A few claps could be heard. I got myself off the ground but still stood down, and looked straight ahead. The Queen of Nature and the fake twins were clapping, while the whole group was approaching us. Cifer had also turned around towards them.
"That was definitely one heck of a magic show, boys!"
"I agree, I would've paid at least 1000 gold coins to watch this if it was a theater play."
"You're being stingy, mom. This performance was at least worth 10000 gold coins."
"Hmm… Perhaps you're right, Rosalie."
"Cut it out, both of you."
"That's right, listen to her you stingy bastards! My brothers' performance was easily worth at least 100000 gold coins!— ouch…"
"You too, shut up. I'm still mad at you."
"Yes mam…"
While the other stopped just in front of us, Luna approached me directly. I didn't really think anything of it since we're usually pretty touchy, but that didn't last long. After crouching next to me, she grabbed the arm I had just regenerated and began touching it all over.
"…What are you doing?"
"Checking for anomalies."
"Anomalies?"
"Just because you're able to regenerate your whole arm in a few seconds, that doesn't mean it'll be a perfect result. To begin with, regeneration is something that takes even people with years of experience a lot longer to do."
"I'm pretty sure I regenerated it just fine, so you really don't have to worry so much."
"I'm not worried, I'm just looking for an excuse."
"For what?"
"For this."
"Hm—-…?! What the-"
"Shut up. A single hit in the head won't kill you."
"But why…"
"While I did say the barrier protected both of you to some extent, that doesn't mean you should chop his arm in half. And to make it worse, you did it length wise… that's a really nasty cut, you know?"
"…You're not wrong, but-"
"That's not all though. We already knew about it so we weren't worried about his arm. That's why we didn't stop the match before you cut it. Why did you go ahead and cut your own arm like an idiot… you could've just waited a few more seconds for him to regain composure and heal himself."
"That's…"
"When have you ever regenerated a whole arm to begin with? Never as far as I'm aware. So why did you just chop it off in the same nasty way, unsure if you could even regenerate it to begin with, you damn heroic little shit."
She did let go of my arm, but remained crouched and forced me to look at her. How you may ask? Of course, she grabbed me by the collar and pulled me closer. I was trapped.
"…I figured he may be able to copy me…"
"When you had no way of being certain that you'd succeed to begin with? Was he supposed to copy your failure if that was the case too?"
"But I succeeded, no?"
"That does seem to be the case. It's the only reason I haven't beaten you up myself yet, for that matter."
"Please spare me…"
I tried to glance over at Maia, or anyone standing besides us for help, but when our eyes met one by one they all just awkwardly looked away.
You damn traitors! And is that how you treat your new brother, Cifer???
"Maia suggested letting you and him train here once in a while. I was going to accept that idea, until now that is. Both of you, for a whole month minimum, with extension possible, you're banned from practical training."
She let go of my collar and got up, but kept looking at me with a pretty scary look on her face. Cifer was just as shocked when she heard her though, but he wasn't the only one.
"A whole month?!"
"You can't be serious…"
"Oh, I'm very serious. It's not like I'm the only one who can activate this barrier, so I could theoretically appoint someone else to let you guys train… but not for at least a month, that is."
"Isn't that a bit too far, Luna? Both of them are fine in the end, no?"
"Then if by chance these 2 end up mutilating each other after Cifer has already used his ability, and Cael for some reason can't regenerate, are you gonna explain how that happened to your parents, Maia?"
"I mean, you do have a point… but they're not idiots, you know? Well… they're not that stupid. I'm sure they can hold back while training."
"Then they're allowed to do it, just not here. I can't prevent them from picking a sword each and going at each other's throat at home after all."
"Now, now. I get that you're mad at them, but even I think that's a little too much, Luna."
"I agree with mom."
"Even if you revoke their performance license, they'll just end up doing it illegitimately either way, as you said."
"Though this isn't a performance… I agree with mom as well though. You said it yourself, they probably can hold back, no? It would be worse if they failed to hold back while alone, instead of being here where both you and Maia are fairly close by, wouldn't it?"
"…alright, we'll talk about it later."
"Does that mean?"
"Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying your ban is lifted. I just said that me and the others will talk about it later and see what to do."
"That's fine, no, that's perfect! Thank you!"
"I promise to be more careful and make sure I don't get cut from now on!"
"And I promise to not cut myself just because I cut him!"
"Try and avoid cutting him in the first place…"
"Yes mam!"
"Alright, alright. It's about time we wrap this up then. We all have work to do. Boys, get up. I'll walk you home."
"I mean, we don't mind, but you don't need to do that, you know?"
"Yeah, even if we don't know the way, we'll probably get home eventually."
"I don't doubt that, but I have something to tell your mother, and I'd rather not risk giving you idiots the message, and you forgetting it."
"We're not that stupid…right?"
"We shouldn't be that stupid. I think…"
"What do you have to tell mom though, Luna? I could just fly home and tell her myself if you want."
"I have to tell her that she doesn't have to make enough food for you tonight for dinner."
"…eh?"
"You heard me. Because you decided to ditch your morning task, our entire schedule will be pushed back now."
"No, no, something's off here! Even then, it should only push it back by maybe 2 or 3 hours if we're generous…"
"And who said your brothers are the only ones getting punished today for being idiots?"
"…I'm sorry, mam."
Hmph, serve you right for not helping me while getting scolded, my dear older sister.
Luna then grabbed my hand, and Cifer followed next to us as we began walking towards the exit.
"We'll be going then. Sylara, make sure Maia doesn't ditch until I'm back. You should still have at least a few hours before your next meeting, no?"
"Got it. I'll even help her if you want."
"No need. Also, Maia, you're banned from eating or asking for any strawberries from Sylara, or at all for that matter until I'm back."
"Isn't that too cruel???"
"And if you don't get going, I'll extend it to the whole day."
"Y-Yes mam!"
Luna really is everyone's boss, Huh?
But regardless, although it was a completely unexpected event that didn't really end ideally, I can't complain about this whole thing. Well, putting aside the scolding at least… at least I got to walk home with Luna, no? Not only that, but we're also holding hands! Though Cifer's here too…
"How far even is our home from here?"
"I'm curious about that too. Maia just kidnapped and flew us here in a few seconds after all."
"It's about a 2h and a half walk or so? But I know a few shortcuts so we'll manage to get there in around an hour."
"That's more than a few shortcuts…"
"She took me and Nala through a lot of them yesterday as well. Luna seems to really know the city."
"Of course I do. And you two should start learning your ways already, you know? You're living here now after all."
"Give us some time, will you? This place is massive."
"I guess I can't deny that. I don't know about Cifer, but your orientation sense isn't even bad. Though you still get lost often."
"I can't help it… I've only been here for less than a full month."
"I'm not blaming you, don't worry. I get it… but still, if I didn't come with you two, you'd end up lost and home by like 5 in the evening at this rate."
"It's still not even 10 in the morning though…?"
"Exactly."
For some mysterious reason, I had a gut feeling telling me that she was somehow right, so I didn't dare object. The walk home was surprisingly enjoyable too either way. Not to mention I got to hold hands with her all the way home, and peacefully at that too.
I was expecting Cifer to maybe ask at least some kind of question about our relationship, but that wasn't the case. Maybe he's just not interested? Or maybe it's easy to tell…? Well, who cares? At least I got to hold hands with her. Yep, that's all that matters. Granted, we do that often. But the more the better!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Maia's Pov)
"Hm? Oi, you missed a spot there."
"My, my, that's not good, Maia. You better hurry up and clean it."
"I agree. Surely you're not thinking about ditching that spot too, are you?"
"Mivana, don't be ridiculous. In what kind of performance would the heroine ditch her punishment?"
"That's right. If this was to be a painting, it would surely be titled "Consequences." And be sold for at least 10000 gold coins!"
"…you bastards… why're you even still here?!"
"We didn't have anything else to do for the day, so we thought we'd drop by."
"And we just so happened to witness Mio actually punishing you, so we decided to stick around, with no intentions of leaving yet. If I were to rate this event as if it was a play, I'd say it's a solid 8/10."
"Like I care! If you're so deprived of entertainment then go home! You both have husbands waiting for you, right? Go get loveydovey instead!"
"My, my, how despicable of you, Maia. How could we talk about something like that with our precious daughters present?"
"That's right, Maia. Don't you have any tact? That's very unsightly from a lady."
"I don't wanna hear that from you out of all people…"
"Maia…Less talking and more cleaning."
"I am doing it… but come on, Mio… isn't cleaning the whole room with a toothbrush a little too much?? And on top of that, was enchanting my clothes to weigh extra necessary?? These are really heavy…"
"So what? Cael has been wearing only heavy clothes for months now. You now know what your dear little brother feels like, no?"
"My cute little brother's clothes weigh around 20-30kilos total. Mine are at least 3 tons combined…"
"My? Did I miscalculate? I was sure I made them weigh 5 tons though?"
"…?"
"Unless…"
I looked away, suddenly feeling an unstoppable urge of focusing on brushing the floors as clean as possible.
"Someone is using a little more mana than supposed, to make sure her body can sustain the weight and make it feel lighter. Wouldn't that be awful, Maia?"
And unsurprisingly, as soon as she finished her sentence, while I was still scrubbing, the weight of my clothes increased by at least 3 times. I was forced onto the ground by the sudden increase.
"You're allowed to enhance your body enough to be able to move normally, but not any more. What kind of punishment would it be otherwise?"
"Even then, isn't this a little too much for just ditching 1 duty??!"
"What are you talking about? Your ditching set the entire headquarters back by a few hours, you know? Not to mention, it's you who brought those 2 along to fight."
"You could've just said the real reason out loud from the start…"
It's not like I don't get it after all.
When Cael cut his own arm, Mio was the most shocked out of us all outside the barrier. No, maybe shocked isn't the right word. When I glanced over at her because I wanted to look away from it, what I saw ended up being engraved into my memory.
I remember it so vividly that even now it feels as if I was seeing it for the first time. Her eyes were glued onto the scene, glistening with tears built up at its edges… but on top of that, she also had some sort of a look of disbelief? I highly doubt that she didn't expect it though, so that's probably not it.
I guess the easiest word to use after all is still… yeah, that's definitely it.
Mio was more worried than anyone at the scene.
And it was even more obvious when she completely ignored Cifer after disbanding the barrier, and was visibly holding herself from running towards Cael. Perhaps from the front it wasn't as visible, but if you saw her from the back like we did, her legs were constantly flexed as if to prevent herself from sprinting too fast.
Then of course, touching every single spot on his regenerated arm to actually make sure there were no anomalies and so on. It's totally understandable for her to have been mad at him, and understandable how she's still mad at me. But even then…
This is getting out of hand…! Seriously, I'm too scared of her increasing the weight again so I'm genuinely just enhancing my body enough to not get crushed… This is too heavy!
"Mio doesn't play around when her beloved is involved after all."
"I find that pretty cool personally though."
"She's like an overprotective Prince Charming."
"I totally get it, mom. She's totally like a handsome prince with chiseled abs! Kinda like a sculpture!"
"Though im a woman…"
"Women can have abs too!"
"Why are you suddenly playing along with the fake twins, Sylara."
"Well, let's put that aside for now."
"Don't avoid it."
"Don't you think she's had enough, Mio? Cael is her little brother after all. You know she didn't want him to do that either."
"…"
Hm? The weight is…
I looked up, then instantly directed my gaze to my right, towards the coffee table they were sitting around. An extra cup of tea appeared out of thin air on it, next to Mio.
"How long are you gonna stay there for? Come drink your tea before it cools too much."
And with a wide smile on my lips, I slid myself in right next to her, on the seat closest to the right edge, Mio being in the middle with Rosalie on the other end, next to her.
"All that punishment talk just for you to give in so easily? You really do have a soft spot for your family, huh?"
"You'd feel bad too if I made your daughter next to me feel the same weight Maia did, wouldn't you?"
"Eh?"
"Would I? Rosalie is pretty strong, you know?"
"No,no, mom, please shut up!"
"Is that how you speak to your mother, hm? Perhaps we should actually try what Mio said?"
"M-mom, y-you know I love you… right?"
"I see. I love you too."
"Don't scare your kid just to get an I love you from her, you sicko."
"Can you blame me? Ever since Rosalie got engaged she has been showing less and less love to her amazing mother by the day!"
"I'd say that's pretty normal though… wait."
"Hm?"
"What's wrong out of the sudden, Maia?"
I blinked rapidly. Why was no one else surprised by it? Was I the only one that was actually taken aback?
"Rosalie… is engaged?"
Only then, did everyone else seem surprised, but clearly for a different reason.
"Ah, I guess you wouldn't know."
"It happened about 2 months before you became our Lieutenant after all."
"Have you not noticed the ring on her hand though?"
Now that I look at it…
"I thought she was just wearing it for the looks…"
"Pfft… hahahah! That's hilarious! You heard her, Rosalie?? Your engagement ring looks like a fashion piece apparently…"
"Wait, no, I didn't mean it like that! You two are filthy rich, no? I figured she was just wearing a diamond ring because it looks good."
"You sure are tactless, Maia."
Mio's bluntness didn't make my guilt feel any thinner, as I glanced next to her and saw that Rosalie was looking as if she was about to turn into sand and disappear. Meanwhile, the other 3 in front of us just kept grinning.
"Don't be so sad, Rosalie… it can't be helped. Maia doesn't seem like the type to care about romance that much anyway."
"Even her little brother seems to be ahead of her in terms of love after all."
"Hm?… ah, I guess you guys don't know."
"Know what, Mio?"
"I guess it may look that way now though, huh? I can't fully blame you for thinking of Maia like that, however…"
My heart dropped. She hadn't paused her sentence whatsoever either. It simply felt like it from my perspective, due to how deep it sunk in my mind. I knew exactly what she was about to say… and that's why it hurt.
"Maia was always ahead of us all in terms of love, during our first life. She's older after all. When I met them all for the first time, she was already married, you know?"
It's not like I could lash out at Mio. She didn't do anything wrong. She was just clearing out a misunderstanding, and even helping me in some way. But even then, it still hurts. The pressure on my chest was heavier now than the weight my whole body was feeling earlier, when she increased the weight of my clothes.
My clothes may have gone to their normal weight in an instant… but I'm not sure if my heart will do the same, after reopening that wound.
"What, seriously?!"
"That's unexpected…"
"What about kids? Did you have any, Maia??"
"Ah… uhm… no, no, we didn't. We… decided to wait a little longer than most."
"Unlike in this world where most couples have at least one kid by age 23, it wasn't unusual to see someone have their first at early 30 or so in our first world. Maia was around 27 when we met, and we… Well, we only lived for a few more years afterwards."
"…I see."
"We're sorry for making you guys remember that."
"…it's fine. It's not like it's something we can forget after all."
That's right. No matter how much time has passed since, no matter what new memories we make, our first life will always be vivid in our minds. And even more than that, his memories in my head, and heart… they're impossible to let go of.
How silly of me, right? Even though I'll probably never see him again. Or at least not any time soon? I'm not sure. Mio knows a lot more about the afterlife than we do, and she doesn't really tell me anything in particular even if I do ask.
I should just move on. I'm well aware of it. There's plenty of other guys in the world, and I'm sure that I could probably fall in love with someone else in the end- I think… at least.
Their expressions seemed to have darkened pretty quickly. Now that I think about it, though of course we only told them bits and pieces, they do know about Cifer and Mio.
"You really are amazing… both of you. Being able to be so casual around him."
"He's just another kid now, without his memories at least. I don't plan on unsealing them any time soon either, since there's no need for it now."
"Plus, the only one out of us that was directly killed by Cifer was…"
"Right, you guys died because of his subordinates. In the end, it was just me and Cael that faced him directly… and I died."
"I know it may be rude of me to ask, but I'm really curious about it. What did you think while watching them fight, Mio?"
"Hmm… let me think."
We all just silently waited for her explanation. Honestly, I was just as curious.
"It was definitely weird, to say the least, at first. I was expecting it to be the case, but seeing Cifer fight so defensively was still definitely something new. While we've met before in some reincarnation cycles, I've always unsealed his memories right away in those cases, so I always got to see the fighting style I knew after all. Or at least similar to it."
"Of course, he was still just as smart even during our first life final fight…but unlike now, he wasn't avoiding injuries whatsoever. He didn't really end up getting many either way to be fair though, probably since he was perhaps the strongest back then.."
"But seeing as he also died shortly after I did, and he joined us in the white room? I'm not so sure if he was truly the strongest in the end at least. Nevertheless, it was definitely an interesting sight. His fighting style will definitely change drastically pretty soon after all, even before I unseal his memories eventually."
"Change drastically? Ohh, are you talking about her?"
"Yeah. Though we haven't tracked her complete whereabouts yet, I'm certain that she's somewhere in the capital, so who knows? Maybe they'll meet as soon as tomorrow, or in a year from now on, or maybe even two. I don't plan on speeding it up by any means."
"Didn't you say that she has her memories from her previous life as well though? Isn't that gonna be a pain to you?"
"You think so? I don't see any reason for that to be the case though, personally. She's not a threat by any means."
"Woah, that's scary…"
"Your confidence gives me shivers sometimes…"
"Not that we don't believe you though."
"You two are head over heels for each other after all."
"I know right? It's fine to be jealous, you know? You don't often see- no, actually you'll never see a love as strong as mine and Cael's after all!"
I guess I'll focus on this instead.
I was still feeling uneasy of course, but the conversation quickly changed topic either way, so I did manage to distract myself to some degree. But nonetheless…
I still really miss him…