sorry. That might not be happening anytime soon. Not when neither one of you have yet gain something called conscience."
The foreign memory stopped there when he was about to avert his gaze from the guy called Seika to the second person who came in to the scene after that. It was even hopeless to even trying to figure out the gender of third person who spoke when the voice sounded rather androgynous.
But what the heck was all those memories about? Confused, Soma could only wonders until he remembered the voice of the second person mentioned a name called Chikage.
That was when he flipped a few page forward and found another type of spirit that he immediately assumed to fit the image of the name Chikage.
Tengu (天狗) , variously translate as heavenly dog or crow-goblin, are a type of legendary creature found in Japanese folk religion and are also considered a type of Shinto god/demi god or supernatural beings, given that they are traditionally depicted with both human and avian characteristics.
Tengu were once disruptive demons and harbingers of war. They have very little respect for humans. They feast on human flesh, and commit rape, torture, and murder just for fun. They abduct people and drop them from great heights deep into the woods; or tie children to the tops of trees so all can hear their screams but none can reach them to help.
Their image gradually softened, however, into one of protective in later years. Obtaining reputation of wise hermit, mastery in swordsmanship and martial arts, as well as great sword forger.
Yet again, another throb in his head…
This time, instead of being involved, he was more of a bystander, sat down with his back leaning against the rough bark of a big tree, listening to unpleasant exchange between two individuals.
The sun was setting, painted the green scenery into warm hue of orange. A guy, who was around Seika's age gazed down irritatingly on the person who was talking to him with onyx eyes. And again, even with the latter practically just a few meter away from him, the whole image of that person was nothing but blurry mess. There's no hope to figure out the mysterious person's gender at all.
"If you are here to lecture me, safe your breath. I don't need it."
"Since you are aware that I'm about to, could that be you are actually feeling guilty?"
"Who, me? Guilty?" The young man scoffed, abruptly sat up straight from his lazy poster as he flipped the a strand stray long black lock over his should using the back of his hand, threw a sharp gaze at the person below him, "Never once I need to feel guilty of harming those pathetic, weak humans. So why now? And don't compare me with that simpleton of an ogre like Seika. I am particularly picky of my prey. Those were just some lowly women in pleasure district who sold themselves for lump of metals along with a bunch of obscene men who committed adulteries. They'll eventually be damned anyway, so what's wrong with me had a little fun before making their life miserable?"
"From the way you have said it, I hope you do realize that there's no difference between you and those sinners, Chikage."
"Those rules created by Heavens, Hell and human does not apply to me." Chikage huffed, but pained wince appeared on his face just as soon as he made his arrogant declaration.
"Apparently, not anymore." Took notice of the split moment of pain and uncertainty of the raven-haired crow-goblin, a glowing line of silver appears on the palm of the mysterious person; shot straight towards the young man on the tree. Caught off guard at the sudden turn of event, the raven was unable to dodge in time and found his both arms being wrapped tightly to his waist, causing him to lose his balance and fall from the sturdy tree branch as result.
Chikage landed shoulder first on the soil with a pained grunt. The fall did not break anything, but it still knocked a breath out of him. After catching a few hasty breather in attempt to sooth the shock from the unpleasant landing, he quickly struggle to break free from the binding layers of silver lines, growling frustrating as he realize that it was to no avail, "Release me at once, you hideous existence of a deity!"
Unbothered by the struggling crow-goblin's insults, the person merely respond with a merrily tone," Not until you repent."
"Have I ever!"
After a few more minutes of shouting and thrashing on Chikage's part, he eventually quiet down and slowly cool off. However, his glare was still intense, or probably even more enraged.
"If only I could dismember that ugly head of yours from your neck right this instance-"
"Now there, your crimes has been piling up, and you definitely won't want to be charge of killing a deity." The person casually shrugged the crow-goblin off like his threat was equivalent to a mere trifles of a mischievous boy, "And besides, there's no need to soil your hands anymore on that matter. I will eventually die even without either one of you stabbing your weapons through my body. In fact, definitely much to everyone's delight, my death would not be pleasant, and certainly gruesome and painful."
These words, apparently, were not just for Chikage's ears only; it was for the other few who was witnessing the bizarre exchange. For something such as one self's death to be spoke with such nonchalant demeanour, it was hard to be taken seriously.
"You always, always says that you are dying. How true is that?"
"I can make jokes about almost everything. But there's one thing for certain, I would never make jokes about anything regarding the suffering of womenfolk has to endure during pregnancy and death. That's how true it is."
Then, Chikage spoke with an icy cold tone that rivals the bitter winter frost, "In that case, I pray –we pray- that, the day of your gruesome death would arrive sooner than you could predict."
They had never realized the true causes of the deity's increasing disfigurement and the reason of death until the day they came to face with the severed remains of the gruesome demise.
And they eventually crushed by their own consciences and regrets.
Broke into cold sweat, Soma took a few shaky breather, eyes clenched tight as he rested his throbbing head in his palms. The book fell off his lap and few pages were folded from the messy fall.
He did not recognize those memories, but he would be lying that he did not felt the slightest bit of nostalgia from it.
So distracted from the headache, Soma wasn't aware of the new presence appeared next to him, which it had never happened to him as long as he could remember. With the noise of the book he dropped next to him being picked up along with a soft grunt of a man, Soma jolted back with an incredulous on his face as he stared at up at the man from his sitting position. How could he not when there's no one had ever succeeded in the attempt on sneaking up on him- with Lindow as the main culprit.
Everything about the man's appearance was basically monochrome. He has sharp profiles with very pale complexion but not to the point of sickly; short jet black hair with bangs that covered his right eye, with left almond-shaped eye noticeable, it's safe to assume that both eyes was onyx black. Like the new guy Kansugi, this man was wearing the standard formal top and bottom with the only difference that it was in black. He looked as though around the same age as Lindow, or perhaps a year or two younger. However, the air he had around him screaming likewise. Like Kanzaki and Kansugi, he carried a domineering bearing with him, or even more than the former two. It felt darker and pressuring, but he sense no malicious intent from the man. Not now, at least.
Much to Soma's annoyance, he felt like he knew the man before him for centuries to aware that his was an abrasive man, and possibly violent. A stark contrast of the composed manner he was showing at the moment.
The man flipped his way through the book with an indifferent look as Soma cautiously took in his appearance with sceptical eyes. The man may be wearing the standard uniform of a God Eater, but the red armlet was nowhere in sight, which raised even more suspicion. No one spoke until the man spotted the two pages that had been giving head throbs, and said with deep a voice, "Even the majority of crow-goblin and the ogre with notorious reputation are capable of changing for the better into a protective figures, it always makes me wonder of why humans would only tend to make themselves worse and triggers countless apocalypse."
At that, Soma's eyes narrowed, "You spoke as though you are not human."
"Trust me, I wish I'm not. Being human again always reminds me of how foolish and ignorant I once was long ago that I want nothing more than to forget." The man snorted in self-deprecation and slammed the book shut between his hands and dropped it back onto Soma's lap. "'As long as humankind repeats the foolish acts, this cycle of divine retribution will never ends', you never shut up about these for as long as I remember."
Soma hissed as another sharp pain assaulted his head…
It was a familiar sight.
It was cruel, grim and bloody, and it should not have been normal for any person to be feeling used to.
But it did, for him. For them. For the fact that, years back then, with their own hands; be it driven by their own ambitious desire to conquer; lack of courage to disobey immoral orders in order to live; or arrogant pride and plain amusement at the sight of other's suffering that hinders common sense in regards of equality of life, they themselves were guilty of committing mass murders and countless of meaningless bloodshed.
But not this time.
Even if the sight of deaths and the ugly nature of cruelty that reflected on the filthy culprits' face was normal to them as three meals per day, those did not sit well with them this time.
They doubt they would ever recover from this for a very long time. Not when they had all finally gained conscience to differentiate between just and evil. And definitely not when they had all lived a peaceful ten years near the village by the deity's order.
Of course, they had all protested at the bizarre arrangement to live a mundane lifestyle near human habitats with the complex emotion they all felt inside.
However, not once a thought of harming this once peaceful village had ever crossed their mind.
But it happened.
The village was destroyed.
The crops, poultries and cattle they had given clumsy hands to grow and raised were all trampled and butchered; villagers they had gotten used to in their life were being robbed, raped, killed and being sold into slavery for a few cold pieces of metals that could never rival the value of a single living beings.
They were no strangers and once the cause of such sight, but they knew deep in their heart that the ones before them will be one of the scene that forever carved into their souls and continue to haunt them along with the pressuring sense of guilt from the crimes and sins they had all committed from their pasts.
"You knew…" The man who had his jet black hair casually tied behind his head said with certainty after dragged himself back from burying the remains of a once timid young boy who always made effort to befriend the older man even when he was dead scared of him along with the boy's kind natured parents. His dull coloured yukata was stained with their blood. Same goes to Chikage and Seika, who came back the same manner with equally lost expression on their face, waiting for the deity who sat on the ground, back leaning against the bole after finished the fair share of burying task.
"I knew." And that was it. No excuses, no agitation, no nothing.
Because the deity knew that they understood without things being explained.
But being driven by countless emotions, it was difficult to keep themselves composed.
They all began to self-victimize, complain and whine.
"You knew this day would come to this village! You knew, yet you make us all live near them out of your own strange demand for ten years only to have us watch them suffer and die! Are you mocking us?!" The man shouted with rage, with other remarks came from the others.
But all those heated rage were like lukewarm breeze in the presence of the collective deity.
Usually, in the face of their petty whining and complaining, the deity would always have ways to make them to reflect themselves through mischievous methods with either sly or feign innocent smile on the face.
However, not this time. All those death sadden the deity just as deep as the ragging bunch. But the best way for sinners who finally gained conscience and able to feel the sense of guilt to truly realize the depth of their sins was for them to witness the similar scene they once caused, and feel the sorrow and agony faced by the victims they once harmed.
"You all knew better why I did this."
"You are insane excuse for a deity…"
"Feeling regret?"
"Stop ignoring our rage…"
"Does the agony pains you?"
"Stop…"
"Are your consciences and guilt eating you alive?"
"…"
"Good. Keep it that way." Ignoring the boggled gazes and incredulous, the deity stood up and closes the distance between them with haunting pace, and spoke of the cruellest words that were ever spoken to them from the usually kind deity's lips.
"I had you all stay here for a decade to grew attach to the villagers so you could all feel the sorrow and agony of watching them all being taken away by tyrants, pimps and slavers. I want you all thoroughly understand and sympathize the sense of dreads and despair of those victims you all had once harmed when the meaningless slaughters occurred, the fear they constantly have to live with when not knowing when they will be targeted by bandits and corrupted imperial lords. I want to make you all miserable by making you watch all your hard work of growing crops and raising live stocks being taken away like a trophy to sate the conceited ego, greed, lust and pride of the perpetrators. With these, you all finally understood.
So remember well, all of you. I want all of you to remember this day, along with those victims and sins you had committed in your pasts. Never forget them. I want all of you to live with your consciences paining you as long as your souls remembers and exist, so that you all will never commit the same crimes ever again.
Especially you Sasori. You knew painfully well what I meant the very moment those guards set foot on the soil of this village."
After that, with the mix feelings pent up in them, the deity knew leaving them be for the night would be the best choice. So the deity considerately momentary left the group to wherever until they calm down from the aftermath.
He and Sasori eventually walked back to the last roll of corpses that had yet to be buried, picking up the shovels to start digging the soft soil to complete the unfinished task.
Neither of them talked until the last remain was buried. It was the body of an old man who had always express his regretted and griefs of selling out his own family for a short lived richness, and constantly exhorted them not to repeat the same foolish act he had committed. Not that the lonely old man was aware that the group had done far worse.
"Back then, before I died, I used to think, by conquering the world, I should have nothing to fear of, not even the purgatory in the afterlife or the wrath of deity could stop me, and that I might as well be a human deity myself, or even better. So I invaded nations after nations by force, and could care less what my subordinates did with the victims I created." Sasori said hoarsely, "Now with all these, I finally realize how ignorant and foolish my selfish act was; how I underestimated the work of Karma; and that I must have been like a clown in the eyes of the divine beings to even dare think of surpassing them with such naivety and futility."
He listened attentively as Sasori; the former human who once lower his head to no one; who apologize to no one; who thought of no one but his own interest, slowly breaking down.
But he did not made an attempt to console him. Because in some sense, he hated this man. Before his death, this tyrant was the one who slaughtered his parents solely for the reason of being different race, and turn him in to an assassin. Being a coward he was, he obeyed the tyrant's every whims in order to survive. He knew Sasori was not completely to blame for what he had become, but he was human. And it was in human's nature to target the blame on others to make themselves feel better.
After the group momentary dispersed for the evening to settle their own emotions, he went to talk to the deity. He knew the deity was in pain, in fact, suffered the worst aftermath out of all of them at the ruined village. He knew the deity was too kind to actually let the tragic happens without a valid reason, and used the villagers as tools to rouse their conscience.
His suspicion was proven right.
As peaceful as the village may appear to be, it actually filled with villagers with condensed bad karma that could not be seen by clouded eyes.
The menfolk villagers who had had their wives and children taken away, robbed, and killed used to be bandits, robbers, pimps and slavers in their past lives who had done just the same; the womenfolk villagers who had been raped and sold to slavery were unfaithful and immoral women who sold their own children to brothels and slavers for pitiful pieces of gold in both past lives and present; the children that was killed were filial and killers in their past lives.
As for those small numbers of fortunate villagers who had successfully escaped or avoided death, they were one of the only few who had lived honest and clean lifestyle to be able to continue their new live elsewhere, and he prayed that they will remain that way.
Hearing all those, an ugly truth emerges from fogged mind.
"As long as humankind repeats the foolish acts, this cycle of divine retribution will never end." He uttered. And he knew Sasori heard him clearly.
So did the deity who had been watching over them from shadow to ensure they won't attempt something foolish.
Pressing his palm on his throbbing head, he gritted as his face scrunched up in pain, "S-sasori?"
"So you remembered, or should I say part of it?" Sasori casually squatting down beside Soma with wonder.
All those surfacing memories, the moment he uttered the man's name, Soma knew deep inside that they were real, and believing them was the natural thing to do. Yet some part of him refused to accept this apparent unrealistic superstition such as past lives and reincarnation. Who could blame him? To be born in the post-apocalyptic world where aragami constantly feed on them, where humans no longer pray or believe in gods. Everyone would have doubts if the same situation shoved in their face like it did to Soma at the moment. And it definitely roused even more of his opposing thought when he saw the gloating smirk on Sasori's face.
"I remembered… that I should feel sorry for myself for actually playing along with an apparently ancient-being-wannabe-lunatic who was trying to make me believe in something as superstitious as reincarnation and existence of deity." All that sarcasm in a monotonous tone. Not to forget that is was one of the longest sentence in one breath Soma had ever said in his eighteen years of living.
And Sasori was not amused, the smirk he had on his face seconds ago was replaced by a scowl. If he were the unreasonable tyrant he once were back then, the buster blader would have been a bleeding dry corpse by now.
Sighing, Sasori stood up, deciding not to taunt the young man anymore, "Forcing you to remember will only backfire. But if you do remember them all, I hope you will genuinely accept them. And as soon as possible."
"And why am I oblige to do as you say?" Soma retorted, still rubbing the side of his head, waiting for the pain to slowly subside.
"Because we are running out of time." Sasori paused, and rephrased, "She is running out of time. And the fact that we want you to remember is entirely against her will. We just don't want to repeat the same regret again."
"Just who is 'she' that you are mentioning? And why did you keep saying 'we'?" Soma growled with annoyance, "And why would I regret if should anything happens to 'her'? You are making no sense."
"It doesn't matter, you will understand eventually without needing me to explain much. You'll be seeing a lot of us around to be able to do so." Sasori shrugged, "And we will definitely make that happen."
And there he goes again with the 'we' and 'us'. Just who the hell are 'they'? Soma grumbled in his head. His inner monologue were cut short by the sudden rude kick on his leg, "What the hell?!" He jolted from startle and snarled at the culprit.
"Stand up, you look pathetic down there."
"That rude kick is unnecessary."
"It is, for my personal reason. Just the sight of you pisses me off."
"Now you are being unreasonable."
"Doesn't matter what you think. The thought of her choice pisses me off even more that the sight of you was barely tolerable."
"I gave up entirely on having a normal and rational conversation with you." Then again, he felt ridiculous to even bothered to try.
To think those in the Den often says that he was the rudest and intolerable prick they had ever seen. He should prove them wrong when he had a chance. When he was in the mood to do so, that is.
That aside, the fact that squabbling over something that makes no sense with Sasori felt almost normal and nostalgic that it boggles Soma to no end. Like they had being doing so for years, along with the 'we' in his memories who he had yet to met. Not even Lindow was able to get him to wrangle the way he just did even after all those year being 'babysit' by him.
It was not normal.
None of these that was happening was normal.
Not that he was normal to begin with.
But still, it was happening.
"Damn it."
A/N:
With the famous Tengu and Oni of all time in Japanese Folklore being mentioned in this chapter, would you want them to show up in the next chapter?
Reviews would be lovely.